CA Pankit Shah

FSSAI all set to implement Food Safety and Standards (Alcoholic Beverages) Regulations, 2018 As per the definition of ‘food’ in the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 alcoholic beverages are also regulated by Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) for the matters related to licensing and registration, framing of standards and issues concerning the safety of alcoholic drinks. Accordingly, the Commissioner of Food Safety in a State/UT is responsible for ensuring availability of safe and wholesome food to the consumers while the Excise Department of a State/UT is responsible to implement the excise policy of the State/UT which includes fixing and realization of excise duty and other related matters . The FSSAI had in 2008 notified a separate regulation for alcoholic drinks. The new regulations called the Food Safety and Standards (alcoholic Beverages) regulations 2018 has come in to force from 1st April, 2019 , except the parameter for yeast in various categories ...

  The FSSAI has issued a direction advising the enforcement official that these regulations may be considered as ‘ Enabling Regulations ’ and not to be considered for prosecution particularly for small original producers and producer organizations during initial phase of its implementation.  As per the FSS (Organic Foods) Regulations, any food offered for sale as ‘organic food’ should comply with the provisions laid down under either the National Programme for Organic Production (NPOP) administered by the Ministry of Commerce or the Participatory Guarantee System for India   (PGS-India) operated by the ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare or any other system or standards that may be notified by the Food Authority from time to time.  Meanwhile, various representations have been received regarding challenges faced by organic food business operators including small original producers in light of the fact that a large number of producers and produc...

FSSAI Issues Directions Regarding Compliance of Organic Food Regulation : Through a notification dated 29 June 2018, the FSSAI has issued directions regarding Compliance of Food Safety and Standards (Organic Food) Regulation, 2017 which have been published in the Official Gazette of India dated 29th Dec. 2017. According to the 29 December 2017 notification all Food Business Operators were required to ensure compliance of their existing and new organic products by 1 July 2018 with all the provisions of these regulations. Also, FBOs were to comply with various regulations notified under Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006. However, the FSSAI has received various representations from stakeholders and after review of the preparedness of the implementation of the above regulations, they have  decided to permit the use of non-detachable stickers with respect to the  FSSAI  Organic logo  which is required as per the regulation of 30 September 2018. Food Business ...

Your digital profile to affect credit score Lenders are using non-financial data to make credit decisions. Lenders are using the fintech model to expand their business using alternative data and arrive at a credit decision. It is not just your older loans or  credit card repayment history   that is being used to decide whether you should or should not get a loan. Increasingly, alternative data-based  credit scores  are also being used to arrive at a lending decision, not just by fintech companies but also by banks and  non-banking financial companie s (NBFCs). One of the four operational and licensed credit bureaus in the country, CRIF High Mark, recently announced a tie-up with CreditVidya, an alternative data-based credit assessment platform. Abhishek Agarwal, CEO and co-founder, CreditVidya said that over 40 lenders, including banks, NBFCs and fintech companies are currently using the company’s alternative data-based scoring model. “We...

Not necessary to start insolvency against principal borrower first: NCLAT A financial  creditor  can seek to first initiate  insolvency  proceedings against a  corporate guarantor  of a company, instead of the company itself, in case the guarantee fails, the  National Company Law Appellate Tribunal  (NCLAT) has held. The corporate  insolvency  resolution process, thus, can go ahead against the guarantor under Section 7 of the  Insolvency  and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), even without having proceeded with and exhausted all legal remedies against the principal debtor, it has said. The appellate tribunal reasoned that any corporate guarantee given by a parent company for a subsidiary becomes debt as soon it is invoked; subsequently, the  corporate guarantor  becomes a debtor under the terms of the  IBC. “Guarantee of such nature is included within the definition of financial debt. There is, therefo...

Sandip Bansal still regrets the day he signed on the dotted line to become a 'guarantor' for the  personal loan  his friend had taken. He recalls this incident, which happened a decade ago when borrowing was expensive and banks used to extend deadlines to repay. Unfortunately for Mr. Bansal, the  borrower  defaulted and, despite the bank liquidating the security, Dilip and another  guarantor  together had to pay nearly Rs 1 lakh to settle the loan. Could Mr. Bansal have avoided getting into such a situation? You can't exit as a  guarantor  if the time for you to pay has actually come. However, you can consider this option when there are no signs of the  borrower  defaulting. Unfortunately, you cannot approach the bank to cancel your guarantee; only the  borrower  can initiate this request. REPERCUSSIONS IF THE BORROWER DEFAULTS If borrower defaults, the bank would first approach the borrower to take care of the dues...