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Star TV, Airtel fined Rs 1 crore
RCF likely to get order from Tanzania
Pak inflation hits 30-year high
Air travel may cost less in coming weeks
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Aviation Notes
Investor Guidance
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Star TV, Airtel fined Rs 1 crore
New Delhi, September 13 The two companies failed to inform the participants of the contest that the prize money of Rs 2 lakh per episode of the show would be paid out of the revenue earned through the SMS messages sent by them, the Commission ruled in its order passed on September 11. In fact, the contest was claimed to be ''free'', without entailing any cost for the participants, barring the SMS charge. The 58 million SMS messages generated a revenue of Rs 13.92 crore at the rate of Rs 2.40 per message, against the normal rate of Re 1 or less which would have fetched only Rs 5.8 crore. Thus, an excess revenue of Rs 8.12 crore (Rs 13.92 crore minus Rs 5.8 crore) came through the messages, while the prizes distributed amounted only to Rs 1.04 crore. ''Still, the surplus revenue comes to Rs 7.08 crore,'' the Commission said in its order, passed by its president M.B. Shah and members Rajyalakshmi Rao and Anupam Dasgupta. Star Plus TV and Bharti Airtel ''are hereby directed to deposit the said sum of Rs 1 crore with the Registrar of this Commission, who in turn, shall deposit the same to the credit of the Consumer Welfare Fund,'' they said. The Commission further ordered the two companies to pay Rs 50,000 to the petitioner, Society of Catalysts, a voluntary consumer association, as litigation costs. |
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RCF likely to get order from Tanzania
Kapurthala, September 13 Tanzanian Railways Limited’s (TRL) director Siraju Juma Kaboyonga, after his visit to RCF here, said "TRL is interested to buy quality coaches from RCF, because Indian Railways extends a better maintenance support as compared to European and American suppliers". Kaboyonga further said he was satisfied with the infrastructure and the quality of coaches manufactured by RCF and he would submit his recommendations to the board of director of TRL. A high-level Tanzanian Railways delegation headed by Siraju Juma Kaboyonga visited RCF here on Wednesday. The objective of this visit was to see infrastructure and coach manufacturing capabilities of RCF as TRL is interested in purchase of railway coaches and locomotives from India. The delegation was apprised of the modern infrastructure of RCF. They were also taken to workshop. RCF general manager S.K. Suri said they had so far manufactured about 20,000 coaches since its inception. RCF was hopeful of getting a prestigious export order in the near future, he added. RCF earned foreign currency worth Rs 70 crore by exporting 116 coaches to different foreign countries in the past three years. |
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Pak inflation hits 30-year high
Karachi, September 13 The country's Bureau of Statistics said in its August report that the consumer prices index jumped 25.33 per cent from a year earlier, after reaching 24.33 per cent in July. "We are facing super inflation in our country," said Kaiser Bengali, an economist and head of the government's poverty-alleviation based Benazir Income Support Programme. "It will take a minimum of six months to get the inflation decreased if sustainable fiscal management is applied by the government," he said. Bengali said Pakistan was facing double-digit inflation for three years. "Inflation increased during 2007-08 mainly due to increases in the oil and food prices and that happened in almost all the countries. It is a universal phenomenon," he said. New President Asif Ali Zardari, who was sworn in on Tuesday, has pledged to tackle an economy which is already dependent on foreign aid. The country's stock market has lost around 40 per cent of its value since January, in a politically volatile climate.
— AFP |
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Air travel may cost less in coming weeks
Mumbai, September 13 According to airline officials, air fares may come down slightly and passengers who book several weeks in advance may still be given deeper discounts ahead of the festival season. "ATF prices have fallen 16 per cent though no airline has passed this on to customers so far. Some in the industry are waiting to do so around Diwali," an executive of a private airline told The Tribune. Sources say, airlines are looking at various methods to cut costs. Apart from slashing commissions to travel agents, airlines are also looking at selling tickets via their own websites. Customers may be encouraged to book via the websites of airlines to avail of lower fares, say some officials. Already airline officials are talking of a cut in the fuel surcharge levied by the airlines in the wake of soaring crude prices earlier this year. Price cuts are already being seen in the international sectors. Base fares on the UK sector offered by some airlines are lower than Rs 10,000 while return tickets on the India-Australia sector is around Rs 18,000, according to reports. Fares on the Far East sector may also see a reduction in the coming weeks. Most foreign airlines charge fuel surcharges pegged at several times the base fare. However, the surcharge will be slashed sharply as crude prices decline. "At this rate people may find holidays cheaper in Bangkok than some Indian destinations," says Avinash Maheshwari, a travel agent in Mumbai. According to him, some of these destinations are reporting a fall in business due to the slowdown in the US. Thus Indians may find these places attractive as compared to local destinations. So far, airlines in India have been resisting a reduction in fares on the grounds that they have had to bear huge losses for most part of this year. However the airlines have also been hit by a sharp fall in passengers. According to information from the civil aviation ministry, the number of air travellers fell to 3.04 million in July, down 12.65 per cent from a year ago. In June this year, the number had fallen 3.8 per cent as compared to the year ago period. |
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Aviation Notes
The physical health of general aviation, managed by industrialists, and utterly neglected flying clubs in the country, is shockingly poor. Luckily, two precious lives of Sonia Gandhi and P.Chidambaram, were saved through emergency landing at Bangalore while two young lives were lost as one-engine training aircraft crashed within minutes after take-off around Hyderabad.
If there is shoddy maintenance and indifferent deployment of pilots in general aviation, there is a paucity of funds in flying clubs. Both incidents occurred because of sub-standard maintenance. Many industrialists are known to be 'penny-wise, pound-foolish'. Sonia Gandhi, UPA chairperson, and Chidambaram, finance minister, boarded the GMR VT VLN Falcon 2000 nine-seater for Erode, a small area in Tamil Nadu from Delhi. The commander noticed that some parameters were wrong and he rightly decided to make an emergency landing at Bangalore, 54 km away from the destination, Erode. Fortunately, he was near Bangalore airport which had all facilities for emergency landing. This was Sonia's second scare in the air in a year. One-engine or two-engine tiny aircraft are not as sturdy as four-engine jets. They require more attention from engineers because any minor lapse can be suicidal. This is all the more reason that the owners should provide extra priority for maintenance. The pilots should also be made to fly regularly so that they are in an excellent flying condition. The safety of passengers, particularly VVIPs, must be borne in mind while providing aircraft to them. Many precious lives like that of Madhavrao Scindia have been lost because of failure to bear this all-important condition in mind. Actually, renowned political parties like the Congress and the BJP should have their own aircraft and pilots. They should not depend upon industrialists and others who are not known to be vigilant in this regard. The recent crash of Cessna trainer aircraft at old Begampet (Hyderabad) was on account of poor maintenance. Two young lives were lost for no fault of theirs. The directorate-general of civil aviation has already made preliminary inquiry. It will make detailed inquiry and place its findings shortly. Much ado about nothing. The police jeep was not on the runway. It was, as per rules, parked at the right place in the service lane. Its headlight was on but jeep was far away from the take-off path. It was nothing but Kingfisher Airlines pilot's over-reaction and he, in panic, just aborted the take-off. According to airport officials, the air traffic controllers, seated in tower, get full view of the runway. They provide clearance only when they are 100 per cent certain that the runway is free for take-off and landing without even a minor hinderance. This being the case, it signalled the Kingfisher pilot to get air-borne. The jeep, on the VVIP duty, was lying at an authorised place and there was no breach of rule. It is futile to blame police or Delhi International Airport Limited for no reason. If the drivers are expected to know topography of the runway, so is the need of the pilots. When he was in doubt, he should have radioed ATC instead of aborting the take-off. Had he done it, he would not have delayed his flight for 20 or more minutes. There are misgivings persisting whether the new third runway will start operations, as scheduled. The airport officials are firm in their assessment. It is an excellent runway, which has been approved by those who know civil aviation for decades. It is a runway which should ease problems and reduce congestion. |
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Investor Guidance
Q: I am an NRI for the past 12 years and I have NRE savings and NRO savings and fixed deposit accounts. I do have a valid PAN card also. I have no income from India except interest earned on my NRO fixed deposits.
This year I was slightly late in filing my tax return. I understand that the last date was 31st of July. However, I have been advised that even now I can file the return under 'Belated Return" facility. Is this true? My other question is that while going through the return form, I was not able to understand the requirement of Item 24 in the form. This item is described as "Other Information (transactions reported through Annual Information Return) (Please see instruction number-9(ii) for code)". Could you elaborate on this also please? — Sundar A:
In India, the financial year runs from April to March and tax return for income earned during this period has to be filed by 31st of July. If you haven't been able to do so, you may still file your tax return till the next 31st of March. This will be known as a belated return. If any tax was payable originally, you would need to pay such tax and interest thereon @1% per month till the date that you finally pay the tax. Regarding your other question, u/s 285BA read with Rule 114E, the transactions of all persons, including NRIs undertaking any one of the following 7 specified financial transactions, equal to or over specified financial limits are required to be reported to the Department through Annual Information Return
(AIR): 1. Cash deposits in a year in any bank SB account Rs. 10 lakh If you do not have any of such transactions, you may write 'nil' in the space provided. Deduction u/s 80C
Q: Though I file my tax return every year, I face a difficulty. My total income after claiming the benefit of the deductions under Chapter-VIA (Sec. 80C to Sec. 80U) is under the tax threshold of Rs 1,50,000. Therefore, I can file Form-15G with all those who pay some income to me and apply TDS thereon, requesting them not to apply TDS. I am told that I have this right to file this Form if and only I fulfil yet another condition. Please elaborate on this other condition to enable me file the Form if I am eligible to do so. — Mundra A:
Sec. 197A read with Rule 29C provides to Residents furnishing declarations by the payees in Form-15G (Form-15H for senior citizens) in order to enable the payer make the payment without deduction of tax at source if the tax payable on his estimated total income is nil. The declaration under Form-15G can be filed only if both the following conditions are satisfied — 1. The tax on estimated total income of the applicant (after claiming deductions under Chapter VI-A related with Sec. 80C to Sec. 80U) is nil. 2. The second condition is quite complicated. It states that the aggregate of income from (i) dividend other than dividends from domestic companies, (ii) interest on securities (iii) interest other than interest on securities, and (iv) repayment of deposits under the National Saving Scheme, does not exceed the maximum amount which is not chargeable to tax. If you examine these conditions carefully, you will find that all the four avenues enumerated above have a threshold beyond which TDS is applicable. All the rest of the conditions have no thresholds. — Yes, quite complicated indeed! To mitigate the pressure on Senior Citizens arising out of these complications, the 2nd condition is not applicable to them (tax threshold Rs. 2.25 lakh). We strongly feel that if this is complicated, it is complicated both for Senior and non-senior Citizens. This declaration should be made before the very first payment during the year becomes due. If the ITO discovers a defect in the declaration, it is his duty to allow the defect to be rectified if the assessee submits a petition to rectify the defect — Vijay Hemant Finance & Estate Ltd v ITO (1999) 105Taxman519, 238ITR282(Mad). This facility of using either of the Forms is not available to NRIs. Rebate on home loan
Q: I am at present employed in a bank. I have availed a housing loan and I am claiming rebate on the housing loan installment paid by me and also on the interest. This loan is taken on Staff Housing Loan Scheme (Soft Loan) on simple interest rate. The total loan is to be repaid in 300 installments (First 200 towards principal and the next 100 towards interest). The interest charged on the loan is not debited to the loan account, but is kept in a separate account without compounding. In view of this I have few queries as under. 1) Whether interest accrued but not paid is eligible for tax rebates? 2) After giving rebate for interest on housing loan I am charged for the differential amount as perquisite tax (notional income). Whether I can claim refund by showing the tax paid on this notional - perquisite income as notional interest paid? If yes or no, can your goodselves please explain the logic or principle behind the same? — Milind M.
Bijoor A: 1. The phrase used for availability of deduction is interest payable and not interest paid. Therefore, if the finance company collects the loan first and interest later, the borrower will be able to claim the rebate u/s 80C (on principal repayment) on a larger amount and also claim deduction of interest u/s 24 on accrual basis. The interest payment can wait until the principal amount is collected. Some employers, especially PSUs and banks, follow this practice. Needless to observe that the deduction obtained on the basis of accrual cannot be again claimed when the interest is paid actually. 2. Since you must have obtained the loan on a subsidized interest basis, the differential amount of interest is being subjected to tax as a perquisite. To rephrase your question, since you are anyway paying tax on the deemed interest (additional interest which is added to income as perk) you should be allowed a deduction u/s 24 for the same. The matter is not free from doubt. Deduction u/s 24 is available on the actual interest paid or payable on a housing loan. Though you are not actually paying the higher interest, the law requires you to pay tax on the benefit you derive. Our opinion is that the ITO will not find your contention tenable. The authors may be contacted at wonderlandconsultants@yahoo.com |
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