Quarterly tax collection up 44 pc
New Delhi: Direct tax collections for the second quarter were up a buoyant 44 per cent until October 15, 2006, against the Budget target growth rate of 28 per cent and stood at Rs87,147 crore, compared with Rs60,537 crore during April-October 15 last year. The budget had estimated overall direct tax collection at Rs2,10,684 crore.

The increase in direct tax collections is mainly on account of a 52 per cent increase in corporation tax collection at Rs53,853 crore, as against Rs35,476 crore in the same period last year. The Budget had pegged corporation tax collections for the current financial year at Rs1,33,010 crore with a growth target of 34 per cent.

Income tax collections, inclusive of fringe benefit tax, banking cash transaction tax and securities transaction tax up to October 15 this year stood at Rs33,184 crore compared with Rs24,939 crore, an increase of over 33 per cent. The Budget had pegged income tax collection for FY07 at Rs77,409 crore with a growth target of around 19 per cent.

The only head which reflected lower collections is other direct taxes — comprising primarily of wealth tax, gift tax and some older taxes such as estate duty, interest tax, expenditure tax and hotel receipt tax among others. However, barring wealth and gift tax, all the other taxes have been repealed over the years.
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Nasscom to conduct test for BPO entrants in Nov
New Delhi: IT trade body, National Association of Software Services Companies (Nasscom) will begin holding the Nasscom Assessment of Competence, (NAC) a capability assessment programme for potential employees in the BPO industry, from November this year. Nasscom expects that over a lakh young job aspirants will appear for NAC in the first year of its national rollout said Kiran Karnik president of Nasscom said.

Eight states - Rajasthan, Gujarat, Chandigarh, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Kerala, Bihar and Sikkim are expected to launch NAC by the end of November.

The NAC is aimed at addressing the talent shortage faced by the industry, he said. "The aim is to create a continuous pipeline of talent by 'transforming' workforce into an 'employable' workforce".

According to NASSCOM, only 25 per cent of technical graduates and 10-15 per cent of college students are suitable or employment in the IT and BPO industry.

It is estimated that by 2010, India could have a possible manpower shortfall of 500,000 people by 2010. Of this, the BPO gap would be around 3.5 lakh.
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Government to extend SEZ benefits to Semiconductor fab units
New Delhi: The government plans extend a host of fiscal incentives including benefits at par with special economic zones (SEZ) units that includes application of lower Cenvat rate of 4 per cent to semi conductor units and depreciation at 33 per cent to be distributed over three years

The finance ministry, which is evaluating the scheme of fiscal incentives to be included in the Fab Policy, has agreed to extend incentive schemes applicable to SEZ units to semiconductor industry too. An official source said the fab policy would be placed before the Cabinet for approval. The units may get income-tax and excise benefits on par with special-category states. He said the finance ministry has turned down the IT ministry request for R&D grants.

The ministry has toned down a proposal from the IT ministry to reduce Cenvat rate to 4 per cent for entire industry and has agreed to restrict the sop only to high-tech areas.

The changes are now expected to be included in the Fab Policy that is soon expected to be placed before the Cabinet for approval.

The finance ministry has also agreed to look into a proposal to extend income-tax and excise benefit to semiconductor units at par with those available in special-category states such as Uttaranchal and Himachal Pradesh.

With regard to depreciation benefit, both finance ministry and Planning Commission are of the view that instead of giving 100 per cent depreciation benefit in the first year itself, the same should be offered at 33 per cent each for three consecutive years with unlimited loss carry-forward facility.

The IT ministry had favoured depreciation of 100 per cent because of high obsolescence of equipment used by the industry.
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