Kumar Mangalam Birla:::

IBC is a deep reform, much more than GST and note ban: Kumar Mangalam Birla

In an interview, chairman of Aditya Birla Group chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla says reforms and their effects have given Birla the confidence to pursue aggressive growth for his group, as witnessed in his aggressive pursuits in the cement business and the latest acquisition of Aleris.

Mumbai: Kumar Mangalam Birla, the 51-year-old chairman of Aditya Birla Group, expects the Indian economy to grow between 7% and 8% over the next few years, because of a slew of reforms such as implementation of goods and services tax, demonetization and the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code.

“I think we’re seeing improved levels of governance in corporate India and the government. We’re truly integrating with the world economy. I think there’s a definite deep cut that’s happened and IBC is a deep reform...,” Birla said in an interview.

He said banks will be more cautious in lending and the balance sheets of companies will matter more than before.

Such reforms and their effects have given Birla confidence to pursue aggressive growth for his group, as witnessed in his aggressive pursuits in the cement business and the latest acquisition of Aleris, which will make Hindalco Industries Ltd the world’s second-largest aluminium producer. Edited excerpts from an interview:

It’s been 8-9 months since talks started. But there was a lull in between... What happened?

Birla: You broke the story even before talks had started. That was crystal-gazing by you. You had the numbers down very accurately, almost to the last decimals (when you broke the story), it’s surprising you got that. It creates problems for us when you break the story, especially since we are a listed company. It affects the deal-making process, it raises the price. Sometimes other listed companies back off for a while also.

Satish Pai, managing director, Hindalco: There was nothing unusual. These types of deals take a while and we were patient that we don’t overpay. And obviously your leaking the news doesn’t help us. This makes the seller think we’re desperate.

Recent GST rate cut credit negative: Moody's

Rating agency Moody's today said the recent GST rate cuts on 88 items will weigh on government's revenue collection and is ‘credit negative' as it will put pressure on efforts of fiscal consolidation.

The GST Council, chaired by Union Finance Minister, last week cut tax rates on white goods as well as various handicrafts items and paints.

“We estimate revenue loss from the most recent tax cuts to be about 0.04 per cent-0.08 per cent of GDP annually.

“Although the proportion of revenue loss is small, the vacillation in tax rates creates uncertainty around government revenue and comes amid persistent upside risks to its expenditures,” Moody's said in a statement.

It said the government had budgeted gross tax revenue growth of 16.7 per cent for the current fiscal, which ends March 2019, and GST collections will be an important driver of future government revenue because of a wider tax base and tax buoyancy.

“The tax cuts, which follow cuts in January 2018 and November 2017, will weigh on the government's revenue collections and are credit negative because they will pressure the government's fiscal consolidation effort, which is already diminished relative to the original fiscal deficit targets set last fiscal year,” Moody's said.

The government expects GST revenue to add up to an additional 1.5 per cent of GDP in the medium-term. Despite initial disruptions to the GST implementation, GST collection has increased since December 2017, but iterative changes to tax rates create downside risks to the target of Rs 7.4 lakh crore (USD 100 billion) for the full fiscal year, it added.

As per estimates, the recent goods and services tax (GST) rate cut would lead to a revenue loss of about Rs 8,000-10,000 crore, but the government expects that more compliance and demand would lead to revenue buoyancy which would offset the loss.

GST BILL::

GST Bill likely to benefit common man in long run:::

For the last couple of days, one of the major news I can read or hear relates to Goods and Services Tax ( GST). So what does it mean to me as a consumer? The FAQs released by the Ministry of Finance on 3rd Aug 2016 indicates that the consumer will benefit. So how does it work? Let us demystify the concept of GST and its related benefits to ultimate consumer.

It is understood that the design of GST itself will lead to substantial benefits accruing to end consumers. GST is a single tax on the supply of goods and services, right from the manufacturer to the consumer. Credits of input taxes paid at each stage will be available in the subsequent stage of value addition, which makes GST essentially a tax only on value addition at each stage. The final consumer will thus bear only the GST charged by the last dealer in the supply chain, with set-off benefits at all the previous stages. Today due to multiple indirect taxes being levied by the Centre and State, with incomplete or no input tax credits available at progressive stages of value addition, the cost of most goods and services in the country are laden with many hidden taxes. Under GST, there would be only one tax from the manufacturer to the consumer, leading to transparency of taxes paid to the final consumer. Further there will be relief in overall tax burden. This is because under the GST regime, the entire supply chain will be efficient leading to gains and prevention of leakages. This will result in the overall tax burden on most commodities to come down, which will benefit consumers.

However, a crucial aspect in determining the impact on the final price of goods and services is the GST rate. The indication is that most goods and services will be at taxed at standard rate ranging from 17% to 19%.

A common man incurs various expenses on day to day which are charged to indirect taxes. Purchase of goods have a standard excise duty of 12.5% embedded in it and standard VAT of 14% appearing on the face of the invoice. The effective tax rate on goods is around 28% due to ‘tax on tax’ and no input tax credit available to dealer of the excise duty charged by the manufacturer. Service tax is levied at 15% on the services consumed. So optically it seems that goods will become cheaper and services expensive should the rate of GST be a range of 17% to 19%. Accordingly, services consumed by a common man such as telecom, rail transportation, banking, air travel etc may become expensive. Whereas small cars, FMCG products etc may become cheaper.

However, it is important to mention that pricing of goods or services is dependent on many other factors such as possibility of getting credits, competition, profit margin, abatements given for valuation of goods and services etc. Rate of GST is not the only indicator of final price on goods and services.

The essence of GST is that all goods and services be taxed at moderate rate. So in the long run it is expected that the burden of GST on common man will be reduced.

GST Benefits For Business and Industry

GST Benefits For Business and Industry

The Goods and Services Tax would benefit the industry most. That is why the industry was demanding it for a long time. A study tells that Because of the GST, the industry would grow rapidly. Which in turn would increase the GDP by 2%. Following are the benefits of GST to the industry and Businesses

Reduce Hassle and Expense

The GST not only replaces various taxes but also It would be easier for the businessmen. Currently, a Businessman has to various taxes, file return and reply for the scrutiny. The businessman has to visit many tax offices. The GST would end all these hassles.

There would be an advanced IT platform for the GST. It will handle the all related issue of GST. This platform would be used in the whole country. This platform would facilitate Single registration, Single payment, and Single return. All the process would be online. It would make the whole system of GST payment and return filing easy and transparent.

One GST Rate And One Mechanism

GST ensures that indirect tax rates and structures are common across the country. A product has one GST rate across the country. Businesses are not required to calculate differently for different states. The Same Rule and the Same rate Across the country.

No Overlapping of Taxes

If a product is produced and sold to the consumer, there would be a single indirect tax. There is no overlapping of taxes. If the GST rate is 20% and product is sold to a consumer for Rs 200, the GST would be Rs 40.

The total GST paid by the manufacturer, distributor, and retailer would never exceed the Rs 40. Out of this Rs 40, every player would pay their part of GST.

The government ensures this by the system of the tax credit. In the above example, a retailer who is liable to pay 20% of GST would not actually pay the Rs 40. Rather, he can reduce some tax because manufacturer and distributor would have paid GST on the same product.

The GST paid for the same product can be claimed as the tax credit. The retailer would deduct this tax credit from its total tax liability. Thus, The retailer might pay only Rs 20 as manufacturer and distributor would have paid remaining Rs 20.

This system of seamless ‘tax-credits’ reduces hidden costs of doing business.

GST Improves competitiveness

Reduction in transaction costs of doing business improves competitiveness for the trade and industry.

The GST helps those businesses which have been paying right taxes. Since GST will minimize the tax evasion, the good business would become more competitive.

Gain to manufacturers and exporters

The GST would decrease the cost of locally manufactured goods because of the following reasons.

• Most of the central and state taxes would go away
• Central Sales Tax would not be charged
• Complete and comprehensive set-off of the input goods and services

Because of the reduced cost of Indian industry, It would be more competitive in global market. It will give a boost to Indian Exports.

GST Benefits For Central and State Governments

Simple and easy to administer

GST replaces multiple indirect taxes at the Central and State levels. Backed with a robust end-to-end IT system, GST would be simpler and easier to administer than all other indirect taxes of the Centre and State. All the management of GST would be handled by the GSTN.

Better control on leakage

Because of the Advanced IT platform, it would be difficult to evade GST. The system of GST also promotes the tax payment.

A businessman can claim tax credit only if it has the tax invoice for the purchase. If it doesn’t have tax invoice of a purchase, It has to bear whole tax. Thus, a retailer would ask tax invoice from the dealer and in return dealer would ask tax invoice from the manufacturer.

The in-built mechanism in the design of GST incentivizes tax compliance by the traders.

Higher revenue efficiency

GST is expected to decrease the cost of tax collection. It will lead to higher revenue efficiency. The duplication of indirect tax collection would end after the GST. It would finally decrease the cost of revenue collection. Both, the centre and state government would benefit.

GST Benefit to the Consumer

GST Would Decrease Tax on Certain Product and Services

Since there are only three rates of GST. Many products would come into lower tax band. Such as watching a film or buying luxury goods would be cheaper.

Since, there is no overlapping of taxes, the overall tax on a product would go down. It would also lead to lower prices.

Relief in overall tax burden

Because of efficiency gains and prevention of leakages, the overall tax burden on most commodities will come down, which will benefit consumers.

If GST manages to increase the revenue of government we can expect a lower rate on direct taxes.

These were the benefits of GST. Do you think there are some more benefits of the GST. Please use the comments section to add.

7 major benefits of Goods and Services Tax:::

Goods and Services Tax (GST) aims to make India a common market with common tax rates and procedures and remove the economic barriers, thus paving the way for an integrated economy at the national level.

GST is largely technology driven. It will reduce the human interface to a great extent and this would lead to speedy decisions.

Goods and Services Tax (GST) aims to make India a common market with common tax rates and procedures and remove the economic barriers, thus paving the way for an integrated economy at the national level. By subsuming most of the Central and State taxes into a single tax and by allowing a set-off of prior-stage taxes for the transactions across the entire value chain, it would mitigate the ill effects of cascading, improve competitiveness and improve liquidity of the businesses.

Here are some of its major benefits:

1. GST is a win-win situation for the entire country. It brings benefits to all the stakeholders of industry, government and the consumer. It will lower the cost of goods and services, give a boost to the economy and make the products and services globally competitive. GST aims to make India a common market with common tax rates and procedures and remove the economic barriers, thus paving the way for an integrated economy at the national level.

By subsuming most of the Central and State taxes into a single tax and by allowing a set-off of prior-stage taxes for the transactions across the entire value chain, it would mitigate the ill effects of cascading, improve competitiveness and improve liquidity of the businesses. GST is a destination-based tax. It follows a multi-stage collection mechanism. In this, tax is collected at every stage and the credit of tax paid at the previous stage is available as a set off at the next stage of transaction. This shifts the tax incidence near to the consumer and benefits the industry through better cash flows and better working capital management.

2. GST is largely technology driven. It will reduce the human interface to a great extent and this would lead to speedy decisions.

3. GST will give a major boost to the ‘Make in India’ initiative of the Government of India by making goods and services produced in India competitive in the National as well as International market. Also all imported goods will be charged integrated tax (IGST) which is equivalent to Central GST + State GST. This will bring equality with taxation on local products.

4. Under the GST regime, exports will be zero-rated in entirety unlike the present system where refund of some taxes may not take place due to fragmented nature of indirect taxes between the Centre and the States. This will boost Indian exports in the international market thus improving the balance of payments position. Exporters with clean track record will be rewarded by getting immediate refund of 90% of their claims arising on account of exports, within seven days.

5. GST is expected to bring buoyancy to the Government Revenue by widening the tax base and improving the taxpayer compliance. GST is likely improve India’s ranking in the Ease of Doing Business Index and is estimated to increase the GDP growth by 1.5 to 2%.

6. GST will bring more transparency to indirect tax laws. Since the whole supply chain will be taxed at every stage with credit of taxes paid at the previous stage being available for set off at the next stage of supply, the economics and tax value of supplies will be easily distinguishable. This will help the industry to take credit and the government to verify the correctness of taxes paid and the consumer to know the exact amount of taxes paid.

7. The taxpayers would not be required to maintain records and show compliance with a myriad of indirect tax laws of the Central Government and the State Governments like Central Excise, Service Tax, VAT, Central Sales Tax, Octroi, Entry Tax, Luxury Tax, Entertainment Tax, etc. They would only need to maintain records and show compliance in respect of Central Goods and Services Tax Act and State (or Union Territory) Goods and Services Tax Act for all intra-State supplies (which are almost identical laws) and with Integrated Goods and Services Tax for all inter-State supplies (which also has most of its basic features derived from the CGST and the SGST Act).

GST Council unveils :::

GST Council unveils draft of changes proposed to GST law:::

India has proposed a slew of changes to the year-old goods and services tax law, including an amendment to deny credit in lieu of accumulated balances of education cess, secondary and higher education cess, Krishi Kalyan cess, and additional excise duties levied on textile and textile articles.

The GST Council, the apex decision-making body for the tax, on Monday unveiled the draft of changes proposed to the GST lawbefore they are introduced in the upcoming monsoon session of parliament. India Inc.’s key demand on transfer of cess credits has been turned down, but substantial changes .

“It appears that the feedback from businesses on the need to simplify the compliance processes and streamline the input tax credit provisions is being acted upon and once these amendments are approved, there would be a considerable degree of comfort for all businesses,” said MS Mani, a partner at Deloitte India. Aimed at benefitting smaller businesses, the turnover threshold for composition dealers is proposed to be raised to Rs 1.5 crore from.`1 crore now. GST liability under reverse charge basis on procurement from unregistered vendors is proposed to be restricted to specified classes of registered persons.

Jaitley sees GST rate cut :::

Jaitley sees GST rate cut on cement, ACs, TVs with rise in revenue:::

Union Minister Arun Jaitley today exuded confidence that GST rates on cement, ACs and televisions will be cut as tax revenues increase, and only luxury and sin goods will attract the highest slab of 28 per cent.

In a Facebook post, Jaitley termed the pre-GST indirect tax regime, during which most of the household items attracted a levy of 31 per cent, as "Congress Legacy Tax".

The past one year, he added, has seen rate reduction in 384 commodities.

Goods and Services Tax (GST), which subsumed 17 local taxes, was rolled out on July 1, 2017.

"Today, the 28 per cent category is being phased out. Bulk of these items remaining in this category are only luxury items or sin goods. The other items outside the luxury-sin goods category are cement, air-conditioners, large screen televisions and a handful of others," Jaitley said.

"Hopefully, with further expansion of revenues, these few items may also witness a change of category. Thus within a record period of thirteen months, the GST Council has almost phased out the 28 percent category. It is only a matter of time that the final obituary of the 'Congress Legacy Tax' is written. Only the luxury-sin tax would remain," he said.

Referring to services sector, he said 68 different categories of services have witnessed their rate reduction.

"The net revenue loss which Government have suffered on account of the reduction of tax on goods and services is about Rs 70,000 crore. Since State Governments have been guaranteed a 14 per cent increase over their pre-GST revenues for the first five years, this burden has entirely been borne from the share of the Central Government," Jaitley said.

The tax reduction has reduced the cost to the consumers, increased his purchasing capacity and added to the increased consumption in the economy.

He said taxes on all household items stand reduced from 28 per cent to 18 per cent and 12 per cent.

"All items of construction, except cement, stands reduced. Most white goods stand reduced. There is no better opportunity for consumers to make purchases than in the environment which the GST has created. It is an opportunity to celebrate the biggest tax reform since Independence, which has replaced 'Congress Legacy Tax' with a 'good and simple tax'," Jaitley said.

The GST Council in its meeting last week had decided to reduce taxes on 88 items, like sanitary napkins, fridge, small screen TV, washing machine, footwear, among others. The new tax rates became effective from today.

As of today, only 35 goods, including cement, automobile parts, tyres, automobile equipments, motor vehicles, yachts, aircrafts, aerated drinks, betting and demerit items like tobacco, cigarette and pan masala, attract highest GST rate of 28 per cent.

28% GST slab being phased out: Arun Jaitley:::

NEW DELHI: Union minister Arun Jaitley said in a blog post on Friday that the 28% category of goods in under the goods and services tax (GST) is being phased out and the bracket currently covers mostly luxury items or sin goods. The tax on other items outside the luxury-sin goods such as cement, air-conditioners, large screen televisions and a handful of others could also be reduced as revenues rise.

“Thus within a record period of thirteen months, the GST Council has almost phased out the 28% category. It is only a matter of time that the final obituary of the ‘Congress Legacy Tax’ is written. Only the luxury-sin tax would remain,” Jaitley said in a Facebook post. The past one year has seen rate reduction in 384 commodities and not a single increase, Jaitley said, contrasting the GST regime that rolled out on July 1 last year with the indirect tax regime under Congress-led UPA rule.

“The pre-GST tariff was a Congress Party legacy. The standard rate for central excise plus VAT plus CST was 12% + 14% + 2%. To this, if the cascading effect of tax on tax was added, the eventual tax payable on a commodity was 31%,” he wrote, adding that the tax rate applied even to products used by households such as mineral water, hair oil, toothpaste, soap, dairy as well as goods including construction material and white goods. “The total number of goods falling in this category was 235. This 31% tax was Congress Party’s gift imposed on India. This tax was the ‘Congress Legacy Tax’,” he said. He said lower rates have resulted in higher collections.

The rates have been reduced for 68 services as well and total revenue loss following the reduction rated on goods and services is about Rs 70,000 crore. The reduction has reduced the cost to the consumer, increased his capacity and added to the increased consumption in the economy, Jaitley added. “There is no better opportunity for consumers to make purchases than in the environment which the GST has created.”

PREVENTION OF CORRUPTION(AMENDMENT) BILL, 2013
Writing on the Prevention of Corruption Act, Jaitley said it will ensure honest officers will not be harassed by investigative agencies in the process of apprehending the corrupt. The Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Bill, 2018 also has provision to punish for the first time bribe givers as well with imprisonment of up to a maximum of seven years.

The bill was passed by Parliament this week. Jaitley said the amendment "corrected a fundamental flaw" in the 30-year old anti-corruption law, which was enacted in pre-liberalisation regime and had not anticipated the kind of risk which could be faced by honest decision makers.

The wide definition of corruption and loose language of the old act prompted the investigators to shed their professionalism and follow the "golden rule" of 'when in doubt, file a chargesheet'.

10% GDP growth:::

10% GDP growth not possible without improving HDI: NITI Aayog Ceo::

Amitabh Kant. Chief executive officer, NITI Aayog

Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant has said the country needs to improve its human development index (HDI) to achieve a growth of around 10 per cent.

“We are growing at around 7.5 per cent and if our ambition is to grow at high rates like 10 per cent over a three-decade period, (then) it is not possible to do this if we don't improve the HDI for India,” Kant said at an event by child-rights organisation Plan India here on Friday.

Such growth, Kant said, was not possible if infant-mortality and maternal mortality rates were at very high rates and if one in three children was stunted.
 

In the 2016 UN Human Development Report, India had slipped one place to rank 131st among 188 countries in the HDI.

Stating that there were around 200 backward districts in India, Kant underlined that it was not possible for the government alone to transform. Therefore, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) play a very important role, he added.

Speaking at the event, veteran actor and social activist Shabana Azmi said since India is a multi-religious, multi-cultural and multi-lingual society, any effort for the country's development needs to be made by all stakeholders, like the government, NGOs and community workers.

But, above all, to actually impact change at the level where it is required, it cannot happen without the last-mile frontline workers, the actor added.

PM Modi :::

PM Modi stresses on 'Roof For All By 2022' at development anniversary::::

PM Narendra Modi at 'Transforming Urban Landscape' event in Lucknow. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday hit back at Congress president Rahul Gandhi for his 'chowkidar-bhagidar' remarks, saying he took the remark as a compliment.

"These days I am dubbed as 'bhagidar' (partner) and not 'chowkidar' (watchman). I feel honoured to be a 'bhagidar' of the problems of the poor," the prime minister said, referring to Gandhi's insinuation that he was a collaborator' in graft.

"I take this allegation as a an honour, I am proud to be a 'bhagidar' of the pain suffered by the poor, the hard working labour class, the agony of a sad mother, a poor farmer whose crops get destroyed by natural calamities, of soldiers who brave bone-chilling weather as well as scorching heat," he said.

Modi was speaking at an event here to mark the third anniversary of three government initiatives related to urban development.

In his 30-minute address, Modi said by 2022, the government will provide a roof to all homeless people.

"I am a 'bhagidar' of that poor family which is forced to sell his land for medical treatment, of the homeless, of illiterate children, and of the unemployed," he said.

In a attack on Modi on a range of issues, including the controversial Rafale jet deal, Rahul Gandhi said during the recent debate on the no-confidence motion against the government that the prime minister had promised to be a 'chowkidar' but had become a 'bhagidar'.

Modi was speaking at a programme on "Transforming Urban Landscape", marking the third anniversary of three key government initiatives related to urban development -- Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban), Atal Mission for Rejuvenation of Urban Transformation (AMRUT) and the Smart Cities Mission.

He also went around an exhibition on Flagship Missions of Urban Development and interacted with PMAY(U) beneficiaries and launched various projects related to urban housing and infrastructure and the Smart City scheme.

In his 30-minute address, Modi said by 2022, the government will provide a roof to all homeless people.

He slammed the previous non-UP governments before Yogi Adityanath took over as the chief minister for their work culture.

"I know how people used to live earlier. That is because they (those in power) had a one-point programme, which was how to decorate their bungalows," Modi said, apparently referring to a row after former CM Akhilesh Yadav vacated his official accommodation.

J&K High Court notices :::

J&K High Court notices to Centre, GST Council and state govt over refunds:::

The Jammu and Kashmir High Court issued notices to the Centre, the state government and the GST Council over reduction in refunds of the taxes paid after the new indirect tax system was rolled out.
 
Companies such as Jindal Drugs have moved court saying there are less refunds under the GST system for inter-state movement of goods than was under the previous regime.
 
An order in the case may have ramifications for other states such as Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Sikkim which have incentives schemes. J&K had come out with its industrial policy in 2002, promising 100 per cent refunds on excise duty paid for 10 years to companies setting up manufacturing units in the state.  This was reduced to 75 per cent, against which petitions were filed in courts. The case is pending in the Supreme Court.  However, under the GST regime, refunds for intra-state movement of goods were reduced to 29 per cent of the integrated GST (IGST) paid. 

ALSO READ: AAR of Maharashtra rules out GST refund for post-sales discounts

 
Abhishek Rastogi, counsel for Jindal Drugs, said, “The unintended omission of continuing tax benefits has virtually made doing business in these areas economically unviable.”
 
Agrieved by this, industrial units approached the high court as a last resort to address their woes, he said.  For intra-state movement of goods, there is no such problem at the outset since the state gives total refund of state GST (SGST) paid. On the other hand, the Centre gives 58 per cent refunds for Central GST (CGST) paid.
 
The state also gives 42 per cent refund of CGST paid, Rastogi said.
 
However, the procedure for getting refunds is not time-bound, leading to delays. All these have adversely affected the investment climate in the state and are likely to hit job creation, said experts..

Here’s all you need to know about the new GST rates:::

In a major decision, the GST Council has decided to keep only 50 out of 227 items in the highest tax slab of 28 percent.

New Delhi: After the 23rd GST Council meeting in Guwahati, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley slashed tax rates on over 200 items, including beauty products, chewing gums, chocolates, coffee, and custard powder, among others, from 28 per cent to 18 per cent.

In a major decision, the GST Council has decided to keep only 50 out of 227 items in the highest tax slab of 28 percent. The cut in tax will cost Rs. 20,000 crore in revenues annually.

Here’s all you need to know about the new GST rates:

1. The 50 items that will still fall under the purview of 28 percent tax slab include cement, tobacco, and air-conditioners among others. 

2. All restaurants will come under the 5 per cent tax bracket, irrespective of whether they are AC or non-AC, except those in five-star hotels. Hotels with tariffs over Rs 7,500 per night, however, will be taxed at 18 per cent.

3. Thirteen items moved from 18 per cent to 12 percent, 6 items from 18 per cent to 5 per cent, 8 items from 12 per cent to 5 per cent, and 6 items from 5 per cent to nil

4. Construction-related items such as marble, flooring, etc have also been put in the 18 per cent tax slab.

5. Tax on wet grinders and armoured vehicles was cut from 28 per cent to 12 per cent.

6. The GST Council also decided to raise the Composition Scheme threshold to Rs 2 crore.

7. Taxpayers with turnover less than Rs 1 crore should file invoices every quarter and those above Rs 1 cr should file invoices every month.

The industry has welcomed the outcome of GST Council.

Here’s what experts have to say...

Shyam Bhartia, Chairman and Hari Bhartia, Co-chairman Jubilant Foodworks said in a statement, "We welcome the move by the Government of India to reduce GST on AC restaurants from 18% to 5%. This is a very progressive step which will make eating out and ordering food at home much more affordable for consumers and will lead to a significant growth in the organized restaurant segment.

EY India said in a statement, "These revisions in rates are expected to reduce prices and increased consumption and thereby bring growth for the consumer products and retail industry,"

Angel Research believes that the rate cut should have an anti-inflammatory impact. According to Mayuresh Joshi, fund manager from Angel Research, the rate cuts should compensate for the inflation impact of higher oil prices.

The 23rd meeting of the council was held in Guwahati, Assam.  The council, comprising state finance ministers, was set up to review the GST returns filing cycle and make it taxpayer friendly.

GST Council meet: Tax on 140 items:::

GST Council meet: Tax on 140 items to fall from 28 pct; quarterly returns for all:::

The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council could bring down the tax rate on as many as 140 items from the highest slab of 28% as it meets in Guwahati on Friday, leaving only 40-odd items in this category, according to government officials

The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council could bring down the tax rate on as many as 140 items from the highest slab of 28% as it meets in Guwahati on Friday, leaving only 40-odd items in this category, according to government officials. (Image: IE)

The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council could bring down the tax rate on as many as 140 items from the highest slab of 28% as it meets in Guwahati on Friday, leaving only 40-odd items in this category, according to government officials. The items most likely to see a lower rate include sanitaryware, detergents, furniture, electrical switches, and plastic and ceramic pipes, among others. The council will deliberate on a key proposal made by a group of state finance ministers (GoM) which called for allowing all taxpayers to file returns quarterly even as they pay taxes on a monthly basis. At the last meeting, the council had decided to allow taxpayers below the Rs 1.5-crore revenue threshold to file returns quarterly. This covered nearly 90% of all taxpayers registered on the GST Network portal.

The council had in May fixed 28% rate for nearly 230 items out of a total 1,211 items under GST on the basis of recommendations by a rate fitment committee. In subsequent meetings, it has cut rates on nearly 100 items including 47 in the 28% category. The fitment committee had followed a principle of equivalence in fixing rates, which means that items fell under the GST slabs (0%, 5%, 12%, 18% and 28%) nearest to the pre-GST tax incidence. Hinting at the overhaul in GST rates, Bihar deputy chief minister Sushil Modi on Wednesday said that the council could prune rates of nearly 80% of the items in the highest slab. Earlier this week, Union finance minister Arun Jaitley had said that some of the goods in the highest slab shouldn’t have been there in the first place. Besides, the council is also likely to prune rates of some items in the 18% slab.

The council had in May fixed 28% rate for nearly 230 items out of a total 1,211 items under GST on the basis of recommendations by a rate fitment committee. In subsequent meetings, it has cut rates on nearly 100 items including 47 in the 28% category. The fitment committee had followed a principle of equivalence in fixing rates, which means that items fell under the GST slabs (0%, 5%, 12%, 18% and 28%) nearest to the pre-GST tax incidence. Hinting at the overhaul in GST rates, Bihar deputy chief minister Sushil Modi on Wednesday said that the council could prune rates of nearly 80% of the items in the highest slab. Earlier this week, Union finance minister Arun Jaitley had said that some of the goods in the highest slab shouldn’t have been there in the first place. Besides, the council is also likely to prune rates of some items in the 18% slab.