 |
|
It’s lay-off March at Quark
Govt works on BSNL, MTNL merger proposal
CAG indicts Power Finance Corporation
Kajaria Ceramics plans 25 outlets
in region Auto scene
Slew of new vehicles to invade market |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Disclose inherited KVP amount in return
Budget lends wings to the market
|
|
It’s lay-off March at Quark Mohali, March 6 It is likely to continue for the whole of this month (March) as well, sources said. The company official maintained that retrenchment was a routine exercise and employees not performing up to the mark had been "dropped". "Also, we get a lot of trainees from industrial institutes all through the year. After six months of training, we evaluate their performance and absorb the 'capable' one in our organisation. The others are 'laid-off' and are free to join any company they wish. "We can't be blamed for this kind of termination," a spokesperson of Quark Media House said. He added that it was an internal matter of the company and that the retrenchment had been necessitated following the winding up of two projects which were not promising enough. "IT is a fast-moving industry and changes take place at the drop of a hat. So, all projects which are not viable have to be changed in consonance with the requirements. While we have absorbed the employees who managed to update their skills, the others who could not keep the pace had to go. In the case of others, unsatisfactory performance is the criteria," the spokesperson explained. Claiming that Quark could not continue with non-professional people, the official stated that the services of the employees had been terminated in accordance with the company's policies. He also pointed out that the Punjab Government was also working on a proposal to relax labour laws for enabling organisations to hire people on the basis of requirement in its Special Economic Zone. The ousted employees are up in arms against the organisation. Holding that they are virtually on the street with nowhere to go, the employees maintained that no other company was willing to hire them since they had been "thrown out of job" by Quark.
|
|
Govt works on BSNL, MTNL merger proposal New Delhi, March 6 “We have received the report — and are looking into it,” Communications and IT Minister Dayanidhi Maran said. Mr Maran has said the government is looking into the several options for merging the two companies and the decision is yet to be taken. The Department is looking at the option of setting up a holding company under which the operations of the two state owned companies would be synergised. The two PSUs may become wholly owned subsidiaries of the proposed holding company by proportionately swapping MTNL’s shares with that of the holding company. The government has mandated the ICICI Securities-ABN Rothschild combine as consultants for the proposed merger Analyst say that MTNL’s cash value could be unlocked either as extra dividends payment to its shareholders before the merger, or the cash reserves may be used by the consolidated entity in the GSM segment which MTNL has expanded to 2,00,000 lines each in Delhi and Mumbai. The proposed merger of BSNL and MTNL will create the largest telecom company by revenue in India with the turnover crossing Rs.350 billion.
|
|
CAG indicts Power Finance Corporation Bhopal, March 6 The company was declared defaulter by the MP State Industrial Development Corporation (MPSIDC) for diverting pubic money to the tune of Rs 200 crore for purposes other than earmarked. The immovable Maheshwar Project-related properties of M/s S.Kumars were attached by the Khargone Collector, at the instance of the MPSIDC, in 2002. The work, at standstill since then, is being started with the backing of Babulal Gaur government.
|
|
Kajaria Ceramics plans 25 outlets
in region Chandigarh, March 6 The Managing Director, Mr Ashok Kajaria, who was in the city to inaugurate the first state-of-art showroom, said while the North was the biggest market for his company, the maximum sales were made in the West. "We have tiles to suit every pocket, all ranging between Rs 18 per square feet to Rs 150 sq feet,” he said. Interestingly, this is the first company in the tiles segment to introduce franchise from the tiles industry. Mr Kajaria said 25 such franchise outlets would be opened in the region in the next one year of which one would be opened in Ludhiana, another in Jalandhar and six in Delhi. While the company imports porcelain tiles from China, ceramic tiles for up-market clients come from Spain and Italy. The company exports tiles to 20-odd countries of the world and primarily to Arabian countries.
|
by S.C. Vasudeva
Disclose inherited KVP amount in return
Q. It is submitted that a sum of Rs. 20,000 was invested in KVPs in the joint name of my mother (first name holder) and myself (second name holder) in 1999. My mother expired in 2003. The said KVPs have now matured and I have received the payment. Kindly let me know in which manner should I take into account the maturity proceeds, which amounts to Rs 40,000 of the said KVPs while computing my income tax. — Murti Devi A. The query does not indicate who had invested the funds in Kisan Vikas Patra (KVPs) i.e. who was the owner of such KVPs. If it were the funds of your mother and she was a taxpayer, I hope the yearly interest on the basis of the rates published by the Government of India, was included in the return of her yearly income. If that were so, the amount received on maturity would be a receipt of capital nature (interest already having been brought to tax). The amount should be disclosed in your return by way of a note indicating the fact of inheritance of KVP’s by you. In case the funds belonged to you and you had invested such funds in the name of your mother and yourself, the interest income should have been declared as a part of income in your return of income. In such a case, a note may be given in your return about the maturity amount of the KVP’s having been received by you. In this case also interest amount having already been taxed, there would be no taxability on the receipt of the maturity amount.
Pension plan
Q. My income from salary is Rs 1,45,000. This includes HRA of Rs. 6,000, which is exempt because I pay rent of Rs. 24,000 p.a. and I have no house property. Thus my salary income after exempting HRA and standard deduction is Rs. 1,09,000. I have no other income under any head. On this there is a tax liability of Rs. 9,000 because I have no other saving. I take a pension plan under Section 80 CCC for Rs. 10,000. My total income after this deduction will be Rs. 99,000 on which there is no tax liability due to Section 88D. Is this deduction allowed? Please advise. — Jasmer Singh A. Section 80CCC of the Income Tax Act, 1961, provides for the deduction of the amount not exceeding Rs. 10,000 in a year. Such amount is required to be deposited by an assessee out of the income chargeable to tax to effect or keep in force a contract for an annuity plan of LIC or any other insurer for receiving pension from the fund referred to in Clause 23 AAB of Section 10 of the Act. In case, therefore, you make a payment of Rs 10,000 towards such an annuity plan, you will be entitled to a deduction from your total income to the extent of Rs. 10,000. I may however, add that the amount of pension as and when received would be taxable in your hands.
Provident fund
Q. My son resigned after serving from May 2001 to December 2002 in a company and joined another company. The provident fund accumulated during the said period of service of previous company was withdrawn. The company has deducted IT at the rate of 30 per cent on the employer’s contribution, including interest and interest of employer’s contribution. Also amount of rebate from IT allowed during A.Y. 2002-03 & 2003-04 u/s 88 on employee’s contribution was recovered during the current financial year by the company towards IT while allowing the withdrawal. Please clarify if above recovery is in order and in case it is in order then how the same is to be incorporated in the IT Return for the A.Y. 2005-06. — Tarsem J. A. The Fourth Schedule of the Act contains the rules governing the recognised provident funds. As per Rule 8 of the said schedule, the accumulated balance due and becoming payable to an employee participating in a recognised provident fund shall be excluded from the computation of his total income if he has rendered continuous service with an employer for a period of five years or more. Rule 9 of the said schedule provides that where accumulated balance due to an employee participating in a recognised fund is included in his total income owing to the provisions of Rule 8 not being applicable, the Assessing Officer shall calculate the total of various sums of tax which would have been payable by the employee in respect of his total income for each of the years concerned if the fund had not been a recognised provident fund, and the amount by which such total exceeds the total of all sums paid by an employee by way of tax for such years. The balance amount, if any shall be payable by an employee in addition to any other tax for which he may be liable for the previous year in which the accumulated balance due to him became payable. Rule 10 provides for the deduction of tax at source from such accumulated balance by the trustees of the recognised provident fund. Section 17(3) of the Act dealing with the computation of total income from salaries provides that any payment due to or received by an assessee from an employer or a former employer from an unrecognised provident fund to the extent to which it does not consist of contributions by the assessee shall be includible as part of the salary in the year in which such sum is received. Accordingly, the company has complied with the rules contained in the Fourth Schedule read with the provisions of Section 17(3) to the Act. The rebate, which had been allowed to your son, will also have to be withdrawn, as the same was not allowable once the fund is given the status of an unrecognised fund.
|
by J.C. Anand Budget lends wings to the market THE Union Budget has been welcomed by the market. Last Friday when the market closed, the Sensex scaled up to an all-time record of 6,865 points before closing at 6,849 points. The market bull jockeyed by the FIIs is running so fast that this week it may even move higher. According to an estimate, FIIs have been net buyers for $445 million (Rs 1,947 crore) in this month during the past four days as against record $ 1.9 billion during February. Personal tax In respect of personal tax, the exemption limit has now been raised from Rs 50,000 to Rs 1,00,000. For senior citizens and women tax payers, the threshold is now at Rs 1,50,000 and Rs 1,25,000 respectively. The tax slabs have been simplified. Taxable income from Rs 1.01 lakh to Rs 1.50 lakh is taxed @ 10 per cent, Rs 1.51 lakh to Rs 2.50 lakh is taxable @ 20 per cent. Those above Rs 2.50 lakh are taxable @ 30 per cent. Educational cess is payable @ 2 per cent. Senior citizens and women tax payers have lesser relief than was available to them in previous budget for Section 88 B has been dropped. Section 80 L has also suffered the same fate. However, the tax payers can avail themselves of deduction up to Rs 1,00,000 in case they invest in tax saving schemes like provident fund, national saving certificates, insurance schemes, pension funds, infrastructure bonds, post office term-deposits etc. “Statutory deduction” has also been scrapped. According to the present Budget, those with a gross income of Rs 6 lakh could not avail themselves of Section 88 relief and had also to pay surcharge. Now the surcharge limit in case of individuals and Hindu Undivided Families will apply to income over Rs 10 lakh instead of Rs 8.50 lakh.
Corporate tax While the tax rate in the case of corporate companies has been reduced from 25 per cent to 30 per cent with a surcharge of Rs 10,000. The effective rate for manufacturing companies may go up because of proposed deduction in general rate of depreciation. The most discomforting section in the tax proposals is Fringe Benefit Tax on the companies which is complicated and will raise taxable outgo from the corporate sector considerably higher than what they are required to pay under the present Budget.
Security
transaction tax Transaction levy on stock market has been raised from 0.015 per cent to 0.020 per cent. The Securities Transaction Tax has been levied on all transaction in the stock market. A new levy has been imposed on withdrawals from the bank, including redemption of fixed deposits, bank drafts etc. on an amount of Rs 10,000 or more withdrawn from the bank on a single day. This is likely to be raised to Rs 50,000. The Budget proposals have left little option for the investors to put their investable funds other than that in the stock market either directly or indirectly through the mutual funds. Banks, garment manufacturing companies and those engaged in construction and infrastructure work and tea companies will be the major gainers. The Budget has also permitted the mutual funds to come out with gold exchange traded funds. The Budget is also very favourable to the plantation sector. It is not the time for the investors to enter the market in a big way with fresh investments as the market is soaring at a record level. There is, in fact, time for selective profitbooking.
|
bb
FIIs 12-hour banking |
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
New Delhi, March 6
