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Showing posts with label Financial department. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Financial department. Show all posts

Tuesday, 23 June 2015

18:25

Tax benefits for using debit or credit cards to bring in transparency

Tax benefits for using debit or credit cards to bring in transparency

The finance ministry has issued draft proposals for facilitating electronic transactions that are aimed at bringing transparency in the economy and promoting cashless payments. 

The ministry said that the objective is to improve the ease of conducting transactions for individuals and cut costs of managing cash. The decision, once implemented, will also go a long way in reducing tax avoidance that is rampant because of cash payments. The government said that the by facilitating electronic transactions, it will be able to build a transactions history which will in turn help customers in getting loans easily and will help in financial inclusion. 

 Source :DNA
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07:51

Finance Ministry approved 10th Bipartite Settlement Wage Revision for Officer Employees of Public Sector Banks

Finance Ministry approved 10th Bipartite Settlement Wage Revision for Officer Employees of Public Sector Banks

Finance Ministry approved 10th Bipartite Settlement Wage Revision for Bank employees for period 1.11.2012 to 31.10.2017

Salary Revision for Officer Employees of Public Sector Banks governed by Officer’s Service Regulation – 10th Bipartite Settlement for period 1.11.2012 to 31.10.2017

Government of India
Ministry of Finance
Department of Financial Services

Jeevan Deep. IIIrd Floor,
Parliament Street, New Delhi,
Dated the June 19, 2015

To
Sh. M.V.Tanksale,
Chief Executive,
Indian Banks’ Association,
Mumbai.

Subject: Salary Revision for Officer Employees of Public Sector Banks governed by Officer’s Service Regulation – 10th Bipartite Settlement for period 1.11.2012 to 31.10.2017

Top Headlines: Bank Employees Announce Strike on 24.6.2015
Sir.
I am directed to refer to your letter No. HR&IR/KSC/GOVT/665 dated 25th May, 2015 on the above subject and to say that Government has ‘No objection‘ to IBA authorizing the Banks to pay revised salary and arrears of pay and allowances to serving officers and revised pension and arrears to existing pension optees retired w.e.f. on or after 1.11.2012 as per the provisions at the Joint Note pending amendments to the Officer’s Service Regulations/Pension Regulations subject to the provisions made by the respective banks in the particular year.

2. As regards declaring 2nd and 4th Saturday as holidays and other Saturdays as full working days is concerned. IBA may rater to this Department’s letter No. 4/1/7/2015-IR dated 2.6.2015.

3. This issues with the approval of Hon’ble Finance Minister

Yours faithfully,

(S R. Mehar)

Deputy Secretary to the Government at India

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Thursday, 11 June 2015

16:03

Railways seek Rs.30000 Crore Special Railway Safety Fund (SRSF) from Finance Ministry

Railways seek Rs.30000 Crore Special Railway Safety Fund (SRSF) from Finance Ministry


New Delhi: Indian Railways has sought a special railway safety fund (SRSF) of Rs.30,000 crore from the Finance Ministry, so that the funds could be used in removing level crossings, and building road over bridges and road under-bridges.

If level crossings are removed, they would help lower the accidents on railways level crossings.

“We have sought Rs. 30,000 crore through SRSF, which will be a non-lapsable fund across the years,” said VK Gupta, Member-Engineering, Railway Board, in a conference.

Earlier, Railways had levied a surcharge on passenger and freight tariffs to build the SRSF pool during NDA’s regime between 2000-2004, which also flowed over to the UPA regime. But, Gupta added that they have not proposed any such surcharge.
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Monday, 1 June 2015

08:09

ITR form simplified, file returns by Aug 31

ITR form simplified, file returns by Aug 31- Press Information Bureau

Government of India
Ministry of Finance

31-May-2015

Income Tax Return Forms ITR 1, 2 and 4S Simplified for Convenience of the Tax Payers;

A New Form ITR 2A Proposed which can be Filed by an Individual or HUF who does not have Capital Gains, Income from Business/Profession or Foreign Asset/Foreign Income; In Form ITR 2 and the New Form ITR 2A, the Main Form will not Contain more than 3 Pages, and other Information will be Captured in the Schedules which will be Required to be filled only if applicable;

As the Software for these Forms is under Preparation, they are likely to be available for e-filing by 3rd week of june 2015;Time Limit for Filing these Returns is also Proposed to be Extended up to 31.08.2015;

Only Passport Number, if available, would be required to be given in forms Itr-2 and itr-2A. Details of Foreign Trips or Expenditure thereon are not required to be Furnished

Forms ITR 1, 2 and 4S for Assessment Year 2015-16 were notified on 15th April 2015 (15.04.2015). In view of various representations, it was announced that these ITR forms will be reviewed. Having considered the responses received from various stakeholders, these forms are proposed to be simplified in the following manner for the convenience of the taxpayers:-

1) Individuals having exempt income without any ceiling (other than agricultural income exceeding Rs. 5,000) can now file Form ITR 1 (Sahaj). Similar simplification is also proposed for individuals/HUF in respect of Form ITR 4S (Sugam).

2) At present individuals/HUFs having income from more than one house property and capital gains are required to file Form ITR-2. It is, however, noticed that majority of individuals/HUFs who file Form ITR-2 do not have capital gains. With a view to provide for a simplified form for these individuals/HUFs, a new Form ITR 2A is proposed which can be filed by an individual or HUF who does not have capital gains, income from business/profession or foreign asset/foreign income.

3) In lieu of foreign travel details, it is now proposed that only Passport Number, if available, would be required to be given in Forms ITR-2 and ITR-2A. Details of foreign trips or expenditure thereon are not required to be furnished.

4) As regards bank account details in all these forms, only the IFS code, account number of all the current/savings account which are held at any time during the previous year will be required to be filled-up. The balance in accounts will not be required to be furnished. Details of dormant accounts which are not operational during the last three years are not required to be furnished.

5) An individual who is not an Indian citizen and is in India on a business, employment or student visa (expatriate), would not mandatorily be required to report the foreign assets acquired by him during the previous years in which he was non-resident if no income is derived from such assets during the relevant previous year.

6) As a measure of simplification, it has been endeavoured to ensure that in Form ITR 2 and the new Form ITR 2A, the main form will not contain more than 3 pages, and other information will be captured in the Schedules which will be required to be filled only if applicable.

As the software for these forms is under preparation, they are likely to be available for e-filing by 3rd week of June 2015. Accordingly, the time limit for filing these returns is also proposed to be extended up to 31st August, 2015 (31.08.2015). A separate notification will be issued in this regard.

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Source:Govemployees.
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08:02

Service tax hiked to 14%, mobile, hotel, railways, other services to be costlier from today

Service tax hiked to 14%, mobile, hotel, railways, other services to be costlier from today

New Delhi: People will have to shell out more from Monday while using mobiles, eating out and travelling as the service tax rate goes up to 14 per cent.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his Budget had proposed to raise service tax from 12.36 per cent (including education cess) to 14 per cent. The proposal takes effect from June 1.

The tax is levied on all services, expect a small negative list.

Some of the key services that will attract higher tax and hence become costlier are: railways, airlines, banking, insurance, advertising, architecture, construction, credit cards, event management and tour operators.

Mobile operators and credit card companies have already started sending messages to subscribers conveying the increase in service tax rate which will have a bearing on the bills.

According to railway ministry officials, fares for First Class and AC classes in passenger trains, besides freight charges, will go up by 0.5 per cent from June 1.

"Currently, 3.7 per cent service tax is levied on train fares for AC Class, First Class and freight. This will go up to 4.2 per cent from June which means the rise is only 0.5 per cent," the official said. Currently, there is abatement of 70 per cent on passenger services.

Jaitley had proposed to raise the service tax rate to 14 per cent to facilitate a smooth transition to the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime, which the government wants to roll out from April 2016.

Once implemented, GST will subsume service tax, excise and other local levies.

"To facilitate a smooth transition to levy of tax on services by both the Centre and the States, it is proposed to increase the present rate of service tax plus education cesses from 12.36 per cent to a consolidated rate of 14 per cent," Jaitley had said in Budget speech.

Education cess, which is levied on service tax, will be subsumed in the service tax rate with effect from June 1.

Although the Budget also proposed a 2 per cent Swachh Bharat cess on selected services, the government is yet to come out with a notification in this regard.

Source:IBNLIVE
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Tuesday, 26 May 2015

04:04

Modi is likely to announce implementation of the one rank one pension (OROP) scheme concerning ex-servicemen at his rally in Mathura

Modi is likely to announce implementation of the one rank one pension (OROP) scheme concerning ex-servicemen at his rally in Mathura

Modi may announce OROP implementation at Mathura rally

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to announce implementation of the one rank one pension (OROP) scheme concerning ex-servicemen at his rally in Mathura on Monday to mark one year of his government.

Defence ministry sources on Sunday said modalities relating to the long-pending demand of ex-servicemen have been thrashed out.

They said the prime minister could make an announcement about OROP at the rally in Mathura to mark one year of the National Democratic Alliance government.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had said on Friday that the OROP concept was “an unambiguous commitment” of the government and it will be implemented.

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Monday, 25 May 2015

07:46

First Meeting of Advisory Board for Railway Financial matters held; Minister meets Board, Bankers on investment

First Meeting of Advisory Board for Railway Financial matters held; Minister meets Board, Bankers on investment

New Delhi: Chairing the first meeting of the newly-constituted Advisory Board on Financial Matters, Union Minister of Railways Suresh Prabhu on Monday drew the attention to the huge investment requirement in Railways and the various sources and structures under consideration to mobilize the required resources. He discussed with leading bankers ways in which resources could be mobilised for railways. The minister briefed leading bankers on the huge investment requirement of the Railways. During the discussions several suggestions were made for attracting domestic and international funds, steps required to give comfort to investors/lenders and to ensure sustainability of the funding models.

Prabhu also highlighted the complex task of various projects with discrepancies in their returns. Minister of State for Railways Manoj Sinha was also present during the discussion. The Railway Minister in his Railway Budget had announced setting up of an Advisory Board dealing financial aspects. The Board consisting of top names of the financial world is expected to guide and advise on matters of sourcing investments into Railway infrastructure development. A Financial Services Cell has also been created in the Ministry to focus on this aspect.

The members of the Advisory Committee are Chairman ICICI Bank KV Kamath, SBI Chairperson Arundhati Bhattacharya, Executive Chairman of IDFC Rajiv Lall and Founder of The Quintillion Media Pvt. Ltd Raghav Bahal. Railway Board Chairman AK Mital and members of the Railway Board, other senior officers of the Ministry and Managing Director, IRFC too attended the meeting.

“Several suggestions were made by members of the advisory board for attracting domestic and international funds, besides steps needed to be taken up to give comfort to investors or lenders and to ensure sustainability of the funding models,” said the official.

Prabhu in his Rail Budget speech had announced an investment of Rs.8.5 lakh crore in Railways in the next five years. In this regard the Ministry has already signed a MoU with LIC of India for a funding assistance of Rs.1,50,000 crore. The Annual Plan size for 2015-16 was also doubled to cross Rs.1 lakh figure in 2015-16.

The advisory board was proposed by Mr Suresh Prabhu in the Parliament.
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Tuesday, 19 May 2015

07:18

PM Narendra Modi to announce one rank, one pension for ex-servicemen this month

Govt to announce one rank, one pension for ex-servicemen this month

NEW DELHI: The long-awaited one rank, one pension (OROP) for over 25 lakh ex-servicemen is set to be announced this month, with a corpus of about Rs 8,300 crore, after several false starts since the NDA government assumed office one year ago. 

As earlier reported by TOI, the defence ministry had earlier cleared the implementation of the OROP mechanism but it was being vetted by the finance ministry. Defence minister Manohar Parrikar told journalists in Goa over the weekend that the finance ministry would clear OROP "in a few days".

READ ALSO: 'One rank, one pension' cleared, Parrikar says

It will then be announced once PM Narendra Modi returns from his three-nation visit to coincide with the first anniversary celebrations of the NDA government on May 26. It will come as a big relief to ex-servicemen, who have been agitating for the OROP mechanism for several years now, with many of them even returning their medals to register their protest against what all political parties have promised but never actually delivered. 

OROP basically implies payment of a uniform pension to personnel retiring in the same rank with the same length of service, irrespective of their date of retirement. For instance, two officers who served as colonels for seven years will get the same pension even if they retired a decade apart. A colonel with five years in that rank will obviously get lesser pension based on a graded scale. 

The Modi government has defined "military pension" as a category separate from other kinds of pension since soldiers, sailors and airmen as well as their officers, who retire at a much younger age and serve hardship postings, cannot be equated with other government employees. 

Successive governments in the past had contended that granting full OROP was neither financially nor administratively possible since it could lead to a cascading effect with similar demands being made by others like paramilitary personnel. But this time, the government says military pension has been classified as different from other pensions. The majority of soldiers, for instance, retire when they are just 34-35 years old.

Spource: TOI.
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Wednesday, 22 April 2015

07:37

Parliamentary Panel raise Serious Concerns at IR’s Financial Health; observe Rs.61000 Cr Bankruptcy by end 2015

Parliamentary Panel raise Serious Concerns at IR’s Financial Health; observe Rs.61000 Cr Bankruptcy by end 2015

The MPs noted that a similar trend has been observed in passenger business productivity also. For both freight and passenger traffic, system productivity was falling on an annual rate of 1% to 2%. Also it was found that over the years, railways has failed to generate internal resources resulting in its greater dependence on budgetary support and market borrowings

New Delhi: The Parliamentary Panel constituted to examine the financial condition of Railways, headed by the TMC MP and former Union Minister of Railways (under the previous UPA regime) Dinesh Trivedi has expressed serious concerns at the financial health of Indian Railways, even observing that it would declare a bankruptcy of Rs 61,000 crore by the end of 2015.

The 31-member panel headed by Dinish Trivedi which scrutinised grants for the railways observed that operating ratio of the national carrier had deteriorated to 93.6%. It had excess surplus of just Rs 3,740 crore in 2013-14. But under provisioning for depreciation has resulted in piling up of throw forward of works concerning renewal of overaged assets of the order of Rs 41,871 crore.

The MPs noted that a similar trend has been observed in passenger business productivity also. For both freight and passenger traffic, system productivity was falling on an annual rate of 1% to 2%. Also it was found that over the years, railways has failed to generate internal resources resulting in its greater dependence on budgetary support and market borrowings.
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Tuesday, 14 April 2015

08:15

We kept a Hawk-Eye in implementation of our Budget promises and timely Rollout of Projects: Suresh Prabhu

New Delhi: In his first interview after presenting the rail budget, railway minister Suresh Prabhu tells that he is keeping a hawk-eye on implementing the budget promises and has put in place a mechanism for timely rollout of projects in the state-run transporter (Courtesy: TOI)

What view has the ministry taken on the Bibek Debroy panel report?

Bibek Debroy and his colleagues submitted the report to me only on Thursday and according to them, this is a draft report and they said these are not final recommenda tions. So, we have to wait for the final report. I have suggested that they should also seek views from our employees and our unions because sometimes, the communication gap leads to misunderstand ing. They also agree with that.

Rail reforms are very difficult considering that railways has 13 lakh employees and they have rejected the report.

Wait for the final report. Debroy was telling me that some reports which have appeared as recommendations have some communication gap.

In the budget, you talked about attracting pension funds for railway infrastructure. What is the progress?

First, money is not the only mission of railways. Railways is not a bank. We need money only to meet our capital requirement which we estimated at Rs 8.50 lakh crore over five years. Right now, we don’t need money for the current year. We have already got Rs 1.50 lakh crore from LIC. We are in talks with World Bank, IFC and ADB for more money. In our budget, we talked about Rs 1.50 lakh crore for station development which is completely coming out of private sector so I don’t have to arrange money for that. Then, there are two untapped sources.

One is tax free bonds which the FM has talked about in his budget speech for the first time, and the second is India Infrastructure Development Fund which aims to raise Rs 2 lakh crore in five years. So, we can draw around 50% of this amount. Plus, we have al ready signed an agreement with coal ministry and are in talks with other ministries and NTPC so that (freight) customers can pool in money. Plus, finance ministry has been giving money regularly, around Rs 60,000 crore per year, so that itself will become Rs 3 lakh crore in five years. All the money crore in five years. A put together is more than what is required.

Also, pension funds, sovereign wealth funds and other options are there. We are in talks with Japanese, Chinese and Canadian pension funds. We can use these resources for development of other infrastructure

Are you talking about the infrastructure fund that finance minister mentioned?

In Japan, the rate of interest is very , very low, in fact, more or less flat for a long time because the economy is not growing, inflation is very low. So, they are facing a double whammy -low inflation and low demand. They need to invest outside and this meets our require ment. Look at China’s sovereign wealth fund. It is worth $4 trillion.We are offering something which is not soft financing or bilateral help. This is purely on commercial consideration for investment into another market which benefits them. Canada has the same problem, $2 trillion of pension fund which is more than the size of its economy. They have to invest out side.Fund availability for India’s infrastructure is going to be immense.

I can tell you something interesting on what we can do. We have public sector units which have very good balancesheets. When they execute a project, the advantage is they will be able to raise resources on their own balance-sheet. They can borrow from their own balance-sheet and they can leverage.

What is the progress on decongesting the network?

Today is the 10th day of the new financial year and I am very happy to say that each and every budget announcement has been made into actionable points and we have already reviewed it three times. We are trying to monitor the implementation at three levels. I have asked my colleague minister (MoS) to monitor it regularly. Chairman of railway board has been directed to take feedback from board members every 15 days. Another layer is online monitoring. Two kinds of monitoring, one is for project implementation, other is for non project implementation such as food quality. For projects, it will go through various phases of approvals. Our target is to get work started in September. We are targeting implementation but completion will not happen before three years.

Do you think it is possible to fulfill these big ideas under the current railway board structure?

Each and every idea in the budget speech is under implementation and through the same system. In the last 10 days, I have had meetings with five zones which account for 70% of the freight traffic. In the last 10 days, I visited 10 states and met general managers, divisional railway managers. They are extremely excited to work on these ideas. I don’t see any issue in terms of railway board and, in fact, railway board chairman is monitoring it.
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