When is Service Tax applicable for a Private Limited company ?

The very basic information: if your turnover is less than 10 lakh Rupees (Rs. 10,00,000) you do not need to charge Service Tax to your clients, thus you don't even need to have a number for it, i.e. you don't need to register yourself for this purpose.

But I was gladly surprised to discover some time ago that even if your total turnover is great than 10 lakhs you may still not need to charge Service Tax! And it all depends on what services you are providing.

There are certain services that according to the fiscal law they are not liable to Service Tax, thus if you are providing those services, you (and your clients) need not worry about this hassle.

Even better, it could be that your company is providing more than one service, some of them taxable and others not. As long as those that are not taxable do not exceed 10 lakhs, you need not charge Service Tax.

It's important that you confirm with your Chartered Accountant that you need not register for Service Tax, and in turn, he will have to do some thorough research about this issue. Also, remember that rules change every year and something that was not taxable last year, may become taxable the next one so be careful and keep an eye on this.

Just in case you are into this business... IT services do have Service Tax. But Translations and Interpretations don't! At least for this year...

Speech by Indian Ambassador at Business Meeting in Asuncion

This is an interesting speech by the Indian ambassador in Paraguay:

"...The economy of India in the last few years is growing at a rate of 8% or 9%. In spite of the global crisis, in 2009 the economy of India grew at a 6%. This year is going to grow 8%.

This is not going to be a miracle of 1 or 2 years. The economy of India is going to sustain this growth in the decades to come...."

Speech of the Indian Ambassador to Paraguay, Argentina and Uruguay at a Business Meeting in Asunción, Paraguay.

Translation and subtitles by Encyclomedia http://www.ecam.co.in

Social Sense and Inspiration

Following one's inspiration and likings is a very important part of being an entrepreneur. Without it, would be quite difficult to enjoy our work and we would not be able to continue in this task which is not easy and requires a lot of perseverance.

Dr. Carlos Llano's life, who expired a few days ago, is quite inspiring and exemplary. From being bed ridden for one year as a tuberculosis patient, to becoming a doctor in Philosophy, then getting to be a manager of a very successful company... following his likings (Philosophy), his skills and what he had learned in his business life, got to found one of the best Business Schools in Mexico.

Encyclomedia's team translated this video-biography and added the subtitles in English.



Don't miss out his message for business-men: "Social Sense".

Encourage entrepreneurs... an ad from Hindustan Times

On Sunday morning while cycling from Goregaon to Santacruz (where I live), I saw this billboard of Hindustan Times. At that moment I didn't stop to take a picture because was in a rush. But today I saw it again at a bus stop and finally did it.



I think it is a wonderful ad with a great logic. If we really want to solve the jobs issue in Mumbai it has to be done by creating more employment, and the best way to do that is by encouraging entrepreneurs to work harder and better. Helping them so that their work is more efficient in creating new businesses and companies that will generate more jobs.

This will also help more people to take the leap to be entrepreneurs themselves.

Entrepreneurship incubators

During my College days here in Mumbai (just a few years ago) I was glad to see in the last year that something started moving in an Entrepreneurship cell. It was perhaps not very much: I remember going with it to visit an Entrepreneur in Mahim and perhaps a few other things were organised. But it was the beginning of something which I hope would expand greatly.

And now I am happier to see that it has grown quite a bit. In fact, this week they have had a wonderful event which I hope has a lot of success. Unfortunately, I got tied up with work and won't be able to attend any of the sessions (as I had said I would), but I am sure they will be very well conducted and a wonderful help for the to-be Entrepreneurs coming out of Engineering Colleges. This of course, was part of the E-Week celebrations that have been going on across the country.

At CRCE (my College) they had the following events:

9th Feb: Seminar on how to make a business plan.
10th Feb: The College Chef Competion
11th Feb: Business Quiz Competition

Also, today I read another interesting piece of news, the Science and Technology Minister Prithviraj Chavan said yesterday that "Every university have to have a incubator,", referring to the business incubators that the Government is going to start supporting across the country, aiming at increasing the number of entrepreneurs.

He said:
"There are over 5,000 incubators in the world. Of them, nearly 1,400 are in North America. Over 1,000 are there in China. Their number is only 40 in India,"

Source: Press Trust of India