India moved a step closer to a sales tax structure that promises to unify the country’s markets and reduce transaction costs with the finance ministers of all states on Tuesday proposing a 20% goods and service tax (GST), with a larger share of this going to the states.
The empowered committee of state finance ministers, the group that signs off on tax reforms in India, also protested a Union government move to lower the tax rate on aviation turbine fuel (ATF), which is currently taxed by the states at varying rates.
Analysts and experts say GST is a way to simplify India’s so-called indirect taxes. In talks that have gone on for at least a year, the Centre and the states have agreed on a dual GST model. This dual tax will include Central excise duty, service tax and value-added tax (VAT). It will have two constituents: one that will be charged uniformly across the states and the other by the Union government.
According to a minister who attended the meeting of the empowered committee and who did not want to be identified, there is consensus among states that the overall GST rate should be around 20%, with states getting more than half.
The final decision on the rate is yet to be made, he added.
“Kerala is not willing to accept less than 20% as a total GST tax rate,” said Thomas Issac, finance minister of Kerala, who attended the meeting. A person familiar with preliminary negotiations on the rate said some states and the Centre were open to a 18% GST with the two taking an even share, but only if all prevailing tax exemptions are scrapped.
Currently, manufacturers get a tax benefit if they start factories in some states.
The 20% number will still be a decrease from the current rate. S. Madhavan, executive director at audit and consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, says the average incidence of aggregate indirect tax on goods in India is around 24%.
For consumers, however, the patchwork design makes the actual tax incidence opaque.
And for manufacturers, the complicated division of powers between the Centre and states sometimes results in them being taxed twice during the production process, raising the eventual price paid by consumers.
The varying tax incidence also makes uniform pricing of goods difficult.
The ministers also discussed the possibility of the Union government amending the Central Sales Tax Act to unilaterally lower the tax rate on ATF in order to help India’s beleaguered loss-making airlines.
sanjeev.s@livemint.com P.R. Sanjai and Teena Jain contributed to this story.
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
NATHULA TRADE THIS SEASON
Nathu La trade concludes with Rs. 9.6 mn turnover
Nathu La (Sikkim) (IANS): Trade between India and China through the fabled Silk Road closed over the weekend for the year 2008 with business worth Rs.9.6 million (approx $192,000) done since May, officials Monday said.
"Since trade reopened May 19, the two countries did business worth about Rs.9.6 million. Indian traders did the bulk of the business estimated at about Rs.9.5 million, while Chinese traders just managed to do business worth Rs.135,000," an official of the Sikkim industry and commerce department said.
The two Asian giants in July 2006 reopened trade across the 15,000 feet Nathu La Pass, 52 km east of Sikkim's capital Gangtok, as part of a broader rapprochement.
The move marked the first direct trade link between the nuclear-armed neighbours since a bitter border war in 1962.
"Formal trade for the current year ended Thursday," the official said.
Trade would resume from May 1, 2009.
Under an agreement reached between the two countries, trade takes place four days a week - Monday to Thursday - beginning May each year and lasting until Nov 30 when snow makes the area impassable.
The sluggish border trade between the two countries is due to restrictions in tradable items - India can import 15 items from China including silk, yak pelts and horses, and export 29 goods that include textiles, tea, rice, vegetables and herbs.
Bilateral trade in 2006 through Nathu La saw business worth about Rs.2 million with Indian traders doing business worth about Rs.1.1 million. Last year, the volume of trade was to the tune of Rs 2.6 million.
"Business this year was comparatively good although we need to work out measures to boost the volume of trade by reviewing the list of tradable items on both sides," the official said.
Although two-way trade was slow in the first three seasons, about 1,900 Chinese traders crossed the border separated by a rusty barbed wire marker to the bazaar of Sherathang, five kilometres below the pass on the Indian side.
About 1,200 Indian traders headed to the Renqinggang interim market in Tibet on the Chinese side, 16 km from the border, during the first three seasons. Businesspersons from both sides of the border were also seeking a broadening of the list of items traded through the Nathu-La pass.
"The list of tradable items should be increased and include commodities like locally made beer, medicines, jam, processed food products, floriculture and horticultural products so that business grows," said S.K. Sarda, president of the Sikkim Chamber of Commerce.
"The Chinese traders have been selling just yak pelts and sheep wool. It is imperative that the two countries decide to review the present export-import list."
Beijing had in 2003 given up its territorial claim over the Indian state of Sikkim but was still holding on to its age old stand that a vast stretch of Arunachal Pradesh belongs to them.
China has never recognised the 1914 boundary, known as the McMahon Line, and claims 90,000 sq km -- nearly all of Arunachal Pradesh in India's northeast. India also accuses China of occupying 38,000 sq km in Kashmir.
(SOURCE:IANS
Nathu La (Sikkim) (IANS): Trade between India and China through the fabled Silk Road closed over the weekend for the year 2008 with business worth Rs.9.6 million (approx $192,000) done since May, officials Monday said.
"Since trade reopened May 19, the two countries did business worth about Rs.9.6 million. Indian traders did the bulk of the business estimated at about Rs.9.5 million, while Chinese traders just managed to do business worth Rs.135,000," an official of the Sikkim industry and commerce department said.
The two Asian giants in July 2006 reopened trade across the 15,000 feet Nathu La Pass, 52 km east of Sikkim's capital Gangtok, as part of a broader rapprochement.
The move marked the first direct trade link between the nuclear-armed neighbours since a bitter border war in 1962.
"Formal trade for the current year ended Thursday," the official said.
Trade would resume from May 1, 2009.
Under an agreement reached between the two countries, trade takes place four days a week - Monday to Thursday - beginning May each year and lasting until Nov 30 when snow makes the area impassable.
The sluggish border trade between the two countries is due to restrictions in tradable items - India can import 15 items from China including silk, yak pelts and horses, and export 29 goods that include textiles, tea, rice, vegetables and herbs.
Bilateral trade in 2006 through Nathu La saw business worth about Rs.2 million with Indian traders doing business worth about Rs.1.1 million. Last year, the volume of trade was to the tune of Rs 2.6 million.
"Business this year was comparatively good although we need to work out measures to boost the volume of trade by reviewing the list of tradable items on both sides," the official said.
Although two-way trade was slow in the first three seasons, about 1,900 Chinese traders crossed the border separated by a rusty barbed wire marker to the bazaar of Sherathang, five kilometres below the pass on the Indian side.
About 1,200 Indian traders headed to the Renqinggang interim market in Tibet on the Chinese side, 16 km from the border, during the first three seasons. Businesspersons from both sides of the border were also seeking a broadening of the list of items traded through the Nathu-La pass.
"The list of tradable items should be increased and include commodities like locally made beer, medicines, jam, processed food products, floriculture and horticultural products so that business grows," said S.K. Sarda, president of the Sikkim Chamber of Commerce.
"The Chinese traders have been selling just yak pelts and sheep wool. It is imperative that the two countries decide to review the present export-import list."
Beijing had in 2003 given up its territorial claim over the Indian state of Sikkim but was still holding on to its age old stand that a vast stretch of Arunachal Pradesh belongs to them.
China has never recognised the 1914 boundary, known as the McMahon Line, and claims 90,000 sq km -- nearly all of Arunachal Pradesh in India's northeast. India also accuses China of occupying 38,000 sq km in Kashmir.
(SOURCE:IANS
SIKKIM VC IN NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISORY BOARD
Sikkim VC appointed as the member of National Security Advisory Board
Nanda Kirati Dewan 26 November, 2008 12:45:00
Prof Mahendra P Lama, Vice Chancellor of Sikkim University has been appointed as a Member of the prestigious National Security Advisory Board (NSAB) by the National Security Adviser to the Prime Minister. NSAB is an important element of the National Security Council system with the main function of advising the Government on security related issues. It is a multi-disciplinary body comprising a Chairman and persons of eminence from outside the Government with expertise in the fields of foreign affairs, defence, economics, science and technology, intelligence, internal security, media and related areas.
Prof Lama a development economist by profession is the youngest member of the NSAB. He has been invited to be a member of the Board in view of his long experience in dealing with issues which are critical for national security mainly from the economic and financial perspectives.
There are 28 members drawn from various professional backgrounds in the NSAB. They include Shri KS Bajpai, former Foreign Secretary (Chairman), Prof Shankar Acharya, former Chief Economic Advisor to the Govt of India, Ms Sobhana Bharatia, Chairperson, Hindustan Times, Shri Naresh Chandra, former Cabinet Secretary, Shri HK Deka, former Director General of Police, Assam, Dr Nitin Desai, former Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations Organization; Shri HK Dua, Chief Editor, The Tribune; Dr Prodipto Ghose, former Secretary, Ministry of Environment and Forests; Prof PS Goel, Indian Space Research Organisation; Vice Admiral KK Nayyar; Shri SC Mehta, former Special Director, Intelligence Bureau; Admiral Arun Prakash, former Chief of Naval Staff; Prof V Ramamurthy, Chairman, Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi; Dr P Rama Rao, Member, Atomic Energy Commission, Gen Aditya Singh formerly the GOC of Southern Command; Former Air Chief Marshal SP Tyagi and Shri PKH Tharakan former Secretary (R&AW).
Source: Assam Times
Nanda Kirati Dewan 26 November, 2008 12:45:00
Prof Mahendra P Lama, Vice Chancellor of Sikkim University has been appointed as a Member of the prestigious National Security Advisory Board (NSAB) by the National Security Adviser to the Prime Minister. NSAB is an important element of the National Security Council system with the main function of advising the Government on security related issues. It is a multi-disciplinary body comprising a Chairman and persons of eminence from outside the Government with expertise in the fields of foreign affairs, defence, economics, science and technology, intelligence, internal security, media and related areas.
Prof Lama a development economist by profession is the youngest member of the NSAB. He has been invited to be a member of the Board in view of his long experience in dealing with issues which are critical for national security mainly from the economic and financial perspectives.
There are 28 members drawn from various professional backgrounds in the NSAB. They include Shri KS Bajpai, former Foreign Secretary (Chairman), Prof Shankar Acharya, former Chief Economic Advisor to the Govt of India, Ms Sobhana Bharatia, Chairperson, Hindustan Times, Shri Naresh Chandra, former Cabinet Secretary, Shri HK Deka, former Director General of Police, Assam, Dr Nitin Desai, former Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations Organization; Shri HK Dua, Chief Editor, The Tribune; Dr Prodipto Ghose, former Secretary, Ministry of Environment and Forests; Prof PS Goel, Indian Space Research Organisation; Vice Admiral KK Nayyar; Shri SC Mehta, former Special Director, Intelligence Bureau; Admiral Arun Prakash, former Chief of Naval Staff; Prof V Ramamurthy, Chairman, Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi; Dr P Rama Rao, Member, Atomic Energy Commission, Gen Aditya Singh formerly the GOC of Southern Command; Former Air Chief Marshal SP Tyagi and Shri PKH Tharakan former Secretary (R&AW).
Source: Assam Times
Mumbai accounts for nearly 5% of the India’s US$ 1 trillion (Rs 49.9 trillion) GDP and contributes one-third of its direct tax colletion. However, the recent terror attacks on the city (which as we write this is still underway) has jolted the confidence in the entire nation. The city of Mumbai is not new to terror attacks and has seen eight major terrorist attacks in the past 15 years. However, what makes matters worse in the latest case is the fact that it has come at a time when the economy is withstanding a global recession.
Already reeling under the impact of the economic meltdown, domestic as well as international travel to the country is set to take a huge impact of the terrorist assault on Mumbai, particularly on two of its most popular luxury hotels. Travel companies expect businesses to fall at least 25% to 30% in December, which is otherwise the peak of the busy travel season. To put things in perspective, November to January constitutes 50% of total inbound tourist flow into the country. Making matters worse is the fact that even business and work-related travel to the country is likely to get affected with most MNCs discouraging their employees from visiting the country in the near term
Already reeling under the impact of the economic meltdown, domestic as well as international travel to the country is set to take a huge impact of the terrorist assault on Mumbai, particularly on two of its most popular luxury hotels. Travel companies expect businesses to fall at least 25% to 30% in December, which is otherwise the peak of the busy travel season. To put things in perspective, November to January constitutes 50% of total inbound tourist flow into the country. Making matters worse is the fact that even business and work-related travel to the country is likely to get affected with most MNCs discouraging their employees from visiting the country in the near term
PUNJ LLOYD LOWEST BIDDER FOR SIKKIM AIRPORT
Punj Lloyd lowest bidder for Sikkim airport
( Source: Moneycontrol)
The company has emerged as a lowest bidder for Sikkim airport, reports DNA.
( Source: Moneycontrol)
The company has emerged as a lowest bidder for Sikkim airport, reports DNA.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)