Tax Free Bond

*GENERAL CIRCULAR NO. 6/2013* [FILE NO. 5/03/2013-CL-V], *DATED 14-3-2013*Subject: Clarification under Section 372A(3) of the Companies Act,1956.

It is observed from the Budget 2013-14 authorizes Union Govt. to raise Rs. 50,000 crores (Tax Free Bonds). These bonds carry a lower rate of interest, currently in the range of 6.75% to 7.50% which is tax free under section 10(15) (iv)(h) of the Income-tax Act, 1961.

Such bonds were also provided for in Budget 2012-13, but the response had been poor due to restrictions under section 372A(3) of the Companies Act, 1956.

--> Ministry of Finance had drawn the attention of this Ministry to section 372A(3) of the Companies Act with a view to effectively implement the announcement made in the Budget. Section 372A(3) of the Act "inter alia "provides that “No loan to any body corporate shall be made at a rate of interest lower than the prevailing bank rate, being standard rate made public under section 49 of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934 (2 of 1934)”.

--> It is hereby clarified that in cases where the effective yield (effective rate of return) on tax free bonds is greater than the yield on prevailing bank rate, there is no violation of section 372A(3) of Companies Act, 1956.

--> This circular is effective from the date of issue.

--> This issues with the approval of Hon’ble Corporate Affairs Minister. 

This Article has been posted by Vinanti Zatakiya. She Can be reached at vinanti2504@gmail.com

Subscribe to Studycafe by Email

Read more »

Union Budget 2013-14

Union Budget 2013-14

Finance Minister P. Chidambaram has presented a conventional Budget. He has not touched the income tax slabs, and has abstained from major tax concessions. Given below are the key highlights of the Union Budget 2013-14:

Highlights of the Budget 2013

Macro Statements India faces challenge of getting back to its potential growth rate of 8 per cent Only China and Indonesia growing faster than India Plan expenditure pegged at Rs. 555,322 crore Non-plan expenditure pegged at Rs. 11,09,975 crore for 2013-14 Revised estimate for total expenditure is Rs. 14.3 trillion in 2012/13, which is 96 percent of budget estimate India's greater worry is the current account deficit - will need more than $75 billion this year and next year to fund deficit Food inflation is worrying, will take all steps to augment supply side 3000 km of road projects to be awarded in the first six months Refinancing capacity of SIDBI increased to Rs. 10,000 crore from Rs. 5,000 crore for MSMEs Household sector must be incentivised to save in financial instruments rather than gold Allocation to defence spending up 4.5 per cent at Rs. 2.03 trillion National Institute for Sports to train coaches to be set up at Patiala at a cost of Rs. 250 crore Clean drinking water and sanitation to get Rs. 15,260 crore Rs. 1,400 crore to set up water purification plants to fight fluoride affected areas Proposal to set up India's first women's bank as a PSU bank; initial capital to be Rs. 1,000 crore SIDBI's refinancing capacity increased to Rs. 10,000 crore PSU banks to get Rs. 14,000 capital infusion in FY14 2 new ports to be set up in West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh KYC of banks will be sufficient to acquire insurance policies, banks to act as brokers FY13 fiscal deficit estimated at 5.2 per cent; FY14 fiscal deficit estimated at 4.8 per cent Rs. 6,275 crore allocated to Ministry of Science and Technology; Rs. 5,880 crore to Department of Atomic Energy All cities with population of more than 1 lakh to be covered with FM radio services 11 lakh beneficiaries have received benefit under Direct Benefit Transfer scheme Rs. 532 crore to make post offices part of core banking Grant of Rs. 100 crore each to AMU (Aligarh), BHU (Varanasi) and TISS (Guwahati) and INTACH. By 2025 India can be a $5 trillion economy.

Policy Proposals Tax Administration Reforms Commission to be set up to review tax laws Oil and gas policy will be reviewed and changed from a profit-sharing structure to a revenue sharing structure Natural gas pricing policy will be reviewed NELP projects that were stalled will be cleared A PPP policy framework is being devised with Coal India as a partner to provide coal to power producers. The Coal Ministry is working on it. A proposal to amend the SEBI Act to strengthen the regulator is under consideration Cabinet committee on investment set up to monitor stalled projects and guide decision making The Insurance Law Amendment Bill and the PFRDA Bill are before the House, hope it gets passed in this session FIIs can participate in Exchange Traded Currency Derivatives Nirbhaya fund set up with an allocation of Rs. 1,000 crore set up to ensure safety and security of women 10 per cent stake or less will be treated as FII, and stake of more than 10 to be treated as FDI Insurance companies can open branches in Tier II cities without prior approval of IRDA Company investing Rs. 100 crore or more between now and 2015 will be entitled to deduct an investment allowance of 15 per cent in addition to depreciation Government has decided to constitute a regulator for the road sector Government committed to food security bill. Rs. 10,000 crore set apart for expenditure likely under the Act

Tax Proposals Surcharge of 10% on persons whose taxable income exceeds Rs. 1 crore The current slabs were introduced last year. Hence, there is no case of revision, says Chidambaram Rs. 5,87,082 crore to be transferred to states under share of taxes and non-plan grants in 2013-14 Person taking a loan for his first home during the period 2013-14 will be entitled to an additional deduction of Rs. 1 lakh Surcharge of 10% on persons whose taxable income exceeds Rs. 1 crore TDS of 1 per cent on land deals over Rs. 50 lakh Excise duty on certain SUVs hiked to 30 per cent Specific excise duty on cigarettes increased by 18 per cent On mobile phones priced at more than Rs. 2000, excise duty hiked to 6 per cent Excise rate, service tax rate unchanged Non tax benefits to SME units to remain for 3 years after they outgrow from the category Import duty on rice bran oilcake withdrawn No change in basic customs duty rate of ten per cent and service tax rate of 12 per cent Direct Taxes Code (DTC) bill to be introduced in current Parliament session: FM No change in peak rate of customs duty for non-agriculture products Modified GAAR norms to be introduced from April 1, 2016 Commodities transaction tax levied on non-agriculture Commodities futures contracts at 0.01 per cent This Article has been Posted By CA Kamal Choudhary. He can be reached at Kamal.Choudhary@makemytrip.com To Download Budget Highlights Click here

Subscribe to Studycafe by Email

Read more »