Cos queue up to declare dividends
New Delhi: Companies have queued up to declare interim dividends to ensure that shareholders get the benefit of the existing laws before the proposed tax on dividend comes into effect.

Dividends are now tax-free in the hands of investors with the company paying a distribution tax of 10 per cent. In a revival of the policy of double taxation, dividends are proposed to be taxed. The proposed changes will come into effect from June 1.

To ensure that dividends do not get taxed, 17 companies have declared interim dividends or fixed record dates for the purpose.

If dividends are declared later then promoters and institutional investors may have to pay tax at the rate of 36.75 per cent.

By declaring dividends now, the incidence of tax can be restricted to 10.2 per cent.
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Postal tariffs up by 25-50%
New Delhi: Finance minister Yashwant Sinha has proposed to raise postal tariffs by 25-50 per cent, including the cost of envelopes, post cards and inland letter cards.

The printed post card price has been doubled to Rs 6, while the price of inland letter cards has been increased to Rs 2.50 from Rs 2.

The cost of envelopes has been increased to Rs 5 from Rs 4, while the cost of competition postcards has been doubled to Rs 10.

Parcel rates have been increased to Rs 19 for the first 500 gm from the existing Rs 16 and to Rs 16 for additional 500 gm or part thereof as against the existing Rs 15.
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Premji is richest Indian, says Forbes
New York: Five prominent Indians, Azim Premji, Dhirubhai Ambani, Kumarmanagalam Birla, Lakshmi Mittal and Shiv Nadar, figure in the list of worlds top 500 billionaires, according to Forbes magazine.

Wipro group chairman Premji is worth $6.4 billion and tops the Indian list. He occupies 41st position in the Forbes list.

He is followed by Ambani of the Reliance group with a net worth of $2.9 billion, occupying 138th position. Birla, heading the Aditya Biral Group with a worth of $2.1 billion is at 200th position, followed by Mittal at 327th position with a worth of $1.4 billion.
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