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PPP route to boost coal production
NEW DELHI: Finance minister P. Chidambaram said there was a need to devise a policy on public-private-partnership (PPP) framework, with Coal India as one of the partners, to reduce India’s growing dependence on imported coal. The measure, he said, will lead to an increase in domestic coal production for supplying to power producers and other consumers of fossil fuel. The government and the coal ministry will announce the “policies in due course”, Chidambaram added.
Readymade garments cheaper
NEW DELHI: Readymade garments will be cheaper 7-8 per cent with Chidambaram exempting them from excise duty, the apparel industry today said. The step will give a much needed relief to the industry which has been facing sluggish phase. Earlier, garment makers had to pay a 3.6 per cent excise duty on the MRP value of garments compulsorily, irrespective of claiming input tax credit. “We welcome the move. It will provide impetus to the garment industry,” Sandeep Jain, executive director of Oswal Woollen Mills, said.
CONCESSIONS FOR Aircraft PARTS
New delhi: Duty concessions on the import of spare parts and testing equipment for the aircraft MRO (manufacture, repair and overhaul) industry were granted in the budget today as the government proposed to provide a plan outlay of
Rs 5,000 crore in Air India in the next financial year. The budget proposed to exempt basic customs duty to parts and testing equipment for MRO facilities for airplanes as it enhanced the time period for consumption of these parts or equipment from three months to one year. No countervailing duty will be imposed on the import of vessels, including aircraft, which are already exempted fully from excise duty, the budget document said.
PEP PILL FOR INSURANCE
NEW DELHI: The government today said banks could act as brokers to sell policies and simplified KYC norms for buying the product. To boost the sagging insurance sector, Chidambaram also announced that insurance companies will be allowed to open branches in tier-II cities and below without prior approval of the IRDA. He further
announced all towns with a population of 10,000 or more will have an office of LIC and at least one public sector general insurance company by March, 2014.
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