The GST Council, headed by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and comprising representatives of all states and Union territories, will have its 37th meeting in Goa against the backdrop of economic growth hitting a six-year low of 5 per cent in the first quarter of the current fiscal.
Bihar became the first non-NDA state and overall second after the BJP-ruled Assam to pass GST bill.
Petrol price can go down to Rs 75 a litre across the country if brought under the ambit of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), but there is a lack of political will, which is keeping Indian oil product prices at one of the highest in the world, economists at SBI said on Thursday.
Maruti Suzuki India (MSIL) will hold discussions with the Centre and state governments on how the production of compressed biogas (CBG), which can be used in vehicles that run on compressed natural gas (CNG), can be expanded in the country, its majority shareholder Suzuki Motor Corporation (SMC) said. The demand for CNG vehicles has been rising significantly in the country. MSIL sold 145,000 CNG vehicles in the first quarter of 2024-25, marking a 28.3 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) growth.
Retaining the GST rate assumes importance since states are under pressure to increase their revenues, hit hard by lockdown. Also, the Centre has not fully compensated states for their revenue losses on account of GST for 2019-20.
High cost of acquisition due to a variety of reasons, including higher GST than all other major countries, is slowing down car demand in the country and unless the Centre and states take steps to reduce it, the industry is unlikely to experience reasonable growth, according to Maruti Suzuki India Chairman R C Bhargava. Addressing shareholders in the company's Annual Report for 2020-21, he said after the devastating second wave of the coronavirus pandemic hitting the first quarter of FY22, the performance in the next three quarters will largely depend on how effectively people get vaccinated and observe safety protocols.
All eyes will be on whether Sitharaman provides the much-expected tax relief for the middle class, leaving more money in their hands, as there is tax buoyancy
Industry body CII on Thursday made a case for pushing reforms in sectors like land, labour, and agriculture by the Modi 3.0 government to accelerate economic growth, which is estimated to be around 8 per cent in the current financial year. CII president Sanjiv Puri said a lot of policy interventions in the past have put the economy on "a much stronger wicket". "The growth rate is poised to touch 8 per cent during the current year, marking the fourth consecutive year of above 7 per cent + growth.
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.
The revised structure will help to keep airfares down, when airlines already face a triple challenge of rising crude oil prices, rupee depreciation and constrained airport capacity.
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.
The very design of the GST will bring in revenue buoyancy.
R Vignesh is a member of the Institute of Cost and Management Accountants of India in Chennai, appeared on Rediff Chat to answer readers' queries on GST.
Although the markets could see a knee-jerk reaction, they rule out a sharp fall.
'While the GST is structured to be an all-encompassing tax and to create a vastly expanded digital network of recorded transactions, no one knows how traders long used to avoiding taxes will apply their ingenuity,' says T N Ninan.
The council also cut GST rates on affordable housing to 1 per cent from the current 8 per cent.
After the 2019 election, one thing is sure: GST will see a number of changes, explains Indivjal Dhasmana.
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The GST will subsume most of the indirect taxes like excise duty and service tax
The GST's significance for the BJP's politics is as important as its implications for the Indian economy, says A K Bhattacharya.
Restricting the input credit is not a good idea for any sector, particularly real estate which requires more formalisation.
A future road map could be to work towards a single standard rate instead of two standard rates of 12 per cent and 18 per cent, he said.
'Challenge is basically near-term growth as the outlook has turned a bit adverse.'
Mahindra & Mahindra on Friday said it has been imposed a penalty of Rs 4.12 crore over input tax credit claim and education cess credit balance carry forward from pre-GST regime to GST regime in relation to its two-wheeler business. In a regulatory filing, Mahindra & Mahindra said it has received an order from the office of the Deputy Commissioner, State Tax, Audit Wing, Indore-01, Madhya Pradesh imposing a penalty amounting to Rs 4,11,50,120 to the two-wheeler business of Mahindra Two Wheelers Ltd (MTWL), which was demerged from MTWL and has since been merged with the company.
For the sake of transparency, and to reduce undesirable bond market volatility, clarity on these would be welcome, preferably before the budgets for the next fiscal year get finalised, says Neelkanth Mishra.
Experts said this will mean that companies, which have offices in multiple states, will have to raise Goods and Services Tax invoice for functions performed by employees in head office that has helped branches in other states.
The central government wants to impose the levy; many states are opposed - at least, to the Centre doing so
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday launched a scathing attack on the Congress party, accusing it of repeatedly "wounding" the Indian Constitution. He claimed that the Congress, driven by its "lust for power," has consistently undermined the principles of the Constitution. Modi, however, praised India's democratic journey since its independence, highlighting the country's strong democratic roots and its unwavering commitment to its founding principles. He underscored the importance of unity for India's future development and emphasized that the Constitution is the bedrock of that unity.
Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan's wish to levy indirect tax on petrol unlikely to be taken up
While the government has the option of ensuring the passage of these Bills as money Bills, there are voices within the government advising discretion on the GST roll-out by April 1.
GST is a landmark reform considering the sweeping changes it brings about in the indirect tax regime in India.
The CBIC has come out with guidelines on blocking of tax credit by GST field officers, saying that such blocking should be on the basis of 'material evidence' and not just out of 'suspicion'. The guidelines laid down five specific circumstances in which such credit could be blocked by a senior tax officer. These include availment of credit without any invoice or any valid document, or availing of credit by purchasers on invoices on which GST has not been paid by sellers.
The GST Council's agenda includes trimming the number of items in the 28 per cent slab by 75 per cent, easier compliance for assessees and small taxpayers, and a presentation on bringing real estate under GST.
The CAG audit and other data suggests it could be far from the efficient new alternative that was once conceptualised. A conclusive review remains elusive till the government begins to release more granular and comparable data on the complex backend of GST to a deeper scrutiny, by researchers, auditors and the public.
A minimum levy of 12 per cent GST on tea will increase the cost, which will ultimately be passed on to consumers.
Businesses that are engaged in both taxable and non-GST supply have re-structured themselves into separate entities to avoid elaborate compliance, says Sudipto Dey.
GST collections in March slipped below the psychological Rs 1 lakh crore-mark for the first time in four months to Rs 97,597 crore as the Covid-19 lockdown that shut most businesses compounded tax collection woes in an already sluggish economy. Goods and Services Tax (GST) mop-up in March recorded a 8.4 per cent decline over March 2019 collection of Rs 1.06 lakh crore. The collections were lower on account of dip in revenues from domestic transactions as well as imports.
He also said GST will take about a year to stabilise.
Will it benefit you? Or will it lead to an increase in inflation? Bipin Sapra believes it will be some time before GST's benefits reach consumers.
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The GST Bill, introduced in Parliament in 2010, is being vetted by the Standing Committee on Finance. Now, the states and the Centre would together finalise the draft and bring it back to Parliament.
