The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	Volkswagen rolls out Polo Shivani Bhakoo Tribune News Service Pune, December 12 Volkswagen India started the production of Polo at Chakan plant near Pune here today. Chief Minister Ashok Chavan along with Volkswagen officials formally rolled out the company's first locally manufactured car in India. Dr Jochem Heizmann, member, Board of Management, Volkswagen AG, said today that it marked a milestone in journey together into a successful future for the Volkswagen Group in India. The company had already received more than 1,30,000 orders since the new model was launched in May this year. The Pune plant was the key element in Volkswagen India strategy, informed Joerg Mueller, Volkswagen Group chief representative, India, and president and managing director Volkwagen India. He further added that the plant had an annual capacity of around 1,10,000 cars. With a total volume of Rs 3,800 crore, it was the largest investment to date by a German company in India. Though the price, colour, safety measures and other details of Polo will be announced in January, 2010, Heizmann said. “This is for the first time that we are celebrating the roll-out of our new model together with the families of employees not only from India but also from other parts of world as well", he said. Heizmann said the company aimed to achieve a market share of 8-10 per cent in the next 4-5 years with the three Volkswagen Group brands — Audi, Skoda and Volkswagen.
	Exploring tie-up with Suzuki Volkswagen was exploring "areas of cooperation" with Suzuki Motor in India for small cars. "We need a car below 'Polo' to extend our market share in India. We are happy about our cooperation with Suzuki Motor which has just started and will look for common approaches and synergies on long term strategic issues," Jochem Heizmann, Volkswagen Group Board member told reporters. Volkswagen will buy 19.9 per cent stake in Maruti's Japanese parent Suzuki for about $2.5 billion (over Rs 11,500 crore), a move aimed at enhancing its presence in small car segment in Asia. — PTI
	Aviation Notes Rahul’s Chopper Row Much ado about nothing by K.R. Wadhwaney A mountain has been made out of a molehill. A straight-forward helicopter transportation exercise in Sitapur (UP) by Rahul Gandhi has been rendered controversial by ill-informed people through loose and irresponsible talking. Two pilots, Capt S.S.Yadav and Capt J.K.Misra, were derostered for not adhering to laid down procedures and accused of violation of the visual flight rules while flying Pawan Hans Dauphin helicopter. The in-depth investigations reveal that the allegations were wrong as the pilots had neither committed any violation nor they had erred in their duties. The uncalled for trouble surfaced when UP Congress chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi, in her needless exuberance, told mediapersons that “Rahul had undertaken operation in zero visibility and risked his life to fulfil a public commitment”. Rahul, himself a pilot (his father Rajiv was a regular flyer in the Indian Airlines and his uncle Sanjay was also a pilot), clarified the next morning, emphasising that there was no violation and gave a clean chit to the pilots. The fact is that the rules for “dawn flying” and “dusk flying” are unambiguous in the civil aviation manual. The aircraft, including helicopter, are sturdy. If there are accidents, occasionally fatal, they are mostly because of sheer carelessness and sometime poor maintenance. This has happened unless the DGCA places a gag on them for “distributing fiction instead of facts”. To say that the visibility was zero, when it actually was two kilometres, was a serious violation and those, who spread this rumour, should be dealt with severely so that the civil aviation in the country does not get needless “negative publicity”. This is exactly what has happened in the incident at Sitapur. There are several cases lying unsolved in Rajiv Bhavan, headquarters of the Indian civil aviation. A day later, at Bhubaneswar, President Pratibha Patil had a narrow escape when rotor blades of an IAF MI-17 helicopter from Puri hit the roof of an abandoned hangar at the airport. The copter’s three rotor blades got badly damaged. The human fallibility is said to be the cause for this incident. But what is causing concern to the aviation authorities is as to why are such incidents increasing?
	Investor Guidance Once submitted, Form 15G can’t be withdrawn by A.N. Shanbhag Q : I have submitted Form 15G/15H for two separate FDs in SBI and ICICI at the start of current financial year, which I want to withdraw now, as my income has increased recently. But both banks have informed me that Form 15G/15H cannot be withdrawn once submitted. Shall I start paying more tax out of my salary income? Alternatively suggest some other remedial steps. — P. S Maggo A : The banks are absolutely right in refusing to allow you to withdraw the Form 15G or 15H (but not both simultaneously). You should include the interest income while paying advance tax for the year. Your income tax returns will also include this income along with your other income. REC Bond interest Q : I need a clarification from you regarding the tax implications of REC Bond interest. On the sale of my property in India, I invested in REC Bonds in January 2007. These will mature in January, 2010. According to REC records, they issued interest warrants in July, 2007, and July, 2008. These warrants were not received by me or by my bank even though an ECS code was assigned for my account. Bank statements and Form-16A for TDS for 2007 and 2008 do not show any interest payment from REC and was, therefore, not reported to Income Tax Dept. If REC eventually pays the cumulative interest before March, 2010, after their investigation and this is reflected in the bank TDS Form 16A for 2010, I will be reporting this income in my income tax returns in 2010. My question is whether there will be any penalty imposed for not reporting income not received although due in the particular taxation years 2007 and 2008. The IT website does not provide any information on this scenario. — Mohan Rao A: You can pay tax on this interest as and when the problem gets solved and you receive the interest. It will be paying tax on a receipt basis instead of accrual basis. The tax department is unlikely to levy any penalty on you since you were facing a genuine difficulty. You will have to follow up with REC assiduously since it appears that a wrong ECS code has been supplied to the system and the interest is being possibly credited to some one else’s account. Tax holidays for migrants Q: I am a Retired CPMF officer. My present age is 63+. My gross income for 2009-10 will be around Rs 3.25 lakh, which includes besides pension, interest on PO MIS, interest on FD in a nationalised bank, second and final installment of revised pension arrears, bonus amounting to Rs. 50,000 received from PO on maturity of MIS matured in June 09 and SB a/c interest. I spend approximately Rs 3,500 monthly on medicines, lab tests, doctor’s fee etc on self and my wife [a housewife], while I receive a mere sum of Rs 100 as medical allowance per month. I pay an annual LIC premium of Rs 32,674. After depositing other Rs 67,500 in some tax saving scheme, to make it a total saving of Rs 1 lakh, I presume I shall still have to pay around Rs 6,000 as income tax. Please advise how I can save the same. Incidentally, I am a migrant from Kashmir valley resettled in Jammu after my retirement from active service. I understand govt has declared tax holiday for Kashmiri migrants, exempting them from payment of any Income tax till further instructions. Please elucidate. — Kanaya Dhar A: We are not aware of any exemption extended to migrants from Kashmir valley. Yes, there is a benefit u/s 10(26) but it is available if both of the following conditions must be satisfied - 1. The person must be a member of scheduled tribe as defined by Article 366(25) of the Constitution of India and, 2. He should be residing any area in the state of Nagaland, Manipur, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram or districts of North Cachar Hills, Mikir Hills, Khasi Hills, Jaintia Hills and Garo Hills or in the Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir. In that case, any income which accrues or arises to him: (a) from any source in the areas or states aforesaid (b) by way dividend or interest on securities from all over India does not form of total income. Property sale Q: I was wondering if you can give me some information regarding the following scenario. My in-laws transferred their home in India to their three children who are US citizens. This was done in 1996. The siblings now want to sell the property. Will they owe any money on the sale to the government and they be able to bring the proceeds from the sale to the US in dollars? What are the implications? — Satinder Ajrawat A: Whenever the property is sold, there will be capital gains tax liability. It is not clear how the property was transferred in 1996 - whether it was a gift or a sale at arm’s length. If it was the former, then the cost of the property would be that paid by your in-laws. If it was the latter, the cost would be the actual cost paid by the purchasers. Similar principle would be applied for indexing the cost. The capital gains would be calculated by subtracting the indexed cost from the sale value. The net sale proceeds may be remitted to the US after paying the tax as above. The authors may be contacted at wonderlandconsultants@yahoo.com
	Corporate News JK cement to set up plant in Jhajjar Ravinder Saini Jhajjar, December 12 Emerging quickly as "Power Hub" with two mega power generating projects, Jharli village of this district has achieved yet another milestone with the vital decision of establishing a cement plant on its soil by JK Laxmi Cement. S. Chokse, director of the company, has recently shot off a missive to MP from Rohtak Deepender Hooda in this regard wherein he has mentioned that Haryana is one of the developed states of the country and it is a matter of proud for the company to set up its cement plant here. “The entire Haryana state has been marching ahead in the field of industrial development. In Jharli, on commissioning of two power projects having electricity generation capacity of 1,500 MW and 1,320 MW, a number of downstream projects will also come up,” the MP said, adding that following the industrial-friendly policies of the state government, Haryana had become a preferred destination for investment. Kingfisher flights for Nepal Kathmandu: The Nepal government has permitted Kingfisher Airlines to start air service between Nepal and India. As per the recently concluded air service agreement between Nepal and India, Kingfisher was given the permission to connect Kathmandu with Delhi and Mumbai. The airlines company submitted its proposal to operate seven flights a week in the Delhi-Kathmandu-Delhi and Mumbai- Kathmandu-Mumbai sector, according to the Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation. — PTI