Company News

The Indian government recently proposed to establish a new law in order to better regulate the country’s microfinance industry that is faced with complaints of aggressive lending practices and high interest rates. Aiming to bring various microfinance institutions (MFIs) under the regulation of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the proposed law is expected to strongly impact smaller players who look for large profit through their lending businesses.

On October 18, 2010, the State Council issued the Circular on Unifying the Systems for City Construction Tax and Educational Surcharge on Chinese- and Foreign-funded Enterprises and Individuals (guofa [2010] No. 35), which expanded the coverage of City Construction Tax (CCT) and Education Surcharge (ES) to include foreign invested enterprises, foreign enterprises and foreign individuals (“FIEs”) in addition to domestic enterprises.

China’s Regulations on the Standards for Classification of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (the “Regulations”) were jointly promulgated by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the National Bureau of Statistics, the National Development and Reform Commission, and the Ministry of Commerce on June 18, 2011 and came into effect on the same date.

Following its announcement in December last year that pure biodiesel made from waste plant and animal oil is exempt from consumption tax, the Chinese government has recently clarified the actual scope of animal and plant oils subject to such tax exemption. Experts say the tax incentives will not only largely support China’s emerging biodiesel market, but will also effectively prevent waste oil from flowing back to dining tables.

The Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress has just passed new revisions to China’s Individual Income Tax (IIT) Law during its 21st meeting today. The final revisions increased the amount of deductible income for Chinese nationals to RMB3,500, while it was reported in the NCP’s last two proposals submitted for IIT reform that the IIT exemption threshold would only be lifted to RMB3,000.