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Aiyar for Rs 50 hike in LPG price
Maran hints at cheaper PC
FM bullish on economy
North records faster growth
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Tatas to invest Rs 5,000 cr in telecom
16 Ketan Parekh Group
companies under investigation
Idea’s Rs 50-cr plan for Haryana
Corporate News
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Aiyar for Rs 50 hike in LPG price
New Delhi, December 9 Mr Aiyar is likely to tell the high-powered Energy Coordination Committee, chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, on December 16 that the over Rs 110 per cylinder loss on selling domestic LPG can be bridged by raising the price by Rs 50 on January 1 and then again on July 1 next year. A top Petroleum Ministry official said he was also likely to suggest that kerosene be priced differently for people living below the poverty line (BPL) and those above it. The price of kerosene sold to BPL families through the PDS system is suggested to be increased by Re 1 a litre to Rs 10 per litre while the same for APL families will be priced at Rs 15 a litre. This would be raised to Rs 18 by year-end. However, Mr Aiyar’s price hike proposal may not be accepted by the Prime Minister, considering the political ramifications in a year when four crucial states go to the polls. Besides, the Cabinet had last time shot down his proposal to raise the LPG price by a mere Rs 5 a cylinder. The official said Mr Aiyar’s proposal for a price hike would also not hold water considering the fact that the Finance Ministry is to issue bonds worth Rs 6,000 crore, covering half of the losses on selling petrol, diesel, LPG and kerosene the oil firms are to make in 2005-06 fiscal, later this month. On petrol and diesel, things were pretty comfortable. Oil firms were making Rs 0.10 a litre on selling petrol but were incurring a loss of Rs 0.70 per litre on diesel. Mr Aiyar’s idea of dual pricing of kerosene was its use as an adulterant in
diesel. — PTI
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Mr Bambi checks in
Chennai, December 9 Mr Gates met Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa today and gave that assurance. Mr Gates visit to this premier city of South India was ‘very secret’ as he checked into a five-star hotel of Taj Coromandel with the name of Mr Bambi. He did not take any security from the state police but was surrounded by his own private security guards. He was accompanied by his wife, Melinda, who visited a hospital nursing AIDS patients. During their 20-minute meeting, Ms Jayalalithaa requested Mr Gates to establish a high performance computing centre and an engineering product design and delivery centre of Microsoft at Chennai and assured him that the government would allot the required land and extend the necessary support. Ms Jayalalithaa told Gates her government was firmly committed to leveraging information, communication and technology (ICT) to leapfrog to the top in all spheres and bridging the digital divide. She requested Mr Gates to include Tamil Nadu in Microsoft’s new programme to equip schools with computers and appreciated the company’s work in coordination with the Tamil Nadu government on several e-governance initiatives. With an aim of leveraging IT for the prosperity of the state’s citizens, she had launched an ambitious programme of taking computers to village panchayats. “This would bridge the digital divide and take ICT to the grassroots,” she said. She sought Microsoft’s support for the scheme, for which Mr Gates readily agreed. Under the project, Microsoft would set up and run an Information Technology Academy in Chennai for five years, in which teachers would receive 12 days training in computer literacy. The project would be implemented in Chennai, Madurai, Tiruchirapalli, Tirunelveli, Salem and Vellore, benefiting 80,000 teachers directly and reach 35 lakh students in the next five years. Mr Bill Gates and Ms Jayalalithaa interacted with the teachers at these centres through video conferencing. On AIDS control, the release quoted Gates as saying that he was greatly impressed by the Tamil Nadu Government’s achievement in implementing the AIDS control programme and said the state stood as a model. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, through Avahan AIDS initiative, had launched a series of initiatives in the state on AIDS prevention. Mr Gates congratulated the Chief Minister for the success of the self-help group movement in the state and said he was greatly excited by the usage of ICT to enable these groups to access markets and felt the potential was immense.
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The
Centre is hoping to stimulate penetration of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) by lowering cost of PCs to enable more people use them, Union IT and Communications Minister Dayanidhi Maran said today.
“We hope to stimulate the penetration of ICT through these and various other measures so that we can repeat in this sector what has happened in mobile telephone, where we are adding three million new connections every month,” he said at an Entrepreneurs’ partnership summit organised by Microsoft here. “We have, therefore, formulated a National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) tailored to our requirements and focussed on service delivery.” “Basic connectivity was an issue, particularly in rural areas, notwithstanding the tremendous progress in the telecom sector in recent times,” he said. Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates and Microsoft India Chairman Ravi Venkatesh were among those, who attended this summit, which was closed for the media.
— PTI
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FM bullish on economy
New Delhi, December 9 Presenting the mid-year review of the economy today in the Lok Sabha, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said: “The review projects the continuation of the high growth of around 7 per cent for the economy in 2005-06, buoyed by the first half overall GDP growth of 8.1 per cent, but oil production, textile exports, power generation and above all the agriculture sector have not performed as per the expectations.” The survey report presented in both Houses of Parliament said the inflation rate might come below 5.0-5.5 per cent forecast by the end of March, while favouring the soft interest rate regime. Earlier, he told lawmakers it was not possible to lower interest rates unless inflation declined. “Industrial growth in the first half has been marred by a disappointing performance in the mining and electricity sectors, and vigorous industrial growth during the second half of the year requires a strong growth recovery in these two sectors,” the report
noted. It said the farm sector was expected to grow at more than 3 per cent, supported by grains output of about 5 per cent because of the near-normal southwest monsoon. The mid-year review called for corrective measures, including steps to enhance oil and coal production to meet the growing energy needs, labour reforms, and to emphasise on public-private partnership for bridging the gap in the infrastructure sector.
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North records faster growth
Chandigarh, December 9 This has been revealed by a study on the emerging trends of gross state domestic product for northern states of India conducted by the CII northern region. The region covered in the study comprises Chandigarh and the states Delhi, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Rajasthan, UP and Uttaranchal. The industrial sector, which comprises manufacturing, construction, power and water, grew by 5.4 per cent in the region. In absolute terms, the industrial sector grew from Rs 47.556 crore in 1993-94 to Rs 80,434 crore in 2003-04. Haryana has been one of the most rapidly evolving states in the region, changing from an agrarian economy to a service-oriented economy, according to the study. In the state, services increased their share from 31 per cent to 42 per cent while the share of agriculture and allied sectors fell from 43 per cent to 30 per cent. Punjab has also shown similar trends, though it is still more agrarian than its neighbour Haryana, with nearly 40 per cent of the GSDP coming from agriculture and the allied sector in 2003-04. Himachal Pradesh, too, has started maturing into an industrialised state from a predominantly
agrarian state. The industrial sector has increased its share in the Himachal economy by 9 percentage points (27 per cent to 36 per cent) over the period. In the state-level analysis, Delhi has increased its share in the region’s GDP from 10.2 per cent to 14 per cent over the decade. Chandigarh recorded the highest CAGR of 8.9 per cent per annum among NR states. Among other NR states GSDP in Delhi, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan grew at a higher rate than the national average over the decade. Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, UP and Uttaranchal, however, grew at a lower rate than the national average of 5.3 per cent. Chandigarh continued to enjoy the highest per capita income (PCI) of Rs 34,308 (at 1993-94 prices) in the country in 2003-04. The PCI was nearly three times that of the national level at Rs 11,799. Delhi ranked second at the national level with a PCI of Rs 32,003. Haryana, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh also had a PCI higher than the national
level. — UNI
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Tatas to invest Rs 5,000 cr in telecom
Kolkata, December 9 The Tata Group, having three major players — VSNL, Tata Teleservices Ltd and Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) Ltd, has identified telecom as ‘the main thrust area’ and projects a Rs 5,000 crore investment for spreading the services, building network and providing handsets. “The telecom business is not doing well. While the VSNL is making profit, the other two are not. We will see that they join the other Tata Group companies in maintaining better performance,” Tata Sons director Dr J.J. Irani said at an interaction with the press here last night. The Group has already put in around Rs 5,000 crore on its telecom projects, including the acquisition of the VSNL, he said. A late starter in the high growth segment, the Tatas were currently in a phase of spreading its services across India and has crossed six-million customer base, adding one million new customers every other month. “Telecom is a business where you have to first establish a wide presence before the revenue flow starts. We were a late starter, but have now covered all the regions except the northeast sector,” Mr Irani said.
— PTI
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Small car by 2007
The low-priced small car of the Tatas aiming at the country’s burgeoning middle class will roll out in 2007. “The prototype of the car is in place and its commercial production will start in 2007,” Tata Sons Director J.J. Irani has said.
Talking to a select group of newspersons here last night, Dr Irani, however, seemed to have kept his fingers crossed about the Rs 1 lakh price tag on the car, an announcement for which was made by Group Chairman Ratan Tata. “This is a two-three year old figure. The price of steel is always changing. While fixing the price of car, you will have to keep in mind the price of steel as well,” he said. Deciding to invest Rs 6,000 crore on the ‘people’s car’ project, Tata Motors had targeted to make its proposed vehicle accessible to the millions of two-wheeler riders. The company, which is the second largest car manufacturer in the country, also decided to expand its manufacturing facility outside Pune.
— UNI
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Samsung to set up $15 m
handset plant in Haryana
New Delhi, December 9 The plant, which is slated to commence production by the end of the first quarter of 2006, will produce one million handsets and increase its capacity to 20 million handsets by 2010. This would be Samsung’s fourth overseas handset manufacturing facility after China, Brazil and Mexico. Samsung India Director (Telecom) H.C. Ryu told reporters that the manufacturing hub would cater to the South Asian and Southwest Asian markets. The company will initially start manufacturing two GSM models followed by CDMA handsets once production is stabilised. ‘’The two starting models will be priced around Rs 5,000,’’Mr Ryu said. The plant would employ approximately 200 persons. Speaking about the company’s business plans for 2006,Mr Ryu
said:’’ we plan to continue with our thrust on the colour/camera segment in the Indian market.’’ Samsung expected to increase its market share (GSM) in India to 18 per cent by the next year-end from the present 10 per cent.
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16 Ketan Parekh Group
companies under investigation
New Delhi, December 9 In a written reply Minister for Company Affairs Prem Chand Gupta said several other companies which had dealings with the Ketan Parekh Group of companies had also been asked to furnish information in pursuance of Section 240 (IA) of the Companies Act, 1956, in connection with the above investigation. Since the investigation is in progress, it was not feasible to give the names of companies which made investments in the group with a view to manipulating shares, he said. The Ministry of Company Affairs had issued instructions for engaging senior government counsel in cases of companies having vanished after mobilising funds to the tune of Rs 5 crore or above.
— PTI
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Idea’s Rs 50-cr plan for Haryana
Panipat, December 9
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Hitachi hikes stake in Telcon
Mumbai, December 9 An agreement was signed on this effect by R N Tata, Chairman, Tata Motors, S Dazai, President and CEO of HCM and J K Setna, Chairman of Telcon, Tata Motors informed Bombay Stock Exchange. The new agreement signed between the three companies includes sourcing, by Hitachi, of components and machines from Telcon, introducing newer products of construction equipment in India, setting up a product development facility in India and making Telcon a part of HCM’s global network, it said. Hitachi Construction is a leading construction equipment manufacturer and held 20 per cent stake in Telcon before the agreement. HCM has its own manufacturing operations in Japan, China, Indonesia, Netherlands, France and USA and distribution network worldwide. Teledata buys Thai company
Teledata Informatics has acquired controlling stake in Thailand-based Picnic Marine Company (PMCL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Picnic Corporation. According to a release by Teledata Informatics to the BSE here today, Picnic Marine Company was involved in the distribution of LPG through 13 gas carriers with the average gross tonnage of 1,414.27 tonne. “The earning potential of each gas carrier is estimated at $2,5002,800 per day,” the press note added.
French turbine-maker in India
French aero, land and marine turbine-maker Turbomeca has launched its industrial operations here through its fully owned subsidiary Turbomeca Turbochargers Industrial India (TTII). TTII would assemble, sell and service industrial turbochargers used to boost large diesel engines - an essential accessory for Indian Railways. The facility was inaugurated here by Turbomeca Chairman and CEO Emeric d’ Arcimoles. Speaking to reporters here last night he said, it was an “important step forward” in the company’s strategy for international expansion through new sites. The subsidiary would source components and assemble and test Turbomeca HS 5800 NGT—next generation turbochargers, for domestic and international market. TTII Managing Director Subramaniam Kumar said the facility had the capacity to produce 250 turbochargers annually with a potential to meet further demand.
Richard Wolf Knittlingen
German endoscopy product maker Richard Wolf Knittlingen has announced its foray in India by setting up its wholly-owned subsidiary here for marketing and product service. “For the last 25 years, we have been marketing our products through Indian partners. Now we are setting up our own marketing team to support our partners and also set up a servicing centre in Delhi,” Richard Wolf India Pvt Ltd Managing Director Alfons Notheis told reporters here. He said the company was aiming for just a tad below 10 per cent growth in the next five years. “Overall, the company would be looking for a revenue of about Rs 35-40 crore in the next three years, coming both from private and government hospitals,” Subhash Bhasin, Eagle Medical Systems (marketing partner of RWK) said.
— Agencies
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Inflation at 4.54 pc GAIL pact Welspun retail Apollo’s alliance FDI proposals
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