IT dept to block PAN, LPG subsidy of defaulters

In order to cripple and check the activities of wilful tax defaulters, the Income Tax department has decided to "block" Permanent Account Number (PAN) of such entities, get their LPG subsidy cancelled and take measures to ensure that they are not sanctioned loans.

A number of such measures have been mooted by the tax department, to be undertaken this financial year, in order to curb the menace of large-scale tax avoidance and evasion.
As per a strategy paper prepared by the department, also accessed by PTI, the taxman will block PAN in such a way "that these defaulters are not sanctioned any loans or overdraft facility by public sector banks, as the same is bound to become non-performing assets".
Further, it said, "Ministry of Finance can be suggested to withdrawn facility like LPG subsidy which is directly credited in to the bank accounts of the said defaulters." This step, the strategy paper said, will act to "disincentive" the defaulters.
The taxman also proposes that the identities of such blocked PANs be circulated to the Registrar of Properties "with a request for not allowing any registration of immovable properties where such PANs are involved." Such defaulters' information has also been recommended to be circulated across tax offices so that their activities loans or government subsidy can be plugged country-wide.
The department has also decided to subscribe to the Credit Information Bureau Limited (CIBIL) data, on a possible payment basis, to check out the financial activities of defaulters and undertake action against them for recovery and freezing of assets.
CIBIL is an agency to collect and maintain records of an entities' payments pertaining to loans and credit cards.
The department, beginning last year, has also started to 'name and shame' large tax defaulters (over Rs 20 crore default) by publishing their names and other credentials in leading national dailies and on its official web portal.
Till now, 67 such entities have been put in public domain by the department.
The IT department, beginning this financial year, has also decided to publicly name all category of taxpayers who have a default of Rs one crore and above.
"Tax default is a major menace that the department is grappling with.These new measures are aimed to curb these instances in the right earnest," a senior IT official said.


Author :- http://www.moneycontrol.com/
Reposted By :- http://www.credit4loan.com/

Wilful defaulters: Working on new system for making list public, says RBI Governor

Reserve Bank Governor Raghuram Rajan on Saturday said the central bank is working on a new system for making public the list of wilful defaulters and new mechanism for out-of-court settlement of bad loan-related disputes. “We have no intent or desire to protect malfeasance. We are very happy to make that list public. In fact my people are working on making sure that we can put that list up in an accessible way and also of defaulters against whom suit has been filed because that is already public information,” he said. As of now credit information bureaus are maintaining a list of wilful defaulters — borrowers who default despite having the capacity to make repayments.
Data from Cibil, the agency which collates information on credit, show 6,819 wilful defaulters owed banks Rs 74,699 crore until December 2015, up from Rs 22,332 crore that 3,703 wilful defaulters owed until December 2012.
We are creating a structure to help out-of-court resolution and we are still at work. It’s work in progress. We are fine-tuning it, making sure it works,” he said. The RBI is in favour of protecting privacy of loan defaults where there are no wrongdoings. A blanket edict that everybody’s name should be made public on the website might not be desirable, he said. Rajan said said it might not be correct to flash the name of all and sundry, including those who forgot to pay their credit bills. “We have to be weary of killing entrepreneurship in this county by putting all unsuccessful risk taking in the same basket. We need risk taking, we need people to take risk,” he said. Rajan added the RBI is creating a structure for an out of court settlement of the disputes relating to bad debts. He said early enactment of the bankruptcy code would give a ‘serious’ instrument in the hands of bankers, who till now lacked any such law to recover their loans in a meaningful way. “Till recently the threat that banks could make to promoters was meaningless, which is why promoters could go to bankers and say take 25 paise on the rupee, otherwise I will see you in a court for the next 15 years,” he said. Rajan said the RBI accorded priority to protecting jobs by trying to put stressed assets back into health, while investigative agencies deal with cases of malfeasance. “I think we have it (NPAs) contained,” Rajan said while speaking at a memorial lecture. The RBI had asked banks to start recognising all stressed assets from October-December quarter. The move led to a spurt in gross NPAs in the PSBs by about Rs 1 lakh crore to about Rs 4 lakh crore at end-December 2015. “But I also want workers in plants today, who are in danger of losing their jobs, to have that job, to be able to produce, because non-functional assets are in nobody’s interest, certainly not in the nation’s,” he said. RBI Guv calls money a great equaliser Stating that money empowers the society more than many other forms of affirmative action, RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan on Saturday argued for increasing society’s tolerance for its use rather than prohibiting the use of money and wealth. Rajan said making it easy for Dalits to start businesses may do more for their social status because money empowers than many other forms of affirmative action. “It is the great equaliser, that so many people across history have been able to acquire resources and invested them to make the world we live in,” Rajan said at a function organised by the Shiv Nadar University. “Income inequality is on the rise, with some having colossal incomes and others worrying about the next meal,” Rajan said about the widening rich-poor gap. Unfortunately, even while inequality between countries is diminishing today, inequality within countries is increasing, he said. In part, this is because skills and capabilities have become much more important in well-paid jobs, and those born in good circumstances have a much better chance, he said. According to him, the winner-take-all nature of many occupations accentuates the value of early childhood preparation; and hence the benefit of being born to the right parents. Rajan also cautioned students about unscrupulous schools which leave students with high education loans and ‘useless degrees’. “We should make sure that unscrupulous schools do not prey on uninformed students, leaving them with high debt and useless degrees,” he said. “The bottom line is that education at high quality research universities will remain expensive for a while, certainly till we learn to combine technology and people better,” Rajan said. ENS

Author :- http://indianexpress.com/
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Try credit info firms for data on defaulters: RBI to RTI query

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) seems to be confused about how to respond to queries related to the disclosure of wilful defaulters.

While the regulator had earlier dismissed a query filed by BusinessLine under the Right to Information Act, 2005 saying it did not have the resources to compile the list of defaulters, a second reply from another desk in the RBI has passed the buck on to credit information companies such as Credit Information Bureau (India) Ltd (CIBIL).

“Banks and financial institutions have been advised to submit the data regarding wilful defaulters and defaulters to Credit Information Companies and not to the RBI from December 2014 onwards. Therefore, we do not have the information,” the RBI said, in response to an RTI filed by BusinessLine.

In an earlier reply, dated April 7, the regulator had said: “Compilation of the same (list of wilful defaulters) would disproportionately divert resources.”

This comes even as pressure builds on the central bank to put in place a system that would name and shame wilful defaulters. The Supreme Court had recently said that it was in favour of making public the list of defaulters. The apex court has observed that “the RBI is supposed to uphold public interest and not the interest of individual banks”, nor is the central bank in “any fiduciary relationship with any bank”.

However, the central bank has so far refused to make the names public on the ground that it would affect companies’ health if they are in genuine difficulty and “may accentuate the failure of the business rather than nursing it back to health”.

Various bank associations and unions are demanding a more pro-active response by the RBI. “If publication of the names of defaulters would defame them or result in loss of business, why is no such consideration being shown for the common man who avails a bank loan? …when it comes to industrialists, all soft options are being advocated,” said a statement from the All India Bank Employees’ Association.

More than 5,600 defaulters

According to one estimate, there are more than 5,600 wilful defaulters, who together owe more than ₹60,000 crore to banks.

Indian National Bank Employees’ Federation General Secretary Subhash Sawant said the RBI’s argument that it cannot allot resources to draw up a list of defaulters does not hold much water because banks have been computerising their operations for the past 15 years. All the information is available at the click of a button.

Author :- http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/

Reposted By :- http://credit4loan.com/