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BSNL for revenue share on roaming calls
UK firm logs out of Bangalore
Tata deal difficult to accept: Dhaka
IIBI to close down
SAIL to invest Rs 37,000 cr
Govt to revive Elgin Mills
Rs 140-cr pharma unit at Patiala |
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Jharkhand
promises iron ore to Mittal Market Scan
Invest in sound companies
Tax Advice
Value of gift raised to Rs 50,000
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BSNL for revenue share on roaming calls
New Delhi, July 9 Responding to the TRAI’s consultation paper on revenue sharing, BSNL said the regulator should prescribe the amount to be shared between the operators instead of letting them decide on their own. In its view, BSNL said Rs 50 per call should be prescribed as the terminating operator’s share in roaming calls, as visiting networks currently charge as high as Rs 100 per call. “Since visiting network service provider is treating the roaming subscriber differently from its own subscribers and charging much higher and it is not cost based, there should be revenue share between the visiting and terminating network service provider,” the PSU said. Currently, the mobile termination charges are 30 paise and the TRAI was of the view that since the terminating operator does not have to incur any extra cost, there was no need to part with a higher share. While in national roaming, the regulator has prescribed a ceiling of Rs 3 a minute, in international roaming there is no regulation, which has led to charges as high as Rs 100 a minute. BSNL is of the view that the share of revenue from roaming calls is based on the premium rate charge on such calls by the visiting network operator and the terminating operator which ends the calls. Since the call cannot be completed without a terminating operator, hence the need for share of share from premium. Operators say that split of revenues from roaming would be a retrograde move, as it would benefit only BSNL. Cellular operators fear that since BSNL has control over more than 50 per cent of the country’s telecom subscriber base, the net outgo in the event of a revenue share would be in favour of the public sector company. The PSU has asked the TRAI to prescribe the amount to be paid by the visiting network operator to the terminating operator rather than leaving it to the mutual negotiation between them. “Because of multiplicity of operators, likelihood of negotiations succeeding is quite remote, while leading to litigations (which) may adversely affect the services to the customers”, BSNL said. — PTI
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UK firm logs out of Bangalore
Bangalore, July 9 Belair was running a BPO branch under the name Belair Communications India Pvt Ltd in the city and had employed 93 personnel. The company took the unprecedented step without giving any prior notice to the employees. The employees were asked to stop coming to work last month. The company also sacked its India operations CEO Rajat Ohrie through an e-mail last month. The e-mail, from company’s Belair UK Director Haydn Isted accused Ohrie of slandering the company’s name and lowering its image in interactions with vendors and sale agents. Meanwhile, the employees of the company have lodged a complaint with the State Labour Commissioner through the Union for ITES Professionals (UNITES). The employees have charged the company of withholding salary payment since May and not giving any reason for the closure of the unit. Talking to TNS, UNITES general secretary R. Karthik Shekhar said Mr Ohrie had stated that his services had been terminated because he was fighting for the rights of the employees. He said the Labour Commissioner had accepted the complaint and had told UNITES that it was in the process of seeking all relevant information on the issue. |
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Tata deal difficult to accept: Dhaka
Dhaka, July 9 Tata has proposed building a steel plant, urea factory, a 1,000 MW gas-fired power plant and developing a coalmine in Bangladesh. It would be the biggest single investment in the country. But last week Tata said it might pull out because of delays in reaching an agreement. “All of us in the government and myself feel strongly that it is good for Bangladesh, but it is also difficult to take any decision before the coming election,” the minister said after a meeting with a Tata delegation. — Reuters
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Kolkata, July 9 He said that although the IIBI had stopped its lending activity long back, the asset base of the development financial institution (DFI) would be Rs 2,400 crore. Asked about the future of the 160- odd employees of the IIBI, he said that all of them would be absorbed in banks and other institutions. Earlier, the Finance Ministry had mooted the merger of the IIBI with the IDBI after segregating the bad assets of the former. However, the merger proposal was subsequently withdrawn as the IDBI ruled out acquisition of the DFI. Sources said the reason for the IIBI turning unviable was due to huge non-performing assets (NPAs) which the DFI had inherited from its previous avatar, the Industrial Reconstruction Bank of India (IRBI), whose mandate was to nurse weak corporates. Most of the advances which the DFI had given had turned bad, sources said. — PTI
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SAIL to invest Rs 37,000 cr
New Delhi, July 9 The decision came after the Minister for Chemicals and Fertilisers and Steel Ram Vilas Paswan reviewed the expansion plan and targets of SAIL here yesterday in the backdrop of the recently announced Indian investment plans of the global steel giants. It was also decided that the timeline for the major part of the expansion process would be compressed from the original schedule of five years to around three years, a company statement said. SAIL’s expansion plan envisages an investment of Rs 9,000 crore at Bokaro Steel Plant, Rs 6,340 crore at Bhilai Steel Plant, Rs 4,590 crore at Rourkela Steel Plant and Rs 2,840 crore at Durgapur Steel Plant. In addition, a major investment to the tune of Rs 9,600 crore has been envisaged in IISCO, and Rs 1,553 crore in Salem Steel Plant for modernisation, backward integration and expansion of rolling facilities.
— UNI |
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Govt to revive Elgin Mills
New Delhi, July 9 The government will float a special purpose vehicle (SPV) for the company’s revival in which private players will hold a majority stake, sources said.To advise on the revival through the SPV, the government has decided to call the bids from merchant bankers. The last date for submission of bids is 27th July.
— PTI |
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Rs 140-cr pharma unit at Patiala Chandigarh, July 9 Mr Sanjay Kumar, Director, Industries, signed the MoU on behalf of the government while Mr S. Quereshi, Managing Director, Hind Industries, signed it for the company.
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Jharkhand
promises iron ore to Mittal
Ranchi, July 9 “We have sent a Letter of Comfort. We have said
in the letter that we will give 400 tonnes plus 200 tonnes of iron ore
to Mittal Steel among other things,” Mines and Geology Secretary S.K.
Satpathy said here today. The government’s initiative comes in the
wake of steel tycoon L.N. Mittal expressing unhappiness of the pace of
work in Jharkhand. — PTI
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by J.C. Anand
Invest in sound companies
In this fluctuating market marked by a high degree of volatility, it
is difficult to forecast even the market trend. The behaviour of the
market is conditioned by many factors: global and emerging market
indices, FIIs, mutual funds, traders, meteorological factors determining
the monsoon and vacillating government policies due to coalitional
distempers.
During the past week, Sensex closed at 10,695 up by 86
points. Next day, however, Sensex was down by 33 points, again the next
day i.e. on July 5 it was up by 257 points and once again on July 6,
Sensex was down by 152 points and on last Friday, when the market
closed, the index was at 10,510, down by 269 points. During the week as
a whole Sensex was down by 185 points. Inflation rate has come down to
4.84 per cent but how the market would behave during this week cannot be
predicted. On July 12, Infosys would announce its quarterly results. The
market may respond positively but the bearish movement is likely to
persist. The chairman of Tata Steel has announced that Tata Sons would
raise its equity stake by 10 per cent. This is being done with a view to
warding off any takeover attempt. Investors should invest only in
companies with sound management and excellent fundamentals. In this list
we may include Reliance Industries, Tata group shares (Tata Steel, Tata
Motors, Indian Hotels, Tata Tea and Tata Chemicals), Information
Technology shares (like Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communications), Aditya
Birla group shares (Grasim, Hindalco), construction and engineering
giant (Larsen & Toubro), power and transmission companies (ABB,
Alstom Project, Areva T & D) and pharma companies (Glaxo Pharma,
Pfizer). Tata Chemicals
Tata Chemicals is the world’s third largest
soda ash manufacturers after acquiring the UKs Best Soda Ash Company
Bruner Mond Group Ltd. It is also a market leader in salt. It is also a
major fertiliser manufacturer. Its equity capital stands at Rs. 215.16
crore with “reserves” at Rs 1952.54 crore, of which only less than
Rs 250 crore comprise “debenture redemption reserves” and such other
reserves. For the year ended March 31, 2006, its “profit after tax”
was Rs. 353.03 crore. The aggregate of its quoted investments, which
have a book value of Rs 150 crore, had a market value of Rs. 1299 crore
on March 31, 2006. The aggregate of unquoted investments with a
bookvalue of Rs. 563.67 crore would have even much higher market value
if these had been quoted in the market, for this includes the share of
Tata Industries, Tata International Ltd., Tata Projects, Tata Services,
Tata Sons and Tata Tele Services. Last week Tata Chemicals scrips
(with a face value of Rs. 10) closed at Rs. 211. It has declared a
dividend of Rs. 7 per share but its book closing is over. Tata Chemicals
is a fundamentally sound company with excellent management and is a
major international player in soda ash. |
by S.C. Vasudeva Value of gift raised to Rs 50,000 Q: Kindly confirm whether in FY 06-07, the limit of gift from non-relatives has been extended from Rs 25, 000 to Rs 50,000. — R.P. Bindal, Jind A: The limit for the taxability of gift from non-relatives is proposed to be raised to Rs 50,000. However, the Taxation Laws (Amendment) Act 2006, which contains this proposal though passed by both Houses of Parliament, is yet to be notified. Education loan
Q: I had taken a loan for pursuing higher studies in India only. Now I am repaying the loan and want to know the income tax benefits for FY 05-06 (assessment year 2006-07). My salary in hand is Rs 16,000 month. — Khajan A:
Section 80E of the Act allows the deduction of interest on loan taken by a person for pursuing higher education which he has borrowed from any financial institution which includes bank or any approved charitable institution. The section does not prescribe any limit on the amount of interest so allowed to be deducted but it provides that such deduction shall be allowed in computing the total income in respect of the initial assessment year and seven assessment years immediately succeeding the initial assessment year. I may add that such interest must have been paid by the assessee out of his income chargeable to tax. Section 80C
Q: Please clarify that the tuition fee paid by me of my daughter doing PG in Government Medical College is exempted from income tax or not? (i) She got married last year, but I have paid her tuition fee in May 2005. (ii) Is there any age limit of the child regarding rebate in income tax for his/her tuition fee. (iii) What is the first slab of female tax payee? — P.S. Sandhu, Moga A. The answer to your queries are as under: (i) The tuition fee paid would be allowable if the PG course is a full-time education course. This deduction would be within the overall limit of Rs 1,00,000 provided under Section 80C of the Act. (ii) The section does not provide any limitation that the fee has to be for an unmarried child. It has to be for a full-time course. (iii) The section does not provide any age limit, except that the fee has to be for full-time education course. (iv) The first slab for a female tax payee is Rs. 1,35,000 to Rs 1,50,000. Tuition fee
Q: I am a government employee working in the Punjab State Electricity Board. My annual income is about Rs 2.5 lakh. I have two children who are studying and their tuition fees is Rs 46,500. Kindly clarify if there is any permissible limit to the tax rebate being set by the government? — N.K. Bhanot, Patiala A: Section 80C of the Act also provides for the deduction of the tuition fee paid by an individual assessee, whether at the time of admission or thereafter (a) to any university, college, school or other educational institution situated within India, (b) for the purpose of full time education of any two children of an assessee. In case you fulfill the above conditions, you would be entitled to the deduction of Rs 46,500 from your total income. It may be added that this deduction is allowable within the overall limit of Rs 1,00,000 provided in Section 80C of the Act. PAN card
Q: I lost my PAN card and informed the Income Tax Commissioner, Patiala, as well as the Income Tax Officer, Sirhind, for the loss and issue of duplicate card. I got no response though two months have been passed. Whether PAN of the lost card can be mentioned in IT return or not. — Ajit Singh Kaler, Chandigarh A: I presume that the Permanent Account Number held by you is a 10-digit alphanumeric number issued in the form of a laminated card. If it is so, please write to the Vice-President, IT PAN Processing Centre, at the address given below for the issuance of a duplicate card: The Vice-President, IT PAN Processing Centre, UTI Investor Services Ltd. Plot No. 3 Sector-11, CBD – Belapur Navi Mumbai 400 614 e-mail.-utiisl-gsd@uti.co.in Tel. No. 022-27561690; Fax No. 022-27561706 PAN application number, coupon number and IT PAN service centre where the application was submitted should be mentioned in all references. The department has explained that in respect of PAN applications submitted after 01.07.2003, all enquiries should be made to the said authority You can quote your PAN as allotted to you pending the issuance of a duplicate card. |
bb
HAL tie-up
Sasol plans MGE India Equity stake
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