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The Dollar Business Bureau  The growth of China’s services sector was marginally low in the month of July as the expansion of new businesses eased, said a private business survey on Thursday.  The latest findings were in sync with an official estimate of non-manufacturing sector released on Monday that showed cooling down of growth in services sector, adding to the speculations that the world’s second largest economy could grow slightly slower in upcoming months.  The Caixin/Markit services purchasing managers' index (PMI) declined a little to 51.5 in July compared to 51.6 in the previous month.  Though the decline was marginal, the figures matched with the level of reading in April this year that was lowest since May last year.  New businesses continued to grow at ...

The Dollar Business Bureau  India’s IT software exports are expected to grow at 7-8% during the current financial year 2017-18, which is less than 8-10% in the previous fiscal of 2016-17, the apex trade body NASSCOM said on Thursday. “The outlook for the IT industry in fiscal 2017-18 is 7-8% growth in exports and 10-11% in the domestic market as against 10-12% in 2016-17,” NASSCOM said in a statement. The Indian IT services sector has been coping with a slowdown in the business of banking and financial services, which contributes a major part to the revenues. It has also been impacted by its retail customers facing a sluggish growth from the upsurge of online retail channels. India’s $150-billion IT industry revenues mainly come from Business Process Management (BPM), software ...

The Dollar Business Bureau Malaysia’s Minister of International Trade and Industry Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed said that in the last decade, Malaysian firms have created a strong presence in Indonesia in major sectors such as banking, construction, plantation, energy, toll-road and telecommunications. He said while referring to a roundtable business meeting, co-chaired by himself and Eko Putro Sandjojo, a Minister in the government in charge of facilitating Malaysian investments in Indonesia, where Malaysian firms expressed their keenness to continue to play a major role in the socio-economic growth of Indonesia. The roundtable meeting was the first joint discussion between the two countries with maximum number of high-profile government and business delegates. “The huge participation from Malaysian companies at the event indicated their keen interest to keep doing ...

By Ranjeet Mahtani & Sweta Rajan On the path to complete all responsibilities and release the requisite laws, regulations and rates ahead of the proposed transition date of July 1, 2017, the GST Council met on June 3, 2017. The key developments during the meeting were: A committee comprising revenue officers from Centre and States is to be set up to entertain complaints relating to anti-profiteering. GST rates of the items which were not placed across the agreed rate slabs (after the Council’s meetings on 18 and 19 May, 2017) were decided, including 3% GST on gold and gold jewellery, 0.25% on rough diamonds, 5% on packaged food items sold under registered trademarks, 18% on biscuits, 5% on footwear priced below Rs. 500/- ...

The Dollar Business Bureau Prime Minister Narendra Modi left for Kazakhstan on Thursday to attend the two-day summit of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). During the summit to be held on June 8-9 in Astana, the capital city of Kazakhstan, India is set to become a member of the SCO. The Prime Minister will also attend the inauguration of the Astana Expo 2017 on Friday which is based on the theme of ‘Future Energy’ this year. “At this meeting, on completion of the process, India will become a full Member of the SCO upon which SCO will represent over 40% of humanity and nearly 20% of global GDP,” the PM wrote. “We launched the process of full membership in Tashkent meeting of the SCO last year. I look forward to deepening India’s ...

By Ranjeet Mahtani and Sweta Rajan A seven-hour long debate in the Lok Sabha, resulted in the passage of the Integrated GST, Central GST and GST Compensation Bills this week. Having been introduced as ‘money bills’ the Rajya Sabha did not have the power to amend or reject bills. Now, the Bills require presidential assent to become law. In preparation for the transition to GST, the Central Government has introduced another bill in the Lok Sabha to amend the Customs Act, 1962, the Customs Tariff Act, 1975, the Central Excise Act, 1944, the Central Excise Tariff Act, 1985, the Finance Act, 2001, and the Finance Act, 2005, and to repeal certain existing enactments. These amendments are essential to modify the tax levying ...

Sairaj Iyer Uday Kotak, Executive Vice Chairman and MD of Kotak Mahindra Bank, believes that the premise for rejuvenation of India’s economy (post demonetization) and the overall financial atmosphere is to replenish the confidence of the public in banks. Especially since we see receding confidence in recent times due to an uncertain global environment. But to do so there is a need to improve upon governance standards, specifically in PSU banks. At a talk show organised by the Indian Merchants Chamber, Kotak said that the PSU banking sector is an area that needs immediate attention. Referring to the rising NPAs, and infusion of tax-money into recapitalization of failing PSU banks, he said, “70% of bank accounts are with the PSUs, and I want ...

Sneha Gilada At a post-Budget discussion hosted jointly by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Ernst & Young (EY), industry experts gave their insights on the sector-wise impact of Budget 2017. Following are exclusive bits from CII-EY Budget Connect:  Jayesh Singhvi, Partner, Ernst & Young Services Pvt Ltd:  Giving an overall positive view of the Budget, Jayesh said that the government is showing that it means business. "This Budget is a continuation of the steadfast direction that the government has consistently followed for three years."  Jayesh applauded the commendable 17% year on year growth in tax revenue for two years consecutively. "The fact that the target for tax revenue growth in 2017-18 is set at 12%, speaks volumes about the Centre's conservative approach towards projections," he said.  Speaking of the uniqueness of NDA, Jayesh said, ...