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Tamil Nadu government must oppose the recently amended Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Central Rules of 2018, which enables all industries to hire workers on a contractual basis for a fixed term, said S. Selva Gomathi, managing trustee, Justice Shivaraj V. Patil Foundation, here on Tuesday.
Speaking at an awareness campaign launched for securing the rights of garment factory workers, particularly women, she said that the new amendment would prove detrimental to the workers as they will lose job security.
Until the recent amendments, engaging employees on a fixed-term basis was allowed only in the apparel manufacturing sector. “Though many companies in other sectors were already following this practice even with the old rules, the amendment will encourage them to hire primarily on a temporary basis,” she said.
Urging the State government to reject the amended rules, she said that the State must instead form its own rules to ensure job security of workers in all sectors.
P. Muthu Raja, president, Textile Workers Union, appealed to the gathered workers to not give up their fighting spirit and be part of the unions to demand their rightful wages and decent working conditions.
“There is a perception among some people that many decades-old garment factories have shut down and the industry is not doing well. On the contrary, the truth is that more units have come up and the exploitation of labour has only increased,” he said.
He said that he knew a few garment units in Madurai that have not given their workers holiday this year not only on Tuesday for Labour Day, but even for the festival of Lord Kallazhagar’s entry into Vaigai on Monday, when the whole of Madurai comes to a standstill.
B. Thirumalai, writer and journalist, pointed out how loss of jobs in the farming sector, which used to be a major source of employment for women, has forced them to take up jobs in places like garment factories that exploit them in many ways.
Alleging that employment opportunities were seeing a negative growth in the country, he also blamed the government for diluting the labour laws and consequently worsening the situation of workers in all sectors.
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The bilateral trade for the year 2018 between the traders of India and China through the Nathu La borderstarted on Tuesday with traders and government officials from both sides exchanging gifts and greetings.
Last year, the trade was disrupted following the Doklamstandoff. This year, the traders are hopeful that there would be no problem, an official of the Sikkim government said. Traders from India and the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR) said they were optimistic that there would be no problems this year, the Sikkim government official said, adding that the trade was stopped in July last year.
“Last year, due to the Doklam standoff, trading through Nathu La was possible only for two weeks, as a result of which we incurred losses. However, we are optimistic this year,” the general secretary of the Indo-China Border Traders’ Welfare Association, Tenzing Tsepel, said.
In 2016-2017, goods worth Rs 3.54 crore were traded via the Sino-Indian border, Nathu La, an official of the Sikkim Commerce and Industries department said at the border today.
The trade between the two countries through Nathu La border, located at a height of 14,200 feet, was resumed in 2006, 44 years after it was closed. The traders’ association also informed that an official meeting was held between the representatives from both sides today, including officials of the ITBP and PLA, on how to make this year’s trade more efficient and cordial.
Issues like currency exchange, road connectivity and problems due to inclement weather were discussed at the meeting, an official said. While the Indian traders export oil, ghee, blankets, copper items, rice, textile and processed goods, among other items, to their counterparts in the TAR, the import comprises mostly quilts and jackets, the official added.
Jaitley calls it a ‘landmark achievement’; experts say better compliance, e-way bill enforcement bode well for the future
NEW DELHI, MAY 1
Riding on improved compliance and an upswing in economic activity, GST revenues came in at a record ?1,03,458 crore in April (for March 2018 economic activity), official data released on Tuesday showed.
The average monthly GST collection so far has been ?89,885 crore. The collections in April — the highest-ever since the GST launch in July 1 last year — were also bolstered by the ‘March effect’, when companies generally pump up sales to boost their annual performance.
In addition, March would have seen some arrears payments and adjustments, leading to an uptick in collections. The April 2018 collection, therefore, cannot be taken as a trend for the future, said the Finance Ministry.
But indirect tax experts feel it is sustainable in the coming months, given that anti-evasion measures like e-way bills have been implemented.
The April GST collection is a “landmark achievement” and a confirmation of increased economic activity, tweeted Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. With the improved economic climate, introduction of e-way bill and improved compliance, GST collections will continue to show a positive trend, he added.
Of the ?1.03 lakh crore collection in April, the share of CGST was ?18,652 crore, SGST ?25,704 crore, IGST ?50,548 crore (including ?21,246 crore collected on imports) and cess ?8,554 crore (including ?702 crore collected on imports).
The number of GSTR 3B returns for March filed up to April 30 was 60.47 lakh, against the 87.12 lakh who are eligible to do so, representing a compliance rate of 69.5 per cent.
April was also the month for composition dealers to file quarterly returns. Of the 19.31 lakh composition dealers, 11.47 lakh, or 59.4 per cent, filed GSTR 4 and paid a tax of ?579 crore.
The total revenue earned by the Centre and the State governments after settlement in April is ?32,493 crore for CGST and ?40,257 crore for SGST.
Stablisation phase
MS Mani, Partner, Deloitte India, said a significant milestone has been crossed, and even excluding the year-end impact, GST revenues may have stabilised. “The revenue collections for the coming months will factor the e-way bill impact and will be on the upswing,” he said.
Pratik Jain, Partner and Leader, Indirect Tax, PwC, said: “Though there may have been some impact of year-end push and adjustments (in improved collections), compliance is steadily improving.” Abhishek Jain, Partner, EY, said:
“Revenue collections in April have shown phenomenal buoyancy as compared to the previous months.” With anti-evasion measures like e-way bill already introduced and others like TDS, TCS and credit matching expected to be introduced in the coming months, the government can hope for very good GST collections in this fiscal, he added.
With only a fortnight left for sowing of cotton under ideal conditions, only 9,600 hectares have been covered in Punjab till April 30. Last year the crop was sown in 22,000 hectares till April end. Sowing of cotton is termed ideal till May 15 in the state.
The delayed release of canal water is termed as the biggest reason behind late sowing. The canal water reached villages in Fazilka and Muktsar districts on April 29, but that too not at full capacity whereas it had reached the other cotton districts on April 21. The sowing is expected to pick up in the first week of May. Going by the slow pace of sowing, the Punjab agriculture and farmer welfare department has called a meeting of all chief agriculture officers of the districts on May 4 to take stock of the situation. The state has put a target of sowing into 4 lakh hectares whereas as per sources the process is likely to stay at 3.5 lakh hectares. Last year cotton was sown in 3.80 lakh hectares.
“Non-availability of canal water till two days ago delayed sowing. We kept on waiting for the canal water and even when it was released, the intensity was low that is posing problems in sowing,” said farmer Kulwinder Singh of Khuian Sarwar in Fazilka. Another farmer Gamdoor Singh of Muktsar said late releasing of canal water delayed cotton sowing. The dry weather will further complicate the issue.
Punjab agriculture and farmer welfare department director JS Bains confirmed that late releasing of canal water had posed serious problems for department and farmers. He added, “We are worried as sowing has been done in only 9,600 hectares as compared to 22,000 in previous year. Even now the canal water has not been released at full intensity in some areas in Fazilka and Muktsar, which may further delay the process. The delayed sowing is prone pest attack. The department will hold a meeting in this regard on May 4”.
Water resources department superintending engineer at Ferozepur HS Chahal said, “Initially though the plan was to release water from April 7 to 21 but it got delayed due to necessary repairs of distributaries and water was released in various distributaries on April 28 which reached tails in a day.”
As expected, the goods and services tax (GST) collections in April have surpassed the Rs 1 lakh crore mark for the first time since the new tax regime was rolled out on July 1, 2017. Though the high numbers may represent the year-end push and adjustments, it is clear that tax compliance is steadily improving. Being the last month of the financial year, people may have tried to pay arrears, making it difficult to view the jump in collections as a trend.
The finance ministry said in a statement that the buoyancy could be attributed to economic recovery and improvement in compliance, adding that the payment of tax arrears could have partly inflated the numbers.
With the introduction of e-way bill system now, the tax collection is expected to improve in the coming months, thanks to the electronic tracking of movement of goods and invoice matching. This will surely become a deterrent for tax evaders looking to keep transactions off their books or to play down their turnover.
With tax compliance improving, the government can be hopeful of increasing tax collections in the current fiscal year. Everyone is now keenly awaiting the upcoming GST Council meeting on Friday (May 4) wherein the new return-filing mechanism is expected to be announced.
A delegation of Punjab Industries and Trade Forum (PITF) met finance minister, Punjab Manpreet Singh Badal to discuss various issues of the industry. The delegation raised the issue of pending VAT and GST refunds and urged Badal to intervene at the earliest for the betterment of trade and industry.
Inderjit Singh Navyug president of United Cycle and Parts Manufacturers Association and member of PITF said, “We met finance minister yesterday and raised several issues concerning industry. The most important issue was about pending VAT and GST refunds. Acting swiftly on our request, Badal called the excise and taxation commissioner, Punjab on the spot and ordered him to release Rs. 400 Crores of VAT refund.”
Kulwant Singh, another member of PITF added, “Finance Minister informed us that in last three months government had cleared a refund of Rs. 318 crores and the pendency is around Rs. 400 crores which will be cleared shortly. Regarding GST refunds he asked our delegation to send specific instances where the industry is in trouble due to delay in GST refunds”
According to Badish Jindal another member of PITF the issue of bogus billing was also discussed with the minister. “He asked us to send a details along with possible suggestions to counter this problem. He discussed the issue of appointing IAS and IPS officers in GST department as Deputy excise and taxation commissioners and as Director Investigation. We also raised the difficulties of small cloth manufacturers as the big companies have started making cloths from inbuilt yarn and are selling the cloth at 5% GST whereas the cloth manufacturer buy the yarn at 12 % GST and sell cloth at 5% GST and there is no provision of refund,” Jindal said. The businessmen also requested finance minister to bring ‘One time settlement scheme for Punjab state power Corporation Limited and Punjab Small industries and export corporation
The government is working on a proposal to incentivise digital transactions by providing cashbacks to businesses and price benefits to consumers, a source said.
The government is working on a proposal to incentivise digital transactions by providing cashbacks to businesses and price benefits to consumers, a source said. As per the proposal being worked out by the Revenue Department, consumers paying through the digital mode would be offered a discount over the maximum retail price (MRP). The discount would be capped at Rs 100. Businesses, on the other hand, could get a cashback based on the quantum of turnover through the digital mode.
The proposals to encourage digital transactions are likely to be placed before the GST Council, chaired by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and comprising state ministers, on May 4. According to the source, the issue of providing incentive for digital transaction was discussed at a meeting held in the Prime Minister’s Office.
During the meeting, three possible modes of incentivising businesses to go in for digital transactions were discussed. Apart from cashbacks, a proposal to allow businesses to obtain tax credit on the basis of turnover obtained through digital mode was also discussed. This would have worked like the input tax credit mechanism wherein businesses can credit for taxes paid on raw materials. Besides, the option of allowing businesses to offset their GST liability up to a threshold for using digital transaction was also deliberated.
The source said the Revenue Department has zeroed in on the option of cashback to businesses based on a threshold of digital transaction. This would be easier to implement and cannot be misused by unscrupulous elements. As a matter of precaution, the department will ascertain the veracity of the digital transactions reported by the businesses and then credit the cashback to their bank account.
During the PMO meeting, it was also discussed if any incentives could be given for digital transaction from the direct taxes side. The direct tax department, the source said, has outlined the steps it had taken to discourage cash dealings. Besides, for small businesses opting for presumptive taxation scheme, it had reduced the rate for calculation of deemed profit from 8 per cent to 6 per cent in respect of the amount of total turnover or gross receipts received through banking channel/digital means.
The source said since the incentives would have been on the basis of the turnover of the businesses, it was felt that the indirect tax department would be better placed to incentivise the businesses and hence the GST Council would have to give a final go ahead.
Uzbekistan has expressed interest in furthering business and trade ties with Punjab, particularly in the areas of agriculture, education and tourism.
Uzbekistan’s ambassador to India Farhod Arziev met Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh here today, and discussed cooperation in areas of mutual interest for the benefit of both India and the Central Asian country, said an official release.
The chief minister suggested export of various commodities, including wheat and rice, to Uzbekistan, pointing out that the direct air connectivity with Uzbekistan and Amritsar (Punjab) offered vast potential for trade promotion.
Farhod Arziev said Uzbekistan was also keen to utilise the air route to further bolster trade in fresh fruits, such as mulberry, apricot and peaches, as well as dry fruits that were organically produced in his country”.
Passenger and cargo flights from Chennai to Uzbekistan could also be used to exploit the trade potential, said the envoy, also inviting Punjab to see the cotton plantations in his country, as they were keen to export cotton to India.
A suggestion was made during the meeting by Finance Minister Manpreet Badal to host exchange programmes for students from Punjab Agriculture University (PAU).
Singh asked his officials to explore the possibility of knowledge sharing and transfer of agricultural technologies in coordination with the Uzbek embassy.
Citing the deep shared roots of India and Uzbekistan, the envoy also called for joint promotion of religious and heritage tourism, pointing out that Bukhara, which the first Sikh Guru Nanak Dev was believed to have visited, had various historical sites of interest to the Sikh community.
Singh and Farhod Arziev agreed to explore the heritage tourism potential offered by the two regions in order to promote the industry.
Earlier, the visiting ambassador apprised the chief minister of his government’s intent to play a key role in India’s connectivity initiatives in the resource-rich and strategically important Central Asia.
Evincing keen interest in supplying fertilisers to Punjab, the ambassador said that the opening of Chabahar port would result in another avenue for boosting his country”s trade share with India via the Iran route.
The envoy also suggested establishment of a joint hospital, as a private sector enterprise, in Tashkent, an official spokesperson said after the meeting. The chief minister agreed to look into the suggestion
KARACHI: Federal Minister for Commerce and Textile Pervez Malik met Sindh Governor Muhammad Zubair at the Governor House here.
The two leaders discussed in detail the economic development and promotion in the fields of textile and commerce as well as the steps taken to encourage the textile industry, investment in new textile industries, and other matters, said a press release issued here on Tuesday. The Sindh Governor said Pakistan is rich in natural resources and human resource, and there is a need for maximum utilisation of these resources. He stressed the need for encouraging the people associated with the textile industry as well as investors to achieve the required results.
The federal minister told the Governor Sindh that steps for promoting and encouraging the textile industry at every level and attracting local and foreign investors towards this field are drawing positive results. He said both local and foreign investors are investing in textile industry which is helping in the eradication of poverty and unemployment.
The Chief Minister of Puducherry, Mr. V Narayanasamy on Saturday invited industrialists from the western region of Tamil Nadu to invest in the Union territory. He was speaking here at the inaugural of the ‘Indian Business Congress’ awards function.
Speaking on the occasion, he said, “Karnataka is top among States in India which attracts 24 per cent foreign investment and Tamil Nadu received mere four per cent of total foreign investments that came into the country last year. However, Puducherry is expecting better contribution from local industrialists, particularly from western region of Tamil Nadu.”
He noted that the present Congress-led Puducherry government has taken all steps to ensure a peaceful environment for running industries.”The Puducherry government has ensured better environment for industries with allocation of required lands. We are taking steps to improve traffic movement, besides ease of doing business through single windows clearance. We invite industrialists from the textile hubs including garment and textiles from the western districts,” said Mr. Narayanasamy.
The Congress Chief Minister alleged that demonetisation and the GST have led to poor growth in GDP rate in the country and these issues must be overcome immediately.
Amar Prasad Reddy, chairman of Entrepreneurs Council of India (ECI), and T N Vallinayakam, president of ECI were among those present on the occasion.
