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With the central and state governments laying down the groundwork for the roll-out of the goods and services tax (GST), Karan Choudhury spoke to Krishan Arora,   partner, Grant Thornton India LLP, on how the new indirect tax regime would impact the e-commerce sector. How is the e-commerce industry preparing for the GST roll-out? E-commerce players are getting detailed GST analysis undertaken to assess impacts and changes on various facets including financials, cash flows, working capital, IT   changes, and compliances. Do you think the industry would be looking at restructuring warehouse as there would be no area- specific advantage left ? Currently, warehousing strategies are tax- oriented, which restricts effective utilization of available resources and leads to logistics effeciency. With the GST in   place, there wouldbe uniformity in imposed taxes. Companies may consider restructuring warehouse strategy , keeping in mind business imperatives and not tax. For Example,

THE DRAFT RULE COMES AT A TIME WHEN NEW DATA CONFIRMS THAT 65 RTI APPLICANTS HAVE BEEN KILLED SINCE 2005, WHEN THE LAW CAME INTO FORCE The government will soon notify new Right to Information (RTI) rules, which can put a whistleblower's life in danger and allow appeals to be withdrawn, as per its   commitment in the Supreme Court. Activists say this will weaken the only law that empowers citizens to question the government. The Centre told the Supreme Court earlier this year that it was in the process of framing new rules for regulating the transparency law in an appeal filed by   information watchdog Central Information Commission (CIC) with the apex court. The CIC had challenged the Delhi high court order nullifying its 2007 regulation, saying they were in violation of the RTI Act. In absence of any regulation, the CIC   was finding regulating appeals difficult and approached the Supreme Court for redress. During hearing, the Centre gave an undertaking that new rule

Threshold for taxing agriculture income should be same as urban income, says Bibek Debroy Agricultural income should be taxed at the same threshold as personal income, Niti Aayog, the government's thinktank, has proposed in its draft three-year action plan. Farm income could be assessed for tax as a three-year average, Niti Aayog member Bibek Debroy said at a press briefing on Tuesday, making a case for widening the taxpayer base. “There should be no distinction between urban and rural. The threshold for taxing rural agriculture income should be the same as urban income. However, rural agriculture income taxed could be an average of three years as it is subject to weather fluctuations,“ Debroy said, explaining the Aayog's proposal to expand the country's tax base. The government plans to do away with personal income tax exemptions, an exercise that's already under way for corporate income. However, taxing agricultural income would require an amendment to the

With the goods and services tax (GST) being destinationbased, states might be unable to provide incentives to encourage local industry. At the GST Conclave in New Delhi, Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia on Tuesday said, “States are wondering how to continue with promised benefits.  Any incentive has to be by way of the Budgets.” States offering the incentives might not even be able to collect taxes, he added. In interstate sale of goods, the destination states would collect the tax.  Some states currently offer incentives through refunds.  As the valueadded tax is originbased, some states pay back the producers, irrespective of whether or not goods move out of the state. Once the new indirect tax regime is rolled out, states may only be able to offer businesstoconsumer (B2C) incentives, but not businesstobusiness (B2B) ones.  Adhia gave the example of goods produced in Gujarat but consumed in Bihar.  “What right will Gujarat have to forgo the tax of Bihar?” he said. The Cent

The capital markets regulator’s decision to exclude certain violations, including insider trading, from its consent mechanism has led to an unexpected surge in the   number of pending cases and a steep fall in incomes from out-of-court settlement processes.  The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) is now saddled with an uphill task of clearing 7,000 cases after the decision to exclude insider-trading, front-  running, violating open-offer norms, and fraudulent and unfair trade practices from the scope of consent mechanism, a window available to settle disputes, by paying a   fee. Cases outside the scope of the consent mechanism are mostly settled through orders either under adjudication proceedings or as per section 11 of the Sebi Act, which   typically includes prohibitive orders such as debarment from the market or certain securities. Two people with direct knowledge of the status of cases pending with the regulator confirmed this, adding there is a growing concer

The government is holding consultations with the Reserve Bank of India to prepare guidelines for the proposed fund being set up to provide guarantee to lower-rated bonds issued by infrastructure companies and bolster their ratings. “We expect that the guidelines will be finalised shortly and the proposed special purpose vehicle (SPV) will soon commence operations. Already, in-principal approvals have come from all participants,“ said a finance ministry official. The proposed firm may be called National Infrastructure Credit Enhancement. The SPV will be set up by the state-run India Infrastructure Finance Company Ltd. (IIFCL), and the other contributors are Life Insurance Corp, General Insurance Corp, and State Bank of India, the country's largest bank. Power Finance Corp and Punjab National Bank will also participate in the structure, which will provide credit enhancement to infrastructure projects. According to RBI data, more than 85% of corporate bond issuance in India

The government has extended the startups intellectual property protection (SIPP) scheme foraperiod of three years till March 2020 to help budding entrepreneurs protect   their patents, trademark and designs. Running onapilot basis initially, the scheme was in force till March 31 this year. It is now being "extended further foraperiod of three years", the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion said. It is crucial for startups to protect their intellectual property rights (IPRs) in this highly competitive world, it added. The Business Standard New Delhi, 25th April 2017