TRACKPAD

Government invites comments over draft GST affairs

The government has begun to focus on preparing itself for the implementation of Goods & Service Tax (GST). To begin with, it has taken the important step of calling for suggestions and comments from the public. The draft business processes on GST registration, GST refunds and GST payments have been put up on the GoI website for inviting comments, the deadline for which is October 31. As per information from the Ministry of Finance, information draft model of CGST, SGST and IGST laws, along with GST business processes for filing of returns, shall also be put up in due course for inviting comments of stakeholders.

The Government of India intends to introduce GST in the country at the earliest considering that it will subsume many indirect taxes at the central and state level. The proposed dual GST envisages taxation of the same taxable event, i.e., supply of goods and services, simultaneously by both the centre and the states. Importantly, Constitution (122^nd Amendment) Bill, 2014 has been introduced in the parliament for facilitating the introduction of GST in the country.

BHEL doubles project commissioning rate in H1 FY16

Turbine manufacturer Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) has commissioned 2,730 MW of utility power projects in the first half of FY16. This is the highest achievement in the corresponding period of the last four years. It is also more than double the power project commissioning achievement of 1,167 MW in the corresponding period of last year. In addition to this, power generation has also commenced from the BHEL-supplied 660 MW unit at Lalitpur TPS in Uttar Pradesh. Notably, this is the first super-critical set to be commissioned in Uttar Pradesh.

Significantly, the 11 utility sets commissioned by BHEL have been at projects spread all over India. Projects in the north include two units each of 200 MW at Koldam Hydro Electric Project (HEP) in Himachal Pradesh and four units each of 82.5 MW at Shrinagar HEP in Uttarakhand. Also, two thermal sets of 500 MW each, one at Anpara in Uttar Pradesh and another at Vindhyachal in Madhya Pradesh, have been commissioned during the year. BHEL also commissioned the 250 MW Bongaigaon Unit-1 in Assam, which is the highest rating coal-based set-up in North East India. In the southern state of Tamil Nadu, BHEL commissioned the 500 MW Tuticorin-2 and in western India the company has commissioned the 250 MW Unit-4 at Sikka TPS in Gujarat. 

In addition to the domestic utility sets commissioned/synchronized, 125 MW of overseas’ projects and 330 MW of captive power plants were also commissioned by BHEL during this period. Significantly, in 2014-15, BHEL exceeded the commissioning target set by the government by 19 per cent.

The government seems to be quite concerned about the rising prices of food grains and is taking swift action to control the prices, especially those of pulses and onions. Recently, an inter-ministerial committee on prices and availability of essential food items chaired by Secretary, Department of Consumer Affairs reviewed the prices and the availability of pulses and onions.
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Bank of Baroda shares plunged by more than five per cent in two days (13th and 14th) to Rs 173.50 on the bourses post the arrest of made by the Enforcement Directorate and Central Bureau of Investigation in the wake of a forex scam. According to media reports the two agencies -- which have been working on the case - said money was being transferred through 59 accounts at the bank’s Ashok Vihar branch to companies in Hong Kong and Dubai. The money was disguised as payments for imports. A search revealed that addresses given by at least 50 companies for bank records were fake. Interrogation of the bank officials revealed that some of the employees acted as middle-men for these companies.The bank in its clarification to the exchanges said that they have ascertained that these included two of their Staff Officers, i.e.Mr. S. K. Garg, Assistant General Manager and Mr. Jainish Dubey, Officer- Foreign Exchange, who were already suspended by the Bank

Cox and Kings has acquired 100 per cent stake of UK-based hotel-booking firm LateRooms Ltd, which runs the website LateRooms.com, from TUI Travel Plc for £8.5 million (Rs 85 crore). Tourist firm TUI Travel of Germany had announced early this year that it would be selling LateRooms.com as a part of divesting non-core assets. Late Rooms is a profitable, leading online hotel booking specialist in the UK, according to a statement by Cox and Kings. Late Rooms operates a single web platform, which optimises the website for mobile device usage. For Cox and Kings, the acquisition fits the group’s strategic intent to expand its global online and B2C (business to customers) leisure proposition. Cox and Kings also expects to drive synergies and value from LateRooms’ association with the Cox and Kings subsidiary, SuperBreak Mini-Holidays, a leading short break packaged holiday specialist in the UK.

Domestic pharma company Lupin and MNC firm Boehringer Ingelheim announced a joint strategic alliance for co-marketing an anti-diabetic drug, linagliptin, in India. According to the agreement, Lupin will market and sell linagliptin under a separate brand name Ondero (monotherapy) and Ondero Met (fixed-dose combination with metformin) which will be promoted by Lupin. 400 strong dedicated diabetes specialty field force. Boehringer Ingelheim will continue to sell its linagliptin under the brand names Trajenta (monotherapy) and TrajentaDuo (fixed-dose combination with metformin) through their existing sales force and network. The Indian diabetes market is valued at Rs 7,655 crore, growing at 19.57 per cent (IMS MAT August 2015). The total DPP-4 Inhibitors market is valued at Rs 1,499 crore and growing at 26.55 per cent.