The regulator last week reached out to custodians for beneficial ownership information of investors coming from China, Hong Kong, and 11 other countries.

The Budget has relaxed a few safe harbour rules that aim to make it easier for fund managers overseeing offshore India-focused funds to relocate to the country.

The queries, sent in November, were mainly about Capital Investment Trust, which the I-T department said, was used for the purpose of transferring foreign funds comprising global depository receipts (GDRs) of the value of $400 million to two Indian entities - Reliance Utilities & Power (RUPL) and Reliance Port & Terminal (RPTL), owned by the Ambani family. A show-cause notice issued on March 29 to Ambani's wife Nita, and their three children.

This may mean easier access, simplified KYC and documentation requirements, and fewer investment restrictions for a majority of FPIs, especially broad-based funds and pooled vehicles that were earlier part of Category-II.

This is the first time that India has received details from Switzerland under the AEOI framework, which provides for exchange of information on financial accounts that currently active as well as those accounts that were closed during 2018.

Phantom FDI refers to investments that pass through shell companies that have no real business activities and are tailor-made to cut tax liabilities.

Even though option to invest as a company is available, many FPIs have chosen trust route to enjoy less tax or zero tax through tax havens such as the Cayman Islands and Luxembourg.

The funds officially held by Indians with banks in Switzerland now accounts for only 0.07 per cent of the total funds kept by all foreign clients in the Swiss banking system.

Sharks, mating frogs, seals playing with photographers... these are the amazing photos which offer an enchanting breadth of what's beyond the shoreline. Underwater Photographer of the Year has just announced the winners of its 2019 photo contest and photographer Richard Barnden, from the UK, was named Underwater Photographer of the Year 2019. Prizes and commendations were handed out in categories including Wide Angle, Macro, Wrecks, Behaviour, Portrait, Black and White, Compact, Up and Coming, and in British waters, Wide Angle, Living Together, Compact, and Macro Shots.

Vivek, in his complaint, had said the magazine and Ramesh had attempted to "deliberately malign and defame" him to "settle scores with his father".

Rediff readers take the 10 year challenge and tell us what has changed.

Doval had moved court against the magazine, the author of the article Kaushal Shroff and Congress leader Jairam Ramesh for holding a press conference on January 17 reiterating the 'baseless and unfounded facts' as narrated in the article.

The article claimed that Vivek Doval was running a hedge fund whose promoters are of dubious antecedents.

Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh also asked the RBI to make public details of FDI inflows from Cayman islands since demonetisation.

Undisclosed foreign assets and funds worth Rs 350 crore detected; these are separate entities from those featured in Panama Leaks and Paradise Papers

Singapore is slated to bring in Singapore Variable Capital Company, a new legal entity which can be used as a vehicle for investment. SVACC is expected to simplify the process of redemption for open-ended funds.

Singapore is the favoured destination as it has traditionally had a stable fund management regime; also, its tax treaty with India is similar to that of Mauritius

Shareholder advisory companies are raising eyebrows at the ICICI Bank board not being aware of Firstland's investment in NuPower

Kochhar brothers stepped down from the board of Credential Finance by 2009. While Deepak Kochhar started NuPower Renewables, Rajiv set up Avista Advisory Group

Avista helped some companies restructure their debt in such a way that overseas investors had to take a steep haircut

The I-T department said NuPower's balance sheet did not substantiate the high premium paid by Singapore-based DH Renewables for its shares, and suspects it could be a case of round-tripping of unaccounted income by NuPower.

'... not even a moral one, let alone a legal one.' 'Even if it is assumed that Deepak Kochhar tried to influence his wife into doing something dodgy for his 'social acquaintance', why would she do it?' 'By all accounts she has been granted share options in ICICI Bank of a very substantial amount which easily makes her a multi billion-pati.' 'She did not become CEO against some stiff competition by being stupid and concocting devious cock-and-bull renewable energy stories.' S Murlidharan, former managing director, BNP Paribas, unravels the Deepak Kochhar-Videocon controversy.

Captain Rani Rampal's clinical strike helped India beat South Africa 1-0 to seal their place in the semi-finals of the women's hockey event at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, on Tuesday.

Check out India's schedule on Day 6 of the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, on Tuesday.

Jamaica's former world champion Yohan Blake sailed into the final of the 100 metres at the Commonwealth Games on Sunday, living up to his top billing on the opening day of the athletics at the Gold Coast.

Check out India's schedule on Day 1 of Commonwealth Games.

Despite the Indian government's recent efforts anecdotal evidence indicates that there has been little change in the extortionist behaviour of a significant proportion of tax and police officials, says Jaimini Bhagwati.

The leaked list contains the name of Union minister Jayant Sinha, who responded by saying that the transactions were not done for any 'personal purpose'.

'The anonymous electoral bonds means that political affiliations will be even harder to ascertain for the voter or the minority shareholder.' 'The government of the day will, of course, know, exactly which corporate is making donations to which party.' 'Hence, the government will be in a wonderful position to exert "moral pressure" on corporates which make donations to Opposition parties.'

Several defendants charged in a wide-ranging corruption case involving soccer's global governing body FIFA are in talks with US officials about possibly pleading guilty, a US prosecutor said on Monday.

The House of Commons petitions committee has confirmed that 77,000 signatures were added fraudulently and have been removed.

Mauritius and Singapore account for the bulk of the $278 billion in foreign equity investments since 2000

Now, funds from Mauritius interested in India will have to weigh paying capital gains taxes that could range from zero to as much as 20 per cent

It is important to clarify that availing of an exemption is neither evasion nor tax planning.

Occasionally, a whistle-blower releases sensitive financial data.

Mallya showed his net worth at Rs 615 crore, mainly in shares and bonds.

Running highlights from FIFA's congress. World soccer's governing body has voted on a series of reforms and will elect a new president later on Friday (all times GMT): 13.30 The voting process is proving a long, drawn out affair. After an hour's voting, we have crawled to L for Latvia with little to get excited about apart from the brief appearance of Davor Suker, Golden Boot winner as the top scorer at the 1998 World Cup, as he cast Croatia's vote. Time then for a reminder that for a candidate to be elected in the first round, he must obtain at least 138 votes, two-thirds of the 207 votes cast. If this does not happen, a second round is held. This time, a simple majority -- 104 votes, which represents more than 50 percent of the votes -- is sufficient for a candidate to be elected. If no candidate gets that majority, the one with fewest votes will be eliminated and a new round will be held. This continues until one candidate obtains a majority. 12.45. Having begun his speech by promising to "die with my boots on", Sexwale ends it by withdrawing from the race, "I have got a surprise for you. My campaign ends today and I suspend my participation. With only four people it is your problem now." Markus Kattner, FIFA general secretary then reminds delegates of the voting procedure, reminding them not to photograph their ballot papers.

The retrospective tax decision reversing the January 2012 Supreme Court verdict in the Vodafone case has often been cited as the reason for foreign investors losing confidence in India as an investment destination.

Percy Mistry says things at market regulator Sebi are also in bad shape.

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