CMAI With digital payments witnessing manifold growth post demonetisation, 

India needs separate digital payment laws and courts along with an "appropriate legal framework", CMAI Association of India (CMAI) today said. With digital payments witnessing manifold growth post demonetisation, India needs separate digital payment laws and courts along with an "appropriate legal framework", CMAI Association of India (CMAI) today said. CMAI, which represents companies across telecom, ICT and cybersecurity segments, said an appropriate legal framework is needed to protect consumers in case they lose money during digital transactions. "India does not have proper laws in this regard as of now. The only remedy available is under Information Technology Act, which largely deals with cyber breaches. All cases of money lost in digital payments may not fall CMAI President NK Goyal said. With proliferations of digital payments across India in big and small towns, there may be widespread cases of small amounts here and there throughout the country, he added. "To address them in timely manner, CMAI requests that there is need for separate digital payment laws and digital payment courts across India," he said. The body also urged the government to promote domestic manufacturing of Point of Sale (PoS) machines and its software development. "Government reports say during next few months 20 lakhs new PoS machines will be added to 15 lakhs existing ones. When crores of people are joining digital payments movement daily, safety of data remains paramount which can be ensured only by pushing indigenous manufacturing of PoS machines," he said. Stating that digital payments have gone up 300 per cent since demonetisation, Goyal said: "We cannot depend on foreign manufacturers if we A majority of PoS machines currently are imported from the US, Europe and China. "There is a need for legal framework for data storage, data protection... draft legal framework should also include standards on refunds, complaint redressal system, cash backs, compliance to various policies and procedures need to be displayed on company's website details of complaints received/addressed, money refunded and action taken on regular basis, cash back policy etc," he said. CMAI has also urged for putting in place an "appropriate and robust mechanism" for reporting losses and recovery of money lost.....

RBI allows FPIs to transact in securities directly Sebi registered Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs), 

Qualified Foreign Investors (QFIs), registered Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) and long-term investors are allowed to purchase securities on repatriation basis, and subject to such terms and conditions as may be specified by SEBI and the Reserve Bank of India from time to time, it said. | RBI allows FPIs to transact in securities directly Reserve Bank has eased norms for foreign portfolio investors to transact in securities other than shares by allowing them to trade directly in such instruments.

 "With a view to providing flexibility in regard to the manner in which non-convertible debentures/bonds issued by Indian companies can be acquired by FPIs, it has now been decided to allow them to transact in such instruments either directly or in any manner as per the prevalent/approved market practice," the RBI said in a notification. Sebi registered Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs), Qualified Foreign Investors (QFIs), registered Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) and long-term investors are allowed to purchase securities on repatriation basis, and subject to such terms and conditions as may be specified by SEBI and the Reserve Bank from time to time, it said.

Probe into suspicious transaction in Jan Dhan accounts

 The account holders of Gopinathpur branch of a bank claim that they have not operated their accounts even once after the accounts were opened last year. | 1 Comments The police are investigating repeated deposits and withdrawal of large amounts of money in Jan Dhan bank accounts of around 13 members of a Self-Help Group (SHG) here, the police said today. The account holders of Gopinathpur branch of a bank claim that they have not operated their accounts even once after the accounts were opened last year. 

"We are investigating the matter. If any cognisable offence is established, then appropriate criminal prosecutions will be initiated," city DCP Sanjiv Arrora said. If any revenue or financial mismanagement is established, then appropriate agencies would be intimated, he said. The members of Tulasi SHG said they had opened the Jan Dhan accounts in order to avail loans if any, in future. But they were surprised to notice that heavy transactions had been made in their accounts after the demonetisation of higher denominations was announced in November. Although such bogus transactions in the Jan Dhan accounts were brought to the notice of the bank officials, they appeared indifferent, some of the account holders claimed. Senior officials of the bank were not immediately available for comment. 

Telecom Minister assures amendment to TRAI Act being examined Amendment of TRAI Act....!

Particularly with respect to giving the regulator penal powers, assumed significance after the Supreme Court struck down its decision to impose penalty on operators for call drops Dhirendra Tripathi Telecom Minister Manoj Sinha has assured that the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s proposal to amend the TRAI Act was under examination. The minister has given this commitment in a letter to Rajya Sabha member Rajeev Chandrasekhar. Amendment of TRAI Act, particularly with respect to giving the regulator penal powers, assumed significance after the Supreme 

Court struck down its decision to impose penalty on operators for call drops. The Apex court’s May 11 judgement had termed the directive, "unconstitutional and arbitrary". TRAI had decided to impose a penalty of Re. 1 per call with a cap of Rs. 3 per day on telecom operators for each dropped call. Operators had then approached the Supreme Court against the TRAI order, questioning the authority of TRAI to impose penalties and also arguing that it was not possible to clearly define the reasons for call drops. Subsequent to the Supreme Court order, TRAI Chairman R. S. Sharma had written to the then Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad to seek amendments to the TRAI Act to acquire penal powers. The letter by Sinha, Prasad’s successor, does well to underscore the effort of the government in this regard. “The comprehensive proposal of TRAI for amendment of TRAI Act is under examination,” the Minister wrote in the letter dated December 15, a copy of which was seen by  Sinha’s letter was in response to Chandrasekhar’s May 26 letter written to Prasad.

I-T department orders startups to cough up more tax.....!

 Startups that have received the tax demand will have to cough up 33 percent tax on the premium by March 31 or challenge the order in the court of law. Bureau Questioning the valuation methodology of startups, the income tax department has ordered nearly 100 companies to pay more tax on the grounds that the first round of investment was made at a premium, The Economic Times reported today. 
These orders were issued between November 30 and December 15 across the country. Startups that have received the tax demand will have to cough up 33 percent tax on the premium by March 31 or challenge the order in the court of law. The tax demand is made for the assessment year 2013-14 and 2014-15 in almost all the cases, the report added. The move comes at a time when most startups are facing the sword of devaluation by investors and are facing tough time to raise further funding. Recently, Morgan Stanley trimmed Flipkart’s valuation for the fourth time this year to USD 5.6 billion.On May 9, HSBC cut the valuation of restaurant discovery portal Zomato to USD 500 million. The company had been valued at USD 1 billion after its eighth round of funding last year. Valuation of startups are mostly done without taking fundamentals into account. Most of these investments are based on the long-term growth and sales projections given by these companies.

India's crackdown on cash imperils pivotal national tax reform.....!

Modi's government already had its work cut out to finance deal with India's 29 federal a deal with India's 29 federal states to launch a Goods and Service Tax (GST) on April1 that would transform Asia's third largest economy into a single market for the first time.

 Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's crackdown on the cash economy has shattered the consensus needed for a new national sales tax, plunging his boldest reform into limbo and threatening to entrence an economic slowndown. Modi's government already had its work cut out to finance finalise a deal with India's 29 federal states to launch that would transform Asia thirs largest economy into a single market for the first time 

But his decision to scrap 86 percent of the cash in circulation in a bid to purge the economy of illicit "black money" has caused huge disruption.A slump in business activity stemmming from the Cash crunch state governments, which collects value added tax on goods and other duties, to slump by 25-40 percent.The states won't risk another setback by rushing the sales tax into force. The investment and economic in the country in bad shape"Said West Bengal Finance Minister Amit Mitra, who earlier head a panel tasked with building a consensus on the GST.

Failure to break the dead lock could tip India into a fiscal crisi: The GST would need to come into effect by when old system of indierct taxation is due to lapse......!