Courier companies face license fees; stringent norms
New Delhi: The Rs 3,500-crore courier industry is set to face norms such as a license fee and a regulator. The Government is planning to introduce a bill to impose a one-time registration fee ranging between Rs 25,000 and Rs 10 lakh on private courier companies and setting up an independent postal regulator and a dispute settlement tribunal.

The draft Indian Post Office (Amendment) Bill 2006 also proposes to ask courier companies with revenues of over Rs 25 lakh to contribute 10 per cent of their annual revenues towards the Universal Services Obligation (USO) fund which will be used to offer subsidised postal services in economically unviable areas.

The proposed draft Bill will permit courier companies to only deliver letters which are below 300 gm in weight. Courier companies will also have to cough up an annual renewal fee of Rs 10,000 if the area of operation is within the country and Rs 5 lakh if the services include international delivery. While the courier industry has expressed unhappiness with the provisions of the Bill on the grounds that it would make their business unviable, the Department of Post (DoP) has said the policy is aimed at bringing transparency and accountability in the postal sector.

To create a level playing field, the proposed Bill has mooted the setting up of an independent Mail Regulatory and Development Authority and a Mail Disputes Settlement Tribunal for adjudication of disputes in the industry.
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50 per cent marks in graduation is criteria for IIM admission test
New Delhi: The Indian Institutes of management have decided to impose a cut off of 50 per cent marks in the bachelor's degree as eligibility criteria for the IIM admission tests. The cut-off was lifted in the mid-nineties.

Those getting less than 50 per cent marks in bachelor's actually do not get admission anywhere," said Bakul Dholakia, director of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, defending the move that might leave many unhappy, especially those advocating reservation.

Human resource development minister Arjun Singh is yet to respond to the decision, taken collectively by all six IIMs. Dholakia insisted the decision "has nothing to do with the quota controversy".

The B-schools have been unhappy about a proposal to bring in 27 per cent reservation for Other Backward Classes in all central government educational institutions, and the cut-off is being seen by some as a ploy to skirt the quota. A 22 per cent quota already exists for Scheduled Caste/ Scheduled Tribe students. Arjun has said a decision on reservation will be taken after the ongoing Assembly elections in five states.
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VAT has not impacted prices: PwC
New Delhi: According to a survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers implementation of Value Added Tax across 22 states since 2005 has not resulted in an increase in prices of goods, A majority of respondents, however, said states had not been successful in bringing about uniformity in the VAT structure.

As many as 57 per cent of the respondents surveyed said there was no change in prices due to the levy. At the same time, 22 per cent said it increased the prices of products, while 20 per cent felt it decreased them.

Respondents from the auto and auto ancillary sectors along with consumer durable sectors said that VAT did not impact prices. Respondents from industrial goods and construction sectors said there was a decrease in prices post VAT, while telecom and FMCG were adversely impacted as a result of VAT, reporting an increase in prices.

As per the survey, which covered over a 100 companies, only 18 per cent of the respondents felt that state governments were fully prepared for the switchover to VAT while 76 per cent felt that states had not been successful in bringing about uniformity in the VAT structure, one of the key objectives of its implementation.
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