Highlights of the Union Budget 2015 - 16

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Saturday announced a budget aimed at high growth, saying the pace of cutting the fiscal deficit would slow as he seeks to boost investment and ensure that ordinary people benefit.

Here are the highlights of Jaitley's Budget for the fiscal year that begins on April 1.

TAXATION

* To abolish wealth tax

* Replaces wealth tax with additional 2% surcharge on super rich

* Proposes to cut to 25 percent corporate tax over next four years

* Corporate tax of 30 percent is uncompetitive

 * Net gain from tax proposals seen at Rs 150.68 billion

 * Jaitley proposes modification of permanent establishment norms so that the mere presence of a fund manager in India would not constitute a permanent establishment of the offshore fund, resulting in adverse tax consequences.

* Proposes to rationalise capital gains tax regime for real estate investment trusts

* Expects to implement goods and services tax by April 2016

* To reduce custom duty on 22 items

* Proposes to increase service tax rate and education cess to 14 percent from 12.36 percent

* Plans to introduce direct tax regime that is internationally competitive on rates without exemptions

* Exemptions for individual tax payers to continue

* To enact tough penalties for tax evasion in new bill

* Tax dept to clarify indirect transfer of assets and dividend paid by foreign firms

FISCAL DEFICIT

* Fiscal deficit seen at 3.9 percent of GDP in 2015/16

* Will meet the challenging fiscal target of 4.1 percent of GDP

* Remain committed to meeting medium term fiscal deficit target of 3 percent of GDP

* Current account deficit below 1.3 percent of GDP

* Jaitley says have to keep fiscal discipline in mind despite need for higher investment  

GROWTH

* GDP growth seen at between 8 percent and 8.5 percent y/y

* Aiming double digit growth rate, achievable soon  

INFLATION

* Expects consumer inflation to remain close to 5 percent by March, opening room for more monetary policy easing

* Monetary policy framework agreement with the RBI clearly states objective of keeping inflation below 6 percent

* "One of the achievements of my government has been to conquer inflation. This decline in my view represents a structural shift."  

REVENUES

* Revenue deficit seen at 2.8 percent of GDP

* Non tax revenue seen at 2.21 trillion rupees

* Agricultural incomes are under stress  

DISINVESTMENT

* Government targets 410 billion rupees from stake sales in companies

* Total stake sale in 2015/16 seen at 695 billion rupees  

MARKET REFORMS

* Propose to merge commodities regulator with SEBI

* To bring a new bankruptcy code

* Jaitley says will move to amend the RBI act this year, and provide for a monetary policy committee

* To set up public debt management agency

* Proposes to introduce a public contract resolution of disputes bill

* To establish an autonomous bank board bureau to improve management of public sector banks  

POLICY REFORMS

* To enact a comprehensive new law on black money

* Propose to create a universal social security system for all Indians

* To launch a national skills mission soon to enhance employability of rural youth

* To raise visa-on-arrival facility to 150 countries from 43

* Allocates 346.99 billion rupees for rural employment guarantee scheme   

BORROWING

* Gross market borrowing seen at 6 trillion rupees

* Net market borrowing seen at 4.56 trillion rupees   

GENERAL ANTI-AVOIDANCE RULES (GAAR)

* Government defers rollout of anti-tax avoidance rules GAAR by two years

* GAAR to apply prospectively from April 1, 2017

* Retrospective tax provisions will be avoided   

INFRASTRUCTURE

* Investment in infrastructure will go up by 700 bln rupees in 2015/16 over last year

* Plans to set up national investment infrastructure fund

* Proposes tax-free infrastructure bonds for projects in roads, rail and irrigation projects

* Proposes 5 "ultra mega" power projects for 4,000 MW each

* Second unit of Kudankulam nuclear power station to be commissioned

* Will need to build additional 100,000 km of road

* Ports in public sector will be encouraged to corporatise under Companies Act   

EXPENDITURE

* Plan expenditure estimated at about 4.65 trillion rupees

* Non-plan expenditure seen at about 13.12 trillion rupees

 * Allocates 2.46 trillion rupees for defence spending

 * Allocates 331.5 billion rupees for health sector

* If revenue improves, hope to raise budgeted allocations for rural job scheme by 50 billion rupees   

INVESTMENT

* Propose to do away with different types of foreign investment caps and replace them with composite caps

* To allow foreign investment in alternative investment funds

* Public investment needed to catalyse investment   

GOLD

* To develop a sovereign gold bond

* To introduce gold monetisation scheme to allow depositors to earn interest

* To introduce Indian-made gold coin to reduce demand for foreign gold coins      

SUBSIDIES

* We are committed to subsidy rationalisation based on cutting leakages   

FINANCE MINISTER'S COMMENTS

* "We inherited a sentiment of doom and gloom. The investment community had almost written us off. We have come a long way since then."

* "We have turned around the economy, dramatically restoring macroeconomic stability and creating the conditions for sustainable poverty elimination, job creation, durable double digit economic growth."

* "While being mindful of the challenges ... this gives us reason to feel optimistic."

* "Domestic and international investors are seeing us with renewed interest and hope."   

http://www.rediff.com/business/report/budget-highlights-of-the-union-budget/20150228.htm

Vacancy position for PS Gr. B Examinations 2013 and 2014

No. GS/AIAIPASP/PS Gr.B-Exam 13-14/2015              dated  :       27/2/2015.

To,

Shri Rajkumar,

Director (Staff),

Department of Posts,

Dak Bhavan, Sansad Marg,

New Delhi 110 001.

Sub :          Vacancy position for PS Gr. B Examinations 2013 and 2014.

Respected Sir,

IP/ASP Association would like to draw your kind attention to its letter of even number dated 28/1/2015 vide which it was requested to furnish the details of vacancies reserved for ensuing PS Gr. B Examination for the year 2013 and 2014, but as on date no information is received from Directorate.  

It is to bring to your kind notice that Directorate vide Memo No. A.34012/01/2015-DE dated 15/1/2015 has circulated calendar of departmental examinations scheduled to be held in the year 2015 wherein it is mentioned that PS Gr. B Examination 2013 and 2014 are scheduled on 21/6/2015 and 18/10/2015 respectively.

DPCs for the promotion to the cadre of PS Gr. B for the vacancy year 2013 and 2014 have already been convened on 10/10/2013 and 26/2/2015 respectively.

It is therefore once again requested to kindly intimate the details of number of vacancies reserved for PS Gr. B Examination for the year 2013 and 2014 at the earliest.

Yours sincerely,

sd/-

(Vilas Ingale)

General Secretary

Source : CHQ Blog.

Compassional Appointment clarification Dtd. 25.2.2015

Small Savings at a Glance

SB Order No. 2 Dt. 26.2.2015 - reg SSY Account

Flash : SSP promotions

Today Dte issued the following SSP promotion orders.
The following Officers promoted & allotted TN circle.

Sl	Name S/s	Working in	Allotted to	Remarks
1	R.Selvarani	TN	TN	Retiring within a year
2	G.Ganesan	TN	TN	Retiring within a year
3	A.Kuppusamy	TN	TN	Retiring within a year
4	A.Ganesan	TN	TN	Retiring within a year
5	V.Tara	Kar	TN
6	V.Kumarakrishnan	TN	Postal Dte

Hearty Congrats for Promotion and warm Welcome.

<< Click Here >> to download Dte memo.

SSP tranfers

<< Click Here >>  to download SSP transfers.
( no one from TN Circle )

PLI RPLI Service Tax clarifications.

<< Click Here >>  to download the PLI RPLI Service Tax clarifications.

PM Grade 1 results

<< Click Here >>  to download the LDCE Postmaster Grade I Exam results.
For TN Circle, pl go to Page 23.

Bi monthly meeting wtih PMG, SR

Today Bi-monthly meeting with PMG, SR at 1600 hrs.
Circle President & Secretary are attending the said meeting.

New SOP & SAP for Philately Stamps

New procedure for sale of Philately stamps and its accounting

In order to account the sale of philately stamps separately and to project the same as part of BD revenue, Postal directorate has modified the procedure of accounting of sale of philately stamps.  CEPT, Mysore has done modification in the Meghdoot package according to the new procedure and implemented same through Meghdoot 7.9.2 update.  Following are the new procedures.

1.  Till now there is no separate provision (either in Point of Sale OR in Treasury) for sale of Philately Stamps.  The consolidated stamps balance available with Treasurer includes postage stamps and philately stamps.    Similarly, the stamps sale of both postage and philately stamps (all kinds of stamps) is taken together to raise the cash balance of the Treasurer and there is no separate category/head of account for showing in Summary/Cash Book etc.,

2.   Now,  a  Separate  Account  head  'Philatelystamps' is  created  for  the  purpose of incorporating  the  sale  proceeds  of  Philately  Stamps  at  Post  Offices  in  their  Daily account/ HO Summary/Cash Book etc.,

3.  This new head of account will be used by Point of Sale, Sub Accounts and Treasury modules in order to account for the sale proceeds of Philately Stamps into proper head of account.

4.  The modifications have been done in Point of Sale and Treasury modules. The following procedure in Point of Sale and Treasury modules has to be strictly adopted in order to account for the sale proceeds of Philately Stamps:

Modifications in Point of Sale

5.  In Point of Sale module,    Sale of Philately stamps can be done through the option: Operator - Financial - Unclassified Receipt – General. When this option is selected, UCR purpose ‘Philately Stamps - Sale’ will be available to the Operator.   The operator can select this option and account for the sale proceeds of Philately Stamps. Screen shot of the option is as under

6.   In order to facilitate segregation of different categories of philately stamps, provision has been made available to the Point of Sale supervisor to configure different categories such as Stamps on Gandhi, Sachin Tendulkar etc.,    The categories of Philately stamps can be configured by the Supervisor of the Point of Sale module.    All the categories configured by the Supervisor will be available to the operator (as shown in the screen shot at point no.3), while making sale of Philately stamps.

7.  Detailed Philately Stamps sale report (category wise) is available in Point of Sale application through the option:     Operator - Reports - Other Reports -Detailed UCR Reports.  

If the Licenced Stamp Vendor/Point of Sale counter PA is making regular sales of Philately stamps by the way of recoup/ replenishing from Treasurer handing over the Cash, then the amount of Philately stamps sales will be accounted for in the Daily account/ HO Summary directly from treasury itself. Therefore, in such cases, there is no need for entering the amount of Philately Stamps sold at Counter again through POS application.

Modifications in Treasury module

 8.  Till now there is no separate provision for sale of Philately Stamps.   The consolidated stamps balance available with Treasurer includes postage stamps and philately stamps.  Similarly, the stamps sales of both postage and philately stamps (all kinds of stamps)   is taken together to raise the Cash/Cheque balance of the Treasurer and there is no separate category/head of account for showing amount of Sales in HO Summary/Cash Book etc.

9.   Now, a Separate Account head 'Philatelystamps' under General Receipts is created for the purpose of incorporating the sale proceeds of Philately Stamps at Post Offices in their Daily account/ HO Summary/Cash Book etc.,    New Stamp Category ‘PHILSTAMPS’ is created for the purpose of uniqueness of the philately Stamps category to segregate the sale proceeds.

10.  As there will be already some stock of Philately Stamps which might have been mixed up in Treasury module with either Postage Stamps category/custom created stamps category, entire existing stock has to be first migrated to the newly created Stamps Category.

11. Treasury Supervisor has to configure the existing denominations of Philately Stamps at the PO through the Option Masters—Stamps Denomination as shown below:

12. Afterwards, Treasurer/ Stamps Treasurer who is having the stock of Philately Stamps has to exchange all the existing philately stamps (mixed with Postage stamps OR available in another user defined category like philately etc.,) through the Option Treasurer – Payments—Exchange as a onetime measurer. First Receipts--select Stamps Option with New category of PHILSTAMPS and afterwards Issues with Stamps Option again of existing philately stamps.

13. With the above process, all the existing philately stamps of the PO (mixed with Postage stamps OR available in another user defined category like philately etc.,) will come under the New Stamp Category PHILSTAMPS. There will not be any change in the Total Stamp Balance amount of the Treasurer concerned.

14. Now, Bulk sales of Philately stamps done by Treasurer can be made through the existing option Treasurer –Tools—Stamps Sales with mode of Receipts as Cash/Cheque and Issues as Philately  Stamps  of  available  denomination.  Configuration of Bulk Customers/Stamp Vendors to be done by the supervisor through the existing option Masters—Stamp Vendors.

15. Sale proceeds of Philately stamps will be reflected in the Stamp Balance Report, Stamps

16. In the TCB Report, the amount of Sale of Philately Stamps through Cash/Cheque will be included in the Closing Cash/Cheque balances of the concerned treasurer as per the existing provisions of the application

17. In the daily account / HO Summary, the amount Philately Stamps Sold will be reflected under Receipt Side against the new head of account 'Philatelystamps'.  Since, there is no additional revenue to the Balance of the PO, (As Stamp balance only is converted to Cash/Cheque balance) an additional entry under payment side will be reflected in the HO Summary/ Daily account against the Head of account ‘PhilStampsAdjmt’.

18. The amount of Stamps Sales of other regular Postage Stamps/Revenue/CRF Stamps will continue to be part of Cash/Cheque balance without any adjustment.

19. The procedure prescribed above is only for separate accounting of Philately Stamps sold in Bulk through Treasury application. There is no change in other options of Sales/ supply of stamps to SOs/BOs.

Courtesy : http://bnjho.blogspot.in/ & sapost.blogspot.in

Now Railway Tickets can be booked at Teppakulam SO, Tiruchy

Tiruchi Siva, MP, handing over a railway reservation ticket, to a passenger at the inauguration of Passenger Reservation System at Teppakulam Post Office in Tiruchi on Saturday. Manjula Rangarajan, Divisional Railway Manage, and J.T. Venkateswarlu, Post Master-General, Central Region, are with them.— PHOTO: B. VELANKANNI RAJ

With a view to help passengers, escalators will be provided at the platform number two and three at the railway junction here, according to Manjula Rangarajan, Divisional Railway Manager, Southern Railway.

Speaking at the inauguration of Passenger Reservation System at Teppakulam post office, Ms. Rangarajan said the cost would be Rs. 1.16 crore. Tiruchi N. Siva, DMK MP, has promised to give Rs.1 crore from his MP’s Local Area Development Fund. Tenders would be floated in March and installation would be completed in six months, said Ms. Rangarajan.

Ms. Rangarajan said that escalators were provided on either side of over bridges in railway junctions. Trichi railway junction did not have a bridge connecting the seven platforms. However, as Mr. Siva had allocated the amount, escalators would be provided in the sub-ways at platform number two and three.

Mr. Siva, who inaugurated the Passenger Reservation System put up jointly by Department of Posts and Railways, promised to bear all the expenses for putting up the escalator at Tiruchi Railway Junction. He lauded the services of Postal Department and railways. “The Passenger Reservation Facility will help people in the area,” he said.

First reservation at the counter was made by an 87-year-old passenger Krishnamurthy. Mr. Siva handed over the reserved ticket to Mr. Krishnamurthy.

J.T. Venkateswarlu, Post Master General, Central Region Tamil Nadu, said Teppakulam post office was the seventh in Tiruchi postal region to have the Passenger Reservation Facility.

The other post offices which offered the facility are Aravakurichi, Muthupettai, Peravurani, Pudukottai Head Post Office, Renganagar, and Golden Rock. Core banking facility had been introduced in head post offices in the region, he said.

Source : http://www.thehindu.com/

Minutes of Bi monthly meeting with PMG, CR held on 20.1.2015

காந்தி தோற்றத்தில் சுற்றுலா பயணி

மூணாறு: காந்தியின் தோற்றத்தில் இந்தியா விற்கு சுற்றுலா வந்துள்ள பிரான்ஸ் நாட்டைச் சேர்ந்தவரை சுற்றுலா பயணிகள், பொதுமக்கள் ஆச்சரியத் துடன் பார்த்து வருகின்றனர்.

பிரான்ஸ் நாட்டில் துளோஸ் மாகாணத்தைச் சேர்ந்தவர் ஜோனெட், 68. இவர் சுகாதாரத் துறையில் பணிபுரிந்து ஓய்வு பெற்றுள்ளார். இவருடைய உருவ அமைப்பு சிறிய வயது முதல் காந்தியை போன்று இருந்துள்ளது. இதனை ஜோனெட்டிடம் பலர் கூறியுள்ளனர். தவிர காந்தியின் வரலாற்றையும் தெரிவித்தனர். இதனால் இவர் மீது மரியாதை ஏற்பட்டதுடன், அவரது தோற்றத்தில் இந்தியாவில் உலவ வேண்டும் என்ற ஆசை ஜோனெட்டுக்கு மேலோங்கியது.

இதையடுத்து ஜோனெட் ஜன.,24ல் இந்தியாவுக்கு சுற்றுலா வந்தார். மகாத்மா காந்தியின் தோற்றத்தில் உள்ளதால், ஜோனெட் சென்ற இடமெல்லாம் பெரும் வரவேற்பு கிடைத்துள்ளது. மூணாறுக்கு இவரை சுற்றுலா பயணிகள், பொதுமக்கள் ஆச்சரியத்துடன் பார்த்தனர். காந்தியின் தோற்றத்தில் உள்ளதால் செல்லும் இடமெல்லாம் பொது மக்கள் தன்னை சூழ்ந்து கொள்வதாக கூறுகிறார்.இந்தியாவில் சுற்றுப் பயணத்தை முடித்துக் கொண்டு இலங்கை செல்லும் ஜோனெட் ஏப்., 24ல் பெங்களூரு வழி சொந்த நாட்டிற்குச் செல்ல உள்ளதாக தெரிவித்தார்.

Courtesy : DInamalar.

Flash : SP regular promotions

The following SP Regular Promotion orders issued by Dte.

	Name S/s	Present Circle	Allotted to
1	K.Soorappan	TN	Maharashtra
2	T.Amudha Ganesan	TN	West bengal
3	N.P.Sampath	TN	TN
4	S.Chennakrishnan	TN	West bengal
5	S.Subba Rao	TN	Postal Directorate
6	R.Ismail	TN	Gujarat
7	M.Muthuswamy	TN	TN

Hearty congrats to all promoted officers.

 

Source : IP ASP CHQ Blog.