Mr Justice D. D. Sinha of the Bombay High Court, one of the judges on the Division Bench hearing audit firm Price Waterhouse’s petition against Securities and Exchange Board of India, recused himself from hearing the case on Friday, without assigning any reason.
The finance ministry appears to have sealed the fate of forth coming auctions of exploration acreages. The revenue department has rejected the oil ministry’s suggestion to extend the seven-year tax holiday under the New Exploration Licensing Policy to gas discoveries in the ninth bidding round.
The finance ministry has turned down a suggestion that government mobilise funds for infrastrucure sector from non-resident Indians through special tax-free bonds. “It may not be a very viable plan as it could lead to losses at the time of redemption because of fluctuation in the Indian currency,” a senior government official said.
Nearly 50,000-odd Income Tax (I-T) employees and officials went on a one-day nationwide strike on Thursday, to press their 12-point agenda, which includes putting an end to outsourcing of departmental functions at the central processing centre (CPC) in Bangalore. The strike called by the Joint Council of Action (JCA), comprising the Income Tax Employees’ Federation (ITEF) and Income Tax Gazetted Officers’ Association (ITGOA) brought routine functioning of the department
The government has set up a committee to undertake a comprehensive review of the small savings instruments in India such as public provident fund schemes and national savings certificate schemes. This marks the first steps towards migrating to a deregulated regime for such schemes. At present, interest rate on these schemes, which come with tax breaks, are administered by the government and are not linked to market rates.
Shri Salman Khurshid, Minister of Corporate Affairs, today launched the Telugu version of the Investor Education and Protection Fund Website at Hyderabad. He also released Beginner’s Guide to the Capital Market in Telugu language at a function organized by the Federation of Andhra Pradesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FAPCCI) in partnership with the Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI) as part of India Investor Week (IIW) 2010.
The Union Cabinet today approved the acquisition of State Bank of Indore by State Bank of India (SBI) and also accorded `in-principle’ approval to introduce a Bill in the Parliament for making consequential amendments in the State Bank of India (Subsidiary Banks) Act, 1959, to remove references of State Bank of Indore.
A public competition was held amongst resident Indian citizens inviting entries for the symbol, which reflects and captures the Indian ethos and culture. Over 3000 entries were received, which were evaluated by a Jury headed by the Deputy Governor, RBI, which also included experts from three reputed art and design Institutes. The entries were presented to the Jury in such a manner that identity of the competitors was not revealed to the Jury members. The Jury selected five final entries and also gave its evaluation of these five entries to the Government to take a final decision.
From now on, the price of petrol will be revised once a month. However, there will be no immediate change in its price. Such a decision was on the cards ever since the oil ministry decided, on June 25, to deregulate the petrol price. The periodicity was finalised after a meeting of the heads of the three state-owned oil companies -Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) and Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) –
ONGC has become the latest high-profile developer to voice concerns over the adverse impact of certain proposals in the Direct Taxes Code (DTC) revised draft on its Special Economic Zone (SEZ) plans. In a letter to the Commerce Secretary, Dr Rahul Khullar, the ONGC Chairman and Managing Director, Mr R. S. Sharma, has said that the DTC, in its present form, would severely hit the prospects of its Rs 50,000-crore multiproduct SEZ at Mangalore in Karnataka.
