Norms eased for NRI's to obtain Pan cards
New Delhi: Obtaining a Permanent Account Number (PAN) for Indians living abroad, foreign citizens, or a company, trust or firm not having an office in India has now become easier with the income tax department saying it will no longer insist on details of a "representative assessee" while accepting PAN applications from the aforementioned categories.

The tax department has issued a circular to the two designated PAN service providers — UTI Technology Services Ltd and National Securities Depositories Ltd — clarifying on the revised guidelines for allotment of PAN to these categories.
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Waterways to help decongest Mumbai, Kochi
Mumbai: Using river routes are being seen as a way to ease congestion and save time. The Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) is drawing up ambitious plans to decongest Mumbai and Kochi using river assets.

Including Kochi and Mumbai port projects, 15 projects have been identified under the National Maritime Development Programme (NMDP), which will need a total investment of Rs10,500 crore, of which Rs 2,300 crore will be sourced from private companies.

The distance from Mumbai port to Nagothana (an industrial town) is 97 km by road but only 57 km by riverways. The distance from Mumbai port to Panvel is 44 km by road but only 32 km by the inland waterway route (rail route is 68 km). The port is only 23 km away from Belapur by riverway, while it is 38 km by road.

The plan is to connect various locations to Mumbai Port and the authority plans to make a Detailed Presentation Report (DPR) on the proposed project and finalise investment details.
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CII lays emphasis on trade with EU
New Delhi: India has to strive toward becoming the second or third largest partner for European Union and increase its contribution in EU trade from the present 1.5 per cent to five per cent by 2011, industry body CII said. It said this would only be possible through a substantive bilateral agreement with EU. India and EU have decided to launch negotiations for a Trade and Investment Agreement and this is big step toward creating a sizeable share for Indian goods and services in the market, the chamber said.

The negotiations need to be completed at the earliest and the agreement should be in force by 2011-12 in a phased manner, it said adding that Indian companies should gain meaningful access for goods and services in the 25-nation Union, which would soon expand to a 27-nation Union.

Bilateral trade in goods between India and EU in 2005-06 was Euro 49 billion, with imports contributing Euro 27 billion and exports Euro 22 billion.
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Steel use to go up by 10 pc in 2006: IISI
New Delhi: The International Iron & Steel Institute (IISI) has forecast that steel use in India will increase by 10 per cent during 2006 and would be the highest in the world excluding China. According to IISI predictions, China would be posting a 14.4 per cent growth. For 2007, it says the growth in both China and India would fall to 10.4 per cent and 9.1 per cent, respectively.

In volume terms, however, Indian consumption will not match that of China. While Chinese consumption is predicted to increase from 327 million tonnes in 2005 to 374 million tonnes in 2006 and to 423 million tonnes in 2007, the corresponding figures for India stand at 38.1 million tonnes, 41.9 million tonnes and 45.7 million tonnes, respectively.
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