 |
||
|
||
| MoF, 4 other ministries to cut
contribution to global bodies NEW DELHI, Mar 2: The Government is looking to slash the contribution by five of its central ministries to global organisations in the next fisca......more' Dalal Street to follow global cues: Analysts MUMBAI, Mar 2: The Indian Stock market is likely to follow global cues in the coming weeks, while the Budget proposals for 2008-09 are unlikely to have any ....more Biscuits prices remain unaltered in budget: IBMA NEW DELHI, Mar 2: The Budget proposals have made breakfast items such as cornflakes and muesli, used by the affluent sections, cheaper even as the prices of common man's food product, biscuits......more Rs 278,644 cr foregone in 2007-08 due to exemptions NEW DELHI, Mar 2: The Government would have raked in a whopping Rs 2,78,644 crore in 2007-08 as additional taxes had it not given any exemptions, the Budget documents show. ....more |
|
Reed Exhibitions to acquire 12
brands; invest USD 50 mn NEW DELHI, Mar 2: To make India its business hub, global leader in organising exhibitions and conferences - Reed Exhibitions will acquire at least 12 new brands over the next three years in .....more Ficci proposes single regulatory body for technical education NEW DELHI, Mar 2: Industry body Ficci has proposed an overhaul of regulatory framework for technical education in India in order to ensure delivery of quality . ......more FDI limit needs to be increased to 49 pc: ASSOCHAM NEW DELHI, Mar 2: The foreign direct investment limit in the defence sector needs to be increased to 49 per cent from the current ....more Paswan to meet steel producers today NEW DELHI, Mar 2: Concerned over the demand-supply mismatch in the steel sector, Steel Minister Ram Vilas Paswan will meet ....more |
MoF, 4 other ministries to cut contribution to global bodies NEW DELHI, Mar 2: The Government is looking to slash the contribution by five of its central ministries to global organisations in the next fiscal, with the Finance Ministry accounting for over 80 per cent of their cumulative cut. While for most of the ministries such contributions would either increase or remain unchanged, five of them -- Finance, Health, Science & Technology, Rural Development and Railways -- would decline in 2008-09 from the current fiscal, according to the expenditure Budget proposals made by Finance Minister P Chidambaram. Together, the contribution by these five ministries would decline by about Rs 31 crore in the next fiscal, with the Finance Ministry alone accounting for about Rs 25 crore. The Union Budget has proposed Rs 55.25 crore of such contributions by the Ministry of Finance in 2008-09, as against Rs 82.80 crore proposed in the Budget for the current fiscal that was revised to Rs 80.35 crore. In 2006-07, MoF had contributed Rs 100.09 crore to bodies like United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), ADB and International Fund for Agriculture Development. For the next fiscal, it has been proposed that MoF would contribute Rs 22.05 crore to UNDP. Other major contributions would be to Global Environment Trust Fund (Rs 10 crore), Commonwealth Fund for Technical Cooperation (Rs 8 crore) and Colombo Plan (Rs 5.96 crore). The international bodies receiving monetary assistance from various ministries include the World Health Organisation, International Committee of Red Cross Society, United Nations Funds on Population Activities, Afro-Asian Rural Reconstruction Organisation and United Nations Industrial Development Organisation. (PTI) Dalal Street to follow global cues: Analysts MUMBAI, Mar 2: The Indian Stock market is likely to follow global cues in the coming weeks, while the Budget proposals for 2008-09 are unlikely to have any prolonged impact on investor sentiments, said analysts. "In the coming week market is going to be on the negative side and the phase of uncertainty is likely to continue as US and other world markets are in a bear grip. The support level for the 30-share index Sensex will be around 15,000 to 16,000 and for NSE Nifty it will be 4,500-4,600," domestic brokerage SMC Global Vice President Rajesh Jain said. The BSE index, which gained just 71 points in the past week, had dipped by 245 points to 17,578.72 on Friday, after Finance Minister P Chidambaram announced a 5 per cent hike in short-term capital gains tax to 15 per cent from 10 per cent. Chidambaram has not proposed any change in the corporate tax and the rate of Securities Transaction Tax has also been kept unchanged. The STT paid by the taxpayer would be treated like any other deductible expenditure against business income. The market sentiment would primarily be governed by global sentiment, said analysts . "Global uncertainty is causing a drag and the neutral budget was not able to fight the global down trend. Foreign Institutional Investors are reluctant to put in their money in this volatile market," Jain added. FIIs have made investments worth just Rs 237 crore in the past week in the Indian equities, while they have been net purchasers of Rs 1733.30 crore in the month of February. Besides, the WPI-based inflation rose to 4.89 per cent for the week ended February 16. The data partly captures the rise in petroleum prices announced on February14. For retail investors, analysts advised caution as they believe this is not the right time to invest. (PTI) Biscuits prices remain unaltered in budget: IBMA NEW DELHI, Mar 2: The Budget proposals have made breakfast items such as cornflakes and muesli, used by the affluent sections, cheaper even as the prices of common man's food product, biscuits, remain unaltered. "A common man's food item - biscuit - is unfairly subjected to highest levy of about 12.5 per cent value added tax (VAT). Its prices have remained unchanged during the previous years," Indian Biscuits Manufacturers' Association (IBMA) President B P Agarwal said in a statement. VAT on similar food products such as jams, jellies, namkeen, bread, potato chips and dry fruits has been kept in the range of zero to four per cent, he said. Meanwhile, the Budget has granted total exemption from 16 per cent excise duty on breakfast cereals like cornflakes, which are consumed by the rich, he said. On the other hand, the biscuit industry has been given a meagre relief of two per cent, that too only on packaging paper. It has totally neglected major inputs like wheat, maida, vegetable oil used in biscuit, Agarwal noted. Rising prices of raw materials have increased the production cost by 15 to 50 per cent in 2007-08. Besides, biscuit manufacturers pay a host of local levies and central sales tax on the finished product as well as raw material, IBMA said while urging the government to grant substantial relief in excise and customs duty on food products like biscuits and its inputs. (PTI) |
Rs 278,644 cr foregone in 2007-08 due to exemptions NEW DELHI, Mar 2: The Government would have raked in a whopping Rs 2,78,644 crore in 2007-08 as additional taxes had it not given any exemptions, the Budget documents show. In other words, revenue foregone as a percentage of aggregate tax collection in the current fiscal was 47.94, which is slightly less than the previous year's 50.89 per cent. The maximum revenue foregone was on account of customs duty exemptions to the tune of Rs 1,48,252 crore, accounting for 22.51 per cent of the aggregate tax collections for the year. Excise duty exemption was the next largest head for revenue sacrificed on account of various sops. These exemptions amounted to Rs 87,992 crore or 15.14 per cent. "There is a lobby behind each tax exemption," Finance Minister P Chidambaram told NDTV Profit in his post-budget interview. The government sacrificed Rs 58,655 crore by way of giving exemptions to corporate tax payers while sops for the personal income tax payers were worth Rs 42,161 crore. Under different heads of revenue foregone, the Receipt Budget shows an amount of Rs 58,416 crore as concessions given for export promotions. The main objective of any tax system is to raise revenues to fund government expenditures, a preface to the chapter on revenue foregone says, adding that the amount of revenue raised is determined by tax bases and tax rates. "It is also a function of a range of measures - special tax rates, exemptions, deductions, rebates, deferrals and credits - that affect the level and distribution of tax. These measures are sometimes called 'tax preferences'". "Tax preferences may be viewed as subsidy payments to preferred tax payers," it says. (PTI) Reed Exhibitions to acquire 12 brands; invest USD 50 mn NEW DELHI, Mar 2: To make India its business hub, global leader in organising exhibitions and conferences - Reed Exhibitions will acquire at least 12 new brands over the next three years in the country at an investment of USD 50 million. "Our target is to acquire at least four exhibition brands each year and we are progressing in this direction. The company has lined up an investment of USD 50 million in the next three years to acquire different brands in India as it plans to make the country its business hub," Reed Exhibitions India COO and Director Mandeep Singh said. Asked about the potential targets, he declined to divulge details but said: "We plan to acquire at least four exhibition brands this year. In fact, three will be acquired by mid-March." He added that the company would also invest in improving facilities of the exhibition halls to make it world-class. Last year, the company acquired two brands - 'Aluminium India' and electronic equipment show, 'Componex India'. After acquisition, it organised an electronic equipment show 'Componex', for the first time in the national capital, from February 20-22. "Componex is a 15 year old B2B event and this time it was the largest electronic show in Asia. We also brought in our global electronic expo brand - 'Nepcon' here," Singh said. The company also organised 'Aluminium India' exhibition in Mumbai from February 22-24. Reed Exhibition started its business in the country in 2006 by organising three events. It plans to organise seven exhibitions in the current year. The company clocked a revenue of USD 4 million last year. It expects to have a turnover of USD 7 million in 2008, he said adding "we expect to break-even in 2010". (PTI) |
Ficci proposes single regulatory body for technical education NEW DELHI, Mar 2: Industry body Ficci has proposed an overhaul of regulatory framework for technical education in India in order to ensure delivery of quality higher education. In a paper on "Regulatory Framework for Technical Education", the chamber has called for dissolution of the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and setting up a single regulatory authority, independent of the government, as recommended by the National Knowledge Commission (NKC). "The role of such a regulatory authority should be limited to regulate public, private aided and unaided institutions at the initial stages with 'minimum prescriptions' and 'flexible norms' to begin with. Further, institutions with credible reputation over a period of 5 years should be given the autonomous status," the chamber said in a statement. AICTE has not been able to manage multiple functions to the satisfaction of constituents, and has become virtually synonymous with granting approvals or licenses to a new applicant, Ficci said. "Consequently, the role of quality assurance of existing institutions through issuing guidelines has taken a back seat," it said. Ficci said the Government should facilitate self-financing higher education institutions to set up campuses without any entry barriers, on the lines of Indian School of Business, Hyderabad, and Great Lake Institute of Management, Chennai. It has called for autonomy to all institutions to decide on setting up of new campus, new programmes, number of programmes, number of students, fees, faculty member recruitment, collaboration with international institutions. (PTI) |
FDI limit needs to be increased to 49 pc: ASSOCHAM NEW DELHI, Mar 2: The foreign direct investment limit in the defence sector needs to be increased to 49 per cent from the current 26 per cent to facilitate the flow of investment and technological know-how, industry body ASSOCHAM has said. "It is necessary to be self-reliant in defence production, which could be possible if FDI limit is raised to 49 per cent. This will help India acquire defence technology for its increased arms production and reduce dependence on imports," the chamber said in a statement. Since the 1991 Kargil war, India's arms imports have risen to 25 billion dollars and would further rise to 30 billion dollars by 2012. If the Indian economy continues to grow at current momentum, spending on defence is projected to increase to 3 per cent of the GDP from the current 2.8 per cent, ASSOCHAM president Venugopal Dhoot said. Saudi Arabia and China are the next two large armament buyers in the developing world after India, which notched up defence deals valued between just 2-3 billion dollar each in 2006. Currently about 70 per cent of the Indian procurement in value terms, is from foreign sources because the Indian public sector cannot deliver in terms of quality or speed on either research or production. Dhoot further said, FDI hike in defence would also help procurement of latest technologies as per provisions of latest Defence Offset Policy. The offset policy is expected to bring in 10 billion dollar during the 11th Five Year Plan as every foreign company is required to spend 30 per cent of the value on offsets goods or services purchased from Indian defence companies. (PTI) |
 |
|||||
|
|||||
|
|||||
|
