Month: April 2020

How to transfer PF balance from one employer to another?

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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When employees leave an organisation and join new one, they are often clueless about how to transfer their provident fund (PF) balance.

The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), the retirement fund body, has been taking several measures to simplify the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) account keeping procedures for both employers and employees so that they don’t face such issues when they switch job.

In case of online transfer of PF, an employee has the option to get the claim attested by the previous employer.

((Also read: Conditions under which you can prematurely withdraw from Provident Fund account)

In order to transfer PF online, the members should activate their Universal Account Number (UAN). The registered mobile number should also be active.

UAN is an identification number mentioned in the monthly salary slip of an employee.

Step-by-step guide to transfer provident fund with the previous employer to new employer:

Step 1: Login to Unified portal (member interface) by using credentials i.e., UAN number and password

Step 2: Click on ‘One Member – One EPF Account (Transfer Request)’ under Online Services

Step 3: Verify personal information and PF account for present employment:

Step 4: Select the option of the previous account that needs to be transferred and then click on submit

Step 5: An OTP is sent to the registered mobile number. Once authentication is done by the OTP, the request is submitted and an online filled-in form is generated

Step 6: The employer will digitally approve the EPF transfer request by accessing employer interface of the unified portal

Step 7: Fill up the form with details including PF number from both previous and current employer and download the transfer claim (pdf format)

Step 8: Submit the physically signed copy of the online PF transfer claim form to the selected employer within the period of 10 days.

Step 9: EPFO will, hence, process the claim. One can check the status of the EPF transfer claim under the ‘Track Claim Status’ menu, which is under the ‘Online Services’ menu.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Faced with delays and penalties, truckers seek extension of e-way bill validity

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Citing the vast number of trucks still stranded on highways and anticipating delays in delivery of goods, transporters in the country have appealed to the GST Council and the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) to once again extend the expiration date of e-way bills beyond April 30. Transporters, already operating far below capacity, don’t want to be saddled with compliance burdens once the lockdown is over.

The CBIC has taken up the matter internally and is likely to soon come out with an announcement on the extension of the date, according to sources in the know.

Earlier, on April 3, the finance ministry had allowed for an extension of the validity of e-way bills which were set to expire between March 20 and April 15, to the April 30. However, since the lockdown in many states is likely to be extended beyond May 3, and movement of consignments is expected to be slow, the All India Transporters’ Welfare Association (AITWA) has submitted to the CBIC to further extend this validity for e-way bills stuck in transit to the June 30.

To safeguard transporters from being penalised and deal with an increased compliance burden which will further slow down the movement of goods once the lockdown is lifted, AITWA has asked for this extension only for the bills generated before March 23.

Outlining the reasons for seeking an extension, AITWA said, “At many places, the cargo was offloaded by the truck drivers at private warehouses as the consignee was closed. This enabled them to go for the loading of essentials and pharma material. We anticipate that customers and transporters will have to pay the warehouses absurd amounts to recover the material and deliver to the consignees.”

The association has said raising new GST e-way bills is an apprehension with buyers and sellers, as there is currently no provision to generate a new e-way bill on the same invoice number.

The association flags a further delay in delivering orders because many consignments are stuck in warehouses which are shut due to the lack of permission to open up commercial activities in many areas. Lack of availability of drivers to take the wheel is a concern the association expects and it will only exacerbate.

Transporters also worry that customers may refuse to accept shipments due to a change in market scenario or loss of further orders, in which case materials may have to be returned to the seller. Therefore, concern about the penalties transporters will have to incur on these e-way bills.

“We have made various representations to the government, and are expecting a favourable outcome very soon,” Abhishek Gupta, joint secretary, AITWA, told CNBC-TV18.

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

RIL says Aramco deal on track, targets net debt free status ahead of schedule

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) on Thursday said the deal involving the world’s largest oil producer Aramco picking up 20 percent stake in refinery business of the country’s largest corporate house is on track with the Saudi entity continuing with its due diligence.

After declaring its quarterly earnings, which was better than what most analysts had been expecting, the company said it was on track to become zero debt ahead of its own aggressive deadline of March 2021.

Strong growth in the digital business and a steady performance in retail helped offset weakness in the traditional oil refining and petrochemical segments.

The company will be raising Rs 53,125 crore through a rights issue, the largest by an Indian company. This is also the first rights issue by the company in three decades.

Including the rights issue, the company expects to complete capital raising totaling over Rs 1.04 lakh crore during this quarter. This includes the Rs 43,547 crore investment by Facebook in Jio Platforms and the previous investment by British Petroleum in FY2019-20.

RIL’s gross debt stands at Rs 3.36 lakh crore and it has cash and equivalents of Rs 1.75 lakh crore. Through the rights issue, Facebook and British Petroleum investments, it will be able to pare debt by Rs 1.04 lakh crore.

“In spite of the COVID-19 crisis and the lockdowns, the due-diligence by Saudi Aramco for the planned investment in the O2C business is on track as both the parties are committed and actively engaged,” the company said. This should help quell persistent market rumours that RIL’s deal with Aramco was facing hurdles.

“In addition to the Facebook investment, the board was informed that RIL has received strong interest from other strategic and financial investors and is in good shape to announce a similar sized investment in the coming months,” the company release said.

The Aramco deal and further investments in the digital business should help RIL further lower its debt. “With a strong visibility to these equity infusions, the board was informed that RIL is set to achieve net zero debt status ahead of its own aggressive timeline,” the company said.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Need to bring auto sector back on wheels, says union minister Prakash Javadekar

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Union minister for heavy industries Prakash Javadekar on Thursday acknowledged that the Indian automobile industry needs help after meeting the top executives of the sector to understand their concerns.

“This is an industry that creates mass employment, is a major contributor to Goods and Services Tax (GST) and manufacturing GDP. We have to bring the industry back on wheels. Last year, the industry was impacted due to the phased migration from BS-IV to BS-VI,” Javadekar said.

The minister has agreed to take up the automotive sector’s concerns with different union ministries, state governments and even the Prime Minister’s Office.

India’s automobile sector has been on a virtual standstill since the March 25. Production plants have been shut and dealerships have been closed too. The Society for Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) has pegged the losses at Rs 2,300 crore for each day of the nationwide lockdown. The industry is demanding an immediate 10 percent reduction in GST as a lifeline.

Speaking to CNBC-TV18 after the meeting, Rajan Wadhera, the president of SIAM, said, “The member OEMs are looking forward to re-open at the earliest in alignment with the government policy, after maintaining safety and best hygiene practices, while making efforts to restore supply chains. The one single biggest stimulus the Indian auto industry needs is demand generation for which GST reduction by 10 percent points is the prime requirement.”

Sources privy to the developments told CNBC-TV18 that industry leaders have requested the government to look into demand and supply issues on priority. OEM’s have been repeatedly emphasising that components vendors are spread across states and any stoppage from even one state could make production difficult.

Industry veterans have requested the minister for heavy industries for a mechanism to enable sourcing of components from red zones. Representatives of auto companies also requested the department of heavy industries to extend the date for registration of BS-IV vehicles.

Earlier, the Supreme Court had allowed the registration of BS-IV vehicles till April 30, but the lockdown has made registration difficult in many parts of the country. “The minister was very receptive and noted all our concerns said an industry executive present at the meeting.

The industry has also requested the government to enable batch testing for up to 16 people at one time. Maruti Suzuki chairman RC Bhargava had recently told CNBC-TV18 that a batch testing protocol needs to be developed in order to restart production. He said large scale batch testing would considerably reduce the risk of restarting production.

Hero MotoCorp chairman Pawan Munjal has welcomed the government’s decision to allow graded relaxation for different sectors. In a statement, Munjal said, “While continuing to play its role in supporting the government through various means and measures, corporate India looks forward to a suitable stimulus package from the government that will give a boost to our economy.”

The auto industry has also requested the government for an early introduction of an incentive based scrappage policy to boost demand. In an interview to CNBC-TV18, Vinod Aggarwal, the managing director and chief executive officer of Volvo Eicher Commercial Vehicles said the commercial vehicle has been the worst hit.

“The major requirement is to increase demand, which is very low. It will take time for demand to return. An incentive based scrappage policy, GST reduction, infrastructure push coupled with liquidity support will help create demand for more productive BS-VI vehicles,” Aggarwal added.

Auto industry veterans Pawan Munjal, Kenichi Ayukawa, RC Bhargava, Vikram Kirloskar, Pawan Goenka and Rajan Wadhera were among those who attended the meeting.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

A piece of the moon for sale: just $2.5 million

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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One of the world’s largest lunar meteorites goes on private sale at Christie’s on Thursday, valued at 2 million pounds ($2.49 million). The moon rock, weighing over 13.5 kg, was probably struck off the surface of the moon by a collision with an asteroid or comet and then showered down on the Sahara desert. Known as NWA 12691, it is thought to be the fifth largest piece of the moon ever found on earth.

There is just 650 kg of moon rock known to be on earth. “The experience of holding a piece of another world in your hands is something you never forget,” said James Hyslop, Christie’s head of science and natural history.

“It is an actual piece of the moon. It is about the size of a football, a bit more oblong than that, larger than your head.”

Like many meteorites that are discovered, it was found in the Sahara by an anonymous finder after travelling some 240,000 miles to earth from the moon. It then changed hands and was carefully studied.

Scientists can be certain of its origin after comparing it with rock samples brought back by the United States’ Apollo space missions to the moon.

“In the 1960s and 1970s the Apollo programme brought back about 400 kilograms of moon rock with them and scientists have been able to analyse the chemical and isotopic compositions of those rocks and they have determined that they match certain meteorites,” said Hyslop.

Meteorites are incredibly rare and only about one in a thousand comes from the moon, making this a very special object, he added.

“We are expecting huge international interest in it from natural history museums… it is a wonderful trophy for anyone who is interested in  space history or lunar exploration.”

The moon has fascinated man since the dawn of human history as a symbol of power, love, time and prosperity, and is the earth’s only natural satellite. It is thought to have been formed 4.5 billion years ago when a Mars-sized body collided with earth.

Christie’s will also offer for private sale a group of 13 aesthetic iron meteorites. That collection is estimated to be worth 1.4 million pounds.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Excl: March GST collection sinks to Rs 28,309 cr vs Rs 1.13 lakh crore last year

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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In what could be just a tip of the iceberg when it comes to the impact of COVID-19 pandemic, the Goods and Services Tax (GST) collections of March recorded in April reached a record low of Rs 28,309 crore as on April 29, sources told CNBC-TV18.

This compares with Rs 1.13 lakh crore recorded in the same month last year. GST is a consumption-based tax and is considered to be the first indicator of economic slowdown by economists.

Talking to CNBC-TV18 on the condition of anonymity, government officials said, “These collections are for March and business activities were normal till March 24. People had started hoarding essentials during March in anticipation of a lockdown. The lockdown came into effect only from March 25 and thus these numbers are worrisome.”

“Both the revenues from the central government and states are under huge pressure as per the break up of the GST numbers. Both Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST) and State Goods and Services Tax (SGST) collections are at record lows of around Rs 5,000 crore,” sources quoted earlier added.

West Bengal, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh have seen GST collection slip by 80 percent in April.

e-way bill generation also points to a sharp drop in GST collection. According to the Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN) portal, trade and businesses generated 67.47 lakh e-way bills between April 1 and April 27, barely 17 percent of the 4.06 crore e-way bills generated in March 2020.

However, the government is hopeful that the collections might soon improve. “Collections are likely to improve as the last date to file returns for March have been extended till May 5 without any interest and can be paid till June 30 with 9 percent interest if the returns are filed after May 5,” government officials said.

But will collections show an uptick in the months to come? Well, that’s still a very difficult question for the government to answer.

Government officials added that collections are likely to be worse in May and June and bureaucrats have been discussing such trends since last few days with the union finance minister and with the Prime Minister’s Office.”

Even experts feel that such numbers are not encouraging and should be considered as serious alarm bells for the government.  “Such a steep reduction in the GST collections is natural considering there were no primary sales due to transportation being nil and very restricted secondary sales of only essentials. In addition, many businesses would have deferred the payment to the next month as permitted by the government,” said a senior analyst consulting the government on GST policy, who did not wish to be named.

Pratik Jain, national leader, indirect tax at PWC said, “Since the second half of March was entirely under lockdown and many businesses may have opted for deferment of GST payment, the dip in the collection is on expected lines. Since entire April has been under lockdown, coupled with liquidity crunch, collections in May (pertaining to April) may be even lower. The government will have to see how funds can be generated at these times. Also, the input credit matching (10 percent rule) has also been now kept in abeyance which may also have impacted the collections.”

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

After crude oil, prices of these commodities may plunge to new lows

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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After the recent plunge in WTI crude oil prices into negative territory, analysts now expect natural gas prices to stoop to a new low to near-zero, impacted by a sharp decline in demand.

“Natural Gas is used as an alternate fuel. But with crude oil being cheaper, we expect the demand for the natural gas to witness a huge fall in the near future,” said Ajay Kedia.

However, no other commodity can see a negative price, analysts said.

Natural gas prices have fallen over 13 percent in the last 10 days on MCX. Demand for the gas has waned amid fallout from the coronavirus pandemic. The nationwide lockdown has hurt industrial demand for natural gas as their operations are closed or running below capacity.

Excessive availability, restrictions on usage due to the environmental concerns and cheaper alternatives are among the other factors that have impacted demand for natural gas.

Another commodity that can see a sharp plunge in prices is among the base metal i.e. lead.

Lead prices have fallen over 12 percent this year as it is the worst hit base metal due to slowdown in the global economy and contraction in demand from China.

“Lead is used in the batteries for electric vehicles (EV). But, lower demand for the EVs, especially from China, had significantly impacted the lead prices,” Kedia said.

Going ahead, regulators should constantly monitor the movements in the commodities market and increase the margins to safeguard brokers and client in an event of negative price, Kedia suggested.

He welcomed the recent moves by the exchanges which included strengthening their risk management framework and increasing the margins.

For investors, Kedia suggested to look for Agri commodities and bullion for investment and remain cautious on energy.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Core sector: A washout year

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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A fall, even a contraction in the core sector reading for March was always expected given the loss of over a week of no activity due to the COVID-19 lockdown. This is probably the most hectic part of the year but still, the extent of fall is staggering. The core sector data for the entire month of March is down 6.5 percent from year-ago levels and the devil is in the detail.

Cement output is down 24.7 percent from previous March levels, steel is down 13 percent, crude output is down 5.5 percent, power output is down 7.2 percent, and all because of a week of no industrial activity.

This is understandable because March, in many cases, accounts for 20 percent of the year’s output, and losing one week is precious. What is unnerving, however, is that the output for FY20 is up by only 0.6 percent. This must be a historic low, maybe last seen in the seventies. It shows how fragile the economy has been going into COVID.

It was not a year of natural disasters, but for some unseasonal rains in October. It was the year when a new government assumed power with a majority not seen since 1984. It was a year of extraordinary global growth. Yet our coal output is down 0.5 percent in FY20. Crude, the fuel of the economy, is down 5.7 percent over last year, and electricity consumption is up all of 1 percent.

Only steel at 4.2 percent, can be called slow growth. The rest are scarily stagnant or contracting. All this can’t only be due to a week lost due to the unforeseen lockdown. The economy was weakening to start with.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

11 facility clearances in the 40 days has driven the perception of a lenient FDA, says Jefferies

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Even though markets have been in turmoil due to the COVID-19 crisis, it is proving to be positive for the pharma stocks. The Nifty Pharma index has surged over 34 percent just in the last 1 month as compared to an 18 percent rise in the Nifty50 index.

This rise could be a result of an increased perception of a lenient FDA. According to a recent report by Jefferies, 11 facility clearances in the last 40 days has driven the perception of a lenient FDA. The brokerage also expects the USFDA to clear most of the remaining warning letters in another 18 months.

The increased number of clearances is led by clearance of backlog by FDA, increased inspections in 2019-20 and better disclosures by companies, the report added. It also noted that earlier less than half of the inspections/clearances were disclosed as compared to over 70 percent now.

The boost in facility clearances across companies is a positive, Jefferies further said, adding that this warrants multiple re-ratings.

“While pharma is our preferred defensive, we maintain our view that FDA inspection outcomes will continue to be determined on a case-by-case basis led by facility/inspector and this risk remains. In fact, recent trends are similar to what has been seen in the past 18 months and adverse outcomes are worse off than in 2018,” the report stated.

While most of the clearances are procedural and in line with expectations, two took the brokerage by surprise, the report mentioned.

Aurobindo Unit IV clearance was a positive surprise, however, Sun Pharma’s Halol OAI (Official action indicated, usually followed by Warning letter) was a negative surprise given that the company had received product approval in January and it is a key injectable plant with shortage products.

Historically, inspection trends saw improvement in 2018 with only 6 percent of inspection getting Official Action Indicated (OAI) driving expectation of better outcomes. 2019 though saw a reversal with over 10 percent of inspections resulting in OAI, explained the brokerage.

Jefferies added that clearance delays will impact Lupin and Aurobindo the most. Its preferred picks remain Sun Pharma and Syngene.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow