GST Council approves process reforms, curbs arrest powers; raises prosecution threshold to Rs 10 crore
NEW DELHI: The GST Council on Thursday approved a series of process reforms aimed at easing compliance for businesses, including simplifying registration and refunds, curbing arrest powers under GST laws and raising the monetary threshold for prosecution of offenders to Rs 10 crore from Rs 5 crore. The Council also approved a Rs 10,000 threshold for issuing GST show-cause notices and allowed input tax credit (ITC) on employee insurance expenses.
NEW DELHI: A day after SpaceX founder Elon Musk accused unnamed “oligarchs” of blocking Starlink’s entry into India, the government said it has a fair and non-discriminatory authorisation framework for all telecommunication services, including satellite communication services.
Musk’s statement came in response to a social media post that said India needs Starlink. He replied that his company was being blocked by certain oligarchs in India.
In a response, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) said the suggestion that the regulatory framework or its application was unfair or discriminatory was baseless and misconceived.
The government has issued licences to Bharti Group-backed OneWeb, the Jio-SES joint venture Jio Satellite Communications, and Elon Musk-led Starlink to provide satellite communication services in India. Amazon’s Project Kuiper has also applied for a licence but is yet to receive government approval.
However, none of the three licensed operators has received security clearance to start commercial services in India.
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According to the DoT, under the terms and conditions of the licence, every licensee is required to demonstrate compliance with security conditions. This is aimed at ensuring that the services provided meet various security requirements and safeguard users and their data.
“Security assessment as part of this process is currently under way in respect of all the three licensees. As and when this process is completed for a licensed entity, it may proceed to the next step of seeking assignment of spectrum. At present, all the three entities are at broadly the same regulatory stage,” said the DoT.
Meanwhile, Musk, without naming anyone, said that holding up his company’s application was also a crime against the people of India.
“Unfortunately, we are being blocked by certain oligarchs in order to maintain their monopolistic chokehold on the Indian people. You can guess who they are … This is a crime against the people of India!” Musk said in a post on X on Wednesday.
Speaking at India Mobile Congress 2026, SpaceX’s Starlink Business Operations Vice President Lauren Dreyer said the company had invested in setting up the required infrastructure to serve the Indian market.
She said Starlink had already invested in India and built 20 gateway sites comprising hundreds of antennas.
“We’ve established the operations to be ready to serve India,” she said.
Dreyer said the company had signed MoUs with Airtel, Jio and others, and was working with state governments on how satellite broadband could complement existing connectivity.
Starlink currently serves more than 170 countries, she said. Satellite connectivity could help bridge India’s digital divide by reaching areas where fibre deployment is difficult, she added.