Page 15 - Banking Finance January 2018

ROUNDUP

3rd appeal in tax cases Bank deposits worth Rs. 15 crore post currency ban
should be filed selec- declared 'benami'
tively: Government Cash deposits of Rs.15.39 crore made in a Delhi bank post demonetisation have
been held as 'benami' property by a special court
The finance ministry has asked the even as the depositor and the beneficial owner of
tax depart- the stash are "untraceable".
ment to file a
third appeal The deposits were declared 'benami in the ruling in
one of the first adjudication cases of the new anti-
in a case, af- black money law. The Prime Minister Narendra
ter losing the Modi-led government had brought into force the new Benami Transactions (Pro-
first two, only hibition) Amendment Act, 2016 from November 1 last year, as part of its multi-
selectively and after a critical exami-
pronged strategy to curb illicit wealth.
nation, a move aimed at cutting
down litigations. The case pertains to one Ramesh Chand Sharma, reportedly a resident of Gali
Laltain in Naya Bazar area of old Delhi. The Income Tax Department, as part of
The Tax Policy Research Unit (TPRU) its drive against black funds post the note ban, had conducted a survey at the
had suggested that the revenue de- Kotak Mahindra Bank branch on K G Marg in December last year and found that
partment should not contest a case Sharma, post demonetisation, deposited Rs15,93,39,136 cash in old notes of
further, if the issue has been lost in Rs500 and Rs100 in the account of three firms, suspected to be fake.
two previous stages of appeals.
Online registration for clearing Corporations
The Central Board of Excise and Cus-
toms (CBEC), in a circular said the Market regulator SEBI said it has introduced an online mechanism for clearing
suggestion was considered in detail. corporations to making it convenient for them to do busi-
The Board observed that "this can- ness. The digital platform would help clearing corporations
not" be made a rigid rule as the de- complete registration and other regulatory filings with SEBI
partment may be "genuinely ag- much faster and in more a cost-effective manner.
grieved" by the decision of the vari- "In order to ease the process of application for recogni-
ous judicial forum at lower levels. tion renewal, reporting and other filings... SEBI has intro-
Govt asks banks to stop duced a digital platform for online filings related to clear-
ing corporations," the regulator said in a circular. "All applicants desirous of seek-
wilful defaulters from ing registration/ renewal as a clearing corporation ... shall now submit their ap-

buying same assets plications online only...,," it added.
To ensure success of bankruptcy pro- Debit cards, credit cards, ATMs will be redundant in 4
cess under the Insolvency and Bank- years: NITI Aayog
ruptcy Code (IBC), the finance minis-
try asked banks to be vigilant to en- NITI Aayog Chief Executive Officer Amitabh Kant has said debit and credit cards
sure that wilful defaulters are pre- as well as ATMs will be redundant in next three-four years and people will use
their mobile phones for financial transactions. With India being a country where
vented from buying same stressed
72 per cent of the population is below 32 years of age, it will have an advantage
assets again, official sources said.
over other regions like the US and Europe in terms of demographic dividend.
As many as 12 accounts - each hav- "India will make credit cards, debit cards and ATMs technologically redundant in
ing more than Rs 5,000 crore of out- next 3-4 years and we all will be using mobiles for doing many transactions,"
standing loans and accounting for Kant said at Amity University Noida campus on Saturday, where he was felici-
25% of total NPAs of banks - are be- tated with an honourary doctorate degree.
ing probed under the IBC process. Kant said that India is the only country in the world with billion biometrics and
The total outstanding of these ac- as many mobile phones and bank accounts and therefore, in future, it will be
counts taken together is Rs 1.75 lakh the only nation which will make a lot of disruptions. More financial transactions
crore. will be done on mobile phones and this trend is already rising spirally, he said.

BANKING FINANCE | JANUARY | 2018 | 15

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