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Wednesday,
May 14, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Rush of induction furnaces in Himachal
455 cr scam detected in FCI’s dealings |
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VAT and collection system Ludhiana, May 13 The Steel-Rerolling Mills Association of India has suggested that the collection of taxes like the VAT should be under one revenue authority and the inspectorate system should be cut. The present proposed VAT system would rather lead to increase in the inspectorate system. Punjab eyes partner for online lottery
Bharti may acquire viable companies
Canara Bank net up 37.5%
Parke Davis, Pfizer merger delayed
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BSNL, MTNL roll back tariffs partially New Delhi, May 13 The BSNL, the government-owned service provider in the whole country reduced tariffs for fixed to mobile phone calls to Rs 1.20 per minute from the existing rate of Rs 1.20 per 30 seconds. Delhi and Mumbai have not be included in this. The MTNL, which provides telephone services in Delhi and Mumbai, already was offering a tariff of Rs 1.20 per minute for calls made from landlines to mobile phones. The companies have also increased the number of free calls entitled to a fixed phone subscriber. While BSNL subscribers will now be entitled to 50 free calls per billing cycle ( up from the existing 30), MTNL increased the number of free calls to 60 from the existing 30 calls. The free call hike would be effective from May 1, while the revised fixed-to-cell call rates will be applicable from May 17 as the exchanges would have to be reconfigured to the changed tariff structure. The decision to rollback the tariff hike implies that the government was prepared to compromise on primary objective of tariff rationalisation and allow the two companies to suffer financial losses lest it ruffles too many feathers in the ruling political establishment. While for the BSNL the rollback would translate into a revenue losses of Rs 3,476 crore, the MTNL it would be to the extent of Rs 140 crore. Communications Minister Arun Shourie, who had received a lot of flak both within and outside Parliament, termed the matter as “serious”. “This is a serious matter. It’s the fourth time since 1999 that the efforts to rationalise tariffs had to be rolled back”, he said, adding that the entire political class was against the decision to hike tariffs. Mr Shourie said the rollback decision would adversely affect the infrastructure upgradation plans of the BSNL, especially in rural areas. “Since expansion at below the district level was done by BSNL only, this is bound to now slow down. I am telling you this as BJP President Venkaiah Naidu wanted consumers and others to know the impact of such decisions,” he said in an apparent reference to the BJP President’s reported remarks about the impact on the new tariff regime which had come into effect from May 1. Referring to the reported meeting with the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, Mr Shourie said:”Why to involve the PM.
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Rush of induction furnaces in Himachal Solan, May 13 While the industries department is now deliberately on where to concentrate the rush the state electricity department it also receiving a number of applications directed from the industries department for grant of power availability certificates. It is worth mentioning that these heavy power consuming units have to be ideally located so as to ensure proper power availability. Officials of the board opine that with the commissioning of a number of power projects in the near future ample surplus power would be available for these induction furnaces. A single furnace consumes as much as 3-MW power. The concern of the electricity board is also focused towards the concentration of these furnaces. While as many as 18 applications of furnaces have been received from investors proposing to invest in Sirmaur about 10 others have shown their interest in district Solan. The officials of the board stated that they were awaiting policy of the industries department and had kept the furnaces proposals pending. It was also learnt that since the major rush was scattered in district Solan and Sirmaur the investors may have to bear the cost of setting up a sub-station and the requisite infrastructure. The industries department was yet
indecisive on whether to bear the partial cost or direct the investors to invest for the infrastructure of a sub-station. Some officials of the board, however, opine that their bitter experience in Poanta Sahib where the board’s sub-station had blasted due to excessive load had wisened them and it might be a mandatory condition for the investors to invest for a sub-station.
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455 cr scam detected in FCI’s dealings
New Delhi, May 13 In the scam amounting to Rs 455.6 crore, FCI had granted extra quantity of rice in lieu of broken rice while releasing rice stocks at concessional rates to private exporters. Ministry of Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution recently detected the scam while going through the minutes of FCI’s high level Committee meeting, official sources said here today. Taking serious note of the large scale irregularities committed at highest level of the FCI, the Ministry has asked the Central Government’s nodal foodgrains handling agency for an immediate explanation as to why it granted allowance on broken rice to private parties. Moreover, the decision over broken rice was taken without the permission of the Food Ministry, under which the FCI falls. The Ministry had directed the FCI to stop granting the allowance to exporters from October 1 last year after the irregularity was noticed by Food Minister Sharad Yadav in September 2002. But before implementation of these directions, the FCI had already allowed the private parties to take away 12.55 lakh tonnes of rice as compensation against the so called quantity of broken rice in the total stock of 57.24 lakh tonnes, released on concessional rates to exporters between April 2001 and September
2002. UNI
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VAT and collection system Ludhiana, May 13 These views have been expressed by Mr R.P. Bhatia, Vice-Chairman, the Steel-Rerolling Mills Association of India, in a communication to the Finance Minister of India. Mr Bhatia has maintained that in advance countries all indirect taxes like sales tax, Central Excise Duty, CST, consignment tax have been clubbed under VAT and the total tax stands imposed at 5 per cent to 18 per cent whereas in poor countries, it varies from 30 per cent to 50 per cent which is a great burden on the consumers. Mr Bhatia has pointed out that as far as the trade and industry are concerned, such taxes have to be collected from the consumers and deposited with the state exchequer and the real purpose of VAT would be defeated if the quantum of burden is not reduced. He has suggested that the consumer items like tobacco, sugar, textiles, iron and steel and other such items can be put in the central list and with additional central excise duty can be charged under cenvat scheme and revenue collected could be distributed amongst the states at predetermined norms. The remaining items can be put in the state list and VAT can be imposed on them. Highlighting the harassment of the trade and industry, Mr Bhatia says that the trade and industry stands already harassed by the revenue authorities like the income tax, central excise and sales tax and it is feared that more paper work would be imposed and more formalities would be required to be maintained and returns would be required to be submitted and more inspectors team would visit the units frequently which would result in unpleasant effect on the trade and industry all the more. He has concluded that there should be comprehensive single source VAT which includes all types of indirect taxes which are normally collected by the trade and industry from the public at large.
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Punjab eyes partner for online lottery Chandigarh, May 13 According to a senior official , the state has already lost precious time and revenue due to delay in the project. The state is left with limited options as a “cartel of big players” wanted the licence for a small amount. Officials of the Punjab Lotteries Department are also finding themselves in a tight spot as Jindal Pipes, which had been awarded the contract for running online lottery, has approached the Punjab and Haryana High Court to direct the state government to refund Rs 2 crore bank guarantee, as it had found the agreement conditions ‘‘unsuitable for its business model.’’ Says a senior official,‘‘ We have made it clear to the bidders that the department will control the central computer and printing of tickets to ensure the transparency in the operation of lottery as per the Section 4 of the Central Lottery Act. But they want to have the total control.’’ The department has now decided to contest the case before exercising other options. Insiders said the Jindal group had backtracked on its commitment after it was awarded the contract to run online lottery by Haryana at a much lower price. The group had offered Rs 3,751 crore to Punjab for running online lottery for seven years. The officials claimed that during the past two years the cost of setting up infrastructure for online lottery had drastically come down. So,the department could approach the state government to allow it to run ‘‘online lottery through a joint venture
within the Punjab Small Industries and Export Corporation or with a private partner having access to TV channels.’’
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Bharti may acquire viable companies
Chandigarh, May 13 Talking to the TNS, Mr Sunil Mittal Bharti, Chairman and Group Managing Director, Bharti Enterprises, said, ‘‘After the introduction of interconnect user charge (IUC) regime from May 1, the company is ready to take on its rivals. The threat from Reliance has also receded now as it has also been forced to revise its tariff. We are now open to take over viable companies depending upon, to improve out strength in the circles.’’ In northern circle, comprising Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and parts of Haryana, the company had already crossed 4.60 lakh connections. He expressed hope that Airtel would emerge as a number one player in Punjab this year, after crossing a customer base of 3.50 lakh in a period of just over one year. Mr Mittal admitted that the company had no immediate plans to invest in foreign markets, as it felt the Indian mobile market was growing at an exponential rate. Regarding company's plans to enter into WLL area, he said,‘‘ We felt that the WLL has limited market in the given economic scenario and licencing regime. We want to remain in mobile market and related services.’’
TNS
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Canara Bank net up 37.5%
Chandigarh, May 13 Addressing a press conference here today, Mr R.Rangarai, GM, Chandigarh Circle, Canara Bank, said, “The bank has posted a 20.6 per cent growth in operating profits, from Rs 1,656 crore in 2001-02 to Rs 1,997 crore in 2002-03. The net profit is after making a provision of Rs 978 crore as against Rs 915 crore during last fiscal. Provision of Rs 476 crore has been made for NPAs as against Rs 386 crore in 2001-02, in compliance with prudential norms.” He claimed that bank had 142 branches in Northern Circle and there was plan to open 20 other branches. Regarding NPAs, he said, the bank had issued 122 notices to defaulters under the Securitisation Act and had already recovered Rs 2.89 crore. He said interest income of the bank increased from Rs 6,358 crore to Rs 6,658 crore during that period, and the interest expenses on deposits came down from Rs 4,350 crore to Rs 4,225 crore during the corresponding period. Regarding future plans, he said, the bank’s global business is slated to reach Rs 1,31,000 crore by March 2004 with a growth of 15.55 per cent comprising Rs 82,000 crore under deposits and Rs 49,000 crore under advances.
TNS
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