Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday said the rules that will lead to the scrapping of the retrospective tax demands will be framed soon.

Parliament earlier this month had passed The Taxation Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021 that scrapped all tax demands made before May 28, 2012. Now the rules for the same have to be framed, Sitharaman told reporters here. “Rules will be framed soon.”

Noted tax expert Narayan Jain said: “Parliament has already passed the law and the rules cannot supersede them.

The rules, therefore, would lay down the modalities to be followed for the implementation of the legislation.”

The government has to refund about Rs 8,100 crore that it had collected using the retro tax law. The bulk of this — Rs 7,900 crore — is to Cairn Energy alone.

Crypto bill

Sitharaman said she is awaiting an approval from the Cabinet on a bill on cryptocurrency. The inter-ministerial panel on cryptocurrency set up under the chairmanship of the secretary (economic affairs) to study the issues related to virtual currencies and propose specific actions has already submitted its report.

It has recommended that all private cryptocurrencies, except any virtual currencies issued by the state, will be prohibited in India. “A cabinet note is ready on cryptocurrency (Bill). I am awaiting cabinet to clear that,” she said.

Activity improves

Business activity rose for the second consecutive week, a Japanese brokerage said .

The Nomura India Business Resumption Index, which measures the activity on a weekly basis with the pre-pandemic levels being the base, rose to 101.2 for the week ended August 15, from 99.6 last week.