Top Headlines: Advance tax collection up 146%; Nadella is Microsoft chair

The Centre may tighten the ‘country of origin’ norms for e-commerce players in a bid to push the sale of locally produced goods on their platforms. The advance collection of corporation tax and personal income tax in the first quarter grew 146 per cent over last year. Business Standard brings to you the top headlines on Thursday

Govt may tighten 'country of origin' norms for e-commerce players

The Centre may tighten the ‘country of origin’ norms for e-commerce players in a bid to push the sale of locally produced goods on their platforms.

This could be done through amendments to the Consumer Protection Rules, and may find mention in the much-awaited e-commerce policy, officials in the know said.

 
The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) has been working for the past two years on formulating a comprehensive policy to not only promote a flourishing e-commerce space in the country, but also address regulatory challenges. Read More

 

Advance tax collection surges 146% despite Covid-19-led economic disruption

The advance collection of corporation tax and personal income tax in the first quarter grew 146 per cent over last year, while overall net direct taxes doubled during this period compared to 2020, reigniting hopes of sustained economic recovery despite the disruption caused by the second wave of the pandemic.

Collection in the first quarter grew to Rs 28,780 crore against Rs 11,714 crore, the preliminary data released by the Central Board of Direct Taxes showed on Wednesday. Read More

Microsoft names Satya Nadella as board chairman

Microsoft Corp. named Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella as board chairman, strengthening his influence at the world’s largest software maker after more than seven years as the top executive.

Nadella, 53, succeeds John Thompson, who will return to the role of lead independent director, a position he held before being named chairman in 2014, Microsoft said Wednesday in a statement.

The change is a vote of confidence in Nadella, who was appointed CEO in February 2014. Thompson, 72, has been scaling back his work as chairman over the past few years, Microsoft said. The two have been discussing the new roles since last fall. Read More

We didn't expect flood of insolvency cases, says IBBI chairman M S Sahoo

 

Around 200 insolvency resolution applications have been filed since the suspension on provisions of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) ended on March 24, M S Sahoo, chairman of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI), said on Wednesday.

 
“We did not expect that there would be a flood of cases after the (end of) suspension. Now numbers show the same,” Sahoo told Business Standard.

He also said that not many applications had been filed under the prepackaged scheme brought in for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). Read More

 

IT firms set to slash 3 mn jobs by 2022 due to automation, says Report

With automation taking place at a much faster pace across industries especially in the tech space, domestic software firms that employee over 16 million are set to slash headcounts by a massive 3 million by 2022, which will help them save a whopping $100 billion mostly in salaries annually, says a report.

The domestic IT sector employs around 16 million, of them around 9 million are employed in low-skilled services and BPO roles, according to Nasscom.

Of these 9 million low-skilled services and BPO roles, 30 per cent or around 3 million will be lost by 2022, principally driven by the impact of robot process automation or RPA. Read More