Maruti Aims 20% Growth In Exports In 2014-15 At 1.2 Lakh Units

Country's largest car maker Maruti Suzuki India is eyeing 20% growth in vehicle exports this fiscal at 1.2 lakh units, riding on increased sales in non-European markets like Africa, Latin America and the Middle East.

In the current fiscal till date, the company has exported over 92,000 units in over 100 countries, a growth of over 23% over previous year and would soon launch its latest model 'Ciaz' in Mexico to add to its export basket.

"We are likely to close the financial year with around 1.2 lakh units, a growth of around 20%," a Maruti Suzuki India spokesperson told PTI.

This growth is on account of multiple factors such as focused efforts on markets such as Africa, Latin America and Middle East, the spokesperson added.

"This is in line with the Suzuki mandate to drive exports to these markets from India," the spokesperson said.

In December, the company's total exports nearly surged three-fold to 11,682 units, as compared to 4,311 units in December 2013.

Elaborating on the company's export performance during last month, the spokesperson said: "December was good month for us. We added markets like Sudan and Mexico and launched Ciaz in Egypt. Ciaz has been well received in Egyptian market and will be launched in Mexico shortly."

Besides, the company also expanded its exports fleet. "We have moved forward from exporting small cars and have added models like Swift, DZire, AltoK-10, Ertiga, Celerio which are helping us get good export numbers," the spokesperson said.

The top five export markets for the company so far in the current fiscal have been Algeria where it sold 8,991 units, followed by Chile where the company dispatched 7,456 units.

The company exported 5,736 units to Angola, 3618 units to Peru and 2,328 units to Indonesia.

"South Africa and Angola are other interesting markets where our cars are selling very well. In Angola, we are the number one brand in the market for the past two months. While we will continue to explore new markets, future growth is expected from Non-European markets," the spokesperson said.

Some new models added to the export fleet that have helped the company strengthen its presence in non EU markets are new Alto K-10, Ertiga, Celerio and Ciaz, the spokesperson said.

"Models introduced last year like Dzire, new Swift, new Alto 800 have also been well received in these markets. These models are also available in left hand drive versions to meet the specific market needs," the spokesperson added.In 2014, India's overall passenger car exports declined by 2.65% to 5,47,087 units from 5,61,972 units in 2013.

Source:- timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Rio Tinto Expects To Begin Uranium Exports To India In 1-2 Years

Diversified mining giant Rio Tinto group, one of the largest exporters of uranium from Australia, said on Monday that it expects another year or two before it starts shipping the nuclear fuel to India.

"The memorandum of understanding for civil nuclear cooperation was signed last year but there is still work that needs to be done on certain safeguards about the end use of the uranium. It is an elaborate process and though both sides are committed, I think it will take another year or two before we start exporting uranium to India," said Sam Walsh, group Chief Executive Officer, Rio Tinto.

Walsh added that he expressed interest in bidding for coal blocks in his discussions with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. "Commercial mining of coal is still some way off, but we are open to opportunities," he said.

The group currently has a two way trade with India of about $2 billion.Rio Tinto is still awaiting environment clearances for its $2 billion iron ore project in Odisha and $500 million diamond mining project in Madhya Pradesh.

"The Madhya Pradesh project is an important one. It has the potential to create 30,000 jobs. We hope that approvals for this and the Odisha iron ore project will come through soon," said Walsh.

He added that over the three meeting with Modi in the last six month, the issue of pending approvals has been raised.

Source:- thehindubusinessline.com

Excess tax could be set off against deficient CST if CST collection was mistakenly deposited as Stat

CST & VAT : CST - Where assessee was registered under Central Sales Tax Act as well as West Bengal Sales Tax Act and it made sales under both Acts and by mistake it had deposited a part of central sales tax collection as sales tax under State Act, assessee was granted permission for set off or adjustment of excess payment of State sales tax against deficit of central sales tax

CIT couldn't deny registration to trust due to non-commencement of charitable activities

IT: Application of registration of a trust cannot be rejected for not doing charity immediatly resulting in apprehension about genuineness of objects; registration can be cancelled later on, on breach of objects

SC stays Travelite India (Delhi HC) judgment striking down service tax rule 5A(2)

Service Tax : Supreme Court stayed operation of judgment of Delhi High Court in Travelite (India) holding that : (a) only type of audit contemplated under law is under section 72A, i.e., a special audit; (b) Parliament did not intend to provide for a general audit that "every assessee" may be subjected to "on demand" under rule 5A(2); and (c) rule 5A(2) of Service Tax rules, 1994 is ultra vires section 94

Lapse of AO in making assessment in due course in pursuance of remand order won't lead to denial of

IT: Where no assessment order was passed on remand, assessee would be entitled to refund on basis of returned income

Cos with high turnover and related party transactions are excludible from lists of comparables for T

IT/ILT: Where companies selected by TPO were functionally different, and had high turnover and high RPT filter, same had to be excluded from list of comparables

Exporter can convert shipping bill under one export promotion scheme to another to avail of benefit

Excise & Customs : Section 149 of Customs Act permits conversion/corrections of shipping bills from 'EPCG Drawback Scheme' to 'EPCG Drawback and Advance Licence/DEEC Scheme' so as to avail benefit of DEEC Scheme also

Indian Rupee Up 23 Paise Against Us Dollar In Early Trade

Rising for the fourth straight session, the rupee gained 23 paise at 62.09 against the dollar in early trade today at the Interbank Foreign Exchange on increased selling of the US currency by exporters.

Forex dealers said sustained selling of the American unit by exporters and the dollar’s weakness against other currencies overseas supported the rupee, but a lower opening in domestic equity market, capped the gains.

The rupee had surged by 35 paise to end at four-week high of 62.32 against the Greenback on Friday on persistent selling by participants amidst continued optimism of inflows.

Meanwhile, the benchmark BSE Sensex fell by 125.30 points, or 0.45 per cent, to trade at 27,333.08 in early trade.

Source:financialexpress.com

Even agreement to carry out construction of immovable property would be deemed as sale under Uttarak

CST & VAT : Uttarakhand VAT - Sale of goods is a sine qua non for application of Act; such sale will include an agreement for carrying out construction of immovable property or commissioning of any immovable property

Factual findings of Set Com couldn't be challenged in writ proceedings

Excise & Customs : Where, after considering all facts, Settlement Commission records that assessee has not made a full and true disclosure, said finding cannot be challenged in writ because writ court is not Appellate Authority over findings of fact recorded by Settlement Commission

Interest received on delayed payment of sale proceeds of power is eligible for sec. 80-IA relief

IT : Interest on delayed payment of sale proceeds of power generated from windmill is eligible for deduction under section 80-IA

Payment of 50% of deferred tax to be calculated before deducting input credit after introduction of

CST & VAT : Haryana VAT : Where assessee, a manufacturer, was allowed deferment of tax under provisions of Haryana ST Act and after introduction of Haryana VAT Act it opted for payment of 50 per cent of deferred tax upfront along with returns, amount of deferred tax would be calculated without deducting amount of input tax paid on goods used in manufacture and amount of input tax paid was to be counted towards payment of 50 per cent of deferred tax upfront

No VAT on sale of used Car as assessee, being not a dealer in Cars didn't avail of credit on its pur

CST & VAT: Delhi VAT - Where assessee, a trader dealing in other commodities, purchased a car after payment of VAT and did not avail input tax credit on purchase of car and later it sold car, sale of car was exempt from tax under section 6(3)

Cash loan taken at the time of financial crisis to meet business necessity won't invite penalty unde

IT : Receipt and repayment of loan in cash due to immediate business necessity would amount to reasonable cause for not levying penalty under sections 271D and 271E

CIT couldn't make revision on allegation of inadequate inquiry by AO when order of AO wasn't found a

IT : Where Assessing Officer rejected books of account and estimated net profit on gross receipts, Commissioner could not invoke revisional power

Co. alleged to have been involved in fraud cases was excludible from list of comparables for TP stud

IT/ILT: For Computing arm's length price, a Company under serious indictment in fraud cases is to be excluded from list of comparables on ground of unreliability of data