in Focus GSTN Interactive session to celebrate 6 years of GST regime and landmark 50th GST council meeting Nasscom along with knowledge partner Deloitte, hosted an interactive session with senior GST officials and industry on July 19, 2023. The main discussions during the session included reflection upon the stupendous journey of GST in bringing about tectonic change to Indirect tax landscape in India and the key recommendations made in the 50th GST Council meeting. At the 50th meeting, the Council issued Circulars to provide clarifications on two important issues for our industry: a) Holding shares in a subsidiary cannot be taxed under the GST; and b) Mechanism for apportionment of tax credit of common costs by head office for its branches. Nasscom had been advocating on both these issues for more than 1 year with the GST officials. In addition, Government has finally put into motion steps to operationalise the GST Appellate Tribunal (GSTAT). During the session, we also discussed some of the key GST issues impacting IT-BPM industry. This included implementation of Intermediary circular, reimbursement of ESOP being classified as import of services, GST on use of common logo, amongst others. We will be making a detailed representation on some of these issues to the GST officials. Read More DPIIT, SEBI, MOF Enabling foreign headquartered Indian-origin start-ups to list on Indian stock exchanges We have been engaging with DPIIT, MoF and SEBI on this issue. We submitted a representation to them on July 24, 2023, requesting their support in enabling listing of foreign headquartered Indian-origin start-ups to directly list on Indian stock exchanges. We also met DPIIT and SEBI to highlight the impediments in the currently available options to access Indian capital market and the benefits of allowing direct listing. Read More

REPRESENTATIONS DPIIT Patents Act We submitted our feedback with a focus on promoting innovation and EoDB on July 24, 2023. The issues highlighted are procedural challenges in the pre-grant opposition process, compliance issues related to filing of information regarding foreign patent application under section 8 and information sought on working of patents under Form 27. We also provided comparison of how these issues are contributing to significant delays and inefficiencies in the process of granting patents in India compared to other countries like U.S. and Japan. Read More Rajasthan Government Platform based gig workers bill The Rajasthan government’s labour department released the draft bill for public consultation. We expressed concern over the short consultation period and submitted interim feedback on July 7, 2023. We highlighted that there is a need to analyse the impact of proposed central transaction information and management system and its compatibility with existing systems. We also pointed out potential conflicts related to COSS. Read More DoCA Dark patterns Task force on Protecting Consumers from Dark Patterns We submitted our feedback to the task force set-up by DoCA on July 18, 2023. Our submission highlighted the need for a principled framework that will enable delineation of dark patterns from legitimate business practices. We also emphasized on raising consumer awareness against dark patterns. Read More FEDAI Delays in getting export documents processed by banks Following up on the concerns raised by nasscom in December 2022, we have sought details from FEDAI on the status of implementation by banks of the advisory to acknowledge receipt of export documents submitted by the exporter and establishing digital systems for receiving export documents against inwards remittances. In case you are facing delays in getting export documents processed and reconciliation of inward remittances, kindly write to us at policy@nasscom.in. Read More

DIALOGUE & DISCUSSION DARPG Round table discussion on transforming governance: navigating the cloud journey for enhanced efficiency and security The department launched the NESDA 2023 framework and portal on July 6, 2023. e-nasscom actively participated in the development of the framework and has also been conducting surveys for DARPG to assess the effectiveness of the framework. We participated in the roundtable discussion during the portal launch and expressed our views on future of cloud and e-gov intersection and how NESDA like framework will play a key role in better on-ground assessments. Haryana Government Meeting with Labour Department We had a fruitful meeting with Shri Anurag Agarwal, Principal Secretary - Department of Labour, Government of Haryana and his team on July 13, 2023. We discussed options to further strengthen the scope of EoDB in the state. We also discussed about collaboration between government, industry and nasscom for fostering skilling, employment and innovation. Industry Seminar on Public Governance Through Cloud We along with the nasscom membership team conducted this seminar on July 26, 2023. The event was attended by various central government departments, state government officials and the industry. The speakers included cloud service providers, government users of cloud services including GSTN, GeM, ITI, BMC, etc. The speakers shared their national and international success stories of cloud adoption in government sector. Industry CHRO Meeting We along with the Tamil Nadu membership team conducted a session on future of work on July 13, 2023. The session was organised for the HR forum, Chennai and was the first edition of the ongoing future of work series. It was an engaging session where participants deep dived into HR focussed issues related to labour codes, gig workers, future of work and apprenticeship. We were supported by our external knowledge partners, Vikram Shroff from Nishith Desai and Swarnima from Trilegal. DGFT Outreach event in Pune on export control regulations The DGFT and MEA gave an overview of relevant regulations and compliance requirements. Nasscom spoke about the importance of ICP for the industry to ensure effective compliance with export control laws. We also showcased the booklet on the essential elements of an effective ICP. Government encouraged the industry to implement ICPs and highlighted the possibility of further liberalising compliance obligations basis industry’s commitment. Read More CCI Engagement on Digital Competition Act The Committee on Digital Competition Law is finalising its recommendation on regulation of competition in the digital markets. We have been actively tracking the developments on this matter and engaging with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Competition Commission of India, and the industry. In case you are interested in the subject, please provide your inputs by writing to us at policy@nasscom.in.

NEW & UPCOMING TRAI Call for inputs: Consultation Paper on OTT communication services TRAI has released a Consultation paper on regulatory mechanism for OTT communication services and selective banning of OTT services. The Paper has sought views on licensing of OTT, regulatory framework, collaborative framework between communication OTTS and TSPs and technical challenges in selective banning and regulatory framework of selective banning of OTT services. The last date to provide comments on the Paper is August 18, 2023 and to provide counter comments is September 1, 2023. In case you are interested in the subject, please provide your inputs by writing to us at policy@nasscom.in. Read More SEBI Call for inputs: Consultation Paper on Cyber Security and Cyber Resilience Framework SEBI has released this draft framework with the intent to consolidate existing guidelines on cybersecurity and cyber resilience for the Indian securities market and to strengthen the capacity of regulated entities to prevent, prepare for, and respond to cyber-threats and security incidents. On July 18, 2023, we attended a meeting held by SEBI with regulated entities and service providers to discuss various aspects of the draft framework, including its approach to vulnerability assessment and penetration testing, security incident reporting, identifying critical assets, and more. The last date for submitting inputs is August 8, 2023. In case you are interested in the subject, please provide your inputs by August 4, 2023 by writing to us at policy@nasscom.in. Read More OECD Call for inputs: Public consultation on Pillar One - Amount B OECD has released a public consultation document on Pillar One - Amount B. The paper focusses on pricing framework, including in light of the final agreement on scope, application of the framework to the wholesale distribution of digital goods, country uplifts within geographic markets criteria to apply Amount B utilising a local database in certain jurisdictions.The last date for submitting comments to OECD is September 1, 2023. In case you are interested in the subject, please provide your inputs by August 17, 2023 by writing to us at policy@nasscom.in. RBI Call for inputs: Circular arrangements with card networks for issue of cards RBI released a draft circular on the arrangements with card networks for issue of debit, credit and prepaid cards. The circular specifies that card issuers must provide customers the option of switching between card networks and card issuers cannot enter into agreements with card networks that restrain them from availing the services of other card networks. In case you are interested in the subject, please provide your inputs by writing to us at policy@nasscom.in. Read More

OTHER UPDATES Parliament Jan Vishwas Bill The Lok Sabha passed the Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Bill, on July 27. The Bill proposes amending 183 provisions in 42 Central Acts overseen by 19 ministries and departments. The Bill aims to decriminalise various provisions across various Acts by (a) Removing both imprisonment and/or fine in some provisions, (b) Removing imprisonment but retaining the fine in specific provisions, (c) Removing imprisonment and increasing the fine in certain provisions, (d) Converting imprisonment and fine into penalty in some provisions and (e) Introducing the compounding of offences in select provisions. The bill proposes measures such as (a) pragmatic revision of fines and penalties commensurate to the offence committed; (b) establishment of Adjudicating Officers; (c) establishment of Appellate Authorities; and (d) Periodic increase in quantum of fine and penalties

List of Acronyms AI Artificial Intelligence CBDT Central Board of Direct Taxes CBIC Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs CCI Competition Commission of India CERT-IN Indian Computer Emergency Response Team DARPG Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances DoCA Department of Consumer Affairs DGEP Directorate General of Export Promotion DGFT Directorate General of Foreign Trade DPIIT Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade DSP Delivery Service Provider DTD Delhi Transport Department EV Electric vehicle FEDAI Foreign Exchange Dealers' Association of India GST Goods & Service Tax ICP Internal Compliance Program IT Information Technology MEA Ministry of External Affairs MEITY Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology MOF Ministry of Finance MOHFW Ministry of Health and Family Welfare MCA Ministry of Corporate Affairs NESDA National e-Governance Service Delivery Assessment RBI Reserve Bank of India RE Regulated Entity SEBI Securities Exchange Board of India

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