Innholdsfortegnelse for 18-Apr-21 i Business Today

Finance Secretary Ajay Bhushan Pandey, who retired recently, has a cheeky way to describe the tax department’s new-found prowess — it’s ability to put two-and-two together in identifying tax evaders, digitally, electronically and with precision. “All major transactions are being shown in 26AS. How much stocks you purchased, how much mutual funds, which property you purchased or sold, how much is your fixed deposit, how much money have you remitted abroad, so that even by mistake he does not forget to include those transactions in the tax returns,” says Pandey with a straight face. For years, tax authorities operated in silos. Even within the finance minis-try, information sharing was case to case and occasional. Information matching from other transactions such as land, share market and mutual funds and large value…

In October 2020, the Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI) detected around 115 fake firms, spread over nine GST Commissionerates, illegally claiming input tax credit. The mastermind of this racket, a third-year student and a partner in a chartered accountancy firm, used to register fake firms and help other companies avail illegal input tax credit. DGGI used data analytics to zero in on these firms as they were using similar e-mail IDs and phone number. They were also registered in same locations. The first red flag was raised when the department found that the cash-to-credit ratio of the tax payment was very low. Data analysis also showed that for the period when these firms were active, the input tax credit availed and the input tax credit utilised for filing GSTR…

In December, private security and facility management firm Tenon Group’s founder Manjit Rajain was speaking to Microsoft’s global head of security. Rajain figured out during the conversation that the biggest concern of large corporations was tracking health of employees outside office premises. “He said while he can secure people inside the complex, what happens when they go out? The employers are worried about how their employees are interacting outside office,” says Rajain, who is now trying to devise a solution that can track people outside office – only for health reasons. “We have gone to officials at Aarogya Setu. We are asking them to share data of people who have come closer to people I have been tracking,” he says. Rajain is part of the economy that has, after hurting…

Venkat Rao, 46, a resident of Dantelaboru village in Bhadradri Kothagudem district, Telangana, started cotton farming after Class XII. The work was fraught with challenges. The yield was poor. The crop would get infected every now and then. The income was just enough to pay for basic needs of his family. His life changed when he saw a neighbour, Ramana, turn his cotton farm into a eucalyptus plantation and supply to ITC. In 2005, he did likewise, with ITC supporting him with knowledge of eucalyptus farming, soil testing and fast-growing clonal saplings. When he harvested the crop four years later, he earned ₹3 lakh. The second harvest, in 2013, got him ₹18 lakh. There has been no looking back after that. “I own five tractors that I give on rent,”…

Manish Bhatnagar, Managing Director, SKF India, runs five days a week. He covers over 300 kilometres every month, a fitness regime he has been following since 2005. Bhatnagar has successfully completed six marathons, including NYC 2019, Chicago 2017, Rotterdam 2018 and Hyderabad 2019, and over 100 half marathons. He mostly runs on roads around his home, office or hotel, and once a week goes to an athletic track for speed training. He also uses flyovers to replicate hill-training workouts. “Some people meditate, I run. It serves the same purpose for me. It calms me down and helps me focus through the day. I also like the ‘me time’ that running provides. It helps clear the head.” Earlier, Bhatnagar used to be coached by a professional, but nowadays he just trains…

The inflows rose 37 per cent to $26.2 billion in October-December 2020 compared to $19.09 billion in the year-ago period, with $19.3 billion coming in November and December alone FDI INFLOWS (Y-o-Y %) FDI INFLOWS ($ million) Cumulative data for April-December for all the years Source: DIPP…

On March 25, 2020, all 259 aircraft of India’s largest airline by market share, IndiGo, were grounded as the government suspended commercial flights — domestic and international — indefinitely due to rising Covid cases. While Indian aviation has seen numerous ups and downs, the March-May 2020 period was the worst-ever. As the market leader and the country’s largest low-cost carrier (LCC), the scale of damage for IndiGo was bigger than the rest. While revenues stopped coming, fixed costs started eating into profits, and in turn, cash reserves. In April, agencies such as CAPA India predicted a loss of $1.5 billion for IndiGo and SpiceJet over the next six months. The impact was so brutal that some brokerages stopped tracking the sector, and IndiGo in particular. “We believe the impact on…

FAKE BILLS: Availing input tax credit against fake invoices is a popular means of evading GST for many businesses. Such scams are prospering with the help of chartered accountants and finance professionals SPLITTING OF INVOICES: In some goods/services, GST rates differ based on price range. Many firms break up the product. So, a suit of ₹1,500 is shown separately as a trouser and a shirt of ₹750 each. Accordingly, a lower GST rate is charged ROUND TRIPPING: Transporter uses the same set of documents multiple times to transport consignments. This practice has been checked to some extent due to introduction of e-way bill but it has not been fully eliminated. Pan-India roll-out of FastTag might further check the practice…

In November 2020, the Telangana High Court forbade officials of Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI) from using any kind of violence and torture against promoters and employees of four Secunda-rabad-based entities in a GST evasion case. The petitioners had moved the court alleging that GST officials used violence against them during an inquiry into a tax evasion case against one of them, a steel manufacturer. The other petitioners were director of the company, brother of the director. The fourth petitioner was engaged in trade with the company. While the officials denied using any torture or violence, the court said it could not deny the use of violence and, hence, barred one GST official (accused of using violence) from further inquiry into the case. The court also took cognisance of…

Baskar Babu, Managing Director and CEO of Suryoday Small Finance Bank believes in the idea of Servant Leadership (where the goal of the leader is to serve). Over the years, he has figured out a very palatable way of demonstrating this to his staff — by cooking for them during CEO-connect meetings. Babu, who learnt the basics of cooking from his mother, started experimenting with food early in life. He finds cooking therapeutic. “I was supposed to hold a CEOconnect meeting and I told my team that I don’t want it to be a preaching session, but a more casual and freewheeling one. So, they came up with the idea of potluck lunch,” says Babu. But he thought a potluck lunch would be boring, and decided to cook for his…

Retail inflation measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 5.03 cent in February from 4.1 per cent in January At all-India level, inflation in the food & beverages group rose to 4.3 per cent in February 2021 from 2.7 per cent in January 2021 Inflation in the fuel & light group fell to 3.5 per cent from 3.9 per cent in January but that in the clothing & footwear group rose from 3.8 per cent to 4.2 per cent CONSUMER PRICE INDEX (% Y-o-Y) Source: Mospi…

Last year, a businessman from Rajkot, Gujarat, declared an income of less than ₹5 lakh in his tax return. However, information collated by the Income Tax (I-T) Department showed he had deposited ₹10 crore — and withdrawn ₹7.5 crore — in cash during the year. The department sent him six notices, a dozen SMS alerts and tried every means to contact him. He remained elusive, forcing it to raid the business premises mentioned in the I-T return. It was a wrong address. I-T officials took the home address from his bank, but he was missing from there. It is now in the process of attaching his bank account and other assets. Far away, in Alwar, Rajasthan, another businessman deposited ₹27 crore cash in his bank account in 2017/18 and ₹22…

DEPARTMENT OF GST AND CUSTOMS: Income declared in returns filed can be matched with turnover disclosed in GST returns, amount of export from Customs department SEBI: CBDT has signed an MoU with Sebi to exchange, on request and on suo moto basis, any information available in their databases, for the purpose of carrying out their functions under various laws STOCK EXCHANGES: Data on capital gains, dividend income will be shared with the tax department MINISTRY OF MSME: The tax department shares I-T returns-related information with the ministry. This enables the ministry to check and classify enterprises in Micro, Small and Medium categories MCA: Enables sharing of PAN data of corporates, their tax returns, financial statements filed with Registrar of Companies, returns of allotment of shares, audit reports and statement of…

How has life changed for companies as countries move towards renewables and fossil fuel prices rise again? Claudio: If we set aside for a moment the hike in fossil fuel prices, the pandemic and the crisis we are managing, we had invested in this transformation a few years ago. Our partners, customers and other stakeholders in this industry are going through a tremendous transformation, driven by rising penetration of renewables. Certainly, the drive is stronger now than a few years ago, thanks to the need for de-carbonising. Electrification is becoming more and more the centre-piece of this transition. We saw it coming a few years back. Increase in share of renewables and enabling technologies will make electricity the main source of energy. We will need more efficient ways to distribute…

Spending time with kids is a task. Heartwarming indeed, but exhausting as well. But, what if it becomes a hobby? For Anurag Jhanwar, Co-founder and Partner, Fintrust Advisors, not a day goes by when he doesn’t play with kids in his residential society. “Taking out one-two hours daily has become a ritual. I have been doing it for the last four-five years. It helps me take a break from my mundane routine.” Jhanwar picked up martial arts quite early in life. He pursued taekwondo and won gold medals at state-level competitions. He has been passionate about sports of all kinds. “Now, I explore different kinds of physical games I can play with kids.” He improvises on games he played in his childhood and gives them interesting names that click with…

A man of many interests, Tomohiko Okada, Managing Director, Toshiba India, was a crew member of a famous local sailing team during his university years. Later, he took up scuba diving when he started working with Toshiba. For the last 30 years, Okada has found solace and comfort in jogging. “When I get tired with office work, I feel it is better to keep the balance between the brain and the body. Jogging gives me some sort of business inspiration and encouragement for the ‘tomorrow’.” But last year, during the lockdown, he experienced a newfound comfort in Yoga. “During and after the lockdown period, in addition to jogging I am practicing Yoga almost every day. Practicing Yoga makes me feel good both physically and mentally.” “It was my wife who…

Q. What was the problem you were grappling with? A. I was asked to lead the Corning Gorilla Glass business in 2015 when it was at an inflection point. The market for smartphones was maturing and the organisation needed to evolve and adapt. We also had a wide range of customers — from industry leaders to local brands in emerging regions. We had to make a decision on how to manage the business and the brand going forward. Q. Who did you approach and why? A. Corning’s Global CEO (Wendell Weeks) knew that we could keep growing the Gorilla Glass business. He encouraged me to set a goal to significantly grow the business in a maturing market, and ensure that we not only stay close to our customers, but also…