The Hindu Business Line : Saturday, December 28, 2002

Another online lottery from Feb
ANOTHER online lottery has made its foray into the State with the launch of Fortune Computer Lottery by the Mumbai-based Computer Aided Information and Research Services Ltd (CAIRS). The company has appointed the main distributor in the State ... More

ECONOMY

Jalan optimistic about achieving 8 pc growth
THE Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has expressed optimism about achieving the 8 per cent growth targeted by the National Development Council for the Tenth Plan period. Inaugurating the 24th Bank Economists' Conference here today, the RBI Governor, ... More

FOREIGN TRADE

Korean investments seen to touch $3.5 b by 2005
KOREAN investments in India are likely to touch a high of $3.5 billion by 2005, according to the Director of the Korea Trade Center (KOTRA), Chennai, Mr Kim Ik-hwan. Talking to presspersons after inaugurating the Korean Textile Machinery and ... More

HEALTH

FORTE makes headway in organ transplant
LAST week at midnight in Bangalore, when doctors in a private hospital declared a patient `brain dead' much action took place in the city. The hospital informed FORTE (Foundation for Organ Retrieval and Transplant Education) about ... More

TAXATION

Kelkar panel urges specific duties for petro products
EVEN while recommending that the existing ad valorem excise levy on petro products be replaced by specific duties, revenue considerations have prompted the Kelkar Committee not to recommend any particular level or range of specific excise ... More

Realtors fear dip in demand
THE major players in the booming home loan market - - builders, housing finance companies and consultants - - have not taken too kindly to the Kelkar committee's proposal to reduce the tax exemption on mortgage interest to Rs 50,000 on ... More

Kelkar on MFs

Income of the mutual fund derived from short-term capital gains and interest should be taxed at a flat rate in the hands of the mutual fund; dividends received by the unit holders should be fully exempted since the distributable surplus would ... More

Customs duty roadmap linked to State VAT
DR Vijay Kelkar's Task Force on Indirect Taxes has proposed a new roadmap for bringing down the customs duties to Asean levels in its final report submitted here on Friday. Unlike the earlier proposal — outlined in its draft `consultation ... More

Revenue impact of corporate tax reforms
The package of recommendations relating to corporate tax will result in an estimated revenue gain of Rs 10,762 crore. This estimate is based on the financial results of 1,334 profit making companies for the financial year 2001-02. This sample of ... More

DEPB, drawback merger from 2005 proposed
EXPORTERS may have a cause for cheer, with the Task Force on Indirect Taxes recommending that the Duty Entitlement Passbook (DEPB) Scheme should be merged with the Drawback scheme from April 1, 2005. The Committee had, in its draft consultation ... More

Recommendations on service tax

TEXTILES

Textile Ministry to release more quota
THE Ministry of Textiles has decided to open the `ready goods' category export quota for textiles and readymade garments for the first quarter of the next calendar on January 10 under the `first-come-first-served' basis. The quota release will ... More

BREWERIES

People-factor dominates liquor industry saga
THE year that is drawing to a close made the Indian alcobev (alcoholic beverage) industry a personality-driven one like never before. A key individual influence was seen behind most happenings that shaped the course of business, from acquisitions ... More

REAL ESTATE & CONSTRUCTION

A housing project with kids in mind
Bengal Shrachi Housing Development Ltd is set to try its hand at this rather unique combination, courtesy a real estate project called Greenwood Nook. As the company takes pains to point out, its USP is a rather unique centre exclusively aimed ... More

INDUSTRY ASSOCIATIONS

FICCI welcomes Kelkar proposals
THE apex chambers of commerce and industry have welcomed the proposals put forward by the Kelkar panel. In a statement the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) has welcomed the changes suggested in the report with ... More

CII hails move to ease export, import norms
THE President of the Confederation of Indian Industry, Mr Ashok Soota, today welcomed the announcement by the Chairman, CBEC, Mr M.K. Zutshi, that the Government will allow automatic imports and exports without physical inspection from March next ... More

MINERALS

Capexil urges Bengal to set up mineral park
CAPEXIL has urged the West Bengal Government, which is now in the process of finalising a State export policy, to undertake a detailed feasibility study for setting up a mineral park in the State. The council, which has minerals and ores as an ... More

DISINVESTMENT

CCD defers decision on HPCL, BPCL
THE Cabinet Committee on Disinvestment (CCD) on Friday deferred finalising the modalities for disinvestment in HPCL and BPCL in the absence of an opinion from Attorney-General. "Whenever the opinion of the Attorney-General is obtained, we will ... More

EVENTS

Anti-globalisation event kicks off
THE four-day `Kerala Sangamom', organised by bodies opposed to globalisation, was inaugurated on Thursday by Mr S.P. Shukla, founder-convenor of WTO Virodhi Abhiyan. The event marks the formal launch of the activities of World Social Forum ... More

Kalam to unveil vision of India at CII meet
THE President of India, Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, will be unveiling his "vision of India'' before an audience of 8,000 children from different schools of Kolkata on January 21 at the Netaji Indoor Stadium. The programme, the first such in the ... More

INCOME TAX

Kelkar for just two I-T slabs
THE tax burden on personal income-tax payers is set to ease irrespective of whether they are at the bottom of the tax slab or are reasonably well-off individuals. If the Kelkar Committee's recommendations are accepted by the Centre, they will ... More

Is the party over for savings?
IF there is one recommendation of the Kelkar Committee that looks to be a political hot potato, it is the one on abolishing almost all the tax rebates for savings. Earlier this month, the BJP had voiced its opposition to this proposal ... More

Revamp of I-T dept services mooted
IT is a major extension of the `File, Smile and Go' slogan coined by the Income-Tax Department. One of the first items that the Union Finance Minister, Mr Jaswant Singh, had placed high on his agenda on taking over earlier this year was the ... More

Proposal to capture the `missing middle' in tax net
CLOSE to 60 per cent of the existing individual personal income tax assesses could be out of the country's tax net in one go, if the recommendations of the Kelkar Committee were to be accepted by the Government, according to officials. This, ... More

EXPORTS & IMPORTS

Auto clearance for exports, imports
IN a move aimed at facilitating exports from the country, the Customs will allow export and import consignments to go through on the basis of self-assessment under the Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) system from March 31. This was indicated ... More

Conversion of EPZ into SEZ notified
THE Government has issued notifications for conversion of the four Export Processing Zones (EPZs) at Noida (Uttar Pradesh), Falta (West Bengal), Chennai (Tamil Nadu) and Vishakapatnam (Andhra Pradesh) into Special Economic Zones (SEZs) with ... More

TOURISM

Veerappan shadow looms over tourism in Ooty
Even though a couple of weeks have passed since Nagappa's death, the tourist traffic has not returned to what it was even six months back. More

STANDARDS & BENCHMARKS

ESCI bags ISO 9001 certificate
HYDERABAD: The Engineering Staff College of India (ESCI) here has been awarded ISO 9001: 2000 certificate in recognition of its ability to conduct continuing education programmes including design and development courses and to provide ... More

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