New Delhi, August 17
Tightening the policies on telecom operators, the government has informed the service providers that DoT is the final authority to direct operators (private as well as PSUs) to cancel or penalise any agent or franchisee if their conduct found detrimental to the security of the nation.

The move comes on the heels of investigations in a terror incident leading to a case in which a person had acquired nearly 50 SIMs without any proper verification, which was followed by misuse of WiFi Internet wireless technology in Ahmedabad blasts.

The step is also seen as a bid to further tighten the grip on terror networks which were using mobile phones for triggering the blasts.

DoT has amended all licences, be it Unified Access Service, Cellular Mobile, Basic or any other type issued on or prior to 2001 saying "the licensor (DoT) shall have the right to direct the licensee (telecom company) to warn, penalise or terminate the franchisee or agent or distributor or servant after considering any report of conduct or antecedents detrimental to the security of the nation," sources said.

DoT has sent a communication to the telecom firms recently incorporating the amendment in their respective licences and said "the decision of the licensor (DoT) in this regard shall be final and binding." The DoT has also said that the telecom firms shall bear all liabilities in the matter and keep the licensor (DoT) identified for all claims, cost, charges or damages in this respect.

The mobile companies would generally lease out the operations to its franchise where the government had no control.

The wireless fidelity (WiFi) Internet service providers were also under the scanner of security agencies after militants of Indian Mujahideen used this technology to send an e-mail minutes ahead of Ahmedabad attack last month.

The security agencies had pointed out that password protection should be introduced for every customer using the WiFi technology but the recent hacking in proxy server while sending the e-mail ahead of the blasts was a glaring violation of the same.

The ministry of home affairs is likely to advice the Department of Telecommunication to direct all mobile phone operators to get two existing cellular customers as guarantors before issuing a SIM card to new customers.

The MHA, which is all set to approach the DoT very soon, is likely to suggest that the mobile phone operators must have guarantors on the lines of opening a bank account.

"We wanted to have a mechanism where a common person can get a SIM card without any hassles and other security concerns are also met," Union home secretary Madhukar Gupta had said.

The ministry is likely to suggest the DoT to come out with a guideline that makes it mandatory for SIM card vendors to take instant photograph of new customers.— PTI

New Delhi, August 17
Amidst its differences with the finance ministry, the Department of Telecom today started the process for 3G mobile services and invited bids from the Indian and foreign companies to conduct the auctioning of spectrum in 22 telecom service areas.

Issuing the Request for Proposal (RFP), the DoT has convened a pre-bid conference on August 27 and will open the financial bids, of those who qualify technically and meet all the criteria for selection, on September 19 this year.

According to the eligibility criteria, the bidder shall not have any equity directly or indirectly in any telecom or Internet service provider in India. Similarly, any telecom company or ISP shall not have any stake in the bidder company.

DoT's decision to issue a RFP comes amid a tussle between ministries of finance and telecom over the guidelines of 3G mobile services and both have exchanged communications in this regard.

Last week, Communication and IT Minister A Raja had asserted that the ministry of finance was consulted on all the financial implications relating to 3G spectrum pricing and they (finance ministry) has also nominated its representative in the joint committee which would oversee the auctioning of radio frequency.

Raja had said there would be no deviation in the schedule for auction of spectrum and rollout of services.

The companies applying for conducting auctioning of spectrum need to be registered under the Indian Companies Act or a foreign company incorporated in a country outside India or a joint venture of such companies.

DoT has, however, set a tough condition that the bidder company should have the experience of having conducted at least five e-auctions in the last three years and the total value of all e-auctions conducted should be at least Rs 2,500 crore. — PTI 

New Delhi, August 17
The revised pay scales will not only give additional bonanza to the central government employees, but also add Rs 4,500-5,500 crore to the exchequer this fiscal in the form of personal income tax.

Besides, some money would also come through indirect taxes as some of the increased pay would go into buying products and services, official sources said here.

The increased burden on the Centre would be Rs 22,131 crore during 2008-09. While the additional burden on the union Budget would be Rs 15,717 crore, the Railway Budget would take Rs 6,414 crore burden due to the increased payout.

However, one-fifth to one-fourth of this amount is expected to come back to the government exchequer in the form of personal income tax, depending on the slab that each employee would fall in after the pay hike, the sources said. This means that Rs 4,426.2-5,532.75 crore would be added to the Central kitty.

The government has increased the income tax exemption limit from Rs 1.10 lakh to Rs 1.50 lakh, in addition to restructuring the tax slabs in this fiscal's budget.

The tax exemption limit for women assesses has been hiked from Rs 1.45 lakh to Rs 1.80 lakh, while in case of senior citizens it has been increased from Rs 1.95 lakh to Rs 2.25 lakh.

Though it is yet to be calculated as to how many of the 50 lakh government employees would still enjoy the tax exemption, it is expected that many more would move to taxable income. The sources said the entire clerical staff would move to taxable income. — PTI

Tiruchirappalli, August 17
Air India will operate daily flights on Chennai to Sharjah route via Tiruchirappalli from August 21, an official statement said here today.

On March 30, this year, the airline had started direct flights on the Chennai-Tiruchirappalli-Thiruvananthapuram-Sharjah route.

However, the return flights were skipping Tiruchirappalli thrice a week owing to shortage of manpower in the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) at the airport here, Air India marketing manager, here, T H Radhakrishnan said today.

New Delhi, August 17
India Inc seems unperturbed by signs of global recession, with their capacity expansion plans surging past Rs 10 trillion in the first six months of this year nearly double the figure for the previous five months, a study said.

Indian companies have announced capacity expansion investment worth Rs 10,50,950 crore in the first six months of 2008, against Rs 5,67,851 crore between July-December 2007, industry body Assocham said in a report on state-wise investments.

Out of the total 24 states tracked by the Chamber Research Bureau Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Rajasthan and West Bengal were the most preferred destination by the private players for making investments in the first half of 2008.

Maharashtra topped the chart with investment commitments worth Rs 1,20,065 crore in sectors like power, real estate, automobiles, ports and shipping, Assocham president Sajjan Jindal said.

The biggest of the announcements were made by Tata Power at Rs 25,000 crore, planning to raise power generation capacity to 12,861 MW for the next five years, Reliance Industries for setting up semi conductor plant and other micro -technology units, at an expenditure of Rs 21,666 crore for the next 10 years.

Andhra Pradesh attracted the second highest investment announcements of Rs 1,06,242 crore, followed by Orissa (Rs 88,902 crore), West Bengal (Rs 83,287 crore) and Rajasthan.

In Orissa, Vedanta Resources announced a capex of Rs 24,000 crore for the production of 35-40 million cubic metres of gas per day. Sterlite Industries has announced its plan for generation of power with a capex of Rs 17,000 crore, it said.

Delhi and the NCR took a backseat in terms of the investment announcements, attracting Rs 38,237 crore, the report said.

NCR took the major share of capex plans worth Rs 32,220 crore and Delhi worth Rs 6,017 crore, it said.

Major developers like Parsvnath, Raheja, Paramount Group have plans to expand their real estate business and set up group housing projects by next two to three years, it added. — PTI 

Q. I have given my agricultural land on lease to someone who is carrying out agricultural operations on the same. The land is situated in a village which is about 10 k.m. away from the city limits. Will such income be exempt from tax or I have to pay tax on the amount received as lease money?

— Amit Goel, Haryana

Q. I am employed with a company which is giving me various allowances such as city compensatory allowance (CCA) and house rent allowance. Are these amounts taxable or any type of exemption is allowable under the Act?

— S.K. Kapoor, Chandigarh

A. The city compensatory allowance even if it is paid to meet additional expenditure, it is an additional salary and therefore chargeable to tax. This issue stands settled by a Supreme Court decision. The house rent allowance received from an employer is exempt to a certain extent. The exemption is based upon the following criteria:

(i) An amount equal to 50 per cent of salary, where residential house is situated at Bombay, Calcutta, Delhi or Madras and an amount equal to 40 per cent of salary where residential house is situated at any other place.

(ii) House rent allowance received by the employee in respect of the period during which rental accommodation is occupied by the employee during the previous year.

(iii) The excess of rent paid over 10 per of salary.

The least of the above three will be exempt from tax.