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TV Sales Figures Show

Sony Losing India Plot

6 Things Successful People

Do Right Before Bed

Will Pakistan be Able to Halt

Table-topper New Zealand?

BUSINESS OF BRANDS 5

ETCETERA 15

SPORTS  22

TAX AXE Panel proposes 6-8% tax on services such as online ads, cloud computing
and web hosting provided by companies sans permanent establishment tag in India

India Looks to Widen Ambit

of Google Tax on Tech MNCs
The Road Ahead?
A govt committee
has suggested framework for the proposed
Equalisation Levy
This years Budget has
proposed 6% such
levy based on this
panels report

To be charged on
PAYMENT TO NON-RESIDENT
COS FOR SPECIFIED SERVICES
Payment
exceeding

1 Lakh

in a year

6-8 %

of gross
payments to
these cos

for specified services

Online advertising
For storing or distributing
digital content
Use or right to use or download
online music, movies, games etc
Services relating to
online transactions

alisation levy of 6% on the fees that

online advertisers pay to foreign
ecommerce companies set the stage
for this report, and a potential move to
tax almost all cross-border digital
transactions. In doing so, experts said, the government is looking to tap
into a rich vein of revenue and bring
to heel global internet companies
which it believes are
avoiding taxes.
The levy introduced
Almost all
in the budget was batransactions
sed on the recommeninvolving
dations of this commitconsumers
tee, which was set up to
will be
identify base erosion
exempt as
and profit shifting
the levy is
(BEPS) proposal that
proposed on
India could roll out
payments of
from the coming finanover `. 1 lakh
cial year.
India is challenging them: If you
think credit for this 6% is so important
for you, and you are deriving income
from India, why don't you set up a permanent establishment in India? said
Amarjeet Singh, a partner at KPMG.

Our Bureau

New Delhi: A government-appointed

panel has recommended wide-ranging expansion of the so-called Google
tax that first made an appearance in
the Union Budget this year, causing
dismay among internet companies
which believe that a new levy will raise the cost of a whole range of services provided online.
In a report unveiled on Monday, an
eight-member committee on taxation
of ecommerce proposed that services
ranging from online advertising and
cloud computing to software downloads and web hosting are subjected to
an equalisation levy of 6-8% of gross
payment if the provider of the service
is a foreign entity without a permanent establishment in India.
The committee, which included representatives from the government
and the industry, has said that only payments of over `. 1 lakh be covered by
this levy, which would mean that almost all transactions involving consumers will be exempt.
A budget proposal to impose an equ-

Cos Say Move will Hurt Digital India 19

Online news, online search, online

maps or GPS applications

15 FDI PROPOSALS WORTH .` 7,262 CR CLEARED

Online software applications

downloaded

Nippon Life, Sun Life Get FIPB Nod

Big-ticket investments in the insurance sector by Nippon Life
Insurance, AIA International, Sun Life and Aviva Life were
among 15 proposals that the Foreign Investment Promotion
Board (FIPB) cleared on Monday. These proposals are expected to bring foreign direct investment of `. 7,262 crore. PAGE 13

Industry Upset
Strong opposition
from internet
companies such as
Google

Apple Unveils
Cheaper, 4-inch
iPhone SE
Apple on Monday unveiled a
smaller, cheaper iPhone
aimed at newbuyers, especially in emerging markets, as it looks to
reverse a decline in worldwide sales of
its most important product. The new
device, called the iPhone SE, has a
4-inch (10-cm)screen and starts at a
price of $399. The new phone will be
equipped with a longer-lasting battery
than the iPhone 5S and have faster
wireless connections. Orders for the
iPhone SE will start on Thursday. The
phone will begin shipping on March 31
in the US. The company also slashed the
price of the Apple Watch to $299, a year
after the launch of the device. 21

Market Tracker
LAST

% CHANGE

7,704.25

1.31

Sensex

25,285.37

1.33

BSE Midcap

10,444.24

1.40

BSE Smallcap

10,448.48

1.36

Re/US $

66.54

-0.04

Brent ($)

40.46

-0.20

Nifty

Compiled by ETIG Database

Small savings rates reduced: Do you expect

banks to cut lending rates in near term?

67%
YES

26%
NO

7%

CANT SAY

TODAYS QUESTION

Do you expect real estate sector to pick up

in the coming quarters?
www.economictimes.com

INDICES AT 11-WEEK HIGH

Stocks Rally on Back

of Rate Cut Hopes
Sensex crosses 25,000-mark, Nifty ends at 7,704 points

D-Street in Party Mood

POSITIVE
SENTIMENT

PERFORMANCE OF EMERGING MARKETS INDICES

Country

YTD Chg (%) $ terms

Chg from 52-Wk Low (%)

Brazil
Taiwan
Russia
South Africa
China
Malaysia
INDIA
South Korea

28.10
7.37
13.15
7.06
-14.52
7.31
-3.63
2.78

37.17
22.35
20.64
17.07
14.42
14.28
12.41
10.50

Our Bureau

Mumbai: Stocks surged to their highest

in 11weeks amid hopes that interest rates
may be cut by as much as 50 basis points
by Reserve Bank of India, following an
across-the-board reduction in small savings rates by the government on Friday.
That came on top of slowing inflation
and weakening industrial growth besides supportive global cues that were already pointing toward a more accommodative central bank policy, experts said.
The BSE Sensex rose 1.33% to close at
25,285.37 points, going past the psychologically important 25,000 mark. The Nifty
50 rose 1.31% to 7,704.25, the highest in
the past 51 trading sessions. The BSE
Mid-cap and Small-cap indices gained
1.4% and 1.36%, respectively.
The expectation is obviously about 25
bps interest rate cut by RBI but the pray-

Govt slashing
interest rates on
small savings
scheme makes a
case for rate cut
D-Street is expecting RBI to cut rate
by up to 50 bps
Source : ETIG
E
Database
base

er is that maybe we could be surprised

with a 50 bps cut, said Nilesh Shah, managing director, Kotak Mutual Fund.
The RBIs monetary policy meet is
scheduled on April 5. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought heavily, having already pumped about `. 14,000 crore into the market so far
in March. They made
FIIs bought
net purchases of stocks
stocks worth
worth `. 1,400 crore on
`. 1,400 crore
Monday, according to
while local
BSE provisional numinstitutions
bers, while domestic insold equities
stitutions sold equities
worth `. 619 cr to the tune of `
. 619 crore.
Bonds and bank shares
rose after interest rates were cut for term
deposits offered to small savers in line
with market rates.The rate on Public Provident Fund was cut to 8.1% from 8.7%.
Better Transmission of Policy Rate Cuts 19

USL Independent Directors under Sebi Lens

The roles played by independent directors and the audit committee
of United Spirits are being examined by market regulator Securities
and Exchange Board of India following parent Diageo agreeing to
pay Vijay Mallya $75 million for exiting the company.PAGE 11

An Army of Babus to Work on PMs Pet Schemes

In big reform, Modi Sarkar plans to redeploy bureaucrats and reduce patronage postings
Vasudha.Venugopal
@timesgroup.com

New Delhi: Modi Sarkar is

radically reorganising the
bureaucracy, and the two
signature reforms will be,
first, one out of every five
bureaucrats in the Centre will
work on Prime Minister
Narendra Modis top priority
schemes Make in India, Jan
Dhan Yojana, Swachh Bharat,
Digital India and Skill India
and, two, the long-standing
practice of post-retirement
sinecures will come under
serious scrutiny.
To start with,1,800 bureaucrats in top ministries, excluding a few such as the

TUESDAY, 22 MARCH 2016

defence, will be scrutinised in

the first phase, of which at
least 400 will be put to work on
half a dozen key schemes
championed by the PM
unprecedented in Indias
administrative history. The
reform may
also kill severA task force
al posts creset up by the
ated to accomPMO will
modate retired
give its
babus.
suggestions
Officials
on the rejig
familiar with
by April-end
the reform
plan told ET
this redeployment will coincide with a broader plan to
rightsize the government.
Plan to Rope in Specialists19

The NaMo Imprint

A TASK force
formed by the PMO
will suggest on rationalising & right
sizing the govt
THIS WILL involve
transferring a
signicant number
of bureaucrats
to PMs priority
schemes

THESE INCLUDE Make in

India, Jan Dhan Yojana,
Swachh Bharat, Digital
India & Skill India
THE TASK force has
been mandated to
rationalise senior
positions, review roles,
and take a radical look
at recruitment
processes and numbers

The members
have also been
asked to identify
patronage
postings and
examine their
need

Delhi Govt to Track Air Quality

Air quality across the National Capital Region will be
monitored by Delhi government during the second
fortnight of odd-even scheme in April.PAGE 3