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Saturday,
January 4, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Jaswant
favours disinvestment No
pre-Budget meetings MRPL may
go to BIFR if not restructured: ONGC
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Satyam to
set up 20 cine-multiplexes Maruti
bonanza 7 get
Ranbaxy Science Foundation awards Crackdown
on plywood units LETTERS Punjab
Lotteries
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Jaswant favours disinvestment New Delhi, January 3 “The Government should withdraw from sectors where the private participation is more productive and more efficient. Scope of the government remains largely in the social and infrastructure sectors, for it is the ultimate risk taker,” he said, speaking at the annual conference of the Institute of Chartered Accountants. Advocating the cause of strong regulatory mechanism, Mr Singh said the more the freedom of the market, the stronger should be the regulatory mechanism. “We cannot have reforms in the absence of strong regulatory mechanisms,” adding that “genuine reforms depend on the combination of market forces, the formal rules which the companies dislike and the self-regulation which they prefer.” Calling for a redifinition of the role of the government and that of the regulator he underlined the need for streamlining public sector investment, social welfare programmes and create an enabling environment for the public-private partnership. “The government must link fiscal, monetary and other incentives to productivity so as to enhance the wealth of the country, which is essential to remove poverty,” he said. He identified orderly functioning of the markets and a well-governed state as critical factors for achieving sustained higher growth and productivity and emphasised the importance for monitoring and coordination of policies and operations in this respect. “A well-governed state and orderly functioning of the markets are essential for high growth and sustainability,” he said. Regarding the bungling in corporate accounts as had been witnessed in the recent past in all over the world, the Finance Minister urged chartered accounts to carry out their jobs without any fear or pressure. “They have to be more transparent in accounting practices. The recent financial problems in US companies like Enron and others indicate that there is enough scope for improvement in the professional integrity and accounting system.”
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No pre-Budget meetings
New Delhi, January 3 Finance Minister Jaswant Singh has conveyed this to over 150 experts in various sectors, including agriculture and small scale industries, and asked them to send in their written suggestions for Budget 2003-04 to be presented in Parliament on February 28. “Written comments and views will be far more relevant and useful than holding meetings which do not provide adequate time or opportunity for individuals to express their views in a focused and satisfactory manner,” Mr Singh said in his letter. Among the other sectors which have been asked to send in their inputs for the Budget are consumer organisations, science and technology, trade union leaders, economists, representatives of financial institutions and industrialists, an official press note said today. Normally, the Finance Minister meets representatives from these sectors separately as part of the “pre-Budget consultations” spread over three to four days and receives their suggestions, both orally and in writing. “The government is moving towards opening up the Budget-making process and making it more transparent,” the Finance Minister said.
UNI
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MRPL may go to BIFR if not restructured: ONGC
New Delhi, January 3 Financial restructuring of MRPL, which includes ONGC infusing Rs 600 crore of additional capital after buying A.V. Birla Group’s stake for close to Rs 60 crore, has been delayed as the deal has come under scrutiny of Public Investment Board (PIB). “MRPL board has passed the half year results which show a serious erosion of net worth of the company. We fear that unless financial restructuring is carried out immediately, MRPL may have no choice but to be referred to BIFR by the end of current financial year,” ONGC Chairman and Managing Director Subir Raha told reporters here. The half yearly results show 50 per cent erosion of MRPL’s net worth. “PIB papers (on ONGC’s deal to buy A V Birla Group) have been circulated. PIB is to meet in January and clear the proporal,” he said. The deal to acquire A.V. Birla Group’s 37.34 per cent stake for Rs 60 crore and infuse additional Rs 600 crore by way of capital expansion, which would give ONGC 51 per cent stake, could not go through after Finance Ministry objected that the transaction be vetted by PIB. However, Petroleum Ministry had differed with Finance Ministry’s decision to refer the deal to PIB saying PIB was referred to only when investments are beyond Rs 200 crore. In this case the equity buy is only for Rs 60 crore. PIB vets proposal where new joint ventures are formed. Presently, ONGC is entering an existing joint venture and hence there was no need for referring the deal to PIB.
PTI
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Satyam to set up 20 cine-multiplexes
New Delhi, January 3 “We have 20 sites for multiplexes with 100 plus screens on the cards by 2006 with an investment of around Rs 250 crore. Our main objective is to become a national player in the cine-multiplex business,” SCL Director and CEO Deven Chachra told newspersons here today. Besides recently-launched Stayam 4plex, Mr Chachra said, two more multiplexes will come up in the capital by the end of this year. Janakpuri cineplex is under construction and likely to start by November this year while the work for Nehru Place multiplex will begin within 30 days, to be ready by December-end, he added. Explaining the business aspects, SCL Finance Head Rahul Pagare said, “We have put in Rs 82 crore for the three multiplexes and are hopeful to reach breakeven point in a span of four to five years.” Constructing a cineplex costs Rs 7 to 13 crore, Mr Pagare added. Talking about future plans, SCL General Manager, Real Estate and Projects, Tarun Mehrotra said barring the two upcoming cineplexes, the company is in the process of finalising three more sites in Delhi and Noida. “We are setting up two theme parks — one at Rohini in Delhi and second in Noida. Noida multiplex will feature eight screens. Both the cineplexes will be operational by 2005.”
UNI
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Maruti bonanza
New Delhi, January 3 The scheme would be valid for customers who buy Maruti cars between January 3 and February 28, 2003, a company statement said here. The customers could participate in a lucky draw by entering the chassis number and model name of the car along with answering some questions at all Maruti dealerships. Under the campaign, titled ‘Change your life’, customers could win any prize out of two cash prizes of Rs 21 lakh, two cash prizes of Rs 11 lakh, 2,030 gift vouchers and an assured gift for every customer. Maruti would also offer first year insurance for one rupee on vehicles like Omni, WagonR, Zen, Alto, and Esteem.
PTI
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7 get Ranbaxy Science Foundation awards
New Delhi, January 3 Prof Virander S. Chauhan from the International Centre for Genetic Engineering won the award in the category of Pharmaceutical Sciences while Dr Kanury V.S. Rao from the same institute was awarded in the Basic Research category. Prof Samir K. Brahmachari from the Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology was awarded in the Medical Research category. Dr G.C. Mishra of the National Centre for Cell Sciences, Pune, was awarded for his contribution to the Medical Research. Dr Anil K. Saxena from the Central Drug Research Institute, Lucknow, got the award in the Pharmaceutical Sciences category. Dr Shyam Sunder from the Departmnent of Medicine, Banaras Hindu University, and Dr Sudhir Gupta from the University of California were awarded for their contribution to the field of Clinical Research. The awards, instituted by pharma giant Ranbaxy, were handed over by Prof Ravinder N. Maini, Head, Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology Division, Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, London.
UNI
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Crackdown on plywood units Yamunanagar, January 3 The crackdown has followed the seizure of five vehicles carrying plywood last year by the police, which alleged that sales tax was being evaded by the plywood manufacturers in connivance with certain officials of the department. The plywood manufacturers had immediately cried foul and had alleged that the police action was motivated. On January 1, the department seized over 40 vehicles despatched from here to various places in Pipli and Karnal. Half of the detained vehicles were carrying plywood. The department imposed penalties on them, alleging that the manufacturers had underbilled the goods to evade sales tax. It alleged that the manufacturers had billed the goods much below the market price of about Rs 14 per sq. ft. However, sources in the trade, which describes the department action as a “terrorising activity”, claim that the rate of plywood is linked to its quality. They say it is illogical on the part of the department to fix the rates of a commodity in which the competition is stiff. President of the Yamunanagar District Plywood Manufacturers Association Davinder Chawla says the association had proposed to the department to impose a lumpsum sales tax on plywood units on the pattern of brick kilns in the state in April. The association had proposed Rs 5 lakh per press per annum as lumpsum tax, which was negotiable. However, the department, which was not opposed to the lumpsum tax proposal in principle, considered the association’s proposal of Rs 5 lakh as inadequate. It wanted that the manufacturers should pay Rs 15 lakh per press per annum. There are allegations that certain persons collected money from the
manufactures for “persuading” the government to agree to the lumpsum tax proposal at the terms of the manufacturers. However, the sources vehemently deny the allegations and describe them as motivated. The department wants that those manufacturers who are in favour of lumpsum tax should give affidavits. The industry is reluctant to do so. It fears that if it agreed to a particular amount to be paid as a lumpsum tax, they may find the Central Excise Department knocking at their doors on the plea that their sales had crossed the benchmark of Rs 1 crore per annum, which is the exemption limit for excise. The imposition of a 16 per cent excise on plywood will make the Yamunanagar units unviable. The industry says the department’s calculations are not realistic. While a 12 per cent sales tax is imposed on sale inside Haryana, only 4 per cent CST is leviable on the sale outside the state.
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LETTERS Apropos the article, “Most employees to benefit” written by Manoj Kumar in the columns of Your Money on December 30, say a large section of salaried tax payers will have to pay lesser income tax if the recommendation of the Kelkar Committee are accepted. A majority of employees falls within the income bracket of Rs. 1,00,010 to Rs 2,68,910 per annum and in fact it will have to pay more tax ranging from Rs 2 to Rs 33,782. While calculating the present tax the writer has not taken into account the benefit available under Section 88. So far non-salary tax payers are concerned. Section 88 is irrelevant to them as a majority of this segment consists of businessmen who believe “A bird in hand is better than two in bush. AMARNATH II Kelkar has asserted that the guiding criterion in making his recommendations was that no vulnerable section of the society should be put to inconvenience. According to him, raising the income tax exemption limit to Rs 1.5 lakh (instead of Rs 1 lakh as in the case of others) in the case of senior citizens was a humane approach. How hollow these claims are can be judged from the following examples. For 2003-04 (AY), a pensioner( senior citizen) drawing a pension of Rs 1,50,000 and earning Rs 22,000 as interest on bank deposits etc (total Rs 1,72,000) is not required to pay any income tax after availing of the standard deduction of Rs 30,000 and deduction of Rs 12,000 under Section 80L because he gets rebate of Rs 15,000 under Section 88B and the tax payable on the net income of Rs 1,30,000 also works out to Rs 15,000. Now as per Kelkar recommendations, he will have to pay Rs 4,400 as income tax on Rs 22,000 (exemption limit Rs 1,50,000). Not only that, if besides his annual pension of Rs 50,000 he earns Rs 50,000 as interest from bank deposits or National Savings Certificates (wherein he has invested his lump sum retirement benefits) he will now have to pay income tax of Rs 10,000 (20 per cent of Rs 50,000 income above the exemption limit of Rs 1,50,000). For AY 2003-2004, the income tax payable works out to Rs 21,400 on net income of Rs 1,58,000 (after availing of Rs 30,000 as standard deduction and Rs 12,000 under Section 80L). If he invests Rs 32,000 in any of the schemes under Section 88, he gets a tax rebate of Rs 6,400. His tax rebate as senior citizen being Rs 15,000, he is not required to pay any income tax for AY 2003-2004 as against Rs 10,000 which he will now have to pay as per Kelkar’s recommendations. What a generous gift Mr Kelkar has presented to the senior citizens for the new year. GURNAM SINGH |
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Punjab Lotteries Chandigarh, January 3 Mr Manjit Singh and his mother Smt. Nirmla Devi of Patran, District Patiala have received the prize money draft of first prize of Rs 1.50 crore of Punjab State Maa Lakshmi Divali Pooja Bumper, 2002. Besides this, prizes were also given to the winners of second, third and fourth.
TNS |
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Decision flayed
Amritsar, January 3 |
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Spice winners Insulin Grasim HDFC Bank SAIL ITI Indigo |
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