THURSDAY, 5 MARCH 2020 16 pages in 1 section MUMBAI (CITY) ~9.00 VOLUME XXIV NUMBER 144 THE MARKETS ON WEDNESDAY Chg# Sensex 38,409.5 214.2 Nifty 11,251.0 52.3 COMPANIES P2 BACK PAGE P16 Nifty futures* 11,247.1 3.9 Dollar ~73.2 ~73.3** Euro ~81.6 ~81.4** BLACKSTONE WILL INVEST IN INDIA NIRAV MODI ASSETS BEAT Brent crude ($/bbl)## 52.6## 51.7** Gold (10 gm)### ~43,130.0 ~854.0 AS LONG AS OPPORTUNITIES EXIST ESTIMATES IN AUCTION *(Mar.) Premium on Nifty Spot; **Previous close; # Over previous close; ## At 9 pm IST; ### Market rate exclusive of VAT; Source: IBJA PUBLISHED SIMULTANEOUSLY FROM AHMEDABAD, BENGALURU, BHUBANESWAR, CHANDIGARH, CHENNAI, HYDERABAD, KOCHI, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI (ALSO PRINTED IN BHOPAL), NEW DELHI AND PUNE ED FILES FRESH CASE ILLUSTRATION: BINAY SINHA AGAINST JET’S GOYAL Mega merger of SC lifts crypto The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has filed a fresh case against Naresh Goyal, former chairman of now-defunct Jet Airways, under ban, quashes the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. The move follows a recent complaint filed against Goyal in Mumbai’s economic offence wing. 10 govt banks On Wednesday, ED officials carried out RBI circular searches at his Mumbai residence. He was also summoned by the probe agency and RAJESH BHAYANI & ANUP ROY then brought to his residence late evening. Mumbai, 4 March The ED was earlier probing violations of forex gets Cabinet nod rules allegedly committed by him. The Supreme Court on Integration of balance sheets to be effective from April 1; 5K entities told to Wednesday set aside the ECONOMY & PUBLIC AFFAIRS P6 Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI’s) bank boards to meet soon to finalise the share swap ratio April 2018 circular asking banks Services activity at 7-yr avail of Vivad se and entities the central bank SOMESH JHA regulated to stay away from high in February: PMI New Delhi, 4 March Vishwas scheme dealing in crypto currencies, The services sector continued to ring in the including Bitcoin. good times in February as an uptick in he government on UNDER TAX NET The judgment said the cir- exports and rising new orders resulted in Wednesday approved a Appeals pending before various judicial forums cular had been “set aside on the growth touching a seven-year high, acco- scheme for the amalga- ground of proportionality”. STATUS CHECK rding to a monthly survey released on mation of 10 state- Cases Amount This has given a major relief to T pending involved (~ cr) 5 million: Indian users Wednesday. The widely tracked Nikkei India owned banks into four, putting exchanges dealing in these Services Purchasing Managers Index stood to rest any doubts about a possi- CIT (Appeals) 62,085 205,654 crypto currencies. It opens a engaged in virtual currency at 57.5 in February, up from 55.5 in January. ble delay in the process. ITAT 10,484 131,328 window for developing a mar- activities Effective from April 1, 2020, DRP 192 13,430 ket for crypto currencies, which ~100 crore: Worth of the balance sheets as well as are formally traded in deriva- High courts 6,995 79,255 trade Indian crypto THE SMART INVESTOR P10 stocks of these banks will be inte- tives markets in the US, with Supreme Court 427 20,343 exchanges were having per SBI Cards IPO subscribed grated, according to the scheme CME allowing trade in them. day till April 2018 of amalgamation approved by Note: Based on the latest data on direct tax litigation The 180-page Supreme complied by I-T department as of Feb 28; CIT- Commissioner over 15 times on Day 3 the Union Cabinet. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the government I-T Appeals; DRP- Dispute Resolution Panel; ITAT- Income- Court judgment, by a three- 5,161: Number of The SBI Cards initial public offering (IPO) Punjab National Bank (PNB), weighed the benefits arising out of the BoB amalgamation tax Appellate Tribunal Source: I-T officials judge Division Bench, in a way cryptocurrencies globally, has got a thumbs up from institutional Oriental Bank of Commerce, and before taking a call PHOTO: PTI SHRIMI CHOUDHARY allowed trading and invest- whose combined market cap investors despite the turmoil in the United Bank of India will com- New Delhi, 4 March ment in crypto assets and is about $250 billion secondary market. The so-called qualified bine to form the nation’s second- latory ceiling for lending to indi- ward. The first step will be to exchanges offering this servic- 63.7%: Share of Bitcoin, the institutional buyer segment was largest lender. Canara Bank will vidual borrowers increasing by approve the swap ratio for stocks, The Income-Tax (I-T) Department has so far es in India. largest and first crypto; has subscribed 57x, with the cumulative bid take over Syndicate Bank; Union over ~1,500 crore to ~3,000 crore,” with anchor banks expected to approached 5,627 entities, egging them on to Crypto currencies are virtu- amount crossing a record ~1 trillion. Bank of India is planned to be a senior finance ministry official hold board meetings in the com- avail of the offer under Vivad se Vishwas, or al currencies and are a digital market cap of $159 billion Overall, the IPO has been subscribed 15.2x. amalgamated with Andhra Bank said, adding that the banks would ing days. PNB is scheduled to the direct tax dispute settlement scheme. representation of value. They | Govt committee had and Corporation Bank; and be able to support specialised hold its board meeting on Those approached include large taxpay- can be digitally traded and can proposed ban on Indian Bank will subsume loan products, such as supply Thursday. ers, mostly foreign banks that have disputes function as a medium of cryptocurrencies, and a draft Allahabad Bank. chain financing and cash man- The banks will set up an inde- relating to international taxes. exchange and/or a unit of Bill is ready ON “Businesses and industry will agement services. pendent committee to address Of these, 1,730 assessees, involving a tax account and/or a store of value, benefit through an increased The banks will swing into the grievances of minority share- demand of ~1,578 crore, have agreed to come though they do not have the WHERE OTHER THURSDAY lending capacity, with the regu- action to take the process for- holders. Turn to Page 15 > under the scheme, according to the prelim- status of legal tender. SPECIALS inary report prepared by the department. Rachit Sharma, deputy gen- COUNTRIES STAND Meanwhile, the Lok Sabha on Wednesday eral manager, Taxmann, said: Canada: Cryptocurrencies PERSONAL FINANCE: Direct foreign listing of NRIs allowed to own up passed the Vivad se Vishwas Bill amid din. “The Supreme Court’s order The Bill was passed with the amendments could be a temporary relief for permitted as a payment Small businesses should companies permitted to 100% stake in Air India system and as a form of > cleared by the Cabinet recently. investors and intermediaries. buy extra cover 13 The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved 72 In order to shore up interest in the privatisation of The preliminary report was discussed on The government has a draft investment; income from A riot may be a low-probability changes to the Companies Act, 2013, with a thrust Air India, non-resident Indians, who are citizens of February 28 in a meeting called by an over- framework in place for regulat- them is taxed event, but the damage it causes can on decriminalising compoundable offences and India, have been allowed to own 100 per cent in the sight committee (an internal panel formed to ing cryptocurrencies. The draft Switzerland: Permitted as incapacitate you financially, writes allowing direct foreign listing for domestic firms to airline. The small tweak has now brought foreign supervise Vivad se Vishwas). Bill proposes to ban all cryp- a payment system SANJAY KUMAR SINGH boost “Brand India”. The nod for the Companies investment rules in Air India on a par with other The committee was apprised of various tocurrencies except state- (including consumer-to- amendment Bill, likely to be tabled in the ong- private carriers. This has been termed a landmark strategies, the latest numbers on pending issued ones. Until then, all government transactions) TECHNOLOGY: oing Parliament session, has been given to ease decision by Union minister Prakash Javadekar. He appeals in different judicial forums, and a fur- intermediaries and banks > and as a form of investment Engineering goes digital 14 compliance burden related to CSR by exempting said the move would increase the opportunity ther action plan to make the scheme a success, which were forced to shut Engineering and construction major firms with obligation to spend ~50 lakh or less. 6 > for gaining investment for the airline. 6 > said a tax official in the know. Turn to Page 15 > down platforms providing the Japan: Permitted and L&T is executing complex projects with trading of crypto currencies are regulated as a payment the help of connected machines free to operate in India.” system powered by the latest technologies. Former finance secretary TE NARASIMHAN reports Subhash Garg headed the China: Banned for all committee to propose action purposes L&T plans to become asset light, on virtual currencies. In its Source: PRS India report, the committee had rec- HDFC Bank recasts search ommended banning private cryptocurrencies in India, with federal digital currency be panel for Puri’s successor reduce debt by ~30,000 crore imprisonment of up to 10 years examined, and the government HDFC Bank has reconstituted the search for anyone dealing in them.