Real estate rates double in one year in Mumbai
Mumbai: Mumbai's property prices have doubled in the past one year. The climb is sharper in business areas like Nariman Point, Bandra, Parel and Worli. The demand for real estate is coming from foreign companies eager to cash in on the economic boom.

Trade watchers say, a square feet of space in Nariman Point is now priced at Rs25,000-40,000 and is even higher for sea-facing properties. Commercial property prices in old buildings are also fetching a huge premium, they say.

An official from the industry department said MNCs or business houses are scouting for space in Mumbai, further boosting demand. Lehman Brothers is among the major foreign players to have bought land in Mumbai. The US-based financial giant is understood to have signed a deal for a property at Worli for a price much above the prevailing rates, sources say. Another South India-based leading finance company has also booked office space at Nariman Point for a hefty price.

Prices have also gone up in the suburbs, though not as high as in central Mumbai. Realty rates range between Rs5,000 and Rs6,000 per sq ft in the western suburbs of Goregaon and Malad. In central suburbs like Thane, prices are around Rs3,800-4,000 per sq ft.
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SC issues notices to income tax department in Morgan BPO case
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday issued notices to the income tax department in the Morgan Stanley BPO case.

A decision by the court, either way, will decide whether income tax authorities will have the right to tax BPOs of multi-national companies.

In this case, Morgan Stanley had obtained an advance ruling from an arm of the tax department, the Authority for Advance Ruling (AAR), that outsourcing carried out by its Indian subsidiary did not constitute a permanent establishment. AAR is a quasi-judicial body, set up to give opinion to guide companies on their potential tax liabilities.

The AAR ruling meant that the company would not have to pay corporate tax in India on a portion of its profit, provided that the BPO and the overseas parent did not violate fair pricing norms or arms length pricing.

But the income tax department challenged the ruling and Morgan filed a cross appeal against it. The court will now hear both the appeals together on whether they can be admitted or not.
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Nath promises a liberalised regime for gems and jewellery
New Delhi: Commerce & industry minister Kamal Nath has assured the gems & jewellery industry of the Centre's commitment to support the industry through a liberalised policy regime and said this would improve the overall competitiveness of the gems & jewellery industry.

The minister said that the government was keen to address all issues relating to this important sector, including the impact of the recent floods in Surat with its large concentration of diamond processing units.

Kamal Nath highlighted the recent trends such as emergence of branded jewellery and the changes taking place in jewellery retailing. He noted that while India's expertise lay in handmade jewellery, it had now also developed capabilities in machine made jewellery.

Gems & jewellery constitutes 15.13 per cent of India's exports and has marked a growth of 12.97 per cent in 2005-06 over 2004-05.
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37mn Internet users in India in Sept
Mumbai: An "offline" survey carried out by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and IMRB International - estimates that there are 37 mn Internet users in India as of now- against 33 mn users in March 2006, an increase of 4mn users in six months. During the same period, the number of "active users" moved up to 25 million in September from 21.1 million in March.
The survey did not include rural areas.

"Active User" is an internationally-accepted and widely-used category to define users who have used the Internet at least once in the last 30 days.

The study estimates the Internet user base is likely to cross the 40-million mark by March 2007.

The study found that young people are the main drivers of internet usage in India. College students and those below the age of 35 are the biggest segment on the Internet. Besides the youth, Internet-hungry small towns are further fuelling the growth.

As per the survey, smaller metros and towns are increasingly embracing the Internet evolution and are pushing growth from below. Smaller cities and towns have shown a whopping 142 per cent growth and now account for 25 per cent of all Internet users.
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Demat closures increase as PAN deadline looms closer
Mumbai: Around 50,000 demat accounts have been closed down last month as the October 1 deadline for submitting permanent account numbers (PAN) for holding such accounts nears.

Over 25,000 accounts have been closed down since mid-August at the National Securities Depository Ltd (NSDL) and for the first time there has been a net decline in the number of account-holders in a month.

Another 20,000-25,000 accounts are estimated to have closed at Central Depository Services (CDSL) this month. CDSL officials, however, said new accounts had outnumbered closures.

Industry sources said the closure of accounts would intensify over the next few days.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) had directed depository participants to freeze all demat accounts from October 1 if the account-holders failed to provide their PAN details.

The chief of a brokerage, which is also a depository participant, said accounts held by investors together with their wife or mother or children as "joint accounts" were the ones that were being closed the most. This is because all the beneficiaries of joint demat accounts are required to provide their PAN details for stock market trading from next month.
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