A firm, which managed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's hugely successful Lok Sabha campaign, has come under the scanner of revenue authorities for alleged service tax evasion.
The Labour and Employment Ministry has requested the Finance Ministry to keep Employee State Insurance and Employee State Insurance schemes out of the ambit of service tax as they are social security schemes.
Here are the key numbers to watch out for in the Union Budget for 2025-26:
Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee included some more services within the service tax ambit in the Budget 2009-10.
Hinting at the possibility of the Budget proposal for imposition of service tax on 25-bed hospitals and diagnostic check-ups being rolled back, the government has said it is willing to discuss the issue.
On the lines of the proposed Direct Taxes Code (DTC), the government plans to come out with a Common Tax Code (CTC) for service tax and central excise duty to harmonise the two indirect levies.
A BA spokesperson maintained that the airline 'has not evaded any taxes.' The revenue department had in July served service tax notice on the airline for payment of balance out of the Rs 143.5 crore (Rs 1.43 billion) liability on tickets sales in India between May 2006 and November 2007, but BA did not pay the amount.
Building on last year's clearance of 172K cases, I-T department is pushing for faster appeal disposals, penalty reforms and system-driven processes to curb litigation and boost tax certainty.
The on-going search operation started a fortnight back in which the evasion by firms providing real estate services, including renting and other collaborations was detected, official sources said.
Electronic filing of service tax will be made compulsory in the next two months," CBEC member Y G Parande told reporters on the sidelines of a PHD chamber seminar.
'The unregulated marketing has to stop. People are getting recommendations for this from gym trainers, from marriage counsellors -- that is simply unacceptable.' ''There are many ways to lose weight -- eat less, fast, exercise, eat healthy. That is how you lose weight.'
Contribution of the service sector in the GDP is 56 per cent but the share of the service tax in the GDP is just 1.1 per cent, Chairman of Central Board of Excise and Customes P C Jha said in a interaction meeting organised bythe Bangalore Chamber of Industry and Commerce on Friday night.
Stocks to watch: Container Corp, Snowman Logistics & Transport Corp
GST Reform 2.0, which trims tax slabs from four to two, signals a push for demand-led growth, and together with recent income tax cuts, sets the stage for sustained economic growth, experts said. The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council on September 3 approved an overhaul of the indirect tax regime by taxing essentials at 5 per cent and other goods at 18 per cent. A new 40 per cent tax will be applicable on luxury and sin items.
India's new manufacturing project announcements more than halved in the fourth quarter of FY26, falling 60 per cent sequentially and 78 per cent year-on-year to approximately 1.7 trillion, driven by global uncertainties, geopolitical conflicts in West Asia, and existing unutilised manufacturing capacity.
The other two components of indirect tax collections -- excise and customs duties -- were already in negative territory since October 2008. In particular, excise -- a levy on factory production levied at the gates - has started declining from September.
Kanpur police have uncovered a GST fraud racket where suspects used unsuspecting individuals' documents to create fake firms and route transactions worth nearly Rs 250 crore.
Gross GST collections rose 6.1 per cent to over Rs 1.74 lakh crore in December 2025, even as sweeping tax cuts slowed down growth in revenues from domestic transactions, according to government data released on Thursday.
Greer said that India has taken down some digital services taxes and is moving tariffs down.
Last week, Railway Minister Mukul Roy had written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who is now looking after the Finance portfolio, requesting him not to introduce service tax on passenger fare and freight traffic from July 1.
The 2026-27 Budget, seeking to harmonise the government's imperative to grant certainty while ensuring a rational tax policy, had several notable announcements to usher in halcyon days, says Mukesh Butani.
The reason is because there aren't any screens for a large mass of Indians.
Delhi Police have dismantled an organised interstate racket involved in manufacturing and distributing counterfeit life-saving medicines, arresting six individuals and seizing fake drugs worth approximately Rs 2 crore. The investigation also revealed a network of fake GST firms used for generating bogus invoices and laundering money.
West Asia conflict triggers sharp sell-off in Indian markets, with realty, banking and auto stocks leading losses amid energy shock fears.
In October 2024, Jindal Stainless challenged a Goods and Services Tax (GST) notice in the Delhi high court. It was about corporate guarantees issued to related parties by its former group company, Jindal Stainless (Hisar), before their merger in March 2023.
The FBI has arrested eight individuals in California for allegedly defrauding the national healthcare system of over USD 50 million through fraudulent hospice care facilities.
The FBI has arrested eight individuals in California for allegedly defrauding the national healthcare system of over $50 million through fraudulent hospice care facilities.
India's electric two-wheeler (e2W) manufacturers have urged the government to extend subsidies under the PM E-Drive (Electric Drive Revolution in Innovative Vehicle Enhancement) scheme beyond March 2026, cautioning that a withdrawal could slow near-term demand even as confidence in long-term electric mobility adoption remains intact.
Revenue from service tax, which has become a new focus area for Finance Ministry, has grown up substantially by over 300 times in past about two decades.
Service tax collection is likely to cross the Rs 40,000 crore (Rs 400 billion) mark this fiscal, far exceeding the target of Rs 35,000 crore (Rs 350 billion), a senior Finance Ministry official said on Thursday.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday proposed to exempt Minimum Alternate Tax (MAT) for non-residents who pay tax on presumptive basis.
Official sources said such norms form the benchmark of costing, which helps in working out the price of inputs required for manufacturing or producing a certain quantity of output.
Sebi cautions investors against fake notices demanding Securities Transaction Tax (STT) payments and warns about fraudsters posing as account handlers promising risk-free profits.
A GST Deputy Commissioner, Prashant Kumar Singh, resigned in protest against Shankaracharya Avimukteshwaranand's remarks against Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, citing attempts to divide the nation on caste and religious lines.
Gold and silver prices experienced a significant drop in the national capital due to a global selloff driven by inflation concerns, central bank policies, and geopolitical tensions.
Supported by strong buoyancy in public sector capital expenditure (capex), growth in infrastructure investment is expected to accelerate in 2025-26 (FY26) compared to 2024-25 (FY25), according to the First Advance Estimates of gross domestic product (GDP) for FY26 released by the National Statistics Office (NSO) on Wednesday.
