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ESIC hikes outlay for medical benefits
Malaysia zooms in on Chandigarh residents
PNB inks pact with Nepalese bank
Toyota eyes small car segment
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OBC lending, deposit rates up
Indian, Amadeus ink pact
Reviving dormant PPF account possible
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ESIC hikes outlay for medical benefits
New Delhi, December 23 The corporation has also decided to increase the limit for exemption from paying employees contribution in respect of employees drawing daily wage limit up to Rs 70. At present, the exemption limit is Rs 50. As a result, about 5.70 lakh employees will be exempted from paying their contribution under the ESI Scheme. However, the employer’s contribution for these employees will have to be paid. These decisions were taken at the 137th meeting of the ESIC held here today under the chairmanship of Minister of State for Labour and Employment Oscar Fernandes. The meeting also decided to enhance the sickness benefit to 120 per cent of the standard benefit rate as against existing 100 per cent of the standard benefit rate. It was also decided to enhance disablement benefit, including temporary and permanent disability benefit from the existing 140 per cent to 150 per cent of the standard benefit rate. The existing limit of reimbursement of funeral expenses has also been enhanced from Rs 2,500 to Rs 3,000. These decisions would entail the
corporation a total liability of Rs 61 crore. The meeting also approved the Annual Report of the corporation for the year 2005-06. The corporation has achieved the highest-ever revenue income of Rs 2,410.61 crore, out of which Rs 1,933.56 crore has come through contribution income. The corporation has been able to distribute 31.44 lakh cash benefit payments to the tune of Rs 273.73 crore. During the year, the total expenditure on medical benefits has gone up to Rs 724.11 crore. The ESI Scheme has been implemented in 10 new centres and 90 new geographical areas, thereby covering additional over 1.48
lakh employees. Mr Fernandes said this has been an outstanding year of achievements for the corporation. He said a number of new initiatives were taken by the ESIC, which included launch of pilot project of computerisation for online services to enhance efficiency in both cash and medical benefit disbursal; achievement of ISO certification for 20 offices and hospitals of ESIC. |
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Malaysia zooms in on Chandigarh residents
Chandigarh, December 23 Mr Abdullah was in the city to organise the first Malaysia Truly Asia Ladies Classic 2006 Golf Tournament at Panchkula. The year 2007 is a golden jubilee year of Malaysian Independence and the department wants to celebrate it in a big way. “The reason for handing down discounts and attractive packages to the Indians is that we plan to celebrate the 50th year of bilateral relation between India and Malaysia,” he said. The department plans to float attractive schemes for Indian tourists in 2007. Mr Abdullah said: “We plan to give huge discounts on boarding, lodging and food, besides providing extra comforts to the tourists. Special packages will also be announced very soon for Indian tourists.” Though the department is targeting people from Chandigarh, yet interestingly it has no plan to open any office here. “We have office in New Delhi. Chandigarh is easily approachable because of good road connecting Delhi and Chandigarh,” Mr Abdullah said. |
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PNB inks pact with Nepalese bank
New Delhi, December 23 An agreement was executed between the PNB and Everest Bank Limited (EBL) of Nepal to share their ATM networks for their cardholders on either side of the border. CMD of PNB S.C. Gupta and Chairperson of EBL B.K. Sreshtha signed the memorandum of understanding (MoU) in this regard, a PNB press note said here today. PNB has a large ‘online ATM network’ of more than 870 ATMs spread through out India. These ATMs shall be available to cardholders of the Nepalese bank also. Similarly, cardholders of PNB shall be able to use ATMs of the participating bank in Nepal at very reasonable charges. PNB has arranged to cut down the ATM transaction charges, payable by its cardholders, to INR 50 for cash withdrawals from their accounts from ATMs of the participating bank in Nepal. |
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Toyota eyes small car segment
Kolkata, December 23 Managing Director of TKM Atsushi Toyoshima told reporters here that the company was in the process of studying how to grow in the Indian market, adding that a decision would be taken at the right time. At present, TKM's sales volume was around 55,000 units, while the rated production capacity at its Bidadi plant in Bangalore was 60,000 units per annum. Asked whether Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) of Japan has a small car model in its stable, he said that Daihatsu, a part of the Toyota group, was a major manufacturer of mini-cars. He said that a decision was yet to be taken whether Daihatsu or Toyota would introduce a model from their stable in the Indian market. Toyoshima said that the company would make substantial investments to increase capacity and introduce a new model in the Indian
market. — PTI |
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OBC lending, deposit rates up
New Delhi, December 23 The hike in deposit rates would be effective from December 26 while the increase in PLR would be effective from January 15, the bank said. The city-based bank has raised the prime lending rate from 11.5 per cent to 11.75 per cent. The OBC's decision to hike both deposit and lending rates follows similar steps taken by the banks like ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and the CBoP.
— PTI |
by K.R. Wadhwaney
Indian, Amadeus ink pact
Despite instability in fare structure and mounting taxes on the national and international routes, the travel and tourism industries are booming. This is because of technological advancement made by Indians in all walks of life. This is not all. An average Indian has learnt to put his hand into pocket to travel to different destinations and enjoy instead of spending time drudgery.
Before 2007 ends the most important document will be electronic ticket instead of a paper one. This vital change of mode, as made mandatory by the International Air Transportation Association (IATA), will bring an additional quantum of revenue to cash-starving airlines as ticket cost will be reduced drastically from $9 to $ 2. While providing multiple advantages of electronic ticket towards achieving growth, expansion and customer satisfaction, three renowned aviation officials, in a lighter vein, said: “The passengers will now be left to undertake paperwork only in flight toilets.” The electronic ticket concept, launched a few years ago, captured the imagination of airlines in India in 2005 when rise in issuing of such tickets was more than 50 per cent. Now more and more such tickets are being issued although no-frills airlines continue to be in ‘restrictive mould’. Aware of manifold advantages, Indian has inked a deal with Amadeus. With this facility, travel agents on the Amadeus in India can directly book on Indian domestic flights. “All bookings and transactions will be in real time on the highest level of access enabling seamless and efficient service,” said officials of Indian and Amadeus. Driven by technological innovation at every step and dynamic growth and tremendous potential, the ‘marriage’ of Indian and Amadeus will provide the widest travel content to passengers. Amadeus chief Ankur Bhatia said: “We are delighted to work and support Indian in their journey towards providing greater satisfaction to travellers”. Commenting on this ‘tie-up’, Anita Khurana, Director (Commercial), Indian, said: “In this competitive world, we are all set to provide first-class experience to travellers without compromising on quality”. “With this partnership, our reach will further extend to the vast network of travel agencies across the globe and enable us to provide customers superior service, new value added service as well as increase our sales”. According to electronic ticketing, bookings can be made. Even boarding cards can be secured. There is no danger of losing ticket. “There are many advantages,” emphasise agents. But what happens when a suitcase or entire baggage is mishandled or lost. The weight of the baggage is not mentioned on the electronic ticket since it is made days or weeks before flying. Then there are several other problems when passengers book tickets online. Two disturbing ones are: delay or refusal to receive refund of money on cancellations and no information provided when flights are cancelled rescheduled or delayed. |
by A.N. Shanbhag
Reviving dormant PPF account possible
Q: My father started a PPF account for me 10 years ago but, of late, I had stopped investing any money in the scheme. Consequently, the account lay dormant for over three years. Now I want to start investing in PPF again. In this case, do I have to open a fresh PPF account or can I continue with my old one. If so, how?
— Suresh Bhogan A: If you fail to subscribe even the minimum Rs 500 for any year, the account is discontinued. Loans and partial withdrawals are not available for a discontinued account. At the end of the term, the investor will be paid the balance with accrued interest for the full term. It is possible to revive the discontinued account by payment of a fee of Rs 50 and subscription of Rs 500 for each year of default. An account was opened 10 years ago and no contribution has been made for all subsequent years. It can be revived by making a payment of Rs 75,500 to the account, Rs. 70,000 by way of contribution for the current year and Rs. 5,000 as contribution @ Rs. 500 per year and Rs. 500 as penalty @ Rs. 50 per year for the last 10 years. You can claim deduction only on Rs. 70,000. There are some experts who feel that the contribution of Rs 5,000 @ Rs 500 per year of default is made during the current year and therefore, the account holder needs to contribute only Rs. 65,000 for the current year and still claim deduction on full Rs 70,000. I have a different view. The contributions of Rs 500 are made for earlier years. Therefore, though the contributions are made during the current year, these cannot attract deduction for the current year. Many of the accounts offices do not accept such payments arguing that the 10-year period is quite a long one and moreover, the ceiling on payment is Rs. 70,000. This is wrong. The ceiling applies to the contribution for the current year and not to payment for revival. Brokers charge
Q: I trade on and off in shares. My question was regarding the expenses that may be charged to the cost of the shares such as brokers commission, demat charges both of operating the account as well as conversion of physical shares into the demat mode. Moreover, over time I have spent a considerable amount on telephones and travelling to the broker’s office. Can this expense also be charged? — Vinay Ukidve A: The broker’s commission is included in the broker’s note and therefore, there is no problem to take it into account as an additional cost of acquisition when the shares are purchased and as reduction in sale proceeds when shares are sold. The charges for converting the scrips from physical to demat mode can be added to the cost of acquisition of individual scrips. The same tenet may be applied to the DP fees for holding the scrips in the demat mode. The exercise will be complicated but worth undertaking. Other expenses such as travelling to broker’s office, telephone charges, etc., can be taken into account in theory but in practice, it will be very difficult to do so. Transaction tax
Q: On all my stock market trades, I pay Securities Transaction Tax (STT). Can I add this STT paid to my cost to compute my short-term capital gains? For long-term gains, it does not matter since anyway the same is tax-free. What about short-term? — Nimesh A: Sec. 88E offers rebate on STT only against the income chargeable under the head “Profits and gains of business or profession”. The deduction shall be equal to the amount calculated by applying the average rate of income-tax on such income and is limited to the amount of income-tax on such income. The assessee has to furnish Forms 10DB & 10DC, along with the return of income and evidence of payment of securities transaction tax in the prescribed form. The evidence can be in any form, including the broker’s note. Therefore, in your case, unless and until your stock market transactions are to be treated as business income, STT cannot be considered for inclusion in cost. RNOR status
Q: I am a PIO (living in the US for the last 15 years). I plan to take up a job for one year in India and plan to return to the US after that. In this scenario, will I lose my NRI status? What are the requirements to retain the NRI status from a tax perspective? Also, if my spouse will still be living in the US during this one year, will that help us retain the NRI tax status (for NRE joint accounts etc from a tax benefits standpoint). — Aman A: If the tenure of our job is spread over two different financial years in such a way that your stay in India for each financial year (Apr-Mar) is less than 182 days, you will be retaining your NRI status. However, note that there is a transitional status of RNOR between being an NRI and becoming a full-fledged resident after returning to India permanently. Resident but not Ordinarily Resident (RNOR) is a person who satisfies one of the following conditions — a) he has been a non-resident in India in nine out of the 10 previous years preceding that year, or b) has during the seven previous years preceding that year been in India for a period of, or periods amounting in all to, 729 days or less. An RNOR is not required pay tax in India on his forex income. In other words, as an RNOR (if you qualify as per the aforementioned conditions) your US income would not be taxable in India. Your wife’s residential status does not in any way affect your status. However, even as an RNOR, you will not be able to maintain your NRE accounts. As per FEMA, where the account holder is only on a short visit to India, the account may continue to be treated as NRE account even during his stay in India. However, a period of one year cannot be construed to be a short visit. Your NRE interest will become taxable from the date of your arriving in India. There are three ways out. 1. You can convert the NRE into RFC. The interest on RFC is tax-free in India in the hands of RNOR but TDS is applicable @30.6 per cent on the entire interest amount without any threshold. You can claim the refund, if any, by filing returns. In any case, you are definitely going to file returns, since you have a salary income in India. 2. Two, you can transfer the money to your wife’s NRE account and transfer it back to your NRE account, once you become regain your NRI status. 3. You can take the money abroad just before arriving in India and bring it back when you become an NRI once again. However, this will entail exchange risk and bank charges for conversion. |
ONGC dividend HPMC pact Markets closed |
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Attracting Indian tourists, especially from Chandigarh, is high on the agenda of the Department of Malaysian Tourism. Talking to TNS here, Mohammad Roslan Abdullah, Director, Tourism Malaysia, said: “The per capita income of the people of Chandigarh is high. A lot of residents of the city are regular visitors to the European and North American continents. We want these tourists to visit Malaysia too.”
