The next many decades belong to India as the global economic powerhouse, and it will be essential to continue demonstrating policy stability, as the country aspires to be the world's manufacturing hub, Maruti Suzuki India MD and CEO Hisashi Takeuchi said on Friday.
GST Reform 2.0, which trims tax slabs from four to two, signals a push for demand-led growth, and together with recent income tax cuts, sets the stage for sustained economic growth, experts said. The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council on September 3 approved an overhaul of the indirect tax regime by taxing essentials at 5 per cent and other goods at 18 per cent. A new 40 per cent tax will be applicable on luxury and sin items.
'That is going to have an impact on literally every one, whether you buy a toothpaste, a safety pin, a car, shoes or medicines or you go to a diagnostic centre.'
'Ek baar aap GST dekh lo!' - Prime Minister Narendra Modi's gentle nudge to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in December last year sparked the beginning of a mammoth exercise to overhaul the tangled goods and services tax regime. And the final outcome is a significantly simplified system with lower tax rates and easier compliance for businesses.
The government expects indirect tax collection to be lower than the Budget Estimate (BE) of Rs 13.38 trillion this fiscal year, despite prospects of netting goods and services tax (GST) in large amounts, Revenue Secretary Tarun Bajaj has said. "Indirect tax collection may see lower realisation than budgeted on account of cuts in excise and customs duties. "We could see a shortfall of about Rs 1.5 trillion on account of those," he told Business Standard.
The Indian government has introduced a bill in the Lok Sabha to ban online games played with money, aiming to curb addiction, money laundering, and financial fraud. The bill also targets advertisements and financial transactions related to such games.
Simplifying GST rates, removing exemptions, easing disputes, and speeding up refunds can boost investment in India and offer the best reply to Trump's tariffs, observes V S Krishnan, former member, Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs.
Kapil Raj, a former Enforcement Directorate (ED) officer who supervised the arrests of two chief ministers under the anti-money laundering law, has resigned from government service after serving for about 16 years, citing personal reasons.
While recalling the order, the bench agreed to the contention of the law officer that there was a "breach of principle of natural justice" as the government department was not accorded the hearing.
Gross GST collections increased by 6.2 per cent to over Rs 1.84 lakh crore in June but slipped below the Rs 2 lakh crore mark recorded in the previous two months. Gross GST collections stood at Rs 173,813 crore a year ago, as per government data released on Tuesday.
The net indirect tax collection in 2020-21 grew 12.3 per cent annually to Rs 10.71 lakh crore, thereby exceeding the target set in revised estimates, the Finance Ministry said on Tuesday. The mop-up through indirect taxes, which include GST, Customs and excise duties, was Rs 9.54 lakh crore in 2019-20. In the Revised Estimates (RE) for 2020-21, the target was set at Rs 9.89 lakh crore. Net collections from Goods and Services Tax (GST) stood at Rs 5.48 lakh crore during 2020-21, an eight per cent drop compared to Rs 5.99 lakh crore in the previous fiscal year.
Ports-to-energy conglomerate Adani Group saw a 29 per cent rise in tax outgo across portfolio companies to nearly Rs 75,000 crore, it said on Thursday. This includes both direct and indirect taxes paid, as well as payments towards employee social security.
'Vigilance' is a dreaded term for PSB employees and there are instances where this fear is misused by the higher authorities to tame their subordinate officials. This fear always deters PSB executives from making decisions -- the fewer the decisions, the less the chance of falling into trouble, points out Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
During negotiations, the officer allegedly agreed to reduce the amount to Rs 2 crore, with the condition that the first installment of Rs 50 lakh had to be paid to the middleman by Thursday evening, the complaint said.
Central GST (CGST) field offices will remain open on March 29-31, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) said on Friday. The CBIC directive came days after a similar directive from the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) regarding income tax department offices "to facilitate completion of pending departmental work.
While demand for sub Rs 50-lakh affordable housing prevails, market players cite increased land rates, escalated construction costs and low margins as key prohibiting factors.
The move, he said, would enable the Authority for Advance Rulings set up under the Income Tax Act 1961 to also function as the Authority for Advance Rulings for Indirect Taxes. The AAR was established to address the taxability issues of NRI assessees. The assessees can put in an application to the authority and seek judgement on their tax issues.
They are not just underreporting income; they are reshaping what the income tax system perceives, says study.
Foreign companies now pay less tax relative to their earnings than at any time in more than three decades. Foreign private companies paid 24.36 per cent of their pre-tax profit as tax in 2023-24, show numbers from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE).
For every rupee in the government coffer, the biggest pie of 66 paise will come from direct and indirect taxes, according to the Union Budget 2025-26 documents. Around 24 paise will come from borrowings and other liabilities, 9 paise from non-tax revenue like divestment, and 1 paise from non-debt capital receipts, the Budget documents said.
All the three components of indirect tax excise, customs and service tax have posted negative growth in collections.
Indirect tax revenues rose marginally by 5.6 per cent in the April-October period to over Rs 2.85 lakh crore, mainly on account of increase in service tax and customs collections.
He, however, acknowledged the need for further efforts from the revenue department.
The budgeted indirect tax collection target is Rs 9.26 trillion, and the Centre has collected around Rs 5 trillion in the first 8 months. So it needs another Rs 4.2 trn in the last four months
Goods and Services Tax (GST) collection rose 12.6 per cent Y-o-Y to an all-time high of about Rs 2.37 lakh crore in April, which the government said shows resilience of the Indian economy and the effectiveness of cooperative federalism. The gross GST mop-up was Rs 2.10 lakh crore in April 2024 -- the second highest collection ever since GST was rolled out on July 1, 2017. The net mop-up was Rs 1.92 lakh crore.
After increasing the direct tax collections target in 2010-11 by Rs 20,000 crore (Rs 200 billion), the finance ministry now plans to raise the indirect tax receipts by at least Rs 10,000 crore to Rs 3,25,000 crore (Rs 100 to Rs 3,250 billion) for the same period.
Gross GST collection in March grew 9.9 per cent to over Rs 1.96 lakh crore, government data showed on Tuesday.
Government has set indirect tax collection target of Rs 5.65 lakh crore for 2013-14
Indirect tax collection, which includes excise, customs, and services tax, was Rs 2.57 lakh crore.
The government has fixed the target of indirect tax collection, comprising customs, excise and service tax, at Rs 5.65 lakh crore for 2013-14.
Ahead of Union Budget, the government on Thursday said it hopes to exceed the indirect tax collection estimate of Rs 3.36 lakh crore for this fiscal in view of the buoyancy in the economy.
The indirect tax collection rose by 42.3 per cent to Rs 2.07 lakh crore (Rs 2.07 trillion) during April-November this year as compared to corresponding period last year, indicating uptick in economic activities.
Amid speculations of partial roll back of stimulus in the upcoming Budget, a key finance ministry official said the government's kitty from indirect tax collections will fall short of the projected figures for this fiscal.
The indirect tax collection grew by about seven per cent to Rs 51,461 crore (Rs 514.61 billion) in the first five months of this fiscal from Rs 48,095 crore (Rs 480.95 billion) in April-August 2002.
The Delhi High Court has directed Customs officials to ensure that old and personal jewellery of travellers, including ornaments being worn by them during travel, are not unnecessarily detained at airports and they are not harassed. The court was hearing a batch of more than 30 petitions raising issues on the procedure for detention of goods belonging to the tourists travelling to India, of both Indian and foreign origin, by the Customs department.
The government on Tuesday said there would be no slippage in indirect tax collection on account of drought nor is it considering any tax cuts.
Gross GST revenue rose 12.3 per cent to Rs 1.96 lakh crore in January on higher domestic economic activity, government data showed on Saturday. This includes 10.4 per cent growth in revenue from sale of goods and services domestically at Rs 1.47 lakh crore and 19.8 per cent rise in tax revenue from imported goods at Rs 48,382 crore.
The revised guidelines are aimed at curbing discretionary practices by field officers, especially the tendency to seek documents not mandated under the law.
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