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Thursday,
March 21, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Blending
of ethanol with petrol okayed Charge
sheet filed against Reliance Maruti to
export 16,000 ‘Alto’ cars ONGC
undecided over BPCL, HPCL stake Bank
advances grow 15.7 pc |
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White
paper on fiscal position today Hops
production gets boost HDFC MF
dividends 30-odd
firms to be divested
Cathay
Pacific ‘Best Airline’
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Blending of ethanol with petrol okayed New Delhi, March 20 The decision to be implemented in two phases would be implemented in the sugarcane growing states of Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Punjab, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh in the first phase, Mr Naik said in a suo motu statement on approval of use of ethanol as oxygenate in place of Ethyl Tertiary Butyl Ether (ETBE) in petrol. Stating that the rest of the country would be covered in the second phase, he said use of 5 per cent ethanol in petrol leads to better combustion and significantly lowers emission of pollutants. He pointed out that to promote use of ethanol in petrol, an excise duty concession of Rs 0.75 per litre on petrol blended with ethanol has been announced in the budget. The decision to use ethanol as an oxygenate would, on the one hand, lead to its increased use and would also result in phasing out of the use of Methyl Tertiary Butyl Ether (MTBE) in the country. MTBE is being used as an additive to the petrol at two refineries—Mumbai refinery of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd and Koyali refinery, Gujarat of Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. There has been a growing concern about the use of MTBE as oxygenate in petrol as it is reported to result in water pollution when it seeps into the ground water and emits foul odour in the water. Presently, ethanol is being blended in petrol in three pilot projects launched at Manmad and Miraj in Maharashtra and Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh. Further blending at two more locations in Punjab — Bathinda and Pathankot — three more locations in UP and one in Andhra Pradesh is being planned.
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Charge sheet filed against Reliance
New Delhi, March 20 The CBI had filed the charge- sheet in the court of Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate JPS Malik against Reliance Industries as a corporate body, its executive head Balasubramaniam, Vice President A.N. Sethuraman and General Manager (Corporate) Shanker Adawal for possessing budget papers, classified documents and copies of secret Cabinet decisions. They have been charged under various sections of the Official Secrets Act and the IPC for criminal conspiracy. While trailing on some leads after the arrest of small-time politician and ‘big time’ fraud Romesh Sharma, the CBI came to know that he had close links with Reliance Industries. During a raid in the offices of Reliance Industries at Delhi and Mumbai in 1998, CBI sleuths chanced upon these papers from the drawers of these officials. The investigators, had thoroughly interrogated Balasubramaniam, Sethuraman and Shanker several times at the CBI headquarters to establish the source of procurement of the documents. The investigation tasted more than three years. With the help of the documents, the Group and its employees used to influence the capital market for ulterior motives.
UNI
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Maruti to export 16,000 ‘Alto’ cars
New Delhi, March 20 In the first phase, the 1100cc premium small car would be sold in Switzerland, Netherlands, Ireland, Germany, Belgium, Austria, Finland and Greece. The car would also be exported to UK, Italy and France by July-September this year, the officials told PTI here. “The ‘Alto VX’ received a tremendous response during the just concluded Geneva Motor Show when it was displayed as the new ‘Suzuki Alto’. From this month, we will commence exports of 16,000 cars to Western Europe which is the most competitive market for small cars,” the Maruti officials said. They said the car would sport additional features like anti-lock braking system and airbags as per European safety regulations. The engine capacity and other body specifications would, however, be the same as that in ‘Alto VX’ car which is manufactured at Maruti’s plant in Gurgaon (Haryana).
PTI
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‘Ikon’ prices up
New Delhi, March 20 |
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ONGC undecided over BPCL, HPCL stake
New Delhi, March 20 “It (disinvestment of government stake in BPCL and HPCL) is an issue of interest to us but we have not yet reached any decision on bidding,” ONGC Chairman and Managing Director Subir Raha told reporters here. The government is likely to bring down its equity in BPCL and HPCL to a minority holding through strategic sale next fiscal. Asked if ONGC would bid for the two companies, Raha said “we will look at the opportunity.” He, however, said that ONGC was looking at all opportunities to enter refining and petroleum product marketing. “Integration is an established and proven paradigm globally. Profit maximisation comes from vertical integration of the value chain and an oil
exploration and producing company like ONGC foraying into refining and marketing is logical,” he said.
PTI
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Bank advances grow 15.7 pc Chandigarh, March 20 Mr A.K. Bhargava, General Manager, PNB, said during this period as many as 19 new branches of commercial and regional rural banks were opened thus raising the number of branches to 1,512. While the total deposits during the period showed a growth of 15.4 per cent, advances showed a growth of 15.7 per cent compared to 17.9 per cent growth during the corresponding period last year, said Mr Bhargava. While the priority sector advances of the state increased by Rs 569 crore (12 per cent), the agriculture sector advances recorded a growth of 9.3 per cent (compared to 23.7 per cent growth during corresponding period last year), and advances to weaker sector increased by 16.9 per cent. Mr U.S. Bhargava, GM, PNB Northern zone, Mr Ramesh Chander, Regional Director, RBI, Mr A Ramanathan, CGM, Nabard, Mr Ayub, GM, RBI, New Delhi, were also present.
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White paper on fiscal position today Ludhiana, March 20 Contrary to the political speculation, the white paper will not apportion blame on any one party, rather it would give the truthful picture of the financial condition of the Punjab state according to highly placed authoritative sources of the state government. The white paper will not only deal with the outgoing SAD-BJP government tenure and has been based from 1984-85 as base year when militancy was at its peak in Punjab. The white paper besides dealing with the doings of the SAD-BJP government also deals with the Congress Government in Punjab starting from 1992-97 when the financial position of the state started worsening. As a matter of fact, the financial position of the state started declining as the militancy started rising and there was burden on the state exchequer. During the militancy period, the state government did not take any steps to mobilise the financial resoures and was dependent on the central assistance only. A senior functionary of the state government explained to this correspondent today that the white paper would dwell on the true fiscal position of the state and would educate the public representatives and the public at large so that the exact financial position of the state was known to them. The white paper will also highlight the mess created on the food front as huge stocks of wheat and rice have piled up in the godowns of the state which have adversely affected the financial status of the state. The government has to pay heavy interest on the loan procured from the banks for the purchase of the foodgrains. The Central Government is held responsible for the same.
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Hops production gets boost Shimla, March 20 Under the new policy the procurement price for dried hops has been announced in advance for the next three years to enable the tribesmen to take hops cultivation in a big way. The purchase price will be Rs 130 per kg for the 2002 season, Rs 142 per kg for 2003 and Rs 150 per kg for 2004. This season Aromatix Flora, the company which has set up a palletising plant at Baddi in the joint sector, will purchase hops from Lahaul hops growers cooperative society at Rs 110 per kg and the government will provide it a subsidy of Rs 20 per kg. Next year the plant will pay Rs 127 per kg and the subsidy will come down to Rs 15 per kg. In 2004 there will be no government subsidy and the plant will bear the full cost of procurement at Rs 150 per kg. According to Dr Ram Lal Markanda, the minister from the tribal areas, said the pallets produced at Baddi last season were found better in quality than the imported ones by the breweries in the country. The company which had set up the plant in joint sector was now willing to go for bulk produce, as there was much demand for the palletised dried hops within the country. The plant had a capacity to produce 500 tonnes of pallets which, if fully utilised, would usher an era of economic prosperity in the tribal areas where the harsh climatic conditions were not conducive for growing traditional agricultural crops. He hopes that the production which had come down to 17 tonnes last year would increase to around 60 tonnes this season and further double over the next two years. The government planned to extend its cultivation, which was largely confined to Lahaul valley, to other tribal areas. The lifting of trade restrictions under the WTO agreement only made things worse and there were virtually no takers for the local produce. The tribesman uprooted the perennial hops vines and switched over to peas cultivation as unsold stocks of dried hops started piling up. The society had to dispose of 153 tonnes of hops at throwaway prices two years ago. The government finally decided to set up a palletizing plant in the joint sector to find a permanent solution to the marketing problem. The high quality of pallets produced from Lahaul hops has set whatever apprehensions were there about the market indigenous product. The tribal areas have a potential to produce 1000 tonnes of hops annually, which could be easily achieved.
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HDFC MF dividends
New Delhi, March 20 The company announced a 3 per cent dividend on its HDFC income fund in an official statement today. On its HDFC Gilt Fund, it has declared a dividend of 7 per cent under the dividend option in its long term plan and 2.5 per cent under the dividend option in its short term plan. The company has declared a dividend of 12 per cent on its HDFC Tax Plan 2000.
UNI
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30-odd firms
to be divested
Mumbai, March 20 Talking to media persons at a seminar on “Experience of disinvestment in Italy, Asia and South Africa,” Mr Baijal said his ministry has listed 30-odd companies for disinvestment among which the most publicised are Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) and Hindustan Zinc Limited (HCL). Replying to a query on the sale price, Mr Baijal said the amount should be kept with the consolidated fund of the government so that it can be utilised in sectors like education, medical and infrastructure. When asked about the disinvestment realisation target of Rs 12,000 crore Mr Baijal said “the process of disinvestment is much more important than the target.”
UNI
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Spice Telecom Petrotech 2003 PAIC pact Karvy Consult J.S. Gill Future Comm LIC policy IndusInd Bank |
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