News digest: PM hails GST Rajan in possible Noble winners list, and more

From Modi says GST will cut red-tape to traders in Surat in wait-and-watch mode, BS brings you up to date with latest news

Changes in GST to cut red tape, says Modi

Terming it an “early Diwali”, Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his public address in Dwarka on Saturday looked to assuage dissent among small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in poll-bound Gujarat by lauding his government’s move to revise the goods and services tax (GST) rates and rules. Stating that he was happy with the reception to the changes in the GST, Modi said that his government had further simplified the tax. Read more

Demonetisation: Heat on tax dept to prove Rs 3 lakh cr unaccounted cash

Determined to show the material impact of demonetisation, the Centre is nudging the income tax (I-T) department to achieve the target of establishing the source of Rs 3 lakh crore unaccounted cash deposits with banks made during the note ban. To ensure that the target is met, Minister of State for Finance Shiv Pratap Shukla is visiting Mumbai on Monday to meet I-T officials. Sources in the know said the minister would take stock of tax collections and implementation of action plan drawn out for FY18. The minister would also discuss the causes, which could be stopping the department to nab tax evaders. Read more

GST hurts textiles: Traders to wait and watch till post-Diwali work begins

While the impact of the high GST rate has been across sectors, the worst hit is the weaving segment. For all these months, they had to pay 18 per cent GST on synthetic yarn, but could claim input tax credit for only 5 per cent. Read more

Govt to fast-track rural job wage payments

The Centre is likely to ask all heads of banks, particularly those with extensive rural networks, to expedite payment of wages under MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act). This follows large-scale complaints of workers not getting payment on time despite early release of funds. The government has also directed banks to speed up the process of stage-two clearance of funds — from banks to the beneficiary accounts — according to a senior official. Read more

Raghuram Rajan for Economics Nobel, suggests Clarivate Analytics long list

Clarivate Analytics, formerly a unit of Thomson Reuters, maintains a list of possible Nobel Prize winners based on research citations. New additions to its list this year were Colin Camerer of the California Institute of Technology and George Loewenstein of Carnegie Mellon University (“for pioneering research in behavioral economics and in neuroeconomics”); Robert Hall of Stanford University (“for his analysis of worker productivity and studies of recessions and unemployment”); and Michael Jensen of Harvard, Stewart Myers of MIT and Raghuram Rajan of the University of Chicago (“for their contributions illuminating the dimensions of decisions in corporate finance”). Read more