The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	Nooyi not in race to succeed Tata New Delhi, August 29 PepsiCo chairman and chief executive officer Indra Nooyi, who has been speculated to be among the possible candidates to succeed Ratan Tata as chairman of the Tata group, has ruled herself out of the race, saying she "loves" her present job. "Ratan is an unbelievable person. He has got an incredible stable of people who can succeed him. I am running one of the greatest companies in the world, PepsiCo. I love my job," Nooyi told PTI when asked about the speculation linking her to the top job at the $ 71 billion Indian salt-to- software conglomerate. The Chennai-born chief of the world's leading company in convenient snacks, foods and beverages, with revenues of more than $ 60 billion and over 2,85,000 employees, however, was all praise for the Tata group. "Tata is an unbelievable company. It is a nation-building enterprise, a phenomenal enterprise, the face of India," Nooyi said. While Ratan Tata's 52-year-old half brother Noel Tata has been speculated to be the front-runner, Nooyi and another global business leader, Carlos Ghosn, the chairman and CEO of Renault-Nissan Alliance, have been mentioned as suitable candidates. Earlier this month, the Tata group had announced that a successor to the charismatic Ratan Tata would be in place by February-March next year. It formed a five-member search panel that includes Tata Sons vice-chairman NA Soonawala, senior group directors R K Krishnakumar and Cyrus Mistry, group adviser and lawyer Shirin Bharucha and influential British businessman Lord Bhattacharya. Set to retire by end-2012, when he turns 75, Tata is responsible for turning the group global after he took over as chairman of the $ 71 billion conglomerate in 1991 from J R D Tata. Although the group is more than a century-old -- founded by Jamsetji Tata in 1868 when he set up a private trading firm -- it was only in 2006 that it earned major global recognition when Ratan Tata spearheaded the buyout of Anglo-Dutch steel maker Corus for about $ 12 billion. Tata followed this up with another big ticket purchase of iconic British luxury car marque Jaguar Land Rover from Ford in 2008 for $ 2.3 billion. — PTI
	Tax Advice No limit on gifts made to relatives by SC Vasudeva Q. I know that I can give gift to my married son, married daughter, daughter-in-law, unmarried grandson, granddaughter without any tax liability to the recipient as per provisions of section 56 of the IT Act. Now please guide me about the tax liability comes upon me? How many times, gifts can be given by cash or cheque in a year? Whether there is any monetary limit up to which gift can be given? Can I deduct the gift amount from my total income to calculate the taxable income? An income from a telecommunication tower, erected by a telecommunication camp on the top of a residential house in Punjab, in the shape of rent amount can be treated as income from house property? — Rakesh Kumar A. At present, the Gift Tax Act 1958 is not applicable. Therefore, there will not be any gift-tax liability or Income-tax liability on you. There is no limit to the number of times a gift can be made. The gift should be given by cheque to avoid any complications. There is no monetary limit in respect of a gift made to ‘relatives’ as defined in Section 56 of the Act. The amount of gift made is not deductible from the total income. The income from telecommunication tower should be assessible as income from other sources. Such income cannot be categorised as annual value of property consisting of any building or land appurtenant thereto, of which assessee is the owner. Gift to daughters Q. I have all daughters, who are married. I intend making gifts of certain amounts for the welfare of each daughter and the members of her family. None of my daughters is a member of the HUF with her husband. My question is whether she can form an HUF from the funds which I shall provide to her for the welfare of family along with her husband and children and act as its Karta. My one son-in-law who is settled in the USA has an NRO account with a bank in India, which fetch interest income of Rs.5,000 annually and no other income. Whether TDS will be deducted by the bank on the interest income, so earned and at which rate? Shall it be possible to file any declaration for non deduction of TDS? — M.L. Gupta A. It may not be possible for your daughters to form an HUF. You can, however, make a gift to your daughter of any amount. There will not be any tax liability in respect of such a gift. The tax at source is not deductible by bank in case the interest on a bank deposit does not exceed Rs.10,000. Therefore no declaration is required to be filed in case the amount of interest is not likely to exceed Rs.10,000. Infrastructure bonds Q. My son is employed in EPF organisation. Some monthly subscription is deducted from his salary for contribution to General Provident Fund. He also makes yearly contribution to Public Provident Fund A/c of the Post Office. Please clarify whether his total subscription to these two funds has to be Rs.70,000 or less to qualify for rebate under section 80C. It is learnt that the limit of Rs 1 lakh under Section 80C is raised of Rs 1.20 lakh this year but Rs 20,000 has to be invested in some special infrastructure bonds. Kindly inform about availability of these. My son expects me to provide him the necessary guidance on such matters. I am a retired senior citizen. — R.L. Gaur A. The contribution to Public Provident Fund can be made up to Rs.70,000 in a year. The contribution to General Provident Fund is not covered within the above limit of Rs.70,000. The infrastructure bonds have recently been issued by IFCI on private placement basis. The tenure of the bonds is 10 years. However, the lock-in period of these bonds is 5 years, meaning thereby that you can withdraw the amount after 5 years. The deduction for Rs. 20,000 is allowable under Section 80CCF of the Act. These bonds can be purchased by an individual or an HUF. The bonds which can be bought back after 5 years carry coupon rate of 7.85 pc. Gratuity Q. I was retired from the govt. service on superannuation (60 years) on April 30, 2006, and received gratuity amounting to Rs.3.5 lakh (i.e. the maximum limit). Thereafter the limit of gratuity was enhanced to Rs.10 lakh. Now on revision of pay scales from January 01, 2006, I have received an additional amount of gratuity i.e. Rs.1 lakh approx on June 8, 2010. I am also to receive some additional amount of leave encashment. As per latest notification, the amount of gratuity is tax free up to the limit of Rs.10 lakh from May 25, 2010. I, therefore, seek advice on the following points:- What will be my tax liability on the additional amount of gratuity received on June 8, 2010. Whether there is any limit for tax exemption on the amount of leave encashment. — B.R. Kumar A. The additional amount of Rs1 lakh will be added to your salary/pension income and brought to tax in accordance with the applicable slab rate. You can, however, seek relief under Section 89 of the Act. The specified exemption limit in respect of leave encashment at the time of retirement is Rs 3 lakh.
	DTC Bill to be tabled in LS today Tribune News Service New Delhi, August 29 The much-awaited Direct Taxes Code (DTC) Bill will be introduced in the Lok Sabha tomorrow. The Bill is expected to provide relief to income tax payers, both personal and corporate, though not as was proposed earlier in the original draft. Once the Bill is passed in Parliament, the government will be in a position to replace the archaic Income Tax Act with DTC from April 1, 2011. Although Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said he would announce the slabs for personal income tax while tabling the Bill, he has given indications that income tax exemption limit will be raised from the current Rs 1.6 lakh a year to Rs 2 lakh. The proposed tax slabs are much lower than originally proposed in the draft DTC Bill - 10 per cent for Rs 1.6 lakh to Rs 10 lakh, 20 per cent between Rs 10-25 lakh and 30 per cent for income above Rs 30 lakh. Compared to the current tax slabs, the proposed rates will make tax payers earning Rs 15 lakh a year richer by Rs 41,040. Similarly, tax burden will reduce by Rs 21,540 for those earning between Rs 5 lakh and Rs 10 lakh annually, while those earning between Rs 2-5 lakh could be richer by Rs 7,660. The tax slabs are proposed to be reduced from the draft stage, because the government is expected to retain income tax exemption on interest on housing loans up to Rs 1.5 lakh a year, under pressure from certain quarters.
	PowerGrid shortlisted for Nigerian network Johannesburg, August 29 Nigeria shortlisted Manitoba Hydro Electric Board of Canada and PowerGrid Corp of India to manage its power network once the state monopoly is dissolved. “The management may have to come from either one of these two companies upon the completion of the process,” Barth Nnaji, presidential adviser on power, said yesterday in an interview on Channels Television. Ireland’s Electricity Supply Board, which was also shortlisted when bidding began three years ago, didn’t re-apply when the new government restarted the process, he said. Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan announced a plan to dissolve the state power monopoly and expand electricity generation through private investment on August 26. The West African nation is the continent’s most populous, with 140 million people. — Bloomberg