Regulator Sebi on Friday approved a raft of relaxations for foreign portfolio investors, alternative investment funds and entities seeking to raise funds through initial share sales, as part of facilitating the ease of doing business in the securities market. Also, the board of Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) gave its nod for a uniform approach for verification of market rumours by entities that have listed their equities. In a move aimed at testing the feasibility of the optional T+0 settlement mechanism, a Beta version for a limited 25 scrips and limited brokers will be launched. Sebi will continue to do further stakeholder consultation, including with the users of the Beta version. The progress will be reviewed at the end of three months and six months, after which further course of action will be decided, Sebi said in a release. These proposals were cleared by the Sebi board at its meeting that ended late on Friday. Among other measures, the regulator decided to
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday chaired a day-long meeting of his Council of Ministers as they brainstormed over the vision document for "Viksit Bharat: 2047" and a detailed action plan for the next five years. Government sources said a 100-day agenda for immediate steps to be taken after a new government is formed in May was deliberated upon during the meeting for its quick implementation. They said the roadmap for "Viksit Bharat" is a result of more than two years of intensive preparation and involved a "whole of government" approach involving all ministries and wide-ranging consultations with state governments, academia, industry bodies, civil society, scientific organisations and mobilisation of youths for inputs. "More than 2,700 meetings, workshops and seminars were held at various levels. Suggestions of more than 20 lakh youths were received," one official said. The roadmap for "Viksit Bharat" has a comprehensive blueprint with clearly articulated national vision, ...
Capital markets regulator Sebi on Wednesday proposed relaxing rules for certain Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) from enhanced disclosure requirements in a bid to promote ease of doing business. In its consultation paper, the regulator suggested exempting category I university funds and university-related endowments FPI that meet specific criteria from enhanced disclosure requirements. Additionally, it proposed exempting funds with concentrated holdings in entities without a promoter group, where there is no risk of breaching Minimum Public Shareholding (MPS) requirements, from enhanced reporting obligations. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has sought comments till March 8 from the public on the proposals. This came after Sebi, in August last year, mandated FPIs to disclose detailed information about entities holding any ownership, economic interest, or control in them, without any threshold. This granular disclosure framework required for FPIs meeting either o
The government might look at enhancing the scrutiny of certain class of corporates, including in terms of KYC requirements, as efforts continue to weed out unscrupulous elements and curb possible misdoings, according to a senior official. The matters related to KYC (Know Your Customer), including a simplified and uniform system, are still under discussion, and a committee headed by the finance secretary is looking into various aspects. The senior official on Monday said that various aspects related to having a uniform KYC are being discussed and in the case of the corporate affairs ministry, Permanent Account Number (PAN) is being used for KYC requirements. The ministry is implementing the companies law and Limited Liability Partnership (LLP) Act, among other legislations. Further, the official said enhanced KYC requirements might be explored for certain class of corporates. As many as 26,28,865 companies were registered in the country as on January 31, 2024, and out of the total,
Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) has amended regulations for Trustee Bank, and Central Recordkeeping Agency. The amendments to Trustee Bank (TB) Regulations simplify and strengthen the provisions related to implementation of fraud prevention and mitigation policy, compensation to the subscriber, invitation of application for new registration and surrender of certificate of registration, an official statement said on Thursday. Amendments to Central Recordkeeping Agency (CRA) Regulations simplify and strengthen the provisions related to the governance of CRA in line with Companies Act, 2013 and enhanced disclosure of information by CRA, it said. Both amendments were carried out earlier this month and these are in line with the 2023-24 Union Budget announcement to review regulations to reduce the cost of compliance and enhance the ease of doing business. The other notable amendments included implementation of fraud prevention and mitigation policy by CRA to ..
With an aim to promote ease of doing business and compliance reporting, Sebi on Tuesday came out with measures for centralization of certifications under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) and Common Reporting Standard (CRS) at KYC Registration Agencies. Under this, the regulator has directed intermediaries, who are reporting to financial institutions (RFI), to upload the certifications under FATCA and CRS obtained from the clients in the system of KYC Registration Agencies (KRAs) from July 1. The existing certifications obtained from clients prior to July 1, 2024 will be uploaded by the intermediaries onto the systems of KRAs within a period of 90 days of implementation of the new rule, Sebi said in its circular. The onus of obtaining and reporting the FATCA and CRS certification and related compliances will lie with the respective intermediaries. Going by Sebi's circulars issued in 2015, and guidance note on FATCA and CRS norms laid down by the Ministry of Finance, RF
Welcoming Prime Minister Narendra Modi's upcoming visit to Jammu & Kashmir, the local industry on Monday said it expects the PM to address the key issue of unemployment and promote ease of doing business in the valley. "The Prime Minister's visit on Tuesday coincides with the inauguration of some prestigious projects which are destined to play an important part in the development of Jammu & Kashmir," the KCCI said in a statement. The Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) highlighted that the lack of infrastructure and support to industry have been a key roadblock in the overall development of the union territory. The KCCI looks up on the Prime Minister to implement his favourite 'Ease Of Doing Business' scheme in the UT, it said. While thanking the Prime Minister for accepting many of its suggestions in the past, the KCCI said, "it looks up to the Prime Minister with hope for considering suggestions critical for all round development of Jammu & Kasmir, more so, .
Obviously, tax officials believe that all these tightly regulated companies, including government ones, have short-changed the government
The Drugs Controller General of India said that the National Single Window System (NSWS) has been established as a 'genuine single-window system which acts as a one-stop shop for all approvals'
More than 1.96 lakh companies and Limited Liability Partnerships (LLPs) were incorporated in the country this year till the end of November, which is higher than 1.88 lakh such entities registered in the year-ago period, the corporate affairs ministry said on Thursday. Providing a review of the key developments during 2023, the ministry said in the framework of corporate governance, it continues to focus on bolstering 'ease of compliance' and 'ease of doing business'. "During calendar year 2023, 1,96,028 companies and LLPs got incorporated as on 30th November 2023 as against 1,88,364 companies and LLPs for the corresponding period during calendar year 2022," the ministry said in a release. Among others, in 2023, the Central Processing for Accelerated Corporate Exit (C-PACE) became operational in May. Amendments were also made to the Competition Act as well as to various rules under the Companies Act. "In an important development, the amendment to the Companies (Compromises, ...
While there are issues relating to mismatch in input and output returns, input tax credit availed of on exempted items, there are broader legal interpretational issues in GST notices as well
DPIIT has created a dataset to let the States know how some of the areas may be affecting them in terms of their 'business-friendly reputation'
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The mines ministry on Tuesday said it has decriminalised 27 provisions through amendments in the Atomic Mineral Concession Rules, 2016 and achieved 100 per cent target of easing of rules. The rules were decriminalised as part of a campaign to reduce compliance burden and ensure ease of doing business. "The special campaign 3.0 commenced from October 2, 2023 and the ministry of mines has attained 100 per cent of the target set for easing of procedure by decriminalising 27 rules through the amendment of Atomic Mineral Concession Rules, 2016," the mines ministry said in a statement. Under the campaign, the mines ministry has set the targets of addressing all pending matters and improving work place experience in all its offices. During the first week, the ministry said it resolved 95.45 per cent of the pending public grievances and completed 52 per cent of the task related to records management. Moreover, the mines ministry attained 43 per cent of the target for removing physical fil
The Bombay High Court recently took a dig at the Central government's "ease of doing business", and said while it was mindful of the pendency of cases in courts, it was the government that was by far the largest litigant and the one that most often sought adjournments. A division bench of Justices Gautam Patel and Kamal Khata, which was on October 5 hearing a petition filed by one Ramkali Gupta in 2016 over property-related issues, said it was no stranger to repeated assertions from the Union government regarding the pendency of cases and impediments allegedly caused by the courts. The bench in its order said it was shocked to note that Gupta's petition has been pending for seven years and that since June this year, the plea has been adjourned at the request of the Union government so that the additional solicitor general could appear. We are equally mindful, and we are constrained to say this, that we are no strangers to repeated assertions from the Union government itself regardin
He also underlined the Government's commitment to improving the ease of doing business in India, making it easier to start and run businesses
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The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) is undertaking an exercise to assess the cost of regulations in states with a view to improving further the ease of doing business, an official said. Through this, the official said, states will get an insight into reforms which they can bring to improve the business climate for industry. For this, DPIIT officials held a meeting in June with all selected survey agencies for assessing the cost of regulation. The session was scheduled to provide orientation/brief to the overall project coordinator/key persons from all regions. Citing examples, the official said seeking a number of papers and delays in giving approvals or clearances cost to the industry. "The exercise is aimed at reducing this cost," the official added. The department is taking a series of measures to reduce the compliance burden of the industry and improve the ease of doing business. It has removed or simplified thousands of obsolete provisions and
The Centre will help states in simplification, rationalisation or decriminalisation of provisions with a view to promoting ease of doing business and living in the country, a top government official said on Thursday. Secretary in the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) Rajesh Kumar Singh said that Parliament passed a bill which seeks to promote ease of business by decriminalising minor offences through amendments in 183 provisions of 42 Acts. "We will do this in the future as well...We intend to follow with an inter-ministerial working group which will look at other provisions where further simplification, rationalisation or decriminalisation is possible and we are intending to do the same exercise at the state level by providing guidance to the states as well," he told reporters here. He said that there will be many more rounds of this exercise with the overall objective of promoting ease of doing business and ease of living. The Jan Vishwas (Amendment
Parliament on Wednesday passed a bill which seeks to promote ease of business by decriminalising minor offences through amendments in 183 provisions of 42 Acts. The Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Bill, 2023 was passed by Rajya Sabha by a voice vote. Lok Sabha had cleared the legislation on July 27. Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal said the bill will promote the ease of doing business by decriminalising a number of provisions. The bill converts several fines to penalties, meaning that court prosecution is not necessary to administer punishments. It also removes imprisonment as a punishment for many offences. The bill also seeks to remove all offences under the Post Office Act, 1898.