 |
|
Tax collection grows 18 pc
Michelin Apollo rolls out radial tyres
Create corpus for disabled, orders SC
Cairn strikes oil in Rajasthan |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
ISO standards for call centres soon
Dial Reliance cellphone for railway tickets
SBI to finance Mahindra vehicles
Tenders invited again for duty-free shops
|
|
Tax collection grows 18 pc New Delhi, April 20 “We are on the mark as far as revenue is concerned. Expenditure is also within the budgeted figure. The fiscal deficit can be lower than 4.8 per cent of GDP,” Finance Secretary D C Gupta told newspersons here. Chief Economic Advisor Ashok Lahiri said that the even the GDP estimates could exceed the budgeted figures. “I will not be surprised if the GDP estimate of about Rs 27,50,000 crore is exceeded,” Dr Lahiri said. The ministry had earlier projected a GDP growth rate of 8.1 per cent in 2003-04. A fiscal deficit lower than the budgeted estimate would be achieved after more than a decade. The last time, the fiscal deficit was brought below the budgeted estimates was during 1991-92 — the year economic reforms programme was initiated. “The criticism on our marksmanship on budget targets can not be levelled this time,” he said. Mr Lahiri also said there would not be a large gap in the plan spendings of the Centre from the budgeted figure. In 1991-92, the fiscal deficit stood at Rs 36,325 crore, as against the budgeted estimate of Rs 37,727 crore — fall of more than Rs 1,000 crore. Mr Gupta said that even though certain benefits were extended to the industry, the revenue collections have been higher this year and “expenditure was very much within the estimated figure”. Mr Gupta, however, did not say what the exact level of fiscal deficit would be which will be known only after the government spendings were made public by the Controller General of Accounts next month. “Notwithstanding the benefits given to industry, we had achieved a higher revenue collection. Expenditures are very much within the estimated figure. Therefore, there will be no difficulty in achieving fiscal and revenue deficit targets,” the Finance Secretary said. Tax collections registered an 18 per cent increase and stood at Rs 2,52,162 crore, exceeding the budgeted target. This has resulted in a higher tax-GDP ratio of 9.1 per cent in 2003-04. Direct tax collections increased by 27 per cent and indirect tax collections increased by 12.3 per cent as per latest figures available. Revenue Secretary Vineeta Rai said that actual direct tax collections stood at Rs 1,04,678 crore —which is higher than the revised budget estimates of Rs 1,03,400 crore in 2003-04. The increase in direct tax collection was primarily due to corporation tax, which clocked a staggering 36 per cent growth and stood at Rs 63,882 crore. This is higher than the budget estimate of Rs 51,499 crore and also higher than the revised estimate of Rs 62,986 crore for 2003-04. Income tax collection increased by 13.6 per cent and stood at Rs, which is marginally higher than the revised estimate of Rs 40,269 crore. “The number of searches conducted during the year was 50 per cent less than the previous year as tax policies were reoriented to encourage voluntary compliance,” Ms Rai said. The Revenue Secretary said that indirect tax collections stood at Rs 1,47,484 crore which was lower
than the revised estimate of Rs 1,49,500 crore. Excise tax collection also went by 11.95 per cent and stood at Rs 91,016 crore, which is lower than the revised estimate of Rs 91,850 crore. The Chief Economic Advisor Ashok Lahiri said inflation would be less than 5 per cent in 2004-05 but avoided a direct answer where the price level would go up after election as oil companies could increase prices of fuel to restore parity with rising international prices. “India is a very inflation-averse country. Whichever party comes to power, I will be surprised if the inflation is above 5.0 per cent,” Dr Lahiri said. He said the point-to-point inflation ended the last fiscal at about 4.3 per cent but the average ticked to around 5.5 per cent.
|
|
Michelin Apollo rolls out radial tyres New Delhi, April 20 The plant will have a production capacity of 3.5 lakh truck and bus radial tyres. Chairman and Managing Director of Apollo Tyres, Mr Onkar S. Kanwar, said the company expects to commence actual production at the new plant by the first quarter of 2005. Michelin Apollo Tyres is a joint venture between Apollo Tyres and Frances’s Michelin Group. The company today launched in radial tyre range in the Indian market. Mr Kanwar said that till the time plant at Maharashtra was ready, the company will be importing tyres for the Indian market and in the first year, it would be importing about 20,000 units. The tyres will be marked under the Michelin and Apollo trademarks. As per the agreement for the joint venture, the level of investments will be in the ratio of 51 per cent from Michelin and 49 per cent from Apollo Tyres. “We will be primarily targeting the replacement market though also making efforts to be an OE supplier. According to statistics, of the 11-million-unit truck and bus radial market, about 6.7 million is the replacement market”, Mr Kanwar said.
|
|
Create corpus for disabled, orders SC New Delhi, April 20 A Bench of Chief Justice Mr V N Khare and Mr Justice S B Sinha directed that the corpus so created should be managed by a trust to be headed by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) India with Union Finance and Law Secretaries as its members. The Court gave the direction while dismissing appeals by Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) and 27 nationalised banks against the Karnataka High Court’s 1994 judgement, holding that such accumulation of ‘rounded up’ money with the banks was illegal. The High Court had said that the banks had “collected additional sums of Rs 723.79 crore annually by way of resorting to rounding up on the basis thereof.” The IBA had advised the banks that the rate of interest be loaded with interest tax of 3 per cent and rounded up to the next higher 0.25 per cent. Such rounding up was allegedly found necessary on account of grossing up involved in calculating the incidence of tax. The Reserve Bank of India had purportedly given its approval to the proposal in 1993, the High Court had said. The Court said since the
imitative taken by the Union Government for implementing the Disabilities Act was far from satisfactory and the huge accumulated amount with the banks should be used for the welfare of physically challenged people. “The corpus so created be invested in such a manner so as to enable the trustees to apply the same for the purpose of giving effect to the provision of the Disability Act,” the Court said.
|
|
Cairn strikes oil in Rajasthan
New Delhi, April 20 The N-C-1 well, north of the historic Mangala find, encountered an oil column of 18 metres gross in the Fatehgarh formation, with an estimated 5.4 metres of net oil pay, a company press release said. The find comes a month after Cairn said it had discovered reserves between 130 million and 470 million barrels. In January, Cairn announced it had struck recoverable reserves equivalent to 200 million barrels. Cairn said further work was required to gain an accurate estimate of the size of the latest find and of the proportion of the oil that can be economically extracted. The well is located 12 kilometres north of the Mangala, 70 km north of Saraswati and 300 metres from the present northern boundary of the block. Unlike previous discoveries, the new find is of heavier oil than previously discovered with a specific gravity of 15 degrees API rather than the 24 to 31 degrees of earlier wells. Further drilling will take place at the end of May. Further appraisal up-dip of this discovery is necessary for confirmation of the oil in place estimate and the associated recoverable reserves, it said.
— PTI
|
|
Punjab induction furnaces feel the heat, shift to HP Ludhiana, April 20 The migration of steel units to other states from Punjab is causing concern among steel consuming industries as the main requirements of steel are being met by the secondary steel plants. Main steel producers have hiked the steel prices which have become out of reach of small units. Mr
R.P. Bhatia, Senior Vice-President, All-India Induction Furnace Association, said the Centre did not grant any package to the Punjab industries as a result of which many industrial units were shifting to Himachal and
Uttranchal. The steel re-rollers and the induction furnaces of Punjab are facing hard-ships as the prices of basic raw material have shot up manifold. Sponge iron has touched Rs 14,000 to 15,000 from Rs 12,000 per tonne, iron scrap from Rs 15,500 per tonne to Rs 17,000 per tonne. The conversion charges have also gone up subsequently. Mr Bhatia laments that the government has granted benefits of exemption of excise duty, income tax for the new units and the state governments have granted benefits of sales tax exemption which will hit the industries in Punjab. The new units will have a difference of Rs 1,000 per tonne on central excise account only from the very first day of production. The old units which have made
expansion will also get these benefits, he pointed out. The Punjab industry should also have been given these benefits. Such a facility would have helped the sick units in their revival. The government had allowed the main steel producers the import of met coke at without duty whereas the demand of the induction furnace units to import waste and scrap without customs duty has not been met. The PSEB has been contemplating to reduce the tariff for the past four months, but no steps had been taken so far. Uttaranchal is supplying electricity at Rs 1.90 per unit and in Punjab it was available at Rs 3.80 per unit. The state government has not released the subsidy to the steel mills and the induction furnace units for the past six years and the units are facing financial crisis. Mr Bhatia called upon the Centre and the state government to take immediate steps for the survival of the steel industry failing which it would collapse.
|
|
|
ISO standards for call centres soon New Delhi, April 20 Mr Alan Bryden, Secretary General, International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO), lamented the increasing tendency among regional groups to develop their own standards to “promote free trade among member countries only.” He said since the WTO had recognised the ISO as the standards certifying body, efforts will be made to encourage countries to opt for its standards. “Keeping in view the concerns of the developing countries and to promote international trade, the ISO has decided to create consensus on the uniform international standards. Besides creating awareness among member countries, we are also upgrading our standards in conformity with the changing technology and industry standards,” said Mr Bryden. “Our next priority will be to bring out standards for the service sector, including financial services, tourism and IT sector, in which India has major stakes. We will soon have ISO standards for call centres and BPOs to encourage uniformity and standardisation of services.” The ISO will come out with a ISO-22000 series of new standards for the food processing and other food products by next year. It will comprise standards of the ISO-9000 series and other upward standards.
|
|
Dial Reliance cellphone for railway tickets
Kolkata, April 20 RIM subscribers across the country will be able to book train tickets on the R-World on their mobile phones once this service is launched within a few weeks, Mahesh Prasad, President (Application Solution Group), told PTI today. Reliance Infocomm is working with the Indian Railway’s wing, which offers train reservation via Internet, to make this service work on RIM and the process is in advance stage of implementation. “We will use the existing Internet platform for train bookings but the user interface will be further simplified so that the subscribers can book a ticket in two to three screens operation”, Prasad said. The soft test of the new service has already been done and after a more few tests the system will be ready for launch, he said, adding that the payment can be made through credit cards for which discussions with banks are on. He said the R-World application, which has already become hugely popular with RIM subscribers, has several services and “we are working furiously to add more interesting services in the days to come”.
— PTI
|
|
SBI to finance Mahindra vehicles
Mumbai, April 20 Under the pact, the bank will extend a vehicle loan up to seven years at 10 per cent interest rate (for loan up to Rs 2 lakh), SBI Managing Director Ashok Kini told reporters here. Customers will get a six-month moratorium before they start repayment on reducing balance, Kini said. The tie-up will reduce the time for loan approvals and provide timely financial assistance when the demand is picking up, he said, adding that, the SBI has so far lent more than Rs 1,300 crore to commercial transport segment. M&M Executive Director Bharat Doshi said the wide branch network of the SBI will help the auto major to tap the rural market. Utility vehicle sales of M&M have grown by 36 per cent to 1,17,600 units in 2003-04, he added. M&M has similar arrangement with the SBI for financing tractors. It was forged a year ago for five states and now with encouraging response, the scheme has been extended to entire country, Doshi added.
— PTI
|
|
Tenders invited again for duty-free shops New Delhi, April 20 The AAI had invited bids for the three airports in October last, the tenders were invited but no eligible bids were received. Most of the bid operators in the `duty free’ circuit had kept away from the bidding apparently due to small space which was being offered. Also, the royalty was too high for projects to be economically feasible. The decision to go in for fresh tendering comes in the wake of government moving forward on the privatisation exercise with Delhi and Mumbai airports. The ITDC had outbid others in 2000 when the AAI floated tenders for duty-free shops. Officials said the ITDC’s bid was absurdly high at Rs 37 crore but it was unable to earn commensurate returns. The sale of tender documents will now begin on May 20 and last till June 4. The tenders can be submitted till June 17. Technical bids will open the same day. Other conditions remain almost the same as they were earlier. Incidentally, Dubai-based Flamingo International is setting up duty free outlets at six international airports across the country. The company will set up shops at Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Calicut, Goa and Ahmedabad.
|
bb
Bank of India, PTL ink pact Wockhardt in US Knight Frank ICICI Bank-PNB Ikon price Max insurance Spice offer Sun-Aptech pact |
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | National Capital | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
In
video: Fashion
designer Nikhil Mehra gears up for Lakme India Fashion Week.
