The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	Express business visas for Indians: Canada Toronto, November 21 Canada has announced a new liberal business visa regime for Indian businessmen to catch up with other industrialised nations in boosting trade with India. The new visa regime was announced by the government here close on the heels of the visit of Prime Minister Stephen Harper to India. Under the new system, Immigration Minister Jason Kenney said applications from Indian citizens for business visas would be cleared within 24 hours. The express visa service offers multiple entry visas to applicants. Along with the liberal visa regime, Toronto has also announced that a new nuclear cooperation pact and a mutual investment protection agreement was on the fast track. The nuclear agreement will pave the way for supply of enriched uranium for India's civil nuclear energy needs. “We’re actively negotiating a nuclear cooperation pact and have an investment protection agreement, and have established one of our most widespread overseas networks in India, with three new trade offices opened by our government since 2006,” Kenney said. “We have also decided to double the number of Indian students coming to Canada,” the minister said, adding that the country was working with India on several initiatives aimed at boosting bilateral trade, currently at a “ridiculously low” level, to around $15 billion in next five years. The minister was speaking at a function last night organised by the Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce . Meanwhile, Ontario Minister of Government Services Harinder Takhar commended the contributions made by Indo-Canadians in the economic development of Canada and said India's rapidly growing economy and its commitment to expand investment would provide significant opportunities for investors in a variety of sectors, including infrastructure, education, and energy. — PTI
	Aviation Notes Weather or not by K.R. Wadhwaney The foggy season is expected to be longer, tougher and more troublesome than before. All civil aviation agencies have been alerted, but no matter what measures are taken, blues of the passengers will be unending. The Directorate-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has issued a fresh set of guidelines to the airlines and Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) to maintain continuity and punctuality in flight operations and reduce inconvenience to passengers. The guidelines are timely but how effective they will be is difficult to say at this juncture. The uncertainty stays. The foremost guideline is segregation of CAT-III operations from the usual flight schedules. The airlines have been directed to have a separate CAT-III schedule for flights between 5 am and 10 am. This is important, but there are several unforeseen problems that have not been addressed despite the DGCA warnings to the airlines. There are very few aircraft fitted with CAT-III technology and even fewer commanders trained to land and take-off when visibility is abnormally low. Apart from these two problems, the sophisticated ILS often fails to function meticulously and in dense fog part of the new runway is not clearly visible owing to its ‘temple structure’. Efficient functioning of the air traffic controllers (ATCs) is another vital area that is causing concern to the DGCA. The number of ATCs familiar with the sensitive technology is limited. The DGCA has also impressed upon the airlines and the DIAL that regardless of the problems they must take effective measures to see that the passengers are not subjected to any inconvenience. Apart from providing the latest flight information, they should be provided complimentary snacks to the already harassed passengers. During foggy days (from mid November to early February), the flights are often diverted to nearby airports that have also been directed to stay in readiness for handling unscheduled operations. The DGCA’s preparedness may be timely. But whether the passengers’ woes will reduce or will continue to be nobody’s concern as before, time alone will tell.
	RBI directive to money changers Tribune News Service Chandigarh, November 21 In a bid to curb money laundering through authorised money changers, the RBI has asked them to furnish report to the Financial Intelligence Unit- India (FIU-Ind) on all suspicious transactions. The directions have been issued by the apex bank, asking the money changers to report all suspicious transactions, including attempted transactions within seven days of the transaction being affected. The RBI has said: “The money changers should furnish report to FIU-IND in respect of their money changing activities within seven days of arriving at a conclusion that a transaction or series of transactions integrally connected are of suspicious nature.” It has also warned that non compliance with the guidelines would attract penal action. It may be noted that FIU- IND was set up by the government as the central national agency responsible for receiving, processing, analysing and disseminating information relating to suspect financial transactions. It is an independent body reporting to the Economic Intelligence Council, headed by the Finance Minister. These guidelines come in wake of reports asking the money changers to be cautious about remittances and other financial instruments received from certain countries in West Asia and Africa because of deficiencies in anti-money laundering legislation/combating of financial terrorism regime in there. The US State Department had earlier suggested that given the number of terrorist attacks in India and the fact that in India hawala is directly linked to terrorist financing, India should prioritise cooperation with international initiatives that provide increased transparency in alternative remittance systems.
	Investor Guidance NRIs can continue with insurance policies in India by A.N. Shanbhag Q I have recently acquired UK citizenship. I have two LIC policies that I took when I was an Indian citizen. I have an OCI now. Can I still continue with these policies or should I surrender them? — Naveen Soni A Yes, you can continue the policies. You will have to fill out a form to inform about your status converting to that of NRI. This form is available in any LIC branch and send to your registered branch. ULIP premium Q I had invested Rs 50,000 (premium per annum) in a ULIP when I was working. The policy is in the name of my 4-year-old son. I had quit my job to take care of him and I continue to pay the premiums. Can my husband declare this premium for tax exemption, as the rest of the premiums will go from his income? Kindly suggest any way for claiming tax exemption as I intend to take a break of at least three years from my job. — Leela Kapoor A The deduction under Section 80C is available in respect of premiums paid to any life insurer to the individual - the wife or husband and any child of such individual. In other words, if your husband pays the premium for the FY, the deduction will be available to him irrespective of the fact you were paying the premiums in the earlier years. House property Q I have let out a rooftop of my building to a mobile company and am getting rent for the same. Am I eligible for 30% deduction for income tax purpose as in the case of house property? — Gaurav Jindal A Rooftop is not a house. Therefore, you are not eligible for any concessions related with housing properties. Home loan Q I had purchased a flat along with my father. For this purpose, I had taken a loan the EMI for which is Rs 3,515 per month. In August, I purchased another flat where I am the co-owner along with my wife. For this I took another housing loan, the EMI for which is Rs 9,311. The first flat is in the custody of my father and I occupy second flat. Can I claim deduction of loan instalments for both flats as well as notional interest? — SS Arole A In the case of joint holding, if one of the holders has paid 100% of the purchase consideration and the other is included only for convenience, the person who has paid the entire consideration is treated as the holder of the house for tax purposes. The same rule can be applied in respect of housing loans. On the other hand, where more than one person jointly owns a house and the share of each one can be separately ascertained, each co-owner is to be separately assessed in respect of the portion of the income from the house. Each owner can claim the benefit under Section 24 for interest on loans and under Section 80C for capital repayment against the loans taken individually. In the case of joint loans, it is necessary that the share in the loan of each one is separately ascertainable and the exemption is available in the ratio of the liability in the loan. Where a capital asset is jointly owned by more than one person and the share of each one can be separately ascertained, each co-owner is to be separately assessed in respect of the portion of capital gains arising from the transfer of asset - CG Ghanshamdas vs CIT (1979) 116ITR212 (Mad.). The same rule can be applied in respect of deductions under Section 24 for interest on loans and under Section 80C for capital repayment. IT refunds Q I am a US citizen and have filed income tax for 2005-2006, 2006-2007, 2007-2008, and 2008-2009. I have refunds due for each of the years, but have not heard from the IT Department. Can the refunds (when they come through) be deposited in my NRO account in India? — IS Shah A Refunds of income tax are notoriously late and many others have also had similar experiences. Active follow up has been known to succeed and since as an NRI by definition you will not be physically present in India, you could employ someone - normally a chartered accountant - for following up on the refunds due. The refunds, once they come through, may be credited to the NRO account. Education loan Q My wife is doing MBA and I have been paying her tuition fee by taking education loan. Am I eligible for tax rebate? — Balraj Singh A As per Section 80E, interest paid out of income chargeable to tax on loan taken by an individual from a bank, a notified financial institution or any approved charitable institution under Section 10(23C) or Section 80G (2a) for higher education is deductible for eight successive years starting from the FY in which the assessee starts repaying the interest. In other words, the loan repayment is not eligible but the interest payment eligibility has no ceiling. The benefit is available on loans taken by the student himself as well as for the benefit of spouse and children. The recent FA09 has simplified the definition of higher education to mean all fields of studies (including vocational studies) pursued after Senior Secondary Examination. Since you pass all the tests mentioned above, you should be able to claim the benefit of deduction under this section. The authors may be contacted at wonderlandconsultants@yahoo.com
	CBI arrests Satyam’s audit head New Delhi, November 21 The CBI today arrested Satyam's internal audit head VS Prabhakar Gupta for allegedly fabricating account books, just days before it is due to file a second chargesheet in the multi-crore fraud at the IT firm. The CBI spokesman here said the agency had arrested Gupta, head of internal audit of Satyam Computer (now Mahindra Satyam), after his “role came to light now”. The spokesman said he had been arrested after being "arraigned as an additional accused (he was not named in the FIR filed in January). He has been produced before the court and has been remanded to judicial custody till November 26." While the spokesman refused to divulge any further information about Gupta, sources in the agency claimed that the auditor had helped in falsifying accounts including inflating the overseas employees pay bill. The arrest comes just few days ahead of the CBI preparing to file a second chargesheet, as the team probing the case returned from Mauritius with some bank details from the island nation. The CBI team had gone to probe the alleged diversion of funds by disgraced Satyam founder B Ramalinga Raju to Mauritius for re-routing it back to fictitious firms set up by the accused in India, the sources said. — PTI