Feature
Jaitley confident of GST rollout by 2016
Hong Kong: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Monday expressed his confidence that the new goods and services tax (GST) regime will roll out from next fiscal despite the pending issues regarding direct tax.
“The Congress is trying to delay the new tax regime. But one must remember, it is a transactional tax and not an income tax,” he said here at a press meet.
Jaitley has gone to Singapore and Hong Kong on a four-day official tour. He expressed his confidence that the GST will be passed in the Rajya Sabha in the next session.
Jaitley, however, added it was not necessary to implement the new regime from April 1, 2016, itself and since it is a transactional tax it can come into effect from the first date of any other month.
“It (GST) can come up on the first of any month. Delay from April 1 does not mean that it will go to April 1 of the next year. That only happens in income tax,” he added.
Talking about the retrospective tax and minimum alternate tax (MAT) issues in India, Jaitley said: “For the future, retrospective tax and MAT are over. Transfer pricing has been resolved. It is not that we have been only talking about these things, we have been acting on it as well.”
Regarding the impact of Chinese economic slowdown, the finance minister said it will affect the stock markets. “Any change in Chinese currency will impact the currency market.”
He also added that Chinese investments in India are very much welcome.
The minister said the high cost of capital was affecting several sectors and domestic private sector investments have been slow.
“The cost of capital is still high. Therefore, it is impacting infrastructure and manufacturing. Its impact on real estate sector which is an important growth engine in India is itself being felt,” he said.
Asked about his expectations from the apex bank – the Reserve Bank of India’s – next monetary policy move, he said: “Let us leave it to RBI.”
The State Scores Extra High on Gaming-Friendly Industry Index
Meghalaya scored 92.85 out of 100 possible points in a Gaming Industry Index and proved to be India’s most gaming-friendly state following its recent profound legislation changes over the field allowing land-based and online gaming, including games of chance, under a licensing regime.
The index by the UK India Business Council (UKIBC) uses a scale of 0 to 100 to measure the level of legalisation on gambling and betting achieved by a state based on the scores over a set of seven different games – lottery, horse racing, betting on sports, poker, rummy, casino and fantasy sports
Starting from February last year, Meghalaya became the third state in India’s northeast to legalise gambling and betting after Sikkim and Nagaland. After consultations with the UKIBC, the state proceeded with the adoption of the Meghalaya Regulation of Gaming Act, 2021 and the nullification of the Meghalaya Prevention of Gambling Act, 1970. Subsequently in December, the Meghalaya Regulation of Gaming Rules, 2021 were notified and came into force.
All for the Tourists
The move to legalise and license various forms of offline and online betting and gambling in Meghalaya is aimed at boosting tourism and creating jobs, and altogether raising taxation revenues for the northeastern state. At the same time, the opportunities to bet and gamble legally will be reserved only for tourists and visitors.
“We came out with a Gaming Act and subsequently framed the Regulation of Gaming Rules, 2021. The government will accordingly issue licenses to operate games of skill and chance, both online and offline,” said James P. K. Sangma, Meghalaya State Law and Taxation Minister speaking in the capital city of Shillong. “But the legalized gambling and gaming will only be for tourists and not residents of Meghalaya,” he continued.
To be allowed to play, tourists and people visiting the state for work or business purposes will have to prove their non-resident status by presenting appropriate documents, in a process similar to a bank KYC (Know Your Customer) procedure.
Meghalaya Reaches Out to a Vast Market
With 140 millions of people in India estimated to bet regularly on sports, and a total of 370 million desi bettors around prominent sporting events, as per data from one of the latest reports by Esse N Videri, Meghalaya is set to reach out and take a piece of a vast market.
Estimates on the financial value of India’s sports betting market, combined across all types of offline channels and online sports and cricket predictions and betting platforms, speak about amounts between $130 and $150 billion (roughly between ₹9.7 and ₹11.5 lakh crore).
Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Delhi are shown to deliver the highest number of bettors and Meghalaya can count on substantial tourists flow from their betting circles. The sports betting communities of Karnataka, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana are also not to be underestimated.
Among the sports, cricket is most popular, registering 68 percent of the total bet count analyzed by Esse N Videri. Football takes second position with 11 percent of the bets, followed by betting on FIFA at 7 percent and on eCricket at 5 percent. The last position in the Top 5 of popular sports for betting in India is taken by tennis with 3 percent of the bet count.
Local Citizens will Still have Their Teer Betting
Meghalaya residents will still be permitted to participate in teer betting over arrow-shooting results. Teer is a traditional method of gambling, somewhat similar to a lottery draw, and held under the rules of the Meghalaya Regulation of the Game of Arrow Shooting and the Sale of Teer Tickets Act, 2018.
Teer includes bettors wagering on the number of arrows that reach the target which is placed about 50 meters away from a team of 20 archers positioned in a semicircle.
The archers shoot volleys of arrows at the target for ten minutes, and players place their bets choosing a number between 0 and 99 trying to guess the last two digits of the number of arrows that successfully pierce the target.
If, for example, the number of hits is 256, anyone who has bet on 56 wins an amount eight times bigger than their wager.
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