Delta Corp, one of the leading gaming and casino service providers in India, saw its share price rise up to 17% on Monday. This surge came on hopes that the upcoming GST Council meeting could bring good news for the online gaming industry facing retrospective tax demands.
The shares of Delta Corp opened at Rs. 136.05, gaining sharply from the previous close. During intraday trading, the stock hit a high of Rs 154.95, which was 17% higher than the previous close. At present, the upper price band for Delta Corp is Rs 158.55 while the lower price band is Rs 105.75.
The GST Council, headed by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, is scheduled to meet on June 22. In this meeting, the taxation on the online gaming sector with 28% GST on full value of bets could be reviewed. In July and August meetings last year, the law was amended by the GST Council to classify online gaming, casinos and horse racing under ‘betting and gambling' taxable category.
Currently, over 30 writ petitions from online real money gaming companies challenging the retrospective GST notices are pending before the Supreme Court. The notices demand tax dues of thousands of crores of rupees at 28% rate on the face value of bets.
There is hope that the GST Council might consider amendments in the CGST Act to eliminate such retrospective tax demands in order to provide a more conducive taxation system to the gaming industry. The industry has been demanding simpler taxation from the government.
