The 41st meeting of the GST Council, to be held via video conferencing, has just one agenda for discussion -- making up for shortfall in states' revenues, sources said.
While Congress and the states ruled by non-NDA parties pushed for the Centre meeting its statutory obligation of covering the deficit, the Union government cited a legal opinion to say it had no such obligation if there was a shortfall in tax collections. The Centre as well as BJP-JD-U-ruled Bihar were of the opinion that the states should borrow to make up for the shortfall in the tax revenues that have been compounded by the COVID-19 crisis, sources said.
The Centre is looking to convene a meeting of the all-powerful Goods and Service Tax Council in early January. The meeting is likely to focus on rectifying the inverted duty structure for a few more items and will also serve as a platform for pre-Budget discussions between Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and state finance ministers, Business Standard has learnt. "The current Winter Session of Parliament ends on December 23, followed by the Christmas-New Year period. "After that we would like to have a meeting of the GST Council, depending on whether there can be a quorum," a top government official said.
Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das on Thursday said the fundamental drivers of the Indian economy are gaining momentum and the country is moving on a sustainable growth path. In the inaugural address at FIBAC 2024, the governor said that massive changes are taking shape in various economic sectors and markets, and the country is geared for orbital shifts.
If the items and services such selected subsequently pass the test from the fitment committee and the GST Council, this would be the first of such rate hikes, after a series of cuts in the process of rate rationalisation that started in November 2017.
The video clip shows Sitharaman purportedly giving a bite to the media and terming Goods and Services Tax as the Gopaniya Suchna Tax. It was shared by one Chirag Patel on his X handle.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has intervened in the matter concerning alleged irregularities by Trafiksol ITS Technologies, which had come out with a Rs 45 crore initial public offering (IPO) last month. In an ex-parte order, the market regulator has said it will undertake a detailed examination into the disclosures made by the small and medium enterprise (SME) company in its draft offer document. BSE had halted the listing of Trafiksol, a software provider for traffic systems, amid complaints around use of the issue proceeds and wrongful disclosures.
Simpler GST structure will be key poll plank, Congress sources tell Archis Mohan.
'There are obvious concerns regarding revenue leakage which is understandable, but there are also concerns about whether or not well accepted, judicially tested, fair and proper procedures are being followed during such arrests.'
Traversing from being just vehicle manufacturers to mobility solutions providers amid a raging debate over which eco-friendly technology must be incentivised, the Indian automobile industry is driving in the new year under the shadow of a slowdown in sales with the post-pandemic pent-up demand in distant memory. The shift in the auto industry -- where advanced technologies like autonomous driving, vehicle intelligence, connected features and electrification are quickly gaining traction -- will be reflected in the upcoming Bharat Mobility Global Expo in which India's flagship Auto Expo has been clubbed to be held from January 17-22, 2025 in Delhi-NCR.
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.
One reason the fee can't be lower than 3 per cent is that it is difficult for an RIA to do a good job and remain viable even at 3 per cent.
However, where the directors' remuneration is in the nature of professional fees and not salary, GST will be levied on a reverse charge basis.
The revenues for August are 88 per cent of the GST collected in the same month last year.
GST collections in March touched a record high of over Rs 1.23 lakh crore, a 27 per cent growth over the year-ago period, the Finance Ministry said on Thursday. "GST revenues crossed above Rs 1 lakh crore mark at a stretch for the last six months and a steep increasing trend over this period are clear indicators of rapid economic recovery post pandemic," the ministry said. Closer monitoring against fake-billing, deep data analytics using data from multiple sources including GST, income tax and customs IT systems and effective tax administration have also contributed to the steady increase in tax revenue over last few months, it added.
If the protected growth in GST revenue is reduced to 10 per cent, the Centre would save more than Rs 25,000 crore in 2020-21 if none of the states show any revenue growth. This would nearly amount to 0.1 per cent of the gross fiscal deficit and help the government in avoiding fiscal slippage to some extent in subsequent years.
Facing a deepening slowdown, the auto sector is pinning hopes on the GST Council meeting on September 20 for a rate cut from 28 per cent to 18 per cent. However, states including Bihar, West Bengal, Kerala, and Punjab are of the view that the slowdown in the auto sector is not because of the GST rate but structural issues in the economy.
Additional solicitor-general says extra-neutral alcohol liable to new tax
'Ranbir Kapoor has only one film as does Salman Khan.' 'Hrithik Roshan only has War 2.' 'Ranveer Singh has no film on floors today.'
GST Council decides to extend compensation cess beyond June 2022.
GST rates would depend upon whether the commodity is used by a rich person or a common man
Under the GST law, states were guaranteed to be paid for any loss of revenue in the first five years of the GST implementation from July 1, 2017.
'So far, the government has sanctioned more than Rs 300 billion as GST refunds,' Ansh Bhargava and Aditya Singhania point out.
If you think that revenue officials are going berserk, acting on their own, while the government chants the mantra of 'ease of doing business', you would be wrong. These moves appear to have full official backing, points out Debashis Basu.
