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Centre for rational power
Mukesh rules out IPCL-RIL merger
Maxpro to network
Reliance outlets
Ratan Tata’s term extended
Fiat hikes stake in Indian unit
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Yamaha’s G5 bike in July
TRAI moots full foreign ownership for radio
Gujarat gas find a boost to energy sector
Indian co to buy Thomson’s tubes unit?
Torrent eyes Pfizer’s arm
L&T bags Panipat flyover project
Ashiana leased to private party
Nokia’s VC firms eye India
LIC Housing Fin net declines
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Centre for rational power pricing policy
New Delhi, June 27 To complete the ongoing irrigation projects in the next four years, it would be necessary to increase the allocation for irrigation by Rs 6,500 crore per
year. The government is also “exploring the scope of increasing Central Government allocation under the Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (AIBP) to meet the gap”, Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia said at the meeting of the National Development Council (NDC) here. The mid-term appraisal (MTA) of the 10th Five -Year Plan calls for decentralising the authority to collect water charges to farmers’ associations, allowing them to retain 50 per cent of the collection for maintenance. “Water regulators could also set higher water charges for water using crops, linked to ground water status”, Mr Ahluwalia said. On the politically sensitive issue of offering free power to farmers, he said the policy of free or very cheap power “obviously contributes to the problem by encouraging excessive drawal of ground water”. The MTA, which has made 318 policy recommendations and identified 59 priority areas, calls for a “move towards more rational electricity pricing”. It also suggests that electricity for agriculture should be priced differently in areas where ground water has been severely depleted.
“The policy of subsidising micro-irrigation should also be linked to ground water status so as to promote these systems where ground water depletion is most serious”, he said. The rain-fed areas, which account for two-thirds of the cultivable area, also needs priority attention. The general experience with government schemes is “much less positive” as they have suffered from a multiplicity of departments handling them, poor knowledge inputs and inadequate involvement of the community, he said. The total land to be treated under the watershed approach is estimated as 107 million hectares of which only 29 million hectares has been treated till the end of the 9th Plan. The investment required to cover the balance area has been estimated at over Rs 70,000 crore. “Additional resources will need to be directed to this area in future and the MTA recommends that the resources currently being made available under the SGRY/Food for Work Programme could be used for this purpose”, Mr Ahluwalia said. A major message of the MTA is that massive investments are needed in infrastructure sectors such as power, roads and railways. The Planning Commission Deputy Chairperson said that in order to introduce competition in the movement of container traffic, the scope for introducing a new private sector or joint venture container movement corporation was being explored. He said that agricultural growth has decelerated from 3.2 per cent in the period 1980-81 to 1995-96 to an average below 2 per cent subsequently. In the social sector, the 10th Plan set monitorable targets in health, education, gender equality etc. “We are lagging behind in many areas”, he said.
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Mukesh rules out IPCL-RIL merger
Vadodra, June 27 “There is no plan to merge IPCL with RIL at present... IPCL Board of Directors can take decision in this regard later on,” Mukesh, who made first public appearance ever since end of eight-month feud with his younger brother Anil over ownership of Rs 1,00,000 crore Reliance empire. “IPCL has taken up seven expansion projects at its Vadodra and
Gandhar. These projects involve an investment of Rs 485 crore and are expected to be completed by the middle of the next financial year,” Mukesh said addressing 36th AGM of
IPCL. Mukesh had got IPCL and Reliance Industries as part of ownership settlement while Anil had got Reliance Energy, Reliance Capital and Reliance Infocomm. The company, he said, has already completed several projects envisaging an investment of Rs 125 crore. The shareholders at the AGM asked Mukesh to increase the dividends as was being done by his brother Anil. Mukesh, however, asked the shareholders to have patience and watch the performance of
IPCL.
Reliance Cap EGM
Reliance Capital Ltd (RCL) has informed the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) that an Extraordinary General Meeting
(EGM) of the company will be held on July 19 to consider the 49 per cent investments by Foreign Institutional Investors
(FII) in the company. RCL said that the FIIs investment in the form of shares of debentures or other securities convertible into or exchangeable with shares of the company, by purchase or acquisition from the market under the portfolio investment scheme under
FEMA, the aggregate holding of all FIIs put together shall not exceed 49 per cent of the paid up equity share capital or paid up value of the respective series of the debentures or other securities convertible into or exchangeable with shares of the company as may be applicable or such other maximum limit as may be prescribed from time to time. The EGM would also consider the reclassification of authorised share capital of the company from Rs 400 crore divided into 20 crore equity shares of Rs 10 each. The EGM would also consider reclassification of one crore preferential shares of Rs 100 each and 10 crore unclassified shares of Rs 10 each to Rs 400 crore divided into 30 crore equity shares of Rs 10 each and 10 crore preferential shares of Rs 10 each.
— Agencies
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Maxpro to network Reliance outlets
Chandigarh, June 27 Already, Reliance has soft launched highway hospitality ‘dhabas’ at the company’s petroleum retail outlets, which will also offer other facilities to long-distance
commuters. Maxpro MD Neeraj Mehta, said the company had been awarded contract for 85 such sites in both Punjab and Haryana to be completed by September 2005. These, he said, are state-of-the-art petrol pumps and would target the people out on a long journey. Of the 45, which have been completed, as of now only two have hospitality
dhabas, he added. While the vehicle is refuelled, the driver and the occupants could enjoy shower, have meals and listen to music. Reliance plans to issue debit cards to all big transporters so that they could make payments for all facilities they use at these outlets. The first highway hospitality dhaba to get operational is on National Highway-1, located at a company petroleum retail outlet on the Rajpura-Ambala highway. Other sites listed are Ajnala, Fazilka, Ferozepore, Bathinda and Amritsar.
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Ratan Tata’s term extended
Mumbai, June 27 The channel reported that the board decided to extend the term of non-executive directors till they attained the age of 75. As per his original plan Ratan Tata, 67, was to step down in 3 years at the age of 70. Tata retired as executive chief and started functioning as non-executive chairman since 2002. The Tata family own less than two per cent stake in the Rs 57,000 crore Tata group, whose holding is controlled by Tata Sons Ltd. According to reports Noel Tata, nephew of Ratan Tata, is being groomed to succeed the group chairman. Noel Tata is presently associated with Trent Ltd, the Tata’s retail arm, which has set up the Westside chain of garment stores.
— TNS
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Fiat hikes stake in Indian unit
Mumbai, June 27 Declaring this here today, Fiat India said the Board of Directors today announced the parent company’s interest to hike its equity stake in the Indian operations through an investment of over Rs 200 crore. The investment, the company added, is reflective of the parent company’s commitment to the Indian market. Since 1998, the Italian parent has made investments to the tune of Rs. 2200 crores in India, towards building its capacity and increasing infrastructure capabilities. The infusion of funds represents for Fiat India, free cash flow needed for future investments, to repay debt, and restructure its dealer network thereby sustaining its current operations. Commenting on the decision, Dr Paolo Castagna, newly appointed Managing Director, Fiat India Pvt. Ltd. stated: “This decision from Fiat Auto SpA, shows, once again their commitment to the Indian operations. ” Post infusion of the latest investment, he said Fiat India Private Limited will be fully capitalised with Fiat Auto SpA along with Fiat India Automobiles Pvt Ltd. Together they will be holding a total of 99.83 per cent, while the stake of Premier Automobiles Limited will be diluted to 0.17 per cent.
— UNI
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Yamaha’s G5 bike in July
Chennai, June 27 Mr. H. Yanagi, CEO and Managing director, Yamaha Motor India, said here today: “We have our marketing plans to increase the market share from 5 to 25 per cent by 2008. Globally we hold 25 per cent of the market and in India too we should target the same.” He said: “We are ready with our market strategy for scooters in India and we can launch Yamaha scooters here anytime”. Yamaha at present sells only motor cycles in India. He announced the launch of its 100 cc G5 Yamaha, adding that it would be in the market in the second week of July.
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TRAI moots full foreign ownership for radio
New Delhi, June 27 In its recommendations to the government, TRAI said, “it will be desirable to provide a licensing framework now itself so that there is no uncertainty in the future.” There should not be any entry fee unless there was excess demand for the available spectrum space in which case tenders may be invited on lines recommended for FM radio, TRAI said, adding government should not levy any annual licence fee as long as terrestrial repeaters were not
permitted. “Once these repeaters are permitted a revenue share of 4 per cent of gross revenue generated in India should be imposed as has already been recommended for FM radio,” the regulator said. On the technical front, the regulator said that it should be mandatory for satellite radio operators to provide addressability to every subscriber, which is capable of blocking unwanted channel or group of channels. According to TRAI there should be only one licence for carriage and the licencee would be responsible to the licensor for content regulation. AIR Programme code and advertisement code should be made applicable to satellite radio also.
— PTI
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Gujarat gas find a boost to energy sector
New Delhi, June 27 “Though the final estimates about gas reserves may take some time, as per initial reports, it is going to prove as the world’s largest gas discovery in recent history. It will help the country generate additional power of over 10,000 MW ,besides supplying gas to fertilizer, steel, cement and other bulk energy consumers,” said a senior official of GAIL (INDIA). Significantly, with the international crude oil prices now crossing the $ 60 per barrel mark, he said, the government was making all efforts to push omestic oil and gas exploration and production to meet the demand of the economy growing at 7-8 per cent. Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar has expressed the hope that with the rise in domestic oil and gas production, India will soon be able to meet a significant proportion of its energy requirements. A senior official in the Petroleum Ministry said: “the discovery has come as a relief as the country is facing pressure from the USA to drop the Iran-India gas pipeline project worth $ 4 billion. It will give us a bargaining chip to press the USA and other gas- producing countries to meet India’s energy requirement at a reasonable price.” Analysts believe that the demand for natural gas will arise mainly from industries located in the western and northern parts of India. On an average, the delivered price of LNG is about a third of that of naphtha. Besides, the use of CNG (compressed natural gas) as an alternative auto fuel and PNG (piped natural gas) as a substitute for LPG can only grow as sheer economics combines with changing government regulations to force the change. Also, according to the new fertilizer policy, all fertilizer plants in India are expected to shift to natural gas/LNG by 2006. Currently, nearly a quarter of fertiliser plants in the country use naphtha/furnace oil instead of natural gas/LNG.
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Indian co to buy Thomson’s tubes unit?
Paris, June 27 The deal, which is due to be announced this week, comes shortly after Thomson sold its Italian tubes manufacturing plant to Indian consumer electronics maker Videocon. Industry sources said the same company is a likely buyer for the rest of the assets. Thomson declined to comment. Videocon was not immediately available for comment. If Videocon is confirmed as the buyer, analysts say the Indian company would emerge as the global leader in tubes manufacturing. The deal involves the transfer of some 12,000 staff and control of three factories in China, Mexico and
Poland. — Reuters
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Torrent eyes Pfizer’s arm
New Delhi, June 27 According to sources, Torrent has held negotiations with a number of generic drug-makers to strengthen its presence overseas. Talks with one of them are in the final stage. However, the Ahmedabad-based company declined to disclose the transaction size but said the acquisition did not include Heumann’s manufacturing facilities, which will be retained by another Pfizer subsidiary, Heumann PCS GmbH. Meanwhile, Pfizer has said that it had talks with several parties to sell its Heumann unit in Germany.
— UNI
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L&T bags Panipat flyover project
Mumbai, June 27 The contract also includes widening the existing four lanes 10-km stretch that passes through Panipat city to six lane and construction of a city bus stand and the Skylark Tourist complex, L&T said
here today. The project, secured against stiff international competition by the company’s Engineering Construction & Contract division, is estimated to cost Rs 418 crore and executed on build-operate transfer
(BOT) basis through a special purpose vehicle (SPV) to be formed for this purpose.
— PTI
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Ashiana leased to private party
Shimla, June 27 The corporation had been paying a party rent of Rs 21,742 per month to the Shimla Municipal Corporation for the past over two decades. The Municipal Corporation invited fresh bids for leasing out the property in which a private party, M/s N and S Resorts, gave the highest offer of Rs 6.51 lakh per month to clinch the deal. The property has been leased out for 25 years with condition that the rent would be increased by 10 per cent after every five years.
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Nokia’s VC firms eye India
New Delhi, June 27 “We have long viewed India as one of the most exciting and advanced technology markets in the world. We are looking at investing in early-stage technology firms, offering finance as well as hands-on support,” BlueRun Ventures Founding Partner John Gardner said
here.— UNI
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LIC Housing Fin net declines
Mumbai, June 27 The total consolidated income grew to Rs 1047.32 crore during the reporting year against Rs 984.61 crore in FY-04. The company posted the stand-alone net profit at Rs 14.17 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2005, against Rs 52.31 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2004, it said.
— PTI
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