Weekly News Roundup at 10:00 am on 31st December 2023

Let’s begin. The I-T department this week said that it has sent communication in the form of advisory to certain taxpayers where there is an apparent mismatch between disclosures in the ITR and information as received from the reporting entity. Amid social media posts regarding communication from the I-T department regarding mismatch in TDS/TCS deductions and ITR filing data, the department said such communication is to facilitate the taxpayers and make them aware of the information available with the I-T department regarding the transactions reported by the Reporting Entities during the year. The objective of the communication is to provide an opportunity to taxpayers & facilitate them to provide their feedback online on the Compliance Portal of the I-T department.

Speaking of income tax, surprising taxpayers with an unexpected and welcome gesture, the Income Tax Department had played the role of an early Santa Claus this year by unveiling the Income Tax Return Forms 1 and 4 for the Assessment Year 2024-25. These ITR Forms will be applicable for filing income tax returns concerning income earned during the previous year 2023-24 (between 01-04-2023 to 31-03-2024). Naveen Wadhwa, Vice President Research, Taxmann. had said that this unexpected early release not only marked a departure from the established timeline but also implied that taxpayers will have a more extended period to familiarize themselves with the changes, gather necessary documentation, and file their returns with greater precision.

Meanwhile, Flipkart Internet, the marketplace arm of Walmart-owned e-commerce giant Flipkart, posted a 50% growth in its logistics segment — the largest by revenue, helping the company boost its topline and cut losses by 9% during financial year 2022-23. The arm posted a loss of Rupees 4,027 crore in FY23, slightly lower than Rupees 4,420 crore it had posted in the preceding year, showed its RoC filing sourced through Private Circle. Even as expenses jumped 26%, a broad-based growth across its segment aided revenue growth, which rose 42% year-on-year to Rupees 14,846 crore. To bolster its last-mile logistics and doorstep delivery, Flipkart had picked up a minority stake in logistics startup Shadowfax in 2019 for $60 million.

In some more industry news, the once robust textile sector of Gujarat clocked a lacklustre performance in the year 2023 on the back of ongoing geo-political crises like the Israel-Palestine conflict. Data collated by the government indicates export slump of 8% from $ 5.10 billion in 2022 to $4.69 billion this year. Not only was the industry unable to capitalise on the recently concluded festive and marriage seasons to improve its fortunes but the continuous uncertainty on the geo-political may further push back the recovery of the sector for at least another quarter. Saurin Parikh, Chairman, Textile Task Force Committee, GCCI, said, quote, “Due to the ongoing geo-political crisis in the international markets, the textile industry is still struggling to crawl out of the demand crunch,” unquote.

Moving on. The Goods and Services Tax authorities have sent showcause notices to several listed companies, including Zomato, Bata India, ICICI Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank in the past few days for non-payment of taxes, according to separate statements issued by the companies. This week, Zomato told the exchanges that the Directorate General of GST Intelligence sent a showcause notice to the company, asking why an alleged tax liability of Rupees 401 crore along with interest and penalty for the period October 29, 2019 to March 31, 2022, should not be demanded from them. The alleged sum is based on the amounts collected by Zomato as delivery charges from the customers on behalf of the delivery partners during the referred period.

In other news, the country’s coal production increased 12.29 per cent to 664.37 Million Tonnes from April to December 25 this fiscal over the year-ago period, according to an official statement. The country’s coal output was 591.64 MT in the same period last year. “As per the latest statistics of the Ministry of Coal, the cumulative achievement in coal production during FY 2023–24, from April 2023 to December 25, 2023, has touched 664.37 MT, indicating a substantial 12.29 per cent growth compared to the corresponding period last year at 591.64 MT,” according to an official statement. The coal dispatch from April to December 25 increased to 692.84 MT over 622.40 MT in the year-ago period.

Lastly, the tech sector. OnePlus Ace 3 will officially arrive in China on January 4, 2024. The same phone is expected to be the blueprint of the India and global bound OnePlus 12R that’s due to release on January 23, 2024.cThe product’s dedicated listing page on OnePlus’s China website reveals the entire roaster of colours that the OnePlus Ace 3 will boast of. There are three to be specific. One, the hero colour “Mingsha Gold” was teased earlier and now, we know that the Ace 3 will also come in shades of blue and gray. The last two colours have been confirmed for the OnePlus 12R as well. OnePlus is calling them Cool Blue and Iron Gray.