A Pakistani shopkeeper arranges jewellery at a shop in Islamabad on Friday. Gold prices on the Hong Kong market closed higher at $632.00-632.50 an ounce compared to the previous day's close of $623.40-623.90 — AFP

Disinvestment not to hit reforms, says Montek
New Delhi, July 7
In a bid to dispel fears that the government decision to put on hold disinvestment in PSUs could impact the economy, the Planning Commission said today disinvestment is not the core of economic reforms.

Tardy progress in HP’s twin winery project
Shimla, July 7
The twin winery project has not made much headway despite the government’s nod for its execution in the private sector instead of the joint sector as planned originally.

Aussie cos to offshore more jobs to India
Melbourne, July 7
Australian telecom giants Telstra and Optus are both eyeing offshoring jobs to India as part of cost-cutting measures in the face of a slow growth rate.

GSM, CDMA players differ over spectrum for 3G
New Delhi, July 7
GSM and CDMA players today voiced different opinions over the allocation of particular frequency for third generation (3G) telecom mobile services, at a open house conducted by telecom regulator TRAI.

Steel prices swell in Punjab
Ludhiana, July 7
Steel prices in Punjab have shot up by Rs 700 per metric tonne (MT), on account of proposed week-long compulsory power cuts on about 150 arc and induction furnaces in the state leading to fears of shortage of supply.

Gold, silver prices surge
New Delhi, July 7
Both precious metals, gold and silver, zoomed on the bullion market today on persistent buying by stockists and retail customers triggered by higher overseas trend and closed with handsome gains.

UBI-Reuters pact
Mumbai, July 7
The Union Bank of India (UBI) has tied-up with global financial services provider Reuters for sourcing information on trading of foreign exchange and bullion.

SCOPE Awards
New Delhi, July 7
Mr Proshanto Banerjee, CMD, GAIL (India) Ltd, has won the SCOPE (Standing Conference of Public Enterprises) award for excellence and outstanding contribution to the public sector management for 2004-05, in the individual category.

New Delhi, July 7
The steel tycoon, Mr L.N. Mittal, after acquiring European steel giant Arcelor, today announced an investment of up to Rs 40,000 crore for setting up a 12 million tonne steel project in Orissa in two phases, while complaining against slow progress in Jharkhand.

On his thanksgiving visit to India, he met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi and Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in Bhubaneswar. Talking to reporters here today, he said he was open to acquire Indian steel companies as well.

“Who said that I am not interested,” he told reporters when asked whether he was interested in Indian companies, in the context of Tata Steel deciding to increase promoters’ stake to ward off hostile takeovers.

Mittal's son Aditya Mittal, who is the Chief Financial Offer of Mittal Steel and credited with pushing the Arcelor-Mittal merger, said the company would definitely increase their presence in India.

“But takeover candidates are few and limited. Don't expect to see any fireworks in the near future... not this year at least,” he said.

Commenting on the merger of Mittal Steel and Luxembourg-based Arcelor, he said it would put the company 5-7 years ahead of competition.

The combined entity, which would be the world's largest steel conglomerate, would have 1,300 research and development professionals.

“Though the Jharkhand government is extending its cooperation I am not happy with the progress of the project,” he stated.

Mr Mittal had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Jharkhand Government last year to set up a 12-million-tonne steel plant in the state with an estimated investment of Rs 400 billion ($8.5 billion).

Meanwhile, the Jharkhand Chief Minister, who was also in Delhi, said Mr Mittal could have more than one plant in India and pointed out that the steel tycoon had not said that he was pulling out of Jharkhand.

Mr Munda also pointed out that Mr Mittal would have to invest certain amount of money in the state as envisaged in the MoU signed last year.

ONGC-Mittal combine will invest more than $6 billion in setting up a refinery, power plant and railway lines in Nigeria.

ONGC Mittal Energy Ltd (OMEL) is finalising the investment proposals for setting up a 15 million tonnes per annum export-oriented refinery, a 2,000 MW power plant and railway lines in the African country, sources said.

The refinery would have an initial capacity of 5 million tonnes and would be expanded to 15 MT, they said.

The investments are part of a mega deal between ONGC and Nigerian government, wherein OMEL would create the infrastructure and the African country would give them oil blocks.

ONGC Mittal Energy Ltd — the joint venture company of Mittal Steel and ONGC, has recently won two lucrative oil fields in Nigeria. The recoverable reserves potential estimated from a few clearly delineated prospects in the blocks are expected to be over 1 billion barrels of oil and oil equivalent gas.

ONGC Videsh Ltd, the overseas arm of ONGC, holds 49.98 per cent equity and Mittal Investment Sarl holds 48.02 per cent in the jv company. The balance 2 per cent is with SBI Caps. — PTI 

New Delhi, July 7
After more than 16 years, GAIL (India) Ltd today finally signed a Gas Sales Agreement (GSA) with India’s largest natural gas producer Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) with firm take-or-pay commitments.

ONGC Chairman and Managing Director R.S. Sharma and GAIL Chairman and Managing Director Proshanto Banerjee signed the GSA for government-controlled gas (called APM gas) for 15 years.

Gas produced by ONGC from its fields in western offshore, KG Basin (Andhra Pradesh), Cauvery Basin (Tamil Nadu), Tripura, Gujarat and Assam, whose price is dictated by the Government, would be sold to GAIL under this agreement.

GAIL will this year buy 50 million standard cubic per day of gas from ONGC under the agreement, Mr Banerjee told reporters after signing the agreement. This volume may decline in coming years as ONGC fields are ageing and output was falling.

“We had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in 1990 with a clause that a firm GSA would be signed in 30 days. Though the agreement could not be signed, ONGC had been supplying APM gas to GAIL on mutual trust,” Mr Sharma said.

While ONGC had been insisting on the GSA with the company even threatening termination of supplies, GAIL had been resisting signing a legally binding document which provided that it would have to pay up the cost if it did not take supplies (take-or-pay clause).

Mr Sharma said the APM gas supplied to GAIL is governed by Government’s Gas Pricing Order and currently it is priced at Rs 3,200 per thousand cubic metres ($ 1.7 per million British Thermal unit). This is way below the 4.75 per mBtu charged by privately operated fields, spot LNG price of over $ 9 per mBtu and $ 14 per mBtu price of naphtha (the immediate substitute of natural gas).

Mr Banerjee said under the agreement, GAIL has committed to the cost of 90 per cent of the committed volumes in case it fails in taking supplies from ONGC.

The GSA signed today has a tenure of 15 years,” he said. — PTI

Kolkata, July 7
To increase market share in the CDMA mobile segment, Tata Teleservices Limited would invest Rs 450 crore towards infrastructure development in the Kolkata circle, a company official said today.

Circle Operating Officer of Kolkata Circle Abhijit Pal told reporters here that the company would invest another Rs 600 crore in the eastern regional circles of Bihar/Jharkhand, Orissa and West Bengal.

Mr Pal said the company, which runs mobile services under the Tata Indicom brand name, has crossed the 6 lakh customer base in the Kolkata circle.

He said the company had already cornered 10 per cent share in the mobile telephony market, which also included GSM, within 17 months of starting its operations in the Kolkata circle.

Nationally, the subscriber base of Tata Teleservices has crossed the 10-million mark.

The company today launched the One World One Number international roaming service, which would be available on a particular Motorola handset.

Mr Pal said this facility would help customers to roam in countries where CDMA services are not available. For this purpose, Tata Teleservices has tied up with GSM operators in those countries.

The company, he said, was also planning to enter the North-East market.— PTI

New Delhi, July 7
The Investment Commission headed by Mr Ratan Tata, which submitted its report to the Finance Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, has envisaged a cumulative investment of over $1.5 trillion over the next five years to make the country a manufacturing hub.

It has also recommended to host mega events like 2010 Commonwealth Games, 2020 Olympics, Football World Cup, Formula One Racing for giving a push to infrastructure development that would also help building national pride, it said.

The Finance Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, had a meeting with the Investment Commission headed by Mr Ratan Tata, here today.

“While expansion of domestic investment is essential to achieve this goal, FDI, which has been stagnant at about $5 billion in the past, also needs to be increased significantly,” it said while setting the goal to increase the level of FDI to $15 billion by 2007-08.

To this end, 25 key sectors spanning infrastructure, manufacturing, services, natural resources and the knowledge economy have been studied. They represent a significant part of the economy, and between them would require an aggregate investment of $525 - $550 billion over the next 5 years.

The Commission interacted with industry bodies, associations, ministries at the Centre and state level, business delegations and companies and delegations from the US, UK, Italy, Japan and the Scandinavian countries.

The major impediments to investment, it said, included entry route barriers, absence of long-term policies, lack of level playing field — especially in sectors with PSU dominance, inflexible labour laws, many agencies engaged in doing the same or similar activities relating to the FDI.

The report blamed bureaucratic delay in approvals from Ministry of Environment & Forests as a major impediment in terms of inordinate delay in projects.

Mr Tata called upon the government to remove, reduce restrictions on sector caps and entry route on all sectors other than those considered “strategic” and permit “automatic route” for all investments within the sector cap.

The report urged the Centre permitting contract labour in all areas, and to promote SEZs for key sectors.

Other recommendations includes creating a special high-level fast track mechanism for priority sector projects, availability of skilled manpower for sectors like biotechnology, automotive engineering, textile engineering, and information technology.

New Delhi, July 7
The Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) today granted a major relief to all private telecom operators by redefining adjusted gross revenue (AGR) and said revenues arising only from telecom services should be included for the purpose of levying licence fee.

“We have no difficulty in accepting the arguments of the petitioners (AUSPI) that it can only be from the licensed activity only,” said Justice N. Santosh Hegde, Chairman of the Tribunal, in his 45-page order.

It also remanded telecom regulator TRAI and directed the DoT and the Government of India to produce the material relied by it while rejecting the recommendations made by it.

“The TRAI shall hear the government as well as the licensees (telecom companies) and consider the matters,” said the TDSAT directing the TRAI to conduct a public hearing.

It also directed it to submit its report within three months.

The TDSAT also slammed the DoT for rejecting the advice of the TRAI on AGR, which is mandatory.

“There has not been proper and effective consultation...

DoT has not given due weightage while considering the recommendation of the TRAI... It is mandatory under the TRAI Act,” the TDSAT said. — PTI

Shimla, July 7
The twin winery project has not made much headway despite the government’s nod for its execution in the private sector instead of the joint sector as planned originally.

Work on the project was expected to get impetus after signing of a fresh memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Himachal Indage, the principal promoter, for setting up the prestigious project in private sector. However, that has not happened. The company has constructed only about 300 sq m area as against 1500 sq m required for the 10,000 tonne processing plant at Pragatinagar in Shimla district.

To make the apple cider plant viable the company is also allowed to produce brandy and juices. The area being built up is too meagre for such varied processing activities.

Similarly, work on the 3000 tonne capacity grape-based winery to be set up at Nagwain in Kulu is also progressing at snail’s pace. As many as 100 farmers were to be brought under contract farming for growing grapes but the company has so far supplied planting material to only 15 farmers. In all 40,000 saplings have been supplied. The government has already enacted a law to facilitate contract farming in the state, but the company is continuing with its Pune module on the Maharashtra pattern.

It is laid in the MoU that the progress of the project will be reviewed every three months, but so far no review meeting has been held. Work on the project as per the original MoU was to be completed by 2003. However, the joint venture ran into rough weather as the government and the state-owned HPMC failed to contribute their equity share for the Rs 40 crore venture.

Uncertainty continued even after the company agreed to execute the prestigious project in the private sector instead of joint sector as planned.

The cost has now escalated to about Rs 60 crore due to the delay of three years. The first phase alone during which an apple-based winery is to be set up at Pragatinagar will cost about Rs 40 crore. In the second phase, a winery was to be established at Nagwain and the two units were to have a capacity to process about 15,000 tonnes of fruit.

Melbourne, July 7
Australian telecom giants Telstra and Optus are both eyeing offshoring jobs to India as part of cost-cutting measures in the face of a slow growth rate.

More jobs in Australia’s $ 33 billion-a-year telecommunications sector are likely to shift to India, as Telstra is understood to be considering a major deal with India’s Wipro, a television channel said today.

The deal would involve moving parts of IT development and management offshore, it quoted sources as saying.

According to the channel, Optus held staff briefings across the country yesterday for thousands of call-centre staff about its plans to boost existing Indian call-centre numbers from 500 to 800 immediately.

“Today, we reported to staff on the progress of our programme to grow offshore call-centre operations capability to supplement our domestic call centres,” Optus spokeswoman Melissa Favero said.

“We commenced this programme nearly two years ago, and since then have grown our business and correspondingly increased our customer service headcount,” she said.

Functions to be carried out by Optus’s offshore contractor Convergys will eventually include consumer broadband cable support, sales order management, financial services, mobile post-paid customer services, small and medium business mobile business activations and mobile customer service, the report said.

“We announced the number of seats in our Indian call centre would grow over time and it had 150 seats initially and approximately 500 seats now,” Ms Favero said. 
— PTI

New Delhi, July 7
GSM and CDMA players today voiced different opinions over the allocation of particular frequency for third generation (3G) telecom mobile services, at a open house conducted by telecom regulator TRAI.

While CDMA players said sepctrum for 3G mobile service should be on the basis of 1900 Mhz band, the GSM operators led by the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) maintained that this particular frequency was for them.

Even on the pricing front, CDMA player Tatas differed with COAI with Tatas favouring one-time entry fee for 3G spectrum while COAI saying it should be allocated on the basis of subscriber base.

“We have collected inputs from all the stakeholders and analysing it... we hope to send our recommendations to Department of Telecom (DoT) by September,” Mr Rajinder Singh, Secretary, TRAI, said.

It can be recalled that DoT had asked TRAI to rework on the spectrum allocation procedures for the 3G mobile services as the recommendations by TRAI earlier under the chairmanship of Pradip Baijal have not been considered by DoT.

The TRAI had earlier recommended constitution of Group of Ministers (GoM) to sort out the contentious issue of spectrum looking at the divergent views by the two sets of players — GSM and CDMA. — PTI

New Delhi, July 7
Both precious metals, gold and silver, zoomed on the bullion market today on persistent buying by stockists and retail customers triggered by higher overseas trend and closed with handsome gains.

Marketmen said buying by stockists was sparked on reports of a rising trend in the global market where gold quoted higher at $631.75 an ounce.

They said trading sentiment remained bullish amid ongoing geopolitical tension surrounding North Korea’s missile test and rising crude oil prices.

Standard gold and ornaments shot up by Rs 80 each at Rs 9,580 and Rs 9,430 per 10 gm, respectively, while sovereign gained Rs 25 at Rs 7,625 per piece of 8 gm.

Silver jumped up by Rs 475 at Rs 17,900 per kg while weekly-based delivery sky rocketed by Rs 1,390 to Rs 17,990 per kg. — PTI