Today's Biz Bit

• Indian Oil Corp. is planning a JV with Egyptian General Petroleum Corp. (EGPC) for building a refinery in that country. As a bonus, IOC would get preferential treatment in allotment of oil and gas assets in Egypt. According to IOC officials, the proposal was agreed on during petroleum minister Murli Deora's Cairo visit earlier this year. (ET)
  

• Reliance Communications (RCOM) has now accused Bharti Airtel and other leading GSM operators of misrepresenting facts in their submissions to govt. panel for reviewing the frequency allocation norms. RCOM has said that Bharti had misrepresented facts by stating that most of the 28 million customers it had added during the last 18 months (without the allocation of additional spectrum) were in rural area where spectrum was not a constraint. (ET)
  

• The CBDT is examining ways of using the Securities Transaction Tax (STT) data on the line of annual information return (AIR) to nab tax evaders. Earlier this year, the CBDT had set up an internal committee to examine how STT data could be used to generate intelligence on tax evaders. The committee has submitted its recommendations which are being examined now. (ET)

• The govt. is planning to introduce a model unified construction law that would bring together the best aspects of both national and state-level construction policies and provide a single window arrangement for facilitating the industry. (ET)

• The DEPB may not be replaced with the duty drawback scheme in the forthcoming FY if the MoF does not agree to remit state taxes paid by exporters. According to commerce dept. officials, the DEPB scheme, which lapses on March 31, will be further extended if no decision is taken on reimbursing state taxes like octroi, electricity tax, mandi tax, sales tax on petroleum products and municipal cess. (ET)

• Despite the attorney general's clean chit, the civil aviation ministry has asked Delhi International Airport Ltd. (DIAL) not to go ahead with an innovative financing plan to charge high deposits and low rentals from the winning bidder for commercially developing 43 acres of land near the airport. DIAL officials have reportedly told the ministry that they will modify the scheme to ensure that the govt does not lose any revenue, which could be quite substantial over the years. (BS)

• The FIPB has pulled up Sajjan Jindal led JSW Energy Ltd. for inducting 80% FDI without getting govt. clearance. As a result, the govt. has deferred taking a decision on an application the co. has filed in a bid to be recognised as a foreign-owned Indian holding-cum-operating firm. This will also impact its plans to make further downstream investments, including a foray into the power sector. (FE)