Karnataka assembly passes bill to track, trace tobacco and arecanut to plug GST leakage
Bengaluru, Aug 14 (PTI): The Karnataka Legislative Assembly on Thursday passed a bill to implement a track-and-trace mechanism to plug GST leakage in tobacco and arecanut products.
Piloting the Karnataka Goods and Services Tax (Amendment) Bill for the consideration of the House, state Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda said there is a huge difference between sales and what's being declared.
With this bill, track-and-trace mechanism is being introduced into the value chain, using which all ingredients will be tracked, right from the primary product to the final product, and with the help of this, the volume of sales can be detected.
The Bill also aims to curb the misuse of input tax credit (ITC).
"Some people are illegally claiming ITC. There are ITC refund scams being widely reported. We need to apply a systemic fix for this...,” the Minister said.
Meanwhile, the Karnataka Decriminalisation (Amendment of Provisions) Bill was tabled in the Assembly.
The bill provides for tweaking 12 existing laws for “decriminalising and rationalising offences and to further enhance trust-based governance for ease of living and doing business”.
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West Asia: India supplied 22,000 MT of high-speed diesel to Bangladesh in March, says MEA
New Delhi (PTI): Amid the ongoing West Asia conflict, India has supplied 22,000 metric tonnes of high-speed diesel to Bangladesh in March and has received a request from Seychelles and the Maldives to meet their energy requirements, the MEA said on Friday.
At his weekly briefing, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal in his response to a query related to requests received from India's neighbouring countries for fuel amid the West Asia situation, also said that India is "finalising a government-to-government agreement" for the supply of oil and gas, which will play an important role in reinforcing energy security of Mauritius.
The conflict in West Asia has now stretched to nearly 50 days, with global ramifications.
"So, we have received requests from our neighbouring countries for supply of fuel, and these are being looked into, keeping in mind our own requirements, availability and refining capacity," Jaiswal told reporters.
He further said India has "supplied 22,000 metric tonnes of high-speed diesel to Bangladesh in March 2026, and further supplies have continued this month as well".
"You would recall that last month we had supplied 38 metric tonnes of petroleum products to Sri Lanka as well," he added.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar visited Mauritius last week, the MEA spokesperson said, adding, "We are finalising a government-to-government agreement for supply of oil and gas, which will play an important role in reinforcing the energy security of Mauritius".
As far as Nepal is concerned, there is an existing arrangement between Indian Oil Corporation and Nepal Oil Corporation to supply petroleum products to Nepal as per its requirements. The supplies are continuing without any interruption, he said.
Energy supplies to Bhutan also continue according to the existing arrangement.
"As I had mentioned earlier, we have received a request from Seychelles and the Maldives to meet their energy requirements. We continue to be in touch with them in this regard, and are considering the request keeping in mind our own domestic requirements and availability of fuel.
"I would also like to add that our neighbouring country governments have expressed appreciation for the uninterrupted supply, fuel supply to them during the West Asian conflict," Jaiswal said.
Global oil and gas prices surged after Iran restricted the transit of ships through the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow lane between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman that handles roughly 20 per cent of global oil and LNG trade.
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