8

Ahmedabad, Page (8)

CMYK

CMYK

CMYK

CMYK

The Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh meeting the President of theRepublic of Mauritius, Mr. Rajkeswur Purryag, in New Delhi.

The Director General NCC Lt Gen PS Bhalla, addressing the mediaduring Annual Press Conference coincides with NCC Republic Day Pa-rade Camp 2013, in New Delhi.

WESTERN TIMES, AHMEDABADMONDAY, JANUARY 7, 2013

New Delhi,Year 2013 brings hope

and the road ahead seemsto be positive. We may talkabout metro railways, so-lar power generation andrapid transport buses, butthe first thing which reflectsthe growth of any countryor state is its Roads andwe are witnessing an im-provement in the roadsand infrastructure.

It is pertinent to notethat this has been possibledue to private participationunder build operate andtransfer projects, com-monly known as BOTprojects. The mode of re-covery of the investmentdone by these operators isthrough collection of tollcharges. This year the gov-ernment made it clear thatservice by way of accessto a road or a bridge onpayment of toll charges isa non taxable negative listservice and no service taxis leviable on the same.

Further the benefit ofnon taxability under theNegative List would beavailable only if such ser-

Year 2013: Looking at the Road aheadvice is provided by a Spe-cial Purpose Vehicle SPVcreated under an agree-ment between NationalHighway Authority of IndiaNHAI or a state authorityor by the executor of aPublic Private PartnershipModel or Built-Own/Oper-ate Transfer arrangements.If an independent agencyis engaged for collection oftolls, the service providedby such agency to the prin-cipal would be taxable.Moreover any service pro-vided in relation to collec-tion of tolls or for securityof a toll road would be aservice used for providingthe negative list serviceand will be taxable. How-ever, the situation prior toJuly 1, 2012 was dicey andthere are many conflictingjudgements on this issue

The service tax depart-ment has raised demandson various companiesthroughout the country forthe past period for the tollcollection charges for ac-cess towards roads andbridges. The Tribunal NewDelhi in case of the intertoll

India Consultants Pvt ltd.Vs CCE, Noida STO 2011CESTAT 421 held that aperson is considered ascustomers of a businesshouse when he has re-peated dealing with thebusiness house. Individu-als using the Delhi NoidaDelhi bridge pays toll totrue authority and cannotbe considered as a cus-tomer.

The definition of theBAs either prior to 10-09-2004 or post 10-09-2044has to be considered fromthe point of view ofwhether the appellant hasprovided any customercare services on behalf ofthe client. The activity ofthe appellant would becovered under the Man-agement Maintenance andRepair of Immovable prop-erty services.

Such services are li-able to be taxed form16.06.2005. The toll feescollected by the appellantis nothing but the toll whichhas bene levied by themunicipal corporation ofDelhi. Notification Number

13/2004 specifically ex-empts the service tax li-ability on such services ofcollection of duties andtaxes levied by Govern-ment.

Similarly, in the case ofSwarna Tollway Pvt ltd. VsCommissioner of Cus &Ex, Guntur STO 2011CESTAT 1101 the TribunalBangalore discussed mainquestion arising for consid-eration is whether they areliable to pay service taxunder the head, BusinessAuxiliary Service on the tollcollected by them from theusers of certain sections ofcertain Highways under aconcession Agrement,Here too they decided thatthe revenues case did nothave merits.

Recently in the case ofPNC Constructions Co ltd.STO 2012 CESTAT 803the Hon Tribunal new Delhiheld that the activities ofthe appellants in respect oftoll fee collection cannot beheld to be a service pro-vided to NHAI falling underthe category of Businessauxiliary services. How-

ever, one question whichkeeps haunting many, iswhether collection chargesor service charges paid toany toll collecting agencyalso get covered under thenegative service list or oth-erwise? The governmentclarified that the negativelist entry only covers ac-cess to a road or a bridgeon payment of toll charges.Services of toll collectionon behalf of an agency au-thorized to levy toll are inthe nature of servicesused for providing thenegative list services. Asper the principle laid downin sub section (1) of sec-tion 66F of the Act the ref-erence to a service by na-ture or description in theAct will not include rever-ence to a service used forproviding such service.Hence if any agency isappointed for mere collec-tion of toll charges and ispaid service charges ac-cordingly, the said compo-nent charges accordingly,the said component of ser-vice charges will be tax-able.

Mumbai,With little hope of be-

ing airborne again the nearfuture, a section of King-fisher Airlines pilots airnow pinning their hopes onthe erstwhile Deccan Airfounder Capt. Gopinath’sproposed new carrier andmaking frequent enquiriesabout its launch.

With airlines like JetAirways, SpiceJet, IndiGoand GoAir not hiring, King-fisher pilots, who alongwith other employees havenot been paid for the leasteight months, are nowhinging their hopes onGopinath’s new aviationventure, sources said.

Some pilots are al-ready in touch withGopinath while others, arebetting on Kingfisher’s re-vival amidst talk of Malayatrying to rope in a foreignpartner, they said.

First, we do not expectthis Kingfisher airline totake off in the near future.And even if it does, it willbe a low sale operations asthe management has sug-gested in the revival plan.How long we will have tosit without flying is any-body guess, pilots, unwill-ing to be named, said.

For the records, VijayMallya promoted carriernow owes eight monthssalary to it staff, despite awritten assurance by itschef executive SanjayAggarwal that salary areas

Kingfisher pilots pin hope onCapt. Gopinath’s aviation venture

of the staff till June wouldbe remitted beforeChritsmas.

Aggrwal had promisedthe pilots that they wouldbe paid there May salarybefore Diwali November14. Employees were to bepaid their April salaries byOctober 31 and May sal-ary by November 12. Sala-ries for the months ofJune-September were tobe paid once the companyis recapitalized. From Oc-tober on, the company wassupposed to pay salariesa month late, which meansthe October salary will bepaid by the last week ofDecember, he had as-sured then, following whichthe almost a moth longagitation by pilots and en-gineers was called of. Letalone June salary, a goodnumber of pilots have notreceived even payment forMay also, they said.Gopinath who has alreadytried his luck in the avia-tion business twice, first bylaunching country’s firstlow cost airline Air Deccanand then air cargo opera-tions, is not reportedly setto market a reentry sometime next year with anotheraviation business. TheDeccan founder who soldhis carrier to Mallya for Rs550 crore in 2007, cur-rently has a 5 year noncompetitive clause in hisagreement with Malllya,which comes to an end in

January 2013.Some of us have

worked with the CaptainGopinath and that experi-ences will definitely standus in good steady when heplans to hire pilots, theysaid, adding he never de-faulted on employees sala-ries despite losses.

The Bangalore basedentrepreneur is all set forhis reentry into the airlinessegment and is in talkswith some overseas, air-lines to take them on boardand launch a passengercarriers by mid next year.

Though Kingfisher Air-line has submitted tis in-terim revival plan to Direc-torate General of CivilAviation, industry peopleare not quite hopeful aboutits revival.

While Civil AviationMinister Ajit Singh hastermed the plan as wishfulthinking the regulator alsodoes not seem to be quiteconvinced about the docu-ments submitted by thedefunct airline manage-ment and has sought morepapers on how the airlinewould fund its operationsin future.

DGCA has sought ad-ditional details from King-fisher Airlines on how itwould fund its revival plansubmitted to the aviationregulator for resumption ofits flight operations, offi-cials sources said told thenews agency.

The Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions andPrime Minister’s Office, Shri V. Narayanasamy presented the RajbhashaShield and certificates, at the Regional Directors’ Conference organizedby Staff Selection Commission, in New Delhi.

More than 15 farmersin an NalankurichiKadayam andEithmakattalai villages inTirunelveli district of TamilNadu are doing a littlemore than growing crops.

They have formed agroup and are engaged indirect retail marketing oftheir produce. The ideamooted by Mr. Davind RajaBeula, Assistant Directorof Horticulture, Kadayam,Tirunelveli, seems to havebeen received well both bythe growers and the cus-tomers.

Named Farmers directinvolvement in retial, sale,I coincide this idea when Ihappened to visit Denmarkfor an agriculture summit.I interacted with someDanish farmers who werepractising a similar con-cept.

The produce wascleaned, graded, andtransported form the farmto customers homesbased on order overphone. And I thought of try-ing a similar exercise here

‘Do it yourself’ approach pays dividends to ryotsand this is just a pilot studywhich seems to benefit thefarmers in the region, Mr.David said.

Accordingly somefarmers were briefed aboutit and Mr.. David alsostarted contracting hisfriends’ circles to spreadthe word about this project.Many became interestedin buying the producesince they were farm fresh.

A time frame was givento both the farmers and thecustomers 2-3 months andfarmers briefed about whatcorps to grow Mr. Davidhad already made a noteof the requirements fromcustomers.

Today the list of buyersand sellers has beensteadily increasing and Mr.David needs to work allseven days a week in net-working with both sides ofthe group. Sundays are themost busy days for thefarmers in the retail net-work as they get severalvisitors who buy veg-etables and fruits by thedozen and place weekly

orders. Sometimes, Mr.David volunteers to drivethe farmers produce tocustomers. Each farmersin the network is advisedto grow a minimum of 4-5vegetables and fruit to ca-ter to the demand andchoice. Some educationalinstitutions in Tirunelvelihave also been quite ea-ger to buy the produce di-rectly fro the farmers fortheir students’ messes.

Says farmer Mr.Susrairaj, a member of thenetwork, I get Rs 8-10 a kgof bottlegourd which it wasselling at Rs 2 a kg somemonths back. My custom-ers are mostly lawyers,doctors and office goingexecutives who place or-ders beforehand as towhat vegetables or fruitsthey require then signweek. I pluck, grade, cleanand keep it ready for them,he says.

Another farmers,Mariapichal, growing la-dies finger in half an acreof land is able to earn a netprofit of Rs 27,000 against

his normal Rs 12,000 tillthree months back.

The additional net profitthe farmers received wasRs 14,400 which workedout to 110 per cent addi-tional net profit after intro-

duction of the new market-ing strategy. India is theonly country in the worldwhere the price of agricul-ture produce is determinedby somebody other thanthe growers (farmers).

Tech Policy hikesR&D budget by 2%

Kolkata,The Science, Technology and Innovation Policy

2013, which hopes to position India among the topfive global scientific powers by 2020, was releasedat the centenary session of the Indian Science Con-gress in Kolkata on Thursday.

The new policy will raise gross R&D expendi-ture in India from 1% to 2% of GDP. It will also in-crease the full time equivalent of R&D personnelby at least 66% of the present strength in five years

“It is an ambitious goal. It aims to produce andnurture talent in science, stimulate research in ouruniversities and develop young leaders in the fieldof science and reward performance. The 12th five-year plan outlines a number of initiatives which willmake this possible,” Prime Minister ManmohanSingh said while releasing the policy.

US fiscal deal may cause Asia’sinvestment winners to lose shine

Hong Kong,A resolution to the US fiscal cliff crisis, messy and pro-

tracted as it was, provided an immediate boost for financialmarkets but longer term could spell trouble for some Asianassets coming off a stellar 2012. Investors could start to shiftsome money out of overpriced or crowded Asian investmentsin favour of the US on the view that the fiscal deal managesto avert a US recession and boosts prospects for US stocks.A fall in US equities as funds pulled out some money in thefourth quarter, in contrast to a rally in Asia as funds funnelledmoney into the region, suggest conditions are ripe for somereversal. “In the short term, US risk premium will come downnow that a deal has been struck and might trigger somereversal of flows from Asia back to the US”, said Hong Hao,chief equity strategist at Bank of Communication Interna-tional Securities. Analysts do not expect a major reversal offunds, but more of a subtle shift as some money managersrebalance portfolios by taking profits on Asian positions andmoving funds into prospective bets in the US. The S&P 500fell 1% from September through December last year in thebuild up to the presidential election and the so-called fiscalcliff. Markets had worried that in the absence of Congres-sional action, $600 billion (£370 billion) in scheduled tax in-creases and spending plans would tip the world’s biggesteconomy into a recession.