Second Economic Stimulus Package announced by Government

Budget to be presented on 16th March FM issues Advisory to CESTAT to ensure that orders are issued by Benches on conclusion of arguments and in complicated matters orders should be issued within 30 days Madras High Court stays levy of service tax on lawyers economic growth slows to 6.9 per cent Sunil Kumar appointed as Chief Secretary of Chattisgarh Amarchand Mangaldas to open offices in Chennai Ahmedabad & Pune US closes its embassy in Syria Sudha Sharma appointed as Member of CBDT Rupee hits a high of 48.73 against Dollar Laxman Das is Officiating Chairman of CBDT Tariff Value for import of gold is 556 & for silver 1067 & for Brass Scrap 4078 & for poppy seeds 2205-Customs Non-Tariff Notification No. 10 Fused Silica is classifiable under Tariff Item 32074000-Customs Circular No.3 Additional Commisssioner of Income Tax HA Siddiqui sentenced to 4 years imprisonment for accepting bribe of Rs 1 Lakh by CBI Court in Delhi HC upholds levy of service tax on booking of flats-The explanation which was inserted by the Finance Act of 2010 clearly brings within the fold of taxable service a construction service provided by the builder to a buyer where there is an intended sale between the parties whether before, during or after construction Authority for Advance Ruling rules super concentrates shall be classified as products of the chemical industry under heading 3824 90 90 of Customs Tariff Anti dumping duty imposed on import of Morpholine from China European Union & USA Anti dumping duty imposed on import of Geogrid/Geostrips/ Geostraps made of polyester or Glass fiber in all its forms from Refund of Anti-Dumping Duty (Paid in Excess of Actual Margin of Dumping) Rules, 2012 notified-Customs Non-Tariff Notification No.5 Customs Tariff (Identification, Assessment and Collection of Anti-dumping Duty on Dumped Articles and for Determination of Injury) Amendment Rules, 2012-Customs Non-Tariff Notification No.6 Safeguard duty at the rate of 10% ad valorem notified on import of Phthalic anhydride, falling under tariff item 2917 35 00-Customs SG Notification No.1 Customs duty on import of Gold, Silver, Cut & Polished Diamonds hiked Customs duty to be charged at the rate of 2 per cent of Tariff Value on gold and 6 per cent of Tariff Value on silver Tariff Value for import of gold & silver notified-Customs Non-Tariff Notification No.3 Anti-dumping duty on imports ofSilk fabrics 20-100 gms per metre, falling under heading 5007 originating in, or exported from, China-CustomsTariff Notification No. 2 Anti-dumping duty imposed on imports of Nylon Filament Yarn, falling under Chapter 54 ,originating in, or exported from, China, Chinese Taipei, Malaysia, Thailand and Korea RP-Customs TariffNotification No.3 Anti-dumping duty imposed on import of Phosphoric Acid of allgrades and all concentrations (excluding Agriculture/Fertilizer Grade) ,falling under tariff item 28092010, originating in, or exported from, Israel and Taiwan-Customs Tariff Notification No.4 Anti-dumping duty on imports of Cellophane Transparent Film , falling under Chapter 39 , originating in, or exported from, China-Customs TariffNotification No.5 Anti-dumping duty onimports of Saccharin, falling under Chapters 29, 30, 33 and 38 ,originating in, or exported from, China-Customs Tariff Notification No.7 Special Bench of ITAT rules the appellant is not entitled to set off carry forward business loss against the long term capital gain arising on sale of land used for the purpose business ITAT rules Long Term and Short Term gains / losses on sale of equity shares under Portfolio Management Scheme is business income and not Capital Gains HC rules the opinion of the AO may have been legally erroneous but this cannot be a ground for initiation of re-assessment proceedings Anti-dumping duty on ‘Caustic Soda’, originating in, or exported from, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Japan, USA & France-Customs Tariff Notification No.1 Cost Accountants can issue Certificates for the purpose of refund of 4% CVD-Customs Circular No.1 Customs duty on import from ASEAN nations lowered- Customs Tariff Notification No.127 deeper tariff cut on import from Malaysia notified- Customs Tariff Notification No.128 deeper tariff cuts on import from Korea notified- Customs Tariff Notification No.123 deeper tariff cuts on import from Srilanka & Pakistan under SAFTA notified- Customs Tariff Notification No.125 Schedule of Rates for Service Tax Refund to Exporters notified in supersession of Notification No.17/2009-Service Tax Notification No. 52 Customs duty on import of several products from specified countries lowered-Customs Tariff Notification No.113 Anti-dumping duty on ‘Sodium Hydrosulphite (SHS)’, falling under headings 2831 and 2832 , originating in, or exported from, China PR- Customs Tariff Notification No.111 CBEC specifies documents required for Registration of ServiceTax Customs duty on import of 532 Products from Singapore lowered-many products exempted from duty-Customs Tariff Notification No. 106 Government allows Rebate of excise duty on export of goods to Nepal under ARE-1 Procedure w.e.f. 1st March 2012-Central Excise Non-Tariff Notification No.24

JUDGMENTS

CENTRAL EXCISE

CUSTOMS

exchange rate

SERVICE TAX

INCOME TAX

VAT

FINANCE ACTS

FINANCE BILLS

EOU STPI

SEZ

DGFT

RBI

NTT

RESOURCES

Email | Print

Second Economic Stimulus Package announced by Government

AIT News Network
NEW DELHI. 2^nd January 2009.

The Government has announced Second Economic Stimulus Package .The Highlights are as under:

1. On imported cement, Additional Customs duty and 4 per cent SAD of customs was fully exempted w.e.f 3.4.2007. This exemption has now been withdrawn. Consequently, imported cement will attract countervailing duty equal to applicable excise duty, and also SAD of 4 per cent .On zinc, customs duty was fully exempted w.e.f 29.4.2008. This exemption has been withdrawn, and the customs duty rate has been restored to the earlier rate of 5%. On ferro-alloys, customs duty was fully exempted w.e.f 29.4.2008. Subsequently w.e.f 31.10.2008, customs duty on certain ferro-alloys, namely, ferro-molybdenum and ferro-vanadium was restored to the earlier rate of 5%. Now, the exemption provided on all other ferro-alloys has also been withdrawn, and the customs duty rate on all ferro-alloys has been restored to 5%. On TMT (thermo-mechanically treated) bars and structurals, Additional Customs duty was fully exempted w.e.f 29.4.2008. This exemption has been withdrawn. Consequently, imported TMT bars and structurals will attract Additional Customs duty of 10%-Refer Customs Tariff Notification No.2

2. It has been decided to restore DEPB rates to those prevailing prior to November 2008 (Refer DGFT PN 124) .The DEPB Scheme would be extended till 31.12.2009 (Refer DGFT PN 125).

3. Duty drawback benefits on certain items including knitted fabrics, bicycles, agricultural hand tools and specified categories of yarn has been enhanced. These changes will take effect retrospectively from September 1, 2008.

The Drawback Rate enhanced on the following:

On cotton knitted fabrics, from 4.5% to 5%;

On man-made knitted fabrics, from 8.7% to 8.9%;

On woollen knitted fabrics, from 5.7% to 5.8%; and

On agricultural/horticultural/forestry hand tools, from 8.5% to 10% (with a cap of Rs.7.5 per kg).

The Value cap has been enhanced in respect of the following :

Cotton yarn, grey from Rs.8.00 per kg. to Rs.12.00 per kg.;

Complete bicycles from Rs.203 per piece to Rs. 240 per piece; and

Stainless steel cutlery and knives from Rs.23.50 per kg. and Rs.19.80 per kg. respectively to Rs.28.00 per kg.

In the case of texturised/twisted yarn of Polyester manufactured from partially oriented yarn (POY), on which terminal excise duty has been paid, the drawback rates have been revised to include the central excise portion- Customs Non-Tariff Notification No.2

Drawback allowed on boots/half boots/shoes of leather cum synthetic/textile materials at 10.5% subject to a value cap of Rs.110 per pair - Customs Non-Tariff Notification No.1

4. Accelerated depreciation of 50% will be provided for commercial vehicles to be purchased on or after 1.1.2009 upto 31.03.09.

5. To consider procedural issues where modification of procedures could reduce delays faced by exporters and similar problems, Government has decided to constitute a Committee under the chairmanship of the Finance Secretary including Secretaries of the Departments of Revenue and Commerce to look into and resolve these issues on a fast-track basis.

6. EXIM Bank has obtained from RBI a line of credit of Rs.5000 crore and will provide pre-shipment and post-shipment credit, in rupees or dollars, to Indian exporters at competitive rates.

7. GOI will work with State Govts. to encourage them to release land for low income and middle income housing schemes.

8. States, as a one time measure upto 30.06.2009, will be provided assistance under the JNNURM for the purchase of buses for their urban transport systems. A scheme towards this end will be announced shortly.

In a co-ordinated move RBI has also announced Rate Cut. Home Loan Rates, Auto Loan Rates & Retail Loan Rates are set to be lowered as RBI has cut Repo Rate by 100 BPS to 5.5 per ent and Reverse Repo Rate by 100 BPS to 4 percent with immediate effect -CRR has also been cut by 50 BPS to 5 per cent from 17th January and Banks have thus got Rs 20000 Crore of liquidity.

External Commercial Borrowing (ECB) has been further liberalised as under:

(a) The 'all-in-cost' ceilings on such borrowing would be removed, under the approval route of RBI;

(b) To facilitate access to funds for the housing sector, the 'development of integrated townships' would be permitted as an eligible end-use of the ECB, under the approval route of RBI;

(c) NBFCs, dealing exclusively with infrastructure financing, would be permitted to access ECB from multilateral or bilateral financial institutions, under the approval route of RBI.

(d) In order to give a boost to the corporate bond market, FII investment limit in rupee denominated corporate bonds in India would be increased from US $ 6 bn to US $ 15 bn.