Business & Economy
Relief: IT limit raised for
women, senior citizens
What is India News Service, Tuesday, 3 May 2005, 1700 hrs IST
Savings bank account holders,
women, senior citizens as also India Inc. can heave a sigh of relief. Bowing to
intense pressure in and outside Parliament, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram on
Monday exempted
all savings accounts from the 0.1 per cent `Banking Cash Transaction Tax',
raised the income-tax exemption limit significantly for women and senior
citizens above 65 years of age while considerably diluting the provisions of the
`Fringe Benefits Tax (FBT)' to lessen the burden on corporates.
Replying to the discussion on
the Finance Bill, 2005 in the Lok Sabha, Mr Chidambaram said that in deference
to the opinion of the House, he had also moved amendments to hike the cash
withdrawal ceiling for current and other accounts held by individuals and
businesses to Rs 25,000 and Rs. 1 lakh, respectively from the Rs 10,000 limit
proposed in the Budget for 2005-06.
As for the FBT, following
detailed discussions between his Ministry officials and representatives of apex
chambers and tax consultants on the issue, he announced waiver of the
expenditure on advertising from the purview of the tax and also drastically
reduced the base value on all heads of expenditure, except four, from the
proposed 50 per cent to 20 per cent. The base value for information technology
and software and certain other businesses has been slashed to five per cent for
calculation of tax at 30 per cent to be paid by the employer.
The House later passed by voice
vote the Finance Bill, 2005 giving effect to the direct and indirect tax
proposals contained in the Budget after rejecting the cut motions that had been
proposed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Carrying out modifications in
some indirect tax proposals, the Minister chose to extend the seven per cent
customs duty on laptops to all associated imports such as monitor, computer
processing unit (CPU) and mouse, while waiving the four per cent countervailing
duty on components for the manufacture of mobile phones in the country.
On pressure from the sugar
lobby, Mr Chidambaram reduced the specific excise duty on molasses from Rs.1,000
a tonne to Rs. 750 while the countervailing duty on import of nylon nets for
tuna fishing has also been cut from the earlier 15 per cent to five per cent.
FBT
retained with fringe sops for Corporate India
Panel faults NPA recovery:
Calling for a more proactive approach in taking action against wilful defaults, the panel said the RBI should periodically review the bank\92s progress.
Unilever,
Lipton divest stake in Rossell Ind.: The interests of the employees will be
fully protected on existing terms.
Manwani
to succeed Banga: The board of directors of Hindustan Lever Ltd. (HLL), at a
meeting held last week, has decided to co-opt Harish Manwani, at present
President (Asia and Africa) of Unilever, as an additional director.
RIL
ignores Anil's plea for clarity of his role as VC&MD:
The role and responsibility of Anil Ambani as vice chairman and
managing director of RIL appears to have become another source of acrimony
between him and his elder brother Mukesh Ambani, the company's chairman and
managing director.
Govt
to prepare database of Indians settled abroad:
The government has decided to prepare a complete database of Indian diaspora
settled abroad, comprising of about 20 million Indians, to provide them required
services and attract investment in India.
MUL
hikes prices: Maruti Udyog Limited on Monday announced a nominal increase in
prices of certain models as a result of hike in input costs. The increase came
into effect from May 1. However, the carmaker did not touch the prices of Maruti
800.
India is on our scanner, says Laxmi Mittal:
Ruling out any plans of diversification by his group, Mr Mittal said, the group\92s focus would remain on steel.
Three
Haryana industrial clusters get Centre\92s nod:
The Union Ministry of Commerce and Industries has approved three projects of the
Haryana Government for the development of industrial clusters at Panipat,
Faridabad and Gurgaon under the newly-introduced Industrial Infrastructure
Upgrade Scheme.
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