GST 2.0 may cushion consumers against US tariffs, but like the 2019 corporate tax cut, it risks being another tactical fix rather than a structural growth strategy, expects Debashis Basu.
The contrast with the old Income-Tax Act is stark. The 1961 law ran into 512,000 words; the 2025 one pares that down to 259,000. Chapters have been cut from 47 to 23, while sections have reduced from 819 to 536. One of the clearest changes is terminological. The confusing twin concepts of 'assessment year' and 'previous year' have been scrapped.
'Most tax notices arise not from wrongdoing, but from unintentional mismatch or ignorance.'
New-age stocks to buy: Most new-age stocks have turned out to be wealth destroyers in stock markets, so far, in calendar year 2025. Shares of Ola Electric Mobility, for instance, have plunged nearly 50 per cent in the first half of CY 2025, while those of Swiggy, PB Fintech, Paytm, and Eternal (Zomato) have crashed between 6 per cent and 25 per cent, ACE Equity data shows.
Hiring demand is strongest for high-impact technology and product roles, particularly DevOps engineers, product managers, and full-stack developers.
This marks a 67% increase from the Rs 2,537 crore lost in scams in 2022-2023.
State-owned banks have received guidance from the government to close Jan Dhan accounts whose beneficiaries are unwilling to keep them active, amid rising instances of such accounts being misused by fraudsters as mule accounts to defraud people, people aware of the development said.
Digipin promises to revolutionise location-based services in India with safeguards.
Ola Electric on Tuesday clarified that its February sales figures reflect genuine customer orders after full payments, and not just preliminary bookings with a token amount, stating that "nearly 90 per cent" of these orders were paid in full at the time of placement. "To be clear, the sales figures for February 2025 represent genuine customer demand backed by financial commitment, not token-amount bookings.
In an age where personal data is a valuable commodity, investing in cyber insurance is not just a prudent choice; it is becoming a necessity for individuals and families alike, says T A Ramalingam.
Airtel has informed the government and regulator Trai that it has approached Reliance Jio and Vodafone Idea with a proposal for a joint initiative to unite the industry against rising telecom fraud and scams.
The Income-Tax (I-T) Department has detected widespread tax evasion involving cryptocurrencies and, according to media reports, has issued emails to thousands of defaulting taxpayers seeking transaction details. Investors must understand the tax rules governing crypto assets and respond promptly to these emails.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has extended the trading hours for the interbank call money market from July 1, and that of repo and tri-party repo markets from August 1. Market participants said the decision is intended to help reduce the large Standing Deposit Facility (SDF) balances held by banks with the RBI, thereby addressing liquidity mismatches.
UPI topped Rs 24 trillion in value of transactions and 19 billion in volume for the first time after becoming operational in April 2016.
Deductions missed in Form 16 can still be claimed while filing ITR.
Experts say the state's economy is grappling with hidden debt, rising welfare costs, and lack of transparency.
Errors in filing income-tax returns frequently lead to scrutiny notices, additional liabilities, or delayed refunds.
Amazon will invest more than Rs 2,000 crore (about $233 million) in India in 2025 as it strengthens its logistics and safety standards, said the ecommerce company on Thursday.
'That way you're not hostage just to US sort of exports to India.'
Call centres, once the engine room of India's BPO exports, are evolving too. Depending on the complexity, 30 to 50 per cent of voice and chat volumes are now handled by conversational AI.
Tesla's official entry into the Indian market is expected in the final quarter of the current financial year.
According to Khemka's family members, his son was also shot dead by criminals six years ago in Hajipur.
Non-banking entities such as fintech firms will have to tap into use cases beyond peer-to-peer (P2P) and peer-to-merchant (P2M) transactions to scale up the presence of the retail version of the central bank digital currency (CBDC), which is also known as the e, said industry players. These use cases will enable programmable transactions across domains, including the government's direct benefit transfer (DBT) schemes, with subsidies restricted to specific purposes such as food coupons, hospital bills, fertilisers, pesticides, and cross-border remittances.
Buying makes sense for those planning to stay in a city for at least 7 to 10 years. Financial preparedness is crucial.
In today's rapidly evolving digital payment landscape, security concerns remain a top priority for stakeholders across sectors.
'The next decade will be even more transformative,' says Prime Minister Modi. 'We are moving from digital governance to global digital leadership.'
'My job is to provide people with a bouquet of options they can choose from.'
Indian refiners are likely to import 2-2.2 million barrels per day of Russian crude oil in June - the highest in the last two years and more than the total volumes bought from Iraq, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Kuwait, preliminary data by global trade analytics firm Kpler showed.
Anmol Singh Jaggi and Puneet Singh Jaggi, once hailed as rising stars in India's clean energy sector, are now facing serious regulatory action.
Indian startups raised a total of $1.65 billion (about Rs 14,418 crore) in funding at a median valuation of $83.2 million in February 2025, according to data from Traxcn. This brings the total funding in FY25 (April-February) to $25.4 billion, spread across 2,200 rounds, the data showed.
Ask rediffGURU and tax expert Mihir Tanna your income tax-related questions.
Global tech major Adobe Systems' chief executive Shantanu Narayen on Thursday said creativity, and not software code, will be the main driver of India's economy in the future.
The Centre's fiscal deficit touched 74.5 per cent of the annual target at the end of January 2025, according to the data released by Controller General of Accounts (CGA) on Friday.
This innovation has made mainframes the fastest-growing segment within IBM's Infrastructure business, demonstrating that even legacy technologies can continue to deliver value.
rediffGURU T S Khurana answers readers' personal income tax queries.
In 2024, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) approved 20 third-party Unified Payments Interface (UPI) applications, a record since UPI's launch in 2016. This surge reflects growing interest from financial technology (fintech) companies, driven by the integration of credit products like UPI-linked credit cards and pre-approved credit lines.
The US Trade Representative noted that India's average applied tariff rate stood at 17% per cent, the highest of any major world economy.
The Supreme Court of India has dismissed a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking to make dowry harassment and maintenance provisions "gender neutral." The court stated that it cannot legislate law and it is the responsibility of Parliament to look into such matters. The PIL, filed by an NGO, argued that these provisions are often misused to harass husbands and their families. The court, however, emphasized that every case must be judged on its own merits, and that the provisions are intended to protect women and children. The court also noted that the allegation of misuse was vague and that such claims should be examined on a case-by-case basis.
Goods and Services Tax (GST) collection rose 12.6 per cent Y-o-Y to an all-time high of about Rs 2.37 lakh crore in April, which the government said shows resilience of the Indian economy and the effectiveness of cooperative federalism. The gross GST mop-up was Rs 2.10 lakh crore in April 2024 -- the second highest collection ever since GST was rolled out on July 1, 2017. The net mop-up was Rs 1.92 lakh crore.
US strikes on Iran's three main nuclear facilities have once again raised concerns that Tehran might shut down the Strait of Hormuz - one of the world's most critical chokepoints, through which a fifth of global oil and gas supply flows.
