NOTE 17 - EMPLOYEE BENEFITS

12 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2012

Compensation and Employee Benefit Plans [Text Block]

NOTE 17 – EMPLOYEE BENEFITS

Gratuity In accordance with applicable Indian laws, the Company provides for gratuity, a defined benefit retirement plan (Gratuity Plan) covering certain categories of employees. The Gratuity Plan provides a lump sum payment to vested employees, at retirement or termination of employment, an amount based on the respective employee’s last drawn salary and the years of employment with the Company.

	As of March 31,
	2012			2011
Change in the benefit obligation
Projected Benefit Obligation (PBO) at the beginning of the year		(28,780	)		(22,383	)
Service cost		(1,656	)		(1,510	)
Interest cost		(2,535	)		(1,967	)
Benefits paid		3,295			3,578
Actuarial (loss)/gain		3,225			(6,498	)
PBO at the end of the year		(26,451	)		(28,780	)
					-
Funded status	$	(26,451	)	$	(28,780	)

Net gratuity cost for the years ended March 31, 2012 and 2011 included:

	Year ended March 31,
	2012			2011
Service cost		1,656			1,510
Interest cost		2,535			1,967
Actuarial loss/(gain)		(3,225	)		6,498
Net gratuity cost	$	966		$	9,975

The weighted average actuarial assumptions used to determine benefit obligations and net periodic gratuity cost are:

	Year ended March 31,
	2012			2011
Discount rate		9.30	%		9.10	%
Rate of increase in compensation levels		8.00	%		8.00	%

The Company assesses these assumptions with its projected long-term plans of growth and prevalent industry standards.

The expected payout of the accumulated benefit obligation as of March 31 is as follows.

	As of March 31,
	2012		2011
Expected contribution during the year ending Year 1	$	1,153	$	2,739
Expected benefit payments for the years ending March 31:
Year 2		1,174		1,302
Year 3		7,922		1,347
Year 4		1,236		1,819
Year 5		2,662		9,048
Thereafter		19,868		15,806

Provident fund. In addition to the above benefits, all employees receive benefits from a provident fund, a defined contribution plan. The employee and employer each make monthly contributions to the plan equal to 12% of the covered employee’s salary. The contribution is made to the Government’s provident fund.

The Company recognized an expense of $ (2,329) and $6,819 towards contribution to various defined contribution and benefit plans during the years ended March 31, 2012 and March 31, 2011 respectively.