QBiz: 714 Indians in Paradise Papers; GST Council May Slash Rates
A roundup of the top business stories of the day.
advertisement
1. Paradise Papers Reveal Corporates’ Black Money Trail
Eighteen months after the Panama Papers, the biggest ever financial data leak came to light today, obtained by German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung and probed by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) in collaboration with 96 news agencies including the Guardian, the BBC and the New York Times, among others.
The leak embroils top global companies, heads of state, political hotshots, apart from entertainment and sports stars who have hidden their money in tax havens.
The wealth of data, known as the Paradise Papers, has revealed hitherto-unheard of information about offshore companies and a host of tax havens — numbering 19 — that have been enabling rich people, including Indians — to park their wealth to other countries.
(Source: Economic Times)
2. 35,000 Companies Deposited, Withdrew Rs17,000 Crore After Demonetisation
Indian regulatory agencies have tracked down about Rs 17,000 crore of suspicious transactions, indicating possible tax fraud, by shell companies after analysing data thrown up following last November’s demonetisation exercise, said the Union corporate affairs ministry.
The sum, equivalent to the money set aside in the Union budget for imparting skills, generating employment and providing livelihood, has been identified following a preliminary probe into 35,000 companies and 58,000 bank accounts, the ministry said in a statement on Sunday.
The investigation revealed that Rs 17,000 crore was deposited into these bank accounts and withdrawn after demonetisation was announced on 8 November.
(Source: Livemint)
3. GST Council To Consider Slashing Rates On Common Use Goods
The Goods and Services Tax council may consider lowering tax rates on a host of goods such as handmade furniture, plastic products and daily use items like shampoo, and simplify return filing rules in its meeting this week.
The council, headed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, is scheduled to meet on 10 November to consider lowering of the 28 percent GST rate on certain common use items, government officials said.
In further relief to small and medium enterprises, the panel is likely to rationalise tax rate in sectors where the total incidence of taxation has gone up because the goods were earlier either exempt from excise or was attracted lower value-added tax rates in the previous indirect tax regime.
(Source: PTI)
4. Tighter Scrutiny After Demonetisation Led to Rise in PAN Registrations, ITR Filings
Heightened surveillance and a crackdown on black money has led to a three-fold increase in PAN (permanent account number) registrations, an 18 percent rise in income tax returns as well as a significant increase in the number of properties seized by the tax department to 475.
“This is the effect of demonetisation and operation clean money launched in January. Data analysis of information collected during the months after demonetisation has led to higher surveillance and a more effective crackdown on black money,” said a top official in the tax department who asked not to be named.
The department aims to bring large tax evaders to account and gently persuade those making minor violations to comply with the rules.
(Source: Livemint)
5. Power Grid Aims to Commission Rs 30,000 Crore Worth of Projects in FY18
State-run Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd., which posted a 14.4 percent jump in second-quarter profit, said it expects to commission around Rs 30,000 crore worth of transmission line projects for FY18.
Net profit in the second quarter rose to Rs 2,141 crore in the three months through September, the company said on Thursday. That compared to the Rs 2,129 crore consensus estimate of analysts tracked by Bloomberg.
“This despite it being monsoon season. And that’s why we are sure that we would be able to complete our target of Rs 30,000 crore worth of projects this year,” Jha said.
(Source: BloombergQuint)
6. India Inc Raises Over Rs 36,000 Crore Via QIP In First Half Of FY18
Indian firms mobilised over Rs 36,000 crore through issuance of shares to institutional investors during April-September period of the current financial year, a 13-fold rise from the year-ago period.
As per the latest data available with the Securities and Exchange Board of India, capital garnered by the listed companies through the qualified institutional placement route stood at Rs 36,653 crore in the first six months of 2017-18.
In comparison, firms had mopped-up Rs 2,818 crore in April-September period of 2016-17.
(Source: BloombergQuint)
7. Air India Scouts for $535 Million Loan to Buy 3 Boeing Planes
Air India is looking to raise loans worth $535 million to finance acquisition of three Boeing Co planes, including two aircraft that will be used for ferrying VVIPs, a senior airline official said.
It has reduced the required loan amount by around $20 million in less than three weeks after floating a tender where it had sought loan up to $555 million for buying the three aircraft.
The delivery of three B777-300 ER planes is scheduled to be completed in February next year, with two expected to be bought in January.
(Source: PTI)
8. Hold Your Board Meetings Here to Get a Sense of Changing India: PM Modi Urges Food MNCs
Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged top executives of some of the world’s largest food makers and sellers, including NestleBSE 1.93 percent, PepsiCo, Coca-Cola, Mondelez, GlaxoSmithKline, The Hershey Company, Amazon and Walmart to have at least one global board meeting in India in 2018 so they get a sense of what the country is all about and the changes that are taking place.
He said work on food processing had been limited, not done at the national level and the country needed to create wealth from waste. “The impact of consumerism is most with the middle class, there is huge opportunity with the middle class,” he said.
(Source: Economic Times)
8. Amazon, Microsoft and Apple to Seek Clarity on Google Tax
Online firms are planning to meet finance ministry officials this week to seek clarity on the applicability of general anti-avoidance rules (GAAR) in cases where the websites use patents based out of an offshore jurisdiction.
The move comes after the recent Bengaluru Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) judgment against Google India, asking it to pay up taxes on Rs 1,457 crore of income that the Indian arm had transferred to its Ireland unit pertaining to Google’s AdWords service, used by advertisers to display ads.
(Source: Business Standard)
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)