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Dear Friends

A few weeks ago, World Senior Citizens Day was observed.  While the intent is to create awareness about issues and problems related to old age, it is also a day to recall their contribution to the society during their productive years.  Does this mean older adults do not contribute as they start aging ?  This is a myth when you watch the lives of so many sung and unsung senior citizens around you.  I feel age is in the mind.  As long as you keep yourself fit and keep learning, you never age.  Learning, unlearning, picking up a new skill, living in the present, sharing, giving, adapting – all these attributes help us stay young.

At 75, my good friend, Uma Pai who is a breast cancer survivor, runner, woman realtor (for more than 40 years) loves travelling and helping people.  But for the pandemic, she would have been  vacationing across the globe with her no-so-young friends from the Silver Surfers Club. Last year I enjoyed a hilarious play put up by this club which has only senior citizens as its members.  She has taken to a smart phone as fish to water. Her messages are always young and chirpy with the choicest of emojis to reflect the mood. Forever willing to help others, she spreads warmth around her. Never regrets. Never complains.

 

At 90, a woman joined a Toastmasters club in the US to learn to speak before an audience.  She completed the first set of 10 speech projects and passed away in her late nineties,  wrote her proud son about his enthusiastic mother. At 91, Agnes Kasparkova, a Czech woman has turned her village, Louka into an art centre.  I am sure most of you have seen this widely circulated whatsapp forward of an elderly woman standing and bending at all angles to paint her village walls with beautiful floral designs. She picked up the skill post retirement.  Is there an age to learn ?

 

At 94, my father spends atleast 10 hours a day performing his japa, meditation and reading thanks to a disciplined life style that he has led all along. He is such a stickler to time that he literally lives by the clock, with a simple ‘timepiece’ (as he calls it) by his side throughout the day.  

 

At 95, my husband’s uncle Y N Rama Rao wrote a research paper on nuclear geology, his favourite subject.  I have written many times about him in the past, but his zest for life, curiosity for knowledge and love for people never fail to inspire me. 

 

At 108, if the world’s oldest marathon runner, UK veteran Fauja Singh keeps going, Prof. G Venkatasubbaiah just turned 107 a couple of weeks back in Bangalore. A Padmashri awardee, he is a writer, speaker, educationist and doyen of Kannada literature.  Still alert and active, I was surprised to see this grand old linguist speak so clearly in a video recently. 3 years back I saw him enjoying a traditional banana-leaf meal at a social gathering I went to.  If not the love for what they do, what else can keep a person going after hitting a century ?

 

The list of senior citizens who are living or have lived a full life is long. Each one of you can add more to it but what is important is the takeaways that we can get from their lives. That is something no academic course can teach us.  Well, how can I conclude without paying homage to Bharat Ratna, Sir M Vishweshwaraya who not only designed the KRS dam in Mysore but was also the chief designer of the flood protection system for Hyderabad, a saviour of sorts for the city ? A visionary, a disciplinarian, an economist, a statesman, a nation builder, I still remember reading his biography as a child and my mother sharing interesting stories about his struggle as he pursued education sitting under a street lamp. 15th September is celebrated as ‘Engineers’ Day’ in the memory of this great son of India who lived for 101 years.

 

These seniors of our society have “not only added years to life but also life to years” !  After being inspired by such men and women, do spend some time to check out what this 244th issue of Samhita has to offer.  Along with the regulatory updates we have also carried a short article on the anomaly arising due to reduced stamp duty on issue of shares by a private limited company as provided in the Indian Stamp Act.  With the State Stamp Acts remaining unchanged, there is a grey area – which rate to apply ? If all this seems heavy reading, enrich your language skills by following our in-house English language teacher N Balaji in the “Let’s excel in English” section.  For any previous issues of Samhita and the readers’ feedback, please visit https://sharadasc.com/resource-center/.

Happy Reading

Though the ship was *anchored* in the middle of the sea, the words of the captain *anchored* hope in the hearts of the people.

In this example, the verb *anchor* is used in two different ways. The latter is a figurative approach.

Balaji Ramaswamy N

Mobile: 9741393539

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News Summary
Article on Stamp Duty – Levy, Rates and Validity

This article by Sreenivasan Narasimhan, Associate, on Stamp duty, it’s levy, rates and validity intends to inform the reader about the power of State and Central Governments to levy stamp duty, the various changes with respect to the rates of stamp duties brought about by the Finance Act, 2019 and the validity of those changes in rates and their applicability.

This article is a 3 page information capsule with a read time of 4.5 minutes!

Open Article
MCA updates
Extension for holding AGM for FY 2019-20 up to 31.12.2020

MCA vide General Circular dated 17.08.2020, had clarified that Companies which are unable to hold their AGM for the FY ended 31.03.2020 on or before 30.09.2020 or within 15 months from date of previous AGM, whichever is earlier, should apply in Form GNL-1 to the Registrar of Companies seeking for extension of time to hold AGM (up to a maximum of 3 months) by 29.09.2020.

As directed by MCA, Registrar of Companies, having the power to grant extension for holding AGM are individually issuing Orders granting extension in timeline for holding AGM for FY 2019-20 up to 31.12.2020 from the existing requirement of 30.09.2020 or within 15 months from date of previous AGM, whichever is earlier. The requirement to file Form GNL-1 has also been removed.

Open Press release dtd. 08.09.2020
CNs – can be repaid / converted into equity shares within 10 years now!

The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade had amended the definition of start ups vide Notification G.S.R. 127 (E), dated the 19.02.2019. As per the Notification, an entity will be called a start up subject to fulfilment of certain thresholds and other requirements for a period of 10 years from the date of incorporation. The definition of start ups in the Companies (Acceptance of Deposits) Rules, 2014 has been aligned with the same vide MCA Notification dated 07.09.2020

In line with the DPIIT Notification, start ups can now issue Convertible Notes with a period of up to 10 years for repayment or conversion into equity shares. Earlier, Convertible Notes could be issued only with a 5 year tenure.

Open Notification No. G.S.R. 548 (E) dtd. 07.09.2020

Due date for submission of Cost Audit Report & filing of Form CRA-4 – Extended

MCA vide General Circular dated 10.09.2020 has extended the due date for submission of Cost Audit Report by the Cost Auditor to the Board of Directors of the company up to 30.11.2020 from 27.09.2020. Form CRA-4 which is required to be filed within 30 days of receipt of Cost Audit Report by the Company, should be filed accordingly.

Open General Circular No. 29/2020 dtd. 10.09.2020

SEBI updates
System driven disclosures under PIT Regulations – Amended

The SEBI (Prohibition of Insider Trading) Regulations, 2015 were amended vide Notification dated 17.07.2020. Consequently, SEBI has notified that w.e.f. 01.10.2020, the existing System driven disclosure requirements are to be fulfilled by members of promoter group and designated persons in addition to the promoters and directors of the company. The System will initially be applicable only to trading in equity shares and Futures and Options of listed companies.

The Circular also clarifies that the existing system for disclosure shall run parallelly till 31.03.2021.The procedure for implementation has also been elaborated in Annexure A of the Circular.

Open Circular No. SEBI/HO/ISD/ISD/CIR/P/2020/168 dtd. 09.09.2020
Re-lodgement of transfer requests for shares – extended up to 31.03.2021

As per the SEBI (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015, securities held in physical form cannot be transferred w.e.f. 01.04.2019. However transfer of securities lodged before 01.04.2019 and rejected / returned due to deficiency were allowed to be re-lodged for transfer. The cut-off date for the same has been fixed as 31.03.2021.

Open Circular No. SEBI/HO/MIRSD/RTAMB/CIR/P/2020/166 dtd. 07.09.2020
GST updates
Extended due date- GSTR-4 for FY 2019-20

The last date to file GSTR-4 for FY 2019-20 is now extended until 31.10.2020.

Open Notification No. 64/2020 dtd. 31.08.2020

Payment of interest on Net Tax Liability w.e.f. 01.09.2020

Section 50 of the CGST Act, 2017, which is also replicated in SGST Acts, contains the provision for levy of interest on delay or non-payment of GST. Dispute is whether interest on GST will be charged before adjusting ITC (on Gross Liability) or after adjusting ITC (Net Liability). In order to resolve the above issue, amendment was carried out in Section 50 of CGST Act, 2017 by Section 100 of Finance (No. 2), Act 2019. However, notification for enforcing the above amendment was not issued due to which the proviso to Section 50 was not effective. The much awaited Notification for enforcing the provisions of Section 100 of Finance (No. 2) Act, 2019 has now been issued vide Notification No. 63/2020- Central Tax dated 25.08.2020 wherein it has been stated that provisions of Section 100 will be effective from 01.09.2020. The amendment provides for payment of interest on Net Tax Liability will be effective from 01.09.2020. However, there is some ambiguity on interest payable until 31.08.2020 whether it is on the pending Gross amount or Net amount of GST.

Open Notification No. 63/2020 dtd. 28.08.2020

 

Note: The contents of this Newsletter are only a summary and has not dealt with any issue in detail. Any action taken or proposed to be taken must be in consultation with professionals and not merely based on the articles / news updates. S. C. Sharada & Associates disclaims all liability on action taken without professional advice.

S. C. Sharada & Associates,
Company Secretaries. #405, 7th Cross, IV Block, Koramangala, Bangalore – 560 034.
sharadasc.com Phone : +91 80 25534374 , +91 80 25536618 Email:[email protected]

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