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Tax reforms to continue :PC
Punjab farmer shoulders maximum debt
Nod likely to FDI in coal sector
Ministers favour cut in taxes on ATF
Jet to buy 10 Boeing planes
A-I Toronto flight on May 15
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Delta flight to New York
Govt-controlled gas grid sought
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Tax reforms to continue :PC
New Delhi, May 11 Mr Chidambaram made these announcements while launching an e-payment facility for central excise and service tax here. In a bid to improve tax administration, the Finance Minister also announced the setting up of ‘help centres’ for small taxpayers and e-payment facilities for 5,500 large companies. “Two figures have intrigued me. One that a mere 5,500 assessees contribute 90 per cent of the country’s excise tax. Second, we have only 80,000 persons with an annual income of over Rs 10 lakh. We will make sure that the tax rates are moderate and their administration is simple, but that their enforce remains strict,” Mr Chidambaram said. The tax e-payment facility is presently being launched through Union Bank of India, ICICI, IDBI, HDFC and UTI Bank. Terming tax avoidance and evasion as “interesting business”, he said “if non-taxpayers pay taxes, tax rates could be further moderated”. Allaying fears of any heavy-handedness by the government, he said; “In certain cases we have to resort to search and seizures. But it is a thing of the past and will be replaced by information gathering and intelligent use of that information”. He said that although about 80,000 individuals presently show income of above Rs 10,000 and above, the “number is much higher than that”. “Therefore, we must find those who are not paying taxes”, he said. On the banking cash transaction tax (BCTT), which had generated a lot of controversy, Mr Chidambaram said that the new tax would enable the administration to keep track of the any unusual transactions.
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Punjab farmer shoulders maximum debt
New Delhi, May 11 The Meghalaya farmer is at the bottom of the list with an average indebtedness of Rs 72, according to a survey on “Indebtedness of Farmer Households” conducted by the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO). Another notable feature in case of Punjab was that farmer households belonging to Scheduled Tribes (ST) were really over-burdened with outstanding loans amounting to Rs.1,18,495, while the Scheduled Castes Rs.10,399, OBCs Rs.21,862 and others Rs.66,147. Punjab is the only state in the country, where ST farmer households owed Rs 1 lakh and above. Another interesting aspect thrown up by the 59th Round of the National Sample Survey pertaining to Mizoram, where the ST alone had outstanding loans of Rs 1,937 while other social group, including the others’ category, owed nothing. Punjab is followed by Kerala with Rs.33,907, Haryana Rs.26,007, Andhra Pradesh Rs.23,965 and Tamilnadu Rs.23,963. Almost all the farmer households barring those of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Orissa, Sikkim, Tripura, Uttranchal, West Bengal owe nearly Rs.10, 000 or above. Going by different social groups of farmer households on all-India basis, farmers belonging to the Scheduled Tribe owed below Rs 6,000, while that of the Scheduled Castes below Rs 8,000. Farmer households, belonging to the other backward classes, were burdened by just below Rs 14,000,
while farmer households of other categories were indebted to the level of Rs.18, 000
and above.
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Nod likely to FDI in coal sector
New Delhi, May 11 The country is expected to import 35 million tonnes of coal this year, despite the fact the country has one of the highest coal reserves in the world. In a written reply, Minister of State for Coal Dasari Narayana Rao said: “A comprehensive review of the policy on FDI is being undertaken by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion. The review is aimed at identifying areas of further liberalisation keeping in view the investment, developmental needs, strategic concerns and other relevant factors.” Faced with stiff opposition from the Left and trade unions, the government is trying to buy peace with them by offering liberal wage revision, with a condition that they would allow it to open the sector. The minister said presently FDI is allowed for setting up coal processing plants subject to the condition that the company shall not do coal mining and shall not sell washed coal or sized coal from its coal processing plants in the open market. FDI up to 74 per cent is allowed for exploration or raw mining of coal or lignite for captive consumption. The power, steel and cement companies, the bulk consumers of coal, have been pressing upon the government to open the sector to meet their requirements. For instance, Central power utility NTPC has claimed that due to shortage of coal, the company had to forego around 30 million units of power.
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Ministers favour cut in taxes on ATF
New Delhi, May 11 “We are moving towards evolving a concrete roadmap for this end,” Tourism Minister Renuka Chowdhury
says after a meeting with her Civil Aviation counterpart Praful Patel to review several initiatives. Both Ministers said they would jointly meet Finance Minister P. Chidambaram on the high taxes on ATF, which was keeping the domestic fares high.
— PTI
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Jet to buy 10 Boeing planes
Mumbai, May 11 Jet Airways has also leased three Airbus 340-300E aircraft from South African Airlines. This is the first of the three aircraft with the second being inducted on May 20 and the third next month. The airline is expanding its service with a daily flight to Kuala Lumpur from Chennai from May 18. Five days later, the inaugural flight from Mumbai to London would take off. The Mumbai-New York flight via Brussels would start in a couple of months.
Inaugural offer
Jet Airways has announced an inaugural offer of Rs 23,000 on return fare for the Mumbai-London flight commencing on May 23. According to Jet Airways’ Vice-President (Marketing), Gaurang Shetty, the offer will be valid on bookings up to May 31. The A340-300E that was leased by the airline from South African Airlines would be flying on this sector. Jet Airways is the first Indian airliner to induct into its service the A340-300E. The aircraft can carry 269 passengers and has a two-class layout.
— UNI
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A-I Toronto flight on May 15
Mumbai, May 11 The thrice-a-week Delhi-Amritsar-Birmingham-Amritsar-Delhi — flight would be operated with standardised timings with the state-of-the-art, fly-by-wire, Boeing 777-222 ER aircrafts, an official Air-India press note said. The flights would depart on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays, while the arrivals would be on Thursdays, Saturdays and Mondays.
— UNI
Plea on rates from Amritsar
TNS adds: National Commission for Minorities Chairman Tarlochan Singh, who is also a member of the Civil Aviation Ministry’s advisory committee, has demanded that the frequency of the Amritsar-Birmingham-Toronto flight from May 15 should be made daily instead of the present schedule of thrice a week on Sunday, Wednesday and Friday. Making several other suggestions at a meeting of the Civil Aviation Ministry’s advisory committee here today, the NCM chief emphasised that upgradation of the Amritsar airport, including a provision for handling of cargo, should be undertaken expeditiously. He called for early completion of the Amritsar airport building which had been stopped as a new design was being prepared. The meeting chaired by Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said turning the Amritsar-Birmingham-Toronto flight into a daily would be taken up after more aircraft were made available. He said work on the building at Amritsar airport would commence soon and the arrival hall completed at the earliest. Orders have been placed for trollies for carrying the luggage. Mr Tarlochan Singh said the Airport Authority of India should revise is rates for international flights from Amritsar airport as those being charged now were too high and not commensurate with the facilities available at present. He pleaded that the Air India Express introduced recently from Kerala to the Gulf should be extended to Amritsar as a large number of Punjabis were also working in that region.
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Delta flight to New York
Chennai, May 11 He said Delta was the only carrier to provide a direct link between Chennai and New York via Paris. The return fare between Chennai and Paris is Rs 24,000 and Rs 45,400 to New York and back. The new generation Boeing 767-300 aircraft would be pressed into service on this new sector. The airline offers a dual-class seating configuration with 167 seats in the economy and 36 in the business class along with an all India cabin crew.
— UNI
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Govt-controlled gas grid sought
New Delhi, May 11 The Standing Committee on Petroleum & Natural Gas, in its latest report, expressed “displeasure over the fact that even after two decades of conception of the plan of a nationwide gas pipeline network, the government is still considering it as a concept.” “In view of the increasing gas availability from various sources, including LNG, the committee recommends that the government should develop a National Gas Grid on the lines of power grid, under government control,” the report said.
— PTI
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Premier launches Sigma and Roadstar
Chennai, May 11 Addressing a press conference here today, Premier Sales and Marketing Head Atul Akolkar said the company had carried out extensive surveys to identify “an unexplored niche segment”. A 18-city-survey revealed the need for a diesel MPV and thus was born Sigma, he said adding that the changing trends in transport of goods also reflected the needs for a two-in-one LCV suited for both inter-city and intra-city transport. Roadstar had been designed to meet this requirement, he added. Both vehicles had been developed in technical collaboration with China Motor Corporation, ROC-Taiwan, an affiliate of Mitsubishi. The products had been launched two months ago, he said, adding the Pune plant capacity was to churn out 10,000 units per annum. This would be enhanced to 15,000 or 18,000 after the next 12 months. To a query, he said Rs 35 crore additional investments had been made while the engine was sourced from Hindustan Motors. Hyundai Sonata
Hyundai Motors is all set to launch an all-new Sonata in India by July-end, retaining the price at about Rs 16 lakh, and may also offer a replacement scheme to the existing customers of the premier sedan. Disclosing this here, B V R Subbu, President, Hyundai Motors India Ltd, said: “Quality audit test for the new model is underway. The test has to confirm that cars made in India are same as those produced in the US market.” The new model would be available in automatic and petrol versions, he said, adding the price has been retained at around Rs 16 lakh. The company has so far sold 5,500-5,800 units of the existing Sonata model in India. Asked whether the company would offer a scheme to the existing Sonata customers to replace their car with the new model, Subbu said: “We are looking at some options. Nothing has been finalised. But in all probability, we may offer some replacement scheme.” On the main features of the new model, he said it would come with a completely redesigned body and a far more fuel-efficient engine. All safety features are on par with those existing in Europe.
Ashok Leyland
India’s second-biggest bus and truck maker Ashok Leyland Ltd has said its total vehicle sales in April were 3,422 units, up 2.7 per cent from a year ago. Domestic sales rose 7.6 per cent to 3,171 units, while exports fell 35 per cent to 251 units, the company said.
— Agencies
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New Delhi, May 11
