01 March 2010;Aditya Raj Das:New Delhi:There will be no rollback of tax proposals (on petroleum products). If I had to roll back, I would not have gone for this at all. There seems to be some problem, (over the issue) but we will over come this,” he told Deccan Herald. Some of the key allies of the ruling Congress-led UPA government like the DMK and the Trinamool Congress have demanded rollback of the hike in duties on petroleum products which triggered the rise in prices of petrol and diesel. Also, as soon as Mukherjee proposed the hike in duties of petroleum products, the entire Opposition, comprising the BJP as well as the Left parties, walked out of the Lok Sabha. The BJP has already threatened cut motions against the budget proposal. Asked if the Congress’ allies would join the Opposition for the cut motion and the choice before the government, Mukherjee shot back: “In that case, the Budget will collapse. The Finance Bill will collapse. It would mean the government will fall…Nobody wants this (type of situation to happen).”But after a pause, Mukherjee said: “In a democratic set-up, there is always a mechanism to resolve the problem...Our allies will finally understand under what circumstances we have taken this measure (of hiking duty on petroleum products).” Explaining the rationale behind the duty hike, he said: “Last year, we faced a difficult time because of the global slowdown. We had to give out duty concessions to help the economy back to the growth path. Now there is recovery in the economy.”Pointing out that the task now was to “put the economy on the path of fiscal consolidation”, Mukherjee said there was need for expansion in revenue collection. “That is one of the reasons why we went for some duty hike.” Asked how the government would implement the Kirit Parikh Panel recommending deregulation of petro prices, he said: “One should not mix up the issues. The report has been submitted and it is being studied. The government will firm up its view in a democratic manner.”When pointed out that in his I-T proposals, he was quite generous towards the middle class with no concern for the lower income group, he said: “This is not true. The exemption limit stands at Rs 1,60,000. If you calculate overall tax savings instruments, which has now gone up to Rs 1,20,000, the total income exempted from tax net stands at Rs 2,80,000. Roughly one can say a monthly income up to near about Rs 25,000 is not taxed. When you raise the I-T slabs people staying little above the border line sometimes get some benefit.”
CPI demands rollback of duties on petroleum products
01 March 2010;hindustantimes.com:New Delhi: CPI on Sunday demanded that the government rollback the imposition of duties on petroleum products immediately, saying it will have adverse impact on the people who are already suffering due to rising food prices.Party National Secretary D Raja also alleged that the Budget 2010-11 has "neglected" the agriculture sector despite tall claims by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee that the UPA government’s top priority was agriculture."The Finance Minister should roll back the duties imposed on petroleum products. He should do it immediately... The government should have maintained some sort of transparency on the issue," he said."On Thursday, a day before the Budget, the Parliament was debating price rise and the government assured that it was taking steps to contain it."The next day it imposes duties on petroleum products. The government should have been honest," he said.The Rajya Sabha MP also said the Budget reflected the government’s policies of following the new liberalised economy."The Finance Minister has imposed a number of indirect taxes. It will lead to free market economy," he said.Raja said the government should also take steps to contain inflation, which has led to skyrocketing of food prices in the country.
01 March 2010;timesofindia.indiatimes.com:CHENNAI: The Union government’s notification on February 19 imposing anti-dumping duty of $35-$40 on radial truck and bus tyres from China and Thailand, and restrictions on import, has the industry divided. Ashok Leyland and Tata Motors, who are facing the heat, alleged that the tyre manufacturers were diverting their supplies to the replacement or retail market, where they are able to make better margins. Tata Motors has indicated that shortage of radial tyres has forced them to cut down production between 5% and 10%. Officials at Ashok Leyland hinted that their production could be down by 10-15%. The tyre replacement market in the commercial vehicle segment in India constitutes about 90% of the tyre supplies. On November 24, 2008, the ministry of commerce imposed quantitative restrictions on import of Chinese and Thai radials. Till November 2008, India was importing about 1.3 lakh tyres per month but following the restrictions, import has fallen to 10,000 tyres per month, according to S P Singh, convenor, All India Tyre Dealers’ Federation (AITDF). The demand is about 40 lakh radial tyres per annum. “The market requirement for radial tyres has grown to about 4-5 lakh tyres per month in the replacement market, the production in India is just around 50,000 per month.”
Petrol, diesel to go dearer by Rs 2.71 and Rs 2.55/l from midnight
26 Feb 2010;timesofindia.indiatimes.com:NEW DELHI: Petrol price will increase by Rs 2.71 a litre and diesel by Rs 2.55 per litre from midnight tonight after Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee raised customs and excise duties on the two auto fuels in the Budget. Petrol price in Delhi will go up from Rs 44.72 to Rs 47.43 a litre and diesel to Rs 35.47 a litre, as indirect tax proposals moved in the Budget come into effect immediately. This followed customs duty on petrol and diesel being hiked to 7.5 per cent from 2.5 per cent and excise duty being raised by Re one a litre to Rs 14.35 and Rs 4.60 per litre on non-branded (normal) petrol and diesel respectively. "Oil marketing companies are not in a position to absorb these (incidence of increased taxation) and are passing them on to consumers, resulting in increase in petrol and diesel price," Petroleum Secretary S Sundareshan told reporters here. The entire Opposition walked out of Lok Sabha when the Finance Minister announced the hike in taxation terming it as anti-people and a measure that will fuel inflation. Mukherjee also imposed 5 per cent import duty on crude (currently nil), a move that would increase the input cost of refiners like Reliance Industries and Essar Oil. The rate hike virtually put the Kirit Parikh report on fuel pricing reforms in cold storage as implementing its recommendation of freeing petrol and diesel prices would mean a further Rs 4.94 a litre increase in petrol and Rs 3.20 per litre hike in diesel rates.
24 Feb 2010;business-standard.com:T E Narasimhan:Chennai: The Tamil Nadu government cleared JK Tyre’s proposal for setting up a new production facility in the state, which would attract around Rs 1,600 crore investment. The new facility was expected to generate around Rs 2,000 crore revenue in 2013-14, according to company officials. The company also said it was investing Rs 150 crore in Karanataka for expanding its production capacity in truck radials. According to sources in the government, the state Cabinet chaired by Chief Minister M Karunanidhi cleared the proposal in a meeting on Monday.
24 Feb 2010;hindustantimes.com:Mumbai:Shares in Maruti Suzuki pulled back after sliding to a six-month-low early on Wednesday, a day after India's top carmaker said it was recalling 100,000 of its A-Star hatchbacks sold overseas and in India. Maruti, in which Japan's Suzuki Motor Corp has 54.2 per cent stake, said on Tuesday that a faulty gasket leading to a potential fuel leakage problem had been identified and the company had fixed about half of the cars. "As expected initially the stock opened lower, as any recall involves costs," said Arun Kejriwal, director at research firm KRIS. "But, I think, people are awaiting more details on the costs and the full impact of it before they take a definitive view. It seems to be a one-off event," he said. Maruti shares initially fell about 2 per cent to 1,310 rupees, their lowest since Aug. 19 last year, but quickly pulled into positive territory and then eased again. At 9:33 am, the shares were up 0.05 per cent at 1,336.90 rupees. The stock has fallen 14.3 per cent this year, lagging the main index which has lost 6.7 per cent.
