 |
|
Textiles to be embroidered with incentives
Backward States Grant Fund on the cards
Russia-US consortium asks India to fly with it
Montek to join on July 1
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Patel seeks cut in duty on ATF
Rs 45 lakh to freshen up Palampur tea unit
Munjal CII president
|
|
Textiles to be embroidered
with incentives New Delhi, June 17 The industry experts say that Ministry of Textiles has indeed taken various steps during the past few years to promote textile sector, but due to strong lobby of certain segments of the sector, the government failed to provide level-playing field to all stakeholders in the supply chain. Sources say the government can announce zero per cent import duty on imported machinery, besides a cut in the excise duty on texturised yarn and imposing duty on knitwear. At present, the total textile exports stand at around Rs 55,000 crore, 27 per cent of total Indian exports, besides around Rs 92,000 crore domestic market. However, with the decline in the subsidy of cotton exporters in the USA and other countries under WTO instructions, the industry is apprehending rise in cotton prices in the international market. Interestingly, the industry has improved its efficiency remarkably well in fibre and yarn sectors, but it is still weak in the fabric sector. Consequently, it is affecting the demand for yarn and retarding the growth of garment sector. Experts also point out that due to irrational excise duty structure, the industry has failed to reap economies of scale. Currently, small units in weaving and garment processing, besides hand processors are exempted from payment of excise duty. It is resulting in under declaration of turnover even by fairly large units in towns like Ludhiana, Amritsar, Panipat and Tirupur. Experts say the exemptions from duty has also retarded the growth of knitwear industry of Ludhiana since most of the units were not ready to expand apprehending coming under tax net. Despite strong pressure of the Leftist parties and its allied partners, the Finance Minister P.
Chidambaram is expected to take note of the recommendations of the steering group headed by Mr N.K. Singh. The group has recommended, “a continuous CENVAT chain is necessary for encouraging investment and technology upgradation. It will reduce distortions in the system and provide CENVAT credit at all stages.” Satyam Committee, which went into the prospects and problems of the entire textile sector, has also said “ various exemptions and concessions have stymied the growth of the organised sector, discouraged technology upgradation in the small scale sector, apart from providing scope for and in a way encouraging malpractices and duty evasion.”
|
|
Backward States Grant Fund on the cards New Delhi, June 17 This can form the basis of a “structured and transparent” road map for reduction of the burden of debts of states. This in turn is expected to release more and more resources for these states for social sector investments. The Centre may link the Backward States Grant Fund to the certain well-defined performance parameters so that the state governments do not actually use the funds for non-plan expenditure such as payment of salaries to government employees and use only for creating more productive assets which have strong multiplier effects across the state’s economy. Informed sources said the government may bring out strict guidelines for drawing money from this fund - which is likely to be created in the non-lapsable pool. Earlier the government had also sought to address the issues of inter-state disparities through various schemes such as Special Status states. However, most of these schemes have achieved very little in terms of the actual development as they have failed to cut down on non-plan expenditure of state governments.
|
|
Russia-US consortium asks India to fly with it
Bangalore, June 17 "They are very keen that we (India) become a risk-sharing partner," Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd Chairman N R Mohanty told reporters on the sidelines of SCALE 2004 conference on supply chain and logistics management here today. He said the Russian government has committed to buy about 60 civil aircraft and added that the manufacturers will also explore the global market for these aeroplanes. The Seattle-based Boeing and Sukhoi Design Bureau will produce the air-frame and the engine will be jointly built by European aero engine manufacturer Snecma and Russia's Lyulka Saturn for the family of 60, 75 and 95 seater aircraft, with the first plane expected to take off by 2007-08. The consortium would compete with Brazil's Embraer firm, in which Snecma has an equity stake. Mr Mohanty said India has not finalised plans to join the consortium, but added HAL could provide crucial parts of engines and aircraft structure for the venture.
— PTI
|
|
Montek to join on July 1 Beijing, June 17 "The priority of the Planning Commission clearly will be to give shape in terms of specific plan proposals, plan allocations, policy restructure in order to implement the CMP," Mr Ahluwalia, said. "I was very thrilled to hear that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has decided to appoint me as the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission.," he said. Mr Ahluwalia, a noted economist, will resign the job with immediate effect so as to join the "team" by July 1.
— PTI
|
|
Rediff one up on Yahoo!
Mumbai, June 17 Interestingly, rediffmail users will also be able to send in a single e-mail a 10 megabyte message. ''Rediffmail 1 GB is a reality and available today, ahead of any other e-mail service available in the world, particularly for the Indian e-mail user. Users no longer have to worry about deleting mail to stay within the storage limit. They can instead keep all mails they want, for as long as they like'', says Rediff.com Chairman and CEO Ajit Balakrishnan. Earlier, rediff.com had launched rediffmail with enhanced security and feature-rich add-ons. It will also start freeing up over 15 million e-mail addresses that have not been in use for sometime, giving new users a better chance of finding an e-mail id of their choice. For the premium paid users, Rediffmail plus and Rediffmail mobile, the storage capacity will be 2 GB each. The storage capacity previously available with rediffmail mobile users was 10 MB and the mail message size was 5 MB.
— UNI
|
|
Patel seeks cut in duty on ATF New Delhi, June 17 After the meeting Mr Patel told reporters that a number of airlines including private and public carriers were complaining about the continued spurt in ATF prices. “It is an area of concern. It should be reduced so that airline fares comes down,” he said. He added that the Finance Minister had agreed to consider a reduction in excise duties on ATF in the Budget. The representatives of various domestic airlines had met the minister just days ago and sought a reduction in the ATF prices. Mr Patel said that his ministry was trying its best to bring down the prices of ATF, besides regularising the sales tax levied by various states. Mr Chidambaram however, refused to answer the queries on whether the government would slash excise duty on ATF in the Budget. On the constitution of empowered Group of Ministers (GoM) for Aviation, Mr Patel said it would be constituted soon and the group would look into various issues of civil aviation. Asked whether the GoM would also look into the fleet acquisition for the Indian Airlines and Air India, he said it would look into every aspect of the Aviation ministry. The GoM will also deliberate on the controversial issue of FDI cap for restructuring, modernisation and management of international airports in Delhi and Mumbai. Highly placed sources said among the priorities, the GoM would look into various aspects about management and FDI keeping in mind the sensitivities of UPA partners and the parties supporting it from outside.
|
|
Rs 45 lakh to freshen up Palampur tea unit Shimla, June 17 The decision to grant funds for the Palampur factory was taken at the meeting of state tea board held under the chairmanship of Mr Virbhadra Singh, Chief Minister, here today. Besides giving Rs 45 lakh as share capital, the government will also stand guarantee for a term loan of Rs 50 lakh to be raised by the factory. The board was of the opinion that the Baijnath tea factory should be leased out to some private party in the interest of its revival but on the request of Mr Sudhir Kumar, local MLA and president of the cooperative society, it was given one month's time to submit a report for its revival. Further action would be taken in the matter after the report was received.
|
|
Munjal CII president New Delhi, June 17 Chairman of ITC Y C Deveshwar was elected as the Vice-President of the CII for 2004-05. Mr Munjal succeeds Mr Anand Mahindra, chairman of Mahindra & Mahindra as the CII President.
|
bb
SBI in Sydney Dubai Duty Free Bata issue Airtel 2-in-1 Economic pact |
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
Beijing, June 17
