Compliance Chambers

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has given its approval to the phasing out of Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB). The proposal entails abolishing the FIPB and allowing administrative Ministries/Departments to process applications for FDI requiring government approval. Henceforth, the work relating to processing of applications for FDI and approval of the Government thereon under the extant FDI Policy and FEMA, shall now be handled by the concerned Ministries/Departments in consultation with the Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion(DIPP), Ministry of Commerce, which will also issue the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for processing of applications and decision of the Government under the extant FDI policy. In addition, Foreign Investors will find India more attractive destination and this will result in more inflow of FDI. The move will provide ease of doing business and will help in promoting the principle of Maximum

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has given its approval for the Multilateral Convention to Implement Tax Treaty Related Measures to Prevent Base Erosion and Profit Shifting. The Convention is an outcome of the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) / G20 BEPS (Base erosion and profit shifting) Project to tackle base erosion and profit shifting through tax planning strategies that exploit gaps and mismatches in tax rules to artificially shift profits to low or no-tax locations where there is little or no economic activity, resulting in little or no overall corporate tax being paid.   More than 100 jurisdictions have concluded negotiations on a multilateral instrument (MLI) that will swiftly implement a series of tax treaty measures to update international tax rules and lessen the opportunity for tax avoidance by multinational enterprises. The new instrument will transpose results from the OECD/G20 Base Erosion and Profit

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has given ex-post facto approval to Pan-India implementation of Maternity Benefit Program which now has been extended to all districts of the country w.e.f. 01.01.2017. The Prime Minister in his address to the nation on 31.12.2016 had announced Pan-India implementation of Maternity Benefit Program. The Maternity Benefit Program will provide compensation for the wage loss in terms of cash incentives so that the women can take adequate rest before and after delivery and not be deprived of proper nutrition. The total cost of the proposal for the period from 01.01.2017 to 31.03.2020 including Central and State Government share isRs.12,661crore. The Government of India’s share during the period 01.01.2017 to 31.03.2020 comes to around Rs. 7932 crores. Objective of the Scheme i)        To provide partial compensation for the wage loss in terms of cash incentives so that the woman can take adequate rest b

There have been several instances of economic offenders fleeing the jurisdiction of Indian courts, anticipating the commencement, or during the pendency, of criminal proceedings. The absence of such offenders from Indian courts has several deleterious consequences— First :                it hampers investigation in criminal cases; Second :           it wastes precious time of courts of law, Third :               it undermines the rule of law in India. Further, several such cases of economic offenses involve non-repayment of bank loans thereby causing strain on the banking sector in India. In response to the above, Government has introduced a draft law called 'THE FUGITIVE ECONOMIC OFFENDERS BILL, 2017'. It is widely felt that the spectre of high-value economic offenders absconding from India to defy the legal process seriously undermines the rule of law in India. It is necessary to provide an effective, expeditious and constitutionally permissible deterr

The Government has given the last opportunity to all such institutions / organizations who have applied for renewal of their registration under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act 2010 (FCRA) but not uploaded their Annual Return from Financial Year 2010-11 to 2014-15, to file its Annual returns within a period of 30 days i.e. 15 th May 2017 until 14 th June 2017. All such NGOs can upload their annual returns with the necessary documents in the period of 30 days from 15th May 2017 to June 14, 2017. During this period, no additional charges will be charged for filing annual returns. The government has further decided that no compounding fees shall be imposed in case late filing is completed within a period of 30 days. This exemption is being given to the institutions for the last time which will submit annual returns from the financial year 2010-11 to 2014-15. Unless the annual returns will be uploaded by the organizations, renewal will not be done under the FCRA.

EXTENDED INDIA-CHILEAN PTA APPLICABLE India and Chile have achieved another milestone in business relations with an agreement on the expansion of the Indo-Chilean PTA. This agreement was signed on September 6, 2016, and it is now being implemented on May 16, 2017. Central Cabinet Cabinet had approved the extension of PTA in April 2016. Domestic products such as textiles and chemicals would get greater market access in Chile as the expanded preferential trade agreement between India and the South American nation will come into effect from May 16 Both parties will benefit greatly from expanded PTA, as it will increase the scope of the large number of tariff lines offered to both sides, which will facilitate greater bilateral business. India and Chile had already signed the Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) on March 8, 2006, which came into effect from August 2007. There were limited number of tariff lines in the original PTA, whereas now the two parties have incr

For ease of compliance of Labour Laws, The Ministry of Labour & Employment vide Notification dated February 21, 2017, have reduced the number of Registers to be maintained to 5 in place of 56 Registers which were provided under the following Central Labour Laws/Rules: a.  The Building and Other Construction Workers (Regulation of Employment & Conditions of Service) Act, 1996 b.   The Contract Labour (Regulation & Abolition) Act, 1970 c.   The Equal Remuneration Act, 1976 d.  The Inter-State Migrant Workmen (Regulation of Employment & Conditions of Service) Act, 1979 e.   The Mines Act, 1952 f.   The Minimum Wages Act, 1948 g.  The Payment of Wages Act, 1936 h.  The Sales Promotion Employees (Conditions of Service) Act, 1976 i. The Working Journalists and Other Newspaper Employees (Conditions of Service) and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1955. To further facilitate the compliance by the establishments, an initiative has been taken to develop

The Government has notified the Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act,2017 on 28th March,2017 and the provisions of the Amendment Act have come into force with effect from 1 st April,2017, except those relating to crèche facility {Section 4(1)} which would come into force from 01.07.2017.  Keeping in view queries received from various quarters, the Ministry of Labour & Employment, on 12.04.2017, had issued certain clarifications on various provisions of Maternity Benefit(Amendment) Act, 2017.  One of the clarifications issued by the Ministry stated that the enhanced maternity benefit, as modified by the Maternity Benefit (Amendment) bill, 2016 can be extended to women who are already under maternity leave at the time of enforcement of this Amendment Act.  Having received further queries and to remove doubts, it is further clarified that it is mandatory on the part of employers to extend the benefit of enhanced maternity leave to those women workers who were already on materni

The President of India , exercising the power conferred by Clause (1) of Article 123 of the Constitution of India , has amended   The Banking Regulation Act, 1949 and passed the Banking Regulation (Amendment) Ordinance, 2017. A new section 35AA has been inserted after section 35A which states that the Central Government may by order authorize Reserve Bank of India to issue directions to any banking company or companies to initiate insolvency resolution process in respect of a default, under the provisions of Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016. Further, through new Section 35AB,  RBI has been assigned the power to issue directions to Banking Company or Companies for resolution of stressed assets. Brief Analysis : After the enactment of Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, there was a requirement of a parallel amendment in Banking Regulation too. Therefore through the above-mentioned ordinance Government has been assigned the power to initiate strict action against the

  Union Minister of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises Shri Anant G. Gite tomorrow i.e. 4 May in New Delhi's Pragati Maidan hall number  -  will inaugurate the CSR Fair 11.  This three-day  fair  (from 4th May to 6th May ,  2017) is being organized with the support of ONGC by Public Enterprises Department and PHD Chamber of the Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises.  This Fair  will provide all stakeholders  including Union Ministries / Departments ,  CPSE / PSU of the States ,  Private  Companies ,  NGOs / Foundation etc.  ,  where they can show their CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) activities and their best practices Will be able to share. Along with this, this platform will also provide them the opportunity to connect with other stakeholders. This fair is unique because it will include the following activities: §  Dedicated sessions based on CSR will be organized for three days §  A unique opportunity to meet people associated with CSR §  CSR