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CAG pulls up IOC for infructuous investments
Buy a PC for Rs 10,000
CPI asks Centre to probe sale of PSUs
Ambani brothers will find a way out, says mediator
Pak Air Force to manufacture Boeing parts
Corporate news
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LS passes Bill on SEZs
LML to launch 100-cc bike in August
Haryana revises VAT on tyres
Nabard chief for more cold stores in Punjab
Venus Remedies enters Sri Lanka
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CAG pulls up IOC for infructuous investments
New Delhi, May 10 In its report tabled in Parliament today, the CAG said lack of proper planning in capacity augmentation of the Kandla-Bathinda pipeline led to avoidable expenditure of Rs 66.68 crore. The IOC built the 1443-km Kandla-Bathinda pipeline at Rs 1853 crore with 6 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) capacity in 1996. It first expanded the capacity to 7.5 mtpa (Rs 42.62 crore) and than to 8.8 mtpa in September, 2002 (Rs 66.68 crore). The CAG said the actual throughout of the pipeling during 1999-2000 to 2003-04 ranged between 6.9 mtpa to 5 mtpa and remained less than even the original installed capacity. “The expenditure of Rs 66.68 crore incurred on Phase-II augmentation was avoidable since the throughput did not, at any time, justify such further augmentation,” it said. The CAG further said the encashment of the bank guarantee of the contractor of Kandla-Bathinda pipeline in excess of requirements resulted in payment of interest of Rs 70.29 crore. Further, it said the increase in the pipe size of the Mathura-Tundla pipeline without approved proposals for extension to Kanpur and Gwalior and for expansion of the Mathura refinery rendered the expenditure of Rs 6.20 crore on increased pipe size infructuous. “Due to delayed review of the demand-supply position, the company incurred an infructuous expenditure of Rs 2.24 crore on the capacity augmentation of the Panipat-Ambala-Jalandhar sections of the Mathura-Jalandhar pipeline,” the CAG said. “After completion/commissioning of the projects, the actual results achieved indicated that the branching and augmentation of the major projects were executed on the basis of defective planning and lack of proper coordination amongst various divisions of the company. Consequently, the expenditure incurred provided wasteful and installed capacity could not be used,” the CAG said in its report.
— PTI
IOC eyes market
TNS adds: Public sector oil major IndianOil Corporation (IOC) has decided to come out with a Rs 500 crore bond issue by this month end for working capital requirements. The matter is likely to be decided tomorrow. Talking to reporters, IOC chairman S. Behuria said that non-revision of fuel prices have placed heavy burden on the company’s finances and thus it is resorting to increased borrowings. The company’s total debt is expected to rise to Rs 18,000 crore by June 1 from Rs 10,000 crore a year ago, he said. He said oil marketing companies are unable to recover even the purchase price of products due to non-revision in petrol, diesel, LPG and kerosene prices, thus losing on sales. IndianOil Corporation, Bharat Petroleum Corporation and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation together lost Rs 2,560 crore on diesel and Rs 569 crore on petrol. Mr Behuria said the oil marketing companies lost Rs 21,030 crore in 2004-05, on petrol, diesel, LPG and kerosene. Indian oil marketing companies have not raised fuel prices since November 16 despite sky-rocketing global crude oil prices. He said the price of petrol needs to be raised by Rs 4.59 a litre and diesel prices by Rs 4.97 per litre on account of increase in excise duty.
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Buy a PC for Rs 10,000
New Delhi, May 10 The Linux-based mobile desktop and two of its variants, Mobilis Wireless and Sofcomp, have been developed by Encore Software Ltd., Bangalore, under the guidance and financial support of the CSIR through its New Millennium Indian Technology Leadership Initiative (NMITLI) scheme. Complimenting the group of scientists for their achievement, Mr Sibal described the launch of low-priced computer “as a leap into the future of IT and PC technology.” Mobilis, sporting a 7.4 inch VGA LCD screen and several innovative features, including a six-hour battery life, gives users freedom to work anywhere, anytime. Mobilis Wireless, which will cost nearly Rs 15,000, offers built-in GPS receiver and GPRS Wireless Modem options. Both devices offer integrated smart-card ready, write capability as well. The third product, Sofcomp, is a compact desktop designed for offices that need the cost and bulk of today’s GHz-speed PCs for their day- to-day work. All three products have built-in local language support and a choice of everybody applications such as word processing, spreadsheet, Personal Information Manager, e-mail, web browser, and PC synchronisation, among others as well as local-language interfaces and text-to-speech, at no extra cost. Encore Software Ltd. Chairman Vinay Deshpande said the product would be available in the market in nearly three months.
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CPI asks Centre to probe sale of PSUs
New Delhi, May 10 Pointing out the criticism by the CAG, he said the sale of the Centaur hotel in Mumbai had prompted “suspicion” about the manner in which other deals were gone through. Asking the government to enact the Unorganised Workers Bill, Payment of Wages Bill and amendment to the Bonus Act in the ongoing Budget session, they also sought the withdrawal of the “reckless programmes” of privatising the banking sector. “Otherwise the distance between us and the government is increasing on many issues, particularly on economic ones,” the CPI leaders said, adding that the Payment of Wages Bill was passed by the Rajya Sabha, but not tabled in Lok Sabha as yet. Asking the Prime Minister to take a “further initiative” to end the stalemate with the Opposition, the CPI leaders also appealed to the BJP-led Opposition to end its boycott and return to Parliament .
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Ambani brothers will find a way out, says mediator
New Delhi, May 10 Kamath, asked to evolve a settlement formula by Dhirubhai’s widow Kokilaben in December last year, however, declined to comment on how close the settlement was and said that every family issue that he had seen over the last three decades had finally been settled. On whether the two brothers were communicating more or less, Kamath said at “Walk the Talk” programme on NDTV “that process is on... my role is to get people to communicate. Both most certainly talk to me and I talk to them and that process continues.” Asked if the settlement could be at a great cost to the company and shareholders, he said: “Here I don’t see that really necessarily happening. Here we have two very matured people. Two very intelligent and capable individuals and I am sure that they will ensure that (settlement at a high cost) does not happen.” Kamath said there was always a question of ‘ownership” in the family run businesses. “But not in the sense I own this, you own that. But in the sense that you are part of the company. Money is only one part of it.” He, however, conceded that “egos” could be part of it. Kamath had few weeks back submitted a settlement formula including valuation of the group companies which sources said became the basis of negotiations between Anil and elder brother Mukesh.
— PTI
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Pak Air Force to manufacture Boeing parts
Islamabad, May 10 Air Marshal
Aurengzeb, Chief of Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC), Kamra, which was poised to manufacture JF-17 fighter developed jointly by Pakistan and China, told the media yesterday that Boeing Aircraft Co has set up a parts manufacturing unit in PAC. PAC is the manufacturing unit of the
PAF. “At this factory through Boeing offset programme, we shall be manufacturing aviation parts for Boeing 747, 767 and 777 aircraft,” the official APP news agency quoted Aurengzeb as saying. “Around 20 parts of Boeing aircraft would be manufactured here for the Boeing company which has set up parts manufacturing plant as part of the agreement for supply of 777 aircraft to Pakistan International Airlines
(PIA),” said another senior officer of PAC during a visit to the under-installation plant unit, the news agency reported. He said parts of Boeing would be manufactured here and sent to the company
for their onward sale and supply. The technicians of Boeing are working on the installation of the plant, which would be completed by end this month and would start production from next month, the official said. A couple of years back PIA had placed orders for supply of eight 777 series aircraft. Some of these aircraft are included in PIA’s fleet while the rest would be inducted in the days ahead.
— PTI
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SBI Cap net up by 40 pc
Mumbai, May 10 The company’s total income grew by 24 per cent to Rs 174 crore which included a growth in its treasury income from Rs 54 crore to Rs 70 crore during the year. The fee-based income also went up by 65 per cent to Rs 52 crore. According to Mr Indrajit Gupta, CEO of the company, the growth in the profit was mainly derived from the enhanced economic activity in the country both in equity market, corporate restructuring and capacity expansion and entry of foreign firms. Mr Gupta felt that the company would be maintaining same growth in the current year (2005-06) following large-scale business expansion. Electrosteel Castings
Electrosteel Castings Ltd today declared a dividend of 125 per cent for the financial year 2004-05.The board of directors have recommended the payment of dividend at the rate of 125 per cent aggregating to Rs 20,24,04,000, the company informed the Bombay Stock Exchange.
DCM Shriram
DCM Shriram Consolidated Ltd today declared a dividend of 80 per cent for the financial year 2004-05. The board of directors have recommended a dividend of 80 per cent (including interim dividend of 25 per cent) for the shareholders, the company informed the Bombay Stock Exchange.
— Agencies
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LS passes Bill on SEZs
New Delhi, May 10 It would also provide fiscal incentives to banking units having offshore branches in these zones. The Bill was passed by a voice vote after Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath, who piloted the Bill, agreed to the amendment of a particular clause relating to labour laws as demanded by the Left parties. SEZ units will be eligible for 100 per cent tax exemption for five years, 50 per cent next five years and 50 per cent of the ploughed back export profits for the next five years. It also provides for establishment of designated courts and a single enforcement agency to ensure speedy trial and investigation of offences committed in SEZs. Presently, there are 11 SEZs in India. These are located at Kandla, Surat, Cochin, Sant Cruz, Falta, Chennai, Vishakhapatnam and Noida, among other places. In addition, 35 new SEZs have been approved.
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LML to launch 100-cc bike in August
New Delhi, May 10 The company, which has seen sales dwindling for some time, is eyeing an ambitious 10 per cent market share of the Indian bike market by 2007-08 by when it hopes to jack up production capacity to 7.2 lakh units per annum, Managing Director Deepak Singhania told reporters here. The company’s current production capacity is 2 lakh units per annum. Also, in order to move away from the shrinking two-stroke market where it currently operates, the company said it would move over to four-stroke scooters from this fiscal. “These would be both geared and gearless scooters,” Singhania said. The company’s entry-level bike, a 100-cc, would be coming out by August this year, he said. Exports are mostly to Latin American and Asian countries and the company MD said these would receive a tremendous boost once it came out with four-stroke scooters.
— PTI
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Haryana revises VAT on tyres
New Delhi, May 10 While introducing VAT in Delhi from April 1, Delhi brought automotive tyres under the 12.5 per cent tax slab. However, Haryana, which had introduced VAT last year, continued to tax tyres at 8 per cent, which led to dislocation of business from the city. Tyre dealers in Delhi were alarmed over the exodus of business to Haryana due to the lower rate of VAT on tyres in that state. Delhi’s tyre dealers are also facing pressure from Rajasthan which has not implemented VAT. The sales tax on tyres in that state remains at 8 per cent. Similarly, dealers in Punjab and Haryana are also under pressure, since VAT on tyres in these two states is now 12.5 per cent compared to 8 per cent in Chandigarh. — UNI
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Nabard chief for more cold stores in Punjab
Chandigarh, May 10 The creation of modernised cold chain stores would ensure that the farmers get the right price for the produce, as he would be able to stock and sell it when he gets a higher price. This would also be an effective step in eliminating the middlemen, she added. She also urged the Chief Minister to help the private milk plants in the state to upgrade their milk processing capacities as also boost their initiatives for clean milk production. Punjab is the second largest milk producer in the country with a marketable surplus of about 115 lakh litres per day available for processing. The installed processing capacity in Punjab is 54 lakh litres per day.
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Venus Remedies enters Sri Lanka
Mumbai, May 10 The company has received confirmation from Sri Lankan medical technology and supplies office and DRA authorities regarding registration and supply of anti-cancer injectibles, thus opening new doors for the company for direct export of oncology formulations, the company informed the Stock Exchange, Mumbai (BSE) today.
— PTI
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