The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	Hummer goes to China Detroit, October 10 Hummer, the off-road vehicle that once epitomised America's love for hulking trucks, is now in the hands of a Chinese heavy equipment maker. General Motors Co and Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Corp finally signed the much-anticipated deal for GM to sell the brand yesterday. Tengzhong will get an 80 per cent stake in the company, while Hong Kong investor Suolang Duoji, who indirectly owns a big stake in Tengzhong through an investment company, will get 20 per cent. The investors will also get Hummer's nationwide dealer network. Financial terms were not disclosed, although a person briefed on the deal said the sale price was around $150 million. The person did not want to be identified because the terms were being kept private. GM's bankruptcy filing last summer said the brand with military roots could bring in $500 million or more. Suolang Duoji also is the controlling shareholder and chairman of Lumena Resources Corp, a Hong Kong listed mining company. GM and Tengzhong said in a statement that the transaction still must be approved by the US and Chinese governments. Chinese regulators initially expressed reservations about Tengzhong's ability to run such an enterprise. —AP
	Honda threatens to shut Manesar plant New Delhi, October 10 Plagued by labour unrest, Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India has threatened to shut its factory at Manesar in Haryana and move to an alternate location, although the workers' union has denied that they were on strike. “Our production has come down to 50 per cent in the last two months due to go-slow strike by workers. No company can go on like this forever. We have requested the state authorities for help. In case things don't improve we will have no option but to shut the operations (at Manesar) and look for a more conducive place to do business,” Honda Motorcycle and Scooter (India) vice-president (General Affairs) Mohan Deepak said. Deepak said the company has also approached the Punjab and Haryana High Court seeking to direct the workers' union not to disrupt normal production and prosecute those who have violated law. The matter will come up for hearing next week. HMSI Employees Union president Ashok Yadav, however, denied that the workers were on strike and said the decline in production was due to non-availability of components as some supplying factories were on strike. “Production at our factory is low but it is not that we are on strike or we are going slow. The ongoing labour strike in Rico, Sunbeam and some other ancillary companies have led to drop in component supplies,” Yadav said. After the violent strike at HMSI that rocked Gurgaon in 2005, the company and the workers union had signed a long-term agreement in 2006, which expired this July. The workers and the management are re-negotiating the terms and conditions. Also, Haryana Labour Commissioner has been engaged to arrive at a solution. Deepak claimed that about 100-odd workers have prevented installing a third production line under the instruction of the union and also even threatened engineers and managers who tried to carry out the work. He said due to the strike, the company's production had come down to half of its daily capacity of 4,200 units. HMSI, has so far invested Rs 1,000 crore in India and has an annual capacity of 10 lakh units, which it had planned to increase to 15 lakh units in the next three years. — PTI
	Aviation Notes What ails Air India? by K.R. Wadhwaney An exaggerated ego and discontentment among pilots have been main causes of Air India's ever multiplying blues. The edgy pilots have turned irrational following cuts in perks and incentive allowances. Their decisions scream of their lack of maturity. The analysts are of the view that whatever may be the “behavioural deficiencies” of the commanders and the “army of staff”, Air India's woes will reduce only when the government brings about political and bureaucratic changes in the top set up. In the recent captain-cabin crew spat in mid-air on a flight from Sharjah to Delhi, the pilots are more to blame than the air hostess, although flight- purser was guilty of showing his aggression. This led to the pilots damaging their reputation. Initial cause for the misunderstanding was the flight-purser, holding a pilot's licence, declining to the wishes of the captains. As has been customary, the hostess, accompanied by the purser, offered refreshments to the pilots in the cock-pit cabin as the aircraft cruised to the auto-pilot height. Shockingly, the pilot shouted at the air hostess using abusive language. The uncalled for and undignified rebuff was too much for the cabin crew to digest. Both air hostess and purser protested. Their objection led to an argument. The confrontation followed and then there was a brawl in front of the passengers of the economy class. The pilots have indeed been exonerated of the allegation of molesting the air hostess as pushing does not mean molestation, says the inquiry committee. Similarly, at no stage both pilots left the cock-pit unattended. But the brawl and the pilots getting rattled up could have endangered the flight. Safety of the passengers was compromised. This is a very serious offence, unworthy of pilots working in the national carrier.
	Investor Guidance Mutual funds dividend tax free by A.N. Shanbhag Q I want to invest in mutual funds. Please update me regarding the various taxes applicable to MF investments. — Patil A Your query is too much general in nature. Nevertheless we shall try to provide an answer with a hope that it will satisfy you. STT is payable on transactions in equities traded on a recognised stock exchange in India. There are following three tax concessions on such transactions: a) Dividend is tax-free in the hands of the investor in all cases - equities as well as all schemes of MFs. However, there is dividend distribution tax (DDT) at the rate of 16.995 per cent in case of equities and at the rate of 14.165 per cent payable by the debt-based MF scheme before the dividend is paid to the investor. Any money market or liquid scheme of MFs suffers DDT of 28.325 per cent. b) The long-term capital gain (LTCG) for shares sold on recognised stock exchanges and equity-based units of MF is exempt and, therefore, cannot be set-off against any other losses, including the carried forward losses of yesteryears. Consequently, long-term capital loss (LTCL) is also exempt and is not available for any set-off c) The short-term capital gain (STCG) for the same enjoys concessional flat rate of tax at the rate of 15.45 per cent. Equity-based MF schemes (65 per cent or more exposure to equities and equity-related instruments) are unique in enjoying non-applicability of DDT besides the three concessions mentioned above. In the case of ELSS, there is an additional benefit of deduction u/s 80C. Where LTCG and STCG is taxed at concessional rates, the assessee will not get any deduction u/s 80C and 80D against these gains, which will be treated as a separate block. House property Q I am working in the private sector. I also own a house (loan from a bank) in the city of my employment that has been given on rent as I am staying with my parents. My employer is not allowing me the set-off of the loss of house property from my salary. — Jaspal Singh A Where the house property is rented out, the entire amount of interest payable is deductible i.e. the ceiling of Rs 1, 50,000 does not apply. In such cases, where the interest deduction is higher, some employers have the practice of not allowing the deduction through salary payroll. That being said, the rules dealing with TDS on salary do not expressly disallow the higher deduction. It is not clear from your query whether your employer is not permitting the deduction on account of the above mentioned reason or because you are staying in rented property in the same city that you own a house. Note, that here too there is no restriction on you. You can stay in a rented property in spite of the fact that you own a house in the same city that you work in. In other words, you would be eligible for HRA deduction as well as the interest deduction. You have two courses of actions: a) Claim the deduction through filing your returns. You will get a refund from the department. b) Make a complaint to the department against your employer. Proceeds from land sale Q I am a permanent resident of Canada since 1987, my husband expired in 2003. According to his will, I and my son will get an equal share of his agriculture land in India. The land was sold in early 2009 and proceeds were deposited as fixed deposits. Please let me know if my son and I can carry the proceeds to Canada. Kindly also tell what is the procedure and the authorities to which I should correspond for exchange of money. — Harbans Kaur A Yes, you can remit the proceeds to Canada. You do not need to correspond with any authority as such, just let your bank know that you would like to remit the proceeds to your bank account in Canada. You would be required to provide the bank with a declaration/undertaking the format of which the bank will provide you. Along with the undertaking, you would require a certificate from an Indian chartered accountant certifying the authenticity and legality of the funds and taxes due, if any, have been paid. Once you submit this paperwork to the bank, they will remit the funds through normal banking channels to an account of your choice in Canada. The authors may be contacted at wonderlandconsultants@yahoo.com