Incentives and Relief Offered to Exporters and Importers
Incentives and Relief Offered to Exporters and Importers
A number of incentives and other relief are being offered to exporters and importers, the details of which are as under:
• Duty drawback to exporters to neutralize Customs, Central Excise Duty and Service Tax suffered on inputs/inputs services used in manufacture of export goods.
• Benefit of rebate of Central Excise Duty paid on exported goods is allowed under Rule 18 of the Central Excise Rules, 2002. Goods are also allowed clearance for export under bond for the same purpose under Rule 19 of the Central Excise rules, 2002. Further, refund of Cenvat Credit of duty suffered on inputs used in the manufacture of exported goods is allowed under Rule 5 of the Cenvat Rules, 2004.
• In order to boost exports in garment sector, Government has provided various support measures. One such measure is duty free entitlement for import based on export performance, wherein manufacturers of textile and leather garments registered with their respective Export Promotion Council are allowed to import certain specified items duty free of value upto 5 per cent of the FOB value of the textile garments or 3 per cent of the FOB value of the leather garments, exported during the preceding Financial Year for use in the manufacture of garments for export by such manufacturer. Similarly, the incentives are also provided to the exporters of handicrafts, leather products including footwear; handlooms, cotton and man-made textile made-ups etc.
• Duty exemption schemes (Advance Authorization/Duty Free Import Authorizations and Export Promotion Capital Goods (EPCG) as well as the incentive schemes (Merchandise Export from India Scheme and Service/Export from India Schemes) extended to exporters administered by Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), Department of Commerce.
• Section 10AA of Chapter VI-A of the Income-tax Act, 1961 allows 100% deduction on profits and gains derived from export of certain articles or things subject to fulfillment of conditions prescribed therein. Further, exporters and importers are also eligible for claiming deductions in respect of profits and gains derived from such business as per provisions contained in Part D of Chapter IV (profits and gains of business or profession) and Chapter VIA (deductions to be made in computing total income).
Certain representations have been received by the Government regarding delay in tax refund to exporters from different exporters associations.
Timely issue of refunds has always been a matter of priority and concern for the Government. Field formations have been directed to ensure prompt and timely disbursement of rebate claims.
This was stated by Shri Jayant Sinha, Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance in written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today.
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Sharing of GST Revenue with States
The State Governments have not objected to the proposed formula of the Union Government for sharing of revenue with States that would be earned as Goods and Service Tax (GST). Under the proposed GST regime, both Centre and States will simultaneously levy GST across the value chain. Tax will be levied on every supply of goods and services for consideration. Centre would levy and collect Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST) and States would levy and collect the State Goods and Service Tax (SGST) on all transactions within a State. The Centre would levy and collect the Integrated Goods and Services Tax (IGST) on all inter-State supply of goods and services. The proceeds of IGST will be apportioned between the States and the Centre, under the proposed Article 269A, as provided by Parliament by law on the recommendations of the GST Council. Further, the CGST collected by the Central Government as well as the Union’s share of IGST collected will be devolved to the States as per the provisions of Article 270.
This was stated by Shri Jayant Sinha, Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance in written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today.
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Impact of Greece Crisis on Indian Economy
The Government has guidelines/norms in place to prevent entry of black money in stock market/share trading.
Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) in accordance with the requirements of the Prevention of Money-laundering Act, 2002 and Rules made thereunder has put in place a framework to prevent entry of black money in stock market/share trading. As part of these requirements, SEBI has put in place a framework that is required to be complied by all SEBI registered intermediaries.
SEBI, while conducting preliminary inquiries, have come out with interim directions that the following entities/companies acting in concert with each other have misused the stock exchange system to generate bogus Long Term Capital Gains (LTCG) which is tax exempt.
• Moryo Industries Limitd
• First Financial Services Limited
• Radford Global Limited
• Kamalakshi Finance Corporation Limited
• Mishka Finance and Trading Limited
• Pine Animation Limited
• Eco Friendly Food Processing Park Limited; Esteem Bio Organic Food Processing limited; Channel Nine Entertainment Limited and HPC Biosciences Limited.
This was stated by Shri Jayant Sinha, Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance in written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today.
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Resolution of Insurance Claims
As per the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India’s (Protection of Policyholders Interest) Regulations 2002, the Authority has prescribed time limits for resolution of insurance claims. However, due to the nature of Motor Third Party Liability, the resolution is generally through the courts of law. Wherever liability is clean and undisputed, resolution through Lok Adalat and out of court settlement by Insurers is encouraged to reduce the time involved in such settlements.
Complaints related to the service provided by Insurance Companies are received from time to time. these are taken up for suitable resolution with the companies by IRDAI. The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has established the “Integrated Grievance Management System” (IGMS) in 2011, which enables the Authority to keep track of and suitably address all the complaints flowing into the system.
Ministry of Road Transport and Highways is working on a proposal to replace the “Motor Vehicles Act, 1988” with a new Act through the draft Bill namely, “The Road Transport and Safety Bill, 2015” which inter-alia proposes enhanced compensation through third party insurance and structured formula basis. The maximum liability for minimum premiums has been proposed for such sum not exceeding Twenty-five lakh supees as the Central Government may, by notification, specify. The draft Bill is available on Ministry’s official website :www.morth.nic.in
Section 140 of Motor Vehicle Act, 1988 defines that the liability to pay compensation in certain cases can be discharged on the basis of the principle of No Fault (i.e., the claimant involved in a motor vehicle accident is not required to prove wrongful act, neglect or default on the part of the owner of the vehicle or by any other person). The amount of compensation to be paid is also defined in the Motor Vehicle Act, 1988.
This was stated by Shri Jayant Sinha, Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance in written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today.
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Impact of Greece Crisis on Indian Economy
The Greece debt crisis is not likely tohave any direct impact on the Indian economy. There could be some indirect effects on trade flows depending on how European economies perform in the future.
The Indian financial markets have been stable and movements in equity markets have been orderly and in line with the economic fundamentals. In view of the fresh bailout agreement reached between Greece and its creditors, the prospects of stock market volatility looks unlikely in the near future.
Macroeconomic outcomes in India remains strong and provides the required resilience to cope with the external shocks. Adequate foreign exchange reserves are there to manage the volatility that may arise in the exchange rate from such external stocks.
This was stated by Shri Jayant Sinha, Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance in written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today.
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Reduction in Interest Rates
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has deregulated the interest rates on term deposits from October, 1997. Accordingly, banks are now free to fix the interest rates on term deposits subject to the approval of their respective Boards. The RBI has also deregulated the savings bank deposit interest rate with effect from October 25, 2011. Accordingly, banks are now free to determine their savings bank deposit interest rate, subject to the following two conditions:
i) Each bank is required to offer a uniform interest rate on savings bank deposits up to Rs. 1 lakh;
ii) For savings bank deposits over Rs. 1 lakh, a bank may provide differential rates of interest, if it so chooses. However, there should not be any discrimination from customer to customer on the interest rates for similar amount of deposit.
With the introduction of Base Rate System since July 1, 2010, all rupee lending rates (including advances upto Rs. 2 lakh) have been deregulated. In a deregulated environment, banks have complete freedom in deciding their spread, risk premia, term premia and other customer specific charges as considered appropriate on the loans and advances based on their commercial judgement. However, there are some exceptions where the loans can be priced without reference to the Base Rate viz: Differential Rate of Interest (DRI) advances, loans to banks’ own employees and loans to banks’ depositors against their own deposits.
As are as managing NPAs is concerned, RBI and Government has taken several legal and procedural steps towards better recovery of loans from different sectors and for improvement in asset quality of banks. Banks have been instructed to have a Board approved loan recovery policy and take recourse to legal mechanisms like SARFAESI Act, 2002, Debt Recovery Tribunals and Lok Adalats apart from information sharing and systems of early detection of distress for which RBI has issued guidelines on January 30, 2014.
This was stated by Shri Jayant Sinha, Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance in written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today.
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Early Warning System to Detect NPAs
State Bank of India (SBI) is in the process of putting in place a system of early warning signals to monitor performing of standard assets showing early signs of stress. Early Warning System (EWS) is a solution to identify borrowers in the bank’s portfolio showing early signs of stress and enable timely corrective action planning. Each account is monitored across a set of automated triggers to identify the riskiness of the account.
The SBI has tied up with the BPOs for making pro-active calls to stressed accounts in retail and real estate segment of Business Process Re-engineering (BPR) centre branches.
This was stated by Shri Jayant Sinha, Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance in written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today.
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Financial Inclusion Advisory Committee
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has informed that it has reconstituted the Financial Inclusion Advisory Committee (FIAC) with the following terms of reference:
• Monitoring of the Financial Inclusion Plan progress submitted by banks and evaluation of its impact through conduct of study/surveys;
• Monitoring of the Financial Literacy progress reported by banks and evaluation of its impact through conduct of study/surveys;
• Preparation of National Strategy for Financial Inclusion which will be convergence of the Financial Inclusion efforts of various stakeholders including the PMJDY and monitoring of the progress made under the same.
This was stated by Shri Jayant Sinha, Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance in written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today.
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Several Measures taken by the Government to Simplify Tax Payment and Stautory Filings; Online Application for Allotment of Pan and Tan; Online Payment of Taxes etc
With a view of minimize the cost of compliance of the taxpayers, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has taken several measures to make tax payment and statutory filings simple and convenient for the taxpayer, including-
· Online application for allotment of Permanent Account Number (PAN) and Tax-Deduction Account Number (TAN)
· Single page challan for payment of tax through authorized banks.
· Online payment of taxes.
· Online viewing of tax credits.
· Online filing of return f income and return of TDS.
· Centralized processing of returns and electronic intimation of orders.
· Direct credit of refunds upto a limit to the nank account of taxpayer through ECS and sending of refunds vouchers by refund banker to the taxpayer directly.
· Online filing of rectification application.
· Facility of Tax Return Preparers to assist the taxpayer in preparing his return of income or TDS.
· Establishment of Aayakar Seva Kendra (ASK) Centres in various locations to provide a single window service delivery platform.
These facilities have already substantially mitigated the problems of the taxpayers by reducing the time and effort required for discharging their statutory obligations and by minimizing the need to visit the Income-tax office. Moreover, streamlining of tax collection process is done on an on-going basis as part of revenue management.
To facilitate the taxpayers and to provide end-to-end e-enabled services, the Income Tax Return for A.Y. 2015-16 can be verified electronically.
A taxpayer may verify his return through Internet Banking or through Aadhaar based authentication process.
For the convenience of small taxpayer having total income of Rs. 5 lakhs or below without any claim of refund, facility for generating Electronic Verification Code (EVC) has also been provided on the E-filing website of the Department. Ins uch cases EVC will be sent to the registered email ID and mobile number of the taxpayer.
Person using this facility will not be required to submit a signed paper copy of ITR-Verification Form (ITR-V) to CPC Bengaluru.
In case a taxpayers is unable to electronically verify the ITR using the EVC for any reason, then, the signed copy of ITR-V may be sent within the specified time of 120 days to CPC Bengaluru by ordinary post or Speed Post.
Details regarding e-verification are available in Notification 2/2015 issued on 13th July 2015 at http://incometaxindia.gov.in/news/evc notification-13-07-2015.pdf.
This was stated by Shri Jayant Sinha, Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance in written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today.
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Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Rules 2015 Notified; Specify the Form and Manner in Which Declaration of Undisclosed Foregin Assets to be made
The Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Rules 2015 have been framed and notified on 2nd July, 2015 vide Notification No. 58/2015. The Rules inter-alia specify the form and manner in which declaration of undisclosed foreign asset is to be made. Rules also provide the method of determination of fair market value of different types of assets e.g., bullion, jewellery, artistic work, shares and securities, immovable property, bank account etc.
Central Government has, vide Notification No. 57/2015, notified 30th of September, 2015 as the date on or before which a person may make a declaration in respect of an undisclosed asset located outside India and the 31st of December, 2015 as the date on or before which a person shall pay the tax and penalty in respect of the undisclosed asset so declared.
A declaration under the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015 (the Act) may be made before designated tax authority n Form 6 which may also be filed on-line. Where the declaration is found to be in accordance with the provisions of section 71 (d) of the Act, the declarant is required to pay the requisite tax and penalty on the assets eligible for declaration latest by 31.12.2015 and intimate the designated tax authority. After the intimation of payment by the declarant, the designated tax authority will issue an acknowledgement of the accepted declaration within 15 days of such intimation of payment of tax and penalty by the declarant.
As per Section 67 of the Act, 2015, the contents of the declaration shall not be admissible in evidence against the declarant in any penalty or prosecution proceedings under the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999.
Suggestions, questions and representations from various persons have been received in respect of provisions of the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015. These have been considered and accordingly an explanatory circular (Circular No. 12 of 2015) and a clarificatory circular (Circular No. 13 of 2015) in the form of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) have been issued.
This was stated by Shri Jayant Sinha, Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance in written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today.
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Aam Admi Bima Yojana; Implemented Through Life Insurance Corporation of
India; Caters to 47 Vocational Groups/Occupations Including Handloom &
Khadi Weavers
The erstwhile Social Security Schemes,
Janashree Bima Yojana (JBY) was merged into Aam Admi Bima Yojana (AABY) w.e.f.
01.01.2013 and the consequently revised AABY scheme is being implemented
through Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC). The scheme which caters to
47 Vocational groups/occupations including Handloom & Khadi weavers as one
of them. Thus JBY has ceased to exist since 01.01.2013. The details of Handloom
& Khadi weavers beneficiaries covered under the AABY in the last three
policy years 2011-12,2012-13, 2013-14 and current policy year 2014-15 are given
in Annex.
The AABY provides
Death and Disability cover to self employed Khadi weavers associated with Khadi
Institutions affiliated to Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC)/
State and UT Khadi and Village Industries Boards, aged between 18 years and 59
years. It does not overlap with any health insurance scheme implemented by the
Government as it is not a health insurance scheme.
|
Annex
|
||||
|
Policy Year
|
Lives covered under AABY for Handloom &
Khadi Weavers
|
Premium
Amount
Allocation (in Rs.)
|
No of Claims
Paid
|
Amount (in Rs.)
|
|
15.08.2011 to 14.08.2012
|
274276
|
2,74,27,600
|
217
|
69,35,000
|
|
15.08.2012 to 14.08.2013
|
280743
|
2,80,74,300
|
276
|
88,35,000
|
|
15.08.2013 to 14.08.2014
|
284056
|
2,84,05,600
|
267
|
80,41,000
|
|
15.08.2014 to 14.08.2015
As at 30.06.2015
|
286760
|
2,86,76,000
|
183
|
56,70,000
|
This was stated by
Shri Jayant Sinha, Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance in written
reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today.
*****
Investments in Gold Exchange Trade Funds
A gold exchange traded fund is an exchange traded fund (ETF) that invests in
gold and gold related instruments as the underlying and aims to track the price
of gold. The return of Gold ETF schemes is directly dependent on the returns on
the underlying i.e., gold and accordingly, the net asset value of the Gold ETF
is calculated and disclosed on very business day. Gold ETFs do not offer any
guaranteed or assured returns.
The details of number and value of investments in Gold Exchange Trade Funds as
on June 30, 2015 is as under:
|
No. of
Gold Exchanged Traded Funds
|
Assent
under Management (in Rs. crores)
|
|
13
|
6,51,636
|
The regulatory provisions prior to February 15, 2013 mandated Gold ETFs to
invest predominantly in physical gold. However, Securities and Exchange Board
of India (SEBI) vide circular dated February 15, 2013 has allowed Gold ETFs of
Mutual Funds to invest in Gold Deposit Schemes (GDS) of Banks upto 20% of the
net assets of the scheme.
The Government took series of measures to contain gold imports in order to
contain Current Account Deficit (CAD) which inter-alia included:
·
Gradual increase in
customs duty from 2 per cent in January 2012 to 10 per cent in August 2013.
·
The Reserve Bank of
India put in place the 20:80 scheme for nominated banks/agencies/entities to
rationalize the import of gold in any form/purity including import of gold
coins/dore into the country. This together with other measures to contain
imports led to significantly lower levels of trade and current account deficits
in 2013-14. The continuance of this moderating trend in 2014-15 led to the
withdrawal of the scheme in November 2014.
This was stated by Shri Jayant Sinha, Minister
of State in the Ministry of Finance in written reply to a question in Rajya
Sabha today.
*****
Change in Tariff Value of Crude Palm Oil, RBD Palm Oil,
Others – Palm Oil, Crude Palmolein, RBD Palmolein, Others – Palmolein, Crude
Soyabean Oil, Brass Scrap (All Grades), Poppy Seeds, Areca Nuts, Gold And
Silver Notified
In exercise of the powers
conferred by sub-section (2) of section 14 of the Customs Act, 1962 (52 of
1962), the Central Board of Excise & Customs, being satisfied that it is
necessary and expedient so to do, hereby makes the following amendment in the
notification of the Government of India in the Ministry of Finance (Department
of Revenue), No. 36/2001-Customs (N.T.), dated the 3rd August, 2001, published in the Gazette
of India, Extraordinary, Part-II, Section-3, Sub-section (ii), vide number S.
O. 748 (E), dated the 3rd August,
2001, namely:-
In the said notification,
for TABLE-1, TABLE-2, and
TABLE-3 the following Tables
shall be substituted namely:-
TABLE-1
|
Sl. No.
|
Chapter/
heading/ sub-heading/tariff item
|
Description of
goods
|
Tariff value US
$
(Per Metric
Tonne)
|
|
(1)
|
(2)
|
(3)
|
(4)
|
|
1
|
1511
10 00
|
Crude
Palm Oil
|
635
|
|
2
|
1511
90 10
|
RBD Palm Oil
|
656
|
|
3
|
1511
90 90
|
Others – Palm Oil
|
646
|
|
4
|
1511
10 00
|
Crude Palmolein
|
667
|
|
5
|
1511
90 20
|
RBD Palmolein
|
670
|
|
6
|
1511
90 90
|
Others – Palmolein
|
669
|
|
7
|
1507
10 00
|
Crude Soya bean Oil
|
716
|
|
8
|
7404
00 22
|
Brass Scrap (all
grades)
|
3384
|
|
9
|
1207
91 00
|
Poppy seeds
|
1913
|
TABLE-2
|
Sl. No.
|
Chapter/
heading/ sub-heading/tariff item
|
Description
of goods
|
Tariff
value
(US $)
|
|
(1)
|
(2)
|
(3)
|
(4)
|
|
1
|
71
or 98
|
Gold,
in any form, in respect of which the benefit of entries at serial number 321
and 323 of the Notification No. 12/2012-Customs dated 17.03.2012 is availed
|
354
per 10 grams
|
|
2
|
71
or 98
|
Silver,
in any form, in respect of which the benefit of entries at serial number 322
and 324 of the Notification No. 12/2012-Customs dated 17.03.2012 is availed
|
477
per kilogram
|
TABLE-3
|
Sl. No.
|
Chapter/
heading/ sub-heading/tariff item
|
Description
of goods
|
Tariff
value
(US $ Per Metric
Tons )
|
|
(1)
|
(2)
|
(3)
|
(4)
|
|
1
|
080280
|
Areca
nuts
|
2268”
|
*****
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