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Builders under IT Dept scanner Wagah trade report ready New Year to ring in higher auto prices Dabur Nepal plant shut Haryana gets maximum SEZ proposals |
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Japanese Cos eye stake in ONGC’s Dahej project JSW to set up SPV for
Rs 40,000-cr unit in WB Indian Bank plans
Rs 900-cr IPO
Alcatel to invest $200 m per annum Marubeni ties up with ITC
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Builders under IT Dept scanner New Delhi, December 25 "The builders who have not paid a single penny as corporate tax while floating schemes every other day, have come under our notice," a senior official in the Finance Ministry said. He said the Investigation wing of the IT Department had kept a close watch on investments made by these companies, besides conducting search operations and scrutinising their documents. This had resulted in substantial tax deposits by the companies. Parsavnath Builders deposited Rs 50.8 crore as an advance tax till December as against Rs 9.5 crore during the corresponding period last fiscal. The Omaxe Group, which had not deposited any advance tax by December last fiscal, had this time deposited Rs 30 crore. The biggest surprise, sources said, was the increase in advance tax deposited by DLF Universal from Rs 3 crore last year to Rs 132 crore this fiscal. Rising profits in real estate, coupled with efforts of the IT Department, had led to an increase in advance tax deposits by builders, the official said, adding that the government was also ready to encash the real estate boom. The Eros Group and GTM Builders had also deposited Rs 40 crore and Rs 20 crore, respectively, after investigations were conducted by IT sleuths, sources said. Central Board of Direct Taxes spokesperson A.K.Sinha said the Income Tax Department had collected over Rs 1,000 crore as additional tax deposits,. He said due to the current boom in real estate sector and high growth in housing loans, the bank's advance tax deposits had also gone up substantially. Of the 25 top corporate tax paying companies, eight are from the banking sector, which includes SBI, PNB, Bank of Baroda, besides private sector banks like ICICI, Standard Chartered, HSBC, HDFC and Citi Bank. — PTI
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Wagah trade report ready Chandigarh, December 25 The report points out that there has been a visible fall out of the improved environment between the two nations. In India, imports from Pakistan in 2005-2006 has shown a 87 per cent increase while the exports to Pakistan has shown a 31 per cent hike. In the first phase, the ministry is thinking of importing molasses from Pakistan to Punjab, Haryana and Himachal in tank wagons on rail via Amritsar. The report has recommended that Attari station, being the first station from the border, should be developed as a model rail terminal for handling of molasses received from Pakistan. Other than the growing demand for molasses by the alcohol-producing units in these states, the report points out that the demand for molasses in India is likely to increase substantially following a change in the national policy regarding crude. “As a matter of national policy, it has been decided that henceforth ethanol will be blended with petrol by 5 per cent this year and 10 per cent by next year to save on crude imports. Ethanol production is gaining urgency as the cost of crude increases. It has, therefore, been decided that molasses should be diverted for producing ethanol and for beverages the liquor industry should shift to grain spirit in a time-bound manner. The changed scenario means that India henceforth shall have a shortage of molasses as the major portion of it will be diverted for production of ethanol,” states the report. Pakistan has surplus molasses and is anxious to off load it to India. The situation is almost tailor-made for both trading partners as the sugar belt in Pakistan and the distillery network in India i.e. in Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir are almost contiguous areas. The report gives details of the logistics for transport of molasses traffic. It states that the Bhagtanwala station on the Amristsar-Khem Karan section, Amritsar Yard Custom Bonded Area, Khasa railway station, 12 km from the border on Attari-Amritsar section, and the Attari section border area are the four locations where molasses handling facilities can be set up. According to the report, molasses used to be one of the items traded between India and Pakistan some decades ago. But due to inconvenience in transportation it was discontinued. The report further recommends that a nodal agency should be appointed to manage molasses in India. Similarly, a counterpart should be nominated in Pakistan.
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New Year to ring in higher auto prices New Delhi, December 25 With an eye on nursing bruised margins and also push up sluggish December sales, most of the companies have announced increasing prices from January. Maruti, the country's biggest carmaker, has already informed its dealers that it will raise prices across all models by up to Rs 12,000 from next month. On the other hand, Hyundai India has also cited similar reasons for its decision. "The margins have been under pressure and, thus, we have decided to go in for a price revision from New Year," Vice-President Arvind Saxena said. The company will raise prices by around 2 per cent across models, including flagship 'Santro'. Japanese car major Honda will also raise prices of its models like 'City', 'Civic' and 'Accord' by 1.5-2 per cent. Other carmakers like Toyota and Skoda have also indicated they will be increasing the prices from January. In the two-wheeler side, both market leaders Hero Honda and Bajaj have said they will increase the prices in a range of Rs 500-1,000. Bajaj has said it will raise the prices of all its bikes, except the 'Pulsar' model, by up to Rs 500. On the other hand, Hero Honda, which has seen margins bleed due to competitive pressures and increased production costs, will hike prices by up to Rs 1,000 from January 2007. "We will raise prices by up to Rs 1,000 across various models," Hero Honda Vice President (Marketing and Sales) Anil Dua said.
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Dabur Nepal plant shut
Kathmandu, December 25 "The green house plant, operating under the Corporate Social Responsibility Project, has been shut down since Friday due to the security of women employees," Managing Director of Dabur Nepal Udayan Ganguli said. "There are at least 50 women employees working in the green house and due to the law and order problems, we have to shut down the operation indefinitely," he said. —
PTI |
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Haryana gets maximum SEZ proposals Chandigarh, December 25 An official spokesman said today the state government, under the guidelines of the Union Government, was setting up SEZs in various part of the state for catalysing the industrial infrastructure besides generating more employment opportunities. The government had received 68 proposals for the SEZs, involving investments to the tune of Rs 1.75 lakh crore. Out of these, 49 proposals had been approved in-principle by the Union Government. The spokesman said the compensation being offered to the farmers, whose land is being acquired for the projects was the best in the country. He said in comparison to the rate of Rs 2.60 lakh per acre given previously, the land owners were now being offered a price of Rs 24 lakh per acre for their land. Giving further details about the SEZ, he said the state government had entered into an agreement with Reliance Industries to set up an SEZ in the state, which would be the largest spreading over an area of 25,000 acres. This project would involve an infrastructure investment of worth Rs 40,000 crore and would generate further investment of Rs 1 lakh crore and provide employment to 2 lakh persons, he claimed.
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Japanese Cos eye stake in ONGC’s Dahej project New Delhi, December 25 ONGC, which is implementing the Petrochemical Complex through a special purpose vehicle, plans to get a strategic partner in the project next year. "The project is on track. ONGC, on its own, is constructing a plant to extract C2-C3 (ethane, propane) from liquefied natural gas (LNG) imported by Petronet LNG Ltd from Qatar. This C2-C3 will form the basic feedstock for the Petrochemical Complex to be built through a SPV," said Mr A. K. Balyan, Director (Business Development), ONGC. The turnkey contract for the C2-C3 extraction project has been awarded to Toyo Engineering Corp and the plant would be completed by May 31, 2008. He said several companies, including from Japan and Korea, have evinced interest in taking up stake in the plant. ONGC has formed a special purpose vehicle (SPV) called ONGC Petro-additions Ltd (OPaL) for the petrochemical complex with Dahej SEZ. ONGC holds 26 per cent stake in the OPaL while 5 per cent is with Gujarat State Petroleum Corp (GSPC). The balance is to be given to a strategic investor and financial institutions. "Our equity investment in the project will be limited to Rs 992 crore," Mr Balyan added.— PTI
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JSW to set up SPV for
Rs 40,000-cr unit in WB
Kolkata, December 25 JSW would start the process of creating the SPV on January 11, 2007, when it signs an MoU with the West Bengal Government to kick-start the Rs 40,000-crore steel plant, sources said. The 10-million-tonne steel plant is at Salboni in Midnapore district. Initially, JSW would form an SPV with the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC) and later a joint venture would be forged with WBMDTC, sources said. Several agreements for creating SPVs and sub-SPVs for the first phase of the project would be signed on January 11. Total cost for phase-I, which would have a capacity of 3.2 million tonnes and 600-MW captive power plant, is pegged at Rs 10,000 crore. While JSW would require about 10 million tonnes of coal for the project, initially the requirement is for 3 million tonnes. "The state government has agreed to meet the company's coal requirement, the matter being a state subject," the sources said. —
PTI |
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Indian Bank plans
Rs 900-cr IPO
New Delhi, December 25 The bank has filed the draft red herring prospectus with Sebi for the proposed public offer of 85,950,000 shares of Rs 10 each for cash at a premium to be decided through the book-building process. "We expect to get Sebi approval for the IPO by the first week of January," Mr Chakrabarty said. As there was no progress on merger and acquisition of PSU banks, it had adopted the alliance model to give best service to customers while cutting down operational costs. A few months back, the bank struck an alliance with Delhi-based Oriental Bank of Commerce and Mumbai-based Corporation Bank to share each other's infrastructure and to jointly do business to face competition. Indian Bank expected an increase of 17-18 per cent in business, 25-30 per cent in credit and 17-18 per cent in deposits. —
PTI Unlikely to hike interest rates
Indian Bank is unlikely to tinker with lending rates and will improve efficiency to protect the margins due to an increase in the cost of funds. "I don't see any change in interest rates," Indian Bank Chairman K.C. Chakrabarty said when asked if the bank had any plans to raise the lending rates. The bank had recently raised the deposit rates, making them competitive when compared to other banks, he said. Many banks like ICICI, HDFC, Oriental Bank of Commerce and Centurion Bank of Punjab had increased both deposit and lending rates last week after the RBI's decision to hike the cash reserve ratio. |
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Alcatel to invest $200 m per annum
New Delhi, December 25 "Till now we have invested more than euros 1 billion (close to Rs 6,000 crore) and are still continuing. Our further investment is to the tune of $200 million every year in various activities, including R&D," Alcatel-Lucent country-head Ravi Sharma said. Alcatel, which has a manufacturing tie-up with state-run ITI, has already set up two plants at Mankapur and Rai Bareily operational, he said, adding more plants would be functional for manufacturing ADSL, an equipment used for offering broadband services. With the acquisition of Lucent Technologies, the French telecom giant now has a reach in the emerging CDMA technology. In GSM services, Alcatel has a major share in the operations of state-owned service providers — BSNL and MTNL. —
PTI |
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Marubeni ties up with ITC
Tokyo, December 25 Under the accord, the two companies will consider jointly exporting Indian-made soyabean cake and maize grains for livestock feed, Marubeni said in a statement. They would also consider jointly building silos and other grain-related facilities and launching a soyabean protein business, it said. —AFP |
Central package for Surat mills HCL to invest Rs 70 crore Markets closed |
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