Page 12 - Banking Finance March 2022

ROUNDUP

expenditure within the approved Re- advance rulings Scheme, 2022', noti- about 2.9 lakh crore under it. The gov-
vised Estimate ceilings," it said. fied by the Central Board of Direct ernment may expand the validity of
The government estimates a fiscal defi- Taxes (CBDT), further provides that the scheme by up to a year and the
cit of 6.8 per cent of the gross domes- hearing before the Board for Advance overall loan cap by 10%, said a finance
Rulings will be conducted through ministry official.
tic product (GDP) in the current finan-
video conferencing/ video telephony,
cial year ending on March 31. The scheme was launched after the
where taxpayers would be granted an
Fiscal deficit is an indication of the national lockdown during the first Covid
appropriate opportunity of being
government's borrowing to meet the wave to provide support to MSMEs
heard.
shortfall between expenditure and re- and has since been expanded to cover
ceipts from taxes and other sources. The advance ruling mechanism is pro- other sectors such as aviation. As of
vided in the Income Tax Act to provide now, about 95% of the guarantees is-
The memorandum further said the upfront clarity to non-residents and sued are for loans sanctioned to
demand proposal should be made af- certain other specified taxpayers, re- MSMEs.
ter a thorough review of savings within garding the taxability of their transac-
the Grant. tions in India under Indian I-T laws. Govt panel for regular
"In cases where re-appropriation can
The scheme also provides that all com- market approval
be made without the requirement of munications between the taxpayer/in-
Supplementary as per the extant pro- An expert panel of India's central drug
come tax authorities and the Board for
visions, no Supplementary proposal, Advance Rulings will take place in elec- authority recommended granting regu-
including for a token amount, should lar market approval to Covid vaccines
tronic mode.
be proposed. Covishield and Covaxin, which are cur-
Every notice or order or any other elec- rently only authorised for emergency
"Such requirement may be met by re-
tronic communication under this use in the country, subject to certain
appropriation of savings after obtain-
scheme from the Board for Advance conditions, official sources said.
ing approval of competent authority," Rulings will be delivered to the appli-
it said. Serum Institute of India (SII) and
cant by sending an e-mail to the regis- Bharat Biotech had submitted applica-
The cases that will be eligible to be tered email address of the applicant or tions to the Drugs Controller General
incorporated under such demands in- his authorised representative. of India (DCGI) seeking regular market
clude those where advances from the It also states that the applicant or the authorisation for their respective
Contingency Fund of India have been authorised representative would file COVID-19 vaccines Covishield and
granted.
his response to any notice or order or Covaxin, respectively.
Besides, payments against court de- any other electronic communication, Prakash Kumar Singh, director (govern-
cree will be included as well in cases under this scheme, to the Board for ment and regulatory affairs) at SII, had
where the finance ministry has specifi- Advance Rulings through his registered submitted an application to the DCGI
cally advised moving of supplementary email address. on October 25 on this matter.
demand in the budget session, it said.
Govt weighs extension of Nifty India defence index
No need for in-person ap-
emergency credit scheme rolled out
pearance in I-T Advance The government is examining a pro- NSE Indices, the National Stock

Ruling hearing posal to increase the validity of the Exchange's index services subsidiary,
Emergency Credit Line Guarantee launched Nifty India Defence index,
The finance ministry has notified the 'e-
Scheme (ECLGS), which is now set to which aims to track the performance
advance rulings Scheme', enabling tax-
expire in March. of portfolio of stocks that broadly rep-
payers to file their application for ad-
vance ruling through e-mail, a move The scheme offers government guar- resent the Defence theme.
that will majorly benefit non-resident antees for up to 4.5 lakh crore of loans, From the Nifty Total Market index,
assesses in such proceedings. The 'e- and banks have so far sanctioned stocks forming part of the defence,

12 | 2022 | MARCH | BANKING FINANCE