1. The Finance Bill, 2008, provides higher basic limits upto which tax is not payable by Individuals, HUFs and AOPs as well as women resident in India below the age of 65 years and senior citizens. The maximum amount upto which tax is not payable by the aforesaid category of assessees as proposed for assessment year 2009-10 and as existing from assessment year 2008-09 is given hereunder:

The amount of income-tax is proposed to be increased by the income-tax surcharge at the rated 10 per cent if the total income exceeds Rs 10,00,000. The education cess of 3 per cent is proposed to be continued as applicable for assessment year 2008-09.

2. The finance minister, in his speech while presenting Budget 2007-08, had announced that the National Housing Bank is going to introduce a reverse mortgage scheme for the senior citizens. However, the scheme could not be put into operation for want of certain clarifications which are now contained in the proposals.

It is proposed to clarify that such a transaction would not be treated as a transfer. Further, it is also proposed to clarify that the amount received in such reverse mortgage shall not be an income in the hands of the recipient and shall be treated as a loan in his hands. The income tax would be leviable only at the point of alienation of the mortgaged property by the mortgagee for the purpose of recovering the loan. Necessary amendments have been made in the Income-tax Act, 1961, accordingly.

3. It is proposed to include the following payments made by the assessee during the previous year for deduction under Section 80C of the act within the overall ceiling of Rs 1 lakh:

(i) five year time deposit in an account under the Post Office Time Deposit Rules, 1981; and

(ii) deposit in an account under the Senior Citizen's Savings Scheme Rules, 2004.

Further, it is also proposed to provide that where any amount is withdrawn by the assessee from such account before the expiry of a period of five years from the date of its deposit, the amount so withdrawn shall be deemed to be income of the assessee of the previous year in which the amount is withdrawn. The amount so withdrawn, accordingly, shall be liable to tax in the assessment year relevant to such previous year. The amount liable to tax shall also include that part of the amount withdrawn which represents interest accrued on the deposit. However, if any part of the amount so received or withdrawn (including the amount relating to interest) has suffered taxation in any of the earlier years, such amount shall not be taxed again. This amendment is applicable for investments made during financial year 2007-08 relevant to the assessment year 2008-2009.

4. It is proposed to allow from assessment year 2009-10 and onwards an additional deduction upto Rs 15000 to an assessee being an individual towards an amount paid to effect or keep in force an insurance on the health of his/her parents. This would enable such an individual to supplement the efforts of his/her parents in getting themselves medically insured. This amendment is sought to be made in Section 80D of the act.

This deduction shall be in addition to the existing deduction available to the individual assessee on medical insurance for himself, his spouse and dependent children. Further, it is proposed that if either of the individual assessee's parents, who have been medically insured, is a senior citizen, the deduction would be allowed up to Rs 20,000.

For example, an individual assessee pays (through any mode other than cash) during the previous year medical insurance premia as under:

(i) Rs 14,000 to keep in force an insurance policy on his health and on the health of his wife and dependent children;

(ii) Rs 17,000 to keep in force an insurance policy on the health of his parents.

Under the proposed new provisions he will be allowed a deduction of Rs 29,000 (Rs 14,000 + Rs 15,000) if neither of his parents is a senior citizen. However, if any of his parents is a senior citizen, he will be allowed a deduction of Rs 31,000 (Rs 14,000 + Rs 17,000). Whether the parents are dependent or not, is not a consideration for deciding the deduction under the proposed new section.

Further, in the above example, if cost of insurance on the health of the parents is Rs 30,000, out of which Rs 17,000 is paid (by any non-cash mode) by the son and Rs 13,000 by the father (who is a senior citizen), out of their respective taxable income, the son will get a deduction of Rs 17,000 (in addition to the deduction of Rs 14,000 for the medical insurance on self and family) and the father will get a deduction of Rs 13,000.

5. Section 111A and Section 115AD provide for special tax rate of 10 per cent on short-term capital gain arising from the transfer of a short-term capital asset, being an equity share in a company or a unit of an equity-oriented fund, where such transaction is chargeable to securities transaction tax. It is proposed to increase the rate of tax on such short-term capital gain to 15 per cent.

Hyderabad, March 16
Women power in industry is there in true spirits at the Indian School of Business (ISB) here as it is one those rare business management colleges in the world where 25 per cent of the students are women.

Out of 425 students who will graduate next month from ISB, 106 are women, who have received placements at higher positions in top multinational companies in the world.

ISB director (career advancement services) V.K. Menon said, “In the consulting and finance sectors there is heavy demand for women managers. Many major companies now prefer women managers as they add diversity to their workforce. Internationally, the norm is to have a minimum of 25 per cent women managers. However, in Indian institutions it is much lower.”

“The rigour here is very high but women students even those who are mothers with children cope with it. Women students here get an opportunity to actually choose where and in which industry they want to join during these placement sessions which are currently going on,” he pointed out.

Statistics indicate that that there has been a steady rise of women students over the last six years. After the ISB was set up in 2001, the first two years saw an intake of 19 per cent women students followed by 20 per cent during the next four years.

This year the figure increased to 25 per cent and in the coming years there is a strong possibility that it will go up further.

Menon said over the last decade with Indian industries becoming more global, there had been a massive change in the attitude and mindset as far as women managers were concerned. The demand for women managers is likely to increase manifold and we are ready to cope with it, he added.

In fact, women, too, prefer the ISB to other Indian business schools like the IIMs or go abroad to study business administration.

Shuchita Upadhyay, electronics and telecom engineer who had earlier worked with Cognizant, said: “The peer group here is more experienced and matured unlike other B-schools where majority of the students are fresh graduates. The quality of faculty and the infra-structure is far superior compared to any other B-school in India.”

“The other attraction,” said Uttara Srinivasan, a mechanical engineer who had worked for three years with an US MNC and is married to a marketing professional posted in Bangalore, “is that this course is only for a year. I did not want to stay away from my family for two years as it would have been had I joined one of the IIMs.”

For Chitra Raghunath, who already holds a post-graduate management degree from BITS, Pillani, “the world class facilities here and the curriculum drew me to the ISB instead of other B-schools abroad.”

All three of them echoed that another major factor was no reservation or quota system at the ISB. “There is no form of discrimination either on the basis of sex or caste, creed or religion. You have to prove your calibre to get in and equality at all levels prevail in the true spirit,” they said.

Chandigarh, March 16
Hyundai Motor (India) will be launching its B-segment car - i20 - in October. The car will be launched in three variants of 1.2 litres, 1.4 litres and 1.6 litres.

Heung Soo Lheem, managing director, Hyundai Motor (India), said bolstered by the successful launch of i10 model in 2007, the company would now launch i20. “In fact, the i10 model, along with the Santro, has been the growth driver for the company,” he said.

Having achieved a 24 per cent market share, the company is now eyeing a bigger share of the pie, and launching new models and increasing dealership network and sales services, was part of this strategy, he said, while adding that the dealership network would increase from 230 in 2007 to 300 this year. The company would also increase its production from 3.4 lakh units in 2007 to 5.3 lakh units this year.

“Our second plant at Chennai with a capacity of three lakh units was inaugurated last year. The total production from this plant was 20,000 units, which will be increased to 200,000 units this year. With the capacity enhancement, we will begin exporting cars from its Chennai facility,” he said.

Lheem was in town as part of the ‘Hyundai always around’ campaign conducted by its dealers Karisma Hyundai, Ultimate Hyundai and KLG. Talking about North India, he said Punjab, northern Haryana, Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir, contribute to about 15 per cent of sales. “We have thus decided to open our north regional office at IT Park in Chandigarh. The office would become operational in April and would cater to the existing 28 dealers in the region, besides the 10 new dealerships that are in the offing,” he said.

New Delhi, March 16
The call centre employees in India are the most frequent job-hoppers among their Asian peers with average job tenure of as low as nine months, a new survey says.

According to an annual report for the Asian contact centre industry released by callcentres.net, the average job tenure of call centre agents in India is the lowest at 11 months, while it is even lower at nine months for those having left their jobs in the past one year. Comparable figures in other countries were 22 months in Philippines, 20 months in Malaysia, 18 months for Singapore, 17 months for Thailand and 12 months for China.

Identifying attrition and hiring as their top challenges for 2008, call centres in the country are now focusing on financial incentives and other rewards in their bid to retain the right talent, said callcentres.net, a leading Asian research firm focused on contact centres and outsourcing industries.

The study also found that smaller call centres in India, or those having less than 100 seats, have lower average agent tenure of 10 months, as compared to the larger centres where the tenure is close to 15 months. — PTI

New Delhi, March 16
China’s largest power generator China Huaneng has outbid India’s Reliance Energy (REL) and GMR Group by placing the highest bid of $3.1 billion for a power firm put on block by Singapore’s investment arm, Temasek Holdings.

REL and GMR Group were the two Indian bidders for Tuas Power, one of the three power generating companies being privatised by the Singapore government.

Besides, REL and GMR, three international firms, including China Light and Power, and HongKong Electric, were also believed to be in the race to acquire Tuas Power. — PTI