The Competition Commission of India cleared the proposal to acquire a majority stake in cash-strapped Spice Jet.

The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India released its final guidelines on IMFs, which will be a new distribution category for insurance products. With a minimum capital requirement of ` 10 lakh, the insurance marketing firm can distribute products of two life insurers, two general insurers and two health insurance companies at any point in time. Under these norms, IMFs can market and service insurance through insurance sales persons, apart from marketing other financial products through financial service executives. These include products of mutual fund companies, pension products of Provident Fund Regulatory Development Authority, other financial products distributed by SEBI-licensed investment advisors.

• Starting this year, directors will have to comment on the existence and effectiveness of internal financial controls in their board report.
• An external auditor could face up to 10 years of jail term for failing to report frauds.

The Reserve Bank of India said bank overdrafts of up to `5,000 in accounts opened under Jan Dhan Yojna would be treated as priority sector lending.

The budget proposal to bring the online commerce industry under the ambit of the new service tax rate of 14% will impact web-based aggregates of retail sellers, taxi owners, bus operators and hotels including companies such as Amazon, Flipkart, Uber, Snapdeal and OlaCabs. March 1 onwards, online aggregates that own and manage a web-based software application came under the tax net.

The high court of Kerala has held that Levy of service tax on : (1) service forming part of supply of goods in a restaurant, as well as, (2) short- term accommodation services in hotels, inns, etc. is unconstitutional being violate of Entries 54 and 62, respectively, of State List.Under works contract, only 'transfer of property in goods' is liable to VAT/sales-tax, therefore, service portion can be charged to service tax; however, in case of restaurants, entire supply of food (even as a part of service) is deemed to be sale and therefore, consideration therefor cannot be charged to service tax.Sum Paid to advertise group name 'HCL' instead of asses see's name was also eligible for input credit.

In terms of sub-section (2) of section 11 of the Central Excise Act, 1944. Central Excise Officers are empowered under this provision to issue an order to any other person from whom money is due to such person from whom recovery of arrears is required to be made. Such notice for recovery to the other person is generally referred as Garnishee Notice.

Clarification:
It is hereby clarified that recovery officers do have powers to add, amend, vary or rescind any Garnishee Notice issued. However, the interest of revenue has to be suitably safeguarded.

Installment to permit
It has been decided by the Board to allow recovery of arrears of taxes, interest and penalty in installments. The power to allow such payment in monthly installments shall be discretionary and shall be exercised by the Commissioners for granting sanction to pay arrears in installments up to a maximum of 24 monthly installments and by the Chief Commissioners for granting sanction to pay arrears in monthly installments greater than 24 and up to a maximum of 36 monthly installments.The facility to pay arrears in installments shall generally be granted to companies which show a reasonable cause for payment of arrears in installments such as the company being under temporary financial distress. Approval to pay in installments and the number of installments should be fixed such that an appropriate balance between recovery of arrears and survival of business is maintained taking into consideration the overall financial situation of the company, its assets, liabilities, income and expenses.

Ministry of Corporate Affairs vide General Circular No. 04/2015 dated 10/03/2015 has clarified that all the companies mandated to adopt new Memorandum of Association and Articles of Association as per Companies Act, 2013 on their First Annual General Meeting after the commencement of the Act can now do the same on or before March 31, 2015.

The Supreme Court of India has held that Provisions of SICA, in particular Section 22, shall prevail over provision for recovery of debts in RDDB Act.

Banks, Insurance and Housing Finance Companies will no longer have to seek approval from shareholders before acquiring equity in companies making acquisition of securities in the ordinary course of its business u/s 186 of Companies Act, 2013.

Supreme Court rejected the prayer of a company to appoint an arbitrator in its dispute with another as the arbitration clause in the sales contract was vague.
The Supreme Court of India has held that in absence of independent evidence of corroborative nature, retracted statement of appellant could not constitute exclusive basis to determine culpability of appellant under section 9 of FERA.

The Supreme Court has held that a condition in a tender notice that earnest money would be forfeited if a bid is withdrawn is valid and not against the Contract Act.

Any further information or documents called for, in respect of application or e-form or document, filed electronically with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs in terms of Companies Act 1956 shall be furnished in Form No. GNL-4 as an addendum.

Any employee of a company cannot file a criminal complaint about a cheque that was dishonored by a bank under Negotiable Instruments Act. There must be proper authorization and power of attorney in that behalf, the court stated in batch of appeals titled.

The Competition Commission of India has held that imposition of unfair and one-sided terms and conditions by OP, a dominant player in relevant market for development and sale of residential plot, in agreement was abusive in terms of provisions of Section 4.

The Supreme Court of India has held that where cheque was drawn at a bank in Karnataka, presentation of cheque to a bank in Kerala would not by itself confer jurisdiction upon Kerala Court.

A company would have to clear both the tests- paid-up capital as well as turnover norm-to qualify as a 'small company'.

The ITAT in ACIT vs. Clariant Chemicals(i) Ltd. held that non-compete fee paid to director on his
retirement to restrict him from sharing his experience was revenue expenditure. The High Court of Andhra Pradesh held that un absorbed loss or carried forward depreciation spilled over block period shall not be adjusted against undisclosed income.

The ITAT held that Forex gains are includible in operating profit while determining Arm's Length Price (ALP) of international transaction.

The Supreme Court of India has held that notice under section 143(2) having been served upon assessee on very next working day due date being Sunday, was valid.

The High Court of Calcutta has held that discounting charges of bill of exchange and factoring charges of sale could not be treated as interest; hence, assessee was not liable to deduct TDS on it.

The High Court of Delhi has held that merely because shares were issued belatedly in subsequent year, share application money cannot be treated as loan or deposits or advance for invoking provisions of section 2(22)(e).Section 195 could not be invoked in respect of payment by assessee of commission on export sale made to a US company which had no permanent establishment in India.

The High Court of Bombay held that in case of distribution or marketing activities when goods
are purchased from associated entities and sales are affected to unrelated parties without any further processing, then, RPM is most appropriate method to determine ALP of said transaction.

Where assessee, a charitable society registered under section 12A, was running a hospital, income earned by it from its pharmacy being integral to main object of running hospital, could not be excluded from computing income eligible for exemption under section 11.

Where assesses had not deducted tax at source as it was well aware that recipient had no taxable
income, though declarations in Form 15G/H were obtained late the said section was not applicable.

The Supreme Court delivered a judgment in which an Indian company was denied no objection
certificate (NOC) to remit the 'success fee' to a Swiss firm because it did not deduct tax at source.
In this case, GVK Industries Ltd v ITO, the Indian firm sought the services of ABB of Zurich to raise
finance from Indian and foreign sources. After rendering the services, the foreign firm sent invoice to GVK for the success fee. When GVK approached the tax authorities for NOC, it was denied. Its argument that the Swiss firm had no place of business here, all services rendered were from abroad, and no part of success fee could be said to arise in this country attracting tax liability were rejected. The revenue authorities contended that the Swiss firm actively arranged loans and provided various services that attracted the income tax provisions. Therefore, tax must be deducted before remitting the fee abroad. Andhra Pradesh High Court ruled in favour of tax authorities u/s 9(1). This view was upheld by Supreme Court

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) will frame rules to provide the procedures for domestic taxpayers to avail relief or deduction on the taxes paid by them in foreign countries.

DLF and its non-independent directors - KP Singh, Rajiv Singh, Pia Singh TC Goyal, Ramesh Sanka, GS Talwar and KameshwarSwarup have been fined ` 26 crore each by Securities and Exchange Board of India. The fine has been imposed for non-disclosure of material information in the company's offer documents during its IPO.

The Bomaby High Court stayed a scheduled Company Law Board (CLB) hearing on a petition of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs seeking supers session of the current board of directors of Financial Technologies (India) Limited.

Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) said it plans to introduce a new functionality in its equity segment
to prevent self trades from March 16. The self-trade prevention check functionality is being introduced with the purpose of preventing matching between a buy and a sell order entered in the same order book by a member for the same client code originating from same or different trading terminals of the member.

The Finance Ministry has expanded the list of agricultural commodities that are exempted from
the Commodities Transaction Tax (CTT). As many as 38 items have been added to the existing
list of 23 agricultural commodities.

BSE SME has also prescribed additional norms for listing of specified securities on the ITP. The exchange launched the ITP to enable Small and Medium Enterprises and start-up to achieve listing without an Initial Public Offer (IPO). For companies listing on ITP the minimum investment amount in a firm should be ` 10 crore or 25% of the listed capital, whichever is higher.

BSE SME has tightened the listing norms and eligibility criteria by increasing the post-issue paid up capital threshold to ` 3 crore from ` 1 crore for companies listing on the exchange platform. The exchange has also raised the net worth (excluding reserves) and tangible asset requirement to ` 3 crore from ` 1 crore. The revised norms would be applicable from April.A company intending to list on the SME exchange should also have registered profit (excluding extraordinary income) for at least two years of the immediate three preceding financial years or a net worth of ` 5 crore for three financial years before applying for listing.

Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has simplified stock market trading Account Opening Form for local investors to encourage more participation in capital markets. Investors can now open a trading and Demat account by filling up a simplified account opening form, termed as SARAL form. Individual investors will have to submit only one documentary proof of address while opening a
trading account.

Starting next month, the information of Demat accounts for equity, debt, bond and mutual fund investments of one individual investor or entity will formally be clubbed in a single statement.

Government makes changes:

• Splits post of Chairman into Managing Directors & Chief Executive Officers.
• Allows private sector candidates to apply for MD & CEO in 'A' category banks
• Invites application for BoB, PNB, BoI, IDBI & Canara Bank
• Offers 3 years fixed tenure; flexible salary package to attract private sector talent
• None of the existing Executive Directors in Public Sector Banks will be eligible to apply.

A bank or an Non Banking Financial Corporation (NBFCs) which proposes to undertake investment advisory services has to first obtain permission from Reserve Bank of India and then shall make an application for grant of registration through a subsidiary or Separately Identifiable Department Or Division (SIDD), Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) said in a public communication.Investment advisers who were engaged in providing investment advice before the
notification of the norms in 2013 have time till April 20, 2015 to obtain necessary certification.

There is a pressing need on the part of corporate to improve their risk management practices in
view of imminent tightening of US interest rate cycles. In this context, hedging of Forex exposure by corporate assumes paramount significance. It was observed that every corporate needs to formulate a well-deliberated hedging policy and ensure strict adherence to it.

Reserve Bank of India has said substantial change in Management means "change in the management
by way of transfer of shares or amalgamation or transfer of shares or amalgamation or transfer of the business of the company".

The Finance Ministry notified new depository receipts scheme, which now allows depository receipts to be issued against securities of listed, unlisted of private or public companies against all underlying securities. The underlying securities would cover debt instruments, shares or units etc. Both the sponsored issues and unsponsored DR issuance has now been permitted.

The initiatives proposed by Finance Minister in his budget speech on February 28, 2016 to effectively
deal with the problem of black money, which eats into vitals of our society and economy, are highly
commendable. The measures initiated by the government in the last nine months to bring back the
black money in Swiss Banks has already brought very fruitful results and the names and the details of possible offenders have already been disclosed to Special Investigation Team set up by honorable Supreme Court.
The entire country including the common man heartily supports the retrieval of illegal black money kept outside India. The main focus of the government as well as the public is to ensure that money collected from corruption, crime, drug trafficking, terrorism and arms dealing are all accessed effectively with the help and support of foreign government. Fortunately, Uncle Sam (President of United States of America) is also actively supporting this move in his country's own interest and most of the international jurisdictions have already signed a treaty with government in this regards for exchange of all necessary information.

Fear Psychosis in Businesses
The Finance Minister has proposed new law on black money to be presented with parliament shortly in respect of concealment of foreign assets and evasion of tax in relation to foreign assets. The objective of the law is appreciated; however the proposed law has already brought in a big fear psychosis among the genuine businessmen and corporates in India as well as outside India. It is important for the government to ensure that another draconian law is not brought in, in a spree, to curb black money and concealment of foreign assets of money launderers. The manner in which law is proposed by Finance Minister, it may severely impact the genuine business activities, domestic as well as international investments by Indians and Foreign Direct Investments by foreigners in India.

Sweeping Powers:
The proposed law will give sweeping powers to the government officials:

• to initiate prosecution with punishment of rigorous imprisonment up to 10 years.
• the offense being made non compoundable
• proposal to withdraw powers of Settlement Commission
• penalty equivalent to 300% of the tax levied
• even non-filing of return or filing of return with inadequate disclosures will be liable for imprisonment up to 7 years.
• Proposal to equate offence of concealment of income or evasion of tax as money laundering