51/2012 notification 51 date of issue 23/11/2012

[TO BE PUBLISHED IN PART II, SECTION 3, SUB-SECTION (ii) OF THE GAZETTE OF INDIA, EXTRAORDINARY, DATED THE 23rd Government of India November, 2012] Ministry of Finance Department of Revenue Notification New Delhi, the 23rd (Income-tax) November , 2012. S.O. 2777(E).— In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (1) of section 80CCG of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (43 of 1961), the Central Government hereby makes the following Scheme, namely:- 1. Short title, commencement and application. - (1) This Scheme may be called the Rajiv Gandhi Equity Savings Scheme, 2012. (2) It shall come into force on the date of its publication in the Official Gazette. (3) This Scheme shall apply for claiming deduction in the computation of total income of the assessment year relevant to a previous year on account of investment in eligible securities under sub-section (1) of section 80CCG of the Income-tax Act, 1961. 2. Objective of Scheme.-The objective of the Scheme is to encourage the savings of the small investors in domestic capital market. 3. Definitions.- In this Scheme, unless the context otherwise requires,- (i) “Act” means the Income-tax Act, 1961 (43 of 1961); (ii) “demat account” means an account opened with the depository participant in accordance with the guidelines laid down by the Securities and Exchange Board of India established under section 3 of the Securities and Exchange Board of India Act, 1992 (15 of 1992); (iii) “depository” means a company as defined in clause (e) of sub-section (1) of section 2 of the Depositories Act, 1996 (22 of 1996); (iv) “depository participant” means a participant as defined in clause (g) of sub-section (1) of section 2 of the Depositories Act, 1996 (22 of 1996); (v) “eligible securities” means any of the following :- (a) equity shares, on the day of purchase, falling in the list of equity declared as “BSE-100” or “ CNX-100” by the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange, as the case may be; (b) equity shares of public sector enterprises which are categorised as Maharatna, Navratna or Miniratna by the Central Government; (c) Units of Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) or Mutual Fund (MF) schemes with Rajiv Gandhi Equity Savings Scheme (RGESS) eligible securities as underlying, as mentioned in sub-clause (i) or sub-clause (ii) above, provided they are listed and traded on a stock exchange and settled through a depository mechanism; (d) Follow on Public Offer of sub-clauses (i) and (ii) above; (e) New Fund Offers (NFOs) of sub-clause (iii) above; (f) Initial Public Offer of a public sector undertaking wherein the government shareholding is at least fifty-one per cent. which is scheduled for getting listed in the relevant previous year and whose annual turnover is not less than four thousand crore rupees during each of the preceding three years; (vi) “ financial year” means a year commencing on the 1st day of April and ending on the 31st (vii) “Form” means the Form appended to the Scheme; day of March; (viii) “investment” means investment by an assessee in any of the eligible securities in accordance with the Scheme; (ix) “new retail investor” means the following resident individuals:- (a) any individual who has not opened a demat account and has not made any transactions in the derivative segment as on the date of notification of the Scheme; (b) any individual who has opened a demat account before the notification of the Scheme but has not made any transactions in the equity segment or the derivative segment till the date of notification of the Scheme, and any individual who is not the first account holder of an existing joint demat account shall be deemed to have not opened a demat account for the purposes of this Scheme (x) “Scheme” means the Rajiv Gandhi Equity Savings Scheme; (xi) words and expressions used and not defined in this Scheme, but defined in the Act, shall have the meanings respectively assigned to them in the Act. 4. Eligibility .- The deduction under the Scheme shall be available to a new retail investor who complies with the conditions of the Scheme and whose gross total income for the financial year in which the investment is made under the Scheme is less than or equal to ten lakh rupees. 5. Procedure at time of opening demat account.-The new retail investor shall follow the following procedure at the time of opening or designating a demat account :- (a) the new retail investor shall open a new demat account or designate his existing demat account for the purpose of availing the benefit under the Scheme; (b) the new retail investor shall submit a declaration in Form A to the depository participant who will forward the same to the depository for verifying the status of the new retail investor; (c) the new retail investor shall furnish his Permanent Account Number (PAN) while opening the demat account or designating the existing account as a Rajiv Gandhi Equity Savings Scheme eligible account, as the case may be. 6. Procedure for investment under Scheme.- A new retail investor shall make investments under the Scheme in the following manner :- (a) the new retail investor may make investment in eligible securities in one or more than one transactions during the year in which the deduction has to be claimed; (b) the new retail investor may make any amount of investment in the demat account but the amount eligible for deduction, under the Scheme shall not exceed fifty thousand rupees; (c) the eligible securities brought into the demat account, as declared or designated by the new retail investor, will automatically be subject to lock-in during its first year, as per the provisions of paragraph 7, unless the new retail investor specifies otherwise and for such specification, the new retail investor shall submit a declaration in Form B indicating that such securities are not to be included within the above limit of investment; (d) the new retail investor shall be eligible for a deduction under sub- section (1) of section 80CCG of the Act in respect of the actual amount invested in eligible securities , in the first financial year in respect of which a declaration in Form B has not been made, subject to the maximum investment limit of fifty thousand rupees; (e) the new retail investor who has claimed a deduction under sub- section (1) of section 80CCG of the Act, in any assessment year, shall not be allowed any deduction under the Scheme for any subsequent assessment year; (f) the new retail investor shall be permitted a grace period of three trading days from the end of the financial year so that the eligible securities purchased on the last trading day of the financial year also get credited in the demat account and such securities shall be deemed to have been purchased in the financial year itself; (g) the new retail investor may also keep securities other than the eligible securities covered under the Scheme in the demat account through which benefits under the Scheme are availed; (h) the new retail investor can make investments in securities other than the eligible securities covered under the Scheme and such investments shall not be subject to the conditions of the Scheme nor shall they be counted for availing the benefit under the Scheme;