Tax collections higher by 20.25 pc in April-May
New Delhi: The gross tax collections of the central government increased by 20.25 per cent to gRs17,297 crore in the first two months of the current fiscal as against Rs14,384 crore in the same period the previous year. Net tax collection in the first two months of 2004-05 stood at Rs4,720 crore. All major taxes, except customs duty, recorded an upward trend during Apr-May 2004-05. Customs duty collection recorded a 5.08 per cent decline at Rs7,162 crore during Apr-May 2004-05 against Rs7,545 crore in the same period last year.

Excise collections in the first two months of the current fiscal grew by 16.43 per cent to Rs 6,270 crore against Rs5,385 crore in the same period last year. Income tax collections were up by 46.48 per cent at Rs5,676 crore during Apr- May as compared to Rs3,875 crore during Apr-May 2003-04. Collection of other taxes increased by 66 per cent to Rs1,880 crore in April-May this fiscal against Rs1,131 crore in the same period last year.
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IHT fallout: foreign papers banned
New Delhi: In the wake of the controversy over the publication of the International Herald Tribune from Hyderabad the government has imposed a complete ban on the fresh registration of titles of foreign newspapers. The Registrar of Newspapers in India has been intimated of the ban. In addition, the Government will soon enact a law to strengthen its guidelines for FDI in print media. At present, 26 per cent FDI is allowed in print media.Sources said the Government plans to come out with legislation in the next few weeks as there is complete unanimity on the issue.
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Cheap Indian AIDS pill performs a well as expensive brands
London: According to a report in a medical journal in Europe, a cheap three-in-one generic AIDS pill manufactured by Cipla in India is just as good as the more expensive branded medicines and should be widely used in developing countries. Lack of scientific evidence about the clinical effectiveness of such generic fixed-dose combinations has until now caused some international AIDS donors to refuse to fund their use. However, a team from the French national agency for AIDS research and Swiss charity Medecins sans Frontieres said Cipla's Triomune performed as well as brand drugs in the first open clinical study in a developing country in Africa.

They found that 80 per cent of HIV-infected patients given the tablet twice a day had undetectable levels of virus in their blood after six months of treatment.Results of the study involving 60 patients in Cameroon, 92 per cent of whom had full-blown AIDS, were published in The Lancet medical journal.

According to scientists the generic fixed-dose combination (FDC) gave results comparable to those seen in the developed world using triple-drug therapy comprising brand name drugs and thus it is no longer possible to raise scientific uncertainty as an objection to the widespread utilisation of FDCs in the developing countries.
In addition to being cheaper, drugs like Triomune — which contains GlaxoSmithKline's lamivudine, Bristol-Myers Squibb's stavudine and Boehringer Ingelheim's nevirapine — are simpler to use since patients need to take only two pills a day.Industry analysts at ABN AMRO said the news was a slight setback for makers of patented drugs but the profitability of AIDS drugs was already weak, limiting the commercial impact on Western firms
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Inflation rate declines marginally to 5.87 per cent
New Delhi: The wholesale price inflation rate in India fell to 5.87 per cent in the year ended June 19 sparking off a rally in bond markets. Government data released on Friday showed inflation fell from 5.89 per cent a week before. Inflation had flared to 5.21 per cent in the week ended June 21, 2003 from 4.97 per cent in the previous week.

Bond prices shot up after the release of the data with the benchmark 10-year 7.37 per cent bond dealt at 5.8049 per cent, against 5.8264 per cent in the morning and 5.8397 per cent at close of trade on Thursday.Analysts said they expected a hike in coal prices to push inflation in the coming weeks.

Analysts had expected a coal price hike to be factored in the inflation data for the week ended June 19 but the Government release did not mention the rise in coal prices. It did not give details.
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India faces shortage of IT professionals
New Delhi: There is a shortage of around two lakh IT and ITeS professionals in India which will grow to 3.6 million in the next eight years according to a Nasscom-Mckinsey study.

The study says India needs at least 630,000 IT professionals in 2004, but it still lacks 175,000 in manpower. The forecast by the study is that by 2006, there will be another 430,000 fresh demand to be met, which will increase to another 990,000 in 2009 and by 2012 it will reach 3.6 million.

Morgan Stanley estimates say the Indian offshoring industry is expected to increase by more than triple to 24 per cent from eight per cent currently. Expressing concern over the dearth of getting qualified professionals according to the need of industry, industry analyst say as there exists a shortage in the supply of manpower, India has to urgently address the situation "by focussing more attention on the education system."
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