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I-T dept to increase efforts at widening tax base
New Delhi: The Income Tax department is holding talks today to discuss measures to widen the tax base.

Among other items the department will focus on individuals earning more than Rs10 lakh per annum.

Other items of focus of finance minister P Chidambaram and the income tax department will be maximising tax collections, reducing arrears, rationalising reporting systems, scrutinising norms and preventive vigilance.

The revenue department has said that field officers should try to raise the overall number of assessees by 15 per cent during the year, more people are sought to be brought under the Rs10-lakh bracket and this category will be raised by 50 per cent. At present, there are around 80,000 assessees in this category.

The finance minister wants the government to increase spending on intelligence and information gathering than on resorting to searches and seizures.
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Manufacturing sector grew 12.7 per cent in May
New Delhi: The manufacturing sector grew by 12.7 per cent in the month of May against 10.7 per cent during the corresponding period last year, on the back of increased demand and better availability of raw materials.

Sectors like basic chemicals and chemical products registered a growth of 18.3 per cent while machinery and equipment registered a growth of 16.2 per cent.

Among the user-based industries the capital goods sector showed the highest rate of growth of 20.7 per cent. Transport equipment witnessed a growth of 15.7 per cent while metal products except machinery grew at 13.3 per cent.
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TRAI plans stringent norms on reporting of cell subscriber base
New Delhi: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India is planning to bring in strict norms for reporting of subscriber figures by cellular companies to check inflated growth numbers.

TRAI has circulated a note among the mobile service providers, directing them to exclude connections that have not generated revenues for more than 30 days. It has also said that post-paid subscribers who have been disconnected for non-payment of bills will also be considered as inactive users.

Connections given to employees and business partners free of cost will also be kept out of the subscriber base for reporting purposes. Also SIM cards with dealers, distributors, and sales channel will not be included in the subscriber base.

These norms are likely to have an impact on the valuation of the mobile operators and the spectrum allocation policy of the Government.

Cellular operators, as expected are against the suggested reporting norms.
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Food processing sector badly in need of investments
According to a study by the Hyderabad-based, Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI), the Indian food processing industry requires investments to the tune of $40 billion for upgrading technology and capital expenditure to compete in global markets.

The Indian food processing industry lacks economies of scale, skilled manpower, top class research institutes like the Central Food Technology Research Institute, Mysore and shortage of regional training Centres to encourage entrepreneurs.

Also FDI and other routes of investments by multinational corporations pose a potential threat to a large number of Indian players in the coming years.

Other main shortcomings include domination by small-scale and cottage industry, dominance of middle men, which increases the cost of produce, high packaging cost, lack of storage facilities and absence of dependable cold chain system, refrigerated transport and cabinets.

Food standards are also considered to be overlapping, contradictory and highly prescriptive, making regulatory compliance difficult the study said.
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