QBiz: Mistry-Tata Legal Battle Begins; 84% Dip in Party Donations
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1. Cyrus Mistry Fires First Salvo in Legal Battle Against Tata
Cyrus Mistry has kickstarted his legal battle against Tata Sons – and the Tata Trusts that control the Tata holding firm.
On Tuesday, investment firms controlled by his family moved the National Company Law Tribunal to protect their interests against mismanagement and oppression of minority shareholders at Tata Sons. NCLT Mumbai will hear the petition on 22 December .
Sterling Investment Pvt Corp Ltd and Cyrus Investments Pvt Ltd, which together hold a little more than 18 percent in Tata Sons, have moved a petition under clause 241 and 242 of the Companies Act, 2013.
(Source: Livemint)
2. Donations To National Parties Dipped 84% in 2015-16
Donations above ₹20,000 received by national political parties amounted to ₹102.02 crore in 2015-16, with the BJP accounting for ₹76.85 crore, thrice the aggregate of five other political parties, the Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR) has said.
However, the total donations of these parties plunged 84 percent by ₹528.67 crore in 2015-16, from 2014-15, the year when the Lok Sabha elections were held.
The corporate and business sector was the highest donor to political parties, contributing ₹77.28 crore (75.75 percent). Of this, the BJP bagged ₹67.99 crore, followed by Congress (INC), ₹8.83 crore. Individual donors gave ₹23.41 crore (22.95 percent) of the total donations in 2015-16.
(Source: Business Line)
3. Price War Flares as Airlines in India Dismiss OPEC Deal Risk
Air travellers globally are bracing for higher fares after the OPEC decided to cut output last month. However, in India, the world’s fastest-growing major aviation market, carriers cut fares in November.
Tickets were sold for about 12 percent cheaper on average for Mumbai-New Delhi flights from a year ago, according to online travel agency Yatra.com. The steepest discounts were as much as 30 percent for the world’s seventh-busiest local route.
The slashing of fares during the peak holiday travel season threatens to wipe out gains accrued from cheap oil and push some of the operators back to losses. Carriers in China and India are expanding capacity with orders for hundreds of planes and luring passengers with discounts.
(Source: BloombergQuint)
4. Bad Debt Provisioning: RBI Urges Govt to Give Full Tax Deduction to Banks
The Reserve Bank of India on Tuesday urged Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to allow banks to get full tax deduction on the provisions made towards bad debts.
Such a facility of full tax deduction will shore up banks, which face challenges from demonetisation and sluggish loan recoveries in the ongoing third quarter. The RBI was represented by Deputy Governor SS Mundra at the pre-Budget meeting with bankers called by the Finance Minister.
During the meeting, banks also pitched for an extension of the additional 60-day window granted to them for recognition of a loan account as sub-standard. The RBI had, on November 21, nearly a fortnight after the demonetisation announcement of November 8, temporarily relaxed prudential norms for banks and non-banking finance companies, allowing short-term deferment of classification of loan dues of small borrowers as sub-standard.
(Source: Business Line)
5. Govt Plans Tax Exemption Threshold for Political Parties
The government plans to set a threshold criteria for political parties enjoying tax exemptions in order to check money laundering by outfits which do not contest elections, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said.
Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia has been asked to look into the issue, he said. Jaitley’s remark assumes significance in the context of the Election Commission’s recommendations to the government to amend laws to bar tax exemption to parties which do not contest elections and win seats in Lok Sabha and Assembly polls and to ban anonymous donations above Rs 2,000 to political parties.
Jaitley underlined the need to make political funding as transparent as possible, saying donations must be smaller in size but huge in number.
(Source: Business Standard)
6. Income Tax Dept Tracks Down Rs 3,185 Cr Black Money, Rs 86 Cr In New Notes
Over Rs 3,185 crore of undisclosed income has been detected while Rs 86 crore worth new notes have been seized by the Income Tax department as part of its country-wide operations against black money hoarders after the demonetisation of Rs500 and Rs1,000 notes by the government.
Officials said the Income Tax department carried out a total of 677 search, survey and enquiry operations under the provisions of the Income Tax Act since the note ban was declared on 8 November, even as the department has issued over 3,100 notices to various entities on charges of tax evasion and hawala-like dealings.
The tax department has seized cash and jewellery worth over Rs 428 crore during the same period even as the new currency seized (majorly Rs 2,000 notes) is valued at about Rs 86 crore.
(Source: Livemint)
7. Chandrababu Naidu Makes U-Turn, Slams Note Ban
BJP ally and Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu, who had initially supported demonetisation, on Tuesday did a virtual volte face, saying the decision was not as per “our wish” and that a “lot of problems” still remain without any solution in sight.
Chandrababu, who significantly heads a 13-member committee appointed by the central government to look into demonetisation issues, warned that unless remedial measures are taken, people’s woes would continue in the long-term.
“Demonetisation was not our wish but it happened. More than 40 days after demonetisation, there are still a lot of problems but yet there appears to be no solution,” he said addressing a workshop of MPs, MLCs, MLAs and other leaders of his Telugu Desam Party (TDP).
(Source: Livemint)
8. Trump Govt to Engage With India to Develop Smart Cities
The new administration under US President-elect Donald Trump will continue to engage with India on development of smart cities, a US government official told ET.
India and the United States, during President Barack Obama’s term, signed memorandums of understanding to develop three smart cities in Allahabad, Ajmer and Visakhapatnam. The US agreed to assist the cities in project planning, infrastructure development, feasibility studies and capacity building.
(Source: Economic Times)
9. Aditya Birla Retail Expansion to Focus on Food and Groceries Business
After nearly four years of being in maintenance mode, Aditya Birla Retail Ltd (ABRL), which operates supermarkets and hypermarkets under the More brand, is now ready to aggressively expand its food and groceries business, a top company executive said.
The plan is to make the business even bigger than the conglomerate’s near billion dollar (in revenue) apparel business, Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Ltd in the coming years, said Pranab Barua, business director (retail and apparel) at Aditya Birla Group.
(Source: Livemint)
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