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IOC drills for deal
in Congo MTNL bids to dial the Gulf Bharti to invest $8 b Market
Update Tax Advice |
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IOC drills for deal in Congo
New Delhi, March 11 "Burren Energy is opposed to the sale. It is likely to exercise its pre-emption right to stop the sale and instead bring in IOC," an industry source said. The British firm has time till the end of this month to exercise its pre-emption right. IOC and its partner Oil India Ltd are in advanced stage of discussion with Burren Energy for possible takeover of Maurel & Prom's interest in Congo.
"Burren Energy wants operatorship of the fields in Congo. By exercising its pre-emption right, it will first acquire Maurel & Prom's interest in the fields and through a back-to-back agreement sell most of it to IOC-OIL combine," he said. IOC-OIL combine had been interested in Maurel & Prom's Congo assets and their internal valuation had put the asset value at about $1.5 billion, $100 million more than what Eni is paying.
Maurel & Prom had last month announced sale of its 48.6 per cent interest in M'Boundi oil field and 66 per cent in Kouakouala-A oilfield to Eni. Besides, it was selling 50 per cent in Kouakouala B, C, D exploration blocks and 50 per cent Kouilou exploration permit. Burren Energy has 31.5 per cent interest in M'Boundi field and 25 per cent interest in Kouakouala. If the acquisition goes through, IOC-OIL will get 17,000 barrels of oil per day from M'Boundi field in 2007. This will increase to 28,000 barrels per day in 2010, the source said. The giant fields holds 1.4 billion barrels of in-place oil reserves and produces a high quality oil (39 degree API). The Kouilou and Kouakouala license areas, located onshore along the Atlantic coast of Republic of Congo (Brazzaville), extended over an area of about 2,600 sq km and contain two producing fields - M'Boundi and Kouakouala, of which M'Boundi is by far the largest. The operator in each case of Maurel & Prom, the French independent oil company. M'Boundi field currently produces 56,100 barrels of oil per day. Kouakouala field produces 1,000 barrels of oil a day. The fields are connected by pipelines to the Total-operated export terminal at Djeno on the Atlantic coast, a distance from M'Bouondi of about 40-km, where the crude is blended for export. The M'Boundi and Kouakouala crudes are very light low sulphur crudes.
— PTI |
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MTNL bids to dial the Gulf
Dubai, March 11 “The Communication and Information Technology Commission (CITC) has received applications from 10 consortia in response to the request forms issued on October 24, 2006,” CITC said. “During the coming weeks, STC will study and evaluate the applications, based on the criteria specified in the request for applications (RFA),” Sultan Al Malik, a spokesman of the commission, told Arab News. The 10 consortia include Al-Shola (MTNL India), Khaled Ahmed Al-Juffali Co (WorldCall Telecom of Pakistan), Makkah Telecom (China Telecom), and Bayanat (Korea Telecom). Others are Optical Communications Company (Verizon), Saudi Telecom Holding (Qtel-Atco), Al-Mutakamilah (Hong Kong's PCCW), Electronet (Autelia of Italy), Etihad Etisalat (Mobily) and Atheeb Telecom.
— PTI |
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Bharti to invest $8 b
New Delhi, March 11 The aggressive expansion programme assumes importance in the wake of imminent entry of global mobile leader Vodafone through acquisition of Hutch-Essar. The company since its inception has made an investment of about $8 billion (about Rs 36,000 crore) for various services, including mobile, basic, national and international long-distance, undersea cable and broadband services. "We are spending nearly $2 billion every year as the future continues to be stronger than the past... by 2010, we would have doubled the
investment. RCom roaming pact
Meanwhile, ahead of Cricket World Cup, Reliance Communications
(RCom) today announced the launch of international roaming with Oceanic Digital, a leading CDMA operator in Jamaica. "The Reliance customers will be able to make local and incoming calls from Jamaica at the rate of Rs 16 per minute while international call to India and rest of world will cost Rs 48 per minute," Reliance officials
said.— PTI |
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Yen jitters far
from over by Lalit Batra Markets
continued to yo-yo the last week but ended on a flat note. The BSE
Sensex settled with a marginal loss of one point, at 12,884, while the
Nifty settled at 3,718, a loss of nine points. A host of factors, including lack of inflows at higher levels, the surprise CRR-hikes, high valuations, rising inflation, high interest rates and fears of an earnings slowdown in the coming quarters has kept the sentiment edgy all along. The latest and most dreadful demon to strike was unwinding of “yen-carry trade”, which had severely affected the Chinese bourses in particular, but the correction was diwespread across global markets. This is expected to weigh on the sentiment for few more weeks, as further possible repatriation of overseas profits by Japanese banks and companies, ahead of the country’s fiscal ending March 31, could lead to further rise of the Japanese currency against the US dollar and a resultant sell-off in share. Back home, inflation continued to be a cause of worry and any increase in this figure will dampen the sentiments, spooking a fresh sell-off wave. Mahindra & Mahindra India’s largest tractor-maker M&M, along with its subsidiary Mahindra Holdings and Finance Ltd, won the bid to acquire around 43.5 per cent stake in Punjab Tractors Limited (PTL) for Rs 360 a share in an all-cash deal. The private equity fund Actis’ 29 per cent stake and the Burman family’s 14.5 per cent stake in the PTL was up for sale. PTL has an installed capacity to manufacture 60,000 tractors per annum and enjoys a market share of 10 per cent in the Indian market. Acquiring PTL makes good strategic sense for M&M as it would help consolidate its presence in the 31-40 HP category and allow it to make the presence felt in the over 51HP category. The acquisition would give M&M a dominate status in the Indian tractors industry, increasing its overall market share from current 30 per cent to 40. The acquisition would help M&M take advantage of the strong brand equity of PTL’s Swaraj. Further, it would also give M&M Access to the strong distribution network of PTL. PTL has a strong network of 433 dealers across the nation compared to 450 dealers of M&M. PTL’s acquisition would yield substantial long-term benefits for M&M as it would give M&M a greater presence in the higher-HP segment and a higher overall market share. It would also be able to make better use of PTL’s strong distribution network and brand equit. Investors with two to three years perspective may buy in to M&M. |
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Proceeds of life insurance policy tax-free by S.C. Vasudeva Q. I am a pensioner from a
bank, getting a total pension of Rs 10,8000/-p.a. I had invested Rs 2
lakh in Bima Nivesh 2001 (single premium) policy with compounded
guaranteed additions. The policy matured in December 2006. Kindly advise
if there is any income tax liability on the proceeds on maturity of the
policy. — Harinderpal Singh, Jalandhar A. IT return
Q. Please advise on following points: A. In one
of the meeting of S.C. Association, a tax consultant explained that
earlier I.T. returns could be filed direct — self by the members.
Now, hence forth, I.T. returns shall have to be got prepared/submitted
through I.T. return preparer appointed/ to be appointed by the Deptt,
IT. returns cannot be submitted direct. Kindly advise. B. I am an NRI
and have been allotted PAN No. I am having income as interest on
banks/FDR companies, dividend from shares/mutual fund, deposits invested
in Indian rupee. So far I have been filing I.T. returns. Dividend
capital gains stand exempted, now my income on FDR's bank/companies etc.
is below taxable limit. Can I or is it essential for me to file I.T.
return, I want to retain PAN No. which is mandatory for investment in
M.F./I.P.Os Shares. C. In the daily Tribune dated 27.03.2006, you have
suggested regarding NRO Account that withdrawals are permitted for
personal use of the account holder. Can't deposit in NRO Account be
used for further investment in Mutual funds/I.P.O. shares on non-repatriable
basis. — Jeewan Jyoti Kapur, Chandigarh A. (b) In case the income earned by you
is from interest etc. and is below taxable limit without claiming any
deduction under chapter VI-A of the income-tax Act 1961 (the Act), you
need not file the income-tax return. (c) The amount lying in NRO
account can be utilised for making investments in mutual funds and in
initial public offerings on non-repatriable basis. Tax on interest
income
Q. I am thankful for your advice on my query in Tribune dated
the 16th instant under heading "No rebate permissible on Interest
Income from FDRs". Now, my query is in case of senior citizens,
Form 15H can be filed if the total estimated income is NIL but as my
income is well above Rs 1-85 lakh, the bank should deduct tax at source.
Now it is not clear on what/which amount and at percentage the bank
should deduct TDS. Sir, as per return filed by me for the year -
financial year 2005-06, my income was/is: Total income assessable
2,81,513 Tax payable 22,902 Less TDS 14,125 Payable 8,777 Add
interest 1,023 Total 9,800 Property rent Rs 38,200/- — less house
tax @ 30 pc 1,400/- Pension = 79,892/-, this includes DA and medical
allowance Interest from FDRs + 1,75,861/-, I have account in two banks.
All FDRs are in joint account with my children - In all, first name is
mine, (M.S. Dewan) - Payable (to either plus survivours - out of the two
bank - one has deducted TDS Rs.14,125/- other bank has not deducted any
TDS i.e. on income interest of Rs 1,38,487/-. The other bank has not
deducted any TDS. (1) Now question arises, even when I am a senior
citizen, is it compulsory for the bank to make deduction at the rate of
10 pc. (2) Rental income is not a regular income — monthly or yearly
— because in certain period it remains vacant whole or part. (3) My
children are living on different stations on rented houses. If they may
live here the rental income will be NIL and when they are paying rent of
other places, why adjustment cant be allowed here. Sir, as already
explained, I am 83 years old and cannot handle all such jobs without any
help/assistance. Can I employ someone for my assistance/ help. — M.
S. Dewan A. Rebate on FDRs
Q. Very recently (August - September 2006)
the Income Tax authorities have allowed rebate on fixed deposits up to
Rs 1,00,000 only under Section 80C. The banks are doing such FDs for 5
years @ 8%-8.5% interest for individuals and senior citizens,
respectively. Kindly advise as to whether the deposits made under Senior
Citizens Saving Scheme 2004 @ 9% interest for 5 years during the current
financial year 2006-07 (Assessment year 2007-08) are also subjected to
rebate under Section 80C of the Act. Further, whether the banks should
not deduct TDS on such deposits if form 15G/15H as applicable is given
to them when the total income is not taxable. — R. K. Aggarwal,
Panchkula A.
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