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India Inc meets
Finance Minister with proposals galore ONGC Videsh to
invest Rs 7500 cr for drilling abroad OPEC opens taps,
analysts say it’s a compromise Oil under $39
globally
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Held for issuing
fake Reliance mobile receipts Microsoft, HP
step up outsourcing Connect DSL
launched ADB to help out
in pension plan
L&T net profit rises 7.7
pc
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India Inc meets Finance Minister with New Delhi, June 4 The pre-Budget consultations got underway here with first agricultural economists and later industry leaders meeting the Finance minister today. The exercise was discontinued by Mr Chidambaram’s predecessor, Mr Jaswant Singh, and has now been reintroduced again by the new Finance Minister after a gap of two years. President of Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), Mr Y K Modi said that tax base should be widened by restructuring the tax rates. Income slabs and tax rates for individuals should be remodelled with maximum rate of 30 per cent made applicable on income over Rs 10 lakhs and exemption limit raised to Rs 1 lakh. “Tax rate should be considerably widened through better voluntary tax compliance,” he said, adding that agriculture income should be taxed beyond Rs 5 lakh at a flat rate of 15 per cent. Similar views were echoed by President of Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham) Mahendra K Sanghi who emphasised the need for moderating the indirect tax rates to make product affordable to large population, widen the tax base to increase the tax GDP ratio. Moreover, Mr Sanghi said, there was a need to simplify the tax structure and procedure, which reduces the transaction cost and encourages voluntary compliance. On indirect taxes, Mr Modi said that a comprehensive Value Added Taxation (VAT) system should be introduced at the earliest and the CENVAT ceiling should be fixed at 16 per cent. Mr Modi said that all services should be covered under the service tax and exempt only public services, essential public utilities and important merit goods. All taxable services should be eligible for VAT/CENVAT credit. President of Federation of Indian Export Organisation (FIEO) M. Rafeeque Ahmed suggested that the benefits of Section 80 -HHC should be continued till the year 2010. Since the benefits were introduced in April 1983, the FIEO president said it had greatly helped in promoting exports, especially of small and medium enterprises. Mr Ahmed suggested that the government could think of introducing a scheme earlier available under Section 35-A of the Income Tax Act, which allowed deduction equivalent to 133 per cent of the investment for being ploughed back to business. The PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI) urged the Finance Minister to ensure continuous improvement in direct tax revenue collection for which the tax slabs be re-arranged and tax rates further reduced to encourage voluntary compliance. The maximum marginal tax rate of 30 per cent should become applicable to income above Rs 3 lakh. In principle, this should be to tax only the real income. Therefore, all genuine business expenses be allowed deduction and the value of any benefit given or expense reimbursed to the employees to enable them to discharge their duties effectively should not be charged as tax, the PHDCCI said. Agriculture economists demanded a restructuring of the farm credit scheme. Former Chairman of Commission on Agriculture Costs and Prices (CACP) Abhijeet Sen said already, a number of schemes related to agriculture exist and there is no need for a fresh one. “But credit for the farm sector should be stepped up,” he said even as he said bad loans should be written off as part of relief to farmers. The domestic poultry industry demanded the creation of a disaster fund in the backdrop of the Rs 2,000 crore loss the industry suffered in February-March this year. Who suggested what at pre-Budget meet
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ONGC Videsh to invest Rs 7500 cr for drilling abroad New Delhi, June 4 The funds will be utilised to buy new assets and fields in other countries for oil exploration, Mr R S. Butola, Managing Director, OVL said here today. Addressing a press conference, he said: ”The company will make a capital expenditure of around Rs 3,000 crore in various producing and other assets while Rs 600 crore in development of two newly-acquired fields in Sudan. The balance amount of nearly Rs 3,900 crore has been earmarked to buy 50 per cent equity stake of Shell in Angola’s producing field, which has the potential to produce 25 million tonnes of crude oil.” He claimed OVL had already invested Rs 9,690 crore in different assets, including major acquisitions in Sudan, which were giving a share of more than three million tonnes of crude oil every year. Mr Subir Raha, Chairman , OVL, said given its rapid growth in the past three years, the company is expected to achieve targets of sourcing 20 million tonnes of oil and oil equivalent gas per year by 2011-12 instead of 2020. Mr Butola disclosed that oil fields in Sakhalin-I, Russia and in Block 18 at Angola were under development. The OVL has already made discovery of oil reserves in Block A in Myanmar early this year, he said. “Exploration is in progress in Iran, Syria, Libya and Sudan. In the Farsi Block in Iran, OVL will be the operator as it holds hundred per cent stake.” Regarding the financial results of the company he said, the OVL had earned net profit of Rs 428.53 crore in 03-04, up by 626 per cent over Rs 58.99 crore in the previous year. The gross revenue of the company had achieved Rs 3502.28 crore registering a growth of 1400 per cent over Rs 232.8 crore in 02-03. The OVL produced 3.9 million tonnes of oil and oil equivalent gas during 03-04 that was up 1435 per cent from 0.25 million tonnes in 02-03 he said.
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OPEC opens taps, analysts say it’s a compromise
Beirut, June 4 The decision, which aligns the cartel’s stated output target with their real current levels, did not satisfy a market that had been counting on an immediate increase of 2.5 million barrels per day to calm fears of future shortages owing to political instability in the Middle East, analysts said. An official close to the 11-member Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) said the decision to lift its official ceiling by 2.5 million bpd in two stages by August 1 was a compromise between Iran and Gulf Arab states led by Saudi Arabia. Iran had feared a price collapse if more oil gushed onto the market and had suggested a ceiling increase of one to 1.5 million bpd, the official explained. Experts also said a rift had opened within OPEC between members with spare production capacity — Saudi Arabia and to a lesser extent the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait — and some others that were already at maximum output. Consumer countries were also worried because of instability and political tension in OPEC members Iraq, Venezuela and Nigeria. The organisation controls about one-third of the global oil supply. The cartel said a meeting would be held at its headquarters in Vienna on July 21 “to review market developments.”
— AFP
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Oil prices eased further below $ 40 a barrel on Friday as an OPEC deal to pump more crude outweighed underlying fears of political instability in top producer Saudi Arabia. US light crude fell 45 cents to $38.83 a barrel, following an 80-cent drop on Thursday when OPEC agreed a two-stage output increase of 2.5 million barrels a day in July and August. Brent crude in London was down 41 cents at $35.99 a barrel.
— Reuters
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Held for issuing fake Reliance mobile receipts New Delhi, June 4 The three accused, Anil Sharma, Mukesh Kumar and Yogendra Kumar, used to collect money from unsuspecting Reliance India Mobile customers by issuing fake receipts. The case surfaced when a customer came to Reliance Infocomm office and complained that in spite of making the payments; the customer’s services had not been reactivated. Preliminary investigations revealed the receipt with the customer was fake and not issued by the company. Further investigations revealed the involvement of the three accused in a racket in printing fake receipts and collecting money from Reliance India Mobile subscribers, by running an office from Patel Nagar in West Delhi.
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Microsoft, HP step up outsourcing
Washington, June 4 Microsoft is also increasing the headcount at another centre in Hyderabad that handles application development for the corporations in-house IT requirements and already employs about 125 staff, media reports here said. Meanwhile, HP, which has handled a large chunk of its own global accounting functions from a subsidiary in Bangalore for more than three years, is now offering similar back-office services from India to its
customers. — UNI
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Connect DSL launched Chandigarh, June 4 The service is currently available in Chandigarh, Ludhiana and Jalandhar. It will be rolled out into Amritsar, Patiala and Bathinda in the next month. The function to mark the launch was attended by Mr Vivek Atray, IT Secretary, (UT Administration).
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ADB to help out in pension plan
New Delhi, June 4 “We are working with the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority for the new pension plan for the unorganised sector. We will submit a report by April, 2005,” the ADB’s pension product expert Graham Bird said.
— PTI
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Inflation crosses 5 pc NTPC shares Radio Mirchi Hutch LSE trading Rs 5-note NIIT |
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An OPEC decision to hike its official oil
production ceiling, which left the market unimpressed, was a compromise between
Iran and Saudi Arabia, officials and analysts said today.
