The regulatory burden is the highest on small cars, a key segment of the Indian automobile industry and having a uniform tax structure across all segments of vehicles will not augur well for the sector growth, according to Maruti Suzuki India chairman RC Bhargava. He also said India's economic growth rate could be higher if the manufacturing sector grows fast, which 'unfortunately' has remained a laggard despite the best efforts of the Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre due to implementation gaps at the ground level. "The burden of regulatory changes on the small cars is far higher than the regulatory burden on big cars and that is changing the whole market behaviour.
South Korean auto giant Hyundai Motor Company is considering tax implications of listing its Indian unit before taking a final call, according to sources privy to the development. Hyundai Motor is mulling an initial public offering (IPO) for its Indian arm to raise around $3 billion (at a valuation of up to $30 billion), and talks are in the early stages between the company and bankers, banking sources revealed. Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL), however, declined to comment on the development.
At a time when consumers increasingly embrace green mobility solutions, it is not electric cars but hybrids that are taking the lead, as automotive sales data indicate. Since January, 64,097 electric cars have been sold compared to 266,465 hybrids, according to data from the ministry of road transport and highways' Vahan dashboard. Hybrid car sales have surged from 4.42 per cent of the 4.1 million cars sold in calendar year 2022 to 7.2 per cent this year.
'The cost of financing the fiscal deficit will decrease, as new passive investors join in.'
The mutual fund industry's assets under management (AUM) have likely breached the Rs 50 trillion mark following a rally in domestic equities this month. The industry's average AUM stood at almost Rs 48 trillion at the end of October. In November, the Nifty50 index has gained about 4 per cent so far, while smallcap and midcap indices have rallied close to 8 per cent.
At a time when consumers increasingly embrace green mobility solutions, it is not electric cars but hybrids that are taking the lead, as automotive sales data indicate. Since January, 64,097 electric cars have been sold compared to 266,465 hybrids, according to data from the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways' Vahan dashboard. Hybrid car sales have surged from 4.42 per cent of the 4.1 million cars sold in calendar year 2022 to 7.2 per cent this year.
'Small cap funds do have their own merits and they make sense when the investor has a longer investment horizon.'
'It is requested that listed equity shares or units of equity-oriented fund schemes be exempted from capital gains tax (LTCG) if equity shares or mutual funds units are held for at least three years.'
The government is scrambling to contain the fiscal deficit at 4.1 per cent of GDP in the fiscal year ending March
Global financial firm J P Morgan has said that it plans to include Indian government bonds (IGBs) or government securities (G-Secs) into its benchmark Emerging Market index from next year, a move that will bring down borrowing cost for the government. The inclusion of the IGBs will be staggered over a 10-month period from June 28, 2024 to March 31, 2025, indicating one per cent increment on its index weight. "India's weight is expected to reach the maximum weight threshold of 10 per cent in the GBI-EM Global Diversified, and approximately 8.7 per cent in the GBI-EM Global index," J P Morgan said in a statement on Friday.
ITC highlighted that legal cigarettes account for 9 per cent of tobacco consumption in India, but 80 per cent of tax collection is from tobacco products. While illicit cigarettes account for roughly one-third of the market share, legal cigarette volumes have recovered to around 96 per cent of peak FY13 volumes, after dipping to 70 per cent in FY21.
A new schedule has been added to report income from cryptocurrencies and other Virtual Digital Assets.
The mutual fund (MF) industry added a record Rs 10 trillion to its total assets under management (AUM) in 2023, taking the cumulative tally past the Rs 50 trillion mark for the first time, in December. This 20 per cent growth in AUM last year was fuelled by a robust rally in the equity markets and a record Rs 1.62 trillion net inflows into active equity schemes. In another first, the AUM linked to systematic investment plans, too, hit Rs 10 trillion by the end of 2023.
Following are comments from economists at leading financial institutions, banks and rating agencies on the interim Budget:
Investors can sell a part of the stocks, mutual funds, exchange-traded funds, and other securities held in their portfolios at a loss and use this loss to offset tax on the capital gains made on the sale of other securities.
Following the sharp run in markets, valuations across the board have become elevated. The National Stock Exchange Nifty50 Index now trades at a 12-month trailing price-to-earnings (P/E) multiple of 24.3 times, 18 per cent higher than this year's low of 20.5 times. The valuation expansion in the broader markets has been sharper.
The Supreme Court collegium headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud on Wednesday recommended to the Centre the names of Justice Ujjal Bhuyan, the chief justice of the Telangana high court, and Justice S Venkatanarayana Bhatti, his counterpart in Kerala, for elevation as judges of the apex court.
India are hosting a motorsport event of this magnitude for the first time since the 2013 Formula 1 Indian Grand Prix, which was dropped from the calendar due to financial, taxation and bureaucratic issues.
Ask rediffGURU and tax expert Mihir Tanna your income tax-related questions.
High-value insurance policies experienced muted growth in the first six months of the current financial year after the Centre decided to tax such products in this year's Budget. Simultaneously, there has been a marked improvement in the growth of policies with premiums of 'less than Rs 5 lakh', mainly originating from smaller cities. During this year's Budget, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman proposed that insurance policies (excluding unit linked insurance plans or ULIPs) with an aggregate premium exceeding Rs 5 lakh, and the maturity amount, would not be exempt from tax.
The BJP is the preferred choice because it offers what the Mughals and later British offered in their time: A stable polity and an environment in which business could function, explains T N Ninan.
Capital goods companies in their Q2FY24 results are expected to report another steady quarter of earnings growth as order inflows and execution remain healthy, according to analysts. An upward revision in order inflow targets and a margin improvement due to lower raw material costs are also anticipated. "We expect the execution of all capital goods companies and most EPC (engineering, procurement, and construction) companies to remain healthy Y-o-Y (year-on-year), led by strong order book accretion in the past 5-6 quarters," wrote analysts at Kotak Securities in a note, estimating revenue growth of 32 per cent for India's largest company in the capital goods space -- Larsen & Toubro.
With another quarter of steady growth in demand, cement companies are expected to report strong year-on-year (Y-o-Y) growth in earnings, according to analysts. The September quarter (Q2FY24) also witnessed a resumption of price hikes in certain markets. UltraTech Cement, India's largest cement producer, reported a 15 per cent Y-o-Y increase in cement sales in the country for the quarter under review.
The challenge is to enhance opportunities for people to generate livelihoods through entrepreneurship, both big and small, argues R Jagannathan.
Over 100,000 small and medium-sized businesses are non-compliant with e-invoicing norms under the goods and services tax (GST) regime, a mandatory requirement for businesses with an annual turnover of over Rs 5 crore. E-invoicing provides real-time access to invoices that are prepared by the supplier on the purchase of goods, allowing faster accessibility to input tax credit, thereby limiting the manipulation of fake credit as it has to be generated before the transaction. "The default has been reported mainly in businesses with a turnover between Rs 5 crore and Rs 20 crore," a senior official informed
Stepping up its attack on the government over Income Tax Amendment Bill, a united opposition on Thursday petitioned President Pranab Mukherjee against it, alleging the legislation was hurriedly passed in the Lok Sabha bypassing parliamentary rules and procedures.
False and acrimonious debates such as Modi versus Manmohan might allow for victories that are political and partisan. But the real loser is the nation, India and Bharat, notes Arvind Subramanian, former chief economic advisor to the Modi government in its first term.
'Given that debt AIFs, by nature, target a higher portfolio return, it is likely to attract investors like HNIs, family offices, etc, looking for a higher yield debt product.'
'There are multiple ups and downs.' 'You should be able to withstand all that.' 'You need to have the temperament to run a marathon.'
Two equity funds at the opposite ends of the risk matrix - small-cap and arbitrage - bucked the 'low inflow' trend in May this calendar year 2023 (CY23) to receive the highest net inflows in recent years. The Rs 3,280-crore net inflows into small-cap schemes in May was the highest for the category since the mutual fund (MF) industry started releasing fund-wise inflow data in April 2019. Arbitrage schemes raked in a net Rs 6,640 crore - the highest since July 2021.
The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved changes to GST laws to levy a 28 per cent tax on the full face value of bets in online gaming, casinos and horse race clubs, sources said. The amendments to the Central GST (CGST) and Integrated GST (IGST) acts, which were approved by the GST Council last week, are likely to be introduced in the ongoing monsoon session of Parliament, which will end on August 11. The GST Council in its 51st meeting on August 2 recommended amendments to the Schedule III of the CGST Act, 2017, to provide clarity on the taxation of supplies in casinos, horse racing and online gaming.
In recent times, more and more audit firms have challenged company managements, some going to the extent of resigning on the ground of incompatibility with what the management wanted or was doing. This, said Ajay Bhushan Pandey, chairman of the National Financial Regulatory Authority (NFRA), in a media interview, was a good sign. Now, the national accounting watchdog has turned the spotlight on audit firms themselves.
Alternative investment funds (AIFs) - pooled investment vehicles catering to high net worth individuals (HNIs) - saw a 30 per cent increase in investment commitments during financial year 2022-23 (FY23). At the end of March 2023, the total investment commitments raised stood at Rs 8.33 trillion, up Rs 1.92 trillion from Rs 6.41 trillion at the end of March 2022. A commitment is the money clients are willing to put into AIFs.
The move comes barely a week after fellow crypto unicorn CoinDCX laid off 12 per cent of its workforce - an estimated 80 employees - amid challenging macroeconomic conditions and regulatory uncertainty in the sector. CoinSwitch has 519 employees, according to its LinkedIn profile. This means around 8 per cent of its workforce were shown the door.
'The focus needs to shift towards the ability to collect payments, particularly in tier-3 to tier-4 areas where acceptance is still lacking.'
ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company (IPru) is struggling to generate growth in the value of new business (VNB). This is due to a combination of weak growth through the parent bank's channels, a shifting product mix in favour of unit-linked life insurance policies (ULIPS), and higher payouts to third-party channels. Leverage from current investments, a further reduction in contributions from ICICI Bank, and a pick-up in non-participating policies from the end of the year is key for this metric in the near to medium term.
Penalties for non-disclosure or inaccurate disclosure of these details can be severe.
A N Shanbhag, the highly respected investment guru, and his son Sandeep Shanbhag, answers your questions on NRI investment.
Debt mutual funds are likely to be stripped of the long-term tax benefit if they invest less than 35 per cent of their assets in equities. Such mutual funds will attract short term capital gains tax. The government is likely to make such a proposal in the form of an amendment to the Finance Bill 2023 in the Parliament, sources said.
In an effort to attract investors to the Social Stock Exchange (SSE), the bourses have reached out to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) and the government with the industry's demand for additional benefits on contributions made towards social enterprises through the platform. SSE is a regulated platform to facilitate organisations working towards social causes to raise funds and have access to higher capital through the bourses. The platform is aimed at becoming a meeting ground for donors and social enterprises.
