SBH declares FY14 as SME year, targets 60% growth

Andhra Bank, SBH to focus on SMEs

BS Reporter

Curbs on iron ore exports by the Odisha government, coupled with sharp fall in iron ore shipments following imposition of 30 per cent export duty by the Centre have hit cargo volumes at Dhamra port, jointly promoted by Tata Steel and L&T.The port which operates two berths with a combined capacity of 25 million tonne per annum (mtpa), has handled a little over 15 million tonne, inclusive of export and import cargo, till March 5, this year since the beginning of its commercial operations in May 2011. The achievement is barely 60 per cent of its available capacity."Restriction on iron ore exports by the state government has been a dampener for the Dhamra port. As a result, one of the two berths, dedicated for iron ore shipments with handling capacity of 13 mtpa, saw minimal traffic in 2011-12", said DPCL sources. The export traffic from this berth has gone up marginally to two mtpa (iron ore fines and thermal coal) in the current fiscal.The port, however, has breached the 10 million t

Export curbs dent Dhamra port's capacity utilization

Business Standard

The elections to the ULBs or urban local bodies have come as a blessing in disguise to all political parties in different ways. Though reluctant to face the elections initially, the parties finally reconciled with the reality and have fielded the candidates.Top leaders of all the parties who visited the region admitted that the elections would help them guage the mood of the electorate and identify the strength and weakness of their own party and make amends before the elections to assembly.While the BJP was not clear of the impact the KJP would have on the prospects of its candidates in the assembly elections, the ULB elections would make known KJP's influence on voters. Similarly, the BJP would also come to know the role of the fence-sitting ministers presently in the BJP but have allegiance to KJP leader Yeddyurappa in the ULB elections.Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar told Business Standard, the elections have come as a boon in disguise. "The elections will show the mood of the vote

Civic polls come as blessing in disguise to political parties

Odisha yet to furnish its compliance to the Coal ministry with respect to illegal coal mining

Coal ministry urges Odisha to curb illegal mining

The counting of votes for the elections held on March 7 for filling up the seats in urban local bodies in the state, including the Mysore City Corporation (MCC), will take place tomorrow.Elaborate arrangements are made for the smooth conduct of counting of votes at the designated centres at the JSS Pharmacy College, Bannimantap, Maharani's Arts College, JLB Road and JSS College, Nanjangud Road, in Mysore where police is providing tight security.Prohibitory order under Section 144 has been imposed around 200-metre radius from 6 am to 12 midnight at these centres. Holding of victory processions, bursting of crackers, convening and addressing meetings among others have also been prohibited.Strict restrictions have been imposed on the entry into these counting centres. Only candidates and their agents will be allowed inside. They have to remain in the counting halls until the counting process is completed.The counting of votes will commence at 8 am. Votes of wards 1 to 19, and ward 21 will

Counting of ULB votes today

A section of state Congress leaders could not suppress their restlessness over early formation of a government with JMM, pointing  present tenure of the state assembly that ends in December 2014.

Jharkhand Congress presses on government formation in state

Shankara Infrastructure to raise second round of private equity

Keeping an eye on the oncoming Panchayat election in the state, the Mamata Banerjee government might go for a deferred announcement of the hike in cold storage charge for potato.

Bengal govt likely to defer hike in cold storage charge

The state government has decided to set up a venture capital fund especially for women entrepreneurs.

Bihar to set up venture capital fund for women enterpreneurs

Apparently wary of the poll gameplan of NCP chief Sharad Pawar, Congress MPs from Maharashtra could tell party Vice President Rahul Gandhi at their meeting on Sunday that it should prepare to fight all the seats on its own in next Lok Sabha elections."Instead of fully relying on the NCP, the Congress should be ready to contest all the seats", party MP Rajani Patil told PTI, adding this was necessary to avoid any unexpected move by Pawar's party that could derail Congress's plans. Patil recalled assertions by the state NCP that despite an alliance with the Congress, it will make preparations for contesting all the 288 Assembly seats as a "safety measure." It is also saying it wants a more seats.In the 2009 Lok Sabha polls, Congress had secured 17 and NCP 8 in the state having 48 seats. In the Assembly polls later, Congress had secured 82 seats while the NCP 62 in the 288-member House. The state NCP has already started laying claim on Pune Lok Sabha seat currently represented by Suresh K

Maha Cong MPs want party to fight all seats on its own

Press Trust of India

With the recent bypolls marking a continuing slide in its vote share since the rout in the 2011 Assembly polls, the Left Front in West Bengal is eyeing the approaching panchayat election with concern.

By-poll slide leaves Left apprehensive ahead of panchayat poll

A PIL filed in the Bombay High Court has opposed the Maharashtra Charity Commissioner's move to collect Rs  30 crore per annum from five lakh charitable trusts in the state towards administration fund to meet expenses, saying there was enough money lying with it in the form of fixed deposits.The petitioners told the high court on March 5 that an RTI had revealed that enough funds were at the disposal of the Charity Commissioner to meet the administration expenses and hence there were no need to collect money for "Public Trusts Administration Fund".Citing information received through the RTI, the petitioners contended that the Charity Commissioner's office had fixed deposits to the tune of Rs  431 crore, lying in various banks as on September 30, 2012, petitioner's lawyer Prafulla Shah argued.He said that total income earned by the office of Charity Commissioner from interest on fixed deposits was Rs  27.98 crore and from other sources the income was Rs  241 crore as on March 31, 2012.T

PIL opposes charity commissioner's move to make trusts pay

The Supreme Court stated last week that a high court cannot interfere with the discretionary power of the arbitrator to fix the rate of interest in the award. When there is no mention of interest in the contract, the arbitrator has discretion to award interest on the amount awarded. In this case, P Radhakrishna Murthy vs NBCC Ltd, the arbitrator rejected the claim of interest at the rate of 24 per cent. On appeal, the civil court ruled that the arbitrator's view that he could not award interest was wrong in law. It awarded 16.5 per cent. The matter went up to the Karnataka High Court. It reduced the interest to 12 per cent, the bank rate prevailing at that time (1988). The contractor appealed to the Supreme Court, but it dismissed the appeal and confirmed the interest awarded by the high court.Mining lease order quashedThe Supreme Court last week set aside the order of the Orissa High Court in a case involving iron and manganese ore mining lease in favour of M/s Mesco Steel Ltd. The hi

M J Antony: Arbitrator free to fix interest

Proposals for enhanced penalties need to be applied with immense restraint and judiciousness

Vivek Mishra: On path to better tax governance?

I remember that in mid-nineties, a small manufacturer of an industrial product, where a very minuscule quantity of gold was used, approached me and wanted a ruling that his product is not a gold-manufacture of gold. He said that he would stop manufacture if it was ruled as gold-manufacture  since without a ruling, one day,  audit may take an adverse view. And there will be so much of extra duty involved that he would prefer to remain in jail, as he cannot pay that amount. I wrote a special report advocating a system of advance ruling for such activity then, but when the Authority was born in 1999, it was a blue baby, a powerless creature which could give ruling only to MNCs and for proposed activities. In all these fourteen years the scope has been expanded but it still remains for the proposed activity. The type of case mentioned above is still not covered.All along there have been many issues raised asking for expansion of power of AAR to give ruling. In a latest case of Oracle India

Sukumar Mukhopadhyay: Advance Ruling's scope expanded, more wanted

With inflation hovering above average, a scheme to support the unemployed through the state-run Goa Horticulture Corporation has become a hit with close to 600 outlets selling vegetables at subsidised rates.The state-run GSHCL now supports the largest chain of vegetable outlets in the state and their number is increasing each passing month.According to Orland Rodrigues, Managing Director of GSHCL, there are 575 outlets operational till date selling around 200 tonne of vegetables every day at wholesale rate. The cost of vegetables procured from neighbouring Karnataka is around Rs  6-7 crore a month.The scheme, he said, was the part of the state government's initiative to bring down inflation. "It is anti-inflation scheme which is getting support from the government. The selling of vegetables at subsidised rates helps to stabilise the market prices of this commodity", he said.Vegetable market in Goa has traditionally been controlled by vendors from Karnataka, settled in the state, and ve

Goa provides financial muscle to unemployed to fight inflation

The move may bring down energy cost for pvt sector refiner and also open doors for future LNG sourcing from other suppliers

Essar Oil to use GSPL network for LNG supply to its HMU

A welcome feature of Finance Bill, 2013, is that it does not contain retrospective amendments and does not seek to overrule pronouncements of Supreme Court. There are only a few proposals in the Budget relating to foreign enterprises. Our observations relating to some of the proposed amendments are as under:Dividend received from foreign companiesDividend received from foreign companies in which an Indian company holds at least 26 per cent equity shares is taxable at the concessional rate of 15 per cent as against the normal tax rate of 30 per cent. The concessional rate was introduced by Finance Act, 2011, for assessment year 2012-13. The period for concession was extended for one more year by Finance Act, 2012. Now Finance Bill, 2013, proposes to extend this concessional rate for one more year.In order to remove the cascading effect in respect of dividends received by Indian company from foreign subsidiary company in which Indian company holds more than 50 per cent of equity shares,

HP Agrawal: A mixed bag for foreign companies

Fearing possible clashes over water in drought-affected Marathwada and western Maharashtra regions, police have been asked to remain alert and step up their presence on the streets in these areas."The water problem is very severe in some regions of the state. Furious over the problems, people may lose temper and this may lead to clashes. So, there is a need to have a strategy in place to tackle such situations. Instructions have been issued to policemen in these regions to be alert and ensure law and order prevails," said an officer at Maharashtra police headquarters here.Anticipating no immediate relief, some people from drought-hit rural areas have started migrating to cities like Mumbai, Pune and adjoining states in search of livelihood.Police fear that water shortage might snowball into a law and order problem."Police have also been instructed that in the case of protests, they should exercise utmost restraint and resort to cane-charge only in extreme cases," the officer said.

Maha police gear up to tackle possible water riots

Sebi's lifetime is pretty much the lifetime of India's departure into an 'era' of economic liberalisation

Somasekhar Sundaresan: No sheen for larger system from Sebi

Nodal agency for the project has finalised a consortium of SBI, Bank of India and IDBI to work out on raising the requisite fund

Modi's metro rail project to see Rs 6K cr financial closure by May

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