1. Companies May Face Higher Penalties for Not Passing on GST Rate Cuts
The Finance Ministry is considering an amendment in the law to raise penalties against companies that fail to pass on GST rate cuts to consumers.
At present, the penalty for such an act is Rs 10,000 or the amount of tax evaded, whichever is higher. “The proposal is to bring an amendment in the Finance Bill to raise the penalty from Rs 10,000,” a senior government official told BusinessLine.
Earlier this week, officials from various ministries including Finance and Law discussed the proposal. One of the key concerns behind this move is that companies often do not pass on the entire benefit of tax cuts.
(Source: The Hindu Business Line)
2. Government to Infuse Rs 980 Crore as Equity in Air India to Service Debt
After an SOS from Air India that it does not have money to service debt, the government is set to infuse Rs 980 crore as equity in the national carrier next week.
A substantial part of these funds — about Rs 550 crore — will be used to service interest on nonconvertible debentures that are due in September-end. Air India, as part of its turnaround plan, had issued government-guaranteed NCDs worth Rs 7,400 crore to repay bank loans.
“The rest of the money will be used to pay for spares for our planes, which are currently on ground and will soon be flying. We will also be paying our international and other vendors,” said a senior Air India official who did not want to be identified.
(Source: Economic Times)
3. Yes Bank Gets RBI Nod for Continuance of Rana Kapoor as MD & CEO
Private sector lender Yes Bank on Thursday, 30 August, said it has received RBI’s approval for continuance of Rana Kapoor as MD and CEO of the bank till further notice from the central bank. In June this year, Yes Bank’s shareholders had approved the re-appointment of Rana Kapoor as the chief executive and managing director for three years, subject to final approval from the Reserve Bank of India.
“We wish to inform you that the Bank has received the RBI’s approval that Rana Kapoor may continue as Managing Director & CEO of YES Bank till further notice from RBI,” the bank said in a regulatory filing.
(Source: Financial Express)
4. IPPB Signing Up Merchants for QR-based Payments Ecosystem
India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) is signing up merchants countrywide to enable quick-response (QR) code transactions for its customers, ahead of the bank’s formal launch this weekend.
Unorganised retail including small merchants and kirana stores will be IPPB’s focus, Suresh Sethi, managing director and chief executive officer of IPPB said in an interview. “We will be putting simple QR code at these outlets where any IPPB customer can go to and pay by scanning that code and likewise, the merchant can do a one-time password (OTP) based transaction and take money from the customer,” he said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the payments bank on Saturday 1 September.
(Source: Livemint)
5. Adani Plans ‘Time of Day’ Power Pricing in Mumbai
Adani Transmission Ltd said it will seek regulatory approval for “time of day” pricing after completing the acquisition of the power generation, transmission and distribution businesses in Mumbai run by Anil Ambani-led Reliance Energy Ltd.
“We will certainly recommend to the regulator for ‘time of day’ pricing to make sure that such of the loads which can be shifted to night time when the load of the city becomes very low to consume power at a much competitive price. Those are aspects we will deal with the regulator because the regulator is the final authority to decide pricing norms,” Anil Sardana, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Adani Transmission, told Business Line.
Adani Transmission funded the deal valued at Rs 12,100 crore through Rs 3,400 crore of promoters’ equity, while the balance was borrowed from YES Bank and SBI, Sardana stated.
(Source: The Hindu Business Line)
6. Idea and Vodafone's India Deal Edges Closer to Completion
Idea Cellular and Vodafone have cleared the last regulatory hurdle to merge their operations in India, a source told Reuters, opening the way for the creation of a new market leader in the fiercely competitive country.
Vodafone, the world's second biggest mobile operator, entered India in 2007 amid much fanfare but has struggled almost since its arrival due to the extremely low pricing and a long-running tax battle.
The two groups announced the deal in March last year to create a player with a combined base of around 400 million customers, overtaking Bharti Airtel and accounting for about 40 percent of revenue in the market.
(Source: Economic Times)
7. Tim Cook Richer by $57 Million After Apple Hits $1-Trillion Mark
Apple CEO Tim Cook became richer by over $57 million in a jiffy when he sold shares given to him as the company’s market cap earlier this month exceeded $1 trillion for the first time. According to a US regulatory filing, Cook sold 2,65,000 Apple shares worth $121 million, Business Insider reported late on Wednesday, 29 August.
Nearly $64 million of the share options were withheld for tax reasons and Cook took home over $57 million. The stock awards were in addition to his salary and bonus scheme. Cook earned $12.8 million last year — $3 million as base salary and a $9.3 million cash bonus, rising 46 percent. “Cook’s net worth is estimated to be $625 million,” the report said.
(Source: Financial Express)
8. Lenders File Insolvency Case Against Diamond Firm Shrenuj
Century-old diamond house Shrenuj and Co, which had the late Maharani Gayatri Devi of Jaipur as its brand ambassador, is facing insolvency proceedings.
State-owned Bank of India has approached the bankruptcy court against the company for defaulting on Rs 226 crore.
The counsel representing the consortium of 17 lenders, Pooja Karadia, told the Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) on Wednesday, 29 August that Shrenuj’s debt of Rs 1,113 crore had turned bad on 31 March 2016, and there is an admitted liability.
(Source: Livemint)
9. BSE to Launch F&O Contracts on Bharat-22 Index from 3 September
Futures and options (F&O) contracts will be introduced on Bharat-22 index from 3 September by Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).
“The exchange shall introduce futures and options contracts on S&P BSE Bharat-22 Index in equity derivatives segment with effect from 3 September 2018,” BSE said in a circular.
Bharat-22 index is a combination of stocks of various key central public sector enterprises (CPSEs), public sector banks (PSBs) and blue chip private companies like Larsen & Toubro (L&T), Axis Bank and ITC. The other companies part of the index including ONGC, IOC, SBI, BPCL, Coal India, Nalco, Bharat Electronics, REC, Power Finance Corp, Engineers India, NBCC, NTPC, NHPC, SJVNL, GAIL, Power Grid Corporation, NLC India, Indian Bank and Bank of Baroda.
(Source: Financial Express)
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