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 Railways spot early signs of economic recovery |
| Spotting early signs of economic revival, the Indian Railways have kept an ambitious revenue targets of Rs 88,419 crore for 2009-10, reflecting an increase of Rs 8,557 crore on the actual realisation in the previous year. |
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| ...proposes to invest Rs 40,745 crore |
| Despite a global slump in economic activity, the Indian Railways is gearing to reach out to the future through enhanced investments this fiscal year. One of the country’s largest profit-making bodies, the Railways proposes to invest Rs 40,745 crore in the current fiscal, up from Rs 36,773 crore in the last fiscal year. Nearly 40 per cent of this would go in research and road safety (over bridges and under bridges) projects. |
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| RNRL moves SC seeking modification of HC ruling |
| Anil Ambani group company RNRL on Friday moved the Supreme Court for modification in the Bombay High Court order to ensure gas supply from Mukesh Ambani-led RIL without going through negotiations. |
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| RIL files caveat |
| Mukesh Ambani-run Reliance Industries on Friday filed a caveat in the Supreme Court to ensure it is given a chance to explain itself in a case relating to natural gas supply to Anil Ambani group firm RNRL. When contacted, an RIL spokesperson confirmed filing the caveat against an ex parte judgment. |
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| ...doles out Rs 5,479 crore dividend despite dip in surplus |
| Despite a drain on its cash reserves due to the higher salaries on account of the Sixth Pay Commission award, Indian Railways would pay an increased dividend in 2009-10. It would be giving out Rs 5,479 crore as dividend during the current fiscal despite over Rs 3,000 crore dip in cash surplus on account of higher wage bill. |
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| Not possible to end cesses, surcharges now: Plan panel |
| People will have to live with cesses and surcharges as it is not be possible for the Government to eliminate them at present as has been advocated by the Economic Survey, Planning Commission member Saumitra Chaudhuri said. “The reality is that these are there and if you make a change today it may have an immediate affect which you may not be able to compensate,” he told the news agency when asked whether the Government can remove cesses and surcharges. Agreeing that surcharge should be removed once the purpose for which it was imposed is over, Saumitra said the Government may not be willing to remove them as of now in view of revenue considerations. “They (surcharge) are imposed on income beyond a limit... The Government may not be ...(willing to) change that at the moment. May be at future date yes. But not today,” Chaudhuri said. The Economic Survey which was tabled by the Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in Parliament suggested “review and phasing out of surcharges, cesses and transaction taxes (such as commodities, transaction tax, securities transaction tax and Fringe Benefit Tax)”. |
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| Service tax collection for April-May ’09 down 7% |
| Service tax collection of the Government has taken a beating this fiscal with the amount mopped up on this account falling more than 7 per cent to Rs 5,675 crore in the first month of 2009-10 as compared to the the same period last year. |
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| Mkts pep up |
| After a few days of dull trading, the stock market spiralled up today following the Railway Budget, with the benchmark Sensex soaring by 255 points on heavy buying by foreign funds and partial recovery in global stocks. |