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Shahbaz Rana Published: April 25, 2018 In a surprising move, the opposition-dominated Senate panel on Finance approved on Tuesday the offshore and domestic assets’ amnesty schemes, as the country’s top taxman pleaded that an escape route has to be given to beleaguered Pakistani citizens who own assets abroad. Headed by Senator Farooq H Naek of the PPP, the Senate Standing Committee on Finance approved all the four Bills including two that were implemented thorough the Presidential Ordinance to give effect to the tax amnesty schemes. The schemes are already in place since April 10 to legalise domestic and offshore hidden assets. The Senate Panel’s stamp gives a major boost to the government that had just a day ago suffered a defeat in the ruling party-dominated National Assembly Standing Committee on Finance on the same issue. However, NA Standing Committee on Finance Chairman Qaiser Ahmad Sheikh explained to The Express Tribune that the government bills were defeated due...

Business Standard April 24, 2018 A strong ‘Make in India’ theme will be behind US aircraft maker Boeing’s pitch for the Indian Air Force’s order for 110 fighter jets. The order, worth around Rs 800 billion, seeks commitment from vendors to supply sensitive technologies as well to carry out a bulk of manufacturing in India. For the current order, Boeing has tied up with Mahindra Defe­nce System and Hindu­stan Aero­na­utics Limited for producing F/A-18 Super Hornets. “The RFI (request for information) is much contemporary this time. It broadens the scope and competition. It focuses on the IAF’s real war-fighting capabilities. Our joint venture is an optimum mix of capability, cost and industrialisation,” Pratyush Kumar, president, Boeing India, said in an interview. Kumar said the US government’s willingness to liberalise rules on transfer of technology (ToT) gave them a leg-up against competitors. “I don’t think ToT is an issue. It is not us but the US government is saying t...

The Express Tribune April 25, 2018 Afghanistan’s central bank has granted a license to the Islamic Bank of Afghanistan (IBA), the first lender in the country to apply the interest-free principles of Islamic finance in all its operations, a senior bank official told Reuters. The IBA was previously known as Bakhtar Bank and operated under a conventional banking license since it was acquired by Azizi Bank in 2009. The central bank, Da Afghanistan Bank, granted the license on April 9 after the IBA completed the conversion of its balance sheet, said Faizan Ahmed, chief financial officer and member of the IBA management board. The bank began converting its assets and deposits in January to adhere to religious principles that include bans on gambling, alcohol and interest-bearing debt. The IBA had paid-up capital of $25 million and held $187 million of deposits as of December, offering its services across a network of 59 branches. Afghanistan’s banking sector is small, bu...

The Telegraph April 25, 2018 The "fugitive" son of former Bangladesh Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, Tarique Rahman, has "temporarily" sought political asylum in the UK, his Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) said on Tuesday. Contesting junior foreign minister Shahriar Alam's claim that the BNP acting chief has abandoned his Bangladeshi citizenship, party secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said "he has temporarily sought asylum in London". Alam had on Monday alleged that Rahman, 53, along with his wife and daughter, has handed over the passports to the British Home Office four years ago, and the surrendered travel documents were with the Bangladesh authorities at the country's mission in London. "He (Rahman) has temporarily sought political asylum like political leaders and anti-government eminent persons of other countries," Alamgir told a reporters at a media briefing here. The BNP secretary general also said that...

The Indian Express April 25, 2018 Over the next few weeks, expect many banks in India to report weak results. That won’t be just because of the lingering pain of the economic slowdown of the last couple of years and the inability of many companies or borrowers to repay some of their borrowings. The poor numbers for lenders will be due more to the progressive tightening of rules on dealing with bad loans. The exercise of cleaning up bank balance sheets, which started in 2015, and a signal by the Reserve Bank of India to put an end to forbearance — or the easing of rules — will now mean a longer wait for better results. The latest trigger Historically, the approach to dealing with bad loans (where either the principal or interest or both of a loan is due after 90 days) in India has been relatively lenient — to allow banks time to set aside funds to provide for potential losses on such loans, and greater leeway to lenders to negotiate with borrowers. There has been a reluctanc...

The Indian Express April 25, 2018 The Committee of Creditors (CoC) of Essar Steel on Tuesday decided to meet again on Friday to consider a fresh round of bids as the meeting proved inconclusive with banks finding the takeover bids submitted by ArcelorMittal and Numetal below the fair value. Banks have decided to seek a legal opinion on whether to open up the auction of Essar Steel for fresh bids. Lenders are likely to turn down the two bids on financial terms — and not Clause 29 (A) — and then open up the auction for fresh round of bidding. “Banks are not ready to take a big haircut. But opinion was divided on the issue,” said a banking source. If lenders call for fresh bids, JSW Steel, Vedanta, Tata Steel, ArcelorMittal and Numetal will get another attempt to acquire the debt-laden Essar Steel. “The fact that lenders did not clear any of the bids on Tuesday indicates that they are not happy with the bids. It also doesn’t mean they rejected the bids outright. If they get ...

The Indian Express April 25, 2018 An unusual 40 per cent spike in India’s gems and jewellery imports this fiscal, at a time when exports are flat, has set the alarm bells ringing in the policy circles. The trend, which marks a contrast from the situation in 2016-17 and 2015-16, when the sector’s imports contracted by 4.9 per cent and 9.37 per cent, respectively, has led to speculation among analysts that there may be cases of capital flight happening through over-invoicing on these imports. The Indian Express has learnt that the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) is studying these statistics in detail to prepare a report for commerce ministry. According to an April 16 Credit Suisse report: “While gold imports volumes have moderated, imports of precious stones and pearls have not. As the latter are hard to value objectively, they hint at capital flight and are worryingly large now particularly given the drop in jewellery exports.” The total imports in gems and jewel...

The Indian Express April 25, 2018 The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) on Tuesday laid down the conditions for allowing a concessional rate of 10 per cent tax on long-term capital gains tax (LTCG) arising from transfer of a equity shares or equity oriented fund, even when securities transactions tax (STT) has not been paid on such transactions. According to the Income Tax Act, the LTCG tax on such transactions would be 20 per cent if STT has not been paid. The board has now said that in many genuine cases, STT could not be paid while acquiring shares and such transactions would still qualify for a lower LTCG tax rate. The draft notification said payment of STT as a necessary condition will not apply to cases where acquisition of existing listed equity share in a company, whose equity shares are not frequently traded in a recognised stock exchange of India, is made through a preferential issue. Further, it will also not apply to transaction for acquisition of exi...

The Indian Express April 25, 2018 World Malaria Day is observed on April 25 every year to recognise the global effort to control malaria and also to spread awareness about the around the world. The theme for this year’s Malaria Day is ‘Ready to beat Malaria’ and emphasises the collective energy and commitment of the global malaria community that is uniting all around the world to curb the disease and working towards the common goal to making the world malaria free. Moreover, the theme brings forward not only the progress achieved in the past years but also to call out the worrying trends that have been noted. As per the World Malaria Report that was released in November 2017, there were 216 million cases of malaria in 2016 whereas in 2015 211 million cases were reported. The disease is caused by the Plasmodium parasites, which is spread to people through the bite of an infected female Anopheles mosquito, also known as malaria vectors. While there are a total of five parasit...

The Indian Express April 26, 2018 The Trump administration is planning to propose to end giving work permits to the spouses of H1-B visa holders to work legally in the US, a top federal agency official has told lawmakers, a move that could have a devastating impact on tens of thousands of Indians. A formal communication is expected to be made later this summer, US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Director Francis Cissna said in a letter to Senator Chuck Grassley. “Our plans include proposing regulatory changes to remove H-4 dependent spouses from the class of aliens eligible for employment authorisation, thereby reversing the 2015 final rule that granted such eligibility,” Cissna said. The Trump administration’s move to end the Obama-era rule could have an impact on more than 70,000 H-4 visas holders, who have work permits. H-4 is issued to the spouse of H-1B visa holders, a significantly large number of whom are high-skilled professionals from India. T...