Weekend Snacks: Taxing games, importing licences, and the Ambani way

 Weekend Snacks: Taxing games, importing licences, and the Ambani way

In which we chow down on the week's worth of news and opinions Beginning in 1991, when India implemented its well-documented economic reforms and liberalisation, import permits were mostly removed.

 

or so we believed. The week's top story implies the opposite. The government placed import limitations on laptops, tablets, personal computers, and other comparable data processing devices on Thursday in response to "security risks". China was not named, but because of the limitations, only "trusted partners" may be used to obtain such things through a licencing system.

This decision, according to T N Ninan, makes this a season of lousy ideas. He claims that while the goals (security and import substitution) are worthwhile, the path to India's former economic hell was always paved with good intentions.

Personal computer manufacturers intended to obtain a three-month grace period from the Directorate General of Foreign Trade before enforcing the limitations.

 

According to the latest information, the government will probably decide "soon" whether to accept the industry's request to postpone the plan to need import permits for laptops and tablets by three to six months. 

 

Reliance Retail announced the release of JioBook on Monday, saying it will cost Rs 16,499, making it one of the most reasonably priced laptops with 4G capabilities.

Isha Ambani, the head of Reliance Retail and the daughter of Mukesh Ambani, has demonstrated her Ambani roots with this jab at the base of the laptop pyramid. Can she repeat the feat her father accomplished with Jio? About the Ambani method, read this.

Other news...

 

The Goods and Services Tax Council modified its stance on Wednesday and agreed to impose a 28% tax on horse racing, casinos, and electronic gambling. However, they added that this tax would only be levied on the entry fee, not the sum of all wagers.

 

The GST Council had authorised a uniform 28% tax on the whole "face value" of bets made on online games, in casinos, and on horse races on July 11. This brought the total tax rate to 28%.

The GST Council's July 11 decision, according to IAMAI, which represents online gaming firms, was a setback for India's ambition to have a $1 trillion digital economy by 2025.

 

The amended plan calls for a GST fee of 28% to be applied to sums that players deposit with online gambling operators. Contrary to the initial suggestion, which was to charge 28% of the stake for each game, this is done.

 

Why does this matter? 

Since Standard & Poor's in 2011, Fitch is the second significant agency to have revoked the United States' highly regarded triple-A credit rating. The White House responded angrily to the action, which startled investors because the debt limit situation had been resolved two months earlier.

 

Here is a look at what caused this and what effect it may have. Here is further information about the implications for the markets.

 

Tech that: News from the tech and startup worlds 

The Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, 2023, detailing the authorised acquisition, processing, and protection of private data, was tabled by the government in the Lok Sabha on Thursday. Additionally, it established fines for data breaches of up to Rs 250 crore.

 

From The Morning Show, see this

 

Suzuki's Gujarat manufacturing plant will be purchased by Maruti Suzuki India. Why? Does it have more going on than what's obvious? View it here.