New Delhi/Seoul, August 25
Defeat in a bitter patent wrangle with Apple Inc, its smartphone rival and biggest customer, will dent Samsung Electronics Co's $21 billion cash-pile, but could actually help cement its leadership in the global smartphone market.

A US court has ordered Samsung — which sold around 50 million phones in April-June, almost twice the number of iPhones — to pay $1.05 billion damages, after ruling that the South Korean firm infringed on some Apple patents.

While the verdict was a big win for Apple, the damages are less than half the $2.5 billion compensation it sought — although that could yet be increased by the judge — and are just 1.5 per cent of annual revenues from Samsung's telecoms business.

That phone and tablet business is the powerhouse behind Samsung's growth, earning around 70 per cent of total profit. The group had net profit of $4.5 billion in April-June.

Samsung could also see its popular Galaxy smartphone banned from sale in the United States. But its skill as a "fast executioner" — quick to match others' innovations — would likely mean tweaked, non-patent infringing devices would be on the market soon after any ban came into place.

"Samsung has already made some design changes to new products since the litigation first started more than a year ago," said Seo Won-seok, an analyst at Korea Investment & Securities. "With the ruling, they are now more likely to make further changes or they could simply decide to raise product prices to cover patent-related payments."

Also, Apple's demands for Samsung to pay it a royalty on its phone sales could hit rival phones using Google's Android operating system more than it hits Samsung. If anything, the blaze of publicity from the high-profile, high-stakes US litigation has made Samsung's brand more recognizable.

CONTRADICTING VERDICTS: Friday’s verdict on seven Apple patent claims and five Samsung patent claims could lead to an outright ban on sales of key Samsung products, with Apple saying it planned to file for a sales injunction within seven days and the judge in the case setting a hearing on Sept 20.

The US ruling, read out to a packed federal courtroom in San Jose, just miles from Apple's headquarters, came less than 24 hours after a Seoul court found that while the iPhone and Galaxy look very similar Samsung hadn't violated Apple's design.

Samsung issued a defiant response to the US decision, which it called "a loss for the American consumer", indicating the legal tussle is far from over. "This isn’t the final word in this case or in battles being waged in courts and tribunals around the world, some of which have already rejected many of Apple's claims. It (US court verdict) will lead to fewer choices, less innovation, and potentially higher prices," Samsung said in a statement.

New Delhi, August 25
Japanese-owned Maruti Suzuki may double capacity at its planned car plant in Gujarat, a report says, as it reviews strategy following deadly labour unrest at another major factory.

The Gujarat plant — due to open 2015-16 - will be the first for the country's biggest carmaker outside of Haryana, where a riot by workers last month at its Manesar factory led to the death of a manager and injury to 96 supervisors.

Dow Jones Newswires, quoting an unnamed senior Gujarat state official, said initial capacity of the new plant could be as high as half a million cars per year — twice what Maruti originally envisioned.

Maruti is investing Rs 4,000 crore ($727 million) to build the factory. The report late Friday came as Suzuki Motor chairman Osamu Suzuki travelled to Gujarat to meet Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

Suzuki is on a week-long visit to India to take stock of the situation at Maruti, which is crucial to the Japanese firm's fortunes because it contributes one-third of its pre-tax profit and accounts for half of its production outside Japan. A Maruti spokesman would not comment when asked about plans to hike the initial planned capacity of the Gujarat plant at Mehsana, 100 km from Ahmedabad.

Last month's violence at the Manesar plant, near New Delhi, was the worst since Maruti cars started rolling off assembly lines in India in 1983. Maruti's other factory is located in Gurgaon. The unit, the country's largest carmaker by sales, lost $9 million a day during a subsequent 21-day plant shutdown.

Gujarat, with its long coastline allowing easy exports, has emerged as a popular centre for car production with US giants GM and Ford also setting up factories there. — AFP

Q: I have been told once other income like interest on FDs is included in Form 26AS, it has to be entered in an income tax return whether it has been received it or not. And that assessees are extra cautious as tax consultants can see their clients’ 26AS forms. Is this form conclusive proof of one’s income, and should one refile a return based on the past 26AS? Also, can TDS be deducted on items other than taxable ones?

— Nasruddin

A: Whether or not the income tax department deducts or collects tax at source from an assessee it is required to send the amount to the exchequer within a stipulated time, along with the assessee’s details. The department is also required to send this information to the assessee to enable him claim the credit against the tax payable by him. Earlier, the assessee used to attach TDS certificates along with his returns for claiming the credit and the department was supposed to cross check the certificates with the assessee’s. received from the person who has applied TDS/TCS. This manual crosschecking was an onerous task for tax officers.

In any case, even the correct procedure involved duplication where the tax officer used to send the same details to the department and also the assessee. This duplication is soon going to be done away with by crosschecking the information on the computer. This will be a temporary phase — eventually there won't be any difference between the details provided in Form 26AS and the assessee’s claims made on the basis of TDS/TCS certificates, after which the requirement of sending TDS certificates to assessees will be redundant — they can depend upon 26AS. At present, you are expected to claim tax deduction for only those items included in the TDS certificate. Taxpayers can now view their tax credits online in Form 26AS.Your refund claim will be ignored even if you have the TDS certificate but there is no matching entry in Form 26AS, and you will have clear any issues with the tax department

Q: Do Forms 15CA and 15CB require a nonresident Indian account holder’s signature? If the NRI e-mails them to his bank in India, will it work?

— Rajiv Shah

A: Form 15CA is an undertaking submitted by an NRI account holder, which needs to be uploaded online and the system generated printout duly signed submitted to the bank. On the other hand, Form 15CB is a certificate from an Indian chartered accountant who has to sign it (not the NRI). Since a physical (written) signature is required, an e-mailed copy of 15CA won’t work. You may either mail a signed form to the Indian bank or else issue a power of attorney to anyone in India to sign the form on your behalf. As for Form 15CB, it can directly be handed over by the CA concerned to the bank.