The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	Axis Bank eyes pie in Max Life Mumbai, March 28 Axis Bank today said it was in talks with Max New York Life to acquire up to 5 per cent stake in the firm. "We are in talks with Max New York Life to pick up a less than 5 per cent stake. We are working on the valuation and the result of the talks will be known soon," Axis Bank executive director and CFO S Sengupta told PTI here. The bank has tied up with Max New York Life to distribute the latter's life insurance products beginning April 1 after ending its relationship with MetLife. "Our distribution tie-up will be on, irrespective of whether we acquire a stake in Max New York Life or not," Sengupta said. Max New York Life is a joint venture between the US-based New York Life and Analjit Singh's Max India. A stake, even a small one, would indicate a strong relationship between Axis Bank and Max New York Life, besides creating value for the bank, Sengupta said, adding that, "Max New York Life is growing rapidly and our investment will only increase in value." Ending the tie-up with MetLife would not affect the existing customers as Axis Bank continue to service them, Sengupta said. When asked why the bank was moving away from MetLife to Max New York Life, Sengupta said its arrangement with MetLife was coming to an end and "as per existing regulations, we can have a tie-up with only one player and hence, we decided to go with Max New York Life." Axis Bank had no plans to turn into a manufacturer of insurance products and would continue to remain a distributor, Sengupta said. "The market is crowded and we will be a late entrant. Besides, it will require substantial capital... it makes greater sense for us to remain a distributor," he said. In the general insurance segment as well, Axis Bank distributes the products of Bajaj Allianz. When asked if the bank had any plans to offer health insurance products, Sengupta said the bank would evaluate pros and cons and then take a decision. "When health insurance comes in, we will evaluate whether we want to be a manufacturer or remain just a distributor," Sengupta said. — PTI
	Tax Advice Rs 15,000 medical reimbursement tax-free by SC Vasudeva Q. I am an employee with a company. After an accident, I had to undergo orthopaedic surgery on my right arm for which a sum of Rs. 25,000 was incurred at a private orthopaedic nursing home. My employer has given me a total of Rs 15,000 as medical expenses reimbursement. I have come to know that medical reimbursement up to Rs.15,000 is tax-free. I want to know what will be my tax liability? — KK Soni A. Section 17(2) of the Act defines perquisites which are includible in the term “salary” for the purpose of taxability thereof. However, proviso to section 17(2)(vi) exempts any sum paid by the employer in respect of any expenditure actually incurred by the employee on his medical treatment so, however, that such sum does not exceed Rs.15,000 in the previous year. In view thereof, the reimbursement of Rs.15,000 will not be taxable. Receipts and expenses Q. I am a woman self-employed professional working in IT sector as sole proprietor. My gross receipts are Rs 5,84,000 and expenses like staff salary, rent, telephone bills, electricity bills, essential to run the business are Rs 2,78,000. I have not charged any salary for myself. Is the difference of 5,84,000 and 2,78,000 i.e. 3,06,000 my net income? If so can I claim the benefit of investment of Rs 1,00,000 under 80C if I invest? Can I charge any salary for myself or net difference of receipts and expenses is my income. Is the under noted calculation of income tax correct? Income 3,06,000 Rebate 80C 1,00,000 Taxable income 2,06,000 No tax up to 1,80,000 (for woman) Tax to be paid @10pc on 26,000 2,600 I understand that some income tax benefits are available to the handicapped persons. Please advise me under what sections and maximum amount for the persons with disability above 90 per cent disability certificate has been issued by CMO for how many years a certificate is valid. — Gopal Krishan Bhandari A. You will be entitled to the deduction of expenditure aggregating to Rs.2,78,000 in respect of the staff salary, rent, telephone bills, electricity bills provided such expenditure has been incurred wholly and exclusively for the purposes of the profession and is not in the nature of capital expenditure or personal expenditure. You can get the benefit of investment of Rs 1 lakh made in the permitted schemes as specified in section 80C of the Income-tax Act 1961 (the Act). You may charge salary for yourself in the books of account but the same shall not be deductible for computing the taxable income. The net difference of receipts and expenses will be your total income on which tax will be leviable. As stated above, the deduction for the expenditure will be allowable provided the same has been incurred wholly and exclusively for the purposes of a business. On the basis of the facts given in the query, the tax payable for the assessment year 2010-11 on taxable income of Rs 2,06,000 will be Rs 1,648 inclusive of education cess of 3 per cent. This is because the maximum amount on which tax is not payable by a working woman for the assessment year is Rs.1,90,000. Leave encashment Q. I have an accumulated leave of 200 days which is encashable. I will be retiring somewhere in August this year. Will the amount received by me taxable under the provisions of the Act? — Bhawani Shankar A. In accordance with the provisions of section 10(10AA) of the Act, any payment received by an employee other than an employee of the Central Government or a state government in respect of so much of the period of earned leave at his credit at the time of his retirement whether on superannuation or otherwise and which does not exceed an amount calculated on the basis of the average salary drawn by the employee during the period of 10 months immediately preceding his retirement shall be exempt from tax subject to such limit as the Central Government by notification may specify in this behalf. At present, the specified limit is Rs 3 lakh. You should, therefore, be entitled to claim the exemption to the extent of Rs 3 lakh provided the computation in respect of the earned leave has been made in accordance with the provisions. Gift to wife Q. I have read somewhere that income from gift to wife is clubbed with the husband’s income. Is this position correct? There seems to be no justification for such an action on the part of the government, in case the gift is made out of the taxed income of the husband. — Pawan A. According to the provisions of Section 64 of the Act, income which arises to the spouse of an individual from assets transferred directly or indirectly to the spouse by such an individual, otherwise than for adequate consideration, or in connection with an agreement to live apart, is includible in the total income of individual who has transferred such assets to the spouse. These provisions are of deeming nature. As to the justification, you are possibly aware that tax laws and equity do not go together. It may be added that section 4 of the Wealth-tax Act 1957 also contains provisions for the inclusion of the value of such an asset in the wealth of the individual who has transferred to the spouse any asset otherwise than for adequate consideration or in connection with an agreement to live apart.
	Come April, cars to cost more Mumbai, March 28 Come April, cars are set to cost even more as leading automakers have said they will increase the prices of vehicles next month to upgrade and make their products BS-IV emission norms compliant. Tata Motors, Fiat, Hyundai, Mahindra and General Motors planned to up product prices with the government set to implement the new emission norms from April 1. It required vehicles to be upgraded to run on cleaner BS-IV fuel -- to be used in 13 cities -- and BS III in the rest of the country. "We will increase prices across all models except Chevrolet Beat and Spark in the first week of April by up to Rs 6,000 following the new emission norms," General Motors vice-president (Corporate Communications) P Balendran told PTI here. "We were compelled to increase prices after the Budget following a hike in the excise duty rates. This will be the second price hike by the company after the Budget," Balendran said. Several car-makers had jacked up their prices after the Budget and if they do so again in April, it would mean that prices would be going up for the second time in less than two months. Hyundai Motor India also decided to increase prices across all its models in the first week of April by up to Rs 5,000. "We will increase the prices in the first week of April in the range of Rs 4,000-5,000," Hyundai Motor regional sales manager Kumar Priyesh said, adding that the company was ready to follow the BS IV standards from the stipulated date. Tata Motors and M&M also indicated that a price hike was on the cards after April 1. "I cannot comment on the quantum of the price hike as of now. We will take a call once the new emission norms come into effect," Tata Motors president (Passenger Car Business Unit) Rajiv Dube, said. Mahindra & Mahindra president (Automotive Sector) Pawan Goenka said, "We will increase prices across all our models after the implementation of the new emission norms." The company would decide on its quantum soon, he added. Fiat India, Mercedes-Benz and Toyota are also likely to effect a price hike in April though they said they would take a call on the matter only after the new emission norms come into force. — PTI
	Market Update Havells the best bet by Lalit Batra The markets crawled higher, last week, extending gains for the seventh week in a row on strong inflows from foreign funds. This was despite the Reserve bank rasing the key interest rates previous Friday. The RBI lifted its key short-term borrowing and lending rates for the first time since it kicked off a series of cuts in 2008 in the wake of the global economic crisis. The RBI raised the repo rate and the reverse repo rate. The BSE Sensex rose 66.53 points to 17,644 and the S&P CNX Nifty rose 20.60 points, to 5283. Going forward, the market is going to be driven by what happens to the markets around the globe. There was more bad news from Europe after Greece debt crises, Portugal’s sovereign credit rating were lowered by the credit rating agency, Fitch, citing its growing budget deficit and debt load. Investors will also start discounting the fourth quarter results that will start flowing in couple of weeks. Havells India Investors can consider buying into the manufacturer of electrical components and systems in India, Havells India, with 18 to 24 months perspective. Since the stock has already run up by 4.5 times in last one year, investment is recommended on declines from the current level of Rs 572-580. The company’s growth is going to come from the fans market. It is one of the fastest growing fan brands in the market. Bringing innovation in its product portfolio, the company launched energy efficient fans (consuming only 50W). This growth will be on the back of an excellent distribution network that the company has which is key value driver for the company’s business model. This strategy, backed by a product profile spanning the power distribution value chain, leverages on the reach of distributors in a business in which consumers are widely spread. This is one of the key structural value drivers for the company. On top of all this, another trigger for Havell’s will be the turnaround of Sylvania, which the company acquired in April, 2007. This turnaround will be due to the improvement in the margins of Sylavina which will on the back of various restructuring programmes effected by the company. Slow down in the domestic business and adverse commodity proce movement is the key risks to our recommendation.
	NMDC biggest m-cap loser Mumbai, March 28 Five of the top 10 Sensex stocks lost a whopping Rs 32,000 crore in their market capitalisation past week even as the benchmark Sensex rose to a two-month high in the same period. NMDC led the losses with its market capitalisation dipping by Rs 23,986.44 crore to Rs 1,18,267 crore. NMDC plunged nearly 17 per cent during the four-day trade to close at Rs 298.30 on the BSE on Friday. Bharti Airtel, which is finalising definitive agreements to buy out Kuwait-based Zain Telecom's African assets in a $10.7 billion deal, lost Rs 637.47 crore from its m-cap to Rs 1,17,780 crore. The other three M-Cap losers are all public sector companies, MMTC, NTPC and BHEL. Together all five lost a sum of Rs 32,041.97 crore from their market valuation for the week ended March 28. On other hand, the Sensex gained during the week on the back of heavyweight Reliance Industries, ONGC, Infosys Technologies, TCS and the SBI adding a combined wealth of Rs 10,206 crore to their m-cap. — PTI
	Kingfisher flies to London New Delhi, March 28 Kingfisher Airlines today said it had launched its daily direct flight to London from the National Capital and would add seven more international routes within the next one month. "Kingfisher Airlines today flagged off its first flight on the New Delhi-London route ... These flights will be daily non-stop flights from New Delhi to London Heathrow," the company said in a statement. The new route marked Kingfisher Airlines' first international flights out of the Capital, it added. The company said the journey to London would be offered on a Airbus A330-200 carrier and the flight IT 001 would take off from the capital at 1.20 pm and arrive at London Heathrow's Terminal 4 at 6.10 pm (local time). From London, it would leave at 9.05 pm (local time) and arrive the next day at 10.20 am here. "Kingfisher Airlines will also be launching flights to four more international destinations out of New Delhi and three more international destinations out of Mumbai over the coming weeks," it added. While the flights from the Capital would connect Hong Kong, Bangkok, Dubai and Kathmandu, the airlines also fly to Bangkok, Dubai and Kathmandu from Mumbai. All the flights would be started between April 7 and April 24. — PTI