There is a surge in GST collections, which has proved sceptics wrong and even surpassed the expectations of the authorities Only a couple of years ago, top officials in the Department of Revenue used to gloat over a collection of GST Rs 150,000 crore if achieved in any given month. They couldn’t even imagine that collection of Rs 150,000 crore consistently every month in a year would ever be possible. But, this happened during 2022-23, when the department garnered a total of Rs 1800,000 crore. During the current year, it is aiming at a target of Rs 2000,000 crore. A major factor behind this is an increase in nominal GDP during 2022-23 by 15.9 per cent (from a tax collection...
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Category: Pioneer
Countering the menace of corruption
Funds siphoned off from welfare schemes, meant for the benefit of the poor, is also an act of corruption and must be dealt with with a heavy hand Setting aside the anticipatory bail granted by the Gujarat High Court to an IRS officer in a corruption case on April 17, 2023, the Supreme Court said “Corruption poses a serious threat to society and must be dealt with an iron hand as it not only leads to abysmal loss to the public exchequer but also tramples upon good governance”. The observation of the top court has catapulted to the centre stage a malady that has afflicted India for generations. The Government of India’s standards of financial propriety lays down that “no...
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Don’t apologise for PSH subsidy at WTO
Indian rebuttal to the claim of developed countries on food security is logical as India’s public stockholding (PSH) has helped food security around the world Last month, in a meeting of the Committee on Agriculture (CoA) of the World Trade Organization (WTO) – it oversees the implementation of the Agreement on Agriculture (AoA) – developed countries including the USA and Canada challenged India’s public stockholding (PSH) programme saying “it is highly subsidized, especially for rice, and that this is affecting the food security of other countries”. India countered their claim by saying that far from any adverse effect, its PSH program was helping other countries ensure their food security. This is how its argument goes. In 2021, India distributed 58...
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Inflation versus growth: RBI’s dilemma
Too much reliance on monetary policy instruments such as a hike in repo rate is of little help Having already increased the repo rate or RR (interest rate at which the Reserve Bank of India lends to banks) by a cumulative 2.5 per cent in the past 11 months, the RBI’s six-member Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) on April 6 voted unanimously to keep it unchanged at 6.5 per cent. However, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das pledged to hike the RR again if needed, saying the decision to pause was “for this meeting only”. In 2016, the Government put in place an institutionalised framework, the MPC, to formulate monetary policy and determine the key interest rates. It mandated the RBI to fix...
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Mess in Delhi’s power distribution business
The problem can be eradicated only if the State Government liberates the three discoms from its controls and gives them the much-needed freedom In 2018, the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) issued an order requiring the Delhi Government to give subsidies to its preferred consumers, primarily households, ‘directly’ by crediting it to their bank account using the direct benefit transfer (DBT) mechanism instead of routing it through the three power distribution companies (discoms) namely BSES Rajdhani Power Limited (BRPL), discom for South & West Delhi; BSES Yamuna Power Limited (BYPL) — discom for Central & East Delhi; and North Delhi Power Limited (NDPL) — discom for North Delhi which is the existing practice. The order was never implemented and is...
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Reforming the capital gains tax a smart move
It is perfectly justified if the rich class is made to pay more which, in turn, helps the Government provide services to the poor In the Finance Bill, 2023 passed by the Lok Sabha on March 24, 2023, an amendment relates to a change in the tax treatment of capital gains from non-equity or debt mutual funds (DMF). This has led to consternation in the investor fraternity including high net-worth individuals (HNIs), corporate, and so on who argue this will undermine efforts to deepen the bond market which is crucial for financing the long-term development needs of the economy. They also say such a change should have been introduced in the Union Budget. This would allow for thorough discussion in...
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Fine tune PM-KISAN to be efficacious
The inclusion of ineligible persons on the beneficiaries list of PM-KISAN raises concerns and undoes the very purpose the scheme was launched for A significant decline in the number of farmers receiving income transfers under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) Scheme from 104 million during 2021-22 to 80 million during 2022-23 and a corresponding reduction in payment from Rs 67,032 crore in 2021-22 to Rs 57,646 crore in 2022-23 has caused much consternation. Launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on February 24, 2019, and made effective from December 1, 2018, PM-KISAN is a Central Sector Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) Scheme under which the Union Government. It provides an income support of Rs 6,000 a year to farmers with...
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Bring petroleum products under GST
The Finance Minister should proactively engage with states to speed up the process of taxing petroleum goods under the GST Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has exhorted the states to give their concurrence for fixing the tax rate for five petroleum goods—crude oil, natural gas (NG), petrol, diesel, and aviation turbine fuel (ATF)—under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) to enable the GST Council to give its stamp of approval to this pending proposal. GST is a single nationwide tax with a provision for set-off tax paid on inputs. It subsumes within it more than a dozen taxes from the pre-GST era, namely central excise duty (CED), service tax, and sales tax/value added tax (VAT). Besides, a host of local taxes...
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Let FDI in retail come from the front door
Allowing FDI in retail would be in the best interest of consumers as this will enable all retailers to compete with one another on equal terms Following complaints from consumers and traders against “widespread cheating and unfair trade practices” by e-commerce marketplaces such as Amazon and Flipkart, the Union government intends to amend consumer protection rules to bar these firms from (i) selling their private labels on their platforms; (ii) make them liable for frauds committed by a seller; (iii) prohibit them from having their logistics chain for supply-chain management. The marketplace is a platform where vendors sell their products to consumers even as its owner merely acts as a facilitator by providing services such as booking orders, raising invoices,...
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Resurrecting three farm laws
Farmers will continue to be in distress as long as they are shackled by the state APMC laws Reports of a farmer from Maharashtra’s Solapur getting a measly Rs 2.49 from the sale of 512 kg onions to a trader (for Rs 1 per kg on sale executed at the Solapur market yard, total sale value comes to Rs 512; after deducting labour, weighing, transportation and other charges adding to Rs 509.5, the net realization is Rs 2.49) in the district has led to all-round consternation. Rs 2.49 is the net revenue from the sale of the crop; it isn’t a profit. To arrive at it, we need to deduct from this the cost of producing 512 kg onions which...
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