 |
|
GAIL signs MoU with Punjab, Haryana
Govt mulls hiving off OVL from ONGC
Cong decision on BHEL brings Left back to UPA panel
Jet, Air Sahara hike fares,
IA may follow
Singapore Airlines to raise frequency
MoU to develop Mysore airport
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
New Holland launches tractor variants
Bankers see stable interest rates
Intel community PC in two months
DDA cancels lease pact of Escorts Hospital
Ariyoshi to head IMF Asia office
|
|
GAIL signs MoU with Punjab, Haryana
Chandigarh, October 6 Mr Banerjee attributed the delay in the project to the state government and other promoters who hold 90 per cent equity in the project. The project to be completed by 2008-2009, would supply 4.5 mmscmd (million metric standard cubic meters per day) of natural gas for the project. The 590 km pipeline, which is an extension of the Hazira Vijaipur Jagdishpur ( HVJ) gas pipeline network, will pass through the districts of Sonepat, Panipat, Karnal, Kurukshetra in Haryana and Sangrur, Ludhiana and Nangal in Punjab. It also plans to cover Hisar, Yamunanagar in Haryana and Mandi Gobindgarh in Punjab depending on the demand for gas in these areas. The MoU with Haryana was signed by Dr U.D Choubey, Director (Marketing), GAIL, and Mr Rajeev Arora, Managing Director, HSIDC, in the presence of the Chief Minister, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, and the Haryana Industries Minister. Another MoU with Punjab was signed by Mr U.D Choubey, Director (Marketing), GAIL, and Ms Ravneet Kaur, Managing Director, PSIDC, in the presence of the Punjab Chief Minister, Capt. Amarinder Singh, Mr Proshanto Banerjee, Chairman and Managing Director, GAIL, and the Chief Secretary, Mr J.S Gill. Apart from investing in the gas grid sector, the company also has plans to invest in the petrochemical and telecom sectors. GAIL has already given commitment of financial participation in the Doraha power project to the extent of 10 per cent.
|
|
Govt mulls hiving off OVL from ONGC
New Delhi, October 6 OVL, which has properties in 13 countries, is a 100 per cent subsidiary of the ONGC. While it competed with the might of old warhorse China on almost all assets on the block, aspirations of other state firms like Indian Oil Corp and GAIL for space on global upstream scene sometime sent confusing signals to the governments of oil-rich countries as to who represented India. Sources said Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar, in a 13-slide presentation titled ‘Energy Security & India’s oil diplomacy’ for the Cabinet, suggested restructuring OVL into a single special purpose delivery vehicle that would compliment the oil diplomacy frenzy he has unleased during the past one year. Mr Aiyar believes his attempts in getting oil-rich nations accommodate India had often been lost due to lack of adequate follow-up action on part of OVL which, he says, is “poorly” staffed. He is suggesting that OVL be
restructured on the lines of Petronet India Ltd and be jointly owned by the ONGC, IOC, GAIL and Hindustan Petroleum Corp. The restructed OVL would jointly acquire an asset with a principal state enterprise. After the acquisition, a joint venture would be formed dedicated to the project, sources said. Mr Aiyar feels this would give the new entity a better bargaining power, larger reach in the total value chain, better funds availability and risk mitigation.
— PTI
|
|
Cong decision on BHEL brings Left back to UPA panel
Mumbai, October 6 Addressing a seminar on disinvestment organised by ‘Citizens for National
Consesus’, Mr Karat said Congress President Sonia Gandhi has written to him promising to suspend the sale of BHEL’s shares in the market. He further added that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had assured him that no navratna company in the public sector would be sold. According to Mr Karat, the Left would decide on Sonia Gandhi’s request asking them to return to the coordination committee. “The debate on (public sector) disinvestment is nearly closed,” Mr Karat said. The CPI (M) supremo was, however, of the opinion that the Left was consulted only when a Bill was required to be passed in Parliament. “Otherwise we hear of decisions from the media,” Mr Karat said referring to policy decisions pertaining to Foreign Direct Investment. Reiterating his party’s commitment to a strong public sector, Mr Karat said: “A strong public sector was essential in national interests”. The profitable PSUs contributed as much as Rs 13,200 crore to the exchequer in 2002. He, however, insisted that the time has come to reform
PSUs. Mr Karat went on to say that PSUs should not be treated as milch cows by politicians. Defending West Bengal government’s decision to sell off sick units, Mr Karat said many of them were like the Great Eastern Hotel in Calcutta that were too sick to be revived. “BHEL cannot be compared to a decrepit hotel that has been making huge losses,”
Mr Karat said. He went on to say that the
CPI(M) had decided to sell off the hotel nine years ago. Mr Karat went on to say reiterate his party’s opposition to FDI in retail sector. “In India 11 to 14 per cent of FDI comes from retail and is not comparable to other countries like France,” Mr Karat said. “We are talking on behalf of the traders who are not part of our constituency,” Mr Karat said in a lighter vein.
|
|
Jet, Air Sahara hike fares,
IA may follow
New Delhi, October 6 With the hike, regular one-way fares between Delhi and Chennai would touch Rs 14,500, Delhi-Kolkata Rs 11,000, Delhi- Hyderabad to almost Rs 12,000 and Delhi-Kochi to over Rs 19,000. Delhi-Mumbai sector price would be over Rs 9,700. The check fares, which are available in three or four baskets in different sectors, and other promotional fares would also be hiked by 10 per cent, the spokespersons of these carriers said. Indian Airlines (IA) is yet to take a decision in this regard but sources indicated that they too might follow suit soon. In a related development, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said the government was considering allowing all airlines to hedge on fuel prices in a bid to stem the burgeoning bills of aviation turbine fuel (ATF). Flag carrier Air-India (A-I) has already been allowed to hedge on 10 per cent of the ATF it lifts from abroad with effect from January next year. “We may consider permitting other airlines to hedge in future. The fuel prices are rising continuously,” he said. Due to the rising crude prices, several global carriers have imposed fuel surcharges to offset the rise in fuel bill, which is expected to reach a whopping $97 billion in the near future. The total fuel bill in 2003 stood at $44 billion.
— PTI
|
|
Singapore Airlines to raise frequency
Hyderabad, October 6
|
|
|
Airbus A350 Paris, October 6
|
|
MoU to develop Mysore airport
New Delhi, October 6 The Rs 40- crore joint project involves building of a new runway and expanding the terminal building on 175 acres of additional land adjoining the 242- acre Mysore airport which allows operation of small aircraft. The airport will be operational within two years from the date of handing over of the land .The state will provide free water, power and security for the airport and exemption from all local taxes initially for five years. Favouring the Centre-State cooperation model adopted by north-eastern states to develop aviation infrastructure in the region, Mr Patel also asked state governments to tie up with public sector carriers to provide for intra-state and regional air connectivity across the country. “While developing airports and airstrips across the country, the state governments must enter into joint ventures with public sector carriers like Indian Airlines or its subsidiary, Alliance Air, for ensuring greater connectivity,” he said.
|
|
New Holland launches tractor variants
Panipat, October 6 Talking to The Tribune after the launch of five versions of the new age tractors, Mr Dhamija said only those tractors would stay, which suit different farming aspects of the country. He said the tractor industry was indeed worried if they hit the market with low price but added that the belt-run technique used by the Chinese was not fit for the Indian farming needs. On the launch of the new versions, he said the whole new series had been launched keeping in view of the demands of the farmers. He further informed that the new tractor came with low fuel emission norms of TREM III.
|
|
Bankers see stable interest rates
New Delhi, October 6 Interest rates will remain range-bound, but their exact movement will depend on inflation and oil prices, ICICI Bank Executive Director Chanda Kochhar said. There is no reason for interest rates climbing up, she said. Bank of Baroda Chairman A K Khandelwal said in Mumbai that “In spite of the global crude oil price hike, there is no pressure on the interest rates as liquidity in the system is good enough.” He, however, added that interest rates in the short term at best could go up by 25-50 basis points. Oriental Bank of Commerce Chairman K.N. Prithviraj said interest rates would remain stable because of sufficient liquidity in the market. The RBI is slated to announce busy season credit policy later this month. Global consultancy firm Mckinsey said in its quarterly journal that the RBI must keep interest rates reasonably competitive to sustain a buoyant economy. When asked whether ICICI has any plans to offer concessional rates of interest during the festival season, Ms Kochhar said interest rates were just one of the many factors to facilitate consumer buying. Moreover, any offer might not include every product category, she said, but refused to divulge further on the pretext that there was still time for the festival season. On the recent decision of National Housing Bank to raise the risk weightage requirement of housing finance companies to 75 per cent from 50 per cent, Ms Kochhar said ICICI Bank would not be impacted from it, since ICICI Home Finance contributed a small fraction of the total housing loans given by the bank.
— PTI
|
|
Intel community PC in two months
Bangalore, October 6 Though Intel South Asia Sales and Marketing Director Amar Babu made this announcemnt during the Intel Developer Forum being organised here, he was mum about the cost of the new PC which is aimed as penetrating the semi- rural and rural market. However, company officials told TNS that they were looking at the figure of Rs 10,000 as the “lakshman rekha” while launching the new PC keeping in need the buying power of the segment it was aimed at. Mr Amar Babu said the community PC was being tested across 10 locations in the country. The PC was designed to provide Internet access to all communities and villages in rural and remote areas. Mr Babu said the PC could even function through on a car battery as its back -up energy supply as electricity supply was sporadic in many parts of rural India. To meet the unique conditions of rural environs, the computer contained special screens and filters to reduce the amount of dust and insects that could enter the box and impact reliability. The computer had also been designed to handle extreme heat conditions of more than 38 degrees celsius. Intel officials disclosed that the company was also planning to give wireless connectivity through mobile phones in areas where there was no electricity.
|
|
|
DDA cancels lease pact of Escorts Hospital
New Delhi, October 6 Accordingly, you are directed to peacefully yield up the said land and building thereon to the lessor — DDA.” Asked for reaction, Harpal Singh, Chairman of Ranbaxy-promoted Fortis Healthcare, which acquired EHIRC for Rs 585 crore, said: “We have not received any notice or communication from DDA yet. He declined to entertain any further queries. Giving a notice to the EHRIC, the DDA said the allotment letter stipulates the EHRIC shall serve as a general public hospital with at least 25 per cent of the total beds reserved for free treatment of weaker section of the society. “However, it was noticed that the EHRIC is not following this stipulation of providing free beds to the weaker sections of society,” the notice said. It also referred to a show cause notice issued to EHRIC following a petition in the Delhi High Court of not providing free beds for weaker sections. To this, the EHRIC had replied that the condition regarding free bed norm and subsidised treatment are highly burdensome and will result in closure of the hospital. In addition, EHIRC was also served a show cause notice on April 21, 2004, for allegedly illegally merging with a Chandigarh-based society of the same name, which is not a charitable society and thereafter converted itself into a private limited company. — PTI
|
|
Ariyoshi to head IMF Asia office
Washington, October 6 International Bureau, succeeds Hiroyuki Hino at the Tokyo-based regional office, an IMF statement said. The office monitors regional economic and financial developments, promotes regional dialogue on current issues in the international financial system and facilitates the fund’s involvement at the regional level, the statement said.
— AFP
|
bb
A.P. Solvex bags production award Hutch shop at Sonepat PNB tieup with New India Assurance M&M to set up SEZ at Jaipur Stake bought EXL bags deal BoB Director quits LML cuts prices |
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
