New Delhi Mar 24 PTI The government on Thursday proposed to tighten the norms for taxation of cryptocurrencies by disallowing set off of any losses with gains from other virtual digital assets As per the amendments to the Finance Bill 2022 circulated among the Lok Sabha members the ministry proposes to remove the word other from section relating to set off of losses from gains in virtual digital assets This would mean that loss from the transfer of virtual digital assets VDA will not be allowed to be set off against the income arising from the transfer of another VDA According to the Finance Bill 2022 a VDA could be a code or number or token which can be transferred stored or traded electronically The VDAs will include prevailing cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens NFTs which has gained fad over the past couple of years The 2022-23 Budget has brought in clarity concerning the levy of income tax on crypto assets From April 1 a 30 per cent I-T plus cess and surcharges will be levied on such transactions in the same manner as it treats winnings from horse races or other speculative transactions Also while computing the income from transfer of VDA no deduction in respect of any expenditure other than the cost of acquisition or allowance will be allowed The Budget 2022-23 also proposed a 1 per cent TDS on payments towards virtual currencies beyond Rs 10000 in a year and taxation of such gifts in the hands of the recipient The threshold limit for TDS would be Rs 50000 a year for specified persons which include individualsHUFs who are required to get their accounts audited under the I-T Act The provisions related to 1 per cent TDS will come into effect from July 1 2022 while the gains will be taxed effective April 1 Separately the government is working on legislation to regulate cryptocurrencies but no draft has yet been released publicly The amendments to the Finance Bill also propose to dilute the penalty provision relating to publication of export-import data The Finance Bill had proposed to insert a new Section 135AA in the Customs Act which stated if a person publishes any information relating to the value or classification or quantity of goods entered for export from India or import into India or the details of the exporter or importer of such goods under this Act unless required so to do under any law for the time being in force he shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to six months or with fine which may extend to fifty thousand rupees or with both The amendments seeks to do away with six-month imprisonment and the Rs 50000 penalty The amendment now reads if a person publishes any information that is furnished to Customs by an exporter or importer under this Act relating to the value or classification or quantity of goods entered for export from India or import into India along with the identity of the persons involved or in a manner that leads to disclosure of such identity unless required so to do under any law for the time being in force or by specific authorisation of such exporter or importer he shall be punishable with imprisonment PTI JD CS JD MR MR

New Delhi Mar 21 PTI Infrastructure cost incurred in the mining of cryptocurrencies or any virtual digital assets will not be allowed as deduction under the Income Tax Act Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said on MondayIn a written reply to the Lok Sabha Chaudhary said the government will come out with a definition of Virtual Digital Assets VDA with a view to levy 30 per cent tax on income from the transfer of such assetsAlso loss from the transfer of VDA will not be allowed to be set off against the income arising from the transfer of another VDA Chaudhary saidHe also said that currently cryptocurrencies are unregulated in IndiaThe 2022-23 Budget has brought in clarity concerning the levy of income tax on crypto assets From April 1 a 30 per cent I-T plus cess and surcharges will be levied on such transactions in the same manner as it treats winnings from horse races or other speculative transactionsThe minister said that while computing the income from transfer of VDA no deduction in respect of any expenditure other than the cost of acquisition or allowance is allowedThe Finance Bill also proposes to define VDA If any asset falls within the proposed definition such virtual asset will be considered as VDA for the purposes of the Act and other provisions of the Act will apply accordingly he saidFurther he said infrastructure costs incurred in the mining of VDA eg crypto assets will not be treated as cost of acquisition as the same will be in the nature of capital expenditure which is not allowable as a deduction under the I-T ActNangia Andersen LLP Partner Sandeep Jhunjhunwala said since intra-head adjustment of losses ie set-off of loss arising from one VDA with the income from another VDA would not be permitted such losses would be a sunk cost for the investors causing a double whammy paying taxes on gains and no offset of lossesThis would lead to a situation where losses say on account of transaction in altcoins one VDA class would not be permitted for set-off against gains on another VDA class say any other programmable token or bitcoin he saidDisallowance of infrastructure cost incurred in mining cryptocurrencies costs as a permissible revenue expenditure would further increase the cost of mining these assets Jhunjhunwala addedRohinton Sidhwa Partner Deloitte India said the mining expense disallowance is unlikely to impact the majority of traders however the prevention of offset between different cryptos will probably negatively impact many tradersThe Budget 2022-23 also proposed a 1 per cent TDS on payments towards virtual currencies beyond Rs 10000 in a year and taxation of such gifts in the hands of the recipient The threshold limit for TDS would be Rs 50000 a year for specified persons which include individualsHUFs who are required to get their accounts audited under the I-T ActThe provisions related to 1 per cent TDS will come into effect from July 1 2022 while the gains will be taxed effective April 1Separately the government is working on a legislation to regulate cryptocurrencies but no draft has yet been released publicly PTI JD CS MBI RAM

Mumbai Feb 23 PTI Advertisers will have to prominently carry a disclaimer for crypto products and non-fungible tokens mentioning that these products are unregulated and can be highly risky according to the Advertising Standards Council of India ASCI Besides the self-regulatory has said that such advertisements should mention that there may be no regulatory recourse for any loss from such transactions All Virtual Digital Assets VDAs which are commonly referred to as crypto or Non-Fungible Tokens NFTs will have to put the disclaimer in a prominent and unmissable way in campaigns for products and services The announcement of the guidelines done after consultations with industry stakeholders government and financial regulators as well comes as the advertising for the controversial products and services is on the upswing The government is yet to come out with a law on such assets but has proposed a tax on gains made from such transactions which has been welcomed by the crypto players as a move to legitimise the industry while the RBI has been firm in calling for a complete ban on such activities saying they are a threat to financial stability Advertising of virtual digital assets and services needs specific guidance considering that this is a new and as yet an emerging way of investing Hence there is a need to make consumers aware of the risks and ask them to proceed with caution ASCI chairman Subhash Kamath said The guidelines say advertisers will have to carry the disclaimer --crypto products and NFTs are unregulated and can be highly risky There may be no regulatory recourse for any loss from such transactions -- in a prominent way A fifth of the advertising space in print or static ad should be devoted to the disclaimer while in a video it should be placed at the end against a plain background with a voice over reading out the text at normal speed the ASCI said The disclaimer must remain on screen for at least five seconds in video ads while for long format ads of over two minutes it should be placed both in the starting and end of the ad Similarly guidelines on putting the disclaimers also cover audio social media posts disappearing stories or posts on social media it said In formats where there is a limit on characters the following shortened disclaimer must be used crypto products and NFTs are unregulated and risky followed by a link to the full disclaimer it said Advertisers have also been barred from using the words currency securities custodian and depositories in advertisements of VDA products or services as consumers associate these terms with regulated products Information on past performance shall not be provided in any partial or biased manner Returns for periods of less than 12 months shall not be included the guidelines said adding that minors should not be shown in the ads No advertisement shall contain statements that promise or guarantee future increase in profits the ASCI has said Nothing in the ad should downplay the risks associated with the category and the VDA products may not be compared to any other asset class which is regulated The ASCI has also asked celebrity endorsers to do due diligence about the statements and claims made in the advertisement so as not to mislead consumers Advertisers and media owners must also ensure that all earlier advertisements must not appear in the public domain unless they comply with the guidelines post the 15th of April it said We have seen a spate of advertising for virtual digital assets which could compromise consumer interest in the absence of some guardrails Use of celebrities and high decibel advertising would attract consumers to these offerings without full disclosure of the risks the bodys secretary general Manisha Kapoor said On February 10 RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said cryptocurrencies were a threat to macroeconomic and financial stability PTI AA RAM MKJ

New Delhi [India], February 16 (ANI): The 8th Annual Meeting of the Indo-German Working Group on Quality Infrastructure, led by the Indian Ministry for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy was held virtually on Tuesday.

New Delhi [India], February 8 (ANI): The Delhi High Court on Monday dismissed the petitions moved by the All India Aircraft Engineers Association and Air India Aircraft Engineers Association challenging the orders of cut in allowance and leave without pay upto five years and reduction in flying hours in case of pilots.

New Delhi Oct 29 PTI The Ministry of Labour and Employment has revised the rate of variable dearness allowance for 15 crore central sphere workers The hike which will be effective from October 1 will result in an increase in the minimum wages for central sphere employees and workers At a time when the country is struggling with COVID-19 pandemic in a major relief to different category of workers engaged in various scheduled employments in the central sphere the Ministry of Labour Employment has notified and revised the rate of Variable Dearness Allowance VDA with effect from October 1 2021 a ministry statement said The VDA is revised on the basis of average Consumer Price Index for industrial workers CPI-IW a price index compiled by the Labour Bureau an attached office of the Ministry of Labour Employment The average CPI-IW for the months of January to June 2021 was used for undertaking the latest VDA revision Union Labour Minister Bhupender Yadav said in the statement that this will benefit around 15 crore workers engaged in various scheduled employment in the central sphere across the country These workers are employed in construction maintenance of roads runways building operations etc sweeping and cleaning loading and unloading watch and ward mines and agriculture He said that this is in line with the Prime Ministers vision of Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas Sabka Vishwas and Sabka Prayas and this increase will be effective from October 1 2021 and wished all the nation builders greetings of Happy Deepavali The rates fixed for scheduled employment in the Central sphere are applicable to the establishments under the authority of the central government railway administration mines oil fields major ports or any corporation established by the central government These rates are equally applicable to contract and casual employeesworkers D P S Negi Chief Labour Commissioner Central said that the VDA in respect of scheduled employment under the central sphere is revised twice in a year -- April 1 and October 1 Further the period under consideration for this order is from January to June 2021 as per the gazette notification The enforcement of Minimum Wages Act in the central sphere is ensured through the inspecting officers of Chief Labour Commissioner Central Organization across the country for employeesworkers engaged in the scheduled employment in the central sphere PTI KKS DRR DRR