TMS Ep328: GST Council meeting, vacation trends, IT performance, GM crops

In its meeting on Saturday, the GST Council approved the decriminalisation of certain offenses and clarified the tax provisions on a number of items, including sport utility vehicles. However, the Council ran out of time and about half its agenda, including setting up a GST Appellate Tribunal, was left undiscussed. So, what were the key decisions taken at the meeting and what’s going to be their impact? 

No tax increase on any item was announced at GST Council meeting last week. That’s welcome news for the masses. But the men at the helm of affairs in government are apparently unhappy with the long vacations of Indian courts. The justice and law minister of India Kiren Rijiju recently said that the vacation period of Indian courts is an inconvenience to the people. The law minister’s remark on the functioning of the judiciary has opened up a debate if Indians, in general, take plenty of leaves? 

Moving on to the markets, despite firm revenue growth in Q1, Dublin-based Accenture Plc left analysts unimpressed as it pegged the next quarter’s revenue growth below projections. The company also sounded cautious about client spending. So does this signal more trouble for Indian IT companies ahead? 

The government recently cleared the ‘environmental release’ of a genetically modified variety of mustard. The move has triggered a debate around it. It has been challenged in the Supreme Court too. Environmental activists and several groups representing farmers are bent against GM crops. But exactly are they? And why is so much debate going around them? Listen to this episode of the podcast to know it all.