New Delhi, February 19
There was good news for consumers looking to purchase new cars as the majority of car manufacturers today decided to pass on the benefit of the Central excise cut announced by the government in Interim Budget to them.

A day after Finance Minister P Chidambaram cut excise duty to 8% from 12% for small cars, scooters, motorcycles and commercial vehicles; 24% from 30% for SUVs; 20% for mid-sized cars from 24% and 24% for large cars from 27%., the car manufacturer made the announcement in an effort to boost their sagging sales.

The car manufacturers said the reduction in the prices was with immediate effect.

Honda Cars India Ltd, Mahindra and Mahindra, Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL), Nissan, Volkswagen and Audi have announced a reduction in the prices on all models.

Honda said its car prices would come down in the range of Rs 14,650 to Rs 44,741, while M&M announced a reduction in prices of its passenger vehicle portfolio ranging from Rs 13,000 to Rs 49,000.

The company will also reduce prices of its premium SUV, Rexton, by up to Rs 92,000.

Volkswagen said it has reduced prices of all its cars in the Indian market.

Prices for the Volkswagen Polo have been reduced by Rs 18,000-Rs 31,000. For the Vento, prices have been reduced by Rs 14,500-Rs 27,000. Jetta prices have been reduced by Rs 38,000-Rs 51,000.

Hyundai said the price reduction benefit will be applicable to all models from Eon to Santa Fe.

Officials said the quantum of benefit will vary from Rs 10,000 to Rs 1,35,300 across all models.

Nissan also confimed that it will pass on the full benefit of excise duty cut to to its customers. The price reduction by Nissan is in the range of 4-6% and will apply to Micra Active, Micra, Sunny, Evalia, Terrano and Teana. 

New Delhi, February 19
In a bid to protect tax benefits for subscribers of about 70 private provident fund trusts, retirement fund body EPFO will call a meeting of an empowered committee in the first week of March to grant them regular tax exemption.

The meeting is being called after Finance Minister P Chidambaram did not extend a March 31 deadline for the trusts to get regular tax exemption through the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO).

Chidambaram made it mandatory in 2006 for these trusts to procure an exemption certificate by March 31, 2007, a deadline that has been extended and is now set to expire on March 31.

"We have already expedited the process of granting regular exemption to private PF trusts. We will call a meeting of an empowered committee for the purpose in the first week of next month," EPFO's Central PF Commissioner KK Jalan said.

Regular tax exemption is granted by the EPFO's apex decision-making body, the Central Board of Trustees, headed by the Labour Minister. However, the power to grant exemption was delegated to the committee by the trustees on January 13.

"There are about 70 cases pending with the EPFO for grant of regular tax exemption. We are expecting to approve 30-40 such cases in the meeting planned next month," Jalan said.

According to Jalan, the EPFO will not approach the Finance Ministry on this issue and will try to complete the process of pending applications by March 31. "We are trying to do it well in time (by March 31). But even then there could be 25-30 trusts which may not get the regular tax exemption," he said. — PTI

New Delhi, February 19
Bahrain is undertaking reforms to improve the business climate and could become an ideal location for Indian business to cater to the Middle-East and North Africa (MENA) region.

This was stated by Bahrain’s Minister of Commerce and Industry Hassan Fakhro while speaking at a business forum organised by CII in cooperation with the Government of Bahrain. He invited the Indian industry to invest in his country.

He said there were around 2,200 Indian companies who had set up operations in the country and hoped that this number would grow rapidly.

EMS Natchiappan, Minister of State for Commerce, said there were several opportunities for Bahraini companies to invest in India. In this context, he referred to the various industrial corridors that were being set up.

The session witnessed the signing of eight MoUs between the business communities of both countries.

Realty firm Ansal Buildwell has entered into a tie-up with Bahrain-based VKL Holdings under which the two firms would invest $100 million each to develop housing and infrastructure projects in India and Bahrain.

The MoU would focus on joint development in realty and infrastructure sectors. The two companies will assist each other to understand their respective domestic markets and facilitate exchange of technical knowhow to both partners.

Gopal Ansal, chairman and managing director, Ansal Buildwell, said this MoU opens up the unexplored markets for both the companies which would help in expanding their horizon overseas.

An MoU was also signed between the EDB and Nasscom, the Indian business association representing the ICT industry, to further the development of ICT industries, including e-commerce and e-governance, in both countries. 

New Delhi, February 19
Bharti Airtel, India's biggest mobile service company, has become the first in the country to cross 200 million subscribers.

The telecom major said in a statement said that it "has crossed the 200 million mobile subscriber mark in India, further consolidating its leadership position in the world's second-largest mobile market." The company, which is in its 20th year of telecom services, became the first mobile operator in the country to get more than 200 million mobile users.

The company got its first permits for mobile telephony in November 1994 and started services in 1995.

Airtel is the largest telecom operator in India, in terms of both customers and revenue. It is the fourth-largest mobile operator in the world by subscribers.

The latest 100 million users were added in less than five years, according to the Airtel statement. It had crossed the 100 million mark in 2009. — PTI

New Delhi, February 19
Smartphone and PC maker Lenovo has issued an advisory cautioning consumers when buying its products from Snapdeal, Flipkart and Amazon.in as they are not its authorised resellers.

"What we have noticed in the past few months is that some of these sites are selling products at very low prices. These we believe may or may not be genuine products," said Sudhin Mathur, director, smartphones, Lenovo India. — PTI

New Delhi, February 19
The government appears to be willing to restart conciliation talks with UK-based Vodafone if the telecom firm makes up its mind to settle the Rs 20,000 crore tax dispute.

A day after Finance Minister P Chidambaram said it is up to the Revenue Department to enforce the tax notice on the company, highly placed sources said if Vodafone makes up its mind on conciliation, it can happen in a few days. — PTI

BRIEFLY

Ranbaxy, Teva settle claims in US
New York: Ranbaxy Laboratories and Israel-based Teva Pharmaceuticals have agreed to settle allegations levelled by New York state that the two rival generic drug makers made an unlawful agreement to restrict competition. Ranbaxy and Teva's US unit will pay New York state $300,000 and terminate a 2010 agreement not to challenge each other's rights to sell certain generic drugs exclusively in the US. — PTI

Goldman, Mitsui PE invest Rs 315 cr in Global Beverages
Mumbai: Global Beverages & Foods, promoted by fomer Godrej group head A Mahendran, has raised Rs 315 crore from Goldman Sachs and Mitsui Global Investment to build a large, fast-moving consumer goods platform. The money raised will be used to bring global technology for manufacturing, Mahendran said. — PTI

Hero MotoCorp to cut prices up to Rs 4,500
Chennai: Hero MotoCorp has decided to cut prices up to 5% to pass on the benefit of excise duty cut announced by Finance Minister. Chidambaram announced a reduction in excise duty on small cars, medium cars and motorcycles from 12% to 8%. — PTI

CoalMin decides to deallocate 28 blocks
New Delhi: The Coal Ministry has decided to deallocate 28 coal blocks for delays in developing the mines allotted to them for captive use. It follows the recommendations of the inter-ministerial group (IMG) which suggested the deallocation of mines. — PTI

GSPC, Adani reduce gas prices in Gujarat
Ahmedabad: Gujarat State Petroleum Corp and Adani Gas Ltd on Wednesday reduced prices of CNG by more than Rs 11 per kg and Piped Natural Gas by over Rs 6 per standard cubic meter in the state. The price revision has been made in the wake of allocation of additional quantity of cheaper gas under revised guidelines issued by the Central Government. — PTI