Tag: budget 2020

Toy prices set to go up; traders warn that stock may be exhausted within 3-4 months

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Toy traders and retailers demonstrated against the Narendra Modi government’s decision to increase import duty on toys from 20 to 60 percent in Mumbai on Monday.

Traders claim that the increase in import duty, announced in Budget 2020, might lead to a 100 percent surge in the retail price of existing toys in India, which means a toy costing Rs 500 will be priced at Rs 800 to Rs 1,000 after the imposition of 200 percent hike in import duty. Moreover, even after the hike, traders claim that there will be a scarcity of toys in the next 3-4 months.

Farooq M Shabdi, President of newly formed United Toys Association explained, “It is estimated that within 3-4 months after the hike in import duty on toys, there will be a scarcity of toys in India. The reason being, India imports 85 percent of its annual toys requirement from other countries and only 15 percent of the annual requirement of toys are manufactured in India. Traders and retailers will not be able to bear such a high import duty and stop importing toys. On the other hand, Indian manufacturers will not be able to fulfill the overwhelming demand for toys and in the next 3-4 months the stock of toys will be exhausted.”

The government’s budget proposal is a bid to balance trade deficit by including toys in the non-essential commodity. However, toy traders argue that more than 5,00,000 people will lose their livelihood if this happens.

According to the toys association, the most impacted will be innovative toys which include STEM toys, robots, flying toys and radio control, and battery-operated toys.

The protesters have demanded that the Indian government treat toys as an essential commodity, akin to educational books for children as they argue that in the modern age, toys help kids as a learning tool.

The traders have decided to issue a memorandum to the government, appealing to revoke the decision of increasing import duty.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Money Money Money Podcast: Impact of Budget 2020 on rich

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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This episode of Money Money Money podcast details the impact of Budget 2020 on the rich. With dividends being taxed in the hands of the individual, will business trusts stop being a lucrative tax-efficient option? A tax collected at source on remittances, stricter residency rules for NRIs — Budget 2020 offers little relief for the high net-worth individuals.

Tune in!

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

No timeline to remove I-T exemptions: Nirmala Sitharaman

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday said the idea behind introducing second alternative tax slabs sans exemptions is to take the country towards “a simplified, exemption-free and reduced rate of tax regime.” However, there was no time-frame set by the government to remove all exemptions, she told reporters in Hyderabad after an interactive session with trade representatives and intellectuals on the Union budget.

“At the moment we only started a second alternative with some exemptions removed or some exemptions included, although the original intention was to remove all exemptions and give a clear simplified reduced rate of income tax,” the finance minister said.

The budget 2020-21 has introduced more tax slabs and offers higher limits provided the taxpayer is ready to forego all the existing exemptions and deductions including home loan interest, other tax savings investments.

“We have not made up our minds as yet (on the removal of all exemptions)… We are trying step by step, move forward and no particular timeline given,” she said when asked if there is any timeframe for removing all income tax exemptions.

Addressing a post-budget press conference on February 1, Sitharaman had said the government intended to remove all I-T exemptions in the long run.

On Sunday, she said that based on a simulation and assumption, 69 percent of taxpayers would have benefited and probably 11 percent would have been “attracted” had the new tax regime been introduced last year.

When asked about the Supreme Court order on telcos’ payment of dues and the concerns expressed by some bankers, Sitharaman said it may not be proper for her to comment on the matter as there is a Ministry concerned looking into it.

“The concerned Ministry is looking into it. So, it may not be proper for me to comment on it” she added.

To a query on allegations by the Telangana government that there was a decline in devolution of funds to states from the Centre, she said the allocation is followed as per the recommendations of the Finance commissions and it is not true that the centre is not cooperating with states.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

FPIs now eye Singapore over Mauritius to channel funds in India, says report

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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India-focused funds are planning to route their funds through Singapore to escape higher tax liability after the Union budget removed some exemptions for those based in Mauritius, according to a Mint report.

The shift has been prompted by the budget levying indirect transfer provisions on category II foreign portfolio investors such as those routing their investments through Mauritius, it added.

Mauritius accounted for Rs 4.37 lakh crore worth of portfolio investments into India last year. Shifting to Singapore will ensure that category II FPIs are not saddled with higher tax liability as the city state is still exempt from indirect transfer provisions, the report cited three unnamed fund managers as saying. The removal of exemptions will mean that investors in category II FPI funds have to pay capital gains tax on indirect transfer of shares or other assets, it added.

While a majority of foreign funds were exempted from indirect transfer provisions in 2017, the Finance Bill of 2020 has removed exemptions for category II FPIs, which include hedge funds, and funds that are set up in countries not compliant with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) norms to combat money laundering and terror financing, the report said. Mauritius is not an FATF jurisdiction.

“We are actively trying to change the structure of our $200 million fund. We are trying to find an asset manager in Singapore or get a majority of our investments to be routed from Singapore. In these two scenarios, we will fall in category I,” Mint report quoted an India-focused fund manager as saying, one of the three cited earlier.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

CEA Subramanian says 6-7% LIC stake dilution enough to raise Rs 90,000 crore

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The government’s Rs 2.1 lakh crore sell-off target is achievable with half of this amount expected to be met through the spill-over deals of Air India, BPCL and Concor and the remaining Rs 90,000 crore through just 6-7 percent stake dilution in state life insurer LIC, chief economic advisor KV Subramanian has said amid questions being raised over achieving such a huge target when the current fiscal disinvestment revenue target was lowered by 40 percent.

As per the 2020 Budget, out of the Rs 2.1 lakh crore target, Rs 1.2 lakh crore is expected to come from IPOs, strategic stake sales, buybacks, and offer for sale (OFS), while the government expects to raise Rs 90,000 crore through the sale of stakes in state-owned life insurance company LIC and IDBI Bank.

Questions about disinvestment targets being unrealistically high have been raised at various quarters as apart from a higher amount of Rs 2.1 lakh crore, the government has also lined up listing of Life Insurance Corporation. LIC’s listing will need a change in the LIC Act and several other prior changes, which could be time-consuming and take up to 10-12 months before completion.

The uncertainty over meeting the target also arises as most of these deals depend also on conducive market conditions (as in the case of IPOs) to be able to sail through and also on the foreign and domestic bidders in case of BPCL and Air India.

The chief economic advisor, however, has said the target is not insurmountable and can be achieved well within time. He said even a sub 10 percent listing of LIC could fetch about Rs 90,000 crore of the total Rs 2.1 lakh crore target and LIC’s amendment procedures should not pose any time concerns on the sell-off schedule.

“There are legislative amendments required here in LIC. But I think this [LIC listing] is doable. LIC is a just a case of listing. I would think that about 6-7 percent would be enough to get the entire Rs 90,000 crore. I have done some back of the envelope calculations based on that … can say that just selling 6-7 percent will be enough to mop up Rs 90,000 crore …

“There is a good chance that we will be able to achieve these targets. It is consistent with the government’s strategy for enabling efficiencies in the CPSEs. BPCL privatisation is the evidence of that. Listing brings in more disclosure requirements which enables efficiencies. We have full confidence in the DIPAM to achieve the target. Many of the deals on which actions have been going on this year — Air India, BPCL, where a lot of work has already happened and it’s just that those could not be closed by March this year … therefore would get closed in the coming year.

“More than half of this target will be met by the spill over target of this fiscal into the next year — like Air India and BPCL privatisation and Concor stake sale. That leaves about Rs 90,000 crore,” Subramanian told IANS.

The finance ministry doubled the disinvestment target from the current fiscal’s original target of Rs 1.05 lakh crore with LIC, BPCL and Air India form big-ticket line up.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

FM Sitharaman says no discrimination against Telangana in budget fund allocation

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday denied that the Central government was discriminating against Telangana, saying it is not belittling contribution of any state to the central pool of taxes.

She also did not agree that the Centre imposed any cut on devolution of funds to Telangana or is not cooperating with the state.

The minister was responding to Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekhar Rao’s statement, expressing unhappiness over the fund allocation made for the state in the Union budget 2020-21.

Addressing a news conference after interacting with representatives of trade and industry here, Sitharaman said the Centre was moving ahead with the spirit of cooperative federalism. She clarified that the devolution of funds is decided by the Finance Commission and not by the finance ministry.

As the number of states came down by one and the number of Union Territories increased by two, there was some change in devolution of funds to the states, she said.

She also said 15th Finance Commission was looking into the suggestion that performing states should be given incentives. She said the commission had given its report only for one year and while submitting its full report in April, it may make necessary recommendations.

Without naming Telangana industry minister KT Rama Rao, Sitharaman said a minister had taken exception to her using the term “given” while replying to a question in Parliament about devolution of central funds to Telangana.

“He is saying Telangana is contributing and what the Centre is saying ‘given’ is our right. It’s correct. Every state is contributing. Telangana is also making good contribution,” she said.

“Given is common expression used in Parliament. If he has any objection he should write to Lok Sabha speaker to give a ruling that this word should not be used,” she added.

Officials pointed out that Telangana recorded one of the biggest increases in total central transfers in the last five years. The increase in transfers from central taxes and grants was 128 percent during the period of 14th Finance Commission. They said the devolution increased from Rs 46,747 crore in earlier Finance Commission period to to 1,06,666 crore in the 14th Finance Commission.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Nirmala Sitharaman says govt willing to do more beyond Budget to boost growth

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday said that if required, the government would take more steps beyond the announcements made in the Union Budget 2020-21.

At an interactive session on ‘Budget and Beyond’ with professionals from asset management, wealth advisory, tax consultancy and other related industries, the minister also said the Budget 2020-21 was a budget where the impact on equity, bond and currency markets was positive.

“If more has to be done beyond the Budget 2020, we are willing to do that,” Sitharaman said at the session, where the participants made several suggestions to boost economic activities in the country.

The government announced a host of steps in the Union Budget, presented on February 1 in Parliament, to expand the economic activities at a time when the country is faced with demand slowdown due to several reasons.

The country’s GDP growth is estimated to slow to an 11-year low of 5 percent in the current financial year.

During the interactive session, participants made suggestions for increasing consumption, giving more money into the hands of consumers, measures required to boost liquidity and hosts of suggestions for the capital markets.

Several suggestions were also made on the ‘Vivad se Vishwas’ scheme to deal with the disputes related to the direct taxes. It was announced in the Budget 2020-21.

She said the finance ministry will provide details of the scheme soon. However, Parliament approval will be required before the scheme is implemented.

Sitharaman assured the participants that her ministry would look into the suggestions.

The finance minister had similar interactive sessions in Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata last week.

The meeting was also attended by Niti Aayog Vice-Chairman Rajiv Kumar and CEO Amitabh Kant, besides secretaries of the finance ministry.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

You can take this tax benefit even under the new tax regime

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The Union Budget 2020 gave a choice of tax regime to the taxpayers – continue with the old tax regime and keep taking tax deductions or opt for the new tax regime (lower taxes) but don’t take tax deductions. As a taxpayer, you can calculate tax liability under both the regimes and opt for the one with a lower tax liability.

Under the new tax regime, all the common deductions are disallowed.

There is an impression that, if you opt for the new tax regime, you won’t get tax benefit for the interest paid on a home loan. Even I mentioned that in my post on Budget 2020. Now, that is not entirely correct. You can still get tax benefit for the interest paid on a housing loan in some cases. How? Let’s find out.

Section 24: How Tax Benefit for Home Loan Interest works?

You get tax benefit of Rs 2 lakh for interest paid for a housing loan. That’s right.

We must understand how this tax benefits actually works. Unlike other tax deductions, a few sections of the Income Tax Act come together to give you this tax benefit. Section 23, Section 24, Section 71 and Section 71(B) for carry forward.

Section 23 specifies how to calculate Income from House Property. It specifies that the Income from House Property for a self-occupied property is NIL and that you can have up to 2 self-occupied properties. Rent (or the notional rent from the remaining properties (let-out or deemed let-out) will be added to the Income (from house property).

Annual Rental Income – Municipal Taxes = Net Annual Value (NAV)

Section 24 specifies the deductions that are allowed from Income from House Property. Apart from standard deduction (30% of the Net Asset Value), you can take deduction for the interest paid.

In addition, Section 24 caps the deduction for cumulative interest paid on all the self-occupied properties to Rs 2 lakh. Section 24 places no such cap for let-out or deemed let-out property.

Income from House Property = Net Annual Value – Standard Deduction (@30% of NAV) –Interest on Home Loan

For a self-occupied property, the rental income is considered NIL. Now, let’s say you pay home loan interest of Rs 2.5 lakh. The maximum deduction for interest payment for a self-occupied property is Rs 2 lakh.

Income from House Property = 0 – Rs 2 lakh (interest) = – Rs 2 lakh

This is your Loss under Income from House property.

Section 71 allows for set-off of Loss under Income from House Property against other heads of Income. Therefore, if your salary is Rs 8 lakh, you can set off loss under income from house property against this salary. Your taxable income goes down from Rs 8 lakh to Rs 6 lakh.

This is how tax benefit of Rs 2 lakh for home loan interest payment comes about.

The new tax regime (if you opt) does the following:

Disallows deduction of home loan interest paid for a self-occupied property
Disallows set-off of Loss Under Income from House Property

Under the new tax regime, the tax deduction for home loan interest (24b) for a self-occupied property is not allowed. Thus, if you have one (or two) self-occupied properties and you opt for the new tax regime, then you will not be able to take any benefit for home loan interest. Thus, the entire home loan interest paid for a self-occupied property goes waste from tax-saving perspective.

However, this does not mean you can’t take tax benefit for home loan interest under the new tax regime. You can, but only for a let-out (or deemed let-out) property.

How is a Let-out property different?

Apart from the fact that you don’t reside in the let-out property, there are some differences on the tax front too.
Firstly, a let-out property will have some rental income.

Secondly, Section 24 does not put any cap on the interest deduction that you can take. For a self-occupied property, the cap is Rs 2 lakh. The new tax regime does not disallow interest deduction for a let-out property.

Let’s say your rental income (after municipal taxes and standard deduction) is Rs 2.5 lakh. Interest paid for home loans on those properties is Rs 6 lakh.

Income from house property = Rs 2.5 lakh– Rs 6 lakh = – Rs 3.5 lakh

Therefore, the loss under Income from House Property becomes Rs 3.5 lakh.

Section 71 puts an additional restriction (not discussed earlier). It caps the set-off of Loss under Income from House Property to Rs 2 lakh.

Therefore, even under the old regime, you would be able to set off loss of only Rs 2 lakh. However, if you see, you have gotten the tax benefit for interest payment of Rs 4.5 lakh. 2 lakh for set-off + 2.5 lakh to nullify rental income. If the interest was not there, you will have to pay tax on this rental income of Rs 2.5 lakh.

Under the new tax regime, set-off of loss under Income from House Property is not allowed. However, you can still use it to nullify rental income from a let-out property. Continuing with the same example, you can still use home loan interest paid to cancel out rental income (after municipal taxes and standard deduction). If you opt for the new regime, you still get benefit for interest paid. Rs 2.5 lakh in this case.

Deepesh Raghaw is a SEBI registered investment advisor and founder of www.PersonalFinancePlan.in. You can read the original article here.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

CNBC-TV18 dominates Budget Day with all-India viewership of 75.1%

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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CNBC-TV18, India’s leading Business news channel, over the years has consistently earned the reputation of being the go-to destination for the fastest, most accurate and comprehensive coverage of Union Budget. Having dominated the business news genre for two decades, this year the channel beat all English general news channels on Budget day by garnering maximum viewership of 468 (Imp’000)*.

The combined viewership of the 8 general news channels including Times Now, CNN-News18, Republic, India Today TV, and others was a mere 421,000 impressions. Its viewership that say was almost four and a half times the viewership of Times Now and almost double of Times Now and Republic combined.

The day where the eyes and ears of the Indian citizen are hooked onto their screens, CNBC-TV18 left no stone unturned in delivering top-quality content via its extensive, exclusive and unmatched coverage. Almost 4 out of every 5 English Business news viewers on Budget day was watching CNBC-TV18.

Speaking on the ratings, Basant Dhawan CEO – English & Business News Cluster, Network18, said “Union Budget is the most important event for our channel and our viewers. We strive to deliver unmatched coverage, analysis, and opinions to our viewers and have maintained this tradition for two decades now. What we have achieved this Budget, with regards to viewership figures is remarkable and one to be proud of. Not only are we a leader in just business news space, but our viewership on budget day is higher than the combined viewership of all English general news channels.”

It was the first full year Union Budget presented by the country’s very first female finance minister, Nirmala Sitharaman on February 1. With the day being of immense importance to the country’s economic future, CNBC-TV18 provided content and information via an integrated newsroom comprising CNBC-TV18, CNBC Awaaz, CNBC Bajar and www.cnbctv18.com with utmost authenticity and perspective from market experts ensuring that the investor is kept abreast of the day’s events. The Finance Minister’s very first interview to CNBC-TV18 saw a remarkable share of 100%.

*Source: BARC India | TG: NCCS AB Male 22yrs+ | Market: India | Period: Wk 05’20 (Saturday, 0600-2400 Hrs), Imp’000 | 10 English News Channels considered)

**Source: BARC India | TG: NCCS AB Male 22yrs+ | Market: India | Period: Wk 05’20 (Saturday, 0600-2400 Hrs), Imp’000 | 8 English General News Channels considered)

***Source: BARC India | TG: 22+ AB Males Market: India Period: 1st Feb, 2020 (18:00-18:30)

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

States stare at financial crunch, here’s what it means according to experts

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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In the Union Budget 2020 it was stated that the transfer estimates to states last year was at Rs 8.02 lakh crore, but actually what was transferred to states in the revised estimates is only Rs 6.56 lakh crore,, which is a shortfall of about Rs 1.5 lakh crore.

The first 9 months itself saw a 2.2 percent less transfer to states compared to FY19. However, if you looked at the math, the fall in the fourth quarter in terms of transfer to states will be at 14 percent compared to the fourth quarter of FY19 because the cash kitty of the Centre has gone down because of shortfall in tax collection.

In January-March of 2019 they got about Rs 2.7 lakh crore, according to ICRA estimates taken from the central government accounts. If you do the math, this quarter it is likely to be as bad as Rs 1.7 lakh crore and that is a fairly severe crunch.

Next year, the revised estimates say that whereas this year it is Rs 6.56 lakh crore transferred to states and next year it is going to be Rs 7.8 lakh crore.

However, this projected growth of 19.5 percent depends on the centre a total tax revenue growth of 12 percent and that is under unlikely because this year’s base itself is perhaps overstated at Rs 21.6 lakh crore and which they may not get going by the first 9 months of tax collection.

Therefore, there is likely to be a danger even to the Rs 7.8 lakh crore promised transfer next year.

Economist Haseeb Drabu said: “This is not the first time it has happened, in the pre-FRBM era this was a regular thing. The simplest administrative mechanism is you kind of postpone payments and the axe falls on capital expenditure because you can’t stop revenue expenditure. So, typically two things will happen, one, bills will pile up in the treasuries and capex will be cut.”

“What you are looking at now in this quarter is a liquidity crisis for the states but what you are staring down in next year is a proper fiscal crisis. So, this is bad time for state finances which have actually seen a good run over the last decade or so.”

Yamini Aiyar, president of Centre for Policy Research, said: “We are staring at an unprecedented liquidity crisis which is likely to take us towards a fiscal crisis.”

“What is particularly astonishing is that over the last 5-10 year’s state finances actually have done relatively better.”

“I would venture so far as to say they have done better than central government finances and now owing to the unpredictability and importantly the central government reneging on compensation for GST, you are creating complete unpredictability in state finances which is taking us into a very dangerous territory.”

Aiyar added that a significant part of the devolution to states comes in the form of tide schemes — centrally sponsored schemes which amount to 2 percent of GDP for this year.

“If you look closely at the release of money for these schemes you are looking at releases in the range of about 30 percent for some schemes, 50 percent for others up until December 2019.”

“So, this delay of release of money is snowballing into delayed payments at the ground level all the way down to the grass roots of expenditure and that is going to further crisis that we are going confront at the start of the next FY.”

Aditi Nayar, principal economist at ICRA, said: “Why the central tax devolution has been cut so sharply between the BE and RE of FY20 is really for two separate reasons. One is that the FY2019 provisional actuals were much lower than FY19 RE. So ever since we saw the FY19 provisional numbers, we have been worried about that.”

“Then on top of that once the corporate tax rate was cut, ever since September we have been highlighting that huge part of that is going to be shared with the states and therefore we have got two-fold concern. This will flow into next year as well. We are already worried that the FY20 RE are also overstated and therefore we are going to get a downward adjustment in FY21 as well.”

According to Thomas Isaac, finance minister of Kerala: “Normally towards the end of the financial year you would be getting a much bigger support than the normal monthly support from the central transfer. Now, with the shortfall in the revenue the opposite is going to happen.”

“For the state of Kerala, we are expecting that our central tax share would decline at least by Rs 20,00 crore which is a big shortfall.”

All states are going to face this shortfall and this is primarily because of the large concessions given to the corporate tax, he said.

In fact no corporates were asking for tax concession, he added. “So I do not know for what reason this corporate tax cut was announced in this hurry.”

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow