Sensex up by 122.68 points, capped at 31,179.08

The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on Monday opened at a positive note with the sensex crossing the 100-point mark and Nifty capped at 9622.80 points.

With Finance Minister Arun Jaitley providing relief to traders by extending the deadline for filing initial returns under the forthcoming Goods and Services Tax (GST) bill, the market opened with a surge in sensex by 122.68 points, with the current figure recorded at 31,179.08 points.

Meanwhile, oil prices witnessed a decline on Monday morning.

The top market gainers were Bajaj Auto and L&T.

In the 17th meeting of the GST council that was held on Sunday, it was decided that for the first two months, tax will be payable based on a simple return (form GSTR-3B) containing summary of outward supplies which will be submitted before 20th of the succeeding month. However, the invoice wise details in regular GSTR-1 would have to be filed for the month of July and August 2017.

"No late fees and penalty would be levied for the interim period, this is intended to provide a sense of comfort to the taxpayers and give them an ethos room to attune themselves with the requirements of the changed system," an official release noted.

The Council also decided to tax state-run lotteries and state authorised lotteries at 12 and 18 percent respectively, and to tax 28 percent in hotels starting from Rs. 7,500 and 18 percent below Rs. 7,500.