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More spectrum after verifying user base: DoT
Setback to RIL’s plan to take over Super Bazar
Regulators for petroleum, civil aviation on cards
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Exide to set up EoU in Haldia
Lakhani to invest Rs 150 cr in Uttaranchal
Market Update
Tax Advice
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More spectrum after verifying user base: DoT
New Delhi, August 27 “We are currently looking into their visitor location register (VLR) data to ascertain the subscriber base. Wherever the criteria is fully met and the spectrum is available, we will give the spectrum to them,” a senior DoT official said. The DoT had the announced the criteria for the allotment of more spectrum to GSM and CDMA players five months back. However, it is yet to allocate the additional radio waves. The official said many operators had requested for spectrum after the criteria for the allotment of 5th and 6th CDMA carrier and additional GSM spectrum up to 15+15Mhz were announced. He, however, declined to name the companies which had sought additional spectrum. But sources said most of the national players had sought additional spectrum. VLR is a world standard to ascertain the actual subscriber numbers of the operators. The official admitted that since the allocation norms were announced in March, no CDMA or GSM operators had been allotted any further spectrum than what they already had. On March 16, the wireless planning coordination (WPC) wing of the DoT specified the minimum subscriber numbers required for GSM telecom players to get up to 15 MHz of spectrum, and for CDMA operators to be eligible for the sixth carrier or 7.5 MHz spectrum. Spectrum is an essential resource for operating telecom services and therefore, the new norm is seen as significant for the industry. Along with the subscriber number criteria, the government had put a condition to verify the actual size of the user base. The DoT order stated that the active subscribers and peak traffic averaged over a month in the VLR would be taken into account for this purpose. — PTI
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Setback to RIL’s plan to take over Super Bazar
New Delhi, August 27 Earlier, the duo had offered a bid of Rs 70 crore for the revival of the cooperative society, which had been under liquidation since 2002. The Super Bazar Karamchari Dalit Sangh, which challenged the government’s decision to wind up the multi-state cooperative society, had submitted before the Supreme Court that the Reliance’s mere announcement to enter retail business could not be construed as having experience in the sector. Union president Jagdish Chaudhary said, “The JPL and JLC have proposed to give benefits to 1025 employees like continuity of services by payment of provident fund for the intervening period which would help us to avail pension benefits”. However, the RIL’s plan was silent on these issues and the scheme for training employees had been intentionally introduced. — UNI
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Regulators for petroleum, civil aviation on cards
Bangalore, August 27 Delivering his address at the 14th annual convocation of the National Law School of India University here, he said that regulation in banking, commodity futures market, capital market, insurance, telecommunications and power are in place and are reasonably well-established. Mr Chidambaram said regulators for competition policy and pension are in different stages of formulation. "Some more...petroleum, civil aviation and railways are under consideration", he said. "The list is a long one and is expected to grow longer". Mr Chidambaram expressed concern over the considerable delay in execution of major projects, resulting in time and cost overruns. Meanwhile, he exuded confidence in the country achieving target in both fiscal and revenue deficit since the state governments have been given the targets in April itself and they were doing well.
— PTI, UNI |
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Haldia, August 27 The company would invest Rs 60 crore which would be spent over a period of three years, Mr Ganguly said while speaking on the occasion of the foundation laying ceremony of the new unit here. The export-oriented unit would manufacture forklift truck traction batteries which would be exported to countries like Australia, Japan, Singapore, he said. The new unit would have a production capacity of 10 lakh units per annum and employ 400 persons. He said that in three years time, the company would be able to earn an export revenue of Rs 200 crore. Turning to the company's acquisition plan, he said that Exide Industries was talking to companies in Germany and Switzerland for asset buyout. — PTI
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Lakhani to invest Rs 150 cr in Uttaranchal
Hardwar, August 27 ''The company will expand its base and set up plants of detergents and soaps, medical devices, healthcare technologies at Hardwar and other places in the state,'' Lakhani Vardaan Group Managing Director P.D. Lakhani said. Besides, the Rs 25-crore footwear plant of the company became operational at the Integrated Industrial Estate here today.
— UNI |
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Market volatility may continue
by Lalit Batra Market firmed up further last week on the back of FII buying. The Sensex gained 106 points to settle at 11,572 and Nifty gained 29 points to settle the week at 3,385. FIIs were net buyers this week to the tune of Rs 1,300 crore. Crude prices stayed flat throughout the week in the aftermath of Iran’s soft stance on the UN demand. The market is also awaiting the government’s decision regarding domestic fuel prices, which are slated for review on September 1. Volatility seems to be the name of the game on the bourses currently as investors seem a bit bewildered on which way the markets would move in the near term. Volatility may continue rule the roost this week, ahead of the expiry of August 2006 derivatives contracts on this Thursday. We continue to advocate selective profit booking as the market looks more than fairly priced. Yes Bank
Yes Bank, which received its banking licence (the only greenfield licence given by the RBI in the past 12 years) in May 2004, commenced its lending operations in October 2004. Yes Bank has adopted a novel knowledge-based product delivery, wherein it has put
together a team of experienced professionals with sector and banking product knowledge that would develop relationships with customers and deliver sector focused advice in food and agri-business, life sciences, infrastructure, telecommunications, media and technology (TMT), engineering, textiles and retailing sectors. Netherlands-based Rabobank is one of the major stakeholders in the bank. The bank has 30 branches at present which are expected to pole vault to 100 by March 2008, and to 250 two years later. The bank has shown good numbers in the first quarter of the current financial year. The total income was up by 170 per cent to Rs 129.39 crore as compared to Rs 48.01 crore for the first quarter last year. Net profit grew by 50 per cent of Rs 16.88 crore as the provisioning, contingencies and taxation jumped. The bank has a high component of non-interest income in the total income. With strong fee income generated from financial and wealth management advisory services, the bank expects to maintain this trend in the next several years. The management also expects that the earnings of the bank would continue to grow at a compounded rate of 50 per cent for the next several years. We are of the view that going forward due to its novel strategy, the bank would be able to carve a niche in the corporate segment
and this will help build its book. The bank will also have higher operating margins (vis-a-vis other private sector banks) as it is not venturing too much into retail. The bank with a top quality management, state-of-the-art technology and zero NPA levels is set to go places in the years to come. Considering the fact that Indian banking space will be thrown open to foreign players post March 2009, investors may buy this stock with a minimum three years perspective. |
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Non-resident Indian can invest in PPF, SCSS
by S.C. Vasudeva Q. Kindly clarify following: 1. Whether a non-resident Indian can invest in Senior Citizen’s Savings Scheme (SCSS), 2004 or not. If yes, then what will be the tax liability. 2. Whether a non-resident Indian is eligible to operate a Public Provident Fund Account. 3. Whether a non-resident Indian can invest in Post Office Monthly Income Scheme. — Vijay Kumar Puri, Ludhiana A. The answers to your queries are as under: 1. In accordance with the Senior Citizen’s Saving Scheme Rules 2004, the term “Depositor” means an individual - (i) who has attained the age of 60 years or above on the date of opening of an account under the provisions of these rules, and by whom, or on whose behalf, money is deposited in an account under these rules, or (ii) who has attained the age of 55 years or more but less than 60 years, and who has retired on superannuation or otherwise, on the date of opening of an account under these rules, subject to the condition that the account is opened by such individual within one month of the date of receipt of the retirement benefits and proof of date of disbursal of such retirement benefit(s) along with a certificate from the employer indicating the fact of retirement on superannuation or otherwise, retirement benefits, employment held and period of such employment with the employer is attached with the application form in Form A: Provided that the persons who have retired at any time before the commencement of these rules and attained the age of 55 years or more on the date of opening of an account under these rules, shall also be eligible to subscribe under the scheme within a period of one month of the date of this notification, subject to the fulfilment of other specified conditions: Provided further that the retired personnel of defence services (excluding civilian defence employees) shall be eligible to subscribe under the scheme irrespective of the above age limits subject to the fulfilment of other specified conditions:” Rule 3 of the said scheme provides that any depositor can open an account at any deposit office by making an application in Form A with the amount of deposit as per the pay-in-slip in Form D duly filled in along with age proof. Form A requires the permanent address of the person concerned to the specified. The said form also requires a Permanent Account Number to be indicated in the Form. From the above it seems that apparently there is no bar for a non-resident to open an account under the aforesaid scheme. 2. The Public Provident Fund Scheme 1968 also does not provide any restriction for the opening and operation of an account by a non-resident Indian. 3. Post Office Monthly Income Account Rules 1987 also does not provide any restriction for a non-resident Indian to open an account under the aforesaid scheme. However, in all the three cases practical difficulties in opening and operating such accounts would definitely arise. Gift from relative
Q. I have received a cheque for Rs 1.00,000 from my mother on behalf of self HUF status during Financial Year 2004-05 i.e. on 11.10.2004 under the impression that gift between the blood relation is exempted from tax. Am I correct on this gift on behalf of my HUF status. — Anil Sharma, Patiala A. Your presumption that gift from blood relations is not covered within the provisions of Section 56(2)(vi) of the Act is correct. However, in case of HUF there is no question of any blood relation. Also the term ‘relative’ as defined in the section does not give any indication that any of such relations can be covered as relatives of HUF. In the case of HUF, since the joint family refers to a group of persons, it can be interpreted that the exemption is available for gifts received by HUF from any person related to Karta or any other member of the family. It can also be interpreted that since the HUF cannot have relatives, all the gift received by HUF would be taxable. The latter interpretation may not fall in line with the intent of the section. Another possible interpretation can be taken is that in case of HUF, the exemption of gift from relatives is alive only to the extent of exemption of gift by will or in contemplation of death. In view of the uncertainty involved in the interpretation of the provisions with regard to gift received by an HUF, It would be better for you to accept the gift in your personal name. GPF ceiling
Q. What is the maximum limit of saving in GPF on which a government employee can avail tax benefit? Is it Rs 70,000 as earlier or the maximum allowable savings of Rs 1,00,000 on which tax rebate is available, can be done in GPF only? What is the best way of tax savings for such an employee? — P. Sharma, Kullu A. The contributions made to General Provident Fund by a government employee are not matched by the employer and, therefore, the question of any restriction on the contribution made by an employee does not arise. The limit of Rs 70,000 is applicable to public provident fund and is not relevant for the purposes of general provident fund contributed by an employee under the scheme formulated by the Government of India. The maximum deduction allowable under Section 80C of the Act from the gross total income of an assessee has been placed at Rs 1,00,000 which includes contribution to provident fund and other saving schemes. The employee can save by making contributions to various schemes provided for in Section 80C of the Act. Further, the amended provisions of Section 80C also provide for deduction (within the permissible amount of Rs. 1 lakh) in respect of a fixed deposit with a scheduled bank for a period of not less than 5 years and which is made in accordance with a scheme framed and notified by the Government of India. Section 80 C
Q. I am a pensioner of the Punjab Government. My total income for the financial year 2005-06 is Rs 1,80,000. My son, who is submitting income tax return and his income is approximately Rs.1,00,000 for the year 2005-06 has two LIC policies for which the premium is Rs 31,000 per year. Please advise if I can get the rebate of income tax, if the payment of L.I.C. premiums is made by me through cheque against the policy of my son. — Raj Kumar Garg, Bathinda A. Section 80C of the Income-tax Act 1961 (the Act) provides that in computing the total income of an assessee, being an individual or an Hindu Undivided Family, there shall be deducted, any amount paid to effect or keep in force an insurance on the life of the individual, the wife or husband and any child of such individual. In view of the wording of this section the policy should be taken by the person concerned on the life of the child. Since the policy had been taken by your son himself, it may be difficult to bring the case within the ambit of Section 80C of the Act. |
Ashok Leyland Taj Hotels GAIL CMD Domino’s Pizza |
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