The government is likely to list four or five more of state-owned companies, which include Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam Ltd, Manganese Ore India Ltd and Cochin Shipyard, by March next year. A senior government official said the government plans to dilute up to 10 per cent in these companies.
Top steel producers like SAIL, Tata Steel, JSW and Essar have decided to maintain status quo on steel prices even as the three-month price freeze ends today. Industry sources said they have decided to keep prices on hold as of now since inflation is ruling at a 13-year high of 11.98 per cent and any increase would aggravate the situation.
The Delhi-headquartered bank had favoured private placement over an initial public offer due to the stock market's volatility, a source familiar with the development said. "An initial public offer now is out of question," the source said. The private placement of shares is likely to be with public sector companies Life Insurance Corporation, UTI and Small Industries Development Bank of India but private sector participation is not completely ruled out.
Companies may maintain status quo on low monsoon demand, capacity addition.
A committee of secretaries is considering a Rs 4,000-crore (Rs 40 billion) market intervention fund to provide states interest-free loans to augment foodgrain and edible oil availability, among other items. The money will enable states to intervene in the market by buying and distributing essential items to economically weaker families that are eligible for government assistance.
ITC, Godrej Agrovet, DCM Shriram and other companies expanding in rural areas may eclipse the growth of their urban counterparts, including Reliance Fresh and the Future Group-owned Food Bazaar chain, helped by higher farm income that is spurring a boom in sales of fast moving consumer goods, consumer durables and apparel.
The introduction of 10 per cent mandatory blending of ethanol with petrol is unlikely to happen from this October, as decided by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs in October 2007.
The move is being viewed as an effort by the government to expand the taxpayer base.
The Income Tax Department will soon ask the BCCI to pay the taxes under Section 11 (4) of the Income Tax Act, 1961, which deals with commercial activity of trusts. This means that the board will pay taxes at the rate of 33.99 per cent on from the current financial year.
The implementation of the commodities transaction tax is likely to be delayed to the end of the year or even next year, thanks to the spiralling inflation and its political fallout.
The much awaited implementation of the over Rs 71,000 crore (Rs 710 billion) farm debt waiver and relief scheme got underway on Thursday with public sector banks, regional rural banks and cooperatives displaying names of the beneficiaries at branches.
For many years now, the Congress and its allies have not had any noteworthy representation from the area. The loan-waiver package may not improve things in the next general elections in 2009, Business Standard found out in an extensive tour of the area. Most farmers said they did not find it worthwhile to go to a bank for loan because the process was too cumbersome.
Demand payment of sugarcane arrears, company says there are no dues.
The Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) has started tightening the noose around tax evaders. This year, the department intends to profile banking and financial services, port services and business auxiliary services to pinpoint taxability of various components to enforce compliance. More services will be profiled in subsequent years.
"No airline is making money in India because they are selling below cost. The country is seeing a 25 per cent annual growth rate in air passenger traffic, but some slowdown is also expected. These are some of the pains when markets open up," said John Leahy, chief operating officer (customers), Airbus. Leahy, however, declined to offer details.
The crude oil rally will impact prices of aviation turbine fuel, which forms 30 per cent of the operating cost for an airline. The company incurred a loss of $23.1 million during the October-December quarter of FY08. This was against a net profit of $9 million during the corresponding quarter of 2006-07.
Computerisation of the Income-Tax Department has played a key role in raising tax compliance and higher tax collections over the past few years.
The finance ministry has called a meeting of the State-Level Bankers Committee in New Delhi on Tuesday, which will be attended by officials from scheduled commercial banks, regional rural banks, cooperatives, Reserve Bank of India, National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development, the Centre as well as states. The meeting will be presided over by financial services department secretary Arun Ramanathan.
The sharp depreciation of the rupee against the US dollar over the last four weeks has neutralised the impact of recent import duty cuts aimed at lowering prices of commodities like edible oil, metallurgical coke and newsprint.
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