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Tuesday,
March 4, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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One by six
scheme to be reviewed: FM LPG prices
may go up by 22-25 per cylinder Customs
Tariff Bill okayed Extend
tech fund for engg units Withdraw
duty on edible oils: industry Honda
City prices cut |
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Graphic: Waiting list
for telephone connections
Grab SBI
on decline
Investment
in Indian tourism
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One by six scheme to be reviewed: FM New Delhi, March 3 “We will look into the entire gamut of the one by six scheme”, Mr Singh said while participating in a post-budget discussion under the aegis of the CII here. Bharti Telecom Chief Sunil Bharti Mittal argued that the GSM cellular operators were at a disadvantage vis-a-vis WLL operators as the latter was not included in the one by six criteria for income tax purposes. Under the present norms, a person having any of the six — house, car, credit cards, club membership, mobile phones and foreign travel — are mandatorily required to file income tax returns. On the health insurance sector, the Minister said that the government could consider reducing the threshold limit of Rs 100 crore even as he cautioned against its misuse. Citing an instance, he said that a Gujarat-based NGO called Sewa had placed a proposal for entering the health insurance business but was could not do so because of the high-threshold limit due inadequate capital base as required by the legal stipulations. On dividend tax, Mr Jaswant Singh assured the industry that the government will look into the cascading effects if any from the proposals on the economy. “I am also open to suggestions relating to the dividend tax,” Mr Singh said. Expressing concern over the rising revenue deficit, the Finance Minister said that the government cannot continue to spend more than what it earns even though it has brought down budgeted expenditure to the tune of Rs 6,000 crore and brought in a “cash management” mechanism of the system. Regarding the level of non-performing assets of banks, he said that it would be addressed through the mechanism involving buy-back of securities worth Rs 40,000 crore from banks. In addition the debt restructuring scheme, would save upto Rs 83,000 crore. “The Rs 1,20,000 crore debt reduction scheme is bound to have a positive impact on debt recovery and fiscal management”, he said. On taxing Information Technology exporters, Mr Singh said “there is no intention to tax exports”.
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LPG prices may go up by 22-25 per cylinder
New Delhi, March 3 “Though the Budget shows a 40 per cent increase in subsidy outgo on kerosene and domestic LPG, the Rs 6300 crore provision for 2003-04 includes undisbursed subsidy element of Rs 2198 crore for the current year,” official sources said. Finance Ministry had provided Rs 4,495.80 crore subsidy this fiscal, they said adding subsidy on LPG has done down from Rs 67.75 (for 2002-03) to Rs 46 per cylinder while that for kerosene has fallen to Rs 1.64 per litre for the next fiscal from Rs 2.45 per litre,
necessitating a hike in price. State oil firms have together lost about Rs 3200 crore during 2002-03 on selling LPG and kerosene below the cost. The Rs 67.75 per cylinder subsidy element provided this fiscal covers only half of the Rs 125 per cylinder gap between the
artificially suppressed domestic retail price of Rs 241.20 in Delhi and actual average cost. “Oil companies are pushing for passing on at least the reduced subsidy on LPG to consumers and a decision was likely this week,” they said adding Petroleum Minister Ram Naik will have the final say on the matter.
PTI
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Customs Tariff Bill okayed
New Delhi, March 3 Winding up a debate on the Customs Tariff (Amendment) Bill, 2003, Minister of State for Finance Gingee Ramachandran said the measure would reduce transaction cost, ensure speedy working and bring transparency by adopting the 8-digit classification code. The code, based on Harmonised System of Nomenclature, has been developed in consultation with Commerce Ministry, Ministries dealing with industry and trade related matters as also industry associations and experts, he said. The Bill, seeking to expand 6-digit classification code into 8 digit and have a coherent classification system, was passed by a voice vote after the statutory resolution moved by Basudeb Acharia (CPI-M) and others to disapprove of the Customs Tariff (Amendment) Ordinance was withdrawn. The Bill seeks to remove obstacles in global trade due to diverse classification by various departments and agencies. It seeks smooth clearance of imported goods besides making it possible to get data on commodities of special significance to India and sharing it among various agencies. The Bill says computerisation of tax administration and electronic data processing requires a common commodity code.
PTI
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Extend tech fund for engg units Chandigarh, March 3 During the Budget, the Finance Minister has proposed to extend the scheme to powerlooms as
well. Under the scheme, Ministry of Finance is providing funds worth crores of rupees to Textile Ministry, to prepare the industry to compete in the global economy. Mr Satish Dhanda, Chairman, Engineering Export Promotion Council (EEPC) said, though by announcing the withdrawal of 4 per cent duty on cycle and cycle parts the government has accepted the demand of the industry, nothing has been done for the engineering goods manufacturing industry. During the past few years, the sector has failed to compete with the low-cost foreign units. In case government comes forward to support the industry, it would help the country to emerge as a major centre for the supply of auto-parts and other machinery for the transnational companies. Mr Vinod Mittal, President, Chamber of Chandigarh Industries, said the government has offered relief to almost every industry, but nothing has been done for the engineering sector. The government should set up a fund on the pattern of TUF scheme for the upgradation of the engineering sector.
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Withdraw duty on edible oils: industry Bathinda, March 3 Edible oil industry owners have started assembling in Delhi today to meet Mr Jaswant Singh and to impress upon him that any excise duty on the edible oil production would prove fatal for the industry as well as consumers. At the meeting the owners would work out the strategy to pressure the Centre to withdraw the excise duty immediately so that edible oil could remain within the reach of commoners. Mr Rajinder Mittal, President, Punjab Vanaspati Producers’ Association, said the edible oil industry was already paying tax of Rs 6,000 crore per year and an imposition of 8 per cent excise duty on the branded and packed edible oil would put an extra burden of Rs 1,000 crore on it. The industry could not generate such a huge tax. The association was urging the Centre to create oilseed development fund for augmenting the production of oilseeds and declaring oil palm as plantation crop so that edible oil could be produced in a large quantity to make it available to consumer at cheaper prices.
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Honda City prices cut
New Delhi, March 3 While the prices of Honda City models have been brought down in the range of Rs 27,000-35,000, the prices of Honda Accord have been reduced by Rs 65,000, the company said. Commenting on the excise cut, Honda Siel Vice-President N.K. Goila said, “the 8 per cent on cars is surely a long-awaited and welcome decision. We are sure this move will more than cover up for the low industry sales during February, 03, in the wake of the expected excise cut”.
PTI
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