CII Recommends Capital Gains exemption on Transfer of Shares by Sponsor to REITs/InvITs

Exemp REITs/ InvITs from MAT and DDT at SPV level: CII

The Budget 2014-15 notified the norms where Real Estate Investment Trust (REITs)/ Infrastructure Investment Trust (InvITs) was provided the ‘pass through’ status for the purpose of taxation to attract long-term foreign and domestic investors. Later, SEBI had put in place the regulations for listing of new business trust structure that would help attract more funds in a transparent manner into the realty sector. However, much needs to be done on the tax structures of this instrument for it to become more efficient for domestic as well as overseas investors, stated CII in a press release issued here today.

For sponsors to structure REITs/ InvITs, there is a need to exchange shares in Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) with units of REITs/InvITs. Such exchange of shares is in reality not a commercial transaction as the stakeholders of shares of SPVs are the same as unit holders of REITs/InvITs. Hence, there is no sound basis of taxing such an exchange in the absence of real income. Finance (No. 2) Bill, 2014 proposed capital gain tax on capital gains arising to the Sponsor on sale of REITs units held by the Sponsor (post listing of units). The Bill proposed deferment of capital gains tax on capital gains arising at the time of exchange of shares in SPVs with units of the REITs, and taxing the capital gains at the time of disposal of units by the sponsor. Currently, Sponsors / Promoters of listed companies enjoy the benefit of long term capital gain tax exemption where STT is levied / paid. CII has recommended that long term capital gains tax should be exempted for sponsors of REITs/ Invits.

Mr Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General, CII mentioned that “as exchange of shares is being done only to initialize REITs/ InvITs with assets, therefore such gains should be exempt from Minimum Alternate Tax (MAT) as well as this act of exchange is not a transaction and therefore should not be treated as such.  There could be a potential MAT liability on such transfer, and CII has suggested for an exemption from the potential MAT liability also on such cashless transfers, since there is no change in the ultimate economic owner of the asset.”

Further, since REITs are required to mandatorily distribute almost the entire annual income as dividends to unit holders, the underlying SPV would necessarily have to suffer the dividend distribution tax (DDT) liability when it distributes income to the REIT. “This results in a multiple layer of tax, since the SPV would suffer this DDT levy in addition to corporate income tax on its taxable income. Outflow of Corporate Tax and DDT will bring down the earnings for distribution.  Hence, SPV should be exempt from DDT on dividend distributed to REITs/InvITs”, stated Mr Banerjee. CII recommended that DDT exemption is imperative on REITs/Invit to provide an effective tax structure and therefore, DDT exemption should be extended to SPVs where REITs hold the minimum stake as required by the regulations.

CII has said that easier taxation rules could provide a fillip to REITs as a lot of global capital is looking at new investment opportunities and business friendly regulations would help attract more funds in a transparent manner into the real estate sector.

Inclusive Growth, Competitiveness Top Agenda as Leaders Gather for India Economic Summit

The World Economic Forum, in partnership with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), is hosting the India Economic Summit in New Delhi this week on 4-6 November.

Under the theme, Redefining Public-Private Cooperation for a New Beginning, the summit convenes against a backdrop of significant economic growth and progress in reducing poverty in most parts of India, but also persistent inequality. The programme is built on three pillars: Boosting Global Competitiveness; Launching a Domestic Systems Reset; and Scaling Local and Social Innovation. More than 700 leaders from business, government, civil society and academia from 45 countries will take part.

• Finance, Corporate Affairs and Defence Minister Arun Jaitley will open India Economic Summit
• The summit is hosted by the World Economic Forum in partnership with the Confederation of Indian Industry
• More than 700 participants from 45 countries will take part in the summit from 4 to 6 November
• Inclusive growth, competitiveness, health and infrastructure are the focus of the summit

“India’s progress depends fundamentally on the ability of its leaders to take the bold decisions necessary to transform the country’s economy and society. By bringing together leaders from politics, business and across society, we hope the summit will offer an environment where such decisions can be catalysed, and where commitment and creativity can be drawn on to build a future fit for all Indians,” said Viraj Mehta, Director, Head of India and South Asia, World Economic Forum.

“The meeting comes as the new government completes six months in office,” said Chandrajit Banerjee, Director-General, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). “Business leaders are keen to engage with the government and see how it plans to restart the investment cycle, revive demand and convert the first signs of revival into a full-fledged recovery.”

Led by Finance, Corporate Affairs and Defence Minister Arun Jaitley, key public figures from India who will participate are: Nitin Jairam Gadkari, Minister of Road Transport, Highways and Shipping; Piyush Goyal, Minister of State for Power, Coal, New and Renewable Energy; Smriti Zubin Irani, Minister of Human Resource Development; Ravi Shankar Prasad, Minister of Communications and Information Technology; and Nirmala Sitharaman, Minister of State for Commerce and Industry. They will be addressing thematic sessions on the most pressing issues for the country and the administration, such as infrastructure, energy, skills and education, and telecommunications.

Heads of state/government and international public figures who will participate include: Daniel Kablan Duncan, Prime Minister of Côte d’Ivoire; Paul Kagame, President of Rwanda; Shimon Peres, President of Israel (2007-2014); Kwesi Amissah-Arthur, Vice-President of Ghana;William Danvers, Deputy Secretary-General, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD); and Rajiv Shah, Administrator, US Agency for International Development (USAID).

The Co-Chairs of the summit are: Shobhana Bhartia, Chairperson and Editorial Director, HT Media, India; James Hogan, President and Chief Executive Officer, Etihad Airways, United Arab Emirates; Yorihiko Kojima, Chairman of the Board, Mitsubishi Corporation, Japan; Anand Mahindra, Chairman and Managing Director, Mahindra & Mahindra, India; and Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy, Documentary Filmmaker, SOC Films, Pakistan.

‘Make in India’, ‘Skill India’ and ‘Digital India’ to enable MSMEs attain Exponential Growth: Madhav Lal, Secretary, Ministry of MSME

CII in Partnership with the Ministry of MSME, Government of India organized the Global SME Business Summit 2014. The day one of the event focused on connecting Global SMEs for mutual business development and explore emerging markets. During the event, Mr Madhav Lal, Secretary, Ministry of MSME, discussed the intent of the Government of India and the Ministry of MSME to lead Indian MSMEs on a high growth path. After highlighting the role played by MSMEs in the economic landscape of the country, he spoke about the dual role that the Ministry of MSME plays in assisting MSMEs in terms of providing them with a supportive framework through policy advocacy and by bringing about institutional reforms in areas of policy vacuum including taxation reform, regulatory systems’ reforms, finance provisioning reforms, etc. He shed some light on the recent initiatives of the Prime Minister of India, Mr. Narendra Modi, for support to MSMEs. The most significant measures include the Make in India initiative, Skill India for skill development, Digital India for ICT interventions, etc. He also made a mention of the announcements in the Union Budget 2014-15 for the provision of a Rs 10,000 crore venture capital fund and a Rs 200 crore technology centres fund, accreditation of enterprises in this sector, virtual clusters, online filing of EM I and II, incubation centres, etc. These initiatives make it clear that the government is focused on supporting the MSMEs. He illustrated the need for identifying important verticals within this sector with differing interests with regards to government’s policy interventions and highlighted the merits of adopting a focused approach to benefit these verticals. Mr Madhav Lal inaugurated the 11^th edition of Global SME Business Summit 2014 today in New Delhi.

Mr R C Bhargava, Chairman, Maruti Suzuki India Limited in his Keynote Address, disclosed the role played by MSMEs in assisting Maruti Suzuki in its journey to become the biggest car manufacturing company. He spoke about the diversity of opportunities evolving in the auto components sector for MSMEs. He discussed the role played by Maruti in cluster development, skill formation, etc. He also added that, to make the PM’s call to grow manufacturing a reality different rules and incentives need to be devised for MSME’s working as vendors to modern manufacturing. A capital investment based criteria is inappropriate and in fact creates a disincentive to improving technology, productivity, quality and reducing costs. He said that industry will not become competitive if this persists. This applies not only to auto but aerospace, capital goods, power generating and transmission equipment, consumer durables and so on. The entire package of incentives should lead to enhancing competitiveness of manufacturing, and upgrade of all aspects of their work, commented Mr Bhargava.

The report “The New Wave Indian MSME: An Action Agenda for Growth” was released by Mr Madhav Lal at the Session.

The report “The New Wave Indian MSME: An Action Agenda for Growth” was released by Mr Madhav Lal at the Session. This report suggests an alternative framework for the definition of MSMEs. This report outlines relevant recommendations for an opportunity framework built around five growth enabling pillars comprising: infrastructure, regulatory framework, funding, performance incentives and skill India. It also contains global best practises and is in line with the government’s vision of policy incentives for the MSME sector in India.

Ms Patricia Hewitt, Chair, UK India Business Council, emphasized on building a healthy India UK SME partnership. She explained that through improvements in factors like gaining access to networks and contacts; establishing a dialogue and building a relationship with actors in the market; navigating unfamiliar business environments, including differences in language and culture; procedural barriers such as product standards and other aspects of the legal and regulatory framework; assessing the competitive environment and identifying potential opportunities and risks; etc., the small and medium enterprises of both countries can be enabled to explore and expand their businesses in each other’s domain.

Mr T T Ashok, Co-Chairman, CII National SME Council, shared about the various features of the session which include 8 sectoral sessions on emerging sectors with relevance for SME penetration and internalization, 6 country sessions to explore cross-border partnership opportunities of mutual benefit, the India SME expo showcasing 50 national as well as international SMEs, their products and services and a special National Vendor Development Program with leading CPSEs in India to enable Public Sector Enterprises to identify suitable vendors in the MSE category and to provide SMEs with an opportunity to interact with these CPSEs and cement long term partnerships. He added that looking ahead, the challenge lies in building the next generation of SMEs that will collectively function as the powerhouse of the global economy. To achieve this, governments and industry around the world would need to make many collaborative efforts to create conducive eco-systems for MSMEs within their respective geographies and across regions.

CII Business Confidence Index Shoots Up Second Time in a Row

Indicating a sharp improvement for the second consecutive quarter, the CII Business Confidence Index (CII-BCI) for July-Sept quarter FY15 has shot up to 57.4, up from 53.7 in April-June quarter and 49.9 in Jan-March quarter this year. During the same quarter last fiscal, the index had touched the all-time low value of 45.7. The number 50 is the dividing line on the index between positive and weak business confidence.

Commenting on the upward march in the value of index, Mr. Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General, CII, said that “the determination shown by the new government at the Center to provide an impetus to growth along with reviving the ‘feel good’ factor has sent the business confidence index soaring for the second quarter in a row. In order to capitalize on the early signs of improving business sentiments, we must ensure that this momentum is maintained going forward.”

The 88th Business Outlook Survey is based on responses from over 150 industry members. Majority of the respondents (44 per cent) belong to large-scale sector, while medium scale companies comprise another 12 per cent. Around 38 per cent and 6 per cent respectively are from the small-scale and micro firms. Further, 60 per cent of the respondents are from manufacturing and 36 per cent are from the services sector.

The highest percentage (41 per cent) of respondents expected GDP in the current fiscal to expand by 5.0-5.5 per cent, up from sub-5 per cent growth witnessed in the last two years. In fact, 30 per cent respondents expected GDP to grow in a range of 5.5-6.0 per cent in FY15, which indicates that 6 per cent growth is within reach this year. We have already started this financial year on an impressive note with the first quarter GDP recording a growth of 5.7 per cent, up from 4.6 per cent in the previous quarter.

WPI Inflation is expected to average 5.5-6.5 per cent in FY15, which is slightly on a higher side considering the likelihood of a sub-normal monsoon this year. “The management of inflationary expectations through supply-side measures would hold the key for ensuring continued momentum of economic revival”, suggested Mr. Banerjee.

The expectation of higher economic growth in the current fiscal is rooted in optimism about the overall demand situation. A significant 77 per cent of the respondents expected their sales to increase in the July-Sep quarter, much higher than 50 per cent respondents in the previous quarter. Similarly, 49 per cent of the respondents expected their export orders to increase in July-Sep quarter compared to 39 per cent respondents in the previous quarter.

The revival in domestic and global demand has resulted in a majority (46 per cent) of the surveyed businesses contemplating new investment in the July-Sep quarter, whereas only 10 per cent expected contraction. This indicates that economic recovery is sustainable, provided we maintain the demand momentum, where the monetary stance by the Central Bank will play a crucial role.

The businesses, besides undertaking new investments, have started experiencing a rise in capacity utilization. Nearly half (49.5 per cent) of the respondent firms expected their capacity utilization to exceed 75 per cent in July-Sep quarter of FY15, up from 34 per cent respondents in the previous quarter, which augurs well for the turnaround of the economy.

CII survey has observed a sharp decline in the percentage of respondents reporting increase in inputs costs related to raw materials, energy and employees in the Jul-Sep quarter as compared to the previous quarter, which is in line with the official data specifying the current moderation in inflation rate.

Expectation of recovery in sales, coupled with sharp decline in input costs, has led to a rise in percentage of respondents expecting an increase in profits after tax (PAT) in the July-Sept quarter to 40 per cent as against 36 per cent in the previous quarter. On the other hand, the percentage of respondents reporting a decline in PAT between the two periods declined from 30 per cent to 20 per cent.

A slow pick up in global demand, high inflation and rising borrowing costs are cited to be the top three concerns of the respondents. “While we can do little about addressing the global slowdown concern, all policy options must be explored to tackle the problem of inflation and high borrowing cost. At a time when economic recovery needs to be strengthened, the ideal policy instrument would be to manage inflation through supply-side measures, and make a direct intervention to reduce borrowing costs”, added Mr. Banerjee.