Pak to begin laying $3 billion of Iran-India gas link
Islamabad: Pakistan will award contracts worth up to $3 billion to construct its portion of a pipeline to transport Iranian gas to India according to Pakistan government officials. The total cost of Iran-Pakistan-India project is estimated at $7 billion and the pipeline will link the world's second largest gas reserves in Iran with India through Pakistani territory.

Petroleum secretary Ahmed Waqar said the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC), the country's highest economic decision-making body, had approved the construction of project on a 'segmented basis'. He said Pakistan and Iran will construct their portion of the project and the length of the pipeline's route through the Pakistani territory would be in the range of 750-1050 km long.

The contract to build the pipeline will be open to foreign as well as Pakistani companies.

Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and his Indian counterpart renewed their commitment to the project during a regional summit in New Delhi last week.
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Scope of export promotion schemes to be widened
New Delhi: The scope of export promotion schemes like Focus Product, Focus Market, Vishesh Krishi Upaj and Gram Udyog Yojana would cover more areas in the trade policy for the Year 2007-08. Such a move for the schemes introduced last year, will be announced on April 19.

Commerce ministry officials said the current ceiling of Rs600 crore on Focus Product and Focus Market schemes would be increased. They say the ceiling makes it difficult for the ministry to disburse the benefits, as a lot of exporters were claiming it.

The Focus Product scheme provides duty credit facility at 2.5 per cent of the freight-on-board (FoB) value of up to 50 per cent of the export turnover on certain notified products, including handloom, which generate employment in rural and semi-urban areas. The items under this scheme are likely to be increased in the new trade policy.

More countries are also likely to be added to the Focus Product scheme, the objective of which is to encourage exports to certain countries by offsetting the high freight cost. Exports under the Focus Product scheme allow duty credit facility of 2.5 per cent of the FoB value. The credit and the items imported under the scheme are freely transferable.

Exporters can also expect more items like tea and coffee under the Vishesh Krishi Upaj and the Gram Udyog Yojana, which allow duty credit at five per cent of the FoB value of exports.
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Direct tax collections target to be met: Chidambaram
New Delhi: Finance Minister P Chidambaram said he expected the revised target of Rs2,29,272 crore for direct tax collections during 2006-07 fiscal to be achieved.

As per the latest figure, Rs2,23,797.1 crore was collected, comprising Rs1,41,915.4 crore of corporate tax, Rs71,011.4 crore of personal income tax, Rs5,331.7 crore of fringe benefit tax, Rs4,729.5 crore of securities transaction tax and Rs505.4 crore of banking cash transaction tax.

Delhi, which is the second largest contributor of direct taxes after Mumbai has so far collected Rs1,000 crore short of the revised target of Rs38,646 crore, according to a tax official. He said almost 98-99 per cent of the target would be achieved.

Other tax officials of different circles in the country were confident that the revised targets would either be met or surpassed.

For the current financial year, the government has fixed the target of Rs2,67,000 crore for direct tax collections.
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