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Tuesday, May 31, 2016

150 facts for 150 years of the London Tube

Today it is 150 years since the first Tube journey. Here’s a fascinating fact for each year of its operation:
The visionaries
Charing Cross Jubilee Line overrunOne of the leading visionaries of underground railways was Londoner Charles Pearson (1793-1862), who first envisaged a Fleet Valley rail tunnel in 1845. Pearson also campaigned for the removal of an inscription on the Monument blaming the Great Fire of London on Catholics and the overturning of the ban on Jews becoming brokers in the City of London.
John Fowler (1817-98) was the man tasked with designing the engineering solutions to Pearson’s idea for the first underground railway. Fowler’s other works include the Forth Railway Bridge.
Oxford Circus station was designed by Harry Bell Measures (1862-1940), who established his career by designing some of the grandest homes in the capital.
The architect who engineered most of the District line was John Wolfe-Barry (1836-1918), who also designed Tower Bridge.
In 1843 the Thames Tunnel was completed and opened. It was designed by Marc Brunel (Isambard Kingdom’s father) and was the first tunnel ever to be built under a navigable river. It’s now part of the London Overground line.
Tube Firsts
  • The journey of the first Tube train took place on 9 January 1863.
  • The first Tube line was built and financed by a private company, the Metropolitan Railway.
  • The Tube’s first escalator was installed at Earl’s Court in 1911, featuring a diagonal finish to the stairway, meaning the right  foot reached the top moments before the left.
  • In 1907 a spiral escalator opened at Holloway Road.
Getting bigger
In 1884 there were over 800 trains running around all or part of the Inner Circle every day.
A full journey on the City and South London Railway (now part of the Northern Line), from Stockwell to the City, took just 18 minutes.
Between 1891 and 1893 five  more Tube railways under London were authorised by Parliament.
In 1896 the Glasgow District Subway opened. It was the  only complete underground  railway opened in the UK outside  of London.
Charing Cross Jubilee Line platformThe Waterloo and City line was the only other line to be built before the turn of the century.
The Great Northern and City line (between Moorgate and Finsbury Park) was mostly completed by 1902.
The tunnels on the Central line twist and turn because they follow the curves of London’s medieval street plan.
There is a prevalent north/south divide on the Underground; less than 10 per cent of stations are south of the Thames.
The Underground was funded entirely by private companies  until the 1930s.
Building works
  • It took 21 years (from 1863 to 1884) to complete the Inner Circle of tube lines in central London.
  • London’s current Crossrail development is Europe’s biggest construction project, as well as its most expensive.
  • If completed on time it will have taken nine years for Crossrail to be completed. Just 70 years after it was first proposed.
  • Each tunnel-boring machine for Crossrail costs £10m and the trains will cost another £1bn.
  • Kennington is the only surviving City and South London Railway station that remains close to its original condition, still featuring a domed roof.
  • Funding for a deep-level “Route C” line, better known as the Victoria line, was approved in 1955.
  • The grand opening of the  Victoria line, or “London’s Pride”,  was on 7 March 1969.
  • Queen Elizabeth II was the first reigning monarch to take the Tube, when she took the inaugural ride on the Victoria line from Green Park.
Accidents  and incidents
The first accidents on the underground occurred within a couple of months of opening in 1863, involving slow-moving collisions at Farringdon Street station.
The space below tube tracks are colloquially known as “suicide pits” as they help reduce the chance of death or serious injury should someone jump in front  of a train.
Around 50 passengers a year commit suicide on the Underground, however the Jubilee line is the only line to feature protective screens along the platforms.
Smoking was  finally banned across  the Tube network  following the King’s  Cross fire in November 1987, which killed 31 people.
Nicknames
When the Circle Line opened in 1884, the experience of riding it was described in The Times as “a form of mild torture”.
The “Tube” became a proper name for the first time in the early 1900s, after the Central London Railway (now the Central Line) was nicknamed the “Twopenny Tube”.
The “Twopenny Tube” nickname was conceived by the Daily Mail, five days after it opened.
The claustrophobic carriages on the early underground trains became known as “padded cells”.
Going both ways
In 1903 the Central London  line became the first railway in Britain to be worked entirely by multiple-unit trains – meaning the trains no longer needed to be turned around when they reached each end of the line.
By 1905 all the Tube lines had adopted multiple-unit trains.
Shopping
The “Twopenny Tube” line  significantly boosted profits to shops based around Oxford Street and Regent Street.
In 1909 Selfridges department store lobbied (unsuccessfully) to  get Bond Street station renamed after itself.
More successful was Brent Cross. Brent station was named after the shopping centre when it opened nearby in 1976.
The Central London Railway released a ladies only Christmas shopping ticket as a special promotion in 1912.
First World War
During the First World War, women began to make up staff shortages on the Underground.
When Maida Vale station opened on 6 June 1915 it was entirely staffed by women.
By the end of 1917 the Metropolitan Railway had 552 women on its staff.
Police reports of German bomb raids on London in 1917 estimated that 300,000 people were taking shelter in Tube stations.
A white marble memorial at Baker Street station commemorates the 137 Metropolitan Railway employees killed during the First World War.
The extension of the Piccadilly line northwards was largely down to passenger pressure; In 1923, a 30,000-signature petition was delivered to the Ministry of Transport.
Design
  • In the 1860s only basic signage – the station name and exit – was provided on the Underground.
  • One of the first rail maps, produced by the District line in 1892, featured the slogan “Time Is Money” on the cover. 
  • The Tube’s world-famous red  circle logo, known as the “roundel”, first appeared in 1908.
  • Around 60 stations had the Metropolitan line’s red diamond instead of the “roundel” between 1919 and the 1970s.
  • The Underground Sans font, still used in a modified form for all the Tube’s posters and design, was created by Edward Johnston in 1916.
  • In 1907 a photographic survey was taken of all station exteriors in order to establish ways in which a more uniform design style could be achieved.
  • Etiquette posters warning  people to move down the car and to let passengers off first have been produced since the early years of the Tube, some by celebrated cartoonist George Morrow.
  • The Victoria line commissioned artists to produce original tile motifs for each station, including the seven trees which give Seven Sisters its name.
The map
The first free Underground map was released in 1908, a joint marketing enterprise produced collaboratively by the various private companies which ran the separate lines.
The classic diagrammatic Underground map designed by Harry Beck was first produced in 1933, inspired by electrical circuit diagrams.
The map was originally offered to the Underground by Harry Beck in 1931, but it was rejected as it was considered too radical for the public.
Harry Beck was paid 10 guineas, or £10.50, for his Tube map design.
Beck spent two years pestering the Underground to print a trial run – which was enthusiastically received by Londoners.
Beck remained very involved with changes and updates to his map for over 25 years until eventually falling out with London Transport.
In 1959 his name was removed from the map, until the 1990s, when he was once again acknowledged as its creator and “H.C. Beck” reappeared on the large-format station maps.
In 2006 the London Underground map came second in a BBC competition to find the public’s favourite British design of the 20th century.
In 2009 the angular representation of the river Thames was briefly removed from the map, but quickly replaced after a public outcry.
Property
Chiltern Court, the largest apartment block in London, was opened over Baker Street station in 1929. You can buy a three-bed flat there today for £1.1m.
From 1933, London Transport was responsible for an area of 2,000 square miles within a 20- to 30-mile radius of Charing Cross.
Once formed, London Transport inherited an underground railway network covering 227 miles and carrying some 415 million  passengers each year.
Mind the gap
The original recording of “Mind the gap” was made in 1968 featuring the voice of sound recordist Peter Lodge.
While most lines still use Peter Lodge’s recording of “Mind the gap”, others use a recording by voice artist Emma Clarke. The Piccadilly line uses the voice of Tim Bentinck, better known as David Archer from The Archers.
Art
Scottish sculptor Eduardo Paolozzi designed the mosaic murals at Tottenham Court Road station, which were completed in 1984.
In the 90s, due to a boom in  graffiti, the “silver” tube trains were replaced with the red,  white and blue painted ones still seen today.
Southwark Station’s blue  cone wall, built as part of the Jubilee line extension’s new  generation of stations, was inspired by an 1816 stage set for The Magic Flute.
Since 2003, musicians require a licence to busk on the Tube.
The ceramics on the City and South London Railway (now part of the Northern line) were inspired by the designs of artist William Morris.
Architects
Charles Holden is perhaps one of the most prominent station architects. He based Arnos Grove on Stockholm Public Library and Gants Hill was inspired by the Moscow Metro.
All 46 stations designed by  Leslie Green have distinctive tile patterns to help regular customers recognise them.
Green’s stations – such as Covent Garden – were all steel-clad to allow premises to be built on top of them.
Sir Norman Foster designed Canary Wharf station, which opened in 1999 as part of the Jubilee line extension.
Prices
The original trains had three different classes, costing three, four and six pence for a single journey.  l A single cash journey in Zone 1 now costs £4.50.
The Oyster card touch ticketing system was introduced in 2002.
If you paid a full cash fare  between Covent Garden and Leicester Square (0.16 miles) it works out at over £28-a-mile.
Biggest, longest, lift-iest
Each year, every Tube train travels 114,500miles/184,269km.
The average speed of a train is 33km/20.5 miles per hour.
Only 45 per cent of the network is actually in tunnels.
There are 426 escalators. Waterloo has the most: 23.
The total number of lifts, including four stair lifts, on the Underground network is 164.
The deepest lift shaft is at Hampstead station and is 55.2m.
The shortest lift shaft is at King’s Cross and is just 2.3m.
The total number of carriages in the Underground’s fleet is 4,134.
The total number of stations currently served is 270.
The total number of staff on the Underground is approximately 19,000.
Baker Street is the station with the most platforms: 10.
The long and  short of it
The total length of the Tube  network is 402km/249 miles.
The longest continuous tunnel runs between East Finchley and Morden (via Bank) and is 27.8km/17.25 miles long.
The longest distance between two stations is between Chesham and Chalfont and Latimer on the Metropolitan line, which are  6.3km apart.
The shortest distance between two stations is from Leicester Square to Covent Garden on the Piccadilly line, which are a mere 300m apart.
The longest journey you can take without a change is 59.4km from West Ruislip to Epping on the Central line.
The longest escalator on the  network is at Angel and is 60m long, with a vertical rise of 26.5m.
The shortest escalator is at Stratford, taking passengers up  just 4.1m.
The deepest station below street level in central London is Bank, which is 41.4m deep.
In outer London, Hampstead is the deepest station below street level, at 58.5m.
Passenger numbers
The first-ever day of public service was enjoyed by 40,000 passengers.
In 1908, the first full year of operation for all three lines, the Hampstead Tube (now part of the Northern Line) carried 25 million passengers, the Bakerloo 28 million and the Piccadilly 34.5 million.
Passenger numbers grew rapidly and by 1918 the Underground was carrying 70 per cent more people than in 1914.
Currently 1,107 million passengers are carried every year.
The busiest station in London is Waterloo, which has 57,000 people entering during the three-hour morning peak.
82 million passengers travel through Waterloo each year.
During 2011/12, London Underground carried a record number of passengers, with 1.171 billion journeys made. This is 64 million more than in 2010/11.
Speeds
In central London, trains cannot drive faster than 30-40mph  because of the short distances  between stations.
The Victoria line can reach speeds of up to 50mph because the stations are further apart.
The Metropolitan line has the fastest train speeds, sometimes reaching over 60mph.
Ghosts
A prototype smokeless locomotive built in 1861 by Robert Stephenson and Co never made it into service, earning it the nickname “Fowler’s Ghost”.
Disused stations, known as “ghost” stations, such as those at Aldwych, Down Street and Lord’s, often find alternate work as film and TV sets.
A ghost named Annie Naylor, a dead milliner, aka the “Screaming Spectre”, is said to haunt Farringdon station.
Likewise, actor William Terris “haunts” Covent Garden.
Second World War
  • Rapid expansion of the Underground services into London’s suburbs throughout  the 30s were brought abruptly to  a halt with the outbreak of the Second World War.
  • The Underground was central to evacuating children and expectant mothers from London to the countryside in 1939.
  • Within a couple of days, London Transport successfully evacuated 600,000 vulnerable Londoners.
  • Brompton Road station on the Piccadilly line, which was closed in 1934, was converted into an underground Operations Room  for London’s anti-aircraft control during the war.
  • During the war, signs warning passengers to carry their gas marks were on display at every Underground station.
  • Despite having been previously used as shelters in 1917, the government felt that the Underground should be used for transport, not shelter. Posters were put up warning passengers that Underground stations “must not be used as air-raid shelters”.
  • On 7 September 1940, the East End experienced the first of many heavy bombing raids. People rushed to the Underground stations and staff were unable to resist.
  • Many people got round the Tube sheltering ban by buying cheap penny travel tickets and then  refusing to leave the platforms.
  • Trains continued to run throughout the blitz, leading to especially crowded stations mixed with travellers and those seeking shelter.
  • The press described those sheltering in the Underground as “Tubites”; London Transport called them “squatters”.
  • It wasn’t long before around 177,000 people were sheltering in the Underground’s deep-level stations every night.
  • “Droppers” would get into the station early and drop items of clothing against the wall to reserve the prime spots, which would then be sold for up to half a crown each.
  • Some communities of shelterers on the Underground set up committees and newsletters to campaign for better facilities.
  • On 8 October 1940 the government announced a U-turn and ended the unenforceable ban on sheltering in the Tube.
  • For Christmas 1940, London Transport staff distributed over 11,000 toys, presented by America’s Air Raid Relief Fund to children sheltering in stations.
  • Numbered bunk beds and a ticketing system were quickly installed to reduce queuing and stop “droppers”.
  • By the end of the war there were over 22,000 beds installed in Underground stations.
  • A popular war-time addition to the Underground was the “Tube Refreshment’s Service” which distributed seven tons of food to those sheltering every night.
  • Between September 1940 and May 1941, 198 people were killed when Tube shelters were hit directly by bombs.
  • One of the worst bombing incidents to affect the Underground shelters was on 14 October, when a bomb pierced the road surface, killing 64 people sheltering on the platform below.
  • On 13 January 1941, Bank station was hit, killing 56 people. Details of the incident were strictly censored.
  • The worst single incident to occur in London during the war was on 3 March 1943, when 173 people were crushed to death in a stairwell at Bethnal Green station – not a single bomb was dropped on the capital that night.
  • Around 200 London Transport workers were killed on duty during World War Two.
  • Despite a ban on geographic transport maps during the war, the Tube map was still permitted, presumably because it wouldn’t have been much help to Nazi paratroopers.
Nature
London Underground manages about 10 per cent of green spaces in London, playing host to everything from deer to grass snakes.
It has been estimated that around half a million mice are living across the Underground network.
The mosquitoes that live in the Tube tunnels have evolved into a unique species known for its voracious biting. They were named Culex pipiens molestus by biologists.
The website “Animals on the Underground” has made 35 different animals shapes from Beck’s Tube map.
Events
In 1956, to fill staff shortages, London Transport began to directly recruit in Barbados and Jamaica.
By 1969 over 4,000 staff from the West Indies had been recruited by London Transport.
The Tube celebrated its centenary in 1963 with a series of events including a parade of underground trains at Neasden depot.
In 1978 Hannah Dadds became the first woman to be employed as an Underground train driver.
The Tube usually only runs for 24 hours during New Year, however it also stayed open all night for the 2012 Olympic opening and closing ceremonies.
Three babies have been born in the London Underground. The most recent was a boy, born in December 2008.

Monday, May 30, 2016

A brief history of the London Underground



London Underground milestones

1843
Constructed by Sir Marc Brunel and his son Isambard, the Thames Tunnel opens
1863
On 10 January, The Metropolitan Railway opens the world's first underground railway, between Paddington (then called Bishop's Road) and Farringdon Street
1868
The first section of the Metropolitan District Railway, from South Kensington to Westminster (now part of the District and Circle lines), opens
1869
The first steam trains travel through the Brunels' Thames Tunnel
1880
Running from the Tower of London to Bermondsey, the first Tube tunnel opens
1884
The Circle line is completed
1890
On 18 December, The City and South London Railway opens the world's first deep-level electric railway. It runs from King William Street in the City of London, under the River Thames, to Stockwell
1900
The Prince of Wales opens the Central London Railway from Shepherd's Bush to Bank (the 'Twopenny Tube'). This is now part of the Central line
1902
The Underground Electric Railway Company of London (known as the Underground Group) is formed. By the start of WWI, mergers had brought all lines - except the Metropolitan line
1905
District and Circle lines become electrified
1906
Baker Street & Waterloo Railway (now part of the Bakerloo line) opens and runs from Baker Street to Kennington Road (now Lambeth North). Great Northern, Piccadilly & Brompton Railway (now part of the Piccadilly line) opens between Hammersmith and Finsbury Park
1907
Charing Cross, Euston & Hampstead Railway (now part of the Northern line) opens and runs from Charing Cross to Golders Green and Highgate (now Archway). Albert Stanley (later Lord Ashfield) is appointed General Manager of the Underground Electric Railway Company of London Limited
1908
The name 'Underground' makes its first appearance in stations, and the first electric ticket-issuing machine is introduced. This year also sees the first appearance of the famous roundel symbol
1911
London's first escalators are installed at Earl's Court station
1929
The last manually-operated doors on Tube trains are replaced by air-operated doors
1933
  • The Underground Group and the Metropolitan Railway become part of the London Passenger Transport Board, taking control of all the Capital's railway, bus, tram, trolleybus and coach services
  • Harry Beck presents the first diagram of the Underground map
1940
Between September 1940 and May 1945, most Tube station platforms are used as air raid shelters. Some, like the Piccadilly line, Holborn - Aldwych branch, are closed to store British Museum treasures
1948
The London Passenger Transport Board was nationalised and now becomes the London Transport Executive
1952
The first aluminium train enters service on the District line
1961
Sees the end of the steam and electric locomotive haulage of London Transport passenger trains
1963
The London Transport Executive becomes the London Transport Board, reporting directly to the Minister of Transport
1969
The Queen opens the Victoria line
1970
The London Transport Executive takes over the Underground and the Greater London area bus network, reporting to Greater London Council
1971
  • The last steam shunting and freight locomotive is withdrawn from service
  • The Victoria line extends to Brixton
1975
A fatal accident on the Northern line at Moorgate kills 43 people. New safety measures were introduced
1977
The Queen opens Heathrow Central station (Terminals 1 2 3) on the Piccadilly line
1979
The Prince of Wales opens the Jubilee line
1980
A museum about the birthplace of modern urban transportation, called Brunel Engine House, opens to the public
1983
Dot matrix train destination indicators introduced on platforms.
1984
The Hammersmith & City and the Circle lines convert to one-person operation
1986
The Piccadilly line is extended to serve Heathrow Terminal 4
1987
A tragic fire at King's Cross station kills 31 people
1989
New safety and fire regulations are introduced following the Fennell Report into the King's Cross fire
1992
The London Underground Customer Charter is launched
1993
  • Reconstruction work on Angel station ended
  • Work started on the extended Jubilee line from Green Park to Stratford
1994
  • Penalty fares are introduced
  • London Underground takes over the Waterloo & City line and responsibility for the stations on the Wimbledon branch of the District line from Putney Bridge to Wimbledon Park
  • Aldwych station, and the Central line branch from Epping to Ongar closes
1999
  • London Underground is restructured in preparation for Public Private Partnership
  • The extended Jubilee line opens, offering through services from Stanmore to Stratford
2003
  • The Oyster card is introduced
  • Busking is legalised
2005
52 people are killed in bomb attacks on three Tube trains and a bus on 7 July
2007
  • The Tube carries one billion passengers in a year for the first time
  • 14 former Silverlink stations transfer to London Underground (LU)
  • The East London line closes for rebuilding and extension as part of new London Overground network
2008
  • Piccadilly line extension to Heathrow Terminal 5 opens
  • Metronet transfers to TfL control
2009
  • The Circle line changes shape
  • LU is named Best Metro Europe
2010
  • The Queen visits Aldgate station
  • LU achieves Carbon Trust Standard
  • The first air-conditioned, walk-through Underground train runs on the Metropolitan line
  • Through services replace the Chesham shuttle
2011
  • A full fleet of brand new Victoria Line trains become operational;
  • Green Park becomes step-free to provide easier access to the Victoria, Piccadilly and Jubilee lines in time for the Olympics
The capital went underground on January 10th, 1863.
Train time tables: the banquet at Farringdon Street station to mark the opening of the Metropolitan Railway, from the 'Illustrated London News'. London Transport MuseumTrain time tables: the banquet at Farringdon Street station to mark the opening of the Metropolitan Railway, from the 'Illustrated London News'. London Transport MuseumWork on the world’s first underground railway started in 1860 when the Metropolitan Railway began building a tunnel more than three miles long from Paddington to Farringdon Street. It was largely financed by the City of London, which was suffering badly from horse-drawn traffic congestion that was having a damaging effect on business. The idea of an underground system had originated with the City solicitor, Charles Pearson, who had pressed for it for years. It was he who persuaded the City Corporation to put up money and he was probably the most important single figure in the underground’s creation. He died in 1862, only a few months before his brainchild came to life.
The first section linked the City with the railway stations at Paddington, Euston and King’s Cross, which had been built in the previous 30 years. The chief engineer was John Fowler, the leading railway engineer of the day, who would go on to create the Forth Bridge in Scotland. He did not come cheap and his Metropolitan Railway salary of £137,700 would be worth about £10 million today.
A deep trench was excavated by the ‘cut and cover’ method along what are now the Marylebone Road and the Euston Road and turning south-east beside Farringdon Road. Brick walls were built along the sides, the railway tracks were laid at the bottom and then the trench was roofed over with brick arches and the roads were put back on top, though the last stretch to Farringdon was left in an open, brick-lined cutting. Stations lit by gas were created at Paddington, Edgware Road, Baker Street, Great Portland Street, Euston Road and King’s Cross on the way to Farringdon, which was at ground level and was built, not entirely inappropriately as things turned out, on the former site of the City cattle market. W.E. Gladstone, who was Chancellor of the Exchequer at the time, and his wife Catherine were passengers on a trial trip in May 1862.
Built round the clock by shifts of navvies, the line had to avoid numerous water and gas pipes, drains and sewers. There was a problem when the noxious Fleet Ditch sewer flooded the works in Farringdon Road, but that was dealt with and on January 9th, 1863 the line’s completion was celebrated at a gathering of railway executives, Members of Parliament and City grandees including the lord mayor. The prime minister, Lord Palmerston, had declined his invitation, saying that at 79 he wanted to stay above ground as long as he could. Starting from Paddington, some 600 guests were carried in two trains along the line to Farringdon Street station, where a banquet was held, speeches made and due tribute paid to the memory of Charles Pearson. Music was provided by the Metropolitan Police band.
The line was opened to the public on the following day, a Saturday, and people flocked to try it out. More than 30,000 passengers crowded the stations and pushed their way into packed trains. The underground had been mocked in the music halls and derisively nicknamed ‘the Drain’. There were predictions that the tunnel’s roof would give way and people would fall into it, while passengers would be asphyxiated by the fumes, and an evangelical minister had denounced the railway company for trying to break into Hell.
In fact the railway was a tremendous success and The Times hailed it as ‘the great engineering triumph of the day’. In its first year it carried more than nine million passengers in gas-lit first-class, second-class and third-class carriages, drawn by steam locomotives that belched out choking quantities of smoke. The fact that the passengers were at first forbidden to smoke in the carriages was not much help.
Over the next two years the line was extended further east into the City to Moorgate and, in the other direction, to Hammersmith. Other lines were soon added to the growing network, deeper underground tunnelling was introduced and the steam trains were replaced by electric trains. The first underground electric railway, the City and South London, which ran from near the Bank of England under the Thames to the South Bank, opened in 1890. It was the first line to be called ‘the tube’ and the windowless carriages with their heavily upholstered interiors were popularly known as ‘padded cells’.
As far as the City was concerned, the corporation was able to sell its shares in the Metropolitan Railway at a profit and the underground did ease congestion for a time. A more lasting consequence was to make commuting far easier and so cause London to sprawl out even more from its centre, while the number of people actually living in the City itself declined sharply.
- See more at: http://www.historytoday.com/richard-cavendish/first-day-london-tube#sthash.Ti6T6Dgo.dpuf
The capital went underground on January 10th, 1863.
Train time tables: the banquet at Farringdon Street station to mark the opening of the Metropolitan Railway, from the 'Illustrated London News'. London Transport MuseumTrain time tables: the banquet at Farringdon Street station to mark the opening of the Metropolitan Railway, from the 'Illustrated London News'. London Transport MuseumWork on the world’s first underground railway started in 1860 when the Metropolitan Railway began building a tunnel more than three miles long from Paddington to Farringdon Street. It was largely financed by the City of London, which was suffering badly from horse-drawn traffic congestion that was having a damaging effect on business. The idea of an underground system had originated with the City solicitor, Charles Pearson, who had pressed for it for years. It was he who persuaded the City Corporation to put up money and he was probably the most important single figure in the underground’s creation. He died in 1862, only a few months before his brainchild came to life.
The first section linked the City with the railway stations at Paddington, Euston and King’s Cross, which had been built in the previous 30 years. The chief engineer was John Fowler, the leading railway engineer of the day, who would go on to create the Forth Bridge in Scotland. He did not come cheap and his Metropolitan Railway salary of £137,700 would be worth about £10 million today.
A deep trench was excavated by the ‘cut and cover’ method along what are now the Marylebone Road and the Euston Road and turning south-east beside Farringdon Road. Brick walls were built along the sides, the railway tracks were laid at the bottom and then the trench was roofed over with brick arches and the roads were put back on top, though the last stretch to Farringdon was left in an open, brick-lined cutting. Stations lit by gas were created at Paddington, Edgware Road, Baker Street, Great Portland Street, Euston Road and King’s Cross on the way to Farringdon, which was at ground level and was built, not entirely inappropriately as things turned out, on the former site of the City cattle market. W.E. Gladstone, who was Chancellor of the Exchequer at the time, and his wife Catherine were passengers on a trial trip in May 1862.
Built round the clock by shifts of navvies, the line had to avoid numerous water and gas pipes, drains and sewers. There was a problem when the noxious Fleet Ditch sewer flooded the works in Farringdon Road, but that was dealt with and on January 9th, 1863 the line’s completion was celebrated at a gathering of railway executives, Members of Parliament and City grandees including the lord mayor. The prime minister, Lord Palmerston, had declined his invitation, saying that at 79 he wanted to stay above ground as long as he could. Starting from Paddington, some 600 guests were carried in two trains along the line to Farringdon Street station, where a banquet was held, speeches made and due tribute paid to the memory of Charles Pearson. Music was provided by the Metropolitan Police band.
The line was opened to the public on the following day, a Saturday, and people flocked to try it out. More than 30,000 passengers crowded the stations and pushed their way into packed trains. The underground had been mocked in the music halls and derisively nicknamed ‘the Drain’. There were predictions that the tunnel’s roof would give way and people would fall into it, while passengers would be asphyxiated by the fumes, and an evangelical minister had denounced the railway company for trying to break into Hell.
In fact the railway was a tremendous success and The Times hailed it as ‘the great engineering triumph of the day’. In its first year it carried more than nine million passengers in gas-lit first-class, second-class and third-class carriages, drawn by steam locomotives that belched out choking quantities of smoke. The fact that the passengers were at first forbidden to smoke in the carriages was not much help.
Over the next two years the line was extended further east into the City to Moorgate and, in the other direction, to Hammersmith. Other lines were soon added to the growing network, deeper underground tunnelling was introduced and the steam trains were replaced by electric trains. The first underground electric railway, the City and South London, which ran from near the Bank of England under the Thames to the South Bank, opened in 1890. It was the first line to be called ‘the tube’ and the windowless carriages with their heavily upholstered interiors were popularly known as ‘padded cells’.
As far as the City was concerned, the corporation was able to sell its shares in the Metropolitan Railway at a profit and the underground did ease congestion for a time. A more lasting consequence was to make commuting far easier and so cause London to sprawl out even more from its centre, while the number of people actually living in the City itself declined sharply.
- See more at: http://www.historytoday.com/richard-cavendish/first-day-london-tube#sthash.Ti6T6Dgo.dpuf
The capital went underground on January 10th, 1863.
Train time tables: the banquet at Farringdon Street station to mark the opening of the Metropolitan Railway, from the 'Illustrated London News'. London Transport MuseumTrain time tables: the banquet at Farringdon Street station to mark the opening of the Metropolitan Railway, from the 'Illustrated London News'. London Transport MuseumWork on the world’s first underground railway started in 1860 when the Metropolitan Railway began building a tunnel more than three miles long from Paddington to Farringdon Street. It was largely financed by the City of London, which was suffering badly from horse-drawn traffic congestion that was having a damaging effect on business. The idea of an underground system had originated with the City solicitor, Charles Pearson, who had pressed for it for years. It was he who persuaded the City Corporation to put up money and he was probably the most important single figure in the underground’s creation. He died in 1862, only a few months before his brainchild came to life.
The first section linked the City with the railway stations at Paddington, Euston and King’s Cross, which had been built in the previous 30 years. The chief engineer was John Fowler, the leading railway engineer of the day, who would go on to create the Forth Bridge in Scotland. He did not come cheap and his Metropolitan Railway salary of £137,700 would be worth about £10 million today.
A deep trench was excavated by the ‘cut and cover’ method along what are now the Marylebone Road and the Euston Road and turning south-east beside Farringdon Road. Brick walls were built along the sides, the railway tracks were laid at the bottom and then the trench was roofed over with brick arches and the roads were put back on top, though the last stretch to Farringdon was left in an open, brick-lined cutting. Stations lit by gas were created at Paddington, Edgware Road, Baker Street, Great Portland Street, Euston Road and King’s Cross on the way to Farringdon, which was at ground level and was built, not entirely inappropriately as things turned out, on the former site of the City cattle market. W.E. Gladstone, who was Chancellor of the Exchequer at the time, and his wife Catherine were passengers on a trial trip in May 1862.
Built round the clock by shifts of navvies, the line had to avoid numerous water and gas pipes, drains and sewers. There was a problem when the noxious Fleet Ditch sewer flooded the works in Farringdon Road, but that was dealt with and on January 9th, 1863 the line’s completion was celebrated at a gathering of railway executives, Members of Parliament and City grandees including the lord mayor. The prime minister, Lord Palmerston, had declined his invitation, saying that at 79 he wanted to stay above ground as long as he could. Starting from Paddington, some 600 guests were carried in two trains along the line to Farringdon Street station, where a banquet was held, speeches made and due tribute paid to the memory of Charles Pearson. Music was provided by the Metropolitan Police band.
The line was opened to the public on the following day, a Saturday, and people flocked to try it out. More than 30,000 passengers crowded the stations and pushed their way into packed trains. The underground had been mocked in the music halls and derisively nicknamed ‘the Drain’. There were predictions that the tunnel’s roof would give way and people would fall into it, while passengers would be asphyxiated by the fumes, and an evangelical minister had denounced the railway company for trying to break into Hell.
In fact the railway was a tremendous success and The Times hailed it as ‘the great engineering triumph of the day’. In its first year it carried more than nine million passengers in gas-lit first-class, second-class and third-class carriages, drawn by steam locomotives that belched out choking quantities of smoke. The fact that the passengers were at first forbidden to smoke in the carriages was not much help.
Over the next two years the line was extended further east into the City to Moorgate and, in the other direction, to Hammersmith. Other lines were soon added to the growing network, deeper underground tunnelling was introduced and the steam trains were replaced by electric trains. The first underground electric railway, the City and South London, which ran from near the Bank of England under the Thames to the South Bank, opened in 1890. It was the first line to be called ‘the tube’ and the windowless carriages with their heavily upholstered interiors were popularly known as ‘padded cells’.
As far as the City was concerned, the corporation was able to sell its shares in the Metropolitan Railway at a profit and the underground did ease congestion for a time. A more lasting consequence was to make commuting far easier and so cause London to sprawl out even more from its centre, while the number of people actually living in the City itself declined sharply.
- See more at: http://www.historytoday.com/richard-cavendish/first-day-london-tube#sthash.Ti6T6Dgo.dpuf

Thursday, May 12, 2016

પનામા પછી સેશેલ્સમાં રોકાણના 'રહસ્યો' ખૂલશે

પનામા પછી ધનાઢ્ય ભારતીયો અને એનઆરઆઇ માટે સેશેલ્સના કારણે સમસ્યા વધી શકે છે. ઘણા ધનિક લોકો ઇસ્ટ આફ્રિકાના ટાપુ સેશેલ્સમાં રોકાણ ધરાવે છે અને હવે આ રોકાણ તથા બેન્ક એકાઉન્ટની વિગતો જાહેર થઈ શકે છે.આ લોકો શેલ કંપનીઓમાં ડિરેક્ટર અથવા શેરહોલ્ડર છે. આવી કંપનીઓ ઇન્ટરનેશનલ બિઝનેસ કંપનીઓ અથવા આઇબીસી તરીકે ઓળખાય છે જેઓ સેશેલ્સ કે અન્ય ટેક્સ હેવન દેશોના બેન્ક એકાઉન્ટમાં ફંડ ધરાવે છે.

એક ટેક્સ પ્રોફેશનલે ઇટીને જણાવ્યું હતું કે, "અમને સંભવિત લિક વિશે એલર્ટ કરવામાં આવ્યા છે. મોસેક ફોન્સેકાના કિસ્સામાં પણ આવું જ થયું હતું. એક્ટિવિસ્ટ હેકર્સ અથવા નારાજ કર્મચારીઓએ ફોન્સેકાના ડેટાબેઝમાંથી સેશેલ્સ વિશેની માહિતી ચોરીને લિક કરી હોય તેવી શક્યતા છે. અમને લાગે છે કે આ માહિતી પહેલેથી એકત્ર કરાઇ હશે અને હવે ટૂંક સમયમાં જાહેર થઈ જશે."

પત્રકારોના એક જૂથે પનામા સ્થિત કાનૂની પેઢી મોસેક ફોન્સેકાના ક્લાયન્ટ્સના રોકાણોની માહિતી જાહેર કરી ત્યારથી આ કંપની મિડિયામાં ચમકી છે. એક વરિષ્ઠ વકીલે જણાવ્યા કાયદેસરનું રોકાણ ધરાવતા કેટલાક એનઆરઆઇ તેમની ઓળખ ગુપ્ત રાખવામાં નિષ્ફળ જવા બદલ ફોન્સેકા સામે કેસ કરવાની તૈયારીમાં છે.

ઇટીએ બે ટેક્સ પ્રેક્ટિશનર્સ સાથે વાત કરી હતી. તેમણે કહ્યું કે તેમના ક્લાયન્ટને બીક છે કે આવકવેરા વિભાગ દ્વારા સેશેલ્સમાં તેમના રોકાણ અને ડિરેક્ટરશિપ વિશે તપાસ થઈ શકે છે. આ પ્રેક્ટિશનર્સ હવે કાનૂની બચાવ માટે તૈયારી કરી રહ્યા છે.

ટ્રસ્ટ અને ફાઉન્ડેશન સ્થાપવામાં સેશેલ્સના કાયદા મદદરૂપ છે તથા બેરર શેર્સના કારણે તેના ડિરેક્ટર્સ પોતાની ઓળખ છુપાવી શકે છે. આવી સિક્યોરિટી કોઇ માલિકના નામે હોતી નથી.

પરંતુ સેશેલ્સ પ્રમાણમાં ઓછું મહત્ત્વનું ટેક્સ હેવન છે કારણ કે તે રાજકીય સ્થિરતામાં પાછળ છે. ચાઇનીઝ ધનિકોએ ટેક્સ એવોઇડન્સ ટ્રીટી ટાળીને ઇન્ડોનેશિયામાં રોકાણ કરવા માટે ઘણી વખત સેશેલ્સનો ઉપયોગ કર્યો છે. ભારત સેશેલ્સ સાથે ડિપ્લોમેટિક સંબંધ ધરાવે છે અને તેને ક્રેડિટ લાઇન પૂરી પાડેલી છે. પરંતુ ટેક્સ અંગેની માહિતી માટે બંને દેશો વચ્ચે કોઈ કરા નથી. એક વકીલે જણાવ્યું કે ભારત સેશેલ્સ સાથેના હાલના સંબંધોનો ઉપયોગ કરીને માહિતી કઢાવી શકે છે કે નહીં તે નક્કી નથી. તેમાં કદાચ મોટા લોકોના નામ ન હોય તેવી પણ શક્યતા છે.

અક્ષય તૃતીયાના દિવસે પણ સોનું ના ઝળક્યું

દુષ્કાળની લપેટમાં આવેલા ગ્રામીણ ભારતમાં સોનું ખરીદવા માટે રસ ઘટતાં અક્ષય તૃતીયાએ સોનું ઝળકવામાં નિષ્ફળ રહ્યું હતું. પાછલા વર્ષની તુલનાએ આ વર્ષે સોનાના વેચાણમાં 40 ટકા કરતાં પણ વધારે ઘટાડો નોંધાયો હતો.

સોનાના ભાવમાં 11 ટકાના વધારાના કારણે શહેરી વિસ્તારોમાં તથા મેટ્રો શહેરોમાં વેચાણ ફ્લેટ જળવાઈ રહ્યું હતું. સોમવારે સોનાની કિંમત 10 ગ્રામ દીઠ રૂ.30,200ની આસપાસ હતી જેની સરખામણીએ પાછલા વર્ષે આ દિવસે ભાવ રૂ.27,000 હતો, તેમ જ્વેલર્સ અને બુલિયન ડીલર્સ જણાવે છે.

પૂણે સ્થિત પીએનજી જ્વેલર્સના મેનેજિંગ ડિરેક્ટર સૌરભ ગાંગુલીએ જણાવ્યું હતું કે, "અમે અક્ષય તૃતીયાના દિવસે સારા વેચાણની અપેક્ષા રાખી હતી કેમ કે આ તહેવાર અગાઉ વીક-એન્ડ આવતો હતો. અમારે ત્યાં મુલાકાતી વધ્યા હતા, પરંતુ વેચાણમાં વધારો થયો ન હતો. સોનાના ઊંચા ભાવ સાથે ૪૨ દિવસ ચાલેલી હડતાળ તથા બજારમાં નકારાત્મક વાતાવરણે આ વખતે સોનાના વેચાણ પર અસર કરી હતી. હાલમાં ફક્ત હળવું વજન ધરાવતી જ્વેલરી ચાલી રહી છે."

મૂલ્યની દૃષ્ટિએ જોઈએ તો જ્વેલર્સ થોડી વૃદ્ધિ નોંધાવી શકશે કારણ કે સોનાની કિંમતમાં વધારો થયો છે, પરંતુ વોલ્યુમના સંદર્ભમાં વધારે વૃદ્ધિ નથી. પોપ્લી એન્ડ સન્સના ડિરેક્ટર રાજીવ પોપ્લી જણાવે છે કે, "જે લોકોએ અગાઉ આભૂષણોનું બુકિંગ કરાવ્યું હતું તેમણે અક્ષય તૃતીયાએ ડિલિવરી લીધી હતી.

જોકે, અમે વેચાણમાં મોટો ઉછાળો નોંધાવ્યો નથી. વેચાણ સ્થિર જળવાઈ રહ્યું હતું તથા તે પાછલા વર્ષની અક્ષય તૃતીયાની સમકક્ષ હશે. લોકો પાંચ ગ્રામના સોનાના સિક્કાની વધારે ખરીદી કરી રહ્યા છે."

કોલકાતા સ્થિત સેન્કો ગોલ્ડના મેનેજિંગ ડિરેક્ટર સુવાંકર સેને પણ જણાવ્યું હતું કે, "વોલ્યુમના સંદર્ભમાં જોતાં અમે મોટો ઉછાળો નોંધાવ્યો ન હતો. વધુમાં, આ અક્ષય તૃતીયાએ અમારી મુખ્ય ચિંતા માલના ભરાવાને દૂર કરવાની હતી જે હડતાળના કારણે અમારા શોરૂમ્સ પર ખડકાયો હતો."

જોકે, વર્લ્ડ ગોલ્ડ કાઉન્સિલને આ બાબતનો આનંદ છે કે જ્વેલર્સ દ્વારા બિઝનેસ શરૂ કરવાની સાથે ગ્રાહકોમાં ખરીદીનો રસ પરત ફર્યો છે. વર્લ્ડ ગોલ્ડ કાઉન્સિલના એમડી પીઆર સોમાસુંદરમે જણાવ્યું હતું કે, "અમે માનીએ છીએ કે સોના તરફ ગ્રાહકોમાં રોકાણના એક સાધન તરીકે અભિગમ હકારાત્મક જળવાયો છે તથા સોનાના બજાર માટે લાંબા ગાળાનો ખ્યાલ અકબંધ રહ્યો છે."જ્વેલર્સ માટે ચિંતાની મુખ્ય બાબત એ છે કે, ગ્રામીણ ભારતમાં સોનાની માંગમાં વધારો થઈ રહ્યો નથી જે કુલ વેચાણમાં 60 ટકા હિસ્સો ધરાવે છે.

અંશુ જૈન ભારતમાં NBFC શરૂ કરવાની તૈયારીમાં

ડોએચ્ચ બેન્કના ભૂતપૂર્વ કો-સીઇઓ અંશુ જૈન ભારતમાં નોન બેન્કિંગ ફાઇનાન્સ કંપની લોન્ચ કરવા માટે ભૂતપૂર્વ સહયોગી ભૂપિન્દર સિંઘ સાથે ભાગીદારી કરી રહ્યા છે. ભારતમાં હજુ કરોડો લોકોને બેન્કિંગ સુવિધા મળી નથી જેથી એનબીએફસી માટે બિઝનેસની તક હોવાનું માનવામાં આવે છે.

એનબીએફસી દ્વારા વ્યક્તિઓ, નાનાં અને મધ્યમ સાહસો તથા ઉદ્યોગસાહસિકોને ધિરાણ કરવામાં આવશે અને તે સાન ફ્રાન્સિસ્કો સ્થિત ફિન્ટેક સ્ટાર્ટઅપ સોફીના મોડલ પર આધારિત હશે જેમાં જૈન સલાહકાર છે. જાપાનની સોફ્ટબેન્ક દ્વારા તેને ફાઇનાન્સ કરવામાં આવે તેવી શક્યતા છે જેણે સોફીને પણ આર્થિક ટેકો આપ્યો છે.

એક વ્યક્તિએ કહ્યું કે, "ટેક્‌નોલોજી આ કંપનીનો મુખ્ય આધાર હશે. ભારતમાં ઓછી હાજરી ધરાવતા અને અર્ધવિકસિત ધિરાણ બજારમાં તેને સારી તક તરીકે જોવામાં આવે છે. તે ક્રેડિટ સ્કોર અને આધાર પ્રોજેક્ટના ડેટાના વિશ્લેષણનો ઉપયોગ કરશે."

તેમનો વિચાર SoFiનું દેશી વર્ઝન તૈયાર કરવાનું છે જે 2011માં સોશિયલ ફાઇનાન્સ તરીકે શરૂ થયું હતું. તેમાં સ્ટેન્ફર્ડમાં અભ્યાસ કરવા માંગતા જરૂરિયાતમંદ વિદ્યાર્થીઓને મદદ કરવા માટે ઓનલાઇન પ્લેટફોર્મ લોન્ચ કરવાની યોજના હતી. તેમાંથી તે હવે પૂર્ણ કક્ષાના એનબીએફસીમાં રૂપાંતરિત થઈ છે અને વિદ્યાર્થીઓન સસ્તી લોન, મોર્ગેજ, પર્સનલ લોન અને વેલ્થ મેનેજમેન્ટ સર્વિસનું કામ કરે છે.

જૈને જૂન 2015માં જર્મન બેન્કમાં નફો ઘટવાથી ડોએચ્ચે છોડી હતી. યુરોપિયન બેન્કો દ્વારા બેન્ચમાર્ક રેટમાં કથિત ચેડાંના કારણે કાનૂની ખર્ચ વધી રહ્યો હોવાથી તેમણે ડોએચ્ચ બેન્કમાંથી રાજીનામું આપ્યું હતું. ફેબ્રુઆરીમાં જર્મન નાણાકીય નિયમનકારે ડોએચ્ચ બેન્ક ખાતે સ્પેશિયલ ઓડિટ બંધ કર્યાં હતાં અને જૈનને ગોટાળાના આરોપોમાંથી મુક્તિ અપાવી હતી. પ્રસ્તાવિત એનબીએફસી ભારતમાં નાણાકીય સેવા સેક્ટરમાં જૈનનું પ્રથમ સાહસ હશે.

જૈનનો સંપર્ક કરવામાં આવ્યો ત્યારે તેમણે પોતાના ભાગીદાર સિંઘથી વાત કરવા કહ્યું હતું. સિંઘે આ વિશે ટિપ્પણી કરવાનો ઇનકાર કર્યો હતો. સિંઘ ડોએચ્ચે બેન્કના કોર્પોરેટ બેન્કિંગ બિઝનેસમાં એશિયા પેસિફિક ખાતે કો-હેડ રહી ચૂક્યા છે. તેમણે એક વર્ષ કરતાં ઓછા સમય અગાઉ બેન્ક છોડી હતી. તેઓ નવા સાહસ માટે સ્થાપક સીઇઓ બને તેવી શક્યતા છે જ્યારે જૈન તેમાં મુખ્ય રોકાણકાર હશે. તે SoFiનું ભારતીય વર્ઝન હોવાની શક્યતા છે કારણ કે તેમાં શાખાઓ સ્થાપવી જરૂરી હશે. જોકે, તેમાં મોટા ભાગનો બિઝનેસ ઓનલાઇન થશે.

IPLના નવમા વર્ષે પહેલી ટીમ કમાતી થઈ: KKRનો નફો રૂ.14.15 કરોડ

શાહરૂખ ખાનના 'સ્ટાર પાવર' અને છેલ્લાં કેટલાંક વર્ષમાં ટીમના જોરદાર પ્રદર્શનની મદદથી કોલકાતા નાઇટ રાઇડર્સ (KKR)ની ટીમ નફો કરતી થઈ છે. ટીમ 2014-15માં બીજી વખત ચેમ્પિયન થઈ ત્યારે તેણે IPLની તમામ ટીમમાં સૌથી વધુ આવક મેળવી હતી. 2014માં લોકસભા ચૂંટણીના કારણે અડધી ટુર્નામેન્ટ દેશની બહાર UAEમાં રમાઈ હોવા છતાં KKR નફાકારક બની હતી.

બિઝનેસ રિસર્ચ પ્લેટફોર્મ ટોફલરના જણાવ્યા અનુસાર KKRની કંપની નાઇટ રાઇડર્સ સ્પોર્ટ્સ પ્રાઇવેટ લિમિટેડે 2014-15માં રૂ.168.71 કરોડની આવક મેળવી હતી, જે 2013-14માં રૂ.128.81 કરોડ હતી. તેનો નફો 2014-15માં અગાઉના વર્ષના રૂ.9.18 કરોડથી વધીને રૂ.14.15 કરોડ થયો હતો.

IPLની અન્ય કોઈ ટીમે નફામાં આટલું સાતત્ય દર્શાવ્યું નથી. 2014-15માં નફો કરનારી અન્ય ટીમ માત્ર કિંગ્સ XI પંજાબ હતી. તેણે અગાઉના વર્ષની રૂ.4.35 કરોડની ખોટ સામે રૂ12.76 કરોડનો નફો કર્યો હતો. ટીમની આવક 2014-15માં રૂ.130.05 કરોડ રહી હતી, જે અગાઉના વર્ષે રૂ.103.21 કરોડ હતી.

રજિસ્ટ્રાર ઓફ કંપનીઝ પાસેથી 2014-15 પછીના વર્ષની માહિતી હજુ મળી નથી. ઉલ્લેખનીય છે કે, સ્પોટ-ફિક્સિંગ અને સટ્ટાના આરોપોને પગલે IPLમાં ઘણા વિવાદ થયા હતા. ટુર્નામેન્ટનાં શરૂઆતનાં વર્ષોમાં મોટા ભાગની ટીમને પહેલાં ત્રણ-ચાર વર્ષમાં બ્રેક-ઇવનની ધારણા હતી. જોકે, નવમા વર્ષે પણ ઘણી ટીમો નફો કરી શકી નથી. જેમ કે, મુકેશ અંબાણીની મુંબઈ ઇન્ડિયન્સે 2011, 2012, 2013 અને 2014માં પ્રોત્સાહક આવક મેળવી હતી, પરંતુ આ વર્ષોમાં સતત જીત છતાં તે નફો કરી શકી નથી.

મુંબઈ ઇન્ડિયન્સની માલિક ઇન્ડિયાવિન સ્પોર્ટ્સ પ્રાઇવેટ લિમિટેડે 2014-15માં રૂ.167.75 કરોડની આવક મેળવી હતી. 2013માં ટીમ ટુર્નામેન્ટ જીતી ત્યારે તેની આવક રૂ.220.87 કરોડ હતી. જોકે, હજુ સુધી કંપની નફો કરી શકી નથી. 2014-15માં તેની ખોટ રૂ.3.87 કરોડ રહી છે, જે 2013-14માં રૂ.5.04 કરોડ હતી. 2011થી 2014ના ગાળામાં કોહલી, ગેઇલ અને ડિ વિલિયર્સની ટીમ રોયલ ચેલેન્જર્સ બેંગલોર પણ ખોટમાં હતી.

2014-15માં ટીમે રૂ.30.05 કરોડ અને 2013-14માં રૂ.99.04 કરોડની ખોટ કરી હતી. 2012-13માં તેની ખોટ રૂ.7.85 કરોડ રહી હતી અને આવક પણ રૂ.90ની આસપાસ અટકી હતી.

દિલ્હી ડેરડેવિલ્સની કંપની જીએમઆર પ્રાઇવેટ લિમિટેડની આવક 2014-15માં ઘટીને રૂ.112.86 કરોડ રહી હતી, જે 2013-14માં રૂ.151.22 કરોડ હતી. ટીમનો નફો 2013-14માં રૂ.7 કરોડ હતો, પરંતુ પછીના વર્ષ તેણે રૂ.20.39 કરોડની ખોટ કરી હતી.

ચેન્નાઈ સુપરકિંગ્સ (CSK) અને રાજસ્થાન રોયલ્સની ટીમને બે વર્ષ માટે સસ્પેન્ડ કરાઈ છે. જોકે, એ પહેલાં CSK આવકની રીતે ટોચની ત્રણ ટીમમાં સામેલ હતી. 2014-15માં તેની આવક રૂ.158.51 કરોડ અને 2013-14માં રૂ.166.16 કરોડ રહી હતી. રાજસ્થાન રોયલ્સની આવક 2013માં રૂ.93.38 કરોડ હતી અને ટીમે રૂ.3.84 કરોડની ખોટ કરી હતી.

BCCIની સેન્ટ્રલ પૂલ આવક ઉપરાંત, ટીમ્સની આવકના સૌથી મોટા સ્રોતમાં ઇનામની રકમ અને પર્ફોર્મન્સ બોનસ સામેલ છે. ટીમ્સને ટિકિટના વેચાણ, ટીમની જર્સી પર સ્પોન્સરશિપ, લાઇસન્સિંગ અને મર્ચેન્ડાઇઝિંગમાંથી પણ આવક મળે છે. ટીમ સ્પોન્સરશિપની સરેરાશ આવક રૂ.25-40 કરોડ છે અને ટિકિટના વેચાણમાંથી લગભગ રૂ.20-35 કરોડ મળે છે. ‌ફ્રેન્ચાઇઝીને BCCI તરફથી સેન્ટ્રલ પૂલની રૂ.70-80 કરોડની આવક થાય છે.

JSW સ્ટીલ ટાટા સ્ટીલનો UK બિઝનેસ લેવાની દોડમાં

:ટાટા સ્ટીલની ખોટ કરતી યુકે સ્થિત એસેટ્સ ખરીદવામાં જેએસડબલ્યુ સ્ટીલ આશ્ચર્યજનક રીતે અગ્રણી બિડર તરીકે ઊભરી આવી છે. તેના કારણે બજારને નવાઇ લાગી હતી અને સજ્જન જિંદાલની કંપનીના શેરમાં ઘટાડો જોવાયો હતો.

વેચાણની પ્રક્રિયામાં આગામી રાઉન્ડ માટે જે સાત બિડર્સને શોર્ટ લિસ્ટ કરવામાં આવ્યા છે તેમાં એક જેએસડબલ્યુ સ્ટીલ પણ છે. આ બિઝનેસને પુન:બેઠો કરવાના પ્રયાસોને છોડી દીધા પછી ટાટા સ્ટીલ તેને ખરીદનારાની ઝડપી શોધ કરવા માંગે છે, આ બિઝનેસ તેણે કોરસના ટેકઓવરના ભાગરૂપે ખરીદ્યો હતો જ્યારે ૨૦૦૭માં કોમોડિટીઝની તેજી ટોચ પર હતી.

જેએસડબલ્યુ સ્ટીલના એક પ્રવક્તાએ જણાવ્યું હતું કે, "કંપનીની વૃદ્ધિની વ્યુહરચનાના ભાગરૂપે કંપની ઘણી તકોનું મુલ્યાંકન કરતી હોય છે જેમાં યુકે સ્થિત સ્ટીલ ફેસિલિટીની હાલની તકનો સમાવેશ થાય છે. હાલના તબક્કે આમાં વધારે ઉમેરો કરવો વધારે પડતું વહેલું ગણાશે."

ટાટા સ્ટીલના યુકે બિઝનેસમાં જેએસડબલ્યુ સ્ટીલને રસ છે તેવા સમાચાર બાદ મંગળવારે બીએસઈ સેન્સેક્સ 0.33 ટકા ઊંચકાયો હતો ત્યારે જેએસડબલ્યુ સ્ટીલનો શેર ત્રણ ટકા ગગડ્યો હતો. 31 ડિસેમ્બરના રોજ કંપનીની ચોખ્ખી ડેટ રૂ.39,483 કરોડની હતી.

આ બાબતથી માહિતગાર એક વ્યક્તિએ જણાવ્યું હતું કે, "સાઈકલ બદલાઈ છે અને માન્યતા એવી છે કે અમે તેને નાખી દેવાના ભાવે મેળવીશું. તેને યુકે સરકારનું પ્રોત્સાહન છે તથા તેની સામાન્ય કિંમત જેએસડબલ્યુ સ્ટીલને આ એસેટ તરફ આકર્ષિત કરે છે. જેએસડબલ્યુ સ્ટીલ માટે વધારે ડેટ કે પેન્શનની જવાબદારીની ચિંતા કરવાની જરૂર નથી."

આ ક્ષેત્રમાં અગિયાર હજાર રોજગારી છે જેનું રક્ષણ કરવાના ભાગરૂપે યુકે સરકારે આ બિઝનેસમાં રોકાણકારોને આકર્ષિત કરવા ઘણા પગલાં ભર્યા છે. તે ટાટાના યુકે બિઝનેસના વેચાણમાં ટેકો આપવા માટે 25 ટકા જેવો હિસ્સો ખરીદવા માટે તૈયાર છે તથા ડેટમાં મોટી રાહત આપવાની ઓફર છે.

સંભવિત ખરીદનાર પર ઓછામાં ઓછી અસર આવે તે માટે સરકાર ટાટા સ્ટીલ તથા બ્રિટિશ સ્ટીલ પેન્શન સ્કીમના ટ્રસ્ટી પર પણ કામગીરી કરી રહી છે તથા સંભવિત પણે તેને બિઝનેસથી અલગ કરી શકે. કંપની પર પેન્શનની જવાબદારી 15 અબજ પાઉન્ડ જેવી મોટી છે.ઉલ્લેખનિય છે કે ટાટા સ્ટીલ ફક્ત એક પાઉન્ડમાં તેના લોંગ પ્રોડક્ટ બિઝનેસને ગ્રેબૂલ કેપિટલને વેચવા માટે સહમત થયું છે.

મોરેશિયસના રોકાણ પર 2017થી કેપિ. ગેઈન્સ ટેક્સ લાગશે

મોરિશિયસમાંથી થતી કરચોરી અટકાવવા ભારતે 1 એપ્રિલ, 2017 પછીના શેર વેચાણ પર કેપિટલ ગેઇન્સ ટેક્સ વસૂલવા માટે કરાર કર્યો છે. મોરિશિયસ
સાથે ડબલ ટેક્સેશન એવોઇડન્સ કન્વેન્શન (DTAC) પર હસ્તાક્ષરને પગલે ભારતીય રેસિડન્ટ કંપનીના શેર વેચાણ પર 1 એપ્રિલ, 2017થી 31 માર્ચ 2019ના ગાળામાં નિર્ધારિત દરનો 50 ટકા ટેક્સ લાગશે.

સંપૂર્ણ કેપિટલ ગેઇન્સ ટેક્સ 1 એપ્રિલ, 2019થી લાગુ થશે. ડબલ ટેક્સેશન ટાળવા અને કરચોરી અટકાવવા ભારત અને મોરિશિયસ વચ્ચે મંગળવારે મોરિશયસના પોર્ટ લુઇ ખાતે હસ્તાક્ષર કરાયા હતા.

નાણામંત્રાલયે જણાવ્યું હતું કે, "પ્રોટોકોલને પગલે લાંબા સમયથી થઈ રહેલા કરારના દુરુપયોગની ખામીઓ અને ફંડ્સનું રાઉન્ડ ટ્રિપિંગ દૂર થશે." મહેસૂલ સચિવ હસમુખ અઢિયાએ જણાવ્યું હતું કે, કરારમાં ફેરફારથી વિદેશી રોકાણકારોની ટેક્સ બાબતોમાં સ્પષ્ટતા આવે છે.

ઉલ્લેખનીય છે કે, ભારતે 1983માં માત્ર 13 લાખની વસતી ધરાવતા મોરિશિયસ સાથે ડબલ ટેક્સેશન એવોઇડન્સ કરાર પર હસ્તાક્ષર કર્યા હતા, જે ભારતમાં સીધા વિદેશી રોકાણ (FDI)નો બહુ મોટો સ્રોત બન્યો હતો. ભારત સરકારે ઘણી વખતે કરારની શરતો અંગે ફરિયાદ કરી હતી, કારણ કે રોકાણનો મોટો હિસ્સો વાસ્તવિક વિદેશી રોકાણ ન હતું, પણ ભારતીયો સ્થાનિક ટેક્સ ટાળવા મોરિશિયસ દ્વારા નાણાં દેશમાં લાવતા હતા. આ પ્રક્રિયાને રાઉન્ડ ટ્રિપિંગ તરીકે ઓળખવામાં આવે છે.

મંગળવારે થયેલા કરારનો હેતુ ભારતમાં રોકાણ કરતી મોરિશિયસની કંપનીઓ વાસ્તવિક હોય એ નિશ્ચિત કરવાનો છે. અત્યાર સુધી DTAC હેઠળ મોરિશિયસમાં નોંધાયેલી કંપનીઓને ભારતમાં એસેટ્સના વેચાણમાંથી થયેલો કેપિટલ ગેઇન્સ મોરિશિયસમાં જ કરપાત્ર બનતો હતો. જ્યારે ભારતમાં લાગુ 10 ટકાના શોર્ટ-ટર્મ કેપિટલ ગેઇન્સ ટેક્સને મોરિશિયસમાં મુક્તિ હતી. એટલી આવી કંપનીઓ બંને દેશમાં ટેક્સની ચુકવણીમાંથી છટકી જતી હતી.

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