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India strong investment destination, says India Inc
Kingfisher operations near normal
HDFC replaces RIL as second most-valued firm
Northern states need to focus on brand building: Malvinder
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Aviation Notes
Tax Advice personal
finance Financial planning
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India strong investment destination, says India Inc
Reacting to US President Barack Obama's assertion that the government must carry out "difficult" economic reforms, India Inc said India remains a strong investment destination with strong long-term growth prospects. Obama in an interview to PTI in Washington said American firms say "it is still too hard to invest in India. In too many sectors, such as retail, India limits or prohibits the foreign investment that is necessary to create jobs in both our countries, and which is necessary for India to continue to grow". Acknowledging that the nation lagged in reforms in sectors like retail, aviation, defence and insurance, India Inc said Obama or any other person cannot be "dictating Indian government or Indian policy makers". "US has its own problem and India has its own. Our government will take decision as per our own compulsions and requirements. However, we do need reforms but Obama or any other person cannot be dictating Indian govt or Indian policy makers," industry body Assocham's secretary-general DS Rawat said. The US, he said, also had lot of "limitations" like the recent restrictions imposed on BPOs. "But it is there decision. Similarly, decisions taken by our policy makers should not be questioned because our economy is till doing much better than most of the developed countries," he said. CII Director-General Chandrajit Banerjee said, "India was resilient and was still growing at 6 per cent during the time of global economic uncertainties."
— PTI |
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Kingfisher operations near normal
Mumbai, July 15 However, according to information available from Mumbai airport, some flights of the airline were combined “due to operational exigencies”, sources said. It is not clear whether this was because of fall in a passenger load or due to shortage of aircraft and/or personnel. Late Saturday night, the airline’s promoter Vijay Mallya sent out a two-line statement which said operations would be back to normal from today. The airline has refused to comment on whether it has struck any deal with the striking pilots. Representatives of the pilots too refused to speak to the media today. Before falling silent, the pilots had criticised Mallya for asking them not to speak to the media. “We, the employees, against all odds have been working without payment for five and half months of salary. May we ask the upper management not to place blame of repeatedly missing deadlines for unpaid salary on the employees...25 per cent of the employees still await the salary for February 2012. Also, 100 per cent employees await March, April, May and June 2012 salary,” the statement by the pilots said. |
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HDFC replaces RIL as second most-valued firm
New Delhi, July 15 The financial services giant HDFC Group now commands a total market value of Rs 2.41 trillion - the second highest among all the private sector corporate houses after salt-to- software conglomerate Tatas' Rs 4.42 trillion. In comparison, the market value of Reliance Industries group currently stands at about Rs 2.36 trillion. While Tatas have nearly 30 listed entities, RIL group has got two (Reliance Industries Ltd and Reliance Industrial Infrastructure Ltd) and HDFC group has three - HDFC Ltd, HDFC Bank Ltd and Gruh Finance Ltd.
— PTI |
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Northern states need to focus on brand building: Malvinder
What is your action plan as CII Northern Region Chairman? “Building Sustainable North for Tomorrow” is the overarching theme under which we are focusing our endeavour on the Northern territories of Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, J&K, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Chandigarh. We will engage with the states and push for reforms in the domains of Single Window Clearance System for approval of investments, Labour Laws, Industrial Policies, APMC Act, Land Leasing Act in order to build an enabling investment climate in the region. What are the main problem areas for industry in the region? The biggest challenges are to do with the inadequacy of good infrastructure, power, availability of a skilled workforce and governance. The fact that our region is land locked poses its own set of challenges when compared to the West and South which enjoy great connectivity, have large coast lines with ports, enabling easy access to both the domestic and international markets. How in your opinion can these issues be tackled? There is a need to accelerate implementation of the proposed Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC), Eastern and Western Dedicated Freight Corridors (DFCs) are every important projects for the North. Approx 70% of the combined scope of these corridors will reside in the Northern states, providing a vital connect to the western and eastern states. Non-availability of land to set up industrial projects has emerged as a major bottleneck. The proposed Land Acquisition and Rehabilitation & Resettlement (LARR) Bill 2011 needs to be reviewed, particularly the proposed acquisition process. The significant deficit in power generation in the Northern region needs to be addressed. It seems the northern region is not attracting investments as compared to the west and south. What are the numbers for the region? Why is this happening? This is indeed a fact. As far as numbers related to FDI are concerned, North attracted 21% of FDI as compared to West getting a share of 55% and South having 22% during FY01 to FY09. Also, in terms of number of investment intentions issued in 2010-11, share of the Northern region is a paltry 15.6%. There are several reasons for this state of affairs. Apart from the problem of the region being land locked, over the past two decades, the southern and western States have implemented investor-friendly policies and have succeeded in creating an enabling environment for industrial investment. Recognising this reality, investment has flowed into these states as compared to the North and East. While there are reasons often given for this like lack of power, high real estate prices, the feeling is that several other states/regions may also have these issues. There seems to be lack of adequate entrepreneur interest. The bigger business houses do not seem to be looking at the region very seriously. What is your opinion? The North has always been known as a hub of innovation and entrepreneurship. However, some drift has been witnessed in the recent past with entrepreneurs looking towards western and southern states. The National Manufacturing Plan, with focus on enhancing the share of manufacturing to 25% of the country’s GDP is a great opportunity for the northern states to regain their “market share”. Like their counterparts, the northern states need to focus much more on brand building. Recognising that capital has global mobility, it is important to proactively reach out to potential investors and respond positively to their genuine requirements. Which sectors in the region have the potential to become leaders? There are several areas offering great potential to the northern states. As we all are aware, the North is rightly known as the food bowl of the country with 30.8% of the country’s agricultural produce. This diverse agriculture base of the region offers tremendous potential for food & fruit processing industry. Delhi and Chandigarh are very well-known destinations for secondary and higher/professional education. This is an arena which can be built upon significantly. Tourism also has a significant scope. ther sectors having potential to emerge as leaders are textiles, leather, cement, knowledge based industries- IT & ITeS, biotech and pharma, light engineering, power etc. How or how not are governments efficiently inviting investments? How will you work with them in this regard? As I mentioned earlier, the need of the hour for the northern state governments is to showcase the attractiveness of their respective states as investment destinations. They need to be proactive in reaching out to investors, developing investment-friendly policies and building their brands. In this regard, CII is taking a number of initiatives, including organising “Invest North”, a mega conclave to showcase investment opportunities in northern states. We have invited all the state governments in the region to partner with us. CII is working with the state governments of the North to improve the investment climate in the region. What can be done to attract more investments and companies to the region? In the run-up to the ‘Invest North’, CII plans to organise road shows in major cities of the country and brief domestic investors about the USP of the northern states; to attract overseas investors. What are your thoughts on entrepreneurship in the region? What trends do you see? I believe that the North is well positioned to emerge as a preferred investment destination in the coming years. The need of the hour is to create an enabling environment for nurturing entrepreneurial spirit. |
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Aviation Notes The civil aviation industry in the country has never been caught in a more vicious whirlpool before. The bureaucracy has been split into two in matters pertaining to aviation governance. The division in bureaucracy has come handy to polity which is acting rough and tough. The Director-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), EK Bharat Bhushan, has been made a scapegoat in this tug-of-war. In February 2012, the government prepared a 20-page document for the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) with enhanced autonomy to supercede the DGCA, which, according to the ministry, had outlived its usefulness. The document was prepared in such a manner that it suited one particular official, who, immediately after retirement in July, 2012, could move to the CAA for a term of another five years until 2017. The lobby, opposed to it, has succeeded in scuttling the formulation of the CAA, which is now lying in cold storage of Rajiv Bhawan. Bitten by this defeat, Bharat Bhushan has been dragged into a controversy when he was not even involved in it. He has been subjected to humiliation. He has been shunted out of the DGCA to be an additional secretary and financial adviser in the Steel Ministry. Strange are the ways of functioning of the government. The civil aviation think tank, Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA), said: "The timing and manner of his (Bharat Bhushan) removal with no reason offered is extremely unfortunate…and is reflective of a poor overall approach to managing the civil aviation sector… Bhushan also deserves great credit for the manner in which he has attempted to clean up the internal operations in the DGCA". According to CAPA, there is an urgent need to have an independent regulator. It should regulate airlines and airport managements, which have been indulging in wrong doings and violations. There is also an immediate need to have an independent board to investigate air accidents. Analysts say safety is the most vital concern of all and politicians have no role to play into it. Also, the recommendations made by the Board should be acted upon instead of files being deposited in Rajiv Bhawan to gather dust. The PMO should institute an in-depth, independent inquiry into the removal of Bharat Bhushan, who, after getting an extension, was shown the door.
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Tax Advice Q. I am a retired Haryana Govt pensioner aged above 70 years (senior citizen). My annual income is Rs 1.55 lakh from pension plus Rs 60,000 as interest income i.e. total Rs 2.15 lakh on account of interest accrued on savings bank account, fixed deposits and MIS accounts/accrued interest on previous NSCs of Post Office etc. for the financial year 2011-12 (Assessment Year 2012-13). Am I required to file income tax return or not my annual total income being within a threshold limit of Rs 2.50 lakh. — Surinder Nath A. In case your total income without claiming a deduction under Chapter VI-A of the Act is below Rs 2,50,000, you are not liable to file the return of income. However, in case your total income works out to be below taxable income after claiming deduction under Section 80C etc. of the Act, you would be liable to file the return of income for assessment year 2012-13. Q. I deposited my retirement benefits in a joint account of myself and my wife. The name of my wife appears first in the joint account (either or survivor). My wife invested some of the amount in an FD in the bank and some money in a post office MIS scheme. Now my query is whether the amount received as interest from bank and Post Office is taxable. My wife is a housewife and she has no other source of income. — HL Sharma A. The amount of interest received on an FD and from Post Office under MIS scheme would be taxable as your income. This is in view of the fact that the amount invested in an FD and under MIS scheme represent your retirement benefits. Q. My parents aged 78 want to file IT return with fixed deposit interest income to be shown on a receipt basis. i) You have confirmed the above fact in The Tribune dated 14.5.12. Kindly quote the relevant section. ii) The FM has quoted that Rs 10,000 accrued from a savings account as interest can be shown in the deductions. Please let me know under which section it can be shown. — Sunil Bhandari A. i) Section 145 of the Act provides that the income chargeable under the head “Income from other sources” shall be subject to tax in case the same is computed in accordance with either cash or mercantile system of accounting employed by the assessee regularly. Therefore, any assessee can adopt cash (receipt) method of accounting if the same is employed regularly. ii) The deduction in respect of a savings bank interest is allowable under Section 80TTA of the Act.
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personal
finance If we list down some of the critical financial goals for any individual, owning a house, child's education and marriage, and a comfortable retirement figure out as the most important milestones which you would want to build a corpus for. And to achieve your goals, it is critical that you start saving early. And an extremely critical aspect of financial planning is understanding and analysis of the goals as well as various financial instruments available in the market. Before zeroing in on any investment tool, there are certain things like the time frame, nature of financial goals - whether for individual or family and the corpus needed to meet these requirements that one must keep in mind. Since all of the above mentioned goals are long term in nature, the ideal investment tool would be a long-term product, which not only gives a significant lump sum at the end of the term but also makes sure that the funds are available to the family to meet their financial goals even in your absence. A traditional endowment plan by an insurance company is a perfect solution for this need. An endowment plan is an insurance-cum-investment option where you need to pay regular premium for a specified tenure at the end of which a guaranteed accumulated corpus is paid as maturity value. However, even if the policyholder doesn't survive the entire policy tenure, the sum assured or life cover is paid to policyholder's nominee, making sure that the financial goals of the family can still be met. One can opt for either traditional or unit-linked endowment plans depending on their financial goals and risk appetite. The traditional endowment products give guaranteed returns and some also offer bonus at different stages of the policy. Let us illustrate how investing in an appropriate endowment plan can help you meet your investment objectives: If you wish to own a home by the time you are 35, you need to start planning for it at least 10 years in advance. While banks offer home loans for this purpose, it is still imperative for you to plan and save enough, even before approaching the bank. Typically banks only grant loans for 70% of the amount and the rest 30% has to be paid on an immediate basis. Considering the steeply rising real estate prices, you must have a significant corpus before approaching the realtor. This is where endowment plan can come to your rescue. Investing in an appropriate endowment plan will not only provide the corpus but also secure this goal by ensuring that in any unfortunate event of the bread earner's demise, the family still gets the fund. Similarly, corpus for child's marriage and education can also be accumulated. Retirement planning is one of the most critical aspects of financial planning. Keeping in mind the exponentially rising cost of living, a comfortable retirement calls for meticulous financial planning as the PF funds (if you get them) might suffice only your basic needs and will not help sustain your current lifestyle. While there are retirement plans available in the market to cater to this need, they come with a compulsion of buying annuity, which is paid to you in instalments and not as lump sum. Investing in endowment plans for building retirement corpus would provide a windfall for all those activities and luxuries that you couldn't pursue because of busy life schedule. An endowment plan, therefore will not only provide you with the required funds for you to meet your financial goals, but will also give you the peace of mind as you will know that your plans for your family will be met, whether or not you are around. The author is Director, Marketing, Aviva India. The views expressed are his own |
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Financial planning It is noteworthy that we should not be too late to know that financial planning done by an expert is worth your money as he is the one who not only has the required qualifications but also detailed knowledge of the subject. They are known as Certified Financial Planners. So, before taking a step towards planning your finances, you should know the phases in your life. Say as you ascend newer highs in your lives, your aspirations and needs grow proportionately. These ever-increasing needs are further compounded by inflation, which depreciate the purchasing power of your hard-earned money. To achieve your dreams and fulfil your future obligations, you need to carefully plan your finances. This can be done via sound financial planning that takes into account your current and future needs, your individual risk profile and your income to chart out a roadmap to meet these anticipated needs. Now you must be curious to know in which all areas an expert can help you. The areas are listed below: Investment Investment is very important when it comes to planning. You make investments either in equity shares or in mutual fund or in a fixed deposit or in gold. What good are these if they are not goal-based as you are doing it through agents who may be your relatives or friends, just having sales skill to promote those products, which can earn them commissions. Hence the advice is very biased in nature. Here you are not sure that these investments will fulfil your requirements and also will help you to let you live your life peacefully. But when you do your investment through a financial planner, the first step, which he will ask you to take, is to decide the path of your life, set priority of your goals, understands your risk appetite. In short, he will take you through the entire process of planning which ultimately helps to allocate your assets in proper asset class, based on your goals by considering inflation into account. Cover yourself adequately We all know that insurance cover is utmost important. Still we are very reluctant to take insurance. Even if you have taken insurance, it is through endowment plans or ULIP plans which is the combination of insurance and investment. It applies to health insurance too, as people take investment and health insurance combination plans. According to financial experts, it is always advisable that you should take separate plans for your different needs. Because you will neither satisfy your insurance cover need nor growth on investment. By keeping your insurance and investment separate, it is sure that you will have adequate cover for your self for both life insurance (online pure term plan) and health (mediclaim through general insurance). Professional approach The Financial Planner will always clearly explain or document the services to be provided to you and will define both his and your responsibilities. The planner will explain fully how he will be paid and by whom. The planner will also disclose any restrictions on his ability to give unbiased advice and disclose any conflicts of interests. You and the planner should agree on how long the professional relationship should last and how decisions will be made. Review Generally you do not give importance to review your plan or may be you don't get time to do so. But for the financial planner, it is one of the process or stage where once the execution of plan is done, it must be reviewed regularly. As your needs change, and the economy changes, so does your plan. A good financial planner should encourage you to review your plan and make changes as needed thus keeping a check on your progress. The author is a Research Analyst, Apnapaisa.com. The views expressed are his own
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New Delhi, July 15
Obama said, "there appears to be a growing consensus in India that the time may be right for another wave of economic reforms to make India more competitive in the global economy."
Malvinder Mohan Singh, Chairman of CII, Northern Region, and Group Chairman of Fortis Healthcare, is one of the leading industrialists of the region. He was part of the promoter group of pharma giant Ranbaxy Laboratories, in which he sold the stake to Daiichi Sankyo of Japan in 2008 for Rs 10,000 crore. In an interview with Sanjeev Sharma, he discusses the investment scenario in the Northern states and why it is lagging behind the West and South and the initiatives being taken to garner investments in partnership with the states.
Our emphasis will, therefore, be on enhancing the attractiveness of the Northern states by improving the investment climate with the specific objective of facilitating growth and employment. This will include attracting investments. It is imperative for the governments of the Northern States to create an attractive and enabling environment for investments. The region needs to better leverage its potential as a huge market for goods and services, and its strengths as a source of entrepreneurial spirit, skilled workforce, agricultural leadership and raw materials.
In the initial years of one's professional life, people often tend to overlook the importance of financial planning. However, this can cost them dearly as they may not have sufficient savings when need arises in the later years. It is, therefore, critical to chalk out and diligently plan for the basic financial needs that are important in any individual's life.