With the government of India relaxing the sourcing norms for foreign direct investment (FDI) in single-brand retail in 2012, Swedish furniture and home furnishing chain IKEA announced in October their intention to open stores in India. Pratap (M Pratap, Indian administrative services officer, and CEO of APInvest, Andhra Pradesh’s investment initiative) found out the contact name and phone number of Juvencio Maeztu, the CEO of IKEA India. I requested him to visit Hyderabad once.

Publication: Quartz

Date: August 22, 2019

Pepperfry, an eight year-old furniture and decor company has managed to succeed in a complex category like furniture where close to 90% of the sector is unorganized. While many other platforms entered the category and fizzled out with time, Pepperfry continues to hold its own. In the e-commerce adoption cycle, furniture comes in at a later stage (compared to books, electronics, fashion, grocery etc.) but Pepperfry now stands at 65 stores across 24 cities and aims to launch 100 Pepperfry Studios by next year.

Publication: AdAge

Date: August 21, 2019

To help startups move from the Innovators Growth Platform of stock exchanges to the main board, Sebi on Wednesday announced a new set of norms to allow them to shift after one year to regular trading and expanding their shareholder base to at least 200. The company would also need to have a profitablity/ networth track record of three years or at least 75 per cent of its shareholding should be with qualified institutional investors. After its board meeting, Sebi said the minimum promoter contribution would need to be 20 per cent, which would be locked in for three years.

Publication: The Economic Times

Date: August 21, 2019

The government recently issued two circulars—No. 92/11/2019 GST, dated March 7, 2019, followed by the June Circular—to elucidate the provisions contained under section 15(3)(b) of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, and which post-sale/secondary discounts merit consideration under said provisions. The March Circular went on the premise that secondary discounts, where the supplier reduces the value of goods, initially supplied to the buyer, at a later stage (post-supply), are typically unknown to buyers, and they would not warrant deductions under the law.

Publication : Financial Express

Date : August 23, 2019

The Narendra Modi government has proposed a major change in the online transfer of funds as it looks to clamp down on illegal transactions. The proposal mooted by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman will require banks to obtain prior approval of account holders before money is credited to their accounts. At present, any body can register another person as a beneficiary and transfer the money without prior approval. Banking industry experts say the proposal, if implemented, will delay online payments that have evolved in the direction of real time payments with the advent of technologies like IMPS and RTGS.

Publication : Financial Express

Date : August 22, 2019

Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) on Thursday said that startups with turnover up to Rs 25 crore will continue to avail the tax holiday as per the Section 80-IAC of the Income Tax Act, 1961 that offers deduction for 100 per cent of income of an eligible startup for three years out of seven years since the incorporation year. The board also said that even if the startups are DPIIT recognised, they cannot become eligible for deduction under Section 80-IAC and that startups must comply with the conditions mentioned under the said section to become eligible.

Publication : Financial Express

Date : August 22, 2019