Indirect tax collections up 3.9 per cent in April-July
Indirect tax mop up inched up by 3.9 per cent in the April-July of the current fiscal even as custom duty and excise duty collections declined, reflecting subdued manufacturing activity. Indirect tax collections comprising excise, customs and service tax stood at about Rs 1.54 lakh crore in the first four months of 2014-15 fiscal, as against Rs 1.48 lakh crore in the corresponding period a year ago, the Finance Ministry said in a statement. The growth at 3.9 per cent is far less than 25 per cent annual increase envisaged in the Budget for the full 2014-15 fiscal.Excise collection contracted 0.4 per cent during the quarter to over Rs 48,195 crore.Customs mop up has declined by 2.2 per cent to over Rs 55,305 crore during April-July period against Rs 56,526 crore in the same period a year ago.Service tax collection, which has become a new focus area for revenue officials, grew by 16.4 per cent to Rs 50,850 crore during the period, the official said.With an aim to widen the service tax net, the government had introduced the concept of negative list of taxation. As per it, all services except those in the negative list, are taxable.
The indirect tax collection target for 2014-15 fiscal stands at Rs 6.24 lakh crore. Indirect tax collection in the month of July grew by 4.9 per cent to Rs 41,890 crore.Excise duty mop up in month of July grew by 7.5 per cent to Rs 14,127 crore, whereas custom duty collection grew by 0.2 per cent to Rs 15,756 crore.Service tax mop up in July grew by 8.4 per cent to Rs 12,007 crore against Rs 11,076 crore in the same month last fiscal.
Trai issues new regulations for international calling cards
In a move that could lower ISD rates, telcom regulator Trai on Tuesday fixed the rate payable by international long distance players to local operators. Trai in a statement said access charges has been fixed at 40 paisa per minute for wireless services and Rs 1.20 per minute for wireline services.Access charges for international subscriber dialling (ISDs) are paid by international long distance operators (IlDO) to local players.
In the current prevailing regime, a consumer does not enjoy the option of choosing his/her IlDO and is dependent on access providers for making ISD calls. Under the new regulation, customers can buy calling cards from any IlDOs and get the advantage of competition in the long distance sector.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) had in November last year issued a consultation paper on 'Revenue Sharing Arrangement for Calling Card Services'.To provide the facility to subscribers to choose their NlDO/IlDO for their STD/ISD calls, Trai issued a direction on July 24, 2002 but it could not be implemented due to various reasons given by telecom service providers (TSPs)
Indian refiners' credit metrics to improve in 12 mths: Moody's
Moody's Investors Service on Tuesday said it expects Indian refiners' credit metrics to improve over the next 12 months on decline in borrowings. "We expect total borrowings and interest cost for our rated downstream refiners in India to decline in tandem with the decrease in fuel subsidies in the country, which will improve their credit profiles," said Vikas Halan, a Moody's Vice President and Senior Credit Officer. Indian Oil Corp (IOC) and Bharat Petroleum Corp ltd (BPlC) reported stronger normalised earnings (excluding the impact of foreign-exchange fluctuations and fuel subsidies) and margins for the April-June 2014
compared to a year ago."These results were also despite their reporting of lower refining margins, which were, at the same time, in line with the decline in regional gross refining margins for the quarter," it said in a statement.IOC benefited from higher non-core income, while BPCl benefited from higher sales volumes."The results for state-owned downstream refiners IOC and BPCl for the April-June 2014 were also supported by a near full reimbursement of fuel subsidies by the Government of India, again in line with expectations", Halan said.However, although the refiners are nearly fully compensated for under-recoveries, the six-month delay between the realization of the under-recoveries and the government's reimbursement means that IOC and BPCl rely heavily on short-term borrowings to fund the under-recoveries in the interim.