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Sunday,
March 30, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Take up i-flex staff issue, Nasscom to Dutch Embassy
DEPB may be continued
Revised routes to UK, USA hit A-I
Duty on edible oil may be revised |
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Fairness cream ads draw govt flak
Educate people about VAT
Dharna against VAT
Jalandhar now on international map
Cash credit limit for wheat
Steps to check paddy pilferage
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Take up i-flex staff issue, Nasscom New Delhi, March 29 Mr Kiran Karnik, President Nasscom, said, “if there is a view that the employees of the company in question had invalid visas, this is arguable and, at worst, a technicality, but such an action by the authorities is unacceptable. It is a serious breach of the unwritten but well understood norms of how corporates and professionals are treated and how international business is done in all reasonable, democratic countries. The sudden detention in London without any formal charges of the CEO of i-flex’s Netherlands subsidiary is a violation of the dignity and self-respect of the individual. If he were required for any investigation, a simple request to the company would have been a more professional and civilised way of handling the issue.” The association is hopeful that with the Government of India’s support to resolve the issue, the Dutch government would immediately withdraw the charges. Early resolution is important so that business ties between the two countries can be put back on track and flourish. To prevent any such future occurrences, Nasscom is planning to increase interaction of its members with overseas missions in India to help Indian companies understand the issues better. Nasscom will also consider initiating an interaction with the immigration authorities in governments abroad to educate them on various business models of Indian companies and understand the various work permits and visa issues which need to be complied with. |
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DEPB may be continued New Delhi, March 29 Mr
Jaitley, who will present the revised Exim Policy 2003-04 on Monday, will be well aware that with an uncertain global outlook and weak growth impulses in major economies, including the USA, the downside risks to such recovery emanating from the volatility in international crude oil, and continuing geo-political situation in West Asia, will have to be factored in the policy to put exports on a high growth trajectory. Sources indicated that the policy was likely to bring in major simplification of norms and procedures and could restructure the special economic zone
(SEZ) regime given the fact that it largely remained a non-starter for two-years after it was launched by Mr Jaitley’s predecessor Murasoli
Maran. The Duty Entitlement Passbok Scheme (DEPB) is likely to be continued even as the Finance Ministry is learnt to be not too much in favour of it. Besides, the demand for exemption of Special Additional Duty (SAD) to SEZ units for selling goods in the domestic tariff areas
(DTAs) could be met. Under the DEPB scheme, exporters are entitled to customs duty
exemption for inputs, while in the duty drawback scheme, duties, which are paid upfront, can be reclaimed as drawback. Besides, the Commerce Ministry may also allow DTA access to all 217 items falling under the Information Technology Agreement of the WTO mandate. This is expected to give a major boost to telecom and IT sector units. The argument in favour of giving 100 per cent DTA access to all items covered by the agreement, would provide valuable time of two years for the units to prepare for a globalised environment under a nil duty regime by 2005 as mandated by the WTO. In addition, the rather lukewarm response to the concept of SEZs and non-establishment of any major greenfield SEZs have left several questions unanswered. Importantly, it has thrown open the question of deliking macro-policies from standalone initiatives in the country. Issue of separate labour policies for SEZs and easier exit norms have again come to occupy the centrestage within the exporting community. Experts said the Commerce Minister would have to undertake a delicate balancing act while trying to pitchfork the export sector as a major engine of growth while making the package as much as revenue neutral as possible.
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Revised routes to UK, USA hit A-I The aviation and tourism industries have once again been hit hard because of the war. Fares have been hiked and flights re-routed to avoid the areas where the war is taking place. The incoming and outgoing passenger traffic as also export & import of cargo have been adversely affected causing heavy losses to the already wounded airlines worldwide. Air-India has been compelled to re-route its flights to the UK the USA as also to France. The International Civil Aviation Organisation
(ICAO) and the International Air Transportation Association (IATA) have provided the alternative routes to airlines for safe operations. The revised routes are long entailing an additional flying distance of 36 nautical miles and 5-7 minutes of extra flying. The revised routes are costing the airlines more. Most airlines have curtailed operations to West Asia. Flights to Kuwait have also been drastically cut. Those, who are operating in the region, are suffering heavy losses because of directional imbalances. Flights to Kuwait, for example, are taking off almost empty and returning with passengers. These operations are more on humanitarian grounds than because of commercial considerations. Amidst this gloomy scenario, international insurace firms have decided against imposing an additional war risk surcharge on all airlines operating into Kuwait or Iraq. Insurers were planning a considerable hike in the premium. However, most international airlines have decided to play safe as they have already imposed $ 10 per passenger as fuel surcharge to offset the rising aviation fuel costs. This is a temporary measures but passengers have expressed their resentment. There have been many cancellations on international and national flights. This has caused concern to airlines and hotels. If the war continues for sometimes, it will throw aviation and tourism industries out of gear.
An ugly incident Heated argument, and brawls are not unusual on flights. These ugly incidents generally occur because erring passengers are “spirited”. But the Labour Minister Sahib Singh Verma manhandling a woman and two others on the Jet Airways from Mumbai to Delhi causes widespread concern in the aviation industry. The minister, his wife and his son were returning from South Africa after watching the India-Australia final. As the special Air-India flight landed late at as Mumbai airport. The minister and his family chose to travel by a Jet flight which, however, could not be air-borne because of insufficient visibility and then a technical snag developed . There was no justification for the minister to lose his temper. His hostile behaviour with the woman cabin crew has caused him needless embarrassment. This was second time, Mr Sahib Singh Verma had a problem with Jet Airways. The first time was about seven months when he reported late for the flight to Bhuj.
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Duty on edible oil may be revised
New Delhi, March 29 “We have recognised the problems faced by the edible oil sector. We will have a relook,” Central Board of Excise and Customs Chairman, M.K. Zutshi, said on the sidelines of a FICCI seminar on tax here. He said the decision to revise the excise duty rate, if any, would be announced by the Finance Minister Jaswant Singh in Parliament. Industry representatives have opposed the 8 per cent Excise Duty on branded and packaged edible oil and vanaspati, saying it would not only render the industry uncompetitive but also harm the interest of consumers. As India relies heavily on imported edible oil to bridge the demand-supply gap in the country, the government was able to mop up Rs 5,000 crore in Customs Duties from this item alone. “This new levy of excise duty will have an adverse impact on households,” the industry sources said. Since, value addition in this sector is low, the manufacturers are able to get a cenvat credit of only 40 paise per litre. Big companies fear that the excise duty on branded edible oil would result in shift in demand towards unbranded oil, which may not meet the health standards. Moreover, there might be proliferation of “fly-by-night” companies, who would buy bulk refined oil and repack it in small locations and save excise. “Over time the share of organised sector will come down and lead to reduction in revenue collections,” industry. PTI
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Fairness cream ads draw govt flak
New Delhi, March 29 There are ads aired on television which project women in a derogatory light, but to date, I haven’t received a single complaint from either the state or the national women’s commissions protesting against them. Even after the Fair and Lovely commercial, there was no complaint,” he said in his address to a meeting of state women’s commissions. When NCW chairperson Poornima Advani intervened to say that complaints had been filed, Prasad shot back “no, no you have not. I have checked my facts.” The Minister also referred to the “K series” soaps on TV channels saying while these had high viewership ratings, there was a section which felt the portrayal of women was not in line with the image of progressive women. However, he felt government could not sit on judgement on them as some people were of the view that such serials were also creative and projected an aspect of Indian life. Urging the NCW to interact with the film, advertisement and fashion industry, the Minister said the commission should use its power and autonomy to suggest legal measures against negative portrayal of women. “Merely writing to them is not enough, you must have a face-to-face interaction with representatives of these industries,” he said adding there was a thin line that had to be maintained between “creativity and censoring.” On the much-talked about FTV channel, Prasad said there were two sides to the story. “As a democrat I do not want to ban FTV, but there are some segments of it that are not acceptable and should be removed,” he said. PTI
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Educate people about VAT With the decision of moving forward on the VAT issue, Haryana seems now to be gearing up to put into operation from April 1, the hurriedly enacted VAT legislation. The Haryana Value Added Tax Bill, 2003, passed by the state Assembly on March 13, 2003, after being assented to by Governor of Haryana on March 27, now becomes the Haryana Value Added Tax Act, 2003, to govern the imposition of tax on the sale and purchase of goods in the state from the commencement of next fiscal year. The corresponding set of rules under this still born Act await the sanction of law (till the writing of this article). Given the backdrop in which the state government framed the VAT rules without sanction of law, one can hardly resist the conclusion that it has little concern to the hardships the trade and industry today face. What does the state government expect of its trading community to do could be anybody’s guess. The action of the state in calling upon the trade and industry to follow what still is to be appropriately enacted cannot be countenanced. The clamour of tax payers that they have neither been apprised of the new rules nor has the government provided them with a fair and adequate opportunity of being heard before replacing the old general sales tax laws, therefore, does not seem to be devoid of merits. The exercise of the powers should and cannot be at the cost of the miseries of people. The government appears to have paid a little attention to the aspect of creating awareness among the public of the law and its cascading impact on the trade and industry. Organising simply two or three seminars and public notices in newspapers could hardly provide a real opportunity to the people to understand the law. Do the taxing authorities have become well equipped with what do exactly the new provisions provide for? Does the state has adequate infrastructure to cope with the practical and procedural difficulties arising out of the implementation of the new law? These questions spontaneously come to one’s mind in the context of how the state is rushing through important matter. |
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Dharna against VAT Jalandhar March 29 The President of Punjab Hide and Skin merchants Association Seth Satpal Mal, said that the new VAT policy lead to corruption even as it had failed to redress the main problems being faced by the owners of leather tannery units of the state. PHAGWARA: Representatives of 25 trade, industry and business organisations today staged a two-hour dharna here and held a march in various bazars against value added tax regime. The protestors made appeals through public address system during March for observing a Phagwara Bandh on March 31 and April first against VAT. AMRITSAR: The Amritsar Hide and Skin Association today unanimously decided to observe three-day strike against VAT and the imposition of local area development tax announced by the government in the recent budget. The spokesman of the association Mr Vinod Kapoor said that the entire trade would remained close from March 31 till April 2, 2003. BARNALA: Barnala Beopar Mandal has decided to give a total bandh call in Barnala on March 31 to lodge its protest against Value Added Tax (VAT) provisions implementation by Union and State governments. |
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Jalandhar now on international map Jalandhar, March 29 Gautam, who desires to be a soldier ever since his childhood, entered the business of export of hand tools by setting up “Black Jack Tools”, a 100 per cent export oriented unit, in 1987 following his attempts to settle in Bollywood industry from 1975 to 1980 proved futile. Gautam had worked with Gulzar, a renowned Bollywood personality, as his assistant for about three years in late seventies before shunning the connection with the film industry in disgust. “Infact, my failure to settle down in film industry, is actually a turning point in my life since during introspection, I realise, all of a sudden, that there is good scope to export hand tools in international markets like Europe, United States and Australia. Now, after a short span of 16 years, I am heading Black Jack Tools group of companies having Rs 50 crore annual business,” Gautam says, adding that his company had bagged the Prime Minister’s award for being top exporter in hand tools segment for three consecutive years. Going down the memory lanes to unveil his thoughts, he says, “Actually, I want to bring Jalandhar on the international map by doing something big for the city ever since my childhood. So strong was the urge to take up internationally acclaimed hotel project here that even negative answers from Taj, Oberoi and other Indian hotel groups for a joint venture did not deter me.” Surely enough, Gautam Kapoor, had silenced many a critic, who thought that Rs 50 crore Radisson Windsor hotel project would never going to sustain in the present competitive market scenario. “Bringing world class hospitality to Jalandhar is not just a fancy figment of my imagination, rather a brainchild born out of years of contemplative ponderings,” he said, adding that with longstanding professional experience and the back up of over 400 hotels in over 53 countries, Radisson is here with a commitment to offer worldwide service and promise to redefine the concept of hospitality in the hotel industry of the state. The hotel has also undertaken successful outdoor caterings for renowned NRIs and personalities of the country including President of India Dr A.P.J.Abdul Kalam, former Prime Minister Mr Inder Kumar Gujral, UK Business Ambassador Lord Sawraj Paul, Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh and politicians like Rajeev Pratap Reddy, Vinod Khanna, Salman Khurshid, former HP Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal. “We had specially flown in a chef from the President Dr Kalam’s native area in South India to make dishes according to his taste for the formal silver service lunch at Kapurthala’s Royal Palace during his maiden visit to the city on March 23 after assuming the office of the President of India,” said Mr Gautam. |
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Cash credit limit for wheat Ludhiana, March 29 The procurement of wheat in Punjab this year is likely to be around 120 lakh tonnes against 105 lakh tonnes of the last year. The weather conditions have been good so far and the wheat production is expected to be more than 120 lakh tonnes. The Food Corporation of India will procure 33 per cent of the total wheat arrivals in the mandis while State Food Supplies Department and other state official agencies namely Punsup, Markfed, Punjab State Ware-Housing Corporation and Punjab Agro Corporation will procure remaining 67 per cent. The Punjab Government has already set up the Punjab State Grain Procurement Corporation to procure wheat instead of the state food supplies department. According to Mr Lakhanpal, Punjab has foodgrains stocks worth about Rs 11,000 crore at present. |
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Steps to check paddy pilferage Chandigarh, March 29 Every year, Punjab Markfed procures nearly 20 per cent of the total paddy arrivals in the state on behalf of the FCI. In the absence of an adequate storage capacity with Markfed, paddy is stocked in the premises of rice millers. Technically, the stocks are placed in the joint custody of the millers and the Markfed staff but in practice, they remain in the physical possession of millers who look upon them as their own. Although paddy is stocked with millers for immediate milling for delivery of rice to the FCI for the Central pool, the millers take their own time to mill the paddy. To maximize their turnover and profits, millers prefer to first process paddy belonging to either private parties or other official agencies. It is during this processing that the pilferage of paddy stocks take place, generally in connivance with Markfed staff. According to Mr S. S. Channy, MD, of Markfed, during 1994-95 to 2001-02, Markfed suffered misappropriation of paddy stocks worth Rs 90 crore. This, in turn, has spawned as many as 246 arbitration cases before various authorities to decide who is responsible for the missing stocks. Besides, 58 FIRs have been lodged against millers, 72 employees of Markfed have been chargesheeted and another five officers have been suspended from service. The figure does not include about 25 field officers and lower staff who have been suspended. “The pilferage of stocks had become a major source of mounting losses for Markfed,” said Mr Channy in an interview with TNS here today. “The situation called for urgent measures. Hence, the introduction of close monitoring at every level. I insisted that every mill which had stocks of Markfed paddy should first process our stocks. |
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Biofertilizer Tata Steel
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