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Taxability of Corporate Guarantees under GST

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– Dayita Kanodia, Executive | finserv@vinodkothari.com

A person who can’t pay gets another person who can’t pay, to guarantee that he can pay.

– Charles Dickens

Background

It is a common practice for companies to issue guarantees for loans taken by their group companies. When transactions happen between related parties, there is always a likelihood of them being not at arm’s length. 

Accordingly, this has led to questions that whether such corporate guarantees given without any consideration shall be liable to GST. A Supreme Court ruling issued earlier this year has clarified that corporate guarantees issued without any consideration shall not be liable to service tax. 

Therefore while the situation in case of levy of service tax has been clarified by the ruling, the same has led to a lot of ambiguities and questions for the levy of GST on such guarantees. This article aims to clarify the same.   

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RBI regulates outsourcing of IT Services by financial entities

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-Anirudh Grover, Executive | finserv@vinodkothari.com

1. Introduction

With the penetration of the internet in India, newer and more efficient technologies are being built and these dynamic technologies are being leveraged by various sectors of the economy, and the financial sector is one of them. Financial institutions have extensively been outsourcing their IT services requirements to third parties in order to get easier access to newer technologies. In this process of availing the services of a third party, financial institutions expose themselves to significant financial, operational, and reputational risk as the Reserve Bank of India has pointed out.

Accordingly, the RBI in the year 2022 had in its Statement on Developmental and Regulatory Policies proposed to issue draft directions on outsourcing of IT services since the existing Directions on Managing Risks and Code in Outsourcing of Financial Services (‘Guidelines on Outsourcing of Financial Services’) as provided for in the Master Direction- Non Banking Financial Company- Systemically Important Non Deposit taking Company and Deposit taking Company (Reserve Bank) Directions, 2016 (Updated as on December 29, 2022) (‘SI Directions’)  specifically excluded IT services from its ambit. Following which on June 23, 2022 the RBI issued Draft Master Direction on Outsourcing of IT Services (‘Draft IT Outsourcing Directions’) for public comments. We had briefly in our previous write up discussed the introduction of the Draft IT Outsourcing Directions. 

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Liquidity stress testing for NBFCs

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– Vinod Kothari

finserv@vinodkothari.com

Stress testing is a part of risk management process. Stress testing envisages those plausible, however, low frequency events, which may occur and disrupt the operations. In the context of a financial intermediary – stress may be seen either in the solvency (that is, capital is not sufficient to absorb the risks or losses), or liquidity (that is, the bank is perfectly solvent, and yet, does not have enough liquidity to discharge immediate liability).

The need for stress testing comes from para 15A (para 15 for non-systemically important NBFCs) read with Annex II of the Master Directions for NBFCs[1] which provide as follows:

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The Dos and Don’ts of Penal Charges

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RBI to release guidelines on penal charges 

– Tejasvi Thakkar, Executive | finserv@vinodkothari.com

Introduction 

The Reserve Bank of India (‘RBI’) announced various policy measures in its Statement on Developmental and Regulatory Policies dated February 08, 2023, which includes introduction of guidelines for regulating the penal charges levied by financial institutions in case of delay or default in repayment of loans or where there is a non-compliance of ‘material’ terms and conditions. RBI observed that some of the financial institutions were levying unreasonable penal charges. It has time and again been RBI’s concern that financial institutions levy excessive charges under the garb of different names such as penal charges, penal interests, legal charges, notice charges, levy charges etc. A large number of customer grievances with respect to excessive penal charges and divergent practices have influenced the regulator to think on these lines.  

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National financial information repository: One more or one for all?

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– Lovish Jain, Executive | lovish@vinodkothari.com

Some days ago, Mr. Vinod Kothari had commented on a LinkedIn post :

“Do we realise how many places does a lender (NBFC, Bank) register information about a loan? There are 4 credit information companies (such as CIBIL) where the credit data, including performance history, is uploaded. If the exposure is Rs 5 crores or above, in the aggregate over the banking system, information goes on CRILC too.

RBI has recently written to NBFCs reminding them of the obligation to register details with NeSL, an information utility under IBC, irrespective of whether the provisions of Code apply (for example in case of individuals), or whether the lender in question is at all contemplating resorting to IBC as a remedy (for example, consumer loans).

If the loan is a secured loan, the details need to be filed with CERSAI. If the secured loan borrower is a company, details need to be filed with RoC too. If the security interest is on immovable property, one needs to file particulars with land registry. If the security interest is on motor vehicles, the hypothecation is registered with Vahan portal too.

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Meeting priority sector lending shortfalls: One more option

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Aanchal Kaur Nagpal, Manager | finserv@vinodkothari.com

Background

All scheduled commercial banks (including Regional Rural Banks and Small Finance Banks) are required to undertake priority sector lending. RBI mandates PSL to account for at least 40% of a bank’s Adjusted Net Bank Credit (ANBC) or Credit Equivalent of Off‐Balance Sheet Exposure whichever is higher, in accordance with the RBI PSL guidelines[1].

The intent behind prescribing PSL limits for banks is to enable certain sections of the society, though fairly credit-worthy but unable to obtain credit from the formal financial/ banking system, to access adequate credit. These sectors do not seem to be economically lucrative but are indispensable for the overall development and growth of India’s economy.

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Inter-lender balance transfer of loans: understanding the nuances

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-Kanakprabha Jethani (kanak@vinodkothari.com)

A crucial feature of the financial sector industry is that the services provided by financial institutions, including the interest rates charged, are not identical and hence, the customer has a choice to approach the lender whose offerings suit the needs of the customer. The choice is influenced by various factors including the ease of onboarding process, information sought, interest and charges levied, customer redressal mechanism etc. In the lending industry, given the options available with the borrower, it has been a common practice to move to new lenders when they provide more favourable terms. Read more →

One stop RBI norms on transfer of loan exposures

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– Financial Services Division (finserv@vinodkothari.com)

[This version dated 24th September, 2021. We are continuing to develop the write-up further – please do come back]

The RBI has consolidated the guidelines with respect to transfer of standard assets as well as stressed assets by regulated financial entities under a common regulation named Reserve Bank of India (Transfer of Loan Exposures) Directions, 2021 (“Directions”).

The Directions divided into five operative chapters- the first one specifying the scope and definitions, the second one laying down general conditions applicable on all loan transfers, the third one specifying the requirements in case of transfer of loans which are not in default, that is standard assets, the fourth one provides the additional requirement for transfer of stressed assets and the fifth chapter is on disclosure and reporting requirements. Read more →

NBFCs licensed for KYC authentication: Guide to the new RBI privilege for Aadhaar e-KYC Authentication

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-Kanakprabha Jethani (kanak@vinodkothari.com)

Background

On September 13, 2021, the RBI issued a notification[1] (‘RBI Notification’) permitting all NBFCs, Payment System Providers and Payment System Participants to carry out authentication of client’s Aadhaar number using e-KYC facility provided by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), subject, of course, to license being granted by MoF. The process involves an application to the RBI, onward submission after screening of the application by the RBI, then a further screening by UIDAI, and final grant of authentication by the MoF,

We discuss below the underlying requirements of the PMLA, Aadhaar Act and regulations thereunder (defined below) and other important preconditions for this new-found authorisation for NBFCs. Read more →