Ruling out the implementation of value-added tax from June 1, Finance Minister Jaswant Singh on Wednesday announced several excise duty concessions on edible oil and textiles.
Days before the passage of the Finance Bill in the Parliament, Left party leaders on Friday met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and demanded urgent steps by the United Progressive Alliance government to check growing prices of essential commodities. Top leaders of four Left parties, supporting the government placed six demands before him, saying these measures should be taken immediately to curb burgeoning prices.
Manufacturing taxes, VAT will come down, assures Jaitley
Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee had a brief meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on salient features of the Budget.
Four per cent countervailing customs duty on components for mobile phone manufacturing exempted.
According to a top Congress minister, the government needs to be on its toes next week when the combined opposition moves cut motions and the finance bill also comes up for passing in the Lok Sabha. The reason is the altered attitude of the Left parties, particularly the Communist Party of India-Marxist towards the Bharatiya Janata Party with the Left now seeing the Congress as its enemy number one.
PSUs are asking for tax holiday for oil exploration and production activities to continue. The latest Budget imposes a Sunset clause for 100 per cent tax exemption for refining of mineral oil.
While the Left parties are in talks with secular Opposition parties on a joint strategy during voting on the Budget in the budget session resuming from April 15, they are not not averse to BJP and its allies supporting a joint opposition cut motion.
You telephone bills will become cheaper if the finance minister P Chidambaram heeds to the telecom operators' demand for a reduction in levies.
With organisations like the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, which is a front of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, telling Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman they want OPS back, the government is in a bind, report Shiva Rajora and Aditi Phadnis.
The government is likely to extend fiscal incentives for production of toys, bicycles and leather and footwear in the forthcoming budget as it looks to expand production linked incentive (PLI) scheme to cover more high-employment potential sectors, sources said. The government has already rolled out the scheme with an outlay of about Rs 2 lakh crore for as many as 14 sectors, including automobiles and auto components, white goods, pharma, textiles, food products, high efficiency solar PV modules, advance chemistry cell and speciality steel. The scheme aims to make domestic manufacturing globally competitive and create global champions in manufacturing, and it is yielding solid results, sources said.
The devil is in the detail for the real estate sector. Though the Budget gave sops to home buyers in the form of tax savings and interest rate subvention, it quietly brought back service tax on lease rentals in the Finance Bill.
The bill says the deductor will deduct tax at higher rates than that is in force or 20 per cent in case the TDS assessee does not furnish his PAN.
Jaitley promised the states that they would be fully compensated for any loss of revenue arising from implementation of GST.
In a response to the August 3 order, the Centre, represented by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, said till the time either the legislature or the poll panel steps in, the top court must lay down "dos and don'ts" for political parties in the 'larger national interest.'
Armed with permission to issue Rs 10,000 crore (Rs 100 billion) of tax-free bonds in 2011-12, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) will issue the first lot worth Rs 2,500 crore by mid-May.
The Bill at best makes the existing public distribution system a legal right, an aspect that seems of little consequence to the lords of high finance, whose primary anxiety is the FSB-by-numbers.
Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh has convened a meeting of senior ministers on Tuesday to discuss the recommendations of the National Advisory Council on the Food Security Bill.
Congress president and Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday claimed he was 'insulted' as his mic was turned off while he was speaking in the House the previous day.
The Rajya Sabha on Wednesday took up the four bills related to the GST, with the Opposition urging the government to insulate taxpayers from harassment and questioning how the new regime was "ideal" when 40 per cent of the revenue base of the GDP was kept out of its purview.
Finance Minister Jaswant Singh on Friday hinted that value added tax might not take off as scheduled in June as not all states have agreed to its implementation.
"I came in between" Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said on Tuesday, taking a dig at the leaders of the Congress and the Samajwadi Party who had formed a coalition to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Kumaraswamy's father HD Deve Gowda also downplayed GT Devegowda's comment.
A comprehensive Bill on insurance sector is likely to be introduced in the winter session of Parliament, Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram said on Friday. \n
Unable to comprehend the deliberations in English in the joint drafting committee on Lokpal Bill, anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare has sought an interpreter for himself from the next meeting.
The joint drafting committee on Lokpal bill on Saturday had its first meeting when civil society representatives presented a new draft of the legislation to the government with both sides expressing hope that the new law will be brought in the monsoon session of Parliament.
The session will commence with the maiden address of President Droupadi Murmu to the joint sitting of both Houses of Parliament. The address essentially highlights the government's achievements and policy priorities.
The Samajwadi Party and the Rashtriya Janata Dal on Monday said they would oppose the Women's Reservation Bill in its present form at an all-party meeting convened by the government and stick to their demand for separate quotas for women from the minority community, scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and other backward classes. the meeting has been convened by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who is Leader of Lok Sabha, to find a way out of the impasse on the bill.
The Centre on Monday defended in the Supreme Court the third extension of service granted to Enforcement Directorate chief Sanjay Kumar Mishra, asserting it was due to a peer review being conducted by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) this year and said he will retire this November.
Select committees of the House have already submitted their reports
The government on Wednesday approved the inclusion of certain communities in the lists of Scheduled Tribes in Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, fulfilling long-pending demands from these states.
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