Ringing Bells starts refunding money to customers

Noida-based Ringing Bells, which has promised to sell smartphones for Rs 251 apiece, has started refunding money to customers due to negative speculation around its claim.

“There was a lot of negativity around us so we have decided to take money from customers only after delivering phones to them. We are refunding money to those who have paid for booking the phones and giving them an option of cash on delivery," Ringing Bells Director Mohit Goel said.

Start-ups bat for tax sops, investment incentives in Union Budget

The startup community, which has started facing funds crunch of late, is looking to the Union Budget 2016 for an easy tax regime, relaxation in investment norms and furtherincentives for innovation.

The country is home to over 18,000 startups, making it the third-largest in the world after the US and England.

“iSpirt has represented to the finance ministry that a small basket of tax sops merely will not be effective for the existing system which is riddled with several bottlenecks," co-founder of iSpirt Foundation Sharad Sharma told PTI. Read More.

RBI decision on expected lines: FinMin

Economic affairs secretary Shaktikanta Das on Tuesday said RBI's move to keep the policy rate intact was on the expected lines.

He said one has to wait for the Budget to know the government strategy on the fiscal consolidation road map. The Budget is expected to be tabled in Parliament on February 29.

Read our full coverage on Union Budget 2016

The finance ministry is grappling with the issue of fiscal consolidation road map. It has received all sorts of advices-- to defer the road map by one more year, stay on the path and not to tie itself with any fiscal deficit number.

As RBI expected inflation would be 5% in FY17, Das said one has to see how inflation turns from here.

**Budget 2016: IPPAI bats for tax incentives for power sector**

In the run up to the Union Budget 2016, Indian power producers have proposed to the government a slew of tax benefits to incentivise investments in the sector.

Independent Power Producers Association of India (IPPAI) in a letter to the ministries of finance, coal and power asked the government to extend a 10-year tax holiday to companies that start power generation by March 31, 2020.
Read our full coverage on Business Standard Budget.

“Industry players have called for the extension of the sunset tax clause for power companies to include plants that provide power till March 2020 as opposed to 2017 earlier,” said the letter.

The association has also asked for minimum alternate tax to be reduced to 10 per cent. With regards to coking coal, IPPAI has asked for reduction in customs duty on it. 

Budget 2016: Easwar panel wants higher threshold & lower rates for TDS on bank deposits

Ahead of the Union Budget 2016, a committee asked to make recommendations on simplifying the current income tax (I-T) law has recommended a higher threshold for deduction of tax at source and cuts in rates, plus measures to reduce litigation.

The Union Budget 2016-17 is to be tabled on February 29.   

The 10-member panel is chaired by R V Easwar, a former high court judge. Appointed in late October 2015, its first report, 78 pages, was given on Monday. This is a draft report, issued to elicit feedback before finalisation. It focuses on simpler issues that it feels need immediate attention. Comments have been invited till the coming Saturday, after which the committee will finalise the first part of the report by January 31.