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Centre-states may discuss early inclusion of natural gas into GST fold

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With GST revenue collections making a rebound post the disruptions caused by the second wave of Covid pandemic, the Centre is likely to initiate dialogue with states for inclusion of petroleum products under the new indirect tax fold.

Sources privy to the development said that based on the Petroleum Ministry’s suggestion, the Centre may take up with GST Council the issue of bringing natural gas under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime to begin with before the entire oil and gas sector is brought under it.

The 45th GST Council meeting is scheduled on September 17, 2021 at Lucknow. Though the council members will discuss several pending issues such as states compensation, revision of GST rates on Covid essentials, inverted duty structure, the Centre is also likely to take up the case for early inclusion of gas into the new taxation fold.

With revenue position remaining strained due to Covid-19 outbreak, states have been reluctant to consider bringing high revenue generating petroleum products under GST fold. But with GST collections improving substantially this year remaining above the Rs 1 lakh crore psychological-mark in most months of FY22, the Centre feels it is the right time to push for tax reforms in the oil and gas sector as well with the inclusion of gas helping in plan to develop a gas-based economy in the country.

Inclusion of gas would not pose a challenge for the GST Council as it is largely an industrial product where a switchover to the new taxation would not be difficult. The revenue implication for the states is also low in the case of this switchover.

“States are in a fairly better position now with GST revenue hitting over Rs 1 lakh crore-mark for the past few months and Centre has also improved their liquidity position through additional borrowing schemes. This should make phased inclusion of petroleum products under GST easier for the council,” said an official source in the oil ministry.

GST levy on natural gas would help state-run oil companies such as ONGC, IOCL, BPCL and HPCL to save tax burden to the tune of Rs 25,000 crore as they would get credit on taxes paid for inputs and services. Tax credits are not transferable between the two different taxation systems.

The Steering Committee for Advancing Local Value-Add and Exports (SCALE) chaired by Mahindra & Mahindra MD & CEO Pawan Goenka in its report to the commerce ministry has also batted for provision of input tax credit of natural gas to make its prices more competitive. This could happen once it is included in GST.

Sources said Council could consider a three-layered GST structure for gas where residential piped natural gas (PNG) is taxed at a lower rate of 5 per cent, commercial piped natural gas could be taxed at a median rate of 18 per cent, and car fuel CNG could be taxed at a maximum rate of 28 per cent. However, such a proposal has not yet been drafted and it could be put on table after consensus is arrived at inclusion of gas under GST.

Gas sales, including CNG and piped gas supplies, attract VAT ranging from 5-12 per cent.

As part of its efforts to build consensus with the states on GST launch, the government had decided to exclude five petroleum products — crude oil, petrol, diesel, ATF and natural gas — from the list of items placed under GST, but included products such as cooking gas, kerosene and naphtha in the new regime.

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IndiGo offers travel vouchers worth Rs 10,000 to severely impacted customers

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New Delhi, Dec 11: Limping back to normalcy, IndiGo on Thursday offered travel vouchers worth Rs 10,000 to customers who were severely impacted during the flight disruption earlier this month.

The airline “regrettably acknowledged” that several people travelling between December 3 and 5 were stranded for many hours at major airports nationwide. The crisis caused thousands of cancellations and delays, keeping passengers in long queues.

“We will offer travel vouchers worth Rs 10,000 to such severely impacted customers. These travel vouchers can be used for any future IndiGo journey for the next 12 months,” an IndiGo spokesperson said in a statement.

The compensation is in addition to the commitment under the existing government guidelines, as per which, IndiGo will provide compensation of Rs 5000 to Rs 10,000, depending on the block time of the flight, to those customers whose flights were cancelled within 24 hours of departure time.

IndiGo also noted that “all necessary refunds for cancelled flights have been initiated”, including bookings through a travel partner platform.

The airline said that it is “committed” to restoring a “safe, smooth, and reliable” experience.

Earlier in the day, IndiGo Chairman Vikram Singh Mehta said that the airline’s Board will bring in external technical experts to work with the management and identify the root causes behind last week’s massive flight disruptions.

He said the experts will help ensure that such large-scale operational failures never happen again.

Meanwhile, the company stated that all destinations in the airline’s network have been fully connected since December 8, and operations have stabilised since December 9.

On December 8, it flew more than 1,750 flights with just one same-day cancellation, and on December 9, it had over 1,800 flights and zero cancellations. Over 1,900 flights took off on December 10, while just two were cancelled on the same day.

On Thursday, IndiGo said it expects “to operate more than 1,950 flights with approximately 300,000 customers”.

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Sensex, Nifty turn volatile at open amid US Fed rate cut

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Mumbai, Dec 11: Indian stock markets opened on a volatile note on Thursday, swinging between gains and losses even as the US Federal Reserve announced a 25-basis-point rate cut on Wednesday.

The Sensex, which began the day slightly higher, soon slipped into the red and was trading at 84,312 during early trade, down 79 points or 0.09 per cent. The Nifty also erased its early gains and inched down to 25,750, lower by 8 points or 0.03 per cent.

“From a technical standpoint, Nifty holds immediate support at 25,600–25,650, while the 25,850–25,900 zone continues to act as a strong resistance that has repeatedly halted upward momentum,” analysts said.

“A decisive breakout above this resistance band will be essential to re-establish bullish traction. Conversely, a sustained move below the identified support range may extend the ongoing consolidation phase,” they added.

Infosys, Eternal, Tata Steel, Maruti Suzuki, Adani Ports, HCL Tech, SBI, TCS, L&T, and Tech Mahindra were among the early gainers on the Sensex, rising up to 1.1 per cent. However, Titan, Power Grid, Bharti Airtel, NTPC, Asian Paints, ITC, Reliance Industries, Bajaj Finserv, and ICICI Bank dragged the market with mild losses.

In the broader market, the Nifty MidCap index slipped 0.17 per cent, while the Nifty SmallCap index dropped 0.32 per cent.

Among sectors, IT stocks led the gains, with the Nifty IT index rising 0.70 per cent. This was followed by the Nifty PSU Bank index, which was up 0.65 per cent, the Nifty Metal index up 0.4 per cent, and the Nifty Auto index up 0.12 per cent.

On the other hand, FMCG stocks came under pressure, pushing the Nifty FMCG index down by 0.26 per cent.

Analysts said that domestic markets tracked global cues cautiously as investors assessed the impact of the Fed’s latest rate cut on capital flows and economic growth.

Meanwhile, on the flows front, FIIs offloaded equities worth Rs 1,651 crore on December 10, while DIIs recorded net purchases of more than Rs 3,752 crore.

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BSE launches 4 new BSE 100 large-cap TMC universe factor indices

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New Delhi, Dec 10: The Bombay Stock Exchange’s (BSE) subsidiary BSE Index Service on Wednesday announced the launch of four new factor Indices from the universe of BSE large-cap total market capitalisation (TMC) index with 5 per cent stock level capping.

The newly introduced indices are BSE large-cap 100 momentum 30, BSE large-cap 100 low volatility 30, BSE large-cap 100 enhanced value 30, and BSE large-cap 100 quality 30.

“BSE Index Services Pvt. Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of BSE, today announced the launch of 4 new BSE factor indices from the BSE 100 large cap TMC index as the universe with 5 per cent stock level capping,” the exchange said in a press release.

These Indices are Reconstituted Quarterly, have a base value of 1000, and the first value date is June 20, 2005, along with the additional screening for the liquidity profile, the release added.

BSE large-cap 100 Momentum 30 will track the performance of the 30 companies in the BSE 100 large-cap TMC that exhibit the most persistence in their relative performance, based on their momentum scores. Constituents are weighted based on their momentum score.

BSE large-cap 100 Low Volatility 30 will measure the performance of the 30 least volatile companies in the BSE 100 large-cap TMC. Constituents are weighted by their inverse volatility.

BSE large-cap 100 Enhanced Value 30 measures the performance of the 30 companies in the BSE 100 large-cap TMC with the most attractive valuations, based on their value scores. Constituents are weighted based on their value score.

BSE large-cap 100 Quality 30 measures the performance of the 30 companies in the BSE 100 large-cap TMC that exhibit the most persistence in their relative performance, based on their momentum scores. Constituents are weighted based on their momentum score.

“Building on the success of factor launches on the BSE 500 universe earlier in the year, we are pleased to expand our factor family with the launch of four new factor indices, this time on the large-cap universe,” BSE Index Services Pvt. Ltd MD & CEO Ashutosh Singh said.

“These indices, in the same vein as our BSE 500 universe factor family, will be reset on a quarterly basis with the introduction of an innovative score-based only weighting method,” he added.

The index said that these new indices can be used for running passive strategies such as ETFs and Index Funds.

It can also be used for benchmarking of PMS strategies, MF schemes and fund portfolios. Additionally, investors can now access a broader spectrum of market opportunities, further enriching their investment strategies with this latest addition to BSE’s suite of indices.

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