Govt to slash petrol and diesel duty to check prices
New Delhi: The Government is considering slashing customs and excise duties on various petro-products as part of its efforts to minimise the impact of soaring international crude prices on the consumer and domestic oil companies. While the excise duty on petrol is likely to come down from 26 per cent to 22 per cent, the duty on diesel is set to be reduced from 11 per cent to 8 per cent. The customs duty, too, is likely to be lowered from 20 per cent to 15 per cent for both petrol and diesel, according to Finance Ministry officials.

The result of all this is that the consumers will be spared a hike in prices. In fact, if effected, the reduction in duties on petrol and diesel will lead to the oil companies overpricing consumers by around Rs.1 per litre.

These details were discussed at a meeting the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, convened here with the Finance Minister, P. Chidambaram, and the Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister, Mani Shankar Aiyer. The reduction in excise duties, if effected, will cause the exchequer a loss of around Rs.2, 500 crore in the case of diesel and Rs.870 crore for petrol on a full-year basis at the current global product prices.
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Eight digit classification code excise bill introduced
New Delhi: A common eight-digit classification code for levy and collection of excise and customs duties, administering import trade control policy and collection of statistics may soon become a reality.

The Union Finance Minister, P. Chidambaram, has introduced a Bill in the Lok Sabha on Monday that seeks to achieve this objective through the expansion of the tariff classification of excisable goods to an eight-digit classification code from the existing six-digit code.

The Central Excise Tariff (Amendment) Bill 2004, if enacted, would allow the Revenue Department to adopt Harmonised System of Nomenclature (HSN)-based eight-digit classification code for excise purposes. It has already adopted eight-digit classification for levy of import duty with effect from February 1, 2003.

The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) and the Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics (DGCIS) have already adopted eight-digit classification code for the purpose of import trade control policy and collection of statistics.

The Bill also proposes to incorporate standard units of measurement as recommended by the World Customs Organisation. The use of standard units of measurement would facilitate the tax administration in compilation and analysis of trade statistics.
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Diabetes drugs prices hiked
New Delhi: The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) has fixed and revised the prices of bulk drugs Glipizide used by diabetics and pain killers — Dextropropoxyphene Hcl and Dextropropoxyphene Napsylate. The price of Glipizide has been increased from Rs.29,744 per kg to Rs.31,584 per kg and Dextropropoxyphene Hcl from Rs.3,748 per kg to Rs.3,997 per kg. The price of Dextropropoxyphene Napsylate has been fixed for the first time at Rs.535 per kg.
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TIFAC ties up with industry for excellence centres
New Delhi: The Technology Information Forecasting and Assessment Council (TIFAC) has recently tied up with companies including SRL Ranbaxy and Hewlett Packard to set up a Centre of Relevance and Excellence (CORE) on pharmacogenomics at the Karnataka-based Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE).

Other companies that have contributed towards setting up the centre are the Bangalore-based Shrusthi Pharmaceuticals and Juggat Pharma, and the Hyderabad-based Silicon Insights. Pharmacogenomics is a study aimed at developing effective and safe medications and doses that will be tailored to a person's genetic makeup. It studies how genes affect a person's response to drugs.

TIFAC has also decided to set up a CORE at the Delhi College of Engineering (DCE), which will be engaged in advanced research in fibre optics and optical communications. Companies that have contributed towards establishing this centre include the Delhi-based Trinity Microsystems, the Mumbai-based Falcon Electro-Tek, and the Gurgaon-based Himachal Futuristic Communications, according to senior TIFAC officials. TIFAC puts in over 50 per cent in the initial setup cost. In terms of operating costs, the University concerned and industry together account for over 50 per cent.

TIFAC aims to set up around 30 COREs by the end of this year. It has around 17 COREs currently, spread across the country in areas of herbal drugs, agro and industrial biotechnology, and wireless technologies, among others. Areas targeted by TIFAC for excellence include food technology, chemical engineering, textile and leather technology and sensors.
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Govt plans to review DTH norms
New Delhi: The Government is planning to review the existing direct-to-home (DTH) guidelines in a bid to curb pornographic and other objectionable content. The Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry is setting up a committee under its Secretary, Navin B Chawla, to look into the norms.

The review has been initiated after a public interest litigation (PIL) was filed by N. Bhaskara Rao, who also heads the Centre for Media Studies. The PIL had stated that in the absence of a regulatory mechanism pornographic content is being easily accessible through DTH platforms.

The Government is also planning to come out with downlinking norms, whereby any channel which is beamed into the country would have to be registered.
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Cable operators to strike from today
New Delhi: A section of the cable industry will go on an indefinite strike from Tuesday to protest the hike in service tax and the inclusion of multi-system operators (MSOs) into the tax net. Accordingb to Jawahar Goel, head of Siticable and President, All India Cable TV Forum, cable operators will broadcast only four news channels of their choice and all other channels will be off the air from tomorrow. The group has written to the Finance Ministry on the issue. Cable operators in Kolkata, Mumbai, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana would join the strike and talks are on with other operators to support the agitation.
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