The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	Infosys eyes buyouts in Europe, Japan Bangalore, May 1 Infosys, the country’s second-biggest software services exporter, is on the hunt for acquisitions in Europe and Japan in areas including healthcare and public services, its chief executive said on Sunday. Speaking to Reuters a day after the company announced changes in its top-level management, S. Gopalakrishnan said Infosys could acquire companies with annual revenues of up to $600 million. "Up to $600 million may not pose too much of a risk or burden on the company. But it's a thumb rule or a guideline rather than a hard and fast rule," said Gopalakrishnan, who is set to step down as chief executive in August to become executive co-chairman. Infosys was also seeking acquisitions in new areas like cloud computing, he said. The company had cash and cash equivalents of $3.8 billion as of the end of March. "Our philosophy has always been that you plan organic growth," Gopalakrishnan said. " (But) you keep your eyes and ears open, you have a dedicated team looking at acquisitions." "We do not want to set a target for acquisition because we are not doing acquisition for growth. We are doing acquisitions for strategic fit and adding capability at this point in time," he said at the company's headquarters. Several Indian technology players including Infosys's larger rival Tata Consultancy Services and smaller rival Wipro have been looking for overseas acquisitions to boost growth amid growing competition from global rivals such as IBM and Accenture. Indian software firms are also looking to reduce a dependency on their US market, which accounts for more than half of the sector's revenue, and want to expand operations in European and Asian markets. "There are multiple strategic requirements for acquisition so those are the things we are looking at. Typically a smaller acquisition rather than a large one," said Gopalakrishnan, one of the seven engineers who founded Infosys in 1981 with $250. Reorganisation In a separate interview, CEO-designate S.D. Shibulal said Infosys planned to complete an ongoing reorganisation of its business divisions in about two months. Infosys, which counts Goldman Sachs, BT and BP as clients, is struggling to meet growth expectations and its shares have fallen over 15 per cent so far this year. It is dividing its business into five global industry segments - financial services and insurance; manufacturing; energy, utilities, communications and services; public service practices and healthcare; retail and life sciences. Infosys will also look to strengthen its geographical focus by having separate heads for the Americas, Europe and emerging markets, said Shibulal, who is also one of the founders of Infosys, and is currently its chief operating officer. — Reuters
	Mittal close to buying Kazakh firm Mumbai, May 1 Lakshmi Mittal, who controls ArcelorMittal, is close to buying Kazakhastan-based engineering, procurement and construction firm KazStroyServices Ltd (KSS) in his personal capacity, Business Standard reported on Sunday. KSS owns 52.47 per cent stake in India's Petron Engineering Construction Ltd and the buy will give Mittal control over the Indian firm involved in construction of oil and gas pipelines and refineries, the report said, citing two unidentified sources. "The deal at the parent level is expected to be finalised and announced in a month's time and after that, there would be an open offer for the Indian shareholders," the report quoted a source as saying. "We are not aware of any deal of this sort," the report quoted Petron Engineering Construction's spokesperson as saying while ArcelorMittal group told the newspaper through an email, the group does not comment on market speculation. The deal value could not be ascertained, the report said. Officials of Petron Engineering Construction and ArcelorMittal could not be reached immediately for comments. — Reuters
	Air India in worst debt trap New Delhi, May 1 Air India has landed itself in the worst debt trap, where the airline is spending all its earnings in repayment of interest on aircraft loans, working capital, aircraft capital and fuel expenses. It has had to take more loans, at higher interest rate, to meet the salaries of its 32,000 employees and other expenses. "Air India has been incurring a loss of Rs 26 crore per day and has landed itself in debt trap from where it is not possible to come out until government comes to our rescue," a senior Air India official said. The national carrier's earning is Rs 36 crore per day, of which Rs 22 crore comes from domestic sector and Rs 14 crore from international. "But we are spending Rs 62 crore every day," he said, adding the airline is suffering heavy losses ever since the government gave the purchase order of 111 aircraft. "Interestingly, after payments for fuel, aircraft loan and interest repayments, the national carrier is left with no cash to meet the salaries of its employees, pay interest on working capital, aircraft spares and other operational cost," the official, who requested anonymity, said. "We have to take fresh loans from banks at the rate of about 14 per cent to pay the salaries and meet other expenses. We have been facing this situation since June last year," he said. The national carrier has an outstanding unsecured short-term working capital loan of Rs 20,763 crore and an annual interest burden of Rs 2,400 crore, at the rate of 12 to 14 per cent, which is quite high, he said. Apart from this, the cash-strapped carrier also has a payment overdue of Rs 3,320 crore to oil companies and other vendors. — PTI
	Sony apologises for breach, boosts security To restore PlayStation Network next week Tokyo, May 1 Sony today apologised for a security breach that compromised millions of users, and said while it had no evidence that credit card information was stolen it could not rule it out. Sony executives bowed in apology and said the company would begin restoring its PlayStation Network and Qriocity online services in the next week and improve security measures after the breach that hit 77 million accounts. "This criminal act against our network had a significant impact not only on our consumers, but our entire industry," said Sony executive deputy president Kazuo Hirai. "These illegal attacks obviously highlight the widespread problem with cyber security. We take the security of our consumers' information very seriously and are committed to helping our consumers protect their personal data." The electronics giant held an unusual Sunday news conference on the breach, which was feared to have involved the theft of details on 10 million registered credit cards and which the company has said was carried out by hackers. The PlayStation Network and Qriocity streaming music service were shut down on April 20 after what Sony described as an "external intrusion" and remain offline as the company upgrades security and works with US federal investigators. Sony said it had worked with security firms and "implemented significant security measures to further detect unauthorised activity and provide consumers with greater protection of their personal information" and would create a new security officer position. — AFP
	Tax Advice No deduction on litigation expenses by SC Vasudeva Q. I retired as additional ETC Punjab in June, 1994 . My arrears of pay amounting to Rs 26,864 for the period 1965-1975 and 1978 -84 were illegally withheld by the state in spite of two judgements of the Punjab & Haryana High Court in C.W. 1826 of 1973 and 5146 of 1978 and the delayed payment was actually made in June 1989. Thereafter I filed a civil Suit at Chandigarh claiming damages on the delayed payment, which was decreed in 2002 with directions to pay damages in the form of compound interest @ 12 % PA from the date of accrual of arrears till actual payment, which stands confirmed by the High Court and also by the Supreme Court dismissing state appeals. Now that the order is final, I am likely to get the payment of Rs 15 Lakh approximately in a month or so. I want to know if their amount of damages/interest is exigible to income tax and if so whether I am entitled to claim deduction of expenses on account of litigation etc. incurred by me during the past 30-40 years of litigation, which amounts to several lakh. — A.S. Birdi A. The amount received from the government as damages being in the nature of interest for delayed payment of dues should be taxable. The litigation expenses incurred by you are not deductible under any provisions of the Act. Long-term gains Q. I received jewellery from my parents, parents in-law and other relatives on my wedding 47 years ago. Now, I want to sell it and put the proceeds in a bank FD to get regular income. Do I have to pay any tax. — Hardev Kaur A. Any profit arising on sale of jewellery received 47 years ago from various relatives would be taxable as a long-term capital gain. Tax liability Q. I shall feel obliged if you clarify about my tax liability. I am a govt. employee. My gross total income is Rs 3,43,674 & my savings u/s 80-C is Rs 1 lakh. Tax up to Rs 1,60,000 is nil & tax @10% is Rs 8,367. My employer deducted TDS.as follows: a) In pay of Aug ’10: Rs 2,000 b) In Sept ’10-Rs1,000 c) In Oct ’10-Rs 1,000 d) In Nov ’10-Rs 1,000 e) In Dec ’10-Rs 2,000 f) In Jan ’11-Rs 2,000 Total tax paid: Rs 9,000 (up to Jan’11) But my employer charged penalty @12% on total tax paid (tax+Edu.cess) from pay of Feb’ 11, stating that you paid advance tax late (not from April onwards). Is it right? I think I can’t claim it from I.T.deptt as employer is showing it as a penalty on total tax payable in Form No.16. Please suggest me how can I claim my money as employer is not listening my view. I even contacted local I.T. deptt. but they say we can’t do anything as it was the fault of your employer. Please guide. — Anurag, Batala A. Your employer has no right to charge any interest for non-payment of advance tax. Tax payable for assessment year 2011-12 (Y.E. 31.03.2011) on the taxable income of Rs 2,43,674 would be Rs 8,367 plus education cess of 3% thereon. You have already paid Rs 9,000 by way of tax deduction at source. There is no further tax liability on the basis of figures indicated in the query. Medical expenses Q. I am a senior citizen having retired from Central Government service. I am suffering from a joint problem. A private doctor has advised me operation. My pension includes an element of medical allowance. My pension disbursing bank is PNB. (i) Am I entitled for medical treatment? If so, in which hospital? (ii) Is medical reimbursement permissible? If so, where I can submit my medical bill for payment. In reply to the above points, you were kind enough to state in The Tribune dated 21.02.2011 that I am covered under Contributory Health Scheme of Government of India. In the absence of this scheme in the city of my residence, what are the options open for me at (i) and (ii) indicated above. — Harbhajan Singh A. I am unable to guide you for any other avenue from where you can get free medical treatment. There must be a CGHS dispensary in Ludhiana which is a district town. It would be worthwhile to make inquiries for Ludhiana in this regard. Direct Taxes Code Q. What is maximum limit of investment u/s 80C to get tax rebate under Direct Taxes Code? — Ramesh, Batala A. Direct Taxes Code allows deduction in respect of contribution to approved funds, Life Insurance premium and Health Insurance Premium and any sum paid for education of children subject to specified conditions. The limit for deduction of contribution made to approved funds is Rs 1,00,000. For other payments specified hereinabove, the limit is Rs 50,000. Relief on arrears Q. Kindly guide me regarding income tax return for 2010-2011. I am a Punjab Government pensioner and a senior citizen. I got arrears of pension from 01.01.2006 to 31.07.2009 along with the cost of litigation. Am I required to show the above amount in my return for 2010 to 2011 or can I account for the proportionate share of arrears in returns starting from 2005 and ending with 2010? — Mohinder Singh A. It would not be possible for you to file a revised return for the financial years 2006-07, 2007-08 and 2008-09 as the time limit provided for filing revised return has expired. You can file revised return for the financial year 2009-10 by 31st March, 2012. It would therefore be advisable to include such arrears in the total income in the year of receipt and claim relief under Section 89 of the Income-tax Act, 1961.