E-com may be kept out of I-T net
New Delhi: E-commerce transactions are likely to be kept out of the income tax net in 2002-03.

Although January 31 was set as the deadline for submitting suggestions on the report of the high-powered committee on e-commerce and taxation, the central board of direct taxes (CBDT) has decided to keep the channels of communications open for some more time.

Since the Ministry would require some time to study the suggestions, it is not in favour of pushing through the proposal to tax e-commerce transactions.
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Overseas calls set to be cheaper
New Delhi: Close on the heels of the drastic cuts announced in STD tariff, Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd (VSNL) is due to revise its international call rates downwards from April.

VSNL is negotiating for lower settlement rates with various foreign carriers, which should make it possible to bring down the prices of all ISD calls.

Once the settlement rates were finalised, the company could review its current tariff structure.

With international long distance services being opened up for competition from April, the company may well introduce tariffs much lower than the TRAI ceiling in order to hold on to its market share and stay ahead of the potential competition.
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Dhirubhai as CEO gets Rs 8.85 cr pay check
New Delhi: Dhirubhai Ambani, the chairman of the Reliance Industries earns the highest salary at Rs 8.85 crore, leaving Wipro's Azim Premji far behind at Rs 4.28 crore.

Wipro had the highest market capitalisation last year at Rs 55,429.45 crore with Reliance Industries (RIL) in the second position at Rs 46,328.57 crore, according to the 13th edition of the Limca Book of Records 2002.

However, when it came to salaries, Reliance Industries far outstripped infotech giant Wipro.

"Reliance Industries offered the highest salary to its CEOs during 2000-01. Dhirubhai Ambani tops the list with an annual salary of Rs 8.85 crore (73.87 per cent increment over 1999-2000), followed by Mukesh and Anil Ambani with Rs 7.13 crore each," the book notes.

Premji's Rs 4.28 crore salary was a 130.08 per cent hike over what he took home in the previous year. Next in the pecking order was Hero Honda's Brij Mohan Lal Munjal with a 118.75 per cent increment at Rs 4.18 crore.

On the market capitalisation front, Hindustan Lever was the third largest wealth creator with Rs 43,825.29 crore while Infosys followed on the fourth spot with Rs 37,596.74 crore as on March 31, 2001.

Also, in a startling disclosure, the book says the Indian stock market lost around Rs 200,000 crore during 2000-01 "as a result of slowdown in the US economy and the crash in the share value of information, communication, entertainment (ICE) companies".

As on March 31 last year, market capitalisation of Indian bourses had crashed to 30 per cent of the GDP against 41 per cent in previous years.
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Govt mulls privatisation of IOC, ONGC, GAIL
New Delhi: The disinvestment ministry wants divestment of government equity in navratna oil PSUs - Indian Oil, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation and Gas Authority of India. It will approach cabinet committee on disinvestment with a proposal soon.

The government had earlier decided that IOC, ONGC and GAIL would be its flagship companies under its management in downstream oil marketing and refining, upstream oil exploration and gas marketing, respectively.

The government currently has 84.10 per cent holding in ONGC, 82.02 per cent in IOC and 67.34 per cent in GAIL.

Disinvestment ministry is believed to have made a proposal suggesting that the three companies be referred to reconstitued disinvestment commission for suggesting modalities for disinvestment.
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Mobile picture mail soon
Hamburg: Mobile-phone handsets with colour screens and built-in digital cameras will enable users to send rough-and-ready snapshots to one another.

Using picture mail will be quick and easy, and will build on the reputation of text messaging as the medium of choice for teenagers.

The picture mail service is already big in Japan, a country generally regarded as a window on the future of the mobile-phone industry. And dont think photos will be limited to indiscernible inch-square images.

Many of the next generation of mobile devices will have screens the size and style of Palm Pilots, making picture quality perfectly acceptable.
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