Top headlines: Auto,IT lead advance tax payment; Covaxin shows 77% efficacy

Strap: Business Standard brings you the top headlines on Wednesday

Top headlines of the hour: Auto, IT firms lead in advance tax collection, New rules for e-commerce may raise compliance burden, Private hospitals to order Covid jabs on CoWin platform from July

Automobile, IT firms lead in advance tax collection
 

Sharp growth in advance tax payment by India Inc has been led mainly by automakers and technology giants including Maruti Suzuki, Hero MotoCorp, Tata Consultancy (TCS), and Infosys.

These four companies reported a jump between 44 per cent and 200 per cent in the April-June quarter of this financial year on account of a low base. Financial institutions such as State Bank of India (SBI) and ICICI Bank reported lower but double-digit growth in tax payment. Read more

New rules likely to raise e-commerce companies' compliance task

The new e-commerce rules, as proposed in by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, will impact a wide range of companies, across sectors, including the likes of Swiggy, Zomato, BigBasket and several others, increasing their compliance burden.

Government officials said taxi aggregators such as Ola, Uber, food aggregators, such as Zomato, Swiggy, online grocery stores such as BigBasket, among others, will fall under the ambit of the proposed consumer protection rules. Consumer Affairs Additional Secretary Nidhi Khare said  that the rules will be applicable to all e-commerce companies. Read more

Private hospitals to book vaccines at CoWin portal 

Private hospitals will be able to book Covid-19 vaccine doses directly on the CoWin platform from July onwards and make advance payments too, indicated multiple private hospital sources.

The quantum of doses a hospital can purchase, however, will depend on its past track record of vaccination. Union Ministry of Health has conveyed to hospitals that from July onwards a single-window system will be in place for vaccine ordering and procurement which will cover Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin and Serum Institute of India’s Covishield. Read more

Infosys to resolve major issues with new tax filing portal

Infosys has assured the Central government that major issues with the new tax filing portal such as e-proceedings, viewing the previous year’s income tax returns (ITRs), downloading relevant forms including TDS, foreign remittances, etc will be resolved in a week.

The IT major which is also a service provider of the income-tax portal 2.0, said this on Tuesday during a meeting with Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, senior ministry officials, chartered accountants, and other stakeholders. Read more

Bharat Biotech's Covaxin shows over 77% efficacy in phase 3 trials

Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin, India’s first indigenous vaccine against Covid-19, has shown 77.6 per cent efficacy in the final analysis of phase 3 clinical trials, according to sources in the expert panel.

The vaccine has shown an efficacy rate of 93 per cent against severe disease and 60 per cent against asymptomatic Covid-19. Read more