Page 12 - Banking Finance May 2022

ROUNDUP

India (IAMAI), which represents do-
Centre's direct tax collections in FY22 top revised mestic and global companies such as
estimates Meta, Google, Disney Star, Dell and
Reliance Jio, has opposed 18 as the age
Direct tax collections touched nearly Rs. 14 trillion in the just-ended fiscal,
exceeding the revised estimates (RE) by Rs. 1.5 trillion and nearly hitting the of consent for children under the pro-
posed Personal Data Protection Bill
estimates for the next fiscal, an unprecedented level of mop-up that gives
the government more spending options amid a high deficit and galloping 2021.
prices. The age requirement will impede the
growth of industries that offer tailored
According to the latest figures compiled by the central board of direct taxes
(CBDT), the mop-up for FY22 is only about Rs. 38,000 crore short of the 2022- knowledge as well as entertainment
23 budget estimates (BE), which means direct tax collections will need to products and services for children,
grow by only 3.2% to meet this year's target. Corporate tax collections for IAMAI says. Instead, it has suggested
FY22 has already reached the budget target for FY23, while income tax col- that the definition of a "child" should
lections exceeded the BE for FY22 by 33,000 crore. Securities transaction tax be reduced from 18 years, based on
mop-up stood at Rs. 23,000 crore, topping the revised estimate of Rs. 20,000 global norms.
crore. The target for STT for FY23 is Rs. 20,000 crore.
40 Chinese among 60 for-
Sitharaman said during the discussion ED attaches Amway assets eigners booked for various
on Finance Bill 2022 in the Lok Sabha.
worth Rs.757 crore corporate offences
"There is no confusing signal. We are
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of
very clear that there are consultations provisionally attached assets worth the Mumbai Police has registered 34
going on as to whether we want to 757 crore belonging to Amway, and FIRs against 150 people, including 60
regulate it or regulate it to some ex-
accused the country's largest direct foreigners - 40 of them from China - for
tent, or very much or totally ban it. allegedly violating laws regarding the
selling company of "running a pyramid
After the consultations are concluded, registration of new companies and for
fraud".
the matter will come out, but till then fraudulently becoming directors of In-
we are taxing it as lot of transactions The attached properties include land dian companies, a police official said.
are happening there," she said. and factories of Amway in Tamil Nadu,
plant and machineries, vehicles, bank The official said the FIRs were regis-
Kia planning to make accounts, and fixed deposits. tered between April 1 to 15 and added
that four more First Information Re-
small e-SUV in India The agency claimed that a money- ports will be registered.
laundering probe by it "revealed that
Having broken into top five carmakers Among the 60 foreigners against
Amway is running a pyramid fraud in
in India in just 3 years, South Korean the guise of a direct selling multi-level whom the cases are filed, 40 are from
car major Kia wants to make it into the marketing network". China and the rest from Singapore, the
mainstream electric vehicle (EV) space UK, Taiwan, the USA, Cyprus, the UAE,
An Amway India spokesperson said the and South Korea.
with a small SUV EV planned for
emerging markets based out of India. development is in connection with an As per the preliminary investigation,
investigation launched in 2011 and that
According to several people in the the company has been cooperating the accused had given false state-
know, the development work for a with the authorities. "We will continue ments to the ROC (Registrar of Com-
small SUV codenamed AY has kicked off to cooperate with the relevant govern- panies), Mumbai, an EOW official said.
which will hit the roads in 2025. ment authorities and the law officials Two out of five new com-
Interestingly it is not a pure EV, it is towards a fair, legal, and logical con- panies opted for 15% tax
based on a flexible platform that will clusion of the outstanding issues."
also offer Kia a space into the mass in 2019-20
market petrol SUV space at the entry Data protection Bill Two out of every five new domestic

level. The Internet and Mobile Association of manufacturing companies incorpo-

12 | 2022 | MAY | BANKING FINANCE