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6 of 7 cooperative CHANDIGARH, Oct 21: The cooperative cotton spinning mills in Punjab have come to a standstill with six of total seven units already closed and the . .......more HP
Govt urges Centre SHIMLA, Oct 21: The Himachal Pradesh Government has urged the Union Government to extend income tax holiday for industrial units upto 2007, .....more Inflation
at 3.18 pc; NEW DELHI, Oct 21: Despite a steep hike in the price of electricity, inflation touched the year’s lowest ever level of 3.18 per cent as against 7.37 per . ....more Call rates rule firm above reverse repo rate of 8.5 pc MUMBAI, Oct 21: The inter-bank call money rate ruled firm above the reverse repo rate of 8.5 per cent. It touched a high of 15 per cent due to......more |
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INFARM continues to be confident of Rs 10 crore export project THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, Oct 21: Even as INFARM, the All India Farmers’ Oragnisation which recently hit the headlines by........more Upbeat
quarterly MUMBAI, Oct 21: The better-than-expected quarterly corporate results across the sectors and speculative buying in blue-chip shares cheered ...more Issues
that need to be NEW DELHI, Oct 21: A smooth transition to the Value Added Tax (VAT) regime from April 2002, that would make India more competitive in the global ....more BCRDF
develops NEW DELHI, Oct 21: In a bid to save upto Rs 900 crore spent on importing oil, Bharatiya Cattle Resource Development.....more |
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HP Govt urges Centre to extend IT holiday for industrial units SHIMLA, Oct 21: The Himachal Pradesh Government has urged the Union Government to extend income tax holiday for industrial units upto 2007, keeping in view the industrial backwardness in the state. At present, the tax holiday for industries is valid till March 2002, according to an official spokesman here. The Union Government had already extended transport subsidy upto March 2007 for industrial units. The state has emerged as one of the most favourite destination for investors. A large number of projects have been set up by reputed industrial houses manufacturing products ranging from cement, textiles and pharmaceutical products. The state has about 185 large and medium scale industies and nearly 28,700 small scale units with a total investment of about Rs 2950 crore, employing a work force of 1.52 people. As many as 43 projects in medium and large scale sector with an investment of about Rs 400 crore are in pipeline. When established, these units will generate employment to about 3,600 people. The State Government has come out with a new industrial policy that encourages industrial units based on locally available raw material and agriculture and horticulture produce. The Government offers entreprenuers attrative package of incentives and concessions like land at concessional rates, subsidized power, exemption from payment of income tax for new projects and transport subsidy. The spokesman said the Government had removed obstacles in the way of industrial development. It has simplified rules for transfer of private land for industrial, tourism and hydel projects. The procedure for setting up of medium and large scale industrial units has been also simplified. To attract industries, a liason office has been set up at New Delhi. Till date as many as 49 units have been registered there and industrial plots allotted to them in the state. An export promotion industrial park has been developed at Baddi-Barotiwala at a cost of more than Rs 20 crore. The Government plans to develop Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh corridor into a model industrial township. The contribution of industrial sector to the gross domestic product of the state has gone upto 13 per cent. The Government has decided to confer the status of industry on information technology projects. A software technology park has been set up at shimla which will provide high speed data connectivity in and around Shimla. The Government of India is giving discount of 50 per cent on services utilized from the park for a period of one year. (UNI) |
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Inflation at 3.18 pc; touches yet another low in the year NEW DELHI, Oct 21: Despite a steep hike in the price of electricity, inflation touched the year’s lowest ever level of 3.18 per cent as against 7.37 per cent in the comparable period in the previous year due to downward pull of fruits and vegetables. The week ended October six witnessed a 0.14 percentage points fall in inflation as measured by Wholesale Price Index (WPI) from 3.32 per cent in the previous week as prices fell for food and non-food items, including wheat, bajra, jowar, maize, poultry-chicken and mutton and raw cotton. Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha had earlier said the inflation was very reasonable and was quite sure of keeping it well under control. The WPI, however, rose by 0.2 per cent to 162.4 from 162 in the previous week and the index stood at 157.4 a year ago. The final WPI stood at 161.8 for the week ended August 11 as against the provisional figure of 161.6, while the final inflation stood marginally higher at 5.54 per cent compared to the provisional level of 5.41 per cent. The All India Consumer Price Index for Agricultural Labourers (CPI-AL) rose by 0.33 per cent to 1.63 per cent in september, while that of rural labourers (CPI-RL) was static at previous month’s level of 1.62 per cent. Primary articles became cheaper by 0.4 per cent and fuels became costlier by near two per cent, while manufactured products remained firm at the previous week’s level as food, textiles, paper and basic metal products became cheaper. The index for primary articles’ group index fell to 170.1 from 170.8 as both food and non-food articles’ prices dipped by 0.4 and 0.5 per cent respectively. Food articles’ group index fell to 177.4 from 178.1 on account of cheaper bajra, barley and mutton (three per cent each), urad, fruits and vegetables and poultry chicken (two per cent each) and wheat, jowar, maize and ragi (one per cent each). Prices, however, increased for eggs (six per cent), fish-inland (five per cent), fish-marine (four per cent), moong (three per cent), masur (two per cent) and gram and arhar (one per cent each). The index for non-food articles’ group fell to 156 from 156.8 due to lower prices for raw skins (five per cent), raw cotton (three per cent) and castor seed (one per cent), while there was price rise for raw rubber (five per cent), raw jute and copra (two per cent) and tobacco and fodder (one per cent each). Fuel, power, light and lubricants’ group index rose by 1.8 per cent to 230.5 from 226.5 on account of five per cent rise in electricity price. The index, which had remained firm for the last week, was 218 in the previous year period. The index for manufactured products’ group, however, remained firm at the previous week’s level of 144.5 even as chemicals, non-metallic mineral products and machinery items became costlier. The index was 142 in the previous year. Food products’ group index fell marginally by 0.1 per cent to 146.5 from 146.7 due to cheaper rice bran oil (five per cent), solvent gxtracted groundnut oil (three per cent), groundnut oil and sunflower oil (two per cent each) and hydrogenated vanaspati and coconut oil (one per cent each). Prices rose for all kinds of bran (nine per cent), ghee (two per cent) and sooji-rawa and atta (one per cent each). (PTI) |
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Call rates rule firm above reverse repo rate of 8.5 pc MUMBAI, Oct 21: The inter-bank call money rate ruled firm above the reverse repo rate of 8.5 per cent. It touched a high of 15 per cent due to liquidity crunch triggered by huge auction outflows during the second week of the reporting fortnight ended October 19. The tight liquidity was evident from the fact that banks depended heavily on the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to borrow funds during the week through its daily reverse repo auction at 8.50 per cent, while the repo auction remained un-responded during the whole week. RBI pumped in about Rs 19,230 crore into the system through reverse repo during the week. Call rates opened the week higher at 7.50-7.75 per cent and touched a high of 15 per cent on Tuesday as the auction outflows on that day drained the liquidity. Though the demand for funds in the second week of the fortnight was relatively lower, banks which left their position open, rushed to cover it even at higher levels. Lending banks, expecting further tightness in the system, quoted higher rates. According to dealers, the Finance Minister’s statement that rate cuts were not successful always, created some confusion in the market. Market players took it as an indication that there would not be any interest rate cut in the near future, adding pressure on the already drained liquidity. Call rates were at 9.50 per cent in intra-deals even on reporting Friday, but they eased towards the fag end of the week after the demand subdued. The rates closed the week lower at 6.90-7.00 per cent. The higher call rates also reflected in the Government securities’ market, where gilt prices swung in both ways. The tight liquidity condition, coupled with Finance Minister’s statement, which the market players read that there would not be any cut in bank rate, pulled down gilt prices, but only initially during the week. However, fresh hopes of an interest rate and CRR cut in the monetary policy to be announced on Monday, lifted the market confidence to some extent. Gilt prices recovered early loses in latter part of the week. Long-term papers posted moderate gains, while short and medium-term bonds ended the week nearly steady. Market players were very cautious and waited for the credit and monetary policy announcement, for taking long positions. As a result, profit booking emerged at higher levels, causing a moderate two-way movement, dealers added. (UNI) |
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INFARM continues to be confident of Rs 10 crore export project THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, Oct 21: Even as INFARM, the All India Farmers’ Oragnisation which recently hit the headlines by its announcement that it would export 20,000 tonnes of natural rubber from the country, continues to be confident of the Rs ten crore export project, information in the market is that it may take a few months more for the proposed rubber exports from india to become a reality. INFARM’s plan is to execute the exports before mid-November. As per the organisation’s announcement, about 20,000 tonnes of natural rubber are to be exported from the country before November 15. The Rubber Board under the Union Government, the Kerala Government and, of course, INFARM, are quite optimistic that the ambitious export dream would come true. However, the rubber dealers and the rubber industry do not share the optimism. They hold the view that the proposal may not materialise in the near future. Nevertheless, the Rubber Board has recommended further hike in the Rs 6.15 crore export incentives offered for rubber. The Union Commerce Ministry also holds the view that only exports could help keep rubber prices high. Steps are under way to enhance incentives to the rubber sector for packaging, transporting and quality improvement. The trade argues that it is not the incentives for exports offered by the Indian Commerce Ministry, but the international prices that would decide the fate of the rubber export project. Trade sources point out that Indonesian rubber poses a serious threat to India in the export market. Already, most of the major global players in rubber trade have tie-ups with Indonesia. India’s RSS-4 and Indonesia’s SIR-5 would always clash, stated the sources. Moreover, the difference between the international rubber price and the Indian price of rubber at present is less than Rs ten per kg. Hence investment in export infrastructure will not be viable, according to the Cochin Rubber Manufacturers’ Association. However, the scope for exports to neigbouring countries like Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar etc are not being ruled out as exports to these destinations would be viable in view of the land access. Even Pakistan, but for the recent developments, offers scope for rubber exports from India, said an international rubber dealer. He recalled an unsuccessful attempt by the Kerala Government sponsored rubber marketing cooperatives’ apex body rubbermark for an export deal with Singapore. The State Government agency’s attempt was to export about 600 tonnes of rubber it had procured. INFARM may also not necessarily have a different experience in view of the indications in the international trade, although the attempt immediately is only to export around 20,000 tonnes out of the total surplus rubber stocks of 1.5 lakh tonnes. Only sizeable consignments of exports could influence the domestic price, it was pointed out. A ray of hope for Indian rubber in the export market is the possible increase of the international price of rubber owing to cut in production by the three rubber majors, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, who jointly account for about 80 per cent of the total global production of rubber. The three rubber producing countries at their Kuala Lumpur meeting, about a month back had resolved to bring down production by four per cent. This should auger well for India in another six months. (UNI) |
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Upbeat quarterly results help market maintain firm trend MUMBAI, Oct 21: The better-than-expected quarterly corporate results across the sectors and speculative buying in blue-chip shares cheered domestic investors, who lifted the bellwether sensex to post a 1.94 per cent gain in the week ended October 19. Indian investors, unlike their US counterparts who were in the grip of anthrax scare, were largely unfazed by lingering fears of bio-terrorism sweeping the globe. In contrast, the NASDAQ fell 1.9 per cent, DOW slipped 1.5 per cent and SP 500 dropped 1.7 per cent in the week. According to a section of the market circle, the expectation of interest rate cut announcement by the Reserve Bank of India on Monday, ostensibly to spur economic growth, has contributed largely in boosting investor interest. The 30-stock Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) sensitive index (sensex) gained 57.45 points or 1.94 per cent to 3,016.84, compared with 2,959.39 of last Friday’s close. The SP CNX nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) rose by 16.25 points to close at 976.65, against last week’s close of 960.40. Markets opened the week by resorting to profit selling in software scrips and renewed-buying in drug and cement scrips. While a hike in cement prices created demand for cement scrips, pharmaceutical stocks gained on hopes of brighter prospects for drug firms in the aftermath of anthrax scare. Reports indicated that the United States Government could buy the generic version of the anthrax drugs from Indian firms. Technology scrips, which suffered initially due to profit selling, regained ground in the mid-week on firm NSADAQ future and robust results from the US-based technology firms like Intel and IBM. According to a broker, the undercurrent remained positive largely because investors felt that the market has bottomed out. Besides, there was a general perception that domestic corporates would be insulated from the world-wide economic slowdown. A majority of investors adopted a wait-and-watch policy due to the continued US-Afghanistan stand off and fresh tension between India and Pakistan after they exchanged fire across the border. The better-than-expected quarterly results from Hindustan Lever, Wipro, Infosys and ITC really improved the market sentiment and infused confidence in investors to take bets at their valuation level, said a leading broker. Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net buyers in equity at Rs 200.30 crore. Their net investments in blue-chip revived the market sentiment. However, mutual funds remained net sellers in equity at Rs 143.33 crore. Among technology shares Satyam gained Rs 6.30 to Rs 142.40, while NIIT surged by Rs 31.60 to Rs 163.85 and Wipro rose Rs 71 to Rs 1,107.65, following the forecast beating quarterly result. Pharmaceutical scrips were up amid anthrax scare and brightened earning prospects of Indian drug companies, producing generic drugs for anthrax. Ranbaxy gained Rs 30.75 to Rs 690.65, Dr Reddy’s up by Rs 49.60 to Rs 980.15 and Cipla surged by Rs 109.25 to Rs 1154.90. Other prominent gainers included, Bajaj Auto Rs 12.65, ITC Rs 48.00, Reliance Rs 9.95 and L&T Rs 9.25. But Hindustan Lever lost Rs 5.75 to Rs 218.95 and Zee Tele shed Rs 1.20 to Rs 84.50. The market mood next week may swing either way depending on the Reserve Bank of India’s monetary and credit policy announcement and fund inflows from the domestic and foreign institutional investors. The anthrax scare may grip investor sentiment. (UNI) |
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Issues that need to be addressed before transition to VAT NEW DELHI, Oct 21: A smooth transition to the Value Added Tax (VAT) regime from April 2002, that would make India more competitive in the global market, requires resolution of issues critical for the industry as well as the states. To address the concerns of the states and the industry, a ‘National Conference on Value Added Tax’ was organised here earlier this week. The view points of the industry were presented by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) while officials of the Madhya Pradesh, Delhi and Haryana Goverments spoke about states’ apprehensions. Haryana Excise and Taxation Secretary S P Sharma said the Centre has been unable to find a solution to the revenue that would be foregone by the states due to the abolition of the central sales tax. Pointing out that Haryana may lose revenue to the tune of about Rs 1000 crore, he said the Centre talks about providing compensation to the states. "But instead of a one-time payment, it should be a continuous one like the revenue of the state," he said. "Therefore, it is essential to match the concerns of the states with that of the industry," he added. Delhi Sales Tax Commissioner Vivek Rae said the VAT would mean that the dealers would have the authority to issue invoices and therefore the Government runs greater risk of losing revenue by reposing more trust on trade and industry. "While Delhi has released the draft of its VAT law, it is still not very sure of the necessary cooperation from the industry because details have to be worked out and the devil is in the details," he said. "The real challenge therefore, is in producing rules that ensure close interaction of all the stakeholders," he added. While agreeing that VAT is the best option for making the economy competitive, he said, "the four per cent Central Sales Tax (CST) should only be phased out over a period of four to five years." The Centre should also give alternative sources like—service tax for expanding the tax base and address the concerns of the state, he added. Madhya Pradesh Commercial Taxes Assistant Commissioner S B Singh said not only the laws have to be framed, but vat also puts an additional responsibility on the tax payers because of self-assessment. It also increases the chances of revenue loss by the state, he added. While the role of the Government is changing from that of a regualtor to a facilitator, it is very essential to bring an attitudinal change and functional reorganisation of the departments. Moreover, massive computerisation is required for which most of the states are ill-equipped at present, he said. The industry was represented by CII Economic Affairs Sub-Committee Chairman (NR) R Srinivasan, CII Taxation and Finance Sub-Committee Chairman (NR) R M Khanna, Director of Corporate Affairs of Coca Cola India Amar Raj Singh and others, Mr Khanna said after the switchover to the VAT regime, the existing sales tax incentives committed to the industry by the states should be honoured so that the companies who have invested based on the promises made are not at a disadvantage. Moreover, non-eligibility for set-off of the CST paid on inputs sourced across the border is also a matter of concern for the industry. So, this CST should be allowed to be set-off and an independent body should be made the clearing-house for the purpose. Since VAT is an invoice based tax, so each invoice should show the element of VAT seperately and compurterisation and self-assessment as applicable to central excise should be followed, Mr Khanna said. The industry also suggested that the set-off should be allowed for all inputs including fuel and capital goods used in production and the system should be uniform across the country. Mr Khanna said import tax should not be levied on imported goods because all imported inputs for manufacturing ultimately attract vat on the final product. Therefore, industry’s concern should be duly addressed by the states. Since VAT does not have cascading effects, eases administration, improves competitiveness, imparts transparency, and is a buoyant source of revenue, so the viewpoints of the stakeholders should be duly incorporated in the forthcoming legislations, the conference agreed. (UNI) |
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BCRDF develops pathbreakng bullock driven tractor NEW DELHI, Oct 21: In a bid to save upto Rs 900 crore spent on importing oil, Bharatiya Cattle Resource Development Foundation (BCRDF), after extensive research, has developed a Bullock Drawn Tractor (BDT) targeting the medium size farms in the country. "An intermediate technology between traditional plough and mechanical tractor combining the utilities of both has been developed by the foundation, but would not require conventional fuel, thus saving precious foreign exchange," BCRDF’s Managing Trustee Laxmi Narain Modi said here. BDT ‘Kamdhenu’ offers several times improved efficiency over the traditional plough and was much more superior to the mechanical tractor. While three Kamdhenus can do work equivalent to one tractor, they together cost Rs 30,000 compared to the mechanical tractor’s cost of Rs 3.5 lakh. Overhead costs like depreciation and repairs were less at Rs 10 per hour compared to Rs 165 per hour for tractors. Most importantly it does not consume diesel which for tractors was upto five litres per hour, thus even if one per cent of the oil import bill was saved it would amount to Rs 900 crore. It used animal draught power, a renewable energy source, derived from farm wastes and low cost animal feeds. A BDT was enough for 15-20 acres of agricultural field, improved land fertility by doing away with harmful repercussions of diesel, cultivated all corners of the field, was light and kept the soil loose thereby improving yield. In contrast the tractors had manoeuvrability problem, left the corners of the field uncultivated and being heavy had a negative impact on the soil. Modi, also member of a working group of the Planning Commission on organic farming, said the only advantage for tractors was the lesser time taken for ploughing. However, it was more than made up as ‘Kamdhenu’ had the potential to transform small and medium size farms and move them towards sustainable agricultural systems, based on organic farming methods, through cowdung and urine. It could also be used for "custom hiring" thus serving as an extra source of income for the farmer when he was not using his machine. Due to small flat wheels and light weight, it caused no fear of soil erosion. Kamdhenu was animal friendly, putting less strain on bullocks due to an improved design yoke which improved their work efficiency by 15-20 per cent. Reduction in consumption of fossil fuels like diesel, *replaced by gobar gas meant abatement in carbon emissions. Bcrdf was marketing the Kamdhenu at no profit, no loss with a five year warranty period and already there were orders for 111 units. Under the concept farmers do not have to walk bare-footed in the field as it provides for seat with umbrella. The concept was originally developed by Central Institute of Agriculture Engineering, Bhopal, later taken up by Agriculture Institute, Allahabad and finally design improvements and field testing done by BCRDF. (PTI) |
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