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Tag: GST

  • GST: How concerned should the advertising world be?

    GST: How concerned should the advertising world be?

    MUMBAI: The Finance Act of India 1994 (defines ‘advertising’ as the sale of space or time services, and any such facility offered by an advertising agency or person is considered a taxable service. Why the need to put such a dry perspective to an otherwise vibrant and creative business?

    The answer is closely related the top trending topic among both netizens and citizens : Goods and Services Tax AKA GST.

    This very definition highlights that the advertising fraternity, much like any service sector industry functions in compliance with ‘Service Tax’ that is levied by the central government, whether it is on the advertiser, the seller or the agency facilitating. Therefore any major rehaul of the service tax system makes an impact on the sector — be it good or bad.

    So far industry observers and stakeholders have identified two key areas where GST has direct or indirect implication on the advertising industry of India — first is the incidence of tax or tax burden levied on the service sector, and secondly, cost of adapting new processes to deal with new tax regime.

    “In compliance with the general commentary on the issue, industry is predicting that the tax on services is likely to go up due to GST. Clearly, from our perspective, that will not be a welcome piece of news. Especially at a time when India is looking to speed up the process of economic growth, in which this industry has a very vital role to play. It would be in the country’s interest, our industry’s interest and that of our many clients’ that this activity is incentive-ised rather than the other way round,” the newly elected AAAI president and Publicis south Asia CEO Nakul Chopra observes.

    “We hope that the government in its wisdom, will hopefully keep the taxes at the current level or minimise any hikes,” Chopra adds.

    Elaborating on his second point of concern, Chopra says: ”The government has been working for some time on the IT backbone which is required to handle the immense change in the process in transitioning from Service Tax era to GST. This can also have a lot of implications for our industry and our members. Manufacturing industry, to which excise and sales tax, are already on similar processes that is projected to implement GST. It won’t be a large shift for them. Whereas service tax is administered in a completely different way and has been a central levy. Hence, for the advertising industry it is a totally different story.“

    Currently it is being taxed at 15 per cent after progressively going up over the years.

    When it comes to the advertiser – media owner equation, barring radio and television media, most other print and digital forms of advertising enjoyed tax exemption under special provisions from the government, until finance minister Arun Jaitley removed digital advertisement from ‘Negative list of Services,’ in Budget 2014, and brought digital ads under the purview of service tax. This, observers, believe has already made the ecosystem more challenging for digital media to compete with the rest, being the late entrant in it. Although, it is true that analysts have also projected that GST will facilitate a larger digital penetration in the country as it would ease up the logistics in the tech industry.

    Echoing Chopra’s concern, Dentsu Aegis Network chairman and South Asia CEO Ashish Bhasin opines: “As of now the advice from noted consultants seems to be that GST will actually make taxation much more complicated, particularly for advertising agencies, who operate in multiple states because there will be a Central GST and State GST, which will increase the complexity contrary to the government’s intent.”

    Bhasin hopes the government will be able to focus on this area and address this issue urgently so that the bill achieves its intent of simplification and ease of business, even for the service industry.

    Much of which will depend on the exact rate that is yet to be decided. Till now the discussions were mostly on whether the amendment will be made in the first place, is what most industry stalwarts had to say. But now there will be a more focused debate on the taxation rate and the method of administration.

    The concerns over the bill haven’t completely overshadowed the promise of an economic growth that the new tax regime is expected to bring with itself. Bhasin feels that GST willl be brilliant for business in general, once it settles down. “Some industries will gain significantly, not just by the adjustment of rates but by the simplification of the process,” he says.

    “If GST has a lot of positive impact on our clients, that eventually would benefit us as well. The onus is upon us as an industry body to address the concerns so that the advertising industry can make the most of the positives that come with GST,” Chopra states.

    Most industry observers believe that some sectors that were heavily taxed like the automobile category will now see government levies being more than halved. That will lead to a reduction in costs for the end consumer, which is likely to lead to a surge in sales, that will then lead to more spends on advertising and marketing, and that could then lead to a spurt in business for the advertising industry – both in terms of creative and media planning and buying.

    “Now the industry can look at it as a glass half empty or half-full,” says an advertising veteran. “The bullet had to be bit sometime, the best time is now. Yes, the administration and paper work of what appears to be a complicated exercise involving Central GST, State GST and an IGST,, but in the long run we will learn to live with it. So I guess we will have to go with both the positive and negative impacts and reap the benefits when everything settles down.”

    Bhasin is willing to look at GST beyond its short-term impact on the sector. “There may be some interim inflationary effect because of the potential increase in rate from 15 per cent service tax to say 18 per cent of GST but I think since the set off is going to be available, other benefits will far outweigh this disadvantages,” he adds on an optimistic note.

  • Indian media industry gives thumbs up to GST despite minor concerns

    Indian media industry gives thumbs up to GST despite minor concerns

    MUMBAI: Former Finance Minister of India P. Chidambaram dubbed the move “good sense triumphed” while commenting on the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill that was okayed earlier in the week by the Indian Parliament. And, probably, it is a good move, though lot of fine-tuning still needs to be done and Indian industry is still calculating the pros and cons.

    But a seven-hour debate in the Upper House (Rajya Sabha) on Wednesday is nothing compared to the discussions on the issue that have been going on for over a decade in India during which time several Finance Ministers have come and gone pitching in for tax reforms that have been mired in political discussions and fights.

    Now that the Parliament has given the green signal to GST to be ushered in the country the ifs and whys still need answering leading to more questions like ‘what’ and ‘how’ because the rate of taxation under GST regime is still to be firmed up though 18 per cent is an indicative figure that is being bandied around in political and industry circles.

    Here are a few reactions from the media and entertainment industry where execs are still trying to read the fine prints of political-speak.

    Minister of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) M Venkaiah Naidu termed the passage of GST Bill as “historic” adding that “it’s a victory of people” as “good days” beckon the country.

    MIB Junior Minister Rajyavardhan Rathore also said that it was a historic day for India and tweeted “a new era is about to begin as uniformity across markets in India would pave way for unity in diversity”.

    ZEEL, MD and CEO Punit Goenka:  GST will certainly bring in uniformity across businesses in the media sector. Especially for the film studios who can now lower their costs. Multiplex chains will also benefit a lot with uniformed taxes, resulting into reduction of the average ticket prices!

    Colors TV CEO & Advertising Club of India President Raj Nayak: I think it (proposition of GST) is the best thing that has happened to our country. I must congratulate the Finance Minister and leaders of all political parties for setting aside differences for a common purpose, which will help in the progress of the country. As Prime Minister Narendra Modi described it is `the best example of cooperative federalism.’ The passage of the Bill, along with a good monsoon, will usher in an overall positive business sentiment. I see this translating into advertising spends seeing an upward trend in the coming months, which will be good for broadcasting sector.

    Publicis India -South Asia CEO & AAAI President Nakul Chopra: Everyone is hopeful that in the long run this will benefit our economy. While right now we are concerned about its implications on our (advertising) industry as we are a multi-locational service providers. If GST positively impacts our client, it would eventually benefit us as well. Though there are some legitimate concerns that the advertising industry has over GST, we will try to address them as an association.

    Videocon d2h  CEO Anil Khera: GST is a welcome step. It will unify the indirect tax administration in India and help the country in two ways. First, it will simplify (the tax regime) and make it easy for the consumers to understand their tax split up. Second, it will significantly improve the ease of doing business in India. As a DTH operator, GST will help us to be more efficient in our business.

    Travelxp and  Media Worldwide CEO Prashanth Chothani: There won’t be much impact (on the broadcasters’ ad revenues). The current rate that stands at 15 percent may increase to 18 percent. This might mean that the advertising cost will go up but advertising is directly related to consumer needs. If people have money to spend and they are consuming products,  brands will market and advertise.

    From the reactions it seems that the media and entertainment industry, by and large, has reacted positively to the proposed tax reforms. As it is in all such cases there are some creases, but the media and entertainment industry is willing to look at the brighter side of GST and the promised economic growth.

     

  • Indian media industry gives thumbs up to GST despite minor concerns

    Indian media industry gives thumbs up to GST despite minor concerns

    MUMBAI: Former Finance Minister of India P. Chidambaram dubbed the move “good sense triumphed” while commenting on the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill that was okayed earlier in the week by the Indian Parliament. And, probably, it is a good move, though lot of fine-tuning still needs to be done and Indian industry is still calculating the pros and cons.

    But a seven-hour debate in the Upper House (Rajya Sabha) on Wednesday is nothing compared to the discussions on the issue that have been going on for over a decade in India during which time several Finance Ministers have come and gone pitching in for tax reforms that have been mired in political discussions and fights.

    Now that the Parliament has given the green signal to GST to be ushered in the country the ifs and whys still need answering leading to more questions like ‘what’ and ‘how’ because the rate of taxation under GST regime is still to be firmed up though 18 per cent is an indicative figure that is being bandied around in political and industry circles.

    Here are a few reactions from the media and entertainment industry where execs are still trying to read the fine prints of political-speak.

    Minister of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) M Venkaiah Naidu termed the passage of GST Bill as “historic” adding that “it’s a victory of people” as “good days” beckon the country.

    MIB Junior Minister Rajyavardhan Rathore also said that it was a historic day for India and tweeted “a new era is about to begin as uniformity across markets in India would pave way for unity in diversity”.

    ZEEL, MD and CEO Punit Goenka:  GST will certainly bring in uniformity across businesses in the media sector. Especially for the film studios who can now lower their costs. Multiplex chains will also benefit a lot with uniformed taxes, resulting into reduction of the average ticket prices!

    Colors TV CEO & Advertising Club of India President Raj Nayak: I think it (proposition of GST) is the best thing that has happened to our country. I must congratulate the Finance Minister and leaders of all political parties for setting aside differences for a common purpose, which will help in the progress of the country. As Prime Minister Narendra Modi described it is `the best example of cooperative federalism.’ The passage of the Bill, along with a good monsoon, will usher in an overall positive business sentiment. I see this translating into advertising spends seeing an upward trend in the coming months, which will be good for broadcasting sector.

    Publicis India -South Asia CEO & AAAI President Nakul Chopra: Everyone is hopeful that in the long run this will benefit our economy. While right now we are concerned about its implications on our (advertising) industry as we are a multi-locational service providers. If GST positively impacts our client, it would eventually benefit us as well. Though there are some legitimate concerns that the advertising industry has over GST, we will try to address them as an association.

    Videocon d2h  CEO Anil Khera: GST is a welcome step. It will unify the indirect tax administration in India and help the country in two ways. First, it will simplify (the tax regime) and make it easy for the consumers to understand their tax split up. Second, it will significantly improve the ease of doing business in India. As a DTH operator, GST will help us to be more efficient in our business.

    Travelxp and  Media Worldwide CEO Prashanth Chothani: There won’t be much impact (on the broadcasters’ ad revenues). The current rate that stands at 15 percent may increase to 18 percent. This might mean that the advertising cost will go up but advertising is directly related to consumer needs. If people have money to spend and they are consuming products,  brands will market and advertise.

    From the reactions it seems that the media and entertainment industry, by and large, has reacted positively to the proposed tax reforms. As it is in all such cases there are some creases, but the media and entertainment industry is willing to look at the brighter side of GST and the promised economic growth.

     

  • Datawind hopeful that inverted duty corrections will extend to computing devices

    Datawind hopeful that inverted duty corrections will extend to computing devices

    NEW DELHI: Datawind president and CEO Suneet Singh Tuli has expressed hope that corrections in the inverted duty structure is extended to laptops and computing devices in the budget this year.

    Tuli said correcting the inverted duty structure was an important step to boost handset manufacturing. 

    “The Union Budget 2016 expects to aim at growth of the economy and to raise the country’s profile as an investment destination,” he said.

    He added the year 2015 saw ‘double digit growth’ for both handset and tablet manufacturing due to the favorable duty structure and therefore hoped the government will make serious attempts to push for the Goods and Service Tax (GST) Bill to simplify the current indirect tax structure by doing away with the multiplicity of taxes. 

    He said the industry was “hopeful of a common GST compliance, which will be done by all kinds of businesses, whether manufacturers, service providers, traders etc. We hope that the GST rate is reasonable and in the range of three – five per cent.”

  • Datawind hopeful that inverted duty corrections will extend to computing devices

    Datawind hopeful that inverted duty corrections will extend to computing devices

    NEW DELHI: Datawind president and CEO Suneet Singh Tuli has expressed hope that corrections in the inverted duty structure is extended to laptops and computing devices in the budget this year.

    Tuli said correcting the inverted duty structure was an important step to boost handset manufacturing. 

    “The Union Budget 2016 expects to aim at growth of the economy and to raise the country’s profile as an investment destination,” he said.

    He added the year 2015 saw ‘double digit growth’ for both handset and tablet manufacturing due to the favorable duty structure and therefore hoped the government will make serious attempts to push for the Goods and Service Tax (GST) Bill to simplify the current indirect tax structure by doing away with the multiplicity of taxes. 

    He said the industry was “hopeful of a common GST compliance, which will be done by all kinds of businesses, whether manufacturers, service providers, traders etc. We hope that the GST rate is reasonable and in the range of three – five per cent.”

  • GST Bill crucial for Start-Up India, Digital India success: IAMAI

    GST Bill crucial for Start-Up India, Digital India success: IAMAI

    MUMBAI: Industry body – Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) has urged the Parliament to pass the crucial GST (Goods & Services Tax) Bill in the forthcoming budget session. The industry body has said that the smooth passage of GST Bill is crucial for the success of mega economic and social projects, especially Digital India and Start-Up India.

    The GST Bill, which subsumes all indirect taxes to create one rate and integrate the country into a single market, is the biggest tax reform that is being undertaken since Independence, but is pending approval of the Rajya Sabha.

    The Digital India plan is about connecting, empowering and enabling citizens and encouraging local electronic manufacturing. Similarly, Start-Up India is focused on promoting entrepreneurship, and through small entrepreneurs, generating employment.

    Local manufacturing, NoFN, e-Gov, as a part of Digital India, where private sector is involved, crucially rests on the successful passage of GST Bill in Parliament, which seeks to create one market through one tax system. Similarly, start-ups, online market places, and other online service providers, all require a single market plan.

    IAMAI president Subho Ray said, “The extant tax structure of India is heavily fragmented, with multiple indirect taxes levied by different authorities at different stages of a transaction. Fiscal federalism has led to different procedures and rates of VAT and other forms of LBTs across the states. This creates logistical challenges for the industry, besides giving rise to compliance related complications. Conflict of interests between tax authorities in case of inter-state transaction is a major pain point for the industry today. GST will help the digital industry business model flourish by providing uniformity in tax rates and regulations across the country. This will help doing business in India easier, allow free-play to market dynamics and allow deeper penetration of these services.”

    Given that much of the developments in the digital industry are disruptive innovations, business models like online platforms, aggregators, etc are essentially services provided by intermediaries. Such services are revolutionising the existing markets of both goods and services. Thus, online ticketing services or e-tailing are providing newer modes of access for consumers to existing goods and services, said IAMAI.

    The digital industry unequivocally stands for the smooth passage of GST and hopes that the bill will be passed in the upcoming budget session, as any further delay will push back the transformative projects of the government.

  • GST Bill crucial for Start-Up India, Digital India success: IAMAI

    GST Bill crucial for Start-Up India, Digital India success: IAMAI

    MUMBAI: Industry body – Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) has urged the Parliament to pass the crucial GST (Goods & Services Tax) Bill in the forthcoming budget session. The industry body has said that the smooth passage of GST Bill is crucial for the success of mega economic and social projects, especially Digital India and Start-Up India.

    The GST Bill, which subsumes all indirect taxes to create one rate and integrate the country into a single market, is the biggest tax reform that is being undertaken since Independence, but is pending approval of the Rajya Sabha.

    The Digital India plan is about connecting, empowering and enabling citizens and encouraging local electronic manufacturing. Similarly, Start-Up India is focused on promoting entrepreneurship, and through small entrepreneurs, generating employment.

    Local manufacturing, NoFN, e-Gov, as a part of Digital India, where private sector is involved, crucially rests on the successful passage of GST Bill in Parliament, which seeks to create one market through one tax system. Similarly, start-ups, online market places, and other online service providers, all require a single market plan.

    IAMAI president Subho Ray said, “The extant tax structure of India is heavily fragmented, with multiple indirect taxes levied by different authorities at different stages of a transaction. Fiscal federalism has led to different procedures and rates of VAT and other forms of LBTs across the states. This creates logistical challenges for the industry, besides giving rise to compliance related complications. Conflict of interests between tax authorities in case of inter-state transaction is a major pain point for the industry today. GST will help the digital industry business model flourish by providing uniformity in tax rates and regulations across the country. This will help doing business in India easier, allow free-play to market dynamics and allow deeper penetration of these services.”

    Given that much of the developments in the digital industry are disruptive innovations, business models like online platforms, aggregators, etc are essentially services provided by intermediaries. Such services are revolutionising the existing markets of both goods and services. Thus, online ticketing services or e-tailing are providing newer modes of access for consumers to existing goods and services, said IAMAI.

    The digital industry unequivocally stands for the smooth passage of GST and hopes that the bill will be passed in the upcoming budget session, as any further delay will push back the transformative projects of the government.

  • Manufacturing slows in Q3-2016 despite Digital India & Make in India campaigns

    Manufacturing slows in Q3-2016 despite Digital India & Make in India campaigns

    NEW DELHI: Despite the emphasis on Digital India and Make In India campaigns and perhaps largely due to expectations of the Goods and Service Tax (GST) that never came through, manufacturing of electrical and electronic goods failed to pick up much during 2015.

    What’s more, the outlook the third quarter of 2015-16 predicts a slowdown due to various factors, according to the quarterly Manufacturing Survey conducted by FICCI.

    Considering that the Digital Addressable System (DAS) Phase III becomes a reality from New Year’s Day and the countdown begins for the final phase, and with auction for FM Radio Phase III having commenced, the slowdown in manufacture of electronic goods is not good news for the electronic media industry, which depends largely on set top boxes (STBs) and other electronic equipment.

    The FICCI survey says the outlook for Indian manufacturing sector in Q3 of 2015-16 looks to be weakening, as lesser percentage of respondents expect high growth to continue in Q-3 (October-December 2015-16). The percentage of respondents expecting higher growth in Q3 has gone down to 55 per cent as compared to 63 per cent for Q2 (July-September 2015-16), according to the survey.

    The survey had earlier indicated revival in the manufacturing activity in Q2 of 2015-16, which seems to be slowing down a little bit in Q3 now. The outlook on the basis of FICCI Manufacturing Survey for Q2 of 2015-16 was more optimistic than in the current quarter. Exports are primarily responsible for this less optimistic outlook besides domestic factors like poor demand conditions, high interest cost etc.

    The quarterly survey gauges the expectations of manufacturers for Q3 2015-16 for 12 major sectors namely textiles, capital goods, metals, chemicals, cement and ceramics, electronics, auto, leather & footwear, machine tools, food, tyre, and textiles machinery. Responses have been drawn from 336 manufacturing units from both large and SME segments with a combined annual turnover of over Rs 3.94 trillion.

    The survey had earlier indicated revival in the manufacturing activity in Q2 2015-16, which seems to be slowing down little bit in Q3 now. The percentage of respondents expecting higher growth in Q3 has gone down to 55 per cent as compared to 63 per cent for Q2 2015-16.

    Exports are primarily responsible for this less optimistic outlook besides domestic factors like poor demand conditions, high interest cost etc.

    In terms of investment, for Q3 2015-16, 68 per cent respondents as against 73-75 per cent respondents in earlier quarters reported that they don’t have any plans for capacity additions for the next six months implying slack in the private sector investments in manufacturing to continue, even though there is a fall in the percentage of respondents not looking at fresh investments. Poor demand conditions, high cost of borrowing, delayed clearances and cost escalation are some of the major constraints, which are affecting the expansion plans of the respondents.

    In Electronics and Electrical, the survey shows that average capacity utilisation in the second quarter was 65 per cent, which was only higher than one (textiles) of the 12 sectors surveyed. In fact, it had fallen by five per cent over the same period last fiscal.

    At a glance, the quarterly outlook for the sector shows moderate outlook for production, no capacity addition expected in the next six months, and a bleak outlook for both hiring and exports.

    Implementation of GST and keeping the sector at the lowest tax slab; imposing anti-dumping duty on imports of Dry Batteries; support of the tier 2 supplier by schemes (reward, recognition or subsidies), which can encourage them to improve their product quality; and reduction of interest rate are some of the suggestions from the respondents.

    The Electronics and Electrical sector for the October-December 2015 quarter witnessed 63 per cent respondents reporting higher levels of production on year-on-year basis though the level of growth itself may not be high.

    On the other hand, only 30 per cent of the respondents reported a higher level of orders for the October-December quarter as compared to the previous quarter while 50 per cent reported no improvement in their order books.

    Current capacity utilisation in the industry is around 65 per cent. Primarily owing to the lower current utilisation, 81 per cent respondents reportedly don’t have any plans to add any fresh capacity in next few months.

    A third of the respondents reported negative growth in exports in the October-December 2015 quarter as compared to the same quarter of last year. Also, 56 per cent reported no change in exports during the same period.

    Sixty per cent respondents maintained average inventory levels during October-December 2015 whereas only about a third maintained a higher inventory level. Almost all respondents were reluctant when asked about their plans of hiring additional work force in next three months.

    The Electronics industry respondents are availing credit at an average rate of 12 per cent. Around 40 per cent respondents in the sector expect the manufacturing sector to revive in the next six months while another 40 per cent expect no significant growth.

    About 30 per cent respondents reported that their production cost has increased than that of last year while costs remained same for 40 per cent respondents. Rising labour wages and rupee devaluation have been cited as the key reasons towards this end. Prices of raw materials, uncertainty of economic environment, lack of domestic and export demand, deficiency of power and competition faced from imports are significantly affecting the growth of this sector.

  • MoF assures that GST will be a game changer for M&E and subsume service tax, entertainment tax & VAT

    MoF assures that GST will be a game changer for M&E and subsume service tax, entertainment tax & VAT

    NEW DELHI: In a major relief to the media and entertainment industry, two senior officials of the Finance Ministry assured the captains of the sector that VAT, service tax and entertainment tax would be subsumed in the proposed Goods and Services Tax.

     

    Terming GST as a game changer, Revenue Special Secretary Rashmi Verma said the rate was being worked out but she reiterated that it would be one and uniform for the entire country.

     

    Member Service Tax and GST V S Krishnan added that Infosys had been given the task of creating a special portal for GST collections and the progress was good.

     

    He said that three processes under way were in the public domain and the stakeholders and citizens could react. As all these were drafts, changes could still be made.

     

    These were the rate of taxation, the law relating to GST, and the technology. The fourth relating to returns would be put in the public domain today itself. Technology  was being taken care of by Infosys.

     

    He added that after GST came and the government got time to review its progress, it could be improved over time.

     

    They were responding to remarks made by some industry leaders on the second and final day of the two-day Big Picture summit organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry.

     

    Sector representatives included Farokh Balsara of Ernst and Young, Film Federation of India Vice President Ravi Kottarakara, Hinduja Ventures whole time Director Ashok Mansukhani and Zee Network’s legal expert Avnindra Mohan. A P Parigi, advisor to the Chairman of Network 18 moderated the session.

     

    Verma added that the problem of share of centre and states would be sorted out by the Ministry and need not worry the M and E industry which will just have to pay a single tax.

     

    There will be slabs, but that would be restricted to just two – higher and lower, she added.

     

    She said bringing the Centre and 29 states on one table had been difficult but most problems had been ironed out.

     

    The work of the portion of the state was being worked out but the citizens need have no doubt that he will have to pay just one tax. For the citizen, the apportioning was only of academic interest.

     

    She said there may be some tax levied by some local bodies in some states, but this would be between half per cent to two per cent. While ways were also being found to sort out this problem, it was clear that this would only relate to the manufacturing industry.

     

    She also clarified that the GST would apply both to services and goods.

     

    The M and E industry would benefit as the multiplicity of taxation would vanish.

     

    The entire information will be out on a GST portal by the third week of November, she said. The transitional problems were being worked out, she added.

     

    Answering a point made by one of the earlier speakers who asked whether the M &  E sector was being treated at par with sinful industries, she said this was not so. The only sinful industries for the Government were cigarettes and alcohol.

     

    Parigi suggested creation of a separate secretariat with representatives of industry and bodies like the CII. 

  • IBF welcomes special Parliament session on GST

    IBF welcomes special Parliament session on GST

    MUMBAI: The Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) has welcomed the government’s proposed plan to hold a special Parliament session to pass the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill as it is likely to usher in greater transparency and consistency making compliance easier.

    According to reports, the government is looking at holding the special session for  the Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty Second) Amendment Bill, 2015- or the GST Bill, in the second week of September. The government has also initiated talks with all political parties to get the requisite 2/3 majority in Rajya Sabha.  

     

    IBF president and Star India CEO Uday Shankar said, “Indian broadcasting sector is happy to note that the government is mulling over calling a special session of Parliament in the second week of September 2015. On behalf of the sector, I would strongly appeal to the government to stay course on the implementation of GST Bill as it intends to bring a semblance of uniformity to the taxation structure, subsumes all existing central and state indirect taxes under one value added tax, both on services and goods, leading to greater efficiency and business speed. Looking at the larger perspective, a national comprehensive tax regime will not only integrate the goods and services sector, but will usher in greater transparency and consistency making compliance easier.”