Borrowing costs bite: Interest-rate surge hurts corporate profits
Following the contribution of loans to the corporate bottom line for nearly two years after the outbreak of the pandemic, interest costs on those have begun to weigh on companies’ earnings.
The combined interest expenses of listed companies (ex-BFSI) were up 18.5 per cent year-on-year (YoY) in Q2FY23 as against an 8.8 per cent YoY decline in their combined operating profits during the period.
This is the fastest growth in the companies’ interest expenses in at least three years. Read more…
Under scanner: Special mechanism for sharing trade data in the works
The revenue and commerce departments are working on developing a special mechanism for sharing crucial export-import statistics, following instances of data leak putting businesses into jeopardy.
“The revenue department will be putting in place a mechanism that will allow ‘encrypted access’ to trade data that will be shared in a secure manner,” a senior government official told Business Standard. The departments were at odds over data sharing and a delay in compiling daily and weekly trade data. While data sharing resumed last week, the departments are trying to have a strict mechanism on the extent to which data will be shared. Read more…
CBDT proposes common ITR with focus on crypto assets declaration
The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has proposed a new common income-tax return (ITR), with greater focus on disclosing income from virtual digital assets or crypto assets and foreign equity and debt instruments held by resident Indians.
For non-resident Indians, the draft ITR seeks exhaustive details ranging from nature of business, permanent establishment (PE), business connection, whether the entity has significant economic presence (SEP) in India, along with the number of users in India.
The ITR protocol for NRIs could widen the scope of the SEP principle that was introduced in the Finance Bill 2018-19, and the explicitly defined ‘business connection’ to include provision of download of data or software, if aggregate payments from such transactions exceed a prescribed amount, or if a multinational’s interaction is with a prescribed number of users. Read more…
Door open for no regulation of satellite spectrum in revised telecom Bill
The updated draft telecom bill will aim to lay down the guidelines for satellite spectrum — which the government might explicitly differentiate from terrestrial spectrum — but may not regulate it, according to officials.
In the draft bill released last month, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) had extended the definition of “telecommunication services” to satellite-based communication services. Currently, the government has exclusive rights to establish, operate, maintain and expand all telecom services; and use, allocate and assign spectrum. Read more…
NITI wants infra projects lagging for decades completed by FY23-end
Even as new infrastructure projects keep getting announced, the Centre has turned the spotlight on projects falling behind for decades and ensure their completion by the end of this financial year (2022-23, or FY23).
The Centre’s think tank NITI Aayog — mandated with the task to monitor energy and infrastructure —has shortlisted 494 projects worth Rs 5.66 trillion for completion by March 2023, Business Standard has learnt. These include 279 road and highway projects worth Rs 1.92 trillion, petroleum projects worth Rs 1.11 trillion, almost Rs 1 trillion worth of railway projects, according to an internal report by the central think tank. Read more…
