Business Today 20-Oct-19

THE PREOCCUPATIONS and sensibilities of the super rich and the merely wealthy shape trends in the luxury market. It is tempting to think that purveyors of luxury have an easy life – after all, it is a largely recession-proof market because the number of wealthy people is going up, whether the economy is doing well or badly – but in reality, they have to be acutely conscious of the shifting tastes of their customers. Many luxury brands have fallen, because they have failed to anticipate the sudden changes in tastes of the clientele. While the latter statement is true for all products (and services), it is especially true in case of the luxury market. That is because their clientele can afford anything that money can buy and also have a…

STAY CONNECTED WITH US ON www.facebook.com/BusinessToday@BT_India Why Reliance JioFiber Is Not So Disruptive, After All For a telco which has been dictating the tariff structure in the wireless segment, the pricing of Jio’s fixed broadband services is unlikely to cause trouble to incumbents such as Bharti Airtel and BSNL businesstoday.in/telco-jiofiber How New-age NBFC Players Are Holding the Fort Amid Economic Slowdown With a slowing economy and falling income levels, NBFCs are staring at fresh challenges. However, some are doing well businesstoday.in/economic.slowdown-nbfc Attack on Aramco May Delay India’s Economic Recovery Oil may become a worry for India. The current account and fiscal deficits are likely to take a hit if oil prices continue to rise businesstoday.in/aramco-oilprices PERSPECTIVES You Get Only ₹1 lakh if Your Bank Goes Bust; Time to Revise 26-yr-old…

IN THE FOURTH tranche of measures announced to tackle the economic slowdown, corporate tax rate for domestic companies that do not avail of any tax incentive has been slashed to 22 per cent from 30 per cent (or 25 per cent) earlier. Effective corporate tax rate after surcharge now amounts to 25.17 per cent. A CARE Ratings study looks at the impact of this new tax regime on 2,337 companies from a sample of 3,170 companies which had positive profit before tax (PBT) in FY19. The cumulative PBT of these companies were about ₹8.84 lakh crore and the total tax paid was ₹2.37 lakh crore with an effective rate of 27.5 per cent for FY19. Of these, 1,192 companies paid taxes at a rate higher than 25.2 per cent. If…

AFTER NEARLY A month of uncertainty over a GST cut for cars, which ultimately came to naught, the domestic automobile industry is in a dilemma on whether it can or should pass on part of the benefit of reduced corporate taxes to consumers as heavier discounts. In the midst of a prolonged slump in demand, high inventory coupled with the need to liquidate all BS IV vehicles before March 31, 2020, the temptation to reduce prices ahead of the festive season is high. But clarity on whether there is ground for this is not there. Companies with a significant commercial vehicle portfolio like Mahindra and Tata already pay less taxes – 24.17 and 15.77 per cent, respectively – than the reduced rate of 25.17 per cent announced by Finance Minister…

IN A RECENT media interaction, the Finance Minister reiterated that despite the recent cuts in corporate tax, the government is neither going to deviate from the path of fiscal prudence nor is it going to cut expenditures. The minister may be confident, but the fiscal math and economic realities of the day seem to suggest the contrary. The corporate tax cuts could have a net impact of 0.4-0.5 per cent of GDP (after reducing the state burden) on the fiscal deficit target. There are already murmurs in the finance ministry corridors about tax collection falling short to the tune of ₹1.5-2 lakh crore. This could get worse given the slowdown in the economy in the first half of the year. Amidst all this, the only way the government can still…

OF LATE, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal has been exhorting Indian manufacturers to shed inhibitions over the country signing free trade and economic partnership agreements with other countries and regional blocs. Goyal’s assertions are beginning to make sense now, especially after the latest round of stimulus measures announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. The biggest worry of industry, becoming uncompetitive in the wake of increased imports from other FTA partners, has been partially taken care of by the decision to lower corporate tax. At the current rate (15 per cent for new industries), companies can price products competitively in the home market, and try to be part of the global value chain by exporting it to FTA partners. What needs to be seen is whether the government will take the FTA…