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GST tweaks may impact electric vehicle demand, near-term car sales
Moreover, electric vehicles (EVs) may lose their tax arbitrage, say analysts.
Kumar Rakesh at BNP Paribas Securities India said there is a likelihood that customers will postpone their purchases over the immediate near-term due to lack of clarity on GST taxation.
'This could have an impact on demand during upcoming regional festivals in Maharashtra (Ganesh Chaturthi in August-end) and Kerala (Onam in August-end and September first week). The primary festival season is when the bulk of auto purchases happen in India

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The Hindu
24 minutes ago
- The Hindu
Required reforms: on reforms to the GST system
The central government's proposals to reform the Goods and Services Tax (GST) system are bold and timely. They stand to benefit the middle class and the business community, as the government claims. Shifting 99% of the items in the 12% slab to a 5% tax rate, and 90% of the items in the 28% slab to 18% will substantially reduce the tax burden on most consumers. Rationalising the number of slabs and shifting similar products to the same slab will also reduce ambiguity and litigation, which are the major issues businesses have with the current GST setup. Further, while most of the focus has been captured by the rate restructuring proposals, the procedural reforms regarding registration, return filing and refunds are equally important. Simplifying GST is not just about reducing the multiplicity of rates but also about making it easier and less time-consuming for tax-payers to navigate the system. Easing registration, simplifying returns and speeding up refunds, therefore, are welcome improvements the Centre is pursuing. Combined with the new Income Tax Bill and the rejig of income-tax slabs in this year's Budget, these GST reforms will highlight 2025 as a watershed year for tax reform — direct as well as indirect tax. While the government has not made an official estimate of what the revenue impact of these reductions will be, sources have said that it expects a hit. Two years ago, the Reserve Bank of India had estimated that the average GST rate was 11.6%, which is now expected to fall substantially. However, the government is confident that an increase in consumption and a widening of the tax base will offset most of the revenue loss. With a large number of items set to be taxed at just 5%, the incentives for input tax credit scams and tax evasion will also be substantially removed. A willingness to risk some amount of revenue in order to boost domestic consumption bodes well for the economy, especially at a time when export demand is faltering due to tariff uncertainties. It remains to be seen how the State governments will react to this proposed revenue surrender. They have already been lobbying the Sixteenth Finance Commission to increase the share of States in central taxes. These tax cuts will also make it even more unlikely that petroleum products — a major source of States' revenues — will be included in the GST any time soon. Politically, it will be difficult for the States to directly oppose these rate reductions, but they might instead pressure the Centre for compensation once again. Crucially, the Centre will be reaching out to the States over the next few weeks to put forth its case. It is important that their concerns are taken on board as well.


NDTV
39 minutes ago
- NDTV
PM Modi Chairs High-level Meet With Ministers On Next-Generation Reforms
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday chaired a high-level meeting, which included top Union ministers, secretaries and economists, to deliberate on the roadmap for the next generation reforms, one of the key announcements he had made in his Independence Day address. Union ministers Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, Nitin Gadkari, Nirmala Sitharaman, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Piyush Goyal and Lalan Singh attended the meeting, besides senior bureaucrats heading different ministries and economists. Modi said on X, "Chaired a meeting to discuss the roadmap for Next-Generation Reforms. We are committed to speedy reforms across all sectors, which will boost Ease of Living, Ease of Doing Business and prosperity." He had on August 15 announced the formation of a task force for 'next-generation reforms' and revision of GST laws, as he devoted a major part of his 103-minute speech to highlight the goal of making India self-reliant in a host of sectors ranging from semiconductors to fertilisers. (Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)


Economic Times
an hour ago
- Economic Times
Lower phone bills? Telcos may dial Centre for reducing GST
Synopsis Telecom industry executives are advocating for a reduction in the goods and services tax (GST) rates on telecom services, proposing a decrease from the current 18% to 5%. They argue that telecom is an essential service and the high tax burden, including spectrum usage charge and license fees, is impacting the industry's financial health. Reuters The telecom industry is likely to seek a reduction in the goods and services tax (GST) rates on telecom services to 5% from the current 18%, executives said. Senior industry executives that ET spoke to said that since telecom is an essential service, a 5% rate should be charged. If this request is accepted by the GST Council, the mobile and broadband bills of consumers may get slashed drastically post-Diwali, when the GST reforms are expected to be implemented. "We are hopeful that the government will also include the telecommunications sector in the proposed reforms, which would go a long way in giving the much-needed relief to the telecom industry," SP Kochhar, director general of Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) said. The industry body represents India's top telcos Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone executives told ET that they would soon be writing to the government seeking a lower GST rate for telecom services. They contend that the telecom industry continues to be highly taxed and around 30% of its earnings are paid in taxes and levies, including spectrum usage charge and licence fees. The industry has for long been seeking reduction of GST on telecom services, pointing out that they are an essential necessity these days and not a luxury. Telecom services were taxed at around 15% before the implementation of the GST regime. The industry was pitching for a 5% slab but was put under the 18% rate. The industry feels that the GST rate on telecom services should be lowered as the sector already pays too much in taxes and the new structure is expected to feature two main slabs-5% and 18%, the telecom industry is hoping for a 5% with heavy tax burden, the telecom industry has been seeking reduction in levies and taxes, particularly because the financial condition of the industry has not been last year, the telcos demanded that the licence fee they pay be reduced to 0.5-1% of gross revenues from the current 8%, arguing that the circumstances and regime have changed for the levy made sense in the past when spectrum used to be bundled with the licence, they said, pointing out that spectrum was delinked from the licence in 2012 and is currently assigned using a transparent and open auction procedure at market-determined prices.