Infrastructure investment platform: NIIF partners with a private strategic investor to fund ports and logistics development.
NIIF has partnered with a private operator to create an investment platform for ports, terminals, transportation and logistics infrastructure in India. The NIIF Master Fund completed a first close with contributions from an overseas sovereign investor's subsidiary and several domestic institutional investors. NIIF will be operationalized through three Alternative Investment Funds under securities regulations, contemplates a fund of funds Green Growth Equity Fund with bilateral anchor commitments, and carries a mandate to solicit equity participation from strategic anchor partners.

Failure to deposit TDS can trigger criminal prosecution and custodial remand under Income Tax provisions.
Arrest and prosecution were initiated against the Director of a Delhi-based company for failure to deposit tax deducted at source (TDS) despite statutory obligation, and for defaulting on TDS return filings. Show cause notices were issued and, after unsatisfactory responses and repeated adjournments, the TDS Wing sanctioned criminal complaint and prosecution against the company and the Director; a non-bailable warrant was executed and the Director was remanded to judicial custody.

Direct tax collections growth rises year-to-date with stronger corporate income tax performance and higher refunds issued.
Provisional figures show an overall increase in Direct Tax collections to 15 January 2018, with higher net and gross receipts year-on-year, a material share of the annual Budget Estimate, issued refunds during the period, and quarter-on-quarter acceleration in growth; Corporate Income Tax collections exhibited stepped increases in both gross and net figures across successive quarters.

Tariff value revision: Customs substitutes values for palm oils, soyabean oil, brass scrap, seeds, areca nuts, gold and silver.
Exercising powers under section 14(2) of the Customs Act, 1962, the Board substitutes TABLE 1, TABLE 2 and TABLE 3 of Notification No. 36/2001 Customs (N.T.) to prescribe updated tariff values in US dollars for specified goods, including Crude Palm Oil, RBD Palm Oil, Palmolein variants, Crude Soyabean Oil, Brass Scrap (all grades), Poppy seeds, Areca nuts, and unit values for Gold and Silver where certain notification benefits are availed.

U.S. Tax Identification Number reporting: RFIs must obtain or report TINs for pre-existing accounts or use placeholder.
RFIs under the India-U.S. FATCA IGA must obtain and report U.S. TINs for pre-existing accounts from 2017; under IRS Notice 2017-46, an FFI that reports date of birth for holders lacking a U.S. TIN, annually requests missing TINs, and electronically searches internal data for missing TINs before reporting 2017, will not be deemed significantly non-compliant solely for failing to report required U.S. TINs; absent a TIN, RFIs may insert nine capital letters (e.g. AAAAAAAA) in the TIN field in Form 61B provided the three conditions are met.

Agri-Options create a tradable hedging tool enabling farmers and FPOs to lock prices and mitigate commodity price risk.
Launch of Agri-Options on guar seed creates European-style options linked to guar seed futures, with initial expiries in February-April 2018 and trading from mid-January 2018. Key contract features include tick size, DPR determined by the underlying futures DPR and volatility, expiry set to the last Wednesday preceding the futures expiry with holiday adjustments, and a rule that options launch follows the launch of the underlying futures; exact expiry dates will be notified in advance. The instrument aims to enable farmers and FPOs to hedge price risk and improve price realization.

Prosecution of tax evasion increased significantly, expanding criminal complaints and convictions to strengthen enforcement against tax offenders.
The Income Tax Department has prioritized criminal enforcement, significantly increasing prosecution complaints and compounding for offences such as willful attempt to evade tax, willful failure to file returns, false verification statements, and failure or delay in depositing tax deducted/collected at source; convictions and use of custodial sentences and fines in varied factual scenarios have risen, and enforcement will continue through the remainder of the fiscal year.

Benami property enforcement: intensified provisional attachment leading to adjudication, confiscation and criminal liability under the Act.
Provisional attachment and enforcement under the Prohibition of Benami Property Transactions Act have been intensified to identify, attach and, where appropriate, confirm confiscation of properties held in benami arrangements. The Act enables provisional attachment of movable and immovable assets suspected to be benami, followed by adjudication and possible confiscation, and contemplates criminal liability for the beneficial owner, the benamidar and abettors with penalties including imprisonment and fines.

Tax searches target jewellery chains over alleged post-demonetisation tax evasion, probing undisclosed cash and sales records.
Searches were carried out at numerous premises of two south India-based jewellery groups on allegations of tax evasion after demonetisation, focusing on substantial cash deposits and reported sales of gold, diamond and jewellery; the Chennai wing coordinated multi-state searches by tax investigators with police assistance to gather records and evidence for verification of transactional and accounting disclosures.

Direct tax collections growth signals higher net and gross receipts up to December, with advance tax and refunds noted.
Direct tax receipts through December show year on year growth in net and gross collections, with refunds issued reducing gross to net receipts. Advance tax receipts also increased, with distinct growth in corporate and personal advance tax contributing to overall collections and representing a defined share of the year's Budget Estimates.

Minimum Alternate Tax relief for insolvent companies allows full reduction of brought forward losses from book profit for MAT.
Relaxation to the computation of Minimum Alternate Tax under section 115JB permits companies whose corporate insolvency resolution applications have been admitted under the IBC to reduce the entire amount of total loss brought forward, including unabsorbed depreciation, from book profit for MAT purposes, effective from Assessment Year 2018-19; an appropriate legislative amendment will be made in due course.

Electoral bonds as a legal mechanism to shift political donations from anonymous cash to bank based traceable instruments.
The article proposes cleansing political funding by expanding non cash donation routes and introducing electoral bonds: bank issued instruments bought only by banking transaction, with a short encashment window and encashment limited to pre declared party accounts; purchasers must record bond purchases and parties must disclose aggregate bond receipts to the Election Commission, offering greater traceability than anonymous cash while retaining donor anonymity regarding party allocation to prevent reversion to cash donations.

Minimum Alternate Tax: companies under admitted insolvency proceedings may deduct accumulated losses and unabsorbed depreciation from book profit.
The Central Board of Direct Taxes permits a full reduction of accumulated losses and unabsorbed depreciation from book profit for the purposes of Minimum Alternate Tax where a company has had an application for corporate insolvency resolution process admitted by the adjudicating authority; the allowance applies from the assessment year noted by the Board and alters the MAT computation by permitting total loss brought forward, including unabsorbed depreciation, to be deducted from book profit for eligible companies.

Economic growth projection links public investment and structural reforms to improved investment climate and credit conditions.
Projected economic expansion is supported by increased public sector participation in Gross Fixed Capital Formation and associated demand-side contribution to GDP. Key policy measures strengthening confidence and enabling growth include infrastructure initiatives, bank recapitalization to boost lending, an insolvency resolution framework to accelerate corporate recovery, corporate tax relief for smaller firms, implementation of the Goods and Services Tax to reduce internal trade barriers, and monetary easing alongside banking-sector reforms.

Assured pension scheme: government-backed return for senior citizens secures periodic pension payments under PMVVY and GST-exempt status.
PMVVY is a government-backed assured pension scheme where the Government subsidises the difference between insurer returns and the assured rate; subscribers select pension payout frequency and purchase-price bands determine pension amounts; the scheme is GST-exempt and open for a limited subscription period. The Senior Citizens Savings Scheme offers a capped deposit option with eligibility rules, Section 80C deduction for deposits, taxable interest income, and TDS applicability.

Foreign investment approvals permit non-voting equity for downstream investment into an Indian health insurer and business expansion.
The Department of Economic Affairs approved a foreign investment allowing two foreign investors to acquire up to 49% of Metaffinity Private Limited through non-voting equity shares, enabling Metaffinity to make a downstream investment into Religare Health Insurance Company Limited (investment indicated as approximately Rs. 532 crore). Separately, M/s SMAS Auto Leasing India Pvt Ltd was authorised to undertake financial lease business in addition to operating lease business; that proposal did not involve foreign investment in the disclosed record.

Taxable Savings Bonds launched offering fixed interest over a multi-year term, open to resident individuals and HUFs without investment ceiling.
Government-issued taxable savings bonds are open to resident individuals (including joint holdings) and Hindu Undivided Families, issued at par in dematerialised Bond Ledger Accounts with a minimum nominal unit and available on tap in cumulative and non-cumulative forms without any investment ceiling. Interest is taxable while the bonds are wealth-tax exempt; they carry a fixed interest payable half-yearly over a seven-year maturity, are non-transferable, not tradable in secondary markets, and not acceptable as collateral. Nomination by a sole individual holder or sole surviving holder is permitted.