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Indu Sind bank ties-up with DDA for ground rent collection NEW DELHI, Nov 7: Private sector Indu Sind bank has tied up with the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) for .......more I-T exemption to BCCI should be reviewed: Commissioner MUMBAI, Nov 7: With the advent of private television channels, cricket is no longer a sport but a business and the .....more JK Lakshmi Cement organises ‘Diwali Milan’ for masons Excelsior Correspondent JAMMU, Nov 7: To interact with masons and apprise them extra qualities of the......more NEW DELHI, Nov 7: Riding high on the strong growth of industry and services sectors, India is expected to grow at 6.5 per cent ........more |
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Indian industry sets up NEW DELHI, Nov 7: Close on the heels of the Government announcing intention to produce next generation wireless chips, the Indian industry has .........more IOC
ups R D budget to NEW DELHI, Nov 7: State-owned Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has increased the research and development budget for the current fiscal to Rs 105 crore ......more Inflation rises to 7.38 pc on fuel price hike NEW DELHI, Nov 7: The annual rate of inflation for the week ended October 23 rose to 7.38 per cent from the previous week’s level of 7.10 per cent due .....more Trade unions gear up against Government NEW DELHI, Nov 7: Major Central Trade Unions have geared up for a long drawn agitation against the United Progressive Alliance Government to press .........more |
Indu Sind bank ties-up with DDA for ground rent collection NEW DELHI, Nov 7: Private sector Indu Sind bank has tied up with the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) for collecting ground rent from around one lakh lessesees in the national capital. "This arrangement helps us reach out to a vast cross-section of retail customers in and around Delhi. Currently, we have many such existing relations with other Municipal Corporations where we are undertaking the collection of property taxes," Indu Sind bank executive vice president N Suresh Pai said. Indu Sind bank will develop appropriate programme for opening ledger accounts of all the lessees. The programme will also be capable of computing interest on delayed payments as per the extant rule and also capable of generating notices to them. DDA has on its books around one lakh lessees, who are required to pay ground rent as per the land revenue rule prevalent in Delhi. The ground rent is accrued every six months and the total amount every year is around Rs 70-80 crore, the bank said in a statement here. On the basis of the computation done, Indu Sind bank will generate notices for the lessees and be responsible for raising the demand and collect the dues. As at October-end, Indu Sind bank had a national network of 68 branches, 11 extension counters and 80 offsite ATMs. Indu Sind bank has also received RBI clearance to convert 52 branches of the erstwhile Ashok Leyland finance into bank branches. Further approval for 80 such conversions is expected soon. (UNI) |
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I-T exemption to BCCI should be reviewed: Commissioner MUMBAI, Nov 7: With the advent of private television channels, cricket is no longer a sport but a business and the Income Tax exemption provided to Board of Control for Cricket in India should be reveiwed, according to a top IT official. "BCCI is a private body registered under Small Societies Act, invites bids from various TV channels and earns huge income through TV right sales," IT Chief Commissioner Rao Ranvijay Singh has said in a letter to Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT). Moreover, granting exemption to an association in India for promotion, supervision or encouragement among others in cricket, hockey and other sports has been withdrawn by Government of India from April one, 2003, the letter said. This also forfeits BCCI from staking a claim from exemption of I-T, it added. The lion’s share of the body’s income is derieved from non-charitable objects including sale of TV rights, tickets and by way of organising matches and this falls under the category of business income. It said cricket "is business frenzy" and no longer a general public utility and hence should not be given any exemption. Moreover, sources say the cricketing body is reportedly not deducting TDS from the players, even as it earns crores of rupees from sales of telecast rights. The letter said that in these circumstances the exemption should be reviewed, particularly because of the fact that BCCI is neither doing any charitable work nor has been doing any work of general public utility. The letter also cited a High Court of Calcutta ruling which had stated that if an association does not provide any cricket training free-of-cost to novices, nor advanced training to professionals, the body would be out of the ambit of object of general public utility. Quoting a Delhi High Court order, it said BCCI has hardly been spending any amount for charitable purposes or general public utility. Meanwhile, sources said the Chief Commissioner had written to BCCI officials seeking reviewing of exemption of taxes, stating that the organisation falls under his jurisdiction. BCCI in a reply stated it was granted an exemption U/S 12a of the Act on February 12, 1996, and "the institution is not obliged to make any payment of advance tax." The new Government has introduced a new section 12 AA(3) under I-T Act 1961, which empowers the competent authority to cancel the registration of such trusts or institutions whose activities are not being carried out in accordance with the objects of the trust. The primary objective of the trust is promotion of sports activities and BCCI is not promoting cricket, while on the other hand it is engaged in a business activity, the letter has alleged. A final decision on the issue would have to be taken by CBDT, they added. Meanwhile, a BCCI official, when contacted, said "we are aware of the letter and dealing with the matter." "We are in discussion with out it consultants," he added. (PTI) |
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JK Lakshmi Cement organises ‘Diwali Milan’ for masons Excelsior Correspondent JAMMU, Nov 7: To interact with masons and apprise them extra qualities of the product, JK Lakshmi Cement organised a ‘Diwali Milan Samaroh’ for contractors, here last evening. While addressing the gathering, Assistant Marketing Manager of JK Lakshmi Cement, S K Vishvakarma, highlighted qualities of JK Lakshmi cement which has ISI standard and COC guarantee. No compromise on quality is the company’s slogan and satisfaction of customer is our motto, he claimed. Asking the masons to come forward with their suggestions and complaints, if any, with regard to the product, Mr Vishwakarma informed the gathering that the company has deputed a team of Engineers in Jammu and opened an office here to receive the suggestions as well as complaints in this connection. He also disclosed that JK Lakshmi Cement has registered 9 per cent sale growth in J&K State in the month of October. B S Rana, Senior Sales Officer of JK Lakshmi Cement, apprised the gathering about various schemes of the company which included free accidental insurance policy for the masons. Vijay Gupta, Technical Officer, informed that the main product centre of JK Lakshmi is in Rajasthan which caters to the entire North India, including Jammu and Kashmir State. He also discussed grade and quality of the cement with the masons. Shiv Kumar Mathur and Kamal Qazi, C&F Agent and main stockist, respectively, in J&K, were also present on the occasion. They sought cooperation of the masons in further increasing the sale of JK Lakshmi Cement in the State and also assured their full support in this connection. On the occasion, attractive gifts were also presented by the company to masons. |
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NEW DELHI, Nov 7: Riding high on the strong growth of industry and services sectors, India is expected to grow at 6.5 per cent in the current financial year, says the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). The chamber said growth in agriculture would be around 1 per cent only due to delayed monsoon and high base of the previous year and pointed out that the GDP growth was expected to slow down a bit in 2004-05. CII has, however, said with 8.5 per cent non-agricultural GDP growth, it was feasible to look at an overall pace of 7.5 per cent, if not 8 per cent, on a sustained basis over the next 5 to 10 year period. In its latest report on indian economy, CII has expressed concern at price increases, particularly in few product groups such as fuels, metals, commodities, which is a matter of concern to industry. It said the price rise is mainly due to the excess liquidity in the developed countries. "Excess liquidity in the form of soft interest regime in developed countries had led to large capital inflows and spurt in money growth, leading to price rise," it said. On the crude oil price, CII said it expected crude oil prices to remain at about 45 dollars a barrel. The report, however, said that though global oil demand was expected to slow down to an annual increase of 2.1 per cent, India’s demand would not slow down as much and it would hover at around 4.4 per cent. The chamber has forcast that the population below poverty line was expected to decline to 19 per cent by 2007 from the present 26 per cent. It has also indicated that there has been a marked improvement in the overall literacy in the country as 96 per cent of children attended at least 5 years of schooling. It, however, indicated that tomorrow’s citizens would expect and demand better working and living conditions than the previous generation might have had. The CII report has stated that certain policy reforms were imperative to take the country on a higher growth trajectory. "Thrust is especially needed in areas like infrastructure, unification of markets, rationalisation of tax structure, tourism and human resource development," it said. (UNI) |
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Indian industry sets up RFID association NEW DELHI, Nov 7: Close on the heels of the Government announcing intention to produce next generation wireless chips, the Indian industry has formed an association to establish the country’s leadership in Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) market. The RFID Association of India (RFIDAI) is a not-for-profit organisation founded by leading industry figures to promote the adoption and use of RFID technology and its applications in India and abroad across industry, Government and academia. RFID, which uses radio signals to identify a product, is often associated with picking and billing in a supermarket, because its most visible use is as an improvement over barcoding. When RFID tags are attached to products such as shirts and milk bottles, the result is a reduction in wait-in-the-line time, besides anti-theft and product stock-out benefits. It is estimated that by 2008, the RFID market comprising tags, readers, interface software and service providing, would be as big as 4.2 billion dollars. RFIDAI will also collaborate with like-minded entities to write, educate and promote RFID, the association said in a statement here. Mr Bimal Sareen, founder and CEO of technology and integration services company Avaana, is the founding president of RFIDAI. Union IT Minister Dayanidhi Maran has said India has begun studies to build a silicon foundry which is aimed at producing next generation wireless chips. "We are also looking at RFID chips manufacturing facility," he said in Bangalore last week. NASSCOM president Kiran Karnik said, "RFID is an area of great potential and it is important that the Indian industry captilises on the emerging initiatives." RFID technology outside military space is still very young. It is estimated that globally around 2,000 pilot projects are going on, the biggest being in wal-mart. (UNI) |
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IOC ups R D budget to Rs 105 cr NEW DELHI, Nov 7: State-owned Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has increased the research and development budget for the current fiscal to Rs 105 crore compared to Rs 90 crore of last year. "This year our budget for R D activities is Rs 105 crore," IOC Director (R D) N R Raje said. He said a large part of this budget would be spent on the development of phase two of the hydrocracker plant of the company. Of the Rs 105 crore, Rs 40 crore would be used for capital expenditure and the remaining would be used for maintaining the existing machinery and equipment, workforce requirements and fuel needs among others, he said. IOC’s R D division has a tie up with a number of entities including Tata motors, Mahindra and Mahindra and Indian Railways for developing environment-friendly fuel. India already has vehicles in some states running on petrol doped with a small percentage of ethanol extracted from sugarcane, to cut its dependence on imported crude oil. From April 2005, as many as 11 cities have to comply with euro III norms. IOC’s R D centre is one of its kind in Asia and has grown into a major technological development centre of international repute in the down stream areas of lubricants, pipelines and refining processes. Over the years, it has successfully perfected the state-of-the-art lube formulation technology meeting latest national and international specifications with approvals from major original equipment manufacturers. Indian oil markets around 450 grades of lubricants under the brand name servo based on its own R D technology. (UNI) |
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Inflation rises to 7.38 pc on fuel price hike NEW DELHI, Nov 7: The annual rate of inflation for the week ended October 23 rose to 7.38 per cent from the previous week’s level of 7.10 per cent due to an increase in fuel prices. The Wholesale Price Inflation stood at 5.13 per cent in the corresponding week last year. Meanwhile, the Government firmed up the Wholesale Price Index for all commodities for the week ended August 28 to 189.2 as against the provisional level of 188.5 and the annual rate of inflation was revised at 8.74 per cent as against the provisional 8.33 per cent. The WPI for all commodities for the week ended October 23 rose by 0.3 per cent to 189.1 from 188.6 in the previous week. The Government yesterday announced price hike for petrol, diesel and LPG after a gap of three months to align domestic prices with global trends, the impact of this massive increase will be reflected in a fortnight. Inflation has shot up from 4.32 per cent in April to above 8 per cent in August, forcing the Government to initiate stringent measures to contain it. In its mid-term review of the annual policy statement for 2004-05 last week, the Reserve Bank of India raised the overnight repo rate by 0.25 per cent to 4.75 per cent for the first time in four years to contain liquidity in the market. It said the inflation was expected to come down to 6.5 per cent by the year-end, up from the 5 per cent it had forecast earlier in the wake of deficient monsoon condition and spiralling oil prices. The index for the major group of fuel, power, light and lubricants with a weightage of 14.23 per cent rose 0.2 per cent to 282.3 from 281.7 in the previous week due 5 per cent increase in the price of naphtha. The index for primary articles with a weightage of 22.02 per cent group shot up by 0.7 per cent to 191.8 from 190.5. The index for food articles category increased 0.5 per cent to 190.0 from the previous week’s level of 189.0 due to higher prices of eggs (4 per cent), poultry chicken (3 per cent), fruits and vegetables and jowar (2 per cent each) and moong and barley (1 per cent each). However, the prices of maize (2 per cent) and arhar, tea and urad (1 per cent) declined. For non-food articles group, the index went up by 0.1 per cent to 187.7 from 187.6 due to higher prices of raw silk (6 per cent), raw rubber, gingelly seed and raw jute (2 per cent) and groundnut seed and sunflower (1 per cent). However, the prices of niger seed (3 per cent), safflower (2 per cent) and castor seed, sugarcane and cotton seed (1 per cent each) declined. The index for minerals group rose by 9.0 per cent to 299.1 from 274.3 for the previous week due to higher prices of fire clay (20 per cent), vermiculite (16 per cent), iron ore (14 per cent), barites (11 per cent). China clay (5 per cent) and gypsum (4 per cent). However, the prices of chromite (52 per cent), magnesite (25 per cent), steatite (14 per cent) and flourite (1 per cent) declined. The index for manufactured products, with a weightage of 63.75 per cent, was up 0.1 per cent to 167.4 from 167.2. The food products index rose by 0.1 per cent for the week to 176.4 from 176.3 due to higher prices of solvent extracted groundnut oil (2 per cent) and rice bran oil (1 per cent). However, the prices of gur declined by 2 per cent. The index for the textiles group declined by 0.1 per cent to 137.4 from 137.6 for the previous week due to lower prices of cotton yarn (1 per cent). However, the prices of wollen yarn moved up by 1 per cent. In the chemicals and chemical products group, higher prices of bopp film (4 per cent), led to 0.1 per cent increase in its index to 182.1 from 182.0. However, prices of vitamin tablets (a,b,c,d and others) declined by a percentage point each. For the non-metallic mineral products group, the index eased by 0.3 per cent to 155.9 from 156.3 due to marginal decline in the prices of cement. The indices for machinery and machine tools group rose by 0.4 per cent to 141.2 from 140.7 for the previous week due to higher prices of pvc insulated cables (9 per cent). The prices of semi conductors however, declined by 6 per cent. The index for transport equipment and parts group rose 0.1 per cent to 155.5 from 155.4 due to rise in the prices of diesel bus chassis (1 per cent). (UNI) |
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Trade unions gear up against Government NEW DELHI, Nov 7: Major Central Trade Unions have geared up for a long drawn agitation against the United Progressive Alliance Government to press for restoration of 9.5 per cent rate of interest on EPF and implementation of employment guarantee scheme among other demands. While the Left-affiliated trade unions are to chalk out their course of action in a joint meeting here on December 10, the RSS-affliated BMS will finalise its agitational programme separately in "two to three days." Besides the CITU and AITUC, the representatives of HMS, INTUC, TUCC, UTUC and UTUC(lenin sarai) will also participate in the joint meeting. Even as the CITU and AITUC leaders complimented the Congress-led Government for "halting" the drift towards the "anti-employee" approach of the previous NDA regime, they accuse the Centre of "slow progress" on issues like the workers’ right to strike, the virtual collapse of labour laws implementation, legislation concerning agricultural workers and unorganised labour. CITU secretary W R Waradha Rajan told UNI that the Government had yet to respond to the core issues raised by the Central Trade Unions, mainly the right to strike, which had been struck down by the Supreme Court in August 2003, amendment of industrial legislation including the payment of Bonus Act. "The Labour Laws Implementation Machinery has virtually collapsed and the Government is yet to restore its full-fledged functioning," he said. AITUC leader D L Sachdev said as many as eight Central Trade Unions including the INTUC will meet here on December 10 to discuss and finalise the agitational programme on the implications of the steep hike in petroleum products and the Government’s dithering stand on the unorganised workers’ bill and employment guarantee scheme. "All the mass organisations will build resistance against the anti- people and anti-worker policies of the UPA Government, Mr Sachdev said adding that the AITIC has already given a call for a one-week action programme during December 10-16. BMS deputy general secretary Girish Avasthi, while ruling out a joint agitation with the Left trade unions, said the union was "upset" with the "big hike" in prices of LPG cylinder, petrol and diesel. "But we cannot go along with the Left unions as they are hand in glove with the Government," he said. Mr Waradha Rajan flayed the Government’s decision to reduce EPF interest rate to 8.5 per cent for the 125,000 employees retiring every year. "Instead of raising the EPF rate to 9.5 per cent, the government has reduced it in the context of runaway inflation." Regarding the important legislations concerning agricultural workers and unorganised workers, he said there had been no perceptible move forward. The employees pension scheme, 1995 is under strain and needed to be thoroughly reviewed. "This has been kept lingering," he said. Mr Sachdev said there had been enormous delay in convening the apex tri-partite forum —Indian Labour Conference. We are vey much upset with the UPA Government. It has done nothing to revive the tripartite consultations. It is also not taking the trade unions into confidence on the unorganised workers bill. On economic policy issues including FDI and disinvestment and others, there had not been any directional change in governance, he added. The Left trade union leaders said following the presentation of the budget by Finance Minister P Chidambaram, trade unions had listed their core demands and observed an All India Demands Day on August 20. Yet the Government remains unresponsive, said Mr Waradha Rajan. The trade union leaders, however, noted that the Government had rescinded the notification issued by the NDA Government introducing a new classification of fixed term employment workmen. Besides, it had also not resolved not to proceed with the "anti-worker" amendments in the industrial legislations decided by the BJP-led Government. (UNI) |
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WTO members pull up India for curbs on apple imports NEW DELHI, Nov 7: WTO members have taken exception to India’s "poor record" in notifying new sanitary and phytosanitary measures particularly relating to import of apples and almonds. This concern was raised in the SPs committee of the World Trade Organisation in Geneva last month. "A number of countries have raised concerns about what they consider to be India’s poor record on notifying new measures and certain specific measures such as to control Avain influenza, and import conditions on apples and almonds," WTO said in a release. It said India took note of members concerns and assured them that it attached importance to its transparency obligations. The WTO said developing countries ability to respond to importing countries SPs measures has been enhanced by a decision approved by members at the SPs committee meeting on October 27 and 28. India joined other coffee exporting countries in complaining against germany setting maximum levels for ochratoxin a, a mycotoxin contaminant, in coffee a year ago. Others to complain included Colombia, Papua New Guinea, Nicaragua, Brazil, Cuba, Guatemala, Mexico, Ecuador, Bolivia, Dominican republic, El-Salvador, Costa Rica and Peru. Developing countries in particular complained that they spend a lot of time and money eradicating diseases and pests from relevant regions, obtain disease/pest-free status from international organisations such as the world organisation for animal health international plant protection convention and then face difficulty obtaining recognition from importing countries. (UNI) |
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Six closed fertiliser factories to be revived: Paswan JAMSHEDPUR, Nov 7: The Government has plans to revive six closed naptha-based fertiliser factories in the country and convert them into natural gas-based units, Union Chemicals and Fertiliser Minister Ramvilas Paswan has said. Initiatives were being taken to revive all the closed fertiliser factories located in five states, Paswan said at a programme of the Singhbhum Chamber of Commerce and Industries here last night. He said official-level talks with Iran and Bangladesh were also on to convert the closed naptha-based units into gas-based industries. The move was to find a substitute for Naptha, which was becoming costly. A group of ministers was formed for the purpose. The fertiliser companies in Sindri (Jharkhand), Barauni (Bihar), Durgapur and Haldia (West Bengal), Paradip (Orissa) and Gorakhpur (Uttar Pradesh) were closed during the previous regime but the present Government have taken initiative to revive them, Paswan said. (PTI) |
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FIIs net buyers in equities at Rs 1,749.9 cr, MFs net inflows MUMBAI, Nov 7: The Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) recorded net purchases of Rs 1749.9 crore (US dollar 379.5 million) in equities for the trading week ended November five while Mutual Funds (MFs) were net purchasers at Rs 172.33 crore. The foreign funds were net purchasers at Rs 874.9 crore (USd 189.8 million) in the debt market for the period under review, according to the data available with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) here. The mutual funds were also net purchasers in the debt market at Rs 304.62 crore. Overseas funds were net buyers in equities on all five trading days of the week. The foreign funds recorded their highest net inflow of the trading week in equities at Rs 1,195.10 crore (USD 259.20 mn) on November one followed by Rs 330.70 crore (USD 71.70 mn) on November five. FIIs stayed away from the debt market on November three and registered the highest net inflow of Rs 384.90 crore (US 83.50 mn) on November four. MFs were net purchasers in equity market on all trading days except on November four when they were net sellers at 74.26 crore. They purchased shares to the tune of Rs 146.35 crore and Rs 71.86 crore on November three and two respectively. On debt front, MFs were net purchasers at Rs 137.07 crore on November two. The stock exchange, Mumbai, (BSE) during the week under review saw the sensex gaining 219 points to close at 5891.36 points. (PTI) |
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