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Finance minister said if the two rates had been merged into one, its inflationary effect would  have been high & thus govt didn’t get into this exercise  Finance minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday said there is scope to rationalise goods and services  tax (GST) and rolling 12% and 18% slabs into one as implementation of the country’s most  comprehensive indirect tax reforms progresses. “I do concede that as it (GST) moves forward, there will be scope for rationalising the rates.  There, probably, will be scope that the two standard rates of 12% and 18%, after some time, could  be clubbed into one. That is a fair possibility and a suggestion,” Jaitley said replying to  debate on the two bills related to GST in J&K. Central Goods and Services Tax (Extension to Jammu and Kashmir) Bill, 2017 and the Integrated  Goods and Services Tax (Extension to Jammu and Kashmir) Bill, 2017 were later passed by a voice  vote. The current GST ...

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) lowered its policy interest rate by 25 basis points (bps) and  said the future course of inflation would depend uponacombination of factors, including states  implementing farm debt waivers. The sixmember Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) observed the inflation rate had fallen toahistoric  low but “aconclusive segregation of transitory and structural factors driving the disinflation is  still elusive”. After the latest policy review, the repo rate, at which the central bank lends to banks, stands  at 6 per cent. The RBI maintained its neutral monetary stance. The rate cut was part of its calibrated approach based on the data available, RBI Governor Urjit  Patel said inapostpolicy conference. “We could have stronger growth by removing infrastructure bottlenecks, finding measures to  reinvigorate private investments and providingathrust to government´s affordable housing  initiative, which hasapotential fo...

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has constituted a committee on ´fair market  conduct´, which will be headed by former Lok Sabha secretary and law secretaryTK Viswanathan. The  panel will have representations from Sebi, mutual funds, brokers, audit firms, stock exchanges,  data analytics firms and legal firms. The committee has been tasked with suggesting improvements to the existing Sebi norms, including  on insider trading and fraudulent and unfair trade practices (FUTP). It has been specifically  asked to look at trading plans, handling of pricesensitive information during takeovers and  aligning of insidertrading rules with provisions of the Companies Act. Legal experts said as new means of communications emerge, Sebi has to stay ahead to prevent  fraudulent activity. Ensuring fair access and regulating the flow of price sensitive information to prevent insider  trading is one of the core areas for the markets regula...

Even as creditors are going ahead with the insolvency proceedings initiated against 12 companies  under the new Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), the latter are raising concerns on the  procedures for appointment of Interim Resolution Professionals (IRPs). It appears some of the companies have approached the Securities and Exchange  Board of India and other authorities for clarity on whether the current securities law, especially on  insider trading and the takeover code, would apply. “Some contentions have been raised over the insolvency proceedings. We are studying the feedback received,” said a regulatory official. Under the IBC, if a borrower is unable to pay the debt inagiven time,acreditor can initiate  insolvency resolution proceedings. Either a creditor or debtor company has to file an application, with proof of default, to the  National Company Law Tribunal for initiating the process of resolution. The IRP, within seven days of ...

FM Jaitley said it would be mandatory for manufacturers to pass on benefits to consumers The much-awaited mechanism for anti-profiteering will be decided upon by the GST Council on  Saturday, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley told the Lok Sabha on Tuesday. He also expressed the hope  that other sectors would follow suit of the auto sector to cut prices due to the effective lower  rates under the goods and services tax (GST). Referring to concerns raised by members with regard to impact of GST on prices, Jaitley said it  would be mandatory for manufacturers to pass on the benefits of reduction in taxes to consumers. He hoped that the decision of price cut by automobile sector on account of benefit of input tax  credit would be followed by others manufacturers. "What if input tax benefit is not transferred to consumers?...we are meeting a few days from  now...In a short while, we are going to finalise the entire mechanism as far as anti-profiteering...

After demonetisation, which almost brought house sales to a halt, real estate developers are  grappling with the Real Estate Regulation and Development Act (Rera) and the goods and services  tax (GST). “Real estate has gone through many down cycles since 1991. But I have never seen three  tsunamis together,” said Niranjan Hiranandani, managing director of the Hiranandani group, one of  the country’s oldest and largest property developers. “This is the worst time in the careers of many developers. If you have rental income, you can  stay. Otherwise, it will be very difficult,” added Vijay Wadhwa, chairman of the Wadhwa group, a  Mumbai-based developer. “The law is very strict and developers cannot be lackadaisical in their  dealings anymore,” said Wadhwa. Life for developers, which are often criticised for opaque practices, has turned topsy turvy  after Rera came into force from May 1. Most developers in Maharashtra are focusing on completi...

   The government has collected over Rs 1.80 lakh crore in direct tax till July 15 in the current  fiscal, an increase of 21.4 pre cent year-on-year, "belying" fears of slowdown in economic  activities.  "The current growth rate is higher than the target rate of 15.32 required to achieve the Budget  Estimate," Minister of State for Finance Santosh Kumar Gangwar said in a written reply in the  Rajya Sabha.  The government aims to collect Rs 9.8 lakh crore through direct taxes in 2017-18.  The minister further said the current growth rate in direct tax collections is "quite healthy,  belying any apprehension of reduction" in the level of economic or commercial activities.  He said the government has taken several initiatives to boost economic activity in the country  and several measures were announced in the Budget 2017-18.  Replying to another question, Gangwar said the number of cyber crimes pertaining to cr...

Companies tweak strategies as every product sold needs to have notional value in new tax regime There's no such thing as free pizza -or `free' anything -under GST, it would appear. That staple of promotional schemes among consumerfacing packaged products and  foods services companies -buy one get one free -is being axed by many of them a month after the goods and services tax was rolled out. The move is necessitated by the GST fine print, according to which compa nies will have to pay additional tax on anything they give away as `free' to consumers and  stand to lose input cre dit when they classify a product sale as `free'. That's forcing companies to look for other ways to win over customers. “We are doing away with  buy-oneget-one-free offers and are switching to upfront discounting,“ said Mayank Shah, marketing head at biscuit maker Parle Products. “This is causing disruption but it's what is required under the goods and services tax.“ In a slowi...

Total customs revenues rise to Rs 26,500 cr as rollout of the new tax regime completes a month The collection of Integrated Goods and Services Tax from imports crossed Rs 20,000 crore in July — the first month of the roll out of the new indirect tax regime,  pointing towards a major jump in revenues. Total customs revenues in July 2017 stood at Rs 26,500 crore as against Rs 16,625 crore collected in July 2016. Collections have been quite robust,” a government official said. However, the official said IGST collections have also received a boost from the fact that there is a component of state GST as well in the tax. Besides, the government has done away with a number of countervailing duty (CVD) exemptions and not extended them under the GST regime that were available in the  previous tax  regime, such as that on some electronic products. The rise in customs revenues on imports should take care of any decline in GST collections because of any production-relat...

The income tax (IT) department on Monday extended the deadline for e filing of returns by five days, till August 5, after complaints were received that assessees were  not able to submit returns. The department had earlier ruled out extending the deadline for filing returns. The department also eased the timeframe for linking permanent account number (PAN) with Aadhaar by August 30. Assessees can for now simply quote their Aadhaar number  or enrolment ID. “In view of the difficulties faced by taxpayers, date for efiling of income tax returns for FY 2016-17 has been extended to August 5, 2017,” the  department tweeted. Last minute inundation and heavy traffic on the website of the efiling portal led to the extension. Assessees, particularly those with some discrepancies in their name or year of birth, or any other data on their Aadhaar and PAN cards, were not able to submit  returns. Besides, it was reported the site was down forawhile. “Some people for ...

The Goods and Services Tax Council is likely to consider lowering of tax rates for job works for  making garments to 5 per cent from 18 per cent,a source in the finance ministry has said. The  panel, headed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and comprising representatives of all the 29  states, is likely to consider removing anomaly in taxation in cases where the intermediate goods  are taxed at the highest bracket than the tax on final output, the source said. The Business Standard, New Delhi, 01st August 2017