Amid long-pending dispute between the UK-based telecom giant Vodafone and the tax authorities, finance minister's advisor Parthasarathi Shome on Wednesday said the government should not use retrospective amendment of tax laws to raise revenues.
"We have to take away risk and uncertainty. We can't use retrospective amendment of tax laws to raise revenue. I have always given example of Brazil and Sweden where they have constitutionally removed retrospective taxation," said Shome without referring to the tax dispute between Vodafone and the Income Tax department.
He is also the chairman of the Tax Administration Reform Commission and was speaking at a CII event in New Delhi.
Vodafone is facing a tax liability of over Rs 11,200 crore, along with interest, for its 2007 acquisition of Hong Kong-based Hutchison Whampoa's stake in Hutchison Essar, an Indian telecom company.
Vodafone has expressed keenness to reach an amicable settlement of the matter. Its India chief Analjit Singh had met Finance Minister P Chidambaram to settle the dispute.
A committee was set up under Shome to recommend measures to deal with the retrospective amendment of income tax laws and suggest ways of treating taxation cases which involve indirect transfer of Indian assets, of the likes of the Vodafone-Hutchison deal.
The committee had recommended last year that either the retrospective tax amendment should be withdrawn or penalty/ interest, if covered under taxes should be waived off.
Indian rupee down 37 paise at 62.94 vs US dollar
The Indian rupee extended its losses for the second day in a row,
declining by 37 paise to 62.94 against the US dollar in late morning
trade, on sustained demand for the US currency from banks and importers.
The rupee resumed lower at 62.85 per dollar against the last closing
level of 62.57 at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) Market and
dropped further to 62.98 before quoting at 62.94 at 10.40 am. It hovered
in a range of 62.79 and 62.98 per dollar during the late morning deals.
Banks and importers preferred to increase their dollar position on the
back of firm dollar in overseas market.
In New York market, the US dollar rose against the euro on Wednesday
after the Federal Reserve minutes suggested more willingness among
officials to slow its bond buys, at the same time the European Central
Bank is mulling a potential deposit-rate cut into negative territory if
more economic stimulus is needed.
The BSE Sensex dropped by 245.43 points, or 1.19 per cent, to 20,389.70
at the same time.
BSE Sensex trades higher on sustained buying by funds, retail investors BT Online Bureau
The BSE Sensex gained over 69 points in early trade on Tuesday on sustained buying by funds and retail investors amid a strengthening rupee.
The buying took place mainly in realty, metal, capital goods, oil and gas and IT sector stocks.
Brokers said sentiments remained firm on sustained buying by participants driven by the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) plans to inject Rs 8,000 crore into the financial system to ease liquidity and further strengthen the rupee.
Rising for the third straight session, the 30-share index of the Bombay Stock Exchange gained 69.59 points, or 0.33 per cent, to 20,920.33.
In the past two sessions, the Sensex had gone up by 656.34 points.
The 50-share Nifty of the National Stock Exchange traded 18.80 points, or 0.30 per cent, higher at 6,207.80.
In the Asian region, Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.53 per cent while Japan's Nikkei shed 0.73 per cent in early trade on Tuesday.
The US Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.09 per cent higher after crossing 16,000 points for the first time in Monday's trade.
Indian rupee leads Asia forex gains against dollar
Singapore: The rupee led gains among emerging Asian currencies on Monday as investors cut bearish bets on regional units, with the dollar softer amid uncertainty over how long the US Federal Reserve will keep up its policy stimulus.
The rupee rose nearly 1 percent on demand from foreign banks.
The won strengthened to 1,057.8 per dollar in the local trade, its strongest since October 24. Against the yen, the won touched 10.5603, its highest since September 2008.
Exporters` bids led offshore and onshore investors to cover short positions to stop losses in the South Korean currency. The positions had been built up on caution over possible intervention, traders said.
The Malaysian ringgit gained as the economy picked up pace in the third quarter on resilient domestic demand and a recovery in exports.
The ringgit found more support from demand by oil exporters demand and stop-loss dollar selling.
The Indonesian rupiah, however, eased on month-end dollar demand from local corporates. The rupiah is the worst performing Asian currency this year.
Tata Steel shares gain over 3% on earnings, China reforms
Mumbai: Shares of Tata Steel on Monday gained over 3 percent after the company last week posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 916.77 crore for the second quarter ended September 30.
Tata Steel's scrip settled for the day 2.86 percent higher at Rs 386.05 on the BSE, adding to Thursday's 4.58 percent gain. In intra-day, the stock rallied 3.25 percent to Rs 387.50.
At the NSE, the stock climbed 3.29 percent to close at Rs 387.70.
In terms of volume, 12.13 lakh shares of the steel major changed hands on the BSE, while over 73 lakh scrips were traded at the NSE during the day.
The turnaround, from a Rs 363.93 crore net loss in the same quarter last fiscal, was driven by steady ramp-up of Indian operations and improved performance at the European and South East Asian operations, the company had said on Wednesday.
Besides, sentiment also got a boost from expectations of a higher demand for steel after China's government said it would carry out broad reforms.
Meanwhile, the broader market was also strong with the benchmark Sensex surging 451.32 points to close at 20,850.74.
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