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Cabinet skips petro price revision
Interest rates to remain stable, says FM
Kalam underscores inland tourism
Cabinet nod to guarantees on Dabhol project
Panipat to be developed as petrochem hub
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NTPC to buy equity in overseas LNG projects
IOC allowed to charter ships
News channels get 180 days to follow norms
Exporters asked to accelerate growth
UK carmaker MG Rover collapses
Nagpur airport to be upgraded
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Cabinet skips petro price revision
New Delhi, April 8 Despite persistent pressure from the Indian oil marketing companies and Petroleum Ministry, officially the Union Cabinet today deferred the price revision, hoping that the current rise in international crude oil prices, now crossing $ 56 per barrel, may cool down. CPM Politburo member Prakash Karat warned the government against taking any “unilateral and arbitrary decision” to hike petrol and diesel prices. Mr Ramesh Chandra, Secretary, Empowered Committee of state Finance Minister on VAT, said: “The committee has taken a commitment from the states to fix a floor rate of 20 per cent sales tax on petrol and 12 per cent on diesel. Petrol prices may marginally come down in states like Maharashtra, charging 35 per cent sales tax on petrol, but in states like Punjab and Haryana, the prices will increase when the states implement 20 per cent sales tax on petrol.” Further, the industry experts said, the petrol and diesel prices will increase, once the proposed increase in excise duty by the Finance Minister P. Chidambaram is implemented after the clearance of the Budget by the Parliament. “After adjusting 5 per cent reduction in import duty on crude oil, the petrol prices will increase by Rs 1.73 per litre and diesel prices by Re 0.93 per litre. VAT rates will further push up oil prices petrol and diesel prices Rs 2.23 and Rs 1.13 per litre,” said CPI(M) Politburo member Prakash Karat. Official sources said oil companies have urged the government to allow them to increase petrol and diesel prices by Rs 5 and Rs 4.50 per litre to compensate their financial losses after increase in crude oil prices and proposed hike in excise duty. A senior official of the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) said, “ the rising international crude oil prices is now a reality. With the exponential growth in demand for oil products in China and India, further hike in international crude oil prices cannot be ruled out.” He admitted that proposed 20 per cent sales tax rate in the VAT states will further push up oil prices by Rs 2 per litre on an average. “ Unless the government decides to revise the excise duty and state taxes, there is no scope for decline on oil prices,” he added. In fact, Parliamentary Standing Committee has recommended that the money collected through the cess on crude oil, amounting to Rs 5,500 crore should be used for the Price Stabilisation Fund to cushion price fluctuations in the global market.
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Interest rates to remain stable, says FM
Mumbai, April 8 The Finance Minister’s statement comes weeks before the Reserve Bank of India is to announce its credit policy. The domestic inflation rate has been contained to 5.11 per cent though it rose to more than 8 per cent last year. Analysts say the government may not permit Indian oil companies to raise the prices of petrol and diesel as an anti-inflationary measure. Addressing stock brokers at a function here, the Finance Minister said the Security Exchange Board of India, the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange had been asked to prepare a detailed roadmap to prevent manipulation in regional stock exchanges and misuse of sub-brokers by debarred stock
brokers. Mr Chidambaram warned that the government would take stringent action against the debarred stock brokers who are playing behind the scene. The minister demanded that all regional stock exchanges should corporatise immediately. “Regional stock exchanges and stock brokers should adhere to the deadline laid down by the market regulator for
corporatisation. Corporatisation will offer better quality of service and continuity in capital market,” he added. The Finance Minister hoped that the entire country came under the umbrella of the value added tax (VAT) regime. He hoped that states which had opposed the introduction of VAT would embrace the new system in the coming weeks. Urging traders to give up their protest against VAT, he said over 130 countries had benefited from the implementation of VAT.
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Kalam underscores inland tourism
New Delhi, April. 8 This he said was needed to meet the multiple requirements of the tourism sector. Pointing to the discussion he had with the Maldives President during his recent visit, the President said he had learnt that Maldives gave the islands for development as tourist spots on lease to private enterprises who, in turn, invested and developed the whole island with self-contained resorts. There was no government investment needed for the project, he said ,adding that Maldives had attracted tourists twice its population last year. “The Indian tourism organisation can study this model and evolve island tourism in Lakshadweep and Andaman and Nicobar”, Dr Kalam said inaugurating the Fifth Global Travel and Tourism Summit here. In Lakshadweep, the country could also provide hinterland tourist package due its proximity to Kerala, giving an additional promotional proposition to the tourism industry, he said. As in the case of Maldives, there was need for finding special methods by which the tourist infrastructure could be created and maintained at an optimal level of performance, he said. Pointing out that India had a lot to attract tourist from abroad with the Himalayas on one side and the coastline on the other, the President said that the scholars who had done research on tourists assets in the country should teach various categories of tourist managers and workers. He also said that an encyclopaedia of Indian tourism should be evolved within the next three years. “This should become the training manual for tourism personnel and also enable the provision of tourist guides to visitors”, he said. Speaking on the occasion, Tourism Minister Renuka Chowdhury said that 100 per cent FDIwas permissible in the tourism and hotel sectors in the country. The Government had also provided for an open sky policy from October to May every year for the next three years . Any number of flights could be added by any airline during this period with no reciprocal insistence. “We also have a very liberal charter policy which allows chartered flights to land in airports across the length and breadth of the country”, she said, adding that the ‘rate of return’ in tourism industry was amongst the highest in the world.
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Cabinet nod to guarantees on Dabhol project
New Delhi, April 8 It is understood that Centre has agreed to provide a Rs 3,600-crore guarantee asked by the lenders to take fresh exposure to the second phase of the project. At a meeting on Dabhol by the group of minister recently, finance ministry officials discussed the modalities for the second phase where National Thermal Power Corporation, Gail (India) Ltd and the Maharashtra State Electricity Board are to chip in with equity contribution of Rs 500 crore (Rs 5 billion) each. The Empowered Group of Ministers on Dabhol headed by Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee also met earlier this week to discuss the final modalities for restarting the plant lying idle for four years. The Dabhol plant was set up in two phases. Phase-1 (740 MW) was initially based on naphta but has been switched to LNG. Phase-II (144 MW) was based on LNG from the outset. This purchase has been under judicial scrutiny and the Bombay High Court has recently held it against terms of DPC agreement. The settlement of the Dabhol issue, senior officials said was in the final stages and would cost $ 460 million to dispose of all claims of offshore lenders, while the settlement with GE-Bechtel was estimated to be in the region of $ 250 million. The plant, which was envisaged as a base load station has a ‘take or pay’ Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) between MSEB and DPC, which obliged MSEB to purchase 90 per cent of the power generated by DPC. Enron Corporation is under liquidation. GE and Bechtel have recently bought 49 per cent of the shares of Shell company (Offshore Power Production — A Dutch Ltd Partnership) from the liquidators of Enron and have an option of purchasing the balance 51 per cent as well. GE and Bechtel now have a direct holding of 59 per cent and effectively control 85 per cent of DPC.
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Panipat to be developed as petrochem hub
New Delhi, April 8 The project is likely to create 20,000 jobs in the first three years. IndianOil Corporation (IOC) has already committed to invest Rs 15,000 crore for the Panipat refinery project. “People will begin to feel changes within a few months. Our new industrial policy will emphasise on setting up world level infrastructure to attract domestic and foreign investors; our vision is to make the state as number one state in the country within five years,” Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said here while speaking during an interactive session on “Vision and Strategies for Rapid Strategies for Rapid Economic Development of Haryana” organised by PHDCCI. “We will follow the region approach in collaboration with the neighbouring states to implement projects in the power, transport and tourism sector. It will help all states in the North India to develop fast together,” Haryana Chief Minister said. Mr Hooda said, the Ministry of Textile had already sanctioned a grant of Rs 20 crore as central assistance for augmenting textile infrastructure in Panipat, besides Rs 54.33 crore grant by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry to upgrade the infrastructure in Panipat. Further, he said, he would soon inaugurate elevated highway projects at Panipat on NH-I and at Bahadurgarh-Haryana border on the NH-2.
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NTPC to buy equity in overseas LNG projects
New Delhi, April 8 “We are negotiating with various companies in Australia, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Malaysia and Oman to get equity in their LNG projects. In return, we will offer our expertise in the power sector. The aim is to ensure long term supply of fuel at right price for our power projects,” said Mr C.P. Jain, CMD, NTPC, while presenting the unaudited financial results here today. NTPC has registered a net profit of Rs 5,292 crore during 2005-06 as against the adjusted Rs 3,986.9 crore net profit during the previous year. The company added 2,000 MW during the year taking its capacity to 23,749 MW. It has plans to add 9,160 MW to the national grid during the 10th Five Year Plan (2002-07). Out of this, 3,500 MW have already been added during the first three years of the plan. Mr Jain said: “We are shifting our focus to the LNG supply chain, as the suppliers are likely to raise its price in the short term due to rising international crude oil prices. To keep our cost of power generation under control, we are stressing on long term contracts in the LNG sector, to insulate fuel cost from the international crude oil prices.” The company is also negotiating with Gail to have stake in the domestic market, he said. Lamenting over coal shortage, he said, the NTPC had to utilise around one million tonnes of coals from its reserves. “Under the new scheme, we have applied for 17 captive coal mines in the country, and have already got one mine. Company may also acquire some gas fields as well. In the short term, we are importing 2.1 MT coal for our power plants.”
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IOC allowed to charter ships
New Delhi, April 8 The permission has been granted on the recommendation of a committee of secretaries by amending the existing policy of chartering of ships for imports by public sector companies. Information and Broadcasting Minister Jaipal Reddy said the exemption to charter ships was granted on an experimental basis would be reviewed after one year. However, other oil PSUs like HPCL, BPCL and MRPL would continue to depend upon Transchart/SCI for meeting their chartering requirements for the time being.
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News channels get 180 days to follow norms
New Delhi, April 8 “No further
extension would be given,” Information and Broadcasting Minister Jaipal Reddy categorically said here today after a meeting of the Cabinet. He said companies operating such channels were required to conform to the revised guidelines on equity participation by March 2004. The present extension of implementing the guidelines will give the Information and Broadcasting Ministry time to review the uplinking guidelines. The Cabinet approved the agreement with Britain and Northern Ireland for the transfer of sentenced prisoners. An agreement to this effect was signed in February by Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil and British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw. The request for the transfer of sentenced persons will have to be agreed upon by the Transferring and the Receiving State and it will be effected if the judgement awarding the sentence is final in India and no appeal or revision is pending in any court. According to the prisoner transfer agreement, the transferring state alone shall be competent to decide any application for the review of the judgement.
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Exporters asked to accelerate growth
Chandigarh, April 8 According to figures available, export turnover of Haryana during 2003-2004 was Rs 1,41,33, a growth of 20.14 per cent over previous year. In fact, the state’s share of country’s export has doubled during the past 10 years from 2.02 to 5.09 per cent. The first meeting of the state-level banker’s committee (SLBC) for export promotion of Haryana was held here today to ensure proper coordination in the efforts of various agencies for export promotion in the state. Speaking on the occasion, Dr K.C. Chakrabarty, Executive Director, PNB, assured to give exporters all possible help in the form of subsidies and loans provided they came out with well-laid out plans. The state has one of the best-managed export network in the country and lot of changes were taking place in exports. “In 1991, we had a foreign exchange reserve just for 15 days, but now we have a reserve of $143 billions,” he said. To further increase the share, the focus should be more on pricing and quality advantage instead of cost advantage of products, he suggested. The General Manager of PNB, Mr B.P Chopra, said the banks in the state would provide the best of facilities to the exporter community to add value to their products and services. The meeting of the sub-committee would be held every six months to take care of the exporter’s problems and act as a facilitator for their export promotion schemes. Exporters from Haryana on their part highlighted the operational problems being faced by them with regard to export credit, exchange control regulations, poor infrastructure etc during the meet.
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UK carmaker MG Rover collapses
London, April 8 The 100-year-old carmaker has gone into receivership, a form of bankruptcy protection under which a court-appointed third party takes control of the business, the UK’s Trade and Industry Secretary Patricia Hewitt told a news conference late yesterday. “MG Rover has announced that its board has decided to call in the receivers. This is a devastating blow to everybody involved — the workers and their families, the company’s suppliers and the wider community,” Mr Hewitt said. The move came after China’s Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp. (SAIC) said it would not invest in the company. The collapse could impact 6,000 staff and thousands more supply jobs, creating a political headache for the British Government in the run-up to a general election on May 5.—
Reuters
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Nagpur airport to be upgraded
New Delhi, April 8 Briefing newsmen after the Cabinet meeting, Information and Broadcasting Minister Jaipal Reddy said the upgradation of the domestic airport at
Nagpur, as proposed by the Maharashtra Government, would offer improved connectivity, wider choice of services at competitive cost to air travellers and boost international tourism and economic development.
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