-Hindustan Times With petroleum, electricity, alcohol and other products kept out of the purview of GST, the gains to GDP will not accrue in the same proportion as projected, he says. Claims that the Goods and Services Tax (GST) will boost the country’s economic growth by 1.5 percentage points are “rubbish”, NITI Aayog member and economist Bibek Debroy said, hours before its roll out on midnight Friday. Debroy’s remarks contrast with finance minister...

-The Hindu The long-term benefits of GST are clear — the challenge is to quickly address the short-term obstacles The Goods and Services Tax (GST) is in force from today. The reform, touted as a “game changer” and the “reform of the century”, was deemed worthy of a launch on the midnight of June 30 in the Central Hall of the Parliament. Indeed, one is reminded of the famous speech by Pandit...

-VillageSquare.in Farmer producer companies have started to play an important role in procurement from smallholders, which guards against price crashes that has been plaguing marginalized farmers across the country despite record harvests The agricultural seasons of 2016-17 (Kharif and Rabi) have not been favorable for farmers across the country. In spite of the near-normal monsoon rainfall in India in 2016 coupled with record farm production, wholesale and retail prices for agricultural commodities...

-BusinessWorld.in There simply are no easy solutions to the crisis in Indian agriculture, a product of decades of neglect and poor policies It is quite macabre, really — the barely concealed glee that seems to course through liberal analysts and intellectuals whenever it looks like Prime Minister Narendra Modi is heading for trouble. Macabre, because as the latest series of protests and events centred around farmers show, it is as ghoulish as...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: With just a day to go before the roll out of goods and services tax (GST) in India from July 1, the country's drug industry fears that there may be a temporary shortage of medicines as many traders and chemists are yet to comply with the norms. Though the All India Organisation of Chemists and Druggists, which represents over 8 lakh chemists, has assured the government...