Congress States Seek Full GST Revamp

Congress States Seek Full GST Revamp

Highest tax rate should be 18% and petroleum should be part of new tax regime, say state govts ahead of GST Council meet

A day ahead of the GST Council meeting here, Congress-ruled states have sought a complete overhaul of the indirect tax regime with the highest slab at 18% instead of 28%.Congress-ruled states have written to union finance minister Arun Jaitley demanding “nothing less than a complete overhaul of GST structure.“

“The highest rate should not be more than 18%,“ said Karnataka minister Krishna Byre Gowda who is a member of the GST Council, said on Thursday.The government may not be averse to the revamp.“The key agenda to be taken up is revamp of the 28% slab and the composition scheme for businesses as well as restaurants,“ said Bihar finance minister and deputy chief minister Sushil Modi.“Most of the issues will be addressed.“

“The Congress is in favour of inclusion of petroleum into GST,“ Punjab finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal said at a press conference called by Assam Pradesh Congress Committee. Kerala finance minister Thomas Issac however is not in favour of including petroleum and real es tate in GST till the time new tax regime settles down.

Gowda said Congress had earlier said the GST rate should not be more than 18% but the government still went ahead and raised the slab.“There are many luxury and sin goods which would be taxed at a higher rate and under that premi se, a rate of 28% was agreed upon by the council. But we find that a lot of items of mass consumption are also in the 28% slab,“ he said.

Many materials used for building a house such as tiles, bricks, cement, sanitary ware and taps are in the 28% slab and it is proving to be a burden for individuals building their homes, he said.

“A builder is different because the builder gets input tax refund whereas a common person does not get any refund. So it is proving to be a costly affair and there is no justification in keeping construction materials in the 28% tax slab,“ he said. Barring real goods of luxury or of sin nature, GST slab should be brought down to 18%, he said.

“That has been our general position for a while. So we hope there will be a positive and a resultoriented discussion on this issue tomorrow. Over time, 12% and 18 % slabs should converge and only a few items should remain in the 28% slab,“ he said.Puducherry chief minister V Narayanasamy said that handicrafts should be exempted from GST and compliances should be reduced.

He claimed Congress-ruled states had been demanding a re vamp in the GST structure, but the Centre never paid any attention and was now taking steps in view of the assembly elections in Gujarat.The GST Council is likely to review items in the 28% slab, some of which could be moved to 18% and 12% slab. It is also expected to simplify compliances for small and medium enterprises as well as large businesses.

GST, a single tax that subsumed as many as 43 taxes and cesses, was rolled out on July 1. The government has been since trying to address hiccups through periodic GST Council meetings.

Sops Likely for Digital Payments

Guwahati: The GST Council may consider incentives for digital payments in the GST framework to give a push to the digital payments system.The incentives could be in the form of credit or exemptions.The council will take a decision based on the revenue implications of the proposal.

The Economic Times, New Delhi, 10th November 2017

RBI deputy governor cautions fintech platform lenders on privacy concerns during loan recovery

India's digital lending infrastructure has made the loan sanctioning system online. Yet, loan recovery still needs a “feet on the street” approach, Swaminathan J, deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of India, said at a media event on Tuesday, September 2, according to news agency ANI.According to the ANI report, the deputy governor flagged that fintech operators in the digital lending segment are giving out loans to customers with poor credit profiles and later using aggressive recovery tactics.“While loan sanctioning and disbursement have become increasingly digital, effective collection and recovery still require a 'feet on the street' and empathetic approach. Many fintech platforms operate on a business model that involves extending small-value loans to customers often with poor credit profiles,” Swaminathan J said. Fintech platforms' business models The central bank deputy governor highlighted that many fintech platforms' business models involve providing sm

Credit card spending growth declines on RBI gaze, stress build-up

Credit card spends have further slowed down to 16.6 per cent in the current financial year (FY25), following the Reserve Bank of India’s tightening of unsecured lending norms and rising delinquencies, and increased stress in the portfolio.Typically, during the festival season (September–December), credit card spends peak as several credit card-issuing banks offer discounts and cashbacks on e-commerce and other platforms. This is a reversal of trend in the past three financial years stretching to FY21 due to RBI’s restrictions.In the previous financial year (FY24), credit card spends rose by 27.8 per cent, but were low compared to FY23 which surged by 47.5 per cent. In FY22, the spending increased 54.1 per cent, according to data compiled by Macquarie Research.ICICI Bank recorded 4.4 per cent gross credit losses in its FY24 credit card portfolio as against 3.2 per cent year-on-year. SBI Cards’ credit losses in the segment stood at 7.4 per cent in FY24 and 6.2 per cent in FY23, the rep

India can't rely on wealthy to drive growth: Ex-RBI Dy Guv Viral Acharya

India can’t rely on wealthy individuals to drive growth and expect the overall economy to improve, Viral Acharya, former deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said on Monday.Acharya, who is the C V Starr Professor of Economics in the Department of Finance at New York University’s Stern School of Business (NYU-Stern), said after the Covid-19 pandemic, rural consumption and investments have weakened.We can’t be pumping our growth through the rich and expect that the economy as a whole will do better,” he said while speaking at an event organised by Elara Capital here.f there has to be a trickle-down, it should have actually happened by now,” Acharya said, adding that when the rich keep getting wealthier and wealthier, they have a savings problem. “The bank account keeps getting bigger, hence they look for financial assets to invest in. India is closed, so our money can't go outside India that easily. So, it has to chase the limited financial assets in the country and

CA Online

Search This Blog