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Govt to encourage mergers of
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Birla sisters allowed to challenge Lodha’s plea
Kolkata, September 9 The Calcutta High Court today allowed two sisters of Mr M.P. Birla to challenge the probate application of Mr Rajinder Lodha for legal authentication of the disputed will of Priyamvada Birla.
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Chautala opens Hafed warehouse
Beltek to wage price war on MNCs
Connect cuts STD tariff
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Govt to encourage mergers of banks: FM
New Delhi, September 9 “We will be happy to see banks consolidate and grow in size, scale and muscle so that they become world-class and world-scale entities. We will consider favourably proposals of banks willing to consolidate,” Finance Minister P. Chidambaram told newspersons after a review meeting with top officials of PSU banks here today. The Finance Minister said the government would put in place an environment which will be conducive for mergers and acquisitions of banks, and the an amendment would be brought out in the Income Tax Act in next year’s Budget. The government would also encourage public sector banks to raise funds from the capital market and improve the capital adequacy ratio. The Finance Minister appeared satisfied with the flow of credit to the cash-starved farm sector and the government will again review the progress of credit flow to the agriculture sector in the third week of January. On the interest rates, Mr Chidambaram said the outlook appeared “stable” in the medium term and sought to allay fears that the interest rates had shown a tendency to increase in recent times. “In the medium term, the interest rate situation will remain stable. It is my sense of the situation. There is excess liquidity in the system. Banks have been urged to lend,” Mr Chidambaram said even as he added that the interest rates were the domain of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The chief executives of banks endorsed a similar opinion, with most of them ruling out any further hike in interest rates in the medium term. ICICI CEO K. V. Kamath said since the cost of funds of banks was low, there was no reason why the loan rates (particularly the home loan rates) will be hiked. Similarly, Chairman of Central Bank Dalbir Singh said there was excess liquidity in the system to the extent of Rs 30,000 crore to Rs 40,000 crore and, therefore, a hike in interest rates in the short-to-medium-term did not appear a possibility. Mr Chidambaram said the Inter Institutional Group (IIG) on tourism would submit its report within 15 days, which would augment the quantum of funds lent out to the tourism sector. “I have suggested replication of this concept in airports and seaports. The banks today suggested IIG in telecom and roads,” Mr Chidambaram said. Among other things, the meeting today discussed the issues of priority sector lending, including to the agricultural and small-scale sector. The issue of IPOs by banks, non-performing assets, asset reconstruction companies, the progress of debt recovery tribunals and Securitisation Act and consolidation of banks were also items taken up at the meeting.
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Birla sisters allowed to challenge Lodha’s plea
Kolkata, September 9 Admitting the applications by two sisters, Lakshmi Bai Newar and Radha Bai Mohta, to treat Lodha’s application as a contentious matter, Justice Kalyanjyoti Sengupta directed the matter be converted into a suit. The court also observed that the applications of the two sisters were allowed as Mr Lodha had not sought dismissal of their caveats although he had sought discharge of the caveats by four other Birla family members — K K Birla, B K Birla, G P Birla and Yashovardhan Birla. As per the purported will of Priyamvada Birla, who died on July 3, the entire assets of the M P Birla Group valued at around Rs 5,000 crore were bequeathed to Mr Lodha, whose company acted as auditor to several Birla companies. The entire Birla family decided to challenge the probate application by Mr Lodha for legal authentication of the purported will, saying both M P Birla and Priyamvada Birla, who had no children, wanted their estate to go to charity. Subsequently, six caveats were filed from the Birla side, including two by the sisters of M P Birla. During the day, Mr Lodha’s counsel Anindya Mitra continued his argument in support of their application for discharge of four caveats by Birla side. Seeking the dismissal of the caveats by the four Birlas, Mr Mitra questioned the admissibility of Mr K K Birla’s plea to replace a page in his affidavit. Mr K K Birla’s solicitor Arun Jaitley sought to replace the page through a supplementary affidavit with regard to Kumaon Orchards, claiming that a page from another 1975 document with regard to the orchard had been attached by mistake. Mr Mitra questioned whether this was a simple mistake or deliberate as this was an important document. The hearing was adjourned and would be taken up again on September 15. The court also granted leave to Mr G P Birla to sign an affidavit at his home, as he is indisposed.
— PTI
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Gail gets lucky in Cambay
New Delhi, September 9 State-owned Gail has announced to make investments worth over Rs 600 crore in the exploration and production business that would include development of gas fields in Myanmar, Egypt, Turkey and Iraq. Addressing a press conference here today, Mr P. Banerjee, CMD of the company said: “Gail and GSPC have struck oil in the sixth well drilled in a 1424 sq km block under a joint venture agreement. Tests have proven the well to be a prolific light crude oil producer. A detailed geo-scientific study is being carried out for the appraisal and commercialisation of the reserves.” Mr Banerjee said: “Gail has also signed two joint venture agreements, one with Enpro Finance Pvt Limited for Tripura block in the Assam-Arakan basin, and with Enpro and GSPC for exploration in the Cauvery basin.” He said a team of Gail was also in Korea to negotiate with Daewoo for an increase in its equity share in the A3 block in Myanmar, where a consortium of Gail, OVL Daewoo and Kogas have a contract for exploration. The consortium has also already struck gas in the nearby A1 block. “We have also received a letter from the Myanmar government stating that Gail will be considered a preferred buyer for the purchase of its 65 per cent gas share in A1 block at an appropriate price,” he said adding that drilling would start by 2005 end. “We are currently weighing various options for the transformation of gas from Myanmar to eastern India, including a 500-600 km offshore pipeline across the Bay of Bengal, as well as re-gassification terminal at Haldia for receiving the LNG shipped from Myanmar,” Mr Banerjee said claiming with the commercialisation of the gas, the business volume of the company is expected to rise by 30 per cent annually.
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Chautala opens Hafed warehouse
New Delhi, September 9 The Chief Minister, who inaugurated a multi-storey warehouse constructed by the Haryana State Cooperative Supply and Marketing Federation (Hafed), said he would leave for Pakistan tomorrow on a four-day goodwill visit. He said the visit was aimed at strengthening bilateral relations between the two countries. Mr Chautala said both India and Pakistan had several common interests and the two could follow a common programme to safeguard their economic interests. Mr Chautala announced a scheme of commercial warehousing on concessional rates for farmers. He said a Rs 5-crore export-oriented Modern Rice Mill would be set up at Taraori. He said Hafed had also decided to appoint its franchise in those villages where mini-banks were not functioning. Mr Chautala said Hafed had godowns with a capacity of 10 lakh metric tonnes and a capacity of one lakh tonnes would be added soon. Recalling the work done by his government, Mr Chautala said more than 55,000 development works had been undertaken under the ‘Sarkar Aapke Dwar’ programme. He said the aim of his government was to realise the dream of Ch Devi Lal of making Haryana a model state. According to an official spokesman, the multi-storey warehousing complex has been set up over an area of two acres at a cost of Rs 6.29 crore. It has storage capacity of 11,000 metric tonnes. Hafed officials said the federation would introduce contract farming. Under this scheme, seeds, fertillisers and other agricultural implements would be provided to farmers at subsidised rates.
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Beltek to wage price war on MNCs
New Delhi, September 9 The company, which is a major player in the North India’s rural colour television market, has announced the launch of 1.5 tonne air-conditioner at a price of Rs 11,990 and a 165-litre refrigerator with a price tag of Rs 4,990. The company has already come up with a 6 kg fully-plastic-moulded rust free washing machine at a price of just Rs 3,990, and offers a free iron on it as well. The MNCs are selling that product in the price range of Rs 6,500 to Rs 7,000. Beltek microwaves with all add-ons will be available by Divali for below Rs 3,000 as against Rs 5,000 price of a comparative model of any MNC. “The Beltek and other regional players in the TV and DVD market have already forced MNCs like LG and Samsung to slash prices over the past few years. They will soon feel the heat in the white-line goods market as well as we are ready to launch a wide range of refrigerators, microwaves and washing machines at significantly lower price with the same quality,” says Mr Y.P. Verma, Chairman of the company. The company, whose 50 per cent stakes held by Raja Singh of Texla had been recently bought by Mr Harish Kumar of Maharaja Group, is setting up a plant in Baddi in Himachal Pradesh. All new products including refrigerators, air-conditioners, microwaves and washing machines would be manufactured there. The company has plants in Ludhiana and Mohali in Punjab, besides plants at Jammu and Noida. Among the regional players like Oscar, T Series and Weston, Beltek is almost at the top in CTV, DVD and VCD market. It is also expecting a growth of over 20 per cent this year over 1.37 lakh CTVs sold last year. Brushing aside any threat from Chinese manufacturers and big players, Mr R.S. Kandhari, Vice-President of company says: “We are catering to the highly price sensitive rural market, which requires ‘rough and tough’ products that can withstand high-voltage fluctuations. It is not so easy for the MNCs to reach there without reducing their profit margins.” When asked how Beltek was able to bring down prices while keeping a reasonable quality of the products, Mr Kandhari said: “We are working on a wafer-thin margin and keeping overhead and other costs under control. We are using the same raw material as used by the big players but we do not have to pay for high advertising budget and attached paraphernalia.” The annual turnover of the group is expected to grow to Rs 165 crore this year and Rs 250 crore next year from Rs 97 crore achieved last fiscal,” Mr Kandhari adds.
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Connect cuts STD tariff
Chandigarh, September 9 A Connect fixed line subscriber will now be able to make an STD call outside Punjab to anyone, anywhere in the country at a flat rate of just Rs 1.99 per minute, with effect from
tomorrow. “This is the lowest per minute STD call rate in Punjab,” Mr Jayant Keswani, General Manager, Connect, said. Also, all calls to destinations more than 100 km within Punjab will now be 33 per cent cheaper.
Book trains on Hutch
Hutch and the Indian Railways today launched ‘Railway Ticketing on Hutch’, a service that allows Hutch and Orange users to book railway tickets on their mobile phones through simple voice commands. The service is being launched in Delhi and will be shortly available to all Hutch and Orange users across the country.
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Shah Rukh is ambassador for LML mobike
New Delhi, September 9 The company signed the star as he embodies the spirit of the company of excellence, innovation and versatility. Through this endorsement by Shah Rukh Khan, it has leveraged its strength as a two-wheeler manufacturer that produces technologically superior and reliable products time after time.
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