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Saturday,
September 7, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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FDI limit in telecom may go up
6-pronged strategy
for Punjab farming
ST exemptions hit Punjab economy
Santro Automatic to cost Rs 4.5 lakh |
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HLL move to hike FII limit deferred
Ropar man wins Rs 2.29 cr jackpot
Hinduja knowledge centre for Haryana
BPCL, HPCL selloff opposed
Infosys best IT
employer
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FDI limit in telecom may go up to 74 pc New Delhi, September 6 “I have no objection in raising the FDI limit in the telecom sector from the present 49 per cent to 74 per cent. But the issue will have to be considered by the Commerce and Finance Ministries and they alone will later come to the Cabinet with suggestions on the issue”, Pramod Mahajan said after receiving the Telecom Man of the Year award for 2001 from the PTC Foundation here. “If they will ask my opinion, I have no objection to increase the FDI cap”, he said. He also said the government was considering to shift MTNL and BSNL’s international long distance (ILD) operations to private operators if VSNL did not reduce its inter-connect charges. “From October 1, we will have to shift to other ILD operators who are offering more competitive rates than VSNL”, he said. “In a two-year contract, already six months have elapsed. I have asked BSNL and MTNL to request VSNL to come to a conclusion on the competitive rates”, Mr Mahajan said. On the proposed merger of BSNL and MTNL he said that the government has proposed to constitute a committee to discuss the issue. “Yesterday, we had a meeting of secretaries and decided to form small committees to consider the merger of BSNL and MTNL and other issues of importance in the telecom sector”, he said. The committee will submit its report and a blue-print for the proposed merger within the next two to three weeks. Other committees will look into issues pertaining to technology and village public telephones. Coming down heavliy on private telecom operators for being too profit centric in their operations, he said:” Private players go to the areas where they see revenues. They have not even fulfilled their contractual obligation of providing village public telephones”. Sensing lower profits from the eastern markets some telecom operators have not even started services there. “That leaves no option with the government but step-in and provide services”, he said.
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6-pronged strategy
for Punjab farming Chandigarh, September 6 Addressing a press conference here, Mr I.S. Paul, Chairman, Environment Sub Committee, CII, Northern region, pointed out that the Punjab farmer himself was acutely aware of the need to reduce dependence on wheat-rice cycle. He noted that India imported in 2001-2002, 3.75 lakh tonnes of lint cotton worth Rs 2052 crore, 41.80 lakh tonnes of edible oils worth Rs 6474 crore and 21.80 lakh tonnes of pulses worth Rs 3156 crore. In the past five years, cotton imports increased 2.54 times, edible oils 2.34 times and pulses 2.64 times. There was nothing to suggest that this trend would not continue. Mr Paul suggested that Punjab must grow more cotton to weave out of the vexatious problem of wheat-rice cycle. The government should give at least Rs 10 crore to Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, immediately with the mandate to bring four or five cotton varieties of indigenous or genetically engineered strains within one year that could flourish in Punjab. Similarly, greater emphasis should be laid on the production of oilseeds and pulses. The government must also keep a line of credit of Rs 2000 crore at its disposal. The success of this programme would depend clearly upon the quality of PAU’s research, the funds at its disposal, support to the farmer from Agriculture Department of the government as well as the government’s unambiguous commitment to lift the “shifted” crops at the previously announced market rate. Considering that all the “shifted” crops would be cash crops with healthy current demand the government would not need to store any of these crops but, in the unlikely situation of the private trade not locally lifting the crops, these crops might have to be shifted to other states by the government.
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ST exemptions hit Punjab economy Chandigarh, September 6 The Excise and Taxation Commissioner, Mr Suresh Kumar, confirmed TNS today that exemptions to the tune of Rs 2,166.56 crore have been fully availed of by 1209 units, whereas, the remaining 2,957 are still availing of exemptions, though, it is reported 142 units are not availing of any exemptions. Exemptions involving revenue sacrifice of Rs 11,715.50 crore are yet to be availed of. At the end of the day, there is no tangible benefit to the state, while, such exemptions have played havoc with the economy that is already on the down-turn. The exemptions or deferment of sales tax payment is done by the department of excise and taxation only on the recommendation of the department of industries. The hilarious (ridiculous!) aspect of the exemption policies, pursued either by the Congress or Akali governments or during the President’s Rule, since 1987, is allowing of “total” sales tax exemption on “modernisation and expansion” of units. Thus even ‘’hot selling’’ market products, like Pepsi, have availed of exemptions! Mr Suresh Kumar said, as a consequence of these exemptions, the tax compliance system today stands distorted. It is one of the lowest in the country, about 33 per cent. Second, it has been noticed that economic viability of an exempted unit erodes substantially after the benefit of exemption is stopped. Comparative price advantage to their products in the market fades away and the manufacturers look for alternatives to get either additional exemption, on the basis of modernisation and expansion, or evade tax by whatever means, as other units do. Not more than 10 per cent units survive after
expiry of exemptions. There are now reports of a dismal scenario that has resulted in “economic demise” of units after having exhausted their exemptions. This has led to flight of capital/trade outside the state, where either exemptions continue or raw material or inputs are cheaper than in Punjab. Those who consciously conceived the system of exemptions, perhaps, did not take into consideration all implications. No effort has ever been made in these 15 years to analyse shift of existing trade, business and flight of existing investment caused by such exemptions, what to say of carrying out an audit of capital investment actually made in the state after sacrificing such a substantial sum. Rather than learning any lessons, it is reliably learnt, there are 6,000 pipeline units waiting for “eligibility” certificate from the department of industries to avail of exemptions from the department of sales and taxation. These units claim to have come into production on or before June 30, 2002, the cut-off date that qualifies them for exemptions. This is so, despite the fact there is a national consensus against granting any more exemptions or deferment in payment of sales tax. Recommendations in respect of 800 pipeline units for granting exemption have been forwarded to the department of excise and taxation. This only shows that the game to avail of exemption from payment of sales tax is, somehow, still not over. It is intriguing that while total number of units granted exemptions in the past 15 years is only 4,308 now 6,000 pipeline units have suddenly come into production. These units lay dormant in the last many years. It would be appropriate, say sources, if the department of industries or the district level officers do not issue eligibility certificates to pipeline units. There should be a state-level intra-departmental committee to determine and clear all cases seeking exemptions But the department of excise and taxation is believed to have reminded the department of industries of what the Finance Minister, Mr Lal Singh, said in his June 19 budget speech, “I also proposes to take away the power to grant exemptions from sales tax through executive instructions and vest the same in this august House (Legislature)”. (To be concluded)
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Santro Automatic to cost Rs 4.5 lakh
Mumbai, September 6 The ‘Santro Automatic’ — priced at Rs 4.56 lakh (ex-showroom) in Mumbai - claims to offer a clutch and gear free driving experience, fitted with a 4-speed automatic transmission and electronically controlled “intelligent” power train system. Hyundai has also introduced the anti-lock braking system’ (ABS) for all variants of Santro. The sale price of Santro Automatic in Delhi is Rs 4.40 lakh, Rs 4.30 lakh in Chennai, Rs 4.30 lakh in Bangalore and Rs 4.46 in Kolkata. Launching the new variant, Mr J.I. Kim, Managing Director of HMIL said, “The Santro Automatic is engineered to offer the ultimate in driving experience for the urban consumer and the introduction of ABS has put the Santro ahead of others in safety by a whole generation.” Since its launch, Mr Kim Continued, the Santro has been constantly upgraded to meet global engineering, safety and environment standards. The Santro Zip Plus launched in March this year has received an overwhelming response with sales registering a 52 per cent growth in July ‘02, he claimed. So much so, Mr Kim said, the production of the Santro was recently stepped up to meet the increased demand. Commenting on the market trends, Mr B.V.R. Subbu, President, HMIL, said Santro is the leader in the compact car segment with a 26 per cent market share during January-July 2002. Hyundai sold 66,396 Santros domestically in calendar year 2001 and 46,653 units in the first seven months of 2002. Mr Subbu said in august the company sold about 9,000 Santros and was confident of meeting the projected target of 1,03,000 Santros for the cy 2002.
UNI
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HLL move to hike FII limit deferred
New Delhi, September 6 The FIPB deferred HLL’s proposal, which has been pending since February this year, even as the government has opened up the tea plantation sector to FDI, sources said here. HLL acquired tea company Brook Bond Lipton India in 1997 and then merged the first with itself. Subsequently, HLL subsidiary Lipton India acquired a stake in Rossel Industries. However, another proposal by Hindustan Lever HLL to issue 1,375 shares to non-resident shareholders, consequent to the merger of a subsidiary International Best Foods Ltd with itself, has been cleared by the FIPB. HLL’s proposal to hike the FII limit is supported by a resolution passed by its Board of Directors.
PTI
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Ropar man wins Rs 2.29 cr jackpot Chandigarh, September 6 While interacting with mediapersons, Mr Amarjit Singh said: ‘‘I feel proud of being a winner of Rs 2.29 crore. I have not decided what to do with the money? ‘‘Money will bring no change in my life style. I did not play gambling throughout my life but the game had appeared fair. So I started buying tickets. Initially I was disappointed when I failed in the game but finally fortune has favoured me,’’ he claimed. Hailing from Ramgarh Taparia village in Ropar district, Mr Amarjit Singh is a botany teacher in Guru Nanak High School and Junior College. Mr Sanjay Kumar, Vice -President of the marketing section of the
company said Rs 92 crore have been distributed among 38 lakh winners of three games — Super Lotto, Thunder Ball and Lucky 3 — of the lottery till date.
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Hinduja knowledge centre for Haryana New Delhi, September 6 A Haryana Government release said that the offer was made by Chairman of the Hinduja Group, S.P. Hinduja to Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala. Mr Chautala is on a visit to London. The knowledge centre would spread across 100 acres in place near Delhi and will have seven satellite centres.”Mr Chautala can attract investors with duly approved projects the way honey attracts bees”, Mr Hinduja said. Urging investors to choose Haryana as their investment destination, Mr Chautala said that Haryana was on the threshold of an industrial revolution pointing out that as many as 60 per cent of the cars, 50 per cent of the tractors and 60 per cent of the motor cycles of the country were being produced in the state. He was accompanied by Vice President of the state’s FIPB Prem Singh and other officials.
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BPCL, HPCL selloff opposed New Delhi, September 6 In a statement, the CPM Polit Bureau said that the manner in which the petroleum sector is being disinvested runs contrary even to the government’s own logic of breaking up monopolies. The statement pointed out the policy of not allowing the IOC to bid in the process of disinvestment confirms that the government is actually creating monopolies in the private sector.
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