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India, US to push power reforms
Rs 3,334-crore Central plan for e-governance
States keen on all-yr tourism packages
Enron to pay $1.552 b as settlement
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PF withdrawals not taxable
TCS Q1 profit up by 33.2 pc
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India, US to push power reforms
New Delhi, July 16 Apart from discussing the possibility of collaboration in nuclear power to meet the growing energy demand in India, both countries have formed five working groups to explore opportunities for US-India energy cooperation. The groups will explore opportunities in oil and natural gas, power and energy efficiency, coal, new technologies and renewable energy, and civilian nuclear energy. Under the distribution reform upgrades and management project (DRUM), both countries are likely to collaborate to push reforms in the power sector, including checking of large-scale power theft in India. Speaking at a function here last evening, US Embassy Charge d’ Affairs Robert Blake said: “The Energy Dialogue provides a significant forum for enhanced cooperation between the two countries. Enhancing the business management skills of power sector executives is very important for India’s overall economic development.” One of the first of its kind in India, the US will support a 15-month programme implemented by the Management Development Institute, Gurgaon, to train the officials of the state electricity boards and power utilities in power distribution and in checking power theft. Under the DRUM programme, 25,000 persons from power utilities are likely to be trained over the next few years. DRUM is a $30 million effort which includes a major training component. Mr Blake said India’s ability to successfully address development challenges and opportunities would depend on her ability to reduce poverty and provide the prerequisites for economic growth. World-class infrastructure like roads, water, electricity is needed as a foundation for development.”
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Rs 3,334-crore Central plan for e-governance
Chandigarh, July 16 Mr S. Abbasi, Director, IT, Government of India, while talking to The Tribune on the sidelines of mega IT conclave here today, said the amount would be released to the state governments in the next three years. The infrastructural facilities would, however, have to be developed by the state governments, he clarified. He said the state governments had been given the liberty to tailor the strategies as per their requirements, but were required to stay within the broad framework of the basic policy of the Central Government for IT development. The Centre has come up with a concrete plan and has asked for financial assistance from the World Bank for adding other projects. He said the World Bank had in principle accepted the plan and also agreed to release half a billion dollar ($ 50 crores). According to Mr Abbasi, the Centre has a plan to open as many as 1 lakh common service centres at the block-level to take IT to the masses even in the rural areas. On the issue of providing multilingual systems to the people for better connectivity, he said the department had recently got the fonts of Hindi and Tamil, which could be downloaded by anyone. This software is available free of cost. "The technical strength and elegance of the multilingual software is something to feel good about, especially when a computer system responds to you in the vernacular,'' he said. Stressing on the need to take IT at the block and village levels, he said the Centre would extend all possible help for such projects.
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States keen on all-yr tourism packages
New Delhi, July 16 Speaking at a conference organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) here, the Minister of Excise, Tourism and Sainik Welfare of Uttaranchal, Lieut Gen T P S Rawat, said that the Government of Uttaranchal was keen to promote the state as a year-long tourist hub and had given the sector the status of ‘thrust industry’.
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Enron to pay $1.552 b as settlement
Houston, July 16 However, the payout from Enron, which emerged from bankruptcy in November as a private entity, will likely be far smaller, since the company’s remaining assets are only a fraction of the amount it owed its creditors. Under the settlement, Enron’s Enron Power Marketing unit granted the parties $875 million in unsecured claims in the bankruptcy court that is overseeing the payout to its creditors. Those creditors are expected to receive about 22.8 cents on the dollar per claim, bringing that amount it actually pays to about $200 million.
— Reuters
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by A.N. Shanbhag PF withdrawals not taxable Q: I have quite a large accumulated balance in my provident fund. I understand that I can avail it on my retirement. However, if I want to withdraw from the fund and use the money for my personal purposes, is there any tax incidence? — Shrikant Pradhan A: The withdrawal from accumulated balance due and becoming payable to an employee participating in a recognised provident fund will not be taxable only in the following situations: i) If he has rendered continuous service with his employer for a period of 5 years or more. If accumulated balance includes any amount transferred from his individual account in any other recognised provident fund(s) maintained by his former employer(s), then, in computing the period of 5 years, the period(s) for which the employee rendered continuous service to his former employer(s) is also to be included. ii) If the employee is not able to fulfil the conditions of such continuous service due to his service having been terminated by reason of his ill-health or by reason of the contraction or discontinuance of the employer’s business or due to some other reason beyond the control of the employee. iii) If, on the occasion of his retirement, the employee obtains employment with any other employer, to the extent the accumulated balance due and becoming payable to him is transferred to his individual account in any recognised provident fund maintained by such other employer. Loan and tax rebate
Q : Refer to your guidelines regarding Q No.1 in The Tribune dated May 22 in your investor guidance column about claiming tax rebate by giving loan to homely wife from the income of the husband. You have stated that - “If you give her the money without consideration, it will be treated as a gift by you to her and the interest will be clubbable in your hands. Nor will the gift reduce your income. So the purpose isn’t served. Instead, give the funds to her as a loan at a low rate of interest, say the savings bank rate. She in turn can invest the funds in any suitable avenue. True, the interest that she pays you would be added to your income and taxed in your hands. However, the idea is to use the spread between what she earns (which is tax-free up to Rs. 1.35 lakh) and what you earn from the loan (which is taxable).” Please clarify some points as under 1. To which financial year it relates. 2. Amount limit of the loan 3. Documents to be prepared for this loan 4. Under which Section rebate of this loan is available Please clarify these points with some more details required for this rebate with I.T sections. — Dhanna Singh Dhillon A : 1. To any year. 2. There is no limit laid down by the statute. But you can give a loan such that she earns up to Rs 1.35 lakh (the tax-free limit). At the rate of 8 per cent the loan amount could go up to Rs 16.8 lakh. 3. Even a note on a plain paper will suffice. In any case, the transaction is reflected in your tax returns as interest earned from wife. 4. We have not understood this query. There is no deduction or rebate available to you for any loan given by you to your wife.
Mutual Funds
Q : Does any kind of investment in mutual funds qualify for any tax benefits? If yes, which mutual funds? What is Sec 10 clause 23D with respect to mutual funds? —Rishi Malhotra A: Only those MF schemes which are specifically nomenclatured Equity Linked Savings Schemes qualify for tax benefit under sec. 80C. Sec. 10(23D) is the section that specifies that the income of an MF is tax-free. It has got no direct link with the investors taxation.
PPF account
Q : I request your advice on the following:- i) Deduction of Rs 1 lakh u/s 80C be claimed by investing the entire amount in PPF or NSC? ii) I have a PPF account opened on behalf of HUF. I have extended the account for 5 years by submitting a request in FY 04-05. According to the news printed in Economic Times, HUF cannot open a PPF account or invest in NSC for claiming deduction u/s 80C any more. Only existing PPF account can be continued till maturity (at the end of 15 years). Since my PPF account is already 16 years old and 4 extended years are balance, can I continue to contribute to the PPF account and claim benefit, u/s 80C for my HUF? If not, can I withdraw the PPF amount? iii) Which is the best avenue wherein HUF can invest to claim benefit u/s 80C? — Krishna Kumar Gopal A : i) Yes, FA05 have deleted the sectoral limits. In the case of PPF, you can contribute only Rs 70,000 to self account and the extra Rs 30,000 can be made eligible by contributing the amount to the account of your spouse or major children, married or otherwise. ii). You can keep on contributing to this HUF account and pocket the benefits but at the end of the extended period, you will have to close the account. iii). Any professional financial planner cannot answer your query without knowing your background, risk profile, liquidity requirements, income levels of the family and several other parameters. These are to be carefully weighed and evaluated in great depth and detail before deciding upon the investment strategy or avenues. That being said, avenues under Sec. 80C that are still HUFs are still eligible for are ELSS and ULIP under Sec. 80C. Also tax savings bonds are available to HUFs. The author may be contacted at
wonderlandconsultants@yahoo.com
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TCS Q1 profit up by 33.2 pc
Mumbai, July 16 Revenue at Rs 2721.02 crore was up by 24.56 per cent on year-on- year basis and 6.25 per cent on quarter-on-quarter basis. Meanwhile, Tata Infotech Ltd has been merged with Tata Consultancy Services Ltd as part of consolidation of infotech companies in the Tata group. The merger ratio has been fixed at two share of Tata Infotech for one share of TCS each, TCS chief financial officer S Mahalingam told reporters here yesterday. The merger is expected to be effective from April 1, 2005. Bajaj Auto
Bajaj Auto Ltd today reported 27.52 per cent rise in net profit of Rs 207.95 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2005, as compared to Rs 163.07 crore for the corresponding quarter in previous fiscal. Total Income has increased 29.59 per cent to Rs 1726.93 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2005 from Rs 1332.56 crore in the year-ago period, Bajaj Auto informed the Bombay Stock Exchange
today.
Ind-Swift Labs
Pharma major Ind-SwifT Laboratories Limited has posted a growth of 251.26 per cent in its net profit which surged from Rs 28.60 million to Rs 100.44 million during the first quarter of the current fiscal on a turnover of Rs 799.74 million, up 81.76 per cent from Rs 440 million in the corresponding quarter last fiscal, the company said in Chandigarh. With this, the earnings per share too has shot up from Rs 1.83 to Rs 5.46 per share on the expanded capital base of Rs 184 million. During the quarter, exports of soft regulated markets contributed 39.44 per cent to the company's turnover.
Unichem Labs
Pharma major Unichem Laboratories Ltd has registered a quantum jump in net profit as the company doubled its profit in the first quarter of this fiscal. In a statement issued in Mumbai today, Unichem said the net profit was increased to Rs 322.81 million from the last year's figures of Rs 144.05 million. The company recorded a total income of Rs 1225.32 million compared to Rs 1221.75 million in the previous year with a growth of 0.29 per cent.
— TNS, Agencies
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