India's gold demand rose 8 per cent annually to 136.6 tonne in the March quarter helped by a strong economic environment despite prices touching historic highs, according to the World Gold Council. The aggressive gold buying by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) also contributed to the rise in demand. India's gold demand in value terms rose 20 per cent on an annual basis to Rs 75,470 crore during the January-March period of this year on volume growth as well as a rise in quarterly average prices by 11 per cent.
E-invoicing would be implemented on a voluntary basis by those having an annual turnover of above Rs 500 crore from January 1.
.jpg)
The GST Bill, introduced in Parliament in 2010, is being vetted by the Standing Committee on Finance. Now, the states and the Centre would together finalise the draft and bring it back to Parliament.
Negotiations near deadlock, as states oppose Constitution Amendment Bill.
The revenue from GST for the current fiscal has been pegged at over Rs 4.44 lakh crore, while for next fiscal it is Rs 7.43 lakh crore.
Monish Malhotra, the superintendent, and Manas Patra, the alleged middleman, were arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation on Wednesday, an official said.
There are both positive and negative impacts of the tax, but the net result for India's infrastructure sector is advantageous, says Vinayak Chatterjee.
While the Centre is criticised for not cutting excise duty on petroleum products, it is the states which gain more from the rise in their prices
The list of exempted goods from central excise duty has shrunk from 400 items in 2011-12 to 300 now.
A total of 25,446 Chinese made electronic and Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCGs) were seized from the warehouse on Old Airport Road during the recent raids.
If the concerns over risking political capital are overcome, the long-term gains for the Indian economy will be immense, asserts A K Bhattacharya.
Companies feel higher rates in India would not be justified.
The Congress has so far announced 82 candidates for the seven-phase Lok Sabha polls beginning April 19.
The old India was economically fragmented. New India will create one tax, one market, one nation, said Jaitley.
The goods and services tax will level the playing field for different sectors of industry, including domestic manufacturing.
Small and medium enterprises had complained of tedious compliance burden under the Goods and Services Tax
These have to be passed in this session to meet the September 15 deadline for switching over to the new indirect tax regime, Jaitley said.
Deadline ends, after two extensions and only 70% file detailed return for July
The discussions are at a very critical stage
The GST bill was earlier planned to be introduced from April 1.
It is far from clear that this GST will have the silver bullet effect that the "pure" GST would have provided, says Mihir S Sharma.
GST will also make our exports more competitive and also provide a level playing field to domestic industry to compete with imports, the President said.
Even with the Rs 20,000 crore distributed among states, it will still be a fraction of what they have been demanding in financial support and clearance of pending dues.
The Centre is against giving any shock in the first year of the rollout by bringing in new services.
Finance ministers from Congress-ruled states say they have alerted the Centre about the problems in GST for several months, but it is only now with the Gujarat assembly election around the corner that the Modi regime has started heeding these suggestions.
The liquidity in the banking system could ease in the coming week due to an increase in government spending - a development that would be the key for the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to decide whether to extend the incremental cash reserve ratio (I-CRR) mandate for banks. There are signs of improvement in the liquidity scenario as banks parked Rs 25, 833 crore with the RBI on Thursday. Market participants expect liquidity to gradually improve by the end of the month or during the first week of September, aided by government spending.
The GST Council had given the option to real estate companies to either opt for old rates of 12% (for residential) and 8 per cent (affordable housing) with ITC benefits or the new tax rates of 5% for residential units and 1% for affordable housing without the benefit of adjusting the credit on inputs used during construction.
The mop-up could have been much higher, but tax on imports fell 2 per cent y-o-y.
The banking system's liquidity slipped into deficit for the first time in the current financial year (2023-24) due to the imposition of the Incremental Cash Reserve Ratio (I-CRR) for banks and outflows from goods and services tax (GST) payments, according to dealers. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data shows it injected Rs 23,644 crore on August 21. The last time liquidity was in deficit was on March 27, when the RBI injected Rs 45,575 crore.
Industry had sought this 3-month extension, specifically for players struggling to collate the information that are required to be disclosed in the GST forms.
Common use products like hair oil, soaps and toothpaste will be charged with a single national sales tax or GST of 18 per cent instead of present 22-24 per cent
The shift from 'one country, one tax' to four tax rates could dilute possible gains on GDP, warns T N Ninan.
"There will be some challenges" in the switchover to GST in the short term, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has warned.
The GST Council on Saturday is expected to extend the date for IGST exemption and cess on imports
The focus will be on tackling the unfinished agenda requiring immediate attention like tax structure for solar projects, uniform tax rate on state-organised and state-authorised lotteries, taxing non-potable alcohol besides certain changes in the law, extension for NAA and rate rationalisation.
The benefits are common in many cases, but are also different in some other respects.
Since the present law threatens to unleash an avalanche of litigation over a period of time, it makes sense to replace it with a simpler law and build complexities as more experience is gained, says T N C Rajagopalan.
While the government has the option of ensuring the passage of these Bills as money Bills, there are voices within the government advising discretion on the GST roll-out by April 1.
The time the companies have to get ready for GST is 6 to 12 months.
Manufacturing taxes, VAT will come down, assures Jaitley
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances