NRIs may get dual citizenship
New Delhi: Indians living abroad could soon avail of dual citizenship.They can continue to be Indian citizens while adopting the citizenship of the country where they reside. Prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee said the government is ready to give dual citizenship to NRIs. "We are in favour of dual citizenship, but we are against dual loyalties. Your loyalty with India will be there, but loyalty to the country in which you apply for citizenship is more important, so there is no question of dual loyalties."
Back to News Review index page  

Last date for filing I-T extended
New Delhi: The government has extended the last day for filing income-tax under the one-by-six scheme to 31 March 2002.
The Central Board of Direct Taxes said many people, especially in the new urban centres, did not file their return of income under the one-by-six scheme by 30 November due to lack of awareness, despite having legal laibility to do so.
If the return under the scheme is filed by March 2002 voluntarily, no penalty will be imposed. The Section 271F of the Income-Tax Act provides for imposition of a penalty of Rs 5,000 for failure to file tax returns in time.
Back to News Review index page  

Govt to up excise duty
New Delhi: The union cabinet has authorised the finance ministry to fix any rate of excise duty on commodities under emergency powers.

The Cabinet has decided to promulgate an ordinance to amend the Central Excise Tariff Act, enabling the government to fix excise duty at any rate.

The related bill amending the act will be introduced in Parliament during the budget session.
Back to News Review index page  

Cos can hold forex a/c abroad
New Delhi: Indian companies and firms can now open, hold and maintain a foreign currency account with a bank outside India by making remittances from India for the purpose of normal business operations of the office/branch set up outside India.

Indian companies were earlier required to take specific prior approval from the Reserve Bank of India for such transactions. The foreign currency account of the Indian entity (trading or non-trading) can be opened and maintained in its name or that of its branch set up outside India or its representative posted outside India.
Back to News Review index page  

PC sales hit
New Delhi: Personal computer sales declined by 4 per cent during the first half of the current fiscal at 8.03 lakh, according to a performance review for the period by Manufacturers' Association of Information Technology (MAIT).
The Association has also revised sales projection for 2001-2002 to 1.65 million units from 2.45 million units. Personal computer sales had registered a growth of 34 per cent in 2000-2001 over 1999-2000.
During the first half of this fiscal, lesser known regional brands and unbranded systems accounted for 44 per cent of PC sales, while MNC brands maintained a robust performance with a market share of 36 per cent and Indian brands accounted for 20 per cent of the market.
Back to News Review index page  

IA to begin direct flight from Kerala to Sharjah
New Delhi: Sharjah would be linked with Thiruvananthapuram by a direct Indian Airlines flight with effect from 12 January.

The twice a week flight will operate every Tuesday and Saturday providing a direct link from southern parts of India to Gulf states.

With the introduction of this service, IA will be directly operating to Sharjah from all the three airports in Kerala -- Kochi, Kozhikode and Thiruvananthapuram. IA presently links Sharjah with Kozhikode and Kochi by a daily flight.

The route of the flight would be Hyderbad-Trichy-Thiruvananthapuram- Sharjah-Thiruvananthapuram-Trichuy-Hyderabad.

Thiruvananthapuram will be the 14th station, which would be linked to Sharjah in UAE. Others being Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Bangalore, Chennai, Kochi, Coimbatore, Delhi, Goa, Hyderabad, Kozhikode, Lucknow, Mumbai and Trichy.
Back to News Review index page  

India's first IT hardware park to come in W.Bengal
Kolkata: The country's first IT Hardware Park will be set up in West Bengal by the Computer Association of Eastern India, a non-profit organisation of IT entrepreneurs from the region.
The project, costing between Rs 20 and Rs 25 crore, would have a floor space of two lakh square feet. It will have an auditorium, convention centres and a small hotel to accomodate businessman.
The main funding would come from the COMPASS members who would take up 1.20 lakh square feet of floor space.
Back to News Review index page  

SBI installs video conferencing
Mumbai: The State Bank of India has installed a countrywide video conferencing network with a state of the art multi-conferencing unit connecting its 24 endpoints spread from Ahmedabad to Guwahati and Chandigarh to Thiruvananthapuram.
The network connects the corporate centre in Mumbai with the corporate accounts group and other 24 centres.
The facility provides for full motion video transmission connecting the whole conference rooms and its participants to interact, broadcast, share and collaborate seamlessly.
Back to News Review index page