The Planning Commission on Saturday sought to play down fears that the hike in excise duty on petroleum products would lead to a surge in inflation.
The sector shines on strong demand growth, spurred by strong growth in investment in infrastructure, partially impacted by hike in excise duties and increase in cost of coal
Petroleum subsidy for 2013-14 budget estimates is Rs 64,998 crore.
None of the demands of the industry were met.
FMCG sector analysts say that due to excise free zones, impact of the excise duty hike will be limited, except for Hindustan Lever. The sector wants impetus for rural income generation and no hike in service tax.
With the first quarter gross tax mop-up reaching Rs 5.6 lakh crore, Icra Ratings on Friday said the government is set to exceed the budgeted tax collection target of Rs 22.2 lakh crore for 2021-22, led by indirect taxes. The government has budgeted a modest 9.5 per cent growth in tax collections at Rs 22.2 lakh crore for FY22, over FY21 collections of Rs 20.2 lakh crore. However, despite the second wave of the pandemic, the April-June quarter tax collections rose to Rs 5.6 lakh crore, which is 39 per cent higher than Q1 of FY20.
With Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal having been sent to judicial custody till April 15 by a city court in connection with the excise policy case, buzz over his replacement intensified even as his party leaders asserted that he will continue to head the government no matter how long he stays in jail.
CSE supports the tax hike on big cars and SUVs but says Budget is incomplete, as it has failed to take steps to stop misuse of diesel fuel subsidy by cars.
Without the handsome receipts from the sale of government equity in PSUs and sharp increases in excise revenues from oil, Mr Jaitley's fiscal consolidation drive would have become even more arduous, says A K Bhattacharya.
In a blow to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, the Delhi high court on Tuesday stayed the trial court order granting him bail in the money laundering case arising from the alleged excise scam, holding that the lower court did not "appropriately appreciate" the material placed before it by the Enforcement Directorate.
At a time of falling GDP growth, the case for boosting revenue by increasing the tax rates is weak.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the excise duty cut would have an impact of Rs 10,500 crore on central government's tax revenues.
After today's reduction, petrol price has been cut by Rs 12.27 per litre cumulatively since August.
Increase in first half of FY14 comes despite a fall in average crude prices; weak rupee helps.
Stocks to watch: Videocon, Blue Star, Hitachi, MIRC Electronics, BPL, Whirlpool, Gitanjali, Titan Group
The Congress took out marches and observed bandh at several places on Saturday to protest against rising fuel prices.
She charged the government with profiteering at the expense of the people, saying its duty was to help them in times of crisis and not make profits out of their hard-earned money.
Flagging higher fuel prices in many opposition-ruled states, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday called it "injustice" to people living there and urged the governments there to reduce VAT in "national interest" to benefit the common man. Modi raised the issue of many states not adhering to the Centre's call for reducing the Value Added Tax (VAT) on petrol and diesel after his government slashed excise duties on them in November last, and asked them to work in the spirit of cooperative federalism in this time of global crisis. Higher prices in some states were also harmful for neighbouring states, he added.
The industry experienced new pressures on its operating margins and sales in the wake of increasing input costs and new excise regime. For the domestic spirits manufacturing industry, the cost of raw materials such as molasses doubled since March. Packaging costs rose by 15-20 per cent. The widening of services tax resulted in 50 per cent new services to be taxed at 12.36 per cent. Besides an increase in labour costs, inflation also played havoc with the operating margins.
France on Friday warned India that the proposal to replace additional customs duty on wines and spirits with countervailing excise duty at the state level will weaken New Delhi's position
It's day 14th of the jewellers and bullion traders' strike and there are no signs of roll back from the government. The industry is also determined, and has called for an indefinite strike.
Looking to push nearly 28 million over 11-year-old polluting vehicles off-roads, the government has proposed incentives worth 8-12 per cent of the cost of a new vehicle for surrendering the old ones.
Stocks to watch: BHEL, L&T, IRB Infra and Suzlon
A bench of justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta, which granted interim bail to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in the money laundering case linked to alleged excise policy scam, said section 19 of the PMLA, which gives power to arrest, puts stringent safeguards to protect life and liberty of individuals.
Vehicle sales across categories registered an increase of 4.99 per cent to 15,23,693 units from 14,51,263 units in February 2013.
Indirect tax revenues rose marginally by 5.6 per cent in the April-October period to over Rs 2.85 lakh crore, mainly on account of increase in service tax and customs collections.
Room for rise of up to 2 percentage points, move to help meet higher expenditure need in FY17
The tourism ministry wants rationalisation of import duty on adventure sports equipment to promote adventure tourism in the country. There is a proposal for exemption of service tax for inbound tour operators on their foreign exchange earnings. Sources said Tourism Minister Kumari Selja would submit the detailed proposals to the finance ministry, seeking various tax incentives for the sector.
A drive through a long endless dark tunnel best describes the journey of India's auto sector in 2013, during which the industry witnessed record spell of decline in sales, vehicle recalls and strikes.
Soft drinks are a part of the larger consumer non-durables category, which rose five per cent in June, against a 0.5 per cent fall a year earlier, showed official data released on Monday.
The Congresshas announced a three-phased campaign, "Mehngai-mukt Bharat Abhiyaan".
Petrol costs more in India than Pakistan.
India's top fuel retailers IOC, BPCL and HPCL together lost around $2.25 billion (Rs 19,000 crore) in revenue for keeping petrol and diesel prices on hold during elections in five states, including Uttar Pradesh, Moody's Investors Services said on Thursday. State fuel retailers did not revise petrol and diesel rates for a record 137 days despite prices of crude oil (raw material for producing fuel) rising to $120 per barrel compared to around $82 in early November when the hiatus began. "Based on current market prices, the oil marketing companies are currently incurring a revenue loss of around $25 (over Rs 1,900) per barrel and $24 per barrel on sale of petrol and diesel, respectively," Moody's said in a report.
The collection from borrowings and other liabilities will be 20 paise, while income tax will yield 17 paise to every rupee collection.
So far the company has sold about 80,000 units of Honda Amaze and 30,000 units of 4th generation Honda City.
Car sales in terms of numbers in India in the just-concluded financial year (2013-14) have gone down in over a decade, confirming once again the extent of the economic slowdown.
The rising goods and services tax (GST) and personal income-tax collections may bolster the Narendra Modi government's ability to announce new schemes or enhance existing ones.
Cheer up, the coming Union Budget might just make your imported tipple more affordable - on a par with local booze.
