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BPCL to launch LPG booking on Net in 2 weeks

Our Bureau

MUMBAI, March 7

CUSTOMERS of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) here may now be able to book their LPG refills through the Internet.

In two weeks' time, BPCL will be launching a service on the Internet as a pilot project, which will gradually cover 10 cities all over India, Mr. S. Ramesh, Deputy General Manger, Brand Management, BPCL, told Business Line. The service will be available on www.bharatpetroleum.com.

``The site will not only allow the user to order a refill, but will also tell him or her, within a few minutes, when the LPG cylinder will be made available,'' he said.

``This is a part of our effort to use the Internet for B2C activities," said Mr. Ramesh. The company already has a site on the Net for B2B customers. ``The site was launched as a pilot project but the response was so overwhelming that we have 500 transac tions taking place on it everyday, bringing us a turnover of Rs 50 to 60 lakh per day,'' he said.

According to company officials, BPCL has been building Internet infrastructure for the last one and a half years, with a corporate intranet connecting 200 locations and the launch of Petrocard - a smart card for its customers last month.

``The key thing about using the net for B2B or B2C operations is - `who does it first''. And though there will be tough competition on the Net in the future, we have been the first to make our move towards positioning our business on the Internet," claim ed Mr. Ramesh.

`Soften phase-out

of tax reliefs on

export earnings'

Our Bureau

NEW DELHI, March 7

EVEN as the Finance Minister, Mr. Yashwant Sinha, has categorically stated that exporters have no case for seeking `special tax status or incentives' in a globalised business environment, industry continues to put pressure on individual ministries to fur ther ``soften'' the proposed phase-out schedule of income-tax exemptions on export earnings.

A section of industry, represented by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham), has urged the Information Technology (IT) Minister, Mr. Pramod Mahajan, to completely exempt IT companies with export profits ``below a certain li mit'' from income-tax.

Terming the proposed phase-out of income-tax exemptions on software export earnings as ``regressive'', the chamber is of the view that incidence of taxation on earnings from software exports will be ``particularly severe'' on smaller, start-up firms in t he IT sector.

Assocham has also pointed out that exempting companies with low export profits from income-tax will enable the Government to meet its revenue-raising objective and at the same time allow new companies to ``defray a lot of their initial setting up costs'' .

The chamber has, in its representation, claimed that such a concessional mechanism `would not violate any of the WTO provisions' as it would be ``a special dispensation'' targeted only at the IT industry.