New Delhi, Feb 28 (IANS) The Union Cabinet on Thursday approved the proposal for Foreign Direct Investment of more than Rs 5,000 crore and up to Rs 25,000 crore in Vodafone Idea as part of the proposed equity fund raise through rights issue.

It also approved to take on record the proposed changes in the indirect foreign investment in the subsidiaries of Vodafone Idea, which will take place on account of non-residents subscribing to the equity shares in the fund raise, an official statement said.

According to the statement, “the inflow of foreign investment to India will spur economic growth as well as foster innovation”.

FDI up to 100 per cent is allowed in telecom services sector wherein 49 per cent is under automatic route and beyond 49 per cent through government route. The 100 per cent FDI has been approved in the company, it said. 

However, it is necessary to take the government approval for FDI beyond Rs 5,000 crore even if there is no change in the percentage of foreign equity already approved.

Nasheman News : Amid escalating Indo-Pak tensions, the Air India (AI) has re-routed its to and from the USA and Europe flights, while as many as 8 incoming and 8 outgoing flights of private and international carrier were cancelled, said officials here on Wednesday.

The cancellations included two arrivals and two departures of Jet Airways, three arrivals and departures of IndiGo, and one arrival and one departure each of GoAir and Vistara, mostly to Srinagar, Jammu, Amritsar, Chandigarh and Dehradun.

Besides, United Airlines’ one arrival and one departure flights from and to Newark were also cancelled due to the Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) issued earlier on Wednesday for nine airports by the Directorate-General (DG) of Civil Aviation. It was withdrawn later.

The AI said its inbound and outbound flights for the USA and Europe and for Delhi were being re-routed to Mumbai and Ahmedabad.

Besides, flights landing into India from the USA and Europe are being diverted to Dubai and Sharjah due to technical reasons, and will land with a delay, but no AI flights have been cancelled.

The DGA had earlier restricted all flight operations at Srinagar, Jammu, Leh, Pathankot, Amritsar, Shimla, Kangra, Kullu-Manali and Pitthorgarh. It was restored later.

Meanwhile, most airlines have waived penalties for cancellations, rescheduling, no-show, refunds, due to the closure of air space at these airports.

Nasheman News : In a big relief to the realty sector and homebuyers, the GST council on Sunday lowered tax on under-construction properties to 5 per cent from 12 per cent, and affordable housing projects to 1 per cent from 8 per cent. The council also made changes in the definition of the affordable housing.

The new rates will be applicable from April 1. 

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said: “It is a milestone decision to promote affordable housing for all. The expanded definition of affordable housing is to encourage aspiring people buy bigger flats. The council did not accept the super carpet area concept as many developers have made it variable and flexible. 

“We will have to see how new rates can be passed on to incentivise people to buy under-construction flats. We believe competition will take care of price benefits to be passed on to consumers.” 

“However, developers won’t be able to claim input tax credit (ITC),” Jaitley said. The group of minister (GoM) on housing had suggested 3 per cent affordable housing projects. 

The council also decided that properties costing up to Rs 45 lakh will be considered affordable as well as properties with a carpet area of 90 square metres in metro cities and 60 square metres in non-metro cities, he said. 

On issues like transfer of development rights, sale or transfer of floor space index (FSI) and joint development rights, Jaitley said it was suggested that these be exempted from the goods and services tax (GST) for the sector’s growth. 

The council, he said wanted guidelines for the transition to be prepared for the law & fitment committee to take it up on March 10. 

“Transition is a challenge. The notification will have to be carefully drafted. The law & fitment committee will draft notifications and the GST council will approve the same through video-conferencing,” he said. 

Revenue Secretary Ajay Bhushan Pandey said the decision will help the common man afford a house, while also enabling the industry to emerge from the “recent tough time”. 

Though praising the decision, the housing sector and property experts, also called for caution. 

Niranjan Hiranandani, National President, NAREDCO, said, “Industry lauds the GST rate cut on real estate to 5 per cent on non-affordable and 1 per cent on affordable housing without input tax credit as a welcome and positive move. It will bring a big relief to the homebuyers and help narrow the demand mismatch gap.” 

The announcement would give an impetus to affordable housing and enthuse homebuyers to close the sale deals. “The GST on cement has not been reduced as was expected. At 28 per cent, it remains among the highest taxed inputs for construction — and there will be no input tax credit, developers will face a challenging time,” he said.

He said the changes should have been applicable ‘with immediate effect’. As it would be effective from April 1, “we will see rise in sales figures only in the next financial year,” he added.

Rajat Mohan, Partner, AMRG & Associates, said lowering of tax rates at the cost of the tax credit in the realty sector could be a good populist measure. But businesses may witness a quick bloodbath, and after that the sector will reboot itself to a higher equilibrium price to justify the margins, he added. 

“This may prove to a costly affair for businesses as they will see incremental costs due to breakage of credit chain,” Mohan said. 

M.S. Mani, Partner, Deloitte India, said, the real estate sector needed rate reductions to prop up sales. “The reductions announced today for normal housing and specially for affordable housing could lead to an uptick in demand. With these reductions, the GST on normal under-construction apartments would be a little lower than prior to introduction of GST and affordable housing would be significantly lower than before,” he said.

“The combination of the increase in the threshold to be termed as affordable housing together with the lower rate of 1 per cent could lead to significant upswing in demand. The lower rates would lead to a revival of demand for under-construction apartments, which had tapered down as buyers were preferring ready apartments that did not attract any GST,” the Deloitte India partner said.

“Having certain categories that are not eligible for input tax credits is an aberration of the basic principles of a good GST, in addition to issues of traceability of transactions and making the transactions opaque,” Mani said.

Jaitley also said the lottery issues have been referred back to the GoM. A GoM had suggested a single rate of 18 per cent or 28 per cent on lotteries, which are of two types — state-organised and state-authorised. 

Nasheman News :  Robert Vadra, brother-in-law of Congress President Rahul Gandhi, was on Wednesday questioned for over three hours by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with a money laundering case.

A senior ED official said: “We could question Vadra for only three-and-a-half hours as he complained of poor health. 

“We have asked him to appear before us again on February 22 at 10.30 a.m.,” the official told media.

Vadra arrived at the ED office in central Delhi at 10.30 a.m. and was questioned till 2 p.m.

Outside, hundreds of Youth Congress workers raised slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the ED. 

On February 16, a Delhi court had extended Vadra’s interim bail till March 2. 

This was the fourth time that Vadra, husband of Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has been questioned in connection with the money laundering case. 

The earlier quizzing took place on February 6, 7 and 9. 

The case relates to the ownership of undisclosed assets abroad worth 1.9 million pounds, allegedly belonging to Vadra.

Vadra was also questioned on February 12 and 13 by the ED in Jaipur in connection with a land deal case in Bikaner, Rajasthan. 

The ED on February 15 attached Vadra’s Sukhdev Vihar house in Delhi, a property worth Rs 4.43 crore. The house was in the name of Vadra’s company Sky Light Hospitality Pvt Ltd. 

On February 2, the court granted Vadra interim bail till February 16 and asked him to join the investigation on February 6.

The ED also lodged a money laundering case against Vadra’s employee Manoj Arora after his role came up during an Income Tax Department probe in a 2015 anti-black money case involving absconding arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari.

The ED had alleged that Arora was aware of Vadra’s overseas undeclared assets and was instrumental in arranging funds.

Nasheman News : The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed Reliance Communications to pay Rs 453 crore to Ericsson India within four weeks failing which its chairman will have to undergo a three-month sentence.

A bench of Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman and Justice Vineet Saran directed the court’s Registry to give Ericsson Rs 118 crore that were earlier deposited by RCOM. 

The court said that the entire amount that RCOM has to pay to Ericsson is Rs 550 crore plus the interest that was generated. 

The court also imposed a fine of Rs 1 crore each on RCOM, Reliance Telecommunication and Reliance Infratel that would be deposited with the Supreme Court Legal Services Committee (SCLSC). 

In case of default the Chairman of all three companies would have to undergo sentence of one month each. 

The bench ordered this as it did not accept the “unconditional apology” tendered to the court by the RCOM Chairman.

RCOM Chairman Anil Ambani was present in the court when the order was announced. 

Nasheman News :  Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday flagged off the world’s first diesel to electric converted locomotive here.

Modi was received at the Lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport by Uttar Pradesh Governor Ram Naik, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, state Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Mahendra Nath Pandey and other senior officials.

After the flag-off from the Diesel Locomotive Works (DLW) campus, he also interacted with differently abled persons.

The Prime Minister is scheduled to spend around six hours in Varanasi, his parliamentary constituency, during which he will launch projects worth Rs 3,300 crore.

He will also visit the Sant Ravidas temple.

This is Modi’s 17th visit to the temple town after becoming its representative in 2014. 

Nasheman News : The Government on Monday said that a sum of Rs 46 crore has been collected and dispersed as part of the “Bharat Ke Veer” initiative for CRPF troopers who lost their lives in the February 14 Pulwama attack.

Over 80,000 people came forward in the last few days since Thursday to contribute over Rs 20 crore, a statement said.

Nasheman News : Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or drones, unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) and balloons have been banned in the city for security reasons during the five-day Aero India show, starting on February 20, police said here on Sunday.

“In view of the aerospace expo at the Yelahanka Air Force Station from Wednesday, flying of aerial platforms like UAVs or drones, UAS and balloons are banned over the city to maintain law and order under the prevailing security scenario,” said city Police Commissioner T. Suneel Kumar in a statement.

The police also banned parking of vehicles on both sides of the highway around the air base from Monday to Sunday to prevent congestion.

“Vehicular traffic from Mekhri Circle in the city centre to the international airport via Hebbal flyover and the Yelahanka air base will be regulated or diverted during the air show from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. to prevent gridlock and ensure vehicular movement on the main thoroughfare leading to National Highway 7 and the airport,” said Kumar.

The airport operator (Bangalore International Airport Ltd — BIAL) has rescheduled departures and arrivals of domestic and international flights since February 14 to facilitate flying display of military and civil aircraft at the air show.

“Arrival and departure of passenger flights will be affected for five hours (10 a.m.-12 noon and 2 p.m.-5 p.m.) on February 18-19; six hours (9 a.m.-12 noon and 2 p.m.-5 p.m.) on February 20; and five hours (10 a.m.-12 noon and 2 p.m.-5 p.m.) from February 21-24,” said BIAL in a statement earlier.

The tech hub’s airport is the third largest in the country after Delhi and Mumbai.

Nasheman News :  A Karnataka-based businessman has been jailed for six months for allegedly not filing his income tax arrears and interest of around Rs 7.35 crore despite reminders, an official said on Saturday.

“The defaulter was arrested on Friday for failing to pay his tax arrears and produced before the Tax Recovery Officer (TRO) from where he was sent to jail for a tenure of six months,” said the department in a statement here.

The official, however, did not disclose the defaulter’s identity and nature of his business, except that he is from Tumakuru, 70 km northwest from here.

Though the defaulter was given many opportunities to pay the arrears, he missed them and failed to appear before the TRO on 17 occasions to explain reasons for defaulting.

“The defaulter appeared before the TRO in response to a notice on October 3, 2018, as to why a warrant to arrest him should not be issued. But he did not explain why he could not pay the dues,” said the statement.

The defaulter again appeared before the TRO on January 3 in response to a second notice issued on December 19 and assured the latter that he would remit the dues on receiving money from an unnamed debtor.

“Inquiry by the TRO revealed that although the defaulter received Rs 1 crore from his debtor before January 3, he did not pay the dues even partly. Instead, he dishonestly utilised it for other purposes,” said the statement.

The defaulter on February 14 admitted to the TRO in a statement that he did not pay taxes despite receiving Rs 1 crore from his debtor.

“The businessman violated provisions of Section 222 of the Income Tax Act, 1961, and Rule 73(a) and 73(b) of the Schedule II,” said the statement.

As the TRO considered no more inquiry was necessary under Rule 75 of the Second Schedule, the defaulter was arrested and produced before the TRO-7.

“The TRO-7 committed the defaulter to civil prison on Friday for six months after he failed to arrange for paying the tax arrears,” added the statement.

In a similar case, the department arrested a Bengaluru businessman on February 12 at the Mumbai airport and jailed him for six months for failing to pay tax arrears, including penalty to the tune of Rs 11.94 crore.

Section 222 of the Income Tax Act provides for attachment and sale of moveable/immovable property and arrest and detention of tax evaders.

Nasheman News :  Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) would showcase its prowess at the five-day 12th edition of ‘Aero India 2019’ expo, starting here on February 20, to hard sell its military aircraft and helicopters, a top official said on Thursday.

“HAL will explore opportunities at the Aero India by showcasing its fixed-wing and rotary-wing platforms and technologies as an industry player in the domestic and global defence market,” said HAL Chairman and Managing Director R. Madhavan in a statement.

The statement was issued ahead of the biennial air show at the Yelahanka base of the Indian Air Force on the city’s northern outskirts near the Bengaluru International Airport.

The aerospace major is also organising the present edition of the air show, where 31 aircraft will be part of the flying display and 22, static display.

HAL’s Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas, HTT-40 (Basic Trainer Aircraft), upgraded Hawk Mk132 named Hawk-i, Civil Do-228 (civil version of Dornier 228 aircraft), Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) Rudra, Light Utility Helicopter (LUH) and Light Combat Helicopter (LCH) will also be part of the flying display.

The fixed and rotary wing aerobatic teams Suryakiran (Hawk aircraft) and Sarang (ALH-Dhruv) will enthrall about six lakh visitors likley to attend the carnival of aircraft.

The defence behemoth will also showcase its LUH (PT-1), LCH (TD-2), ALH Rudra and ALH Medical Intensive Care Unit (MICU) as part of static display, HAL said.

At the expo, 360 exhibitors — 196 from India and 164 from foreign countries — will showcase their products.

HAL’s pavilion will include technological demonstration of the tail boom folding and main rotor folding of the Naval Utility Helicopter (NUH), which is ALH customised for the Navy.

“For the first time, HAL’s Supersonic Omni Role Trainer Aircraft (SPORT) simulator will be at the pavilion,” the statement added.

The SPORT aircraft will be used for fighter training after advanced jet training stage and before the induction of pilots into the frontline fighter squadron.

The exhibition space will also have a Jaguar aircraft simulator, HAL said.

As part of the air show’s ‘Innovate’ theme, the aerospace major will also display the technologies of Hindustan Turbo Fan Engine (HTFE-25) and Hindustan Turbo Shaft Engine (HTSE-1200) along with rotary unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), models of avionics and mechanical system line replacement units and complex manufacturing capabilities.

Global aerospace majors, including Boeing (US), Lockheed Martin Corp (US), Dassault (France), Russian Aircraft Corp MiG, Saab (Sweden) and European aerospace firm Airbus, will also take part in the exhibition.