ET News.

RIDHI SOOD

Satyam to delist from NYSE next month

MAHINDRA Satyam will delist from after realizing that it cannot meet the October 15 deadline for preparing financial statements under US accounting standards.

Vineet Nayyar, chairman, Mahindra Satyam said that Due to the late SEC filings, which are among the unfortunate results of the misdeeds of former management, we are delisting from the NYSE.

Title• The company said it intends to file a Form 25,

or notification of removal from listing, with the US regulator, Securities and Exchange Commission or SEC, around October 4, and anticipates the ADRs to be delisted from the NYSE on or close to October 14.

• The problems with Satyam’s financial accounts meant that the company did not publish its financial results for 2008-09 and 2009-10. It was due to Ramalinga Raju, who was hiding liabilities and overstating profits for many years in January 2009.

• Friday’s delisting announcement is a clear indication that the company will not be able to adhere to American accounting standards in such a short time-frame.

Celebrations cut short, extra 1% EPF interest to be taxed

• THE government’s surprise gift for workers isn’t much of a gift after all. The labour ministry has hiked the employees’ provident fund, or EPF, rate to 9.5%, but a finance ministry notification says that anything in excess of 8.5% will be taxed.

• Labour Minister Mallikarjun Kharge had declared a 9.5% bonanza on provident fund deposits on September 15 .

• But the Central Board of Direct Taxes had notified a tax-free PF rate of 8.5% for 2010-11 — effective from September 1. This means that the 1% extra income (or Rs 1,700 crore) that the labour ministry has projected as a gift to the workforce, would be fully taxable.

• Even if EPFO could deduct tax at source ,it would also have to give workers aForm 16 statement and acute problem will be faced by the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation – which manages 5 crore PF accounts.

• EPFO board members, however, are confident that the Income tax department would reconsider its decision.

Don’t quit mining, give options to tribals.

FINANCE minsiter Pranab Mukherjee has favoured a balanced approach on the issue of displacement of tribals due to mining projects.

He said that “Answer does not lie in the companies stopping mining activities. Answer lies in providing alternatives to those displaced... in what form we can compensate them and make them beneficiary of economic development,”

• A Group of Ministers (GoM), headed by the finance minister, is deliberating a proposal to give tribals a part of profits in mining projects.

• The GoM has proposed that 26% of the net profit of mining projects should go to the displaced tribals and other affected locals but differences in the government remain.

• Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal on Friday said that the proposal on 26% profit sharing by mining companies should be applied to all public and private companies.

Indian retailers chase global footprint

• COO — watches at Titan Industries, Harish Bhat, says “ We intend to be one among the top three watch brands across these countries by 2015,” .

• Titan has grown more than 75% in Vietnam, where it is now chasing Seiko and Casio as the third largest watch brand by market share.

• VLCC has set up 18 centres predominantly in the UAE. It intends to boost this with 10 centres this fiscal year across Qatar, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Singapore, among others.

Pranab launches pension scheme for unorganised sector.

Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee launched a new pension scheme for workers in the unorganised sector who do not have access to the social security net.

Under the scheme named 'Swabalamban', the subscribers would get Rs 1,000 from the government each year for a subscription amount of Rs 12,000 per year. The particular scheme would remain valid for this financial year and for the next three consecutive fiscals.

The finance minister had already allocated Rs 100 crore for this scheme in the budget for 2010-11. The scheme will be managed by the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority of India (PFRDA). Mukherjee said that 87 per cent of the country's workforce would benefit from the 'Swabalamban' scheme.

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