MCA Has Introduced The Insolvency And Bankruptcy Code (Amendment) Ordinance, 2019 To Further Amend The Insolvency And Bankruptcy Code, 2016.

  • The Amendment will remove certain ambiguities in the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 and ensure smooth implementation of the Code. Under the Amendments, the liability of a corporate debtor for an offence committed prior to the commencement of the corporate insolvency resolution process shall cease, and the corporate debtor shall not be prosecuted for such an offence from the date the resolution plan has been approved by the Adjudicating Authority.
  • Subject to relevant provisions the corporate debtor shall, as required, extend all assistance and co-operation to any authority investigating an offence committed prior to the commencement of the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process. Further, the amendment to Section 7(1), the financial creditors for the Corporate Debtor who is operating in the Real Estate sector, an application for initiating the process shall be filed jointly by the minimum 100 creditors of the same class or 10% of the members of the same class, whichever is less.
  • This amendment shall also apply to the applications which have not been admitted and are required to comply within 30 days of the commencement of the Ordinance.

https://ibbi.gov.in/uploads/legalframwork/d6b171ec9b9ea5c54f7423bc36f92977.pdf

Reserve Bank of India vide notification dated 1stJanuary 2020 notifies Financial Benchmark Administrators (Reserve Bank) Directions, 2019.

  • It prescribes following benchmarks administered by Financial Benchmarks India Pvt. Ltd. (FBIL) as a 'significant benchmark':
  1. Overnight Mumbai Interbank Outright Rate (MIBOR)
  2. Mumbai Interbank Forward Outright Rate (MIFOR)
  3. USD/INR Reference Rate
  4. Treasury Bill Rates
  5. Valuation of Government Securities
  6. Valuation of State Development Loans (SDL)

Further, in terms of paragraph 3(ii) of the above directions, the person administering the 'significant benchmark', shall make an application to the Reserve Bank within a period of three months from the date of this notification for authorization to continue administering these benchmarks.

https://rbidocs.rbi.org.in/rdocs/notification/PDFs/NT133A86B9FADF5F5447A9F0F2C903DEC3ED8.PDF

Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) relaxes the additional fees and extends the last date of filing of Form BEN-1 and BEN-2.

  • The time limit for filing e-form No. BEN-2 is extended upto 31st March 2020 without payment of additional fee and thereafter fee and additional fee shall be payable. Consequent to the extension in the date of filing of e-Form BEN-2, the date of filing of Form BEN-1 may be construed accordingly.

http://mca.gov.in/Ministry/pdf/Circular1_01012020.pdf

Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) relaxes the additional fees and extends the last date of Filing of CRA-4 (cost audit report) for FY 2018-19 till 29 February 2020.

  • The last date of filing of CRA-4 (cost audit report) for all eligible companies for the Financial Year 2018-19, without payment of additional fee, has been further extended till 29.O2.2O2O.
  • However, it may be noted that the said extension is given for the entire process starting from 'preparation of Annexures to the Cost Audit Report' to 'submission of Cost Audit Report by the Cost Auditor to the Company' and finally, filing of Cost Audit Report by the Company with the Central Government'.

http://www.mca.gov.in/Ministry/pdf/Circular17_30122019.pdf

Central Board of Direct Taxes has notified the Income Tax (16th Amendment) Rules, 2019 which shall come into force from 1st day of January, 2020.

  • A new Rule 119AA has been added to provide the Modes of payment for the purpose of Section 269SU. Accordingly, every person, carrying on business, if his total sales, turnover or gross receipts, as the case may be, in business exceeds Rs. 50 Crores during the immediately preceding previous year shall also provide the facility for accepting payment through Debit Card powered by RuPay, Unified Payments Interface (UPI) (BHIM-UPI), and Unified Payments Interface Quick Response Code (UPI QR Code) (BHIM-UPI QR Code). These electronic modes shall be in addition to the facility for other electronic modes of payment, if any, is already provided by such person.

http://egazette.nic.in/WriteReadData/2019/214972.pdf

Reserve Bank of India issues notification n reference to reporting of OTC Currency Derivative transactions to trade repository (TR)

  • RBI notifies that all client transactions in currency derivatives, including those with notional amount of below USD 1 million , shall now be reported to the TR, with effect from January 06, 2020.
  • As a one-time measure, in order to update the transactions in the Trade Repository, AD Category – I banks shall report all outstanding client transactions with notional amount below USD 1 million to the TR by January 31, 2020. These directions shall come into force with effect from January 1st, 2020.

https://rbidocs.rbi.org.in/rdocs/notification/PDFs/CIRCULAR13240B4111E76F2486CBBD342389649C0B6.PDF

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