The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Now, trade in stocks on cellphone
Shiv Kumar
Tribune News Service

Mumbai, August 20
Stock market investors will no longer have to call up a broker or log on to a computer to buy and sell shares. All they would need is an Internet-enabled mobile phone to access a trading terminal from their broker and buy/sell shares of their choice apart from transferring funds from their bank accounts for the same.

Tele Trading

All you need is Internet-enabled phone & mobile banking account

SEBI okays security mechanism

BSE, NSE have system in place

Telcos eye tie-up with brokerages

“The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has cleared the security mechanism to be deployed by the brokers to prevent fraudulent deals,” a SEBI official told The Tribune. The norms will be circulated soon and brokerages are expected to unveil user-friendly interfaces to attract investors to buy and sell via mobile phones, analysts said.

SEBI had unveiled the proposal to enable trading in stocks on mobile phone platforms late last year. The market regulator was concerned about the security issues, especially in case of mobile phones being lost or stolen. Technical experts appointed by the market regulator have come with a multiple-tier mechanism to ensure security. “Users will need multiple passwords to log in for trading,” says a broker who has been talking to SEBI officials.

Investors would also need an Internet-enabled phone and a mobile banking account to transfer funds from his bank to the broker to purchase shares.

Only some 15-20 per cent of the trades in the markets are carried out online and the market regulator is hoping that mobile trading facility would allow more investors to move to the Internet from physical brokerages.

The Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange had installed necessary technical equipment to facilitate mobile stock trading some years ago. Some of the biggest brokerage houses in the country have also set up the technical platform for the purpose. “Only the security concerns and norms governing mobile banking transactions remained to be complete,” says a brokerage official.

Some of the biggest telecom companies in India are also waiting to tie up with brokerage houses to let subscribers transact in the stock markets using mobile phones. There are more than 47 crore mobile phone connections in the country as per data available for the month of July and these present a huge potential for brokerages who are still waiting for retail investors who fled the markets after the 2008 crash to return.

Mittal meets Badal, seeks restoration of fiscal sops
SP Sharma
Tribune News Service

Steel tycoon LN Mittal with Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal in Bathinda on Friday. A Tribune photograph

Bathinda, August 20
Having sought intervention of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to persuade the Punjab government to grant fiscal incentives for the Rs 18,000-crore refinery being built by him here, steel tycoon Lakshmi Narayan Mittal today flew in here and discussed the issue with Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal.

Badal, who had come here to lay foundation stone of a project, was closeted with Mittal for about 40 minutes. Top officials of the Hindustan-Mittal Energy Ltd (HMEL), joint venture between the HPCL and Mittal Energy Ltd, later joined the discussions.

Badal was tightlipped about the discussions but told this correspondent that every problem faced by the refinery would be sorted out.

Mittal, who was on his maiden visit to the refinery, refused to give details of his discussions with the Chief Minister.

Besides the CM, KJS Cheema, Special Principal Secretary to CM, Arun Balakrishnan, chairman of HMEL, and other top functionaries of the refinery were present in the meeting.

It is worth mentioning that the Punjab government had reportedly constituted a high-level committee consisting of Finance Minister Manpreet Badal and Chief Secretary S.C. Aggarwal to look into the demands of Mittal.

Mittal had sought PM’s intervention as the earlier talks of HMEL with the Punjab government on the issue of additional incentives had hit a roadblock. Thereafter, Mittal had even threatened to stop work on the Bathinda refinery.

He had recently in a letter sought personal support of Manmohan Singh to ask the Punjab government to look favourably at the incentives for the project. He suggested that the PM convene a meeting of all stakeholders to discuss the relevant issues so that the project could deliver long-term sustainable benefits.

HMEL is demanding sales tax deferment for 15 years on the lines of the Gujarat government's incentives to private refineries. Punjab government had reportedly offered to grant a waiver of Rs 250 crore for five years. Another suggestion was for interest-free loan in the absence of tax deferment.

Direct Taxes Code: CBDT chief hints at cut in rates

New Delhi, August 20
Taxpayers may get relief in terms of tax rates in the proposed Direct Taxes Code (DTC), which is likely to replace the 50-year-old Income Tax Act from the next fiscal, a key official indicated today.

"We are in the process of reducing the rate of tax and DTC will be a good example in that direction," Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) Chairman SSN Moorthy said at an Assocham tax conference.

He further said India is coming down to a realistic platform where the rates will be almost in line with international standards. "We are in the process whereby we have to be taxpayer-friendly, we have to be in tune with international standards."

At the same time, the government would take measures so that the flight of revenue from India can be checked.

The DTC bill is likely to be tabled in this session of Parliament so that it could replace the archaic Income Tax Act from April 1, 2011.

In the first DTC draft, the government had proposed a substantial widening of the tax base. It had suggested imposing 10 per cent tax on income of Rs 1.6 lakh-Rs 10 lakh, 20 per cent on income of Rs 10 lakh-25 lakh and 30 per cent beyond Rs 25 lakh in a year.

The proposed tax slabs were even substantially wider than the increase in the Budget 2010-11. The Budget imposed 10 per cent tax on income of Rs 1.6 lakh-5 lakh, 20 per cent on Rs 5 lakh-8 lakh and 30 per cent on over Rs 8 lakh in a year.

However, the revised draft on DTC did not talk over tax rates and Finance Ministry officials said the slabs given in the first draft were just illustrative.

The second draft also said that the rates proposed in the first draft could be calibrated, after it dropped contentious proposal of taxing long-term savings like provident funds at the time of withdrawal. This means that tax rates may not be moderated so sharply, as was given in the first draft, but some rate cuts would be there. — PTI

MFs want sops for ELSS

Market regulator SEBI and mutual fund houses have asked the finance ministry to continue with the tax benefits on equity linked schemes in the Direct Taxes Code, which will replace the existing Income Tax Act.

The revised DTC draft, based on which the government is finalising the bill, has proposed to do away with the tax benefits available to people investing in the equity-linked savings schemes (ELSS).

Under the IT Act, investments up to Rs 1 lakh in the ELSS and dividends accrued on them are exempted from tax. Besides, there is no long-term capital gain tax on withdrawal of the funds after the three-year lock-in period.

Punjab to have mega food park
Kanchan Vasdev
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, August 20
The Union government has decided to set up a mega food park in Punjab, out of the proposed 28 all over the country, and the state has been asked to identify a piece of land for the purpose. This was stated by Union Minister for Food Processing Industries, Subodh Kant Sahay, here today.

The minister said they had already taken up the matter with the state CM Parkash Singh Badal and asked him to expedite the process of land acquisition, where this park would be set up.

‘‘I personally wanted the mega food park for Ludhiana as I am emotionally attached to the city from where I contested the Lok Sabha elections once in 1992. But now it has been left to the state government. For the Rs 150-crore project, the centre would contribute Rs 50 crore,’’ he said.

He said already 10 mega food parks have been established in different parts of the country. Punjab, being an agrarian state, could help in flourishing of food processing units.

Even the Food and Civil Supplies Minister, Adesh Partap Singh Kairon had submitted a proposal to the centre for arming the shellers with latest technology of processing. The breakage of rice in state was a serious problem and the minister wanted it addressed with the latest machines. His proposal was being considered seriously, he said.

The union government had, with a view to reduce crop wastage and increase share of processed food in the country to 20 per cent from the present 6 per cent, decided to set up food parks in next five years with a public-private partnership.

Nod to Punjab & Sind Bank for IPO
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, August 20
Public sector lender Punjab and Sind Bank is expected to come up with its initial public offering (IPO) to offload 17.5 per cent stake by the end of this year. The bank has already got the nod from the Government of India.

The bank is expected to file a draft red herring prospectus with SEBI by the end of this month. “We are expecting to sell four crore shares and raise between Rs 500 and Rs 600 crore through this IPO. The money will be used as capital for the bank, and to fuel the further expansion,” said PK Anand, executive director of the bank.

In town to submit a proposal to the Punjab government for financing the rural godowns to be constructed in the state, Anand said the bank was on an expansion spree. “We will be opening 100 new branches, of which 40 will be in Punjab. Around 100 new ATMs will also be installed across various states, though 35 of these will be installed in Punjab,” he said.

“Since we are looking at adding 100 new branches, we are also recruiting 2000 personnel- officers as well as bank clerical staff. The recruitment process has already started,” he said.

The bank will also be making strides in the computerization of its branches. A sum of Rs 100 crore has been earmarked this year to get all branches on core banking.

Talking about the bank’s business, he said, “We are eyeing a total business of Rs 95,000 crore this fiscal. Last fiscal, we achieved business of Rs 82,000 crore out of which Rs 49,500 crore constituted deposits”.

10-digit landline numbers on the cards
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 20
Just like your mobile number, you could in the near future have a 10-digit landline number too. Telecom regulator TRAI has recommended the use of 10-digit numbers for fixed lines by December 2011 in a bid to accommodate the rising number of telephone users.

The existing numbering system was designed for 750 million connections, including 450 million mobile connections. The numbering system was supposed to last till 2030, said TRAI, but that has come under severe strain with the mobile numbers having crossed that mark in 2009 itself.

While the country at present has over 660 million just mobile phone users, reports say the number of telecom subscribers is estimated to exceed 1 billion by 2014.

TRAI said the 10-digit number system for both mobile and fixed phones would make available enough numbers to cater to expansion of existing services and introduction of new services for the next 30-40 years. Besides, the new numbering system would also facilitate extension of number portability to fixed lines, it said.