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Wednesday,
June 26, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Govt
clears 100 pc FDI in tea sector Industry
welcomes FDI in print media Govt mulls
over cut in EPF rate France to
help Haryana in agro activities |
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Nepal
eyes Indian investment Instant
refund for senior citizens IT
returns in bulk India
has carved a niche in IT: Kalam Revive
sick industrial units in Punjab: Chatha panel JPC to
resume sittings from today
Infosys
joins hands with Concours group
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Govt clears 100 pc FDI in tea sector New Delhi, June 25 Announcing the Cabinet decision, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pramod Mahajan told reporters that this should be subject to prior approval of the Centre with the condition that the foreign companies divest 26 per cent equity to Indian partner or public
within five years. A further condition has been put that the approval of the state government concerned be required if there is any change in the present land use. Mahajan said this measure was aimed at rejuvenating Indian tea plantations and make tea manufacturing more competitive. The Cabinet approval follows the recommendation of the Group of Ministers headed by Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha that the sector be opened up to foreign investment. India accounts for 27.7 per cent of global production with the total area under tea cultivation at over 5 lakh hectares. Indian tea is exported to more than 80 countries and accounts for about 15 per cent world tea trade. Earlier, the Consultative Committee on Plantation Association had suggested that foreign shares should be restricted to 74 per cent, the United Planters Association of South India opined that it could be considered even up to 100 per cent. As major part of Indian tea is produced in the backward regions like Assam and other states of the North-East, investment will get a boost with the nod to FDI, reports suggested. FDI in the sector has been cleared as tea cannot be categorised as any other agricultural crop as it requires high investment and a long gestation period. The clearance comes at a time when prices have touched abysmal lows, much below the cost of production and the industry is in need of a much sought after stimulant. While the global output has shown an upward trend with new producers and exporters entering the fray, the prices have slumped. Correspondingly, the Indian prices and exports have also taken a beating and the industry and the government are trying ways and means to shore up the bottomline.
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Industry welcomes FDI in print media
New Delhi, June 25 Terming it ‘as a bold and significant step’, CII welcomed the decision to allow 26 per cent FDI in news, current affairs print media and 74 per cent in other print. However, FICCI refused to react on the decision. The other two chambers — Assocham and PHDCCI — also welcomed the move but said “adequate precautionary measures need to be taken in this regard.” The chambers also welcomed the decision to allow 100 per cent FDI in the tea plantation industry and said this will enable the domestic tea industry to become more competitive.
TNS, PTI
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Govt mulls over cut in EPF rate
New Delhi, June 25 The Central Board of Trustees (CBT) of the EPF had in April this year decided to continue with 9.5 per cent interest rate for an “interim” period notwithstanding the Finance Ministry’s recommendation to cut the rate by 0.5 per cent. Labour Minister Sharad Yadav, who is the ex-officio chairman of the CBT, had favoured continuation of 9.5 per cent rate saying the EPF would still have a surplus of Rs 115 crore if it continued with the existing rate, though at 9 per cent interest the surplus would be Rs 411 crore. In its latest communication to the Labour Ministry last week, Finance Ministry has rejected CBT’s request to continue with the existing rate and made a strong case for reducing it by 50 basis points to bring it on par with the returns on other small saving instruments.
PTI
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France to help Haryana in agro activities
Agen (France), June 25 A decision to this effect was taken in a meeting held between Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala and Senator and former French Foreign Minister Mr Jean Francois Poncet at Agen in France. It was mutually agreed that a French delegation would visit Chandigarh on the occasion of Agro-Tech exhibition in December 2002. The delegation would include specialists in the field of food parks, fruit and vegetables right from production, processing to marketing. Mr Chautala said that the Haryana Government was very keen on reorienting the traditional agriculture in the state. He said that besides giving thrust to diversification, his government was setting up four food parks. He said that he was aware that technical inputs required to maximise yields in the agricultural sector need to encompass back up assistance from farmer’s education to global strategy definition including production, processing, storage and marketing.
Agencies
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Nepal eyes Indian investment New Delhi, June 25 “The Nepal government would like to reassure you (Indian industry) that we provide all facilities and cooperation to promote Indian investment in Nepal in all mutually beneficial areas, particularly water resources, tourism and manufacturing facilities”, Minister of Industry, Commerce and Supply of Nepal Purna Bahadur Khadka told captains of the Indian industry a meeting organised jointly by the CII here today. Mr Khadka said the Nepal government is playing the role of a facilitator in promoting the private sector led economic development. “With the recent extension of the Nepal-India Trade Treaty, we are confident that our commercial interactions will grow further”, he said. He asked the Indian industry to make full use of the provision of the treaty. FICCI President R S Lodha said Nepal is currently harnessing about 1 per cent of is hydro power potential (537 mw), whereas it is economically feasible to harness up to 42,000 MW hydropower in Nepal. “This indicates the extremely high profitability of the cross-border energy trade between India and Nepal”, he said.
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Instant refund for senior citizens
New Delhi, June 25 Meanwhile, the department has set July 31, instead of June 30, as the deadline for filing of returns by the salaried classes and pensioners. In Delhi, special counters for receiving returns will be opened in Hall No. 14 at Pragati Maidan from July 27 to 31 between 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. There will be separate counters for senior citizens.
UNI
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IT returns in bulk
New Delhi, June 25 The scheme has been notified by the Central Board of Direct Taxes to provide a fast track channel for hassle-free filing of returns and eliminate the tax payers’ interface with the income tax department. The cities covered under the scheme are Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Baroda, Bhopal, Chandigarh, Chennai, Delhi, Jaipur, Gandhinagar, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai, Nagpur, Pune and Thane, it was officially announced
today. UNI
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India has carved a niche in IT: Kalam New Delhi, June 25 Speaking on the occasion, Dr Kalam said that with India having carved a niche for itself in the field of Information Technology, we are uniquely placed to transform into knowledge society. Dr Kalam and Dr R Chidambram, Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India, announced the launch of Society of Electronic Trasactions and Security (SETS). “SETS will play a pioneering role in proactively addressing information security related issues and finding solutions to them. The society would contribute, in a major way, in empowering the nation through securing its information wealth. This would be made possible through providing products and systems that can protect the networked infrastructure and ensure information trasactions”, said Dr Chidambram. Mr Kiran Karnik, President, Nasscom said the growing concern about information security is driven by the fact that new applications and faster connections have spurred the Internet to become an important medium for communication, information dissemination and commerce. This makes it essential to safeguard critical business information from security breaches and virus attacks.
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Revive sick industrial units in Punjab: Chatha panel Ludhiana, June 25 There are a large number of small scale and medium scale industrial units which can be revived and employment opportunities could be created in the state. Immediately after assuming the Chief Ministership of Punjab, Captain Amarinder Singh set up a high-level committee headed by Mr Chatha to study and suggest means to revive the industry in Punjab. Mr Chatha is understood to have submitted a preliminary report to the Chief Minister for his perusal and would be making a final report shortly. When contacted Mr Chatha confirmed that he has submitted a draft to the Chief Minister. According to Mr Chatha there are a large number of small scale units and medium scale units which have the potential of revival and steps should be taken in this direction in right earnest. Mr Chatha has suggested that the state government must fulfil the promises of incentives made with the industrial entrepreneurs and pay the cash subsidy to the units as promised. Moreover, the state should make use of the central schemes like agri-economic zone and other special economic benefits. There are about 16,000 units in the organised sector in the medium scale which can be revived. The committee has also emphasised on the development of the information technology park and development and hardware with the help of light engineering. Light engineering is the mainstay of the Punjab’s industry, the report has emphasised. Mr Chatha told The Tribune today that he would be undertaking tour of the state in consultation with the Chief Minister and meet the representatives of the industry in order to register their difficulties and suggestions for revival of industry in Punjab. The Chief Minister will also meet the representatives of the industry very shortly as he is free from the Budget session of the Vidhan Sabha, he said.
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JPC to resume sittings from today
New Delhi, June 25 The JPC, set up last year, has already been given three extensions. Besides quizzing senior Finance Ministry officials, former SEBI chairman D.R.Mehta, the prime accused in the stock scam Ketan Parikh and former UTI Chairman P.S.Subramaniyan, JPC has also heard the views of RBI Governor Bimal Jalan and
others. With the JPC Chairman Prakash Mani Tripathi virtually ruling out investigation by the committee into the recent scam in cooperative banks in Maharashtra in the purchase of government securities, the work of the JPC is expected to get over soon.
PTI
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