The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	Funds ready for Fortis’ Parkway deal Mumbai, July 18 Even as the fate of Fortis Healthcare's bid for acquisition of Singapore-based hospital chain Parkway Holdings remains unclear, a consortium of Indian and foreign lenders led by Axis Bank is busy arranging the funds required to finance the deal. Other banks which are a part of the consortium include the Bank of India, the Bank of Baroda, the State Bank of India, ICICI Bank and four to five foreign lenders, a source directly connected to the deal told PTI here. The number of banks in the group could eventually go up to 10-12, the source said. According to the offer made by Fortis early this month, the company will pay $ 2.3 billion (around Rs 11,000 crore) to acquire the remaining stake in Parkway Holdings, if the deal goes through. Fortis, owned by billionaire brothers Malvinder Singh and Shivinder Singh, own 25.3 per cent of Parkway. The general offer to acquire all shares of Parkway was made at 3.8 Singapore dollars per unit as against the SG$3.7 per share offer made by Malaysian sovereign fund Khazanah's arm, International Healthcare Holdings Ltd, in May. Out of the $ 2.3 billion, Fortis was looking at raising around $1 billion to $1.5 billion through bank loans if it won the acquisition bid, but there was a possibility of this amount going up, the source said. Interestingly, IDBI Bank, which was earlier keen to part-fund the deal, is understood to have backed out from the consortium. An IDBI Bank official said the bank" is no longer part of the Fortis-Parkway deal owing to some internal technical problems. Fortis Healthcare on Thursday said its offer to acquire Parkway will close on August 12. — PTI
	FIIs return to Street in style Inflow nears Rs 40K-cr mark this year Mumbai, July 18 Foreign investors are turning more bullish on the domestic markets, with their investments in equities already touching Rs 40,000 crore so far -- nearly half the record amount infused by them in 2009. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) are expected to pour in more money into the local markets in the coming weeks especially with improving economic conditions, according to analysts. The net investment by overseas investors into domestic stocks reached Rs 39,360 crore ($8.6 billion) till July 16, data available with SEBI showed. So far this month, these entities have already pumped in Rs 8,283 crore ($1.7 billion.) In 2009, foreign fund houses pumped in Rs 83,400 crore into the local equities, the highest inflow in a single year. "India is one of the fastest growing economies and has been resilient in past turbulences. Gains from Indian markets have been higher than many other developed markets and investors would like to put in money here," Elara Capital chairman and chief executive Raj Bhatt said. The London-based Elara Capital is recognised as an FII by Sebi. Though the Eurozone debt turbulence had led the FIIs to pull out a whopping Rs 9,400 crore from local markets in May, confidence started resuming in June and they infused over Rs 10,000 crore in that month. FIIs invested a net $2.33 billion into domestic markets in the April-June quarter. "Risk appetite among the foreign buyers is resuming and they are bullish about the India growth story. FII inflow is likely to jump in the coming period," Bonanza Portfolio assistant vice-president Avinash Gupta said. The FIIs play a significant role in the domestic equity markets and their movement (inflow as well as outflow) causes fluctuation in the benchmark indices. In the past week, they were net purchaser of shares worth Rs 6,590 crore. During the period, the stock market benchmark BSE Sensex recorded a net gain of 0.69 per cent. "We are bullish about the India growth story and hope it will continue to attract heavy fund inflow from the overseas," Way2Wealth Brokers chief operating officer Sunil Ramrakiani said. Foreign fund houses were the net seller of shares valued over Rs 52,000 crore in 2008, which triggered a record annual decline. However, in 2009 the story was entirely different. But they again started selling shares in early 2010. In January, they were net sellers worth Rs 500 crore. However, from February, the scenario started changing and they turned net buyers. — PTI
	Nifty to trade in US from today New Delhi, July 18 The wait is now over for US investors who want to bet on the Indian stock markets, with the Chicago Mercantile Exchange starting the trade in Nifty Futures from tomorrow. The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) is introducing two new contracts — E-mini and E-micro S&P CNX Nifty (Nifty 50) Futures — designed to access the Indian market opportunities. The 50-share Nifty is the benchmark index of the National Stock Exchange, the largest stock exchange in the country. The index accounts for 22 sectors of the economy. The investors will be able to trade for nearly 23 hours on the CME Globex. These hours include the market hours in India (except the last one hour before the Indian market opens). "The introduction of these two new contracts will make the Nifty 50 available to a much larger community of traders and investors across various exchanges and time zones," NSE managing director and CEO Ravi Narain had said last week. According to the NSE, these new contracts are intended to give investors a more efficient means to gain exposure to the India-related asset classes. A futures contract is an agreement that allows an investor to bet on the underlying asset — an index or stock — for a pre-determined price and period. CME is launching the future contracts on the Nifty, after a cross-listing agreement with NSE. Under the agreement, inked in March this year, the S&P Nifty has been made available to the CME for the creation and listing of the US dollar-denominated futures contracts for trading on CME. Under the deal, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) and S&P 500 --the two leading US indices -- will be traded on the NSE platform in India. — PTI
	Canara Bank net rockets 82 pc Mumbai, July 18 Canara Bank yesterday reported a 82.48 per cent jump in the net profit for the first quarter ended June 30 at Rs 1,013.37 crore. It had a net profit of Rs 555.33 crore in the corresponding quarter of the last fiscal, Canara Bank said. The lender also reported an increase of 17.15 per cent in the total income for the first quarter at Rs 5,894.85 crore, against Rs 5,031.95 crore in the year-ago period. Canara Bank's revenue from the treasury segment during the three months ended June 30 rose 40.35 per cent to Rs 1,565.49 crore. It had reported a revenue of Rs 1,115.39 crore from the segment in the first quarter of 2009-10. The bank's retail banking operations in the first quarter of this fiscal, however, saw a dip of 11.02 per cent at Rs 1,496.20 crore, from Rs 1,681.58 crore in the year-ago period. — PTI
	Tax Advice Can’t open second PPF a/c in your wife’s name by SC Vasudeva Q. Can I open second PPF account in the name of my wife, who is also a senior citizen, but not earning, to cover the extra earning of my pension, even after covering Rs 2.40lakh + Rs 70,000 to be deposited in my own PPF. Can I avail another PPF facility out of gift provided to my wife? — Y.L. Chopra A. Rule 3 of the Public Provident Fund Scheme 1968 provides that any individual may, on his behalf or on behalf of a minor, of whom he is the guardian, subscribe to the PPF any amount not less than Rs.500 and not more than 70,000 in a year. In view thereof, it may not be possible for you to open a Public Provident Fund account in the name of your wife as the scheme does not provide for the opening of such an account. Retiral benefits Q. I seek the clarification regarding retiral benefits received for tax exemption: 1 Arrears of Bonus 2. Gratuity payment received 3. Earned leave encashment 4. Half-pay leave encashment 5. Interest on provident fund accrued up to and after the date of retirement. Kindly advise to what extent these amounts are exempted from Income Tax, at the hands of retired employees of private sector and public sector undertaking employees. — Prem Nath Gupta A. The position of taxability in case of following items is given hereunder: (i) The arrears of bonus received by an employee will be taxable. (ii) The gratuity will be exempt to the extent of Rs 3,50,000. However, in case the date of retirement of the employee is on or after May 24, 2010, the exempt amount will be Rs.10 lakh. However, it may be added that the amount of gratuity should not exceed 1/2 month’s salary for each year of completed service calculated on the basis of average salary for 10 months immediately preceding the month in which retirement took place. The amount as computed will be exempt subject to the limit of Rs.3.50 lakh or Rs.10 lakh as the case may be. (iii) The earned leave entitlement will be exempt provided the following conditions explained hereunder: a) Earned leave entitlement must not exceed 30 days for every year of actual service rendered by him as an employee of the employer from whose service he has retired. b) Earned leave so encashed must not be for more than 10 months. c) Leave salary must be based on average salary drawn by the employee during 10 months immediately preceding his retirement. d) The sum so payable shall not exceed Rs 3,00,000, where the employee retires after April 01,1998. e) Even if non-government employee has received the sum from different employers in different or in the same previous year, the ceiling limit stated in (d) above will be applied on all such payments put together if such payment received earlier had not been taxed. (iv) Interest on provident fund up to the date of retirement will be exempt from the leviability of tax. LTC arrears Q. Are the Punjab Govt./Chandigarh retirees entitled to claim arrears of Travel Concession (misnomerly called LTC) while receiving arrears of pension with effect from Jan 01, 2006 todate? — Prof. H.B.D. Pasrija A. The claim with regard to the arrears of travel concession will depend on the terms of appointment and service conditions. It is, therefore, not possible to give any opinion on this issue without going into the contents of the documents referred to herein above. Form Saral II Q. I am a senior citizen drawing income from interest from banks and Post Office, etc. which is below Rs 2.40 lakh without availing benefits of savings u/s 80C (I have savings in PPF). This year (Assessment Year 2010-11) I have a sum all amount of Capital Gains and my income shall still be below Rs.2.40 lakh. I am regularly filing my return. Kindly advise- (i) From which assessment year Form Saral II is applicable. (ii) Which are the categories of assessees eligible to use Form Saral II? (iii) With my income details as above, can I file my return on Form Saral II? — S.P. Gambhir A. (i) Form Saral II (ITR-1) can be used by an individual whose total income for the assessment year 2010-11 includes a) Income from salary/pension /income from house property excluding cases where loss from property income has been brought forward from previous years. b) Income from other sources (excluding winning from lottery and income from horse races). (ii) You can make use of Form Saral 2 for the purposes of filing your tax return. LIC Policy Q. I am a senior citizen pensioner. On maturity of my LIC Policy, I received Rs 1,54,000 on December 25, 2009. What is my tax liability in this connection? Further, I deposited Rs.1,50,000 in the Post Office “Senior Citizens Saving Scheme” in January 2010 in the name of my wife. The payment was made by me through cheque from my bank saving account. Please advise that can I avail tax rebate in my Income-tax return and under which rule and regulation. — S.S. Gill A. (i) The amount received on the maturity of policy is not taxable in case the policy was issued before April 1, 2003. However, in case the policy was issued after April 1, 2003, and the premium payable for any of the year during the term of the policy exceeded 20 per cent of the actual capital-sum-assured, the maturity amount will be taxable. (ii) You will not be able to claim a deduction under section 80C of the Act for the amount deposited in the name of your wife in an account under the Senior Citizens Savings Scheme Rules 2004. In my opinion, Section 80C of the Act requires the deposit to be made in the name of the assessee to enable him to claim the deduction in respect of such deposit. This is in view of the fact that wherever such benefit was to be given in respect of deposit or payment on behalf of someone else, the same has been specifically provided in the section e.g. deduction for payment of tuition fee is allowable to an assessee, who is an individual if paid for the full-time education of any two children of such an individual.