PAN must...

These and other thresholds for disclosing PAN details were announced on Tuesday as part of the government’s strategy to clamp down on the parallel cash economy that operates outside regulatory boundaries. “An issue is being raised with regard to black money, very shortly we will be placing the notification that if you deal in cash of more than Rs 2 lakh, a PAN number would be necessary,” finance minister Arun Jaitley said in the Lok Sabha while replying to a debate on the supplementary demands for grants. The government, however, doubled the threshold for quoting PAN on realty deals to Rs 10 lakh from Rs 5 lakh currently, keeping in mind the rise in property values. “The government, noting the increase in property prices and not wanting to increase compliances for economically weaker sections or for low income housing, has increased the limit,” revenue secretary Hasmukh Adhia said. Fixed deposits of Rs 50,000 will require mandatory PAN disclosure. “To collect information on certain types of transactions from third parties in a non-intrusive manner, the Incometax Rules require quoting of PAN where the transactions exceed a specified limit,” Adhia added.

Both items were identified under the DTTI programme last year but little progress has been made as a result of which Parrikar wanted new technolo gies to be jointly developed on government-to-government basis rather than leave it to the private sector. While Parrikar became the first Indian defence minister to visit US Pacific Command in Hawaii on December 7, he also landed on US aircraft carrier Dwight Eisenhower off the coast of Norfolk in Atlantic Ocean in a V-22 Osprey aircraft India is interested in purchasing six attack version V-22 Ospreys for rapid troop insertion in bor der areas. Official sources said that while jet engine for AMCA developed by Defence Research and Technology Organisation (DRDO) may take years to develop the F 414 Enhanced Engine used by F-18 multi-role fighters could be used as a bridge subject to US government approval. Defence major Boeing is willing to make F-18 under the “Make in India” flag, and rival Lockheed Martin is ready to offer F-16 fighters under the same scheme. However, the call between F-18 and F-16 fight ers will have to be taken by New Delhi as the former has been suc cessfully deployed on US aircraft carriers while the latter has been in the Pakistan inventory since the 1980s.