NEW DELHI, Dec 1: The collections from Goods and Services Tax (GST) grew by 11 per cent to about Rs 1.46 lakh crore in November on increased consumer spending and better compliance.
This is the ninth month in a row that the revenues have remained above the Rs 1.4 lakh crore mark. However, the collection in November was the lowest since August.
In October, GST collections had touched the second-highest level of Rs 1.52 lakh crore on festive spending.
The gross GST revenue collected in the month of November 2022 is Rs 1,45,867 crore of which Central GST is Rs 25,681 crore, State GST is Rs 32,651 crore, Integrated GST is Rs 77,103 crore (including Rs 38,635 crore collected on import of goods) and cess is Rs 10,433 crore (including Rs 817 crore collected on import of goods).
“The revenues for the month of November 2022 are 11 per cent higher than the GST revenues in the same month last year, which itself was Rs 1,31,526 crore,” the Finance Ministry said in a statement.
KPMG Partner Indirect Tax Abhishek Jain said continuing festive procurements, year-end reconciliations of input tax credits, credit notes, etc. would have played a significant role in the GST revenue uptick.
N.A. Shah Associates, Partner, Indirect Tax, Parag Mehta said the major factors for the increase in collections are the festive and wedding seasons.
“There has also been a major increase in sales for real estate and vehicle markets. Overall, there is substantial spending by consumers. Further, the authorities have been cracking down on tax evaders, defaulters, fake invoice instances etc,” Mehta said.
AMRG & Associates Senior Partner Rajat Mohan said GST collections for the month of October 2022 are encouraging and now it seems to be stabilizing around 1.5 lakh crores.
“October and November are festival months, which drove up purchases of goods and services, fueling GST numbers once again. In October, individuals splurged on real estate, automobiles, vacations, and other essential items,” Mohan said During November, revenues from the import of goods were 20 per cent higher and the revenues from the domestic transactions (including import of services) are 8 per cent higher than the revenues from these sources during the same month last year.
TIOL Knowledge Foundation, Chairman Shailendra Kumar said a very good sign is the sustained growth in IGST collections from imports, including services. This will cushion future growth in the economy.
Revenues from GST touched a record of about Rs 1.68 lakh crore in April. In May, the collection was about Rs 1.41 lakh crore, June (Rs 1.45 lakh crore), July (Rs 1.49 lakh crore), August (Rs 1.44 lakh crore), September (Rs 1.48 lakh crore), October (Rs 1.52 lakh crore) and November (Rs 1.46 lakh crore).
Tax Connect Advisory Partner Vivek Jalan said the Budgeted GST Revenue for the Government of India for 2022-23 was Rs 7.8 lakh crores out of which Central GST was Rs 6.6 lakh crore and compensation cess was Rs 1.2 lakh crore. It means that the budgeted GST collection is Rs 14.4 lakh crore approx. Till the month of November, Rs 11.91 lakh crore has already been done.
“Hence even if one takes a conservative estimate of Rs 5 lakh crore in the next 4 months, then the fiscal year would end with an uptick of Rs 2.5 lakh crore approx which is a 17 per cent growth over budget,” Jalan added. (Agencies)

New Delhi, Dec 1: Meta took down over 29.2 million pieces of bad content across 13 policies for Facebook and over 2.7 million pieces of such content across 12 policies for Instagram in India in October, the company said on Thursday.

Between October 1-31, Meta received 703 reports through its Indian grievance mechanism, and the company said it provided tools for users to resolve their issues in 516 cases.

“Of the other 187 reports where specialised review was needed, we reviewed content as per our policies, and we took action on 120 reports in total,” the social network said in its monthly compliance report under the IT (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021.

The remaining 67 reports were reviewed but may not have been actioned, said Meta.

On Instagram, the company received 1,377 reports through the Indian grievance mechanism.

“Of these incoming reports, we provided tools for users to resolve their issues in 982 cases. These include pre-established channels to report content for specific violations, self-remediation flows where they can download their data, avenues to address account hacked issues, etc,” said Meta.

Gujarat, Dec 1: Gujarat in its first phase of polling on Thursday recorded around 19.13 per cent voter turnout till 11 am.
The polling was brisk to moderate in different places in the state.
As per the Election Commision of India (ECI), Tapi recorded the highest voter turnout at 26.47 per cent while Devbhumi Dwaraka recorded the lowest voter turnout at 15.86 per cent.
The voter turnout in Amreli was 19 per cent, Bharuch recorded 17.57 per cent, Bhavnagar was 18.84 per cent, Botad at 18.50 per cent, Dangs at 24.99 per cent, Gir Somnath at 20.75 per cent, Jamnagar was at 17.85 per cent, Junagadh at 18.85 per cent, Kachchh was at 17.62 per cent and Morbi at 22.27 per cent.
Meanwhile, the voter turnout at Narmada was 23.73 per cent, Navsari was at 21.79 per cent, Porbandar was at 16.49 per cent, Rajkot was at 18.98 per cent, Surat was at 17.92 per cent, Surendranagar was at 20.67 per cent and Valsad was at 19.57 per cent.
The polling is underway in 89 constituencies spread across 19 districts of Kutch, Saurashtra and South Gujarat.
A total of 2,39,76,670 voters who will cast their votes by 5 pm today will decide the fate of 788 candidates who are in the fray for the first phase.
Out of the total number of electorates, 1,24,33,362 are males, 1,1,5,42,811 females and 497 are from the third gender. Over 4 lakh PWD voters are eligible to cast their votes. Nearly 9.8 lakh senior citizen voters (80+) and nearly 10,000 voters who are 100 and above are eligible to vote.
According to the EC, there are 5,74,560 voters who are between 18 to 19 years of age while 4,945 voters are above 99 years of age. There are 163 NRI voters, of which 125 are men and 38 are women.
There are 14,382 voting centres, out of which 3,311 are in the urban areas and 11,071 in the rural areas.
Among prominent candidates, Gujarat Chief Minster Bhupendra Patel is contesting from Ghatlodia, AAP Chief Ministerial candidate Isudan Gadhvi from Khambhaliya, former Congress leader and BJP candidate Hardik Patel from Viramgam, former Congress leader and now BJP candidate Alpesh Thakor from Gandhinagar South.
AAP state president Gopal Italia is contesting from Katargam constituency, Gujarat Home Minister Harsh Sanghavi from Majura, Rivaba Jadeja from Jamnagar North, former Gujarat minister Parshottam Solanki from Bhavnagar Rural, Kunwarji Bavaliya from Jasdan, Kantilal Amrutiya from Morbi and Jayesh Radadiya from Jetpur.
The counting of votes will be done on December 8. Results of the Himachal Pradesh Assembly election will also be declared on the same day. (Agencies)

NEW DELHI, Dec 1: As India began its G-20 presidency from Thursday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said it will work to further promote oneness, inspired by the theme of “One Earth, One Family, One Future”, and listed terror, climate change, pandemic as the greatest challenges that can be best fought together.
India’s G20 priorities will be shaped in consultation with not just our G20 partners, but also our fellow-travellers in the global South, whose voice often goes unheard, he said.
India’s G20 agenda will be inclusive, ambitious, action-oriented, and decisive, he added.
“Let us join together to make India’s G20 Presidency a Presidency of healing, harmony and hope. Let us work together to shape a new paradigm — of human-centric globalisation,” he said in an article which appeared in several newspapers and was posted on his website too.
The country looks forward to working on encouraging sustainable lifestyles, depoliticising the global supply of food, fertilizers and medical products among other subjects, the prime minister said in a series of tweets.
He said, “I firmly believe now is the best time to go further still and catalyse a fundamental mindset shift, to benefit humanity as a whole.”
Gone is the time to remain trapped in the the same old zero-sum mindset, which has led to both scarcity and conflict, the prime minister said.
“It is time to get inspired by our spiritual traditions which advocate oneness and work together to solve global challenges,” he added.
“As India assumes this important mantle, I ask myself — can the G20 go further still? Can we catalyse a fundamental mindset shift, to benefit humanity as a whole? I believe we can,” he said in the write-up to share his thoughts on the significant milestone for Indian diplomacy.
“Our mindsets are shaped by our circumstances as through the history, humanity lived in scarcity. People fought for limited resources because their survival depended on denying them to others. Confrontation and competition between ideas, ideologies and identities became the norm,” he said.
“Unfortunately, we remain trapped in the same zero-sum mindset even today. We see it when countries fight over territory or resources. We see it when supplies of essential goods are weaponised. We see it when vaccines are hoarded by a few, even as billions remain vulnerable,” he said.
If humans were inherently selfish, what would explain the lasting appeal of so many spiritual traditions that advocate the fundamental one-ness of us all, he asked.
Modi said, “One such tradition, popular in India, sees all living beings, and even inanimate things, as composed of the same five basic elements – the panch tatva of earth, water, fire, air and space. Harmony among these elements – within us and between us – is essential for our physical, social and environmental well-being.”
He added, “India’s G20 Presidency will work to promote this universal sense of one-ness. Hence our theme — ‘One Earth, One Family, One Future”.
Today, the world has the means to produce enough to meet the basic needs of all people. “Today, we do not need to fight for our survival — our era need not be one of war. Indeed, it must not be one,” he said.
Fortunately, today’s technology also gives us the means to address problems on a humanity-wide scale, he said, adding that India with one-sixth of humanity and with its immense diversity of languages, religions, customs and beliefs is a microcosm of the world, he added.
For imbuing hope in our future generations, India will encourage an honest conversation among the most powerful countries on mitigating risks posed by weapons of mass destruction and enhancing global security, he said.
As the “mother of democracy,” India’s national consensus is forged not by diktat but by blending millions of free voices into one harmonious melody, he said.
India is now the fastest growing large economy and its “citizen-centric governance model” takes care of even its most marginalised citizens, while nurturing the creative genius of its talented youth, he said.
“We have leveraged technology to create digital public goods that are open, inclusive and inter-operable. These have delivered revolutionary progress in fields as varied as social protection, financial inclusion, and electronic payments,” he said. (Agencies)