 |
|
India for Asian gas grid to end West dominance
ONGC still hopeful on Yukos stake
Sensex scales 6,700-pt wall on Valentine’s Day
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Mphasis buys Princeton for
Verizon to buy MCI for $ 5.3 billion
Wockhardt launches automatic insulin delivery device
No share given to any leader: Reliance Info
3 Indians on Forbes Midas list
Rural job scheme allocation to be hiked
EPFO eyes housing sector
Caparo eyes Haryana
Bank of Baroda gets nod for IPO
|
|
India for Asian gas grid to end West dominance
New Delhi, February 14 Referring to rising demand for gas in the region, Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar said Asian gas grid could become a possibility as the region had more than 55 per cent gas reserves. “We should look beyond a national gas grid. Asian natural gas industry players should come together to form an Asian gas grid,” the minister said while inaugurating the third Asian gas buyers’ summit here today. Mr Aiyar said demand in Asian region was rising and India and China were emerging as major buyers of gas. “It is possible that Iranian gas would be made available to China by extending the proposed Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline to South China,” the minister said. Mr Aiyar said the Asian gas grid would enable the countries in the region to maximise the gains, end the “wretched western dominance” and ensure energy security and economic growth in Asia. Replying to a question from the media, Mr Aiyar said security concerns for Iran-India pipeline had been addressed. Besides, Indian companies were planning to set up underground storage facilities to overcome shortages in the domestic market in case of disruption of supplies. He said the Iranian delegation would hold discussions with Indian companies on commercial components of the Iran-India pipeline. “We need to shed the confrontationist approach and create a pan-Asian forum on the lines of Organisation of African Unity and the EU to leverage the power of offshore and onshore gas for benefit of our continent,” the minister said. The two-day gas summit was organised by Ficci, in association with Gail and International Gas Union. Mr Aiyar said the demand of gas was likely to flare up by 2025, if availability improved significantly. Gail Chairman Proshanto Bannerjee said since oil reserves were projected to last for only about 40 years, natural gas was emerging as an important fuel. Speaking on this occasion, Ficci President Onkar Singh advocated the need for a regulatory mechanism to ensure best customer service and stimulate investments by ensuring a level playing field for all players.
|
|
Iran welcomes Indian firms
New Delhi, February 14
“We very much welcome Indian companies to participate in the development” of one of the phases of gigantic South Pars gas field that will export natural gas to India through a 2775-km long pipeline, National Iranian Gas Export Company chairman M H Rahbari said on sidelines of the 3rd Asia Gas Buyers’ Summit here.
Tehran had previously expressed willingness to take Indian firms on board in the development of one of the phases of South Pars gas field, which will export 7.5 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas to India beginning 2009.
Rahbari, who is to hold discussions with Indian side today and tomorrow on the technical aspects of LNG supplies and piped gas exports, said the 4.5 billion dollar pipeline, 760-km of which would pass through Pakistan, was likely to come up in five years’ time.
— PTI
|
|
ONGC still hopeful on Yukos stake
New Delhi, February 14 “Yuganskneftegaz is not closed chapter for us. Rosneft has secured $ 6 billion loan from Chinese firm China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) to fund its acquisition of Yuganskneftegaz, the core asset of Yukos. Rosneft needs more money for future projects,” a senior ONGC official said. CNPC’s $ 6 billion loan was against supplies of over 48 million tonnes of crude oil till 2010. “We are interested in equity and Rosneft is positive about it,” he said. Russia has promised India equity in a Siberian oil field that is equivalent to 4 to 5 million tonnes of crude oil annually. Initially, there was talk of giving ONGC Videsh Ltd, the foreign arm of ONGC, a 15 to 20 per cent stake in Yuganskneftegaz. “If Yuganskneftegaz doesn’t happen, we have an option to farm-in Rosneft’s Vankor oil and gasfield,” the official said. Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar will visit Moscow on February 21 and hold discussions with his Russian counterpart for OVL’s prospects in the Siberian oilfields. A team from OVL visited Moscow last month to study data on the Vankorskoe oil and gas field - comprising Vankor field and Northern Vankor field, which have 125 million tonnes of oil reserves and 75 billion cubic meters of gas reserves.
— PTI
|
|
Sensex scales 6,700-pt wall on Valentine’s Day
Mumbai, February 14 The Sensex started with 26 stocks opening higher. But at close, only 19 of the 30 Sensex stocks ended in the positive. Analysts said the bull run on the bourses would continue till budget day with major buying in mid-cap shares as well as the blue-chips. Among the biggest gainers today were Infosys closing higher by Rs 65 at Rs 2,168. Satyam was up Rs 11 finish at Rs 421 while Wipro gained Rs 15.8 to close at Rs 711. Among banking scrips, SBI touched a 13-year high closing Rs 11 higher at Rs 665. ICICI Bank, was up Rs 6 at Rs 380, a 52-week high. With Bank of Baroda today receiving a go-ahead from the government for its second public offer, the scrip was up Rs 3.30 to close at Rs 212. BoB will sell 7.1 crore shares in the second public offer. However, Sensex heavyweights like ONGC lost heavily during the close. The stock closed just 0.4 per cent higher at Rs 824 while Reliance Industries was down one per cent Rs 543. HLL and ITC were among the main losers. Hindustan Lever was down almost 2.2 per cent at Rs 151.90 while ITC fell by 1.3 per cent to Rs 1,316.
|
|
Mphasis buys Princeton for £ 7.7 m
Bangalore, February 14 The London-based Princeton has annual revenue of more than £ 6 million and 100 employees; it specialises in software development in customer relationship management (CRM) for 15 clients, including British Telecom. “The acquisition will help Mphasis broaden BPO and IT services offerings in Britain and Europe,” Mphasis Chairman and CEO Jerry Rao told reporters here. The buyout is to be completed by March and is expected to be immediately “EPS accretive,” he said, adding, all 100 persons, including 33 in Bangalore, would be absorbed in Mphasis. “There won’t be any migration of jobs and all of them will remain on board. In fact, there will be incremental addition of jobs both in India and UK,” Mr Rao said. Princeton CEO Afshin Rabbani, who will take over as Vice-Chairman of Mphasis European operations, said over a video conference call that the firm had about 15 clients and the largest was British Telecom, generating over 50 per cent of its revenues. Princeton is Mphasis’s second acquisition this fiscal after it bought Bangalore-based Kshema Technologies in April in a $ 21 million cash-cum-stock deal. “With Princeton, we have gained strong expertise in CRM and are strong in UK,” Mr Rao said. Venture capital-funded Princeton, founded in 1997, earned revenues of £ 6 million last year. “We will now be able to offer our clients a more complete portfolio of services from process consulting to complete end-to-end delivery,” Mr Rabbani said. Mphasis CFO Ravi Ramu said Mphasis earns from Europe 15 per cent of its IT revenues and 25 per cent of its BPO revenues. “We are open for acquisitions of small and mid-scale firms who have a combination of both BPO and IT and are not taking over pure play ones,” Mr Rao said, adding the firm had cash reserves of about $ 27 million.
— PTI
|
|
Verizon to buy MCI for $ 5.3 billion
New York, February 14 MCI will also pay a special dividend of $4.50 per share, or nearly $1.5 billion, bringing the total value for MCI shareholders to more than $6.7 billion. That special payout includes a quarterly dividend of 40 cents per share approved by the MCI board on Friday. Verizon edged out rival bidder Qwest Communications International Inc, which had offered $7.3 billion, sources said, with Qwest seen as the weaker suitor because of its hefty debt load and smaller share of the corporate market. Verizon’s offer includes $4.8 billion in equity and $488 million in cash. Including the dividend, it values MCI shares at $20.75 each, or about $6.75 billion. Shares of MCI closed on Friday at $20.75 on Nasdaq.
— Reuters
|
|
Wockhardt launches automatic insulin delivery device
New Delhi, February 14 “It was only 18 months ago since we launched
Wosulin, Asia’s first recombinant insulin, Wockhardt Chairman Habil Khorakiwala said, “Wosulin made insulin more affordable and helped expand usage among Indian diabetics by 20 per cent. We have now developed Wosulin cartridge at our Biotech Park in Aurangabad.” There are 30-35 million diabetic patients in India and the number is likely to go up to over 70 million by 2030. The new cartridge will enable the diabetic patients to get insulin themselves without undergoing much pain. “Unlike the imported pens sold in India, which have manual plungers, Wosulin pens have automatic plungers, requiring less pressure to inject. It will make it very convenient for patients with arthritis and those with small fingers,” said Mr
Khorakiwala, adding that the automatic plunger and the 6-mm needle will make the injection almost painless and ensure that insulin is injected into the subcutaneous region as desired, and not into the muscular region. The company is targeting to achieve Rs 100 crore business from the biotech product, including insulin, cancer drugs by the year-end. Currently, the company is earning over 60 per cent of its business from the international business, said Mr
Khorakiwala. He said the Wosulin pen, priced at Rs 1900, will also be made in India by next year, and the insulin cartridge will be available at Rs 169 in comparison to imported ones costing over Rs 200.
|
|
No share given to any leader: Reliance Info
New Delhi, February 14 In a statement, the company said, “no politician or bureaucrat at any moment of time has held or holds any shares of RIC. This transaction has nothing to do with Mr Pramod Mahajan and any insinuation to the contrary is totally mischievous and motivated”. “Articles and commentaries have been published which aim to associate Mr Mahajan with an ordinary business transaction of RIC with its business associate. These malicious articles are an attempt to show to that one crore shares of RIC have been given for the benefit of Mr Mahajan”, it said. It said that for the last several weeks, a “vicious propaganda campaign” is being carried on against RIC. “Dubious forces began the campaign by feeding disinformation to the media. As the facts became known, the responsible section of the media has seen through the utter falsehood of the insinuations and innuendoes peddled as facts by the organisers of this campaign”, it
said. — TNS
|
|
3 Indians on Forbes Midas list
Washington, February 14 It is for the first time that three Indians have made it to the list. Shriram, an early investor in Google, is ranked sixth on the list which is topped by L John Doerr and Michael Moritz. Pramod Haque and Vinod Khosla, the other two Indians, who are on the eighth and ninth positions, however, have slid from the top two slots they were occupying last year. The Midas list seeks to identify individuals who deploy venture capital to create wealth for investors. The ranking formula weighs most heavily on the market
capitalisation of a venture-backed company on its first day of trading or the purchase price in an acquisition. Shriram (48) who has made a steep climb to the list, is believed to hold around 5.1 million shares of Google.
— PTI
|
|
Rural job scheme allocation to be hiked
New Delhi, February 14 Sources said that the budgetary allocation for the rural job scheme as envisaged in the National Rural Employment Guarantee Bill, is expected to be in excess of Rs 15,000 crore. While the Left parties have demanded that the allocation for the programme be increased to Rs 20,000 crore, the National Advisory Council (NAC), headed by Congress President Sonia Gandhi has recommended that the employment programme should receive a budgetary support of Rs 19,000 crore. The NREG Bill envisages that the government should provide to every poor household, whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work, not less than 100 days of work in a financial year. Sources also indicated that there was a likelihood that the Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojana (SGRY) will be merged with the Food for Work Programme. “It has been observed that the scale of employment generation under SGRY in 2002-03 and 2003-04 was barely adequate to provide on an average 20 days of employment to each Below Poverty Line (BPL) household in the rural areas. Secondly, there is no guarantee that employment will be available to the rural households on demand as
the SGRY is an allocation-based programme. Though the SGRY is providing some relief to the rural poor, its reach has been inadequate in view of the dimension of the unemployment in rural areas”, sources said. After the enactment of the legislation, the scheme will require a large number of works to be taken up and will entail expenditure on execution of works on material and wage components of the projects, sources said. Although the total expenditure would depend on the extent of coverage of areas of the country under the proposed legislation, it has been estimated that if the scheme is implemented in at least 150 districts identified for the Food for Work Programme, the requirement of central funds would be more than Rs 9,000 crore. “If the whole country is covered under the scheme, the total requirement of funds on material and wage component is estimated to be about Rs 40,000 crore. Therefore, it is essential, that the budgetary allocation in the first year after the legislation comes into force is increased”, sources said. The rural employment guarantee scheme is one of the many such programmes promised by the UPA government in the National Common Minimum Programme (NCMP). The first Budget of the UPA government, which was presented in July last year, had made an additional allocation of Rs 10,000 crore as a special budgetary support for the Tenth Plan in order to implement the commitments made in the NCMP.
|
|
EPFO eyes housing sector
New Delhi, February 14 “MBS could turn out to be a viable proposition to invest in, but many measures are needed in developing the market,” informed sources told PTI, adding National Housing Bank was in touch with the EPFO on this matter. The EPFO is viewing investment in MBS as a more favourable route as risks are much lower than investing in equities, which promise highest return but are fraught with high risks. The EPFO board, which is to meet on February 21, could take up the issue since the bulk of MBS originates from housing loans where default rate is very low, sources said. Under the MBS, the mortgage loans of consumers are bundled into one asset and sold to prospective investors. The MBS offers an interest rate like any other debt instrument. “Banks and housing finance companies can sell the MBS in the market and raise additional funds at lower rates, which in turn would help them lower the home loan rates,” the sources said. NHB is understood to have had talks with EPFO over the issue when the NDA was in power, but there was no progress due to certain “hitches” in the form of high stamp duties and lack of stringent foreclosure laws. The proposal now seems to have got the desired attention in view of the multi-pronged strategy being thought of by the EPFO for ensuring sustainable and viable investments and the Supreme Court upholding the Constitutional validity of the Securitisation Act. With a corpus of about Rs 1,30,000 crore, the EPFO parks 40 per cent in the central and state Government papers.
— PTI
|
|
Caparo eyes Haryana
New Delhi, February 14 The group, chaired by the London-based NRI industrialist, is setting up the new plants at Chipanki (Rajasthan), Bawal (Haryana), Greater Noida (UP) and at Indore where it already has a similar manufacturing unit. The Bawal plant is a joint venture with India’s leading carmaker Maruti like the existing manufacturing unit at Gurgaon. The group expects to triple its turnover to Rs 300 crores this year, raising it to Rs 1000 crores in the next three years.
— PTI
|
|
|
Bank of Baroda gets nod for IPO
New Delhi, February 14 The premium for the issue would be determined by the bank later, it informed the Bombay Stock Exchange. After the issue, the government holding in the bank will stand reduced to 53.8 per cent from 66.83 per cent. Bank of Baroda shareholders had unanimously approved for the public issue at an extraordinary general meeting on January 4.
— UNI
|
bb
Cheapest PC UTV Software Global indices M&M in Australia Lotto in India Shangri-La Coromandel stake Big noodle pack Census in China |
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
