Tuesday, September 1, 1998
today's calendar
|
B U S I N E S S | Tuesday, September 1, 1998 |
|
| weather n
spotlight today's calendar |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
Govt
asked to offload 60 per cent Air India equity Ludhiana
broker suspended |
|||||
|
||||||
Kar Vivad Samadhan launched NEW DELHI, Aug 31 — With an estimated Rs 52,000 crore of direct and indirect taxes locked up in litigation, the government today launched the voluntary “Kar Vivad Samadhan scheme, 1998”, under which tax payers can opt to settle their outstanding tax arrears at reduced rates, avoid fines and penalties and get immunity from prosecution. The scheme, announced by the Finance Minister, Mr Yashwant Sinha, in his budget speech, will be in operation from September 1 to December 31, this year. Barring some exceptions, the scheme is open to all tax payers who have tax arrears as on March 31, 1998, under any direct or indirect tax enactment. The arrears should have remained unpaid on the date of the declaration and it should be a subject matter of dispute by way of pending appeal, reference, writ or revision or under an indirect tax enactment, pending show cause notice or demand notice. The scheme is not open to those tax payers on whom prosecution for concealment of income or for offences under indirect tax enactments has been launched or where the person is convicted for such offence. Persons facing prosecution under Indian Penal Code, Fera, Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, Terrorists and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act, Prevention of Corruption Act, Trial of offences relating to Transaction in Securities Act and Cofeposa Act would also not be entitled to apply under the scheme. The Chairman of the Central Board of Direct Taxes, Mr Ravi Kant, who along with his counterpart in the Central Board of Excise and Customs, Mr S.D.Mohille, launched the scheme here, said the scheme has been conceived with a view to reducing pending litigation and to maximise collection out of huge outstanding tax demand. He said under direct tax enactments, the scheme is available for taxes determined on or before March 31, this year which remain unpaid on the date of declaration. The tax rates would be calculated at the current rates. For example, under the Income Tax Act, the current rate would be 35 per cent for companies and firms and 30 per cent in other cases. The penalty and interest included in the tax arrears would be waived. If the tax rarer comprises only interest or penalty, the waiver would be to the tune of 50 per cent of that amount. For demands relating to search and seizure cases, the taxes are to be paid at a higher rate of 40 per cent or 45 per cent under the IT Act and at similar differential rates under other direct tax enactments. Mr Mohille refused to comment on the pending excise and customs cases of big companies like ITC Ltd and Shaw Wallace and said the scheme was not meant for any individual. It was for the parties concerned to find out whether they were entitled to avail of the scheme and take a suitable decision. The CBEC Chairman
clarified that part payments made for the pending cases
would not be considered for the Samadhan scheme. |
||||||
Cell phone petitioner rings Pilot’s bell NEW DELHI, Aug 31 (PTI) —The government and other respondents today sought two weeks time from the Delhi High Court to file replies to a petition seeking a CBI inquiry into the alleged Rs 1,122 crore irregularities in the allotment of cellular phone licences, even as the petitioner included former Communication Minister Rajesh Pilot’s name among the seven respondents. A Division Bench of acting Chief Justice Mahinder Narain and Justice Mukul Mudgal, which had issued the notices to the respondents on July 24, was today told by counsel for the ICICI that it had no role to play in the allotment of licences to the cellular phone operators. According to the amended petition filed by lawyer B.L. Wadhera, Pilot, a former Communications Minister, was also responsible for the allotment of the licences as the process was initiated during his tenure. The court had earlier issued notices to former Communications Minister Sukh Ram, the Finance Secretary, the Chairman of Trai, the Chief Executive of the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI). Mr Wadhera in his amended petition also deleted the names of ICICI Chairman and former DoT official R.C. Rastogi from the respondents’ list contending that their names were included on the basis of certain information which was not found to be correct. Mr Rastogi’s name was included as a former member (Finance) of DoT, while this post was actually held by S.K.N. Nair, at the relevant time and he had been named as respondent now in place of Rastogi. The petitioner alleged that DoT while allotting licences to cellular operators failed to devise a “basic standard” for charging licence fee, resulting in a net loss of about Rs 1,122 crore to DoT. According to the petition, losses due to under projection of the service was Rs 354 crore, followed by non-realisation of revised fee on calls (Rs 685 crore), on account of interest (Rs 50.76 crore) and due to non-recovery of liquidate demands (Rs 33 crore). The petitioner alleged that DoT had failed to protect the public interest by not making provisions in the agreement with COAI for charging higher fee in case the actual demand for mobile phones turning out to be more than the projected estimate during the first three years of its launching. “The cellular operators consequently were allowed undue benefit of Rs 483 crore in the process by not revising the air time charges from Rs 1.10 to Rs 1.40 per call by the DoT,” the petition said. The minimum
basic standard for licence fee was fixed by the then
Communication Minister Sukh Ram and member (Finance) DoT
after a mutual discussions on the basis of advice given
by one of the bidder on July 16, 1992, the petitioner
claimed. |
Ram Jethmalani divests
Secretary of key duties NEW DELHI, Aug 31 — Urban Affairs Minister Ram Jethmalani today divested Secretary Kiran Aggarwal of key duties and entrusted her work to an immediate junior following the leakage of certain documents pertaining to the reallotment of government land to a “defaulting” private firm. Jethmalani entrusted Aggarwal’s principal work relating to urban housing, DDA and other duties to Special Secretary S.S. Chattopadhyay. Under an official order of redistribution of work, Chattopadhyay will also be Chairman of the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC). Swamy had also questioned the reopening of bids for the Delhi mass rapid transport system. Significantly, Jethmalani has directed the special Secretary to put up all files direct to him. Sources in the ministry said the controversy is over Jethmalani’s reported rejection of some senior officials’ stand on two issues reallotment of prime land to a private firm in South Delhi and the move to seek fresh bids for the Delhi mass rapid transit system (MRTS). The officers, including Aggarwal, had reportedly met Prime Minister’s Principal Secretary Brajesh Mishra last week and conveyed their displeasure over the style of functioning of the minister and had threatened to go on indefinite leave. Besides Aggarwal, the two other officers mentioned in this context are Additional Secretary Hemendra Kumar and Joint Secretary S. Bannerjee. However, when contacted the three officials denied that they had decided to go on long leave and asserted that they had, in fact, attended duty in Nirman Bhavan today. The flash point in the controversy was, however, Jethmalani’s note to the CBI accusing some disgruntled officers of having passed on certain documents to Subramanian Swamy. The papers in possession with The Tribune show that the minister had reallocated the land for nine guest house blocks, nine restaurants and 25 shops to MS Shoes on the ground that it would lead to a financial loss to the Government of India. He had noted: “When there was actual revenue loss to the government, this ministry refused to comply with Rule 4(2). When I take a decision where there is no revenue loss (in the present case), this ministry would like to invoke Rule 4.” Under Rule 4, the prior approval of the Finance Ministry is mandatory before any matter with financial implications is settled. When the officials declined to implement his orders, Mr Jethmalani told his Secretary in the ministry that he did not approve of interminable notings. “Once I decide a matter, it is my responsibility and my action”. The officials, however, refused to implement the minister’s orders on technical grounds, among them that the matter was pending before the Delhi High Court, that a concurrence had to be sought from the Finance Ministry, and that the order violated the ministry’s transaction of business rules. The contention of the minister is that even paying up of the interest earned on the deposited first instalment by the company did not cause loss of revenue to the government as the amount was ‘enjoyed’ by HUDCO without performing any reciprocal obligation towards the allottee. But HUDCO has not implemented the order of the minister and is instead keenly watching the tussle in the Ministry of Urban Affairs. It has not yet withdrawn the appeal in spite of clear orders of the minister. This despite the fact that the Minister had categorically stated that HUDCO should not waste time and money on avoidable litigation and had instructed the agency to immediately withdraw the appeal on the next date of hearing. The note of the minister
clearly says that HUDCO had cheated MS Shoes while
showing leniency towards another builder, Ansals. |
The dismal performance of the midsize luxury cars in India has not deterred Korean auto major Hyundai Motors’ plans to launch its Sedan ‘Accent’ in the country. Hyundai Motor India Ltd will introduce Accent — its second car for the country — in September next year and trial production of the car will begin three months before the launch, Executive Director J.H. Kim told PTI on Monday. “We believe the slump in the luxury segment would be over in the near future and certainly there is a good market for these types of cars in India,” he said. Code-named ‘LC’, Accent would be priced below Rs 6 lakh to take on Honda City and Maruti “Esteem”, Kim said. The company has already imported a few cars for trial runs, which are going on in different parts of the country. —(PTI) Hyundai According to Mr D. Sethi, General Manager of Ultimate Hyundai, the booking for the new car will begin in September and the sale will start in October. One of the agencies has been allotted to Mrs Geeta Talwar, the first woman in the country to get it. —(TNS) Santro Road shows for Santro will be held in 15 cities across the country in the second half of the next month. Hyundai will introduce the car in five variants, including a semi-automatic version and all the cars will be priced between Rs 3 lakh and Rs 4 lakh. While the basic entry model ‘L1’ will be a non-AC car, the second variant ‘L2’ will be equipped with air conditioner. Two other versions in the ‘GLS’ series will have features like central locking and power steering. The third in this series is a semi-automatic version. There is also a plan to introduce a fully automatic version of Santro next year. Hyundai will manufacture about 20,000 Santros in this fiscal at its Chennai plant which has a total production capacity of 1.20 lakh cars per annum. —(PTI) Daihatsu A Toyota-owned Daihatsu may join hands with the Kirloskars for a small car. Toyota can use Daihatsu’s knowledge and technologies to strengthen its position in Asia, including India, as Toyota does not have a small car. —(PTI) Hinduja car The company was in talks with Toyota Motor Corporation of Japan for a joint venture to manufacture a small car for the Indian market. The Hindujas had even shortlisted the 850cc “Mira” as the base model for India. Interestingly, Toyota has now joined hands with the Bangalore-based Kirloskar group and is all set to roll out its first vehicle, a multipurpose vehicle, in 1999. The joint venture company is also looking at “Mira” as one of the base models for its second car for India. —(UNI) |
Govt asked to offload 60 per cent Air India equity NEW DELHI, Aug 31 (PTI) — The Disinvestment Commission today asked the government to reduce its stake in Air India to 40 per cent after financially restructuring the national carrier by pumping in Rs 1,000 crore. The government should take a strategic partner with 40 per cent equity by issuing fresh shares of the face value of Rs 770 crore to a consortium of airlines and investors, Commission Chairman G.V. Ramakrishna told newsmen after submitting the eighth report to the government. “There is not much future for Air India, if left to itself and even the support to the extent of Rs 2,000 crore from the government will not allow it to survive,” he said. The commission suggested that the performance of Central Electronics Ltd should be improved by reducing manpower through a voluntary retirement scheme (VRS). If the company’s financial position does not improve within a year, the government should sell its entire holding through a trade sale, it added. Suggesting a recipe for averting an “imminent sickness” in Air India, Ramakrishna said the strategic partner was needed for bringing in necessary financial, management and technical support for the airline, which was in dire need of fleet expansion. With the government investing Rs 1,000 crore and fresh equity to the tune the Rs 770 crore would enhance the paid-up capital of Air India to Rs 1924 crore, thereby giving it much-needed leverage to mobilise funds for replacement, modernisation and expansion of its fleet. After finding a strategic partner through global competitive bids, the government could further offload 10 per cent of its shares to domestic institutional investors through the bidding route and offer another 10 per cent for employees and retail investors at a discount. The ban on foreign airlines to participate in domestic airlines would not come in the way of finding a partner for Air India as there are no restrictions on investment in an international airline, the commission said. “Even Singapore International Airlines, which has been prevented from entering the Indian domestic aviation sector, could be an eligible bidder for Air India,” he said. However, Ramakrishna
clarified that one-fourth of the equity earmarked for
strategic partner should be held by Indian investors.
“A shareholder agreement providing for an
appropriate share in the management for the strategic
partner would also be necessary,” he added. |
Ludhiana broker suspended MUMBAI, Aug 31 (PTI) — The Sebi has suspended a member of the Ludhiana stock Exchange for three months for non-payment of requisite fees to the regulatory body. The regulator in a statement said Khem Kaur Gandhi has been suspended from September 7 for three months or till she makes payment of requisite fees to Sebi. She has been suspended in
terms of Sub-Regulation (3) of Regulation 29 of Sebi
(stock brokers and sub-brokers) regulations, 1992 for not
reporting off-market transactions to the exchange,
indulging in carry forward transactions and non-payment
of the fee. |
|
Gold rises Appointments Exporters’
meet IT Institute NIIT Enron Kalyani Brakes Forex rates SBI branch |
 |
 |
 |
| Nation
| Punjab | Haryana | Himachal Pradesh | Jammu & Kashmir | | Chandigarh | Editorial | Stocks | Sport | | Mailbag | Spotlight | World | 50 years of Independence | Weather | | Search | Subscribe | Archive | Suggestion | Home | E-mail | |
