New Delhi, May 18
The government has decided to end a tax incentive scheme for exporters on June 30, the country's Revenue Secretary said on Wednesday, as the export industry in Asia's third-largest economy was doing well and needed no incentives.

Speaking to reporters, Sunil Mitra said the government faced an estimated annual loss of Rs 8,000 crore from the Duty Entitlement Pass Book scheme (DEPB), which began in 1997.

"We really feel that we are rewarding exports on one hand and losing revenue on the other hand," Mitra said.

"It will be phased out on June 30. That is the Finance Ministry's decision," he told reporters.

The DEPB scheme is a tax incentive scheme for exporters under which the government reimburses about $1.8 billion a year to exporters on taxes paid on imported supplies.

"It will still give some relief to exporters if taxes are reimbursed under the drawback scheme," Ramu Deora, president of the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO), said.

The duty drawback scheme is an export incentive scheme also offered by the Indian government that neutralises levies paid on inputs with rates fixed annually, based on the duty structure in the budget.

Last week, Commerce Secretary Rahul Khullar said India's April exports surged by more than a third on demand for engineering goods, gems and oil products.

India's merchandise exports rose an annual 37.5 per cent to about $246 billion in the last fiscal year, surpassing the initial target of $200 billion.

The country hopes to achieve at least 25 per cent exports growth in the 2011/12 fiscal year that ends in March, and aims to double its merchandise exports within three years, Trade Minister Anand Sharma had said last month.

In April, the government rolled back a 2 per cent interest subsidy paid to exporters, as it seeks to rein in fiscal deficit - estimated at 4.6 per cent of gross domestic product in 2011/12. — Reuters

New Delhi, May 18
Bidding an emotional farewell to Infosys, which he founded 30 years back, outgoing chairman NR Narayana Murthy said leaving Infosys for him was like parents sending away their daughter after her marriage and said in his new role as chairman emeritus he would always be there to add value "if asked".

In his last letter to the company's shareholders, which is part of the Infosys latest annual report, Murthy said, "The best analogy that I can think of for this separation between Infosys and me is that of one's daughter getting married and leaving her parents' home.Yes, the parents will be there when she needs them and they will be happy that she is starting a new life in an exciting new environment".

Murthy went on to say that he had to go through tough times explaining to his son and daughter about whom he loved more — Infosys or the family.

Recounting his long journey in Infosys, Murthy said there have been moments of great dilemmas and sadness too. "Deliberating all alone on the resignation offer of a co-founder is something I would not wish upon my enemy. Being accused of violating our own standards of high business ethics recently made me lose several nights of sleep".

Citing some shortcomings, he said occasional incidents of the organisation turning bureaucratic, the inability of some Infosys leaders to take quick and firm decisions and the government company interface becoming less business friendly from time to time are things that have made him sad.

Having grown Infosys for the last 30 years, Murthy would be succeeded by ICICI Bank chairman, K V Kamath as Infosys' Chairman with effect from August 21.

Murthy said Infosys had shown businesses can be run legally and ethically and said, "We Indians must recognise, as we have done at Infosys, that we are our own enemies".

"Our failures are because of our lack of commitment to our cause, our inability to accept meritocracy and our indifference to honesty and want of a good work ethic among our leaders," he said.

New Delhi, May 18
Amit Mitra, who is tipped to become the next Finance Minister of West Bengal in the Trinamool Congress-led government, has resigned as Ficci Secretary General.

Mitra, 63, emerged as a 'giant killer' by defeating CPM veteran and state Finance Minister Asim Dasgupta by a big margin from the Khardah Assembly constituency.

His resignation has been accepted by the Ficci leadership, which said that it "wishes him all the very best for another historical role in the impending and hugely awaited economic transformation of West Bengal".

Mitra, a Phd in economics from Duke University in the US, has been at the helm of Ficci's affairs for over 16 years.

The former Secretary General is being seen as the next Finance Minister of the debt-ridden state. — PTI

Chandigarh, May 18
The failure of private real estate developers to deliver the projects in a time-bound manner has led to a demand for the institution of a real estate regulator in the country.

“As many as 80 per cent of the projects announced by private developers in the recent past are unlikely to be delivered in time,” said SK Sayal, chief executive officer-cum-director of Alpha G:Corp, a company that is credited with establishing the real estate asset management (REAM) model. That is why private investors overwhelmingly preferred urban development authorities to private developers, he said.

“A residential plot in an area under an urban development authority attracts high premium (10 times the actual cost) while the same cannot be said of a plot in a private real estate, “ said Sayal.

In an informal chat, Sayal, here to announce a Rs 5,000 crore expansion plan to develop commercial, residential and mixed-use projects in Punjab and Haryana besides Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, said at a summit of real estate developers in Singapore late last month, the demand for a regulator was raised in the presence of Union Minister Kamal Nath. A draft for the same was ready.

Ever since the concept of mega projects was introduced in the country about 10 years ago, investors had steadily lost confidence in private developers for their failure to complete the projects in time.

“It is their credibility that has taken a beating,” said Syal. “That is why new projects announced in the public sector draw a much bigger response than a project by a private developer”

Syal said the growing rate of interest on housing loans would affect the growth of real estate. As far as the boom in real estate was concerned, he said the first stage of correction had started and the prices may stabilise soon.

Alpha G:Corp has developed comprehensive professional solutions for real estate development in Amritsar, Karnal, Fatehabad and Gurgaon.

After completion of Amritsar-I, the company is embanking upon new projects in Amritsar and Ludhiana.

Chandigarh, May 18
Hyundai Motor India Limited (HMIL) is set to launch a small car, which, it hopes, will mark its presence in all segments of cars in the Indian market. The car will be smaller than Santro and is likely to be launched by the end of this year.

To retain its market share in the Indian market, the Korean car maker is all set to launch a number of car models across all segments. It is looking at two new launches each year till 2015. The company hopes to maintain its market share of 20 per cent, and at least for this year, will focus on the domestic market.

Talking to The Tribune, on the sidelines of the launch of Verna Fluidic here, Arvind Saxena, director, marketing and sales, HMIL, said they were now working on launching a mini car of 800 cc capacity. “Since the small car segment is the largest growing segment in India, we have decided to come up with a small car as volumes lies in this segment. This will be launched by the end of this year,” he said, adding that new models will be launched across all categories.

The company has so far invested over Rs 8,000 crore in India. It is currently putting in Rs 400 crore to set up a diesel engine plant here.

“We have the capacity to produce 6.60- 6.70 lakh units per annum. But as we grow, we will be enhancing our production capacities,” said Saxena.

About exports, he said of the 6.03 lakh units produced in India last year, 2.47 lakh units were exported, with i10 being the frontrunner.

He said rising fuel prices and interest rates on the auto loans could play a spoilsport for the company in the domestic market as well.

New Delhi, May 18
Reliance Industries (RIL) has countered a report that the oil regulator, the DGH, used to target it for falling gas production from the KG-D6 fields, saying the study was done without visiting the fields and the company was not given an opportunity to present its views.

Reliance was "deeply concerned and surprised" by the reservoir behaviour and "its deviation from what was envisaged in the Field Development Plan (laid out in 2006)", Reliance senior vice-president (commercial) B Ganguly said in an April 30 letter to the DGH.

"Our concern is also evident from the fact that we have moved to bring in a more experienced partner in the form of (UK's) BP, who brings with it the best deep water experience globally," he wrote, adding that Reliance plans to discuss the reservoir performance with BP to find a solution to the problem.

The Directorate General of Hydrocarbon (DGH) had commissioned independent consultant P Gopalkrishnan to give a report on the reasons for gas output from the Dhirubhai-1 and 3 fields in the KG-D6 block falling to 42 million cubic metres per day from 53-54 mmscmd in March, 2010, instead of rising to the projected 61.88 mmscmd.

In his letter, Ganguly gave a point-by-point rebuttal of Gopalkrishnan's finding that the "shortfall of gas production is due to non-drilling of the adequate number of wells".

"While the DGH-appointed consultant has reached certain conclusions on the performance of the D-1 and D-3 fields, we as operators were not afforded an opportunity to discuss any of the field issues,” he said.— PTI

BRIEFLY

Bajaj Auto net soars to Rs 1,400 cr
New Delhi: Bajaj Auto on Wednesday reported an over two-fold jump in its standalone net profit for the quarter ended March 31, 2011, to Rs 1,400.39 crore. The company's standalone total income during the fourth quarter also increased by 23.55 per cent to Rs 4,199.97 crore from Rs 3,399.45 crore in the year-ago period, it added. The company has recommended a dividend of 400 per cent. — PTI

ADAG plan
New Delhi: Anil Ambani on Wednesday committed investments worth $5-10 billion in various businesses in Indonesia at a meeting with the South Asian nation's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in Jakarta. The investments would be made in various sectors ranging from infrastructure, railways, power plants, mines, financial sector, media and entertainment business. — PTI