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Union Budget 2011-12 : India

• AC restaurants serving liquor and AC hospitals with more than 25 beds under service tax.
• Service tax on air travel to be increased.
• Customs duty on raw silk reduced from 30 to 5 per cent.
• Legal services to be expanded to business entities.
• 20% export duty for iron ore.
• Custom duty on Pet Coke and Gypsum to minimized to 2.5%.
• No new tax exemption limit for women.
• Mandatory levy of 10 pct on branded garments.
• Budget estimates for 2011-12 projects- Rs 9,32,440 crore.
• No change in Central excise duty rate. Base rate on excise duty raised from 4% to 5%.
• Surcharge rate reduced from 7.5 percent to 5 percent for domestic companies.
• Hike in exemption IT limit from Rs 1.6 lakh to Rs 1.8 lakh.
• New series of coins with new rupee symbol expected.
• Simplify tax collection procedure.
• 1 million UID cards to be distributed per day shortly.
• Targeting to reduce deficit to 4.6% for the upcoming fiscal year.
• Plan and Non-Plan expenditure to be increased by 23%.
• BPL pension eligibility age limit reduced.
• Group formed to monitor corruption;will start implementing from 62 dept. in first phase.
• Amendment of Indian Stamp Act shortly.
• Simplified form ‘Sugam’ for small tax payers.
• Rs 1.64 lakh crore for Defence.
• Rs 1000 crore to build judicial infrastructure.
• Group of ministers to sort out Environmental concerns.
• 1000 crore for improvising judiciary system.
• Rs 8,000 cr to Northeast.
• 60 schemes for SC/ST to be implemented.
• Rs 100 crore for Ladakh.
• Rs 150 crore for Jammu.
• Pension amount increased for 80 years and above.
• Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme eligibility revised from 65 to 60 years.
• Rs 200 cr grant to IIT Kharagpur.
• Rs 20 crore to IIM Calcutta.
• 50 Crore to muslim universities in different states.
• 58,000 crore for Bharat Nirman Schemes: FM
• State Innovation Council in each state to be set up.
• Remuneration of anganwadi workers increased from Rs 1500 to Rs 3,000 per month.
• Independent debt management office to be established.
• Rs 1.6 lakh crore to be spent on social projects.
• Current a/c gap a concern due to composition of FX flows: FM
• Establishment of national policy on psychotic drugs, narcotics.
• Tax free infra bonds worth Rs 30000 cr for PSBs proposed.
• 15 mega food parks to be set up.
• Infrastructure spending increased by 23%.
• Rs 30K crore tax free bonds to be provided for railways.
• Financial assistance to be provide to Bengaluru, Chennai, Kolkata metro projects.
• Allocation under Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana to be increased to Rs 7860 crore.
• Promote organic farming.
• GDP manufacturing, targeting 16-25 % increase in next 10 years.
• Rs 300 cr to cultivate pulses in rain-fed areas;Rs 300 cr for the promotion of farm product cultivation.
• Provide Rs 6000cr for PSU bank recapitalization.
• FM: Micro finance companies to be provided with Rs 100 crore equity funds.
• Extension of NBS for urea to be analyzed.
• Home loan limit increased.
• Rs 300 cr for improving pulses production.
• Rural infrastructure development fund to be raised to 180 billion Rupees for the coming fiscal year.
• Grant 1% interest on home loans upto 50 lakhs.
• Mortage Risk Guarantee fund for rural housing to be set up.
• Rs 5,000 cr to be provided to SIDBI to meet priority lending targets.
• Rs 2000 crore for warehousing facilities.
• Rs 2,000 cr for manufacturing facilities.
• Allocation of Rs 6000 cr for some PSU banks.
• Only registered FII’s to be associated with Indian MF industry.
• Rs 40,000cr to be raised via disinvestment.
• GST bill to be introduced in current session.
• Extension of NBS to cover urea under review: FM
• 500 crore proposed for empowering women.
• Micro finance institutes proposed for 100 crore.
• 300 crore to be provided to NABARD.
• FBI to regularize banking amendments.
• Ensures better delivery of urea, kerosene.
• FII allow to trade amongst themselves.
• FBI policy to be regularized.
• Public Debt Management Bill to be introduced in 2012.
• Pranab sees Budget 2011-12 as transition towards a transparent and result-oriented economic management.
• Public sector undertaking to be increased.
• Direct transfer of cash subsidy to downtrodden.
• Average inflation and current account deficit to be minimized by next year: FM
• Strong proposition to fight against corruption.
• Pranab seeking Lord Indra’s blessings to get good monsoon.
• Remarkable record for last fiscal year.
• Improvise the governance.
• Govt. to reconsider ecological concerns.
• Tremendous growth in exports-29.4%.
• Food inflation down from 22.2% to 9.3 %. But still is a major concern, says FM.
• Budget to ensure more transparent economy.
• Focus on supply side issues in agriculture.
• Pranab: Work on food inflation.
• Stabilize the macro economic situation.
• Budget 2011 approved by Cabinet.
• Pranab: Impressive fiscal consolidation
• Pranab Mukherjee begins the speech.
• Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee to begin Union budget 2011-12 speech from 11 am.

Union Budget 2011-12 : Economic Survey Highlights

* The Economic Survey to review the economic performance in the current financial year and forecast the economy
prospects for the coming year.
* Indian economy to grow by 9 per cent in next fiscal year.
* Gross fiscal deficit decreases to 4.8% of GDP.
* Inflation estimated to be higher by 1.5%.
* India on way to become fastest growing economy in the world.
* Calls for new ‘Green Revolution’ for agricultural sector with higher investment and introduction of latest technologies.
* Government working on regulations to emphasize on capital market.
* Increase influx of foreign capital by building close association with G-20 countries.
* National Forest Land Bank to improvise the infrastructure projects.
* Estimated economic growth at 8.75-9.25 per cent for fiscal year 2012.
* Estimated agriculture sector growth at 5.4 per cent during this fiscal year.
* Growth of Industrial output by 8.6% where, manufacturing sector registers 9.1%.
* The export stats; 29.5% in 2010 April-December and Import; 19%.
* Trade gap minimizes to $82.01 billion.
* Raised both saving and investment rate to 33.7% & 36.5% of GDP.
* Estimated food grains production at 232.10 million tonnes.
* Fores reserves to reach $297.30 billion.
* Importance given to telecommunication sector.
* Policies supporting accounting, legal, tourism, education, financial and other services.
* Taxation of goods and services to be revised.
* Introduction of Financial Schemes to monitor unemployment.
* Reformation necessary in the current education system by inviting more private participation.

INDIAN RAIL BUDGET 2011-12 : India Railway Budget

* No fare hike for passengers.
* Presenting new trains for Vivekananda, Tagore birth.
* Introduction of 3 new Shatabdis on Pune-Secunderabad; Jaipur- Agra and Ludhiana-Delhi routes.
* Recruitment of new staff of Group ‘C’ and ‘D’ to fill up backlog of SC/ST and 16,000 ex-servicemen by March 2011. 20 hostels for children of railway employees.
* Establishment of 1300 MW thermal power plant in AP.
* Establishment 1320 MW thermal power plant in Agra.
* Indian railways to invest 576.3 billion rupees for the financial year 2011-12.
* Increased EMU coaches (from 9 to 12) of Mumbai suburban system
* New coach factory to come up in Kolar via PPP Or JV.
* Railway system to ensure more transparency.
* 9 new Duronto trains to be introduced;2 new double decker train services.
* 17 trains with increased frequency.
* Gauge conversion expenditure to double.
* Start up of 40 new routes covering 1075 km.
* Increase in operation cost of Railways.
* Concession for senior citizens increased to 40 percent, handicap in Rajdhani & Shatabdi express.
* Introduction of 3 new Shatabdi trains in FY 12.
* Scholarship scheme for low income group.
* Introduction of trolleys at railway stations.
* Railway liabilities increased due to 6th pay commission arrears.
* Online ticket booking to get cheaper.
* Revival phase for Indian Railway.
* Upgrading 442 stations by March 31.
* 180 km of rail lines to be added in 2011-12.
* Larger scheme for current railway employees.
* Scholarship schemes for children of railway employees raised to Rs 1200.
* Ticket booking charges reduced; Rs 10 for AC and Rs 5 for non AC.
* Railways introducing 16000 ex-servicemen from March 2011.
* New passenger terminals in Kerala.
* User friendly stations for physically challenged.
* ‘Go India’ smart card for buying long distance travel tickets on pilot basis.
* Mamta : Green energy, green year, green environment with railways.
* Railways to collaborate with major technology and IT institutes for new technology upgradation in railways.
* Special package for states running problem free railways; provide 2 new trains for good performance.
* Anti-collusion device for three railway zones to minimize rail accidents.
* Increased number of trains-from 16100 to 18000.
* Railways to provide 10000 shelter to poor.
* 57,630 crore investment plan this year.
* New railway lines to emphasize on under developed areas.
* New railway lines in Manipur.
* Pradhan Mantri Railway Vikas Yojna with new projects
* 700 mw captive gas power plant to be introduced for railways
* Pilot projects in suburban region.
* 700km expansion of railway line.
* Railway factory to be set up in Jammu & Kashmir, Metro coaches factory in Singur.
* The first Rae Bareilley coach to start in next three months.
* Set up new railway at Bongaigaon.
* A vision of railway based industries by 2020.
* The budget to give common mans face.
* Equal focus on common mans need and economy.
* Mamta:Ministry is aware of the social responsibilities.
* Railway services equivalent to emergency services.
* Mamata Banerjee presents Rail Budget 2011-12 in Lok Sabha.
* As per sources, out of 40 pet projects of Mamta Banerjee which she is supposed to announce in the budget, 14 have been accepted by the commission.
* Nitish Kumar demands the railway minister to introduce a high speed Duranto Express between Bihar and New Delhi.
* Address the staff shortage issue;Recruitment of new railway staff.
* Investors to benefit from rail stocks.
* More RPF personnel recruitment for security.
* Nominal Tatkal rates.
* Tax free bonds to be increased to 10,000 crore to improve railway infrastructure.
* CPI-M; No hopes from railway budget.
* Introduction of SMS service to lodge complaints.
* TPWS and ACD to be installed.
* Revised incentives to maximize private participation.
* More transport system between Secunderabad and Hyderabad.
* 86 new passenger trains expected.
* Super class division to challenge airlines.
* For the North Eastern region; a brand new diesel loco shed is expected to come up in Assam.
* Likely to add more Duronto services from Guwahati to New Delhi and Howrah.
* Railway Budget 2011 to be presented at 12 noon.
* The budget unlikely to favor the expected budget of 39,600 crore.
* Might add 100 new trains.
* For political reasons; West Bengal likely to get more benefits of new trains.
* New projects to create more employment which will again be beneficial for the coming election.
* Safety concern to be addressed; proposed for technology up gradation.
* Fare to remain the same to remove common mans financial burden.
* Mamata Banerjee has reached Parliament.
* Mamata says: Railway budget will be devoted to the common man.

MUMBAI (Reuters) - The rupee rose on Thursday afternoon, supported by a rise in local share prices and the euro’s strength overseas triggered dollar-selling from exporters.

* At 1:26 p.m., the partially convertible rupee was at 46.8450/8550 per dollar, stronger than Wednesday’s close of 47.015/025, when it had touched 47.1550, the lowest since June 9.

By James Pomfret and Kelvin Soh

HONG KONG (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund upgraded its 2010 global growth forecast on Thursday, citing robust expansion in Asia and renewed U.S. private demand, but warned the euro area’s debt crisis posed a big risk to recovery.

The IMF said the euro zone’s sovereign financing problems and resulting financial market turbulence were significant challenges, especially with the web of financial and trade links connecting Europe to the world. However, a double-dip world recession was highly unlikely.

The fund raised its 2010 global output forecast to 4.6 percent from 4.2 percent in April’s review of the global economy, but kept its 2011 view unchanged at 4.3 percent.

The world economy shrank 0.6 percent in 2009 as a result of the global financial crisis.

“What has happened in Europe is likely to slow down the path to recovery relative to what could have happened, but I think the chances of a double dip are very small, as you know we’re forecasting fairly strong growth for the world economy this year,” Olivier Blanchard, the IMF’s chief economist, said at a briefing in Hong Kong for the organisation’s latest World Economic Outlook and Global Financial Stability reports.

It was the first time the IMF updated these reports from Hong Kong.

The euro fell 8 percent in the second quarter of 2010, the largest quarterly decline since the first quarter of 2009, on fears that some European countries in the currency group may not be able to dig themselves out of their deep debt holes.

While uncertainty about bank regulation has added to investor concerns, the IMF focused the majority of both reports on the implications of the euro zone sovereign crisis.

In the news briefing, Blanchard said the European bank stress test disclosures due on July 23 were an important step toward transparency but underscored that countries must return to a sustainable level of fiscal spending.

Under one scenario — assuming shocks to the global financial system resulting from Europe’s debt problems are as severe as those experienced in the wake of Lehman Brothers’ failure in 2008 — world GDP growth in 2011 would be reduced by 1.5 percentage points, the IMF said.

Courtesy and more details

(Writing by Kevin Plumberg; Editing by Kazunori Takada)

(For more business news on Reuters India click http://in.reuters.com)

Better-than-expected rupee realisation in the IT sector will cushion the impact of key headwinds like wage hikes and the Euro’s tumble, according to various research and brokerage reports reviewed by FE for the April-June period.

• Additional Rs 1,65,000 Crs for bank re-capitalisation
• Rs 3000 Crs for agricultural impetus
• Farm loan payments to be extended for six months
• Fertiliser subsidy to be reduced
• Rs 100 Cr woman farmer fund scheme
• Coal regulatory authority to be set up
• Clean energy fund to be established
• Interest subvention of 2% to be extended for handicrafts and SMEs
• Rs 200 Crs for Tamilnadu textile sector
• India faces a challenge of reverting to double digit growth
• Economy can achieve GDP growth of 10%
• Intrest subvention for housing loans up to 1 lacs
• Allocation to defence raised to Rs 1.47 lac Crs
• Defence capex raised to Rs 60000 Crs
• Hope to implement Direct Tax Code from April 2011
• GST to be implemented from 2011
• Divestment target of Rs 25,000 Crs
• Rs 1200 Crs assistance for drought in Bundelkhand
• Rs 48000 Crs for Bharat Nirman
• NREGA scheme allocation raised to Rs 41000 Crs
• Allocation to health Rs 22,300 Crs
• Allocation for school education up from Rs 26800 Crs to Rs 31036 Crs
• Allocation to power sector at Rs 5130 Crs
• Rs 10,000 Crs allocated for Indira Awaas Yojna
• Social Security Fund to have corpus of over Rs 1000 Crs
• Rs 2400 Crs for MSMEs
• Government to contribute Rs 1000 per month for pension security
• Rs 5400 Crs allocated for urban development
• Rs 66100 Crs allocated for rural development
• Rs 1900 Crs allocated for UID project
• Gross tax receipts Rs 7.46 lac Crs
• Govt to set up National Mission for delivery of justice
• 15% rise in planned expenditure
• Fiscal deficit target of 5.5% in FY11
• Excise on all non smoking tobacco raised
• Televisions to be costlier
• Mobile phones to become cheaper
• Cement to be costlier
• Refrigerators to be costlier
• Jewellery to be more expensive
• Monorail granted project import status
• CDs to be cheaper
• Excise duty on CFL halved to 4%
• Customs duty on Gold and Platinum hiked
• Service Tax rates unchanged
• More services to be brought under tax net
• Excise on all non smoking tobacco raised
• Televisions to be costlier
• Mobile phones to become cheaper
• Cement to be costlier
• Refrigerators to be costlier
• Jewellery to be more expensive
• Monorail granted project import status
• CDs to be cheaper
• Excise duty on CFL halved to 4%
• Customs duty on Gold and Platinum hiked
• Service Tax rates unchanged
• More services to be brought under tax net

Source - internet and news

  Union Budget 2010-2011

 Source - indiabudget.nic.in

Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) president Uttam Prakash Agarwal in an interview with Fe’s Neha Pal shares the initiatives taken by the institute on the global level. Excerpts: What action has the ICAI taken against the two Satyam auditors—S Gopalakrishnan and Srinivas Talluri?

The disciplinary committee of ICAI has prima-facie found the two auditors responsible for professional misconduct and have issued notices to both of them to appear before the committee. But the matter has been adjourned since the two auditors are in jail.

What is the status regarding the convergence of the Indian accounting standards with the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS)?

The ICAI council has reaffirmed its commitment to the government to implement converged standards from April 1, 2011. The council reviewed the level of preparedness of the profession towards implementation and was satisfied with the progress made.

What is ICAI doing in terms of the Indian auditing standards?

The ICAI is moving ahead on the road of convergence of Indian standards of auditing (SA) with International Standards of Auditing (ISA). These new standards will cater to the expectations of society, regulators and government in terms of continuously improving the quality of audit process of providing assurance to the financial statements. The ICAI has approved one more standard on internal audit (SIA) 17, Consideration of Laws and Regulations in an internal audit. This standard distinguishes the internal auditor’s responsibilities in relation to compliance with two different categories of laws and regulations, one that has direct affect on financial statements and other that has significant impact on the functioning of the entity.

Is there any new change that has been introduced in the chartered accountancy course?

The council of the institute has allowed training for the chartered accountancy course even outside India with the institute’s members in practice. This would mean that such a member in practice would be entitled to train chartered accountancy students, even if they are partner in the local firm outside India.

The institute has been given the charge to develop the financial reporting XBRL taxonomy for various sectors. How far has ICAI succeeded in this?

The draft of the taxonomy to prepare financial statements of banks has recently been considered by the expert group under the convenorship of the member from RBI on the steering committee. The same has been finalised for public consultation and placed on our website for…

source: financialexpress.com

an. 8 (Bloomberg) — Indian stocks may decline in 2010 after their best year since 1991 on prospects for higher interest rates, reduced stimulus measures and an outflow of investment from emerging markets, Ambit Capital Pvt. Said.

The benchmark Sensitive index may trade in a range of 15,000 to 19,000 this year, said Andrew Holland, chief executive officer of equities at Ambit Capital. That’s a decline of as much as 15 percent from yesterday’s close of 17,615.72. The Sensex rose 81 percent in 2009, its best year since 1991.

“It’s not going to be a great year for stock market performance and I would have a defensive portfolio in the first half as global headwinds are a cause for concern,” Holland, the former managing director for equity proprietary trading at Merrill Lynch in India, said in an interview in Mumbai yesterday. “Rising bond yields and stimulus measures being pulled out from the system is worrying.”

The rise in India’s food prices to an 11-year high is adding pressure on the central bank to lift borrowing costs after reductions between October 2008 and April 2009 helped shield Asia’s third-largest economy from the global recession. Finance Secretary Ashok Chawla said this week the extension of stimulus measures isn’t “good” for the economy and that the central bank will decide on interest rates on Jan. 29.

Fund raising by Indian companies and the government’s divestment program may total $25 billion this year and divert funds from existing stocks, Holland said. Indian companies raised $15 billion from share sales in the country last year.

 Source: http://www.businessweek.com

MUMBAI: Equity benchmarks closed flat on Thursday in a choppy trade as investors hesitated to buy at higher levels ahead of the extended weekend. 
The market will stay closed on Friday on account of Gandhi Jayanti.

On Thursday, the 30-share Sensex, which breached the 17000-point mark on Wednesday, added over 7 points to close at 17134.55 points. The 50-share Nifty tested the crucial 5100-point level, but settled lower to close at 5083.40, up 0.55 points. In the broader market, declining shares outnumbered advancing shares in the ratio 1663:1123 on BSE.

“There is not really too much left in terms of the pure recovery trade because valuations have surged almost 100% and the upgrade to earnings has been marginal,” said Vetri Subramaniam, head — equity funds at Religare Mutual Fund.

“I think there is perhaps a little bit of upside surprise to come through on these but even if you factor that in, that markets are really trading close to almost around 19 times FY10 earnings and that really does not leave you with too much room for comfort in terms of valuations,” he added.

According to technical analysts, if Nifty manages to break 5100 on good volumes next week, the index could surge to 5200 levels. As per NSE provisional figures, foreign portfolio investors were net buyers of shares worth Rs 976 crore. Domestic institutions net sold shares worth Rs 332 crore.  source - ET
 

The circular no 5 dated 26-07-2007 states the following:

” The report of audit under section 44AB is not to be attached with the return. It should not be furnished separately also before or after the due date. However, an assessee should get the report of audit from an accountant under said section before the due date of the furnishing of the return and should fill out the relevant columns of these forms on the basis of such report. The assessee should retain the report with himself. It may be furnished in original during the assessment proceedings. No penalty under section 271B shall be initiated or levied for not furnishing the tax audit report on or before the due date. However, if the audit report has not been obtained before the due date, provisions of section 271B shall be attracted. ”

It is very much evident that the circular lays down in an Unequivocal manner that  the assesses should fill out the relevant columns of these forms on the basis of audit report and No penalty under section 271B shall be initiated or levied for not furnishing the tax audit report

The non penalty clause can’t be interpreted in isolation of the preceding lines. One can not segment it to suit to one’s convenience.

In my opinion, “filling the out the relevant columns of ITRs on the basis of Audit Report” is ‘furnishing” of Audit report as envisaged under section 44AB and 271B.

If for any reason ITR can’t be filed before 3oth September, I strongly recommend that the assessee should fill out only Tax Audit Part (i.e., Part A-OI) in applicable ITR and file it (just like the ITR either manually or electronically as the case may be ) by due date (i. e. 30-09-2009). No doubt, it will require a revision of the ITR later (with all of its drawbacks) . However To me this seems the only pragmatic solution.

Please note that audit report is not required to be filed in paper form whatsoever.

The rate of CST at present is 4% against C-form. Though it is a Central Sales Tax, the Central government does not get any revenue and is totally a revenue receipt of the selling State. The CST at present contributes a substantial amount exchequer to the States and is deep rooted in the tax structure. Also, we have an unbalanced state wise economy in which some states have considerable revenue from CST but majority are consumer states. It was for all such reasons that CST is continued in the VAT regime.  

The Government has proposed to reduce CST to 2% in 2006 and ultimately abolish it in 2007. However, CST and VAT are not compatible. CST has not been made VATable. That is, CST paid cannot be claimed for credit under present VAT system.  

Today, all the business units needs to find a local sourcing of materials for a temporary period of two years, which would not be possible for many traders who have been dealing on inter-state purchases for the last several years. The additional tax burden have to be ultimately borne by the final consumer. Until CST is abolished, the main objective of VAT will be lost and will seriously undermine the benefits of VAT in rationalizing the supply chain management and removing distortions in inter-state movement of goods.

The ministry of company affairs (MCA) intends to insert a clause in the Companies Act that will make audit firms also liable to prosecution as against the existing provisions that limits penal action only to chartered accountants, writes Anindita Dey.

The proposal, being pushed by government agencies, has found favour with MCA and the amendments could be made when the recently-introduced Companies Bill comes up for discussion in Parliament.

“This is the fallout of the Satyam [ Get Quote ] case where the accounting firm got away, while the auditors who represented the firm face punishment. Therefore, there should be appropriate action for the firm as a whole so that it is held liable for such fraudulent practices,” said sources privy to the discussions.

They explained that the logic behind the proposition was that auditors work on behalf of a firm with clearly laid down guidelines. They also share the revenues from the audit and are well aware of the developments in audit assignments. Therefore, an auditor does not work independent of his or her firm.

The proposal in the draft tax code unveiled last week that seeks to do away with the special tax regime for foreign institutional BSE investors and tax them 30% on capital gains, the same rate for non-resident Indians, could affect portfolio flows into the country, feel tax experts.

Now, FIIs based in tax havens such as Mauritius and Cypress, which invest in India, do not have to pay any capital gains tax, as they are covered by the double taxation treaties. FIIs, which do not come through these tax havens, are exempt from long-term capital gains, but have to pay 15% tax on short-term capital gains.

Officials at institutional brokerages say a substantial portion of foreign money flowing into Indian equities comes through the Mauritius route, because of the significant savings on tax.   Source: ET

The IT industry on Monday hailed the government’s decision to extend the tax holiday to the software export units by another year, and abolition of FBT, giving much-needed relief to the slowdown-hit sector facing contracted orders and sharp earnings fall.

“In order to tide over the slowdown in exports, I propose to extend the sunset clauses for these tax holidays by one more year– financial year 2010-11,” Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said in his Budget speech today. The scheme was due to expire on March 2010.

Nasscom President Som Mittal welcomed the extension and said that though the industry had asked for a five-year break, for short term, the one-year tax holiday is well-timed to tide over the slowdown.

Country’s largest software exporter Tata Consultancy Services and its peers like Infosys, Wipro, Mahindra Satyam, Cognizant and HCL also welcomed the decisions. IT and BPO employees union UNITE also hailed the Budget announcements.

Software exporter TCS CEO S Ramadorai said, for the IT industry the extension of tax exemption under the Software Tecnologies Park of India (STPI) for one more year is a step in the right direction as is the abolitiob of the FBT.

Source / Courtesy: ET

The following new services are proposed to be included in the list of taxable services from a date to be notified

a) Transport of Goods through Rail:

b) Transport of Coastal Goods and Goods transported through Inland water

c) Legal Consultancy Service (other than provided by individual or received by individual)

d) Cosmetic and Plastic Surgery service

a) The services provided by the tour operators undertaking point-to-point transportation of passengers is being fully exempted from service tax, provided such transportation is not in relation to tourism or conducted tours, or charter or hire. (Notification No. 20/209-ST dated 07.07.09 ).

b) The inter-bank transactions of purchase or sale of foreign currency, when undertaken by scheduled banks, is being exempted. (Notification No. 19/2009-ST dated 07.07.09).

c) Federation of Indian Export Promotion Organization (FIEO) and twenty-one specified export promotion councils sponsored by the Department of Commerce or by the Ministry of Textiles are being exempted from the levy of service tax under the said service. This exemption would remain valid till 31.03.2010. (Notification No. 16/2009-ST dated 07.07.09).

Indirect Taxes

Service tax

Service Tax to be imposed on the following services:

• Service provided in relation to transport of goods by rail

• Service provided in relation to transport of coastal cargo; and goods through inland water including National Waterways

• Advice, consultancy or technical assistance provided in the field of law (this tax would not be applicable in case the service provider or service receiver is an individual).

• Cosmetic and plastic surgery service

Exemption from service tax being provided to inter-State or intra-State transportation of passengers in a vehicle bearing ‘Contract Carriage Permit’ with specified onditions.

·         Exemption from service tax (leviable under Banking and other financial services or under Foreign exchange broking service) being provided to inter-bank purchase and sale of foreign currency between scheduled banks.

·         Two taxable services, namely, ‘Transport of goods through road’ and ‘Commission paid to foreign agents’ to be exempted from the levy of service tax, if the exporter is liable to pay service tax on reverse charge basis. However, present cap of 10% on commission agency charges is retained. Thus there would be no need for the exporter to first pay the tax and later claim refund in respect of these services.

·         For other services received by exporters, service tax exemption to be operated through the existing refund mechanism based on self-certification of the documents where such refund is below 0.25 per cent of FOB value, and certification of documents by a Chartered Accountant for value of refund exceeding the above limit.

·         Export Promotion Councils and the Federation of Indian Export Organizations (FIEO) to be exempt from service tax on the membership and other fees collected by them till 31st March 2010.

Direct Taxes

·         No changes made in the Corporate Tax rates.

·         Exemption limit in personal income tax raised by Rs.15,000 from Rs.2.25 lakh to Rs.2.40 lakh for senior citizens; by Rs.10,000 from Rs.1.80 lakh to Rs.1.90 lakh for women tax payers; and by Rs.10,000 from Rs.1.50 lakh to Rs.1.60 lakh for all other categories of individual taxpayers.

·         Deduction under section 80-DD in respect of maintenance, including medical treatment, of a dependent who is a person with severe disability being raised from the present limit of Rs.75,000 to Rs.1 lakh.

·         Surcharge on various direct taxes to be phased out; in the first instance, by eliminating the surcharge of 10 percent on personal income-tax.

·         Sun-set clauses for deduction in respect of export profits under sections 10A and 10B of the Income-tax Act being extended by one more year i.e. for the financial year 2010-11.

·         Fringe Benefit Tax on the value of certain fringe benefits provided by employers to their employees to be abolished.

·         Scope of provisions relating to weighted deduction of 150% on expenditure incurred on in-house R&D to all manufacturing businesses being extended except for a small negative list.

·         Businesses to be incentivised by providing investment linked tax exemptions rather than profit linked exemptions. Investment linked tax incentives to be provided, to begin with, to the businesses of setting up and operating ‘cold chain’, warehousing facilities for storing agricultural produce and the business of laying and operating cross country natural gas or crude or petroleum oil pipeline network for distribution on common carrier principle. Under this method, all capital expenditure, other than expenditure on land, goodwill and financial instruments to be fully allowable as deduction.

·         Minimum Alternate Tax (MAT) to be increased to 15 per cent of book profits from 10 per cent. The period allowed to carry forward the tax credit under MAT to be extended from seven years to ten years.

·         New Pension System (NPS) to continue to be subjected to the Exempt-Exempt-Taxed (EET) method of tax treatment of savings. Income of the NPS Trust to be exempted from income tax and any dividend paid to this Trust from Dividend Distribution Tax. All purchase and sale of equity shares and derivatives by the NPS Trust also to be exempt from the Securities Transaction Tax. Self employed persons to be enabled to participate in the NPS and to avail of the tax benefits available thereto.

·         Alternative dispute resolution mechanism to be created within the Income Tax Department for the resolution of transfer pricing disputes. Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) to be empowered to formulate ‘safe harbour’ rules to reduce the impact of judgemental errors in determining transfer price in international transactions.

·         Commodity Transaction Tax (CTT) to be abolished.

·         Donations to electoral trusts to be allowed as a 100 percent deduction in the computation of the income of the donor.

·         Deduction under section 80E of the Income-tax Act allowed in respect of interest on loans taken for pursuing higher education in specified fields of study to be extended to cover all fields of study, including vocational studies, pursued after completion of schooling.

·         To mitigate the practical difficulties faced by charitable organisations, anonymous donations received by charitable organisations to the extent of 5 percent of their total income or a sum of Rs.1 lakh, whichever is higher, not to be taxed.

·         Scope of presumptive taxation to be extended to all small businesses with a turnover upto Rs. 40 lakh. All such taxpayers to have option to declare their income from business at the rate of 8 percent of their turnover and simultaneously enjoy exemption from the compliance burden of maintaining books of accounts. As a procedural simplification, they are also to be exempted from advance tax and allowed to pay their entire tax liability from business at the time of filing their return. This new scheme to come into effect from the financial year 2010-11.

·         Tax holiday under section 80-IB(9) of the Income Tax Act, which was hitherto available in respect of profits arising from the commercial production or refining of mineral oil, to be extended to natural gas. This tax benefit to be available to undertakings in respect of profits derived from the commercial production of mineral oil and natural gas from oil and gas blocks which are awarded under the NELP-VIII round of bidding. The section to be retrospectively amended to provide that “undertaking” for the purposes of section 80-IB(9) will mean all blocks awarded in any single contract.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has announced that Fringe Benefit Tax (FBT) has been abolished.
The commodity transaction tax (CTT) has also been abolished. The Goods and Services Tax (GST) will come into effect from April 01, 2010, Mukherjee said.