Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday said the Indian economy is on a sustained path of revival and cited rise in GST collections and direct taxes to support her assertion. She further said that the confidence in the Indian stock market is growing as retail and small investors are keenly investing money in the share market. She was addressing the media in New Delhi.
'A broad-based revival of private sector investment was likely in 2018-19 after businesses had successfully made the switch to the GST.'
The Centre and states are likely to settle for this threshold.
'Prime Minister Modi stated several times that we shall not let this challenge go away without converting it into an opportunity to undertake systemic reforms.' 'And hasn't that been reiterated in action?'
FinMin does not expect tax or non-tax revenue to reach anywhere close to the targets set in the interim Budget. Sources say that the challenge before the new government will be either to accept the reduced projection and tailor the Budget accordingly or set a more ambitious target.
'There is something fundamentally wrong with the GST -- whether be it the rates, compliance, or the GST Network itself.'
The opposition parties vehemently criticised the new 'one nation, one tax' system having four different rates instead of a single rate adopted in some countries including the UK and Singapore.
The dates of general elections in 2019 and the presentation of the final Budget of the Modi government are so far removed from each other that Jaitley is not under any pressure to present a populist Budget. Instead, he could well unveil an array of schemes and proposals that he believes are necessary for the economy, even if a few of them could be unpopular, says A K Bhattacharya.
Falling private sector investment and farm distress are problems that call for immediate attention, says T N C Rajagopalan.
'Like every Budget, this time, too, there is chatter around tinkering with the long-term capital gains tax.' 'Investors may not want to jump into the markets until there is clarity on this front.'
Pre-Budget excercise next month should scrupulously avoid adventurism of all types and refrain from making excessively ambitious projections on revenue and expenditure numbers for 2023-24, suggests A K Bhattacharya.
Plug-in hybrids have two engines and the electric part has a much larger battery than in the regular hybrids. Car companies, led by the Japanese, are pushing the Indian government to look at hybrids in the interim if it wants to reduce carbon emission.
The broader NSE Nifty reclaimed the 11,600 level, zooming 326 points or 2.9 per cent to settle at 11,600.20. Top gainers in the Sensex pack included Bajaj Finance, L&T, Asian Paints, ITC, Axis Bank, Kotak Bank, ICICI Bank, HDFC twins, Maruti and SBI, rallying up to 8.70 per cent.
Bharat Krishak Samaj demanded that the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana should be replaced with a new crop insurance and compensation scheme.
Performance-based incentives were recommended by the 13th Finance Commission, but omitted by the 14th Finance Commission
Surat houses more than 650,000 powerlooms. Of this, at least 60 per cent have been shut since a month, a loss of Rs 900 crore, finds out Vinay Umarji.
A strong proponent of the GST, Adi Godrej has been saying for five years or more that it will add one per cent to India's gross domestic product (GDP).
The government is ready for a debate in Parliament on price rise once Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman recovers from Covid-19, the Bharatiya Janata Party asserted on Wednesday and targeted Rahul Gandhi, saying he may be "unproductive politically" but should not hurt the legislature's productivity.
The premium on insurance policies will get costlier by 3 per cent to 7 per cent, depending upon the rate fixed by the GST Council from April 1, 2017, says Harjot Singh Narula.
A moderate GST rate obviates the need for the two-rate structure.
To give impetus to the real estate sector, Goyal proposed to extend the period of exemption from levy of tax on notional rent on unsold inventories from one year to two years.
As per practice a vote-on-account or approval for essential government spending for a limited period is taken in the election year and a full-fledged budget presented by the new government.
Fiscal federalism should not be sacrificed at the altar of GST.
He also took potshots at opposition parties' decision to observing November 8 as a 'Black Day', saying the move displays their faith in cash economy.
For his first Budget in July 2014, Jaitley inherited a fiscal deficit target of 4.1 per cent of GDP. From 4.1 per cent, the fiscal deficit came down to 3.4 per cent by 2018-19, with two slippages from the budgeted targets, in 2017-18 and 2018-19, the former due to introduction of the GST, says Arup Roychoudhury.
'You may see some movement indicating a simpler tax regime with less exemptions but with fewer tax rates making life simpler for taxpayers.'
Elections may be a few months away, but the government may get into election mode much earlier than that, predicts A K Bhattacharya.
Broader market outperformed with the S&P BSE Midcap index adding 0.7%, while S&P BSE Smallcap index gained 0.6%.
The government is going all out to spread awareness about the new indirect tax regime, and training lawmakers is being seen as a necessary first step.
Also on the anvil is abolition of distinction between Plan and non-Plan expenditure and replacing it with capital and revenue expenditure
The surge in export, domestic demand and public spending in infrastructure projects might revive private investment during 2017-18.
Accounting for the first Advance Estimates for 2017-18, an additional planned borrowing of Rs 200 billion, the fiscal deficit could come in at 3.35 per cent of GDP.
Going by the number of changes Mr Jaitley's next Budget is likely to see, he will go down in the history of Budget-making as the finance minister who ushered in the largest number of changes in a single Budget, says A K Bhattacharya.
Drabu said the GST regime will roll out in the state at midnight on Friday, making Jammu and Kashmir the last state to join the new tax regime.
'The only way to minimise logical inconsistencies and confusion is to develop the two rates of 12% and 18% as the ones that apply to almost all items.' 'At a later stage, these two rates could be merged into a single rate,' advises T N Ninan.
GST will make it easier for governments to spend more, says T C A Srinivasa Raghavan.
The bill was taken up for consideration in the Lok Sabha after the Speaker rejected Opposition demands to refer the key reform measure to a parliamentary Standing Committee.
S&P BSE Midcap index and S&P BSE Smallcap were down 2% and 1.3% respectively
Electricity has also been kept out of the GST ambit.
7 key areas that the Budget must address to re-energise the infrastructure sector, suggests Vinayak Chatterjee.
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