 |
Saturday,
January 5, 2002, Chandigarh, India   
|
No
decision on additional cess on petrol, diesel IOC snaps
marketing pact with Reliance Petroleum
FM: Budget
to take note of war threat PNB to
approach RBI again |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bangladesh
in grip of economic crisis Adopt
dairy farming, says Dhumal
Aksh
Optifibre to float 2 subsidiaries
|
|
No decision on additional cess on petrol, diesel New Delhi, January 4 “At the moment no decision on the issue of imposing additional cess on petrol and diesel to meet fund requirement for the second phase of the NHDP has been taken,” N.K. Singh told reporters after a meeting with the Secretary (Expenditure) and the Secretary (Road Transport & Highways) here. Commenting on today’s meeting, he said a number of issues including progress of the NHDP, were discussed. The first phase of “Golden Quadrilateral” connecting four metros of Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata with four or six lane highways was on progressing on schedule. “The first phase will be completed by December, 2003,” he said, adding that there could be some spill-overs. While funds for the Rs 27,000 crore Golden Quadrilateral (GQ) part of the NHDP have been tied-up, the North-South corridor joining Kashmir with Kanyakumari and the East-West corridor linking Silchar with Porbandar and 1,000 km of port connectivity was yet to achieve financial closure. “We have asked the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways to do some preliminary work on the likely revenue generation from toll on GQ projects and the financing gap for the phase II,” he said. According to preliminary estimates of the working group for the 10th Plan, Rs 5,000 crore are likely to accrue on this account from 2004, he said. The Ministry of Road Transport has been asked to make a preliminary assessment of the revenue shortfall for the second phase in a month’s time. The government is at present garnering about Rs 5,900 crore annually from the Re 1 cess on petrol and diesel, of which the present year allocation for the NHDP was Rs 2100 crore.
PTI
|
|
IOC snaps marketing pact with Reliance Petroleum
New Delhi, January 4 “We terminated the agreement with RPL for marketing of petroleum products last month as the country’s largest refinery wanted us to lift their entire output of 15 million tonnes on a take-or-pay basis as opposed to our commitment of about 8.5 million tonnes,” senior IOC sources told PTI. As per the original agreement, IOC committed to marketing 52 per cent (about 8.5 million tonnes) throughput of RPL on take-or-pay basis till 2008 while the remaining was to be marketed by a joint venture company of IOC and RPL. With no sight of the joint venture getting approval, RPL wanted the remaining 6.5 million tonnes also included in the marketing arrangement with IOC on take-or-pay basis which was opposed to IOC. Sources said IOC was also upset with RPL’s plans to sell its products on its own from next fiscal as it ran against the spirit of the marketing agreement. RPL wants to enter direct marketing since the Jamnagar refinery was likely to produce 2 million tonnes additional products beyond the tied-up output of 15 million tonnes. LPG security deposits
reduced Digboi: The government today announced a steep reduction of 22 per cent in the security deposit for new LPG connection to Rs 700 per cylinder and is likely to announce revision in royalty on crude oil by February 28. The security deposit on new cooking gas (LPG) cylinder has been reduced from Rs 900 to Rs 700, Petroleum Minister Ram Naik said at the centenary celebrations of the country’s oldest refinery at Digboi in Assam. The cut in cylinder deposit follows tendering by all the national oil companies for procurement of cylinders, believed to be at Rs 640 a piece as against an earlier cost of Rs 890 per cylinder.
PTI |
|
FM: Budget to take note of war threat
New Delhi, January 4 The country is going through a phase of tension on the Indo-Pak border and it is not clear what shape it will take, Mr Sinha told All India Radio in an interview broadcast tonight. Stating that national security was of supreme importance, Mr Sinha said he would hold discussions with Defence Minister George Fernandes before the Budget is finalised. Mr Sinha said the Defence Ministry had been given liberal amount of funds during the last Budget and the present allocation of Rs 62,000 crore should be sufficient to meet its requirements. “However, if the Defence Ministry were to need more funds I would not hesitate to provide these.” The Minister said defence expenditure as a percentage of GDP was not as high a percentage of GDP as in the case of some other countries, like Pakistan. The government will come out with a voluntary retirement scheme for those in the surplus pool before the next Budget. The Budget was being prepared in difficult circumstances with the global as well as the Indian economy being in recession. The emphasis in the coming Budget would be on a series of measures to get over this hump, he said.
UNI
|
|
PNB to approach RBI again New Delhi, January 4 “Zurich, PNB and Vijaya Bank are searching for a new partner. It may be another corporate,” official sources told PTI, but declined to name the companies shortlisted. The move comes after the Delhi-based Hero group pulled out of the venture in the last minute. The group was supposed to hold 51 per cent while Zurich decided to take 26 per cent, PNB 15 per cent and Vijaya Bank 8 per cent. PNB and Vijaya Bank had earlier obtained the RBI nod for foraying into life and non-life insurance promoted by the Hero group with a 51 per cent stake. But after the Hero group’s reversal of plans, the two banks will have to submit application to the apex bank afresh. “We will apply to the RBI shortly after finalising the fourth partner,” bank sources said. PNB, Vijaya Bank, Bank of Baroda and Allahabad Bank had initially decided to venture into insurance with a foreign partner but wrangle over management control broke the proposed alliance. While Bank of Baroda has decided to go on its own, the RBI did not grant permission to Allahabad Bank. The RBI has been selective in granting permission to banks. The SBI is the only bank to get the RBI nod. Vysya Bank and Jammu & Kashmir Bank are the two other private sector banks to get the RBI nod. The RBI had maintained its reservations on granting permission to banks having too many loss making subsidiaries. The bank had also set stringent parameters which was required to be met by the banks eager to foray into insurance. However, banks like PNB feel that having an insurance arm was essential for their transition to universal banks. PNB decided to foray into insurance on the lines of Boston Consultancy Group’s recommendations. Both PNB and Vijaya Bank was roped in by the Hero group considering their cumulative branch network in the country.
PTI
|
|
Bangladesh in grip of economic crisis Dhaka, January 4 The present Finance Minister M. Saifur Rahman immediately after coming to power started blaming the past Awami League Government for the economic crisis, bank borrowings etc. Now the BNP leaders have changed their stance. The global recession, US Trade Development Act granting duty free access of RMG from Sub-Saharan, Eritrea and Middle Eastern countries which dealt a death blow to Bangladesh garments industry, the life line of her economy, is their explanation for the deepening economic crisis. The present Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) government of Begum Khaleda Zia has raised the rates of essential services like gas-water-power and price of fuel that raised the cost of living, has compounded the situation. After half of the fiscal 2001-2002 (fiscal year begins on July 1) is over, major economic indicators show spiraling trends with foreign exchange reserve plummeting to its lowest ever position. The reserve now stood at around $ 130 crore only. The government has to pay back about $ 28 crore to Asian Clearing Union (ACU) against arrear of four months of its payment. After payment the reserve will go down to $ 100 crore. The fall in foreign exchange reserve is mainly attributed to release of $ 68.40 crore of the assistance promised. The promise by the Paris Consortium of development partners coordinated by the World Bank for the fiscal 2000-2001 was $ 205.28 crore while the amount finally released was $ 136.88 crore only. Earning from export has registered a drastic fall which is attributed as a cause of shortfall in foreign exchange reserve while the import bill remained almost the same. In October the shortfall in earning from the RMG sector was $ 52 million compared to the earning during the corresponding period in the previous year. During the last two months the situation has further deteriorated. The Earning from RMG sector in the last fiscal year stood at about $ 5 billion. Due to various restrictions and the recession in US economy, RMG export from Bangladesh to USA has dwindled drastically. Main market of Bangladesh RMG is USA. The result is that about 1300 garment factories in the country have been closed down rendering nearly four lakh workers, mostly women-jobless. Another major source of foreign exchange earning is the remittance by Bangladeshi wage earners abroad. Earning through remittance from abroad in 1999-2000 was $ 194.93 crore while the remittance in 2000-2001 amounted to $ 188.21 crore. Thus there was a shortfall in this head also amounting to $ 73 crore. The picture in revenue collection is also grim. According to figures available, revenue collection during the first five months of the current fiscal year amounted to Taka 6954.86 crore against the projected target of Taka 703.71 crore. As such shortfall in revenue collection till November stood at Taka 448.85 crore. With the objective of increasing revenue earnings, the government has increased the price of petroleum products, other essential services like gas, water and electricity. The media termed this increase as a new year’s gift by the Khaleda Zia Government because it came into effect from January 1. The increase in petroleum prices has resulted in undeclared increase in fare of mass transports bus, baby taxi, tempo and trucks. Use of deep tubewells will become costlier. The government increased the prices without bothering about the plight of the people they did not hesitate a moment while imposing the additional burden on the population, the main opposition Awami League blamed. To meet the administrative expenditure the government took the course of borrowing from the banking sector against treasury bills. With the last drawing of Taka 1877 crore on December 30, the total borrowing stood at Taka 3226 crore. SAMS Kibria, the former Finance Minister of the past Awami League government talking to TNS blamed the BNP Government of failure to manage the finance and called upon the new government to unitedly work to recover from the crisis faced by the country. He said blaming the Awami League only will not help. |
|
Adopt dairy farming, says Dhumal Solan, January 4 Mr Dhumal, who inaugurated a one-day Breeders Conference on Milch Livestock Production Improvement at Kunihar, about 35 km from here, said the state government had a total of 3 lakh government jobs whereas the unemployed persons registered with the state’s employment exchanges were over 9 lakh. The Chief Minister said the centre had recently sanctioned a Rs 8.86 crore dairy development project for Solan district under the Gram Samiti Yojna. The project was aimed at ushering in a white revolution by providing high yielding milch cattle along with a comprehensive animal husbandry services, including health services to the state’s dairy farmers. It would also encourage the unemployed to take to dairying instead of hankering after government jobs. The dairy industry was characterised by an almost zero gestation period and daily cash flow with handsome profit margins. Mr Dhumal said 10,000 cattle breeders would be adopted under the project.
|
bb
Centurion Bank Hero Honda MetLife JK Paper AAI chief Techfest 2002 |
 |
| Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir | Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs | Nation | Editorial | | Business | Sport | World | Mailbag | In Spotlight | Chandigarh Tribune | Ludhiana Tribune 50 years of Independence | Tercentenary Celebrations | | 121 Years of Trust | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
