India Asks Vodafone to Pay $2.1 Billion Tax Bill or It May Face Asset Seizures
The income tax (I-T) department’s “pay up
or we seize your assets” notice to British telecom giant Vodafone has raised
questions on whether the NDA government’s top functionaries and the bureaucracy
are speaking in different languages. Only last month Prime Minister Narendra
Modi had assured foreign investors that India’s controversial retrospective
tax, which had unnerved businesses at home and abroad, was “a thing of the
past”— a measure that would not be reintroduced by his or any other future
government. The fact that the assurance came on the first day of French
President Francois Hollande’s visit to India did help soothe some fevered
brows.But now the I-T department has again asked Vodafone to pay Rs 14,300
crore in tax dues and threatened to seize assets in the case of non-payment,
potentially derailing the goodwill generated by Mr Modi’s promises of an
investor-friendly environment. The department says the tax is due on Vodafone
International Holdings BV’s $11 billion acquisition of Hutchison Whampoa’s
India telecom business in 2007. Vodafone India has argued that no tax was due
as the transaction was conducted offshore, but the tax department’s contention
is that capital gains were made on assets in India. Vodafone’s troubles began
in 2012, when India changed its laws to impose taxes on older corporate deals
such as Vodafone’s acquisition of Hutchison Whampoa’s telecom assets in India.
The British firm’s repeated run-ins with the taxman have again stoked fears
about the country’s high-handedness in dealing with foreign investors.
In an atmosphere dominated by many known
and unknowns, ushering in the promised ‘achche din’ is proving infinitely more
complicated than coining the catchy slogan was. That’s because the government
often needs to wind its way through a legal labyrinth to deliver on its
promise. Foreign investors, both strategic and stock market, have once again
shown a penchant for the India story. The tax disputes pertaining to Vodafone
and energy major Cairn have become emblematic of some of the trenchant
rigidities that have come to characterise the country. India would do well if
it gets such policy irritants out of the way to cement its place as a potential
epicentre of economic activity in a shaky world.
Nitin Seth to join Flipkart as Chief People Officer
Nitin Seth was today named the Chief People
Officer of Flipkart. Nitin, who brings with him over two decades of experience
in entrepreneurship, strategy, consulting, operations management and business
process redesign, will lead the human resource function at Flipkart, India’s
largest online marketplace. He will partner with the leadership team to build
an organization for the future that is versatile and adaptable. Further, he
will foster a distinctive culture to fuel business performance.
Nitin Seth will report to Binny Bansal, CEO
& Co-founder of Flipkart.
Fashion designer Manish Arora to get highest French honor
Fashion designer Manish Arora will be
conferred with the Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur (Knight of the Legion of
Honour), France's highest civilian honour.
This award comes in recognition of his
inspired creations and significant contribution to the fashion world as well as
his longstanding ties with France.
On behalf of the President of the French
Republic, the Ambassador of France to India, H.E. Mr François Richier, will
confer the distinction on Arora, at a ceremony on 16.2.2016 evening at his
residence in New Delhi.
Created in 1802 by Napoleon Bonaparte, the
Legion of Honour is the highest civilian award given by the French Republic for
outstanding service, regardless of the nationality of the recipients.
The President of the French Republic is the
Grand Master of the Order of the Legion of Honour.
In past Indian personalities like Satyajit
Ray, Sivaji Ganesan, Pandit Ravi Shankar, Zubin Mehta, Amitabh Bachchan, and
Shah Rukh Khan have been honoured by the French government.
Make in India week: Uber signs MoU with Maharashtra govt to create 75,000 new jobs
Taxi-hailing app Uber Tuesday signed an
agreement with the Maharashtra government to help create 75,000 jobs across the
state.Through this memorandum of understanding (MoU), Uber will focus on
training women and people from marginalised sectors of society.
"This is to promote equal and fair
opportunity for all sectors of society to earn sufficient fares as independent
entrepreneurs on the platform," Uber said in a statement.
The move would train and provide 75,000 new
job opportunities across Maharashtra over the next 5 years, the company added.
The MoU was formalised by Uber through the
Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Department (SDED) of the Maharashtra
government here.
"We are happy to be part of the Make
in India initiative through this MoU with SDED, Maharashtra Government, to
encourage and give women and persons from marginalised societies an opportunity
to become micro-entrepreneurs through our platform," Uber West GM Shailesh
Sawlani said.
Principal Secretary (SDED) S S Sandhu said,
"We are pleased to partner with Uber to create more economic opportunities
in Maharashtra and mobilise women and persons from marginalised sectors of
society to become micro entrepreneurs."
Uber was launched in 2009 and has presence
in over 361 cities in 66 countries Tuesday.
Writer Akbar Kakkattil passes away
Akbar Kakkattil, renowned writer and
vice-president of the Kerala Sahithya Academy , died at a pri vate hospital
here on Wednesday morning. He was 62. He was undergoing treatment for a lung
disease for the past one year. He was admitted to the hospital a week ago.
Born to P Abdulla and C K Kunhamina in 1954
at Kak kattil, Akbar studied at the Parayil LP School and Vattoli Sanskrit High
School before joining the Government College, Madappally . He obtained his
post-graduation from the Government Brennen College, Thalassery and BEd from
the Government Teacher Training College, Thalassery . Akbar started his career
as a teacher at Vattoli National Higher Secondary School.
The Kerala Sahithya Academy award winner's
main works are Vadakkuninnoru Kudumba Vruthantham, Mruthyu Yogam, Sthrainam and
Harithabhakalkkappuram, among others.
India joins China and Pakistan in multi-lateral exercises
A 12-member team of the Indian Army is
participating in the “Cobra Gold” multilateral exercises being hosted by Thailand, along with its
counterparts from China and Pakistan. India has been invited to the exercises
as an “observer plus” country. This is in keeping with the recent trend of
India’s increasing regional interoperability with a series of multi-lateral
exercises on land and sea.
The theme of the
exercise, involving 35 countries, is humanitarian assistance and disaster
relief. The 35th edition of the exercises, considered Asia’s largest
multinational drill, started on January 20 and will end on February 18.
“Twelve personnel
from the engineering and service corps are taking part in the exercises as
observers,” a senior official of the Defence Ministry told The Hindu.
The decision on
Indian participation was conveyed to Thailand during Vice-President Hamid
Ansari’s visit there recently. The Thai government has said that this year,
8,564 personnel from Thailand, the U.S., Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore
and South Korea and other nations are playing various roles in the exercises.
These exercises
come in the backdrop of increased tensions over China’s land reclamation in the
South China Sea and informal discussions between India and the U.S. over joint
naval patrols as reported by The Hindu.
Disaster
relief tops agenda
Interestingly,
humanitarian assistance and disaster relief has emerged as the unifying theme
among the Indian Ocean littoral states which otherwise have been at odds
recently. After the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004, India, along with the U.S.,
Japan and Australia, formed a “core group” to coordinate disaster relief in the
region.
Jharkhand gets first mega food park
Union Food Processing and Industry Minister
Harsimrat Kaur Badal and Chief Minister Raghubar Das inaugurated the first mega
food park in Jharkhand here on Monday.
Speaking on the occasion, she said the food
park will create employment and ensure remunerative prices to farmers for their
produce.
The food park costing Rs.114.73 crore is
spread over 51.50 acres. It will have the facilities of multi-chamber cold
storage, dry warehouse, vegetable dehydration line, modern quality control and
testing laboratory and other processing facilities for fruit and vegetables.
The chief minister said such food parks
will also be set up in Bokaro, Hazaribag and Sahebganj in the state.
Das said his government had formulated a
food processing policy. Memorandums of understanding entailing investment of
more than Rs.800 crore have been signed, he added.
Government unveils first-ever national Capital goods policy
Addressing the need of the Capital Goods
sector, the government has unveiled the first-ever policy for the country's
capital goods sector which envisions increasing the share of capital goods in
total manufacturing activity from 12 per cent at present to 20 per cent by
2025. The policy envisages increasing exports from the current 27% to 40% of
production while increasing share of domestic production in India's demand from
60% to 80%, thus making India a net exporter of capital goods. The policy also
aims to facilitate improvement in technology depth across sub-sectors, increase
skill availability, ensure mandatory standards and promote growth and capacity
building of MSMEs.
Union Minister of Heavy Industry and Public
Enterprises Shri Anant Ganga Ram Geete said that realising the strategic
importance of Capital Goods and the pivotal role played by it in the overall
manufacturing, as the pillar of strength to the vision of “Make in India”, the
government has now come out with this policy. He added that this is a first time ever policy of this sector, with a
clear objective of increasing production of capital goods from around Rs
230,000 crore in 2014-15 to Rs 750,000 Crore in 2025 and raising direct and
indirect employment from the current 8.4 million to around 30 million.
The Department of Heavy Industry had set up
a Joint Taskforce with Confederation of Indian industry (CII) as an attempt to
ensure that the formulation of the Capital Goods Policy is done in the most
democratic manner and the recommendations would carve out a roadmap for Capital
Goods sector to become a part of global value chains apart from mere supply
chains.
The policy has been framed after extensive
stakeholders’ consultations with industry, academia, different ministries etc.
Earlier, the government had put out the draft national capital goods policy,
seeking comments and suggestions on the various proposals. The aim of the
policy is to create game changing strategies for the capital goods sector. Some
of the key issues addressed include availability of Finance, Raw Material,
Innovation and Technology, Productivity, Quality and Environment Friendly
Manufacturing Practices, Promoting Exports and Creating Domestic Demand. Key
policy recommendations include strengthening the existing scheme of the DHI on
enhancement of competitiveness of Capital Goods Sector by increasing budgetary
allocation for increasing scope to further boost global competitiveness in
various sub sectors of CG.
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