Page 11 - Banking Finance April 2016

ROUNDUP

No action on anonymous complaints against govt em- FinMin to set up panel
ployees: CVC to review fiscal deficit
targets
The Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) has said that there is no need to take
action on anonymous or pseudonymous complaints of cor- The Finance Ministry has said the
ruption against government employees. In its directive to government will
all ministries and public sector undertakings, the CVC said set up a panel to
such complaints only needed to be filed. look into the
feasibility of set-
"No action should be taken on anonymous or pseudony- ting a range for
mous complaints in line with Commission's present instruc-
tions dated November 25, 2014 and such complaints should be filed," it said. In fiscal deficit targets rather than a
its guidelines, the CVC said the action pursued on anonymous or pseudonymous fixed figure.
complaints prior to the issue of a circular on it in 1999 can be "pursued further
to its logical end". "Considering the fact that FRBM is
under implementation for the last 10
943 projects worth Rs 6.72 trillion received green clear- years, time has come to review the
ance in 20 months Fiscal Responsibility and Budget
Management (FRBM) law", Eco-
As many as 943 projects entailing investments worth Rs 6.72 trillion received nomic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta
environmental clearance in the last 20 months. Environ- Das said at an Assocham event.
ment minister Prakash Javadekar told the government has
reduced the time taken for giving environmental clearance The Finance Minister has remained
to around 192 days from 600 days and efforts would be committed to the fiscal deficit tar-
made to reduce it further. get for the current fiscal as well as
for the coming fiscal, he clarified.
"During the last 20 months, the ministry has accorded environmental clearance The government is expected to
to 943 projects involving an approximate investment of Rs. 6,72,422.60 crore," achieve fiscal deficit target of 3.9
Javadekar said. He said the delay in grant of environment clearance is "by and per cent in the current fiscal and 3.5
large due to non-submission of timely and complete information by the project per cent of GDP in 2016-17.
proponent".
Rs. 5,000 cr project for
Atal Pension Yojana eligible for tax benefits as NPS computerising 1.55 lakh
post offices
Contributions to the Atal Pension about 45 lakh subscribers in the past
Yojana (APY) will now be eligible for the six years. A Rs 4,909 crore project for
same tax benefits as the National Pen- computerisation and networking of
sion System (NPS), according to a cir- The biggest draw of the APY is that the 1.55 lakh post offices across the coun-
cular released by the Income Tax de- government will contribute 50% of the try is being
partment. The tax benefits include the contribution made by the investor for implemented by
additional deduction of Rs 50,000 un- a period of five years. But this benefit the government.
der section 80CCD(1) introduced in last will only go to subscribers who put in Telecom Minister
year's Budget. less than Rs 1,000 a year and those Ravi Shankar
who join the scheme before March 31, Prasad said the project involves pro-
The APY is open to Indians aged be- 2016. Those with taxable income are viding a central server-enabled inte-
tween 18 and 40 years and has a mini- also not eligible. grated, modular and scalable solution
mum tenure of 20 years. Nearly 20 for all operations of the Department
lakh subscribers have joined the Most subscribers to the APY are small- of Posts. These include provision of
scheme since its launch in June 2015. ticket investors. Its AUM of Rs 328 Core Banking and Insurance Solutions
The APY replaced the NPS Lite or crore is spread across 19.77 lakh ac- in all departmental post offices and
Swavalamban scheme, which got counts, so the average balance per provision of 1,000 ATMs.
account is only Rs 1,640.

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