Page 14 - Banking Finance June 2023

ROUNDUP

number of unique deductees. The Naresh Kumar, and debarred them for
No proposal to regulate
number of deductees has doubled in three years from undertaking any au-
financial influencers: FM
six years, increasing from 4.8 crores in dit in respect of financial statements or
FY2015-16 to 9.2 crores in FY2021-22. internal audit of the functions and ac- Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman
said that her ministry does not have
Some of the major agendas of the tivities of any company or body corpo-
any proposal before it to regulate fi-
meeting included the initiatives imple- rate during the ban period.
nancial influencers, but warned people
mented for increasing the taxpayer
The order came after NFRA received
to tread with caution while seeking
base, pending disciplinary proceeding
a letter from the Serious Fraud Inves-
their advice.
cases, disposal of applications for con-
tigation Office (SFIO) which had inves-
donation of delay, and grant of exemp- "At this stage, I'm not having any pro-
tigated the affairs of SRS Ltd and the
tions under certain sections of the In- posal before me for regulating finan-
group companies.
come Tax Act, 1961. cial influencers. Social and financial
An investigation by SFIO had revealed
influencers are all out there. If there
Japan set to OK first abor- that the company and its group com- are three-four people giving us good
panies had presented financial state- advice, there are seven others out of
tion pill
ments containing false statements of 10 who are probably driven by some
Japan's health ministry will soon decide debtors and indulged in the malprac- other considerations," she said.
whether to make abortion pills avail-
tice of round-tripping and layering of
Sitharaman also said that the finance
able for the first time after the pro-
transactions resulting in inflated pur-
ministry is working with the ministry of
posal cleared a major hurdle with en-
chases and sales.
electronics and information technology
dorsement by a government panel.
(MeitY) and Reserve Bank of India (RBI)
Abortion is legal in Japan up to 22 Govt eyes Rs. 35000 crore against the ponzi apps. She said the
weeks, but a surgical procedure is cur- Centre is clamping down on them like
from road projects
rently the only option and consent is
never before, so that citizens are safe
usually required from a spouse or part- The Ministry of Road Transport and
from such financial scams.
ner. British pharmaceutical firm Highways (MoRTH) plans to raise Rs
Linepharma applied to Japanese health 35,000 crore through various modes of
Listed Govt firms paid over
authorities in December 2021 for ap- asset monetisation in this financial
proval of its abortion pill, which can be year, against Rs 32,855-crore target in Rs. 2,900 crore to PM
used in early pregnancy. the last fiscal, a senior government
cares fund
Similar medication is available in many official said.
Government-run firms accounted for
countries including France, which first
Currently, MoRTH monetises its assets
the majority of donations that listed
approved the abortion pill in 1988, and
under three different modes viz toll- entities made to the Prime Minister's
the United States, where it has been
operate-transfer (TOT) model, Infra-
Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emer-
available since 2000.
structure Investment Trust (InvIT) and gency Situations (PM CARES) Fund.
project-based financing, in order to
They contributed at least Rs 2,913.6
SRS Ltd audit: NFRA fines, provide all categories of investors an
crore between 2019-20 and 2021-22,
bans 2 auditors opportunity to invest in assets pertain- according to an analysis of the data
ing to highways and associated infra-
The National Financial Reporting Au- collated by tracker primeinfobase.com
structure.
thority (NFRA) has imposed a fine and for all the companies listed on the
a three-year ban on two auditors for Infrastructure Investment Trust (InvIT) National Stock Exchange.
professional misconduct and other is an instrument on the pattern of
57 companies in which the government
lapses in connection with the audit of mutual funds, designed to pool money had a significant stake to reach the
SRS Ltd in 2017-18. In two separate from investors and invest in assets that aforementioned amount. Their contri-
orders, NFRA slapped a fine of Rs 3 lakh will provide cash flows over a period of bution accounts for more than the cu-
each on auditors -- Pankaj Kumar and time. mulative donation made by 247 other
BANKING FINANCE | JUNE | 2023 | 13