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TERCENTENARY CELEBRATIONS
B U S I N E S S

Illegal patent of Indian wheat revoked
New Delhi, October 10
The organisations fiercely seeking revocation of illegal patenting of Indian agricultural products emerged victorious as Munich-based European Patent Office acted upon their petition and revoked in "total" a patent on Indian Wheat variety recently.

PSIDC decisions to boost units
Chandigarh, October 10
The Punjab State Industrial Development Corporation has slashed the interest rate on standard loan assets given to 13 per cent per annum in case of large-scale industry and 12 per cent in case of small-scale industry.

Electronic component exports up
New Delhi, October 10
Export of electronic components has registered a growth of 56 per cent (65 per cent in dollar terms) during 2003-04 over the previous year, according to the data released by the Electronics and Computer Software Export Promotion Council (ESC).

Now, cuddle up on board
London, October 10
Virgin Atlantic has become the first airline to introduce double-beds on board its planes, giving rise to claims that it is tacitly encouraging couples to cuddle up and get intimate.

How to shoo tension that comes
with big money

New Delhi, October 10
Indian mantras like putting heart above mind and EQ over IQ and coupling these with British traits of punctuality and quality control made Bill Lall a millionaire and a peer.

IndianOil cancels LPG distributorships in J&K
Jammu, October 10
Indian Oil Corporation has cancelled the appointment of distributorship of Indane liquefied petroleum gas in Jammu and Kashmir. "IndianOil has definitely cancelled the appointment of 35 distributors of Indane LPG in Ladakh, Kashmir and Jammu regions," the IOC sources said.

Samtel to invest Rs 140 crore
New Delhi, October 10
Samtel Colour, a colour picture tube manufacturer, will invest Rs 140 crore for setting up its fifth production line at the Ghaziabad plant. According to Mr Satish Kaura, CMD, Samtel Colour, “The company has decided to make the investment as it is encouraged by new orders and robust demand.”


A model presents this creation as part of Australian designer Colette Dinnigan’s 2005 Spring-Summer ready-to-wear fashion collection in Paris on Sunday.
A model presents this creation as part of Australian designer Colette Dinnigan’s 2005 Spring-Summer ready-to-wear fashion collection in Paris on Sunday. — Reuters

EARLIER STORIES

 
An artist decorates a woman’s back for the Navratri festival in Ahmedabad on Sunday.
An artist decorates a woman’s back for the Navratri festival in Ahmedabad on Sunday. Navratri is a nine-day festival of traditional dance and will begin on October 14. — Reuters

Tax advice

Letter by donor enough proof of gift
Q. My brother was allotted a residential unit by the Chandigarh Housing Board, Chandigarh in January 2000. Since my brother has no regular monthly income, he could pay instalments from January 2000 to December 2003 only. He requested my father, a senior citizen, to pay instalments for the rest of period for six years in lumpsum. My father paid the balance amount of Rs 89,000 out of his savings, and issued a cheque for the amount.

Market update

Bulls continue the party with gains
Bulls continued their party for another week and the Indian bourses closed with gains last week. Sensex gained 1.4 per cent for the week to close at 5757, whereas Nifty gained 43 points to close the week at 1817. The trigger for buying was the expectation of strong second quarter results to be declared by the corporate this week and an overwhelming response to the National Thermal Power Corporation’s initial public offer.

  • Steel

Video
Kerala Boat Fair — a premier buyer-seller tourism meet.
(28k, 56k)

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Illegal patent of Indian wheat revoked

New Delhi, October 10
The organisations fiercely seeking revocation of illegal patenting of Indian agricultural products emerged victorious as Munich-based European Patent Office (EPO) acted upon their petition and revoked in "total" a patent on Indian Wheat variety recently.

"This victory will go a long way to save the rights of the farmers in India," they said.

The multinational corporation Monsanto was unable to file a contest against the petition challenging the patent in its favour.

The three organisations - Bharat Krishak Samaj (BKS) and Nandanya of India and Greenpeace of Germany - had taken the initiative to fight for Indian farmers to save Indian wheat variety - Naphal - which was patented in EPO in Munich, Germany.

The fighters against this bio-piracy had unitedly filed their opposition challenging the unjustified patenting of the product in EPO on January 27, 2004.

The patent on an Indian wheat variety was granted to the Monsanto on May 21, 2003.

BKS president Krishan Bir Chaudhary said Monsanto got this patent by transferring genes from an Indian wheat landrace Naphal to their Galahad-7 wheat variety. They claimed this act of theft as an "invention".

Dr Chaudhary said, "This patent was a blatant example of bio-piracy as it forfeited the rights of Indian farmers and dismissed hundreds of years of hard field work of Indian peasantry. — UNI

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PSIDC decisions to boost units
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 10
The Punjab State Industrial Development Corporation (PSIDC) has slashed the interest rate on standard loan assets given to 13 per cent per annum in case of large-scale industry and 12 per cent in case of small-scale industry.

Earlier, the corporation was charging interest up to 21 per cent. A decision to this effect was taken at the PSIDC Board of Directors meeting held last week under the chairmanship of the new incumbent, Mr O.P Soni.

These reductions will be given only to companies that are paying on time as on March 31, 2004.

The PSIDC also decided to give concessions to defaulting companies. These include substantial reduction in rate of interest, changing lower rate of interest for future and longer repayment period, subject to their viability. 

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Electronic component exports up
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, October 10
Export of electronic components has registered a growth of 56 per cent (65 per cent in dollar terms) during 2003-04 over the previous year, according to the data released by the Electronics and Computer Software Export Promotion Council (ESC).

“In value terms, export of electronic components has increased from Rs 2,400 crore ($ 496 million) in 2002-03 to Rs 3,755 crore ($ 816 million) in 2003-04. More significantly, almost 50 per cent of the total production of electronic component constituted 49 per cent of the total electronics hardware export from the country,” said Mr D.K. Sareen, Executive Director, ESC.

The industry is hopeful that it would be able to maintain the growth rate this year as well, thanks to the firming of the demand.

He said the major items in the electronic components included CD recordables, picture tubes, solar cell/ photovoltaic cells, unpopulated printed circuit boards, digital video disks, connectors, semi-conductor devices and ferrites resistors. The export of CD recordable has almost doubled during 2003-04. 

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Now, cuddle up on board

London, October 10
Virgin Atlantic has become the first airline to introduce double-beds on board its planes, giving rise to claims that it is tacitly encouraging couples to cuddle up and get intimate.

The move is the realisation of a dream of Virgin’s owner Richard Branson, who wanted to give passengers a chance to get “closer together” on long trips, ‘The Sunday Times’ reported.

Critics, however, believe that Virgin is overstepping the boundaries of taste and decency and could end up angering more passengers than it pleases.

“This is unnecessary and unfortunate,” Ann Widdecombe, former shadow Home Secretary, told the newspaper.

“There is an immense issue of public decency here because there are other passengers who will not wish to see or hear such things.”

According to the report, travellers can take advantage of the double-beds on three Boeing 747s that fly trans-Atlantic routes out of Heathrow.

The airline has fitted four double-beds in the central section of its Upper Class suites. Normally they are adjacent seats divided by a partition. But at night, the partition can be removed, the seats converted into flat beds and the space in between filled with a mattress.

Prices start at around £2,000 per person on a return trip to New York and there are already rumours that Virgin is considering installing condom machines on its aircraft, the report said.

“We have a lot of honeymoon couples who fly on Virgin, and a lot of couples who have been together for many years. There is no reason why they shouldn’t cuddle up on board like they would at home,” Branson said. — PTI

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How to shoo tension that comes with big money
Hindol Sengupta

New Delhi, October 10
Indian mantras like putting heart above mind and EQ over IQ and coupling these with British traits of punctuality and quality control made Bill Lall a millionaire and a peer.

“To use an Indian term,” Lall told IANS in New Delhi, “my mantra is — believe in karma like a good Indian and also be absolutely perfect in discipline.”

The twin combination changed Dharambir Lall to Lord Bill Lall of Woodlands, chartered accountant, civil servant, adviser to the British Government and self-made millionaire.

Lall is now in India to promote his second book “Rich Man, Happy Man”, a how-to-book on making money without heartburn. The 200-page book being published in India by Full Circle is replete with advice on how to lead a good life and keep away the anxieties that come with earning big money.

“I’ve always felt that most people who earn a lot of money don’t really seem to enjoy their wealth,” said Lall, who sold his consultancy business about two years ago for £ 1.5 million.

“I wanted to tell all these people that money making is not necessarily fraught with so much tension,” said the man whose company has 700 clients and offices stretched from the Isle of Man to Dubai.

So the book has special portions on how to relax, where to relax and methods of planning in a quick relaxation period during a busy workday.

Drawing from ancient Hindu scriptures, Lall asks his readers to believe “I am one and I want to be manifold.”

Born in Kolkata, Lall moved to Austria and then Britain to study management. He has worked for KPMG, Dunlop, the British Ministry of Defence and PricewaterhouseCooper.

Lall was the first person from an ethnic background to be elected Chair of the Newham Chamber of Commerce and was recently honoured by the University of East London with an honorary doctorate in business administration.

In 2001, Lall published his first book, “How to Grow Rich — And Enjoy Life”.

He said times had become far easier for new entrepreneurs in the West.

“Around 33 per cent of all business in Britain today is run by people of ethnic origin. So the problems that I faced — like notices on windows saying ‘No Coloured’ — are not there anymore.

“I believe this is the age to be rich and be happy at the same time.” — IANS

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IndianOil cancels LPG distributorships in J&K

Jammu, October 10
Indian Oil Corporation has cancelled the appointment of distributorship of Indane liquefied petroleum gas in Jammu and Kashmir.

"IndianOil has definitely cancelled the appointment of 35 distributors of Indane LPG in Ladakh, Kashmir and Jammu regions," the IOC sources said.

These distributorships of Indane were appointed by the previous NDA government, they said.

"We have been asked to send cancellation notices to 35 distributors in J&K by the headquarters," they said.

Without giving any reason about the cancellation, they said, "We cannot speak about the decision taken at the level of head office". — PTI

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Samtel to invest Rs 140 crore
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, October 10
Samtel Colour, a colour picture tube manufacturer, will invest Rs 140 crore for setting up its fifth production line at the Ghaziabad plant.

According to Mr Satish Kaura, CMD, Samtel Colour, “The company has decided to make the investment as it is encouraged by new orders and robust demand.”

Samtel is also in the process of establishing its fourth production line at the Ghaziabad plant at a cost of Rs 110 crore for manufacturing 29" super flat CPTs.

The company’s net profit for the July-September quarter surged a whopping 369 per cent to Rs 14.68 crore against Rs 3.13 crore in the year-ago period, as a result of volume growth and improved productivity, Mr Kaura said.

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Tax advice

by S.C. Vasudeva

Letter by donor enough proof of gift

Q. My brother was allotted a residential unit by the Chandigarh Housing Board, Chandigarh in January 2000. Since my brother has no regular monthly income, he could pay instalments from January 2000 to December 2003 only. He requested my father, a senior citizen, to pay instalments for the rest of period for six years in lumpsum. My father paid the balance amount of Rs 89,000 out of his savings, and issued a cheque for the amount.

Kindly advise whether this payment can be considered loan gift to the son. Or is it an income in the hands of my brother? If so, whether any tax has to be paid and what amount and when?

Should he make any legal instrument (stamp paper) in this transaction? Whether any rebate in tax deduction under any Section is permissible?

— Urvashi

A. The amount of Rs 89,000 can be treated as gift to your brother by your father. The gift of any movable property can be made even by exchange of letters between the donor and donee. There is no income tax payable in respect of the above gift as the same is exempt even under the new provisions of the Income Tax Act, 1961. I may also add that your father should make a declaration about the gift in return of income in case he is an assessee. The provisions of the Income tax Act, 1961, do not provide for any rebate or deduction in respect of the gift.

Rebate on purchase

Q. Please clarify about any rebate on the purchase of medical books while in government service for income tax. I am a government medical doctor and regularly purchase medical books worth Rs 5,000 to Rs 6,000 per year for updating my knowledge.

— Dr S.N. Gupta

A. As per the provisions of the Act, which deal with the computation of salary income, no deduction or rebate is allowable on account of purchase of books by an employee.

However, if an allowance is granted by the employer for encouraging academic, research and training pursuits in educational and research institutions, the same is exempt u/s 10(14) of the Act to the extent it is actually spent.

In your case, since these conditions are not met, you would not be entitled to any rebate /deduction on purchase of medical books.

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Market update

by Lalit Batra

Bulls continue the party with gains

Bulls continued their party for another week and the Indian bourses closed with gains last week. Sensex gained 1.4 per cent for the week to close at 5757, whereas Nifty gained 43 points to close the week at 1817. The trigger for buying was the expectation of strong second quarter results to be declared by the corporate this week and an overwhelming response to the National Thermal Power Corporation’s initial public offer. Strong GDP growth and “seemingly” tamed inflation (7.38 per cent) also added to the sentiment.

The market shrugged off a surge in the global crude oil price to a new record high of above $ 53 a barrel.

In the coming weeks, market is expected to witness a lot of volatility as expectations which have already been built into the current stock prices would get aligned when the actual results are declared. Though we are bullish on the markets in the long term, we expect the market to correct itself in the short term as the run-up in the last couple of months has been very steep and fast.

Spiralling oil prices continue to be a cause of serious concern and have a potential to deflate the booming economies, if not reined in immediately. We, therefore, recommend that the investor should book profits now and re-enter when the market corrects itself.

Steel

Steel stocks continued their rally on the back of expectations of strong September quarter results. The Steel Authority of India (Sail) gained 6.9 per cent for the week at Rs 51.

The steel stocks have had a dream run since April last year on the back of strong demand for steel and hence buoyant steel prices. While prices have cooled in the Asian region, economic recovery in the USA and European Union have lent support to the steel cycle, helping the steel prices to stay firm.

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BRIEFLY

Reliance Info
Chandigarh, October 10
Reliance Infocomm has begun migrating its Haryana subscribers to an exclusive 10-digit series beginning with 93. This has been done in keeping with the cellular mobile numbering plan in India under the new Unified License Regime. With this, Reliance mobile subscribers in Haryana and HP can call each other by dialling the new 10-digit number and do not have to prefix it with STD codes anymore. — TNS

PNB
Chandigarh, October 10
Punjab National Bank, Sector 17-B branch, Chandigarh, yesterday organised a customer meet of leading industrialists of the area to have an interaction and get their views on the industrial scenario and banking requirements. Mr B.P. Chopra, General Manager, Northern Zone, said the RBI had issued the Gold Card Scheme for exporters to ensure easy availability of export credit. Export Gold Cards were issued to the leading exporters of the area. — TNS

Ranbaxy tie-up
New Delhi, October 10
US-based Ranbaxy Pharmaceuticals Inc, a wholly owned subsidiary of Ranbaxy Labs, has entered into a multi-year alliance with New Jersey-based Ventiv Health to form a specialty dermatology team to market a drug for acne. Isotretinoin is the active ingredient in Ranbaxy's Sotret and the only treatment approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for severe recalcitrant nodular acne, Ventiv said in a statement. — UNI

Nominated
Mumbai, October 10
Reserve Bank Deputy Governor Shyamala Gopinath has been nominated as a member of the Central Board of the SBI. — UNI
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