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Nano to be sold through allotment system
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Infrastructure Investment
RComm to have pan-India presence
Aviation Notes
Investor Guidance
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Nano to be sold through allotment system
New Delhi, January 12 Old timers recall that Maruti, the first people’s car manufactured by the Japanese auto maker, Suzuki Motors, had held city-wise draw of lots to meet people’s demand. A number of proud owners of original lot of Maruti 800 proudly remember the time when the car was sold for around Rs 45,000. Tatas are also going to adopt a similar exercise for the world’s cheapest car, when it would be eventually made available to the common man. In an interaction with mediapersons, Chairman of the Tata Motors, Ratan N. Tata, clearly indicated at limited production of the car. “It is certainly not going to reach one million mark. Certain concerns are being expressed about the car due to its anticipated high-sales volume that could create chaos on the Indian roads. We would be going for some sort of allotment.” Reiterating his commitment to make the base model of the car available at the already quoted price, he said the car is dedicated to the rural India. “Now India is not Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi, a majority of the population still lives in rural areas. I wish to improve the quality of life and offer them a better and safer mode of personal transport,” he mentioned. On the pricing of the car, he said he took the challenge of the media to produce the one-lakh car. He also indicated that the Tatas would not profit in selling the base model and it was dedicated to those who could not afford other cars. Replying to a query about the environmental and safety concerns being expressed, he said the real test would be from the people to whom the car was dedicated. Tatas are keen on investing in different parts of the country.
Ratan Tata also said the company has decided to have its footsteps in the northern and eastern part of the country. The company had already started production of a commercial vehicle at a facility in Uttaranchal. He, however, did not reply to his plans of investing in Punjab.
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Creates ripples in the US
Girja Shankar Kaura Tribune News Service
New Delhi, January 12 While research has brought out that Nano could actually empower 65 per cent of the families in India, especially in the middle and the lower middle class to afford a car, the world itself has been in the awe of the compact car, which has put the critics on the back foot. In the US almost all newspapers had the reports on it and most news channels devoted a special feature to it. It has also created a buzz on the Internet. The New York Times in fact stole a march over rest of the media in the US with a scoop featuring general features of the Nano just a day before its formal launch here. It had details from suppliers of parts on how Tata was able to cut costs and how innovation had gone into its creation. While there has been criticism from some environmentalists, there have also been strong reactions to this criticism. People have gone onto the blogs to post their reviews. On the International Herald Tribune’s ‘Business of Green’ blog, a reaction said, “We should appreciate the innovation as a great achievement for a small car being available to common man of the developing world. India still happens to be much lower in the rung among the countries which produce emissions.” Nano has forced a number of car manufacturers in India itself announce their plans to venture into the small car market. BusinessWeek reported: “Ford, Nissan, Fiat, Suzuki, Renault are all planning to increase production in the Nano space over the next couple of years.” The Associated Press report began, “For millions of people in the developing world, Tata Motor’s new $2,500 four-door subcompact – the world’s cheapest car – may yield a transportation revolution with as great an impact as Henry Ford’s Model T, which rolled off an assembly line one century ago”. The blogs have also been getting e-mails from people the world over asking how they can buy the Nano and how much would it cost them to transport it to their country. On Popular Mechanics magazine’s website, one reader said: “I will buy it today. How much would it cost to transport it to USA?”
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Infrastructure Investment
New Delhi, January 12 External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee stressed on this point today as he talked of how there had been a distinct improvement in the country’s speed of decision-making in development of infrastructure. “This is reflected in rapidly increasing investments being made in this sector. FDI in infrastructure must grow from the current levels to compliment the huge funds required to sustain growth. The opportunities available for investment are immense, be it roads, ports, airports, highways, telecommunications, and transport corridors,” Mukherjee said. The minister made this remark while giving valedictory address at the Global Summit of Management Accountants here. Mukherjee spoke about some other key sectors and what the government was doing in these areas. Education: The government spending is being given a massive threefold increase in the share of education. The plan outlay on education will go up from 7.68 per cent of the Central gross budgetary support in the 10th Plan to over 19 per cent in the 11th Plan. Given that 52 per cent of India’s population is below 25 years of age, India stands to gain a significant demographic dividend. Energy Security: At a time when international oil prices have for the first time in history breached the $ 100 a barrel mark, Indian economy is coming under increasing pressure. The government is trying to deal with this crisis by focusing on investing in overseas energy assets for the country. This task has, therefore, become an important aspect of the government’s economic policy. The rising external security concerns together with the cost of managing the environmental concerns on global warming are making huge impact on the country’s energy security.
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RComm to have pan-India presence
New Delhi, January 12 “Ministry of Communications & IT has made allotment of 4.4 MHz of start-up spectrum to the company for providing GSM services ,” a company said in statement to BSE. RComm, that has a nationwide presence on the rival CDMA platform, currently provides dominant GDM services in eight circles – W.Bengal, Kolkata, North-East, Assam, Bihar, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh and
Himachal Pradesh. “The company will, in due course, offer nationwide GSM services in addition to its existing CDMA services,” it added.
— UNI |
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Aviation Notes
The International Civil Aviation Organisation, International Air Transport Association and other world bodies have discussed and debated from time to time framing of stringent rules so that instances of 'no shows' and 'last-minute cancellations' on the international flights are considerably reduced.
Indeed, the rules have been formulated and fines imposed but effect on 'no shows and cancellations' has been negligible. If the world bodies impose more stringent penalties, there will be confusion and chaos in the twin vital industries of aviation and tourism. There are several compelling reasons for 'no shows and cancellations'. The group of 20-25 international passengers, for example, is booked from Srinagar to Delhi on a particular day. But the flight cannot take off because of bad weather or technical snag.
The passengers cannot make it to Delhi. How can they be penalised for no fault of theirs? If they are punished, the tourism will receive a severe
setback. Keeping this and several other reasons for 'no shows and cancellations', over-booking of international flights has become a 'necessary evil'. It is practised by all airlines worldwide. The airline's sustainability is linked with passenger load. The statistics show that the minimumof 50-60 per cent is essential for airlines to cut even because enormous overhead expenses cannot be drastically reduced. The airlines earn profit only when they achieve the passenger’s load beyond 60 per cent. The more the load, the greater is the profit. In view of this, the airlines are compelled to overbook. During peak seasons the airlines overbook to the extent of 25-30 per cent. In such cases, business class passengers are upgraded to first and economy passengers are moved to business class. Again, this practice is followed worldwide. The benefit of up gradation is offered to influential passengers, regular fliers and cardholders of frequent flyers. No system, no matter how laudable, can be foolproof. Here officials airports counters accept bribe and provide seats to waitlisted passengers and off-load passengers with confirmed bookings. |
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Investor Guidance
Q. I am a student studying in Germany for the last two years. As I have not been able to open NRE account I have been transferring money to my resident account with the message ‘for Loan repayment’.
The money has also been used to pay loan repayment EMIs or LIC premium only. Also, the cheques from my tenant are credited into my resident account. Is the money taxable? A: 1. We fail to understand why you are not able to open NRE account in India. Through a press release 2003-2004/710, the RBI has declared that for the purpose of FEMA, students will be treated as NRIs as soon as they go abroad for studies. Consequenly, anyone who has gone abroad for studies, can open NRI-related accounts in India. 2. Since you have been abroad for two years, you have presumably become an NRI. All the forex income of an NRI is not taxable in India. 3. Transfer by itself does not create any tax-liability. If your status for the financial year ‘April-March’ is NRI and if the money earned abroad is an income not arisen out of some nexus with India, either by way of Indian employment or business, the question of levying tax thereon does not arise. 4. Your rental income has arisen in India and therefore, it is taxable in India. PPF account
Q. I hold a PPF account as karta (HUF) in a post office. I understand earlier, PPF accounts could be opened by a karta and also by him as individual. Are there any changes in the rules for such accounts. A: RBI notification GSR291(E) dated May 13, 2005 has discontinued opening of the accounts on behalf of HUF, AOP and BOI with immediate effect. Such accounts opened by mistake shall be treated as void ab
initio. As and when the error comes to light, the account shall be closed and the amount refunded to the depositor without any interest. The existing accounts can continue up to their maturity without the privilege of post-maturity continuation. The authors may be contacted at
wonderlandconsultants@yahoo.com |
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