Department Financial News

Top Events of the Day: Several important events including Congress' nationwide protest against IT department notices, PM Modi's Lok Sabha campaign in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar Class 10 board exam results, IPL 2024 match, and Bharat Ratna award ceremony will take place today, March 30. - Prime Minister Narendra Modi will kick off the BJP's campaign for the upcoming Lok Sabha election 2024 which is scheduled to take place in seven phases, in Uttar Pradesh from Meerut with a mega rally this weekend. - Banks, LIC, and other insurers will keep their offices open today, March 30.

Piyush Goyal said Friday. The theme of the upcoming general election is Viksit Bharat with a focus on «nari shakti» and «bhrashtachar-mukt Bharat (women power and corruption-free India),» he added. India's growth will be based on the twin pillars of being inclusive and sustainable and the government wants to ensure that people are free from having to worry about the necessities of «roti, kapda aur makaan». «We believe that nobody should slip back into poverty. As people's basic needs are being met with free ration and other benefits, they should be free from the tension of daily needs,» Goyal said at a meeting with ET journalists. «We want an aspirational India, which can dream of big leaps and aspire for high quality of life.»

Anchorage Daily News reported. The transportation department released a video of the robot climbing rocks, going up stairs and doing something akin to dancing while flashing green lights. Those dancing skills will be put to use this fall during the migratory bird season when Aurora imitates predator-like movements to keep birds and other wildlife from settling near plane infields.

served a fresh notice of over ₹1,700 crore to the Congress for discrepancies in tax returns for previous years. The fresh notice was received earlier this week, sources told news agency PTI. In a post on X, Rahul Gandhi hit out at the BJP, accusing it of indulging in "tax terrorism".

Lok Sabha elections 2024: The Congress on Friday released its ninth list of candidates on Friday. The party has fielded its veteran leader CP Joshi from Rajasthan's Bhilwara as it declared three candidates and two replacements for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. Former Union minister M Veerappa Moily was replaced by a fresh face in Karnataka's Chikkaballapur constituency.

Congress lost income tax exemption in 2018-19 due to extensive use of cash in the electoral process, sources said, justifying that Rs 135 crore tax recovery from the party was consistent with the provisions of the Income Tax Act. Based on incriminating material seized by the Income Tax Department during search operations, specifically in April 2019, reflecting extensive use of cash in the electoral process, assessments of the party were reopened for seven years (AY 2014-15 to AY 2020-21), sources said. Following the assessment, demand was raised in 2021, and communications to pay demand were sent many times, they said, adding that stay applications filed by the assessee were rejected during the proceedings. Subsequently, even after 33 months of the assessment order and 10 months of the Commissioner Income Tax (Appeal) order, when the assessee had not complied with the demand raised, recovery proceedings under Section 226(3) of the Act were undertaken, sources said.

income tax demand of over Rs 1,800 crore from the Congress party amounts to «hanging democracy by the gallows», the Kerala unit of the grand old party said on Friday. The Congress party in Kerala on Friday announced that a sit-in protest will be held on Saturday before the Income Tax Department offices in Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi and Kozhikode, protesting against the IT notice to pay penalty. KPCC Acting President M M Hassan said the thousands of Congress workers and leaders will take part in the protest against the «heinous» acts of the Narendra Modi government. «The fresh action against opposition parties amounts to hanging democracy by the gallows,» Hassan said. The senior Congress leader said that already the IT Department has «taken» Rs 135 crore from the accounts of the Congress party. «The government has already frozen the accounts of the Congress party and its affiliated organisations. Such moves are not even heard of under authoritarian regimes,» Hassan said.

Rahul Gandhi on Friday said that when they come to power, they will take «strict action» against those trying to «murder the democracy.» Accusing the Income Tax Department of double-standards, Congress on Friday alleged that while it has been penalised for «a violation of Rs 14 lakh», the income tax authorities were completely silent on «Rs 42 crore violation» by the BJP and that the violations by the ruling party at the Centre entailed a penalty of Rs 4,600 crore. «When the government changes, action will definitely be taken against those who 'murder the democracy'! And such action will be taken that no one will have the courage to do all this again. This is my guarantee,» Rahul Gandhi said in a post on X (formerly Twitter).

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge accused the BJP-led Centre on Friday of misusing institutions like the income-tax department, ED and CBI to subvert democracy and belittle the Constitution, and asked why is the I-T department being used as a weapon to harass the principal opposition party. He asserted that such actions would not deter the Congress from contesting the upcoming Lok Sabha polls and vowed that his party will free the country's institutions from the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) «dictatorship». Congress leader Rahul Gandhi also hit out at the BJP, accusing it of indulging in «tax terrorism». «When the government changes, action will definitely be taken against those who have 'disrobed democracy'. And such exemplary action will be taken that no one will dare to do all this again. This is my guarantee,» Gandhi said in a post in Hindi on X.

rate cut from the Federal Reserve on the table. The personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index rose 0.3% last month, the Commerce Department's Bureau of Economic Analysis said on Friday. Data for January was revised higher to show the PCE price index climbing 0.4% instead of 0.3% as previously reported.

Congress will hold nationwide protests over the weekend against fresh income tax demand of over Rs 1,800 crore, which it has described as an «egregious attack» on democracy and imposition of "tax terrorism" amid the crucial Lok Sabha elections. The opposition party said it has received fresh notices from the income-tax department, asking it to pay Rs 1,823.08 crore, Congress general secretary (organisation) K C Venugopal has asked all Pradesh Congress Committees (PCCs) to hold massive public demonstrations at the state and district headquarters in their respective states on Saturday and the following day, involving senior leaders and party functionaries. In his letter to all PCC presidents, Congress legislature party leaders, AICC general secretaries, in-charges and heads of frontal organisations, Venugopal said, «As you are well aware, the systematic process to thwart Indian democracy by the BJP proceeds at an alarming rate.»

₹4 trillion in the current fiscal, as government departments have been actively procuring goods and services through the portal, additional secretary in the commerce ministry Anant Swarup told Mint. The GMV is up by ₹2 trillionfrom the last fiscal year. The state-run procurement portal offers a range of 12,070 products and more than 320 services to over 1.5 lakh government clientele.

Income Tax Department's notice of ₹1,700 crore to the grand old party, saying the officials are being used as the ‘gundas’ of the ruling party. AICC general secretary in-charge KC Venugopal accused the Narendra Modi-led government of trying to “financially strangulate" the opposition parties during the election time. “The Narendra Modi government is doing this with the specific purpose of bankrupting the Congress party at a time when we are facing elections," the Congress leader told media persons as quoted by PTI. He pointed out that the political parties are usually exempted from paying taxes, but this penalty is in the name of delay in filing returns.

₹1,823.08 crore. Isuuing a statement, the party said, “Yesterday, we received fresh notices from the IT department to pay ₹1823.08 crores. Already the IT department has forcibly taken away ₹135 crores from our Bank account." “Before the dust could settle on that vindictive unprecedented action, now in a patently illegal and undemocratic action the frontal organisation of the BJP – namely the Income Tax Department – has launched its next premeditated, diabolical campaign against the INC.

Akasa Air has commenced its international operations with its inaugural overseas flight departing from Mumbai to Doha, Qatar. In a statement on Thursday, the airline said it has been granted traffic rights for three other international destinations — Kuwait, Jeddah, and Riyadh. Akasa will be rapidly expanding its global footprint in the coming months, the statement said. Further, the airline said with its conveniently timed flight schedule, travellers from other domestic cities such as Ahmedabad, Goa, Varanasi, Lucknow, Bengaluru, Kochi, and Delhi will also have multiple connecting options for travel to and from Doha via Mumbai.

Assam government has extended the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 in four districts for six months from April 1. The state government's political department issued a notification, stating that the 'Disturbed Area' tag under the AFSPA has been extended in areas covering Tinsukia, Dibrugarh, Charaideo and Sivasagar districts. The Assam Police had submitted a report, asserting that there was an improvement in the law and order situation in the state, barring one militant organisation being active in the four districts.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said we very much «hope» that in India and any country that is having elections, people's «political and civil rights» are «protected» and everyone is able to vote in a «free and fair» atmosphere. Spokesperson for the Secretary-General Stephane Dujarric made these remarks on Thursday while he was responding to a question on the «political unrest» in India ahead of the upcoming national elections in the wake of the arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and the freezing of the opposition Congress Party's bank accounts. «What we very much hope that in India, as in any country that is having elections, that everyone's rights are protected, including political and civil rights, and everyone is able to vote in an atmosphere that is free and fair,» Dujarric said at the daily press briefing Thursday.

United States is drawing up a list of advanced Chinese chipmaking factories barred from receiving key tools, three people familiar with matter said on Thursday, to make it easier for companies to stem technology flows into China. The list could be released in the next couple of months, one of the people said.

fintech sector, have received income tax notices in recent weeks with respect to venture capital raised by them, according to people in the know. The notices — served under Section 68 of the Income Tax Act — have clubbed the investments received by these startups with the income earned by them, and tax and penalties have been levied on the combined amount, the sources said. So much so that one startup, registered with the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) — has been asked to pay Rs 37 crore in tax and penalty on funding of Rs 40 crore by venture capital investors, they added.

U.S. federal agencies must show that their artificial intelligence tools aren’t harming the public, or stop using them, under new rules unveiled by the White House

Canadians with bare trust arrangements, such as a co-signed mortgage or joint bank account, are now exempt from filing a return this tax season.