Earlier, the customer paid service tax on 1 per cent of the premium. From the next financial year, this will go up to 1.5 per cent.
State FMs okay list of tax-exempt services with certain riders.
For MSMEs the transition could mean higher wage bills and tougher compliance -- unless strong handholding follows reports Auhona Mukherjee.
'Except for extremely conservative investors, others can consider allocating 10 to 20 per cent of their portfolio to small caps.'
The GST Council at its next meeting may consider a reduction in taxes on air and water purifiers as air quality across the country worsens and access to safe drinking water remains uneven.
The government's Budget announcements providing tax holiday for data centres, setting up of city economic regions (CERs) and funding to improve infrastructure in Tier-II and -III cities may give an indirect boost to India's realty sector, said industry executives.
The Haj Committees and Kumaon Mandal Vikas Nigam Ltd, which organise the religious pilgrimages will not have to Service Tax.
Business confidence in India Inc rose to a five-quarter high in December quarter of FY26, amid further reform expectations and steady domestic demand, a survey by industry body Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) showed. The CII Business Confidence Index (BCI) rose for the third consecutive quarter to 66.5 in the December quarter from 66 in the preceding September quarter.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee had proposed to introduce a service tax of five per cent on hotel room charges and three per cent on air-conditioned restaurants that serve liquor.
India's retail inflation, which has stayed below the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI's) 4 per cent target in recent times, is likely to remain benign in the coming months, RBI Deputy Governor Poonam Gupta said in a speech, on Friday, which was uploaded on the central bank's website on Tuesday. Headline inflation dipped to multi-year lows of around 1.5-2.8 per cent in late 2025.
The automobile and auto-ancillary sector is expected to show strong Q3FY26 results, aided by festival-led demand, rationalisation in goods and services tax (GST) rates for select categories of vehicles, easing interest rates, and improving rural sentiment.
The Budget emerges as a measured, credible and forward-looking policy document that reinforces India's commitment to remaining a stable, reform-oriented economy amid an increasingly fragmented global landscape, says A Balasubramanian.
Move seen as prelude to GST rollout; rules for Cenvat credit also likely to be simplified.
Envisaging a wider role for professionals, Company Secretaries have asked the government to make mandatory issuance of a service tax compliance certificate by companies.
Cognizant reported a significant increase in net income for the December quarter, driven by AI efficiencies and strong performance in the financial services sector. The company also announced a major deal and provided guidance for the upcoming year.
The central government has proposed just two tax rates of 5 per cent and 18 per cent in the revamped Goods and Services Tax (GST), slated to replace the current indirect tax regime by Diwali this year, highly placed sources said.
The government seems to be contradicting its earlier clarification that "computer-enabled services, namely, back office processing, shall not be subject to service tax", opines Sachin Menon and Prasad Paranjape.
Budget 2026 sticks to fiscal discipline, shuns populist measures despite five key state elections coming up, but ends up rattling stock markets with a higher transaction tax on derivatives trading.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is promoting India as a global hub for digital infrastructure and artificial intelligence, highlighting the government's incentives for data center investments and inviting the world's data to reside in India.
Facing an annual loss of a whopping Rs 300 crore (Rs 3 billion), shipowners have pleaded with the finance ministry to keep them out of service tax net and exempt them from withholding and fringe benefit taxes.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected the Board Of Control For Cricket In India's plea against a tribunal order asking it to pay around Rs 18 crore as service tax for video graphing matches and selling the feed to private sport channels.
The government is considering to enact Service Tax Act and is likely to allow states to levy the tax on local items after nationwide value-added tax is introduced, a senior official of Central Board of Excise and Customs said on Thursday.\n\n\n\n
Trade deals ease risks for Indian equities, but weak demand and stretched valuations raise questions over whether optimism -- especially in smallcaps -- can turn into a sustained bull run, points out Debashis Basu.
'LIC will reduce but not fully exit its stake in IDBI Bank, which remains an important bancassurance partner,' says LIC of India' MD and CEO R Doraiswamy.
The Delhi High Court has asked the central government why it cannot reduce the GST on air purifiers, considering the poor air quality in Delhi. The court's concern is that the current 18% GST makes air purifiers unaffordable for the common man.
Two-wheeler (2W) major Bajaj Auto on Friday posted its highest ever quarterly revenue and profit during the third quarter of 2025-26 (Q3FY26). Bajaj Auto's consolidated net profit for the quarter grew by 25 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) to Rs 2,749 crore, with the revenue also growing 23 per cent to Rs 16,204 crore.
The local chapter of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Coimbatore has again appealed to the Centre to reconsider the imposition of service tax on goods transportation.
'The trade deficit in some sectors is huge and that is an area of opportunity to localise.'
Ministry will give relief to exporters through a mechanism that will enable a timely refund of credit balance and time-bound refund of additional duty of customs.
The life insurance industry recorded nearly 40 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) growth in new business premiums (NBP), aided by the rationalisation of goods and services tax (GST) on individual life insurance premiums, which has made policies more affordable for consumers.
Shares of brokerage-related companies nosedived 18 per cent on Sunday after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman proposed raising securities transaction tax on commodity futures to 0.05 per cent from 0.02 per cent in the Union Budget 2026-27.
The levy will be 10%, with an abatement of 50%, effectively bringing down the service tax levy to 5% on the tariff.
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To get what it thinks are its dues, its brass have directed; construction, realty, renting of property, personnel supply, security & goods transport among those under lens
Capex, infrastructure development, and prudent fiscal management are the key focus areas in the Budget, says Nilesh Shah.
The SC has gone a step further to state that even if one were to not apply the codified GAAR provisions, the judicial GAAR would continue to apply, point out Pranav Sayta and Bhargav Selarka.
Base revisions are technical exercises, but history shows they can significantly reshape the narrative around India's growth performance.
Room for rise of up to 2 percentage points, move to help meet higher expenditure need in FY17
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