Ulips, equity MFs to lose tax cover in new-look Code

Unit-linked insurance plans (Ulips), equity-oriented mutual fund schemes and a number of other popular savings and investment instruments will lose their tax immunity, and with it, their attractiveness when the Direct Taxes Code (DTC) comes into operation.

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) plans to reduce the number of instruments that qualify for tax deductions to only about half a dozen, its chairman SSN Moorty said, as the government overhauls the direct tax regime to try and make it simpler, boost revenues and encourage long-term savings. The Rs 3-lakh tax deduction limit proposed in the draft DTC will also be lowered.

Revised proposals for a new Direct Taxes Code to replace the nearly 50-year-old Income-Tax Act were unveiled on Tuesday. The government has said it hopes to operationalise the code by April 2011.

Ulips, which are hybrid products incorporating investment and insurance cover as traits, are particularly popular. In the 2009-10 fiscal, such products accounted for more than four-fifths of the total insurance premium of around Rs 2.60 lakh crore that was collected. They are controversial too: capital market regulator Sebi and insurance regulator Irda are involved in a tug-of-war over who has the right to regulate Ulip products.

“Ulips will be out of the exempt, exempt, exempt (EEE) tax regime,” said a senior finance ministry official, referring to the different stages at which financial instruments may be taxed.

At present, individuals who invest in Ulips do not pay tax at any stage—at the time of investment or contribution, during the tenure of investment, or at maturity. It qualifies for tax deduction along with a host of other savings schemes, including bank deposits, equity-oriented mutual funds, national savings certificate deposits and principal repayment on home loans. Taxpayers can claim a deduction of up to Rs 1 lakh a year on these instruments.

“Tax benefits are a key driver for insurance penetration and dilution of any benefits will have an impact on penetration,” said GV Nageswara Rao, MD and CEO, IDBI Fortis Life insurance.

The revised proposals make it clear that only six schemes—public provident fund (PPF), the pension scheme administered by the Pension Fund Development Regulatory Authority, general provident fund, recognised provident funds and pure life insurance and annuity schemes—will be tax-free. Tax will not be levied at any stage on these schemes.

The new pension scheme will also be covered by the EEE method of taxation and withdrawals will not be taxed at maturity.

However, investments made before the DTC comes into force will continue to be eligible for the EEE method of tax treatment for the full duration of the financial instrument. This means an investor who buys a Ulip before the DTC comes into force will not be taxed at any stage during the full tenure.

Ulips could be taxed at the time of maturity, but the government has not clarified yet the tax treatment of the products.

“The existing tax treatment of Ulips is beneficial as it helps in the flow of funds to the infrastructure sector, besides contributing significantly to the capital market”, said R Kannan, member-actuary, Irda.

The original code had proposed the concept of savings intermediaries that would invest the amounts deposited with them in Ulips, equity-linked mutual fund schemes, debt-oriented mutual fund schemes or other financial products depending on investors’ choice. Withdrawals would be taxed, but not a rollover.

CBDT has dropped the proposal to tax savings instruments at maturity in the absence of a social security system.

The aim now is to encourage taxpayers to invest in long-term savings schemes. PPF, for instance, has a 15-year tenure, although partial withdrawals are allowed after the sixth year. The revised discussion paper has said the rules for contribution and withdrawal will be harmonised and made uniform so that savings are made by the taxpayer for the long term.

Source: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/personal-finance/mutual-funds/mf-news/Ulips-equity-MFs-to-lose-tax-cover-in-new-look-Code/articleshow/6056607.cms

India to buy back Rs 100 bn of bonds on June 18

India plans to buy back Rs 100 billion ($2.1 billion) of bonds via a multiple price auction on June 18, the central bank said in a statement after market hours on Wednesday.

This is a part of the government's plan to buy back up to a nominal amount of 200 billion rupees in one or more tranches, it added. It will buy back the 12.25 percent bonds maturing in 2010, 11.30 percent 2010 and the 6.57 percent 2011 bonds, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said.

The buyback is "purely of ad-hoc nature and will be funded through the current surplus cash balances of the government," the RBI said in a statement.

An expected outflow of over 1.36 trillion rupees between late May and June towards third generation (3G) and broadband spectrum auction payments and advance taxes has squeezed liquidity with banks and sent pushed up overnight cash rates.

Source: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/bonds/India-to-buy-back-Rs-100-bn-of-bonds-on-June-18/articleshow/6055974.cms

We continue to be bullish on pharma: Reliance Mutual Fund

His rise within the organisation as well as in the fund management industry has been dramatic. But for the past few months, there has been speculation that Madhusudan Kela, head-equities, Reliance Mutual Fund, is quitting. Untrue, insists Mr Kela. In an interview with ET, he says that he is still bullish on the big picture India story. However, in the short term, global sentiment will prevail, he cautions.

How do you see the market playing out near term in light of global developments?

In the next 6-12 months, the market will still be ruled by global sentiment. The ongoing debt crisis in Europe can have a meaningful impact on markets globally as in India, if the situation worsens. If one or two Eurozone countries were to default or the euro as a currency breaks down, there will be chaos.

Similarly, if there is slowdown in China, the Indian market will be impacted. Currently, the Indian market is trading at a 25% premium to China. If China’s earnings multiple contracts, there could be a valuation challenge for India as well. However, we have seen over the past six years that the market has produced significantly better returns than most countries in the world. The India story is getting stronger.

For instance, this year, you will see a significant fiscal consolidation, which was a major worry for the market. Over the next 2-3 years, the gas and oil reserves will materialise and this will further improve our fiscal position. And the real dark horse could be the UID project which can significantly prune the subsidies and improve tax collection. And hopefully, the pilferage will reduce. I believe a 8-9% growth with more reforms from the government looks real in the next five years.

How steep do you expect the correction, if it does come through, to be?

If the situation in global markets worsens, we could even see a 15-20% correction in Indian shares. But since India’s fundamentals are only getting better, and viewed in the global context, overseas fund managers will be compelled to increase their exposure to India. Any meaningful correction will be a great buying opportunity for retail investors with a long-term view on equities.

Which are the sectors that interest you?

We continue to remain overweight on the pharma sector. We are bullish on companies which will benefit from the domestic consumption story in India. We like public sector banks. They have underperformed the market for a while due to concerns over rising bond yields and hence marked-to-market losses on the bond portfolio.

Our view is that PSU banks can grow their loan books 25% for each of the next three years, and they have the capital adequacy to meet the loan demand. The stocks are available at 1.2-1.5 times their book value, and you can’t go wrong if you have a 2-3-year perspective.

There is a lot of pessimism about the telecom sector, more so after the recent 3G bids. Would you take a contrarian view?

Much of the bad news in the sector is behind us. If these stocks see any sharp correction, we would definitely buy them. The stock prices may have underperformed over the past couple of years, but the customer base has more than doubled during the same period.

What about mid-cap stocks in general? Would you still go for them in current market conditions?

Yes, if there are opportunities, we will continue to invest in companies with scalable business models, with earnings growth faster than large-caps, and available relatively cheaper to large-caps.

Your strategy of betting on mid-caps in a big way has been criticised by your peers. They accuse you of boosting portfolio returns by buying into firms with low-floating stock.

Companies like Siemens and Jindal Steel & Power were mid-caps when we first bought them. Not only have they delivered better returns, but are now ranked among the large caps. But I must admit that there have been some wrong bets as well. We have tweaked our mid-cap strategy a bit. We will not buy into very small companies, and would focus on companies with a minimum m-cap of Rs 1,000-1,500 crore.

Locally, what are the factors that could dampen sentiment for stocks?

Below average monsoon would rank high on that list. The reforms process needs to be accelerated. The government has shown resolve, but it needs to build on it, especially in terms of attracting more FDI flows. Rising instances of Maoist and Naxalite attacks could make foreign fund managers nervous. We are highly dependent on inflows at this stage, because there is not much money coming in locally.

How much cash on an average would you be keeping in your portfolio? Your strategy of aggressive cash positions last year was criticised in industry circles.

We will use it more as a tool to improve the portfolio mix. We will not shy away from keeping a higher cash level than our peers if market conditions warrant. But it will not be as high (25%) as was the case last year.

Source: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Views/Recommendations/articleshow/6044704.cms