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Wi-Max centre in Chennai by Sept
HPCL to set up export-oriented refinery It’s all about footwork and ‘foodwork’
Banks’ deposit base grows by 18.7 pc
Punjab potatoes for Europe
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Aviation Notes
Investor guidance
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Wi-Max centre in Chennai by Sept
Chennai, August 13 In an informal chat with reporters after inaugurating telemedicine services for hospitals here, he said the centre, to be jointly set up by a French telecom major, Alcatel, and C-DoT, a PSU under the Union IT Ministry, would benefit millions of rural persons. It would also be beneficial to telemedicine and in multiple videoconferencing. Mr Maran said the government would also launch high speed data download and upload packages by the middle of next year. Stating that 3G (third generation) mobile videophones were the next wave in the IT and communication technology, he said current data download capacity of a mobile phone was 134 to 256 kbps. In 3G phones, data up to 2.5 to 3 mbps could be downloaded and this would aid video conferencing and telemedicine, even in remote rural areas. Mr Maran said in India 3G phone technology would be launched by BSNL and MTNL and private telephone operators early next year and would be helpful for those living in both urban and rural areas. He said BSNL would launch 40 lakh mobile connections on August 17 to benefit people in South India.
— UNI
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HPCL to set up export-oriented refinery at Vizag
New Delhi, August 13 "Our existing 7.5 million tonne per annum Vizag refinery has space constraints and we cannot expand it beyond a certain capacity. We have plans to create an export-oriented refinery some 30-35 km away from the existing Vizag refinery," HPCL Chairman and Managing Director M B Lall said. The company has approached the Andhra Pradesh Government to allot 2,500 acres of land in the proposed Special Economic Zone for the new refinery. Mr Lall said HPCL would implement the project through a subsidiary and will seek foreign partners for building the refinery. The equity structure in the new refinery is similar to the one proposed for the 9
million-tonne Bathinda refinery. HPCL and the foreign partner will have 26 per cent stake each in the subsidiary while the rest 48 per cent would be offered to the public through an IPO. He said four global oil giants — British Petroleum, Totalfina ELf of France, Malaysia's Petronas and Saudi Aramco had evinced interest in partnering with HPCL for building the Rs 12,000-crore Bathinda refinery project. "We are in advanced stages of talks with the four firms and we expect to take a decision within two months," he said. HPCL, which owns a 6 million- tonne refinery in Mumbai and some 6,800 petrol stations across the country, also plans to set up a refinery in Barmer district of Rajasthan where Cairn Energy of the UK has found over 1 billion barrels of oil reserves. HPCL, the country's second largest oil refining and marketing company, also plans to augment refining capacities at its existing Mumbai and Vizag refineries for higher volumes and better quality petrol and diesel. In Mumbai, the company is investing Rs 1,152 crore to upgrade the refining capacity from 5.5 million tonnes at present to 7.9 million tonnes per annum. The expansion would be completed by the third quarter of 2006, Mr Lall
said.— PTI
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It’s all about footwork and ‘foodwork’
New Delhi, August 13 Sehwag is the fourth in the Indian team to cut his teeth into the culinary business after similar ventures by Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Zaheer Khan. So, after exulting in the fours and sixers by the ‘Multan ka Sultan’, one can now relish his food fetishes as well — Lassi Najafgarh wali, kheer and gobi parantha. Sehwag described the initiative as something he planned to devote time to, post retirement. “I will not be able to give my time to the venture now owing to my obligations to cricket. I will retire when I am 35 or 36 and I am planning this for that time,” he told reporters at the launch here. Set to kick off in mid-September, the food court will be launched at the new mall coming up in Mumbai, Jalandhar, TDI Fun Republic in the Capital and Ansals Plaza in Ludhiana before fanning out to “whole of India.”
— Agencies
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Banks’ deposit base grows by 18.7 pc
Mumbai, August 13 Top 100 banking centres, according to the size of deposits, accounted for 65.3 per cent of the total deposits while they had a 76 per cent share in the total bank credit, the RBI said. Annual growth rate of gross bank credit of top 100 centres was 31.6 per cent in March 2005. At the all-India level, the credit-deposit (CD) ratio of all scheduled commercial banks as on March 31, stood at 66 per cent. Among the states and union territories, the highest CD ratio was in Tamil Nadu (98.4 per cent) followed by Maharashtra (95.2 per cent) and Chandigarh (90.8 per cent), the RBI said in a statement today. Nationalised banks, as a group, accounted for 49.8 per cent of the aggregate deposits, while the State Bank of India and its associates accounted for 24.2 per cent, the data said. Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India has appointed Syndicate Bank as the lead bank for the new district of Mewat in Haryana.
— PTI
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Punjab potatoes for Europe
Chandigarh, August 13 Markfed Managing Director S.S. Channy told TNS that PAU would conduct tests to ensure that the crop is free from bacterial and other fungal infections. The research process will take nearly two years and the exports will begin in March 2007. “We are looking for exports to Holland, Germany and other European countries from December to March. Europe has demand for fresh potatoes round the year, and the sowing season here synchronises with the cold season there,” he said. Markfed could not export 4 lakh tonnes of potatoes to a Munich-based firm last year since the facilities for clearing the phytosanitary tests were not in place, Mr Channy said. The Jalandhar Potato Growers’ Association has already signed an agreement with Markfed, Punjab, in this regard. They had already started potato exports to some neighbouring countries like Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Malaysia, Dubai, Maldives etc The target was to export about 10,000 metric tonnes by March 2006.
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Uncertainty in Indian skies
K.R. Wadhwaney
THERE is uncertainty in Indian skies. There is uncertainty about fleet expansion; uncertainty about route operations of no-frill airlines. There is uncertainty about fares and, above all, there is uncertainty about behaviour and attitude of commanders and pilots. The more the corporates express their ambitions to float airlines, the more pilots want to jump from their steady home environment of Indian Airlines and Air-India to unknown and unproven private companies for the mere greed of money. Many, who have left national airlines, are tossing about from one private carrier to another. Most of the commanders are officious, arrogant and condescending. Because of enormous weight of responsibility, they are generally edgy, tense and irritable. They are notoriously sticky about their status. If a stewardess or a purser fails to address him as ‘Sir’, for example, he gets upset. He likes to see favourite faces among hostesses. The mushrooming of airlines — many will fold up as it happened in 1992 when the skies were partially opened — has pilots hopping jobs in haste while being unmindful of their actions. They are least concerned that they are disowning the national carriers that have made them what they are. Private airlines have started offering much more salaries and perks to experienced commanders to get air-borne. The salaries of senior commanders have jumped by Rs 1-2 lakh. What is cause for concern is that they are violating the age-old safety rules by flying more than they should. In national carriers, for example, the commanders were flying 75-80 hours in a month. In private carriers they are flying 100-120 hours a month. Their sleep-cycle is disturbed. But they are least bothered because of lure of money. Some private operators are even guilty of not strictly adhering to aircraft maintenance rules. This is a dangerous sign. Recently, Indian Airlines won a court battle in Secunderabad against defaulting pilots. The court restrained the pilots, who were guilty of poaching. Despite this favourable verdict, the airline officialdom has open mind in dealing with such applicants.
Feast convention
Several far-reaching decisions in aviation and other allied areas are expected in the two-day international convention of Federation of Educators and Scholars of Tourism (FEAST) at Chandigarh on October 8-9. about 300 delegates from aviation, tourism and other industries will be present. Their experience should help Indian aviation and tourism industries to progress.
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Net asset value changes for shop on rent
A.N. Shanbhag Q: Will a constructed but actually not leased or rented (lying vacant and locked) shop attract any income tax? In case yes, then what if I mortgage the shop. Would there be tax liability on my part. — Mithu Sandhu A: The computation of tax on a commercial or rented property is quite complicated. The formula is as follows: Computation of ‘gross annual value’ of a house property depends upon several parameters. These are: a) Municipal Valuation. Municipal taxes do represent the earning capacity of the property. In some big cities like Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai and Kolkata, the net rateable value is determined after deducting 10 per cent on account of repairs, sewerage tax, water tax, etc. To arrive at the gross value it is necessary to multiply the net value by 10 and divide the product by 9. b) Fair Rent. This can be assessed on the basis of rents fetched by similar properties in the neighbourhood. c) Max {a, b} d) Standard Rent. Some of the cities are under the Rent Control Acts, which have prescribed standard rents. e) Min {c, d} f) Actual rent. Actual rent received or receivable in case of a let out property plays a major role in determining annual value. g) Unrealised and irrecoverable rent. This can be deducted from the actual rent (= f) if the assessee has taken all reasonable legal steps for recovery of the unpaid rent or satisfies the department that such legal steps would be useless. This is so even if the defaulting tenant has vacated, or about to vacate compulsorily the property and is not in occupation of any other property of the assessee. Sec. 25AA states that where the assessee has subsequently realised rent which was irrecoverable, it shall be deemed to be income chargeable under the head, Income from House Property of the year in which it is realised whether or not the assessee is the owner of that property in that year. h) f-g i) Max {e, h}. j) Number of vacant months. k) {f x (j/12)} = Vacancy Allowance. Where the property is let out and remains vacant, the actual rent is correspondingly adjusted. l) i-k m) Municipal taxes. n) l-m. o) 30 per cent of n = Standard Deduction. p) n-o. q) Interest. r) p-q = Net Asset Value. You will find that if you have given the shop on rent, the Net Asset Value will change. If you mortgage the shop, income, if any, from the loan will be taxable whereas the setoff of the interest paid by you will depend upon the purpose for which you have purchased. Yes, it is quite complicated to arrive at the income chargeable to tax from a commercial property even if does not earn any income. You may need a professional help to arrive at the figure. Form H Q: In the application form of the PPF account it is mentioned that we can extend our account without any loss or profit after the initial period of 15 years. What does that mean? Does it mean that we will not get any interest after 15 years if we extent the same account? For how long can we extend our PPF account, I mean maximum time limit, to continue my account? In case if I change my PPF account from one city to another or from one bank to any other bank or post office, will I lo.ose any interest of that transaction period in shifting the account? In case I close my account after 15 years can I open a fresh account after that? — Dr Sandeep Sharma A: The account can be closed on completion of the term or it can be continued for a block of 5 years. This facility is available for a further block of 5 years on expiry of 20 years and yet another 5 years on expiry of 25 years and so on for any number of blocks - Yes, any number of blocks. The continuation can be with or without contribution. Once an account is continued without contributions for more than a year, the subscriber cannot opt to change over to continue the account with contributions. [Notification F.3(6)-PD/86 dt 20.8.86]. A subscriber, continuing his account with fresh subscriptions, can withdraw up to 60 per cent of the balance to his credit at the commencement of each extended period in one or more instalments, but only one per year. On the other hand, the balance can be merely retained in the account without contribution till it is needed. Any amount, in part or full, can be withdrawn in instalments, not exceeding one in a year. The balance will continue to earn interest till it is completely withdrawn. Form-H is to be used to declare the intention of continuing the account with subscription whereas no special intimation is necessary to continue the account without subscription. You may find difficulty in transferring the account to another bank or even the branch of the same bank, unless you have good reasons to do so. However, you do not lose interest. Yes, you can open another account after closing the first account. On opting for post-maturity continuation the 8 per cent tax-free interest coupled with its absolute safety is very attractive. Ceiling on PPF Q: I deposited Rs 70,000 in my PPF account on April 2, 2005. Can I claim deduction under Section 80 C for income tax purposes for 2005-06 (Assessment year 2006-07) — Manohar Lal Goyal A: Yes. PPF is eligible for the income deduction under the new Section 80C. The money deposited need not be out of “income chargeable to tax”. Therefore, the amount deposited on April 2, 2005, will be eligible for deduction u/s 80C for 2005-06.
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Forex reserves up
India's foreign exchange reserves rose by $ 2.03 billion for the week-ended August 5. The forex reserves stood at $ 1,42,637 million, a rise of $ 2,037 million, during the week under review, according to RBI’s weekly statistical supplement released here today. The rise in inflows is mainly due to revaluation of international currencies and intervention by the RBI in domestic forex market to mop up dollars after China revalued its currency yuan, analysts
said.— PTI
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Kingfisher Airlines Edible oil imports i-flex dividend
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