9ovember 2007

Thanks: The hindu
30 lakh IT refunds issued till October
NEW DELHI: The income-tax department has already issued more than 30 lakh refunds till October, entailing a total sum of Rs. 18,448 crore.

According to an official statement here, refund payouts in the non-corporate personal income-tax (PIT) category are ahead by 47.16 per cent at Rs 6,135 crore as compared to Rs 4,169 crore released during the first seven months of 2006-07.

The statement noted that over 11 lakh electronic returns have already been received during the current financial year.

More such returns are expected by November 15, up to which the last date for filing of mandatory electronic returns stands extended.

As against this, 3.44 lakh electronic returns were filed by various categories of taxpayers during fiscal year 2006-07. Out of these, 2.38 lakh electronic returns have already been processed by the IT department and refunds totalling Rs. 7,816.89 crore were issued till November 7. The balance 1.06 lakh electronic returns are to be processed by November 30. Refunds worth over Rs. 14,000 crore pertaining to large corporate cases have also been processed.

Out of these, refunds of over Rs. 5,400 crore have been issued and the remaining are to be completed by the end of this month.

The statement noted that the Refund Banker scheme — launched in Delhi and Patna towards the end of last fiscal and extended subsequently to Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore and Mumbai — has helped increase the pace of refunds. It will now be extended to the entire country for the non-corporate PIT category of taxpayers to facilitate quick and correct issue of refunds.

Taxpayers are advised to furnish their bank details and ECS number in their tax returns so that their refunds can be credited to their bank account electronically.

With the Refund Banker scheme in place all over the country shortly, the department envisages no difficulty in processing refund cases. Tax returns have been made annexure-less to facilitate electronic processing of the same.

Thanks: The Hindu
Railways’ bold step, goes in for dedicated power
CHENNAI: In another bold step to cut operational costs and improve efficiency, the Indian Railways has signed an agreement with the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) to set up a 1,000 MW captive power plant at Nabinagar in Bihar. The NTPC will have a 74 per cent stake in the Rs. 5,352 crore project, which will be taken up on a 70:30 debt equity basis.

In 2000, the Railways started drawing power from the NTPC’s Dadri and Auriya power plants under a Central scheme to provide the Railways a share from the 15 per cent unallocated power from the Central share of electricity in its undertakings. That arrangement alone resulted in an annual saving of Rs. 50 crore to the Railways, because of the cheaper cost of power.

Over the years, the Railway Board has been repeated urging State governments to supply power from the State electricity boards (SEBs) at a concessional tariff. Except a few States such as Kerala, not many came forward to do that.

Cost of production


Consequently, the Railways decided to go in for captive power plants through joint ventures.

According to the Railway Board, the Nabinagar plant can lead to a saving of Rs. 400-600 crore annually. The cost of production in the unit has been estimated at Rs. 2.13 a unit, and along with wheeling and transmission charges, it will cost the Railways somewhere between Rs. 3.38 and Rs. 3.63 a unit.

That works out much cheaper than the average cost of electricity, which is now Rs. 4.28, to the Railways. This joint venture with the NTPC, therefore, promises to be just the first of such projects by the Railways to cut down its operational costs.

The annual power bill of the Railways is estimated at Rs. 5,700 crore for the 18,000 route km of electric traction in its 63,000 route km network across the country. Railway sources say that though diesel locomotive may work out cheaper than electric transmission costs, the unprecedented rise in global crude oil prices and the cost of importing fuel, makes the power alternative a better proposition. Operationally too, electric locomotives can accelerate faster and have a better pulling power.

Special concessions


Now that special concessions have been offered for ’mega power projects,’ and Central undertakings such as the NTPC, the Nuclear Power Corporation, and the Neyveli Lignite Corporation have taken the lead in setting up joint ventures, the Railways opted to go in for captive power plants through this route.

Over the next few months and years, the Railways will look at greenfield capacity at traction load centres. Power from these units can be drawn for use in the electrified routes in that region. For instance, the Nabinagar project can feed trains in Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh. The NTPC, on its part, will earmark 10 per cent of the power to other users.

“Even a 1 to 2 per cent saving in the power costs can make a big difference to us in the overall cost of operations and efficiency.

The board is now looking at every aspect of our operations to reduce costs and enhance efficiency, to become more competitive,” a senior board official explains.

Thanks: The Hindu
Cashew exports rise in volume
Kochi: The foreign exchange earned by the country through export of cashew kernels, cashew nut shell liquid, and allied products during 2006-07 was Rs. 2,465.44 crore. Among the agriculture commodities exported from India, cashew came third, contributing 0.44 per cent of the total export earnings during the period. This was announced by Walter D’Souza, outgoing Chairman of the Cashew Export Promotion Council of India, while addressing the annual general meeting here last week. Export of cashew kernels during 2006-07 was 1,18,540 tonnes, valued at Rs. 2,455.15crore, as against 1,14,143 tonnes, valued at Rs. 2,514.86 crore during 2005-06. There was an increase of 3.85 per cent in quantity and a decrease of 2.37 per cent in value. The average unit export price realised during 2006-07 was Rs. 207.12 a kg compared to Rs. 220.33 a kg during 2005-06, recording a decrease of 6 per cent. Export of cashew nut shell liquid during 2006-07 was 6,139 tonnes, valued at Rs. 10.29 crore, against 6,463 tonnes, valued at Rs. 7.21 crore, during the previous year. There was a decrease of 5.01 per cent in terms of quantity and an increase of 42.72 per cent in terms of value. The unit value realised for cashew nut shell liquid during 2006-07 was Rs. 16.76 a kg. In the previous year this was Rs. 11.16 a kg. The increase was 50.18 per cent.

Thanks : The Hindu
Calcutta Stock Exchange gets new lease of life

KOLKATA: The Calcutta Stock Exchange (CSE), the country’s second oldest exchange after Bombay, got a new lease of life on Friday as it started trading using the BSE platform. The BSE along with the Birlas, the Poddars and the Bangurs now have equity stake in the CSE which had remained in a moribund state for nearly six years now, owing mainly to low volume of trading with several other factors triggering a downslide. The CSE Secretary, P. K. De, told The Hindu that the one-hour symbolic Muhurat trading was set to pave the way for increased volumes for the CSE whose daily trading was an insignificant Rs. 1.50 crore. He said that there were 942 brokers registered with the exchange now and many of them enthusiastically traded on Friday, “using their own contract notes” but on the BSE platform. This, he said, was a unique system. BSE was on Friday linked with the CSE, he said.

Market sources said that along with low trading voumes, delisting by companies and archaic system, a scam that broke out in 2001, had spelt the final death knell of the exchange. Most big companies delisted from this exchange and moved onto the BSE and the NSE. However, many old timers were not too keen to share the exuberance saying that trading volumes would not swell as the exchange had long lost the prime position that it had held among the country’s bourses with volumes averaging Rs. 500 crore daily, even in the 1990s.