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Govt to expedite tax reforms
SEZs should ‘boost’ manufacturing sector
Maruti to review prices in Dec
Paswan demands phasing out of iron ore exports
Body for market surveillance mooted
Mazda recalls over 3,300 cars
Motorola CEO coming
BSNL pays Rs 800-cr dividend
Oasis takes to the skies, finally
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Hinduja TMT acquires US BPO firm
HP nod to 18 industrial projects
Aricent to invest over $100 m
ONGC beats Reliance in market cap
Gold rebounds
Rupee gains 12 paise
Bank Account
Corporate Results
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Govt to expedite tax reforms
New Delhi, October 26 According to sources, Finance Minister P Chidambaram is keen on spelling out roadmap for the GST in the next General Budget itself. The Centre is targeting rollout of the GST regime from the fiscal 2009-10. The Planning Commission has also broadly endorsed the Finance Ministry’s view in the approach paper to the 11th Plan document. The government’s proposal for the GST is in line with the Kelkar Committee’s report to reform the tax structure in the country. GST has been flagged off in Budget 06-07 as the next big tax rationalisation measure in indirect tax after the introduction of state-wide VAT. GST will mean that all states and the Centre will have a uniform rate of goods tax and a similar rate for service tax. The GST roadmap is linked to the successful implementation of the time line for the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act and the phaseout of the Central Sales Tax before 2010. Officials said efforts would be made to try and have the GST rate comparable to the international GST rate of 20 per cent. Therefore, there would be some shift from the recommendations made by the Kelkar Committee and the tax committee for the 10th Five Year Plan headed by Parthasarthi Shome. At present, the effective VAT at the level of states is around 17 per cent (inclusive of excise duty on manufactured goods and the Central Sates Tax) while the excise duty is 16 per cent. Hence, the combined tax at the Centre and the states is 33 per cent. This has to be brought down to 20 to 25 per cent. In its report, the Kelkar Committee had mooted new legislation called the Indian Goods and Services Act to replace the Central Excise Act and the service tax levied under the Finance Act 1994. The new legislation would provide a well-defined negative list of goods and services for exclusion from the tax net. It had also recommended that the Central GST liability should be based on the invoice credit method i.e. allow credit for tax paid on all intermediate goods or services on the basis of invoices issued by the supplier. The Shome Committee had said the VAT on services should be fully integrated with the VAT on goods, both in its design and administration.
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SEZs should ‘boost’ manufacturing sector
New Delhi, October 26 “The concept of SEZs conceived by the government is really good, where good infrastructure can be provided at one place in a cost- effective manner to create employment. However, these should be used to promote manufacturing and not for the diversion of present units,” NMCC Chairman Dr V. Krishnamurthy told reporters. Notably, the government has so far given formal clearance to 212 SEZs and in-principle approval to 152 SEZs. The Board is meeting tomorrow to consider approval for couple of other zones. Speaking after the first meeting of the Empowered Sub-Committee of the High Level Committee on Manufacturing (HLCM), he said: “ Among the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China), India is the only country which has improved its ranking from 60th to 45 last year and 43 this year. Meanwhile, Brazil slipped from 57th to 66th, Russia from 53rd to 62nd, China from 48th to 54th rank within a year.” India has been progressively improving its competitiveness ranking in the past three years, he said, and added that the issues of delay in official clearances, labour reforms, high cost of power still needed attention. The manufacturing sector has shown a robust growth of 11.8 per cent in the first months of the current fiscal (April-August, 2006) compared to last year. Dr Krishnamurthy said the council has identified six key areas, including food and agro-processing, textile and garments, leather and footwear, IT hardware and electronics, problems of small and medium industries and skill development, on which specific recommendations would be made shortly. A 10-point strategy for enhancing competitiveness of small and medium enterprises is on anvil, he added. Referring to today’s meeting, he said the council also discussed the draft action plan prepared by the Ministry of Food Processing Industry for energising the food- processing sector. Dr Krishnamurthy also said the council would have a special meeting with the Punjab officials tomorrow to identify the strengths of the state and bottlenecks which needed to be removed to boost the manufacturing sector. The Council has so far held meetings with the Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Punjab and West Bengal to revive the manufacturing sector.
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Maruti to review prices in Dec
New Delhi, October 26 “We will take a call in December for a price review from January,” Maruti Managing Director Jagdish Khattar said when asked whether the company plans to hike car prices. Maruti had last reviewed car prices in August, translating into a hike ranging between Rs 500 and Rs 5,000. Cars covered under the last review included ‘Alto’, ‘Maruti800’, mid-sized ‘Esteem’ and van ‘Omni’, sparing others like ‘Swift’ and ‘Zen’. Buoyed by higher sales and realisations, Maruti Udyog reported a 39.8 per cent rise in net profit for the quarter ended September 30 at Rs 367.4 crore against Rs 262.6 crore in the same period last year. The company said the total income (net of excise) in the period grew by 12.5 per cent in the July-September 2006 period at Rs 3,540.8 crore from Rs 3,146.8 crore in the same period last year. Sales for the Indian car market leader grew by 12.1 per cent in the period at 1,57,683 units against 1,40,543 units in July-September, 2005. The company has been witnessing higher realisations as the sales of models like ‘Swift’ and new ‘WagonR’ has been healthy, giving better margins. The EBIDTA margins in the second quarter this fiscal were up by 2.4 per cent at 17.6 per cent from 15.2 per cent in the same period last year, the company said. Maruti’s net profit in the first half of this fiscal was up a whopping 50.6 per cent at Rs 737 crore against Rs 489.1 crore in the same period last year. The total income (net of excise) in April-September, 2006, moved up by 16 per cent at Rs 6,809.6 crore against Rs 5,870.5 crore in the same period last fiscal. — PTI
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Paswan demands phasing out of iron ore exports
New Delhi, October 26 “We are seeking gradual phasing out of exports of ore in view of the rising production capacity of the domestic steel industry. The current ore reserve is slated to last only 60 to 70 years. If the present level of ore exports continues then we would have to borrow the mineral in times to come,” Steel Minister Ram Vilas Paswan said here. He said his ministry did not want to jeopardise the mining industry, but said the interests of steel industry would also have to be kept in mind. He pointed out that the current estimated ore reserves in the country were about 22 billion tonnes of which 8 billion tonnes were proven reserves and if exports continued it could hit the steel industry hard. Mr Paswan said in 2005-06, the country produced 150 million tonnes of iron ore of which 90 MT was exported and the remaining was consumed by the steel plants. “Such whopping exports are undesirable,” he argued. Praising the PSEs under the Steel Ministry, he said their profit before tax had shown a significant improvement of around 17 per cent in the first half of the current fiscal, which amounted to Rs 6,600 crore as against the combined PBT of Rs 5,649 crore in the corresponding period last year. The minister said SAIL had been told that its performance would be weighed vis-a-vis its foreign counterparts, which implied that it would have to better its performance. — PTI
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Body for market surveillance mooted
New Delhi, October 26 "We are hoping to set up a body of market experts which would include retired members of SEBI, representatives of Mutal Funds and Asset Management Companies who can carry out surveillance," SEBI Chairman M Damodaran said at a PHDCCI seminar here. With more than 10,000 brokers and 25,000 sub-brokers operating in the market, it was not possible for SEBI with just 500 employees to provide first level of regulations, he said. It was for this reason, SEBI was planning to set up SRO for which details would be made public shortly, he said, adding the term of the body could be 3-5 years. He, however, said an attempt to convert an existing trading body was not in the best interest of the market as it might work against investors. Mr Damodaran also said SEBI proposes to come out with simplified procedure for rights issue, but he did not elaborate. To give more teeth to SEBI, a comprehensive amendment to the SEBI Act is being worked out particularly to deal with prolonged judicial process in dealing with errant companies as witnessed during securities scams.
— PTI
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Tokyo, October 26 The Hiroshima-based automaker reported to the Transport Ministry that it was recalling 3,333 passenger cars in two sporty car models - MPV and Premacy - produced between June 15 and July 27, the ministry and the company said on their websites. Electric sliding doors may not shut completely due to improper installation of latches, they said. Separately, Mazda said it was recalling 760 units of the popoular SUV model Explorer due to defects in the cruise control release switch, which could cause brake oil leakage, which may trigger fire in worst cases. It was not immediately known if the recalls include exports. No accidents had been reported owing to the defects, the companies said. — AP
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New Delhi, October 26 Mr Zander’s visit comes within days of Motorola losing out in the race for the world’s largest contract by BSNL for adding 45 million GSM lines over three years at an estimated cost of over Rs 20,000 crore. Company officials confirmed Mr Zander’s visit and said he would inaugurate Motorola’s new R&D facility in Hyderabad. Motorola is believed to have agreed to invest $30 million (about Rs 135 crore) initially to set up a manufacturing facility near Chennai. The investment will go up to $100 million (Rs 450 crore) within a year. The company is also in the process of manufacturing sub-$30 (Rs 1,350) handset initially for the Indian market and later for exports. Sources said the main objective of Mr Zander’s visit would be to discuss its disqualification by BSNL for its mega Rs 20,000-crore expansion plan. — PTI
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BSNL pays Rs 800-cr dividend
New Delhi, October 26 BSNL paid final dividend of Rs 800 crore to Communication and IT Minister Dayanidhi Maran. The corporation had earlier paid an interim dividend of Rs 375 crore. Presenting the cheque, BSNL CMD A K Sinha said during the past financial year, BSNL's net profit stood at Rs 8,940 crore on a turnover of Rs 40,177 crore. During the past five years of existence, BSNL has contributed to the Consolidated Fund of India more than Rs 40,000 crore and has been the largest tax payer amongst the PSUs in the country. The other PSU MTNL presented a cheque of Rs 35.43 crore towards the final dividend for the financial year 2005-06. It had earlier paid Rs 141.75 crore as an interim dividend. Meanwhile, the government today said the proposed merger between BSNL and MTNL would not be the key focus, but would instead shift into rolling out telecom services within the country and abroad. The current focus is on rollout instead of these mergers, Communications and IT Minister Dayanidhi Maran said.
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Oasis takes to the skies, finally
Hong Kong, October 26 The carrier’s inaugural flight left Hong Kong International airport at 10.51 IST heading for London’s Gatwick Airport. “We’ve been informed by very responsible and reliable sources that we can definitely fly through the Moscow air space today,” Oasis Chairman Raymond Lee said. Almost 300 passengers, including Lee and Miller, were forced to wait nearly six hours on board the plane yesterday as it sat on the tarmac while officials tried to sort out the problem. Eventually they let off Boeing-747 in the evening and told the flight would be rescheduled for the following day. The incident was a severe embarrassment for Oasis, which had built up a huge amount of hype over the past few months, offering flights between Hong Kong and London for just $128
—AFP |
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Hinduja TMT acquires US BPO firm
Mumbai, October 26 This acquisition would enable Hinduja TMT to access a large and high-quality client base, comprising many Fortune 500 companies. This would also enhance onshore delivery capabilities of Hinduja TMT in the USA in specialised domains like consumer electronics, FMCG, retail, government and telecom. Hinduja TMT CEO Partha Sarkar said the integrated entity would have a customer base of over 65 customers and a total headcount of over 9,000 employees. This acquisition would nearly double Hinduja TMT’s combined revenues to over $130 million and catapult it into the top five BPO companies in India.
—PTI |
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HP nod to 18 industrial projects
Shimla, October 26 Presiding over the meeting of the authority Mr Virbhadra Singh, Chief Minister, said these units would provide employment to 2,862 persons. With this the total investment in the state over the preceding three years had reached Rs. 21,250.22 crore with a potential to provide jobs to 2,88,790 persons. The Chief Minister said that Rs 45 crore had been sanctioned by the Government of India for the widening and improvement of the Pinjore-Baddi-Barotiwala road and work would be taken up as a priority project. The Chief Minister said that working women hostel would be constructed in industrial areas while all industrialists had been requested to include residential provisions for workers in their industrial projects. |
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Aricent to invest over $100 m
New Delhi, October 26 "We expect to spend in excess of $100 million in the next three years in R&D centres, facilities, equipments and human resource," Aricent President and Chief Operating Officer Manoranjan Mohapatra said. The company is planning to increase its headcount by around 3,000 by March 2007 and expects around 70 to 75 per cent of the hiring to be in India.— PTI |
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ONGC beats Reliance in market cap
Mumbai, October 26 Reliance Industries’ fell to the second position in the 30-share BSE Sensex as its shares plunged 1.6 per cent at the close of the trading today, taking its market capitalisation to Rs 1.63 lakh crore. RIL’s shares were impacted by the news of a fire at one of its facilities at the Jamnagar refinery yesterday. The ONGC shares ended in the green with a gain of 0.43 per cent that helped push its market cap to Rs 1.64 lakh crore. IT major Infosys, which replaced PSU power major NTPC as the country’s third largest corporate entity recently, maintained its position with a market capitalisation of over Rs 1.15 lakh crore.—PTI |
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Gold rebounds
New Delhi, October 26 Gold, which had been lacking support from retail customers despite a week-long festivals led by Diwali, fell by Rs 290 in the last two trading sessions. Standard gold and ornaments shot up by Rs 175 each at Rs 8,875 and Rs 8,725 per 10 gm, respectively. Sovereign also gained Rs 50 at Rs 7,500 per piece of 8 gm. |
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Mumbai, October 26 The RBI today fixed the reference rate at Rs 45.30 per US Dollar compared to the previous rate of Rs 45.40. The performance of the rupee against other currencies was not up to the mark. Against the euro, it closed down at Rs 57.28 (56.94), against pound sterling it closed down at Rs 85.27 (84.91 ) and against yen it closed down at Rs 38.10 (38.07). — UNI
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Allahabad Bank Q2 net up 24.76 per cent
New Delhi, October 26 The total income increased by 19.16 per cent to 1267.83 crore for the quarter ended September 30 as compared to Rs 1063.93 crore in the same quarter last fiscal, the bank said. Federal Bank
Federal Bank of India, the Kerala-based new generation private sector bank, has registered a net profit of 28.35 per cent in the second quarter (Q2) of 2006-07, with a figure of Rs 69.46 crore, after making a non-mandatory provisions of Rs 60.36 crore. ''Gross profit recorded a growth rate of 36.60 per cent at Rs 139.02 crore,'' FBI Chairman and CEO M Venugopal said here. Profit after making provision for taxes was at Rs 129.82 crore. Total income of the bank increased by 28.81 per cent to Rs 506.32 crore in quarter ended September 30, 2006, from Rs 393.07 crore in the corresponding quarter last year. Andhra Bank net up
Andhra Bank has posted 10.19 per cent increase in net profit at Rs 146.44 crore for the quarter ended September 30 as compared to Rs 132.89 crore for the same quarter last year. The total income increased by 19.58 per cent to Rs 900.75 crore for the quarter ended September 30 from Rs 753.23 crore for the corresponding quarter a year ago, the bank informed the BSE.— Agencies |
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Dabur Pharma Q2 net up by 46 pc
New Delhi, October 26 The company’s net sales in the period went up by 23.5 per cent at Rs 97.79 crore as against Rs 73.23 crore in the year-ago quarter. “Our top line growth is attributed to a better product mix and our increased presence in high growth markets like Russia,” Dabur Pharma Chief Operating Officer Ajay Vij said. He said the company would launch its anti-cancer drug in the USA in the next 30-45 days. For the half year ended September 30, the company’s net profit rose by 25.7 per cent at Rs 13.59 crore compared to Rs 10.77 crore in the same period a year ago. The company’s income from operations in the first six months of 2006-07 stood at Rs 178.88 crore against Rs 146.42 crore in the corresponding half of 2005-06, representing a growth of 22.2 per cent. GMR Infrastructure
GMR Infrastructure Ltd has posted a net loss after tax of Rs 0.97 crore for the quarter ended September 30 whereas the same was Rs 1.49 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2005. The company said its total income was Rs 4.69 crore for the quarter ended September 30 as against Rs 5.46 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2005. As per the consolidated results, the group has posted a net profit after minority interest of Rs 25.62 crore for the quarter ended September 30 whereas the same was Rs 16.65 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2005. Reliance Capital
Anil Ambani group company Reliance Capital Ltd has posted a net profit after tax of Rs 167.15 crore for the quarter ended September 30 whereas the figure for the same period last year was Rs 157.42 crore The total income for the quarter under review was Rs 222.84 crore while it was Rs 181.28 crore in the year-ago quarter. The group posted a net profit after minority interest and share of profit of associates at Rs 191.99 crore for the quarter ended September 30 whereas the same was Rs 162.75 crore for the corresponding quarter last year. The income from operations of the group was Rs 536.86 crore for the quarter ended September 30. The income under this category stood at Rs 246.17 crore in the year-ago period. M&M Q2 PAT up
Leading commercial vehicle manufacturer Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd has reported more than a two-fold increase in profit after tax at Rs 386.47 crore for the quarter ended September 30 as compared to Rs 157.20 crore for the corresponding quarter last fiscal. Total income (net of excise) rose to Rs 2563.41 crore for the second quarter during 2006-07, up 32 per cent from Rs 1944.24 crore in the year-ago period. ICI India Ltd
Kolkata-based ICI India Ltd has posted a net profit after tax of Rs 20.57 crore for the quarter ended September 30, where as the same was at Rs 15.44 crore for the corresponding quarter last year. Total income (net of excise) stood at Rs 247.69 crore for the second quarter this fiscal as against Rs 231.95 crore during the same quarter in 2005-06, the company said. At a meeting held today, the Board of Directors has recommended a proposal to merge ICI India's subsidiary Quest International India Ltd with the company, subject to necessary approvals, the company added. Maharashtra Seamless
Maharashtra Seamless Ltd has posted over two-fold increase in net profit at Rs 62.18 crore for the quarter ended September 30 as compared to Rs 28.37 crore for the same quarter last year. The total income (net of excise) increased by 66.42 per cent to Rs 353.38 crore for the quarter ended September 30 from Rs 212.33 crore for the corresponding quarter a year ago, the company informed the BSE.
— Agencies |
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