25
02
2015
Priyanka Chopra beats Deepika Padukone – announced Hottest Woman of 2015!
She’s hugely talented, intelligent, driven, multifaceted, risk-taker,
socially conscious, adorable, beautiful, sassy and also very very
Sexy…. It’s very difficult to describe Priyanka Chopra in one sentence.
So when over 10 million people from across the world voted for her as
the ‘World’s sexiest Asian Woman’, you cant help but nod your head in
agreement.
The World';s Sexiest Asian Woman recently also bagged the spot for
the “Hottest Women of 2015″ ,elbowing out contemporaries with a whopping
53% votes beating Deepika Padukone who received 35% of the votes.This
isn';t the first time that the SHERO has beat Deepika at a poll –
Priyanka topped the Sexiest Woman in a Bikini poll, bagging 22,552 votes
out of the 23,775 votes that came in, winning by a huge margin.
One of Bollywood’s most sought after actresses and international
recording artist Priyanka Chopra also made it to the Numero Uno spot on
the Ultimate Guys Guide- Maxim India’s Hottest List for 2013.
This was the second consecutive year that Priyanka made it to the top
rankings on the magazine’s Hottest List , an annual poll with some of
the most gorgeous women competing for the crown.The “Exotic” singer and
power player beat the likes of Grammy award winner Beyonce and
Victoria’s Secret model Adriana Lima to the no#1 spot.
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Categories : Business, Entertainment
25
02
2015
Every
Securitisation Company / Reconstruction Company (SC / RC) is required
to obtain prior approval of the Reserve Bank for any substantial change
in its management. In order to smoothen the functioning of SC/RC
companies, it has been decided by RBI, henceforth changes in the share
holding pattern of the SC/RC will require Reserve Bank’s prior approval
in cases such as any transfer of shares by which the transferee becomes a
sponsor, any transfer of shares by which the transferor ceases to be a
sponsor and an aggregate transfer of ten percent or more of the total
paid up share capital of the SC/RC by a sponsor during the period of
five years commencing from the date of certificate of registration.
|
In
terms of Section 3(6) of the SARFAESI Act, 2002, every Securitisation
Company / Reconstruction Company (SC / RC) is required to obtain prior
approval of the Reserve Bank for any substantial change in its
management. For the purpose of this section, the expression “substantial
change in management” means the change in the management by way of
transfer of shares or amalgamation or transfer of the business of the
company. Hence, one of the terms and conditions stipulated to the
SC/RCs, while granting them the Certificate of Registration, states that
prior approval of Reserve Bank will have to be taken by the SC/RCs for
any change in their shareholding pattern.
In
order to smoothen the functioning of SC/RC companies, it has been
decided that, henceforth only the following changes in the share holding
pattern of the SC/RC will require Reserve Bank’s prior approval:
· any transfer of shares by which the transferee becomes a sponsor.
· any transfer of shares by which the transferor ceases to be a sponsor.
· an
aggregate transfer of ten percent or more of the total paid up share
capital of the SC/RC by a sponsor during the period of five years
commencing from the date of certificate of registration.
|
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Categories : Finnance
25
02
2015
The fourteenth Finance Commission has recommended substantial
hike in share of states in central taxes and asked them to tailor make
schemes as per their needs. The states share will now be 42% of the
entire amount as compared to 32% previously which will translate into an
additional, estimated Rs 1.78 lakh crore in the next fiscal year.
The snapshot of the report is as follows-
Sharing of Union Taxes
1. Considering all factors, the commission believes that
increasing the share of tax devolution to 42 % of the divisible pool
would serve the twin objectives of increasing the flow of unconditional
transfers to the States and yet leave appropriate fiscal space for the
Union to carry out specific purpose transfers to the States.
2. For area the Commission has adopted the method used by the
FC-XII and put the floor limit at 2% for smaller States and assigned 15%
weight.
3. In Commission’s view the large forest cover provides huge
ecological benefits, but there is also an opportunity cost in terms of
area not available for other economic activities and this also serves as
an important indicator of fiscal disability. We have assigned 7.5%
weight to the forest cover.
4. As service tax is not levied in the State of Jammu & Kashmir, proceeds cannot be assigned to this State.
5. The commission has decided to revert to the method of
representing fiscal capacity in terms of income distance and assigned it
50% weight.
Disaster Management
1. The Commission has recommended that the Union Government
consider ensuring an assured source of funding for the NDRF and the past
trends of out flows from it should be taken into account by the Union
Government to ensure adequacy of the Fund in order to assure timely
availability and release of funds to the States.
2. A decision on granting tax exemption to private contributions
to the NDRF be expedited and that the Union Government consider
invoking the use of Schedule VII of the Companies (Corporate Social
Responsibility Policy) Rules 2014 as an enabling provision for financing
the NDRF.
3. A review of the current arrangements for the reimbursement of
expenditure incurred by the defence forces on disaster relief is also
recommended.
4. Expediting the development and scientific validation of the
Hazard Vulnerability Risk Profiles of States is also recommended by the
commission to the union budget.
5. All States should contribute 10 % to SDRF during the award
period of the Finance Commission with the remaining 90 % coming from the
Union Government.
6. Union Government is also recommended to take account of the
genuine concerns of the States in the consultative mechanism already in
place.
7. Considering the need for flexibility in regard to
state-specific disasters, it is recommended that up to 10 % of the funds
available under the SDRF can be used by State Governments for natural
disasters that they consider to be ‘disasters’ within the local context
in the State and which are not included in the notified list of
disasters of the Ministry of Home Affairs.
Grants-in-Aid
1. A total revenue deficit grant of Rs. 1, 94,821 crore is recommended during the award period for eleven States.
2. There is a case for transfers from the Union Government to
the States to augment expenditure in specific sectors with high degree
of externalities in order to ensure desired minimum level of
expenditures in every State. However, past experience shows that
achieving this through the mechanism of Finance Commission grants may
not be appropriate.
3. The proposal made by the Department of Justice to strengthen
the judicial systems in the States is also endorsed and State
Governments are urged to use the additional fiscal space provided by us
in the tax devolution to meet such requirements.
4. The expenditure needs of the States has taken into account
the high base of expenditure for both general administration and police.
Therefore, the States have the appropriate fiscal space to provide for
the additional expenditure needs as per their requirements.
5. Appropriate fiscal space for maintenance expenditures is
provided to the states which would enable them to meet the additional
expenditure needs according to their requirements. The States are also
recommended to enhance expenditure on maintenance of capital assets to
the appropriate levels.
6. Health, education, drinking water and sanitation are
considered as public services of national importance, having significant
inter-state externalities. Therefore, it is desisted from recommending
specific purpose grants and have suggested that a separate
institutional arrangement be introduced for the purpose.
Towards Cooperative Federalism
1. It is concluded that a compelling case has been made for
reforming the existing system of fiscal transfers from the Union to the
States, in a comprehensive manner. Hence it is recommended that the
existing system be reviewed and necessary institutional changes be
considered.
2. The commission believes the existing arrangements for
transfers between the Union and the States needs to be reviewed with a
view to minimizing discretion, improving the design of transfers,
avoiding duplication and promoting cooperative federalism, insofar as
such transfers are required to be made outside of the recommendations of
the Finance Commission.
3. It is also recommended that the suggested new institutional
arrangement also consider taking up issues related to identifying and
recommending resources for inter-state infrastructure schemes in the
North-eastern States.
4. The new institutional arrangement should also become the
forum for integrating economic and environmental concerns in decision
making.
Goods and Services Tax
1. The Union may have to initially bear an additional fiscal
burden arising due to the GST compensation. This fiscal burden should be
treated as an investment which is certain to yield substantial gains to
the nation in the medium and long run. The Commission believes that GST
compensation can be accommodated in the overall fiscal space available
with the Union Government.
2. In the case of VAT, compensation was provided to the States
for three years, at 100 % in the first year, 75 % in the second year,
and 50 per cent in the third year. However, given the scale of reform
and the apprehensions of revenue uncertainty raised by the States, the
revenue compensation should be for five years. It is suggested that
100%compensation be paid to the States in the first, second and third
years, 75 % compensation in the fourth year and 50 per cent compensation
in the fifth and final year.
3. The creation of an autonomous and independent GST
Compensation Fund through legislative actions in a manner that it gives
reasonable comfort to States is recommended such that it limits the
period of operation appropriately.
4. The Constitutional legislative and design aspects of the GST
is recommended enabling the transition towards universal application of
GST over the medium to long term.
Public Expenditure Management
1. The Commission endorse the view that the transition to
accrual-based accounting by both the Union and State Governments is
desirable.
2. At the Object Head level, the commission believes it is
sufficient to have a few uniform Object Heads, such as salary,
maintenance, subsidies and grants-in aid, across both the Union and
States. Regarding the other Object Heads, States are recommend to
retain their existing flexibility to open new Object Heads according to
their functional requirements.
3. The formulation of appropriate indicators for the measurement
of outputs, specification of standards and costs and establishing a
suitable accountability framework is recommended.
4. It is suggested that serious consideration of the issue of
assigning primary responsibility for preparing outcome budgets at the
level of actual spending and its consolidation at the relevant level of
government.
5. The Union and State Governments are asked to consider the
recommendations of the Second Administrative Reforms Commission
(submitted in 2009) on internal audit and internal control systems, and
take a decision on each recommendation expeditiously.
6. The views of the FC-XI are reiterated for a consultative
mechanism between the Union and States, through a forum such as the
Inter-State Council, to evolve a national policy for salaries and
emoluments.
7. The commission also recommends the linking of pay with
productivity, with a simultaneous focus on technology, skill and
incentives. We recommend that Pay Commissions be designated as ‘Pay and
Productivity Commissions’, with a clear mandate to recommend measures to
improve ‘productivity of an employee’, in conjunction with pay
revisions. It is urged that, in future, additional remuneration be
linked to increase in productivity.
8. The New Pension Scheme to be adopted by the states is recommended.
Public Sector Enterprises
1. The Commission recommends that the new realities be
considered in evaluating the future of each public enterprise in the
entire portfolio of Central public sector enterprises.
2. The evaluation of the fiscal implications of the current
level of investments in, and operations of, the existing public
enterprises, in terms of opportunity costs, is an essential ingredient
of credible fiscal consolidation. Hence, the fiscal implications in
terms of opportunity costs be factored in while evaluating the desirable
level of government ownership for each public enterprise in the entire
portfolio of Central public sector enterprises is recommended.
3. The Commission recommends that the basic interests of workers
of Central public sector enterprises should be protected at a
reasonable fiscal cost, while ensuring a smooth process of disinvestment
or relinquishing of individual enterprises. We further recommend that
employment objectives should be considered in evaluating the portfolio
of public enterprises, not only in the narrow context of the
enterprises’ employees, but also in terms of creating new employment
opportunities.
4. The Commission recommends that the route of transparent
auctions be adopted for the relinquishment of unlisted sick enterprises
in the category of non-priority public sector enterprises.
5. The Commission recommends that the level of disinvestment
should be derived from the level of investment that the government
decides to hold over the medium to long term in each enterprise, based
on principles of prioritization advised by us, while the process of
disinvestment should take into account the market conditions and
budgetary requirements, on a year to year basis.
6. The Commission recommends that the government devise a policy
relating to the new areas of public sector investments. We also
recommend the purchase of shares where the existing portfolio holding.
7. The Commission recommends that the enterprises be categorized
into ‘high priority’, ‘priority’, ‘low priority’ and ‘non-priority’ in
order to: (i) facilitate co-ordinated follow-up action by policy makers
and (ii) provide clarity to public enterprises themselves on their
future and to the financial markets about the opportunities ahead for
them.
8. The Commission recommends the recommendations made by the
FC-XIII to maintain all disinvestment receipts in the Consolidated Fund
for utilisation on capital expenditure. The National Investment Fund in
the Public Account should, therefore, be wound up in consultation with
the Controller General of Accounts (CGA) and Comptroller & Auditor
General (C&AG).
9. The Commission recommends the recommendations made by the
FC-XIII to maintain all disinvestment receipts in the Consolidated Fund
for utilisation on capital expenditure. The National Investment Fund in
the Public Account should, therefore, be wound up in consultation with
the Controller General of Accounts (CGA) and Comptroller & Auditor
General (C&AG).
10. There is considerable merit in the Union Government dispensing a
small share of proceeds of disinvestment to the States. In the case of
Central public sector enterprises with multiple units located in
different states, the distribution of this share could be uniform across
all the States where units are located. In cases where only vertical
unit-wise disinvestment is done, the share could go to the State/States
where the units being disinvested are located.
11. The importance of making Central public sector enterprises
effective and competitive is recognized by the commission and the
monitoring and evaluation of these enterprises is suggested to be taken
into account the institutional constraints within which their
managements operate. If the Central public sector enterprises are
burdened with implementing social objectives of the government, it
should compensate them in a timely manner and adequately through a
transparent budgetary subvention. Similarly, losses on account of
administered price mechanisms should also be calculated and fully
compensated for
12. The Commission recommends that governance arrangements be
reviewed, especially in regard to separation of regulatory functions
from ownership, role of the nominee as well as independent Directors,
and, above all, the framework of governance conducive to efficiency. The
Commission recommends that as part of the comprehensive review of the
public sector enterprises proposed by us, policies and procedures
relating to borrowing by the enterprises, payment of dividends and
transfer of excess reserves be enunciated and enforced.
Pricing of Public Utilities
1. In order to provide financial autonomy to the SERCs, Section
103 of the Electricity Act, 2003, provides for the establishment of a
State Electricity Regulatory Commission Fund by State Governments, to
enable the SERCs to perform their responsibilities, as envisaged under
the Act.
2. The Commission recommends that accounting systems in the
State Road Transport Undertakings make explicit the types of subsidies,
the basis for determining the extent of subsidies, and also the extent
of reimbursement by State Governments.
3. The Commission recommends the setting up of independent
regulators for the passenger road sector, whose key functions should
include tariff setting, regulation of service quality, assessment of
concessionaire claims, collection and dissemination of sector
information, service-level benchmarks and monitoring compliance of
concession agreements.
4. The Commission recommends that all States, irrespective of
whether Water Regulatory Authorities (WRAs) are in place or not,
consider full volumetric measurement of the use of irrigation water. Any
investment that may be required to meet this goal should be borne by
the States, as the future cumulative benefits, both in environmental and
economic terms, will far exceed the initial costs.
5. The Commission has reiterated the recommendations of the
FC-XIII and urge States which have not set up WRAs to consider setting
up a statutory WRA, so that the pricing of water for domestic,
irrigation and other uses can be determined independently and in a
judicious manner. However, this may not be practical for the
North-eastern states, due to the small size of their irrigation sectors,
with Assam being the exception.
6. The Commission recommends that States (and urban and rural
bodies) should progressively move towards 100% metering of individual
drinking water connections to households, commercial establishments as
well as institutions. All existing individual connections in urban and
rural areas should be metered by March 2017 and the cost of this should
be borne by the consumers. All new connections should be given only when
the functioning meters are installed. While providing protected water
supply through community taps is unavoidable for poorer sections of
population, metering of water consumed in such cases also would ensure
efficient supply.
Fiscal Environment and Fiscal Consolidation Roadmap
1. The commission recommends that both Union and State
Governments adopt a template for collating, analysing and annually
reporting the total extended public debt in their respective budgets as a
supplement to the budget document.
2. The Committee recommended that the Union and the State
Governments provide a statutory ceiling on the sanction of new capital
works to an appropriate multiple of the annual budget provision.
3. The fiscal deficit targets and annual borrowing limits for
the States during the Finance Commission’s award period are enunciated
as follows:
i. Fiscal deficit of all States will be anchored to an annual
limit of 3% of GSDP. The States will be eligible for flexibility of
0.25% over and above this for any given year for which the borrowing
limits are to be fixed if their debt-GSDP ratio is less than or equal to
25% in the preceding year.
ii. States will be further eligible for an additional borrowing
limit of 0.25% of GSDP in a given year for which the borrowing limits
are to be fixed if the interest payments are less than or equal to 10%
of the revenue receipts in the preceding year.
iii. The two options under these flexibility provisions can be
availed of by a State either separately, if any of the above criteria is
fulfilled, or simultaneously if both the above stated criteria are
fulfilled. Thus, a State can have a maximum fiscal deficit-GSDP limit of
3.5% in any given year.
4. The flexibility in availing the additional limit under either
of the two options or both will be available to a State only if there
is no revenue deficit in the year in which borrowing limits are to be
fixed and the immediately preceding year. If a State is not able to
fully utilise its sanctioned borrowing limit of 3 per cent of GSDP in
any particular year during the first four years of our award period
(2015-16 to 2018-19), it will have the option of availing this
un-utilised borrowing amount (calculated in rupees) only in the
following year but within our award period.
5. Recognising that the fiscal environment should be conducive
to equitable growth, the Commission also recommends that the Union and
all the States should target improving the quality of fiscal management
encompassing receipts and expenditures while adhering to the roadmap we
have outlined.
6. To enable wider dissemination of the manner in which this
shared responsibility for a conducive fiscal environment is being
discharged by the Union and State Governments, the Commission recommends
that the Union Government and the RBI bring out a bi-annual report on
the public debt of the Union and State Governments on a regular and
comparable basis and place it in public domain.
7. The Commission recommends that the Union Government should
consider making an amendment to the FRBM Act to omit the definition of
effective revenue deficit from 1 April 2015. It also recommends that the
objective of balancing revenues and expenditure on the revenue account
enunciated in the FRBM Acts should be pursued.
8. The Commission recommends an amendment to the FRBM Act
inserting a new section mandating the establishment of an independent
fiscal council to undertake ex-ante assessment of the fiscal policy
implications of budget proposals and their consistency with fiscal
policy and Rules. In addition, we urge that the Union Government take
expeditious action to bring into effect Section 7A of the FRBM Act for
the purposes of ex-post assessment.
9. The approach outlined and recommendations made warrant
amendments to the FRBM Acts. To this end, the State Governments are
suggested to may their FRBM Acts to provide for the statutory flexible
limits on fiscal deficit. The Union Government may amend its FRBM Act to
reflect the fiscal roadmap, omit the definition of effective revenue
deficit and mandate the establishment of an independent fiscal council.
Further, the Union and State Governments may also amend their respective
FRBM Acts to provide a statutory ceiling on the sanction of new capital
works to an appropriate multiple of the annual budget provision.
Local Governments
1. The Commission recommends that the local bodies should be
required to spend the grants only on the basic services within the
functions assigned to them under relevant legislations.
2. The Commission recommends that the books of accounts prepared
by the local bodies should distinctly capture income on account of own
taxes and non-taxes, assigned taxes, devolution and grants from the
State, grants from the Finance Commission and grants for any agency
functions assigned by the Union and State Governments. In addition to
the above, we also recommend that the technical guidance and support
arrangements by the C&AG should be continued and the States should
take action to facilitate local bodies to compile accounts and have them
audited in time.
3. The Commission recommends distribution of grants to the
States using 2011 population data with weight of 90% and area with
weight of 10%. The grant to each state will be divided into two, a grant
to duly constituted gram panchayats and a grant to duly constituted
municipalities, on the basis of urban and rural population of that state
using the data of census 2011.
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Categories : Finnance
25
02
2015
AirAsia X appoints Cheok Huei Shian as Chief Financial Officer
SEPANG, 25th February 2015- AirAsia X Berhad, the leading long-haul low-fare carrier today announced the appointment of Cheok Huei Shian as
its Chief Financial Officer effective immediately. Reporting directly
to Benyamin Ismail, acting Chief Executive Officer of AirAsia X Berhad,
Huei Shian will be responsible for corporate finance, treasury,
financial planning and analysis as well as investor relations.
Datuk Kamarudin Meranun, Group CEO of AirAsia X said,
“We are excited to have Huei Shian join our management team as we
continue to drive our strategic and financial business transformation.
Huei Shian was part of the core team in the early days of AirAsia and
has played an instrumental role in the success of AirAsia and getting
the company listed on the Bursa Stock Exchange. She has vast experience
and been involved in the turnaround team that oversees the entire
AirAsia group. Her strong track record of financial and operational
management success, combined with her very intimate knowledge of
AirAsia’s business model, culture and products, make her exceptionally
qualified to help us continue to build upon our market. My vision is to
bring back people that understands the business as it will be
instrumental in realizing our goal to be the undisputed global leader in
the long-haul LCC category.”
Huei
Shian joined AirAsia in 2004 and has held senior leadership roles
across the group. Prior to AirAsia, Huei Shian was with Ernst &
Young in the Financial and Advisory Service Department.
Huei Shian holds an Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) Professional
Stage from FTMS Business School and an ACCA Certificate from University
Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR), Kuala Lumpur. Huei Shian is a fellow member
of the ACCA (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) and a
member of the MIA (Malaysia Institute of Accountants).
Benyamin
Ismail, acting CEO of AirAsia X Berhad said, “We are delighted to have
Huei Shian in the team. We now have the right people in key management
positions and an organization that is optimally structured to support
our current business, company growth and the successful execution of key
new initiatives.”
Huei Shian
replaces Chew Eng Loke, the former Chief Financial Officer of AirAsia X,
who has decided to pursue other opportunities.
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Categories : Uncategorized
