Banking, Financial and Economic Awareness of 18, 19 and 20 September 2021

Topic: Regulatory Bodies/Financial Institutions

1. GST Council decides to extend the term of National Anti-Profiteering Authority (NAA) for one more year.

• GST Council has decided to extend the term of the National Anti-Profiteering Authority (NAA) for one more year considering the pendency of cases.
• GST Council has also decided that an alternative will be explored in the Competition Commission of India (CCI).
• NAA has been given an extension for the second time. Its term will now end on November 30, 2022.
• Tax Department will explore the possibility of transferring pending and future cases to the CCI after November 30, 2022.
• CCI is part of Corporate Affairs Ministry. It was set up through Competition Act 2002.
• NAA comes under the Finance Ministry. It was established under Section 171 of CGST Act. It started working with effect from December 1, 2017.
• In the starting, it was given a two-year term. Its two year term was later extended to another two years.
• NAA is empowered to decide whether lowering in rate of input tax credit has been passed on to consumers or not. If not, it can ask for the reduction of prices, levy penalty or order cancellation of registration.
• It consists of a chairman and that of four technical members. The post of the chairman and two technical members are vacant. The authority needs a quorum of Chairman and three technical members.
• As of now, one technical member is also holding additional charge of the Chairman.  Sh. Amand Shah, Technical Member has assumed additional charge of Chairman, National Anti-Profiteering Authority (NAA) with effect from 02 June 2021.

Topic: Regulatory Bodies/Financial Institutions

2. The network firms of the Big Four perform audit of companies accounting for 75 % of the market capitalization of India’s stock market.

• NFRA has found that the network firms of the Big Four (KPMG, EY, PwC and Deloitte) perform audit of companies accounting for 75 % of the market capitalization of India’s stock market.
• As per Rangachari Sridharan, Chairman, NFRA, the network firms of the Big Four account for close to 10% of (522 listed companies) of the 5,356 listed companies in NFRA’s regulatory jurisdiction.
• Major factors for the dominance of the Big Four are globalisation of India’s capital markets and the pressure from investors who are comfortable with the Big Four.
• At end-March 2019, NFRA had identified 6,465 companies that came under its jurisdiction. Of these, 5,356 are listed companies and 1,011 are unlisted companies.
• 98 are banking, insurance and electricity companies. National Financial Reporting Authority (NFRA) jurisdiction covers public interest entities or PIEs.
• These are all listed companies; unlisted public limited companies with paid-up capital of ₹500 crore or turnover of ₹1,000 crore or aggregate loans, debentures and deposits of ₹500 crore.

Topic: Indian Economy

3. Maximum FDI proposals from countries sharing land border with India are received in three departments.

• Maximum FDI proposals from countries sharing a land border with India are received in three departments (electronics and IT, industry and internal trade, and heavy industries).
• In addition to these three departments, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy and Department of Pharmaceuticals have also received several proposals from these countries.
• In April 2020, the government’s prior approval was made mandatory for foreign investments from countries that share a land border with India.
• FDI proposals from China, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Bhutan, Nepal, Myanmar and Afghanistan need government approval for investments in India in any sector.
• India has received USD 17.6 billion worth of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) during April-June this fiscal.

Topic: Taxation System

4. GST Council decides to extend existing concessional GST rates on Covid-19 treatment drugs till December 31, 2021.

• GST Council has decided to extend existing concessional GST rates on Covid-19 treatment drugs till December 31, 2021.
• These medicines include Amphotericin B (nil), Remdesivir (5%), Tocilizumab (nil), and Anti-coagulants like Heparin (5%).
• Furthermore, GST rate on seven more drugs useful for Covid-19 patients has been cut till December 31 to 5 % from 12 %.
• Life-saving drugs Zolgensma and Viltepso have also been exempted from GST when imported for personal use. These drugs are used in the treatment of spinal muscular atrophy, particularly for children.

Topic: Taxation System

5. All footwear products to have GST at 12%.

• All footwear products will have GST at 12% and all textile products except cotton will have GST at the rate of 12%.
• Now rates will be not be levied on the basis of the price bucket and it will be a uniform rate of 12%.
• As of today, GST rate is 5 % for products with a value up to ₹1,000 per pair. Items priced above ₹1,000 attract a rate of 18 %.
• The rate on cotton yarn will continue to be 5 % while it will be 12 % on man-made fibre, yarn, readymade garment, fabric and dying.
• For garments and made-up articles, GST rate is currently 5 % of the sale value not exceeding ₹1,000 per piece and 12 % for articles of sale value exceeding ₹1,000 per piece.

Topic: Taxation System

6.  GST Council indicates that no compensation will be paid to States after June 2022.

• GST Council indicated that no compensation will be paid to States after June 2022.
• It decided to use compensation cess to be collected between July 1, 2022 and March 31, 2026 for servicing of the debts raised to meet the revenue shortfall.
• Centre has borrowed ₹1.10-lakh crore in 2020-21 and ₹75,000 crore (out of ₹ 1.59-lakh crore) so far in 2021-22 to meet the revenue shortfall during these years.
• GST Council has also decided to form two Groups of Ministers (GoMs). One GoM will recommend rate rationalisation in case of inverted duty structure.
• The second GoM will look into e-way bills, fastags, etc. Both GoMs will give their recommendations within two months.
• E-commerce operators (ECOs) delivering food (such as Swiggy and Zomato) will now be responsible for paying GST.  
• Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman chaired the 45^th GST Council meeting in Lucknow, on 17 September. This was the first physical or in person GST Council meeting since last March.  

Topic: Appointments

7. Facebook India appoints ex-IAS officer and former Uber executive Rajiv Aggarwal as the Director of Public Policy.

• Facebook India has appointed ex-IAS officer and former Uber executive Rajiv Aggarwal as the Director of Public Policy.
• Rajiv Aggarwal succeeds Ankhi Das. Ankhi Das quit his job in October last year.
• Rajiv Aggarwal will report to Ajit Mohan, Vice President and Managing Director of Facebook India.
• Rajiv Aggarwal steered India's first ever-national policy on Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) as Joint Secretary in the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade.
• He played a key role in the digital transformation of India's IP offices.
• Facebook is an American multinational technology company. It is based in Menlo Park, California, US. Its CEO is Mark Zuckerberg.

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