Sunday, October 25
Indian car dealers clocked a surprise 2% drop in sales in December, with high year-end discounts boosting demand only for a handful of showroom owners, a dealers' body said on Tuesday. Sales dropped to 293,465 units in the month from 299,351 units last year, according to data from the Federation of Automobile Dealers Association (FADA). At the start of December, about 80% of FADA's members had said in an online survey that they expected sales to be flat to higher for the month, recovering from a 14% drop in November. However, demand failed to pick up in the final week of the month, which often accounts for 30-40% of a dealership's sales, FADA President C S Vigneshwar told Reuters. "While some dealers benefited from year-end schemes and expanded product ranges, overall demand remained subdu
The United States is set to formally establish a new program that will allow H-1B visa holders to renew their visas without leaving the country. This initiative will particularly benefit Indian workers in specialty occupations who have traditionally had to return to India to complete the renewal and restamping process. "The Department of State completed a successful pilot program to renew of H-1B visas in the United States in 2024. This allowed many specialty occupation workers from India to renew their visas without leaving the United States. This pilot program streamlined the renewal process for thousands of applicants, and the Department of State is working to formally establish a US-based renewal program in 2025," the US Embassy in India said.This new process streamlines the renewal pr
Budget 2025 expectation: The Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI) has proposed a request to amend the current provisions regarding the surcharge on Tax Deducted at Source (TDS) for Non-Resident Indians (NRIs). The Budget 2025 proposal aims to prescribe a uniform surcharge rate of 10% on TDS, applicable to dividend payments from mutual fund units under Section 56 and capital gains under Sections 111A and 112A arising from the redemption of mutual fund units.This change is expected to address the challenges faced by NRI investors, provide uniformity across mutual funds in their compliance with TDS obligations, and simplify the TDS compliance process for mutual funds. The proposal highlights that the final surcharge rate for NRIs will depend on their total income under the heads "Incom
Maldivian Defence Minister Mohammed Ghassan Maumoon will pay a three-day visit to India from Wednesday to deepen bilateral engagement amid a thaw in relations between the two countries. Maumoon will hold wide-ranging talks with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh besides meeting several senior officials in the national capital. The visit by the Maldivian minister comes over eight months after India withdrew its military personnel from the island nation following a demand by its pro-China president Mohamed Muizzu Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will hold a bilateral meeting with Maumoon in New Delhi on January 8, the defence ministry said. It said the two ministers will review the various facets of bilateral defence cooperation, including training, exercises and defence projects to enhance th
