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India and Japan to collaborate in ICT sector
New Delhi: India and Japan have agreed to set up a joint taskforce to identify and explore the possibility of joint ventures and stand-alone projects in the areas of broadband, mobile communication, e-governance, information security, research and development and ubiquitous computing.

The two sides have also signed three memoranda of understanding for enhancing cooperation in the information communication technology (ICT) sector.

The National Institute of Information and Communication Technology of Japan has signed the MoUs with C-DAC, C-DoT and IIT (Guwahati).

The MoU and the agreement to set up the task-force was signed by Dayanidhi Maran, Minister for Communication and IT, and Taro Aso, Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications, Japan, during the first India-Japan ICT Ministerial Forum held here on Wednesday.

Over 100 top Japanese executives from companies including NTT, NEC, Matsushita, OKI and Kyocera were part of the deliberations.

Maran also said an Indo-Japanese centre would be set up with Chennai as the hub.

Indian software exports to Japan accounts for only 3 per cent of the total market and the forum will give an opportunity for Indian companies to interact with top Japanese companies.

The Japanese Minister, Taro Aso, said a collaborative partnership between Japan, the most advanced ICT nation, and India would bring about the realisation of an unparalleled ICT power.

Aso said the working groups would work towards encouraging interested participants from the governments, industries and academics of the two countries.
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PM: Growth rate of 7-8 per cent must to sustain rural employment scheme
New Delhi: Speaking in the Rajya Sabha, the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, has said that it was essential to maintain a 7-8 per cent growth rate to finance the Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme and make it more effective.

Intervening in a discussion on the National Rural Employment Guarantee Bill 2004, in the Rajya Sabha, the Prime Minister said that in order to maintain the growth rate, the investment climate in the country must be favourable for public and private investment.

The bill, which was passed by the Lok Sabha yesterday, seeks to ensure at least 100 days' wage employment in a year for every rural household in 200 districts to start with. Pointing out that the country needed significant foreign direct investment, Dr Singh said large capital was waiting to come here and the country should have both the vision and capability to absorb it.

The Prime Minister added that it was the Government's solemn commitment to bring the entire country under this scheme in the next four to five years.
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Quarterly review: Q1 fiscal deficit already at 50 per cent of budgeted amount
New Delhi: The finance ministry's quarterly review report, has announced that the revenue deficit has touched almost 50 per cent of the budgeted amount in the first quarter of 2005-06.

Consequently, the finance ministry has underlined that the Centre's finances would be under ''strain'' on account of the rising subsidy bills as well as the additional funds needed for rural employment programme.

Releasing its quarterly review report as mandated under the Fiscal Responsibility Act, the report clearly states: ''Major fiscal challenges lie ahead in management of subsidies, finding resources for funding the food for work and employment guarantee programmes...These are likely to strain the fiscal situation in the months to come.''

According to the report, of the budgeted amount of Rs95,312 crore, the revenue deficit during April-June, 2005, has already touched Rs47,311 crore. This deficit could have been higher but for the buoyant tax collections, especially corporate tax collections that jumped by 182 per cent during April-June 2005 as compared to the same period last fiscal.

Overall tax revenues are up 26 per cent in the first quarter.

On the fiscal side, the report says fiscal deficit of the Centre was relatively higher at Rs54,517 crore in April-June 2005-06 as compared to Rs41,681 crore in the same period last year. The deficit was 36.1 per cent of the budgeted Rs1,51,144 crore. This was relatively higher than 30.3 per cent in the year-ago period.

On the quarter that has passed, the finance ministry stated that ''the economy performed satisfactorily in the first quarter of the current year'' but maintained that GDP growth would be 6.9 per cent during 2004-05.
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Quarterly Review: Q1 gross tax collections rise 26 per cent
New Delhi: Gross tax collections of the Union Government has recorded a 26 per cent increase in the first quarter of the current fiscal to Rs52,283 crore as against Rs41,151 crore in the same period last year.

After transferring Rs181 crore to the National Calamity Contingency Fund and Rs20,434 crore to the States as their provisional share in central taxes, the net tax revenue of the Central Government in April-June 2005 was Rs31,668 crore.

According to the quarterly review, at the end of the first quarter of the financial year 2005-06 corporation tax has recorded a robust increase at Rs11,147 crore (Rs3,950 crore). The review also shows a dip in the personal income-tax collection at Rs8,211 crore (Rs10,482 crore).

The Government has, however, noted that there is accounting misclassification between corporation and personal income-tax and, therefore, it is advisable to look at the growth in direct taxes taken together. "This will get corrected in the subsequent quarterly reports," says the statement tabled in Parliament today.

On the indirect tax front, excise duty collection in the first quarter of the current fiscal stood at Rs14,264 crore (Rs13,711 crore). While Customs duty collections for the period under review stood at Rs14,788 crore (Rs10,672 crore), the service tax collections in the same period stood at Rs3,225 crore (Rs2,400 crore).
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Aiyar: New petro-pricing policy soon
New Delhi: The government is set to unveil a new policy on pricing of petroleum products, with the petroleum and natural gas minister, Mani Shankar Aiyar saying that the government would ensure that investment plans of oil marketing companies were not hit due to mounting losses caused by high crude oil prices.

Addressing a two-day conference on the downstream sector, Aiyar said public sector companies like Indian Oil Corporation had capped investment in a new refinery at Paradip, Orissa, owing to the cash-crunch it faced because of the freeze on petrol and diesel price.

"The cap should be removed. The country cannot afford not to invest in new refineries," he said. IOC will build the Paradip refinery by 2010 while new refineries at Bhatinda and Bina will also come up in the next four to five years.

"The government policy will ensure that capital expenditure of oil companies is not affected by the current pricing policy. We will come up with some new formula," he said while stating that the decision on increase in retail prices of oil products would be taken by the Cabinet.
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India asks EU for exemption of ayurvedic drugs from curbs
New Delhi: India has requested the European Union (EU) to exclude ayurvedic products from the proposed directive on traditional herbal medicinal products (THMPD).

The directive, upon implementation, would result in acceptance of only those medications, which have been in use in Europe for at least 15 years.

In a letter to EU trade commissioner Peter Mandelson India's commerce and industry minister Kamal Nath said that this directive would become a barrier to trade since it straightaway removes ayurvedic medicines from consideration, which have been in use in India for centuries but which may not have found a place in Europe 15 years ago.

The directive is to be implemented from October.
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