Even as record foreign fund flows lifted the rupee to 39.43 against the US dollar today, the highest since 1999, the commerce ministry has started telling exporters to prepare for the rupee rising even further to 38 against the US dollar by December. The strong rupee is already hurting India's exporters, with companies cutting jobs and scaling back expansion. A further appreciation may have even worse consequences for sectors like textiles, infotech and automobiles.
Ashok Kumar Jha will step into a role that BVR Subbu, a powerful and seasoned corporate campaigner, had demitted over a year ago.
A US resident has advertised to sell land in that country to Indians here. In the process, the seller may have started a trend of US owners turning to overseas buyers as local demand for housing dries up following the serial bankruptcies from the sub-prime mortgage, or high-risk home loan, crisis.
Real estate firm Parsvnath Developers' quest for a mobile licence seems to have hit a roadblock at the Department of Telecom (DoT). Parsvnath, which is one of the seven realty firms in the fray for mobile licences, hasn't mentioned the business of "telecommunications" in its memorandum of association (MoA).
The Sixth Pay Commission is likely to significantly raise basic salaries for an estimated 4.5 million central government employees. The recommendations are expected to be submitted in January, a few months ahead of schedule, and the award is likely to come into effect from January 2006.
Tax compliance in India is improving steadily. Four years ago, 76 per cent of the 28.8 million tax-payers (assessees) filed annual income tax returns. Since then, the number of tax-payers has been increasing and so is the compliance level. In 2004-05, the compliance rose to 78.2 per cent on a tax-payer base of 29.21 million. In 2005-06, this rose to 82.1 per cent on a base of 29.63 million. In 2006-07, this has risen to a new high of 85.3 per cent on a base of 29.79 mn.
Going by application dates, companies like Spice, Birla-promoted Idea Cellular, Reliance Communications (through Swan and Cheetah) and Hindustan Futuristic are in the lead for licences in different circles. The only new player in the list is the little-known ByCell.Several incumbents like Idea Cellular, Maxis-Aircell, owned by a Malaysian promoter, and Vodafone-Essar lead the list of applicants for initial spectrum allocation since they already hold licences.
The rush to enter the world's fastest-growing mobile services market has attracted a wide range of applicants for telecom licences with the Department of Telecommunications.
It was discovered that state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited was given additional spectrum of up to 10 MHz for GSM technology services in over 16 circles even as private competitors have been waiting to be allotted spectrum by the DoT.
Tensions between private telecom players and the government ratcheted up a notch after it was discovered that state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd was given additional spectrum of up to 10 MHz for GSM technology services in over 16 circles even as private competitors have been waiting to be allotted spectrum by the Department of Telecommunications since December 2006.
ICICI Lombard has bagged a contract from the railways to provide personal accident cover at a premium of just 4.75 paise per passenger. The personal accident cover is for a year starting from September 20, 2007.
TDS collections stood at around Rs 37,500 crore (Rs 375 billion) during April-August, about 50 per cent of the gross direct tax collections of Rs 75,244 crore (Rs 752.44 billion).
Govt puts populist schemes on fast track.
It is not the urban centres alone that are powering India's phenomenal growth in mobile telephony. Data on rural telephony, compiled by the telecom regulator, shows people in villages are subscribing to mobile services in large numbers
The move would retain the public sector character of these banks, as the holding company will be wholly owned by the government, finance ministry officials said. This company, in turn, will own a majority stake in the banks.
The Reserve Bank of India is in favour of a cautious and gradual approach to financial sector reforms rather than a big-bang approach, as advocated by the Percy Mistry Committee report on making Mumbai an international financial centre.
The telecom regulator explains how he's hobbled by government policy and clarifies some parts of his latest recommendations.
If the valuation norms are not announced by then, the due date for paying advance fringe benefit tax (FBT) on ESOPs is likely to be extended beyond September 15.
The guidelines on the valuation of employees' stock option plans (ESOPs) for calculating fringe benefit tax (FBT) will be issued by September 8.
Move to impact joint ventures in telecom, insurance, broadcasting.
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