AC train fares may be slashed further in July
New Delhi: There may be further reduction in ticket prices of AC compartments in trains in July this year. Railway officials said the cuts announced in the Union Budget were due to the fact that the AC-I and AC-II segments were under-utilised. The further cuts in July would be a part of off season discounts. The Railways' slack season ranges from January 15 to March 31 and from July 15 to September 15.

Since the present budget announcements regarding tariffs would come into force from April 1, the next slot of reductions would be offered from July 15. On the proposed low-cost AC train, Garib Rath, the services could be offered at about 25 per cent lower than the AC-III tier fares.

Other revenue raining initiatives of the Railways include outsourcing cleaning services of and trains to private players. Private players would be allowed to put up advertisements in waiting halls and buy space on wagons of entire divisions. However, the Railways would not allow advertisements on "important trains like Rajdhanis, Shatabdis and other mail and express trains.
Back to News Review index page  

Inflation falls on cheaper food prices
New Delhi: The annual wholesale price index-based inflation rose 4.02 per cent in the week ended March 4; lower than the previous week's annual rise of 4.29 per cent. The dip in the year-on-year inflation rate was largely due to a fall in food and textile product prices, according to data released by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry here.

The wholesale price index (WPI) ended the latest reported week at 196.8 points, against 189.2 points during the corresponding week a year ago.

The inflation rate was 5.46 per cent during the corresponding week of 2005. On a disaggregated basis, the primary articles' group index declined 0.5 per cent to 193.5 points due to cheaper food and non-food products.

The index was 184.1 points in the year ago period.
Back to News Review index page  

Indo-Asean FTA to become effective from January 2007
Chennai: The Indo-Asean free trade agreement is likely to become effective from January 1, 2007, according to Rajan Sudesh Ratna, director-regional & multilateral trade relations, Department of Commerce, Government of India.

At present the issues that holding up negotiations include value addition norms and change in tariff heading on which India has made some concessions.

Earlier, India had wanted 40 per cent value addition (as in the case of the FTA with Thailand,) but for the Indo-Asean FTA India has agreed to a 35 per cent norm.

Secondly, India had wanted change of tariff at four-digit level, but has now agreed to six-digit level. (This relates to the extent to which a product has to undergo a change, such as steel into an auto component and the higher the digit, the more the transformation.

Under the agreement, India will eliminate tariffs in 2011 for all Asean countries except the Philippines. These countries will reciprocate for Indian products. India and the Philippines will eliminate tariffs for each other on a reciprocal basis by 2016.
Back to News Review index page  

Government to release 50,000 tonne wheat into open market
New Delhi: The Centre will release an additional 50,000 tonne wheat for open market sale scheme (OMSS) during the month to improve supplies and keep prices under check, according to an official food department release.

Of this, about 20,000 tonne would be released for Delhi, 10,000 tonne for Haryana and 5,000 tonne each for Jammu & Kashmir, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

Earlier this month, the government had released 1 lakh tonne wheat for OMSS in March. With this additional release, the total releases during January-March thus far, are 6.98 lakh tonne.
The department of food would be considering further releases under the OMSS in April 2006 to curb speculative price rise.

Spot prices of wheat stood at Rs870-890 per 100 kg today and had spiralled to Rs 1,055 per 100 kg in early January.
Back to News Review index page  

Operators ready to roll out CAS
Mumbai: Multi-system operators have said they are ready to roll out conditional access system (CAS) for cable broadcasting in the four metros. Leading MSOs that include Hathway, In Cable and Siticable agree CAS is useful for all stakeholders, including broadcasters, cable operators and end consumers.

MSOs pointed out that all channels whether they were pay or free-to-air were bundled together. Cable TV rates varied from neighbourhood to neighbourhood. This also created frequent disputes between stakeholders on the issue of under declaration, they said.

With the implementation of CAS, all pay channels will be routed through a set top box (STB) which will have individual or bouquet pricing. Free-to-air (FTA) channels will be delivered as a part of the basic cable TV fee, for which no STB is required. More than 65 FTA channels will be provided at a basic cable TV fee which is Rs72 plus entertainment taxes.

MSO players reiterated that CAS would bring in addressability, solving the never ending feud between cable operators and broadcasters on under-declaration of subscribers and provide a clear indication of numbers for the pay channels chosen and viewed by customers.
Back to News Review index page  

Direct tax contributes to more than 4 per cent GDP in 2004-05
New Delhi: According to the outcome Budget 2006-07 released today for the first time in 35 years, direct tax contribution to GDP crossed 4 per cent in 2004-05.

The outcome Budget, which measures government performance, has revealed that the cost of collection of direct taxes has drastically come down from 1.36 paise per rupee in 2000-01 to 0.86 paise per rupee in 2004-05. It added that the initial trend of revenue collection in VAT implementing states was quite encouraging.

Meanwhile, the performance budget for 2005-06, also presented in Parliament today, said the estimated contribution of indirect taxes to GDP would decline to 5.4 per cent this fiscal against 5.5 per cent during 2004-05.
Back to News Review index page