Explore Business Standard
Indian Tax Reform
Tariff does not protect any country and India needs to cut tariffs for its own good, irrespective of who tells India to do so, NITI Aayog CEO BVR Subrahmanyam said on Friday. Addressing the 69th Foundation Day of All India Management Association (AIMA), Subrahmanyam further said that being open to the world has to be among the top five priorities of India if it wants to become a developed country. To cut tariffs, India must complete trade agreements with the European Union, the United Kingdom and other major economies, he added. The Niti Aayog CEO stressed that deregulation at both centre and the state levels are critical for making India a part of the global supply chains. There is interest in India but people visit, see and fly to other countries, he said. Subrahmanyam pointed that Indonesia, Vietnam, Turkey and others have been beneficiaries of 'China plus one' strategy of global companies. He argued that global value chain needs more than PLI (production linked incentive) --
The government on Saturday proposed to create new tariff lines for makhana products and rice based on process and varieties. These changes under the Customs Tariff Act 1975 will come into effect from May 1, this year. According to the Budget document for 2025-26, the government has proposed provision for creating new tariff items for rice based on process (paraboiled, others) and on variety (rice recognised by geographical indications registry, basmati and others) under sub-headed HS code 1006-30. The government has proposed creating new tariff items and supplementary notes for identification of certain technical-grade pesticides and certain goods covered by international conventions. It also provided for the provision to separately identify waste oils containing different levels of concentration of levels of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polychlorinated terphenyls (PCTs) or polybrominated biphenyls (PBBs) under sub-heading HS code 2710-91. A tariff line is a specific entry in
There is a need for a holistic new Tax Code with a focus on lower rates, widening base, improved collections and compliance for a Vikshit Bharat, experts said ahead of Budget. A new philosophy of keeping it FLAT, with Fewer and lower tax rates, Litigation reduction, an All-inclusive wider tax base, and Tax collection without withholding it, is urgently needed to increase net tax revenues while energising the economy and realising the vision of a Vikshit Bharat by 2047, they said. Budget 2025-26 is expected to be tabled in Parliament on February 1. "It is certainly not a good situation that we have so many tax rates under GST. Ideally, GST should be one tax rate, but in our country, it is not possible to have one tax rate," former chairman Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs P C Jha said. Three tax slabs can be considered (5 per cent, 16 per cent and 28 per cent) and 12 per cent and 18 per cent can be merged into a single rate of 16 per cent, he said while participating in a
Carbonated soft drinks segment in India is unable to reach its potential in terms of scale expansion due to barriers such as high taxation under the GST regime despite government's initiatives like 'Make in India' and 'Aatmanirbhar Bharat', according to a report by economic think tank ICRIER. The cross-country comparative data on sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB) taxes collated by the World Bank shows that India has one of the highest tax rates for carbonated soft drinks (CSDs) at a total tax rate of 40 per cent as of 2023. Over 90 per cent of countries that tax SSBs have a lower tax rate than India, as per the report titled 'Carbonated Beverages Industry in India: Tax Policy to Promote Growth, Innovation and Investment'. Consumers, globally and in India, are shifting towards low-sugar and no-added sugar varieties of beverages amid heightened health awareness. "The CSD market is also changing from its traditional high sugar carbonated beverages to low-sugar and fruit-based and/or ...