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MPs want Saral 2F IT form dropped
Software to help blind developed
Mittal Steel keen on projects in Jharkhand, Orissa
Thomas Cook to buy Thailand sister co for Rs 14.5 crore
ONGC hopes to restart Hazira plant
Horticulture board to promote fruit industry in J&K
Fiem Ind to set up unit in HP
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UB Group to set up beer unit in Punjab
Cisco invests $50 million in Nuova Systems
SEBI suspends brokerage firm
IOC to curb LPG misuse by colouring refills
Hyundai CNG small car by 2007
SBI mulls ATM on wheels
Govt cuts customs duty on palmolein
Re weakens by 12 paise
Inflation at 4.61 pc
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MPs want Saral 2F IT form dropped
New Delhi, August 11 “Efforts of the Income Tax Department ought to be specifically directed and precisely focused on only those categories/ classes that are fundamentally evasion-prone due to the nature of their activities or vocations,” said the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) headed by BJP Deputy Leader in the Lok Sabha Vijay Malhotra in its report tabled in the House today. The committee noted that converting and expanding the format and scope of the existing popular ‘Saral’ form into a ‘complicated and detailed form’ may not achieve the objective of widening the tax net, trailing tax evasion by locating mismatch in income and expenditure of individuals. Notably, the Finance Ministry has introduced the 2F new Saral form that was not mandatory for the previous year, but demanded details of investment, statement on income and expenditure from the individual. Tax analysts and even Congress President Sonia Gandhi have expressed concern about this form. But defending the form Finance Minister P. Chidambaram has said that the final decision on making it mandatory or introducing with some modifications for the next year has not yet been taken. It noted that as the scope and incidence of tax avoidance or evasion was minimal among the salaried class and pensioners, the government should not cause any hardship or harassment to the tax payers under these categories. The PAC called upon the government to strengthen the investigation wing of the Income Tax Department to bring a considerable number of people in business, industry, professions into the tax net. It noted that the collection of direct tax revenue had increased from Rs 69,198 crore in 2001-02 to Rs 1,05088 crore in 2003-04 and Rs 1,31,918 crore in 2004-05, witnessing an increase of Rs 63,613 crore over a period of three years after the restructuring of the department. However, the number of assessments pending completion increased from about one lakh in 2000-01 to about 1.77 lakh. Worried over the slow disposal of appeal cases, the panel pointed out that the average number of appeals disposed of by each CIT (Appeals) in a month has come down from 43.12 during 1999-00 to 27.53 by 2003-04. It directed the government to take concrete steps and apprise it of the progress within six months.
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Software to help blind developed
Agra, August 11 The navigation and processing software called Sonique, developed by four students of the Dhirubhai Institute of Information and Communication Technology for global software giant Microsoft’s technology competition ‘Imagine Cup’, would help the visually impaired to sense the environment around them and calculate the distance to objects present around them using an ultrasonic sensor technology. The users need to have a palmtop PC-cum-mobile phone for this software solution to work. The students took inspiration from the echolocation process used by bats for the technology that emits ultrasonic impulses generated by proximity sensors. The blue-tooth technology is used to communicate signals emanating from objects. These signals are translated into sound frequencies and conveyed to a visually challenged person through a headphone. “Sonique is an all-encompassing accessibility and navigation solution for visually impaired people. It helps the blind to use technology like never before, both in the real world of day-to-day navigation and in the virtual world of computers,” a member of the team said. — PTI
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Mittal Steel keen on projects in Jharkhand, Orissa
Kolkata, August 11 “Mittal Steel will begin work in whichever state (that) fulfils our requirement first,” the company’s Jharkhand project Chief Executive Officer Sanak Mishra said here. “There are roadblocks in procuring iron ore mines for the proposed 12 million tonne steel plant in Jharkhand, but we are holding parleys with the Jharkhand Government,” he said. Last month, steel magnate L.N. Mittal had announced plans for a 12 million tonne steel project in Orissa, apparently peeved over the delay in clearances to his company’s identical project in Jharkhand, for which an agreement was signed in October last. Mr Mishra, who was present during the talks with Jharkhand Chief Secretary M.K. Mondal last week, hoped that the problem would be resolved soon. The viability of a steel plant largely depended on the availability of iron ore, he said. Mr Mishra said of the six probable sites in Jharkhand, the company had shortlisted three areas in Seraikela, Galudi and Torpa for its proposed plant and was in the process of identifying sites in Orissa. The company would finalise the site in Jharkhand in about four weeks, he said. The detailed project report for Jharkhand, he said, was likely to be submitted to the government by October next year. Asked how much land the company required for the project in Jharkhand, Mr Mishra said: “Roughly we need about 10,000 acres. We are also planning to create a green belt around the plant and put up a residential complex”. The Jharkhand Government, Mr Mishra added, would have to come out with a rehabilitation package for areas to be acquired for the project. The company was in the process of identifying sites for its plant in Orissa. “So far, we have inspected 4/5 sites in that state”, said Mr Mishra.— PTI
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Thomas Cook to buy Thailand sister co for Rs 14.5 crore
Mumbai, August 11 Elaborating on the share swap ratio for the LKP Forex merger, which was formalised today after Board approval from the respective companies, TCI Chairman Udayan Bose said it had been split into 11:20 (11 shares of TCI against 20 shares of LKP) for equity shares and 38:1 (38 shares of TCI against 1 share of LKP) for preference shares. With the merger of LKP Forex, TCI will have a national footprint with 159 locations in 54 cities with a combined turnover of Rs 13,000 crore. On the Thailand acquisition, Mr Bose said TCI would acquire the inbound business of the company, including the right to use the Thomas Cook name licence in Thailand for all businesses of financial services. To spur up the contribution of the travel business into its kitty, TCI would acquire one company in the country. — PTI
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ONGC hopes to restart Hazira plant by Aug 14
New Delhi, August
11 By weekend, the plant would be drained of all water and damages caused would be attended to. "By Monday, Tuesday, we expect to see gas flowing into the plant,” an ONGC official
said. ONGC had to shut its Bassein, B-55 and Panna/Mukta and Tapti gas fields on August 8 as the Hazira complex was marooned and could not take any gas. About 40.5 million standard cubic metres per day of natural gas went out of the system as a result of the closure, affecting operations of industries. Meanwhile, Reliance Industries continued to keep its Hazira plant partially shut for the fourth day in a row while its subsidiary Indian Petrochemical Corp Ltd
(IPCL) also shutting operations. |
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Horticulture board to promote fruit industry in J&K
Srinagar, August 11 Speaking at a function here, Minister for Agriculture and Cooperatives Abdul Aziz Zargar said some leading financial institutions and private investors had shown their willingness to make heavy investments in the horticulture industry in the state. These investors, he said, would help to develop basic infrastructure for post-harvest facilities and also establish marketing tie-ups with various terminal fruit markets of the country. He said the government had decided to constitute an autonomous horticulture development board in the state to promote fruit industry on sustainable and modern lines. The minister said the board would also explore possibilities of financing intensive projects from external sources and financial institutions besides exploring opportunities in post-harvest sector and market mechanism for horticulture produce.— UNI
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Sonepat, August 11 “We are setting up two new units at Nalagarh ( Himachal Pradesh) and Hosur (Tamil Nadu) and undertaking expansion at our existing plants to increase our manufacturing capacity by 18.5 million per annum,” company’s Chairman and Managing Director J.K. Jain said here today. He said the Hosur unit would cater to the export markets. The existing capacity of Fiem Industries’, which has two plants at Hosur and one each at Sonepat and Mysore, stood at 31.5 million per annum. The company, which manufactures automotive lighting and signalling equipment, rear view mirrors and plastic and sheet metal components, is coming out with its IPO of 41 lakh equity shares. The company has entered into technical support agreement with Japan-based Ichikoh Industries and would initially export automotive mirror plates to the latter from the Hosur unit. The capacities of the existing plants at Hosur and Sonepat would also be increased. The company also plans to raise money for acquisition purposes.— PTI
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UB Group to set up beer unit in Punjab
Chandigarh, August 11 The nod for this project was given by the high-level state Empowered Committee, which met here today with Chief Minister Amarinder
Singh in the chair. The committee decided to grant special incentives under the Industrial Policy-2003 for this project. The unit is likely to be located either at Laddowal in Ludhiana district or Nabha in Patiala district. The UB Group is already involved in contract farming of hybrid barley in Punjab. The company supplies seeds to farmers and then buys the crop from them for malting purposes.— TNS |
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Cisco invests $50 million in Nuova Systems
New Delhi, August 11 Cisco has committed certain technology and $50 million of funding to Nuova Systems with the possibility of up to $42 million in additional funding in the future. The subsidiary will be owned nearly 80 per cent by Cisco, with the remaining 20 per cent interest held by employees of the subsidiary. As part of the agreement, Cisco has the option to purchase the remaining 20 per cent interest in this subsidiary, and should Cisco decide to exercise this option, the transaction would occur late in 2008 or in early 2009. The potential payouts made under the call option are primarily based on the success of Nuova Systems' products sold through Cisco, with a minimum potential payout of $10 million and a maximum total payout of $578 million.— UNI
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Mumbai, August 11 When contacted, CSFB spokesperson Josephine Lee in Hong Kong declined to comment on the SEBI order. The market regulator also barred depository participants (DPs) —IndusInd Bank and Integrated Enterprises India Ltd — for 15 days with effect from August 31 for irregularities in the allotment of shares of DSQ Software Ltd. However, the SEBI has allowed the DPs to act on the instruction of existing beneficiary owners so that their interests remain unaffected. Passing an order on CSFB, SEBI also found the stock broking firm to have executed trades in SEAMECL shares on behalf of another broker C Mackertich Lmt (CML), which SEBI found was acting as an unregistered sub-broker in violation of law. "By allowing CML to act as unregistered sub-broker, CSFB has miserably failed to abide by Code of Conduct prescribed for a broker. "Further, the possibility that very trades executed by CML through the terminal of CSFB, forming part of trades which led to the manipulation of the scrip of SEAMECL can also not be ruled out. — PTI
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IOC to curb LPG misuse by colouring refills
Jaipur, August 11 The LPG cylinder refill for commercial purpose would be of oxford blue colour and those for domestic consumption would be coloured red, General Manager, LPG-IOC, Mrinal Roy told reporters after inaugurating SMS refill booking service in five districts of Rajasthan. Similarly to address customer complaints regarding the quantity of fuel in LPG cylinders, Mr Roy said the refill boy would be asked to carry a weighing machine, to be used in case the customer puts forward a demand for verifying the weight of the cylinder. People using LPG cylinders in vehicles would have to get a connection and get it refilled at an outlet being opened in parts of the country, including Jaipur, Mr Roy said. The refill booking through SMS would be available in the entire country by January, 2007.
— PTI |
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Hyundai CNG small car by 2007
New Delhi, August 11 "At present, we sell about 50 units of Sonata and I am quite disappointed with it. Our target is to sell about 2,000 units a year," HMIL Managing Director said. With rivals Maruti coming out with LPG WagonR, "we have our plans to introduce CNG-powered small cars by early January next year," Mr Lheem said. The company is also on track to launch the "twin small car" by October next year, he said. Hyundai is also working to give its premium hatchback Getz a facelift, but no timeframe has been fixed for its introduction.
— PTI |
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SBI mulls ATM on wheels
Meerut, August 11 While libraries, washrooms and hospitals on wheels are commonplace, the SBI would put an ATM on a vehicle that would go around the city vending cash to customers. “One cashier and one security guard will travel on the vehicle... Initially, only one mobile ATM vehicle would be launched before others to follow, depending on the response,” SBI Assistant General Manager V.K. Goel said here. Other banks, including Jammu and Kashmir Bank, have an identical service for carrying and dispensing cash to customers in remote places.
— PTI |
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Govt cuts customs duty on palmolein
New Delhi, August 11 The customs duty was also slashed from 90 per cent to 80 per cent on refined bleached deodorised palm oil, RBD palmolein and other refined palm oil. The step has been taken to cushion the impact of increase in international prices of edible oils, a notification issued by the Customs Department said today. The duty cuts are effective from today. — PTI |
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Re weakens by 12 paise
Mumbai, August 11 Rupee earlier opened at Rs 46.44/45 per dollar and in the mid- morning session traded at 46.48/50/ per dollar. The RBI today fixed the reference rate at Rs 46.52 per dollar compared to the previous rate of 46.43 per dollar.— UNI |
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Inflation at 4.61 pc
New Delhi, August 11 The wholesale prices-based inflation stood at 4.16 per cent during the corresponding week last year. Last week, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said the government is open to take fiscal steps to contain the price rise if needed.
— PTI |
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RPL to raise $1,500 million Japan’s richest man Takei dies RBI fines BoB
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