 |
Wednesday,
February 20, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
|
IOC
acquires IBP
75 pc
machine tool units face closure Widen
service tax net: chamber |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Sinha may
ease tax burden FEEDBACK Earth
station planned for Panchkula Allahabad
Bank opens service branch in city India to
participate in Hospitality Asia Fiat
won’t be sold to GM
BG
seeks govt help on Panna-Mukta fields
|
|
IOC acquires IBP New Delhi, February 19 IOC Chairman M.A. Pathan presented a draft of Rs 1153.68 crore to Petrolem Minister Ram Naik to take management control of IBP’s 1553 retail outlets, 376 kerosene dealerships and 17 LPG dealerships. Speaking on the occasion, Mr Naik said the disinvestment augurs well for the Government as it has renewed the interest of MNCs and Indian companies in the disinvestment process. He also reiterated that the administered price mechanism for petroleum products would be dismantled by March end this year and a new regime would be in place by April 1, 2002. Commenting on the IOC’s purchase of IBP, the Minister said it had cost an average of Rs 1.20 crore per retail outlet for IOC. This was against the cost of Rs 3-4 crore for putting up a retail outlet. Besides, it would have taken IOC five years to put in place 1500 retail outlets at the present pace of 300 retail outlets a year, he added. Speaking on the post APM regime, Mr Naik said the government had no plans to promulgate an ordinance for setting up a regulatory mechanism for the petroleum sector. “The government has decided not to promulgate an ordinance and will introduce a related bill in the coming session of Parliament”, Mr Naik said. The regulatory body is likely to be set up after both house passed the related bill and the President gives his assent. The body is expected to be in place during the third quarter of the current year, he said.
|
|
75 pc machine tool units face closure Ludhiana, February 19 The industry has even failed to compete with the second-hand machinery, imported from Germany, the UK and other countries, resulting in the loss of more than 20,000 jobs and around Rs 300 crore business, says Mr Sukhdiyal Singh, President, the Ludhiana Machine Tool Makers Association. In Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Batala, which used be the centres of producing machine tools, the annual production has come down to around Rs 100 crore besides a fall in exports drastically. Mr Paramjit Singh, General Manager, the Institute of Machine Tool Technology Batala, said, “Small-scale units enjoyed a monopoly at one time in the domestic market, but with the opening of economy, these could not compete with the foreign suppliers.
|
|
Widen service tax net: chamber Chandigarh, February 19 The chamber has stated that the economy is poised at a precarious juncture where it is witnessing continuous slowdown, characterised by a progressive decline in the real GDP growth. The industry continues to be affected by sluggish demand and there is downtrend in the services sector which has had a delirious impact on the business confidence. Mr Ashok Khanna, Chairman, Northern Region Development Council, PHDCCI, while commenting on the rate of growth in the manufacturing sector, stated that it has declined to 2.4 per cent from 6.2 per cent last year. The services sector, which had earlier witnessed a high growth rate, has also been on a downward spiral. The chamber stated that the services sector could be a good source of revenue and expansion of the service tax net in the coming Budget would be a step in that regard. The chamber gave various suggestions for the improvement in the economic scenario. It is essential that the corporate tax rate should not be more than the maximum marginal rate for individuals, the chamber stated . Exports suffer from various handicaps like higher transaction costs, transport, fuel and port costs which reduce the margin of profit and if the tax incentive is also withdrawn, it will not leave adequate resources to build financial strength, stated the chamber. Regarding the customs duty rates, PHDCCI stated that these should be so designed as to enable the domestic industry to be competitive against imports.
|
|
Sinha may ease tax burden New Delhi, February 19 After the Fifth Pay Commission for government employees came into being general salary levels have gone up manifold and demands over the years have shifted from higher standard deductions to lower tax slabs. However, with the maximum tax slab ruling at 30 per cent, hopes of a further lowering of rates are described highly optimistic. At the lower end of the income bracket expectations are high that Mr Sinha may oblige them by raising the standard deduction to Rs 80,000 from the present Rs 60,000. But barring some minor changes, the Minister would have to find ways to raise revenue in the coming years. With the next budget likely to be a populist one in view of the next general elections, this is Mr Sinha’s best bet to go ahead with tough decisions. If official figures available till now is anything to go by the targets for direct taxes and indirect taxes are likely to slip. In the first 10 months of the current fiscal (April-January) net direct tax collections stood at Rs 47,287 crore against the target of Rs 85,275 crore for the entire fiscal. Economic slowdown leading to lower corporate taxes and heavy refund are said to be the main reasons for the lower tax figures. On the indirect tax front, collections dropped by 3 per cent to Rs 89,288 crore during the first 10 months. The target for the year is Rs 140,142 crore. With such a wide gap in tax collections it is expected that Mr Sinha would look at new ways to increase revenue. The Finance Minister has said while he is in favour of a stable tax regime, he would like to do away with several exemptions and widen the tax base. Service tax is one area that has great scope and more and more areas will be brought under its ambit. Earlier efforts like introducing service tax and one-by-six scheme has led to an increase in the number of assessees from a little over 1 crore in March 1998 to 2.3 crore at the beginning of last year. Nobody is complaining about the 2 per cent surcharge on all tax payers for the Gujarat earthquake relief and it is likely to continue. According to various chambers of commerce and industry, the focus of the next Budget would be to further the second phase of economic reforms. Mr Sinha has enough leeway to take bold decisions. Inflation is ruling at an all-time low of less than 2 per cent, forex reserves are at a comfortable $50 billion, and food stocks are piled up.
|
|
FEEDBACK With Budget date nearing, a number of proposals is being made to the Finance Minister. Senior citizens is one category of assessees for whom several proposals are coming in. In my opinion, there are two types of senior citizens — rich and poor. The cut-off income may be taken as Rs 2 lakh per annum. The poor ones are those who are mainly dependent on the interest income from their life savings. They have suffered heavily on account of lowering of interest rates on their deposits with banks and other institutions. Their deposits in the Post Office at least, should be made to earn minimum 12 per cent interest. The Income Tax rebate of Rs 15,000 under Section 88B is quite sufficient. Then there are rich senior citizens who have earning from service or business or pension and with God’s grace, are quite active, just like their younger counterparts. Rajiv Ahuja, Parwanoo II
Senior Citizens especially the pension holders who are above the age of 70 years and are not assessed to pay income tax after availing the rebate of Rs 15000 allowed to the senior citizens under Section 88-B may please be exempted from filing the income tax return. The collection of data in respect of income to be shown as “income from other sources” in the income tax returns and as well as filling of IT returns is a burdensome for the elderly persons having too much involvement of physical and mental labour. Such categories of senior citizens as long as they are alive in these circumstance may only be made obligatory to inform on a plain paper “Tax payable nill” quoting the PAN, ward number and financial year to which it concerns for the information and record to the income tax department. The proposal be considered by the Ministry of Finance Union Government. N.C. Chopra, Chandigarh
|
|
Earth station planned for Panchkula Chandigarh, February 19 The Haryana Government will participate in the SuperComm Asia 2002, an international exhibition, being held for three days from tomorrow at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi. The state government will highlight the policy initiatives and developments in IT and telecommunication.
|
|
Allahabad Bank opens service branch in city
Chandigarh, February 19 With the introduction of service branch the bank will be able to extend efficient service in the collection of cheques drawn at Chandigarh. The bank has already switched over 65 per cent of its business to computers as against 70 per cent as per directives of RBI. The bank
geared up its efforts to boost retail finance by setting up 57 retail banking boutiques in January, 2000.
TNS
|
|
India to participate in Hospitality Asia New Delhi, February 19 Among the companies that would be participating in the event are the government promoted Agriculture and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) and Central Cottage Industries Corporation of India Ltd. Some other private companies have also expressed their willingness to participate in the four-day event. Incidentally India is the world’s second largest food producer next to China. Its total food production is expected to get double in the next ten years. Being organised by Singapore Exhibition Services, the FHA not only provides access to an expansive network of contacts, but also generates good business leads. As part of the event there would be six specialised shows, out of which two would be culinary events where chefs from around the world would display their skills. There would also be a culinary challenge event.
|
|
Fiat won’t be sold to GM Rome, February 19 “The sale (of Fiat’s car business) to General Motors is not in our plans,” Fiat President Paolo Fresco told La Repubblica newspaper. The former General Electric manager was responding to growing media speculation that 103-year-old Fiat may in the future decide to pull out of the car market altogether in view of declining sales.
DPA |
bb
J&K Bank BHEL Rural savings Godrej Cadila Pharma |
 |
| Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir | Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs | Nation | Editorial | | Business | Sport | World | Mailbag | In Spotlight | Chandigarh Tribune | Ludhiana Tribune 50 years of Independence | Tercentenary Celebrations | | 122 Years of Trust | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
