IMF says corporate income tax cut will help revive investment in India
Washington: The International Monetary Fund on Friday supported India's recent decision to reduce corporate income tax, saying it has a positive impact on investment. It, however, said India should address continued fiscal consolidation and secure long-term stability of the fiscal conditions.
"We believe India still has limited fiscal space so they have to be careful. We support their corporate income tax cut because it has a positive impact on investment," Changyong Rhee, Director, Asia and Pacific Department, IMF, told reporters at a news conference here.
Following a marked slowdown in the last two quarters in India, the economy is expected to grow at 6.1 per cent this fiscal year, picking up to 7.0 per cent in 2020, he said.
"The monetary policy stimulus and the announced corporate income tax cut are expected to help revive investment," said the top IMF official.
Anne-Marie Gulde-Wolf, Deputy Director, Asia and Pacific Department, IMF, said India should address the non-bank financial sector issues.
"While there have been improvements that have been put in motion, including efforts to recapitalise the state banks, the issue of non-bank financial institution remains partly unresolved and regulatory equity is one of the issues that needs to be achieved," she said.
The government is aware of it, she added.
"We also had a FSAP. So there are issues working at that and this is something that is why not yet fully achieved, but is entrained. While there are problems at this stage, increased attention to lending practices of non-bank financial institutions continue to be very important," Gulde-Wolf said.
Responding to a question, she said India overall has a fairly high level of debt and fiscal consolidation needs to be a priority. "However, implementing fiscal consolidation in the context of a federal system is much more complicated. The level of fiscal structural issues and challenges are different in different states," she said.
So one of the ways in which the IMF is engaged in this question is it has a regional training institute that has started working with the individual states on strengthening fiscal management at the state level, Gulde-Wolf said. In the context of surveillance engagement with India, she said, the IMF is increasingly placing emphasis on the need to better coordinate the fiscal state level activities and fiscal activities.
"But it is a concern that the authorities are taking serious and are working at," Gulde-Wolf said.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Two arrested in K'taka for assaulting minors, uploading CSAM content
Bengaluru (PTI): Two men were arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting two minor girls, recording the acts on mobile phones and uploading the videos online as child sexual abuse material, police said on Thursday.
The accused have been identified as Kiran Kumar (29), hailing from Chitradurga district, and Aditya M K (20), hailing from Shivamogga district, they said.
A probe was initiated after information was received from the NCRP portal regarding a suspected instance of creation of Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) for online dissemination, police said.
Accordingly, a case was registered at Kaggalipura Police Station under relevant sections of the IT Act on May 10, they added.
Investigation revealed that two minor girl victims were exploited and videos were created and uploaded to the internet. The child victims have subsequently recorded their statements as per procedure and further necessary legal steps have been taken, Pronab Mohanty Director General of Police, Cyber Command, said in a statement.
Based on the statements of the victims, the accused persons, who allegedly assaulted the minors, recorded the acts on mobile phones and uploaded the videos online, were arrested, he said.
Following the probe, sections 65(2) (rape) and 70 (gangrape) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, along with relevant sections of the POCSO Act, have been added to the FIR, police said.
Officials collected relevant information and on May 12, arrested the accused persons and seized three mobile phones belonging to them, in which the videos had allegedly been recorded, he said.
The accused were later produced before the court and taken into police custody for further investigation, he added.
According to him, in CSAM cases, police usually apprehend offenders who have downloaded such content or have kept them in their possession after obtaining them from elsewhere, usually the internet.
"The present case is one of the very few instances where content creators and uploaders have been apprehended," Mohanty added.
