The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	PE investments gain amid weak capital markets New Delhi, June 26 Sluggish stock markets have helped increase private equity investments significantly in India as several companies that were looking to raise funds from public are now trading the PE route. “Sluggish stock markets have in a way helped the PE investment activity — a number of companies which had filed for IPOs or were looking to raise money on public markets are now actively looking to raise money from PE,” Ernst & Young Partner Private Equity Mayank Rastogi said. Overall, PE investments in India have been growing in the past few years. According to global consultancy firm Grant Thornton, over the past six years (2005-2011), they have touched $50 billion. In comparison, capital raised through Initial Public Offering (IPO) in this period was $31 billion. Avinash Gupta Leader Financial Advisory, Deloitte in India said, “Whenever public markets go soft, PE has a good time because they have money. Besides, in India, corporate growth is driven on the basis of getting equity and possibly by leveraging it further. So they tap PE.” He added, however, that most of the PE firms raised money before the crisis and still have not been able to invest all of it. Though there is lot of positiveness in the PE scene, this has not been translated into real numbers. The fall in the market has not been entirely translated into the rise in PE, Gupta said adding that ‘one factor is that PE takes longer to happen’. He said that looking ahead the trend of corporates tapping PE route will catch up provided the value and other parameters add up. Meanwhile, Nainesh Jaisingh MD Standard Chartered Private Equity Advisory was quoted in a recent Grant Thornton report as saying, “Private Equity in India needs to operate in the space where public markets are unable to calibrate/map or price a business.” Jaisingh said most of the success stories (both from an investor and investee perspective) have been around new sectors, business models or entrepreneurs themselves. “It is also important to recognise that extraordinary returns will only come from solving difficult problems for such companies/ businessmen. The era of riding the wave of rising markets is well behind us,” he added.— PTI
	Pranab to sell India story New Delhi, June 26 Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee’s two-day visit to Washington beginning Monday will be focused on reassuring foreign investors that India continues to be an attractive investment destination, as its medium and long-term growth story remains intact, officials say. “The focus is on business. During the two-day stay, the finance minister will hold meetings with business honchos and top US economic policy makers,” a finance ministry official, who didn’t want to be quoted, said. Mukherjee is scheduled to hold roundtable meetings with CEOs of top US and Indian companies Tuesday. He will also address a luncheon meeting of the India-US CEO forum. The finance minister will be accompanied by top officials, including his chief economic advisor Kaushik Basu, economic affairs secretary R Gopalan and Reserve Bank of India Governor Duvvuri Subbaro. — IANS on US visit
	Nano drives into Nepal at Rs 5 lakh Attracts 240% tax, will still be the cheapest in the country Tribune News Service New Delhi, June 26 Tata Motors today launched Nano in Nepal at an introductory price of NPR of Rs 7.98 lakh (almost Rs 5 lakh). After Maruti Suzuki India Ltd (MSIL), Tata Motors would be second Indian car manufacturer to provide Nepal residents with a cheap car. Johnny Ommen , Tata Motors' chief of international business, passenger vehicles, and Siddhartha SJB Rana, executive chairman of Sipradi Trading, Tata's exclusive dealer in Nepal for almost four decades, unveiled the car. The car will be on sale across Nepal at 14 Sipradi-owned and Sipradi-authorised dealer showrooms. Nepal becomes the second international destination for Tata Nano after Sri Lanka. In Mumbai, the Nano Standard costs about Rs.1.51 lakh, in Nepal, the price escalation is due to a 240 per cent tax. This includes 76 per cent Customs duty, 60 per cent Excise duty, 13 per cent VAT, 5 per cent road tax as well as an annual NPR 16,500 as road tax. However, it will still be the cheapest car in Nepal and Ommen said his company hoped to create a new segment in Nepal and added there were no plans for further expansion. Oommen said, “We are delighted to introduce the Tata Nano in Nepal . We are confident that with its comfort, performance and manoeuvrability, the Tata Nano is the ideal small car for discerning customers of Nepal and will win their hearts. With Sipradi, we have created a country-wide infrastructure.” In the first phase, bookings will be open for 10 days, starting from today. All the three variants will be available for booking. The Nano Standard can be booked for NPR 10,000, the Nano CX for NPR 20,000 and the Nano LX for NPR 30,000. The EMI will be NPR 11,111, Tata Motors said.
	Google investors fear long battle against Feds Washington/Sanfrancisco, June 25 Larry Page should put in a call to Bill Gates. Microsoft Corp’s famous founder may know better than anyone else what the Google Inc chief executive would face if he engages in a protracted legal battle against US antitrust regulators. Google said on Friday that the Federal Trade Commission has started a formal investigation into its business, raising concerns among investors about a lengthy, distracting probe and potential legal action. Microsoft suffered that fate in its two-decade fight with the US Department of Justice and state attorneys over charges that it abused its monopoly in operating systems to crush competition in other areas. Microsoft finally settled the matter in 2002. "Gates felt like he was being punished for being successful, and he never really recovered from the trial,” said Michael Cusumano, Professor, MIT Sloan School of Management. Page, along with Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt, have resisted calls to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee's antitrust subcommittee hearing. Shares of Google began the year a touch above $600 and ended down 1.11% at $474.88 on Nasdaq on Friday.— Reuters
	Nine of top 10 firms add Rs 36,000 crore in m-cap Mumbai, June 26 The combined market capitalisation (m-cap) of nine of the top 10 companies grew by Rs 36,083.93 crore during the last week, with state-run oil & gas major ONGC emerging as the top gainer. ONGC’s valuation rose the most by Rs 6,587.72 crore to Rs 2,33,393.49 crore in the past week. Shares of the company grew by 2.9 per cent to end the week at Rs 272.80. The company is likely to file papers for a Rs 11,500-crore share sale after the government verdict on its dispute with Cairn India. Reliance Industries, the country’s most valued company and the biggest private sector entity in terms of profits and revenue, added Rs 654.76 crore to its m-cap which stood at Rs 2,84,952.42 crore at close on Friday last week. IT bellwethers TCS and Infosys Technologies together added Rs 10,639.35 crore to their valuations. The m-cap of TCS stood at Rs 2,22,377.06 crore, while that of Infosys was at Rs 1,64,324.61 crore. Top lenders SBI and ICICI Bank together added Rs 8,786.4 crore to their valuations. Maharatna PSU Coal India was the sole loser among the 10 largest companies in terms of market valuation. Its m-cap dropped by Rs 2,842.36 crore.— PTI
	Tax Advice Non-submission of PAN to banks entails 20% tax by SC Vasudeva Q My wife took a Fixed Deposit Receipt (FDR) for Rs 30,000 from a company about 3-4 years back and the FDR was being renewed and interest @ 11% p.a. was being received at the time of each renewal. In May this year, she deposited another sum of Rs 35,000 with the same company in FDR at the same interest. Till last year, the company had neither deducted income tax on the interest of Rs. 3,300 earned on the deposit of Rs 30,000 nor made a demand for submission of photo copy of PAN card. However, the company has nowdemanded a copy of PAN card failing which income tax would be deducted on the interest amount. My wife is a senior citizen (date of birth is 05-04-1943 with no proof in the shape of school certificate etc.) is a house-hold lady without any income . Please advise whether the demand made by the company is in accordance with the current income tax rules. — VM Seth A The requirement to furnish PAN has been provided by a newly introduced Section 206AA of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (The Act). The Section requires that in case PAN is not furnished by the recipient of income, tax shall be deducted @ 20%. This being the case the company has sought the information to save you from being subjected to tax @ 20%. It would therefore be in your interest to furnish PAN to the company so as to avoid tax deduction @ 20%. Rebate Limit Q The rebate limit for approved funds is Rs 1 lakh and for life insurance is Rs 50,000. Does it mean total investment now eligible under Section 80C and the maximum tax rebate is Rs 1.5 lakh. — Ramesh A Yes, in a way upper the limit for deduction allowable for saving investments has been enhanced to Rs 1.5 lakh. However, one must understand that the above amount of Rs 1.50 lakh is comprised of two parts. The deduction for insurance premium i.e. life, health, medical and tuition fees of children is covered within the limit of Rs 50,000. The limit of Rs 1 lakh is applicable for contributions to provident fund, gratuity fund, superannual fund and the pension fund. Both limits have to be considered separately and do not overlap with each other.