Tuesday, 28 January 2014

New PAN card to cost Rs 105

Posted by criss brown
NEW DELHI: New PAN cards issued by the income tax department will cost Rs 105, including taxes.

The I-T department has recently notified new procedures for verifying personal and proprietary data of an individual or entity for allotment of new PAN cards.

The step, sources said, has been taken in order to weed out the problem of fake or multiple Permanent Account Number (PAN) cards. 


The cost of getting a new PAN card, including all taxes, is Rs 105. This service charge by-and-large has been kept unchanged. The new procedures of checking original documents for proving date of birth, address and identity have been brought in to check the complaints of fake PAN cards or multiple cards obtained by any entity," a senior I-T official said.

From February 3, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has notified that individuals or others wanting PAN will have to furnish copies of proof of identity, address and date of birth attached with their application forms and they will be checked against their original documents when applications are submitted at PAN facilitation centres.

While the original documents would be returned to applicants after on-the-spot verification, the applicant has to self-attest the photocopies.

The I-T department, in a number of cases, has found a number of individuals possessing multiple PAN cards or forging details to evade taxes and create 'benami' properties.

"The technology systems of the I-T department will now be made error-free and robust once PAN card data is entered as correctly as possible," the official said, adding that the new cards issued henceforth will feature the name and date of birth of the applicant and not the address details.

PAN is a 10-digit alphanumeric number allotted by the I-T department to taxpayers.
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Friday, 24 January 2014

Amul launches India's first milk ATM

Posted by criss brown
According to Rahul Kumar, the MD of Amul Dairy in Gujarat, this concept has been tried for the first time in India. 'The milk pouches are kept in the automatic dispensing machine which also keep milk pouches chilled under 4 degrees,' Kumar says.The ATM - named Any Time Milk - machine can store 150 pouches of 300 ml milk. The milk costs Rs 10 per pouch.The machine is designed to sense only Rs 10 currency note and after sensing the note, one pouch is dispensed from bottom of the machine.
Amul plans to install another 5 machines at various locations such as near the railway station/bus station/ entry of city and near student hostels etc.

                                                                          
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Tuesday, 21 January 2014

Hole in the employees' pension scheme rises to Rs 62,000 crore

Posted by criss brown
NEW DELHI: The hole in the employees' pension scheme rose from Rs 54,200 crore in 2008 to nearly Rs 62,000 crore in 2009, according to a significantly delayed valuation report of the scheme that was launched for provident fund account holders in 1995, when Manmohan Singh was the finance minister.

The report, which was presented to the government last year but only shared with PF trustees last week, has recommended that a part of the pension scheme's corpus be invested in "real assets like equities" instead of keeping it "wholly invested in fixed interest instruments." The actuary has also suggested that the superannuation or retirement age under the scheme be raised from 58 years to 60 years.

The pension scheme is expected to have a kitty of Rs 2.2 lakh crore with around 8 crore members, by the end of 2013-14. The UPA government has been dithering on a long-stalled proposal to offer a minimum monthly payout of Rs 1,000 to all retired members under the pension scheme, because of the finance ministry's concerns about its sustainability
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Wednesday, 8 January 2014

10 best tax-saving investments

Posted by criss brown
Multiple options. Contradictory advice. And a deadline that's approaching fast. Many taxpayers find themselves in this situation at the beginning of the year when they have to make tax-saving investments.
Are you also confused? Before you make a choice, go through our cover story to know which is the best option for you. We have ranked 10 of the most common investments under Section 80C on five basic parameters: returns, safety, flexibility, liquidity and taxability. Every investment has its pros and cons.

The PPF may not have a very high return, but its tax-free status, flexibility of investment and liquidity by way of loans and withdrawals, gives it the crown in our beauty pageant. Equity-linked saving schemes come in second because of their high returns, flexibility, liquidity and tax-free status. However, traditional insurance policies, an all-time favourite of Indian taxpayers, manage the ninth place because of the low returns they offer and their rigidity.
Some readers might be surprised that the much reviled Ulips are in the third place. The Ulip remains a mystery and its returns are seldom tracked. We checked Morningstar's data on Ulips and found that the returns have not been very good in the past 1-5 years. Even so, it can be a useful instrument for the smart investor who shifts his money between equity and debt without incurring any tax.
We have tried to separate the chaff from the grain by assigning a star rating to the various tax-saving options. Whether you are a novice or a seasoned investor, you will find it useful. It will help you cut through the clutter and choose the investment option that best suits your financial situation.
 
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Tuesday, 7 January 2014

Flipkart can acquire fashion portals like Zovi, YepMe

Posted by criss brown
BANGALORE: Flipkart has launched its own fashion brand and could also acquire another online apparel company as it seeks to increase sales of high-margin products on its portal.

Among the companies most likely to be under consideration are two fashion portals, Zovi and YepMe, which sell exclusively on the web. "They have reached a scale that will interest Flipkart," said a person with direct knowledge.

If successful, this acquisition will be the second in two years for India's largest online retailer which bought electronics portal Letsbuy in 2012. Last year, Flipkart raised equity funding of Rs 2,200 crore, creating a pool of capital that it can dip into for possible acquisitions.

Sachin Bansal, co-founder of Flipkart, declined comment, only saying "2014 will be an important year for us". His company expects to record sales of $1 billion, about Rs 6,200 crore, by 2015. "This will mean looking at private labels and also opening up our marketplace to more and more sellers," he said.


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Saturday, 4 January 2014

Increase Your Earning Blogger

Posted by criss brown
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Thursday, 2 January 2014

US spy agency developing computer to crack privacy codes: Report

Posted by criss brown
The US National Security Agency is trying to develop a computer that could ultimately break most encryption programs, whether they are used to protect other nations' spying programs or consumers' bank accounts, The Washington Post reported on Thursday.

The report, which the newspaper said was based on documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, comes amid continuing controversy over the spy agency's program to collect the phone records Internet communications of private citizens.

In its report on Thursday, The Washington Post said that the NSA is trying to develop a so-called "quantum computer" that could be used to break encryption codes used to cloak sensitive information.


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Google dips into CSR budget, ties up with EC for voters’ registration

Posted by criss brown
NEW DELHI: While political alliances are yet to firm up for 2014 polls, the Election Commission (EC) has already entered a key partnership with US-based internet giant, Google, to help it manage online voter registration and facilitation services ahead of the democratic exercise. Over the next six months, Google will offer EC its resources, including its search engine, to enable voters to check their enrolment status online and locate their polling station, complete with directions using Google Maps.

The "arrangement" between EC and Google is learnt to have been clinched late this month, and is expected to be "operational" by the second week of January. As part of the partnership, Google will put its worldwide network and resources at the Commission's disposal until June 2014 to help it manage online registration of new voters and allow the enrolled ones to check the address at which they are registered, and get directions to the polling station. With the new rolls with reference to January 1, 2014, slated to be out by January 6, the voters' queries on the Commission website are likely to be managed by Google starting from the second week of January.


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