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3 weeks ago | 
thehindubusinessline.com | Shishir Sinha
Manufacturing activities closed the fiscal year 2024-25 on a sound note as the Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) surged to an 8-month high of 58.1 in March, S&P Global reported on Wednesday. Manufacturing accounts for 17 per cent of India’s GDP (Gross Domestic Product) and is considered the biggest job multiplier.
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3 weeks ago | 
thehindubusinessline.com | Shishir Sinha
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday said that capital expenditure has not been lowered. Also, actual release under Scheme for Special Assistance to States for Capital Investment (SASCI) in FY25 is now close to budget estimate of ₹1.5 lakh crore and higher than revised estimates of ₹1.25 lakh crore. “There has been no cut in the capex of the Central government,” she said while responding to former Finance Minister P Chidambaram’s criticism.
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3 weeks ago | 
thehindubusinessline.com | Shishir Sinha
Helped by vast attendance of devotees at the Mahakumbh in Prayagraaj, GST collections in Uttar Pradesh rose to an 11-month high of around ₹10,000 crore in March, government data showed on Tuesday. Collections in March boosted the average mop up in January-March quarter.
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3 weeks ago | 
thehindubusinessline.com | Shishir Sinha
The fiscal year 2024-25 ended with Goods and Services Tax (GST) collections reaching ₹1.96 lakh crore in March, per government data released on Tuesday. This is the second-highest collection to date, reflecting a growth of around 10 per cent compared to March of FY23-24. The collections in March corresponds to goods consumed and services availed in February.
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3 weeks ago | 
thehindubusinessline.com | Shishir Sinha
Finance Ministry on Tuesday informed the Rajya Sabha that Sovereign Gold Bonds (SGBs) amounting to 130 tonnes of gold are to be redeemed from this fiscal. The Ministry simultaneously indicated that no more tranches of SGBs are to be expected henceforth. In a written response, the Minister of State for Finance, Pankaj Chaudhary, said 67 tranches of SGBs have been issued till FY24-25 amounting to 146.96 tonnes of gold.
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3 weeks ago | 
thehindubusinessline.com | Shishir Sinha
A day before the US announced measures related to reciprocal tariffs, Moody’s on Tuesday said that India is relatively less susceptible to external financial shocks and will be the fastest-growing advanced and emerging economy. “India has a low external vulnerability indicator (EVI) of 61 per cent, indicating its relatively lower susceptibility to external financial shocks,” a report by Moody’s Ratings said.
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3 weeks ago | 
thehindubusinessline.com | Shishir Sinha
With the enactment of the Finance Bill 2025, income tax assessees facing issues related to income discovered during search proceedings can breathe easy. The new law has replaced ‘total income’ with ‘undisclosed income’ for computation of income found during search procedure. This clarifies only ‘undisclosed income’ will attract punitive tax rate at 60 per cent. Change in nomenclature will be affected retrospectively i.e, September 1, 2024. Experts say this could lower total tax payout.
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3 weeks ago | 
thehindubusinessline.com | Shishir Sinha
Direct TaxesAs Finance Bill 2025 has been enacted with notification of Finance Act 2025, here are key changes in the Income Tax will come into effect from Tuesday and will be reflected in the Income Tax Returns for Assessment Year 2026-27:a. Income Tax RebateFor individual opting new Income Tax regime, the limit of total income to avail rebate under section 87A will now be ₹12 lakh as against ₹7 lakh. This means an individual earning up to ₹12 lakh will not be required to pay income tax.
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3 weeks ago | 
thehindubusinessline.com | Shishir Sinha
With the notification of the Finance Act 2025, the government has gained enabling power to introduce a Track & Trace mechanism to curb GST evasion during the new fiscal year beginning on Tuesday. The new mechanism aims to focus more on tobacco-related products, where evasion is very high. The Finance Act 2025 has inserted a new provision (148A) in the CGST Act 2017.
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3 weeks ago | 
thehindubusinessline.com | Shishir Sinha
Over 1,300 posts of Indian Administrative Service (IAS) Officers are vacant as on January 1, 2024, government data showed. Taking note of this shortfall, a Parliamentary panel has expressed concern and said that it significantly impacts administrative efficiency and governance across various levels. As per the IAS Civil List 2024, the total authorised strength of IAS was 6,858, while the total in-position strength was 5,542. This shows a shortage of 1,316.
