Economic reforms seem to be on a slow train, while good old fiscal populism is alive and flourishing.
Assembly elections coming up in November and December could offer a window of opportunity to the government to make GST attractive through rate cuts.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said that the country's economic growth is picking up pace again and the domestic industry needs to enhance its risk-taking appetite. Noting the recent reforms taken by the government, the Prime Minister said that bringing reforms is a matter of conviction for his government, which is ready to take all risks in the national interest. "We have taken bold decisions. Reforms continued even during pandemic. "The government is doing reforms not out of compulsion but out of conviction," he said while addressing the CII's annual meeting.
The Economic Survey called for improving business environment.
Several of Modi's actions reflect political courage.
It is time to reset expectations as government will move with alacrity on social policy, not on economic reforms.
Exports of food products can become a valuable growth driver for the Indian food industry
Introducing UCC is a challenging task for any government. The complexities are real and difficult to negotiate as it deals with sensitive religious and cultural sentiments. How can it strike an easy balance between individual rights and community interests?, asks Ramesh Menon.
Sandeep Shanbhag offers tips on post Budget taxation rates.
Most brokerages have maintained their Sensex and Nifty targets as they believe there is little room for further re-rating in the backdrop of weak earnings.
Equity markets are currently difficult to gauge as the market has probably priced in a lot of things ahead of actual events.
After kicking off the Budget exercise early this week, Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Thursday had a brain-storming session with Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia on the state of the economy.
Protests by central labour unions and widespread criticism from Opposition parties because of job losses on account of demonetisation and the GST have put the contentious labour reform proposals in the slow lane.
India too will advocate the IMF quote reforms at the two-day meeting of G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors beginning Saturday.
Global oil prices have slumped and India has access to larger amounts of discounted Russian crude oil, yet refiners are not passing on their savings to consumers
An online tax accounting system for paying taxes will be flagged off on Tuesday, as part of reforms to make the procedures simpler and faster.
The Singapore Minister applauded Prime Minister Modi's effort to make India the manufacturing hub of the world.
'The estimates of tax forgone on this item run into hundreds of billions.' 'And there is neither fairness nor rationality to support continuing with this tax holiday for just one class of investors, those who put their money in shares,' says T N Ninan.
'This government has always been fiscally conservative. It never resorted to fiscal profligacy.'
On Wednesday, opposition leaders boycotted Modi's latest attempt to build consensus around the issue.
Industry had sought this 3-month extension, specifically for players struggling to collate the information that are required to be disclosed in the GST forms.
The government is now contemplating issuing an executive order to implement these measures, which would need to be approved by lawmakers within six weeks of the opening of the next session of parliament, scheduled for the beginning of February. India's president would also need to agree.
The two leaders are expected to make brief remarks at the top of the meeting.
After tabling the Survey, Jaitley told reporters that fiscal deficit for the current year will be 4.5 per cent which needs to go down further in the next two years.
A report prepared by the Association for Democratic Reforms states that the total tax exemptions received by six national parties during financial years 2006 to 2009 is Rs 510.02 crore. Vicky Nanjappa reports
On May 4, US President Barack Obama announced a proposal to rework America's tax code. How will these plans impact India?
Jaitley promised the states that they would be fully compensated for any loss of revenue arising from implementation of GST.
The GST Bill, seen as single biggest tax reform in a long time, needs to be ratified by at least 15 state legislatures before the President can notify the GST Council which will decide the new tax rate and other issues
Modi said the Goods and Services Tax has within one year of its launch led to over 70 per cent jump in indirect taxpayer base, demolished check-posts and merged 17 taxes and 23 cesses into one single tax.
Pranab Mukherjee's stewardship of the economy will stand out as much for the manner in which he managed controversies as for creating quite a few of them, says A K Bhattacharya.
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.
Planning Commission, on Thursday, expressed reservations on Kelkar Committee proposal to bring processed foods under excise duty net saying it will badly affect growth in the sector.
The N K Singh task force on power sector reforms has proposed wide-ranging fiscal measures, including cut in customs duty, abolition of special ad valorem duty and tax holiday to step up investments in a bid to bring down tariffs.
The government should have mentioned clearly the specific structural reforms that were responsible for the deviation from the fiscal deficit target by half a percentage point, says A K Bhattacharya.
He also took potshots at opposition parties' decision to observing November 8 as a 'Black Day', saying the move displays their faith in cash economy.
But use of that word -- privatisation -- is not encouraged. This seems to be a classic case of reforms through subtle signals, observes A K Bhattacharya.
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