Cos receiving foreign service evade most tax New Delhi: Domestic firms receiving services from overseas entities accounted for a quarter of the service tax evasion during 2008-09,according to a CAG report. Of the Rs 375.6 crore that apex auditor CAG found as revenue loss in service taxes in its findings for FY09,Rs 92.6 crore was due to tax not paid by Indian recipients of foreign services. As per the tax rules,a receiver of services in India is liable to pay service tax for services received by him from a non-resident who does not have an office in India. US sees 57 bank failures this year New York: The American banking industry continues to be shaky,with nearly 15 banks on average biting the dust every month. Notwithstanding healthy economic growth and a rebound of Wall Street majors,a staggering 57 banks have been shut down so far this year and seven of them collapsed last Friday. As many as 15 entities,most of them small and medium banks,have gone out of business in the last two weeks. SEBI mulls action over junkets for MF agents New Delhi: Mutual fund houses have come under the scanner of market regulator SEBI for allegedly lavishing their agents and distributors with incentives like cash payouts and foreign junkets in return for higher sales. Instances of distributors of various fund houses being showered with cash incentives as also trips to exotic locations in India and abroad have come to light,especially since the scrapping of entry-load charges from investors putting their money in mutual funds,a top SEBI official said. GMR Industries to sell majority to EID Parry New Delhi: Sugar major EID Parry on Sunday announced acquiring a majority stake in GMR Industries,the agri-business arm of Hyderabad-based GMR Group,with purchase of minimum 65 per cent equity,currently worth Rs 145 crore. For the transaction,EID Parry has entered into a definitive agreement with GMR Holdings Pvt Ltd,the companies said in a joint statement. The two companies did not divulge any financial details. Four IPOs to open this week New Delhi: Initial public offers (IPOs) of four companies,including the about Rs 1,200 crore issue of state-run Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam and of Jaypee Infratech,will open for subscription this week. The IPOs of hydro power generator Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam and Jaypee Infratech will open on April 29. The Rs 63.75-cr public issue of Tarapur Transformers will kick-start the week on Monday. Mandhana Industries Rs 108 crore public offering will open on April 27. Make phone banking secure: RBI to banks New Delhi: Banks will have to soon put in place an additional authentication cover for their credit and debit card customers transacting over the phone,or get penalised. Taking forward its efforts to tackle identity frauds in non-branch banking transactions,the RBI has asked banks to put in place by next year a system where credit and debit card customers would need to provide an additional password for IVR transactions.
