Setting a new benchmark for apartments in the super-luxury segment in the national capital region, a local developer is offering 7,672 square feet of super area at a basic price ranging between Rs 13,500 and Rs 14,750 per square foot (sq ft), the highest in the region. The property is attracting keen interest in the market and analysts said it indicates the market for luxury properties remains strong as ever.
Central tax return processing centres being set up in five major cities.
This lack of regular and detailed disclosure by companies or respondents lies at the core of the problem, one that has gained ground in recent weeks.
Net direct tax collections rose 132 per cent to Rs 12,642 crore (Rs 126.42 billion) in the first month of the current fiscal, as against Rs 5,441 crore (Rs 54.41 billion) in the corresponding month of the previous fiscal.
A nation-wide housing price index may be a reality soon. The National Housing Bank, in collaboration with the National Council of Applied Economic Research, is close to finalising the methodology to be adopted for the index, named NHB Residex.
The proposal is aimed at arresting the decline in wireline services growth and spur availability of broadband internet access across the country. The move has been high on the agenda of Communications Minister A Raja for some time now.
The commodities transaction tax is likely to come into force within the next two months as the details, including the collection, payment and the procedures for filing returns, will take some more time to be firmed up. The CTT, which will be administered by the Central Board of Direct Taxes, will be levied at the rate of 0.017 per cent on sellers of commodity futures as well as options. Purchasers of options, who exercise them, will pay 0.125 per cent
The steel ministry has asked its finance counterpart to expedite the implementation of the measures that have been decided but not implemented yet to contain steel prices.
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance has passed strictures against the finance ministry for the delay in introducing the draft direct tax code for legislation to replace the voluminous Income Tax Act, 1961.
Public sector bank chiefs will have a lot to discuss when they meet Finance Minister P Chidambaram on May 1 to get a broad direction from the government, the majority shareholder in 28 PSBs, for the strategy they should adopt in 2008-09. High on the agenda will be a discussion on implementation of the Rs 60,314-crore.
The Competition Commission of India, the body that is supposed to take action against any abuse of market dominance, says it is helpless. FM had accused the domestic cement and steel industry of forming cartels to exploit consumers. He also warned the industry that if they did not mend their ways, the government would not hesitate to take tough measures and break the logjam. CCI was supposed to prohibit anti-competitive agreements, abuse by dominant players and regulate M&As.
To check the status of their refund, taxpayers can log in at https://tin.tin.nsdl.com/oltas/refundstatuslogin.html.
The Income Tax department will soon start training the second batch of 5,000 tax return preparers (TRPs) across the country. Launched in 2007, the programme aims at assisting tax payers file returns. The TRPs have also been asked to bring in more people under the tax net. They charge existing tax payers Rs 250 for each return, while the department pays them 3 per cent, 2 per cent, and 1 per cent of the tax paid by a new assessee in the first three years, respectively.
Jairam Ramesh has taken over as the minister of state for power. According to him, the Tenth Five-Year Plan was a disaster in terms of capacity addition & so was the Ninth Plan. Of the target of around 41,000 Mw, only 23,000 Mw was added. In effect, the first 2 years will see an addition of almost the same capacity as the entire Tenth Plan. But achieving the Eleventh Plan target of 80,000 Mw is going to be a big challenge. He hopes to see at least 3-4 more projects in a year.
Even as the government grapples with a surge in prices, a three-year old initiative to recast the index that measures wholesale prices is not getting anywhere fast. The revised index is likely to take at least another year to implement and may spill over into the tenure of the next government.
No less than 4.5 million government employees will soon have more money in their pockets. And they can thank Justice Bellur Narayanaswamy Srikrishna for it. Still, public records do not have much information on the man.
The Defence sector is unhappy with the Sixth Pay Commission. The points of discontent include the fact that the Military Service Pay will only begin from the date of acceptance of the award possibly 3 months from now even as their civilian counterparts will get salary arrears from January 2006 onwards. Defence officers want to be compensated for the interim period vis--vis their civilian colleagues. They are also unhappy with the quantification of arduous service conditions.
Sam Pitroda-backed Vavasi Telegence's request for unused radio frequency to be allotted to launch mobile services across the country is unlikely to be met by the department of telecommunication because it said international technology specifications for this wireless technology do not exist. Instead, DoT is considering the option of allotting the company spectrum in the 400 to 430 MHz band, radio frequencies that are currently not used for mobile services in India.
Tasked with gathering over Rs 6,87,715 crore (or nearly $168 billion) as revenue receipts in 2008-09, the two agencies the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) and the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) will be headed by a succession of bureaucrats with unusually short tenures.
Mauritius has rejected compensation of Rs 500 crore to plug loopholes in double taxation avoidance treaty. Mauritius accounts for nearly half of all foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows to India. With the tightening of tax laws, India attempted to amend the treaty. Due to the treaty, India was suffering over Rs 4,000 crore loss annually for some years in terms of revenue foregone on account of the capital gains exemption for investors routing their funds through Mauritius.