New Delhi, July 25
Late filing of I-T returns will no longer attract the stringent penalties as it currently does under the law. In a big relief to people who file their returns late, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today effected an amendment to the income tax law which imposes exorbitant per day penalties on late filers.

Moving the said amendment during his response to the Finance Bill 2014 discussions in the Lok Sabha today, Jaitley said, “For late filing of returns a provision has become onerous. It pertains to the per day penalty. The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) earlier had no discretion to deal with these cases. The amendment will allow the CBDT some discretion in these cases,” Jaitley said.

Experts said the move was “wise” as it would save a lot of late filers of IT returns from the draconian provisions of the per day penalty clause. The amendment was passed by the Lok Sabha today along with the Finance Bill 2014 which will give effect to the Budget proposals of the Government.

He also announced some relief for debt mutual funds and said the government will keep taxes low to stimulate investment and job creation.

The higher tax slab has been mooted to bring the debt mutual funds on a par with banks as corporates have been parking huge funds while the participation from mutual funds has been low.

Agreeing with the Congress’ take that retrospective taxation was harmful for investments, Jaitley moved another amendment which said retrospective taxes would apply to withdrawals from debt funds between April 1 and July 10. He said the higher short-term capital tax of 20% that he announced in the Budget on July 10 will be applicable on all debt funds redeemed after July 10.

The minister also expanded the scope of the resettlement commission making his Government’s policy of ending tax terrorism clear.

Defending the taxes foregone in the form of reliefs to a section of society, including corporate, Jaitley said consumers “buy goods and not taxes”. “When we provide relief to producers of goods, they price their goods cheaply and the consumers benefit,” Finance Minister said responding to the Left’s demands that all taxes foregone should be recovered. He, however, said not all the foregone taxes (published in a separate booklet along with Budget documents) are due or recoverable. Most of these, he said, are rebates the Government gives to people like senior citizens etc.

On the issue of black money, Jaitley took a dig at his MP colleague Nishikant Dubey who had yesterday said black money would not come back in his lifetime.

New Delhi, July 25
Taking a firm stand on the issue of food security at the negotiations of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), India has clearly stated that the trade facilitation agreement must be implemented only as part of a single undertaking, including the permanent solution on food security.

India has said the trade facilitation agreement be postponed till a permanent solution on public stockholding for food security is found. Taking a tough position, India said timelines are important but "we cannot afford to act in haste in the WTO ignoring the concerns expressed by members".

In a statement at the WTO General Council meeting in Geneva, India said developing countries accepted the Bali package in good faith reassured by the renewed affirmation of commitment to the Doha Development Agenda and its development dimension.

India said its expectations have been completely belied by the developments after the Bali Ministerial and “A clear will to engage in areas of interest to developing countries is conspicuously absent. To make matters worse, persistent efforts are being made to subvert the mandate by divesting it of its core elements”.

“The issue relating to public stockholding is an agreed part of the 2008 text and represents a life and death situation for a number of developing countries and LDCs. We believe this is a simple issue which can be addressed quickly. This is important so that the millions of farmers and the poor families who depend on domestic food stocks do not have to live in constant fear. To jeopardise the food security of millions at the altar of a mere anomaly in the rules is unacceptable”, the statement said.

India said the discussions on the Bali Decision on public stockholding have not even commenced despite repeated requests by the G-33 and the proposals already on the table. Some of the LDC issues have been similarly left behind.

“As a consequence, even seven months after Bali, we do not have the required confidence and trust that there will be constructive engagement on issues that impact the livelihood of a very significant part of the global population”, it added.

Washington, July 25
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) foresees the global economy expanding less than it had previously forecast, slowed by weaker growth in the US, Russia and developing economies.

The lending organisation predicted yesterday that global growth will be 3.4% in 2014, below its April forecast of 3.7%. The downgrade reflects much slower expansion in the US.

The IMF now expects just 1.7% US growth in 2014, the weakest since the recession ended five years ago. That’s down from its April prediction of 2.8%, mostly because of a sharp weather-related contraction in the first quarter.

The US economy shrank at an annual rate of 2.9% in the first three months of the year. US growth should rebound to 3% in 2015, the IMF said.

The IMF also slashed its outlook for Russia’s growth to just 0.2% this year and 1% in 2015. Russia’s conflict with Ukraine has caused a sharp drop in foreign investment.

The IMF included its forecasts in a quarterly update to its World Economic Outlook report.

The weaker growth estimates underscore the need for central banks in advanced economies in the US and Europe to keep interest rates low, the report said. — AP

Chandigarh, July 25
Fortis Healthcare will set up three new hospitals this year. These will be set up in Chennai, Bangalore and Ludhiana.

The focus areas for Fortis Healthcare will be oncology and women’s health. It is looking at providing specialised oncology treatment at its existing hospitals in Amritsar and Ludhiana, besides making the Mohali hospital a specialised cancer care provider. The oncology institute of Fortis, Mohali, was inaugurated by Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal yesterday.

Malvinder Mohan Singh, executive chairman, and Shivinder Mohan Singh, executive vice-chairman, Fortis Healthcare, said the first specialised women care hospital — Fortis La Femme — is being set up in Bangalore. “This is a 100-bed hospital and will be commissioned during this year itself. The second women specialty hospital (100-bed capacity) is being set up in Ludhiana. This will be our second hospital in Ludhiana and will be operational by the end of this year,” they said. They added that the new hospital being set up in Chennai would be operational in the next quarter and it will have a 250-bed capacity.

Malvinder Mohan Singh said, “We are also looking at setting up a healthcare facility in Medicity, coming up in new Mullanpur”

New Delhi, July 25
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today said the government will sell 10% stake each in Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) and RINL and 5% in SAIL in the current fiscal.

In a reply to a question in the Lok Sabha, he said the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved the residual stake sale in Hindustan Zinc (HZL) and Balco.

He said the CCEA has already approved disinvestment in Steel Authority of India (SAIL), Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd (RINL) and HAL. Disinvestment in these three companies is “tentatively scheduled for completion in 2014-15”. “In order to meet budgetary targets, some more CPSEs have been identified for disinvestment during 2014-15. — PTI

Bathinda, July 25
State Bank of Patiala today opened five new branches in Bathinda zone and a total of 25 branches. The announcement was made by SA Ramesh Rangan, managing director of the bank, at the bank’s network office in New Delhi. The bank has also started a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative, under which the bank will contribute Rs 5 for every new savings account opened, Rs 50 for every new current account opened, Rs 2 for every new user of internet banking/mobile banking and 10 paisa per transaction on the alternate delivery channels (internet banking, mobile banking, ATM & POS etc).

The amount so contributed will be used for social welfare activities such as aid to old age homes, orphanages etc, donations (cash and kind) to needy individuals/sections of the society, helping the less privileged and organisations engaged in their welfare.

New Delhi, July 25
Punjab National Bank today posted a 10.2% growth in net profit at Rs 1,405 crore during the April-June quarter, helped by a rise in interest income.

The bank had a net profit of Rs 1,275 crore during the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.

The total income rose to Rs 12,825.13 crore as against Rs 11,747 crore in the same quarter a year ago, PNB chairman and managing director KR Kamath said.

Total business of the bank, as on June 30, stood at Rs 7,92,405 crore, as against Rs 7,02,007 crore at end of first quarter of in 2013-14, registering 12.9% growth. — PTI

BRIEFLY

Container Corporation of India gets Navratna status
New Delhi: The government has granted Navratna status to Container Corporation of India Limited (CONCOR). It would come into effect from July 23. It manages the largest network of dry ports in the country and has introduced and promotes the concept of multi-mode in transport of goods both in the international and domestic segments. — TNS

Vodafone India Q1 revenue up 10% at ~10,323 cr
New Delhi: Telecom operator Vodafone on Friday reported increase of about 10% in its services revenue at Rs 10,323 crore in first quarter ended June 30, 2014-15. The company had registered revenue of about Rs 9,375 crore in the April-June period of the last fiscal, 2013-14. — PTI

Tata Steel raises $1.5 bn in overseas bond sale
New Delhi: Tata Steel has raised $1.5 billion in a dual tranche bond sale, making it the largest such deal by the Tata group firm. "This is Tata Steel's debut US Dollar bond issuance and forms part of the company's long-term financing strategy to raise capital internationally," said Koushik Chatterjee, group ED, Tata Steel. — PTI