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ONGC fire to hit oil
output, refineries Govt denies US
pressure on Iran-India gas pipeline
HP nod to 43
industrial units Wedding malls planned ING Vysya’s profit |
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Ranbaxy profit down
by 48 pc Bank
Account PNB gears up for
increased overseas presence 
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ONGC fire to hit oil output, refineries
New Delhi, July 28 The worst-ever accident at the ONGC platform, which produces nearly 17 per cent of the country’s total oil output, will also hit the public sector refineries of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (BPCL), Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd, (HPCL) and IndianOil Corporation (IOC) which process Bombay High crude. The refineries will now have to buy sweet crude from the spot market at a higher price. Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar informed the Lok Sabha today that 70 per cent of 1,10,000 barrel per day production would be restored within four weeks. Referring to financial losses, he said the platform was insured for $ 195 million and the multi-support vessel (MSV) for $ 60 million under the ONGC’s offshore package insurance. ONGC CMD has constituted an internal enquiry committee to go into the causes of this tragic accident with the help of outside experts, he said while making a suo motu statement. Building a new platform will cost at least Rs 300 million. Incidentally, Bombay High is India’s largest offshore oilfield situated about 161 km north of the Mumbai coast. It has a string of oil and gas rigs in the sea that pumps oil to the coast and produces 14 per cent of India’s oil requirements and accounts for 38 per cent of all domestic production. Officials in the Ministry claimed that the fire has destroyed only the Bombay High North platform, which used to produce 80,000 barrels of oil every day. The fire-hit platform produced about a seventh of the country’s oil. (1 oil barrel = 42 gallons; 1 gallon = 3.785 litres). Since ONGC has dug multiple wells over several kilometres in the Bombay High oilfield, spread over a large area, the ONGC can now link other wells to the second platform to restore about 70 per cent of production, official sources said adding that it make take at least one year to restore the production fully. About the financial losses to the company, though the officials are tight-lipped yet reports say it could be as high as Rs 32,000 crore. Significantly, this is the second major fire on Bombay High. There was a major fire at the gas field in 1999, but it was not as devastating as the current one.
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Govt denies US pressure on Iran-India gas pipeline The government today denied any apparent US pressure on India to scrap the proposed Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) gas pipeline project while admitting that the project is fraught with high risks. Replying to a queries in the Lok Sabha today, Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar asserted that there is no difference of opinion in the government over the project and the government was determined to implement the project. Referring to Prime Minister’s remarks in his interview to the Washington Post, the Minister said, “ Prime Minister has rightly said the project is fraught with risks, while maintaining that to meet energy requirements India would need Iran gas.” He admitted, “ it is a matter of public record that the United States has on its statute book the Iran Libya Sanction Act (ILSA) of 1996 that provides for the imposition of sanctions against any party that has made an investment of more than $ 40 million “ that directly and significantly contributes to the enhancements of Iran’s ability to develop petroleum resources of Iran.” US officials have stated publicly that the US position on India’s energy requirements is “ constructive.” The government is pursuing the import of gas from Iran in the national interest in order to meet the energy requirements of the country, he said. Listing the series of meetings with two separate joint working groups, the minister said that the meeting of the India-Iran group is likely to take place in New Delhi next month. — TNS
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HP nod to 43 industrial units
Shimla, July 28 Presiding over the meeting of the authority, the Chief Minister, Mr Virbhadra Singh, said proposed units would involve an investment of over Rs 2,500 crore and provide employment to 6,840 persons. The proposal cleared today included Rs 1,680 crore steel project of Jindal Saw Limited. It would initially provided jobs to about 2,000 persons at different level which would gradually increase to over 4,000. Other prestigious industrial houses whose projects were cleared include Proctor and Gamble, Pioneer Embroideries Ltd., Godrej Consumer Products and Alpha Pharma. The authority has approved 5,414 small, medium and large scale projects with total investment of Rs 11,494 crore and potential to provide jobs to 1,82,607 persons. Mr Virbhadra Singh said utmost care was being taken to ensure need-based use of land and water and that environment of the state was not affected. Highly pollution, high power consuming units and less employment oriented industrial units were being discouraged. He said the government would be requisitioning the services of the Central Ground Water Board to assess the availability of groundwater in the state. He said the government had made it mandatory to the entrepreneurs to incorporate rainwater harvesting structures in their proposals. Mr Virbhadra Singh said the effluent of the industrial units needed to be channelised.
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Wedding malls planned
Chandigarh, July 28 The Wedding Souk, Delhi, will come up by Divali this year, followed by Gold and Wedding Souks at Ludhiana, Kochi and Jaipur. This was stated by Mr G.S. Pillai, Director, Aerens Gold Souk International Limited, during his visit to Chandigarh yesterday. With Punjab also taking to the multiplex and shopping mall culture, the group has already commenced work for setting up the first one in Ludhiana. The Souk, according to the director, will showcase the best of the Indian and international jewellery, watches and high-value lifestyle accessories, besides wedding paraphernalia.
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ING Vysya’s profit
Bangalore, July 28 Due to the impact of market developments following the net loss in the first half of the last fiscal year, the bank has been able to turn around performance and now seen a net profit for the last three quarters, the bank said in a statement here.
— PTI
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New Delhi, July 28 Consolidated sales of the company during the first quarter this fiscal grew 7 per cent to Rs 1347.9 crore as compared to Rs 1258.0 crore in the year-ago period, company official said. SAIL profit
State-owned Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) today announced its net profit rose to Rs 1,123 crore in the first quarter of the current fiscal, a nominal increase from the Rs 1,112 crore it earned in the year-ago period. The steel behemoth's turnover in the first quarter soared by 11 per cent at Rs 6,265 crore, a SAIL release said here. The company attributed the "marginal" rise in net profit to a higher tax outgo of Rs 578 crore against Rs 94 crore in first quarter of the last fiscal.
SBI profit rises
Helped by improved margins and drop in operating expenses, State Bank of India has posted a 15.54 per cent rise in its first quarter net profit at Rs 1,222.83 crore as against Rs 1,058.40 crore for April-June 2004. The total income for the quarter ended June 2005 rose to Rs 10,742.85 crore from Rs 9,205.29 crore for Q1 of 2004-05, SBI said in a release here today. The increase in the net interest income (NII) and decline in the operating expenses led to higher operating profits, it said, adding nil rose by 43.98 per cent from Rs 2,954.07 crore in Q1 of the financial year 2005 to Rs 4,253.24 crore in reporting quarter.
NTPC gains 24.15 pc
National Thermal Power Corporation Ltd (NTPC) today reported 24.15 per cent rise in net profit at Rs 1308.7 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2005 as compared to Rs 1054.1 crore for the same period in previous fiscal. Total income has increased 15.35 per cent to Rs 6609.5 crore for the first quarter ended June 30, 2005 from Rs 5729.6 crore in the year-ago period, the company informed the BSE.
GAIL profit surges
GAIL (India) Limited today announced increase in net profit by 43 per cent in the first quarter of the current fiscal from Rs 339 crore in first quarter last year to Rs 483 crore. The company has also made a provision of Rs 153 crore from sales towards under recoveries of sensitive petroleum products as per the instructions from Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas as compared to Rs 226 crore in the corresponding quarter of previous year.
— TNS, Agencies
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PNB gears up for increased overseas presence
New Delhi, July 28 “Some private banks have increased housing loan rates. So far as we are concerned, we will maintain status quo in the lending rates,” Chairman and Managing Director S.C. Gupta told newspersons here. He said that the bank has sent a detailed roadmap for overseas branches to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and was expecting the approval shortly. “We plan to open branches in Singapore, Hong Kong and United Kingdom and subsequently in Australia”, Mr Gupta said. The bank has also set a target of 20 per cent growth in total business during the current fiscal year and hopes to clock a business of Rs 1,90,000 crore during the year. He said that PNB was open to mergers and acquisitions if there are “synergies” available. “Consolidation in the banking industry is something which is unavoidable. The Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) has submitted a roadmap to the RBI for this purpose”, he said. Announcing the financial results for the first quarter (ending June 30) of 2005-06, he said that net profit of the bank during the first three months amounted to Rs 358.16 crore as compared to Rs 322.67 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year. UTI MF pact with PSB
UTI Mutual Fund today entered into a strategic tie-up with Punjab and Sind Bank for distribution of its schemes. As per the understanding, Punjab and Sind Bank, which has been given a timeframe of two to three years by the government to turnaround, would offer the entire bouquet of UTI Mutual Fund schemes through its select branches. UTI AMC Executive Director DSR Murthy said the bank has a dominant presence in Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal, Jammu and Kashmir, western and Terai belt of Uttar Pradesh, and Uttranachal and Ganganagar belt of Rajasthan, which happened to be important retail markets for it.
IOB in China
Public sector Indian Overseas Bank today (IOB) said it would open a representative office in China during the second week of next month. The bank’s representative office would be located at Guangzhou, China. “The office would be opened during the second week of August 2005,” Mr T. S. Narayanasami, Chairman and Managing Director, IOB, said in a statement here. The representative office will function as a liaison office and an information desk. It will undertake market research on trade and commodities for the benefit of Indian businessmen. IOB has a presence in Hong Kong since 1955.
Syndicate Bank
Syndicate Bank has registered an impressive growth of 30 per cent in net profit for the quarter ending June 30. The net profit of the bank crossed Rs 163.11 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2005, compared to Rs 125.24 crore for the corresponding quarter last year, says an official press note. The net advance of the bank increased to Rs 27,678 crore registering a growth rate of 33 per cent. Low cost deposit of the bank constitutes 38 per cent of the total deposit. The net NPA of the bank came down to 1.54 per cent. The Capital Adequacy Ratio of the bank improved to 12.56 per cent from 10.70 per cent as of March 2005, the press note
added. — TNS, PTI
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