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Economy: Macro, Micro & More
Our Bureau
New Delhi:Official think tank Ni-ti Aayog is pushing for a legislatu-re to allow direct buying of agri-culture produce from farmers, amove meant to help farmers andbuyers fetch better prices and doaway with middlemen.
The model Agriculture Produceand Livestock Marketing (Promo-tion and Facilitation) Act, 2017,prepared by agriculture ministryin consultation with Niti Aayog,provides for making entire state’sdesignated area for farmers to selltheir produce, single trader licen-ce, single levy of taxes, and elec-tronic auctioning of crop produce.
Big agricultural states such asPunjab, Haryana and Uttar Pra-desh have responded well to themodel Act, officials said.
“Majority of states have shownwillingness to implement the Actwith Punjab likely to roll out asearly as its next assembly ses-sion,” Niti Aayog member Ra-mesh Chand said.
Agriculture is a state subject andhence it is essential that statessupport and implement the modelAct mooted by the Centre. The ex-isting Agricultural Produce Mar-
ket Committee (APMC) Act hasnot been implemented by majorityof states, as a result of which far-mers continue to be exploited bythe middlemen.
Niti Aayog had recently called ameeting of state agriculture mini-sters to seek their support to theCentre's multi-pronged initiative to-wards doubling farmers' income by2022. The Aayog has estimated that acultivator earns not more than`̀10,000 and unless a special effort ismade by states it would take over 20years to double this to ̀̀ 20,000 as aga-inst 10 years needed in general to do-uble the non-farm income.
It has outlined half a dozen key in-
terventions that can help reducethe gap between farm and non-farm income. These include an av-erage 33% increase in crop pro-duction, enabling use of cost-effec-tive technological interventionsthat can improve efficiency, givingbetter prices to farmers by ensu-ring no states give below the MSPfor their produce, creating emplo-yment opportunities for farmersin non-farm sectors by setting uplabour intensive industries.
“Ownership of states for doub-ling farmers' income is impor-tant. We are here to protect the in-terest of producers and consu-mers,” Chand said.
Niti Backs Direct Buying from FarmersFARM REFORMS Pushes for rollout of model act to allow entire state’s
designated area for farmers to sell their produce, single levy of taxes
New Delhi: Half a day for reser-ving the firm’s name, and a thirdfor incorporating it — India’spush toward enhancing the ‘easeof doing business’ is showing qu-ick and tangible results.
Policy initiatives by the corpora-te affairs ministry of appear to ha-ve made it easier to start a busi-ness in the country: In February, ittook two days to incorporate acompany, while the procedure to-ok just about a day in March. Asmany as 26 rules have been auto-mated, five procedures for startingabusiness clubbed into one, and asmany rules deleted as part of thelatest government programme todrive entrepreneurship.
The successful implementationof e-governance initiatives, suchas the MCA21 portal and SPICe(Simplified Proforma for Incor-porating Company Electronical-ly) forms, has ensured the regi-
stration of about 98,000 compani-es in FY-17, translating into a 60%increase compared with busines-ses registered the year ago.
Popularised under the broaderprogramme of ‘government pro-cess re-engineering’, these initia-tives have “…resulted in speed,greater transparency, uniformi-
ty, and eradica-tion of discre-tion”, accordingto the ministry.
“The time takenfor processingcompany incor-poration applica-tions reduceddrastically (bet-
ween 5 and 15 working days in Ju-ne 2014), to an average of 0.6 wor-king days in March 2017,” the mi-nistry said in a note on its websi-te. “Similarly, the processingtime for name availability appli-cations has been brought downsignificantly to an average of 0.4days in March 2017.”
New Businesses GetOff to a Quick Start
Initiatives by corporateaffairsministryhave made iteasier to starta business
New Delhi: The finance ministrywill set up a screening committeeto prune the list of applicants forthe top posts in Small IndustriesDevelopment Bank of India (Sidbi)and IFCI Ltd, acting on a requestfrom Banks Board Bureau, offici-als said.
That is because more than 30 can-didates have applied for each of thetwo posts, they said.
Banks Board Bureau (BBB), hea-ded by former Comptroller and Au-ditor General Vinod Rai, helps im-prove governance of state-runbanks and in selection of their chi-efs. “The BBB has suggested thatthe finance ministry should set upa screening committee and identi-
fy the most eligiblesix or seven candi-dates, who will bethen called for inter-views,” said a finan-ce ministry officialaware of the deve-lopments.
“We will soon setup a screening com-mittee and are hope-ful that appoint-ment to these finan-cial institutions is
over by the end of next month,” theofficial said.
Another government official saidthat anybody who is eligible, inclu-ding assistant and deputy generalmanagers of banks, has applied forthe chairman’s posts in Sidbi andIFCI. “In the past also screeningcommittees have been set up to ze-ro in on the right candidates,” theofficial said.
But their recommendations willhave to satisfy BBB. Officials saidthe bureau would seek details ofcandidates rejected during thescreening process and criteria setup for the same.
Industry insiders said the racefor Sidbi CMD has become impor-tant as the government has rene-wed its focus on small and mediumsized industries.
“In today’s banking environmentSidbi is a coveted institution asyou get to work closely on some of
the prime minister’s pet schemes,”a senior executive with a state runbank said.
The government official quotedearlier said three bureaucrats whohave served in the finance mini-stry at the rank of joint secretaryhave applied for the Sidbi post.
BBB will now closely work withthe government to evolve suitabletraining and development pro-grammes for management person-nel in public sector banks, the offi-cial said.
“The idea is to help banks developa robust leadership successionplan.”
The government set up Banks Bo-ard Bureau in February 2016 with amandate to recommend candida-tes for the top post in state runbanks and financial institutions.Last year, the government had ex-panded its role to also help banksin their capital raising plans anddevelop business strategies.
Screening Panel toPrune Shortlist forSidbi, IFCI Top PostsBBB had urged finmin
to set up a committee
to shorten the list of
eligible candidates
Streamlining Process
Coveted JobThe govt has renewed its focus on small and medium sized industriesThis makes race for Sidbi CMD an important oneThree bureaucrats who have served in finmin at the rank of joint secy have applied for Sidbi top job
Banks Board Bureau has suggested that the finmin should set up a screening committeeThe panel should identify six or seven eligible candidates who will move to interview roundAppointment to these financial institutions is likely to get over by end of MayThe bureau will seek details of rejected candidates and the criteria followed during the screening process
Banks BoardBureau willhelp improvegovernanceof state-runbanks and inselection oftheir chiefs
New Delhi: India plans to takelonger to reduce duties on goodsimported from Australia and NewZealand, apart from China, thanfrom other partners under theproposed free trade agreementamong 16 Asia-Pacific countries.
This is because India does nothave any trade pact with thesethree countries, officials said.
Earlier, India had considered le-ast tariff concessions and a long-er phaseout only for China so as toreduce the widening trade deficitwith the country. However, that
formula did not find many takers.The fresh proposal is likely to be
discussed next week when themembers of the Regional Compre-hensive Economic Partnership(RCEP) meet in the Philippines.
“It is not about tiers now but de-viations since there could be onecommon concession,” said an of-ficial aware of the development.
These deviations will help Indiaoffer differential tariff conces-sions to different members of thegrouping, said the official, whodid not wish to be identified.
RCEP is a wide-ranging free tra-
de agreement that covers goods,services, investment, competi-tion, economic and technical coo-peration, dispute settlement andintellectual property rightsamong 10 members of the Associ-ation of Southeast Asian Nations(ASEAN) and their six free tradeagreement partners — Australia,China, India, Japan, Korea andNew Zealand.
“With China opposing India’smove and not many countriessupporting India’s proposal onservices, it is possible that thenon-FTA partners have been club-bed together,” said a Delhi-basedexpert on trade matters, reques-ting anonymity.
The RCEP negotiations werelaunched in November 2012 andthe first round of negotiationswas held in 2013.
Although the deal has missedmany deadlines, it is hoped that alot of ground could be covered inthis round because Philippines isthe current chair of ASEAN.
India to Take Longer to CutDuties on Australia, NZ Goods Move prompted by
lack of FTAs with these
nations; Proposal to be
weighed at RCEP meet
DIFFERENTIAL TARIFF
India looks tooffer diffe-rential tariff
concessions to differentRCEP members
Our Bureau
New Delhi: Finance ministerArun Jaitley said there are noplans to tax agricultural income,while the Niti Aayog said a sugges-tion made to this effect was the per-sonal view of one of its members.
“I categorically state that the cen-tral government has no plan to im-pose any tax on agriculture inco-me,” Jaitley said, adding that hehas read the paragraph in Niti Aa-yog’s report titled ‘Income Tax onAgriculture Income.’ “As per theconstitutional allocation of po-wers, the central government hasno jurisdiction to impose tax onagricultural income.”
Bibek Debroy, a member of NitiAayog, said on Tuesday that agri-cultural income should be taxed.
In a clarification after newspa-per reports said that Niti Aayoghad proposed a tax on agriculturalincome, the think tank said this isnot its view and nor has such a re-commendation been made in thedraft action agenda document thatwas circulated to the governing
council at its meeting on April 23.“Niti Aayog notes that the views
on taxing farm income expressedby member Bibek Debroy werepersonal and not those of the Aay-og,” it said in the clarification.
Aayog, in its draft three-year ac-tion plan, had suggested measuresto tackle tax evasion, expand the taxbase and simplify the tax systemthrough reforms such as consolida-ting customs duty to a unified rate.Debroy had said there should be nodistinction between urban and ru-ral income and the threshold fortaxing both should be the same.“However, rural agriculture inco-me taxed could be an average ofthree years as it is subject to weat-her fluctuations,” Debroy said, ex-plaining the Aayog’s proposal to ex-pand the country’s taxpayer base.
Between 2007-08 and 2015-16, an es-timated 2,746 entities and individu-als each declared agricultural in-come of at least ̀̀ 1crore. Chief eco-nomic adviser Arvind Subramani-an had suggested in the EconomicSurvey that taxing the well-off inthe agricultural segment wouldhelp widen the taxpayer base.
No Plans to Tax AgriIncome, Says JaitleyGreener Pastures
Big Positives The agriculture ministry has readied the model law in consultation with Niti Aayog
Govt looks to help farmers get better prices by removing middlemen
The reforms are in line with the Centre’s vision of doubling farmers’ income by 2022
Farmers to get more choice to sell their produce
Single trader licence
Single levy of taxes
E- auctioning of crop produce
Big agricultural states such as Punjab, Haryana and UP are keen on rolling out the model act
