GST Council cuts rate on 83 goods, services
In some New Year cheer, the Goods and Services Tax Council on Thursday began discussions on easing the compliance burden for businesses, with a single monthly return and uploading of invoices. For consumers, it decided to cut rates on 54 services and 29 goods, including tailoring, old cars, bio-diesel, drip irrigation systems and cooking gas. “The new rates will come into effect from January 25,” said Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, after the 25th meeting of the GST Council. According to an official release, the tax on old and used motor vehicles and buses running on bio-diesel would be lowered to 18 per cent from the current 28 per cent; diamonds and precious stones will be taxed at 0.25 per cent, and tailoring services at 5 per cent.
HDFC Bank becomes first Indian bank to cross Rs5 trillion market cap
India’s most-valued lender HDFC Bank Ltd on Thursday crossed Rs5 trillion market capitalizations for the first time, making it only the third Indian company to achieve this milestone. In intraday trade, the stock touched a fresh record high of Rs 1,53.75 on the BSE, up 3.31% from its previous close. The scrip closed at Rs 1,931.80, up 2.15% with a market cap of Rs5 trillion. The Sensex index closed higher by 0.51% to 35,260.29 points.
ED likely to sell a chunk of Vijay Mallya’s unpledged shares in United Breweries
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is planning to sell a major part of Vijay Mallya’s unpledged shares in United Breweries to raise more than Rs 4,000 crore, which is almost half of what the liquid baron owed to lenders, reports The Economic Times. An official told the paper that the ED has got hold of 4 crore unpledged shares, which constitutes to around 15.2 percent stake, owned by Mallya. The shares have been transferred to the ED by the Stock Holding Corporation of India under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), sources said. The remaining 27 lakh crore shares will soon be transferred.
New policy may cut levies: Telecom secretary
The department of telecommunications (DoT) will consider reducing license fees, spectrum user charges and other levies in the new telecom policy (NTP) to drive investments in the sector, said a top official, adding that the new policy would signal that revenue generation is no longer the ministry’s primary concern. “We are looking very closely at that (lowering license fees and spectrum usage charges). The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has written to us on this twice… saying that this whole structure needs to be relooked at because it’s fairly high,” telecom secretary Aruna Sundararajan told ET.
Maharashtra to sign MoU with Israeli firm to develop water grid in drought-prone regions
Ahead of the Mumbai visit of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on 18 January, the Maharashtra government on Wednesday decided to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Israeli company Mekorot Development & Enterprise Ltd to develop a water grid in the drought-prone Marathwada region. The state cabinet at its meeting on Wednesday approved signing of the MoU to seek Israeli expertise at drought management and cost-efficient use of water in regions vulnerable to chronic droughts.
WhatsApp launches new service to target small businesses
WhatsApp has launched a new service WhatsApp Business, aimed at small businesses that have thus far been using their accounts meant for individuals, a move that brings it closer to monetizing its free platform. While the focus, at present, is to get small business on the platform for free, the firm plans to charge them in the future. The app has been launched on Google Play in Indonesia, Italy, Mexico, the UK and the US on Thursday, and will be launched around the world in the coming weeks.
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