The Hindu Business Line : Monday, March 03, 2008

URBAN DEVELOPMENT
BUSINESS LINE FEATURE:"AURANGABAD-EMERGING IT DESTINATION"
Modern face of historical city
The city is home to top brands in various industrial sectors. More

EMPLOYMENT
Job fairs to be held in Hanamkonda, Hyderabad
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BUDGET
Welcome relief to individual taxpayers
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Budget 2008: Lagging behind M&A appetite
While there are many misses in the Budget 2008, from an M&A (merger and acquisition) perspective, there is one area where a lot of thrust can get diverted, say Mr Amrish Shah and Ms Falguni Shah, Executive Director and Senior Manager ... More

‘Loan waiver sends wrong message to borrowers’
Both Indian agriculture and the farmers are ailing. Growth rate in the agriculture sector has been a poor 2.6 per cent while the GDP is around 8.7 per cent and industrial and service sectors have touched double digit growth rates. During the ... More

CII poll: CEOs rate Budget as people-oriented
New Delhi, March 2 The Confederation of Indian Industry’s opinion poll on Sunday revealed that 94 per cent of the CEOs endorsed the Union Budget 2008-09 as people-oriented. With regard to boosting the overall competitiveness, 50 ... More

Budget 2008: No big deal for India Inc
Every year, the introduction of the Finance Bill is preceded by anticipation from the corporate sector of a reduction in tax rates and introduction of tax sops. The Finance Minister in the last Union Budget of the UPA Government, while ... More

A Budget for everybody
The changes in income-tax slabs are welcome, will leave more disposable income with salaried class and should prove to be a catalyst in consumer spending. Compliance still needs to improve from non-salaried class individuals. Hopefully making ... More

Focus on growth in industry
The Union Budget presented by the Finance Minister is indeed a welcome budget with focus on growth in industry at large and infrastructure in particular. The drivers of economic growth indicate a strong and growing economy of the country. The ... More

Positives on the indirect tax front
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Long-term fundamentals
This Union Budget is really praise worthy. It is not short term technicals but long term fundamentals in stock market language. Writing off farmers loans is a bold step. Let this result into a new green revolution. If stock exchange index is a ... More

Extending employment programme
The Finance Minister has in the Budget for 2008-09 proposed to extend the national employment guarantee programme to all 596 rural districts of India. This is a welcome initiative, the proper implementation of which will contribute significantly ... More

Lacklustre Budget
Two things stand out in this year’s Union Budget. Mr Chidambaram is always known to take decisions on his own. That he has chosen to listen to the voice of millions of farmers is a tribute to the strength of Indian democracy. He must be ... More

A move backward
A budget has to be viewed in a continuum. Since a budget is an annual plan, it is a chain of interlocked years towards long-term goal. The present Budget of the Central Government has to be evaluated against this minimum requirement. There is no ... More

No economic theory
In economics, it is said that a finance minister can tax commodities that are inelastic (which means people are insensitive to changes in prices of commodities) in nature. Drugs, for example, have inelastic demand, but the Government cuts the ... More

Aggregation merits reconsideration
The proposed aggregation of all cash payments even if the single payment is less than Rs 20,000 made on a single day for disallowance under Section 40A(3) of the Income-Tax Act 1961 merits reconsideration on the following grounds: As has been ... More

Poorest of the poor ignored
The Finance Minister has done well to present an all-pleasing Budget. But the poorest of the poor stand ignored and still abject poverty is not eradicated. Complete abolition of child labour, protection and special schemes for street children and ... More

Coir Board hails I-T exemption
Kochi, March 2 The exemption of Coir Board from the purview of Income Tax Act on par with other commodity boards will help it to access funds for developmental activities, the Chairman of the Board, Mr A.C. Jose, has said. He thanked ... More

Incentives for prompt loan repayments suggested
Coimbatore, March 2 While hailing the debt waiver and debt relief provided for the farmers in the Union Budget, the All India Co-Operative Bank Employees’ Federation suggests that the Government also consider providing relief to the ... More

Pleasing common man
It is a good budget pleasing common man. Increasing basic exemption limit to Rs 2,25,000 will certainly help senior citizens; the medical insurance exemption is also welcomed. But the senior citizens would have been happier if the Finance ... More

A bold step
The Finance Minister has done justice to salaried class by increasing the income limit for tax attraction from Rs.1.1 lakh-1.5 lakh. The proposal to alter the slabs is a welcome move. At present, up to Rs 1.5 lakh, the tax rate is 10 per cent ... More

Political move
The proposal to waive bank loans to the farmers to the extent of Rs 60,000 crore is by all means a political move in view of the forthcoming elections next year. While the proposal is welcomed by a wide cross section of political parties which is ... More

Fantastic
Mr P Chidambaram, deserves appreciation from all walks of life, since he has presented a fantastic Budget, which was not anticipated by any body. Even eminent economic annalists have admitted that they never anticipated the Budget will be so ... More

Big relief for salaried class
Kudos to our Finance Minister for his epoch-making Budget-2008 which would wipe the tears of millions of poor farmers of our country, thanks to waiver of Rs 60,000-cr worth loans. It is very heartening to note education, healthcare, agriculture, ... More

COURTS/LEGAL ISSUES
Proposals that affirm, nullify court decisions
In Budget 2008 there are 55 amendments to the Income-Tax Act, 1961. Amendments to statutory provisions are made because of (i) changes in the economy, (ii) to plug the existing loopholes, and (iii) to provide a fillip to priority areas. ... More

INFRASTRUCTURE
‘Improving by the day’
The Municipal Commissioner of Aurangabad, Aseem Gupta, on the city’s progress on the infrastructure front. More

PHARMACEUTICALS
Drugmakers let down on absence of research incentives
Mumbai/Chennai, March 2 Despite the constant mention of “knowledge” in Budget ‘08, the big daddies of the pharmaceutical industry are unhappy that it did not translate into anything tangible for companies embarking on ... More

STEEL
Steel manufacturers to meet Paswan
Seek intervention on iron ore prices More

TEXTILES
Textile exporters, retailers unhappy with Budget
‘Nothing done to help us cope with rupee rise’ More

Textile expo
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Mills body urges TNEB to ensure normality in supply
‘Tap captive power units of textile mills and other industries’ More

SSI
Tiruchi SSI body hails Budget
The Tiruchi District Tiny and Small Scale Industries’ Association has welcomed the Union Budget, saying it is oriented towards savings and infrastructure development. Removal of customs duty on scrap will help in infrastructure development ... More

Applications invited for award
The Madurai District Tiny and Small Scale Industries Association (Maditssia) has invited applications from tiny and small industries that commenced production before April 2004 for the MADITSSIA-AIMO Award 2007 for the best small scale industry, ... More

‘Nothing for SSIs’
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`Budget holds no hope for SSIs'
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WATER
Scheme to recharge wells
The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) has sanctioned financial assistance to recharge 44 lakh wells in seven States, including 7.4 lakh wells in Andhra Pradesh. Andhra Pradesh would get Rs 300 crore for the purpose. The ... More

COAL
Proposal on dividend tax: Coal India sees Rs 200-cr gain
Kolkata, March 2 Elimination of the scope of double taxation on corporate dividends would help Coal India Ltd (CIL) to net a clear Rs 200 crore beginning fiscal year 2008-09. CIL has seven coal producing subsidiaries contributing to the ... More

EDUCATION
Nurturing talent and health
As Marathwada, and Aurangabad, grew industrially, it was necessary to set up learning centres to provide the required manpower to companies as also to improve the healthcare infrastructure. And technical institutes and premier hospitals sprang up ... More

REAL ESTATE & CONSTRUCTION
VUDA auctions fetch Rs 190 cr
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GOLD & SILVER
Gold may test resistance levels
Comex gold futures ended higher on Friday after hefty gains during the week. Immediate resistance is at $985 followed by a crucial resistance point at $1,031. As we have been maintaining, going further into 2008 and beyond, we believe ... More

EVENTS
Seminar on talent management
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TOURISM
Branson bowled over by Kerala
Thiruvananthapuram March 2 Choosing to holiday in Kerala was not a very difficult decision for Sir Richard Branson as he had heard much about the State. “We asked people which, in their opinion, is the best place in India to ... More

Kerala to host ‘Responsible Tourism’ meet in Kochi
The Incredible India Second International Conference on Responsible Tourism in Destinations will be held here at Hotel Le Meridien from March 21 to 24. The conference will be jointly organised by Kerala Tourism, International Centre for ... More