FM makes life tougher for tax evaders
New Delhi: The Finance Bill, 2007 has tightened penalty provisions against tax evasion and has overhauled the income-tax settlement commission procedures. The new measures will come into effect on April 1, 2007.

Under the new penalty system, evaders will have to pay a penalty during search cases at 100-300 per cent of the amount of tax evaded. This is a significant change from the earlier practice of allowing evaders to give a statement during the course of the search in lieu of penalty payments.

Also, evaders will no longer be allowed to approach the settlement commission.

This is one of the four key changes made in settlement commission procedures, senior revenue department officials say.

For starters, the application to the commission will have to be made together with the payment of the tax liability. The application can be made only before the assessment officer has completed proceedings, and not after.

Besides, to cut delays, the current two-step procedure the commission follows to rule on the admissibility of an application has been changed to a 15-day time-bar, after which the case will be deemed to have been admitted.

Also, the settlement commission will have to dispose of petitions within 180 days, after which the case will go back to the assessment officer.
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Inflation comes down to 6.05 per cent
New Delhi: The wholesale price index (WPI) declined to 6.05 per cent for the week ended February 17, 2007, against 6.63 per cent for the previous week.

The drop is largely attributed to the cut in petrol and diesel prices effected February 16, official sources said. Fuels and power have a 14.23 per cent weightage in the index.

Inflation is expected to moderate further in the coming weeks on account of a number of recent measures, including customs duty cuts earlier this year, and steps taken by the Reserve Bank to control money supply by raising the rate at which it lends short-term money to banks (repo rates) and also raising the amount of cash banks must statutorily keep with the RBI (cash reserve ratio).
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Ban on futures trading cools prices
New Delhi: Wheat prices have also started falling in response to a ban on futures trading in wheat.

In his Budget proposals for 2007-08, Finance Minister P Chidambaram had announced a ban on futures trading in wheat and rice.

Though Chidambaram refused to comment on the positive or negative effect of futures trading and merely said a committee would look into the matter, a senior official of National Commodity and Derivative Exchange said he was disappointed with the ban, given the positive tone of Economic Survey with respect to commodities in the market.

The slide in wheat prices continued today on consistent supplies by stockists against slowdown in buying by rolling flour mills after the Forward Markets Commission announced the ban on Wednesday.

Wheat dara (for mills) prices declined to Rs1,000-1,005 per quintal from Rs1,020-1,035 per quintal while wheat MP (deshi) drifted to Rs1,200-1,550 per quintal from Rs1,390-1,590 a quintal.
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Edible oil industry unhappy with duty removal
New Delhi: The government's budget proposal to abolish a 4 per cent additional customs duty on edible oils, has given a setback to India's struggling oilseed industry said industry officials.

India is likely to produce about 24 million tonnes of oilseeds in the crop year to November 2007 against an output of around 27.9 million tonnes last year, trade officials say.

But oilseed acreage has been falling due to farmers' preference for wheat as prices of the grain have firmed up in last one year, and cheaper imports will make matters worse.

The officials said the abolition of the duty will not only hit indigenous oilseed industry and trade, but also demotivate farmers from cultivating oilseeds. They said the proposal to abolish duty could also lead to higher imports--further hurting Indian growers.
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Goa submits Rs300 crore proposal to NHPC
Kophargaon: The Goa government has submitted a Rs300 crore project proposal for six Megawatt co-generation plant on Mhadei river to the National Hydel Power corporation, the state's Power Minister Digambar Kamath said. The project will be on the basis of Built, Operate and Transfer (BOT), he told reporters here.

Kamath said by the end of 2007, every house in Goa will have electricity with its Rs450 crore project and already 99 per cent of household have electric connections.

Goa Electricity Board has made a profit of Rs120 crore and they have bought 35 mobile electricity vans for urban areas and 25 vans for rural areas to provide services to its customers, he said.
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Exports grow 5 pc, imports up 23 per cent in Jan
New Delhi: Indian exports grew by 5.5 per cent to $9.65 billion in January while imports went up by 23.24 per cent, leaving a trade deficit of over $50.58 billion during April-January 2006-07 against a trade of $35.13 billion (revised data), in the year ago period according to the Commerce Ministry.

During April-January, exports increased by 20.15 per cent as shipments went up to $99.14 billion from $82.50 billion (revised) in the same period last year.

The imports during the 10-month period increased to $149.72 billion, showing an increase of 27 per cent over $118 billion (revised) in April-January last year.
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