London, May 8
India tops the sales focus for major global corporations, followed closely by China, and a third of companies also see these two countries as the top markets for production, according to a study.

A survey by accountants Ernst & Young, released on Friday, found that 47 per cent of high-performing global firms saw India as the most important market for sales while 44 per cent named China. The importance of India and China remained the same regardless of where the firms were headquartered, the study found.

On a broader level, which included top-performing as well as less successful companies, India was seen as the top focus of 34 per cent of firms and China was only just behind with 33 per cent.

The other members of the BRIC group of the world's biggest emerging economies were some way down, with Brazil the main focus for 19 per cent of companies and Russia for 14 per cent.

"It appears that the combination of high volume and rapid growth in the India and China markets lifts them outside the normal more regional focus," Ernst & Young said.

"Brazil can be seen to continue to emerge, while Russia's relative importance has declined," said the study, noting Russia had fallen out of the top 10 for North American firms though it is in fifth place for Western European firms.

The study, conducted for Ernst & Young by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), interviewed 400 top-level executives at leading international corporations in January and February 2011. It distinguished between top-performing and less successful companies on the basis of revenue and EBITDA growth.

Almost half the high-performance companies named economic growth forecasts as the main factor for sales and investment strategies while 40 per cent identified demographic profiles.

The study found that the top markets for production for all respondents were China (30 per cent) and India (28 per cent), followed by Brazil and Mexico with 12 per cent each. But among high performers, 43 per cent preferred India followed by China which was favoured by 41 per cent.

While 40 per cent of best-performing European firms and two-thirds of Asian companies named India as their top investment destination, China topped the list in North America, picked by 41 per cent of leading businesses.

India was named as the favoured production focus by far fewer of the less successful businesses across the continents.

"This suggests that a focus on India in certain markets contributes to growth," the study added.

Russia got 13 per cent of the votes of high-performing firms in Western Europe and 13 per cent in North America. Brazil got 16 per cent and 9 per cent respectively. — Reuters

Mumbai, May 8
Facing severe flak for power outages from people across the state every summer, Maharashtra's Power Ministry has deployed technology to separate heavy users like factories and borewells in farms from homes and offices. As a result, Maharashtra's homes and offices experienced zero load shedding for an entire week in April though power outages have returned with the onset of summer.

"Power shedding in many places of Maharashtra have come down from between 8 and 16 hours to just about an hour or two everyday," says a spokesman of the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company (Mahadiscom). For the first time in several years, engineers stationed at substations belonging to Mahadiscom did not have to face angry protesters threatening violence for prolonged power disruption, according to an official.

The strategy adopted by the Maharashtra government, however, puts farmers and factory owners at a disadvantage. Over the past two years, Mahadiscom spent more than Rs 4,000 crore on a feeder-separation programme to separate heavy users from home and office consumers thus ensuring that the latter get most of scarce power available in the state. "The agricultural sector alone needed 4,500 MW of power which put immense pressure on the distribution network during peak hours," said a senior Mahadiscom official.

With power feeder lines separated, electricity is being supplied for borewells installed in fields during off-peak hours. Though the power department claims to have succeeded in reducing strain on the supply network, reports from interior Maharashtra indicate that farmers are unhappy at being denied power at convenient hours. Mahadiscom officials are now carrying out programmes to educate people about the benefits of receiving quality power, sources say.

According to the state power department, peak hour demand for power in the state is around 17,000 MW while supply stood at around 12,500 to 13,000 MW. The state has been able to buy just around 1,200 MW of power from power producers in other parts of the country and the private sector.

However, such measures seem to be stop-gap solutions at best. "Demand for power in Maharashtra will grow by another 800 MW next year and generation needs to keep up," says Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar who also holds the power portfolio. The state government has ambitious plans to add another 5,000 MW of supply by December 2012, if all goes well. 

New Delhi, May 8
As many as 85 lakh taxpayers will benefit from the government's decision to exempt persons earning less than Rs 5 lakh a year from filing I-T returns, a finance ministry official said.

"The decision, which will come into effect from June 1, 2011, will reduce the compliance burden of about 85 lakh small taxpayers," he said.

As per the Memorandum to the Finance Bill 2011, the government will be issuing a notification exempting 'classes of persons' from the requirement of furnishing income tax returns.

Taxpayers with income of less than Rs 5 lakh will not have to file tax returns for the assessment year 2011-12 and a notification in this regard is likely next month, the official said.

In case such a salary earner has income from other sources like dividend, interest etc and does not want to file returns, he will have to disclose such income to his employer for tax deduction.

However, if such an assesse wants to claim a refund, he will have to file the I-T return. The Form 16 issued to salaried employees will be treated as Income Tax Return. — PTI

Mumbai, May 8
Market regulator SEBI is still to recover monetary penalties of over Rs 103 crore imposed on individuals and entities till December, 2010.

According to the SEBI, the defaulters list covers 864 cases with a total penalty of Rs 1,03,55,34,765.

SEBI issued adjudication orders on these cases between 2002 and 2010 and the concerned individuals and entities were asked to fork out monetary penalties. However, they had defaulted on furnishing the amount till December 31, 2010.

As per the data, 13 of the defaulters were fined at least Rs 1 crore or over.

The maximum default is Rs 15 crore on one Rajkumar Basantani on a case where the adjudicating order came in November, 2008.

Basantani has another defaulter charge against him of Rs 1.35 crore related to a case where the order was passed in April, 2010.

Another big defaulter is Dinesh Chudasama who was asked to pay Rs 1.05 crore while adjudicating the case in August 2004.

The amount of default starts from Rs 10,000 and goes up to crore and above, as per the list. While the penalties were mostly in lower figures during the initial years from 2002 till around 2008, in recent years the trend has changed with adjudication orders being passed with bigger figures. — PTI 

New Delhi, May 8
Reliance Industries (RIL) has debunked charges that KG-D6 gas field output fell due of non-drilling of an adequate number of wells, saying the phenomenon was a result of reservoir complexity and indiscriminate drilling would have lead to infructous capital expenditure.

The drop in production from over 61 million cubic metres per day achieved in March, 2010, to under 50 mmcmd was a result of the main reservoir channels not behaving in the manner predicted in 2006.

"Reliance has told us that pressure in wells has fallen rapidly and some wells have shown early water ingress," an Oil Ministry official said. "They made a detailed presentation on the problems being faced at the field on May 2 and by the look of it, we feel there are some genuine reservoir issues." More wells on the main channel area of the Dhirubhai-1 and 3 fields, the largest of the 18 gas finds in the block that were put into production in 2009, is unlikely to either raise production rate or recovery as they will drain the same resource, he said. — PTI