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India signs pacts with Iran on LNG, oilfields
Fin panel for scrapping Fiscal Reform Facility
Plug pulled on Reliance, Tata and
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ADC cut to cost BSNL dear
Century Ply adjudged market leader
Excise on drugs linked to retail price
RIL Board meets on Jan 21
GRAPHIC: Quarterly Estimate of
India's GDP for Second Quarter of 2004-05
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India signs pacts with Iran on LNG, oilfields
UAE keen to invest in Paradip refinery
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has envinced interest in investing in the Paradip Refinery project in Orissa of Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and was also looking at prospective opportunities in other projects. “We are looking at investing in Paradip Refinery and at the same time also exploring opportunities in other downstream projects”, UAE Oil Minister Mohammed
al-Hamili told newspersons here. IOC is planning to enhance the capacity of the oil refinery in Paradip to 15 million tonnes with an aim to convert it into a petrochemical-cum-oil refinery complex by 2009-10. —
TNS Korea to take part in oil block bidding
South Korea will take part in the bidding process for oil blocks offered by India under the fifth round of New Exploration Licensing Policy
(NELP-V), South Korea’s Energy Minister Hwan Eik Cho said here today. Under NELP V India has offered 20 blocks for exploration and development. Six of these are deepwater blocks, two shallow blocks and the remaining 12 are onland blocks. Mr Cho said that certain changes have been suggested to Mr Mani Shankar Aiyar on the draft document for the first round table of Asian buyers and seller meet. —
TNS New Delhi, January 7 For the import of LNG from Iran, Gail and IOC signed an agreement with the National Iranian Gas Export Corporation (Nigec) to import 7.5 MMTPA of LNG for 25 years beginning 2009. The LNG price for the first three years would be fixed at $ 2.97 a barrel, apparently to make it competitive with the price for LNG imports from Qatar. Managing Director of Nigec R. Javadi said that LNG would be exported from Iran from Phase 12 of the South Pars gas field. This phase is estimated to produce 15 million tonnes of LNG. On the issue of participation of Indian companies in Iranian oilfields, an MoU was entered into by ONGC Videsh Limited (OVL) with NIOC as per which Indian oil PSUs, led by OVL, would participate in Yadavaran field (20 per cent participation equivalent to 60,000 barrels per day) and Jufeyr field (around 30,000 barrels per day) in Iran through service contracts. IOC had signed an MoU with Petropars for developing an upstream block in South Pars gas field and setting up of LNG liquefaction facilities with 9 MMTPA capacity in Iran. It was agreed that IOC and Petropars would submit a joint proposal to NIOC by the end of February 2005 for the award of the project.”
The Iranian side agreed for a favourable consideration of the proposal”, an official statement said. IOC-EIL Combine had submitted a bid for upgradation of Tehran and Tabriz refineries. The original condition of the bid required a crude swap arrangement between the Caspian crude and Iranian crude for financing the project. However, in view of the changed situation in the world oil market, arranging financing through such swap arrangement has not been found workable. Thus, it was decided that IOC-EIL would submit an alternative financing proposal, which would be favourably considered by the Iranian side, officials said. Indian oil companies will also have the right to pick up stake (up to 4 per cent) in the plant that will be set up in Iran to liquefy the natural gas produced from Phase 12. The Petroleum Minister said that signing of the deal with Iran today “marks high-point in India-Iran relations in hydrocarbon sector”. “Today is a very important and memorable day which will establish closer ties and not just in economic sphere but also social, cultural and political”, Minister of Petroleum of Iran Bijan Zangeneh said. Iran has also offered IOC participating in the 12th Olefin complex Bandar Assaluyeh. ONGC, which had sought participation in the whole gas value chain from exploration and production to downstream gas processing, would be making a detail proposal for taking up a block in South Pars field.
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Fin panel for scrapping Fiscal Reform Facility
New Delhi, January 7 In its report submitted to the President recently, the commission held that the FRF did not bring down the deficit of any state government. “It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that the FRF did not play a significant role in bringing about an improvement in the states’ fiscal position in the past five years,” maintained the report. At the same time, the commission has left a small window open for the states to get more grants from the Centre to improve their fiscal situation. It has proposed introducing a new scheme of debt relief by providing incentives to the state governments depending on their fiscal performance. The Centre had asked the commission to suggest measures for achieving the objectives of the FRF facility. The commission believes that the FRF facility be scrapped as “the objectives set out by the Eleventh Finance Commission with regard to fiscal and revenue deficit coupled with targets of growth of interest payments and salaries have not been and are not likely to be met.” Underlining the need to wind up the FRF, the commission pointed out that the scheme does not provide adequate incentive for prudent fiscal behaviour as the size of the fund is small. The exercise of withholding deficit grant rather led to deterioration in the finances of the states especially those which tried to bridge the gap through borrowings having serious implications in the future. The commission wants the FRF to be withdrawn also because it was misused to discriminate while some states were accommodated on a selective basis during a fiscal crisis. “A scheme which lends itself to such arbitrary flexibility is in our view not desirable.” Further, the commission said that the reform facility necessarily requires judgement and discretion instead of transfer of funds from the Centre taking place “free of subjective and discretionary dimensions.” The Eleventh Finance Commission had envisaged the scenario of the aggregate fiscal deficit of the states dropping to 2.9 per cent of the GDP. Instead, it had increased from 4.64 per cent of the GDP in 1999-2000 to 4.97 per cent in 2003-2004. The states’ outstanding debts rose substantially from 25.20 per cent of the GDP to 31.25 per cent during the same period. Some of the states have stressed in their memoranda that the facility of grants to the states not in deficit goes against the spirit of the Constitution. They pleaded that the scheme should have an inbuilt flexibility and due allowance should be given to external factors over which there was no control. While calling for moratorium on the FRF from 2005 to 2010, the Commission in citing the mid-term review undertaken last year drew specific attention to the four states of Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Uttaranchal and Jharkhand where the fiscal position had deteriorated. Punjab, Rajasthan, Bihar, West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh are among a dozen states which showed an improvement initially and then deteriorated. Jammu and Kashmir, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Mizoram, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh showed initial deterioration and then improvement. Interestingly, the commission said that only five states — Goa, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Sikkim and Chattisgarh — actually showed a consistent improvement because of the FRF.
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Plug pulled on Reliance, Tata and Sundrop ads
New Delhi, January 7 The authority is of the view that referring the fixed wireless phone service as Walky and Unlimited Cordless conveys the impression to potential customers that the facility provided is similar to mobile service when actually fixed wireless services are offered. The operators have been directed to file a compliance report in this regard with the Authority by January 13. Trai has directed the two private operators to withdraw from the market all promotional material, including banners, brochures and information sheets. The Interconnect Usage Charges and Access Deficit Charge (ADC) regime provide different treatment for calls from mobile and fixed services, including wireless fixed, it said adding such corrections shall also be made in the relevant content of the website of the operators concerned. “Whereas it has been brought to the notice of the authority that Tata Teleservices (Tata Indicomm) have advertised their fixed wireless service as Walky with the slogan “freedom of mobility at landline rates,” the Trai is of the view that the said advertisement with the said slogan is misleading as consumers are led to believe that mobile services are offered when actually fixed wireless services are offered,” the directive to Tatas said.
Sundrop oil
The Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission (MRTP) has found a television advertisement of Agro Tech Foods Pvt Ltd for ‘Sundrop Heart’ oil detrimental to the health of the consumers and asked for its immediate withdrawal. Delivering its order, the commission found the advertisement to be misleading in nature and amounted to an unfair trade practice, an official statement said today. The commission directed the company to immediately discontinue the impugned advertisement after a Mumbai-based cardiologist complained against the firm manufacturing and selling the product. —
PTI, UNI
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ADC cut to cost BSNL dear
New Delhi, January 7 In a statement issued today, BSNL said Trai has made a provision of Rs 5,000 crore per annum for BSNL for meeting the rural telephony obligations. As per BSNL’s network cost, this ADC should be of the order of about Rs 11,200 crore per annum at the present number of lines. This will increase with the addition of rural telephones in the network. “The new ADC regime will not only affect our development activities but also adversely impact the rollout of our services in rural areas. BSNL has incurred an expenditure of about Rs 40,000 crore from 2001 to 2004 in rural telephony and socially desirable projects.”, the company said.
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Century Ply adjudged market leader
Chandigarh, January 7 CMIE has created India’s first and only integrated database on the country’s economic and business sectors. In a telephonic talk with TNS from Kolkata, Mr Sanjay Agarwal, DMD, Century Plyboards, commented that, “Due to the fact that the plywood industry is mostly in the unorganised sector and authentic and integrated database on this industry is mostly unavailable, the report is very encouraging. We are at the top and want to retain the position in the coming years as well”. For the past few years, Century has been maintaining an annual growth of approximately 25-30 per cent, contributing nearly 10 per cent of the total excise duty collection in the country from the plywood industry, he informed. Century Plyboards is the first ISO 9002 Company in India for plywood and veneer. It started its operations in 1986. In a very short span, it has created a niche for itself. Century has its manufacturing unit at Bishnupur, near Joka, Kolkata, equipped with world-class technology. Century today manufactures the entire range of commercial, marine, concrete, shuttering and decorative plywood. It has also started manufacturing and marketing laminates under the brand name ‘Century Mica’.
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Excise on drugs linked to retail price
New Delhi, January 7 Retail price based assessment of excise duty avoids disputes on valuation and ensures certainty in assessment, according to a Finance Ministry press note here. Excise duty on drugs and medicines will be levied on the value determined after deducting an abatement of 35 per cent from the declared retail price. Drugs and medicines are often manufactured on job work basis and also by loan licensee which leads to differences. In order to ensure certainty in assessment, the provision of levying excise duty on the basis of retail price based assessment has been extended to medicaments, other than those medicaments, which are exclusively ayurvedic, unani, siddha, homoeopathic or bio-chemic, the note added. —
UNI
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RIL Board meets on Jan 21
New Delhi, January 7 RIL has informed the stock exchanges that the 12-member Board, chaired by the elder brother Mukesh Ambani, will meet in Mumbai on January 21 to consider, among other things, the unaudited financial results of the company for the quarter ended December 2004. The veracity of a TV channel report last night that the feuding brothers had agreed at a family conclave to a “legal split” remained a matter of speculation in the absence of a confirmation or a clear-cut denial from either camp. —
PTI
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