The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	Need to regulate market but no protectionism: Pranab Washington, September 5 India has said when there was a need to regulate the financial market, the same should not be used to devise any kind of protectionism. “We shall have to strike a balance. First of all, I would like to... in the name of the financial regulation and to regulate the markets and as I started off, I mentioned protectionism need not come. Yes, there is a need of regulating the financial market,” Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said in an interview to CNN international. “At the other side of the picture, these instruments need not be used to devise protectionism in some forms. Therefore, there too, we shall have to keep in view the federal reserves — the larger social interests — interests of the society as a whole, not fragmented and fractured internally,” he said. Noting that there is no consensus among major economies on the lessons learnt from the current global economic crisis, Mukherjee said: “But if we look at the way G-20 responded and we have ourselves been made to address only those issues where there is the possibility of consensus.” The Finance Minister felt that G-20 should not pick up those issues where consensus is elusive. “That there should not be, in the name of financial agreement...it should not be too much constructionist policies in the grab of another form of protectionism,” he said. Russia, China, Brazil endorse India’s stand LONDON: India's stand that protectionism remains a real threat to the global economy and emerging economies need to guard against tendencies in some developed nations to extend it beyond trade to financial markets and investment has been endorsed by Russia, China and Brazil. A joint communique issued at the end of the two-hour meeting of the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) countries’ finance ministers here yesterday asserted that “protectionism remains a real threat to the global economy and should be avoided, both in direct and indirect forms”. The communique also emphasised that the reform of international financial institutions was crucial to ensuring a stable and balanced global economy. “For the IMF and the World Bank Group, the main governance problem, which severely undermines their legitimacy, is the unfair distribution of quotas, shares and voting power. Priority should be given to a substantial shift of quotas and shares in favour of emerging markets and developing countries,” the communique said. “We propose the setting of a target for that shift of the order of 7 per cent in the IMF and 6 per cent in the World Bank Group so as to reach an equitable distribution of voting power between advanced and developing countries," it said. The BRIC countries expressed their support for an open and merit-based selection of IMF and World Bank management. G20 tackles bank pay, lending rules G20 finance leaders pledged on Saturday to keep economic life-support packages in place until a recovery is firmly secured, but reached no deal on putting limits on bankers' pay. The finance ministers and central bankers meeting in London agreed fiscal and monetary policy would stay “expansionary” until recovery from the worst financial crisis since World War II was certain, a draft of their joint statement said. The global economic outlook is certainly a lot better since leaders’ last meeting in April, but policymakers are worried about derailing that recovery by pulling the plug too soon. “We will continue to implement decisively our necessary financial support measures and expansionary monetary and fiscal policies consistent with price stability and long-term fiscal sustainability until a recovery is firmly secured,” the draft said. With politicians looking for someone to blame for the recession, the rhetoric leading up to the meeting had been directed firmly at bankers and their lavish multi-million dollar bonuses. But they could not agree on putting an actual cap on bonuses as had been advocated by some countries. Instead, they agreed to create a global structure for imposing tighter controls on pay at financial institutions to discourage bankers from making the kind of risky bets that started the crisis back in August 2007. — PTI/Reuters
	NTPC moves apex court against RIL New Delhi, September 5 State-run power PSU NTPC today moved the Supreme Court challenging the Bombay High Court judgement that allowed it to amend its petition on the gas dispute. A ministerial group had approved $4.2 per mmBtu as the value of gas from RIL's KG-D6 fields, but before that the company had won a contract to supply 12 million cubic metres of gas per day to NTPC's Kawas and Gandhar projects with a bid of $2.34 per mmBtu in 2004. The government has separately filed a petition in the Ambani brothers' gas dispute, saying it alone had the right to approve gas price. “The high court failed to appreciate that the amendment substantially cited the Central government and its decision to be the chief cause of inability to perform the General Sales & Purchase Agreement,” NTPC said, pointing that this (amendment) was a new case and ought not to have been permitted. It said (RIL's) amendment was based on an affidavit filed by the government in the Bombay High Court in February, but without regard to the empowered Group of Ministers' contention that “...the decision taken in the eGoM meeting will be without prejudice to the NTPC Vs RIL and RNRL Vs RIL case that are separately subjudice...” It may be recalled that RNRL is also fighting a case against RIL to get gas at $2.34 per mmBtu, a price substantially lower than the $4.2 per mmBtu approved by the eGoM and both the parties have moved Supreme Court challenging two separate decisions of the Bombay High Court. Even the government has moved a petition on the RIL-RNRL issue and the apex court has decided to commence hearing on the matter on October 20. The government, which filed its petition on July 18, had subsequently sought amendment saying its price approval was without prejudice to the NTPC-RIL case. The government's interlocutory application earlier this week had also mentioned that the Ministry of Law had clarified during the eGoM meeting in August 2007 that “the two cases between RIL vs NTPC and RIL vs RNRL were separate contracts between the supplier and different companies. We have to keep these cases beyond the scope of our deliberations and take a decision in general on NELP pricing issue.” As per the SLP, the Mukesh Ambani firm knew the EGoM's decisions on the pricing of gas on October 10, 2007, which was prior to filing of the written statement on October 31, 2007. The PSU said RIL had sought amendment not only after a lapse of almost a year-and-a-half, but even after filing its written statement and after the hearing in the matter was expedited and the trial had already commenced. — PTI
	Ambani helipad gets green signal Mumbai: Brushing aside objections by environmentalists, a Maharashtra government panel has cleared the decks for construction of a helipad atop 'Seawind', the Ambani residence in cuff parade area of south Mumbai. The Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority (MCZMA), has given the go ahead to the proposal after the government made necessary amendments to the Development Control (DC) regulations last year to permit helipads on top of buildings, paving the way for the 'Seawind' helipad plan. "The helipad has been granted clearance by the authority," environment secretary Valsa Nair Singh said. Environmentalists had raised objections to the plan on the grounds that it would lead to violation of the provisions of the Environment Protection Act, 1986. The MCZMA heard the matter on August 24 after which the proposal was cleared, Singh said. — PTI
	Aviation Notes by K.R. Wadhwaney No lessons learnt, crashes continue Aviation sector has plunged into an abysmal pit of despair. If civil aviation has been languishing at bottom because of unprofessional handling, the general (corporate and helicopter) aviation has hit “turbulence” as yet another noble soul, YS Rajasekhar Reddy, Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, and four others perished in the Bell-430 helicopter crash on Wednesday. A five-member committee has been formed to institute the probe. The deadline is to complete the enquiry within two months. But what will be its outcome? Will it be the same as has been the case in several other similar probes like those of Sanjay Gandhi and Madhavrao Scindia i.e. “collect dust on bulky files”. Had the recommendations been heeded, chance are lives of Reddy and four others could have been saved. Exact cause of the tragedy will be known after the probe is completed. In the meantime, the team is currently busy rummaging through the debris of the crash and secure the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder. The possible causes associated with such tragedies are: 1. Indifferent maintenance of aircraft, 2. Unavailability of spare parts, 3. Disproportionate utilisation of aircraft, 4. Ignoring weather conditions, 5. Indiscipline persisting in the cadre of commanders, 6. Paucity of flight inspectors in the DGCA, 7. Little rapport among three vital agencies of corporates/politicians, commanders and engineers, and most importantly, 8. Both civil and general aviations have generally been in the grasp of non-technical officials who are more paper-administrators than flyers or aircraft engineers. Flying is a very intricate and complex section and its control should be given to technical people and not to general administrative officials, no matter how competent. According to a study, there are 275 helicopter operations but only one flight inspector. The analysts say there should be about 10 flight inspectors with two each in five regional headquarters. They also maintain that many of the DGCA's problems will be sorted out if the Flight Inspection Directorate (FID) is strengthened, as was the case about two decades ago when Air Marshal Denzor Keeler was the chief of the directorate. The FID was established at the behest of the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.
	Investor Guidance by A.N. Shanbhag PPF amount can’t be attached Q. I have came to know from one of my friends that PPF account cannot be sealed even if there is a legal issue with the IT Department. Is this true? — Shailesh Patel A. As per Section 9 of the PPF Act, amount standing to the credit of any subscriber in the fund shall not be liable to attachment under any decree or order of any court in respect of any debt or liability incurred by the subscriber. However, income tax authorities can attach PPF accounts to recover tax dues. Mutual fund Q. I have invested in mutual funds for the past couple of years. This year my consultant is demanding a fee of Rs 60,000 as SEBI has instructed them to do so. Is it true? If so, is there any alternative method to get around it? So far I have made 15% profit from last three years. I have not withdrawn any investment. If I withdraw, I have to pay income tax. If I bring back money to Canada, I would incur a loss due to difference of exchange. — Gopal Koushik A. Mutual funds (MFs) used to charge an entry load to the investors and pay commission to distributors for bringing business into their fold. Average rate of such entry load for equity funds was around 2.25%. However, for new fund offers or tax saving schemes, the percentage used to be higher. Now, SEBI has ordered MFs not to charge any entry load for rewarding the distributors. SEBI desires the distributors should collect their rewards from the clients directly. Your financial consultant was getting his compensation from you indirectly without you realising that the entry load charged to you by the MF was essentially for paying him his commission. Now SEBI has closed this channel and asked the consultants to negotiate with the client and collect their fees directly from them based upon their service level. Form 16 Q. I retired in January 2009 and will be out of India till September 7, 2009. I have not received my Form 16 yet. I want your guidance for filing return electronically. Can I file in September and if not, how can I submit my return? — Dr Hooda A. Though the regular due date of filing your tax return is by July 31, 2009, you can file your return before March 31, 2010, provided you have paid your taxes and nothing is due from you to the exchequer. You can also file your returns electronically. Fortunately, no annexures are required to be filed along with the returns. You will have to get the original Form 16 in due course and keep it with you. The authors may be contacted at wonderlandconsultants@yahoo.com