The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	Patil in UAE to hardsell India Geetanjali Gayatri on board president’s special aircraft Tribune news service Strengthening bilateral ties with the UAE, Syria and forging a strong business bond with the countries in this region will be the main focus of President Pratibha Devisingh Patil’s visit to the UAE and Syria. The President’s 4-day visit to the UAE will be her first State visit to a Gulf State while her November 26-29 visit to Syria will be the first ever visit by an Indian President to that country. She is slated to visit Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah in the first leg of her visit. While interacting with mediapersons on board her special aircraft, the President maintiained that India and the UAE have shared civilisational links that date back to several centuries and the relations have always been warm and friendly. The UAE is an important trade partner of India with bilateral trade of over $43 billion. “The UAE is one of our leading suppliers of crude oil and plays an important role in the energy security of India. As a country whose energy requirements will increase significantly in the years to come, continued co-operation in this sector is important”, she said. Talking about the possibilities of further expanding India's trade President Patil said: "I will highlight the tremendous scope for investing in India's infrastructure. Our fast growing stable economy with its strong fundamentals makes India an attractive investment destination."The President will inaugurate the Indian Trade Exhibition Centre in Sharjah to promote two-way trade, tourism and investment between India and the UAE. Indians comprise the largest expatriate community in the UAE, numbering around 1.75 million. Remittances to India from the UAE in 2008-09 were about $12 billion, accounting for a third of all money sent to India from the GCC countries. The UAE is a significant trading and energy security partner, and bilateral trade was valued at $43.4 billion in 2009-10. In 2009-10, the UAE had emerged as one of India's top export destination, accounting for 13.41 per cent of the country's total exports. The country is also among the top five suppliers of crude oil to India. The President will spend two days in Abu Dhabi before moving onto Dubai and Sharjah. She will also visit the Abu Dhabi and Dubai chambers of commerce. “Syria has expressed support for India’s permanent membership of the UNSC. India, too, on its part, has always supported all just Arab causes, and has consistently supported the return of the Golan Heights to Syria, which remains occupied by Israel since 1967,” Patil said. “Syria is also important to us for our energy security. OVL already has investments there and is looking for more opportunities for oil exploration,” Patil added. In Syria, Patil will hold talks with her counterpart Bashar al Assad, who had paid a State visit to India in June 2008. Delegation-level talks, which are expected to cover various aspects of bilateral relations as well as regional and international issues will follow a meeting between the presidents. She will also meet Syrian Prime Minister Mohammad Naji Otri and the Speaker of the Syrian Parliament, Mahmoud Al Abrash. The President will address Indian and Syrian businessmen and launch the Syria-India Business Council. She will also visit the International Centre for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas (ICARDA) in Aleppo, where many Indian scientists are doing commendable work. Minister of State for Power Bharatsinh Solanki is accompanying the President during the visit.
	Tax Advice Business loss can’t be set off against salary income by SC Vasudeva Q. I am a salaried individual and also engaged in business of selling newspapers and periodicals. In the year ended 31st March 2010 I have suffered a loss in the said business. Am I entitled to set off such a loss against my salary income? — Anand A. In accordance with the provisions of Section 71(2A) of the Act, a loss under head “Profit & Gains of Business or Profession” cannot be set off against income under head salaries. You would therefore not be entitled to such a set off. You can, however, carry forward such a loss for a period of 8 years which would be adjustable against the profit earned in such future years profit. Gratuity above Rs 10 lakh taxable Q. I would be retiring in March, 2011. I shall be entitled to gratuity which would exceed Rs 10 lakh presently exempt from tax in view of a recent amendment. The approximate amount would be Rs 15 lakh. Can I seek relief under Section 89 of the Act in respect of the excess amount. — Brijesh A.The gratuity amount exceeding Rs 10 lakh would form part of the salary income and brought to tax accordingly. However, the Act provides that in a case where a person is in receipt of a sum in the nature of salary, being paid in arrears or in advance or is in receipt of, in any one financial year, salary of more than 12 months or a payment which is construed as a profit in lieu of salary and due to which his total income is assessed at the rate higher than that at which it would have otherwise have been assessed, the assessing officer shall, on a application made to him in this behalf provide such relief as may be prescribed. You can therefore seek a relief under Section 89 of the Act for the amount of Rs 5 lakh which would become taxable. Rule 21A(3) of the Income-tax Rules 1962 provides for the computation of the due relief in respect of gratuity. You can file Form 10E to the person responsible for making payment of salary for the grant of relief under Section 89 of the Act. Rebate u/s 80C Q. I have earned short-term capital gain on the sale of shares to the extent of Rs 3 lakh. Apart from the above, I have an income from pension and interest. The pension income and the interest income is much below the taxable limit of Rs 2,40,000 applicable to a senior citizen. I have also deposited Rs 70,000 in a PPF account and bought NSCs for Rs 30,000 during the year ending in March 2011. Will I be able to claim a deduction of Rs 1 lakh against the short-term capital gain of Rs 3 lakh for the assessment year 2011-2012? — Santosh A. Section 111A (2) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (The Act) provides that an assessee shall not be entitled to claim a deduction against the short-term capital gain in respect of any benefit available under Chapter VI-A of the Act. In view thereof, you would not be able to claim the deduction of Rs 1 lakh invested in accordance with the provisions of Section 80C of the Act against the short-term capital gain. No rebate on principal amount Q. My son has taken an educational loan from a bank. He has been repaying the EMI regularly. However, he has not claimed the deduction in respect of such EMI. I have been advised that EMI so paid is deductible from the income. Please clarify the position whether EMI in respect of a loan raised for education would be deductible from taxable income. — Raj Kumar A. The deduction allowable in respect of the repayment of amount borrowed for higher education was discontinued w.e.f. 1.4.2001. At present, Section 80E of the Act provides that interest on loan taken by an assessee from any financial institution or any approved charitable institution for the purpose of pursuing his higher education is allowable as deduction. Such deduction is allowable from the total income in respect of the initial assessment year in which the loan has raised and seven assessment years immediately succeeding the initial assessment year or until the interest payable on such loan is paid by the assessee in full, whichever is earlier. Accordingly your son will be able to claim the deduction in respect of interest payable on loan raised for higher education. The principal amount repaid towards the loan would not be deductible. Rebate u/s 80U I am a retired govt. servant. I has been diagnosed as a case of acquired sensori neural loss (hearing loss) by Members Disability Board, G.M.C. Hospital, Sector 32, Chandigarh and issue a certificate with permanently disabled by 62% with respect to ears. Can I qualify as a ‘handicapped’ under Section 80U of I.T. as I cannot hear? And if so, can I claim relief under the Act and how much? Gurvinder A. In accordance with the provisions of Section 80U of the Income-tax Act 1961 (the Act), in computing the total income of a resident individual who at any time during the previous year is certified by the medical authority to be a person with disability, there shall be allowed a deduction of Rs 50,000, for assessment year 2010-11. The deduction allowable in case a person is suffering from severe disability, is Rs 1 lakh. The term medical authority has been defined by the Act as medical authority referred to in clause (p) of Section 2 of the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act 1995. The term disability as defined in clause (i) of Section 2 of the above referred Act includes hearing disability which should be a loss of 60 decibels or more in a better ear in the conversational range of frequencies. The term medical authority means any hospital or institution specified for the purposes of aforesaid Act by notification by the appropriate Government. You may therefore ascertain whether G.M.C. Hospital, Chandigarh is a prescribed medical authority and further that the hearing disability is within the range as specified above. In case you are covered within the above provisions you can claim the deduction of the amount referred to above. For claiming such deduction you will have to enclose a copy of the certificate issued by the medical authority in the form and manner prescribed vide Rule 11A of the Income Tax Rules 1962 (Form No. 10-IA) alongwith return of income under section 139 of the Act in respect of the assessment year for which the deduction is claimed.
	DGCA to monitor tariff of domestic airlines Tribune News Service New Delhi, November 21 In view of insufficient and inadequate information available in public domain on air fares and reports of scheduled domestic airlines charging excessively high tariff for various flights during the high demand period, civil aviation regulator Director-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has asked all airlines to maintain transparency in tariff and publish air fares on their websites or in daily newspapers. Scheduled domestic airlines have been directed to furnish a copy of the route-wise tariff across its network in various fare categories, in the manner it is offered in the market, to the DGCA on the first day of every calendar month. Any significant and noticeable change in the established tariff filed with the DGCA will be reported to the regulator within 24 hours. The airlines have also been asked to maintain all records pertaining to established tariff in its office and publish air fares on their websites or in daily newspapers. A statement issued by the ministry admitted that arbitrary fares had been causing lot of inconvenience to passengers and drawing adverse comments about air fares.
	SBI's strike withdrawn Kolkata, November 21 SBI employees union today said the proposed two-day nationwide strike from November 25 has been called off after an assurance from the government on pension issue. Senior vice-president of SBI Staff Association MV Murli said that the government had assured the bank management that pension of employees and officers would be brought at par with that in other nationalised banks. "The management in turn has communicated to us that the pension would be hiked," Murli told reporters here today. The association had earlier threatened that the two-day strike would be followed by an indefinite strike if its demands were not met. According to Murli, the higher pension for SBI staff would benefit 1.7 lakh employees including 60,000 officers. The increased pension would be given with effect from November 1, 2007, he said. The association was also opposed to the merger of SBI's associate banks with itself. — PTI
	Kingfisher fined Rs 1 crore New Delhi, November 21 Competition watchdog CCI has imposed a fine of Rs 1 crore on Kingfisher Airlines for not furnishing information it sought during the investigation into the carrier's proposed strategic agreement with another private player Jet Airways. "Kingfisher Airlines has not furnished certain information that the Director General (Investigations) had asked for while probing the case, so we have imposed a fine of Rs 1 crore on Kingfisher for non-compliance," a senior Competition Commission of India (CCI) official said. — PTI
	Cairn India forced to cap output in Rajasthan New Delhi, November 21 Cairn India has been forced to cap oil production from its Rajasthan fields as the government is delaying approval for plans to raise output by 20 per cent ostensibly because of its standoff with the company's majority shareholder. Cairn India produces 125,000 barrels of crude oil per day (6.25 million tons a year) from Mangala oilfield, the largest among the 15 discoveries in the Rajasthan block RJ-ON-90/1. The company nearly four months ago had told the Oil Ministry and sector regulator Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) that output from the Mangala field can be raised to 150,000 bpd (7.5 million tons) without any new investment from existing facilities, sources in know of the development said. But the plan has not been approved either by state-owned ONGC which holds 30 per cent interest in the Thar dessert fields, or the DGH, sources said, adding the Oil Ministry, too, is sitting on the proposal. India meets 73 per cent of its oil needs through imports not producing 1.25 million tons of crude oil does not agur well for the country's energy security, experts said. Sources said Cairn India has completed drilling 74 wells but is producing oil from only 48 wells. The facilities at the Mangala field can sustain output of 150,000 bpd output. UK's Cairn Energy Plc, which holds 62.38 per cent stake in Cairn India, had on August 16 announced sale of its 40-51 per cent stake in the company to London-listed Vedanta Resources for up to $8.48 billion. Industry watchers said Cairn Energy has had differences with the Oil Ministry on the requirement of prior government consent and the standoff is costing the nation dear of precious oil. Oil Ministry says it will not consider approving Cairn Energy's proposal to sell majority stake in its Indian arm to Vedanta Resources unless the UK-based firm sheds its selective approach and makes formal application for transfer of control in all its 10 properties in the country. Cairn Energy has so far applied for government nod only its 7 exploration acreage while has kept the three producing properties including the crown jewel Rajasthan fields out of the application. Industry watchers linked the delay in government nod for raising output to this difference between the Oil Ministry and Cairn Energy. Cairn Energy has so far maintained that it is not contractually bound to seek approval for sale of shareholding in the Indian unit in the Rajasthan block, the Cambay basin gas field and the eastern offshore Ravva oil and gas fields. Sources said the standoff has meant about 30 lakh barrels of crude oil remained inside the earth while the nation spent precious foreign exchange on importing crude oil. — PTI