Bulls hold tight grip over Dalal Street

Bulls were holding a tight grip over the Dalal Street in early noon deals, with both Sensex and Nifty holding strong gains, aided by heavy buying at IT and Auto counters. Sentiments remained positive, as Union Minister of Commerce and Industry and Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution and Textiles, Piyush Goyal said that the Government is committed to fostering a conducive business environment and accelerating growth in Production Linked Incentive (PLI) sectors. Besides, Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI) co-founder Ajay Srivastava has said that six years after the rollout of the biggest indirect tax reform in India, Goods and Services Tax (GST) revenue of Rs 1.5 lakh crore every month has become a new normal and tax officers are focusing on dealing with fraudsters who are adopting newer modus operandi to game the system, causing loss to the exchequer.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed, as China's manufacturing activity continued to contract in June. The official survey results published by the National Bureau of Statistics showed that the manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index rose to 49.0 in June from 48.8 a month ago. The score came in line with expectations. However, a reading below 50.0 indicates contraction in the sector. The manufacturing activity shrank for the third consecutive month.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 64474.15, up by 558.73 points or 0.87% after trading in a range of 64068.44 and 64475.72. There were 28 stocks advancing against 2 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose by 0.41%, while Small cap index was up by 0.57%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 1.72%, Auto up by 1.68%, TECK up by 1.48%, Healthcare up by 0.78% and Bankex up by 0.61%, while Telecom down by 0.53% was the only losing index on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Mahindra & Mahindra up by 3.86%, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries up by 3.01%, Indusind Bank up by 2.98%, Infosys up by 2.30% and Maruti Suzuki up by 2.09%. On the flip side, ICICI Bank down by 0.42% and NTPC down by 0.21% were the only losers.

Meanwhile, Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI) co-founder Ajay Srivastava has said that six years after the rollout of the biggest indirect tax reform in India, Goods and Services Tax (GST) revenue of Rs 1.5 lakh crore every month has become a new normal and tax officers are focusing on dealing with fraudsters who are adopting newer modus operandi to game the system, causing loss to the exchequer. He said to apprehend black sheep, who operate as syndicates and create fake entities on the basis of forged documents to claim input tax credit (ITC), tax officers have started using data analytics, artificial intelligence and machine learning aiming to curb evasion, which was over Rs 3 lakh crore since inception of GST. It was over Rs 1 lakh crore in 2022-23.

Srivastava said the most critical pending GST reform is upgradation of GST Network to prevent fake supplies and fraudulent claims of Input Tax Credit (ITC). He said data analysis and physical checks alone cannot completely solve the problem. He noted that the GSTN should enable linking of invoice level information filed for claiming ITC by buyer (from GSTR 3B) with the information provided by input suppliers (GSTR 2A and GSTR 2B).

GTRI co-founder further said even after six years, the GSTN is unable to connect the supplies in a value chain, resulting in significant revenue loss to the government and causing problems for honest businesses. Issues like rationalisation of tax rates and slabs, levying GST on petrol, diesel and ATF, are still hanging fire. Tax experts are of the opinion that the GST Council must pursue these reforms to make GST more inclusive. However, in an election year, it is unlikely that the Centre and states will go ahead with these reforms.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 19120.95, up by 148.85 points or 0.78% after trading in a range of 19024.60 and 19123.20. There were 41 stocks advancing against 9 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Mahindra & Mahindra up by 3.87%, Indusind Bank up by 3.25%, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries up by 3.07%, Hero MotoCorp up by 2.60% and Infosys up by 2.45%. On the flip side, Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone down by 1.92%, Apollo Hospital down by 1.03%, HDFC Life Insurance down by 1.02%, Adani Enterprises down by 0.50% and ICICI Bank down by 0.35% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed; Nikkei 225 slipped 64.49 points or 0.19% to 33,169.65, Hang Seng declined 30.61 points or 0.16% to 18,903.75 and Taiwan Weighted lost 26.76 points or 0.16% to 16,915.54, while Straits Times rose 0.06 points or 0% to 3,207.34, KOSPI increased 14.26 points or 0.56% to 2,564.28 and Shanghai Composite strengthened 22.93 points or 0.72% to 3,205.31.