Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) chairman P C Mody confirmed that the government has moved Singapore court against an arbitration tribunal’s award in the Vodafone case, which has now been admitted for hearing. The Centre is also examining the Cairn order related to the retrospective amendment of tax laws. “The law as it stands, there was a case to appeal against the award. How can the arbitration award be contrary to the law that is there? It is their interpretation and we believe there is a case against appeal... Can a bilateral treaty take away the taxation rights of a jurisdiction? That is the larger question,” the CBDT chief said.
SBI net profit at £519.1 mn in Dec quarter
India's largest lender SBI reported a net profit of £ 519.1 million for the quarter ended December 2020, a drop of 7% from £558.3 million in the previous year, which was driven by a one-time recovery of £1.1 billion from Essar Steel. The bank’s net profit was up nearly 14% from £475.4 million in Q2FY21. SBI’s stock jumped by 6% after the bank’s chairman Dinesh Khara said that loan slippage could be lower than the £6 billion projected earlier and that the lender was expecting to hit double-digit credit growth as early as Q2FY22. Khara said the bank had received restructuring requests for loans worth £1.81 billion and that it had made adequate provisioning for bad loans. The bank’s deposit grew 14% year-on-year, of which current accounts grew by 11% and savings accounts 16%.
Tata Consumer buys cereal co
Tata Consumer Products is set to acquire Kottaram Agro Foods, maker of Soulfull cereals and millet-based snacks, for £15.6 million, entering into new categories in the packaged foods space. Kottaram, founded in 2011, reported a turnover of £3.9 million in FY20. The company launched the Soulfull brand in 2013. In addition to the cash payout of £15.6 million, Kottaram’s promoters will be entitled to a contingent consideration, which is payable upon the company achieving certain operational and financial milestones over five years, Tata Consumer said. The transaction is expected to be concluded before March 31
Incentive scheme for ACs, LEDs, laptops etc
The government will open a £1.35 billion production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for air conditioners, LED lights, laptops, tablets, all-in-one PCs and servers from April. The hope is to create close to 280,000 jobs over four-five years, while also boosting domestic production and reducing imports. The department for promotion of industry and internal trade (DPIIT) said that a £623.8 million PLI scheme for ACs and LED lights will be in operation from April, which is expected to result in incremental production of nearly £17 billion, while creating 100,000 jobs. DPIIT has proposed incentives of 4-6% on incremental sales over the 2019-20 base year. Similarly, a Cabinet note floated by the ministry of electronics and IT has suggested a 4% support on net incremental sales of ‘Made in India’ IT hardware for a period of 4 years, resulting in incremental production of over £30 billion.
