Bharat Bandh partially disrupts public services in Visakhapatnam
The strike was led locally by CITU district general secretary R.K.S.V. Kumar, AITUC district president M. Manmadha Rao, and INTUC district general secretary B. Nagabhushanam. Senior leaders, including CITU state general secretary Ch. Narasinga Rao, AITUC national vice- president D. Adinarayana, and INTUC State general secretary Mantri Rajasekhar, strongly criticised the Union Government's policies and reforms.
Speaking at the rally, Mr. Narasinga Rao alleged that the Centre's economic reforms were aimed at weakening the public sector and eroding workers' rights. 'The government is prioritising corporate interests and undermining the public sector, which is a dangerous trend for the country,' he said. A major demand raised was to stop the privatisation of Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs), particularly the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant.
Members of the Insurance Corporation Employees Union (ICEU), affiliated with the All India Insurance Employees Association, also joined the one-day strike. Employees from 21 branches in the Visakhapatnam division participated in the protest.
Former MLC M.V.S. Sarma, addressing the gathering, condemned the government's push to privatise banks, LIC, steel plants, and other key PSUs. He termed the proposal to raise FDI in insurance to 100% as 'harmful' and criticised the imposition of GST on life and health insurance premiums. He also demanded the immediate repeal of the newly introduced four labour codes, calling them 'regressive' and 'anti-worker.'
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The Hindu
2 hours ago
- The Hindu
GST After 8 Years: Challenges, Gains, and Future Reforms
Published : Jul 11, 2025 17:23 IST - 9 MINS READ The Goods and Services Tax (GST), widely hailed as a good, simple tax, has the best and the worst of all features of the country's indirect tax system at this juncture, over eight years after its rollout. Both the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government (2004-2014), led by the Congress, and the National Democratic Alliance government (NDA), led by the BJP in its first two tenures (2014-24), have claimed credit for this consumption-based tax, which was launched on July 1, 2017, at a midnight special session of Parliament by the then Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. He used all his lawyerly acumen and persuasiveness to bring on board all the States and Union Territories. Early years Broadly seen as a precursor to a 'one-nation, one tax' in a country where the indirect tax system was riddled with multiple taxes and mind-boggling rates, GST was not instantly endorsed by trade and industry; it had to face a whole host of problems ranging from teething troubles to ground-level glitches that any new tax regime must wrestle with. GST subsumed as many as 17 local levies and taxes and 13 cesses into a five-tier structure, broadly simplifying the tax rates at 5, 12, 18, and 28 per cent. Bullion and jewellery had its own sui generis GST rate. Luxury and demerit goods such as tobacco are taxed at the highest rate of 28 per cent in the name of 'sin tax', while packed food and essential items attract the lowest rate of 5 per cent. The threshold limit of annual turnover for registration under GST for units engaged in supply of goods was raised from Rs.20 lakh initially to Rs.40 lakh effective from April 1, 2019, to ensure that GST compliance was not is required by small units below the threshold turnover and they were exempted from GST. Also Read | GST & federalism Grey areas With the benefit of hindsight, experts have contended that while GST has by and large simplified indirect taxes, many grey areas still linger despite the passing of eight years. They encompass a wide swath of issues, from rate rows to procedural complexities, burdening domestic taxpayers and professionals with compliance hurdles and troubles galore. This is conclusively borne out by the avalanche of GST circulars down the eight years which show ongoing compliance issues. There are numerous instances where the courts have conclusively ruled that clarifications of the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) circulars could not override the CGST Act, bringing clarity and relief to the taxpayers. According to fiscal experts, because tax authorities are inundated with representations and courts give new interpretations, it is no surprise that the CBIC issues circulars to clear the air, ensure uniformity, and facilitate smooth compliance. But it is certainly not a commendable state of affairs when there are over 8,000 disputes involving the GST system over eight years, even as the long-delayed process of setting up an appellate tribunal has barely begun, with the GST Appellate Tribunal (Procedure) Rules, 2025, coming into force in April this year. GST Council meeting Meanwhile, the the GST Council has not held a meeting for over six months. The Council, which meets every quarter, last held a meeting on December 21, 2024, wherein the States discussed many issues bearing on the fiscal relationship with the Centre in the light of GST revenues not growing at the 14 per cent annual rate as assumed with the advent of the tax. There is also a need for higher allocation from Central taxes to their revenue kitty now that the 16th Finance Commission has completed the process of consultations with the States and is in the midst of getting its report ready by October 2025. Even as the High Courts are neck-deep in disputes, most of which would invariably relate to procedure or method rather than the statute itself, the professional tribunal will hopefully deliver, and to the satisfaction of the stakeholders. Also Read | Time to overhaul or replace GST June collection growth slips Be that as it may, the eighth anniversary of GST on July 1 was coterminous with the dismal tax collection for the month of June, after two resounding performances of of Rs.2 lakh crore each in April and May 2025. GST collections in June grew only 6.2 per cent year-on-year, the slowest since June 2021 and lower than the fantastic run of 12.6 per cent and 16.4 per cent in April and May, respectively. The slide-down stemmed from a dip in collections in domestic transactions and imports. Net GST revenue adjusted for refunds and transfers (input tax credit and after States' share) stood at Rs.1.59 lakh crore, marking am even lower and tepid 3.3 per cent year-on-year rise. As it is a consumption tax, a tangible fall in yields mirrors anaemic economic activity, besides inveterate inefficiencies in the system, which need to be tackled with new processes and procedures to ensure et the cooperation of all the beneficiaries and stakeholders for the overall efficacy of the tax. GST and ease of doing business Undoubtedly, the simplified GST regime has, by degrees, transformed the ease of doing business in the country over the years, as it has resulted in a 33 per cent improvement in transport time, enabling the logistics business to prune drastically the dwelling time in various check-points that had become choke points in the free movement of goods across the States and within States. There has also been a distinct improvement in the number of commercial taxpayers, from 60 lakh to 1.5 crore, with an average monthly collection that is close to Rs.2 lakh crores. E-invoicing and e-way bills have had a tremendous effect in terms of efficiency in operations for business and trade. It is not all hunky-dory in the GST ecosystem, though, as the total number of GST evasion cases detected by the Central government since 2020 has gone up significantly from 12,596 in 2020-21 to 25,397 in the first 10 months of 2024-25, involving a total amount of Rs.6,79,505 crore in a total of 86,711 cases in the period. Of this, Rs.1,23,896 crore has been recorded as voluntary deposits by the defalcators. In input tax credit or refund claims, there were 42,673 cases during this period involving Rs.1,66,241 crore, of which Rs.12,367 crore was accounted for by voluntary deposits, according to Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary in a written query in the Lok Sabha on March 10, 2025. Finance Ministry mandarins claim that there are several ways to help in improving compliance and preventing tax evasions such as digitisation through e-invoicing. Operational efficiency Besides, GST analytics such as automated risk assessment based on compliance attributes of taxpayers, highlighting of outliers based on system-flagged mismatches, and providing intelligence inputs with a view to manage GST revenue risks through various tools have gone a long way to bring efficiency in operations. Efficiency has been improved by the ability to generate actionable reports, gleaning inputs about GST non-compliance or evasion on the basis of identified anomalies in taxpayer comport—including potential tax evasion, fraudulent registration, and suspicious e-way bill activity—and selection of returns for scrutiny and taxpayers for audit based on various risk parameters. The GST Amnesty Scheme under Section 128A of the IT Act announced this year is a welcome step to help taxpayers clear old arrears sans excruciating penalties. It is germane to note that a PricewaterhouseCoopers report forwarded to the GST Council, whose Chairperson is the Union Finance Minister and all State Finance Ministers are Members, pitched for the simplification of procedures, lessening of compliance burdens, and reduction in rates to three with a view to broadening the base by bringing petroleum products under the GST ambit. PricewaterhouseCoopers said: 'A transition from a 4-tier to a 3-tier rate structure would reduce interpretational disputes, improve tax certainty, and simplify compliance.'. Even as these crucial reforms are underscored to render this important tax to improve its operational efficiency, it is not altogether out of place to highlight the overwhelming urgency on GST reforms recommended by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament. The 19th report of the PAC, tabled in the Budget session of Parliament, sought a comprehensive review of the GST framework to preclude 'unnecessary procedures and requirements' and advocated a a 'revamped GST 2.0', with due consultations of all the stakeholders. Also Read | GST: For a fair share for the States Room for improvement In its scathing review of the extant GST, the PAC noted that the failure to put in place the mandatory Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) audit of the Compensation Fund Account for more than six years had 'adversely affected' release of compensation to States. It may be noted that GST's advent in 2017 had led to apprehensions among States about loss of fiscal autonomy and centralisation of all collections to the Union. The GST (Compensation to States) Act, 2017, came into force to compensate for this loss of revenue and promised States a 14 per cent annual revenue growth for five years (2017-22). But many States have bemoaned either non-receipt of funds or undue delays which they said negatively impacted governance. Alluding to filing and refunds by GST payers, the PAC lamented the extant mechanisms as inadequate, pointing at unconscionable waiting periods for refunds which could result in potential cash flow problems to businesses operating on wafer-thin margins in a high-cost economy. It said that the refund processing system ought to provide clearer timelines for processing claims and regular updates on their status. According to fiscal experts, the time is ripe for the Finance Ministry to strongly consider the growing concerns of the States regarding their financial requirements and the revenue share they get not only through this indirect tax but also in the overall devolution of taxes, and reduce the Centre's recourse to cess, as it is not not shareable with States. Alongside, other overriding concerns voiced by trade and industry also need to be factored in by the GST Council in its forthcoming meeting so that the beneficiaries bear this tax with less pain and more gain to the treasury in a mutual win-win game, going forward. G. Srinivasan is a freelance journalist based in Delhi who previously worked with The Hindu Group.
NDTV
2 hours ago
- NDTV
Cashews On Bill, Khichdi On Plate: Probing Madhya Pradesh's 'Dry Fruit Scam'
Madhya Pradesh: Bhadwahi village in Madhya Pradesh's Shahdol district has found itself at the centre of a bizarre controversy. It all started when official bills from a local water conservation event claimed that 14 kilograms of dry fruits were consumed in just one hour. That unusual figure, part of a rupees 24,270 hospitality bill filed under the Jal Ganga Sanvardhan Abhiyan, triggered public outrage. As the news spread and images of the inflated bill went viral on social media, NDTV travelled to Bhadwahi to investigate whether the plates actually matched the paperwork. What we found was a story not of dry fruits, but of dry lies-cleverly disguised in government files. According to records, the programme took place on May 25, 2025, as part of the state-run Jal Ganga campaign, and was attended by nearly twenty senior officials, including the District Collector, the CEO of the district panchayat, and the SDM. The event, intended to promote water conservation and grassroots dialogue, reportedly involved elaborate catering--at least on paper. The bills filed after the event showed massive quantities of food-- 14 kilograms of dry fruits, 30 kilograms of namkeen, nine kilograms of fresh fruits, six litres of milk, and five kilograms of sugar. The total cost of this brief 'hospitality' amounted to more than twenty-four thousand rupees. But when NDTV reached the villages listed on the bills--Bhadwahi, where the event took place, and Bharri, from where the dry fruits were supposedly procured -- an entirely different picture emerged. One of the major suppliers named in the documents was Govind Gupta, who runs a tiny grocery shop in Bharri. Gupta, however, said he never stocked such quantities of dry fruits. "I don't even have a proper bill book. They sometimes take blank slips from me and use them later. I don't remember giving anyone 5 kilos of cashews or 30 kilos of namkeen. I don't keep such stock," Gupta told NDTV. His shop had no GST registration, no billing system, and, visibly, no stock of dry fruits. Even more surprising was the claim that bananas, pomegranates, grapes, apples, ghee, flour, and oil were purchased from a shop owned by one Lallu Kewat. When NDTV arrived at his address, it turned out that Kewat isn't a grocer at all--he is a supplier of building materials. His wife Roshni, confirmed that they only deal in sand, cement, and gravel. "We don't supply fruits or ghee," she said, looking puzzled at the idea that a government bill had credited her husband with feeding bureaucrats. Back in Bhadwahi, NDTV reporters found no trace of the lavish spread that the documents suggested. Villagers who had participated in the programme said they were served only simple dal khichdi and a little seviyan. There was no sign of dry fruits. "There were only two small plates of cashews and almonds, and the officers barely touched them. Most of us never even saw them," said Mangaldin Yadav, a farmer. Another resident, Ramswaroop Jaiswal, added, "Jalebi, samosas - nothing was distributed. The public got nothing. Even the money for our labour wasn't paid." The officials had come, the villagers said, for an hour-long event involving "Bori Bandhan"-- a traditional technique of stacking sandbags to conserve water. But the villagers claim the effort was symbolic at best. "As soon as it rained, all the bags washed away," said Vimal Singh, who was present at the site. "It's a live nala. Nothing stays there." NDTV's team also reached the drain where the water conservation activity took place. Though the campaign's intent was noble-reviving and cleaning water bodies, ponds, and traditional wells- the execution, at least in Bhadwahi, appeared to be focused more on refreshments than results. When asked about the dry fruit controversy, Mudrika Singh, Additional CEO of Shahdol Zila Panchayat, acknowledged the irregularities. "Yes, we had gone for the Chaupal event. It's a remote area, so food was arranged for the villagers and officials. We were not aware of the cashew-raisin bill. It has come to our notice and will be investigated," she said. Cabinet Minister Kailash Vijayvargiya, when questioned about the same, said he had no knowledge of the incident. But in Bhadwahi, the outrage is real. Villagers now joke that children should be named "Kaju" and "Kishmish", because that's the only place these items exist-on government paper. "We got khichdi; they got praise. And the files got fat with fake bills," said one villager bitterly. The government campaign had promised to save water. But what was actually conserved, it seems, were inflated bills and blank slips. And in the middle of it all, a remote tribal village found itself reduced to a joke about dry fruits-without having ever tasted them.
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Business Standard
3 hours ago
- Business Standard
RBI to hold 3-day VRRR auction Tuesday to absorb ₹1 trillion liquidity
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Monday announced a ₹1 trillion Variable Rate Reverse Repo (VRRR) auction for a three-day tenor, to be conducted on Tuesday. 'Given today's overnight rates, the auction was expected,' said the treasury head at a private bank. 'Demand at Friday's auction was also subdued. The RBI likely wants to align the VRRR maturities to avoid overlapping with GST outflows, which is why this one is for three days,' he added. The overnight Weighted Average Call Rate (WACR) settled at 5.31 per cent, against the previous day's close of 5.45 per cent, while the overnight tri-party repo rate settled at 5.19 per cent, down from 5.30 per cent on Friday. A net surplus liquidity of around ₹3 trillion in the banking system has kept the overnight WACR near the Standing Deposit Facility (SDF) rate of 5.25 per cent and below the repo rate of 5.50 per cent, with TREPS rates also slipping below the SDF. As of Sunday, the net liquidity in the banking system was in surplus by ₹2.92 trillion, according to the latest data from the RBI. 'Given that it's short term, the demand will be there. The RBI was looking to absorb ₹2.5 trillion on Friday. ₹1.5 trillion was subscribed; the rest they want to absorb with short term [operations] because the surplus is still around ₹3 trillion,' said a dealer at a state-owned bank. The RBI's seven-day VRRR auction on Friday received tepid demand from banks as the auction amount exceeded the market's expectation of ₹2 trillion, and the bidding amount fell short of the notified ₹2.5 trillion. The central bank received bids worth ₹1.51 trillion and accepted the entire amount at a cut-off rate of 5.49 per cent.
