The time is ideal for a 'Dream Budget' akin to the 1991 reforms that sparked high growth and unlocked significant gains in productivity, points out Rajeswari Sengupta.
India's opposition parties have sharply criticized the Union Budget, calling it inadequate to address the country's economic woes and accusing the BJP-led government of using it to woo voters in Bihar and Delhi ahead of upcoming elections. Leaders from the Congress, TMC, DMK, SP, and CPI(M) voiced their disapproval, highlighting concerns over inflation, unemployment, and the lack of substantial measures to support the agricultural sector and the poor. They also criticized the tax cuts for the middle class as insufficient and coming too late after years of high taxes and rising prices.
The heavy industries ministersaid that the proposal for the auto scrappage policy was ready and all stakeholders have provided inputs, therefore its announcement was likely very soon.
Online sports platform Mobile Premier League has laid off around 350 people or about half of India team to cut down on expenses and bear the burden of increased GST of 28 per cent, according to an internal company email. The GST Council has decided to levy a 28 per cent GST on online gaming and casinos on the face value of bets at the entry level. The Centre will bring amendments to the Central GST law in the ongoing monsoon session of Parliament, following which states will pass the amendments in their respective assemblies to pave the way for the introduction of changes in the law by October 1.
P K Mishra, a retired IAS officer of the Gujarat cadre, is currently serving as the principal secretary to the prime minister.
The Indian insurance industry is set to focus on customer-centric technological adoption and expansion into rural areas to drive growth in 2025.
High frequency indicators, like vehicles sales, air traffic, steel consumption and GST E-way bills, point towards a sequential pickup in momentum of economic activity during the second half of the fiscal 2024-25 and sustain moving forward, RBI Bulletin said on Wednesday. However, a strong dollar, driven by US economic resilience and trade policy pivots, could exacerbate capital outflows from emerging economies, push risk premiums higher, and intensify external vulnerabilities, said an article on 'State of the Economy' published in RBI's February bulletin.
As the Union Budget 2025-2026 (FY26) inches closer, the Indian real estate industry is seeking stamp duty cuts, revised home loan limits and updated affordable housing norms through Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna (PMAY), single-window clearance and eco-friendly policies, among others. Industry leaders and consultancy firms, including Anarock, Raheja, Gaurs, Kanodia Group, Reach, Urban Space, Justo and Eros Group, have shared their expectations.
Fridge, washing machine, and paint makers are expected to cut prices shortly, while TV, aircon, and sanitary napkin makers are a disappointed lot
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is unlikely to cut the benchmark interest rate at its upcoming monetary policy review meeting, taking place soon after the announcement of the Lok Sabha election results, amid inflation challenges, said experts. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) may also refrain from rate cut as economic growth is picking up, notwithstanding the elevated interest rate of 6.5 per cent (repo) prevailing since February 2023. The meeting of the Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das headed MPC is scheduled for June 5 to 7.
The GST revenues for August 2023 have shown a growth of 11 per cent year on year due to increased compliance and less evasion, Revenue secretary Sanjay Malhotra said on Friday. The collection from Goods and Services Tax (GST) was Rs 1,43,612 crore in August 2022. "Roughly numbers are in the range of 11 per cent year on year growth as in earlier months," Malhotra told reporters.
'The bull market cycle ran for five years. It's the end of that cycle.' 'The next cycle is a down cycle, and in that down cycle, you will see the Sensex falling from their highs of around 68,000 to maybe 40,000-50,000 at the bottom of the cycle.'
The biggest risk in under-construction projects is delay and non-completion.
Ahead of the first meeting of the top decision-making body in nearly eight months, finance ministers of eight states ruled by non-Bharatiya Janata Party and like-minded parties -- Rajasthan, Punjab, Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Kerala and West Bengal -- have devised a joint strategy to press for a zero tax rate on Covid essentials, sources said.
If the GST on paneer is 5% and the GST on butter is 12% and the GST on masala is 5%...
Annapoorna chain of restaurants owner Srinivasan is seen purportedly highlighting concerns over varying GST rates. In the second video, Srinivasan was seen purportedly apologising in person to the Finance Minister.
18% cent GST on iPhones continues to weigh heavily on the final cost to Indian consumers, limiting the impact of price cuts.
The government is likely to provide a subsidy of Rs 35,000 crore to state-owned Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL), and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) to make up for losses they incurred on selling the fuel this fiscal, sources said.
Six years after the rollout of the biggest indirect tax reform in India, Goods and Services Tax (GST) revenue of Rs 1.5 lakh crore every month has become a new normal and tax officers are focusing on dealing with fraudsters who are adopting newer modus operandi to game the system, causing loss to the exchequer. To apprehend black sheep, who operate as syndicates and create fake entities on the basis of forged documents to claim input tax credit (ITC), tax officers have started using data analytics, artifical intelligence and machine learning aiming to curb evasion, which was over Rs 3 lakh crore since inception of GST. It was over Rs 1 lakh crore in 2022-23. Thinktank Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI) said the most critical pending GST reform is upgradation of GST Network to prevent fake supplies and fraudulent claims of Input Tax Credit (ITC).
Overhaul of the goods and services tax (GST) structure, including possible changes in the tax slabs, may now be taken up only after the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, given the number of states that are going to the polls in its run-up. "No major overhaul of tax rates is expected in GST until the end of next fiscal year. One major reason for this is that some members of the group of ministers (GoM) - mandated to look at rate rationalisation by the GST Council - are from poll-bound states. Later, this may lead to reconstitution of the panel," a senior government official told Business Standard. Besides, both the Centre and states are not in favour of frequent changes in the tax rates amid inflationary uncertainties; they believe any major change should be brought in after extensive deliberations, according to the official.
While the November 2017 round of rate revisions saw mainly eating joints unwilling to pass on GST benefits, this time round, sanitary napkin makers, TV manufacturers and even paint companies have said passing on GST benefits is not a feasible exercise.
The liquidity will move into deficit after advance tax payments and GST outflows. It will rebound in October because of government spending.
A road map could be laid out for a gradual reduction in the tax rates from the current incidence of about 62-94 per cent without causing a major blow to the revenues of the Centre and the states. The opportunity arising out of higher GST collections should not be squandered, says A K Bhattacharya.
'Spend, but create assets, spend but make sure that people benefit from it.' 'This has been a beautiful guiding principle. And I think as a finance minister I owe so much to the prime minister for keeping this path clear before us.'
Rationalisation of rates will be taken up for smaller items that do not have major revenue implications but are commonly consumed at the GST Council meet on Saturday
It is now becoming increasingly clear that rising imports have played a significant role in sustaining the buoyancy in revenues from GST, notes A K Bhattacharya.
Dr Nagesh Kumar, one of the three new MPC members, wanted the MPC to reduce the repo rate by 25 basis points to 6.25%.
The government intends to continue with the top GST slab of 28 per cent for luxury and sin goods, but is open to discuss narrowing down the three slabs of 5, 12 and 18 per cent into two, Revenue Secretary Tarun Bajaj said on Monday. Addressing the industry leaders, Bajaj said the rate rationalisation exercise of the GST Council is a result of introspection of GST, five years after its rollout, and the policymakers do not have a "fetish" to raise the tax rates to the revenue-neutral level of 15.5 per cent. On the industry demand for bringing petroleum products under GST net, he said since fuel constitutes a larger part of their revenues, both the Centre and states have some apprehension.
With 7 per cent economic growth, India is not creating enough jobs as reflected by the number of applicants for vacant posts in some states, Reserve Bank's former governor Raghuram Rajan said and suggested the government needs to focus on promoting labour-intensive industries to generate employment. Rajan further said some Indians, especially those at upper level, are comfortable and have high incomes, but consumption growth from the lower half of the country has still not recovered to pre-pandemic level.
GST rate for petrol and diesel cars and hybrid vehicles is already at the highest bracket of 28 per cent plus cess.
Leader of Canada's New Democratic Party (NDP) Jagmeet Singh has announced that he is withdrawing support to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government.
About a dozen states cutting across party lines on Wednesday pitched for extending the mechanism to compensate states for revenue lost from the implementation of GST beyond June 30, but no decision was taken. Briefing reporters about deliberations at the two-day meeting of the GST Council in Chandigarh, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said finance and other ministers of 16 states spoke on the compensation issue. Of the 16 states, 3-4 spoke of evolving their own revenue stream to break from the compensation mechanism, she said.
The best way to achieve financial security isn't by cutting out every vada pav or limiting yourself to home-cooked meals; it's by making yourself indispensable at work, says Vatsal Ramaiya.
An increase in the farmer income support scheme PM Kisan Nidhi, the introduction of a 'robot tax' to fund reskilling of people who lose their jobs to artificial intelligence (AI), and a reduced income-tax (I-T) to bring relief to the middle classes - these are some of the items in the Budget wish list submitted by Sangh Parivar affiliates to Finance Minister (FM) Nirmala Sitharaman. Representatives of the affiliates of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), such as the farmer organisation Bharatiya Kisan Sangh (BKS); trade union Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS); Laghu Udyog Bharati, which works for micro and small industries; and Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM), which works on economic and policy issues, met the FM and other officials over the last couple of weeks as part of the pre-Budget consultations.
The new tax rates will come into effect from January 1, 2019.
Agriculture implements that are currently taxed up to 18 per cent may come under the 12 per cent or the 5 per cent bracket.
The government should bring natural gas under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime to realise Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision for a gas-based economy and raising the share of the environment-friendly fuel in India's energy basket, an industry body that represents the likes of Reliance Industries as well as state-owned firms, has said. Natural gas is currently outside the ambit of GST, and existing legacy taxes -- central excise duty, state VAT, central sales tax -- continue to be applicable on the fuel. In its pre-Budget memorandum to the finance ministry, Federation of Indian Petroleum Industry (FIPI), which boasts of members from across the oil and gas spectrum, also demanded rationalisation of GST on transportation of natural gas through pipeline as well as on re-gasification of imported LNG to help bring down cost of the environment friendly fuel.
The government on Friday announced several relief measures including deferring one-time registration fee, lifting the ban on purchase of petrol/diesel vehicles by its departments and allowing higher depreciation, but it remained non-committal on the demand for a reduction in GST rates.
Agra has long been known for the Taj Mahal, but it is also a manufacturing hub filled with micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) that make everything from electronic components to metal products, from paints and chemicals to footwear. And five years after the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), the MSMEs here complain that while the indirect tax regime has been transformative, cutting out the need to file multiple taxes, its biggest drawback has been the delay in credit refunds. Whoever you speak to - MSME owners, tax lawyers, or industry bodies like the National Chambers of Industries and Commerce (NCIC), Agra Footwear Manufacturers and Exporters Chamber (AFMEC) and Agra Shoe Manufacturers Association (ASMA) - they all emphasise that the GST continues to face some key challenges.
'Credit card debt comes with high interest cost and stringent penalties.' 'If you do not repay on time, the costs balloon.'
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