Amendments to the Insurance Act, 1938; the Life Insurance Corporation Act, 1956; the General Insurance Business (Nationalization) Act, 1972 and Insura...
Foreign direct investment growth spurred sector liberalisation and infrastructure projects to broaden investment and employment potential. FDI equity inflows increased substantially after policy and procedural reforms, with major sectoral recipients including services, construction, housing and computer hardware/software; the government further liberalised key sectors such as petroleum and natural gas, civil aviation, commodity exchanges, credit information companies, titanium-bearing mineral mining with value addition, and industrial parks to attract and channel foreign investment.
Tele-density increase signals higher telecom penetration as wireless growth outpaces a modest wireline decline. Telecom penetration rose in November 2008 to 32.34% as total telephone connections reached 374.13 million, led by a wireless base of 336.08 million with 10.35 million wireless additions; wireline connections fell slightly to 38.05 million. Broadband subscriptions ( 256 Kbps) increased to 5.28 million. Comparative year-to-date and monthly tables for 2007-2008 are provided and the data are marked tentative with contact details for clarification.
Electronic return acknowledgement treated as timely filing, so no penalty for online income-tax returns bearing a late date stamp. Electronic income-tax returns filed electronically on the due date but whose electronic acknowledgement bears the subsequent date stamp are to be treated as filed within the due date; such returns are eligible for all benefits of timely filing and shall not attract penal consequences for failure to file by the due date.
Carbon tax proposed to fund renewable energy upscaling; recommendation noted but no decision taken. A proposal to consider a carbon tax on power producers using coal, oil and similar fuels as a means to fund upscaling of renewable energy was recorded; the recommendation remains under consideration and no formal decision has been taken.
Applicability of labour laws: workers in SEZs retain statutory protections under the Special Economic Zones Act. All labour laws apply within Special Economic Zones, and workers' rights are protected under the Special Economic Zones Act, 2005; no trade union has requested creation of a separate statutory authority to handle labour issues in SEZs, and the nodal department considers the existing labour statutes and the SEZ Act as the operative framework for regulating employment conditions and protecting workers in SEZs.
Obscenity prohibition in IT law expanded to cover electronic publishing, voyeurism, data leaks, phishing and identity theft. Proposed amendments to the Information Technology Act create criminal liability for publishing or transmitting obscene material in electronic form and establish a legal framework to prevent and penalise related cyber harms, including video voyeurism, breaches of confidentiality and leakage of data by service providers, e commerce frauds through impersonation (phishing), identity theft and transmission of offensive messages via communication services.
Official development assistance enables concessional loans and soft financing for renewable energy, power and immunisation projects in India. India and Germany entered into bilateral agreements to deliver German Official Development Assistance for four development projects focused on renewable energy, power generation and immunisation. Financing employs concessional instruments: a principal concessional loan for a super-critical thermal power plant, a soft loan to North East Electric Power Corporation for a hydropower project in Arunachal Pradesh, and a soft loan facility supporting IREDA's sustainable energy programme; pulse polio lines receive concessional loans and grant support.
Refund of excess service tax: taxpayers may claim refund even where no assessment order capable of appeal exists. A taxpayer who has paid service tax in excess may seek refund by application; a formal assessment order is not required to entertain such a claim where no order capable of appeal was ever passed. The assessment machinery operates only when a notice is issued, and refusal to refund solely because no statutory appeal was filed against a non existent assessment order is untenable.
PPP project approvals authorize multiple highway concessions under BOT toll/DBFO model advancing NHDP upgrades nationwide. PPPAC approved twenty-one highway projects under NHDP Phase III and Phase V with an aggregate estimated cost of Rs. 28302.71 crore, directing implementation on BOT (Toll) and DBFO concessioning patterns. The approvals cover specified multi lane upgradings across eleven states, establishing concession based procurement with tolling as the primary revenue model for these national highway packages.
Trade deficit widens as exports growth trails import surge, altering balance for April-October period significantly. Cumulative April-October 2008 exports rose 23.7% in dollar terms (32.0% in rupee terms) while imports rose 36.2% in dollar terms (45.6% in rupee terms), producing a substantially widened trade deficit; oil and non-oil imports both increased, with oil imports showing particularly large gains. October exports fell in dollar terms but increased in rupee terms. All 2008-09 figures are provisional.
Service tax on job work: specialized epoxy FBE coating treated as taxable under business auxiliary service, with cenvat implications. Whether FBE epoxy coating by a job worker on duty-paid steel bars is a taxable activity under Business Auxiliary Service hinges on whether the processes constitute manufacture; where the coating does not amount to manufacture, the professional, specialized coating service performed for clients falls within the taxable scope. The tribunal treated the coating activity as taxable under Business Auxiliary Service, recognised Cenvat credit on inputs and input services under Cenvat Credit Rules, 2004, and addressed penalty mitigation.
Trademark protection: Cabinet approves amended Bill to enhance reciprocal international protection and encourage licensing and franchising. Cabinet approved modifications to the Trade Marks (Amendment) Bill, 2007 based on the Parliamentary Standing Committee's recommendations and authorised its introduction in Parliament; the amendments aim to strengthen trademark protection for Indian marks in designated member countries, provide reciprocal protection for foreign marks in India, and facilitate technology transfer through trademark licensing and franchising to promote commercial confidence in the Indian IP system.
Refund filing deadline relaxed for exporters; extended timeframe allows later claims and testing services require regulatory proof. The amendment relaxes the time limit for filing of refund claims by exporters, replacing the earlier short-window requirement with an extended, quarter-linked filing period; refunds in respect of testing and analyzing services require submission of the rules or regulations under which such testing or analysis is mandated.
TDS on contract payments not attracted where supply of printed materials is a sale executed to buyer's specifications. The Tribunal, relying on CBDT Circular No.715, characterised supply of printed materials made to purchaser's specifications as a contract of sale and concluded that TDS under section 194C did not apply; the Gujarat High Court found no infirmity in that reasoning and dismissed the department's appeals for want of any substantial question of law.
Data collection authorization for industrial production enables compilation of updated IIP series with mandated confidentiality and business cooperation. DIPP has authorised a private data agency to collect nationwide corporate production statistics to support compilation of a revised Index of Industrial Production series, with DIPP supplying key product data and the Central Statistical Organization compiling the overall IIP from multiple source agencies. Businesses must cooperate by providing regular production statistics, and the authorised agency must ensure confidentiality and may disclose collected information only to DIPP.
Foreign direct investment surge signals broad sectoral appetite and increased cross border equity inflows. Foreign direct investment equity inflows rose markedly: September inflows totalled US$2.56 billion and cumulative FDI equity for April-September reached US$17.21 billion, reflecting strong year on year growth. The principal recipient sectors were services, construction (including roads and highways), housing and real estate, and computer hardware and software, while leading investor jurisdictions included Mauritius, Singapore, the United States, and the Netherlands.
Trade balance widens as imports outpace export growth, driven notably by increased oil and non oil imports. India's exports rose markedly in April-September 2008, with dollar value exports up about thirty percent and rupee value exports up at a higher rate; imports grew faster than exports, driven by strong increases in oil and non oil imports, resulting in a materially larger trade deficit for April-September 2008. The release provides provisional dollar and rupee series and percentage growth comparisons, noting 2007-08 are revised figures and 2008-09 are provisional.
Public Private Partnership approvals: final clearance for BOT construction of deep draft coal and iron ore berths at Paradip Port. Final approval was granted for two port infrastructure projects under the Public Private Partnership framework: construction of a Deep Draft Coal Berth and a Deep Draft Iron Ore Berth at Paradip Port on a Build Operate Transfer basis, authorised by the PPP Appraisal Committee which evaluates and clears privately financed infrastructure projects for concessionaire implementation.
Insurance law amendments to modernize statutes and grant regulator greater operational flexibility following government recommendations. The Union Cabinet authorised introduction of amendment bills to the Insurance Act, 1938; the General Insurance Business (Nationalization) Act, 1972; the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority Act, 1999 and the Life Insurance Corporation Act, 1956 on the basis of Group of Ministers' recommendations. The amendments aim to remove archaic and redundant provisions and to incorporate provisions granting the regulator greater operational flexibility so the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority can discharge its functions more effectively and efficiently.
Service tax on pre-inclusion services: levy not payable for services provided before their taxable introduction, cannot be passed to customer. Services performed and paid for before the date on which they were brought within the service tax net are not made taxable merely because a final report or subsequent acts occurred after inclusion; an indirect tax imposed on the supplier for services already provided prior to the levy cannot be recovered from the customer where payment was contractually made before inclusion.
The Government is proposing further amendments in IT Act, 2000 that provides punishment for publishing or transmitting in electronic form any material which contains sexually explicit act or conduct etc. Publishing and transmission of information, which is obscene, in electronic form is an offence under section 67 of Information Technology Act, 2000.
As per the crime data maintained by National Crime records Bureau (NCRB), a total of 88, 69, and 99 cases of obscene publication/transmission in electronic from (under IT Act, 2000) were registered in the year 2005, 2006, 2007.
The Government has introduced the Information Technology (Amendment) Bill, 2006 in the Parliament, which inter alia provides a legal framework for prevention of new forms of cyber crimes like publishing of material containing sexually explicit act in electronic form, video voyeurism, breach of confidentiality and leakage of data by service providers, e-commerce frauds through impersonation commonly known as phishing, identity theft and offensive messages through communication service.
This information was given by the Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Shri A. Raja in the Lok Sabha today.
Obscenity prohibition in IT law expanded to cover electronic publishing, voyeurism, data leaks, phishing and identity theft.
Proposed amendments to the Information Technology Act create criminal liability for publishing or transmitting obscene material in electronic form and establish a legal framework to prevent and penalise related cyber harms, including video voyeurism, breaches of confidentiality and leakage of data by service providers, e commerce frauds through impersonation (phishing), identity theft and transmission of offensive messages via communication services.
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