'Will get rid of Angel tax after Cong comes to power': Rahul Gandhi
Bengaluru, Mar 18: Congress President Rahul Gandhi Monday said that angel tax goes counter to the philosophy of startups and his party would get rid of it on coming to power.
"I have been informed about the angel tax and angel tax goes counter to the philosophy of startups...we are going to get rid of this tax.
When we come to power, we will scrap it...you can call me on that one," Gandhi said.
The Congress chief was speaking to a gathering of entrepreneurs at a technology park here.
To a question on GST by a participant, Gandhi, calling it a "disaster", said the Congress, on coming to power, will work to give "one GST", which is simple and lowest tax possible.
Stating that the Congress had come up with the idea of the Goods and Services Tax with an aim to simplify things, he said the current government launched it in a hurry.
"Frankly it is a disaster. The definition of GST is one tax, so even though this government calls it a GST, it is not.
It is five different layers of taxes and it is counter productive," he said.
"We are pretty clear we are going to get rid of this GST, we are going to reform it and we are going to work to give one GST, which is simple and lowest tax possible," he said.
Also noting that the existing GST leaves out huge chunks of the Indian economy, he said some of those things are going to be brought into it.
"It is perfectly doable..." he said, adding that GST was a "self inflicted" wound by the current government and it has had a devastating effect, very much like demonetisation.
To a question on the e Commerce policy, Gandhi conceded that he had not gone into the details of the policy, but promised to look into it on coming to power.
"I haven't gone into the details of it. I have to go into the details before I comment.
I have been given a little bit of a briefing on it.
I think there are issues with warehousing in the policy, that I have been told about.
There is a balance that has to be created between the large and small players...
I don't know how the policy creates the balance, but I think we would think about in terms of being fair to all the stakeholders," he added.
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Surat spiritual guru among seven held in Rs 2.38 crore fake currency racket in Ahmedabad
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Ahmedabad (PTI): City police has seized high-quality counterfeit Indian currency with a face value of Rs 2.38 crore and apprehended seven persons, officials said on Thursday.
Acting on a tip-off, the crime branch apprehended the accused, including a Surat-based spiritual and yoga teacher, when they arrived here on Wednesday, and seized 42,000 fake notes Rs 500 denomination.
Mukesh Thummar, Ashok Mavani, Ramesh Bhalar, Divyesh Rana, Pradip Jotangiya, Bharat Kakadiya and a woman allegedly brought the high-quality Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICN) in an SUV which was intercepted near Amraiwadi area, said Deputy Commissioner of Police Ajit Rajian.
Pradip Jotangiya is a 'spiritual and yoga teacher' at Shree Satyam Yog Foundation in Surat. The SUV had a "VVVIP" sticker and a plate reading "Shri Satyam Yog Foundation Recognized by Ayush Mantralay, Govt. of India".
Currency bundles were recovered from a black bag and concealed packaging inside the vehicle, the official said, adding that the process to arrest the accused was underway.
A crime branch team was immediately sent to Surat, and in coordination with the Surat crime branch, another Rs 28 lakh in fake currency was seized from a house where notes were being printed. Some equipment was also seized, DCP Rajian added.
Mukesh Thummar was allegedly the kingpin of the racket and arranged equipment and raw material including printers and paper cutting machines, as per an official release. Counterfeit currency was being printed at the place for the last four months, it added.
The accused had procured security thread paper resembling RBI markings from Chinese sources through e-commerce platforms such as Alibaba, it said.
Probe also revealed that photo-editing software and AI-based platforms such as ChatGPT were used to refine the design, layout, and visual features of counterfeit notes. One of the accused had expertise in graphic editing and printing processes.
The accused initially tested the counterfeit notes by using them in a few transactions. After gaining confidence that the fake currency was not being detected, they engaged agents to produce additional notes, Rajian said.
The accused will be produced before a court later on Thursday and police will seek their custody, he said.
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