New Delhi, April 24
The controversial proposal to amend the Income Tax Act with retrospective effect to bring into tax net Vodafone-type deals is expected to yield to the exchequer Rs 35,000 to Rs 40,000 crore, the government said Tuesday.

"The income tax department has made an estimation that the total tax implication in consequences of retrospective amendments introduced in Finance Bill, 2012 may be to the tune of Rs 35,000 to Rs 40,000 crore", Minister of State for Finance S S Palanimanickam told the Rajya Sabha in a written reply.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee's Budget proposal, aimed at taxing Vodafone-type merger and acquisition deals involving domestic assets has generated lot of debate, with various global bodies claiming that the move would hurt foreign investment.

Once the amendment is approved by Parliament, the UK-based multinational telecom giant would have to pay Rs 11,000 crore as tax for its acquisition of the Hutchison's stake in Hutchison Essar Ltd in 2007.

On the overall implications of the proposed amendment, Palanimanickam said: "The figures of Rs 35,000 to Rs 40,000 crore is an estimate and the exact amount is determined only when assessing officer completes assessment proceedings”.

“The proceeding before assessing officer is a quasi judicial proceedings and the name along with demand raised is determined only on completion of such proceedings”, he added" — PTI

Chandigarh, April 24
About 50 retail outlets of Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) across Punjab have run out of their supply of diesel. The shortage of diesel supply has hit fuel dealers at a time when the demand for the fuel peaks in the agricultural sector with the harvesting season on in full swing.

HPCL fuel station dealers in the districts of Sangrur, Patiala, Mohali, Ludhiana and Barnala said they were facing an acute shortage of diesel for the past two days. Indents sent by the dealers to the HPCL depot in Sangrur are reportedly not being honoured on account of the supply constraints faced by the company there. Fuel retail outlet owners in parts of Jalandhar, Nawanshahr, Amritsar and Gurdaspur, too, have reported a shortfall in supply by the HPCL depot in Jalandhar.

An HPCL retail outlet owner in Samana told TNS though he sent in his indent of 20 kilolitres of diesel on Monday to the Sangrur depot he had not managed to get any supply. “By tomorrow morning, my outlet will run dry of diesel, and I’ll suffer a big loss in business,” he said.

While admitting the company was facing supply side constraints, a senior HPCL official told The Tribune the reason for the shortfall in supply was that the rival fuel marker — Indian Oil Corp (IOC) — had restricted its supply to the HPCL depots from its Panipat terminal.

“Over the past two days, IOC has been supplying just two-third of the total requirement of diesel by HPCL in Punjab. For the month of April, we’ve received just 50% of our requirement from IOC at the Sangrur terminal. Oil marketing companies have a well established arrangement by which the company having its terminal in the region, supplies to the other two oil marketing companies. We take supplies from IOC in Punjab, and we give them the supplies in the western and southern regions,” a senior HPCL official said, requesting anonymity.

IOC officials, however, denied they were restricting diesel supply to HPCL depots. “We’re supplying the diesel to HPCL as per our sharing arrangement. A responsible company like IOC will not cause any inconvenience to the public. The problem of shortfall in supply could be a result of HPCL’s own failure in supply and distribution,” said a top IOC official.

On an average, the monthly demand for diesel in Punjab at present is 260,000 kilolitres — up by 30% than during the lean months, because of high demand in agriculture sector. HPCL officials said that they are now trying to contain the situation by rationalizing the supply from its Bathinda depot, which is connected through a rail head from the HPCL terminal. “We are hopeful of salvaging the situation within a day or two,” he added. 

New Delhi, April 24
Telecom operators affected greatly by the February 2, 2012 ruling of the Supreme Court canceling the 122 licences issued during former telecom minister A. Raja’s regime on Tuesday welcomed the Supreme Court ruling of allowing them to continue operations till September 7 and said that this will provide a huge relief to customers.

"The said order comes as a huge relief to our customers, employees, investors and all members of the telecom ecosystem who are both directly and indirectly associated with SSTL," a Sistema Shyam Teleservices spokesperson said.

"We welcome the fact that the court has ensured speedy auctions and allowed our operations to continue till such time," Uninor said in a statement.

The operators, however, said the government needed to speed up the spectrum auction process and also review TRAI’s proposals spelt out on Monday.

Both Sistema and Uninor, which have made heavy investments into the country’s telecom sector, have also served notices on the Indian government for protection of their investments under bilateral trade treaties with Russia and Singapore.

"The extention of the deadline to August 31 also means the government must move fast to review some of the proposals that are otherwise certain to have a catastrophic impact on the industry as well as on tariffs for the common man. Issues on which there is already an industry consensus can be resolved very quickly," Uninor further said.

The GSM operators’ association, COAI, however, said it was only a short term reprieve and not a solution to the problem.

Mumbai, April 24
Buyers of gold jewellery are acting cautiously as soaring gold prices have dulled their enthusiasm, according to jewellers. The festival of Akshaya Tritiya on Tuesday was expected to see a major surge in sale of gold and jewellery but demand was tepid.

"There’s a slowdown in demand but we expect buying to pick up later in the day," says Abhinav Jhaveri, a jewellery store owner from Borivli in north Mumbai. Other jewellers felt buyers turned up in the morning and during the lunch break and the crowds would increase later in the evening.

"Women and young girls shopping for their wedding trousseau are coming to buy in decent numbers but for big purchases men accompany the women later in the evening," another jeweller from the Zaveri Bazaar, in South Mumbai said.

With the trade reporting good demand for the yellow metal from across the country, gold prices shot up to Rs 29,100 per 10 grams late afternoon. The market expects prices to rise even further with gold futures gaining 0.22% to Rs 29,242 per 10 grams.

Sellers have come out with a number of schemes to push the sale of gold today. Even the staid postal department reportedly offered a six per cent discount on gold coins sold through post offices.

Private companies came out with a number of schemes on the occasion. Reliance Jewels offered a price protection plan to those who booked gold jewellery for delivery today. Smaller outfits waived charges for jewellery purchased off the shelves.

Mumbai, April 24
The rupee hit a three-and-half month low on Tuesday, continuing to build losses as the lack of any clear signs of intervention from the central bank encouraged investors to build up dollar positions. Importer demand for dollars also contributed to the gains in US dollar/Indian rupee according to some traders, as was market talk about a potential relaxation in regulations concerning the forward bookings of dollars.

The rupee closed at 52.68 to the dollar after dipping to 52.8650, a level last seen on January 9. It had settled at 52.52 on Thursday. "At this stage 53.20 looks toppish (on the USD/INR) for the week. The importer dollar demand (from oil firms) seen in the past few days can be characterized as panic buying on worries rupee could fall more," said Kamlakar Rao, head of foreign exchange trading at state-owned Allahabad Bank.

Since hitting a 2012 low at 48.60 in early February, USD/INR has surged reflecting the dropping confidence in the local currency. — Reuters