‘One Nation, One Tax’ – GST

India moved a step closer to the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime, as its Parliament’s Upper House, the Rajya Sabha, approved The Constitution (122nd Amendment) Bill, 2014 with 203 votes in favour and none against. The GST, which is expected to be implemented from April 1, 2017, aims to replace multiple state and central levies with a single tax. Since the central and state taxes are likely to be included under GST, it may result in reduction of tax credits across intra- and inter-state transactions.

What is GST?

GST is one indirect tax for the whole nation, which will make India one unified common market. GST is a single tax on the supply of goods and services, right from the manufacturer to the consumer.  The final consumer will thus bear only the GST charged by the last dealer in the supply chain, with set-off benefits at all the previous stages.

In other words, the prices that we pay for goods and services have the taxes embedded in them. Mostly, the consumers are not even aware of or ignore the tax they pay for things they buy. This is because there is a list of indirect taxes such as sales tax, excise and VAT, which leads to increased complexity. The GST seeks to sort out this and include all in one single tax, thereby making India an economically unified market. The Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers, which deliberated on the tax and its implications, has recommended what all taxes are to be included in the GST:

In the Central taxes: 1) Central Excise Duty; 2) Additional Excise Duties; 3) The Excise Duty levied under the Medicinal and Toiletries Preparation Act Service Tax; 4) Additional Customs Duty, commonly known as Countervailing Duty (CVD); 5) Special Additional Duty of Customs – 4% (SAD); 6) Surcharges, and 7) Cesses.  State taxes: 1) VAT / Sales tax; 2) Entertainment tax (unless it is levied by the local bodies); 3) Luxury tax; 4) Taxes on lottery, betting and gambling; 5) State Cesses and Surcharges in so far as they relate to supply of goods and services; and 6) Entry tax not in lieu of Octroi.

“According to analysts from a macro-economic perspective, the short-term impact of GST could be mixed, the long-term impact will be positive”

What will be the Impact??

GST will turn India into one common market, leading to greater ease of doing business and big savings in logistics costs from companies across all sectors. Some companies will gain more as the GST rate will be lower than the current tax rates they pay, others will lose as the rate will be higher than the present effective rate. While the rate of GST is yet to be decided, industry observers have assumed an 18% rate recommended by a government panel in making their impact calculations.

What will the Bill in Parliament today do?

It basically seeks to amend the Constitution to empower both the Centre and the states to levy GST. This they cannot do now, because the Centre cannot impose any tax on goods beyond manufacturing (Excise) or primary import (Customs) stage, while states do not have the power to tax services. The proposed GST would include various central (Excise Duty, Additional Excise Duty, service tax, Countervailing or Additional Customs Duty, Special Additional Duty of Customs, etc.), as well as state-level indirect taxes (VAT/sales tax, purchase tax, entertainment tax, luxury tax, octroi, entry tax, etc). Once the Bill is passed, there will only be a national-level central GST and a state-level GST spanning the entire value chain for all goods and services, with some exemptions.

Chanda Kochhar’s Heartwarming Letter to Daughter

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Most people know Chanda Kochhar as the top honcho of one of India’s largest private banks, an inspiration for working women across the globe, a Padma Bhushan awardee, and recently also listed among the most powerful businesswomen in Asia by Forbes. However, this letter from the ICICI Bank Managing Director and CEO to her daughter gives us an insight to the woman and working mother behind the super-achieving professional. And for every daughter growing up with a working mother, this letter is a must read.

“As a parent with a full time job, one must not let work affect the way you relate to your family. Remember the time you were studying in the US and the announcement of my becoming MD and CEO of ICICI was splashed across all newspapers? I remember the mail you wrote to me a couple of days later. ‘You never made us realize that you had such a demanding, successful and stressful career. At home, you were just our mother,’ you wrote in your email. Live your life in the same way, my darling,” says the top banker in the letter, which appears in Sudha Menon’s book ‘Legacy: Letters from Eminent Parents to Their Daughters’. The letter has received a lot of appreciation on social media. Ms Kochhar has even been trending on Facebook since Thursday.

In her poignant letter, Ms Kochchar talks about growing up without her father who died when she was only 13 and her mother became a working single parent. She relates the lessons she learnt as a child to the time she became a working mother herself to her children, Aarti and Arjun.

“If you had complained and whined about my extended absence from home, I would never have had the heart to make a career for myself. I am blessed with a great and supportive family and I really hope you too will be as fortunate when you set out on your own,” she writes in the letter, which is full of heartfelt advice for her daughter, coupled with anecdotes from both her personal and professional life. 

The letter makes for a beautiful read for all women, mothers or daughters. Read the letter in its entirety below. This one cannot be missed.

Dear Aarti, 

It makes me feel so proud today to see you standing in front of me as a confident young woman right on the threshold of an exciting journey through life. I am looking forward to seeing you grow and flourish in the years ahead.

This moment has also brought back memories of my own journey, and the life lessons I learnt along the way. When I think of those times, I realize that most of these lessons were actually learnt in my childhood, mostly through examples set by my parents. The values that they instilled in my formative years gave me the foundation on which I try to live my life even today.

Our parents treated all three of us – two sisters and a brother – equally. When it came to education, or our future plans, there was no discrimination between us based on our gender. Your grandparents always had the same message for the three of us – that it was important to focus on what gave us satisfaction and to work towards it with utmost dedication. That early initiation enabled us to develop into confident individuals capable of taking decisions independently. This also helped me when I started out on my own journey of self- discovery.

I was only a young girl of 13 when my father passed away from a sudden heart attack, leaving us unprepared to take on life without him. We had been protected from life’s challenges so far. But without warning, all that changed overnight. And my mother, who had been a homemaker till then, faced the responsibility of raising three children all on her own. It was then that we realized how strong she was and how determined to do her duty in the best possible manner. Slowly, she discovered a flair for designing and textiles, found herself a job with a small firm, and quickly made herself indispensable to them. It must have been challenging for her to shoulder the responsibility of bringing up her family single- handed, but she never let us feel like it was a task for her. She worked hard till she saw all of us through college and we became independent. I never knew that my mother had such a wealth of self-assurance and belief within her.

As a parent with a full time job, one must not let work affect the way you relate to your family. Remember the time you were studying in the US and the announcement of my becoming MD and CEO of ICICI was splashed across all newspapers? I remember the mail you wrote to me a couple of days later. ‘You never made us realize that you had such a demanding, successful and stressful career. At home, you were just our mother,’ you wrote in your email. Live your life in the same way, my darling.

I also learnt from my mother that it is very important to have the ability to handle difficult situations and keep moving forward in life, no matter what. Even today I can remember the equanimity and calmness with which she handled the crisis on hand when my father passed away. You have to handle the challenges and emerge stronger from them, rather than allow them to bog you down. I remember how, in late 2008, we were faced with a situation where ICICI Bank’s survival was in jeopardy in the face of a global economic meltdown. The situation was being analysed with a hawk’s eye by major media platforms and debated widely in the public space… I got down to work, systematically communicating with all stakeholders – from the smallest depositor to the sophisticated investors, and from regulators to the government – the bank was sound and its exposure to these institutions involved a small portion of its assets. I understood their concern because so many of them feared that their hard earned savings in our bank could be at risk. I also advised staff across the bank’s various branches to lend a sympathetic ear to those depositors who turned up to withdraw their money, telling them to also offer the depositors a seat and a glass of water while they waited. And though, depositors were welcome to withdraw their money if they wanted to, our staff also took care to explain to them that it would not help them to take their money away, because there was no real crisis situation.

It was during this period that I took a couple of hours off one day to attend your brother’s squash tournament. I did not know it then, but my very presence at the tournament went a long way in reinstalling customer confidence in the bank. A few mothers at the tournament came and asked me if I was Chanda Kochhar from ICICI Bank and when I replied in the affirmative they said that if I could still find time to attend a tournament in the midst of a crisis, it meant that the bank was in safe hands and they need not worry about their money!

It was also from my mother that I learnt the importance of adapting to circumstances and not being afraid of the unknown. While working hard for my career, I looked after my family, and have been there for my mother and in-laws when they needed me around. They reciprocated in kind with their unconditional love and support for my career. Remember that relationships are important and have to be nurtured and cherished. Also keep in mind that a relationship is a two way street, so be ready to give a relationship just as you would expect the other person to be giving to you.

My career would not have progressed the way it did were it not for your father who never once complained about the time I spent away from home. Your father and I nurtured our relationship despite the fact that we were both busy with our own careers, and I am confident you will do the same with your partner, when the time comes. If you had complained and whined about my extended absence from home, I would never have had the heart to make a career for myself. I am blessed with a great and supportive family and I really hope you too will be as fortunate when you set out on your own!

I remember the day your board exams were about to commence. I had taken leave from work so that I could take you to the examination hall myself. When you realized I was coming, you told me how you were used to going for your exams alone for so many years. It hurt me to hear you say that, but I also think in some ways, having a working mother made you much more independent from a very young age itself. You not only became independent, but also stepped into the nurturer’s role for your younger brother and never let him miss my presence. I learnt to have trust and faith in you and you have now grown into a wonderful, independent woman. I now use the same principle at work to make our growing population of younger talent take on larger responsibilities.

I believe in fate but I also believe that hard work and diligence plays a very important role in our lives. In a larger sense, we all write our own destiny. Take destiny in your own hands, dream of what you want to achieve, and write it in your own way. As you go ahead in life, I want you to climb the path to success one step at a time. Aim for the sky, but move slowly, enjoying every step along the way. It is all those little steps that make the journey complete.
 
As you go forward, you will sometimes have to take difficult decisions, decisions that others might scorn at. But you must have the courage to stand up for what you believe in. Make sure you have that conviction to do what you know is right, and once you have it, don’t let skeptics distract you from your path.

Aarti, there is no limit to what a determined mind can achieve, but in achieving your goal, don’t compromise on the values of fair play and honesty. Don’t cut corners or compromise to achieve your dreams. Remember to be sensitive to the feelings of people around you. And remember, if you don’t allow stress to overtake you, it will never become an issue in your life. 

Remember that good times and bad times will be part of your life equally, and you have to learn to handle both with equanimity. Make the most of life’s opportunities and learn from every opportunity, and challenge that life brings along.

Lovingly yours, 
Mumma

SBI Clerical batch commence from 15th April

SBI CLERK 2016 Fresh Batch

SBI Clerk 2016 notification is out. This time the written test will be conducted in two phases. The written test for the first phase will be conducted in the month of May 2016 (tentatively). IPCI Mumbai, the leader in Bank Exams Coaching, is offering specialized coaching classes for SBI Clerk Tier I and Tier II. Course duration will include daily classes for two hours, complete study material, online test series, doubt sessions and all other support to help you clear the exam.
Just to mentioned our results in Banking Sector. More than hundreds students have been selected in IBPS PO, Clerk & SO combined.  IPCI provides power packed and to the point coaching – specific to exams.

If you want to join IPCI for your  SBI Clerk 2016 Preparation, you can visit IPCI centre Mumbai Else, you can fill the below form, we will contact you shortly regarding this and will provide you detailed information.

  • Class duration: 2 Hrs daily
  • Class days: 5 Days
  • Test Series will be provided Free with the course

IPCI is pleased to announce Fresh Batches for SBI CLERK 2016. Details of the course are as given below –
Online Registration Click here

International Fleet Review 2016 concluded in Visakhapatnam

Visakhapatnam is getting ready to host a major international event – the International Fleet Review 2016 – in the first week of February. Earlier this month, the city hosted the Partnership Summit of the CII and the two events have given the image of the city a great fillip.

The IFR 2016 will be held here from February 4 to Feb 8  and more than 90 ships, 24 of them foreign, will participate in the event. It is intended to showcase the prowess and capabilities of the Indian Navy. President Pranab Mukherjee will review the fleet on February 6. INS Sumitra, an indigenously built naval offshore vessel, will be the presidential yacht.

On Feb 4, the Maritime Exhibition and IFR village will be inaugurated by Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu. A function will be held for the visiting chiefs of naval staffs from different countries and for other officials. On Feb 5, the AP Governor Narasimhan will participate in the opening ceremony. Cultural shows and performances will be held throughout the day in the city.

On Feb. 6 the main event – the review and the presidential banquet – will be conducted. On Feb. 7, there will be an international maritime conference in which Union Defence Minister Parrikar will participate. There will also be an operational demonstration and international city parade on the day in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi will participate.

During the final stages of the review, a mobile column of warships and submarines will steam past the presidential yacht. Several enthralling water front activities by sail boats, water skiing, a display by marine commandos and helicopter demonstrations will form part of the review.     

On Feb. 8, the international maritime conference will conclude and there will also be a closing ceremony in which the Chief of the Naval Staff, Admiral R.K Dhowan, will participate.

Security has been tightened in the city in view of the IFR and it is only second time the IFR is being conducted in the country – the first IFR being conducted off Mumbai coast in February 2001. The dolphin has been chosen as the mascot for the IFR depicting friendship across oceans and the theme is “United by oceans.”