
Companies and products covered by India's consumption tax regime
Modi's announcement comes as India moves to simplify its GST structure, with a group of ministers preparing a report that will consider merging tax categories and lowering rates on some products.
The country currently levies GST at 5%, 12%, 18% and 28% on most goods and services, excluding gold and silver, and applies an additional levy on so-called demerit items such as cigarettes and high-end cars.
Below are current tax rates of the different categories, and products and companies that could be affected:
* Cars made by likes of Maruti Suzuki (MRTI.NS), opens new tab, Hyundai (005380.KS), opens new tab and Tata Motors (TAMO.NS), opens new tab are currently subject to a tax rate of 28%. Big and luxury cars have to pay higher additional levies than smaller cars.
* Consumer durables such as air conditioners and refrigerators fall in this tax category and any move could benefit sales of Samsung (005930.KS), opens new tab and LG Electronics (066570.KS), opens new tab
* Cigarettes, along with aerated drinks, attract additional levies. Horse racing clubs and gambling services, 5-star hotel accommodation also fall under this category.
* Personal care items like hair oil, toothpaste, ice cream, shampoos and deodorants.
* Mobile phones and industrial chemicals are also subject to this tax rate. Tax changes here could affect Apple (AAPL.O), opens new tab and Xiaomi (1810.HK), opens new tab
* Health and life insurance products
THE 12% CATEGORY
Most products in this category are likely to become cheaper, a government source has said. Consumer majors like Nestle (NESN.S), opens new tab to Hindustan Unilever (HLL.NS), opens new tab to Procter & Gamble (PG.N), opens new tab retail many products at this tax rate, which covers:
* Processed & packaged foods - butter, processed foods
* Dry fruits such as almonds
* Fruit juices, packed coconut water
* Ready-to-eat vegetable/fruit preparations, pickles, jam, jelly
THE 5% GST CATEGORY
* Household essentials like sugar, tea, edible oils, milk
* Footwear and clothes priced below $10
* Certain life-saving drugs
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Scottish Sun
3 hours ago
- Scottish Sun
Putin has laid cunning trap that makes Zelensky's White House visit a minefield… Russian leader knows the peace he wants
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) AT first sight, Friday's summit meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin came to no clear conclusion. But the Russian leader has cunningly laid a trap, hoping that Volodymyr Zelensky is the one to say 'No' to President Trump's peace plan. 6 Russian leader Vladimir Putin has cunningly laid a trap Credit: Reuters 6 He is hoping that Zelensky is the one to say 'No' to President Trump's peace plan Credit: AP 6 Putin got what he wanted when Trump treated him as an equal partner Credit: AFP Since Alaska, Trump has shifted from demanding an immediate ceasefire to calling for immediate and full peace agreement. This is what Putin wants — to bounce Zelensky into a take-it-or-leave-it deal. But what would peace be like? To be sure, Putin knows what he means by peace — Ukraine surrenders to his key demands. Kyiv gives up a swathe of territory to Russia. It abandons any hope of integrating into Western institutions such as Nato or the EU. And it disarms so it cannot repeat the tough fight it has put up since February 2022, in case Russia decides to re-invade. In the meantime, sanctions on Russia are lifted and the Kremlin gets back its $300billion assets frozen in the West. A fast-tracked peace deal means Ukraine agreeing to complicated things such as who gets what territory, to what kind of country it will be internally. Putin wants to keep the Crimea peninsula plus the four southern regions which his army occupies. He might swap a slither of land for the tiny bit of Russia's Kursk region which Ukraine's army holds, but he will never give up Crimea. Crimea is a floating aircraft carrier and naval base which would give the Kremlin dominance of the Black Sea. Its surrounding waters hold huge oil and gas reserves which can only be exploited once the fighting stops. Trump-Putin latest- Don says 'no deal' on Ukraine war & holds call with Zelensky after saying it's now 'up to him' Seizing Crimea without a shot in 2014 was a huge boost to Putin's prestige at home. Similarly, the western part of the Donetsk region is a fortress which blocks any future Russian grab into the heart of Ukraine. Putin is prepared, apparently, to make superficial concessions in other places to get the Ukrainians out of that key strategic area. Although it sounds like a swap, in reality Putin is prepared to give up his claim to places he doesn't fully control such as the cities of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia — though not the nuclear power station there — in return for Zelensky handing over places in Donetsk which the Ukrainian army still holds. Annexing this key region would be an achievement he's been unable to achieve in years of fighting. Putin also wants to reverse many of the changes Ukrainians voted for in the past ten years. Most of all, he wants Zelensky out of office. As the hero of Ukraine's resistance, he is Putin's biggest bugbear. 6 6 That makes Zelensky's visit to Washington tomorrow such a minefield for him. Zelensky needs to avoid the kind of Oval Office ambush he faced in February when he had a shouting match with US leaders. To be fair, Trump looks likely to offer Ukraine carrots to make any concessions to Russia easier to swallow. Already, Washington has got the Ukrainians to agree to an economic partnership worth up to $500billion to develop the country's mineral and rare earth resources. Trump sold that deal by saying it would be worthwhile for Ukraine to share 50 per cent of the profits with America because Putin wouldn't reinvade if US companies' assets were in the line of fire. Well, that didn't stop him in 2022. Putin and Zelensky both know Trump is a man in a hurry Mark Almond But that selling point goes to the heart of what Ukraine sees as an acceptable peace settlement. Zelensky wants the US to guarantee any agreement with Russia will be kept. It has to be a cast-iron guarantee like Nato's promise to defend each member's territory if it is attacked. Ukrainians remember how Bill Clinton and John Major persuaded them to hand over the Soviet nuclear missiles on their territory to Russia in 1994 in return for a guarantee of their borders. We know what that piece of paper was worth. Keir Starmer and his European partners say they are a 'coalition of the willing' ready to put troops on the ground to enforce any deal that Trump and Putin concoct. 6 But without US involvement that force would be a paper tiger. Think back to how pathetic the European peacekeepers were in the Balkans in the 1990s until the US cavalry came over the horizon to stop the wars in ex-Yugoslavia. Trump knows his voters are bitterly opposed to US boots on the ground in foreign danger zones. Putin and Zelensky both know Trump is a man in a hurry. Got what he wanted They are at war but it is the President who wants a deal most urgently. Trump sees himself as a peacemaker worthy of the Nobel Prize. To be fair he has knocked heads together between smaller, weaker states like Armenia and Azerbaijan. But Putin's Russia sees itself as a global superpower. Putin got what he wanted on Friday when Trump treated him as an equal partner. The devil will be in the details of any peace deal. Putin is a master of detail. Trump is a master of ceremonies, lavishing attention on the media image of signing deals. Zelensky has to tread very carefully. A weekend is a very short time to prepare a peace to end three brutal years of war. Meeting 'a big win for Vlad' By Michael Hamilton VLADIMIR Putin will feel emboldened after the summit in the US, a former top military intelligence officer is warning. Colonel Philip Ingram said he feared Kremlin's tyrant had come out on top after the Alaska talks. The security and terror analyst added: 'This is a big win for Putin. His body language afterwards showed he had achieved more than Trump. 'Donald Trump was treating this as a business transaction, and wanted a quick victory. 'But Putin is tickling the fish and playing a longer game.' He warned it would be alarming to Ukraine but stressed that, importantly, the US had not made any concessions.


Daily Mail
3 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Melania sends Putin deeply personal letter that Trump hand-delivered in Alaska
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However, a database of nearly 300 Ukrainian children up for adoption popped up. They are presented with photos, age, gender and personality traits. Some were described as 'obedient' and 'calm.' It allowed prospective adopters to filter children by age, eye and hair color, and the preferred form of guardianship, such as adoption or foster care. While Ukrainian officials have identified nearly 20,000 children who have been abducted by Russia, the real number is believed to be far higher. Some believe it could be as 300,000. The United Nations Human Rights Office has said Russia inflicted suffering on millions of Ukrainian children and violated their rights since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in 2022. In recent months, Trump has been more publicly critical of Putin's continued missile and drone strikes on Ukraine, crediting Melania for calling out the Russian leader's violence against Ukrainian civilians. Trump previously explained that he speaks to the Russian leader often, before sharing how Melania has helped in pointing out Putin's continued bombing of Ukraine. 'My conversations with him are always very pleasant. I say, isn't that very lovely conversation? And then the missiles go off that night, I go home, I tell the first lady... I spoke with Vladimir today, we had a wonderful conversation. She [says]: "Oh, really, another city was just hit,"' Trump said. Ahead of Friday's trip to Anchorage, Trump tempered expectations about what he might accomplish in Alaska, giving himself a '25 percent' failure rate. 'The second meeting is going to be very, very important, because that's going to be a meeting where they make a deal,' Trump said. 'But there is a 25 percent chance this meeting will not be a successful meeting,' Trump added. Trump previously explained that he speaks to the Russian leader often, before sharing how Melania has helped in pointing out Putin's continued bombing of Ukraine Trump and Putin met for nearly three hours at a US military base in Anchorage without reaching a ceasefire deal in the war in Ukraine. The Putin and Trump Administrations on Friday ended with the US and Russian leaders admitting there was still work to be done. After the meeting concluded, the two leaders held a brief joint press conference. In an extremely uncharacteristic move, Trump allowed Putin to speak first - at what had been billed as a bilateral press conference - and then didn't answer a single question before shaking hands with Putin again and sauntering offstage. Their whole appearance before the press lasted just 12 minutes. Speaking aboard Air Force One as it flew toward Anchorage, the president declared his mission was nothing less than to 'stop the killing' and demanded that a truce between Russia and Ukraine be reached 'rapidly.' 'I don't know if it's going to be today,' Trump admitted, 'but I'm not going to be happy if it's not today. Everyone said it can't be today - but I want the killing to stop.' Trump said he made 'some headway' during his 2.5-hour-long meeting. 'We had an extremely productive meeting, and many points were agreed to,' Trump said. 'We didn't get there, but we have a very good chance of getting there.' What was clear was that there was no immediate ceasefire or peace deal to end the Ukraine war. Trump, who held a summit with Putin on Friday, said he agrees the best way to end the war was to go straight to a peace settlement - not via a ceasefire, as Ukraine and its European allies, until now with US support, have been demanding. 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Daily Mail
3 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Veteran 'Superman' Li Ka-Shing could save Thames Water
The fate of crisis-torn Thames Water is set to be decided within weeks as Ministers prepare to effectively nationalise the troubled utilities firm before getting it ready for a sale. And the front-runner in any bidding war for the debt-laden supplier to 16 million customers in London and the Thames Valley is likely to be a business conglomerate controlled by one of Asia's richest men. Last week, reports emerged that CK Infrastructure (CKI), which also owns Northumbrian Water, had told the Government it was prepared to take over Thames imminently if it were to fall into special administration, buckling under the weight of £17 billion of debt. A successful takeover of Britain's largest water group would add another asset to the burgeoning portfolio of CKI's parent firm, CK Hutchison (CKH), which controls a globe-spanning empire encompassing pub chains, container ports and High Street stores. Behind it all is Li Ka-Shing, CKH's founder, considered the most successful tycoon in Hong Kong's history after amassing a fortune worth nearly £30 billion. The 97-year-old, who arrived in the British colony in 1940 aged 12 as a refugee from the Sino-Japanese war, is called 'Superman' by locals for his business acumen. Li is the firm's 'senior advisor' after stepping down as chairman in 2018 after 46 years at the helm. Despite his advanced years, the tycoon remains involved in the business and still goes into the office twice a week. He can also be spotted at the Tsz Shan Monastery, a ten-year-old Buddhist temple that Li financed to the tune of £142 million. CKH remains a family concern, with Li's son Victor serving as chairman. His UK empire includes the 226-year-old Greene King pub chain, bought for £4.6 billion in 2019 through one of the family's other businesses, CK Asset Holdings. Other assets include retailer Superdrug and UK Power Networks, the electricity grid operator for London and the South-East. CKH also owned mobile network Three before its merger with rival Vodafone earlier this year. It now controls just under half of the new business, which leapfrogged BT's EE to become Britain's biggest mobile phone provider. CKH's eyeing up of Thames Water comes as the conglomerate's British operations become increasingly profitable. Last week, CKH's half-year results saw underlying profits rise 11 per cent to £1.1 billion as sales rose to £22.6 billion from £21.8 billion in 2024. But overall profits fell 92 per cent to £80.3 million due to a one-off £983 million loss from the Vodafone-Three merger. Included in the figures were results from CKI, which is listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange but is controlled by CKH. CKI reported that its profits from the UK had jumped 19 per cent since last year thanks to 'higher contributions' from Northumbrian Water as well as its electricity grid arm and three British gas networks it also controls. Despite the firm's success in Britain, a swoop on Thames Water has sparked fear among those who are wary of handing over control of vital infrastructure to a Chinese company. On Thursday, former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith said a takeover by Li's firm risked handing 'a country that is a threat, greater power over national infrastructure'. It has also caused consternation in the US Congress. But Li's history is not all kowtowing to Beijing, with the tycoon having butted heads with China's communist authorities in the past. When Hong Kong saw a wave of pro-democracy protests in 2019, the government of the People's Republic accused Li of 'harbouring criminality' and allowing the city to 'slip into the abyss' when he called for police to show 'humanity' dealing with demonstrators. More recently, CKH has found itself caught in Donald Trump's trade war with China. Earlier this year, the company was forced to delay the sale of 43 ports, including two in the crucial Panama Canal, to a consortium backed by US asset manager BlackRock after Beijing criticised the deal. In its results, Victor Li said the firm expected global trade to 'remain volatile' as Trump's tariffs reverberated through the market. But despite the headwinds, CKH raised its half-year dividend by 3.2 per cent, landing the elder Li, who controls just over 28 per cent of the business, a £72 million payday. With Thames Water sinking under its own debt, Ministers may overlook CKH's Chinese ties in the absence of a better offer. Lower-ranking holders of Thames Water's debt are also understood to be keen on a long-term infrastructure owner such as CKH. The firm has reportedly said it would agree to new rules imposing tougher fines for breaking environmental regulations, which the water group's senior hedge fund creditors have said is financially unviable. Ministers will be hoping Hong Kong's 'Superman' can save the day.