News highlights : 24 september 2016

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Nirmala Seetharaman

CURRENT AFFAIRS SEP 24, 2016

01. Traders’ body welcomes GST threshold of Rs 20 lakh :

The Confederation of All India Traders’ (CAIT) hailed the GST Council’s move to fix annual turnover limit for exemption at Rs 20 lakh. “It will take away large number of very small traders from the ambit of GST whose cost of compliance is much more than the cost of their livelihood earning,” CAIT National President B C Bhartia and its Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal said in a joint statement. The traders’ body said the move will also save the government from huge amount of administrative efforts and allow them to focus on widening the tax base. Aiming to expedite the rollout of the new indirect tax regime from April 1, the GST Council fixed an annual turnover limit for exemption at Rs 20 lakh and resolved that all cesses will be subsumed in the GST. The Confederation of All India Traders’ (CAIT) today hailed the GST Council’s move to fix annual turnover limit for exemption at Rs 20 lakh. Regarding issues pertaining to dual control over small traders, it has been decided that states will have exclusive control over all dealers up to a revenue threshold of Rs 1.5 crore in a year. While a mechanism would be worked out for traders above Rs 1.5 crore to ensure that a dealer is regulated either by the Central government or the state government and not both.

02. Govt announces additional incentives to exporters, widens MEIS ambit :

The government on 22nd Sept 2016, announced additional incentives worth Rs 1,500 crore for exporters to help them fight the continued slowdown in global demand. The Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS) has been beefed up with the number of tariff lines or export products covered going up from 5,012 to 7,913. The rate of incentives has also been increased for certain products. “The total support extended by the Centre under the scheme has been enhanced from the present Rs 22,000 crore to Rs 23,500 crore per annum,” the commerce ministry stated. Under MEIS, which was introduced in April 2015,exporters get duty-free scrips to import input goods, which go into the production of export items. The percentage of duty credits earned is based on a percentage of value of their exports — currently pegged at fixed rates of two per cent, three per cent, and five percent depending on the product and country. The earned scrips can be freely transferred to others or sold. Exporters have continued to maintain that more government help is needed to sustain India’s falling outbound trade.

03. Finance Ministry issues instructions for Budget 2017-18 :

With Centre deciding to advance Budget 2017-18 presentation by about a month, the Finance Ministry has come out with comprehensive instructions for different ministries for completion of the exercise. The instructions were issued following the Cabinet decision to merge rail and general budgets, do away with distinction between plan and non-plan expenditure, and advance date of budget presentation with a view to complete the entire exercise before March 31, the fiscal year end. Several structural reforms being undertaken this year, including, removal of distinction between plan and non-plan expenditure, advancement of budget presentation by about an month and merger of demands of Railways. "Due to these changes, the timelines and informational requirements from the Ministries have also changed. These have been duly incorporated in the Budget Circular," said the circular. It also contains the compendium of instructions issued from time to time by Ministry of Finance on various issues. The RE (Revised Estimate) meetings of ministries/ departments will be scheduled from October 17.

04. Sebi allows FPIs to directly trade in corporate bonds:

With an aim to deepen corporate bonds market by attracting more overseas funds, markets regulator Sebi decided to allow well-regulated Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) to trade directly trade in these securities without any broker. Currently, FPIs can trade in Indian markets only through brokers who are registered with the stock exchanges as their members. Under the new proposal approved by Sebi's board, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) would take up the matter with the government to permit FPIs to become members of the stock exchanges for their proprietary trading. In a statement, Sebi said it has decided to allow Category I and Category II FPIs to have an option to directly access the corporate bond market without brokers, as has been allowed to domestic institutions such as banks, insurance companies and pension funds.

05. Nothing wrong in recruiting outsiders as public sector bank chiefs: apex court

The Supreme Court on 23rd Sept 2016 , dismissed a PIL (public interest litigation) challenging the Centre’s policy of allowing private bank officials to be appointed Managing Directors or CEOs of public sector banks. A Bench comprising Chief Justice TS Thakur and Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud rejected the petition filed by the Bank Officers’ Confederation challenging the policy pertaining to such appointments and held that there was nothing wrong with it. The court had on May 5 sought responses from the government and Reserve Bank of India on the PIL, which had also challenged reduction of cut-off age for being considered for the top post from 58 years to 55. The plea had contended that the cut-off age for eligibility was “unjustly, irrationally and unilaterally” reduced against the advice and views of the Appointments Committee of Cabinet. The PIL, filed by former president of All-India Bank Officers Confederation KD Kheda, had challenged the February 26 advertisement for appointment of CEOs and MDs of Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Canara Bank, Punjab National Bank and IDBI Bank.

06. Sugarcane waste yields carbon for use in batteries:

Researchers from Pune’s National Chemical Laboratory (NCL) and Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) have used a simple, cost-effective and quick process to convert sugarcane bagasse into anode-grade porous, conducting, activated carbon material for use in Li-ion batteries. While making anode-grade carbon is currently very expensive and time-consuming, the Pune researchers were able to produce high-quality carbon within minutes by using a low power microwave system. The results of the study were published on July 5 in the journal Electrochimica Acta. The quality of carbon used for electrodes depends on the choice of precursors and the process used for converting the precursors into carbon. Anode-grade carbon is generally produced through decomposition at nearly 1000 degree Celsius. “By using a simple kitchen microwave oven we achieved local heating and combustion to realise high quality factory-grade carbon materials within a few minutes,” says Prof. Satishchandra Ogale, the corresponding author from the Centre for Energy Science at IISER, Pune and formerly Chief Scientist, NCL, Pune.

07. India initiates dumping probe against rubber from 5 nations:

India has started a probe into alleged dumping of a certain kind of rubber by Korea, Russia, South Africa, Iran and Singapore following a complaint from Reliance Industries. The move is aimed at protecting domestic players in the sector against cheap imports. The Directorate General of Anti-Dumping and Allied Duties (DGAD), an arm of the Commerce Ministry, has begun investigating imports of 'polybutadiene rubber' from these regions. In a notification, DGAD has said it has found sufficient prima facie evidence of dumping of the product from China. "The authority initiates an investigation into the alleged dumping of the product" from these five countries "to determine the existence, degree and effect of any alleged dumping and to recommend the amount of anti-dumping duty, which, if levied, would be adequate to remove the injury to the domestic industry," the notification said. The period of investigation covers April 2015 and March 2016. However, for the purpose of injury investigation, the period will also cover the data of previous three years, i.e. 2012-2015

08. RailTel to provide digital connectivity at far-flung areas :

Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu asked RailTel to adopt a “stand alone” approach to provide digital connectivity in far-flung areas. Congratulating Railtel on its annual day, Prabhu said it plays a crucial role in providing digital connectivity across the country and has become the backbone of telecommunication network. “We are facing challenges as India is a very big country. Some villages in the far-flung areas face difficulty in having connectivity, he said. RailTel, railways’ telecom PSU, is at the forefront in providing nation-wide Broadband Telecom and Multimedia Network in all parts of the country in addition to modernisation of train operations and administration network systems for the Railways. “We must have rural connectivity. Some villages in far-flung areas need stand alone solution to get digitally connected and Railtel should do that, Prabhu said. RailTel, a telecom services provider, has a pan-India optic fiber network covering all important cities and many rural areas of the country.

09.Add value to marine products and export them: Sitharaman

India is the seventh largest seafood exporter in the world, with Andhra Pradesh being the leader among the States, but the focus in future should be on export of value-added marine products, according to Union Minister of State for Commerce (independent charge) Nirmala Seetharaman. She was speaking in the port stadium after inaugurating the 20th India International Seafood Show (IISS-2016), organised by the Marine Products Export Development Authority and the Seafood Exporters' Association of India. She said the growth of the industry was self-motivated, especially in Andhra Pradesh, but the emphasis should be on value-addition. "I call upon the foreign companies, as well as the Indian companies, to have a healthy interaction during the show and draw up plans to invest in the sector with the objective in mind. The FDI norms had been eased for the purpose," she said. She said the MPEDA was the main export promotion agency at the national level, but "now we feed the need to have a state-level agency for the development of aquaculture and fisheries and such agencies will be set up in all the maritime states".

10. GST rollout: 60,000 service tax officials undergoing training

The service tax department has undertaken the massive exercise of training about 60,000 officers as part of its readiness for the proposed GST rollout. “The department is presently going through a massive training exercise. About 60,000 officers are getting trained. The National Academy of Customs Excise and Narcotics (NACN) has taken the major role as a resource organisation in this matter,” CP Rao, Chief Commissioner, Service Tax, Chennai Zone, said while addressing a session on GST, organised by Assocham. Both the Central and State government officials are being trained on the GST tax system. Meanwhile, NACN has also released a set of FAQs (frequently asked questions) on GST related topics on its Web site. “The FAQs generally address most of the concerns raised by the trade and other organisations", Rao said.