45 new SEZs to come up
New Delhi: The board of approval for establishing special economic zones (SEZs) has formally cleared 45 of 169 proposals to set up SEZs, including pending ones. Now the Minister for Commerce and Industry, Kamal Nath, will formally approve the proposals before officially announcing them. With this the total number of such zones comes to 150 as 105 SEZs were earlier cleared. A Group of Ministers had earlier recommended that the number of SEZs to be notified in the country should not exceed 150.
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Govt allows OMCs to make fuel price adjustments
New Delhi: The petroleum minister, Murli Deora, the Government has permitted autonomous adjustment in fuel prices by the State-owned oil marketing companies on a monthly basis in line with international prices. However, the oil marketing companies have, so far, not effected any adjustments in prices since the last revision on June 5, the Minister said.

He said the total burden on account of escalated international prices of crude oil is estimated at Rs73,500 crore for the current year. "The Government along with the oil companies has decided to absorb over 87.5 per cent of this burden, leaving only the balance 12.5 per cent to be borne by the consumers by way of increase in petrol and diesel prices," he added.
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Highest NRI remittances recorded in AP
Hyderabad: The largest amount of foreign exchange remittances by Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) to India were recorded in Andhra Pradesh. This was followed by Maharashtra.

According to Remit2India.com, the online money transfer portal for NRIs, Andhra Pradesh has excelled in many business projects, but is recognised the most for its excellence in the technology industry. It was found that almost half of the NRIs who remitted money to India were from the Information Technology sector (IT). While Andhra Pradesh received 22 per cent, Maharashtra received 15 per cent of the total remittances to India estimated to be about $23 billion.

Remit2India.com has the highest number of NRIs using its site to transfer money to their families in India. The average annual income of a remitter using their service is $50,000 - $100,000.

Research showed that India receives the highest remittance globally at $23 billion followed by China at $21 billion. The US and Saudi Arabia are the largest sources of workers remittances to developing countries.

Out of the $23 billion, that comes into India, an estimated $8-9 billion comes from the US, and the next highest is the Gulf. India accounts for over 20 per cent of remittances into developing countries. The Indian Diaspora is estimated to be around 20 million.
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Govt plans single-window tax centres
New Delhi: Govt is planning special centres namely the 'Large Taxpayers Unit' that will enable corporates to pay most of their taxes at one time. The first such center is likely to come up in Bangalore and will begin operating from October 1, 2006.

Similar offices will then be opened in Chennai, Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai. The scheme aims to reduce costs and delays by allowing companies to pay excise duty, corporate tax, income tax and service tax at the same time. At present, these taxes have to be paid separately at different government offices, depending on the location of a company's plants and head office.
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