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Women who made it
Good roads lure Volvo to Punjab, Haryana
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VAT panel to meet on April 25
India needs to emulate China
Securities Transaction Tax cannot be refunded in case of business loss
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Women who made it
Chandigarh, April 16 It was then that Amrit Bolaria decided to come forward with a practical rescue operation to aid her husband, Manvendra Singh. “Till then I was just a rich man’s wife, who had done a doctorate in temple architecture. But I was suddenly thrown into the midst of the kind of work that I had never handled before,” recalls Amrit with a smile. Many were the pitfalls that came her way from labour unrest to lockout but with courage, she firmly held her ground. “I touched lows several times since I took over the mill nearly 20 years ago but I was determined to overcome the obstacles, hire the right consultants, build a team and move on,” she says. So what was a unit of three metric tonne installed capacity was raised to 30 after some years and now it is 70. Daughter of an advisor to the King of Nepal, Amrit studied at Mater Dei Convent and Lady Irvin College at New Delhi. “Once out of college, I was soon married and came to Chandigarh. Life here was so quiet that I joined research under Dr B.N. Goswamy and studied the architecture of the temples of Mandi. Till then, I had no plans to be an entrepreneur,” she says. Circumstance compelled her to come to the aid of her husband, “He was too much of a gentleman to handle the mess and manoeuvring around him but when I took on the reins, he gave me complete support and confidence,” says Amrit. Talking of mess, the first time she went to the mill, the labourers smirked, didn’t warn her and she fell into slush. Amrit laughs as she recalls those times: “That was a lesson and I locked all my outlandish skirts and bakus in the cupboard and switched over to the practical salwar-kameez.” Along the way, many things collapsed, including human relationships, but the first great moment of joy came when the mill made a profit of Rs 50,000. Talking of the hurdles on the way, Amrit says: “There were so many blocks, most of them created by the red tape. This makes me sad not just for myself but others too. Punjab needs more industry so incentives should be given to entrepreneurs rather than blocking their path.” Help came to her from her parents when the mill reached an all-time low. “I took my inheritance and invested it in the mill. It was a long struggle but worth it. Now ours is a 30 per cent debt free unit. We started with craft paper but now we produce white paper. Our paper is good and I am so proud of it.” Even in bad times when her son wanted to go abroad to do his MBA, she did not refuse. During this period, she took on the task of exporting silver jewellery. “That took care of my son’s education but I had to give up this venture as it was too hectic making trips to Jaipur and then flying off to the US. After that I devoted myself fully to the mill.” This woman of substance says that she never lets any of the troubles show on her exterior. “My children were a part of the struggle and they picked up good values rather than just dashing down the geri route,” says Amrit. Now besides the mill, she has time for other activities too and is involved in setting up a cultural centre at the CRRID.
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Good roads lure Volvo to Punjab, Haryana
Bangalore, April 16 Though Volvo is the leading player in south India and a majority of the tourist coaches and inter-city buses, which ply here are built by the company, only 50 Volvo buses are in operation in north India. Talking to The Tribune, Mr Akash Passey, Head, Volvo Buses, India, said: “We find an immense potential in the tourism sector and in the inter-city network in north India. At present, only 20 Volvo coaches operate in the tourism sector in Delhi, Rajasthan, Jammu and Himachal Pradesh segment and 30 in the inter-city sector. “We are negotiating with some private commercial transport operators in Punjab and Haryana as the road network in these states are very good. Other than tourism, the inter-city traffic in the northern states is also high and as such after being a great success in the south and western India, we are keen to tap the north Indian market.” He felt the problem in the north Indian states was that the number of private transport operators was far less compared to other regions and most of the inter-city buses belonged to the state government undertakings. “However, we are negotiating with at least five state government road corporations to market Volvo coaches and this year we also plan to enter the Uttar Pradesh market,” he said. Mr Passey felt with the extreme kind of climate in north India Volvo coaches would be of great demand as during winter the temperature inside the coaches could be controlled and made warm. He said India was a hot tropical country but there were hardly any air-conditioned coaches. What ran as air-conditioned buses were in fact truck chassis with front engine and a separate engine for the air conditioning, he added. “So, we decided to enter the market with air-conditioned coaches in 2001 and started our operations from the south. We focused on the luxury air-conditioned tourist and inter-city coach segment and it was an instant hit,” he said.
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VAT panel to meet on April 25
New Delhi, April 16 Mr Dasgupta admitted that there have been variations in rates across states but said that these variations would be resolved. The panel will again meet on April 25 and April 26 to iron out the differences. ''The outer limit for settling these variations will be 26th of this month. It will be settled to everybody's satisfaction,'' he told newspersons after a four-hour-long meeting of the Empowered Committee. He said the states would be given “reasonable federal flexibility”. “We will strike a balance. It is not an easy job. But we will do it”, Mr Dasgupta said. He also said that the rise in prices because of VAT was unjustified. "In certain commodities, there has been price rise which was not justified under VAT regime”, he said adding that the Committee has also received some complaints against large manufacturers who have not passed on the VAT benefits. The next meeting will also iron out the differences amongst states on the issue of minimum floor tax rate on petroleum products even though the petroleum products will continue to remain out of the VAT regime as the prices of these products were not market determined.
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Forex reserves
Mumbai, April 16 The rise was mainly due to increased remittances, the apex bank said.
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by A.N. Shanbhag
Securities Transaction Tax cannot be refunded in case of business loss
Q: I would appreciate if you could reply to the following
1) My son will be 18 years in December 2005. I have taken LIC Children’s policy, UTI Career plan & also invested in mutual fund schemes. My question is whether money received from mutual funds between April 2005 and March 2006 in his name will be treated as his income or mine? Can he redeem mutual fund units and invest in share market or post office deposits as his own income? 2) Should the transaction tax paid on purchase and sale of shares be added to the cost of share or deducted from the long term/short term capital gains tax? — Khaja Yousufuddin A: Yours is a good question since there is no clarity on this issue in the case of minor children for clubbing purposes. Can one assume the same treatment as is for senior citizens? In other words, if the person attains the age of 65 years anytime during the FY, he is treated as a senior citizen for the entire financial year. You will play safe if you treat him as minor before his birthday, which falls in December 2005, and a major thereafter. 2. FA04 has introduced levy of STT on transactions in equities and equity-base MF schemes traded in registered stock exchanges in India. This STT is closely linked with total exemption on LT gains and the concessional tax of 10 per cent on ST gains. Where the total income of an assessee includes business profits arising from securities transactions, he shall be entitled to a rebate u/s 88E. The rebate shall be equal to the amount calculated by applying the average rate of tax on taxable income and would be limited to the STT paid. To claim such rebate, the assessee has to furnish evidence of payment of STT, along with the return of income in Form-10DB for the purchase and sale of equities and Form-10DC for sale of a unit of an equity oriented MF scheme. Needless to state that STT will not be allowed also as a deduction. Nor is it allowed as part of the cost. Consequently, in the case of business losses, the STT cannot be carried forward or refunded.
Tax deductions
Q: I have following queries to be clarified: 1. My friend retired on July 31, 2004. His total emoluments (salary + pension) is Rs 1,14,000. What shall be his income tax liability? 2. Another friend of mine got arrears of pay in 2002-03 and he paid income tax on that arrears. Now the department have deducted Rs.30,000 from his salary in F.Y.2004-05 for wrong pay fixation in 2002-03. Shall this amount be deducted from his gross salary for the financial year 2004-05? — G. Gargi A: 1. Your friend retired on July 31, 2004. Besides salary and pension, surely he might have got retirement benefits, some of which may be taxable. If Rs 1,14,000 from salary and pension is his only income, he will not be liable to pay any income tax. 2. You state that the pay of your friend was fixed wrong in 2002-03. Without having the details, it is difficult to guide you. However, tax deducted will not reduce his gross income (salary).
Tax on bonus
Q: We had purchased 1,77,226 units of an equity-based MFs- Growth Plan - Bonus option on February 20, 2004. Subsequently we received bonus of 1,77,226 units, on February 23, 2004. It has been over one year since initial purchase & receipt of bonus date (February 20, 2004 & February 23, 2004). Now we intend to sell these units. We would like to know whether the profit would be tax free or taxable? And at what per cent? — Alok Mehta A:
The bonus stripping provision is applicable only when you sell the original units within nine months of the record date while holding on to all or some of the bonus units and incur a loss. Obviously, the long-term profit earned by you either on the sale of the original units or the bonus units is tax exempt. The author may be contacted at wonderlandconsultants@yahoo.com
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