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Audit quality inspections will provide an opportunity for feedback and course correction to the audit firms and at the same time foster a greater mutual understanding of the policies and procedures that underlie audit quality management. The inspections are intended to bring about systemic improvements in overall financial reporting framework in the country. Refer guidelines
Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman approves the final Sovereign Green Bonds framework of India. This approval will further strengthen India’s commitment towards its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDCs) targets, adopted under the Paris Agreement, and help in attracting global and domestic investments in eligible green projects. The proceeds generated from issuance of such bonds will be deployed in Public Sector projects which help in reducing carbon intensity of the economy.
The Framework comes close on the footsteps of India’s commitments under “Panchamrit” as elucidated by the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, at COP26 at Glasgow in November, 2021. The approval is fulfillment of the announcement in the Union Budget FY 2022-23 by the Union Finance Minister that Sovereign Green Bonds will be issued for mobilising resources for green projects.
Green bonds are financial instruments that generate proceeds for investment in environmentally sustainable and climate-suitable projects. By virtue of their indication towards environmental sustainability, green bonds command a relatively lower cost of capital vis-à-vis regular bonds and necessitates credibility and commitments associated with the process of raising bonds.
In the above context, India’s first Sovereign Green Bonds framework was formulated and as per the provisions of the framework, Green Finance Working Committee (GFWC) was constituted to validate key decisions on issuance of Sovereign Green Bonds.
Further, CICERO, an independent and globally renowned Norway-based Second Party Opinion (SPO) provider, was appointed to evaluate India’s green bonds framework and certify alignment of the framework with ICMA’s Green Bond Principles and international best practices. After due deliberation and consideration, CICERO has rated India’s Green Bonds Framework as ‘Medium Green’ with a “Good” governance score.
The report can be downloaded from the following link:
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At present, taxpayers are required to furnish their Income-tax Returns in ITR-1 to ITR-7 depending upon the type of person and nature of income. The current ITRs are in the form of designated forms wherein the taxpayer is mandatorily required to go through all the schedules, irrespective of the fact whether that particular schedule is applicable or not, which increases the time taken to file the ITRs.
The proposed draft ITR takes a relook at the return filing system in tandem with international best practices. It proposes to introduce a common ITR by merging all the existing returns of income except ITR-7. However, the current ITR-1 and ITR-4 will continue. This will give an option to such taxpayers to file the return either in the existing form (ITR-1 or ITR-4), or the proposed common ITR, at their convenience. The scheme of the proposed common ITR is as follows:
1.Basic information (comprising parts A to E), Schedule for computation of total income (Schedule TI), Schedule for computation of tax (schedule TTI), Details of bank accounts, and a schedule for the tax payments (schedule TXP) is applicable for all taxpayers.
2.
The ITR is customized for taxpayers with applicable schedules based on certain questions answered by the taxpayers (wizard questions).
3.
The questions have been designed in such a manner and order that if the answer to any question is ‘no’, the other questions linked to this question will not be shown to the taxpayer.
4
Instructions have been added to assist the filing of the return containing the directions regarding the applicable schedules.
5
The proposed ITR has been designed in such a manner that each row contains one distinct value only. This will simplify the return filing process.
6
The utility for the ITR will be rolled out in such a manner that only applicable fields of the schedule will be visible and wherever necessary, the set of fields will appear more than once.
As evident from the above, the taxpayer will be required to answer questions which apply to it and fill the schedules linked to those questions where the answer has been given as ‘yes’. This will increase ease of compliance. Once the common ITR Form is notified, after taking into account the inputs received from stakeholders, the online utility will be released by the Income-tax Department.
The draft common ITR, based on the above scheme, has been uploaded on http://www.incometaxindia.gov.in for inputs from stakeholders and general public https://incometaxindia.gov.in/news/common-itr.pdf. A sample ITR illustrating step by step approach for filing the ITR and two customised sample ITRs for firm and company have also been provided for illustration. The inputs on the draft ITR form may be sent electronically at the email address dirtpl4@nic.in with a copy to dirtpl1@nic.in, latest by 15th December, 2022.
A Milestone development to enhance “Ease of Living” of Pensioners through Use of Face Authentication Technology for submission of Digital Life Certificates (Press release 20 Oct 2022)
With a view to enhance Ease of Living of pensioners, Department of Pension and Pensioners’ Portal (DoPPW), engaged with NIC, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (Meity) and UIDAI to develop a Face Authentication technology-based system based on UIDAI Aadhaar software for submission of digital life certificate by the Pensioners/Family Pensioners. As per this facility, the identity of a person will be established through Face Authentication technique and it is possible to submit Life Certificate from any Android based smart phone. Dr. Union Minister of State (IC) Ministry of Science and Technology; Minister of State (IC) Ministry of Earth Science; MoS of Prime Minister’s Office and Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions Dr Jitendra Singh launched this facility on 29.11.2021.
Submission of Digital Life Certificates through face authentication technique is a breakthrough technology which has reduced Pensioners’ dependence on external bio-metric devices and has made the process more accessible and affordable, thus ensuring ease of living for all the Pensioners/Family Pensioners. In addition, by using this digital mode for Life Certificate submission, pensioners can now submit their Life Certificates from the comfort of their homes.
The Department has also started a major campaign under Special Campaign for Disposal of Pending Matters (SCDPM 2.0) in which pensioners aged 80 years and above may submit their Life Certificates from 1st October every year to avoid the rush at banks. All Pensioners’ Associations across the country have been educated in the use of the Face Authentication Technology through online as well as physical trainings imparted by the department from time to time, in a phased manner, so as reach out to all Associations. The Pensioners’ Associations assist pensioners by visiting their homes and holding camps for enabling submission of Life Certificates using the Face Authentication Technology. Recently, Shri V Srinivas, Secretary (DoPPW) visited the office of the NF Railway pensioners’ Association at Guwahati on 14th October, 2022 as part of SCDPM 2.0 where he interacted with pensioners and large number of Digital Life Certificates were generated using Face Authentication Technology.
The department of Pension & Pensioners’ Welfare is making endeavors to enhance adoption of Face Authentication as best practices in digital innovation under SCDPM 2.0 to enable pensioners to use this technology at a larger scale.
Central Record Keeping Agencies (CRAs) of PFRDA have become Digi Locker Partner Organizations to provide Subscriber Centric online Services
Building a Pensioned Society enabled through Digi Locker
Press Release Posted Date:- Oct 18, 2022
Central Record Keeping Agencies (CRAs) of Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) have become Digi Locker Partner Organizations to provide Subscriber Centric online Services .
As a tribute to 75 Years of India’s Independence Day Celebration and to commemorate Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, PFRDA is providing following additional features through Digi Locker:
1. Account opening using Driving License (DL) through Digi Locker
2. Updation of existing address using DL through Digi Locker
The facility can be availed by prospective subscribers opening their accounts with Protean CRA and existing subscribers of Protean CRA for updating their address.
Digi Locker is a key initiative under Digital India, the Government of India flagship program with a vision to transform India into a digitally empowered society and a pensioned Society. Digi Locker embraces Digital India’s vision areas of providing the Citizens a shareable private digital space with a consent framework and making all documents/certificates digitally available and accessible at ease. The number of Registered Users of Digi Locker are nearly 13 cr and 5.60 billion issued documents under various Categories viz Central/ State Governments, Banking & Insurance, Education, Health etc.
The Ministry of MSME vide S.O. 4926 (E) dated 18.10.2022 has notified that in case of an upward change in terms of investment in plant and machinery or equipment or turnover or both, and consequent re-classification, an enterprise shall continue to avail of all non-tax benefits of the category it was in before the re-classification, for a period of three years from the date of such upward change.
This decision has been taken after due deliberations with MSME stakeholders and is in line with the Aatma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan. The Ministry of MSME, Government of India, has allowed those registered MSMEs to continue to avail of non-tax benefits for three years, instead of one year, in case of an upward graduation in their category and consequent reclassification. Non-tax benefits include benefits of various schemes of the Government, including Public Procurement Policy, Delayed Payments, etc.
The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India notified the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (Liquidation Process) (Second Amendment) Regulations, 2022 (‘Amendment Liquidation Regulations’) and Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (Voluntary Liquidation Process) (Second Amendment) Regulations, 2022 (‘Amendment Voluntary Liquidation Regulations’) on 16th September, 2022.
To enable better participation of stakeholders and streamline the liquidation process to reduce delays and realise better value, the amendment in Liquidation Regulations make the following major modifications:
The Amendment Liquidation Regulations and Amendment Voluntary Liquidation Regulations further lay down the manner and period of retention of records relating to liquidation and voluntary liquidation of a corporate debtor or corporate person, respectively.
The Amendment Liquidation Regulations and Amendment Voluntary Liquidation Regulations are effective from 16th September, 2022. These are available at http://www.mca.gov.in and www.ibbi.gov.in.
Shri Goyal asks Chartered Accountants all over the world to be ambassadors of Brand India
Asks Chartered Accountancy firms in India to develop global partnerships and become international firms
Asks Chartered accountants to always do justice to the immense legacy of trust, honesty and high standards left behind by their predecessors
Calls upon ICAI to work towards opening 100 offices world over
Union Minister for Commerce and Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution and Textiles, Shri Piyush Goyal today asked Chartered Accountants all over the world to be ambassadors of Brand India. He was addressing the gathering in San Francisco after launching the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) in 6 regions in the United States.
The Minister congratulated the office bearers of ICAI for the good work they have been doing in furthering the profession.
Conveying his greetings on Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, Shri Goyal said that the next 25 years would be a very crucial time for India to grow from strength to strength and occupy an important place in the geopolitical arena. ICAI also has a crucial role to play in this journey of India, he said and added that he was looking forward to a time when ICAI would have a hundred international offices.
Underscoring that Chartered Accountants all over the world have been contributing immensely to economic development, the Minister said that Chartered Accountant Professionals were custodians of integrity. Referring to the signature of a CA was a mark of integrity and honesty, Shri Goyal said that the value of this signature made the task of CAs even more serious and onerous.
Referring to the 21st World Congress of Accountants which is to be held in Mumbai in November 2022 for the first time in 118 years, Shri Goyal said that it was set to happen when India was at the cusp of the G20 presidency. It is a recognition of the growing relevance India has in the comity of nations, he added.
Observing that India was an island of stability in a turbulent world, the Minister said that India is one of the fastest growing nations today. Stressing upon India’s relentless focus on inflation, Shri Goyal said that since 2014, the government had ensured that inflation was the primary focus of RBI and since 2014, India had seen inflation at an average of 4.5%, the lowest we have seen in any 8-year period since independence.
Touching upon the uncertain inflation scenario in the world today, the Minister said that India was one of the most favoured investment destinations and a preferred partner to the world today. World leaders are making every effort to expand their engagement and trade with India through bilateral agreements. We have had two successful FTAs with Australia and UAE and we are at an advanced stage of negotiations with the UK and it will possibly be concluded by Diwali, he said.
The Minister spoke of the game-changing economic reforms in India such as GST, IBC, decriminalisation, and compliance reduction to improve ease of doing business, low Corporate Tax of new businesses coming to India, removal of Dividend Distribution Taxes and National Single Window etc. had brought about renewed enthusiasm in India to expand business and economic activity.
Shri Goyal gave four calls to action to ICAI and its members world-wide:
He urged them to present tremendous investment opportunities available in India to their international clients.
He asked each of the members of ICAI to be ambassadors of brand India and help spread the message of high quality products at competitive prices that India has to offer. India has expanded exports greatly. We have a vibrant One District One Product (ODOP) initiative and atmanirbharta is at the core of our growth philosophy, he said.
Minister asked the members of ICAI all over the world to use made-in-India products whenever possible, especially for gifting. He stressed that the motto of sabka prayas was applicable to every Indian in the world.
Shri Goyal also called upon Chartered Accountancy firms of India to aspire to develop global partnerships and become international level firms. The legacy of trust, honesty and high standards left behind by our predecessors must always inspire us to do justice to the trust reposed on us by the world, the Minister said.
Minister @PiyushGoyal launched 6 representative offices of @TheICAI in USA.
With game-changing economic reforms in India, he urged Chartered Accountants to present the tremendous investment opportunities back home to their clients & be ambassadors of Brand India. pic.twitter.com/YDA7aPxqBl
— Piyush Goyal Office (@PiyushGoyalOffc) September 5, 2022
Press Release 06th Sept 2022
Shri Piyush Goyal launches US Startup SETU – Supporting Entrepreneurs in Transformation and Upskilling programme in Sanfrancisco
SETU to connect start-ups in India to US-based investors and start-up ecosystem leaders
SETU to provide mentorship and assistance to startups in various areas including funding, market access and commercialization
SETU to break geographical barriers between mentors based in US and sunrise startups in India
The Minister of Commerce and Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution and Textiles, Shri Piyush Goyal launched the US Startup SETU – Supporting Entrepreneurs in Transformation and Upskilling programme in the Bay Area of San Francisco. The initiative would connect start-ups in India to US-based investors and start-up ecosystem leaders with mentorship and assistance in various areas including funding, market access and commercialization.
The programme was launched at a luncheon interaction focused on specific issues related to start-up ecosystem in India. The meeting focused on ways to encourage domestic incorporation and mentorship of early-stage Indian startups by successful diaspora members in the Bay Area.
SETU is designed to break the geographical barriers between mentors based in US that are willing to invest in entrepreneurship and sunrise startups in India. The interaction will be supported through the mentorship portal under the Startup India initiative MAARG, or the Mentorship, Advisory, Assistance, Resilience, and Growth program, which is a single-stop solution finder for startups in India. The portal has been developed with the idea to be accessible from every corner of the country to connect with a mentor. A mentor will offer human intelligence in guiding the startups. It may be noted that till date, more than 200 mentors have been successfully onboarded on MAARG across the globe.
The minister held frank and fruitful discussions with venture capitalists and industry leaders in the area during several meetings he held in the Bay Area. Venture capitalists and other investors expressed optimism about the business outlook in India.
“One of the key takeaways is that the Bay Area is very bullish on India, very excited about the potential that India, Indians and Indian startups and Indian businesses have to offer. Very excited about the talent available in India. They see huge potential in the large market that India is, 1.3 billion aspirational Indians,” Shri Goyal said after the meetings.
“There were suggestions about mentorship. We’ve launched the SETU programme where we are looking at supporting entrepreneurs through transformation and upskilling intiatives. We’re also looking at a programme that the startup advisory council had initiated in India in which mentorship is being initiated particularly in tier-2, tier-3 and tier-4 towns and remoter areas. Lot of good suggestions have been brought to the table,” he said.
It is estimated that about 90% of the start-ups and more than half of the well-funded startups fail in their early days. Lack of experience in handling the business is a key issue, and founders require the right guidance for taking a decision and moral support.
As India heads towards becoming a supreme start-up destination, the right guidance at the right time is paramount. The Government of India invites the stalwarts, seasoned experts, and industry leaders to give back to the nation by adding value to a startup’s journey.
MAARG is inviting applications from Mentors across the world. Till date, more than 200 mentors have been on-boared on MAARG across the globe. The applications have come from distinguished individuals representing the industry and the startup ecosystem.
Press Release 07th Sept 2022
₹ 1,43,612 crore gross GST revenue collected in the month of August 2022
Revenues for the month of August 2022 28% higher than the GST revenues in the same month in 2021
Monthly GST revenues more than the ₹ 1.4 lakh crore for six months in a row
Press Release dated 01st Sept 2022
The gross GST revenue collected in the month of August 2022 is
₹ 1,43,612 crore of which CGST is ₹ 24,710 crore, SGST is ₹ 30,951 crore, IGST is
₹ 77,782 crore (including ₹ 42,067 crore collected on import of goods) and cess is
₹ 10,168 crore (including ₹ 1,018 crore collected on import of goods).
The government has settled ₹ 29,524 crore to CGST and ₹ 25,119 crore to SGST from IGST. The total revenue of Centre and the States in the month of August 2022 after regular settlement is ₹ 54,234 crore for CGST and ₹ 56,070 crore for the SGST.
The revenues for the month of August 2022 are 28% higher than the GST revenues in the same month last year of ₹ 1,12,020 crore. During the month, revenues from import of goods was 57% higher and the revenues from domestic transaction (including import of services) are 19% higher than the revenues from these sources during the same month last year.
For six months in a row now, the monthly GST revenues have been more than the ₹ 1.4 lakh crore mark. The growth in GST revenue till August 2022 over the same period last year is 33%, continuing to display very high buoyancy. This is a clear impact of various measures taken by the Council in the past to ensure better compliance. Better reporting coupled with economic recovery has been having positive impact on the GST revenues on a consistent basis. During the month of July 2022, 7.6 crore e-way bills were generated, which was marginally higher than 7.4 crore in June 2022 and 19% higher than 6.4 crore in July 2021.
The chart below shows trends in monthly gross GST revenues during the current year. The table shows the state-wise figures of GST collected in each State during the month of August 2022 as compared to August 2021.
State-wise growth of GST Revenues during August 2022
https://pib.gov.in/PressReleaseIframePage.aspx?PRID=1855967&RegID=3&LID=1
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