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Tuesday,
June 5, 2001, Chandigarh, India  
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Sales tax penalty nets Rs 1 cr Transporters
seek help to face bankruptcy 550 cr
agriculture fund to be set up
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Research
centre on litchi to be set up Interest
on public deposits cut by 1 pc Tata
Info Education to double centres Reforms
in power sector must Kesoram
hopes cement prices to firm up If you
can’t beat them, join them! Mushroom
cultivation
Hindustan
Lever to offload 51 pc equity
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Sales tax penalty nets Rs 1 cr Chandigarh, June 4 The incident took place on the night intervening December 5 and 6 last year, when a joint raid by the officials of the department and the CBI was conducted. A total of 2,423 packages, mostly of hosiery, cloth, etc. were detained for verification revealing that a bulk of the transactions was without any bills indicating large scale evasion of sales tax. The Financial Commissioner, Excise and Taxation, Mr Y. S. Ratra, told TNS today that verification showed that particulars mentioned in the railways record were fictitious. Thereafter, 317 packages were released because the transactions were either genuine or in respect of tax-free goods. Bogus transactions were found in respect of 1977 packages inviting a penalty of Rs 1 crore. It has been realised. The goods in these packages were valued at Rs 3.19 crore. Still 129 packages, valued at Rs 18.50 lakh inviting a penalty of Rs 5.50 lakh, remain unclaimed with the railways. Interestingly, following the establishment of 32 computerised Information Collection Centres (ICC) at all entry and exit points in December, 1999, to check goods being transported by road, there were reports that to evade sales tax the trade had shifted booking of parcels and goods to the railways. Since the department does not have jurisdiction to enter the operational areas of the railways. This proved to be a handicap of which certain unscrupulous elements took undue advantage. Mr Ratra said the high court had passed clear instructions to the department and CBI to act strictly under the law showing no leniency to any dealer whose goods were detained at the railway station at Ludhiana. The court also directed that the state and the railways jointly survey and identify sites outside the operational areas of the railways where ICCs could be established for goods transported by rail. In the light of the directive, there was a meeting between state officials, led by Mr Ratra, and the Chief Commercial Manager, Northern Railway, Mr Joyanta Roy, on May 21, in which it was decided that to begin with at least two ICCs be established in Ludhiana and Amritsar. The proposed ICCs will be set up shortly at identified places for which the land will be given by the railways. Another important point of agreement between the state and the railways is that instructions will be issued to the railway divisions asking the city booking agencies not to divert parcels booked to the agencies before delivery is effected at the agency— ICC. All parcels booked to agencies would be transported out of the station premises in a ''combined lot'' and not in ''parts'' when these arrive together. The department claims that after establishment of the ICCs at the road entry and exit points, the revenue went up by 32 per cent in 2001 compared to 1999-2000. The same way, the department hopes to enhance its sales tax returns at rail head as well. The government policy, Mr Ratra said was clear. The Minister, Mr Adesh Partap Singh Kairon, is firm that evasion will not be permitted in the state's interest because revenue realised is used for developmental activities.
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Transporters seek help to face bankruptcy Ludhiana, June 4 In a memorandum submitted to the Chief Minister, the private transporters have argued that during recent years, the profits in the transport sector have drastically come down. Despite government’s relief in road tax, the private operators as well as public sector transport services have been unable to meet the costs of loans or the maintenance charges of running the buses. Commenting on the bad conditions of the transport sector, Mr Fateh Singh Libra, MD, Libra Transport, said, ‘‘The total cost of running buses comes out to be Rs 16.39 per km on an average as against the average income of Rs 12 per km. The government has failed to curb the illegal plying of trucks, light commercial vehicles, private cars and tourists buses, which carry passengers at lesser fares. Consequently, the transport operators incur losses worth crores of rupees.’’ It has been pointed out in the memorandum that free travel by police personnel, students and aged women is one of the major reasons of losses incurred by the transport sector. Moreover, the rate of diesel had increased to Rs 16.65 from Rs 9.92 per litre in 1998. The price of bus chassis has also increased to Rs 6,58,000 from Rs 5,10,000 over the past two years. At present, there are about 3000, 2400 and 1100 buses of private operators, Punjab Roadways and PRTC, respectively, in the state. More than seven lakh passengers travel by private buses daily. About 500 buses of Punjab Roadways and more than 200 buses of PRTC are said to be running on roads though they have been declared unfit long ago. The private operators, the employees’ unions of PRTC and Punjab Roadways have been agitating for long, demanding either increase in the bus fares or decrease in the road taxes. The public sector transport is reportedly suffering about Rs 50 crore loses every month due to heavy taxes and low fares. The transporters have alleged that the state government is dithering from increasing bus fares because elections are to be held within an year. Further, the railways’ decision for the past two years against increase in fares have aggravated the problem for them. The transporters have urged the Chief Minister to immediately announce a relief package to help the transport sector. They have demanded that the special road tax should be reduced by at least one rupee, from Rs 2.99 per km to Rs 1.99 per km, and some relief in sales tax on high speed diesel should be announced. This would help the farmers, too, say the transporters. They have also demanded increase in the tax relief period from three days to five days per month. Mr Raghbir Singh, Transport Minister, Punjab, when contacted in this regard, said, ‘‘There is no proposal to increase bus fares. We have already provided about Rs 70,000 relief per bus to the transporters by reducing the road tax. The government is considering to provide further relief by taking some measures.’’
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550 cr agriculture fund to be set up Chandigarh, June 4 Mr D S Guru, Director, Industries, and Special Secretary, Commerce, inaugurated the meeting which was convened by Punjab National Bank. Mr T S Narayanasami, Executive Director, PNB, presided over the meeting. Mr D. S. Guru spoke about the initiatives taken by the state government to meet the WTO challenges which include setting up of agriculture research centre based in PAU , Ludhiana. The agriculture adjustment fund involving a sum of Rs 550 crore would be set up, said he. Speaking about the performance of the banks, Mr T S Narayanasami, Executive Director, PNB, said in several government-sponsored schemes, the banks have surpassed the targets between April, 2000, and March 31, 2001. While the aggregate deposits in the banks increased by Rs 5,341 crore and reached the level of Rs 43,937 crore, the gross credit in the state exhibited a growth of 20.7 per cent and went up to Rs 18,594 crore as on March 2001 against Rs 15,409 crore last year. Mr Narayanasami further said the priority sector advances of the banks in the state grew by Rs 1,531 crore whereas the agricultural advances witnessed an increase of 21.1 per cent . Regarding the Prime Minister's Rozgar Yojna, against the target of 9,000 the banks sanctioned loans to 10,114 beneficiaries. Under the service area approach , an annual credit plan for 2001-02 has been finalised, he said. Mr S K Sharma, GM, Nabard, Mr C Roul, Director, Institutional Finance and Banking, Ms Romila Dubey, Principal Secretary, Social Security, Mr R S Kalsia, Director Social Security, Mr M S Banwait, Special Secretary, Revenue and Mr S K Awasthi, GM, Punjab National Bank.
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Research centre on litchi to be set up New Delhi, June 4 The Union Agriculture Minister, Mr Nitish Kumar will lay the foundation stone of the National Research Centre on Litchi at Mujaffarpur being set up by Indian Council of Agricultural Research on Wednesday. The Centre would conduct mission mode basic and applied research for enhancing the profit of litchi growers by evolving improved varieties, developing better production technologies, integrated pest management and post harvest management. Litchi with big domestic and export market suffers from problem of very short harvesting period. It also suffers from high post harvest losses upto 50 per cent due to non-availability of suitable post harvest technology and standard packaging. Disappearance of natural pink colour of the fruits by the time they reach distant market is another significant problem. The crop with high potential of area expansion in India and earning foreign exchange is presently grown in about 60,000 hectares in Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Himachal Pradesh, Uttranchal, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab. Bihar, however, tops the tally with more than 60 per cent of the total production. The major litchi importing countries from India are Netherlands, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Canada, Russia and Yemen. China is the largest producer of litchi followed by India, Thailand, Australia, Vietnam, South Africa and Florida in the United States of America are some other areas where litchi is cultivated.
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Interest on
public deposits
cut by 1 pc New Delhi, June 4 The amendment in the Companies (Acceptance of Deposits) Rules, 1975 follows a similar amendment by the RBI in the rules governing public deposits in the Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) reducing by one per cent the optimum interest on public deposits in the NBFCs. So far, the maximum permissible interest rate admissible on public deposits both in manufacturing and NBFC companies has been 15 per cent, which has since been reduced by one per cent to peg it at 14 per cent maximum permissible interest rate. The present amendment in the Companies (Acceptance of Deposits) Rules, 1975, is 34th amendment since the original rules were first published in the Gazette of India on February 3, 1975. |
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Tata Info Education
to double centres Chandigarh, June 4 Mr Thapan said Tata Infotech Education which is having nearly 200 centres throughout the country would increase thus number to 400 by the end of this year. “The aim is to create a wider network for which we will also offer more number of courses, thereby increasing the number of seats in the existing centres as well”. Regarding the decline in the number of IT jobs due to the slowdown, he said despite that the career advancement cell of the company is not facing problems and is witnessing growth, though not as much as it would have in case the slowdown was not there. To face this problem, the company is offering courses catering to demands of the corporate in segments like telecom, banking, insurance etc. He said Tata Infotech Education by now has trained more than one lakh students in the country and 20,000-25,000 students are being trained at present. The company will be conducting its next Mindspan seminar at
Jaipur.
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Reforms in power sector
must New Delhi, June 4 Even Power Minister, Suresh Prabhu has projected a grim situation if power reforms are not undertaken by state electricity boards. He has, however, a blueprint of the SEBs’ revival and break even in two years if the states carried out the reforms in the loss-making power sector. It is not just the costlier power as projected in the Enron case, which is a sole irritant in revisiting the power purchase agreement (PPA). The AES-Orissa is a contrary, where the cheapest power is inaccessible due to reluctance and inability of the investor to supply power owing to non-realisation of payment. Besides, the Enron imbroglio and the AES-Orissa muddle, other unpleasant instances such as scrapping of PPAs of Patalganga and Bhadrawati projects in Maharashtra, PPA review demand of ST-CMS project underline the need for
expediting power reforms, the CII said. The CII said unless immediate steps are taken by the Centre and the states to implement the measures agreed to at the Chief Minister’s conference convened by the Prime Minister in March, such developments could lead the country to a dark future. The power sector progress has been tardy mainly due to inability of states to make power accessible and affordable, rationalise tariffs, generate revenue streams, follow energy accounting norms, control pilferage and realise user charges. The chambers said “perhaps, by ignoring these impediments faced by developers, the state governments have the excuse of opting for the cheapest power without bothering to honour the commitments made by them to the independent power producers.” “Hence, private investment and FDI inflows in power generation seen a mirage in the short term and thus the country sees no other option but expect the NTPC, the NHPC and the SEBs to usher in new capacity,” it added. The T&D losses of the SEB’s have increased to 26 per cent in 1998-99. The power theft cost the country Rs 20,000 crore every year. The MoU signed by the states and the Centre at the March conference envisaged unbundling of transmission and distribution and privatisation of distribution in a time bound manner, 100 per cent electrification of villages, energy audit at all levels, full support to the regulatory commission. In turn, the Centre would provide technical and financial support for reduction of T&D losses, strengthening and improving the transmission network, rural electrification programme, structural adjustment, new generating capacity and allocation of additional power to these states from central generating stations.
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Kesoram hopes cement prices to firm up Kolkata, June 4 The company said with a capacity of 115 million tonnes of large cement plants, Indian cement industry which is the second largest in the world, offers significant potential for growth of consumption as well as additions to capacity considering lower per capita consumption of only 100 kg against average of 300 kg in the developed countries. “The recent economic policy announcement by the government in respect of housing, roads and power will increase cement consumption,” Kesoram said. It said the recent change in the Budget 2001-2002 relating to fiscal incentives for individual housing and reduction in borrowing cost for the purpose and with the government reaffirmation to accelerate the reform process, infrastructure development should logically get priority leading to increase in demand of cement in coming years. The company was, however, cautious that slow down of economy or drop in growth rate of agriculture might adversely effect the consumption. Increase in railway freight coupled with hike in prices of petroleum products would increase the cost of production and distribution and, as being bulky, cement was freight intensive.
PTI
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If you can’t beat them, join
them! New Delhi, June 4 The visit comes close on the heels of a section of Indian industry discovering a new bugbear in the form of imports from China — which it says are retarding its growth and could even have contributed to the industrial slowdown. “The main objective of our visit to China was to help Indian industry look at the country as a business partner and not as a threat,” said Jayant Bhuyan, Secretary General of Assocham. The 16-member trade delegation, which returned from a weeklong tour to China on Saturday, visited industrial hubs in Shanghai, Beijing and other Chinese cities and held discussions with business chambers and leading industrial groups to “increase business cooperation between the two countries,” Bhuyan told IANS. Armed with a quick study of some of the affected sectors, India Inc. recently urged the government to take proactive action on a number of fronts to stall the country’s manufacturing capabilities from being wiped out due to smuggled, under-invoiced or low quality Chinese goods. China, on the other hand, has cautioned India against taking unilateral anti-dumping actions against Chinese goods and said that the issue could be resolved through consultations. “Business leaders on both sides observed that there exist certain impediments in the way of stronger business ties between the two countries, including lack of mutual understanding, and frequent anti-dumping investigations into commodities on Chinese origin,” the Assocham Secretary General said. “These would inevitably be resolved through direct contacts between Indian and Chinese businessmen.” Bhuyan said that the visit of the Indian trade delegation to China was “a relationship building exercise and a move to clear doubts on a number of trade issues in the minds of business leaders in both the countries to create a strong and positive cooperation framework.” India’s trade with China swelled to $1987.68 million in 1999 up from $265 million in 1991. Out of the total trade, India’s exports to China accounted for $825.79 million while it imported products worth $1,161.89 million. India exports mineral products, prepared foodstuffs, cotton, chemicals and animal and vegetable oils to China while its import basket consists of base metals, machinery and mechanical appliances, vegetable products and chemical products. “There is huge potential to further develop Sino-Indian economic and trade cooperation covering large number of industrial segments,” the Assocham official said. “Through our visit a foundation has been laid and we propose to institutionalise the process by helping Indian industry to interact with their Chinese counterpart on issues such as joint ventures and anti-dumping exercise.” Assocham has signed an MoU with China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT), an apex industry organisation in China, to “promote and facilitate joint ventures and economic relations between the two countries.” The trade pact, besides assisting their respective enterprises in the formation of joint ventures and other business contacts, will provide consultancy services including legal consultancy to each other and exchange investment and trade and economic missions. The Indian CEOs delegation inked several other agreements with their Chinese counterparts in a host of sectors including hydropower, biotechnology, telecom, information technology and electronic equipment, cargo and logistics, tourism, food and chemicals during the weeklong visit.
IANS
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Mushroom
cultivation Shimla, June 4 According to Dr Lal Singh, Director of the HRG, the 20 tonne capacity plant, which was being set up with financial assistance from the State Khadi and Village Industries Board will become operational within six months. He said the temperate agroclimatic conditions in mid and high hills of Mandi were most suitable for mushroom cultivation but it did not pick up owing to non-availability of compost and spawn. The unit would generate self-employment opportunities for 100 persons. A grower with two tonne capacity would be able to earn Rs 8000 over a period of two months. The capacity of the unit would be doubled if required. The growers would be organised into self help groups for production and marketing.
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Hindustan Lever to offload 51 pc
equity New Delhi, June 4 In the proposed JV, HLL will offload 51 per cent equity stake in favour of the two companies together while retaining the remaining 49 per cent, for a considertaion of about Rs 155
crore, which includes a premium for management control. The JV will be in the form of a separate company and take under its wings the flavour and fragrances business of
HLL, currently under its Quest Division. The proposed JV will, however, exclude the aroma chemicals businesses of HLL and the erstwhile Industrial Perfumes Ltd, which would be carried on as a division of
HLL. When contacted, an HLL spokesperson said: “The joint venture will become operational soon subject to shareholder approval, our AGM is on June 22”. The JV will buy and own Hindustan Lever’s current operations, covering its activities and associated facilities for this business; the turnover of HLL’s fragrances and flavour business in 2000 was Rs 95
crore, including captive consumption. The formation of this JV was proposed after HLL’s British parent unilever exited its speciality chemicals business in 1997; till that year the Quest Division of HLL was the Indian arm of Quest International’s
business. Mahavir Spng net up Profitably during the year may be under pressure as the prices of yarn are expected to decline on account of US slowdown and lower international prices of cotton, whereas most of the Indian mills had purchased cotton at high prices during the cotton season. The company has recommended 42 per cent dividend. SBI Gilts posts
profit In the corresponding period of the previous year, net profit stood at Rs 31.54 crore over Rs 115.91 crore
income. Tata Honeywell net rises Tata Chem to pay 50 pc Russell Credit A senior official of Russell Credit when contacted said “our last price is Rs 125 per equity share, subsequent to that we have not issued any announcement (advertisement to VST shareholders) for revising the offer price”. However, today Russell Credit in a public announcement said it was revising the offer price, but did not mention the new price. Indian Hotels net up In view of the company’s centenary year, the board has recommended a 100 per cent dividend (previous year 85 per cent), IHCL
said. IHCL’s total income for the year ended March 31 was up by 13.59 per cent at Rs 716.34 crore as against Rs 630.59
crore, it added. BHEL bags 25 cr project The order, placed by the UP State Industrial Development Corporation
(UPSIDC), is for setting up of Diesel Generator (DG)-based power plant of 11.45 MW capacity utilising heavy petroleum stock as fuel in the first phase. The plant is expected to go on stream in 14 months time, it said adding that UPSIDC was setting up the captive power plant in two phases with a cumulative capacity of 25 MW at Tronica City.
PTI, TNS
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Can Asia Dr R. S. Paroda Asset Intl Ortem LML showroom Saving device |
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