The government announced today that the GST revenue for the month of April has crossed Rs 1 lakh crore – a first since GST was rolled out in July last year. As mentioned by the Ministry of Finance, the total gross GST revenue collected in April is Rs 1,03,458 crore.
Out of that CGST (Central GST) amounted to Rs 18,652 crore, while SGST (State GST) amounted to Rs 25,704 crore. IGST (Integrated GST) stood at Rs 50,548 crore, including Rs 21,246 crore that was collected on imports, and cess at Rs 8,554 crore, including Rs 702 crore collected on imports.
As mentioned in ANI, the finance ministry also noted that the central and state governments earned a total revenue of Rs 32,493 crore in CGST and Rs 40,257 in SGST, after settlement in April.
Moreover, the ministry noted that out of 87.12 lakh, 60.47 lakh GSTR 3B returns were filed for March till April 30. That makes 69.5% of the eligible proportion. The ministry also said that 11.47 lakh out of 19.31 lakh composition dealers filed their quarterly return (GSTR 4), amounting to 59.40%. In total Rs 579 crore in taxes were paid, which is included in the aforementioned GST revenue figure.
The ministry said, “The buoyancy in the tax revenue of GST reflects the upswing in the economy and better compliance. However, it is usually noticed that in the last month of the financial year, people also try to pay arrears of some of the previous months. Therefore, this month’s revenue cannot be taken as a trend for the future.”
The recently introduced e-way bill might be the reason behind the sudden spike in GST revenues. E-way bill, which is generated for consignments moving inter-state or intra-state was rolled out in April. The inter-state e-way bill was introduced in April 1, while the intra-state one was pushed to April 15.
The GST Council is scheduled to meet on May 4 next.
The CBDT today extended the deadline for the PAN-Aadhaar linking to June 30.
The policy-making body of the tax department issued an order extending the deadline from the current last date of March 31.
The order said the deadline for PAN-Aadhaar linking for filing I-T returns is being extended after “consideration of the matter”.
It is understood that the latest order by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has come in the backdrop of the Supreme Court, earlier this month, directing extension of the March 31 deadline for linking Aadhaar with various other services.
The apex court ordered for the extension in the deadline till the five-judge constitution bench delivers its judgment on petitions challenging the validity of the biometric scheme and the enabling law.
This is a fourth extension given by the government for individuals to link their Permanent Account Number (PAN) with their biometric ID (Aadhaar).
The government has now made quoting of Aadhaar mandatory for filing income tax returns (ITRs) as well as obtaining a new PAN.
Section 139 AA (2) of the Income Tax Act says that every person having PAN as on July 1, 2017, and eligible to obtain Aadhaar, must intimate his Aadhaar number to the tax authorities.
As per updated data till March 5, over 16.65 crore PANs, out of the total about 33 crore, have been linked with Aadhaar.
The earlier deadlines for linking the two databases were July 31, August 31 and December 31, 2017, with the last being March 31 this year.
– Yousuf Mohamed Al-Jaida, the CEO of the Qatar Financial Center, a business and financial center located in Doha, told CNBC that the country has moved to attract foreign investment by making it easier to get business visas and buy real estate. – Qatar is looking for new partners, new alliances, so we are moving on, he said.
Qatar is looking to Asia for foreign investment in a “new era” for the country, following the blockade by a number of major Arab nations in June last year.
Yousuf Mohamed Al-Jaida, the CEO of the Qatar Financial Center, a business and financial center located in Doha, told CNBC Friday that the country has moved to attract foreign investment by making it easier to get business visas and buy real estate.
“Qatar is looking for new partners, new alliances, so we are moving on,” he said.
“Our presence in Hong Kong speaks a lot. We’re going to be doing a lot of more tours in Asia, Thailand, Vietnam, within the next two months,” he added.
Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Egypt imposed trade and travel bans on Qatar in 2017, blaming the country for supporting terrorism.
The Qatar Financial Center, which aims to foster investment in Qatar, has been explaining to foreign investors that, after the deterioration of relations between Qatar and other Arabic countries, the country has been putting forward a slew of reforms to adapt to a “new reality.”
“The appetite is good, I think we have to do a lot more of awareness as to what the blockade means. What we are trying to pitch in terms of the blockade is that this is a new era for Qatar,” Al-Jaida said.
The credit to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) is expected to grow at 12-14 per cent over the next five years, helped by higher lending by non banking finance companies (NBFC) to the segment, says a report.
As on March 2017, credit to MSMEs stood at Rs 16 trillion.
NBFC and housing finance companies are expected to expand at about 20-21 per cent compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) in this space during the period, while bank credit to this segment, which accounted for about 84 per cent of total MSME credit, is estimated to grow at a lower CAGR of 9-11 per cent, according to a report by Icra.
“Non-banks share in the MSME credit pie should expand to 22-23 per cent by March 2022 compared to 16 per cent in March 2017. Non-banks, with their niche positioning, differentiated product offering, good market knowledge and large unmet demand, would be able grow at a healthy rate vis-a-vis banks,” the rating agency’s assistant vice president and sector head, A M Karthik said.
He added there is large unmet credit demand in the MSME segment, which was estimate to be about Rs 25 trillion in FY2017.
“Notwithstanding the estimated growth, the unmet credit demand quantum is likely to increase further, going forward,” he said.
With large corporate credit expected to remain sluggish, at least over the next one-two years, the bank credit to the MSME segment is expected to be around 9-11 per cent with public sector banks growing at 7-9 per cent and private banks at 16-18 per cent, the report said.
Banking NPAs in the MSMEs segment stood high at about 8.4 per cent in March 2017 while that of non-banks stood at about 3 per cent as on that date.
The report said notwithstanding the moderate seasoning of the portfolio, non-banks have a more flexible and customised credit assessment for this segment and have steadily been moving to lower ticket loans, in view of the asset quality pressure in the large ticket loans and better yields in the smaller ticket loan categories.
“While non-bank asset quality is expected to worsen from current levels, the extent of deterioration may be lower than that witnessed in banks,” the report said.
In order to check “frivolous and fraudulent” tax credit claims by businesses, the CBEC has decided to verify demands of top 50,000 tax payers claiming maximum GST transitional credit, starting with those where the quantum exceeds Rs 25 lakh.
The verification of “unreasonable” transitional credit claims would be conducted in four phases, a source said, adding that credit verification will remain one of the focus areas in 2018-19.
As part of transition to GST last July, taxpayers were allowed to file Form TRAN-1 and avail tax credit on the basis of closing balance of the credit declared in the last return under the pre-Goods and Services Tax regime.
In order to check “frivolous and fraudulent” transitional credit claims, the CBEC has shared with field offices the list of 50,000 taxpayers whose claims would be further scrutinised.
It is suspected that some of these businesses might have obtained a registration under the GST only to claim transitional credit benefits, the source added.
In the first phase, the tax officers will verify transitional credit claims where the growth is more than 25 per cent or the credit availed is in excess of Rs 25 lakh. This verification is to be completed by June and a status report has to be given to the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) by July 10.
One-third of the remaining claims of 50,000 taxpayers will be verified in three phases — July-September, October-December and January-March (2019).
Taxpayers who have claimed transitional tax credit of more than Rs 25 lakh and have reported 25 per cent increase in such claims are also likely to be asked to submit a detailed statement of purchases during October 1, 2016, to June 30, 2017, the source said.
According to revenue department data, as much as Rs 65,000 crore of transitional input tax credit was claimed by businesses as on September 2017.
Concerned over large claims for which there was no “bona-fide explanation”, the revenue department had asked taxpayers to revise their claim forms by December 27, 2017, or face enforcement action.
Worried over huge claims, the CBEC conducted a “preliminary scrutiny” following which it has now decided to further verify the “correctness of the transitional credit in a more focused and concerted manner”, the source said.
However, in a communication to the field formation, the CBEC said that efforts should be made on the basis of data already available with the department without contacting the taxpayer.
It further said wherever contact with taxpayers is absolutely essential, it should be done with due caution.
“Summon should be issued only where the taxpayer is not sharing information even after repeated requests and lapse of an unreasonable period of time,” it said.
AMRG & Associated Partner Rajat Mohan said the move comes amid disappointing tax collections.
“A detailed verification of transitional credit for pre-decided 50,000 GSTIN on all India basis comes as a no surprise. Credit verification would be a focus area in the new financial year, and big data analytics would be of great aid,” Mohan said.
As per a finance ministry reply to the Lok Sabha, GST mop up was Rs 93,590 crore in July, Rs 93,029 crore in August, Rs 95,132 crore in September and Rs 85,931 crore in October.
The collections in November stood at Rs 83,716 crore, December (Rs 88,929 crore) and January (Rs 88,047 crore).
The World Bank’s biannual publication, India Development Update: India’s Growth Story, expects the economy to clock a growth rate of 6.7 per cent in the current fiscal ending March 31.
The World Bank today projected India’s GDP growth at 7.3 per cent for the next financial year and accelerate further to 7.5 per cent in 2019-20.
The World Bank’s biannual publication, India Development Update: India’s Growth Story, expects the economy to clock a growth rate of 6.7 per cent in the current fiscal ending March 31.
The report, however, observed that a growth of over 8 per cent will require “continued reform and a widening of their scope” aimed at resolving issues related to credit and investment, and enhancing competitiveness of exports.
“The Indian economy is likely to recover from the impact of demonetisation and the GST, and growth should revert slowly to a level consistent with its proximate factors — that is, to about 7.5 per cent a year,” the report said.
In November 2016, the government had scrapped high value currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 in a bid to check black money, among others.
Later, India implemented its biggest indirect tax reform — Goods and Services Tax (GST).
Both of these initiatives had impacted the economic activities in the country in short run.
India’s economic growth had slipped to a three year low of 5.7 per cent in April-June quarter of the current fiscal, though it recovered in the subsequent quarters.
The economy is expected to grow at 6.6 per cent in the current fiscal ending March 31, as per the second advanced estimates of the Central Statistics Office (CSO), compared to 7.1 per cent in 2016-17. The earlier estimate was 6.5 per cent.
The Economic Survey tabled in Parliament has projected a growth rate of 7 to 7.5 per cent in the 2018-19 financial year.
The World Bank report further said that accelerating the growth rate will also require continued integration into global economy.
It pitches for making growth more inclusive and enhancing the effectiveness of the Indian public sector.
India’s economy has expanded strongly in recent years, said Tao Zhang, Deputy Managing Director of IMF.
IMF has underscored the significance of reforms in other key sectors like education, health and improving the efficiency of the banking and financial systems.
The Indian economy now seems to be on its way to recovering from disruptions caused by demonetisation and roll-out of goods and services tax, the IMF said today. At the same time, the IMF has underscored the significance of reforms in other key sectors like education, health and improving the efficiency of the banking and financial systems.
India’s economy has expanded strongly in recent years, thanks to macroeconomic policies that emphasise stability and efforts to tackle supply-side bottlenecks and structural reforms. Disruptions from demonetisation and the rollout of the goods and services tax (GST) did slow growth,” Tao Zhang, Deputy Managing Director of IMF, told PTI in an interview.
“However, with the economy expanding by 7.2 per cent in the latest quarter, India has regained the title of the fastest-growing major economy, Zhang said.
Calling this development a “welcome change”, Zhang said the growth prospects remain positive.
“That said, the Indian economy would benefit from further reforms, such as enhancing health and education, encouraging private and public investment, and improving the efficiency of the banking and financial system. This would support durable and inclusive growth and enable India to move toward the income levels of wealthier countries, the top IMF official said ahead of his visit to India.
Given the dominance of cash in everyday transactions in the Indian economy it was inevitable that demonetization would temporarily affect economic activity, said Zhang who is travelling to India and Bhutan from March 12 until March 20.
The rollout of the GST last year was a landmark accomplishment that can be expected to enhance the efficiency of intra-Indian movement of goods and services, create a common national market, enhance tax buoyancy, and boost GDP growth and job creation, he said.
Yet the complexities and glitches in GST implementation also resulted in short-term disruptions. As I mentioned earlier, the economy now seems to be on its way to recovering from those disruptions, Zhang said in response to a question.
When asked about the latest Indian budget, which many critics say is protectionist in nature, Zhang said IMF research indicates that tariffs are broadly contractionary, reducing output, investment, and employment.
Trade tariffs may give limited relief to industries and workers that directly compete with affected imports. However, they can raise costs to consumers and other businesses that use the protected products. Tariffs also would reduce incentives for businesses to compete and improve efficiency, he cautioned.
Since the opening of the economy starting in the early-1990s, India has benefitted from trade liberalization, he observed.
Further supply-side reforms aimed at improving the business climate could enhance these benefits, the top IMF official asserted.
Noting that the IMF and India have close relations, and the two have always been good partners, Zhang said his visit is a reflection of this partnership, as is the newest regional capacity development center, SARTTAC, based in New Delhi.
The center partners with India and its South Asian neighbors to build strong institutions and implement policies that promote growth and poverty reduction in the region, he said.
My visit is an opportunity to exchange views with the Indian authorities, senior RBI officials, and representatives from the Indian business community, civil society, and others, he said.
Zhang will also have a presentation on financial technology that will take place on Monday at the National Stock Exchange of India.
We will go over the latest trends in financial technology and their effects on the global economy and India, said the top IMF official.
The government announced today that the GST revenue for the month of April has crossed Rs 1 lakh crore – a first since GST was rolled out in July last year. As mentioned by the Ministry of Finance, the total gross GST revenue collected in April is Rs 1,03,458 crore.
