If the Budget makes no big announcements on new schemes, projects, or tax giveaways, the government would face a major political dilemma as it may have to reluctantly consider shunning the practice of unveiling pre-election sops to woo voters, notes A K Bhattacharya.
This could come as a huge relief as majority of the FIIs operating in India are registered in tax havens. The discussion paper also removed the ambiguity on income classification for tax computation.
All investors should ideally have a 10 to 15 per cent allocation to gold. Whether they invest in gold ETFs or SGBs should depend on their investment horizon.
The climate for 'doing business' remains forbidding, taxtortion is still rife, corruption at state and district levels has increased, oil prices remain extortive with high taxation, and the continued red tape has kept the enterprise system as stifled as before, points out Debashis Basu.
A taxpayer who does not revise their return within the stipulated deadline would be stuck with the original return, including its errors.
Younger people, who usually have a longer investment horizon which allows them to handle the interim volatility, may go for them.
Ask rediffGURU and PF expert Nitin Narkhede your mutual fund and personal finance-related questions.
Under the Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita, exception 2 to Section 63 (rape) says that 'sexual intercourse or sexual acts by a man with his own wife, the wife not being under eighteen years of age, is not rape'.
'We do not believe in fire sale. We don't do it.'
The government on Tuesday proposed reducing the long-term capital gains tax on immovable properties to 12.5 per cent from 20 per cent, but removed the indexation benefits to adjust for inflation, a move experts termed as "negative" for sellers.
A task force set up by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (Meity) for transforming India into an "electronic and semiconductor products" nation is on the verge of finalising its report, which is likely to recommend an allocation of Rs 44,000 crore between 2024 and 2030 to support homegrown companies in their quest to develop products and build global brands. The task force's recommendations include significant incentives: Rs 15,000 crore dedicated to electronic products (systems), Rs 11,000 crore for semiconductor products, and Rs 18,000 crore for various other incentives such as talent development, common infrastructure, logistics, and technology & IP (intellectual property) acquisition, a member of the panel revealed.
While most non-cash gifts are taxable, How the I-T department values them is the tricky part.
Since MAAFs invest across multiple asset classes, they offer diversification.
The outgoing Chairman of the Tata group Ratan Tata is "rattled" by India's current image emerging from scams and retrospective taxation, and wants the government to give an "irreversible commitment" that law of the land has sanctity.
Submitting a late return helps you stay compliant with tax regulations and avoid legal issues.
'Volumes in F&O trading had gone up rapidly and, in a way, the increase in STT on F&O will protect investor interest.'
Fresh order wins for capital goods and industrial companies may have seen a major slump due to Lok Sabha polls in the first quarter of the current financial year (Q1FY25). At the same time, revenue and profit growth trajectory is expected to have stayed the course, according to brokerage firms. Elara Capital, Motilal Oswal, and InCred Equities expect this sector universe to report a 12- 21 per cent growth in revenue, 21 -36 per cent growth in Ebitda and 24-38 per cent growth in profit on a year-on-year (Y-oY) basis.
Finance Minister keen to ease business policies in India.
Brokers believe that the higher charges may not completely deter investors from taking bets in F&O but could help cool down some activity, as the threshold to break even rises.
The 2014 survey, which polled 502 global executives from companies with international presence, showed the majority of respondents were considering increasing their presence in India.
As far as personal taxation goes, there were positive changes overall, even if the magnitude might not have been as high as expected. Here are 7 changes that you will be affected by:
India's leading steel companies hope the Modi 3.0 Budget will continue the massive capital expenditure currently underway, focusing on infrastructure development, manufacturing, and fair trade. The infrastructure segment is the largest steel user, and the government's focus has fuelled steel consumption even as international markets have underperformed. According to provisional statistics, steel consumption grew 13.6 per cent in FY24, reaching 136 million tonnes (mt), according to a CRISIL report.
Shigeru Ishiba is expected to prioritise strengthening Japan's military capabilities and fostering deeper international partnerships, particularly with India, with whom Japan shares significant strategic interests, explains Dr Rajaram Panda.
Technology giant Apple Inc has pushed the pedal on exporting iPhones from India by racking up exports valued at over $2 billion in the first two months of the current financial year (FY25), according to the data provided by vendors to the government. This accounts for 81 per cent of the country's total production of iPhones worth $2.6 billion. In May, Apple repeated its performance of April and once again crossed $1 billion of iPhone exports.
rediffGURU Samkit Maniar answers readers' personal income tax queries.
On India achieving higher growth, Rajan said 9 per cent, which is the widely believed potential growth rate of the economy, is still some time away.
Indian carriers are expected to double their fleet size by 2020 to 1,000 aircraft by 2020, promising a huge opportunity for the maintenance, repair and overhaul business.
There are a number of steps taken that will leave more money in the hands of the taxpayers.
These include the reduction in tax rates under the new tax regime, increase in standard deduction, allowing tax collected at source to be adjusted against tax deducted at source from salaries, notes Harsh Roongta.
The Financial Intelligence Unit-India (FIU-India), the national agency responsible for analysing suspicious financial transactions, has received requests from four more offshore crypto exchanges to operate in India again, said a senior government official familiar with the matter. In the beginning of 2024, India had banned nine crypto exchanges - Binance, Kucoin, Huobi, Kraken, Gate.io, Bitstamp, MEXC Global, Bittrex, and Bitfenix - for non-compliance with anti-laundering law in the country.
Invest in MFs for liquidity and choice of funds. Invest in NPS for the tax benefits, tax-free rebalancing, and for earmarked savings for retirement.
'At present, hybrids emit lesser carbon despite using fuel than pure play electric cars.' 'That is because EVs have to be charged and 76 per cent of the country's electricity is still coal-based and not renewables.'
'If an individual makes significant financial investments, she should stick to the old regime.' 'If the individual prefers straightforward computation without any tax benefits, the new regime would be suitable.'
Hospitality players want the government to accord infrastructure status to hotels to make investments on new properties more attractive rather than categorising them as luxury or even 'sin goods' in the upcoming Union Budget considering the sector's potential to play a key role in India's growth. They also want the government to consider incentives in the form of tax breaks or subsidies for adopting sustainable and eco-friendly practices, while asserting that the upcoming budget must accelerate the tourism agenda saying it is an opportunity to make Indian hospitality the emerging engine for GDP growth and employment generation.
'Exposure to small and midcap stocks exceeded desired levels in many portfolios, prompting rebalancing.'
Hybrid mutual fund (MF) offers, expected to drive higher investor interest after the change in debt fund taxation, are set to end 2023 with the slowest account growth in the past three years. Investment accounts in hybrid funds are up 5.7 per cent so far in 2023 compared with 7.6 per cent in 2022 and 20 per cent in 2021, shows the data from the Association of Mutual Funds in India (Amfi). In 2020, the count had dipped 2.4 per cent.
Taxpayers seeking to save tax from the sale of gold (including inherited) should reinvest the capital gains in residential property to avail of the benefit provided by Section 54F.
India Inc on Thursday pitched for lowering income tax burden on common man, increase in capital expenditure, and firm steps to contain food inflation in their nearly two-hour long interaction with finance minister Nirmala Shitharaman ahead of the Union Budget. During pre-Budget consultation with Sitharaman, the industry leaders and associations also urged the government to focus more on infrastructure development with a view to maintaining the economic growth momentum. The industry leaders also laid stress on boosting the MSME (micro, small, and medium enterprises) sector, considered a backbone of the Indian economy and main employment generator.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, along with her team of bureaucrats, delved into the fine print of the 2024-25 Budget documents in a press conference, detailing the government's road map on bringing down the debt-to-GDP ratio and bold tax measures.
Following alterations in the tax structure, mutual fund (MF) schemes that invest in overseas securities have experienced a sharp decline in inflows. In the first five months of 2023-24 (FY24), international MF schemes have received an average monthly gross inflow of only Rs 270 crore, compared to Rs 490 crore during the same period in the previous year. This decline persists despite nearly all fund houses opening subscriptions for such schemes, with higher redemptions creating headroom for fresh investments.
