B U S I N E S S

Govt announces measures to ease biz norms, tax regime
Maintain timeliness in dealing with assessees, CBDT tells officers
New Delhi, November 7
The government today announced measures to ease tax regime and business norms. The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), which oversees the Income Tax Department, today directed its field offices to maintain cleanliness in office, punctuality, timeliness in appointment and avoid unnecessary adjournments.

India Ratings cuts FY15 growth forecast to 5.6%
Mumbai, November 7
Domestic ratings agency India Ratings today marginally revised down its economic growth estimate for 2014-15 fiscal to 5.6% citing poor industrial performance and warned that the government would slip on the fiscal deficit front.

Poor industrial performance is hampering India's scope to jump-start the economy.

At 4-yr low, gold loses glitter on global cues
New Delhi, November 7
At the onset of the wedding season, in what would constitute good news for those shopping for jewellery, gold prices have hit their lowest level in almost four-and-a-half years at Rs 25,800 per 10 gram. Prices of the yellow metal have declined by Rs 2,000 per 10 gram since Diwali (October 23) and are now at the lowest level since April, 2010.

Labour Ministry to set up advanced training institutes
New Delhi, November 7
As part of the 'Make in India' programme, the Labour Ministry will set up advanced training institutes (ATIs) across the country to train vocational instructors. The Directorate General of Employment and Training (DGE&T) will begin it as a pilot project under its Craft Instructor Training Scheme (CITS). The scheme is proposed to be implemented in a public-private partnership (PPP) mode, with the objective of training 9,200 vocational instructors to begin with.

Govt announces measures to ease biz norms, tax regime
Maintain timeliness in dealing with assessees, CBDT tells officers
Sanjeev Sharma
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, November 7
The government today announced measures to ease tax regime and business norms. The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), which oversees the Income Tax Department, today directed its field offices to maintain cleanliness in office, punctuality, timeliness in appointment and avoid unnecessary adjournments.

The Finance Ministry said, though less than 1% of the tax returns filed were selected for scrutiny, this area of work had often drawn adversarial comments. Supervisory officers have been directed to play a more pro-active role in monitoring and guiding assessments towards ensuring that high-pitched assessments without a proper basis are not made and that lengthy questionnaires or summons without due application of mind are avoided.

They have been directed to ensure inspections and reviews in accordance with guidelines issued to enable accountability of the officers.

In limited scrutiny cases, inquiries will ordinarily be restricted. Refunds are to be granted in accordance with instructions already issued which provide a grant of credit of TDS on the basis of evidence submitted by the assessee. Instructions dealing with the recovery and stay of demand and the grant of instalments have been reiterated to ensure that no coercive action is undertaken without disposal of applications for stay.

Senior officers have been directed to ensure that appeals are filed only on the merits thereof and not merely on the tax effect involved. Cases have separately been brought to the attention of the officers wherein tribunals or courts have commented adversely on frivolous filing of appeals.

All supervisory authorities have been directed to enable an effective grievance redressal system in their jurisdictions and also that the timelines prescribed under the Citizen's Charter.

India to provide visa on arrival to Russian biz men

In another measure aimed at easing business rules, Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said India would extend the visa on arrival facility to Russian businessmen at 18 airports in the country.

She said India is committed to removing red tape and providing a single-window clearance to investors. “India will provide the visa on arrival facility for business visitors at 18 airports,” Sitharaman said. “India and Russia need to further strengthen the economic relation which is at present below potential,” she said. The bilateral trade between the countries stood at $6 billion in 2013-14.

On indirect taxes front also, the Central Board for Excise and Customs (CBEC) has initiated measures for a more transparent and non-adversarial tax administration. In a move towards, 24x7 customs clearances by December 31 and a 24-hour facility for specified export and import goods shall be available at 17 airports and 18 sea ports in respect of certain categories of imports and exports.

India Ratings cuts FY15 growth forecast to 5.6%

Mumbai, November 7
Domestic ratings agency India Ratings today marginally revised down its economic growth estimate for 2014-15 fiscal to 5.6% citing poor industrial performance and warned that the government would slip on the fiscal deficit front. The agency pegged the final fiscal deficit print at 4.2%, against the Budget promise of 4.1%, despite the 10% spending cut announced last week. In the first six months of the fiscal, fiscal deficit touched 83% of the target.

The agency, which is backed by international rating agency Fitch, revised down the GDP forecast to 5.6% from the earlier 5.7% in August.

"The downward revision in GDP forecast is mainly because we now expect the industrial sector growth to be 4.6% against the previous forecast of 5.1%," it said.

The agency maintained the agricultural growth projection at 1.3%, which experts say will be limited by the weak monsoon. However, it revised up the growth projection for the services sector, which contributes over 65% to GDP, by 10 bps to 7.1%.

The country has had two consecutive years of sub-5% growth, which jumped to 5.7% in the first quarter of the fiscal. However, due to a continued slump in the monthly industrial output data, analysts expect the upcoming September quarter growth at 5% levels.

The government is expecting the growth to come in 5.5-6% range, while the RBI's median estimate stands at 5.5%.

On the fiscal deficit, India Ratings said even though factors such as declining oil subsidy on a fall, global crude prices are giving us succor. A slow growth in the tax revenues would likely result in the government over-shooting its 4.1% target and we will close FY15 with a 4.2% gap.

The agency said the recent move to deregulate diesel, which was caused largely by the decline in international crude prices, will help save Rs 15,000 crore in oil subsidy in FY15.

The agency said there was a low probability of RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan cutting the interest rates at the policy review on December 2, but would do so in February next. It said the average consumer price inflation for the entire fiscal will come in at 7.8%, as against the 9.5% in the year-ago period. — PTI

At 4-yr low, gold loses glitter on global cues
Sanjeev Sharma
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, November 7
At the onset of the wedding season, in what would constitute good news for those shopping for jewellery, gold prices have hit their lowest level in almost four-and-a-half years at Rs 25,800 per 10 gram.

Prices of the yellow metal have declined by Rs 2,000 per 10 gram since Diwali (October 23) and are now at the lowest level since April, 2010. Gold prices are trading at a low on the back of a strong dollar and less purchasing by retailers as they expect the precious metal will fall even further.

Nitin Nachnani, research analyst, Geojit Comtrade, said the yellow metal was trading in a primary downtrend and had touched an intra-day low of Rs 25,164. International gold prices, after breaking the crucial support of $1,180 on October 31, touched $1,131. “As the trend for gold is down and no reversal pattern is observed, sell on the rally should be the strategy,” he said.

Aviral Gupta, founder & investment strategist, Mynte Advisors, said investors were dumping the safe-haven metal amid strength in the dollar and equities, with markets now fearing $1,000 an ounce as the next target level. The sell-off in gold began last Friday, when the metal broke through $1,180 — the lowest level gold had fallen to after last year’s 28% dip, he said.

Gupta said the dollar rose to a four-year high against a basket of major currencies on Wednesday, after the Republican won control over both chambers of the US Congress for the first time since 2006, lifting investor expectations for more pro-business policies.

Even with gold prices dropping to near a four-year low, buyers across Asia have failed to show enthusiasm for the metal, preferring instead to wait on the sidelines.

When gold prices are in a slump, Chinese buyers in particular, eyeing a bargain, traditionally move in and stop the rot. But that doesn't seem to be happening this time around. In the biggest consumer of gold, local premiums — an indicator of demand — failed to pick up any big way, Gupta said.

Rajesh Iyer, head of investment advisory services and family office, Kotak Wealth Management, said globally, commodity prices had corrected sharply and were expected to remain weak due to the strong dollar. “Both hard and soft commodity prices are expected to remain benign this year and next year. The dollar will remain strong in 2015 due to its superior growth performance and weakness prevailing in Euro and Japan," he said.

Labour Ministry to set up advanced training institutes
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, November 7
As part of the 'Make in India' programme, the Labour Ministry will set up advanced training institutes (ATIs) across the country to train vocational instructors. The Directorate General of Employment and Training (DGE&T) will begin it as a pilot project under its Craft Instructor Training Scheme (CITS). The scheme is proposed to be implemented in a public-private partnership (PPP) mode, with the objective of training 9,200 vocational instructors to begin with.

"The DGE&T of the Labour Ministry proposes to set up 12 ATIs in the country at a cost of over Rs 200 crore," an official statement said.

Overall 27 ATIs would be set up, with 12 in the first phase. “To address the need for vocational trainers, the DGE&T has decided to set up 27 ATIs to train instructors," the statement said.

The Labour Ministry said it was the part of the 'Make in India' programme which aims to transform the country into a best-in-class manufacturing hub and it emphasises skill development.

The Prime Minister, in his recent speech, had weighed on the need to focus on "skill, scale and speed" to make India capable of competing on the global scale.

“With an impetus on private participation to induce efficiency and innovation, the DGE&T has decided to explore public-private partnerships as a model for developing these institutes,” it said.

The DGE&T is an apex organisation for development and coordination of the vocational training in India. The prequalification process for bidders to set up 12 institutes in the first phase is to begin soon, it said.