Tax mopup rises

New Delhi, May 14: Booming industrial activity has helped the government collect Rs 13,862 crore from excise and customs duties during the first month of the current fiscal, up 19.1 per cent from the year-ago period. The government fetched Rs 6,640 crore as excise duty against Rs 5,967 crore in the same month last . Customs duty collection jumped 27.4 per cent to Rs 7,221 crore from Rs 5,667 crore in April 2006. The government has fixed an indirect tax collection target of about Rs 2,54,528 crore for 2007-08.

Sail director

Calcutta, May 14: Shoeb Ahmed has been appointed as SAIL’s director (commercial). Ahmed was previously executive director (marketing -long products) at sail’s headquarters in the city. He has also headed the company’s corporate affairs division during 1997-2003, the statement added.

Carlsberg buy

New Delhi, May 14: Danish beer company Carlsberg has acquired a brewery in Himachal Pradesh. The company, however, did not disclose any financial details of the deal. The acquisition is carried out by the company’s joint venture — South Asia Breweries, in which it holds 45 per cent stake.

iptv pact

New Delhi, May 14: Tech Mahindra has announced a strategic alliance with Sun Microsystems India to roll out internet protocol tv (iptv) services .