Page 12 - Banking Finance November 2021

ROUNDUP

Ice cream sold at parlours their principal raw material, kraft pa- reaucracy and from windows within
per. windows," said the Minister, adding
will be taxable at 18%: Fi- "nobody wants to be a detriment to
nance Ministry Centre to grant two extra doing business."

Unlike food cooked and served at res- months to companies for Goyal said the portal would become a
taurants, ice creams sold at parlours "one stop shop" for state and Central
are manufactured items and are conducting AGMs government compliances and bring
therefore taxable at 18%, the finance The government has decided to grant transparency, accountability and re-
ministry said in a set of clarifications extra time of up to two months beyond sponsiveness in the ecosystem. The
issued. end of September for companies to portal will also offer a Know Your Ap-
hold their annual general meetings to
The clarifications are based on deci- provals service to inform businesses of
finalise their FY21 accounts, according
sions taken in the federal tax body, the to an official order. the details of all the approvals they
Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council. need to obtain as well as a common
As per this, Registrars of Companies
These cover eight issues including ser- registration form, document reposi-
(RoCs) are authorised to give compa- tory and e-communication module.
vices of cloud kitchens, satellite launch
nies extra time under section 96 of the
services, grant of mining rights and
Companies Act. This section stipulates
services relating to contract manufac- Subsidy on LPG should be
that companies have six months after
ture of liquor. the close of a financial year to hold limited to only the needy
their annual general meeting of share- The subsidy on Liquified Petroleum Gas
GST woes for corrugated holders and if there is any special rea- or LPG should be limited, the Govern-
box makers son, extra time of up to two months ment sources said as they think only
could be granted.
The Federation of Corrugated Box the most needy should be given sub-
Manufacturers' of India has expressed 'Freedom from bureau- sidy. The Petroleum Ministry is review-
concern over the rising raw material ing the current LPG subsidy regime,
cost and the increase in the GST rates cracy': Goyal launches the sources said while further adding
from 12% to 18% on corrugated boxes, single window for biz ap- that all the economic utilities should be
as it has irreversibly halted the gradual viable.
switchover from plastic to paper in provals "The consumption of fuel is 15-16 per
sectors like the unorganized retail sec- Commerce minister Piyush Goyal an- cent higher than the pre-Covid levels.
tor, hotel & hospitality sector and in nounced the soft launch of a National Fuel price above $70 a barrel is high for
agriculture/ horticulture sectors and Single Window System for approvals, a country like India. Crude supply from
has had a crippling effect on the work- adding the government is looking to OEC plus countries is not able to meet
ing capital requirements and the day remove irrelevant compliances to im- the domestic demand. We are in talks
to day working of corrugators. prove ease of doing business. with OPEC plus countries to increase
As a result, it has become extremely The portal is currently set up to pro- production," the sources said.
difficult for FCBM to improve the qual- vide relevant approvals from 18 Cen- It is to be noted that the petroleum
ity standards of corrugated packaging tral government departments and 9 subsidy stood at 9 per cent of the Bud-
in India in accordance with the global states, with another 14 departments get Estimate (BE), or a little over Rs.
supply chain demands. and 5 states set to add their compli- 1,230 crore in the April-July period of

For almost a year now, corrugated box ances to the portal by the end of De- FY22, down from over Rs. 16,000 crore,
manufacturers, largely in the MSME cember. The portal offers a single dash- or 40 per cent of BE, the last fiscal. The
board, allowing businesses to apply for subsidy is being provided mainly for
sector, with large numbers in the mi-
clearances, track progress and respond customers in far-flung areas, industry
cro and small sector have been facing
an unprecedented hike in the prices of to queries. "This is freedom from bu- sources had said.

12 | 2021 | NOVEMBER | BANKING FINANCE