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IndianExpress: The Income-Tax department, having detected concealed income of over Rs 100 crore during surveys in the region this year, is now cracking down on builders who are flouting tax exemption rules in housing and infrastructure projects. Sleuths, who have been investigating various builders across the region, came across nearly two dozen projects this year where the builders were seen to be fraudulently claiming exemption under Sec 80 IA and 80 IB of the IT Act.

According to the IT department, builders were claiming tax exemption under the two laws even though their projects were not following the laid down guidelines. Builders were seen to be taking recourse to tax exemption under section 80 IB, granted to a project with small dwelling units not exceeding 1,500 sq ft, by putting fake figures. Investigators have also come across cases in which two flats, less than 1500 sq feet each, have been joined to make a single dwelling after claiming exemption on both.

“During one of the surveys, we came across a builder who was claiming tax exemption of Rs 8 crore under 80 IB. The builder had to surrender Rs 5 crore after investigation,” Chief Commissioner of Income Tax, Pune, Santosh Datta said.There were also cases in which housing projects were claiming exemption in spite of not being cleared by the local civic body which is a mandatory requirement for exemption, he said.

IndianExpress: On Tuesday the city’s business scenario received a major fillip when CEO of UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) Andrew Cahn inaugurated the British Trade Office (BTO).

Situated in the MCCIA Trade Tower on Senapati Bapat Road, the office will provide realistic knowledge and information as well as facilitate interaction to boost business sector in the city.

The BTO will function as an arm under the auspices of the British Deputy High Commission in Mumbai. British deputy High commissioner, Mumbai Vicki Treadell said that BTO will also conduct studies and prepare reports based on the needs of industries in UK.

Speaking at the function, Treadell said, “The opening of the BTO in Pune marks our continuing commitment to furthering Indo-British business ties in Pune and our recognition of the significant economic potential of the city.’’

Advocating more investments and internationalisation Cahn pointed that studies have shown that companies which do not internationalise lose almost 30 per cent of their efficiency

Underlining the importance of the city and the country as a whole, Cahn said that UK is looking various sectors ranging from automotive, IT, biotech, finance, agri-business and advanced engineering

IndianExpress:  Moving in the direction of implementing the Basic Services for Urban Poor projects, funded by the Centre under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation has issued a notice inviting Requests for Qualification (RFQ) for its Rs 390 crore City Slum Rehabilitation Project (CSRP).

Co-ordinator of PCMC’s JNNURM projects Neelkanth Poman said the last date to submit the RFQs is January 22 after which pre-bid meetings would begin. He said the project would take off by March 2007 and is expected to be complete by 2009.

Under its CSRP, the PCMC plans to construct 18,160 houses for rehabilitation of slum dwellers. Six sites have been identified for the purpose. These sites are at Ajantanagar, Vetalnagar, Milindnagar, Uddhavnagar, Vitthalnagar and Sector Number 22 of Nigdi Pradhikaran.

Poman said the houses will be flats in multistoried buildings having monolithic RCC load bearing walls with formwork technology. He said this particular design was selected by civic body for houses because it is durable and construction takes less time.

IndianExpress: Farmers and fishermen all over the country will soon have easier and improved access to relevant information in rural areas, with the newly formed Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) taking various steps to increase rural and coastal connectivity using Geographical Information System (GIS) methodology, said MoES Secretary PS Goel. Speaking at the first convocation of the Symbiosis Institute of Geoinformatics (SIG) on Tuesday, Goel said the MoES was making efforts to use advanced geospatial-based information technology to connect over one lakh villages in the next five years.

“Each node will have a cluster of five to six villages connected to one centre, from where they can access a wide range of computerised information, from monsoon predictions, to land record details and market prices,’’ said Goel.

With Rs 1000 crore allocated by the Centre for upgrading weather forecast facilities, improved delivery of information will be assured to the farmers, Goel said. “The numerical weather model will be replaced with the observation model, leading to predictability of up to seven days instead of three, and forecasts within 80 km for more specific information,’’ he said.

TechTree: Fujitsu has announced the global launch of the MHX2300BT series of mobile hard disk drives (HDDs).

According to the company, the latest Fujitsu products featuring impressive storage capacities of 250GB and 300GB are the first 2.5-inch PMR hard disk drives in the industry to attain such high levels of capacity.

Being engineered using perpendicular magnetic recording technology (PMR), which is essential in order to achieve increased capacity per platter, the new small form factor HDDs will address the growing demand for higher capacity storage solutions.

In addition, Fujitsu s second-generation PMR products include best-in-class low power consumption at 1.6W as well as high shock tolerance and near-silent operation. These qualities make the MHX2300BT series highly desirable for audio/video (A/V) applications such as gaming, video editing, audio recording and DVR functionality as well as for the high-end personal computing market.

Joel Hagberg, vice president–marketing and business development, Fujitsu said, Fujitsu remains at the forefront in promoting advanced technologies such as perpendicular recording and SATA due to our strong focus on innovation, while at the same time meets the industry s insatiable demand for high-capacity products.

TechTree: Epson has announced the launch of its PictureMate PM210 photo printer, equipped with Epson’s new Claria Photo Lab system.

With the simple portable, plug and print concept, the new photo printer also promises good and long lasting photos at one’s fingertips with the innovative Claria Photo Lab system. Consisting of Epson Claria Photographic Inks and Epson Claria PhotoEnhance software, next generation photo lab quality printing has now been packaged in a handy size, say company sources.

The Claria PhotoEnhance is an advanced software, which automatically corrects color and lighting imperfections in digital images. When dealing with poorly taken photographs, it analyses and enhances features such as skin tones and scenery, using the smart auto scene correction feature. Furthermore, each print is promised to be smudge, scratch, water, and fade resistant for convenient, worry-free handling.

The Claria Photographic Inks offer a wide colour gamut, for rich colour tones, depth, clarity, and high glossiness in every photo. Reportedly, also integrated is the award-winning Micro Piezo print head - a tireless engine that is capable of continuous printing without any lapse in consistency and quality, with no loss of time in waiting for the print head to cool down.

TechTree: LG Electronics has announced the launch of the Time Machine TV in the country, which aims at making TV viewing much more intelligent than before. This new product of the manufacturer is targeted at tech-savvy individuals.

According to LG, Time Machine TVs are the world s first television-sets to be equipped with a built-in digital video recorder, which enables the user to pause, rewind and replay live TV programs as per convenience after the original broadcast.

With the inclusion of the playability feature, the Time Machine TV offers consumers the ability to have absolute control over the ways to view television. Using the built in HDD recorder technology, the viewer can go back in time to view their favorite programs all over again.

The user-friendly interface enables skipping of commercials with the touch of a button. While watching one live program, one can easily record another live program.

TechTree: SanDisk and Sony have announced the development of the ‘Memory Stick PRO-HG’ format, an offshoot of the ‘Memory Stick PRO’ format.

The Memory Stick PRO-HG offers high performance, using an enhanced, 8-bit parallel interface in addition to the conventional serial and 4-bit parallel interface. The interface clock frequency also increases from 40MHz to 60MHz, offering maximum data transfer speeds up to 480Mbps. The minimum write speed at 8-bit parallel transfer is 120 Mbps.

The companies said these enhancements would allow large amounts of data of up to several gigabytes to be quickly transferred, as well as real-time recording of high-resolution video and still images.

Memory Stick PRO-HG compliant host devices support conventional Memory Stick PRO media as well as Memory Stick PRO-HG media. Besides, Memory Stick PRO-HG media can be used in Memory Stick PRO compliant host devices as also in Memory Stick PRO-HG compliant host devices.

In a statement, Eli Harari, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, SanDisk, said, “Sony and SanDisk share the common goal of providing exciting new digital audio and video applications to consumers. This is the driving force that is behind our relentless efforts to leverage our expertise and extensive intellectual property in flash memory cards to develop the Memory Stick PRO-HG. I am proud of the close cooperation we have with Sony over the years, and look forward to seeing the exciting new products that Memory Stick PRO-HG media enable.”

TechTree: Dell has introduced its ‘XPS M1710′ consumer notebook computer, featuring Blu-ray Disc technology, and offering users more storage space and an array of DVD features.

The company says that this enhancement furthers Dell’s strategy to offer customers PCs that can function as a single platform for a compelling digital entertainment throughout the home.

Configured with Blu-ray technology, the XPS M1710 supports read/write capabilities across CD, DVD, and Blu-ray Disc media. Using Blu-ray Disc technology, XPS M1710 users can burn up to 50GB of data, or author up to 50GB of theater-quality video on a single piece of media.

On this occasion, Alex Gruzen, Senior Vice President of the Dell Product Group, said, “Blu-ray optical drive technology has gained broad industry support, and we believe it will become the optical drive standard of the future. We continue to see PCs, both desktops and notebooks, functioning as the entertainment and productivity hub in the home, and on the road with their versatility, power, connectivity, and vibrant high-definition displays. We believe high-definition video powered by Blu-ray Disc technology will be a significant part of that entertainment experience.”