International Tax Newsletter – August 2017

The Indian Tiffin XI – from BDO India

A bi-monthly publication from BDO India, “The Indian Tiffin” brings together business information, facilitating decision-making from a multi-dimensional perspective. The unique name of this thought leadership piece is inspired most literally by Indian tiffins, referring to home cooked lunches delivered to the working population by ‘dabbawalas’ – people who deliver the packed lunches (tiffins). In that same sense, the purpose of “The Indian Tiffin” newsletter is to deliver a variety of news to satiate your palate, from domestic and cross-border updates to India business perspectives. This issue covers:
 

• India Economic Update by Milind S.Kothari, Managing Partner, BDO India LLP. On 1 July 2017, the most anticipated and path-breaking business reform in the history of India i.e. the Goods and Service Tax (GST) was launched. Touted as a tax for new India, a digital India, it doesn’t just promote ease of doing business but also shows the way forward as ‘way of doing business.’
• Learn about deal announcements in the M & A Tracker from Rajesh Thakkar, Partner/Transaction Tax, Tax & Regulatory Services.  Hear about 105 M&A deals that were completed between May 2017, and July 2017, with an aggregated value of approximately $1.25 billion USD. Domestic deals dominated with 74 deals, followed by cross border deals with 31 deals.
• Featured Story by Amit Kumar Sarkar, Partner & Head – Indirect Tax.  India ushered into the goods and services tax (GST) regime, the biggest tax reform since independence—on 1 July 2017 to create one common market for 1.3 billion people. A single indirect tax regime has kicked into force in Asia’s third largest economy, dismantling inter-state barriers to trade in goods and services. It has been termed a potential game changer, undertaken by India in 70 years of independence, one that the government says is founded on the concept of “one nation, one market, one tax.” 
• Guest Column feature with Ashish Shah, Chief Operating Officer, Radius Developers.  There are several conversations since last year, that are talking about the know-how of the biggest game changing policy reform for regulating the real-estate sector – Real Estate Regulation and Development Act (RERA). Now, that RERA has finally come into effect with 31st July, 2017 as the deadline of state implementation of RERA rules, it is pertinent to analyze what it all means, for patrons to be equipped with the right information to facilitate informed decision making.