Students of iLead Institute are delighted to interact with

An eminent personality, Mr. Mohandas Pai

Kolkata: iLead Institute has always taken initiative to give their best to their students and society, so this time iLead in association with TPF (Terapanth Professional Forum) had invited Mr. Mohandas Pai, the Chairman of Manipal Global Education for an interactive session with the students of iLead Institute on Making Education Affordable through Technology and Scholarship from 2.30pm onwards at the iLead campus. Mr. Pradip Chopra, the Chairman of iLead Institute was also present to grace the event.

This was really an essential topic to discuss as there are many students who really wish to study but they fail to do so because of their economic condition or the fees of the institutes are not affordable by them or institutes do not have the provision of scholarship to grant to the outstanding students to mould their future.

As Mr. Mohandas Pai introduced the topic to the students as well as the philanthropists of the city to come forward and enable meritorious but economically weak students with scholarships. The main interesting phase of the event started when everyone was given the opportunity to discuss the topic with him.

The session seemed to be really interactive as both counterparts had their points to discuss and share their views. The session was so interesting that it seemed to be never ending and all the participants enjoyed it thoroughly as it was inspiring for all of them. There were lots of questions from all the participants including scholarship providers, educationists, teachers and other stakeholders from academia and that were well addressed by Mr. Mohandas Pai.

He spoke about providing scholarship to those students who can’t afford but wish to study. He said, “Today our country is not short of funds, but is short of heart and compassion. It is our obligation to the next generation to see them better educated. A National scholarship programme must be started by civil society to give to the next generation what my parents gave me”.

“I was happy to see all stakeholders in education took equal effort in discussing this topic with me. I hope this session was informative as well as interesting for all of them and I wish them All the Best to the students for their Future” said Mr. Mohandas Pai.

Mr. Mohandas Pai also showed his concened about the present scenario of India as he said, “ Atleast 52%of India’s population is dependent on agriculture that contributes to 14 percent of its Gross Domestic Product and the sector is growing at the rate of three per cent per annum. At the same time, the remaining 48 percent that is dependent on industry and service sectors is contributing to India’s GDP and is showing a healthy growth of over 8.5 per cent s”.

“I am glad to have Mr. Mohandas Pai amongst us today to interact with our students and share his knowledge and experience with us. His interaction was valuable for our students as well as other participants and we are looking forward for more such interactions” said Mr. Pradip Chopra, Chairman of iLead Institute.

“The session was really interesting and fruitful. I wish this session would have continued for some more hours so that we could discuss the topic in a much broader prospective” said students of iLead.

About iLEAD:

iLEAD, The Institute of Leadership, Entrepreneurship and Development as an upcoming world class Institute offering degrees courses in Media and Management studies both at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels i.e Bachelor in Business Administration (BBA), Master in Business Administration (MBA), Bachelor in Mass Communication, Advertising and Journalism (B.Sc), and Masters in Mass Communication, Advertising and Journalism (M.Sc). iLEAD is sensitizing all school and college students to avail world class education experience FREE through Khan Academy and coursera.org, etc. Workshops are regularly organized at iLEAD and iLEAD students are conducting seminars in various schools and colleges for the same.

About TPF:

TPF (Terapanth Professional Forum) is an organization of professionals from the Jain Community. Its objective is to use its expertise, experience and knowledge to serve the community at large in areas of education, health, law and enterprise.Udaan is the latest education initiative of TPF.

About UDAAN:

Talented and focused students are the key resources of our community. While India is the youngest nation in the World, our biggest challenge is to empower our youth with relevant education and skills. We would therefore like to supplement the efforts of our Government and other agencies engaged to address this challenge. The academic success of Terapanth community is appreciable but now it would like to contribute in the betterment of the society in general. With an aim of growing from an enlightened community to a globally admired, evolved community via erudite and socially concerned members; it would now like to offer the opportunity of higher education to one and all. This is the current mandate of Terapanth Professional Forum (TPF). Currently TPF is offering promising students 100% scholarship.

About Mr. Mohandas Pai:

Mohandas Pai is the Chairman of Manipal Global Education. He used to be a Member of the Board of Directors of Infosys, and Head – Administration, Education and Research, Financial, Human Resources, and Infosys Leadership Institute. Mohan joined Infosys in 1994 and served as a Member of the Board from May 2000- July 2011. He was the Chief Financial Officer from 1994 to 2006.

He formulated the country’s first publicly articulated financial policy for the Company- Infosys. He played a key role in branding the company among the investor community and enhancing transparency and disclosure levels. The Infosys Annual Report, under his supervision, has won the top awards consistently from the Institute of Chartered Accountants and from the South Asian Federation of Accountants.

He was voted ‘CFO of the Year’ in 2001 by IMA India. He won the ‘Best CFO in India’ award from Finance Asia in 2002, and ‘Best Chief Financial Officer in India’ in the Best Managed Companies poll conducted by Asia Money in 2004.

ICAI Initiatives for Good Governance of State Co-operatives and NPO Sector

CA. Anuj Goyal, Chairman, Committee for Co-operatives and NPO Sectors (CCONPO), ICAI, CA. Sumantra Guha, Central Council Member, ICAI and Dr. Aloke Ray, Sr. Dy Secretary, ICAI has met Janab Haider Aziz Safwi, Hon’ble Minister-In-Charge, Co-operation on 14^th March’ 2013 at Writers’ Building, Kolkata to discuss the role that ICAI can play in development of Cooperative Movement in West Bengal. While briefly apprising the Hon’ble Minister about the Institute’s role and initiative in the Governance System, Chairman, CCONPO has submitted a presentation to the Hon’ble Minister for empanelment of Chartered Accountants to conduct audit of Co-operative Societies of West Bengal. They also proposed to conduct Training, Workshops, Seminar and Joint Study in the area of Governance, developing uniform Accounting and Auditing Framework, sustainability and Financial re-engineering of Co-operatives as well as NPO Sector. The Hon’ble Minister has appreciated the initiatives of the Institute in promotion of good governance, best practices and assured to consider the institute’s presentation and agreed to convene a meeting as soon as the session of State Assembly is over. He advised his office to arrange a meeting with the Senior Officials including the Secretary of the Department and Auditing Cell to consider the proposed empanelment and other Joint Initiatives with the Institutes. The meeting was concluded with the Institute’s commitment to contribute and facilitate the Co-operative movement as an integral part of the Nation’s development process. 

CABLE TV SHOW 2013 (March 5-7)

CABLE TV SHOW 2013 KOLKATA, one of the largest shows on satellite and cable television in India, was flagged off today at a gala function at the Netaji Indoor Stadium. The three-day event (March 5 to 7) is a much-awaited annual affair organised by Kolkata-based Cable TV Equipments Traders & Manufacturers Association (CTMA).

Nearly 10,000 cable operators, traders, manufacturers, channel partners, distributors, broadcasters and Multi-System Operators (MSOs) from across India, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal are expected to attend the SHOW.

“We have been organising the Cable TV SHOW for the past 17 years now. Our efforts to address, articulate and promote the cable sector in the state has borne fruit and the cable TV sector in Bengal has grown from Rs 100 crores in 1995 to Rs 1200 crore plus in 2012. CTMA has always made efforts to showcase under one roof the emerging technology and business scenario and how to cope with in for public good as well as business prosperity,” said Mr Pawan Jajodia, Chairman of Exhibition Committee, CTMA.

This year JAINHITS and AMBC are the co-sponsors and ALJAZEERA the gate sponsor, and there are 20 pavilions and 68 stalls at the SHOW.

Kolkata has approximately 3.3 million Cable TV households of which an estimated 2.7 million have shifted to digital format so far. With digitisation, the viewing pleasure has increased with better picture and multi-lingual audio, stereophonic sound, gaming, Hi-Defination channels offering a huge choice in all genre of software with access to over 400 plus channels upgradable to 1000 channels. More channels have boosted employment and business of films, serials, media, education, entertainment, home shopping, travel, fashion etc.

“After ushering in of the new government in our state there is hope all around. There has been an investment of Rs 600 crores for digitisation in the Kolkata Metropolitan Authority (KMA) area, another Rs 600 crore will be spent in next 18 months to digitise the rest of West Bengal,” said Mr Kishan Kumar Binani, Secretary, CTMA.

"A new digital horizon has been ushered in through the implementation of Digital Addressable System (DAS). There is a requirement of 7.5 million STBs for the whole of West Bengal,” said Mr Binani.

There has been a major technology infusion in the cable sector in recent times resulting in multiple delivery module for the same content i.e., DAS, DTH, HITS, IPTV, Mobile TV, leading to a fierce competition for garnering subscribers with best service at affordable price. DAS is basically an IT-based product, hence should be classified in Part I of Schedule C to the West Bengal VAT Act 2003 that will attract uniform VAT rate on all products used in DAS set up from head-end to STB, including networking products.

“CTMA is opposed to the recent increase of import duty on set-top box from 5% to 10% by the Central Government. Instead of increasing the custom duty CTMA suggests subsidies to the units manufacturing STB,s in India. We request the Government to give tax holiday for a period of at least 3 years to this sector which is currently in the process of taking off," said Mr Rajesh Doshi, President, CTMA.

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ABOUT CTMA: Cable TV Equipments Traders & Manufacturers Association (CTMA) registered under the West Bengal Society Registration Act 1961. CTMA has been the frontal organisation for redressing the needs of the cable TV sector. CTMA is one of the largest trade associations in the entire country working with the objective of bringing the latest technology and showcasing of products from around the world to the Indian Satellite & Cable Industry. CTMA, through its Cable TV Show, offers a single platform to diverse groups like cable operators, MSOs, broadcasters, hardware manufacturers, importers and traders for better coordination, service and performance. CTMA, through the Cable TV Show, has been facilitating better coordination and understanding between the cable operators, MSOs, channels, broadcasters, traders and manufacturers of India.

REDEFINED BATHING LUXURY WITH OYSTER’s LAGOON MULTISYSTEM

Oyster Bath, a leading manufacturer of luxury & wellness bathing products, known for revolutionizing the bathing concept in India, now launches “LAGOON” Multi Systems, an exquisite and exclusive collection of aesthetic beauty and a source of relaxation and serenity. Embodying the changing trends in bathrooms, ‘LAGOON,’ a concept by leading designers, creates the ultimate relaxation zone that is modern in style and promises all round wellness. Craft a big impression with Oyster’s Lagoon Multisystem & indulge yourself in the blissful delight with personal multifunctional space in your bathroom.

LAGOON is a wellness oasis that insulates you from the stress of the outside world. With warm tones, bold and elegant looks and soothing touch, enjoy tranquility surrounded by excellence. Wash away the cares of the day with a hint of luxury and the free flow of water.

The attractive features that adds beauty and value to the bathroom will include Feather Touch digital Control Panel, 8 Anti Scaling Hydro Massage Jets, Rain type 12” square Over Head Shower with dome tube Lights, Multi Flow Hand Shower Fitted on an adjustable rail, Thermostatic Lever Mixer with Diverter, Exhaust Fan, Artificial stone drain waste, keeping Artificial stone shower stool as optional. Toughened Glass Revolution Door is also designed that gives a classy and sophisticated looks to the bathroom.

They are also concerned about the health of their customers so they have come up with Electronic Control 3 KW Steam Generator, Electronics Temperature Control, there is also a provision for using aroma therapy.

Now, one can also experience music while they are in their luxury bathroom as Oyster gives the facility of radio with speaker too. When it comes to safety, Oyster provides with Earth Leakage Circuit Breaker.

About Oyster Bath Concepts: Established in 2003, Oyster Bath Concepts Pvt. Ltd. is renowned for offering bathroom innovations with exclusive design and quality as its core. The Brand offers a varied range of Wellness & Bath Fitting Products, which are widely accepted for their elegant designs and superior quality. The brand has its presence all across the countries in over 250 Stores ranging across various formats of distribution like MBO and Shop-in-Shop concepts through its Dealer/ Sub- Dealer all across the countries. Bathtubs, Shower Panels, Multi System, Steam Rooms, Shower Enclosures, Faucets, Showers, Jacuzzis, Spas.

Fashion Icon Shahrukh Khan Endorses Brand ‘ONN’

 ‘ONN’ Is On With Its New Product Range

ONN, a premium innerwear brand endorsed by Bollywood Star Shahrukh Khan brought its new offsprings this season to meet demand of urban and semi- urban youth with a mission to become a global pioneer in the industry.

Crafted with latest technology the new range of products includes Sporty Wear, Track pant, Bermudas, Three quarter pant, etc. There are wide varieties of designs and colors available in these new ranges of products with top notch quality and sensible styling to ensure complete customer satisfaction through sustained innovation. The new casual ranges are made up of 100% cotton or combed cotton with fabric covered elastic waistband, hidden buttoned fly with side pockets. ONN is committed to provide the highest quality hosiery products as per international quality standards.

The newly launched ONN casual wears starts from Rs. 239 to Rs. 625 and the inner wear collections starts from Rs. 115 to Rs. 200. The company to increase its availability to the customers has made its presence in online market by tying up with reputed companies. It has Govt. certified STAR EXPORT HOUSE.

 “We are very much enthusiastic and ambitious about the launch of the product. Our aim of introducing these product ranges is to bring style with comfort for young generation. Company has 100% in-house production, own research and development team and strict quality control which makes the product international standard. Our company has an agreement with retail outlets operating in big cities and towns and has revolutionized the innerwear market by launching exclusive ONN outlets across India in future.” said Mr. Dilip Newar, Chief Consultant, ONN Brand.

He further added, “The premium innerwear market is growing at about 25% on a year as per year on year basis. We are targeting to do a business of around Rs. 100 crores by the end of next financial year.”

The new product line of ONN innerwear focuses on to develop its presence as a confident and stylish premium inners brand with a strong recall value among youth in SEC A1, A2, and also B1.

About ONN:

ONN is a latest addition in the house of Lux Industries (ISO 9001:2008 Certified), a company with over 50 years of experience in hosiery manufacturing, has a huge pan-India presence, from Kedarnath to Kanyakumari. Its products are also in great demand in the international market, and garments are exported to various countries across the Middle East, Europe and Africa. The company is now the largest Indian exporters. It also has the largest in-house production capacity in the Indian hosiery industry.

ONN offers a wide variety of men’s innerwear. ONN focuses on today’s youth and have come up with a stylish product range. Comfortable, sporty, fashionable, designer, regular and modern inners are some of the product ranges.

Inclusion is imperative for wholesome development of India’s Capital Market: Joseph Massey

Trading in Equity and Equity futures and Options is set to become more attractive on MCX-SX, India’s new stock Exchange, with the Exchange introducing a liquidity enhancement scheme with effect from March 6, 2013to encourage genuine participation of investors. Mr. Joseph Massey, MD&CEO of MCX-SX, was in town on Tuesday to attend a road-show on the liquidity scheme. He spoke in details about the Scheme and plans of MCX-SX going ahead.

Excerpts from the interview:

Q 1. Who can participate in the MCX-SX Liquidity Enhancement Scheme?  Which are the market segments that have been included in the scheme?

Ans: This is scheme is open-to all and is meant to benefit each and every participant across various segments – whether it is a retail participant, a jobber, arbitrageur, dealer  or market maker.  The Liquidity scheme is introduced in Equity and Equity Derivatives segment. MCX-SX is the first national exchange to introduce to be introducing a liquidity enhancement scheme in Cash Market.

Q2.  When will be the scheme launched? How many securities have been included?

Ans:The scheme will come into effect form March 6, 2013. All securities available on MCX-SX are included in the scheme. In addition, there will be market making on 50 stock futures.

Q3. What is the objective of the liquidity scheme?

Ans:Inclusion will be imperative for developing India’s Capital Market. MCX-SX is stressing on Growth and Inclusion to contribute towards market development. This philosophy is also reflected in the Liquidity scheme which benefits all participants, unlike other liquidity schemes that exclude a large portion of the market. Whether it is a retail investor, or an institutional client, a jobber, arbitrageur or a market maker -- MCX-SX bonanza is for each and every participant.

Q4. How will you ensure that the incentives reach every participant, especially the retail participant and the money is not pocketed by a few participants?

Ans: The Exchange has advised all its members to provide incentives to retail clients. Moreover, market makers get higher incentives to ensure continuous and genuine liquidity, which will not be possible if he doesn’t pass on the benefit to genuine clients. Jobbers get an additional advantage as there are no Immediate or Cancelled Orders (IOC) on Algorithmic trades.  This creates a level playing field and rewards all investors and not just a chosen few with deep pockets who use sophisticated software programmes for trading. We have waived off transaction fee on all passive orders, besides paying an additional incentive amount of 50% of the transaction fee to encourage genuine trades. 

Q5. Can you elaborate about some of the monetary benefits being provided to members and market makers as part of the scheme?

Ans:  As I mentioned earlier, Market Makers are incentivized at a higher rate for contributing to genuine participation and ensuring continuous liquidity.   If a Market Maker successfully fulfills his obligation and creates liquidity in 40 securities for more than 90% of the specified trading time on all days in a month, he gets a special incentive of Rs 50 lakh. There are huge rewards for Proprietary Traders and Arbitrageurs. Top 5 members get a monthly reward of Rs 25 lac, Rs 18 lac, Rs 11 lac, Rs 7.5 lac and Rs 5 lac, respectively.

Q6. How will MCX-SX create a difference in the Indian Capital Market?

Ans:  Exchanges should play a role in channelising domestic savings into nation building. For all all-round development of markets, we need to bring all asset classes to investors, which include forex, commodities, bonds etc. We will also superior service standards, lower costs, better investor base, and a widespread reach. We have already introduced a cost optimisation in transaction costs, deposit and membership fee structure of the exchange. The incentives offered the liquidity enhancement scheme will act like a catalyst and further lower the trading cost on MCX-SX.

CA Ranjeet Kumar Agarwal

Appointed as the Vice-President of EICASA

CA Ranjeet Kumar Agarwal is appointed as the Vice-Chairman of Eastern India Regional Council and Chairman of EICASA (Eastern India CA Students' Association).He is the convention Jt. Co-ordinator. Prior to this he was the Chairman of Views Exchange CA Study Circle.

“Mind Power- Unlimited Power” – CA Naresh Agarwal

CA Naresh Agarwal, an acclaimed Mind Trainer and Motivational Speaker attended a Practical workshop on “Effective Time Management” organized by MII Bhowanipore, Kolkata.  The workshop was graced by other eminent personalities like CA Subhash Saraf, Vice Chairman, EIRC of ICAI and CA Sanjib Sanghi.

The workshop was followed by a brain storming session on “Mind Power-Unlimited Power” delivered by CA Naresh Agarwal which made all the participants and audiences amazed and spell-bound.

CA Naresh Agarwal is a very prominent Inspirational and Corporate Trainer. He conducts seminars and workshops on self-development to support people and organizations to reach their peak performance and unlock their hidden potential. Over the last one year, he’s had a direct impact on the lives of more than 10000 people from whole India with his works in leadership, psychology, mind power, memory power and peak performance. 

His speech throws light on different aspects of life and career like Enter the World of Unlimited Powers, Law of Attraction- Attract Anything in Your Life, Changing Thoughts and Beliefs, Learn Positive Thinking and Emotional Balance, Enjoy A Happy, Peaceful & Stress Free Life, Parenting, etc.

CA Naresh Agarwal motivates the audience by insisting them on “Trust yourself. You Know More than you Think you do”. His mission is to create fearless, confident & spiritually powerful people. He believes in the saying “Discover your personal Mission & create a Successful vision.”

About CA Naresh Agarwal:

Naresh Agarwal has dedicated his life in helping people discover their true potential and put into action the tools, strategies and resources that create extra ordinary results and amazing levels of personal fulfilment. Naresh Agarwal has been honoured by Indian Trainers Association.

Naresh Agarwal’s training, consulting and coaching sessions are well known for their dynamism, energy, originality and positive provocation towards personal and organizational change, coupled with measurable roadmaps and processes to implement successful change in life.

His mission is to add values to this beautiful world by making a major positive difference in the life of people.

Budget 2013-14: Reaction from The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI)

 Tax Proposals of the Union Budget 2013-14

The aim of Budget 2013-14 aptly addresses the need of the hour i.e., to accelerate growth through sustainable development and inclusive growth.  The tax proposals are also in tandem with this overall aim of the budget, proposed to be achieved by focusing on key areas, such as bringing in stability in tax regime, ensuring a non-adversarial tax administration, curbing tax evasion and increasing voluntary compliance.  Also, the budget reinforces its faith on the progressive system of taxation, by proposing levy of surcharge on the affluent, higher taxes on luxury & sin goods, provision of additional deductions to specified categories which do not encompass the rich (like additional interest on housing loans upto a specified limit, total income cap of Rs. 12 lakhs for new investors to avail the benefit of deduction of investment in Rajiv Gandhi Equity Savings Scheme), lower abatements for service tax in case of houses of high value.     

The stability in tax regime is to be achieved by maintaining status quo with respect to basic exemption limit and income-tax slabs.  The rates for all the three central indirect taxes, namely, excise duty, customs and service have also not been tinkered with.  The proposals to continue the benefits relating to deduction for new investors investing in equity market as well as the lower rate of tax on dividend received from foreign companies and the proposal to make minimum addition in the negative list of services introduced last year are in line with this objective.   Further, another notable feature in ensuring stability is that no major retrospective amendment has been proposed this year.

Significant thrust has been placed on “non-adversarial tax administration” by proposing to constitute a Tax Administration Reform Commission to review the application of tax policies and tax laws.  This would facilitate our tax systems to adopt best global practices, which is a reflection of an emerging economy. The proposal to provide for MRP based valuation in respect of branded medicaments of non-allopathy systems of medicine, will bring more clarity in law and reduce disputes.  However, non-rationalization of the complex and restrictive credit provisions is a major disappointment.

The re-introduction of tax deduction at source on sale of immovable property, where the consideration exceeds Rs.50 lakhs, is certainly the need of the hour to curb tax evasion by way of undervaluing or non-reporting of immovable property transactions.   Introduction of withholding tax @ 20% of profits distributed by unlisted companies to shareholders through buyback of shares would prevent significant revenue leakage. Likewise, levy of higher rate of tax on royalty and fee for technical services to non-resident to prevent categorizing distribution of profits by a subsidiary to a foreign parent company as royalty is expected to plug the loophole and prevent escapement of income. 

In order to ensure that the current defaulters of service tax comply with the requirement to file returns and pay taxes, a one-time scheme called “Voluntary Compliance Encouragement Scheme” is to be introduced.  A defaulter availing the scheme would be absolved of the interest and penal consequences of non-payment of tax on time.  This could prove to be a significant revenue garnering measure for the Government. 

The proposed introduction of investment allowance @ 15%  to a manufacturing company investing more than Rs.100  crore in plant and machinery during the period 1.4.2013 to 31.3.2015, exemption of Investor Protection  Fund (set-up by a depository for the protection of interest of beneficial owners) from income-tax,  extension of “eligible date” for projects in power sector for availing benefit under section 80-IA would certainly go a long way in giving a boost to economy by attracting more investments. Also, considering the low phase of readymade garment industry, the restoration of “zero-excise duty route” for cotton and man-made sector at the yarn, fabric and garment stages would provide the much needed relief.

The Finance Minister, as expected, has outlined the roadmap for ushering in the GST regime by specifically allocating a sum of Rs.9,000 crore towards the first installment of the balance of CST compensation.    It is hoped that the consensus of the States would be obtained and the Constitutional Amendment Bill as well as the GST Bill would be introduced in the Monsoon session of the Parliament.  The Finance Minister has also assured to bring in the Direct Taxes Code Bill back before the end of the Budget Session.  It is hoped that the new DTC, giving due weightage to the recommendations of the Standing Committee, would ultimately incorporate the best global practices, and at the same time, maintain the right balance between simplicity and equity.

Union Budget: 2013-14-Proposal on Economics

Finance minister P Chidambaram presented one of the most highly anticipated Budget of recent years, as the government looks to rein in a bloated fiscal deficit and restore confidence in Asia's third-largest economy. He stressed on development to be sustainable economically and ecologically. Sufficient allocation has been made to programmes relating to women and child. Health and education for all will be the priority for the government. India’s first Women’s Bank is a welcome step in the budget.

If India can build on its economic strength, it can be a source of stability for world economy and a safe destination for restless global capital. India’s GDP growth in 2012-13 is expected to be at 7.6 % +/- 0.25 %. Plan expenditure is placed at Rs 5, 55,322cr as proportion of total expenditure will be 33.3 %. Non Plan expenditure is estimated at Rs 1109975cr.

 Concept of “Effective Revenue Deficit” and “Medium Term Expenditure Framework” statement are two important features of amendment to FRBM Act in the direction of expenditure reforms. The Endeavour is to keep central subsidies under 2 % of GDP in 2012-13. More sectors are being added as eligible sectors for Viability Gap Funding under the scheme “Support to PPP in infrastructure”.

 India's greater worry is the current account deficit - will need more than $75 billion this year and next year to fund deficit. Fiscal deficit currently is at 5.3% of GDP this year and is expected to be 4.8% of GDP in 2013-14. The revenue deficit for the year 2013-14 has been fixed at 3.3 %.

Fiscal consolidation cannot be affected only by cutting expenditure, therefore wherever possible, revenue also must be augmented.

Currently India is the 10^th largest economy in the world. By 2017, it can be 8^th or perhaps 7^th largest economy. It can be among the top 5 by 2025 if the right policy framework and proper implementation is followed.                                                                      

CA Subodh Kumar Agarwal - President, ICAI

Post Budget Reaction of Mr Arun Kumar Jagatramka, CMD, Gujarat NRE Coke Ltd on “Equalisation of Customs Duty & CVD on steam & bituminous coal”

Post Budget Reaction of Mr Arun Kumar Jagatramka, CMD, Gujarat NRE Coke Ltd on “Equalisation of Customs Duty & CVD on steam & bituminous coal”

 

“There was no justification on a separate classification as bituminous coal and steam coal and the confusion created in last few months should have been done away with through a retrospective amendment. The industry had difficulty in accruing the benefit of lower custom duty on steam coal which was announced in last year’s budget due to this lack of clarity and existing non-uniform duty structure. Though the increase in custom duty on steam coal would increase the cost of power generated, the lowering of custom duty on bituminous coal would bring in relief. It is a welcome step that going forward such confusion and misclassification has been done away with. Still I believe there should not be any separate classification as bituminous coal since worldwide in global trade coal is classified as coking coal and non coking coal and the same needs to be adopted in India as well.”