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India,
Russia should boost investment: PM Unified
licence to hit growth: COAI Time to
offload stake in oil firms, says Naik Tata-PGCIL
jv gets transmission licence
Haier
to focus on Punjab, Haryana |
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SBI
among 30 ‘largest’ banks in Asia
Jet to issue
e-tickets Pak gets $ 245 m from IMF Decision soon on e-Governance plan Scorpio wins award for R&D ‘Matrimony on Mobile’
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India, Russia should boost investment: PM Moscow, November 13 “There is huge untapped potential not only for an exponential growth of bilateral trade and investment, but also for jointly exploring other markets through pooling of resources,” he told a joint meeting of Indian and Russian businesspersons here. Observing that Indian firms were looking for investment abroad, the Prime Minister said “it is time that Indian and Russian firms availed of more opportunities in each other’s country”. Giving the example of major bilateral investments -Sakhalin Oilfield in Russia and Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant in India — reflecting mutual collaboration, he said “we need to broad-base investment flows. This also needs closer links between our banks and financial institutions. “The establishment of commercial branches of banks in each other’s country should be a priority goal,” he said. The meeting was attended by nearly 100 senior Indian businesspersons who are here to give fresh impetus to the sagging bilateral trade which has now plumetted to under $ 1.5 billion. Upbeat over the “new dynamism” in Indian economy, Vajpayee vowed to re-double the GDP growth in less than a decade and declared New Delhi’s support to Russia’s accession to WTO to “balance and strengthen” multilateral trade. “In the last ten years, (India’s) GDP doubled and we hope to re-double it in less than a decade,” he told the captains of Indian and Russian industry. “We have actively supported Russia’s accession to WTO, not only in the spirit of our strategic partnership but also in the firm belief that Russia’s membership would bring balance and strength to WTO,” the Prime Minister said. India and Russia, he said, could play an important role in concert with other major emerging markets in encouraging WTO to operate for the common benefit of all its member countries.
— PTI
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Unified licence to hit growth: COAI New Delhi, November 13 Under the unified access service licence guidelines issued by the Department of Telecom (DoT) yesterday, cellular players continuing under the old service-specific licensing regime “will have to face unequal competition from fixedline service providers who will migrate to a unified fixed and mobile regime,’’ the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) said in a press note. Further, the entry fee principles mentioned in the guidelines have missed out certain aspects of equitable treatment of various types of mobile players, which can affect the growth and development of the sector, the association said. It is further believed that the clause in the guidelines which states that the existing operators will have the option of migrating to a new regime or continuing under the old regime is rather meaningless since it gives no choice at all. Further, the guidelines state that all new applications for access services (fixed, cellular, etc) will have to be only in the category of Universal Access Licences. However, the guidelines do not indicate the procedure that will be adopted by the government for allocation of spectrum, which as per the international norms, should be allocated in a fair, transparent, and non-discriminatory manner. COAI pointed out that the cellular industry is already in appeal before the Supreme Court against the telecom tribunal’s August 8 order approving the WLL (M) services. The Supreme Court will determine the contractual, constitutional, statutory, legal and other rights under the licences, the association said. The DoT guidelines issued yesterday effectively amend the New Telecom Policy-99 (NTP-99). However, the cellular industry believes that once migration is offered to and accepted by the cellular
operators in August, 1999, NTP-99 became part and parcel of the contracts of cellular mobile service providers and conferred enforceable rights upon them, the COAI said. Issuing the guidelines, DoT had said the move was aimed at ending the controversy over basic telecom operators offering full mobility and facilitating faster growth of the sector. Under the single licence regime, service providers are free to use any technology without any restriction and there will be single licence for both basic service providers and cellular operators. The Cabinet has authorised the Finance Ministry to address the grievances of the cellular operators. While the COAI has not put any demand formally for the specific compensation package to the Finance Ministry yet, a source in the association said it will ask for more than Rs 18,000 crore. The cellular operators have already invested more than Rs 22,500 crore and lost almost 9,000 crore.
— UNI |
Time to offload stake in oil firms, says Naik New Delhi, November 13 “We have not as yet taken any decision,” Naik said on the sidelines of the Petroleum Ministry’s scientific advisory committee meeting on hydrocarbons. “All three options — of going to Parliament for approval or seeking the Supreme Court clarification on disinvestment of the government equity in BPCL and HPCL, along with the possibility of separating the marketing arm of IOC for disinvestment— are being studied.” Naik said the proposal for the course of action would have to come from the Disinvestment Ministry. “The proposal (for public offering of equity stake in IndianOil) has to first come from the Disinvestment Ministry. After the inter-ministerial level discussion, it will go to the Cabinet for approval,” he said. To enable the government to meet the Rs.132 billion disinvestment revenue target, Naik said: “Making a public offering of the equity stocks in bluechip oil companies can be an option.” “With the stock markets booming, it is the right time for public issue.” Earlier, speaking at the meeting, Naik called for greater efforts to help India attain a position of leadership in the commercial exploitation of gas hydrates, particularly around the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Urging scientific experts to suggest measures for the development of gas hydrates, he suggested the present decade should be observed as the “Gas Hydrates Decade” in view of its potential for meeting the country's hydrocarbon needs. India is import dependent for 70 per cent of its hydrocarbon requirements. Naik also called for utilising plastic waste for conversion into value-added petroleum products. “The biggest challenge before the country is to find more oil and gas for self-sufficiency and oil security as we imported 69 per cent of our requirement of 115 million tonnes at a huge cost of Rs.844 billion during 2002-03,” Naik said. Evading a discussion on public issue in the Indianoil and the ONGC to divest government equity, Ministries of Finance, Disinvestment and Petroleum today explored possibilities of interim dividend from oil PSUs to garner resources for meeting budgetary deficit. “Sale of equity in oil PSUs was not considered today,” Petroleum Secretary B.K. Chaturvedi told reporters after emerging from a meeting with his counterparts in Ministries of Finance and Disinvestment.
— IANS |
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Tata-PGCIL jv gets transmission licence New Delhi, November 13 This is the first licence issued by the CERC after the enactment of Electricity Act 2003. Tata Power was selected through an international competitive bidding process as the joint venture partner. The JV will set up a 1200 km long power transmission line of 400 km double circuit transmission line from Siliguri in West Bengal through Purnea and Muzzafarpur in Bihar and Gorakhpur-Lucknow and Bareilly to Mandola in Uttar Pradesh. This project is meant
to evacuate power from the 1020 MW Tala Hydel project in Bhutan to the country’s eastern region. The project investment for the joint venture is estimated at Rs 1200 crore and will also help in creation of a transmission highway or an artery for transfer of power to northern region, including Delhi, from the emerging generation projects in north eastern region such as Arunachal Pradesh. The licence for the purpose was handed today by A.K. Basu, the Chairman of Central Electricity Regulatory Commission, to R.P. Singh, the Chairman of Power Links Transmission Ltd, the joint venture company. Firdose Vandrevala, the Managing director of Tata Power, was also present on the
occasion. Tata Power holds 51 per cent stake in the joint venture company while PGCIL holds the remainder. Power Links is expected to achieve financial closure of the project next month and the project is scheduled to be completed in 36 months, that is by mid-2006. West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand and Sikkim in the eastern region and Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, UP, Jammu and Kashmir and Delhi in northern region would benefit from the project. |
| Haier to focus on Punjab, Haryana New Delhi, November 13 Haier, the world’s fifth largest electrical appliances company, was the first Chinese firm to get the approval of the Foreign Investment Promotion Board for the setting up of a 100 per cent owned subsidiary in India. Haier India has got the approval for an initial investment of Rs. 30 crore and with the expansion of its business, the company plans to set up manufacturing facility in India. The company is upbeat about its business potential in India. A leading consultancy firm has been engaged to chart out the roadmap for making Haier a $1 billion company in India within five years. To start with, Haier has selected the northern region for the marketing of its three major products- refrigerators, colour televisions and washing machines — and the company is hopeful that the brand quality of its products will lead to quick acceptance in the northern states. Based on its success in one region, Haier will expand its marketing operations in the whole country by 2004. Though the company will import its high-end premium products, it has, simultaneously, tied up with the domestic manufacturers for outsourcing its lower-end products. Haier has a significant global presence in the home appliances categories such as refrigerators, washing machines and air conditioners. Last year, Euromonitor ranked this Chinese company as the world’s second largest producer of refrigerators after Whirlpool, leaving behind big names such as GE and Electrolux.
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SBI among 30 ‘largest’ banks in Asia
New Delhi, November 13 About 31 Indian banks prominently figured among the top 300 Asian banks, after their profits rocketed 66 per cent during last fiscal, as per the latest rating by the journal. “The Indian banking sector is possibly the only one in the region that has exhibited clear signs of positive cyclical momentum. A robust retail market and structural banking reforms - ranging from branch and manpower rationalisation to foreclosure and asset reconstruction legislations - have begun to yield fruit,” The Asian Banker said. While State Bank of India with $78.88 billion assets was among top 30 “largest” banks in Asia, Corporation Bank emerged as second “strongest” bank in the region based on seven crucial financial parameters. SBI, which was in 26th position in terms of size, was followed by Bank of India (93), ICICI Bank (94), Punjab National Bank (110), Canara Bank (116), Bank of Baroda (132), Central Bank of India (154), Uco Bank (168), Union Bank of India (178) and Syndicate Bank (180).
— PTI |
Tata Tele expands operations New Delhi, November 13 “We have applied for fresh licences in seven circles last night... for the existing licences the company is planning to apply for migration to the new regime,” Ashok Sud, Chief Regulatory Officer of Tata Teleservices, told PTI. |
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Moscow, November 13
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