The run up to Champions Trophy

So, Champions Trophy (CT) starts tomorrow and will last all of 18 days. Another boring 50 over tournament that's largely catering to television audiences. The warmup games and the Eng-SA ODI series that's running in parallel have had some common themes :

1. It looks like it will be a batsman's paradise - 300 plus scores are easy!
2. Chasing is not so difficult - The old IPL rule; win the toss, bowl first. The batsman dominate the game so much that they will chase down any score.
3. All teams look good, but Australia, England, SA and India look better.

But one interesting thing that might spoil 1 and 2 above, is this - fast bowlers can definitely make a huge dent. Not so much due to sheer pace, but more due to their ability to bowl intelligently. If they can swing the ball then even 130-140 kmph can be dangerous - Bhuvaneshwar and Umesh showed that in the India-Bangla match yesterday. And if you can bowl fast+intelligently, then again you can cause serious damage. Rabada and Parnell did that in the third ODI versus England. It is interesting that thanks to the fast bowlers in the opposition, both Bangladesh and England had half their team back in the hut for less than 25 runs!

So hey, this might be a run fest, but there are very good chances of some lopsided games. If the fast bowlers give the bowling team momentum, then recovery will be tough for the batting team. here's to good bowling then!

GST - rates and protests

India's move to a single tax regime has brought some interesting points of view over the past few days. This single tax regime (GST) is actually 5 tax rates - 0%, 5%, 12%, 18% and 28%.
Now obviously, the folks taxed at 0% and 5% are keeping real quiet - vegetables, cereals and most animal products fall under this category. The 12% guys are in between - they would have loved to be taxed as per the lower slab, but are thankful they are not in the higher slabs, so, they are choosing to keep quiet (why draw un-necessary attention).
The 18% and 28% folk- now, they are really worried that they might lose business due to the high taxes (mind you - they will not absorb the tax, they will simply pass it on to the end customer). So, the reactions from those sections of the industry can be divided into 3 categories :
1. Don't care :  because they are always taxed the most and no amount of pleading will help! They have tried that many times and it hasn't worked - the liquor and tobacco folk! The good part for them, is their customers do not seem to mind the high prices.
2. Head scratching : Those that have been charging a premium but now need to charge a higher premium (is that correct English usage, I wonder?). They are scratching their heads and wondering what to do.
3. Protesters : These folk could possibly have been charged lower rates, but their services have been deigned a luxury. They are making noise. These are the cinemas and restaurants/ hotels.

Now with restaurants and hotels , there are 2 tax slabs - 12% if the restaurant is non-ac and 18% if it is AC. Needless to say, our restaurant friends are unhappy with the 18% rate and are protesting (restaurants in Bangalore are shut today to protest against this rate). Yes, current service tax slab is approx 15%, so a 3% higher charge to customer will pinch. But these same hotels also collect something called a 'service charge' (which even the courts are trying to figure out). If the hotels are indeed concerned about passing the increased charges to the customer, why don't they try reducing the service charges? These same hotels/ restaurants will get their raw materials at lower rates (no GST on food grains and low rates on vegetables), so why not pass on the benefits of low input prices to customers?
Interestingly, most businesses seem to be using the GST rates as a basis for claiming that the end price to customer will increase and hence they should be at a lower slab. The Bangalore chapter of CREDAI (real estate) has asked for stamp duties to be waived off! I am wondering why these companies don't look at the GST as a means of rationalizing prices (apparently, the input tax credits across the chain in real estate allow builders to save 20-25% on their taxes). Looks like industry lobbies want to retain their customers without rationalizing their rates!
Here's hoping businesses see the rates in their totality and pass on benefits arising from it.