Kolkata, Chennai airport revamp may be through SPVs
New Delhi: The government is planning to set up a special purpose vehicle (SPV) on the lines of the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation to develop the Chennai and Kolkota airports as part of the roadmap for future modernisation of airports that it is working on.

In the case of 35 other airports on the modernisation list the government will follow a public-private partnership (PPP) model. As per the model under consideration, foreign airport companies, domestic companies and financial institutions will be allowed to be a part of the SPV. These companies will have an equity stake in the SPV though the stake is yet to be decided.

According to senior government officials, as an alternative model, the government will set up a tender committee that will evaluate the bids submitted by various bidders.
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Maran expects FDI in IT, telecom to increase in 2006
New Delhi: Foreign direct investment (FDI) in IT and telecom sector is expected to go up by more than 100 per cent in 2006 according to Dayanidhi Maran, Minister of Telecommunications and IT.

He said the government has taken a number of policy measures in the recent past, including procedural simplification and rationalisation measures. These policy measures and the buoyant IT and telecommunication industry is likely to result in doubling of FDI in 2006 he said.

Last year, the global IT and telecom giants announced investment of US$8bn in the country over a period of three to five years.
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Indirect tax collection up 16.2 pc till Jan
New Delhi: Indirect tax collections of the center grew by 16.2 per cent at Rs1,53,988 crore till January from Rs1,32,501 crore during same period of 2004-05. Customs collections were up by 14.6 per cent, while excise grew by 10.8 per cent and services tax logged a whopping 66.2 per cent growth, the Finance Ministry said in a release on Wednesday.

A robust growth in manufacturing sector lifted excise duty collections to Rs85,030 crore during the first 10 months of this fiscal, which is 10.8 per cent higher than Rs76,720 crore mopped up during the same period of 2004-05.

Excise that was witnessing single digit growth till recently surged in January by 20.6 per cent at Rs10,010 crore. The manufacturing sector is slated to expand by 9.4 per cent this fiscal, which raises hope of a double-digit growth in excise collection during 2005-06.
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India signs double tax avoidance treaty with Serbia
New Delhi: India and Serbia & Montenegro have signed a double taxation avoidance convention (DTAC) to promote trade and investment between the two countries.

The Convention provides for moderate rates of taxes on certain categories of income in line with the recently concluded tax treaties.

An official release said that the DTAC would cover income-tax, surcharge thereon and wealth tax in the case of India and profit tax, income-tax, tax on capital gains and tax on revenues from international transport in the case of Serbia & Montenegro.
Apart from providing for avoidance of double taxation, the proposed DTAC also provides for exchange of information and a mutual agreement procedure to resolve the issues regarding the application of DTAC.

India has signed double taxation avoidance agreements with 69 countries.
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Deora: India to proceed with Iran pipeline project
New Delhi: Petroleum minister Murli Deora said India stayed committed towards the US$7bn Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline. He said he would have further dialogue on the project when Pakistan's oil minister visits India next week.

The project is proposed to transport 90 million standard cubic meters of gas per day from Iran's south Pars field to India from 2009-10.

On the proposed US$22bn deal with Iran to import 5 million tonnes of LNG a year for 25 years beginning 2009-10, he said, "We are negotiating the terms. I hope the deal will come through."

Deora said the government would issue oil bonds worth Rs5750 crore — in two tranches of Rs2,000 crore Rs1,750 crore — to oil firms to partly compensate them for losses due to state control on retail prices of petroleum products.

He said a stand was required on LPG and kerosene prices and if dual pricing had difficulties, then the option of using cash vouchers and debit cards should be explored.
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Steel firms react at move to regulate prices
Mumbai: Steel companies have adversely reacted to the minister of steel Ram Vilas Paswan's statement that the government will regulate metal prices through the new policy.

An official from a steel company said that steel companies follow market dynamics. Also, the government had reduced import duty on steel from 30 per cent to 5 per cent over the last two years, leading one to wonder how prices could be regulated?

Another official said steel prices are already at a two-year low, and have come down by 35 per cent since May 2005. Steel prices are benchmarked to international prices. The only way to bring down prices is to make Indian steel competitive price-wise. For that input prices need to be checked.

Paswan was quoted as saying that the draft of the new steel policy, aimed at regulating prices, has been approved by the Union Cabinet and the government will soon announce the new steel policy to regulate prices, which have been volatile due to domestic factors and the international price situation.

Price of iron-ore, the main raw material in steel production, have increased from Rs816 to Rs2,000 per tonne. Steel producers should be given captive iron-ore mines to make steel more cost-effective, the spokesperson said.
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Govt. to give universities a new lease of life
New Delhi: The government is considering pumping in Rs1,000-crore into universities and colleges around the country in order to address the resource crunch faced by the sector.

Of the 349 universities and 16,000 colleges that make up the Indian university system, only 218 universities and 5,300 colleges are funded by the UGC. Another 12 state universities are funded through IGNOU.

Apart from the budgetary allocation of Rs70 crore for Calcutta, Bombay and Madras universities, the HR development ministry has asked for Rs150 crore for 103 state universities that receive assistance from UGC. Another Rs32 crore has been demanded for state universities not covered by UGC.

For Allahabad, Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Tripura universities — the ministry has suggested an allocation of Rs145 crore, while an enhanced funding of Rs190 crore has been demanded for the existing nineteen central universities. For colleges funded by the UGC, the ministry has asked for Rs530 crore.
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