Government for moderate and stable tax rates
New Delhi: The Finance Minister, P Chidambaram, said the UPA government wants moderate and stable tax rates, and that the government has been able to strike a balance between revenue mobilisation and the need to encourage investments.

Replying to the discussion on the Budget in the Rajya Sabha, Chidambaram said there was an "investment boom" in the country and "at this point, it is extremely important to keep rates stable, tax rates moderate even while mobilising more than 20 per cent increase in Central tax revenues".

Chidambaram was responding to criticism from Left parties that the 2006-07 Budget had made a modest effort in raising tax revenues but had avoided taxing the rural rich while putting pressure on the common man. He said the revenue mop-up by the UPA Government had increased by over 20 per cent in the last two years. He said that, after providing for the States' share, the Centre's revenues increased by Rs45,000 crore in 2005-06 and was expected to increase by Rs55,000 crore in the next year.

The Minister said that industry contributed an overwhelming portion of the tax revenues, along with personal income-tax (excluding that of the salaried class) and burdening industry with more taxes would only discourage investment.

As for taxing farm income the minister said such income cannot be taxed by the Central Government and it was within the purview of the state governments.
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Deora asks for higher subsidy for petroleum
New Delhi: Petroleum Minister Murli Deora has urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to enhance the subsidy for the petroleum sector and give oil marketing companies a share of the cess collected from the Oil Industry Development Board (OIDB).

He said oil companies should get a share of the Rs 60,000 crore corpus of OIDB.

Deora informed Singh that the net worth of oil retailers - IBP, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum - would become nil in two months, two years and three years respectively.

He sought a transparent mechanism like that for food and fertiliser subsidies for disbursing subsidies on cooking gas and kerosene, to bridge the difference between the cost and selling prices of the fuels.

The Rangarajan Committee on fuel pricing had suggested a steep rise of Rs 75 per LPG cylinder and a moderate Rs 1.21 per litre increase in petrol and Rs 1.96 per litre hike in diesel prices while asking for a customs duty cut on auto fuel.
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Car sales up marginally in February
New Delhi: Domestic passenger car sales rose by 1.83 per cent in February this year at 63,215 units as compared to 62,073 units in the same month a year ago.

Sales of two wheelers in domestic market rose 15.57 per cent in February at 6,00,877 units compared to 5,19,900 units in the same month last year, according to figures released by Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers Association.
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FICCI says Indian companies can invest in Iowa
New Delhi: According to industry chamber FICCI Indian businesses can invest in a lot of sectors such as agriculture and software in US state of Iowa.

Iowa offers opportunities for Indian companies to invest in sectors such as biotech, agriculture, real estate, defence, banking, telecom, infrastructure, manufacturing said Saroj Poddar, president, FICCI, said at a function to welcome the visiting Iowa Governor, Thomas J Vilsack.

The chamber has also advocated a free trade agreement with the US to boost business prospects of both the nations.

The state representative of Iowa, Swati Dandekar said, "Both India and US were entering into a new era of political and economic partnership."

She also urged the trade delegation that accompanied her to "experience first hand the opportunities and challenges of doing business in India."
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South Asian leaders demand removal of blocks to intra-regional trade
New Delhi: South Asian leaders have said there is need to improve regional infrastructure, remove non-tariff barriers and evolve a compensation mechanism for small countries to increase trade among the SAARC nations.

Minister of state for commerce Jairam Ramesh said at a FICCI seminar on South Asian Free Trade Area that India was committed to SAFTA, which came into force from January 1, 2006, and would work with other countries for effective implementation of the agreement.

There were asymmetries within India as well, he said, adding that while some sectors were benefiting from free trade, other sectors were facing difficulties. This required an appropriate compensation mechanism, he said.

Representatives of other member countries — Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Maldives and Sri Lanka — also underlined the need for improving infrastructure, reduce transportation costs, undertake trade facilitations measures such as simplified customs procedure and reduce non-tariff barriers.
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