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The Gujarat government announced a 20 percent reduction in value-added tax (VAT) on aviation turbine fuel (ATF) to bring the levy at 5 per cent in a move to boost tourism in the state. This was the second cut in VAT on ATF in less than a month.

The decision to reduce VAT on jet fuel was taken by Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel at a meeting, a state government release said.

"With the reduction of tax rate by 20 per cent, the effective VAT on ATF in Gujarat will be five per cent," the release said.

Complaints have piled up in the past couple of months against app-based ridesharing companies for cancellations. After offering a way for commuters to overcome their dependence on metered taxi operators -- be it taxis or auto rickshaws – cab aggregators have become as bad in terms of service if not worse.

The way out for app-based operators is not yet clear, but the complaints definitely put the back on the core issue of connectivity from airports or rather the lack of it -- especially on the public transport front.

Most global airports -- from Singapore’s Changi to London’s Heathrow -- have metro connectivity to the airports, In India, except Delhi, no other Indian airport offers metro connectivity. The one in Delhi was limited to Terminal 3 until recently.

Metro rail networks are being planned across multiple cities, which already have an airport or in the middle of airport expansion or in some cases planning to build a new airport, yet in most cases, the metro lines and the airport do not converge.

It seems as if the airports were never to be covered as part of the metro network. The Kolkata metro -- the oldest such rail network in India -- was completed in the 1980s, yet until now the airport is not connected with the metro.

Maximum struggle for new airports

Both Bengaluru and Hyderabad got their new airports in 2008. Five years earlier, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) was commissioned to prepare a feasibility report for Bengaluru metro. Two lines were recommended, none of which would connect to the airport.

Many years of delay later, the metro has been operational, but little has moved to connect the airport with a dedicated metro. As Bengaluru airport expands, it continues to rely on expensive cab rides to the airport; with passengers stuck in traffic and a wary eye on the watch to see if they would make it in time for the flight.

The airport luckily has better bus connectivity with dedicated airport routes, unlike many other cities. But a bus route via the arterial city centre of Bengaluru does not provide any solace from traffic.

Hyderabad’s metro was operationalised in 2017, nine years after the airport, but a route to the airport is still in the works. The 11.6-kilometre P V Narasimha Rao elevated road is the only alternative for a quick trip to Hyderabad city from the airport, which itself is in expansion mode and expected to reach a capacity of 34 million passengers per year by next year.

Airport connectivity not in the metro plan

The last couple of years has seen the government speed up metro connectivity in many cities. Mumbai - the second largest airport in the country, has had a controversial metro, but the airport is still not on the map, not yet!

Likewise, metros are in operation or on the verge of inauguration in Kochi, Jaipur, Bhopal, Varanasi, Pune and Patna, where there is no immediate plan to connect the airport to the metro network.

All these places have cultural, religious, tourism or business significance.

A few exceptions and future-ready

Lucknow metro’s red line starts at the airport, one of the few examples of airport and metro connectivity being part of the plan.

Chennai and Nagpur have airport metro stations but the planning has not exactly been ideal. The distance between Nagpur airport’s terminal and the metro station is over a kilometre away, likewise for Chennai.

The airports are working with the metro authorities for a feeder network with electric vehicles or buses.

Metros in Indore, Vizag and Coimbatore have plans to connect to the airports in the city as part of their initial metro lines but the rail network is still some time away and most of the infrastructure projects in the country have been delayed because of COVID-19.

Jewar airport is slated to open with a metro station in its forecourt.

Viability a concern

When the Delhi Metro’s airport line opened, it was operated by Reliance Infrastructure Ltd – an Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG) company. Reliance Infra started operation of the Delhi Airport Metro line -- which connected to Delhi Metro’s network in New Delhi and Dwarka Sector 21, was termed financially unviable by the private operator, leading to Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) taking over the line and reducing ticket prices to attract more passengers.

There are two views about airport metros -- one which talks about a dedicated line like in New Delhi, where the rakes are customised to carry air passengers’ luggage.

The other is to have the airport station as part of a larger metro network, where the line is viable without having separate rakes.

The bottomline would matter, but the convenience, security and cost of metro rail offers a bigger advantage than any other mode of transport. It is high time that airports and metro planning authorities act in sync to put in place a viable solution at a time when the aviation ecosystem is looking at becoming net zero on the carbon emissions front

India expects to achieve its export target of $400 billion in the current fiscal year that runs through March, the country’s Trade Minister Piyush Goyal said on Monday.

Ahead of assembly elections in five states, the government on Friday approved issuance of the 19th tranche of electoral bonds which will be open for sale from January 1 to 10.

Electoral bonds have been pitched as an alternative to cash donations made to political parties as part of efforts to bring transparency in political funding. However, Opposition parties have been raising concerns about alleged opaqueness in funding through such bonds.

"State Bank of India (SBI), in the XIX Phase of sale, has been authorised to issue and encash Electoral Bonds through its 29 Authorized Branches with effect from January 1 to January 10, 2022," the finance ministry said in a statement.

The 29 specified SBI branches are in cities such as Lucknow, Shimla, Dehradun Kolkata, Guwahati, Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram, Patna, New Delhi, Chandigarh, Srinagar, Gandhinagar, Bhopal, Raipur, and Mumbai.

Assembly elections for 5 states-- Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Goa-- are expected to be announced next month.

The sale of the first batch of electoral bonds took place from March 1-10, 2018. The 18th tranche of bond sale took place from September 1 to September 10, 2021.

According to provisions of the scheme, electoral bonds can be purchased by a person who is a citizen of India or entities incorporated or established in India.

Registered political parties that have secured not less than 1 per cent of the votes polled in the last election of Lok Sabha or legislative assembly are eligible to receive electoral bonds.

SBI is the only authorised bank to issue such bonds.

An electoral bond will be valid for 15 days from the date of issue. No payment would be made to any payee political party if the bond is deposited after expiry of the validity period, as per the statement.

The bond deposited by any eligible political party into its account would be credited on the same day.

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With the States incurring huge expenditure to combat the COVID-19 pandemic with substantial reduction in revenues, the Tamil Nadu government on Thursday sought the Centre to permit State borrowings of 5 percent of the GSDP without any conditions for 2022-23 fiscal. Also, Tamil Nadu demanded a comprehensive revival package for MSMEs severely affected by the pandemic induced lockdown besides a roll-back of the 12 percent tax (from 5 percent) for textile and apparel sector.

Addressing the pre-budget consultation meeting with finance ministers of States and Union Territories, chaired by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the national capital on Thursday, Tamil Nadu Finance Minister P T R Palanivel Thiagarajan said the Union Government's pre-conditions for availing additional borrowing limit of 1 percent (0.5 percent for capital expenditure and 0.5 percent for power sector reforms) of the GSDP, adversely affects the State finances and its patterns of expenditure.I urge the Union Government to permit the States to borrow unconditionally within the prescribed limits. Further, as the States have incurred huge expenditure to fight COVID-19 with substantial reduction in revenues, I urge the government to permit borrowing of 5 percent of GSDP without any conditions for 2022 – 23 fiscal, Thiagarajan stressed.

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Pointing out that the second COVID-19 wave had severely affected the MSME sector in Tamil Nadu due to closure during the lockdown, loss of demand, disruptions in supply chain and shortage of labour, the Minister called upon the Centre to develop a comprehensive revival package for MSMEs including concessional credit, loan moratorium and deferment of statutory dues. These, he argued was because the full benefits of the series of stimulus measures already announced by the Centre has not reached the last mile. A special infrastructure support scheme for creating export related to MSMEs may be announced, he said and wanted the Centre to reexamine the policy of SIDBI and include State Finance Corporations in extending low-cost funds for the benefit of the MSMEs.

Expansion of the VOC port in Thoothukudi with Outer Harbour project including dredging of upto 17 m draught in order to reduce dependency on Colombo port to trans-ship Indian goods, expediting the final sanction by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs for Chennai Metro Rail Phase II project for a 50:50 equity share between Tamil Nadu and the Centre, release of adequate funds for speedier execution and completion of railway projects pending in the State, funding for the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER) project and waiver of customs duty on wood imported for an international furniture park to be set up in Thoothukudi were among the projects which Thiagarajan hoped would be accommodated in the union budget.The Union Budget is an integral part of fiscal federalism and has assumed even greater significance at a time when the finances of all States are under severe stress due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Thiagarajan said and added that recognising the importance of adequate fiscal resources and autonomy, the fathers of the constitution provided States with some powers of taxation and mandated a sharing of taxes between Union and States.

This original balance which was already skewed against true fiscal federalism has been skewed even further towards the Union over a period of time. The increased levy of cesses and surcharges, which do not form part of the divisible pool of taxes, has adversely affected the transfer of resources to the States, he claimed.Cesses and surcharges as a proportion of the Gross Tax Revenue of the Centre have almost tripled from 6.26 percent in 2010-11 to 19.9 percent in 2020-21. In effect, States are deprived of a share in approximately 20 percent of the revenue collected by the Union. If these taxes were added to the divisible pool, the States would have obtained an additional transfer of approximately Rs 1.5 lakh crores as their share from the pool of central taxes in FY 2021-22.

While the share in taxes is a legitimate right and provides the State the autonomy to cater to local needs and aspirations, the grants-in-aid are discretionary and tied funds. This greatly impinges on the federal structure enshrined in the Constitution. I strongly urge the Union Government to merge the cesses and surcharges into the basic rates of tax so that the States receive their legitimate share in devolution, he said.

The government on Wednesday extended till February 28 the deadline for businesses to file GST annual returns for 2020-21 fiscal ended March 2021.

"The due date for furnishing annual return in FORM GSTR-9 & self-certified reconciliation statement in FORM GSTR-9C for the financial year 2020-21 has been extended from 31.12.2021 to 28.02.2022," the Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs (CBIC) tweeted.

GSTR 9 is an annual return to be filed yearly by taxpayers registered under the Goods and Services Tax (GST). It consists of details regarding the outward and inward supplies made or received under different tax heads.

GSTR-9C is a statement of reconciliation between GSTR-9 and the audited annual financial statement.

Furnishing of the annual return is mandatory only for taxpayers with aggregate annual turnover above Rs 2 crore while reconciliation statement is to be furnished only by the registered persons having aggregate turnover above Rs. 5 crore.

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