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Sunday,
December 1, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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HMT sees 10 pc rise in tractor sales
Sugar industry in the red
Haryana Roadways posts 105.55 cr profit
SBI unveils Debit Card in city |
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Student cards to be launched tomorrow Selloff: Shourie leaves it to PM
SBP scheme for teachers
In the wonderland of investment
International airports’ privatisation uncertain
User charges
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HMT sees 10 pc rise in tractor sales Chandigarh, November 30 According to industry estimates, the tractor market is expected to witness a negative growth rate of 21 per cent during the current fiscal, against the12 per cent negative growth rate, witnessed last year. Companies are trying to remain in business by cutting cost of production and by launching some new models and through innovative marketing strategies. Unlike other tractor companies, HMT Tractor, which has been facing bad times for the past many years, is, however, expecting a growth of over 10 per cent in tractor sales over the past year. It has now decided to consolidate its tractor division by developing new models. Mr P.A.Prashar, General Manager, Marketing, HMT Limited, says:‘‘The R&D division has designed new in-house models, which are fitted with fuel-efficient AVL technology of Austria.A study has revealed that the market may be depressing, but it is shifting towards higher horse power tractors. The company's 59 hp tractor launched last year, has helped revive its sales.’’ After launching two new models — HMT 4022 and HMT 3522 FX— at the Agro-Tech 2002, here today, Mr P.A.Prashar told TNS the company was trying to tap the growing market in some belts of the Western UP, MP, Rajasthan. Since farmers were using tractors for additional works, the HMT had fitted additional attachments. Mr Vijay Kumar Browning, DGM, TAFE Tractors, who launched an air-conditioned model today, agreed that the tractor industry was passing through a difficult phase. He said a total sale of tractors had dipped to 1,90, 000 last year against 2,20,000 during previous year. Mr Prashar said the HMT had decided to explore the neighbouring markets. The HMT has already entered into agreements with some dealers of the Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Thailand to export tractors
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Sugar industry in the red Yamunanagar, November 30 The sugar factory was established in 1933 and maintained its supremacy in the country because of the superior quality of its sugar and timely payment to the farmers. More than 50,000 farmers of this region are connected with this factory and their entire livelihood depends on this crop. In Haryana there are 12 cooperative sugar mills and three private sugar mills. The Yamunanagar sugar factory is the only private sugar mill in Haryana which has no arrears. The Naraingarh mill owes Rs 15.73 crore to the farmers for the last season. Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala has now directed the Naraingarh Sugar Mill to pay the arrears to the canegrowers before December 17, failing which stern action would be taken against it. The crushing by nine cooperative sugar mills has already started and by middle of December all the sugar mills in Haryana will be working. The Haryana Government which had fixed the rate of sugarcane at Rs 110 a quintal in November, 1999, had done a job in favour of the farmers. But the state sugar mill managements had to suffer heavy losses. Because of this, the government did not increase the rate of sugarcane for the third consecutive year so as to help the sugar industry. The farmers are running from pillar to post for the crushing operations to start at Saraswati Sugar Mills as the labour from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh has already arrived for the harvesting of sugarcane. This puts an additional burden on the peasantry. Sugarcane is the main crop of northern Haryana — Yamunanagar, Ambala, Kurukshetra and Karnal. The Chief Minister recently made an announcement that sugarcane price will not be reduced and this in fact has raised the morale of the farmers who had to spend heavily on diesel for running their tubewells to meet their irrigation requirement during the month of July when the rainfall starts very low. Last year all the 15 sugar mills crushed 626.78 lakh quintals of cane. But now the government has fixed the target of 678 lakh quintals. Last year the average recovery of the mills was 10 per cent. The main problem facing the sugar industry is low sugar prices in the market and piling up of huge stocks of sugar. The reason for the falling prices is the heavy sugar stocks the country is carrying as on date. The solution lies in encouraging sugar exports, say experts. When this newsman contacted Mr V.K. Sachdeva, Executive Director of Saraswati Sugar Mills, Yamunanagar, he made it clear that they will respect the government decision “though it is not possible to run the industry under the prevailing circumstances. “He said the rate of sugar had gone down by Rs 200 per bag with the result” we are not in a position to pay the state-advised price of sugarcane unless the government announces a subsidy package to the sugar industry. “He said if the mill started crushing in the first week of December, and paid as per the state-advised price of Rs 110 per quintal, then the cane arrears at the end of the season 2002-3 “may amount to Rs 50 crore”. Mr Sachdeva further said the mill expects to crush around 185 lakh
quintals of sugarcane. A meeting of a delegation of farmers and the management has been going on for the last two days to start the mill at the earliest, but the farmers are refusing to budge from the rates announced by the government. Mr Samsher Singh Tyagi, State President Bhartiya Kissan Sangh threatened to launch an agitation if the mill does not start crushing immediately. On the other hand the management is in a tight corner as “it has suffered a loss of Rs 30 crore in the last four years.”
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Haryana Roadways posts 105.55 cr profit
Chandigarh, November 30 While stating this here today, the Transport Minister, Mr Ashok Kumar Arora said that this decision would help in effective checking and control of the working of the Haryana Roadways. However, the Internet audit of the government departments was usually being done by the government auditors. The Minister said that with better and efficient management, the profit before tax of Haryana Roadways had touched an all time high of Rs 105.55 crore during last year as against only Rs 26 crore in 1999-2000. This represented an increase in profitability of more than 300 per cent. Quoting figures released by the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.
TNS
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SBI unveils Debit Card in city Chandigarh, November 30 The bank has tied up with MasterCard International for participation in their Maestro programme. Debit Card is an absolutely free of cost service being offered by SBI to its customers. Mr Sinha said that SBI Cash Plus programme starts with an initial membership base of over one million cards, as the existing networked ATM Cards will be automatically upgraded into Maestro Debit Cards. He added that SBI has the largest installed base of 1148 ATMs out of which 655 are networked at 115 centres across the country. Under the enlargement policy, the bank is planning to add 1000 ATMs to its already existing 1148 ATMs by the end of current financial year and by 2005, the bank is planning to have around 5000 ATMs. In Chandigarh Circle, which comprises 670 branches located in the states of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir and UT of Chandigarh, Mr Sinha said that 268 branches are fully computerised. Of the 61 ATMs of the circle, 20 are networked and 41 are stand-alone.
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Student cards to be launched tomorrow
Chandigarh, November 30 The card is now valid from December, 2002-March, 2004. The card provides students discounts on books, food, shopping, leisure activities, travel accommodation, etc. on more than 2,000 outlets in India and 40,000 outlets worldwide. Ms Richa Goyal, Director Marketing, Student Travel Information Centre, India, said “ISIC is the only card that caters to all needs of student’s lifestyle and provides them with a globally recognised student status. The new validity cards are now available at all our 33 offices nationwide or one can also submit their application online or by e-mail at our website www.isicweb.net. “We are constantly working towards adding more value to ISIC by building quality partners through a vast network of local, regional and international retailers. Today ISIC is available in even smaller towns like Aligarh, Kanpur, Indore, Jamshedpur, Dehra Dun, Mussoorie, Trichur, Udipi, Mangalore, Manipal, Coimbatore, Ranchi and many more, providing benefits to students at regional level as well.
TNS
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Selloff: Shourie leaves it to PM
New Delhi, November 30 “The outcome now depends on the PM and the Deputy PM and on what they feel about the issue”, Disinvestment Minister Arun Shourie told newspersons here today. He said that the target cannot be achieved if the present situation persists. “Simple decisions are delayed and take three to four years to implement.
TNS
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SBP scheme for teachers
Chandigarh, November 30 The Director Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology Patiala, Mr S.C. Saxena, was the Chief Guest at the function. Mr B.M. Jain, Chief General Manager highlighted the details of the scheme.
TNS
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In the wonderland of investment Q: I have the following query:- 1) Exemption of 15000 in 80L, is dividend income from UTI and other mutual funds is upto 12000 or extra 3000 is meant for these dividends too apart from 12000. 2) Contribution to Group Insurance Scheme attracts 100 per cent rebate or 20 per cent u/s 88. — Manjish
Gargi, A: 1. The extra deduction of Rs. 3,000 is only for interest from Government Securities (issued by RBI) and not for dividends from schemes of UTI/MF. 2. The Group Insurance Scheme is contributed to by the Employer. However, in those cases, where the employee contributes, — If the Group Insurance Scheme covers your life, the premium paid by you will be covered u/s 88 upto Rs. 70,000 alongwith some other investments like PPF, NSC etc. The rate of rebate shall depend on your income. If the income is over Rs. 1.5 lakh but less than Rs. 5 lakh the rate of rebate u/s 88 will be 15 per cent. If it is over Rs. 5 lakh the rebate u/s 88 is not available. If the scheme covers medical benefits a deduction upto Rs. 10,000 u/s 80D will be available. Q: I jointly hold alongwith my daughter some shares in Infosys. If I transfer a portion of these to her (first
name) jointly with me, will this transfer attract capital gains tax, if so what percentage. To make it more clear, I will be only inter-changing the names for part of the holding. Kindly enlighten on this aspect. —
K.S. Nair A: Merely exchanging the order of the names of the holders is a transposition and can be effected by sending a duly filled transfer deed to the concerned registrar. Normally, no stamp duty is payable for transposition, unless (I thank Datamatics for pointing out this exception) the request is for partial transmission. In that case, another folio will have to be allotted and therefore, stamp duty is payable only on the shares transferred to a different folio. This will be considered as a gift by you to her and will attract all the provisions of gift. Though you have not asked for it, allow me to deal with other cases which will be of interest to my readers. Transmission: This is a case where the name of a deceased person is to be deleted, or the financial assets are to be transferred in the name of the nominee/legatee. Any property, including shares, which comes into the hands of the legatee in due course is not considered as transfer either for the purpose of the gift tax (deleted by FA98) or capital gains tax. Eventually, when the property is sold, the capital gains are computed on the basis of the price paid and the date of acquisition by the original holder. An attested copy of the death certificate of the registered shareholder should be sent to the registrars of the company. In case, the holding was in single name, the shares would be transmitted as per the contents of the will. In case the shareholder has died intestate (without making a will), the transmission of shares will be effected upon the production of succession certificate. No stamp duty is attracted for transmission. Transfer: Adding a new name or deleting a name when the person is alive is a case of transfer for stamp duty purpose only. For the purpose of capital gains, it is a transfer if the name of the person who had provided funds to acquire the property is deleted. Signature of the person whose name will be deleted is necessary on the transfer deed. Transfer attracts stamp duty. I am basically against gifts unless these are need based. All the gifts one desires to give should be given through one’s will. Q: Will the income from Long term capital gain will be included while finding the eligibility for deduction under sec 88? My normal income for the FY 02-03 will be just below Rs. 5 lakh but I have sold shares in June 02 and the long term capital gain is around Rs. 80,000. —
J.S. Chanda A: The LTCG is to be included for applicability of Sec. 88. Your total income has gone above Rs. 5 lakhs and therefore, you are not eligible for the rebate u/s 88 unless — You invest the capital gains arrived at after indexation, in the bonds of
Nabard, NHAI, REC, NHB, or SIDBI for 3 years before 6 months from the date of sale and be entitled to claim exemption from
LTCG. Then your total income will come below Rs. 5 lakh enabling you to claim 15% rebate on investments u/s 88.
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by K.R. Wadhwaney
International airports’ privatisation uncertain The twin industries, aviation and tourism, are still languishing post September 11, 2001 although peak winter season is about to commence. While some senior officials, connected with airlines and travel agencies, have taken recession seriously, others are wearing philosophical look. In the situation that is obtaining in the aviation corridors, Jet Airways (CEO), Steve Forte, has resigned. While airlines officials claim that the CEO has relinquished his office on account of ‘personal reasons’, the other side is that he has been sacked. According to industry sources, Forte and the airline Chairman Naresh Goel no longer on the same wave-length. Mr Forte, an Italian-American, realised the writing on the wall and chose to walk out of the airline. The Jet Airways has been one of the prosperous/ private carriers and it is run professionally and ruthlessly. In contrast, Inter Globe Chief Kapil Bhatia feels that the airline industry is a very tricky trade. He has learnt the rough with the smooth. He says in the long run it evens out. “What one loses on swings, one makes it on
round-abouts”, says Bhatia after his firm secured general sales agency of the Virgin Atlanta.
More flights As travel scenario has switched from west to east, the Singapore International Airlines has plans to widen its umbrella. It is looking for more destinations and frequencies to India. Maybe, it will have code-share with Air-India for flights operating to Bangalore from next year. It also plans to have more frequencies ex-Mumbai. On purely explosive visit, the senior Singapore Airline Officials feel that there is an urgent need to operate larger aircraft on certain busy Indian routes. The SIA will press for upgradation of aircraft in the next bilateral talks between India and
Singapore. SIA has been one of the profit making airlines and its operations ex-India have been very successful. Its in-flight services are excellent and fares competitive. The peak season is about to start but its flights are booked for two months, December and January 2003. Unsuccessful in its bid to operate flights on Indian domestic routes, SIA is now looking for services, like, ground handling.
Uncertainty continues The international airports are unlikely to be privatised as the Parliamentary Standing Committee is of the firm view that it will not be a beneficial exercise. Its report to Parliament says that the major airports should remain strictly in the control of Indians for the sake of safety, security and sovereignty. The standing committee has also recommended that foreign equity in airports should not exceed 49 per cent. The Parliamentary Standing Committee has also been critical of the Civil Aviation Ministry for organising road shows in India and abroad for leasing of airports without obtaining proper sanctions for such shows.
Many connections As Air-India starts operating Mumbai-Delhi-Frankfurt flight from December 8, passengers will be able to fly to different connections in Europe. It has signed a special pro-rate agreement (SPA) with Lufthansa. Air-India is reported to have sold out all classes from December 3 for Newark flights until end of January.
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by Praful R. Desai
User charges Q: Whether tenants could be made liable for payment of any amount towards misuser charges as determined U/s. 14(11) of the Delhi Rent Act? Ans: S.C. in the case of M/s. Bharat Sales Ltd. v Smt. Lakshmi Devi (2002(2) R.C.J. 78) was considering this point. From the scheme of the statutory provisions, it is clear that the provisions are intended for protection of the tenant against eviction from the premises. Then the question, that arises is whether a tenant who is not interested in seeking such protection and wants to vacate the premises could be compelled to pay misuser charges in the proceeding under the Delhi Rent Act? The answer to the question, in the considered opinion of the S.C., is in the negative. But that is not to say that the owner of the property or the landlord of the tenant is precluded from releasing any compensation or damages for misuser or unauthorised user of the suit premises. The appellant has conceded that the appellants are not challenging the order of eviction and they are ready and willing to deliver vacant possession to the landlord. In such circumstances, the question of Controller directing the tenant to pay misuser charges does not arise. To maintain such an order will mean that even if the tenant has no intention to continue in possession and even if he is not contesting the eviction order the Controller will compel him to pay misuser charges and continue in possession. The legislature could not have intended to create such a situation while enacting S.14 (11) of the Act. The S.C. further stated that it did not intend to hold that in such a situation the landlord cannot realise compensation for wrongful user of the property from the tenant. However, the S.C. held that the order passed by the Controller U/s. 14 (11) of the Act, determining the misuser charges and apportioning the same between the parties which was also confirmed by the appellate authority and the H.C. is unsustainable and has therefore to be set aside. Order passed accordingly.
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Rabo India J & K Horti Hillfruits Surajkund fair |
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Speaking on the occasion, Mr Sinha said that the unique feature of Debit Card is that it will be an exclusively Pin-based card, which will ensure absolute security. He said that the existing SBI customers holding networked ATM cards will be able to use their ATM cards as Debit Cards also and after the cards expire, these will be replaced by fresh debit cards. However, new applicants will be provided with Debit Cards from the beginning.