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Nov
India visit
‘Indo-US business ties nolonger a one way street’ |
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NALCO to finalise Indonesia coal deal by January
Aviation Notes Investor Guidance CPI-IW static at 178
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Nov
India visit
Washington, October 2 "From a security standpoint, obviously Afghanistan and Pakistan and how that is all interrelated in that area of Asia, particularly with India, will be a big focus of what the president discusses with the prime minister (Manmohan Singh) then," he said. "I don't have anything on the Security Council stuff," he said. Meanwhile, another senior US official said three cross-cutting themes will illustrate the breadth, depth and promise of India-US partnership as the two sides plan for Obama's visit "that will mark another seminal milestone in our relations." Obama, America's first African-American president, and a student of "Gandhian" principles of nonviolent social change, "identifies Gandhi's autobiography, and Taylor Branch's terrific three-part biography of Dr. Martin Luther King as works that helped shape him," US Assistant Secretary of State Robert Blake said. — IANS
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‘Indo-US business ties nolonger a one way street’
"No longer are US-India business ties a one way street," Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Robert Blake said at the 27th Annual Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Lecture at the San Diego State University in California. "In fact, a new poll conducted by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, however, shows that Americans have an increasingly favourable view of India, and Americans increasingly favour a free trade agreement with India, a figure that has risen nine per cent points in just 4 years," Blake said. "Mukesh Ambani, owner of the behemoth Indian company Reliance Industries, expects to create approximately thousands of US jobs and infuse enormous amounts of capital to explore for and develop shale gas here in the United States," he said. "Mahindra and Mahindra group's wholly-owned subsidiary Mahindra USA sells lower horsepower tractors to farmers across the country. The tractors are assembled at three facilities in Texas, Tennessee, and here in California. They are also planning future investments in the United States," he said. — PTI
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NALCO to finalise Indonesia coal deal by January
Bhubaneswar, October 2 The company will then examine the technical and commercial feasibility. “By the next four months, we should be finalising the deal,” Bagra told IANS. NALCO had received the expression of interests from the companies like Middle East Coal (MEC), Bumi Murau Coal, Energy Indonesia and Pram Dwi Jaya, he said. NALCO has already been accorded foreign investment approval by the Indonesian government to set up a 0.5 million tonnes aluminium smelter and a 1,250 MW coal-based thermal captive power plant in East Kalimantan province of that country. NALCO, Asia's largest integrated aluminium producer, would import alumina of one million tonnes per annum from its facilities in India in bulk shipment through sea route, he said. — IANS
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Aviation Notes
Immigration functionaries at US airports adhere to two sets of rules - one for passengers of all nationalities and another for people from the sub-continent. This uncalled for distinction explains the US immigration authorities’ repeated proclivity in questioning and detaining 'wrong people'. They have time-and-again hurt sentiments of "honourable citizens" from India.
It is not the question of 'mistaken identity', it is a clear case of needless suspicion, over-cautiousness and over-exuberance. It is great that the civil aviation minister Praful Patel took his questioning 'philosophically'. Downplaying the questioning, Patel said: "Nothing serious happened and please do not sensationalise it". Apologising to Patel for detaining him at the O'Hare International Airport (Chicago) on Monday, the US Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano said: "The US would do whatever was required to make necessary amends to prevent any such incidents in future". This is for the first time that such a statement has come from the US official after hurting the sentiments of more than half-a-dozen Indian VIPs, belonging to different walks of life. An in-depth study of the Patel incident highlights that the minister has not been totally unblemished. He was questioned before in New York. In view of this shocking background, the most vital and most significant question that arises is: Why was he travelling on an ORDINARY PASSPORT when he was on an official assignment in Montreal on matters pertaining to civil aviation? Why was he not travelling on the 'diplomatic passport' issued to him? Did he inform the Indian embassy officials in the USA or immigration authorities in US that he, as a Minister of Civil Aviation, was travelling on an ordinary passport? Had Patel travelled on the diplomatic/ministerial passport or had he briefed the US immigration authorities in advance, the 'faux pas' might not have occurred. Knowing the US immigration authorities, the Indian government, particularly the external affairs ministry, must formulate its own set of 'precautionary rules' so that ministers and officials are not subjected to similar kind of harassment. It is sporting of Praful Patel to have taken this insult in his stride, but the US immigration unit cannot be expected to function 'logically and with the acme of good sense'. For the US "Might is right". |
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Investor Guidance
I would like you to enlighten me on how to open a PPF account in the name of a minor. The bank, where I have a PPF account in my name and where I deposit Rs 70,000 every year, refused to open the account in the name of my minor son. They insist that since I already have an account in my name, I cannot have another account in the name of a minor, operated by me as a guardian. In which case I will not be able to avail of the benefit of PPF facility.
— Hootokshi A: We cannot say why the bank is not allowing you to open the PPF account in the name of your minor son. PPF rules specifically allow this. You can have your own independent account and you could also be the guardian for your minor child’s account. Possibly, what they are trying to say is that contributions to the accounts of minor children are clubbed with the contributions of the natural guardian for the purpose of applying the ceiling of Rs 70,000. Consequently, if you have already contributed Rs 70,000 for the year, to you own account, you are not in a position to open the account in the name of your minor son. Consequently, in case you have not contributed to your PPF account an amount exceeding Rs 69,500 so far, you can open the account in the name of the minor with a minimum contribution of Rs 500. Basically the condition is that the total contributions to both the accounts for the year, should not exceed Rs 70,000. TDS deduction
Q: I have a Super Saving account in a bank. The Super Saving account requires a minimum balance of Rs 20,000 and if a higher balance is deposited, the same is transferred by means of auto-sweep to FD and this FD interest rate is more than the saving account. For the 2010 fiscal, the interest credited to my account was Rs 13,913. However, Form 16A for the year shows that the total interest earned by me was Rs 17,785 and the TDS deduction was Rs 1,779. This means that Rs 3,872 of interest has not been credited in my account. The manager of the bank told me that this difference amount of interest of Rs 3,872 will be credited in my account for this fiscal (2011). According to Income Tax Law, is it possible to deduct TDS on the interest which is not paid in that fiscal (2010 in this case)? — Madan lal Singla A: Rs 3,872 is the amount of interest accrued, but not received / credited to your account. You would have received this amount in the month of April 2010. The total amount of interest earned during last fiscal was Rs 17,785 (of which Rs 13,913 was received last fiscal and Rs 3,872 was received in 2011 fiscal). TDS has to be applied on this income during this year itself. The fact that you are slated to receive the income next year is immaterial and inconsequential. Consequently, you should have submitted the entire amount of Rs 17,785 to tax through your tax return last fiscal. The authors may be contacted at
wonderlandconsultants@yahoo.com |
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Recognising massive investment made by top Indian companies like Reliance, Mahindra and Mahindra, a senior Obama Administration official has said that the business relationship between India and the US are no longer a one-way street.