 |
|
States must relook at sales tax to cut petro prices: FM
Proposal to bring down prices of drugs
Sensex crosses 6,000 mark, Nifty
Bangalore, November 17 The Planning Commission will await the decision of the 12th Finance Commission on additional devolution of tax revenues to states in response to various states’ pleas of debt relief and debt swaps on various accounts, commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said here today. |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
HP approves 30 new
Tisco signs
Rs 14,400-cr pact
Exports cross $40 b in seven months
|
|
States must relook at sales tax to cut petro prices: FM
New Delhi, November 17 Rising prices dominated the conference, putting the minister on the defensive. Refusing to further cut the central taxes on oil, he turned the media attention to the states. The Centre, he said, has twice reduced the customs and excise duty on petro-products, sacrificing Rs 4,425 crore revenue this fiscal. The Centre needed revenue to fund its Plan and non-Plan expenditure. The food-for-work itself required Rs 2,020 crore this year. For inflation ruling at almost double the figure of last year, he blamed the rising global crude prices. For the agricultural growth slowdown, he blamed the “delayed and deficient monsoon”. For the soaring non-oil commodity prices, he blamed increased demand in China and India. Turning self-congratulatory, Mr Chidambaram went on to list post-Budget initiatives as achievements, while admitting that six months is too short a period to assess a government. His list included the MSP for oilseeds, introduction of weather insurance, a bullish stock market, the successful launch of ONGC, TCS and NTPC public issues, a higher disbursal of agricultural and education loans, even the thrust on fighting AIDS. On value added tax (Vat), he said, all states have agreed to its introduction. UP CM Mulayam Singh only wants the Centre to reassure the traders in his state. He clarified petro-products are not covered by Vat. On suggestions of using the forex reserves, estimated at $120 billion, for building infrastructure, he said he is watching the debate. The UPA government’s relations with the Leftist allies also figured at the media-government interaction. To prove that differences with the Left were being ironed out, he gave the examples of raising the FDI cap in civil aviation and the 10 per cent equity sale in the NTPC. When a questioner voiced concern at the proposed merger of associate banks like the State Bank of Patiala with the SBI, Mr Chidambaram laughed it off, saying, “This is another delightful story I have read in newspapers”. Sometimes, he said, he had to read policy decisions in newspapers. “That may be leakages for some, I call it greater transparency”. To a question why lawyers and doctors were not effectively covered by the services tax, he said: “I can speak for lawyers. Some say lawyers don’t render any service.” The Economic Editors Conference was not held in 2002 and 2003. Mr Chidambaram promised to make it an annual feature.
|
|
WB chief meets Chidambaram
New Delhi, November 17 Wolfensohn is on a two-day visit to India to monitor the bank-funded schemes and discuss with government officials ways to step up lending to the country. “We are talking at the moment of sanctioning over $3 billion annually for the next few years,” Mr Wolfensohn told newspersons after the meeting. He will visit the World Bank supported ‘Diversified Agricultural Support Project’ in Uttar Pradesh and the ‘Education for All Project’ site in Delhi
tomorrow. Wolfensohn is slated to meet other senior government officials, including Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia. This is his third visit to India since 1996. He is accompanied by his wife Elaine. “It has been four years since I last visited India. But I have been closely following the progress the country has made. I am eager to see for myself the gains made, and discuss with the government how the bank can best support overcoming the challenges that remain,” Wolfensohn said. His visit comes at a time when the Indian Government has scaled up investment in infrastructure and rural development is its key priorities.
|
|
Proposal to bring down prices of drugs
New Delhi, November 17 It is considering to make it mandatory for drug manufacturers not to charge more than 50 per cent higher prices of drugs from retail consumers than their actual cost of production, Union Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister Ram Vilas Paswan said here today. Speaking at the Economic Editors Conference, he said a task force constituted by his ministry has already submitted an interim report. “The committee has recommended that to allow the pharmaceutical companies to charge up to 50 per cent margin in retail than the actual cost of drug production. The final report is expected to be submitted shortly. Mr Paswan said with the implementation of the recommendations of the task force the price of number of drugs would certainly fall, especially where the companies were allowing up to 1,000 per cent margin to the retailers.” “We are determined to bring down the prices of drugs, especially the life saving ones to bring them within the common man’s reach,” he said. “There are number of drugs sold in the market whose MRP is 100 times higher than what the company gets from retailer that would not be allowed to happen at the cost of customers,” the minister said. “During the past six months we have ensured that no drug manufacturer increased the price. In some cases, the prices have rather come down,” Mr Paswan said, adding that the task force has also recommended to strengthen the process of monitoring prices. The task force has felt that for scheduled drugs, the present norms of trade margins should continue — 8 per cent for wholesalers and 16 per cent for retailers. In case of non-scheduled drugs, it has recommended 10 per cent margin for wholesalers and 20 per cent for retailers for branded drugs. For generic drugs, it has recommended 15 per cent margin for wholesalers and 35 per cent for retailers. In the interim report, the task force has also pointed out that since there was no category as life saving medicines, therefore, it would be proper to consider the national list of essential medicines, 2003 (based on 354 bulk drugs). Out of these about 227 drugs appear in the ORG survey, therefore, initially drugs for price control, monitoring could be selected from this basket.
|
|
Sensex crosses 6,000 mark, Nifty nears 1,900
Mumbai, November 17 Buoyed by sustained buying from Foreign Institutional Investors, the Sensex gained 0.33 per cent to close at 6,016.58 points. According to brokers here much of the buying is concentrated on mid-cap stocks and further action may be noticed in these scrips in the coming days. FIIs have pumped in as much Rs 2000 crore this month fuelling the bull run, say analysts. More than 201 million shares changed hands today as compared to 147 million on Tuesday. Banking scrips were on fire as banks began to raise interest rates. ICICI Bank which raised interest rates on Tuesday saw its valuation up by 4.8 per cent to Rs 334.95 per share. The Bank of India was up 5.3 per cent to Rs 69.55 while the Union Bank of India surged 12.2 per cent to Rs 91.55. Steel shares to have risen amidst talk of prices being increased. Steel Authority of India Ltd rose 0.3 per cent to Rs 50.65 Tata Iron and Steel Company Ltd was up 0.2 per cent to Rs 310.05. Software shares rose as well, but at a much modest rate than banking scrips. In the immediate short term, the Sensex could slip lower as speculators begin to book profits. The CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) also ended up 9.65 points at 1888.65 points, after moving between 1874.35 and 1892.15 points. Market resumed on a bullish note, moved up further with the falling international oil prices and strong liquidity on the back of huge foreign fund inflows, boosting the sentiment, even as share prices pared some of the intra day gains on profit booking by local operators at higher levels, brokers said.
|
|
Plan panel for city tax base extension
Bangalore, November 17 Speaking to mediapersons here after a meeting with delegations from the southern states, led by the chief ministers (except for Tamil Nadu which was led by Chief Secretary Laxmi Pranesh), he said that states had raised the difficult financial situation that they all found themselves in, and the commission had “acknowledged” this problem. The meeting was for “exchange of views” rather than decision-making. Another key issue that came up “from more than one chief minister” was the poor state of urban infrastructure in various cities, and the need to augment them to world standards in order to be competitive in a global economy. The idea was to improve governance and extend the tax base in order to make funds available for infrastructure, he said. User charges for utilities like power and water supply would have to be looked at afresh, and subsidies should be more explicit and targeted, he said. “This does not necessarily mean more taxes for city dwellers, but extension of the tax base. Many cities, for example, have only 50 per cent coverage in property tax” he said. The states also wanted greater flexibility in central schemes like those in irrigation, so that more projects could be taken on board, he said.
|
|
HP approves 30 new industrial projects
Shimla, November 17 The decision was taken at the meeting of the state level Single Window Clearance and Monitoring Authority meeting held here today under the chairmanship of the chief minister, Mr Virbhadra Singh. The authority in its previous seven meetings has approved 162 industrial units in the medium and large-scale sector with a total investment of Rs 2,818 crore. Speaking on the occasion, Mr Virbhadra Singh stressed upon the need for setting up industrial development authorities in the industrial areas of the state under the Town and Country Planning Act. The Chief Minister said with the increase in industrial development, the industrial areas were becoming over crowded and sanitation and hygiene had become a major problem. He added that with the constitution of these authorities the industrial areas would get proper municipal and sanitary services, proper street lights, roads and other amenities. He said the state would welcome quality industrial houses to set up their units within the state and would extend all help and cooperation.
|
|
Tisco signs
Rs 14,400-cr pact with Orissa
New Delhi, November 17 Tisco’s mega-steel plant is first among the steel proposals to get clearance from the Orissa Government. The other proposals pending approval includes a 10 million tonne steel plant by South Korean steel giant Posco and a 5 million tonne steel plant by London-based Vedanta Resources Ltd.
— UNI
|
|
Exports cross $40 b in seven months
New Delhi, November 17 The Government has also set up five monitoring committees — one each for agriculture,
handicrafts, handlooms, gems and jewellery, and leather and footwear sectors,— to monitor progress and identify the bottlenecks
in each of the sectors. “These committees will function as sectoral think tanks”, Mr Nath said. The Minister also announced the setting up of a task force for reduction of transaction cost and procedural simplification with a view to boosting India’s exports. The task force will be convened by a the Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) and include representatives of the Department of Revenue, as well as representatives from apex chambers of commerce and industry. India’s exports during April to October 2004-05 are valued at 40.02 billion dollars.
|
|
Haryana banks allocate Rs 6 cr for agro loans
Chandigarh, November 17 This was stated by Mr D.L Rawal, General Manager, PNB, while speaking at the 90th meeting of the state level banker’s committee meeting held here today. There are about 19,000 such graduates in the state and emphasis would be laid on training these youth to provide expert advice to progressive farmers on cropping practices, market trends, process of various crops, information on latest technologies etc. The rate of interest for disbursal of loans would be 10.75 per cent and while there will be no collateral security on loans up to Rs 5 lakh, the same would be charged for amounts more than this, he added. He informed that 10 farmer’s training colleges would be set up in the state on the lines of the one set up in Sacha Kherra, Jind, by March 2005 and the same would b managed by the PNB Farmers Welfare Trust. Of these seven have already been provided the required finances. Talking about the performance of banks, Mr Rawal said banks disbursed loans of Rs 3,750 crore in the state from September 2003 to 2004. The banks disbursed loans of Rs 1,258 crore to agriculture sector in the state during this period. As many as 58 new branches of commercial banks and regional rural banks were opened in the state during the review period, thus taking the total number of branches to 1,608.
|
bb
Bullion Satnam stake New Rs 20 note Indian Bank Nicholas Piramal TCS-MS pact Crisil Esop |
| 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 | |
