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HP Tourism opens doors to private parties Friendship Day brings gifts, bands… and business
Import duty hike cheers IT players
Cell operators’ revenues fall: Trai
IA to phase out Boeing 737, induct Airbus A319
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Bajaj Auto net climbs 2 pc
Delhi, Mumbai need new terminals
Chit fund: repent at leisure
GRAPHICS: MARKET
WATCH
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HP Tourism opens doors to private parties
Shimla, July 31 A directory is being prepared by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII)on behalf of the Department of Tourism and Civil Aviation where about 100 private properties and a dozen government properties have been listed for investment from the private sector. The Tourism Department has received a good response to the advertisement for developing new tourist centres and hubs all over the state with the help of private investment. In the government sector, there is the offer for setting up a golf course at Baddi in Solan on a 400-bigha piece of land. Similarly, 103 bighas of land is on offer at Raisan, Baragraon in Kulu for setting up a mini golf course. The government has also put on offer the proposal for setting up a ropeway to the famous Hanuman temple at Jakhoo, the highest point, giving an aerial view of the hill town. The property owned by Raja Mandi at Jhatingri in Mandi district is another site which will be offered for setting up a tourist destination in complete wilderness.
“We got a good response from private individuals, who have offered almost 100 properties, including old villas and houses with heritage importance in Kulu, Kangra and other parts of the state,” informed a tourism official. For the first time, the Department of Tourism and Civil Aviation, is organising a Tourism Conclave in association with CII in September, where interested private parties and property owners can meet face to face and work out the details.
Few takers for properties Shimla, July 31 While there were no takers for the five greenfield properties, there were no responsive offers for two out of the six cafeterias which were put on sale. The offers received for cafe Bhairav at Baijnath and Dundhiara in Chamba district were well below the reserve prices. The greenflies properties offered for setting up tourism ventures at Baddi, Jhatingari, Badagraon, Shoja and Rajgarh failed to evoke any response. |
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Friendship Day brings gifts, bands… and business
New Delhi, July 31 Delhi has embraced the day, just like it does most other occasions, be it birthdays, festivals or special days like this one. Shops are flooded with friendship bands, the most traditional way of celebrating the day, colourful banners, gifts, chocolates and cards - gifts to suit every kind of friend and every kind of pocket. Though the day has grabbed the fancy of mostly schoolchildren, others are getting into the act, too, spending hundreds of rupees and sometimes even thousands on that special gift. Said Vijayant Chhabra, director of Archies chain of gift stores: "Delhi is a shopper's haven and the city records the maximum sales during this season. From simple friendship bands costing between Rs 7 and Rs 25 to a giant teddy bear costing Rs. 10,000, this 'season of friendship' finds all kinds of takers." "During 'friendship season', sales more than double, even treble," he said, adding that it could take over even Valentine's Day sales in two or three years. "Friendship Day comes after New Year's and Christmas when it comes to sale of cards. And in gifts, they are led only by Valentine's Day," Chhabra asserted. To mark the day this year, Archies has come out with as many as 150 new varieties of friendship bands, 25 kinds of soft toys, six different books with friendship quotes, five new mug designs and over eight kinds of photo frames. Archies, which has outlets in over seven countries around the world, has 500 stores in India alone. In Delhi, the chain has over 41 exclusive shops and 80 franchise outlets. "Friendship Day came into existence here barely three to four years back. But it has picked up considerably with each year," said Manoj Gupta who owns a Hallmark card shop in Delhi. Shops and related businesses, be it card manufacturers or cottage industries that have sprung up to supply friendship bands, are smiling all the way to the bank as another fad catches on in the city. Even grocery stores and medical shops have stocked themselves with the appropriate gifts. The first friendship day was celebrated when the US Congress proclaimed National Friendship Day on the first Sunday in August in 1935. In 1997, popular cartoon character Winnie the Pooh was named the Ambassador of Friendship by the US.
The day has caught on across the globe just as much as Pooh bear has.
— IANS
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Import duty hike cheers IT players Chandigarh, July 31 The Finance Ministry has announced an additional duty of 7 per cent on the imports of finished computers and 6 per cent on stand-alone CPUs. The excise and countervailing duties continue to remain at 16 per cent. A finished CPU includes the whole unit - central processing unit, mouse, monitors and keyboard. IT experts say that this will reduce the PC price to the pre-Budget level. "The government's decision is a positive sign for indigenous players as it will give them the opportunity to compete on an equal footing with international manufacturers. Peripherals being such an important part of the total computing experience, we are looking forward to the zero duty regime as per the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) regulations that is due in April, 2005," says Mr Mohit Anand, Home and Entertainment Division, Microsoft India. The government's aim is to neutralise the inverted duty structure. The move has brought the domestic manufacturing industry on a par with the imported finished goods industry. "The move puts all players on the same footing, be they MNCs, local assemblers or national brands. They can now leverage their core strengths, thus getting some equilibrium back into the industry," is what Mr Neeraj Chauhan, Director, International Operations, eSys, a New Delhi-based IT component distribution MNC, opines. "This move will also aid the penetration of PCs. Since UPS (uninterrupted power supply) equipment are a derived demand, we expect more growth in this segment as well," says Mr Pankaj Sharma, country general manager, APC India, a Bangalore-based UPS manufacturing global company.
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Cell operators’ revenues fall: Trai New Delhi, July 31 While the ARPU of cellular operators was Rs 1319 per month in the year 2000 it has come down to Rs 469 per month in 2004, latest figures released by Trai show. “It is almost one-third of what prevailed in the year 2000 signifying the fact that competition in mobile telephony is intense. The ARPU for post-paid services alone has declined from Rs 1560 per month to Rs 1056 per month in the past five years, thereby showing a decline of 32 per cent.” “For pre-paid service, there has been a sharp decline of 65 per cent in ARPU in the past five years from Rs 822 per month to Rs 288 per month”, Trai said. The subscriber base of mobile telecom operators grew 159.15 per cent year-on-year to 3.37 crore as on March 31, 2004, 75 per cent of whom opted for pre-paid services, the report said. Of the total mobile figures, Reliance Infocomm, Bharti, BSNL and Hutch have achieved a subscriber base exceeding 50 lakh each, according to Trai. During 2003-2004, 2.07 crore mobile subscribers were added compared to 66 lakh during the preceding financial year.
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IA to phase out Boeing 737, induct Airbus A319
Kolkata, July 31 “The tender has already been called and the bids were opened yesterday. The decision will be formally taken shortly,” IA Chairman-cum-Managing Director Sunil Arora said during an interactive session organised by the CII here today. The Boeings became uneconomical after the air crash at Patna despite the Air Marshall Rajkunor Committee report giving a clean chit to the mechanical soundness of the aircraft, he said adding that all over the world around 1,699 such types of Boeings were at present flying.
— UNI
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by K.R. Wadhwaney
Delhi, Mumbai need new terminals
Restructuring, upgradation and modernisation of airports are music to air-travellers. The expenditure of Rs 91 crore (Rs 45 crore on Delhi and Rs 46 crore on Mumbai) also impresses the flyers. But these changes at this late state will not reduce congestion as they are no more than mere cosmetic alterations. The need of the hour is altogether new modules which should be constructed on a war footing. Civil aviation is one of the most complex and exacting areas, which should be managed, administered and maintained by technically qualified people for the good of the travelling public and for the uplift of the image of the country. Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) has no room for expansion or improvement, except renovation. It is in dire need of a new terminal and extended runway for international flights and wide-bodied aircrafts. There is suitable land available. It has been earmarked for the second module, which should be constructed keeping the future in mind. The existing international airport should be utilised for domestic operations — Indian Airlines, Alliance Air, Jet Airways and Sahara Air in addition to new carriers wanting to operate on domestic routes. The existing building in use of private operators has outlived its life. It should be razed and a new one built. It should consist of an aviation museum and a terminal for domestic cargo. The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has reserves of more than Rs 2,000 crore. It has the provision of Rs 1500 crore for the development of the Delhi and Mumbai passenger terminals in the Tenth Five-Year Plan. It is public money which should be utilised for the public good instead of keeping it in the AAI lockers. The AAI should also upgrade several other airports which are in a state of neglect. If these airports are upgraded, the traffic flow will increase, resulting in an increase in revenue and tourism.
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by A.N. Shanbhag
Chit fund: repent at leisure
Q: I heard Shriram chit amount is not coming under tax because it is a savings by month, I started the chit two years before every month I am paying Rs 20,000 it is for 25 months, that time they told me that there will not be any tax after the chit finish, with that guarantee only I put the chit, let me see your mail for that reason of tax. — Taxpayer A:
It is difficult to understand what you are asking. Please revert if the following answer does not satisfy you: As dictated by the Doctrine of Mutuality, a person cannot make a taxable profit out of a transaction with himself. Income must, therefore, come from outside. A surplus arising to a mutual concern cannot be regarded as income chargeable to tax. In other words, where all the participators in the surplus/benefits are contributors to the common fund, as is the case in most chit funds, surplus if any, received by a member cannot be brought to tax. -CIT v. Bankipur Club Ltd. [1981] 6 Taxman 47 (Pat.). It is perhaps this aspect that tempts lay individuals join a chit fund in a hurry only to lament later.
Shares and tax
Q: For the past two or three years, shares purchased are free of tax if kept for a year. Now I read in year column that all shares purchased much earlier have no capital gains to be paid. There is no clarification for accumulated losses of previous years. What about bonus shares when they are sold? For senior citizens, a scheme is being launched to give yield of 9 per cent. Will that be free of tax, or like post office scheme of 8 per cent where it is subject to tax but benefit of 80L. Any limit on the investment amount? — Kersy Bhagat A:
I am afraid you have misunderstood me somewhere. The Budget has proposed the following: Long-term capital gains tax on shares would be exempt if bought and sold on a recognised stock exchange. Short-term capital gains tax would be @10%. There would be a turnover tax of 0.15% to be levied on the purchaser and seller equally. However, these changes would only come into effect after the Bill is passed and an announcement made in the official gazette. If it happens, carried forward loss from the past years will have to be set off against capital gains arising out of assets, other than securities, such as real estate or jewellery or even units of debt-based MF scheme. "Since last 2/3 years shares purchased are free of tax if kept for a year" is a misconception. Only shares of companies of BSE500 purchased on or after 1.3.2003 and before 1.3.2004 enjoyed the exemption from long term capital gains if sold after a year. The scheme is likely to be launched in August 2004 with a term of five years. The scheme will be open to persons over 60 years of age. The ceiling on investment will be Rs 15 lakh. There may be lock-in of 2 years. The interest will be fully taxable and may be operated through post offices. The complete details are not available.
Gifts from NRIs
Q: I read your column on the tax implications after the recent Budget announcements. I have a few queries in this regard: 1. If I receive Rs 25,000 or above from an unrelated person (close NRI friend) as gift by cash/ cheque before Sep 1, 2004; then will it be taxed? 2. How is it clubbed as a gift? Does he need to send me in writing that he is giving me a gift? Is there any paperwork that can shown as evidence to ITO so that they understand that it is a gift? Or is it just verbally claimed? 3. What happens if an unrelated person gifts me a property? It seems like that these new provisions are applicable to cash gifts and not to immovable property gifted. I would be grateful if you could throw some light on these issues. — Sidharth A:
1. Before 1.9.04, all gifts are tax-free. After that date, gifts up to Rs 25,000 are tax-free. 2. There must be an offer and acceptance. You have covered the first part. It will be necessary for you to react to his letter of offer. 3. This gift is covered by the old provisions. It is tax-free.
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