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India, Pak to start gas pipeline
Aiyar invites petro dealers for talks
Govt for high penalty on defaulters
4 pc VAT for items with 50 pc industrial use
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SpiceJet plans early morning, late night flights
Corporate Results
Auto Scene
Steel prices crash
BSNL floats $ 5-b tender
Remove ambiguity in real estate norms: FICCI
TCS to expand global base
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India, Pak to start gas pipeline by 2006
New Delhi, July 13 The two South Asian nuclear neighbours agreed on the technical, legal and security issues of the multi-billion dollar Iran -Pakistan-India (IPI) gas pipeline. Indication were that the work on the pipeline could start by as early as next year-end and the pipeline might be commissioned by 2010 provided the stake holders were able to thwart the alleged US pressure to scuttle the project. According to official sources, the cost of laying 2100-km of pipeline from Assaluyah port in Iran (on Persian Gulf) to the Indian border (Barmer district in Rajasthan), might go up to $ 7.42 billion to be spent over the construction period of five years. The cost was 75 per cent more than previous estimate of $ 4.16-billion due to rising prices of steel. At the end of two day meeting of the first Joint Working Group (JWG), both the sides agreed to appoint separate financial consultants and on the need to have a fresh techno-financial feasibility report of the project in “ order to realise a safe and secure world class project.” “We had come with a positive mind and are satisfied that India has also shown full commitment for the project. I am certain at the current pace, the implementation on the work may start by 2006 end providing gas to both the countries by 2010,” said Mr Ahmad Waqar, Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources, Pakistan, after issuing a joint statement. Brushing aside repeated queries of reporters on the US pressure on Pakistan, he reiterated, “Our President and Prime Minister have stated on a number of occasions that we will proceed with this project based on our national interests. It is in the public interest and will offer the best source of affordable and sustainable energy for the growing economies.” Significantly, India has also agreed to consider Pakistan’s proposal to join two other pipelines -Turkmenistan- Afghanistan-Pakistan (TAP) pipeline and the Gulf-South Asia (GUSA) pipeline. Both the sides discussed other related aspects of the projects including security, final gas prices and legal matters. In order to carry the process forward, the two sides agreed that the next meeting of the JWG would take place in Islamabad by the end of August 2005. After that bilateral agreement framework was likely to take the shape of tri-lateral agreement by year-end. Three countries were expecting to start the work on project in the later part of next year. Expressing satisfaction on the two-day talks, Indian Petroleum Secretary S.C. Tripathi said, “We will now submit a draft text of the final agreement based on best international gas pipeline projects to the Pakistan side before the next meeting of the JWG after discussing it with the Iranian side.” Asked if Pakistan would proceed alone with the project if India withdrew at any stage, Mr Waqar expressed the hope that New Delhi would partner the project. At the same time, he clarified that he project was feasible even if Pakistan pursued it alone.
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Aiyar invites petro dealers for talks
Chennai, July 13 Addressing a press conference here today, Mr Aiyar categorically stated that there would be no change in the present prices of the petrol and diesel. Referring to the proposed indefinite strike by the Petroleum Dealers’ Association from July 18, demanding a hike on the sales commission of petroleum products, Mr Aiyar said he was inviting representatives of the Petroleum Dealers Federation to New Delhi on July 17 evening to discuss the issue and hoped that a via media solution would be thrashed out during the meeting. “Moreover, most petroleum retail outlet owners were well off, he said, hoping that such ‘big giants’ would not stick on for a meagre Rs 2 or 3, Mr Aiyar said, adding, “the government was ready to sort out such issues through negotiations but it would not bend on any threats under any circumstances.’’ — UNI
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Govt for high penalty on defaulters of SME sector
New Delhi, July 13 In an interview to The Tribune, Mr Mahabir Prasad, Minister of State for Small Scale Industries and Rural Industries, today said that in the monsoon session, the government was likely to get the Parliament clearance for the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Bill- 2005. “The Bill has a provision of imposing penalty - current bank rate, presently hovering around 6 per cent plus 9 per cent penal rate of interest —- on those defaulters, who will delay the payment to the SME sector for more than 75 days,” he said. The Standing Committee set up to study the Bill was likely to submit its report by month-end, said Mr Prasad. The Minister said during the time of making rules for the implementation of law, the Ministry would also consider to bring state and Central boards, corporations and other bodies under the provisions of the law. Significantly, even after the dereservation of 193 items, there were over 500 items reserved for production under the SSI sector. Under the state purchase preference policies, government boards and corporations were major buyers of furniture, stationary, auto-parts, electric parts and other commodities from the small manufacturers. According to industry estimates, amount worth thousands of crores was outstanding towards state and Central bodies. Mr Prasad said the bank credit to the small-scale sector increased from Rs 52,988 crore in 2003 to Rs 58,277 crore in next year. The number of SSI units had gone up from 109.49 lakh in 2003-04 to 113.95 lakh in the country registering a growth of 4.7 per cent. The associations of small industries, including from Punjab, Haryana and other northern states had raised this matter at various forums that “ They are forced to delay the payment to the banks due to delay in payment from the state electricity boards, transport, and other departments. It results in more interest on them besides loss in credit worthiness.”
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4 pc VAT for items with 50 pc industrial use
New Delhi, July 13 Such items will be treated as industrial raw material and 4 per cent VAT on them for that particular use would not be taken as deviation, Empowered Committee Secretary Ramesh Chandra told PTI. Had it been taken as deviation, states would not have been entitled for compensation in case they lose revenue due to VAT for these items, Mr Chandra explained. It would be entirely states’ prerogative to certify items falling under this category, he said. All inputs attract 4 per cent VAT rate, while final products draw 12.5 per cent rate. The committee, at its recent meeting with chambers and trade bodies, also clarified that job work would not attract any VAT since it was not part of sale. While traders were complaining that job works were attracting VAT rate to the extent of 12.5 per cent, tax commissioners were denying it, he said. At present, job works were drawing 12.5 per cent VAT rate, said Praveen Khandelwal, Confederation of All India Traders Secretary General and member of Consultative Committee of VAT panel with Trade and Industry. On harmonised system of nomenclature (HSN) for items falling under VAT, an Empowered Committee official said further interaction with states were needed for the purpose. Traders still maintained that there was large scale deviation from uniform VAT rates among states and claimed that Empowered Committee Chairman Asim Dasgupta assured them that parity would be brought in these rates. VAT panel after its meeting on April 26 had decided that 21 states that switched over to new tax regime, would adopt uniform rates, barring a negative list. A decision was taken that time that medicines, medical equipment and devices, industrial inputs and capital goods would attract 4 per cent VAT rate. Essential items like branded and unbranded salt, bread, gur, jaggery and all food items distributed through the Public Distribution System were exempted from VAT.
— PTI
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SpiceJet plans early morning, late night flights
New Delhi, July 13 The airline officials said here that the plans had been drawn keeping in mind the train travellers. The airline, which is expecting new aircraft in the coming months, hopes to attract train travellers.
SpiceJet’s fares are at least 40 per cent cheaper than normal air fares on full-service airlines. Most domestic airlines do not fly till about 6 am in the morning after midnight. The airline feels that by flying earlier than the normal schedule and later than the last domestic flights it would also help in decongesting the airports. Nearly 4,000 persons fly daily on
SpiceJet. While the airline at present has three Boeing 737-800 aircraft on lease, it is looking at purchasing 10 new Boeing 737-800 with the first delivery expected in January next year. The carrier has 20 daily flights currently and plans to add another 12 daily flights by September with the induction of two more aircraft, taking the number of flights to 32. It plans to take the number of flights to 45 by the year-end.
SpiceJet, which currently covers six destinations like Delhi, Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Goa, Pune and Bangalore, has plans to expand its services to Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, Patna and Srinagar in the near future. As part of its launch celebrations, the airline had offered over 30,000 red hot special fares starting at Rs 99 for the first 99 days of its operation. It received over 37,000 bookings on the day one. The airline is targeting sales of Rs 400 crore in the first year of operations.
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ACC Q1 net up by 71.56 pc
New Delhi, July 13 Total Income has increased 24.82 per cent to Rs 1169.76 crore for the quarter ended June 30 from Rs 937.11 crore in the year-ago period, ACC informed the Bombay Stock Exchange. The group has posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 146.95 crore for the quarter ended June 30 as compared to Rs 86.78 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2004. Indo Rama Synthetics
Indo Rama Synthetics today said its net profit for the first quarter ended June 30 is up at Rs 10.03 crore as against Rs 6.71 crore during the same period a year earlier. The first quarter net sales are up 20 per cent at Rs 498.98 crore from Rs 416.64 crore. The Q1 other income is up at Rs 16.66 crore from Rs 3.45 crore. The company, which makes synthetic yarns and fibres, said it would spend Rs 174 crore on new capacity of 300,000 tonnes per year at its Butibori unit.
Jindal Stainless
Jindal Stainless today posted 31.88 per cent rise in net profit after tax of Rs 66.10 crore for the quarter ended June 30 as compared to Rs 50.12 crore for the quarter ended last fiscal. The total income has increased to Rs 857.99 crore for the quarter ended June 30 from Rs 649.46 crore in the year-ago period, the company informed the Bombay Stock Exchange.
— Agencies
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Car sales down by 0.89 pc in June
New Delhi, July 13 The sales were down with as much as six of the 11 carmakers, including Hyundai India and domestic homegrown major Tata Motors, reporting a decline in numbers, according to figures released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM). SIAM Director General Dilip Chenoy said the downturn was expected to be a temporary one, though any negative policy decision could have long-term effect. Car sales in the first quarter of this financial year (April-June ‘05), however, saw a modest 8.24 per cent increase to 1,96,910 units against 1,81,919 units in the same period last fiscal. Sales of motorcycles continued their growth run in June as well as they moved up 13.67 per cent to 4,15,598 units against 3,65,604 units in the same month last year. While market leader Hero Honda saw the pace slackening down relatively in June as growth stood at 9.2 per cent at 2,14,048 units, Bajaj Auto led the pack on a 34 per cent jump in numbers which stood at 1,21,448 units (90,402). Even as the country’s third-biggest bikemaker TVS Motors improved its numbers, others like Yamaha India, LML and Kinetic continued on the decline path. Bike sales in the April-June quarter stood at 13,10,439 units, a growth of 21.9 per cent over 10,74,890 units in the first quarter of last fiscal. Commercial vehicle sales in June were up 15 per cent to 27,035 units (23,609) and the recent decline in demand for Medium and Heavy Commercial Vehicles (M&HCV) was arrested. Total M&HCV sales in June stood at 16,208 units, a growth of 16.6 per cent over 13,898 units in the same month last year. — PTI
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Steel prices crash
Chandigarh, July 13 Because of the constant decline in the prices of steel for the past some weeks, there is a wave of uncertainty in the steel industry at Mandi Gobindgarh, known as a steel town in the country. Informed sources said the prices of various secondary steel items had come down by Rs 5,000 to 6,000 per tonne in the past three months. The prices of rod has come down from Rs 27,500 per tonne to Rs 21,000 per tonne in the past 12 weeks. Likewise, prices of angles, flats, and coils have crashed by approximately Rs 6,000 per tonne. There is a lot of instability in the steel market. "It is not good for the industry", said some of the industrialists based at Mandi Gobindgarh. Stopping of the import of steel by China, which was one of the biggest importer for the past many years, is said to be the reason behind the crash in steel prices. Incidentally, Punjab, Haryana and Delhi figure among the major steel consuming states of the country.
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BSNL floats $ 5-b tender
New Delhi, July 13 Going in an overdrive, the BSNL has invited bids for procuring GSM equipment for 60 million lines, which is 40 per cent more than the country’s GSM subscriber base. Siemens, Nokia, Ericsson, Alcatel, Motorola, Huawei, Nortel and ZTE are the leading GSM suppliers. “Once this equipment is installed, we will become Indias largest mobile operator,” BSNL CMD, Anil Kumar Sinha said. BSNL in its last tender got a price of Rs 3,400 per line. The company will invite additional features in its new tender. Earlier tenders by the BSNL for procuring GSM equipment were mired in controversy and the first one four years ago, was delayed. With a total subscriber base of over 10 million, the BSNL is the second largest GSM service operator in the country. Bharti is the largest service provider with a total subscriber base of over 11 million. Mr Sinha said BSNL was targeting 20 million users by the end of this financial
year. — UNI
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Remove ambiguity in real estate norms: FICCI
New Delhi, July 13 Ambiguities in the revised FDI guidelines for township, housing, built-up infrastructure, construction development projects and absence of time-bound project clearance were some of the major impediments to a surge in FDI inflows, it said in its latest survey report on ‘FDI in Real Estate’. It pointed out that investors were not looking for special incentives or fiscal concessions, but were keen for an access to a consolidated document, such as a handbook or a ready reckoner, that clearly specified the clearances required with details on all the concerned agencies and the procedures. This was needed for the perspective investors to clear on the legal requisites before making a commitment on the funds.
— PTI
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TCS to expand global base
New Delhi, July 13 There are unexplored opportunities in Eastern Europe, Russia and China that the company must tap, be it in the form of potential markets or global delivery centres, according to TCS’s annual report for 2004-05. TCS is the country’s largest software exporter. At present it has 18 delivery centres outside India including US, Hungary, Brazil, Uruguay and China, each of them certified at SEI-CMMi and PCMM Level 5. It has grown operations with special emphasis in Eastern Europe and North America.
— PTI
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