Provisions in the Central GST Act say reduction in GST rates or the benefit of ITC must be passed on to consumers.
Packed frozen 'paratha' is not 'roti or chapatti' as it requires further cooking before consumption and despite wheat flour being the 'common thread' there are other ingredients used in making parathas, said an order by the Gujarat Appellate Authority for Advance Ruling. Such parathas, whether named Malabar, Mixed vegetable, Onion, Methi, Alu, Laccha, Mooli or Plain, have ingredients like margarine, salt, emulsifying agent, oil, potato, peas, cauliflower, coriander powder, bread improver and water, apart from wheat flour, which make 'quite different' from plain roti or chapatti and hence are not eligible for 5 per cent Goods and Services Tax (GST) rate, the ruling said. The percentage of wheat flour used by Vadilal Industries, which had approached the AAAR, in the eight varieties of paratha manufactured and supplied by it ranges from 36-62 per cent, whereas the ingredient for plain roti or chapatti is wheat flour apart from water.
Equity markets will take cues from the US tariff related developments, global trends and trading activity of foreign investors this week, analysts said.
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.
India's real GDP growth in FY26 will slide further to 6.2 per cent in FY26 from 6.5 per cent in FY25, a Japanese brokerage said on Monday. In a research report, Nomura said there is a "divergence" between the growth in GST collections and across other high-frequency growth indicators like auto sales and bank credit growth.
School students in Rajasthan will no longer study two-part supplementary textbooks with state Education Minister Madan Dilawar arguing that these reading materials are not required because they glorify the Nehru-Gandhi family and carry no marks for students.
If India caves in to US pressure as Trump hopes it will, he will further try to blackmail it into submission, points out Ramesh Menon.
The broad trends of GST collections will make you wonder if indeed the biggest indirect tax reform in the country has led to a real improvement in revenues, notes A K Bhattacharya.
GST collections in March grew 13 per cent to the second highest ever at Rs 1.60 lakh crore, taking the growth rate of revenue mop-up for full 2022-23 fiscal to 22 per cent. March also saw over 91 per cent of the GST registered businesses filing returns and paying taxes - reflecting greater compliance and improving economic activity. Gross GST revenue collected in March 2023 is Rs 1,60,122 crore, of which Central GST is Rs 29,546 crore, State GST is Rs 37,314 crore, Integrated GST is Rs 82,907 crore (including Rs 42,503 crore collected on import of goods) and cess is Rs 10,355 crore, the finance ministry said in a statement.
The government on Friday said GST will not be applicable on residential units if they are rented out to private persons for personal use. The government dismissed media reports which claimed that there is an 18 per cent Goods and Services Tax (GST) on house rent paid by tenants. In a tweet, the government said GST would be levied only when the residential unit is rented out to a business entity.
'The quality of justice is directly linked to the quality of judges -- if that suffers, justice delivery suffers.'
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).
GST collection grew by 12 per cent in April to Rs 1.87 lakh crore, the highest monthly mop-up since the rollout of the indirect tax regime. The gross GST revenue collected in the month of April 2023 is Rs 1,87,035 crore of which CGST is Rs 38,440 crore, SGST is Rs 47,412 crore, IGST is Rs 89,158 crore (including Rs 34,972 crore collected on import of goods) and cess is Rs 12,025 crore, the finance ministry said in a statement. The previous high collection of Rs 1.68 lakh crore was in April last year.
GST authorities have expanded the probe into alleged tax evasion by fintech firm BharatPe to include reported issuance of fake invoices by those close to the firm's ousted co-founder Ashneer Grover, an official said. GST authorities are now scrutinising BharatPe books of the last four years to see if bogus invoices were issued for services as well. BharatPe had stripped Grover and his wife Madhuri Jain of all positions after a preliminary report of an external audit commissioned by the fintech firm's board showed that the duo indulged in alleged misdeeds and financial irregularities.
The government has notified a host of procedural changes in the GST rules, including levy of interest for wrongful utilisation of ITC and turnover threshold for filing annual returns for the 2021-22 fiscal. The changes were vetted by the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council at its meeting last week. With the amendments notified by the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC), businesses have also been allowed to make tax payments on the GSTN portal by using IMPS and UPI payment modes.
Chaudhary also said that 66 per cent of government-sponsored health insurance schemes in the country are being run by the central government. "When the COVID-19 pandemic started, a decision was made for sale of all medicines at the GST rate between 5 and 12 per cent and the GST rate for COVID-19 related medicines and instruments has been reduced to five per cent," he said during the Question Hour.
Expanding investigation into allegedly wrongful claims of input tax credit by insurance companies, the tax authorities are probing a section of automobile dealers who have supposedly generated fake invoices without providing any service, which is a punishable offence under goods and services tax (GST) law. The authorities are learnt to have questioned the car dealers to explain the services they provided general insurance companies. The investigators suspect car dealers pitched for insurance schemes that give them commissions in excess of those insurance regulations permit.
GST collections rose 12 per cent to over Rs 1.49 lakh crore in February, the finance ministry said on Wednesday. February 2023 witnessed the highest cess collection of Rs 11,931 crore since implementation of GST. The collections are, however, lower than the second highest Goods and Services Tax (GST) mop-up recorded in January at over Rs 1.57 lakh crore.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday said GST compensation to some states is delayed due to non-availability of AG's authenticated certificate, and that Kerala has not sent even a single such certificate since 2017-18. Replying to a supplementary question, she also said that Rs 86,912 crore has been released for the Goods and Services Tax (GST) compensation payable to all states up to May 31, 2022. She said as per law, GST Council decides to whom the GST compensation is to be released, not by the central government.
The eight-month intensive programme is designed to help professionals develop comprehensive expertise across both data science and decision science, said IIT-Delhi.
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.
GST authorities have detected GST fraud of Rs 55,575 crore over the last two years and arrested over 700 persons for causing loss to the exchequer, an official said on Thursday. Over 22,300 fake GST identification numbers (GSTIN) were detected by the officers of the Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI). The government on November 9, 2020, launched a nationwide special drive against unscrupulous entities for availing and passing on Input Tax Credit (ITC) fraudulently by issuing fake/bogus invoices, thereby evading Goods and Services Tax (GST).
GST officers can now launch prosecution against offenders in cases where the amount of evasion or misuse of input tax credit is more than Rs 5 crore, the finance ministry has said. However, this monetary threshold will not be applicable in the case of habitual evaders or in cases where arrests have been made at the time of investigation. "One of the important considerations for deciding whether prosecution should be launched is the availability of adequate evidence," the GST investigation wing under the finance ministry said, while issuing instructions for launching prosecution.
Automobile dealers' body FADA on Thursday sought a cut in GST on two-wheelers from 28 per cent to 18 per cent, saying the segment being essential for millions should not be categorised as luxury item. The industry body said it has appealed to the finance minister, chair of the GST Council, all GST Council members, the ministry of heavy industries, which supervises the automobile sector, and the ministry of road transport & highways. This timely and decisive intervention would help in making two-wheelers more affordable, reviving demand and reinvigorating an industry that has seen a significant slump in sales over the past few years, the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA) said in a statement.
GST revenues rose by 11 per cent to about Rs 1.46 lakh crore in November over the year-ago period, the Finance Ministry said on Thursday. This is the ninth straight month when collections from Goods and Services Tax (GST) has remained above Rs 1.40 lakh crore. The gross GST revenue collected in the month of November 2022 is Rs 1,45,867 crore of which Central GST is Rs 25,681 crore, State GST is Rs 32,651 crore, Integrated GST is Rs 77,103 crore (including Rs 38,635 crore collected on import of goods) and cess is Rs 10,433 crore (including Rs 817 crore collected on import of goods).
Tax evaders, BEWARE! The Income Tax department is using AI data analytics to bust fake deductions, flag HRA fraud, and trace digital footprints.
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.
Dream11, Baazi Games, Zupee and WinZO among others are invited for the discussion with the anti-money laundering watchdog.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present her 8th straight Budget and all eyes will be on the much-expected tax relief for the middle class. Sitharaman had in her first Budget in 2019 replaced the leather briefcase -- which had been in use for decades for carrying Budget documents -- with a traditional 'bahi-khata' wrapped in red cloth.
Yadav further accused the BJP of "using distractions" to avoid addressing real issues such as rising unemployment, inflation, lack of investment in Uttar Pradesh, and failing healthcare facilities.
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.
They are not just underreporting income; they are reshaping what the income tax system perceives, says study.
Jailed journalist Mahesh Langa, already facing multiple charges, has been booked in a fresh case for allegedly extorting Rs 40 lakh from a real estate agent by threatening to malign his image and implicate him in a false case. This is the fifth FIR registered against him since his arrest in October 2023 for an alleged Goods and Services Tax (GST) scam. The latest case was registered based on a complaint by Janak Thakor, a real estate agent, who alleged that Langa threatened to write negative articles about him and trap him in a false case unless he paid the money. Langa has been in jail since his arrest in October and is facing charges in four previous cases registered by Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar, and Rajkot police.
The share of EVs in the luxury segment rose from 7 per cent in January-May 2024 to 11 per cent during the same period in 2025, marking a 66 per cent growth in the electric luxury segment.
'We revolutionised the system in a manner so that the chances of leakage will be much lower than it was in the beginning.'
The domestic stock market this week would monitor the geopolitical developments after India and Pakistan reached an understanding to stop military actions, analysts said. Moreover, macroeconomic data announcements, Q4 earnings, trading activity of foreign investors and global market trends are also likely to influence sentiments, traders said.
The GST Council in its next meeting may look at raising the lowest tax slab to 8 per cent, from 5 per cent, and prune the exemption list in the Goods and Services Tax regime as it looks to increase revenues and do away with states' dependence on Centre for compensation, sources said on Sunday. A panel of state finance ministers is likely to submit its report by this month end to the Council suggesting various steps to raise revenue, including hiking the lowest slab and rationalising the slab. Currently, GST is a four-tier structure attracting a tax rate of 5, 12, 18 and 28 per cent.
'You've got to understand it is not easy to die by suicide.' 'People commit suicide only when they lose everything and find no other way to live.'
Supplying food to schools under mid-day meal scheme, pre-schools and anganwadis is exempt from GST, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has said. Issuing a set of clarification on certain decisions taken by the GST Council in its 43rd meeting on May 28, the CBIC said it had received representations regarding applicability of GST on the issues as to whether serving of food in schools under mid-day meals scheme would be exempt if such supplies are funded by government grants and/or corporate donations. Under the goods and services tax (GST), any catering service, including mid-day meals, provided to an educational institution is exempt from the levy.
In 2025 alone, at least 50 suicides linked to online gambling losses have been reported across India. According to FIRs, the victims were addicted to betting, largely driven by cricket, rummy and poker.
