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Ambanis close to settlement?
HP apples fail to meet global norms: expert
Market for juices growing
Milkfed earns profit of Rs 7 crore
Market gains amid volatility
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GPF, PPF withdrawals are not taxable
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Ambanis close to settlement?
New Delhi, June 5 The first of the announcements about the settlement could be made between four and six weeks although the restructuring of group companies and legal formalities could take six months. Being keenly watched by the government, the settlement process has made speedy progress during the past one month to end the fiercest battles in the country’s corporate history, knowledgeable sources said today. As part of speeding up the progress, Kokilaben, widow of the founder Chairman of Reliance Dhirubhai Ambani, is meeting the two brothers separately almost on a daily basis, they said. Contrary to media reports about the confusion over who would get Reliance Capital, the sources indicated that the company operating in the market was set to go to Anil along with Reliance Energy and Reliance Infocomm, headed by Mukesh. As per the broad understanding, new businesses of the Reliance group that came into existence in the past few years would go to younger brother Anil while the parent company RIL and petrochemical venutre IPCL would be retained by Mukesh. Possibilities of a merger between RIL and IPCL in future could also not be ruled out. Keenly watching the progress on the largest corporate house in the country, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said last fortnight that the two Ambani brothers were moving towards a settlement and there was no need for any government intervention in the family dispute. These developments follow Kamath’s recommendations a few months ago that one brother keeps RIL and IPCL while the other gets REL, headed by Anil, along with Reliance Capital and
Infocomm. — PTI
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HP apples fail to meet global norms: expert
Shimla, June 5 “In fact, the manner in which the apple is graded, stored, transported and marketed, there will be no takers for such produce in European markets,” says Mr Pichler Reinhard, quality consultant of the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), who was here in connection with a workshop organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) on agro-food processing. He made these observations after visiting a number of orchards and processing plants. Most of the apple plantations were more than 50 years old, whereas in Western countries the orchards were rejuvenated every 15 to 20 years by replacing the old trees with the new ones. This helped in maintaining high productivity and quality of fruit. He suggested that the growers should immediately go for high-density dwarf plantations to increase productivity. Further, there was neither any quality policy nor any quality standards for sorting and grading of fruit. The state also lacked controlled atmosphere storage facility, cold chains for transportation and testing laboratories, which were pre-requisites for ensuring high quality of produce. He said computerised grading machines, which sorted out fruit on the basis of size, colour and weight should be installed at the earliest. Besides modern testing laboratories should also be set up. Underlining the need to upgrade the skills of manpower, Mr Reinhard said that a training and education centre was required to meet the demand of technical staff in processing plants and laboratories as food hygiene and safety were most important in agro-processing units. In India almost 35 to 40 per cent of the fruit was wasted and only about 2 to 3 percent was processed, he said. He suggested that the state-owned HPMC should also make such products and promised to provide technical assistance for it.
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Market for juices growing
Chandigarh, June 5 While colas have been on the downswing due to the controversy over the presence of pesticides fruit-based products are in demand. Tropicana, the oldest player in the fruit juices segment, has almost doubled its flavours from 7 to about 16. Mr Hitesh Gawri, Director of a leading supermarket in Chandigarh, attributes the increase in the sale of juices to the health fad sweeping the country. Tropicana’s new flavours like guava nectar, fruit fusion and orange-apple are fast catching on even as their prices have gone up by almost 10 per cent. Similarly, Real with over 20 flavours in the market has introduced Real Activ, which now offers more exotic blends in the price range of Rs 75-78. The four variants of Dabur ``coolers’’ are also a big hit, particularly the watermelon and pomegranate juice. Jamun and Aam Panna are the two new flavours this season, besides a sugar-free lemon drink for the
diabetics. Ceres Juices, bottled by a South African company, has also introduced two new flavours— passion fruit, ruby grape fruit and cranberry and Kiwi juices. Natural, another juice made in Malaysia, has on the shelves all Indian-flavoured fruit juice blends like apple, orange, pineapple, litchi and even
kiwi. These drinks, according to company officials, find favour with those consumers who find fruit-based drinks a safer
alternative. Parle Agro has launched two new “Frooti” flavours— pineapple and orange —in 125 ml packaging to tap the rapidly growing juice market. The existing Maaza mango, which enjoys more than 30 per cent of the juice market, is also being introduced in large family packs and pet bottles of 2 litres and 1 litres, said an official of Parle Agro. Healthcare, a Bangalore-based group, has come out with mixed fruit and orange juices with soya blend for the fitness freaks. The new range, priced at Rs 15 for a 200 ml pack, has no sugar or preservative. Of the 7,000-8,000 crore drinks market, fruit beverages account for Rs 500 crore, growing at 25-30 per cent annually.
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Milkfed earns profit of Rs 7 crore
Chandigarh, June 5 Milkfed earned foreign exchange to the tune of Rs 12 crore through the export of milk and milk products in the last financial
year. This was in comparison to Rs 6.90 crore earned in 2003-04. While disclosing this here today, state Cooperatives minister Jasjit Singh Randhawa said Milkfed was exporting ghee, skimmed milk powder and tetra-packed lassi to Japan, Dubai, Singapore and a few other countries. Milkfed procures about eight lakh litres of milk daily from 3.5 lakh members. Referring to the performance of Milkfed, Mr Randhawa said in 2002-03 the cooperative incurred a loss of about Rs 12 crore. But the following year the organisation emerged out of the red and earned a profit of rupees six crore. In the last fiscal year the profits stood at Rs 7 crore, he added.
— UNI
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by S.C. Vasudeva GPF, PPF withdrawals are not taxable Q.1 A college teacher purchases some books for the college library and makes a payment of Rs 1,000 from his pocket. Later on, he receives a cheque for Rs 1,000 from the Principal of that college on account of the payment made by the teacher. Then, the cheque is deposited by the teacher in his personal bank account. I want to know whether this amount will be included in the "personal income" of the teacher while calculating income tax? Dr Harnek Singh, Malout A. The receipt of Rs 1,000 is not the income of the teacher who had purchased the books and submitted the bill for reimburs- ement to the college. When the books were purchased for the library, it was an advance recoverable from the college. This receipt is merely recovery of the advance. GPF, PPF withdrawals Q.2 I have Rs 7 lakh in my GP Fund Account and Rs 1 lakh in PPF Account prior to the introduction of the Finance Bill 2005-06. It may be clarified that when I will withdraw Rs 2 lakh out of Rs 7 lakh from the GP Fund and Rs 50,000 out of Rs 1 lakh from the PPF for marriage of my son to purchase a built-up house/construction of house, this withdrawal will become a part of the income of that year for income tax purposes or not. Further, it may also be confirmed that the interest on Rs 7 lakh will be part of income or not. Paramjit Singh Saini A. 2 As per the Income Tax Act, 1961, the withdrawal from the GP Fund & PPF account is not taxable. Further, the interest earned on GP Fund is also not taxable. However, the Finance Minister did mention in his Budget speech that he is going to set up a committee to suggest changes in the method of taxation of savings. The committee’s findings will form the basis of any action on the part of the government which in all fairness should be prospective in application. PAN and IT return Q.3 I am a pensioner and senior citizen having PAN and filing returns regularly as my annual income exceeded the exempted limit of Rs 50,000. Now this limit is increased to Rs 1,85,000 and I may not cross it in the next 20 years. My Query is:- (i) For PAN holder, is it mandatory to file a return though my income is less than the exempted limit of Rs 1,85,000. (ii) Is ITO following up the non-submission of returns if income falls below exempted limit for certain years (iii) Any procedure is to be followed for discontinuation of IT returns due to an increase in exemption. S.L. Sharma A.3 The answer to your queries are as under: i) It would not be mandatory for you to file the return of income if your taxable income would not exceed Rs 1,85,000. However, if you fall in 1/6 category, then you would have to file your return irrespective of whether your income is below the taxable limit. ii) The tax department can send you a notice to file your return of income for a particular year in respect of which you did not file the return of income, as the department would not have the details regarding the quantum of your income. iii) There is no laid-down procedure to be followed for discontinuance. However, I would advise you to keep on filing your tax return for making the disclosures in respect of the following: a) any amount received/ given as a loan. b) any amount received/ given as a gift c) Investment/Sale of any share/security d) Purchase of any immovable property. Land and capital gains Q.4 In your answer to the query of Mr Amrik Singh published in The Tribune issue on 16.05.2005 relating to the working of capital gains on the sale of agricultural land inherited by son from his father upon his demise; you have stated that capital gains will have to be computed by taking the market value of the land as on 1.04.1981. The land was purchased by the father in 1957 and inherited by son in 1991 upon the expiry of his father. There are different opinions by the tax experts for taking the market value of the land for computing the indexed cost. According to some, the market value of the land on the date of inheritance is to be taken. Some hold your view i.e. on 01.04.1981 in case the inherited land was purchased before the above-stated date. Please clarify the correct legal position supported by any notification or case law. Please also clarify the following points: i) What will be the position in case the sale is effected before three years from the date of inheritance? Short-term or long-term capital gains in the hands of the person who inherited the assets. ii) What will be the character of assets inherited by the son upon the death of father? Individual or HUF. iii) According to your answer the land will get covered in the definition of the words ‘capital assets’ if the same is situated within a distance of 5 km from the nearest Municipal Committee/Corporation etc. You have given reference to notification but u/s 2(14) of the Income-tax Act, 1961, the distance is still 8 km. Please state the correct legal position. iv) The land will not fall in the definition of ‘capital assets’ if it is in any area which is comprised within the jurisdiction of a municipality (whether known as municipality, municipal corporation, notified area committee, town area committee or by any other name) or a cantonment board and which has a population of less than 10,000 according to the last preceding Census. Please clarify. Vipin Sharma, Ludhiana A.4 As per the provision of Section 49(I) (iii) (a) of the Act, where the capital asset becomes the property of the assessee by way of inheritance, the cost of acquisition is deemed to be the cost for which the previous owner of the property acquired it. Further as per section 55(2) (b) (ii) of the Act, where the capital asset became the property of the assessee by any of the modes specified in sub-section (1) of section 49 (as in your case) and the capital asset became the property of the previous owner before the 1st day of April 1981, means the cost of the capital asset to the previous owner or the fair market value of the asset as on 01.04.81, at the option of the assessee. The answers to your other queries are as under: (i) The capital gain on sale will be taken as long term even if it is sold within a period of three years by the person who has inherited the property by virtue of Explanation 1(b) to section 2(42A) of the Act. (ii) The character of the self-acquired assets of father inherited by the son after his death, would be treated as individual property of the son. (iii) Section 2(14) of the Act prescribes the maximum distance i.e. in no case it will exceed 8kms. It does not mean that in every case the distance will have to be taken as 8kms. The legal position as stated earlier is correct. (iv) This means that if the land is: (a) situated in any area which is comprised within the jurisdiction of a municipality or a cantonment board; and (b) has a population of more than 10,000 persons as per the last published Census;
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