[volkman10]

Market recovery in India to be slower than in China, owing to the severity of the lockdown in India: Skoda Volkswagen India boss

The lockdown in China was not as all-pervasive as it has been here. It was more severe in certain areas, less severe in other areas and even at the height of the lockdown, there were certain industries, certain zones that were continuing to work. So the hit to their economy was not to the same extent as ours. Also, the hit to smaller companies was a little less. In our case, I think the recovery will be significantly slower. Even though there are a lot of people saying that personal mobility will come to the fore – which is true – but will people be spending lakhs of rupees on a new car when they are not sure if they will still have a job? Thoughts like that will delay some of the buying

Skoda and Volkswagen have both lined up a number of new models for India. Before the lockdown was imposed, Volkswagen launched the BS6-compliant Polo and Vento, Tiguan Allspace and T-Roc. Skoda, too, is set to launch the Karoq, Superb facelift and Rapid 1.0 TSI as soon as the lockdown lifts, and both brands are set to launch all-new midsize SUVs developed under the India 2.0 plan, in 2021.

Link

[volkman10]

Auto sales figures in EU shows markets plunging in excess of 50%. April figures are not expected to be any better though.

- European sales plunge 52% in March

-The total marks the lowest since at least 1990

- Italy reporting the biggest drop of 85 percent

- Registrations drop 38 percent in Germany, 44 percent in the UK, 72 percent in France and 69 percent in Spain.

-Volkswagen Group's Europe sales dropped by 44 percent, while Renault Group and PSA Group posted falls of 64 percent and 67 percent respectively. Fiat Group registrations plunged 74 percent.

- BMW Group dropped by 40 percent, while demand for rival Daimler decreased by 41 percent.

Volkswagen withdrew its 2020 guidance due to uncertainty related to the new coronavirus outbreak which caused operating profit to drop 81 percent in the first quarter.

[AZT]

Nearly half of world workforce may lose job due to Covid-19 pandemic: UN body

Almost 1.6 billion workers in the informal economy face an immediate danger of losing their livelihoods, ILO has said

...

Globally, there are some 3.3 billion workers. Two billion have jobs in the informal economy, the most vulnerable workers in the labour market. The agency said 1.6 billion in the informal economy "have suffered massive damage to their capacity to earn a living" as a result of the economic meltdown triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic.

...

ILO Director General Guy Ryder said as the pandemic and the jobs crisis evolve, the need to protect the world's most vulnerable workers becomes even more urgent.
"For millions of workers, no income means no food, no security and no future. Millions of businesses around the world are barely breathing. They have no savings or access to credit," he said.

Read more: https://www.livemint.com/news/world/...214875137.html

[Swapnil4585]

Originally Posted by TD_GHY

The recent document prepared by the 50 young IRS officers is a classic case of understanding human nature. We, as humans, want to focus on only that aspect where we can criticize by pointing out the negative things of others, irrespective of the fact that there can be hundred good aspects within.

I don't know of the majority here, but myself being into tax practice, all I can infer from this report is that the part related to taxation is the only part, for the publicity of which, this report was penned.

The IRS fraternity is not known for discovering innovative ways to widen the tax base. It is best at "There are 3 people earning, 2 are not paying any tax. So tax the lone person so much, that the tax that should come from at least 2, is earned from the 1." The government whose (looks like only intention) is to abide by the FRBM Act, is least bothered and therefore when a report like this comes out, people miss out everything else and focus only on tax part.

[TD_GHY]

Originally Posted by Swapnil4585

I don't know of the majority here, but myself being into tax practice, all I can infer from this report is that the part related to taxation is the only part, for the publicity of which, this report was penned

The report was actually not intended to be publicised in the first place, but to be sent across to the Board and the Government for consideration, if anyone has followed the news pieces well. That it got out in the media and the negative parts got highlighted in the headlines, it has created such an impression. That was avoidable, no doubt about that. Since you are in the domain of tax practice, you should have known that people earning above 1Cr is not a significant lot, and taxing them an extra 10% is not going to stabilize or destabilize the economy.

In this light, sharing an article published in the website CA Club India, which is a website of repute among tax practitioners and administrators alike. It looks beyond the newspaper headlines and tries to understand the intent of the document and the real content behind it.

https://www.caclubindia.com/articles...uted-41282.asp

The IRS fraternity is not known for discovering innovative ways to widen the tax base. It is best at "There are 3 people earning, 2 are not paying any tax. So tax the lone person so much, that the tax that should come from at least 2, is earned from the 1." The government whose (looks like only intention) is to abide by the FRBM Act, is least bothered and therefore when a report like this comes out, people miss out everything else and focus only on tax part.

The reason why so few people pay direct taxes is simple - People in India don't earn that much. It's the reality. Anyone who thinks 2/3rd of Indians earn more than 5 lakh (or 7 lakh with deductions of 2 lakhs) is certainly living in a fools paradise. There is scope to increase the tax base no doubt, and it has been increasing, as can be witnessed post demonetization. But the extent to which it can be increased is not significant unless India as a whole grows, not just the "super rich". Let me quote a portion of the Wikipedia article on Income inequality in India which actually makes the FORCE document very sensible in this trying times of Corona virus.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inco...ality_in_India

Income inequality in India refers to the unequal distribution of wealth and income among its citizens. According to the CIA World Factbook, the Gini index of India, which is a measure of income distribution inequality, was 35.2 in 2011, ranking 95th out of 157.[1] Wealth distribution is also uneven, with one report estimating that 54 percent of the country's wealth is controlled by millionaires, the second highest after Russia as of November 2016.[2] The richest 1% of Indians own 58.4% of wealth. The richest 10 % of Indians own 80.7 % of the wealth. This trend is going in the upward direction every year, which means the rich are getting richer at a much faster rate than the poor.

The data in the article are not the latest figures, but definitely they will not be far off from these figures.

[AZT]

Got this as a forward. Not exactly the economic impact but more like the Human impact this virus is having. Definitely worth going till the end.
http://covid.xrlabs.cloud/home

[Chetan_Rao]

Originally Posted by TD_GHY

The report was actually not intended to be publicised in the first place, but to be sent across to the Board and the Government for consideration, if anyone has followed the news pieces well...

Public/media views on the policy content notwithstanding, did you miss the part where the IRS Association publicized the report and its submission to CBDT on its own Twitter account? The news just repeated publicly available info.

'Don't post stuff on Twitter you don't want to publicize' would be rather obvious, or so one would think.

[volkman10]

Maruti Suzuki records ZERO sales/dispatches in April 2020.

The nationwide lockdown meant that the country’s largest carmaker registered no sales last month. Maruti Suzuki however managed to export 632 vehicles from the Mundra Port which has resumed operations.


Link

[wheelguy]

Even M&M recorded zero domestic sales, while it managed to export 733 units in April 2020.

However, Mahindra's farm equipment division managed to sell 4,716 tractors in domestic market and 56 tractors in exports market!

Source

[V.Narayan]

March GST Collection Sinks to Rs 28,309 Crore, Down From Rs 1.13 Lakh Crore Last Year

https://www.news18.com/news/business...r-2600309.html

Excerpts....

Government officials said that collection numbers present a worrying trend, given that normal business activities were underway till March 24 when a nationwide lockdown was announced.

The tax collection would put additional pressure on the government that is facing demands for fiscal stimulus in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, raising concerns in the finance ministry over the amount that the Centre can hope to raise through taxes — both direct and indirect.

But officials said collections will likely improve as the last date to file returns for March has been extended till May 5. But they cautioned that the indirect tax collection could worsen in May and June as economic activity could take a while to pick up pace after the lockdown is lifted.

However, with business confined to essential goods and services, the amount of taxes coming during the first quarter is bound to be low, officials conceded.

I suspect April will be a lot worse. What is the result of -- Huge Deficit Financing x Lower Output. Is it steep inflation?

[AZT]

US Fed Punishes Prudence

The Fed will deploy more than $1.45 trillion in support of investors in leveraged assets—more than double the size of the 2008 Troubled Asset Relief Program, and over $7,000 for each working-age American. That includes $750 billion to purchase recently downgraded junk bonds and bond exchange-traded funds—an unprecedented intervention in the private credit markets.


Pumping trillions of dollars into corporate credit and even high-yield debt will further distort markets already shaped by a decade of easy-money policies. This is no abstract concern. The result will be an acceleration of two economy-wide transfers of wealth: from the middle class to the affluent and from the cautious to the reckless.

The transfer from the middle class to the wealthy continues a trend begun in the wake of the 2007-09 financial crisis.


But bankruptcies among highly leveraged businesses often pose surprisingly little risk to employment. More often than not, creditors choose to keep businesses staffed even when restructuring to retain value for the long-term. By preventing these bankruptcies, the Fed is doing more for equity holders and junior creditors than for employees.

Read More: https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-fed...ce-11587930994

[Swapnil4585]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

March GST Collection Sinks to Rs 28,309 Crore, Down From Rs 1.13 Lakh Crore Last Year

CNBC had twitted about this figure on April 29. As on April 30 however, it grew to 32000~ crore. The Board has not released the exact number of returns filed for the month of March 2020. Believe that it is less than 40%.

[volkman10]

History made: April 2020 will be remembered as the darkest month in the history of the Indian Automobile Industry.

This should probably be the first month of ZERO dispatches from the OEMs to the respective dealerships. The retail scenario remained the same and ZERO retails were done to the end customers as well.

Link

[Miyata]

Originally Posted by volkman10

History made: April 2020 will be remembered as the darkest month in the history of the Indian Automobile Industry.

Covid has been the great equalizer! In some ways it would be like starting off from a clean slate.

There will be a bit of mad rush once the gates are opened again for transactions. Hope they (dealers/manufacturers) are all strategizing - sweet finance deals; clever advertising; good insurance terms; great warranty terms; good deals and inventory of used cars; etc - to make the most then and chart out long term revival and profit plans.

[deetee]

While the Union Goverment is asking private firms and businesses not to sack employees, AP state government administered TTD has terminated 1400 contract employees, article: https://www.thehansindia.com/andhra-...streets-620325