Now Customs finds hair smuggling scandal in Bengal
Sun, Feb 28 2021 09:13:27 AM
By Anand Singh
New Delhi, Feb 28 (IANS): Even as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) are tightening the noose around the coal mafias and the cattle smugglers in West Bengal, the Central Customs department has found another smuggling racket of undervaluing the value of the export of the raw human hair from India to other countries and then smuggling it to China via land route, officials said.
After identifying the new modus operandi of the undervaluation of the raw human hair variety, which is also called goli or thutti or choti the Customs department has alerted the officials of the multiple agencies including Goods and Services Tax (GST), Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) and Airport Authorities across India.
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Legal experts said, however, that accepting payment in cryptocurrency falls in a legal grey area and that such transactions could be in violation of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) as they constitute cross-border payments in a currency not recognised by the Reserve Bank of India. The lack of clarity on whether India will treat cryptocurrency as a currency, a product, or both, adds to the confusion around how to tax it, experts said.
“Any payment against goods or services across borders offered by an Indian entity has to be in a currency recognised by the RBI,” said Rashmi Deshpande at law firm Khaitan & Co. She added that since the government has no way of tracking crypto payments coming into people’s private wallets, tax avoidance is expected.
Synopsis
Many Indian techies get paid in cryptocurrency, say it’s faster and easier. India’s income tax department is looking at startup valuations, via a rarely used provision. Twitter is building a paywall and questions are being raised on Google Chrome’s incognito mode.
ETtech
Good evening,
This week we spoke to a techie in Gurugram who works for a crypto company in Singapore. So far, so mundane. What’s different about this is that he chooses to receive his earnings in cryptocurrency. And he isn’t alone. Despite an imminent ban, it seems India’s tech freelancers are among the first people anywhere to ditch ‘real’-money payments in favour of crypto. Surprised? So were we.
India has a standard operating procedure for foreign direct investment proposals requiring mandatory government approval. We briefly explain the process.
MUMBAI: A ban on cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin may result in wealth erosion for about 1 crore Indian investors, including 10 lakh traders, who are estimated to own assets collectively worth over Rs 10,000 crore. Crypto entrepreneurs said that a ban won’t just hurt their business but also lead to gains for foreign firms and increased action on the black market.
A complete ban will force self-regulated exchanges to shut down, said Nischal Shetty, co-founder & CEO of WazirX, one of India’s largest cryptocurrency bourses. “It will also eliminate possible data avenues for the government and regulators around the crypto ecosystem. A ban would lead to increased liquidity for the black market and push people to transact in cash for buying and selling Bitcoin,” Shetty told TOI.