12.10.2006

Net telephony may join ISP licence league
Net telephony calls will soon attract a service tax of 12.24% in addition to a revenue share of 6%.

Kiran Desai bags booker prize
Daughter of Anita Desai and the author of “The inheritance of Loss” has bagged the Booker Prize when she just turned 35.

She is the youngest woman to bag the award and that too at the very first instance of nomination.

Three other Indians got the Booker Prize earlier:

• Ruth Prawar Jhabvala (1975)
• Salman Rushdie (1981)
• Arundhati Roy (1997)
  

PM hits out at developed countries on free trade
Two thirds of the population of developing countries live in rural areas in comparison to less than 10% in developed countries.

The prosperity of so many cannot be sacrificed for protecting the interest of so few – says the PM.

Air traffic forecasts
AAI (Airports Authority of India) estimates that traffic at Indian airports will touch 205 mln by 2011-12 up from the 73.3 mln in 2005-06.

IT companies are expected to account for 8-10% of GDP by 2008 from 1.4% in 2001.

India's living population
According to the census 72% of Indians are still rural. The rest live in 5,161 towns including 21 cities that have a population of more than 1 mln. Of the total urban population, 15% live in slums.

Software piracy
A recent study by IDC estimates that a mere 10% reduction of piracy in India (from the current level of 75%) could translate into 115,000 new IT jobs, pump in $5 bn as additional revenues for software companies and $386 mln as additional tax revenues for the Indian economy.

Hydel power
There are around 4000 sites all over the country which are suitable for installing small hydro power (less than 25 MW per project) plants capable of producing 10,000 MW.

There is an estimated 5000 MW potential that has not been identified as yet.