Daily Financial News Analysis – 15th August’20

Table of Contents

Widen Tax Base

The income tax department proposes to keep a watch on transactions such as hotel bills exceeding ₹20,000, education fees of more than ₹1 lakh as well as the purchase of jewelry, white goods, marble or paintings above ₹1 lakh among others, looking to widen the tax base and plug tax evasion.
The department also proposes to expand the list of reportable transactions to include domestic business class air travel, foreign travel, cash deposits of ₹10 lakh or more in a noncurrent account, sale of foreign exchange above ₹10 lakh, payment of property tax above ₹20,000 per year, life insurance premium above ₹50,000 and health insurance premium above ₹20,000.
Details of transactions captured by the department are communicated to the taxpayer via form 26AS.
To bring all these transactions under the tax scanner will require the amendment of rules and sections of the Income Tax Act.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had asked people to pay their fair share of taxes, given that India’s tax base was relatively small.

The RBI will pay a dividend of ₹57,128 crore to the government for the year ended June.
This is less than half of what it did last year when it transferred the entire surplus and also a part of its excess capital after a tug-of war with the State.
The central bank’s board approved retaining at least 5.5% of the capital risk buffer, the lower end of the 5.5-6.5% of the RBI balance sheet recommended by the Bimal Jalan committee.
“The board also approved the transfer of Rs 57,128 crore as surplus to the central government for the accounting year 2019-20, while deciding to maintain the Contingency Risk Buffer at 5.5%,” the RBI said in a statement after its board meeting.
As the RBI shifts its annual accounting year to an April-March cycle to align with that of the government, there is a possibility there could be another transfer during the year as the Centre struggles with stretched finances.

Hiring of white and blue-collar staff in a wide range of businesses is set to increase significantly as local lockdowns ease and the anticipated festive season demand gets factored in.
Another bit of good news in the job market.
Ecommerce and tech startups (26% more hires)
Agriculture & agrochemicals (25%)
Fast-moving consumer goods (24%)
Power & energy (21%)
Retail (20%)
Healthcare & pharmaceuticals (33%)
Knowledge process outsourcing (26%)
Telecommunication (20%)
Information technology (22%)
A Teamlease survey shared exclusively with ET shows around 10 sectors reporting an uptick in hiring intent over the next three months
Work profiles that will be in demand include logistics executive, technical support executive, sales executives, technical support personnel in various areas, healthcare personnel and laboratory technicians as well as shop floor roles for jobs in loading and delivery functions.
Marico chairman Harsh Mariwala said FMCG was back in almost full business mode and even personal care products are seeing positive signs.
Agribusiness companies such Mahindra Agri are hiring to meet demand for the second round of cropping — after a good kharif season.
While logistics firms like TVS Logistics are adding to the workforce on account of increased movement of goods driven by demand from ecommerce and FMCG companies.

The pace of contraction of India’s exports slowed in July.
Gold imports grew after eight months.
Exports contracted 10.21% to $23.64 billion in July while imports fell 28.4% to $28.47 billion.
Trade deficit was $4.83 billion compared to a $790 million surplus in June.
Sixteen out of the 30 selected major commodities of export grew last month with certain employment generating sectors including ceramics, jute, cotton yarn and carpets exhibiting growth.
In an encouraging trend, exports excluding petroleum products and gems and jewelry rose in July led by engineering goods, drugs and pharmaceuticals and iron ore, among others.
Gems and jewelry exports continued to shrink even though gold imports rose implying that the precious metal is being used for investment purposes amid the ongoing pandemic, instead of re-exports as jewellery.
This trend is likely to strengthen in the coming months, as demand for non-oil non-gold imports starts to normalise.
FIEO said business/order enquiries are coming from almost all major economies like the US, EU, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand which helped in bringing the exports sector to almost 90% of the level seen in July 2019.