 |
Monday,
October
13, 2003,
Chandigarh, India  
|
Aptech
plans to enter formal academia CEOs for
lower bank rate, CRR
Amitabh Bachchan with actress Priyanka Chopra at the
re-launch of ABCL and mahurat of his new film “Ranveer”, in Mumbai on Saturday. — PTI
photo
Infosys
results buoy sensex
Interest
on UTI plans tax-free |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
Aptech plans to enter formal academia In fact, the establishment of Aptech University in Chhattisgarh recently is being positioned by the company as a precursor of similar initiatives focusing on research-oriented higher education. “Aptech Limited and Aptech University are two different entities. While the former will continue to offer skill-based courses and position itself as alternative education sector, the university will focus on four major areas: enhancing skills, imparting training, development of students through its course and research”, CEO and Managing Director Aptech Limited Pramod Khera told The Tribune in an exclusive interview. “While Aptech Limited sees itself as a strong non-formal training and education provider, Aptech University will join mainstream academia”, Mr Khera said. Aptech University, however, would not adopt any particular structural framework similar to any of the existing universities in the country, he said adding that it would neither be modelled on any international university. “Modelling on international universities is out of question for we are of the opinion that India has a different set of strengths in academics and hence our model is to be customised as per the needs of the nation”, he said. Furthermore, “there are not many examples of private universities in India to emulate”, Mr Khera said emphasising: “By defining our own strategy and structure we will define the sector’s standards”. “We are looking at expanding in the education space and hence have made recent forays into university, colleges and education research”. Mr Khera said the company was looking at content conversion and development as the major area of focus. To this effect it had set a up a dedicated off-shore development factory for content conversion at Chennai. “We have formidable content development capabilities — both instructor-led and educational content and online content. We are now offering these services to third-party clients for developing their content, customising or converting to digital content. There are good opportunities that exist in this space for international companies to outsource work to India as can be seen from the success of the business process outsourcing (BPO) segment”, he observed. He exuded confidence that India had the appropriate wherewithal for global export of the Indian degree and Aptech was expecting a sharp jump in its revenues generated internationally but did not get into specific number crunching. “I will not like to comment on specific numbers but we will definitely see good growth over the past years”, he said. Aptech is currently present in 52 countries, including China. Its turnover in 2002 was Rs 225.55 crore. The CEO of Aptech Limited sounded bullish on the country’s IT sector despite the slowdown last year. “No industry anywhere in the world can sustain forever the heady growth percentages that the Indian IT sector was able to record during the 1990s. After two years of slowdown, the industry is reaching a stable growth rate, which will be much higher that most of the industries in India”. He said the IT industry would continue to grow globally as all governments and organisations were investing in automation. In India, he said the smaller companies had created their own niche space. “The smaller companies have found their niche where they are operating. This gives them advantage in terms of dedicated clientele and better margins. Hence, they are not forced to compete with larger entities in the global market. This phenomenon is going to increase and we will see more mid-size companies with good growth stories in the future too”.
|
|
CEOs for lower bank rate, CRR New Delhi, October 12 Besides, most of them felt the recent derailment in the disinvestment process in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling on HPCL and BPCL is at best likely to have a moderate impact on the privatisation initiatives of the government. A snap poll of CEOs carried out by the CII showed that over 62 per cent CEOs felt that the current upswing in the stock markets was sustainable at least for six months. However, about 13 per cent of the respondents felt that the positive sentiments would only last for three months while 6 per cent were of the view that the trend would not be visible in a months time and 19 per cent were
non-committal on the issue. On the issue of appreciating rupee exchange rate, half of the CEOs felt that the measures taken by the RBI to check rupee appreciation and the increasing trade deficit would lead to the stabilisation of the exchange rate in the next six months. However, 47 per cent of them said rupee would continue to appreciate. In the backdrop of the Busy Season Credit policy to be announced by the RBI, 47 per cent believed that the RBI should advocate a cut in bank rate, 30 per cent felt that there was a need to cut repo rate and another 39 per cent stated that the RBI should cut the CRR in the Credit Policy. On the disinvestment deadlock arising out of the Supreme Court’s judgement that Parliamentary ratification was necessary for divesting the government stake in HPCL and BPCL, 47 per cent CEOs said the impact would be moderate while 41 per cent perceived that the disinvestment programme had been derailed and the rest said the apex court ruling would not impact the process. Although no consensus was arrived at the recently held WTO
negotiations at Cancun (Mexico), the majority of CEOs (50 per cent) stated that in the Indian context, the WTO talks had been a success. Twenty eight per cent said India did not gain from the recent rounds of the WTO
negotiations and 22 per cent of them said it was a mixed bag for the country. Commenting on the expected growth in profits on individual companies’ sales, 41 per cent stated that they were expecting growth in profit to be between 10 and 20 per cent, 31 per cent said profit would grow by between 20 and 30 per cent and 6 per cent of the respondents expected profit growth to be between 30 and 50 per cent.
|
|
New Delhi, October 12 “The timing and size of the issue is still under discussion. We have completed other modalities and we plan to list the company in three or four months as the markets are also doing well,” AB Corp Chief Amitabh Bachchan said after relaunching the sick firm ABCL in a new package on the occasion of his 61st birthday yesterday. Refusing to divulge the issue price of his company, the megastar also did not disclose how much money he was planning to raise from the market. “We are working on all these details and hopefully will be able to announce them by December this year. At that time, we will also announce two more films for AB Corp,’’ Big B added.
— UNI
|
ty
by R.N. Lakhotia Interest on UTI plans tax-free
Q: Is the interest on UTI., MIP, Schemes totally tax-free for the corresponding year income of 2002-2003 as it was in previous years, if not then to what extent? — J.N. Gupta
Ans: The total interest income under Section 80L from UTI, MIP scheme is Rs 12,000 for the financial year 2002-03. However, please note that for the financial year 2003-04 the entire amount will be fully exempt from income-tax. Pension income Q: I am a Punjab Government employee settled at Chandigarh drawing the pension for the financial year (2002-03) Rs 1,15,200. Along with pension I received the bank interest of Rs 16,000/-. I am living in a rented premises and paying the rent Rs 2000 pm in the form of cheque depositing at the SBI in the saving account of landlord since he lives out of station. Please clarify the amount of standard deduction I should enjoy and rebate of maximum house rent under Section 80GG for which I am entitled keeping in view my pension amount. — Mrs Asha, Chandigarh
Ans: You will be entitled to a standard deduction of Rs 30,000 from your pension income of the financial year 2002-03. Out of the bank interest received by you amounting to Rs 16,000, you will enjoy deduction of Rs 12,000 under Section 80L. As per Section 80GG you will also enjoy a deduction in respect of the rent paid by you. The deduction for this purpose is 25 per cent of the total income or Rs 2,000 pm, whichever is less. As you are a woman tax payer and not a senior citizen you will also enjoy tax rebate under Section 88 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 amounting to Rs 5,000. PAN application Q: I have deposited my duly filled PAN Application Form 49-A to respective range at my area to the IT Authorities on 17.07.2001. Till date I have not received the PAN Card from the authorities concerned. I have given reminder by Registered Post also but in vain. So kindly guide me for obtaining the same. — Gagan Deep Singh, Ludhiana
Ans: As you have not yet received your PAN card, you may please send the reminder to the Assessing Officer. However, to achieve the best result, it is advised that you may make a fresh application to the UTI. You are likely to receive the PAN card in a fortnight’s time.
|
bb
Central Bank loan for tractors EOY awards Intas drug New SBI scheme Oscar VCD plant FII net buyers Lupin stake HDFC Life |
 |
| Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir | Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs | Nation | Editorial | | Business | Sport | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh Tribune | Ludhiana Tribune 50 years of Independence | Tercentenary Celebrations | | 123 Years of Trust | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
In video (
New Delhi, October 12