Going forward, as tax revenues significantly increase, India will have GST slabs of 0 per cent, 5 per cent and a standard rate between 12-18 per cent for commonly-used items, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said Monday. Luxury and sin goods will, however, continue to be taxed in a higher bracket. In a Facebook post titled Eighteen Months of GST’, Jaitley said, of the 1,216 commodities which are used, broadly 183 […]

An RBI study has found that the controversial note-ban imposed in November 2016 has led to further decline in the already falling credit to the MSME sector, while GST roll-out has not made any significant positive impact on overall credit to the sector but has deeply dented their exports. The credit disbursal to the MSME sector has, however recovered a tad since the lows of 2017 to reach the mid-2015 […]

In a big relief for millions of consumers, the Centre on Saturday conceded to a year-long demand and slashed GST rates on a wide range of daily use appliances and products. The announcement in this regard was made by Union Finance Minister Piyush Goyal following a meeting of the GST Council, which decided to reduce tax rates on a wide range of daily use appliances and products. “GST Council cuts […]

Former Finance minister P Chidambaram today attacked the government on the first anniversary of the rollout of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), claiming it had raised the tax burden on the common man and had become a “bad word” among people. “The design, structure, infrastructure backbone, rate or rates and implementation of the GST (Goods and Services Tax) were so flawed that GST has become a bad word among […]

Arun Jaitley in his blog today attacked opposition and others who are targeting government over the rise of deposit by Indians in Swiss National Bank (SNB). “A news item has appeared today indicating an increase of money by ‘Indians’ in the Swiss banking system. This has led to misinformed reaction in certain circles raising a query whether the Government’s anti-black money steps have yielded results”, he wrote. “To assume that […]

The latest and the renewed by the Government of India recently has won due accolades for the BJP and Narendra Modi, however, yet there is another black and grim reality to the situation. It has been five months since the new tax regime was implemented, yet it is a cause of hinderance for various small entrepreneurs who are looking to make a living out of their small-scale businesses. They have […]

In Karnataka, a satyagraha demanding 0% GST on handmade products highlights a larger issue For theatre person and social activist Prasanna, starting an indefinite hunger strike or satyagraha as a mark of protest comes as organically and naturally as the handloom clothes he wears and makes. The Gandhian has used satyagraya (a passive resistance often referred to as the “truth force” propounded by Mahatma Gandhi in his fight against the […]

Both demonetisation and GST have affected India’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth adversely, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Monday. “Both demonetisation and GST have had some impact on GDP,” Manmohan Singh, who has earlier said the Indian economy has been running on only “one engine” of public spending, told CNBC-TV18 channel. “Both would affect the informal sector, the small scale sector that are responsible for 40% of GDP… […]

The GST rates on 30 items of mass consumption were slashed on Saturday while the cess on mid and high-segment cars went up as the Council formed a five-member Committee to sort out technical glitches faced on the return-filing portal while the last date for GSTR 1 has been extended by a month. Briefing the media after the second review meeting post the Goods and Services Tax roll out, Finance […]

Days ahead of the launch of Goods and Services Tax, the RSS’s economic wing SJM has said the new indirect tax regime will “badly hit small businesses and push Chinese imports”. According to utilitysavingexpert.com, the launch can have a difficult effect on businesses. As the date of implementation of GST is approaching, the heartbeats of small entrepreneurs and traders are increasing, Swadeshi Jagran Manch National co-convener said. He claimed that there was […]