Aiyar seeks better Indo-Iranian ties in hydrocarbon sector
New Delhi: The Union Petroleum Minister, Mani Shankar Aiyar, has called for increased cooperation between India and Iran in the hydrocarbon sector not only for the development of this region, but beyond the shared continent.

Addressing the Iran and Middle East Gas Forum at Tehran on Monday, the Minister said that what the nations do in the oil and gas sector would decisively impact the larger goal of an Asian resurgence.

According to an official statement, the minister said that India's demand and Iran's supply potential were such that Iran could easily become the country's most important supplier and India could easily become Iran's most important buyer not just of oil, but in the area of natural gas as well. It is felt that what petroleum was to the 20th century, natural gas would be to the 21st century, the Minister said.
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National Tax tribunal Bill introduced
New Delhi: The Government on Monday introduced a Bill in the Lok Sabha that would pave the way for the setting up of a National Tax Tribunal (NTT) with at least 25 benches across the country.

The tribunal, which would examine cases relating to both direct and indirect taxes, is to be set up for speedy disposal of tax cases pending before the various high courts of the country. The pendency of large number of tax cases in the High Courts has resulted in huge revenues being blocked in litigation, thereby adversely affecting the economy.

Besides the fast disposal of cases, the NTT is also expected to bring about uniformity in the decision-making process.

The National Tax Tribunal Bill, 2004, provides for the establishment of NTTs for adjudication of disputes relating to levy, assessment, collection and enforcement of direct taxes, determination of the rates of duties of Customs and central excise on goods, the valuation of goods for the purpose of assessment of such duties and also the levy of tax on services.

The National Tax Tribunal would hear cases on substantial question of law from decisions of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal and the Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal. The chairperson of the proposed NTT would be a retired judge of the Supreme Court or a retired Chief Justice of the High Court and would hold office for five years or till 68 years.

A fresh Bill is being introduced in Parliament as the earlier Bill introduced by the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) Government had lapsed following the dissolution of the 13th Lok Sabha. The NDA Government, on October 16, 2003 promulgated an ordinance for setting up a NTT. This ordinance ceased to operate on January 12, 2004.
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Thirty one FDI proposals worth Rs.368 crore cleared
New Delhi: Citicorp International's proposal to pick up 6.25 per cent stake in Jubilant Organosys involving foreign direct investment (FDI) worth Rs135 crore was among the various FDI proposals cleared by the Government on Monday.

A total of 31 FDI proposals involving FDI worth Rs368.29 crore were approved by the Finance Minister, P. Chidambaram, here.

The Mauritius-based CDC-PTL Holdings Ltd and CDC Agribusiness Management Ltd's plan to invest Rs82.58 crore in Swaraj Mazda Ltd. by picking up stake in the company through a public offer too has been okayed by the Minister. The Japan-based Sanyo Electric Company Ltd's plan to set up a joint venture company with BPL Multimedia involving FDI worth Rs45.19 crore has also been approved.

The Mauritius-based SAIF Investment Company Ltd and Japan-based ORIX's plan to jointly invest Rs37.79 crore in IL&FS Investmart has also received the Minister's clearance.
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WTO DG not in favour of regional trade pacts
New Delhi: A senior WTO official has cautioned India against joining the bandwagon for regional trade agreements (RTAs) and free trade agreements (FTAs) and said WTO would institute a mechanism to monitor whether the agreements contributed to multilateral process and reduction in protectionism.

The WTO Director General, Supachai Panitchpakdi, speaking at the Indian Economic Summit organised by the World Economic Forum and Confederation of Indian Industry in the capital on Monday said that multilateralism must get primacy over RTAs and FTAs. Supachai said this should be the correct approach as studies have shown that these agreements brought down tariffs only by about 10 per cent in comparison to 25 per cent through multi-lateral agreements.

Pointing out that multiple rules of origin and tariff lines can be both confusing and costly, Mr Supachai said it was in India's interest to spend the same energy to promote multilateralism, since an early conclusion of the Doha Round would result in larger benefits than RTAs and FTAs.
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Montek: Govt. not to privatise profit-making PSUs
New Delhi: The UPA Government may further dilute its stake in profit-making public sector undertakings (PSUs), but will not privatise them, the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, Dr Montek Singh Ahluwalia, has said. Dr Ahluwalia was responding to a query by K.S. Nargolwala, Group Executive Director, Standard Chartered Bank, Singapore, on the willingness of the Government to move out of businesses.

Dr Ahluwalia noted that the "current political environment is not one where there is wide support for privatisation of PSUs." But even as privatisation of profit-making PSUs is ruled out, Dr Ahluwalia declared that there was "absolutely no hesitation" on the part of the Government to state that private sector should be allowed to expand in sectors where the public sector is already present. The Government's stance on profit-making PSUs, he said, would not hold the country from achieving an eight per cent growth rate.

The Planning Commission, he said, was preparing a mid-term appraisal of the Tenth Plan to lay down a priority agenda for the Government to take up to achieve eight per cent growth on a sustained basis. He noted that, given the country's inherent strengths, an eight per cent GDP growth was not unrealistic, provided some corrective action is taken. He said the country would grow at 6.5-7.0 per cent in the current fiscal and achieve the targeted growth in the last year of the Plan period.
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EPFO board ratifies 8.5 per cent interest
New Delhi: The Central Board of Trustees (CBT) today ratified the interim 8.5 per cent interest for outgoing EPF subscribers for 2004-05. They would soon meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister P Chidambaram to restore it to 9.5 per cent as demanded by the central trade unions.

K Chander Sekhar Rao, Labour Minister, said the final interest would be declared in the last quarter of the financial year after taking into account the earnings on investment.

The minister also indicated changes in investment patterns of the EPFO in order to earn higher returns so as to benefit the over four crore EPF beneficiaries.

The majority of the CBT members had recommended an interim interest of 8.5 per cent in the previous meeting.
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