Russia blow to ONGC

New Delhi, Dec. 23: Moscow has rejected special tax concessions to state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp’s Siberia-focused firm Imperial Energy ahead of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s New Delhi visit. India had been pressing for tax concessions to Imperial Energy to make up for the high cost of extraction from tight oil assets in Siberia because of bad terrain, cold climate and killer taxes.

Growth worry

New Delhi, Dec. 23: The Plan panel has warned that persistent policy logjam could pull down the annual average economic growth rate in the 12th Five-Year Plan (2012-17) to 5-5.5 per cent from 7.9 per cent in the Eleventh Plan. If the Centre pursues a well-designed strategy, the annual average growth rate in the 5-year period could move up to 8.2 per cent.

Pharma show

New Delhi, Dec. 23: The Indian pharmaceutical sector is expected to grow five-fold in the next seven years to reach Rs 5 lakh crore, according to government estimates. The pharmaceutical sector has grown over 3.5-fold in the last 10 years to Rs 1,19,075.7 crore.

Inflation index

New Delhi, Dec. 23: The government has extended the tenure of the Saumitra Chaudhuri committee on the revision of the Wholesale Price Index — used for calculating inflation — by six months to June 30.

Tax rate

New Delhi, Dec. 23: Industry body Ficci has demanded that the highest income tax rate of 30 per cent should be levied on income above Rs 20 lakh against Rs 10 lakh from the next fiscal to encourage consumption.