With industry and tax payer-friendly initiatives taken by Finance Minister P Chidambaram this year, the government succeeded in achieving unprecedented growth in tax collections. Consequently, the tax reforms have gained momentum and a roadmap is ready for implementing goods and service tax from April 1, 2010.
'GST will bring in much needed transparency and higher investments in the coming years and we hope that a few percentage points to India's GDP.'
Hinting at tax reforms during the next fiscal year, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday assured the industry of better tax administration as he unveiled plans for Rs 60,000 crore
The momentous occasion came when the House of Representatives passed the $1.5 trillion (Rs 96 lakh crore) tax reform bill for the second time by 224 to 201 votes to clear the technical snag in the passage of the bill, which was passed by the Senate and House earlier.
The Nifty ended at 4,605 -- up 148 points. Earlier in the day, the index opened at 4,459 and touched a high of 4,614. The market breadth was extremely positive. Out of 2,794 stocks traded 2,215 advanced while only 517 declined.
Years of wait before DTC, GST are rolled out
About 1.2 trillion tax evasion cases have been detected and as many as 59,000 entities identified for verification in order to ascertain whether they are fake.
Comprehensive tax reforms would be carried out in the next budget after taking into account the suggestions of Kelkar Task Force, which will submit its report within a few days, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said on Monday.
Finance Minister Jaswant Singh will walk a fine line between economic and political priorities next week when he unveils a Budget that could begin urgently needed tax reforms in Asia's third-largest economy.
Infosys chief Kris Gopalakrishnan on Wednesday expressed hope that DTC and GST will be pushed through in the forthcoming budget, while Genpact vice chairman Pramod Bhasin feared economic reforms will be tough going forward.
Indian companies struggle in face of a set of common challenges related to logistics, labour regulations, tax and tariff policy
Deputy Governor Michael Patra warned about the spillover effects of food inflation.
TechNet executives are meeting with senior Obama Administration officials and an array of bipartisan Congressional leaders to advocate for a robust innovation policy agenda.
Hospitality players want the government to accord infrastructure status to hotels to make investments on new properties more attractive rather than categorising them as luxury or even 'sin goods' in the upcoming Union Budget considering the sector's potential to play a key role in India's growth. They also want the government to consider incentives in the form of tax breaks or subsidies for adopting sustainable and eco-friendly practices, while asserting that the upcoming budget must accelerate the tourism agenda saying it is an opportunity to make Indian hospitality the emerging engine for GDP growth and employment generation.
In its essence, GST is a national level system of value added taxation of goods and services, says Shankar Acharya.
Ahead of the Budget, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday underlined the need for tax reforms and quick decision making to ensure stability in policy regime.
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.
Direct tax collection, net of refunds, moderately exceeded the revised estimates (RE) for the financial year 2023-24 (FY24) on the back of personal income tax revenues, but corporation tax receipts fell short of the RE. Net direct tax collection stood at Rs 19.58 trillion in FY24, surpassing the RE of Rs 19.45 trillion by Rs 13,000 crore, or 0.7 per cent. The government had revised up FY24 projections for personal income tax by 13.5 per cent over the Budget estimates (BE) of Rs 9 trillion, at Rs 10.22 trillion.
One of India Inc's top demands is the abolishing of the MAT.
Goods and Services Tax collections jumped 10.4 per cent to over Rs 1.72 lakh crore in January, reflecting buoyant economic activity and setting the stage for the next phase of GST reforms. This is the second-highest monthly collection ever and marks the third month in this financial year with a collection of Rs 1.70 lakh crore or more, a finance ministry statement said on Wednesday.
Jaitley said a very large number of reforms have taken place over the last few years and that has helped in restoring the credibility of the Indian economy
India's existing web of federal and state sales taxes is levied at different stages of the supply chain and often results in double taxation, while forcing trucks to spend nearly a quarter of their road time in border checks or other inspections.
The Reserve Bank of India on Monday said the procedural reforms aimed at widening the tax base, improving efficiency in tax collection and providing certain concessions for investment, which have seen a steep rise in the tax mop-up, are expected to continue during the current financial year.
During 2023, the Indian real estate sector - both housing and commercial - witnessed buoyancy fuelled by demand, supply, and absorption, and the sector is banking on the upcoming Budget to keep the momentum going. Mumbai-based Sattva Group wants the government to focus on the critical pillars for long-term growth. The company emphasised on the infrastructure boom with increased allocation, lower goods and services tax (GST) rates, incentives for affordable housing and single-window clearance to fast-track projects and support liquidity.
High-value insurance policies experienced muted growth in the first six months of the current financial year after the Centre decided to tax such products in this year's Budget. Simultaneously, there has been a marked improvement in the growth of policies with premiums of 'less than Rs 5 lakh', mainly originating from smaller cities. During this year's Budget, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman proposed that insurance policies (excluding unit linked insurance plans or ULIPs) with an aggregate premium exceeding Rs 5 lakh, and the maturity amount, would not be exempt from tax.
Almost every serious government report on tax reforms owes some debt to Amaresh-da.
Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) chairman Bibek Debroy on Tuesday said the government was losing revenue due to the GST, which should be revenue neutral with a single rate. Speaking at an event organised by the Calcutta Chamber of Commerce in Kolkata, he however said that GST has led to a lot of simplification. "The ideal GST is one that has a single rate, and it was meant to be revenue neutral.
Whether it was the MGNREGS or the NFSA or the Aadhaar-based DBT scheme for cash transfer, the Modi government has built on the basic architecture created by the Singh government. Policy makers in the Modi government, instead of discarding them as products of the previous political regime, worked on them, expanded their scope and reach, and used new tools to improve their performance, explains A K Bhattacharya.
It's important to make the penalty system an effective deterrent to ensure greater efficiency in the tax system, says M Govinda Rao.
The government has proposed to replace the Income Tax Act of 1961 with a direct taxes code, which would simplify the legislation.
Indirect tax reforms may help strengthen the Indian state and hence long-run growth.
Projecting a 7 per cent growth rate in 2005-06, government's pre-budget Economic Survey on Friday outlined reforms in tax and expenditure and labour laws as a priority in the budget.
Unveiling far reaching fiscal reforms to improve tax mop up and wipe out revenue deficit by 2009, the Kelkar panel on Friday proposed a single countrywide goods and services tax, removal of tax exemptions and raising income tax slab to Rs 100,000.
'In the long run, I don't foresee major ramifications [about Trudeau's allegations].' 'There's just enough hypocrisy among Western nations for India to douse the outrage.'