Daily Financial News Analysis – 9th Dec’19 – Free PDF Download

GST

• GST Council will likely increase the existing cess on so-called luxury/demerit goods.
• It may impose such levies on a clutch of other items.
• It may not find it easy to raise the tax rates on mass-consumption.
• Overall demand slump
• 38th GST Council Session 18-12-19
• Council may also correct the inverted duty structure on a host of items.
• IDS: where the tax on input is higher than on the final product.
•  This is expected to address the issue of certain sections of taxpayers claiming input tax credits more than the actual tax content in their inputs.
•  In some cases, even claiming refunds without any actual output tax outgo in cash.

WTO

•  1 January 2020: Silver Jubilee
• After December 10, WTO will be left with only one judge.
• This will cripple its dispute appellate mechanism.
• There is already a heightened risks to global exports from the ongoing trade war.
•  The fate of appeals against 14 rulings of the WTO’s dispute settlement body (DSB) remains uncertain.
•  India is in consultations with the EU, Japan, the US, Chinese Taipei, etc over its decision to raise tariffs (up to 20%) on certain ICT products, including mobile phones.
• Typically, if the consultations fail, the aggrieved parties are free to approach the DSB for the composition of a panel to adjudicate on the case.
•  The panel’s findings can be appealled at the Appellate Body.
•  A non-functional appellate mechanism leaves a greater scope for countries to step up protectionism and disrupt global trade.
•  It may also prompt countries to opt for bilateral or plurilateral deals, which will further fragment the global trading zones and weigh on supply chains as well.

Waste

•  Ministry of Housing and Urban Development
•  Waste is collected on a daily basis from households in 93% of the country’s municipal councils. Only 57% of this collected waste is processed.
• Chhattisgarh has the highest success rate in waste management.
•  Big states such as Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra lag behind.
• The report stated that 1.48 lakh tonnes of waste is generated in the country every day, of which 57 per cent is either recycled or processed.
• Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Karnataka are among the 14 states in which all municipal councils have been successful in meeting the goal of collecting garbage from the doorsteps of households.
•  Solid Waste Management Rules 2016: to deal with the issue of the rapidly rising mountains of waste in landfills in urban areas due to lack of facilities for processing garbage.
•  According to the rules, responsibility for collection, segregation, processing and recycling of the trash sent to dumping grounds lies with the respective municipal councils of cities and urban areas.

PMKVY-III

• The government is planning to launch third phase of its flagship Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) in the next financial year.
• The government launched the PMKVY scheme in 2015 and revamped it in 2016 to impart skills to one crore persons by 2020.
• The revamped scheme, called PMKVY 2.0, moved to a grant-based model where the training and assessment cost would be directly reimbursed to training providers and assessment bodies in accordance with common norms.
• According to official data, over 69 lakh candidates have been trained across the country under the PMKVY till November 11.
• Minister of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Mahendra Nath Pandey said that the target under PMKVY-III, will be launched after March 2020, will be bigger and cover larger aspects.
• The minister also urged public sector and private sector players to lay emphasis on apprenticeship programme.

IBBI

• Insolvency law provides a new lifeline to save a company from premature closure. IBBI will continue with efforts to develop best practices and ensure that regulations are “grounded on realities”.
•  The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) is a key institution in the insolvency ecosystem. M S Sahoo IBBI Chairperson The Code provides for time-bound and market-linked Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP).
•  The Code has undergone various amendments and the recent Supreme Court verdict in Essar Steel case has provided clarity about various aspects, including the roles of resolution professional, resolution applicant and Committee of Creditors (CoC).
•  IBBI will continue to engage with academia, industry, professionals and other stakeholders to create awareness about it, build their capacity to use the Code for insolvency resolution and liquidation, develop best practices and promote research.
•  As many as 10,860 cases under the Code were pending before the National Company Law Tribunal at the end of September 2019, as per data provided by the corporate affairs ministry to the Rajya Sabha.

 Statistics

•  National Policy on Official Statistics will be out soon.
• Timely and credible social and economic data
• To create synergy between the Centre and the states.
• Promoting an ecosystem for “informed debate” on various social and economic issues affecting people’s lives.
•  National Statistical Development Council, an independent authority headed by the Prime Minister that would supersede the National Statistical Commission (NSC).
•  The ministry also plans to set up a taskforce to prepare a roadmap for putting the policy in practice.
• Former NSC members had accused the government of sidelining the commission and interfering with its working.

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