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The issue of tax demand notices being served on gaming companies and others under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime was raised at the GST Council meeting on Saturday, with some states terming it as “retrospective taxation” even as the Centre defended the 28 per cent levy.
The Council, in its 52nd meeting, also recommended that Extra Neutral Alcohol (ENA), used for manufacture of alcoholic liquor for consumption, be kept outside the GST ambit, along with a cut in the GST rate on molasses from 28 per cent to 5 per cent.
The Council clarified that the GST rate for corporate guarantees provided by a parent company to its subsidiaries will be levied at 18 per cent.
Millet flour in powder form, containing at least 70 per cent millet by weight, will not attract any GST if sold loose, but will face 5 per cent levy if sold in pre-packaged, labelled form, said an official statement.
Also, an amnesty scheme has been provided to businesses by extending the time period for filing appeals before the first appellate authorities till January 31, 2024, for demand orders passed by tax officers till March 2023, with an enhanced pre-deposit of 12.5 per cent of the tax demand against 10 per cent at present.
Govt & Politics
1739 citizenship certificates granted in 8 months: MHA (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 2, Governanve)
A total of 1,739 Citizenship Certificates have been granted by the Ministry of Home Affairs in nine states and 31 districts to foreigners under the provisions of the Citizenship Act last year.
The ministry’s annual report for 2022-23 from April 1, 2022 to December 31, 2022 shows the certificates were granted by various competent authorities – MHA and authorities delegated powers of the Central government in the nine states and 31 districts.
Of 1,739, 1,386 were granted by Registration under Section 5 and 353 were granted by Naturalization under Section 6 of the Citizenship Act, 1955.
The report also said that an online portal for processing of applications for Resumption of Indian Citizenship under Section 8 (2) of the Citizenship Act, 1955 has been launched by the National Informatics Centre (NIC) on December 8, 2022.
Processing of all Citizenship applications has been made paperless on October 15, 2019 and end to end processing is being done electronically.
According to the report, the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (CAA) was notified on December 12, 2019 and came into force on January 10, 2020.
Over 38 lakh foreigners visited India from April to October last year says report (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
The number of foreigners visiting India more than doubled in the past year as per the annual report of the Ministry of Home Affairs for 2022-23, with maximum number of travellers coming from Bangladesh, United States of America, and United Kingdom, respectively. Meanwhile, a total of 1,298 foreigners were deported during the same period.
The MHA’s annual report from April 1, 2022 to October 31, 2022 shows that the over 38,34,984 foreigners who visited India during this period were from the Bangladesh (8,42,869) followed by the US (8,05,692), UK (3,75,157), Australia (1,84,343), Canada (1,45,221), Sri Lanka (1,11,455), Nepal (88,460), Germany (86,006), Malaysia (83,808) and Singapore (78,888).
These 10 countries accounted for 73.06% of the total arrival of foreigners in the seven months, while the rest of the countries accounted for 26.94% of total incoming traffic of foreigners.
Whereas, 1,298 foreigners were deported by the Foreigners Regional Registration Officers (FRROs), a majority belonging to Nigeria (645), followed by Uganda (178) and Bangladesh (163).
Express Network
Sikkim floods haven’t affected ops along LAC: Defence Ministry (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 3, Disaster Management)
The flood in Sikkim has affected the state’s hinterland but the operational situation along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) has continued to remain stable.
The formations responsible for the Border Management Posture are maintaining high state of readiness and are optimally stocked as per the sustainable operational logistics plan, the ministry issued a statement.
Indian Army along with all agencies and civil administration continue their relentless search and rescue operations, while at the same time focusing on resuscitation of communication and other infrastructure in a well-coordinated manner.
A glacial lake outburst in South Lhonak Lake in north Sikkim this week led to the flood after the water level in the Teesta river increased by about 50-60 feet.
The exact assessment of the damage is yet to be corroborated due to the inclement weather and incessant rains, the ministry said. Some of the Army camps along the Teesta river banks were damaged or washed away.
A vehicle parking area at Burdang was flooded and 23 soldiers who were taking a temporary overnight transit halt there were submerged in the silt or swept away.
Economy
Inflation likely to ease below 4% target in next fiscal says RBI (Page no. 13)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
Consumer price index (CPI) based inflation is expected to ease below 4 per cent in fiscal 2024-25 if monsoon remains normal and there are no further policy shocks.
“For 2024-25, assuming a normal monsoon, and no further exogenous or policy shocks, structural model estimates indicate that inflation will average 4.5 per cent, in a range of 3.8-5.2 per cent,” the RBI said in its Monetary Policy Report for October 2023.
RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das has said that the central bank may rethink on cutting the repo rate only when it sees CPI inflation at around 4 per cent or below it on a durable basis.
The survey projects CPI inflation to be at 4.3 per cent in the fourth quarter of FY2025. CPI inflation was at 6.83 per cent in August 2023.
RBI’s OMO plan: Why did it catch market by surprise (Page no. 13)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
The Reserve Bank of India’s announcement on Friday (October 6) to consider the Open Market Operation (OMO) sale of government securities to manage liquidity in the system took the bond market by surprise as the central bank did not reveal any specific timeline for the proposal.
In response, the yield on the benchmark 10-year government bonds shot up by 12 basis points to 7.34 per cent as the market anticipates an OMO shortly, which is expected to tighten liquidity in the system.
While there is no explicit calendar for this, a long sword hangs now that such OMOs can be announced any day. “This is especially so since the market understands that the best of liquidity is likely over the October-December quarter.
Core liquidity may shrink enough by then for the RBI to not want to persist with OMOs from the next quarter. Thus, the risk of this additional supply is more near term, and this may weigh more on the minds of market participants,” said Suyash Choudhary, Head – Fixed Income, Bandhan AMC.