oppn parties Welcome Decision On Retrospective Tax

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  • Allahabad HC said that the UP Police is acting as law unto themselves as they detained a person unlawfully even before his arrest
  • Kolkata witnesses traffic snarls on the first day of the Durga Puja festival as revellers start pnadal-hopping
  • Neha Bora was subsequently released and Dipke is to appear before a magistrate today at noon
  • Delhi Police detained Cockroach Janta Party founder Abhijeet Dipke, Neha Bora of AISA, student leaders and supporters ahead of a rally in Connaught Place demanding Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar's resignation. The protest followed the detention and jailing of two CJP leaders earlier in the week over demonstrations at Jantar Mantar
  • The Reserve Bank of India is considering further monetary tightening to counter capital outflows and increase the cost of betting against the rupee, according to bankers and analysts cited by Reuters. The measures follow recent rate increases and steps to drain liquidity as pressure on the currency and inflation concerns persist
  • India directed oil marketing companies to stop diverting sugar-based feedstocks for ethanol production in the 2026–27 supply year, according to a new tender issued on Friday. The companies have invited bids for 11 billion litres of ethanol made from alternatives including corn and broken rice, amid concerns about domestic sugar supplies and prices
  • Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said India's trade imbalance with China was growing sharply and attributed the problem partly to restrictions on Indian goods and services entering the Chinese market. China subsequently said it was ready to work with India to address mutual economic and trade concerns; India's trade deficit with China reached $69 billion in the first half of FY2026–27, up 27% year-on-year
  • Indian equity benchmarks extended their recovery on Friday, with the Sensex rising 413.66 points to close at 74,729.27 and the Nifty 50 gaining 148.80 points to settle at 23,146.15. Information technology shares, including Tech Mahindra, Infosys and TCS, helped lift the indices
  • India defeated Zimbabwe by four wickets in the opening women's T20 International in Raipur, taking a 1–0 lead in the three-match series. Deepti Sharma and Niki Prasad combined in an 82-run stand after India's top order collapsed, helping the hosts chase down Zimbabwe's total of 114 for five
  • Indian wrestler Komal won bronze in the women's 59 kg category at the Under-23 World Wrestling Championships in Las Vegas, defeating Kazakhstan's Viktoriia Khusainova 7–2. Fellow Indian Amruta Pujari advanced to the women's 72 kg final after recording two pinfall victories
  • Indian shuttler Jagsher Singh Khangurra secured a bronze medal at the BWF World Junior Badminton Championships in Cairo
  • The Supreme Court of India upheld the Bombay High Court's decision quashing the 2020 write-off of ₹8,415 crore in additional tier-1 bonds issued by Yes Bank (Yes Bank). The court ruled that the bank's administrator lacked the authority to extinguish the bonds under the final reconstruction scheme, strengthening bondholders' claims
  • The Supreme Court issued notices to the Election Commission of India, Delhi Police and opposition leaders, including Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav, in separate petitions concerning electoral-roll revision and protests held in Delhi on October 10–12. The court also directed the preservation of CCTV footage linked to allegations of police excesses
  • The Supreme Court ruled that a person converting from Hinduism to Islam cannot automatically claim backward-class reservation benefits in the new religious community solely on the basis of their previous caste status. The judgment upheld the Madras High Court's decision striking down a 2024 Tamil Nadu government order that permitted such certification for specified communities
  • The Election Commission of India ordered a Special Summary Revision of electoral rolls in 14 states and three Union Territories, using January 1, 2027, as the qualifying date for voter eligibility. The draft rolls are scheduled for publication on November 12, claims and objections will be accepted until December 11, and the final rolls are due on January 4, 2027
Delhi HC refuses to ban CJP's Tiranga rally at Central Park in Connaught Place today /////// Police says will control and regulate it /////// NDMC closes the park for the public on Friday and Saturday
oppn parties
Welcome Decision On Retrospective Tax

By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2021-08-05 14:09:24

About the Author

Sunil Garodia Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator. Author of Cyber Scams in India, Digital Arrest, The Money Trap and The Human Hack

The government today took a huge step in making India an investor-friendly destination. It tabled a Bill, Taxation Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021 in the Lok Sabha that seeks to undo the damage of retrospective tax on indirect transfer of Indian assets that was introduced in the Finance Bill, 2012. It has also decided that it will refund the amount already collected under this retrospective tax, without interest, from companies like Cairns and Vodafone, if certain conditions are fulfilled by these companies. The government has also decided to reimburse legal costs, again without interest. The main conditions are that the companies will have to withdraw all litigations already filed and give an undertaking for not filing any new case on this matter and also furnish an undertaking that after the settlement under the proposed new law, they will not claim any costs, damages, interest etc. on this account.

It is good that the government has taken this step. It is wrong to change the goalposts in the middle of a game. When it is done by the government, it shows that it is trying to take unfair advantage from a done deal and is definitely tax 'terrorism'. It goes against ease of doing business. If laws are not transparent, prone to frequent changes and done with a desire to tax a deal with retrospective effect, they make a country an unfriendly investment destination. The NDA government, despite being painted as pro-rich and business friendly, continued to make the same mistake which the UPA government did by originally introducing the retro tax. It did not heed the arbitration awards in various international courts and sought to contest them, eroding further investor confidence. It also led to the ugly situation where Cairns got orders in its favour to seize Indian assets abroad to get refund.

The decision will come as a huge relief for the embattled Telecom major Vodafone-Idea which is hugely stressed and on the verge of closure if things do not work out soon. K M Birla has written to the government to buy his stake and has already stepped down from the board. It will also probably mean that Cairns will now withdraw the various cases it has filed against the GoI and settle the matter as per the new law. Both the government and the companies should now show flexibility and work things out smoothly. The government must also ensure that no such grossly unfair law is planned or introduced in future. 

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