Search Result for : Tobacco

By Ranjeet Mahtani & Sweta Rajan The 16th and 17th meetings of the GST Council took place on June 11 and 18 respectively. During these meetings, various decisions were taken, the key aspects of which are summarised below. Most importantly, it was unanimously decided that the GST regime will be introduced with effect from July 1, 2017. Key decisions taken by the GST Council over the last ten days: Composition scheme: The threshold of annual turnover for availing the composition scheme has been fixed at Rs 75 lakhs for traders, manufacturers and restaurant service providers in all states except in the case of nine special category states (north-eastern states) where the threshold is fixed at Rs 50 lakhs. The turnover limit for the composition levy ...

By Ranjeet Mahtani and Sweta Rajan The 12th GST Council meeting on March 16, 2017, proved to be monumental with the Council approving the State GST and Union Territory GST laws. With this, all GST legislations viz. the Central GST, Integrated GST, State GST, Union Territory GST and the GST Compensation laws have been approved by the GST Council. After the Cabinet takes up these laws (except the State GST draft), the next step is the passage of the laws by the Parliament (Central GST law, Integrated GST law, Union Territory GST law and the GST Compensation law) and the respective States (State GST law) and Union Territories (viz. Delhi and Pondicherry).  Prior to transition to GST – a game changer of a reform - the GST Council has two more crucial responsibilities, viz. approval of rules and regulations regarding: a) composition scheme, transition, input tax credit and valuation, ...

PTIThe Union Cabinet is likely to soon consider a proposal to completely ban foreign direct investment (FDI) in the tobacco sector. Government has been working on this proposal after tightening norms regarding pictorial warnings on cigarette packets. The Commerce and Industry Ministry has forwarded the final cabinet note for the Cabinet's consideration, sources told PTI. “Views of all the concerned ministries, including Health and Finance Ministry were included in the note,” they said. Currently, FDI is permitted in technology collaboration in any form, including licensing for franchise, trademark, brand name and management contracts in the tobacco sector. However, it is prohibited in manufacturing of cigars, cigarettes of tobacco and tobacco substitutes. The proposal, if approved, may be a setback for domestic cigarette manufacturers. As per the proposal, ...

The Dollar Business Bureau Smuggling and illegal trade of tobacco products in India has posed a grave concern for the government as the legal imports of cigarettes was lower than the coming of cigarettes through illegal routes, Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Monday. “More smuggled cigarettes are coming into India with the amount being detected being worth Rs 162 crore in last financial year, which was more than legal imports into the country,” she told the Lok Sabha during Question Hour. Terming the illegal imports a matter of serious concern, Sitharaman gave assurance to the Parliament members that the government and Customs department are taking several measures to curb the problem. To a related question, she replied, “Absolutely advertisements are not ...

The Dollar Business Bureau The High Court on Monday asked the government’s reaction on a plea seeking quashing of a notification issued by India’s Health Minister Jagat Prakash Nanda on printing 85% pictorial warning on tobacco products. The government was asked by Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Jayant Nath to respond by May 18, on the petitions submitted by Dharampal Satyapal Ltd and others. They were seeking quashing of two notices issued on October 15, 2014 and September 24, 2015 issued by the ministry. "The impugned notification regarding amendment to the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (packaging and labeling) Rules, 2008 (COTPA) envisages modification to increase the size of specified health warning from the current size of 40% to ...

Source: PTI  Reserve Bank has said that Foreign Direct Investment in manufacturing of tobacco products is prohibited, though activities such as retail and wholesale trading fall under the sectoral restrictions. In a notification issued on Friday, RBI said Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is prohibited in the manufacturing of cigars, cheroots, cigarillos and cigarettes, of tobacco or of tobacco substitutes. It further clarified that the prohibition applies only to manufacturing of the products mentioned therein and foreign direct investment in other activities relating to these products including wholesale cash and carry, retail trading shall be governed by the sectoral restrictions laid down in the FDI policy. The Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion, under the Ministry of Commerce has framed these guidelines on sectoral ...

Himanshu Vatsa | The Dollar Business Falling prices in the global commodity market led to negative growth in India’s exports of major agriculture items, including tea, cereals, tobacco and oil meals, last year. According to the annual data released by the Ministry of Commerce, six of the 11 key agricultural export products – tea, cereals, tobacco, spices, oil meals, and fruits and vegetables— recorded negative growth between April 2014 and March 2015. Of the six major items, oil meals witnessed the biggest fall of 52.73%, reducing the total exports value from US$ 2,796 million in 2013-14 to just US$ 1,321 million last year. At the same time, exports of rice, coffee and cashew also witnessed only marginal changes as ...