Taxman suspects NRIs of exchanging old notes for local citizens

Sources were quoted as saying that Central Economic Intelligence Bureau (CEIB) informed the I-T department that old currency notes worth more than Rs 500 crore have been confiscated from Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Gujarat since March 31.
NRIs were initially allowed to exchange old notes with the Reserve Bank of India till March 31, three months later than the deadline for Indian residents.

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NRIs cold-shoulder Punjab govt proposal on masala bonds

The plan of the state to float interest free seven-year masala bonds to pay off institutional loans taken by farmers have been cold shouldered by NRIs of the region.

They have been quite upfront on the issue and have said that they were already insecure about their properties and wanted to wind up things in Punjab. “We cannot even think of making a fresh investment, especially which is of five years or more”, is how their common refrain.

Full report here

NRI Forum wants Gulf workers to register & stay safe

With more workers from Karnataka leaving to the Middle East, the Karnataka NRI Forum wants people to register with the Ministry of External Affairs website emigrate.gov.in so that they can keep track of people who are leaving and help them if they get into trouble.

Seven individuals and companies operating in Karnataka as illegal agents have also been identified and further investigations are on.

Read the New Indian Express report

Telangana seeks centralised data of Indian workers in Gulf

Telangana Government has sought creation of a centralised data bank of migrants living in the Gulf region, and an agreement with the Gulf countries to allow the Indian convicts there to serve prison sentence in India.

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NRIs who receive all their salary abroad will not be taxed in India

Taxability in India depends on the following factors:

(a) Source of income

(b) Residential status

Typically, source of income lies where the services are performed, or where the asset, from which the income arises, is located. Residential status in India is determined based on your physical presence in India in the current financial year (FY) (1 April to 31 March) and preceding 10 FYs. If the individual satisfies any of the basic conditions mentioned below, he would qualify as a resident, otherwise he would qualify as a non-resident (NR):

Read the details to a tax query in Mint

Three of Britain’s four wealthiest are Indians

The wealthiest persons in Britain are India-born, according to the Sunday Times Rich List 2017 which places the Hinduja brothers Srichand and Gopichand+ at the top of 134 billionaires. The brothers' estimated riches: 16.2 billion pounds, 3.2 billion pounds more than last year.

Read about the others

State quota sees PG medical seats In Maharashtra cost up to Rs 97 lakh a year

Thanks to an astronomical annual fee of Rs 96.6 lakh, all to be paid by cheque, the Kashibai Navale Medical College, Pune has received just 10 students for its 31 management quota seats—a first for the institute, which usually sees a flood of candidates every year.
The massive hike in tuition fee for the management (35%) and NRI (15%) quotas in private and deemed universities is because of the introduction of the state quota (50% seats) and the resulting subsidizing of medical education for these merit-based students. So, the fee hike is a cross-subsidy.
Full report here

Court directs NRI's extradition to USA in bank fraud case

A Delhi court has directed the Centre to extradite an NRI to the United States who is facing trial in an alleged bank fraud case there.

Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Jyoti Kler passed the direction to send fugitive Rajiv Chander Kant Shah, after noting that there was a prima facie case against him for initiating trial.

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Telegana busy formulating NRI policy

Telegana IT and NRI Affairs Minister K.T. Rama Rao will attend a meeting convened by Union Minister for External Affairs at New Delhi on May 8 to discuss issued faced by the Indian immigrants working in Gulf countries and Malaysia.

The meeting in Delhi would focus on complaints from emigrant workers broadly related to recruitment agents, violation of contractual terms, working conditions, wage, employer, women related problems and compensation cases, according to an official release.

Full report

Centre’s help sought by Kerala for NRI’s welfare

The Assembly on Friday unanimously adopted a resolution moved by the government seeking Centre’s assistance to help the Non-Resident Indians (NRIs), especially those working in the Middle East, in times of distress.

The resolution was moved by Minister for Public Works G. Sudhakaran to replace the Private Members Resolution moved by K.V. Abdul Khader seeking the intervention of the Union government to provide better status and welfare schemes for Keralites working in the Middle East and other countries.

Full report here