TRACKPAD

CBEC directs ITOM to redress taxpayers’ problems

Chairman of Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) has directed Indirect Tax Ombudsmen (ITOM) from Lucknow, Mumbai, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Chennai and Bangalore to take initiatives to redress the problems and issues of taxpayers. Following this, it will now be holding meetings with the trade and industry associations in their jurisdiction and encourage the taxpayers to bring forth their issues. As this is a year of taxpayers, CBEC has taken several initiatives to improve and facilitate trade and business and strengthening the institution of the ombudsman is also a step in this direction. Importantly, taxpayers can approach the ITOM if they have complaints of deficiency in the working of customs, central excise and service tax departments on account of non-adherence to the prescribed working hours and procedural delays in refunds, rebate, drawback and other such matters.

Prices of essential commodities begin to ease

The government has claimed that due to its continued monitoring and vigilance of essential commodities’ prices, especially pulses, edible oil and vegetables, prices have now started showing a sign of softening. Importantly, as a result of demand and supply mismatch, the prices of tur and urad had shown an increase due to which government was forced to take various measures like imposition of stock limit, zero duty on import of pulses and coordinated de-hoarding operations in major producing states viz., Maharashtra, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. As per a government release, the overall trends indicate that the prices of pulses and onions have declined by Rs 2 to Rs 13 per kg in various cities of the country. This includes commodities like arhar, urad, groundnut oil, mustard oil, etc. The government is now focusing on ensuring that in Maharashtra, where as much as 87,000 MT pulses were seized during dehoarding operations, are brought to the retail market. Meanwhile, with the commencement of the arrival of new crop of urad and the expected arrival of tur in the next two weeks, both FCI and NAFED have geared themselves up to undertake procurement of pulses for building a buffer stock. Visible decline in the prices of pulses is also a result of the release of about 6,000 MT of seized pulses into the retail market in states like Karnataka,Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.

In line with the theme of Make in India, the Ministry of Power has set up a pavilion at India International Trade Fair–2015 at Pragati Maidan, which showcases the contribution of the Indian power sector towards the theme of the fair. NTPC is also part of the power pavilion. NTPC’s efforts to power India’s growth through inclusive growth have been displayed through dioramas and LED backlit panels, providing an overview of its contribution and achievements. R P Pandey, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Power visited the pavilion while AK Jha, CMD, NTPC shared various activities being undertaken by NTPC. PK Sinha, General Manager (CC), was also present.

Aditya Birla Group company Idea Cellular bought Videocon Telecommunications spectrum in the Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh circles for Rs 3,310 crore. With this spectrum trading arrangement, Idea’s 4G (LTE) spectrum footprint will expand to 12 service areas covering over 75 per cent of Idea’s current revenue and over 72 per cent of existing 170 million quality subscribers. Idea plans to launch 4G services in 750 towns across existing 10 circles by the first half of calendar year 2016. This is the second major merger and acquisition in telecom sector after the government released its new spectrum sharing and trading norms. The first was Reliance Communications' acquisition of 10 per cent stake in Sistema Shyam Teleservices’ Indian operations earlier this month.

Tata Motors-owned Jaguar Land Rover is to double the size of its Midland-based Engine Manufacturing Centre (EMC) with a £450 million (over Rs 4,500 crore) investment that reinforces the luxury carmaker’s position as one of the biggest investors in UK manufacturing.The engine manufacturing centre is JLR’s first venture into in-house engine manufacturing for low emission, four-cylinder diesel engines from the Ingenium brand of engine family. Currently,JLR depends on Ford Motor Company for engine requirements.The £450 million pound investment programme at EMC is a clear signal of the company’s long-term commitment to Britain.While the facility currently provides engines for the Jaguar XE, XF and the Range Rover Evoque, it will graduate to building petrol-fired engines in the near future.