| Govt's public holding plan for ailing firms gets Sebi go- ahead |
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Mumbai, 24 July The Securities & Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has accepted the government's proposal to transfer its shares in loss- making public sector units to an ' irrevocable trust', which will sell those at a later date. The move has cleared the way for the government, struggling to find takers for these firms, to comply with the minimum public shareholding norms before the August 9 deadline. "We have accepted the government's proposal with some caveats. We wanted to ensure compliance in the Securities Contracts (Regulation) Rules ( SCRR)," said a senior Sebi official. The move will ensure the beleaguered PSUs, including Andrew Yule, Scooters India, HMT, STC and Hindustan Photofilms, The Fertilisers and Chemicals Travancore and ITI achieve the minimum- public- shareholding (MPS) compliance before deadline. The government had sought the market regulator's permission to move its shareholding in excess of 90 per cent in seven loss- making companies to an irrevocable trust at a token price of ₹ 1. The regulator has told the government it will lose all voting rights on the shares transferred to the trust. Also, such shares will be irrevocable and can be sold to the public at a future date. The government intends to sell these shares after reviving these firms, where it currently has shareholding between 91 per cent and 99 per cent. The Centre will now have to sell shares in only National Fertilizers ( NFL) —which the Cabinet has already approved — to ensure all stateowned firms have met the SCRR requirement of 10 per cent public float. The Sebi official said the government's proposal was similar to the one already approved in the case of technology firm Wipro. Sebi had allowed the Bangalore- based company to transfer about three per cent shareholding to its philanthropic irrevocable independent trust. The regulator had asked Wipro to sell these shares within two years and had directed it to appoint officials from either public- sector banks or public financial institutions as trustees. Excess stake to be moved to a trust; govt to lose all voting rights on transferred shares SHORT CUT? Companies with more than 90% govt holding M- cap Govt PSU (~ cr) holding (%) ITDC 8,965 92.11 HMT 2,019 98.88 National Fert 1,486 97.64 FACT 1,233 98.56 STC 534 91.02 ITI 456 92.98 AndrewYule & Co 299 93.30 Scooters India 77 95.38 Hind Photofilms NA 90.68 M- cap as on July 24 Source: Capitaline Compiled by BS Research Bureau |
| E- filing is not so complicated |
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While change is always difficult, trust me, e- filing is not as complicated as it sounds and is also eco- friendly. Let us see the key features: |It takes the same time to gather data and documents, as the applicable provisions are the same. |The form is similar and the same data needs to be filled (of course, the category of individuals who can use the simple Sahaj form has reduced significantly this year). The cells where data is to be filled are then locked for alteration and are colourcoded appropriately. In fact, in the downloaded online forms, accuracy of the data filled can be checked immediately. |Validation of each sheet reduces the risk of omission of mandatory data and one can validate the tax amount. |The instructions are provided at all stages, right up to generating the XML file to be uploaded. |The taxpayer needs to register on the website of the tax office ( incometaxindiaefiling. gov. in), just like any other online registration. The login ID is your PAN, so there's no risk of forgetting that. Needless to say, one should remember the password and answer to the secret question. |If the XML is uploaded with a digital signature, you straight away get an acknowledgement. If the return is uploaded without a digital signature, the webgenerated ITR- V needs to be signed as instructed and sent via ordinary post to the Centralised Processing Centre ( CPC) in Bangalore within 120 days of filing. Just in case the acknowledgement does not reach the CPC, a timely reminder mail is sent. |The CPC processes the return and sends the acknowledgement to the taxpayer's email address. Alternatively, taxpayers can login to check the return status. |E- filing facilitates ease of record- keeping and datatracking for the department and speeds up grant of refunds for the taxpayer. |As the acknowledgement is available online, there is no risk of losing the original. |In addition, of course, there is no need to travel and wait in a long queue outside the tax office. One can e- file the returns from home even after official hours. So, what are you waiting for? Go ahead with the e- filing of your return for faster processing and faster refunds! The writer is tax partner, EY. This is the second of a three- part series on how to file tax returns |
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