A hotel in 1975, entry into paperboards in 1979, India's dominant cigarette maker, ITC, read the tea - or tobacco - leaves early, leveraged its enterprise strengths and stepped up the diversification agenda to create multiple drivers of growth. Some failed, some faltered, some were transformational, adding steadily to the top line. Now those efforts are making a difference: margins from non-cigarettes - FMCG, hotels, agri, paperboards, paper and packaging - are expanding and profits are kicking in more significantly than ever before.
Faced with prospect of its assets across the globe being seized just like Pakistan and Venezuela, the government decided to scrap retrospective taxation but the international embarrassment could have been avoided had 'attached' shares of Britain's Cairn Energy Plc not been sold, according to tax and legal experts. On Thursday, the government introduced a Bill in Parliament to scrap the tax rule that gave the tax department power to go 50 years back and slap capital gains levies wherever ownership had changed hands overseas but business assets were in India. The 2012 legislation was used to levy a cumulative of Rs 1.10 lakh crore of tax on 17 entities, including UK telecom giant Vodafone, but substantial punitive action was taken only in the case of Cairn.
'We had tremendous faith in honorable Modiji in his second term as he was well-settled. Sadly that has been belied.'
Cars and two-wheelers attract 28% GST and a cess in the range of 3-22%, taking the effective tax rate to up to 50%.
Mihir Tanna, Associate Director, S K Patodia & Associates, answers your tax queries.
Kirloskar siblings Rahul and Atul on Saturday raised questions over corporate governance of Kirloskar Brothers Ltd, led by their warring brother Sanjay, after having been cleared of insider trading charges labelled against them.
'By filing a belated return, you can avoid the consequences of non-disclosure of income.' 'You can also avoid a notice from the I-T department for not filing an ITR.'
Vodafone further said it has "always been confident" that no tax is due on the company. The government in August enacted a law to end all retrospective taxation imposed on indirect transfer of Indian assets. The rules under the law seek to withdraw tax demands made using a 2012 retrospective legislation to tax the indirect transfer of Indian assets and also refund the amount paid in these cases without any interest. Asked if the company has filed an application with the Indian government to settle the retrospective tax dispute, a Vodafone spokesperson said, "We can confirm we have filed an application".
The group has called for a retaliatory tariff action against India, if New Delhi does not roll back the 'unilateral and discriminatory' equalisation levy or Google Tax.
Amid record-high fuel prices, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday said there is no proposal as of now to bring crude oil, petrol, diesel, jet fuel (ATF) and natural gas under the Goods and Services Tax (GST). When the GST was introduced on July 1, 2017, amalgamating over a dozen central and state levies, five commodities - crude oil, natural gas, petrol, diesel, and aviation turbine fuel (ATF) - were kept out of its purview given the revenue dependence of the central and state governments on this sector. This meant that the central government continued to levy excise duty on them while state governments charged VAT. These taxes, with excise duty, in particular, have been raised periodically.
Air India has asked a New York court to dismiss a petition filed by Britain's Cairn Energy for seizure of its assets to enforce $1.2 billion arbitral awards against the Indian government, saying the litigation was premature as an appeal against the arbitration award was still pending. The petition by the airline, which is separate to Indian government's plea in a Washington court seeking dismissal of Cairn's lawsuit to seek confirmation of the arbitral award, said the New York district court lacks jurisdiction to adjudicate a "mere hypothetical question" or one that depends upon contingent future events that may or may not occur. Cairn first moved a court in the US District Court for the District of Columbia seeking confirmation of the arbitration award and then filed a petition in the New York court to seek declaration of Air India as "alter ego" of the Indian government and so it should be made liable to pay the $1.26 billion arbitral award.
Responding to debate on the bill, Sports and Youth Affairs Minister Anurag Thakur said it will promote sports and protect the interest of sportspersons.
The price of bitcoin, the bestselling cryptocurrency, has shrunk nearly three times this year to mark the fate of such digital assets. Crashing prices, regulatory uncertainty and taxes have put Indian crypto exchanges in troubled waters. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's budget for FY23 announced a 30 per cent tax on any income from the transfer of virtual digital assets.
Currently, domestic supplies and commercial imports of vaccines attract a 5 per cent Goods and Services Tax, while COVID drugs and oxygen concentrators attract a 12 per cent levy.
The Union Home Ministry said that due to the non-availability of normal commercial flight operations on account of the pandemic since March, 2020, a number of foreign nationals who came to India prior to that date on valid Indian visas got stranded in the country.
Capital markets regulator Sebi has imposed a penalty of Rs 10 lakh on Jayant Bhusare, who was one of the executive of Sampark Infotainment, in a case pertaining to the irregularities in the NSE's 'Dark Fibre' case. He has been directed to pay the fine within 45 days, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) said in its order. On Tuesday, the regulator had levied a fine totaling Rs 44 crore on 18 entities, including NSE, Sampark, certain brokers and their respective past and present employees in the same matter.
Capital markets regulator Sebi on Thursday imposed penalties totalling Rs 11 crore on 8 entities, including National Stock Exchange (NSE) and its former chiefs Chitra Ramkrishna and Ravi Narain, in a case pertaining to software related to algorithmic trading. The regulator has levied a fine of Rs 1 crore each on NSE, Ramkrishna and Narain. Also, a fine of Rs 1 crore has been imposed on Suprabhat Lal, who was a NSE official at the time of violation.
Jet fuel prices on Monday were hiked by a steep 6.5 per cent on the back of a rally in international oil prices. Aviation turbine fuel or ATF price was hiked by Rs 3,663 per kilolitre, or 6.5 per cent, to Rs 59,400.91 per kl in the national capital, according to a price notification of state-owned fuel retailers. This is the third increase in jet fuel prices since February. Rates were increased by 3.6 per cent on February 16, and by Rs 3,246.75 per kl on February 1. The increase in rates will add to the margin woes of airlines who continue to operate flights at less than capacity, amid pandemic-driven travel restrictions.
The GST Council on Tuesday approved changes in tax rates on some goods and services while allowing states to issue an e-way bill for intra-state movement of gold and precious stones, officials said. The Council, chaired by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and comprising state counterparts, also cleared a host of compliance procedures for GST-registered businesses along with a GoM report on high-risk tax payers to check evasion. The discussion on the crucial issues of extension of compensation to states beyond June 2022 and the imposition of 28 per cent GST on casinos, online gaming and horse racing, will take place on Wednesday.
Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) chairman Mukesh D Ambani on Wednesday said the latest reforms and relief measures will enable the telecom sector to achieve goals set under the Digital India mission. The Cabinet has announced several reforms for the telecom sector, including redefining adjusted gross revenue (AGR) that will now include revenues earned only from telecom services. The government calculates various levies on AGR. "The telecom sector is one of the prime movers of the economy and the key enabler for making India a Digital Society, I welcome the Government of India's announcement of reforms and relief measures that will enable the industry to achieve the goals of Digital India. I thank Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) for this bold initiative," Ambani said.
Eminent economist Arvind Panagariya has said India is on the cusp of returning to a high growth trajectory and voiced confidence that the country will become the world's third-largest economy by 2027-28. Currently, India is the fifth largest economy "so it's another five years.We are already in (the year) 2023. "So 2027-28, India should be the third-largest economy," Panagariya, Columbia University Professor and former Vice Chairman of NITI Aayog, told PTI in an interview in New York.
Airports levy charges such as FTC, infrastructure charge, and into-plane charges on sale of jet fuel. The levy is passed through to airlines, pushing up costs.
Attributing to people familiar with the matter, the Wall Street Journal said, "Federal regulators are ready to propose a record penalty of $25 million or more against American Airlines for the maintenance lapses that prompted widespread flight cancellations in the spring of 2008."
The Centre has cleared the entire GST compensation payable till date by releasing Rs 86,912 crore to states, the finance ministry said on Tuesday. Of this, Rs 25,000 crore is released from the GST compensation fund and the balance Rs 61,912 crore is being released by the Centre from its own resources pending collection of cess. Of the total compensation released, Rs 17,973 crore is towards April and May dues, Rs 21,322 crore towards February-March dues and Rs 47,617 crore is the balance of compensation payable up to January 2022.
The top court was hearing a batch of pleas challenging the direction given by the Jammu and Kashmir high court.
While there is no concrete proposal as of now, possible options include raising funds through securitisation of ticket levy and reduction in number of subsidised seats on routes with higher demand.
The government must expedite its plan for asset sale and privatisation, both of which hardly got any mention in the Budget speech, points out A K Bhattacharya.
Petrol and diesel prices were hiked for the fourth consecutive day on Saturday by 35 paise per litre, pushing the total increase in rates on petrol to Rs 36 per litre and on diesel to Rs 26.58 since early May 2020 when taxes on the two fuels were raised to record levels. Petrol in Delhi now costs Rs 107.24 a litre and diesel comes for Rs 95.97, according to a price notification of state-owned fuel retailers. The latest increase that follows the unrelenting hike in international oil prices has pushed pump rates across the country to their highest-ever levels.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday indicated the government's intent to appeal against an arbitration panel asking India to return USD 1.4 billion to UK's Cairn Energy Plc, saying it is her "duty" to appeal in cases where the nation's sovereign authority to tax is questioned.
The Union government will soon make amendments to the foreign trade policy (FTP) to enable exporters to claim export benefits for settling trade in rupees. These benefits are, so far, available for export payments received in foreign currencies. After the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) unveiled a mechanism to settle international trade transactions in the local currency on Monday, exporters have been demanding that the Ministry of Commerce and Industry come up with a clarification on the matter.
The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) on Thursday directed e-commerce entities to sell specified ayurveda, siddha and unani drugs only after customers upload valid medical prescriptions from registered doctors on the platforms.
Koo -- the made-in-India rival of Twitter -- will not charge users for a verification badge, its co-founder and CEO Aprameya Radhakrishna said as he took on the larger rival for allegedly first creating bots and now charging users for verification. Koo, which allows users to express views in Indian languages, has already crossed 50 million downloads and is now flying into the rival's nest, starting a campaign on Twitter by making itself prominently visible on verified handles and offering them better deals on its platform at no cost. Since taking over Twitter, billionaire Elon Musk has set in motion massive changes, sacking employees and talking of levying a $8 charge for 'verified' handles.
If the shares are purchased for investment, then it would be treated as a capital asset and taxed as capital gains.
But if the shares are bought and sold in a short duration repeatedly, then it would be taxed as business income, explains Amit Gupta.
While seven of the suspended MPs belonged to the TMC, six were from the DMK, three from the Telangana Rashtra Samithi, two from the Communist Party of India-Marxist and one from the Communist Party of India.
The finance ministry has set up two committees of state finance ministers which would rework rate slabs, review GST exempt items and identify potential evasion sources. Four years after the roll out of the national Goods and Services Tax (GST), which replaced the complex indirect tax structure, the centre and states have started work on moving towards a "simpler rate structure in GST" by reviewing the current rate slabs, including special rates and merger of rate slabs. The Group of Ministers (GoM) on rate rationalisation would also review items under inverted duty structure to help minimise refund payout, and review the supply of goods and services exempt under GST with an objective to expand the tax base and eliminate breaking of input tax credit (ITC) chain.
UK's Cairn Energy Plc has won an arbitration against the Indian government levying Rs 10,247 crore in retrospective taxes, the company said on Wednesday. The three-member tribunal, which also comprised a judge appointed by the Indian government, ruled that India's claim of Rs 10,247 crore in past taxes over a 2006-07 internal reorganisation of Cairn's India business was not a valid demand, sources said. The tribunal asked India to pay the funds withheld along with the interest to the Scottish oil explorer for seizing dividend, tax refund, and sale of shares to partly recover the dues.
A division bench of Justices M Duraiswamy and R Hemalatha, which granted the interim stay, however, directed Vijay to remit the balance amount of 80 per cent of the entry tax levied on the import of his Rolls Royce Ghost Car from England in 2012.
The government will settle almost all the retrospective tax cases this month, closing a chapter that plagued India's reputation as an investment-friendly destination, a top official said on Friday. A 2012 amendment that gave taxmen powers to go back 50 years and slap capital gains levies wherever ownership had changed hands overseas but business assets were in India, was used to raise Rs 1.1 lakh crore demand against multi-nationals such as telecom group Vodafone, pharmaceuticals company Sanofi and brewer SABMiller, now owned by AB InBev, and Cairn Energy Plc. Such demands brought uncertainty in the minds of investors.
As per ICC norm, the host nation is required to get tax exemption from the government for hosting tournaments organised by the global body. Since India's tax rules don't allow such exemptions, the BCCI has already lost close to Rs 193 crore as the government didn't exempt tax surcharge for hosting the 2016 ICC T20 World Cup. The ICC is expecting US$ 533.29 million (Rs 4400 crores approx) from the broadcasting revenue of the 2023 event in India.
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