09.01.2007

• EU Trade Commissioner
• Peter Mandelson
• FII direct stock exposure liable for capital gains tax
• The AAR (Authority for Advance Ruling) has ruled that FIIs investing directly in Indian stocks will have to pay a 10% short term capital gains tax. Their gains will not be treated as business income.
• What this ruling implies is that they can invest in shares but not trade in them.
• An advance ruling, though applies only to the applicant and the tax department, it has lot of persuasive value as other tax payers can quote this ruling.
• Hotel industry
• Globally, land costs in setting up new hotel ventures, account for 15 to 20% of the total project cost. In India, the real estate component in the total project cost has shot up to 50% compared to 25 to 30% a few years back, and this has driven them to set up luxury rather than budget hotels.
• Indian realty sector forecasts
• Indian realty sector is expected to grow from $12 bn in 2005 to $90 bn by 2015.
• Space tourism
• A US businessman, Denis Tito, a 59 year old ex-NASA employee, was the world’s first paying space tourist in 2001. He traveled to the orbiting space stations aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket. He spent a week in orbit.
• On September 18, 2006, Anousheh Ansari captured headlines around the world as the first female private space explorer. Anousheh earned a place in history as the fourth private explorer to visit space and the first astronaut of Iranian descent. She blasted off for an eight-day expedition aboard the International Space Station as part of the Expedition 14 crew of the Soyuz TMA-9, which included NASA astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin.
• Indian semiconductor industry
• Is estimated to grow at 30% annually to generate revenues of over $43 bn and create more than 35 lakh jobs by 2015.
• Total consumption of electronic equipment would rise at 29.8% to $363 bn by 2015.
• India’s BPO industry
• Is of $7 bn size and is growing at a scorching 40% per annum.
• Vacation of spectrum by defence for civilian use
• Defence has already agreed to vacate 45 MHz of spectrum for civilian use this year. In addition it is also about to release another 30 MHz of spectrum. For this the Planning Commission has recommended adequate compensation to defence forces for enabling them to establish alternate channels for their use.
• As per estimates, the total cost of relocation for defence forces, including the installation and commissioning of new equipment would be between Rs. 5,500 crores to Rs. 7,000 crores.
• Oil usage
• World consumption of oil would hit 116 mbpd (million barrels per day) by 2030.
• In 2005, it was about 84 mbpd.
• Oil represented about 35% of the world’s energy mix in 2004 and is expected to account for around 33% by 2030.
• Many forecasters see a greater future role for biofuels, nuclear, wind and solar power, and for non-conventional oil extracted from tar sands in places such as Canada or from plentiful reserves of coal.
• Reverse mortgage on housing
• The NHB (National Housing Bank) has indicated that primary housing finance players may offer reverse mortgage loans at between 45% and 60% of the market value of a property.
• Reverse mortgage is a scheme specially designed for senior citizens with residential property to supplement their pension and other incomes without having to sell their homes.
• An argument for scrapping SLR altogether
• In its editorial in ET today, a case is made on the following lines for scrapping SLR altogether:
• Recent experience has shown no evidence that only government can invest in infrastructure or that it is any wiser or more efficient in such spending compared to the private sector.
• Hence the almost tax like impounding of the funds from the banking sector by way of SLR at artificially low rates of interest, can better be done away with.
• Total outstanding amounts in PPF
• According to RBI figures, the total outstanding amounts collected by way of PPF are at Rs. 14,695 crores at the end of April 2006.
• Stephen Hawking plans a trip to space
• The world renowned astrophysicist and author of the book “A Brief History of Time” will be taking a trip to space aboard Virgin Galactic service of Richard Branson sometime in 2009.
• The two hour sub-orbital trip is expected to cost about $200,000.
• Stephen Hawking suffers from a rare disease called amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
• New stem cell source discovered
• Scientists in the US claim to have discovered a new source of stem cells in the amniotic fluid surrounding babies in the womb.
• Stem cells are the elementary cells that can develop into numerous types of cells in the human body. They can be used to form cells that replace those failing because of disease, accident or age.
• Smallest ‘nation’ for sale
• The tiny principality of Sealand, which began life as Roughs Tower in 1941, is a 550 square meter steel platform perched on two concrete towers 11 kilometers off the coast of Harwich, eastern England.
• It is a former World War II fort in the North Sea and was declared a state with its own self-proclaimed royal family.