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Saturday,
March 9, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Guidelines for marketing of fuels notified
Sinha stays 4 pc duty on cycles
Employers to file staff’s tax return |
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Address problems of manufacturing sector No proposal to regularise ‘hawala’ Five Indian designers for Singapore Fashion Festival REACTION
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Guidelines for marketing of fuels notified New Delhi, March 8 Speaking to newspersons after making a suo motu statement in the Lok Sabha here today, Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Ram Naik said at least 12 companies, compromising public sector undertakings, private companies and joint ventures, will be eligible to market transportation fuels. The guidelines stipulate that there will be no limit to the quantum and size of the scheme and the number and location of retail outlets in the scheme provided that no encroachments on the existing retail outlets will be allowed. The scheme will specifically outline the mode of compliance volunteered by the eligible company relating to retail service obligations and marketing service obligations as may be laid down by the proposed regulatory board. The government is expecting to introduce the Petroleum Regulatory Authority Bill during this session of Parliament, Mr Naik said. “Companies, that propose to invest more than Rs 2,000 crore in the petroleum sector, will also be eligible for marketing transportation fuels,’’ Mr Naik said. “It is expected that the new guidelines will herald a new competition in the deregulated period leading to a better services for the customers,’’ Mr Naik said. Those companies, that will be eligible for marketing transportation fuels, will be ONGC, OIL, GAIL, Cochin Refineries, Chennai Refineries, Numaligarh refineries, Reliance, Essar, Mangalore refineries and LNG Petronet. In case of future investments, the time frame for making such investment in the eligible activities would be counted as 10 years from the date of authorisation. |
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LPG price: PM to take decision
New Delhi Replying to a question whether the government is considering a cut in the LPG prices following a demand by some BJP MPs, the Minister said the PM will take a decision.
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Sinha stays 4 pc duty on cycles Ludhiana, March 8 Welcoming the Union Finance Minister’s announcement, Mr D.S.
Chawla, President and Spokesperson, Joint Action Committee, a body of thirteen cycle and cycle parts organisations all over the country, said,”We have decided to reciprocate the decision of the government by calling off the strike to prepare a necessary ground for further talks.” The industry representatives claimed that after tabling the budget in the Parliament, the Finance Minister could not unilaterally withdraw 4 per cent excise duty, imposed on cycle and cycle parts. Though he had declined to withdraw the duty, when a delegation met him on March 5, however, after the threat of all India strike, and with the intervention of Ms Vasundhra
Raje, Minister of State for Small Scale Industry and Mr A.K. Moorthy, Member Parliament from
Cheenai, Mr Sinha agreed to find a way out to solve the problem. The stay on excise duty has been announced as first part of the agreement, they said. Mr Chawla disclosed that the industry is hopeful that in the next meeting with the Finance Minister, the government would agree to withdraw the unjustified duty. The meeting, he said, is expected to be held before the approval of budget by the Parliament. |
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Employers to file staff’s tax return Chandigarh, March 8 ‘’The Finance Ministry has made employer responsible for depositing returns of their employees with the department removing major part of tax payers from the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) Chairman, Mr. S. K. Sarma, told TNS. The scheme is being seen as a relief to large number of tax payers as well as the Income Tax Department as employees form the largest number of tax payers. From the next year, a tax payer will only have to deposit his or her return to the employers instead of the department, Mr Sarma said. He expressed happiness at the Finance Minister’s choice of a ‘’non-populist’’ Budget to mop up resources, which had been showing performance much below the targets set in the previous Budgets, in the interest of over-all health of economy and containing a gaping fiscal deficit. The major hurdle in taxing agriculture income was constitutional as states had the right to take a share of this income and unless these were ready for agriculture tax it would not be possible. Mr Sarma gave an example of income tax on income from the crop of tea saying the department was allowed only to tax 40 per of this income while the rest 60 per cent was taxable for the states. He emphasised a need for simplification of the income tax with less number of deductions and direct percentages of the income being an ideal way but said it was not possible unless a concurrence of different ministries was taken. The CBDT Chairman said while the Department would like to proceed towards a completely ‘’voluntary’’ payment of tax through a better service to the assessee and a polite behaviour of officers, the major problem was that a study, done by a private company, had found 30 per cent of Income Tax officials to be ‘’corrupt’’ creating a fear among tax payers. The board, however, had taken a decision this year to increase vigilance on its own officials and deterrent action would be taken against them, he said. Mr Sarma said the filing of returns through e-mail and the data on a tax payer being available at the click of mouse would certainly be there after six months. |
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Address problems of manufacturing sector Chandigarh, March 8 Today we are having anomalous situation where we are importing goods from abroad which are reserved for the SSI sector but at the same time large scale sector in India is not allowed to manufacture the same. He said that time has come to enhance the comparative advantage of the manufacturing sector vis-a-vis China as it is a sunrise sector in developing economies including India. To have a fiscal discipline we will have to introduce a system user charges to reduce the burden of subsidy and fiscal deficit. At an interactive session with Mr Vasudev, here Mr Arun Kapur, President, PHDCCI said that an inflation of 1.3 per cent is indicative of slow down in the economy and is a matter of concern. What needs to be considered is that the inflation in case of inputs have increased four times more than the increase in inflation of manufactured goods. This disproportionate rise in the inflation of the two categories is indicative of a margin squeeze by the manufacturers. The concept of real rate of interest is welcome but it should be pegged to the inflation rate of 4 per cent to 5 per cent instead of the present 1.3 per cent. Mr Ashok Khanna, Chairman, NRDC, PHDCCI said that while in the budget speech Finance Minister had observed that an additional depreciation at the rate of 1.5 per cent on new plant and machinery acquired for setting up new industrial units or expanding the installed capacity of existing unit by at least 25 per cent would be allowed, it is noticeable that on close reading of provisions of the Finance Bill it clarifies that it is not additional depreciation but accelerated depreciation. In an era of science and knowledge this concept needs to be reviewed.
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Derivative trading starts in Ludhiana Ludhiana, March 8 Mr H.S. Sidhu, General Manager, LSE, said at present the trading is just a few lakh rupees per day, which is expected to increase to about Rs 20-25 crore in the next one month, by that time about 80-90 brokers would start trading after current
trials. He claimed,‘‘ we have deposited Rs 1.20 crore as security with the NSE and have spent Rs 25-30 lakh for the required hardware and software. Once the system is fully operational, the LSE’s daily trade is expected to double to the tune of Rs 40-50 crore per day.’’ In fact, after SEBI’s approval in July, 2001, the Master Capital, a private company, here had started trading in derivatives, but the LSE management could not reportedly start derivative trading due to financial constraints. Management sources said: ‘‘The LSE expenditure during the current fiscal is expected to be around Rs 4.50 crore, including doubtful debts worth Rs 90 lakh, against an expenditure of Rs 4.40 lakh during the past year. However, the income will be around Rs 4 crore against Rs 3.90 crore during the previous year, resulting in losses worth Rs 50 lakh this year.’’ Despite the management’s efforts to cut down expenses, the financial position of the LSE was in bad shape. The daily trading at the LSE counter has come to a naught for the past over one month. However, the management is still banking on the listing fee collected from the listed companies. Against a target of Rs 1.25 crore, the listing fee is expected to be around Rs 90 lakh during the current fiscal, they said. Mr Sidhu said that since LSE Securities Ltd, a subsidiary of the exchange, was doing good business, and with the improvement in market conditions and the starting of derivative trading, the management would be able to overcome the financial crisis in the next two-three years. Mr Tarvinder Dhingra, Chairman, LSE Securities said,‘‘ The daily turnover will certainly increase with the introduction of derivative trading. The Ludhiana exchange is among the three regional stock exchanges, including Bangalore, which have started derivative trading through its subsidiaries. SEBI has also granted some concessions to the regional stock exchanges for starting derivative trading that will help overcome the financial crisis.’’ |
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No proposal to regularise ‘hawala’
New Delhi, March 8 Mr Ramachandran said 45 Hawala dealers had been arrested in Delhi and other parts of the country during the last three years by the Enforcement Directorate. Preliminary investigations into some recent causes of “Hawala” transactions indicated prima facie linkage with terrorist activities. Action in such cases depended on completion of investigations, Mr Ramachandran said.
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Five Indian designers for Singapore Fashion Festival Mumbai, March 8 For 16 days, from March 16 to 31, Singapore will come alive in an explosion of colour, style and trend-bending activities. The line-up includes the latest collection of renowned designer labels such as A/X, Blackjack, CK, Diesel, DKNY, Mambo, Paul Smith, Kenzo and Jean Paul Gaultier. With the support of the Singapore Tourism Board, the event organiser, MS Twilight, together with the Singapore Retailers Association (SRA) and The Textile and Fashion Federation (TaFF), is set on making Singapore’s Fashion Festival the first in Asia to showcase the latest spring/summer collections to consumers through mega fashion shows. Mr Chee-Pey Chang, Director South Asia, Singapore Tourism Board, says: “After the success of Fashion Festival 2001, it gives us immense pleasure to give leading fashion retailers a platform to showcase and launch their latest creations in Asia’s aspiring fashion retail capital — Singapore. We are especially delighted to have the participation of five talented Indian designers for the first time ever at Fashion Festival”. At the “Best of India Haute Couture” on March 27, the trendy Equinox at Swissotel, The Stamford plays host to five talented designers namely Kavita Bhartia, Rajesh Pratap Singh, Rina Dhaka, Pallavi Jaikishan and Sonam Dubal, who will showcase their latest apparel and jewellery collection. Besides the designers from India, Fashion Festival 2002 will also draw participation from the British, French and Italian communities. To make Singapore’s Fashion Festival more accessible to India’s fashion fans, the STB has tied up with Qantas Airways, Qantas Holidays and Star Cruises to offer ‘Singapore Temptations’, an attractive package for just Rs 25,999/- per passenger on twin sharing basis. The package includes return airfare on Qantas ex-Mumbai, three nights’ accommodation in Singapore with daily breakfasts, two nights on board Superstar Virgo cruise liner including all meals, transfers to and from airport and cruise terminal. This offer is valid from January 1 to March 27. Updates on the festival and events can be found on the festival’s website at www.fashion-festival.com |
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REACTION THE Finance Minister has very cleverly arranged for recovery of additional income tax of at least Rs 10,000 from each middle class tax-payer through his Budget proposals for the year 2002-2003. The reduction in rebate on savings under Section 88 from 20 per cent to 10 per cent for persons having income between Rs 1.5 lakh to Rs 5 lakh coupled with increase in surcharge from 2 per cent to 5 per cent has fallen heavily on the middle class. A person saving Rs 80,000 under this section, shall get a rebate from tax amounting to Rs 8,000 instead of Rs 16,000 which he was getting earlier. Plus, he shall be required to pay around Rs 2,000 on account of increase in surcharge. One may argue that many people shall not invest in tax saving securities. But it is a known fact that most people save for their future. After burning their fingers (or hard earned income) in shares and company deposits, they find best to keep their money in banks and post offices only. And the best option still is to purchase NSCs or deposit in PPF. Through these, one may save some tax as well as enjoy 9 per cent interest. Interest is even tax free in case of PPF. Where does one get such good option? Even banks do not pay this much interest! So deposits from middle class won’t reduce but tax saving shall! Rajiv Ahuja, Parwanoo
II The Finance Minister, Mr Yashwant Sinha, has further squeezed the salaried class. He knows the salaried class people cannot conceal their income. So they have become the scapegoat for the taxing purpose by the government. An individual having income between Rs 1.5 lakh and Rs 5 lakh would bear an additional tax burden of Rs 8,000 as they will be eligible only to 10 per cent income tax rebate. Those having income above Rs 5 lakh will no longer be eligible to any tax rebate. It is like grabbing the income of the salaried class with both hands. No doubt Mr Sinha, has hit where it hurts the most. I am of the view that the standard deduction limits be raised considerably to give relief to this class. I appear to all political parties including, the ruling party and their partners to impress upon the Finance Minister to give the much needed relief to the salaried class. Gurdershan Singh, Chandigarh |
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HDFC Bank to collect taxes Chandigarh, March 8 HDFC Bank will collect direct taxes in Chandigarh as well as in such Punjab towns as Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Patiala, Kapurthala, Khanna, Phagwara and Mohali (SAS Nagar). |
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