30% stake for FIIs in FM ventures
New Delhi: The government will allow foreign institutional investors registered in India to take up to a 30 per cent stake in FM companies in the form of portfolio investments. The investments can be made through the secondary market.

The equity levels FIIs can acquire will be as per the guidelines of the Reserve Bank of India and the Securities and Exchange Board of India.
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Kargil tax only if revenue collections fail
New Delhi: Finance minister Yashwant Sinha has said additional resource mobilisation to meet the Kargil operation costs will be considered only if the current revenue collections fall short.

Inaugurating the annual conference of chief commissioners of customs and central excise, Mr Sinha said, "If we do well, as we appear to be doing, on the revenue front, then we can easily meet the additional expenditure."

He said if the comissioners had any doubts in the matter and, on reviewing the situation, they found that the additional expenditure could not be met by the target set, then some new tax measures would be required.  
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DoT terminates Evergrowth's licence
New Delhi: The department of telecommunications has terminated the licence of Evergrowth, a cellular operator in Punjab, for non-payment of licence fee. The company has outstanding dues of Rs 311 crore.

Evergrowth is a subsidiary of JT Mobile, but is managed by the Essar group.

DoT had earlier terminated the licence of Koshika, the cellular operator in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Orissa, and of Essar, cellular operator in Rajashtan, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.

The action comes after the government had announced new terms and conditions for the private telecom operators and a migration from the licence fee regime to a revenue-sharing regime and the prime minister's office directing DoT not to take any further action against defaulting companies until the dispute between the operators and DoT are sorted out.   
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Deutsche Bank paints rosy GDP picture
Mumbai: Deutsche Bank's emerging markets research group has given a higher rating for India's GDP growth in 1999-2000 -- raising its estimates to 5.8 per cent from an earlier 5.1 per cent. The group expects India's GDP growth in 2000-2001 to be 6.7 per cent against an earlier forecast of 6.1 per cent.

The group says in a report, "Virtually all indicators suggest an economic revival, fiscal revenues are rising, exports are up and demand in many key sectors has improved. The breadth of recent data suggests that conditions are improving ahead of schedule." 
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14.5 lakh PANs in Mumbai
Mumbai: The income tax department has issued 14.5 lakh permanent account numbers to income tax assessees in Mumbai.

The department claimed that 99 per cent of the assessees, who have made valid applications for PAN, have been given cards. 
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Magellan has record assets
New York: Magellan Fund of the Fidelity Investment reached the $100 billion in assets, the first fund to do so in the world.

Fidelity announced that Magellan's assets have climbed to $100.1 billion. With 5.4 billion shareholder accounts, Magellan won the race though it has been closed to most new investors since 1997. Existing owners can buy more shares and new investors can join through retirement plans offered by employers.
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