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Round II of 2G auction likely from March 11
Vodafone gets reminder on $2 billion tax dues
Investor
guidance
Monitor for measuring ‘green GDP’
by March |
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M&M forays into bikes
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Round II of 2G auction likely from March 11
New Delhi, January 5 Sources said the auction is proposed to start from March 11 for unsold spectrum in 1800 Mhz and airwaves in 900 Mhz band held by telecom companies whose licences are coming up for renewal in 2014. The government may increase the quantum of spectrum or number of blocks on the block this time, they added. According to the proposed timeline, the department of telecommunications may issue auction guidelines on January 7 if the ministerial group approves it, the sources said. It may come out with a notice inviting applications, the final document that legally binds government and bidders, on January 29, if the EGoM decides to continue with the same private agency, Times Internet with e-Procurement Technologies, that handled the previous auction. Companies interested in bidding for spectrum would have to submit applications by February 22. The government plans to auction unsold spectrum in the 1800 Mhz band for Delhi, Mumbai, Rajasthan and Karnataka service areas at 30% less base price by March. The government in the previous auction had put up eight blocks of 1.25 Mhz each for auction at Rs 693.06 crore in Delhi and Rs 678.45 crore in Mumbai. DoT is also of the view that spectrum in the 1800 Mhz band should be re-auctioned in the Kolkata circle even as the service area attracted bids in the previous auction in November 2012. "In metro areas the coverage aspect is more important than the propagation characteristics of the spectrum and given that the 1800 Mhz spectrum is priced at half of 900 Mhz spectrum, 1800 Mhz may become the first choice of the bidders," the sources said. The proposed timeline adds to the uncertainty on the operations of telecom operators whose 2G licences, which were cancelled by the Supreme Court, are valid till January 18, 2013.
— PTI |
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Vodafone gets reminder on $2 billion tax dues
Mumbai, January 5 Vodafone, the world's biggest mobile operator by revenue, said in a statement the reminder does not include a deadline for payment. "Vodafone has replied to this reminder, stating that it continues to believe that no tax is payable on the above transaction," the statement said. The reminder relates to capital gains tax arising from the sale of telecom business by Hong Kong-based Hutchison Whampoa that involved Indian assets to Vodafone in 2007. The income tax department on October 22, 2010 passed an order determining a tax liability (including interest) of Rs 11,218 crore on Vodafone for the deal which took place in Cayman Islands in 2007. Britain-based Vodafone, the largest overseas corporate investor in India, has repeatedly clashed with Indian authorities over a string of tax and regulatory issues since it bought into the country in 2007. A year ago, the Supreme Court ruled in favour of Vodafone in a five-year, $2 billion battle with Indian tax authorities arising from its acquisition of Hutchison Whampoa's Indian mobile business. The Supreme Court, however, quashed the order in January 2012. The government later amended 50-year-old tax laws enabling it to make retroactive tax claims on long-concluded corporate deals. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh set up a panel to review the changes after global business groups criticized the move. The panel has recommended that the law to tax deals retrospectively should be scrapped, but the government is yet to make a final decision.
— Reuters, PTI |
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Tax deduction on loan taken for house expansion
A. N. Shanbhag
— Sadana Deductions under Section 80C of the Income Tax Act, 1961 on the principal payment of a housing loan and Rs 1.50 lakh under Section 24 on the interest payable on the loan taken are available only for buying or constructing a house. The house where you intend to construct an additional floor is an existing property and hence does not qualify as a separate house. Therefore you will not be eligible for any tax concessions. However, the interest on a housing loan for acquiring, constructing, repairing, renewing or reconstructing a house is deductible under Section 24 of the Income Tax Act with a ceiling of Rs 30,000. It is our opinion that the first floor construction would be eligible for this Rs 30,000 deduction. After I retired from my job I invested my retirement benefits in FDs in a state-owned bank, earning quarterly interest of Rs 36,000. Other than this I have no other income and I regularly withdraw the interest for meeting my expenses. I’m continuing with my PPF account and, after investment in PPF, my balance interest earnings are below the taxable limit. The bank is deducting TDS on my interest accruals on the ground that since the interest earned exceeds Rs 10,000 I cannot submit Form 15H and as such I am required to seek a refund of the tax deducted at source after filling my income tax return. — Mohit The bank has erred. In fact, Form 15G/H is necessary only when the interest is Rs. 10,000 or more during a financial year paid by the branch of the bank. The question of tax deducted at source does not arise when the interest is lower than this amount. You can file Form 15G (presuming you are not a senior citizen, this is 65 or above) or Form 15H if you are a senior citizen since your interest income is below the tax threshold of Rs 150,000. The bank will not apply TDS on receipt of Form 15G.
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Monitor for measuring ‘green GDP’
by March
New Delhi, January 5 The Planning Commission, along with the ministry of rural development, has set up a group under Prof. Partha Dasgupta to develop a stencil for measuring green GDP. Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, who was present at the unveiling of the “Greening Rural Development of India” here on Saturday, said the framework on monitoring the green GDP would be ready by March. Gross domestic product is the market value of all officially recognized final goods and services produced within a country in a given period of time. The GDP per capita is also considered an indicator of a country’s standard of living. However, while gross domestic product measures goods produced, it does not calculate negatives like damage to the environment and biodiversity, pollution and overexhaustion of limited natural resources, for example, the cost of groundwater and damage to the environment to produce foodgrains. The green GDP would therefore provide an index of economic growth with environmental consequences of that growth by calculating the loss of biodiversity and accounting for costs caused by climate change, all of which can then be put together to work out growth measures like the country’s Sustainable Development Index. |
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M&M forays into bikes
Mumbai, January 5 "The Pantero should be out in the next couple of weeks and the Centuro a few weeks thereafter," said Anoop Mathur, president, two-wheeler sector and member of the M&M group executive board. Mathur, however, did not disclose the prices. The motorcycles have been designed completely in-house at the Mahindra R&D centre in Poona and powered by the MCi-5 engine manufactured at the company's Pithampur facility in M.P. The company has invested about Rs 100 crore in R&D of the products but "it is difficult to give total investment in product development as there is a lot of common platform sharing", Mathur said.
— PTI |
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Forex reserves up by $40 m
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The second round of the auction for selling unsold telecom spectrum is likely to start from March 11 with a lower base price.
According to sources, "a stiff timeline has been drawn taking into account the decision of the Empowered Group of Ministers on Telecom taken on Dec 7, 2012 that all efforts should be made to complete the process during the current financial year."
British telecommunications major Vodafone Group Plc said on Saturday it has received a reminder from the revenue department on disputed tax dues, estimated at about US $2 billion (around Rs 11,200 crore) over its 2007 acquisition of Hutchison's stake in 2007.
I plan to take a bank loan for constructing the first floor of my house. Can I get income tax benefit on payment of principal and interest on this loan?
Gold, silver prices rebound