The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	Finance panel for single GST of 12 pc New Delhi, December 16 The 13th Finance Commission task force on the proposed Goods and Services Tax (GST) has recommended a single, 12 per cent rate on all items and suggested deferring implementation of the new tax regime by six months from April to October next year. Out of the GST of 12 per cent, states should receive seven per cent while the rest five per cent should go to the Centre's kitty, said the task force. The recommendations, however, are at variance with the Discussion Paper prepared by the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers which had suggested four rates, including a separate category for exempt items. The government has planned to introduce the GST, which will replace excise duty and service tax at the Central level and Value Added Tax at the state level, besides the cess, surcharges and local taxes being levied on good and services, from April 1, 2010. The task force has said the GST be introduced from October 1, 2010. The Empowered Committee, which is yet to take a final call on GST tax rates, is meeting here under the chairmanship of Asim Dasgupta. "It (GST) will have four slabs. I hope the rates will be released in the next 15 days," Dasgupta had said. The task force also suggested the central government to transfer a minimum of Rs 6,000 crore per annum over the next 5 years, totalling Rs 30,000 crore, to the GST Compensation Fund if states follow the roadmap and introduce the GST. It said the implementation of the GST could be postponed as states like Rajasthan, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh have said they are not prepared enough to implement the new tax regime. The task force, headed by Arbind Modi, joint secretary in the Finance Ministry, said both GST and excise duty should be levied on emission fuels, tobacco products and alcohol. While GST paid on input should be reimbursed, there should not be any reimbursement for taxes paid on inputs in case of excise duty on these items. Industrial fuels, however, should be subjected only to GST, it said. The task force also suggested bringing transactions in real estate and other properties under the GST fold. It said ordinarily there should not be any exemption, but certain items may be included in the exemption list. This may include any unprocessed food articles covered under the public distribution system but sold through any outlet. The proposal is significant in view of the food inflation running over 19 per cent in November last week. The task force also said the exemption list may also include all government-provided public services, including civil administration, health services, education services, defence, para-military, police, intelligence and other departments. — PTI
	Gas Row Pact was for REL, not RNRL: RIL R Sedhuraman Legal Correspondent New Delhi, December 16 Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) today contended in the Supreme Court that its promoter Mukesh Ambani had agreed to sell gas at $2.34 a unit to Reliance Energy Ltd (REL), which was then a wholly owned subsidiary of RIL, and that Reliance Natural Resources Ltd (RNRL) was a new entity and could not claim the benefits offered to REL. Arguing before the special Bench headed by Chief Justice KG Balakrishnan, RIL counsel Harish Salve said REL had subsequently become a new company under Anil Ambani and the terms and conditions of the MoU could not be applied to the new company. The assurance had been made to give a similar treatment in the sale of gas to National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) and RIL’s own subsidiary, REL, he contended. In view of this, government approval was necessary for selling gas to RNRL. The government has fixed the gas price at $4.2 a unit. Also, the agreement was limited to supply of gas to the proposed Dadri power plant, and not to all power plants to be put up by the company subsequently. Earlier in the day, concluding his arguments, RNRL’s counsel Mukul Rohtagi said under the MoU trading was restricted between the affiliates and therefore its definition was important to enable RNRL to supply gas to all power projects of the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani (ADA) group. RIL shareholders had approved the demerger scheme for RIL which required a “suitable agreement” between RIL and RNRL for supply of gas. The court had two options, removing the hurdles in the gas supply agreement or annulling the scheme which meant going back to the arrangements prior to the 2005 scheme, Rohtagi said. Further, gas supply agreement did not require shareholders’ approval under the Companies Act.
	Bharti set to buy Bangladesh mobile operator New Delhi/Dhaka, December 16 Telecom giant Bharti Airtel is set to buy the majority stake in Bangladesh's fourth largest mobile phone operator Warid from its Abu Dhabi-based owners. Reports emanating from Dhaka said the Dhabi Group, which fully owns Warid, has sought approval from the Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (BTRC) for the sale. "The Dhabi Group informed us on Sunday that it would sell 70 percent of Warid Telecom shares to Bharti Airtel. We have sought more papers and the copy of the MoU between the two companies," BTRC Chairman Zia Ahmed told AFP. Meanwhile in New Delhi, Bharti Enterprises Deputy Group CEO and Managing Director Akhil Gupta told reporters that the company is "interested in Bangladesh because we have an interest in countries in the SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) region". In Sri Lanka, another Saarc country, the company is already offering mobile services. Gupta, however, declined to comment on whether Bharti was looking at buying 70 per cent stake in Warid Telecom's Bangladesh unit from its Abu Dhabi-based owners. Bharti Airtel has been looking at overseas expansion to boost growth. In the past, Airtel has failed twice in sealing a deal with South Africa-based MTN Group. The Bombay Stock Exchange-listed Bharti Airtel is the biggest telecom operator in India with nearly 110 million mobile subscribers with a market share of over 25 per cent. — PTI
	Strike hits banking services New Delhi, December 16 Banking services were partially disrupted today as a section of employees owing allegiance to Left unions stayed away from work for a day to protest the proposed merger of State Bank of Indore with its parent SBI. “The response to the strike has been very encouraging as cash transactions across the country were adversely affected. About 4 lakh bank employees of public sector and old generation private sector banks observed the strike,” claimed CH Venkatachalam, general secretary, All India Bank Employees' Association (AIBEA) - one of the two unions which had given the strike call. Employees under the banner of the AIBEA and All India Bank Officers’ Association (AIBOA) joined the strike. However, employees of the largest bank SBI refrained from the strike. — PTI
	Surya Roshni in expansion mode Shivani Bhakoo Tribune News Service Ludhiana, December 16 Surya Roshni, the second-largest lighting company in India, has lined up big expansion plans. The company aims to spend Rs 550 crore and provide 6,000 new jobs to unemployed youth in the coming year. The company claims a stake of about 30 per cent in the Indian market. Arvind Bansal, deputy managing director (operations and corporate management), Surya Roshni, told The Tribune today that the company was now one of the biggest sources for domestic and consumer light fittings in the country. This included energy-efficient range of 2 feet and 4 feet tube lights, which were used in offices, homes, shops, hospitals and hotels. The company has also launched a range of down lighters for CFL for use in residential and commercial applications. Bansal said the company had approximately 250 million customers with one lakh retailers in India. "Besides, 45 countries in Asia and Europe have entrusted faith in us. The quality standards are being maintained with largest production in both the units at Kashipur (Uttarakhand) and Malanpur (Gwalior),” he added. By 2012, Surya Roshni aims to achieve turnover worth Rs 5,000 crore, while presently it has a turnover of Rs 2,000 crore. In Punjab, the company has 25 per cent market share through 5,000 retailers. Besides, it is on the approval list of departments such as PWD, municipalities, railways, electricity boards and contractors for streetlights. "We are selling lighting material of about Rs 50 crore in Punjab only", informed Bansal.
	Inflation to cross 8 pc by March, say economists New Delhi, December 16 Inflation is likely to vault over 8 per cent by the fiscal-end and the current trend might shove for policy actions as early as January, economists said. “If the current sequential uptrend is maintained, the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) appears likely to cross 8 per cent year-over-year by March,” Citi economist Rohini Malkani said in a note yesterday. In its October policy review, the Reserve Bank raised its inflation projection to 6.5 per cent with an upward bias from 5 per cent at the end of fiscal 2009-10. The WPI spiked to 4.78 per cent in November from 1.34 per cent in October. Food inflation, according to the weekly data announced earlier, had shot up by 19.04 per cent during November recording the sharpest increase in the decade. “The inflation trajectory is likely to show much higher inflation rates in the next six months ... we expect WPI inflation to rise to 8 per cent y-o-y by March,” said Sonal Varma, vice-president, India Economist at Nomura. She said policy rate hiking cycle might start in January and that she has pencilled in a hike of Cash Reserve Ratio, statutory deposits banks have to keep with RBI, before that. “We expect a cumulative 125 bps of hikes to each of the CRR, repo (rate at which RBI lends to banks) and reverse repo rate (at which RBI borrows from banks) by end-2010,” she said. — PTI
	Amritsar gets Punjab’s first 3-D multiplex Varinder Singh Tribune News Service Amritsar, December 16 Amritsar is all set to jump into the international movie theatre circuit with Mexico- based Cinepolis. The world’s fifth largest movie exhibitor operating over 2,000 screens in six countries will open Punjab’s first fully digital and 3-D multiplex at Amritsar-based AIPL’s Celebration Mall on December 18, with the release of $ 400 million “Avtaar”, which is the biggest and costliest ever movie crafted by “Titanic” director James Cameron. The estimated Rs 2.5 crore multiplex is equipped with four screens and there will be 20 shows in a single day. Unfolding future plans, Cinepolis India’s head (exhibition) Ashish Shukla said his company, which caters to the needs of over 100 million viewers annually, planned to set up 500 such multiplex screens across India during the next five years. The company has allocated Rs 1,500 crore for this task, he added. Company sources pointed out that Ludhiana and Jalandhar might be its next destinations in Punjab.
	NSE advances trading timing to 9 am Mumbai, December 16 The National Stock Exchange has extended the trading timing in equity and equity derivative segments by nearly an hour to 9 am, effective from Friday. “NSE has advanced the trading timing to 9 am and the extension would be effective from December 18 i.e., Friday. The market closing time will remain same at 3.30 pm,” an NSE official told PTI. The trading hours have been extended from the earlier 9.55 am to 3.30 pm. “With the change in market timings by other exchanges, our participants were left with no choice but to extend the timing,” NSE managing director Ravi Narain told a private TV news channel. Yesterday, Asia’s oldest bourse Bombay Stock Exchange had increased the trading time by 10 minutes to 9:45 am from Friday in the equity, equity derivatives and block deal segments in order to leverage from the pre-lunch trading sessions in the Singapore and Hong Kong Stock Exchange. “We would closely coordinate with the BSE regarding the change of timing,” Narain said. — PTI
	Gold falls on weak global cues New Delhi, December 16 Gold prices on Wednesday fell by Rs 90 to Rs 17,200 per 10 gram in the bullion market here on emergence of selling by stockists on subdued demand amid weak global trend. Standard gold and ornaments fell by Rs 90 each to Rs 17,200 and Rs 17,050 per 10 gram, respectively, while sovereign remained steady at Rs 14,000 per piece of eight gram in restricted buying activity. — PTI