THE tax on cash withdrawals from current accounts is up for review in the forthcoming Union budget. While no change in the tax rate is expected, the finance ministry is considering whether the tax can be extended to only those savings accounts which hide current account-type withdrawals.

The IPO allotment scam is now threatening to engulf an arm of the government — the income tax department . Financial sector regulators who have established a nexus between banks, brokers and depository participants in the large-scale manipulation of demat and savings bank accounts to corner a large chunk of the retail portion in IPOs [...]

The Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) has sought the scrapping of fringe benefit tax in its pre-Budget memorandum. The chamber has suggested that alternately, firms that are already paying taxes should be given an option to pay additional 1% corporate tax and be exempt from the FBT. According to CII, this will cut down on [...]

Foreign shareholders own almost a third of corporate India. The collective foreign holding through foreign promoters, foreign institutional investors (FIIs), overseas corporate bodies, non-resident Indians and holders of global depository receipts and American depository shares in Indian companies was 29.70 per cent on September 30.If the focus is only on the private sector, foreign stakes [...]