FM may relax valuation of perks
New Delhi-- The Union finance ministry is said to be thinking over taxpayer-friendly changes in the proposed amendments to IT rules for valuation and taxation of perks before the final decision.
There may be some relaxation in the valuation of rent-free accommodation provided by the employer to employee as well as in the valuation of interest-free or soft loans provided by the employer to employees.
The changes will benefit those taking loans for purchasing a car, while those taking loans for buying professional tools may have to cough up more tax than what was proposed in the draft notification.
In this years Budget, finance minister Yashwant Sinha had proposed changes in income-tax rules for valuation of perquisites in calculating the taxable income of employees.
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APM deregulation may be deferred
New DelhiThough petroleum minister Ram Naik asserts that the administered pricing mechanism (APM) would be dismantled by March 2002, the finance ministry has raised serious doubts relating to the oil pool deficit (OPD) and subsidies that may delay the de-regulation process.

The ministry has questioned the oil pool deficit figures being projected by the petroleum ministry and is unlikely to compensate for the entire Rs 14,500 crore deficit likely to accrue to the oil pool account by March 2002. Therefore, the finance ministry is planning to conduct an exercise to ascertain whether oil companies can be compensated by the amount reflected in the oil pool deficit.

The first-ever indication that the finance ministry would not accept the oil pool deficit figures, came when on Thursday the revenue secretary (and former petroleum secretary), S Narayan, while talking to reporters said that the oil pool deficit, the amount payable to the oil marketing companies from the oil pool account does not always reflect a true picture. He said, "Since we have been following a cost-plus approach for the oil companies, the system has over a period of time built in several in-efficiencies. These in-built inefficiencies would have to be first adjusted before talking of compensating the oil pool deficit," he said.

He repeatedly stressed on the need to reduce the deficit before the APM dismantling (for which he has already written to his counterpart in the finance ministry that this should be done by way of reduction in duties and releasing the OCC amount of Rs 14,500 crore lying in the public account fund).

The revenue secretary said, "We can handle the figure of Rs 14,500 crore as this is not the issue. The real question is what are its ingredients and what needs to be compensated," adding that the in-built inefficiencies would have to be deleted.

The ministry of finance has requested petroleum ministry to justify the oil pool deficit figure being projected by them. According to the finance ministry, the figure has certain built-in-inefficiencies.
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Watch the channel of your choice but pay Rs 3,500 first
New DelhiAccording to a government notification all pay channels will now have to be compulsorily routed though a conditional access system which means, television viewers can pick and choose the channel they want to watch by using a set-top- box that costs around Rs 3,500.
In a meeting between information and broadcasting minister Sushma Swaraj and big Multi System Operators like Siticable, InCable, Hathaway, Ortel, ICENET among others, it was unanimously agreed that all pay channels would pass though the addressable system.
However, it is not clear whether the Cable TV Regulatory Act will be amended for making conditional access compulsory or it will be part of the Convergence Bill which is expected to be tabled in the Parliament on Friday.
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Private FM companies can lease broadcasting towers from AIR
New DelhiPrivate FM players may be a happy lot now. The Prasar Bharti Corporation has said All India Radio can offer FM radio broadcasters broadcasting towers on a lease basis. This puts an end to misgivings whether commercial FM radio broadcasting would begin on schedule.
AIR will now hold consultations with the FM players and the matter would be sorted out in a couple of days in terms of technical and financial feasibility.
Licences were issued last December with the deadline being December 29, 2001. However, there was a hitch in beginning operations of the 19 channels in metros: according to broadcasting rules, licencees were required to set up co-locational or common towers.
The 16 active FM players would operate 37 channels (including 18 in non-metros) include Entertainment Network India, Vertex Broadcasting Company, India FM Radio, Radio Today (Delhi, Mumbai and Calcutta), Music Broadcasting, Sun TV, Millennium Broadcasting (Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai), Udaya TV, Hitz FM Radio and Radio Mid-Day.
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Convergence Bill hints at cross-service restrictions
New Delhi--The Communications Convergence Bill 2001, to be introduced in Parliament on Friday, may have cross-service restrictions for licensed services like broadcasting, cable distribution, Internet services and telephony.

However the responsibility for framing the details regarding this has been left to the proposed super-regulator Communications Commission of India (CCI).

This may mean that media houses like Zee Telefilms, which has a a cable distribution and ISP business, Star India which has a 26 per cent stake in Rajan Raheja-promoted Hathaway Cable and Bharti will have to restructure operations if they desire licenses for various services.

According to the Bill, the proposed CCI will be responsible for assignment of spectrum to various users (like cellular and limited mobility services) for non-strategic and commercial uses, a responsibility which is being currently discharged by the Wireless and Planning Commission.
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