Jobs Schemes Roll-Out: Centre To Meet States Today; DGGI Finds Rs 1.2 Trillion Tax Evasion

Centre To Meet States, UTs On Their Readiness To Roll-Out Employment Schemes

The Centre will soon hold high-level meetings with all states and union territories to gauge their readiness for rolling out the employment-linked incentive schemes announced in the budget as well as certain labour reforms, including the labour codes, the Economic Times reported.

The 2024-25 budget has proposed three employment-linked incentive schemes, to be administered by the ministry of labour and employment, aimed at creating 29 million formal jobs. The labour and employment ministry will hold a virtual meeting with the states and UTs on Wednesday, followed by six regional meetings from August 30 to October 4, with focus on labour codes, employment generation, integration of e-Shram portal and extension of social security benefits to building and other construction workers, officials said. Read more

DGCI Detects Tax Evasion Of Rs 1.2 Trillion By Fake Input Tax Credit 

The Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI) has detected tax evasion of Rs 1.2 trillion using fake input tax credit (ITC), since 2020 to date, with special emphasis being laid on identifying and apprehending the masterminds and disrupt syndicates, operating across the country, Business Standard reported quoting a finance ministry release.

The Goods and Services Tax (GST) intelligence department has identified about 59,000 potential fake firms for verification and further inquiry, while 170 individuals involved in fraud have been apprehended. This was revealed during the national conference of enforcement chiefs of GST, following which the ministry’s release was issued. This comes against the backdrop of a special drive being undertaken by both the Centre and State to identify and weed out fake registrations. More here

Three Undersea Cable Projects To Expand Digital Connectivity Four Times By End 2024

Digital connectivity in India is set to get a major boost, with three large undersea cable projects — 2Africa Pearls, IndiaAsia-Express (IAX) and India-Europe-Express (IEX) — slated to go onstream between October and next March, the Economic Times reported.

The projects will expand existing capacity by more than four times, said people familiar with the matter. 2Africa, among the longest subsea cable systems in the world, spanning over 45,000 km, has investments from Bharti Airtel and Meta, among others. It will have a capacity of 180 terabits per second (tbps), connecting 33 countries, including Sunil Mittal-led Airtel’s landing station in Mumbai. IAX and IEX involve contributions from Reliance Jio, among others. IAX and IEX will be landing at Mumbai and Chennai, respectively, reinforcing India’s weight in the global telecom market. More here 

SEBI Proposes Changes To Make Rights Issues Quicker For Companies

Indian companies will soon be able to raise funds quicker through rights issues and promoters will be able to renounce their rights entitlement in favour of a select investor, the Economic Times reported.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has proposed several changes to make rights issues a preferred mode of fund raising. The regulator has suggested doing away with filing a draft letter of offer with it for observation. It would also dispense with the requirement of appointment of merchant bankers and reduce the timeline to 20 days from the board approving a rights issue until the date of closure of the exercise. At present, non- fast track rights issues take on average 317 days to complete the process, while fast track right issues take about 126 days. More here

Foreign Banks Ask RBI To Move Local Storage Of Payments Data Deadline To January 2025

Some foreign banks that operate in the country have approached the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) seeking prospective application of the guidelines on mandatory local storage of payments data from January 2025 with regard to information that’s already kept overseas, the Economic Times reported. 

They have also sought a reprieve from any regulatory action until then. These guidelines, issued in 2018, mandate that all payment system data related to customers in the country must be stored solely in India. Foreign banks have started complying with the guidelines for fresh transactions but have expressed difficulty in shifting those that took place in the past and stored overseas. They raised the issue at a meeting of the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA), seeking intervention with the RBI over the matter. More here 

EU Plans 36 Per Cent Import Duty For 5 Years On Chinese Electric Cars, Tesla To Be Taxed At 9 Per Cent

The European Commission has said it plans to slap five-year import duties of up to 36 per cent on Chinese electric cars, unless Beijing can offer an alternative solution to the damaging trade row over state subsidies, the Economic Times reported.

It also said Tesla cars that are made in China would face a lower duty of nine per cent. Brussels last month slapped Chinese EVs with hefty provisional tariffs -- coming on top of current duties of 10 percent -- after an anti-subsidy probe found they were unfairly undermining European rivals. On Tuesday, the commission released a draft plan to make those tariffs definitive, subject to input from interested parties by end August, and to approval by EU member states by end October at the latest. The United States has already introduced a 100 per cent import duty on Chinese electric cars from August 1. More here