Amid economic uncertainties owing to the pandemic, the government's key revenue agency, the Income Tax Department, has close to 400 vacancies at commissioner level and above, affecting its functioning. Seventy-three of the 91 chief commissioner positions are lying vacant, with some for more than a year. Chief commissioner is the second-highest post in the department, below principal chief commissioner, which is at par with secretary in a ministry.
'India is still hierarchical, but not as much as Japan and people appreciate a flat working culture,' Charles Frump, managing director, Volvo Cars India, tells Pavan Lall.
'The Digital Rupee will be equal to the Indian rupee in value and backed by the full faith and credit of the RBI/Indian government.'
The adjustment orders for AY2012, are expected between January and March 2016.
The government has set a direct tax collection target of Rs 13.35 trillion, which includes Rs 7.66 trillion from corporation tax and Rs 5.69 trillion from personal income tax.
The government said that far from targeting any US entity, the purpose was to ensure fairness, healthy competition, and to exercise the ability of governments to tax businesses having a nexus with the Indian market through digital operations.
But their trajectory and direction have been largely influenced by politics and the political leadership's understanding of how the economy needs to be managed, explains A K Bhattacharya.
Excise duty hike for cigarettes could be lower.
'It is less dependent on imported capital.'
Global airlines' body International Air Transport Association on Tuesday asked the government to improve infrastructure and cut costs and 'excessive' taxation on aviation, saying it could be done by preparing a national aviation policy in India.
'There is a vision in the Budget, and the vision is to take India from a largely agrarian, rural economy into a fast-track digitalised economy.'
The object of the government policy cannot be such that luxury items become cheaper, pointed out Jaitley.
The Direct Tax Code recently been proposed by the Government of India, will bring about a change in the whole taxation system of the country. But how will it impact tax savers?
Market participants are hoping for a few tweaks on the taxation front which will encourage consumers and businesses to spend.
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 FM has been making efforts to make the taxation laws simpler.
In its essence, GST is a national level system of value added taxation of goods and services, says Shankar Acharya.
Nirmala Sitharaman is proving to be a better finance minister than her initial rookie status might have led people to expect, observes T N Ninan.
He said the Indian economy in the last few years has become very open, it is integrated globally, it invites investments in most sectors and has made its procedures for investment extremely simple.
With the Budget-making exercise in full swing, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das on Friday said Budget 2021-22 is expected to be prudent and growth oriented. Das before donning the hat of RBI Governor was a career bureaucrat and was directly involved in crafting of about 10 Budgets for the country including one in the aftermath of global financial meltdown in different capacities at the finance ministry. In view of unprecedented pandemic and its impact on the economy, he said the government has maintained fiscal prudence in the response to deal with the crisis.
He said the government has already begun implementing tax reforms.
'The most important thing to do is to stop taxing citizens so brutally,' recommends T C A Srinivasa-Raghavan.
The recent US-India friction over trade is being driven by Big Pharma.
'Agri reforms need to go beyond the limited concerns of these three laws in improving agriculture productivity in cereal and crop diversification and production patterns.'
The heavy industries ministersaid that the proposal for the auto scrappage policy was ready and all stakeholders have provided inputs, therefore its announcement was likely very soon.
Patricia Hewitt, chair, UK India Business Council and former UK minister, spoke on a number of government initiatives and investment sentiments.
Sensex closed over 118 points down on Thursday.
'The US investors are very enthusiastic about India and policy changes'.
As the country moves towards creating a spot gold exchange, markets regulator Sebi's whole time member G Mahalingam on Wednesday suggested routing all the imports of the precious metal through the exchange ecosystem in the future. Such a "funnelling" would ensure that gold monetisation takes place right at the source as the metal enters the country, he said while addressing a conference organised by industry lobby Ficci. However, he also noted that the issue has not been dealt with in the papers floated by Sebi.
'The markets have corrected almost 8-9 per cent from their highs, so one can accumulate quality stocks at reasonable prices.'
Stating that pushing GDP growth, which has slipped to 5-year low of 6.8 per cent in 2018-19, is the top priority, President Ramnath Kovind said Modi govt will bring more reforms and raise farm investments to boost growth.
Finance Ministry, Assocham on Tuesday sought a taxation friendly environment for the startups
India Inc has high hopes from the upcoming Budget.
In its new avatar as the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), it will directly be responsible for 'the welfare of traders and their employees'.
The government's programmes should be expected to generate some momentum, but the macro-economic numbers are not encouraging, observes T N Ninan.
The non-food component in the price basket will continue to keep inflation at a high level and result in a "long pause" in interest rates, a foreign bank said on Wednesday. The central bank is likely to pare the pandemic-driven emergency response as well, the report by Singaporean lender DBS said. It can be noted that the high inflation driven by the food prices has forced the RBI to go for a status quo in rates for the three consecutive reviews of the bi-monthly policy meetings, even as growth continues to be in the negative territory.
United States President Barack Obama and his Republican challenger Mitt Romney on Wednesday exchanged sharp barbs over major domestic policies ranging from economy, taxation, jobs and healthcare to education during the first of the three high-stake presidential debates.
The GST Council, headed by Jaitley and comprising representatives of all the states, is scheduled to meet in Srinagar on May 18-19 to finalise tax rates on different goods and services after unifying at least 10 indirect taxes into the Goods and Services Tax.
Giving major relief to budding entrepreneurs, the government on Thursday allowed startups to avail tax concession only if total investment including funding from angel investors does not exceed Rs 10 crore.
