Chandigarh, March 7
In an unprecedented move, Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL) has hiked the prices of mild steel (MS) rounds and wire rods by Rs 5,500 to Rs 7,500 per metric tonne today.

With today’s hike, prices of MS rounds have gone up by Rs 17,000 per metric tonne in the past three months.

The small and medium enterprises in the region are up in arms against this price hike.

They say that this unexpected increase is going to severely hit their production capacity, especially as the prices have gone up by over 25 per cent since the beginning of the year.

They rue that millions of steel-based micro, small and medium enterprises will be forced to shed jobs and many units will be forced to shut shop.

It is alleged that the main steel producers are arbitrarily increasing the steel prices, even as the government chooses to watch as a mute spectator.

The micro and small steel-based units are likely to suffer huge losses as they have booked advance orders for three to six months, based on the steel price at the time of taking the order.

This, even as the main steel producers like Steel Authority of India and RINL are making over 30 per cent of profits.

Talking to TNS here today, A.L. Aggarwal, president of Chandigarh Industrial Fasteners Association, said last month the government had intervened and asked the main steel producers to roll back the price hike by Rs 900 per metric tonne.

“The steel producers did roll back the prices, but have again initiated a drastic hike in prices. Even the Budget failed to do much for the steel industry, and only the customs duty on scrap was abolished,” he says.

The main steel producers say that the rising prices are a result of a global increase in steel prices and due to huge gap in demand and supply.

They say that while the annual demand for steel is increasing by 13 per cent, the growth in production is just 7 per cent.

However, the small steel-based industry says that in spite of the shortfall in supply, the government is promoting steel exports.

“With a surge in steel exports, the gap in demand and supply is only increasing, leading to a shortage for the domestic market. The government should stop giving incentives to steel producers who export iron ore and sponge iron and instead levy an export surcharge,” says Darshan Singh, managing director of Mandi Gobindgarh-based Luxmi Steels.

While demanding that the government initiate steps to save the micro, small and medium steel industry, Pradeep Aggarwal, managing director of Shivalik Steels, says that this hike had already hit the cycle industry hard, and is now hitting the fastener industry.

“Immediate remedial steps like reduction in import duty of steel and central excise duty have to be taken. The government will also have to effectively end the monopolistic trend of the large steel manufacturers, for price fixation,” he adds.

New Delhi, March 7
The wholesale price-based inflation rate breached the 5 per cent-mark for the first time in 10 months, mainly driven by higher prices of food items like fruits, vegetables, milk and cereals along with some manufactured goods.

Wholesale price index rose to 5.02 per cent for the week ended February 23, higher than the previous week’s rise of 4.89 per cent, as per the government data issued on Friday.

It was at 6.02 per cent a year ago, according to the Wholesale Price Index data released on Friday.

The is the first time in the last 10 months that inflation has breached the RBI’s tolerance level of 5 per cent, vindicating the cautious approach adopted by the RBI in its quarterly monetary review in January

Finance minister P. Chidambaram, too, during his interaction with the chambers, had said: "One of the reasons why inflation is still a threat is food prices in India."

The endeavour of the government would be to maintain a growth of 9 per cent and inflation rate at 4 per cent, he had said.

Also, to keep inflation under check, Chidambaram had asked the industry to hold the price line by becoming more competitive and not resort to short-term gains by taking advantage of demand-supply mismatches.

New Delhi, March 7
Armed with new aircraft, great facilities on board and an integration with the Star Alliance, an interline commercial pact among 19 global carriers, national carrier Air India hopes to provide the best to its passengers by March next year.

According to airline officials, the members of the Star Alliance team have been regularly visiting and in dialogue with the airline since its formal entry into the alliance was okayed in December last year.

According to the officials, among the various benefits for the carrier in integrating with the Star Alliance would be partnerships with some of the member carriers for marketing, sourcing of spares and long-term contracts for fuel.

Apart from this, Air India’s Flying Returns Scheme would also be integrated with frequent flier programmes of other member airlines and the airline customers would be able to redeem them on the other member airlines.

The pact will also entail the sharing of airport lounges and synchronisation of flight schedules, which will permit seamless travel on a single air ticket, even if it requires flying several carriers on a single journey.

Air India CMD V. Thulasidas had said earlier that the invitation to join Star Alliance had come at the right time when Indian Airlines was being merged into it and they had a fleet expansion plan of 100 aircraft.

With 19 members led by Lufthansa, Star Alliance has as its rivals OneWorld, led by American Airlines and British Airways, and SkyTeam, led by Air France-KLM and Delta Airlines.

The Star Alliance membership moved up to 19 following the entry of Air China and Shanghai Airlines in December 2007. The members of the alliance now operate some 17,000 flights daily to 897 destinations in 160 countries.

The alliance members also boast combined revenues of $122 billion, ferrying 455 million passengers annually, a fleet of 3,087 aircraft and access to more than 740 lounges for their customers.

Today's transaction, however, does not include Standard Chartered's mutual fund distribution business which it would continue to pursue. — PTI

New Delhi, March 7
The central government has raised the minimum export price (MEP) of basmati and non-basmati rice with immediate effect.

Trade sources say the MEP has been increased as this year the production of rice is likely to be less and the price of the food grain may rise.

The ministry of commerce and industry, vide a notification dated March 5, clarified that the export of Basmati rice would only be permitted only if the MEP on FOB is $ 900 per tonne or Rs 36,000 per tonne.

The MEP (on FOB basis) for export of non-basmati rice has been raised to $ 650 per tonne or Rs 26,000 per tonne.

It may be recalled that earlier export of basmati rice was free and there was no restriction of MEP. Export of non-basmati rice was allowed only if the MEP, on FOB basis, was above $ 500 per tonne or Rs 20,000 per tonne.

The directorate-general of foreign trade added that no export of rice would be permitted through any other port or through rail or road, except quantities allowed earlier vide different exemptions and relaxations.

Moreover, the export would be restricted through four ports -Kandla, Kakinada, Kolkata, JNPT and Mumbai.

However, this restriction does not apply to export of rice allowed under various exemptions and relaxations like export under food-aid programme.

New Delhi, March 7
The country’s largest car manufacturer Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MSIL) would achieve its capacity enhancement target at its newest Manesar plant by the end of this fiscal year.

Company officials here said while the plant was already working at about 120 per cent of the present capacity of one lakh unit level, it is expected to achieve the production target of 1.7 lakh units by the end of this fiscal.

The expansion is a part of the Rs 9,000-crore investment plan drawn up by Suzuki Motor Corporation (SMC) and MSIL up to 2010.

“Normally, it takes months to stabilise production processes and achieve full capacity levels. MSIL’s Manesar plant attained its full capacity of 100,000 units within a few weeks of its formal launch in February 2007,” officials said.

The Manesar plant presently rolls out company’s premium models Swift (in diesel and petrol variants) and SX4 sedan.

Despite operating the plant at its peak capacity, there is a waiting list for Swift, ranging from two to three weeks to even a month in some places. With the enhanced capacity, waiting period is expected to come down.

It will also give company much needed flexibility to accommodate production of Swift DZire, to be launched later this month and expected to be a major success in the sedan segment.

Chandigarh, March 7
Having captured the largest pie in the home loan segment in urban areas, HDFC is now eyeing the as yet unexplored rural home loan market.

The company will be rolling outs its rural initiatives for Punjab, Gujarat and Karnataka in the coming fiscal.

Talking to The Tribune here today, Renu Sud Karnad, joint managing director, HDFC, said they would first launch the plan in Gujarat.

“We have written to the Punjab government, requesting them to register us as an agency for mortgage of agricultural property, following which we can start giving home loans for rural areas,” she said.

Karnad was in town to participate in the three-day HDFC property show that
began today.

She added that though they had planned for starting their rural loan business in Punjab last year and set a target of Rs 200 crore, the scheme could not be rolled out as amendments were required under the Agriculture Act.

“Considering the high income levels in Punjab, we are hoping that within five years we will be able to finance at least 30 per cent of home loans,” she said.

Karnad said as of now they were in the process of getting a team of revenue officials in place to start the service.

“Income pattern in rural areas is different as it is based on the cropping pattern. We are in the process of devising special home loan products for this segment, based on the seasonal cash flow,” she said.

New Delhi, March 7
Under attack for a tie-up with UK’s Virgin Mobile for its telecom operations, Tata Teleservices today said the deal was absolutely transparent and within the laws of the country.

"The tie-up for virgin mobile services is above board and completely in compliance with the laws and regulations of the country," Anil Sardana, managing director, Tata Teleservices (TTSL), told reporters here.

Sardana also admitted that the company had received a communication from the Department of Telecom (DoT), seeking clarifications about the contours of the deal and TTSL had sent its reply on March 5

Although he did not divulge the commercial details of the deal with Virgin, he said there was absolutely no scope of Virgin entering the country as a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO).

The GSM operators lobby COAI had sought DoT’s intervention to seek clarifications on Virgin Group’s entry into the Indian mobile segment.

The COAI had alleged that the tie-up was nothing but entry of Virgin as MVNO, which was not allowed as per the country’s existing license terms and conditions.
— PTI

New Delhi, March 7
CDMA player Tata Teleservices will divest up to 49 per cent stake in its tower subsidiary Wireless Tata Telecom Infrastructure Limited in the next two months.

"We will sell 26-49 per cent stake in our tower company to a strategic investor. We have already started negotiations regarding this and the deal is likely to be completed by the end of May," Tata Teleservices (TTSL) managing director Anil Sardana told reporters.

He said the company has shortlisted 15 strategic investors for selling the stake. The players include Quippo, GTL and others.

Asked about the valuation of the tower arm, he did not give any figure, but said if not better, the valuation would be similar to their competitors because of the quality of the towers. TTSL has over 10,000 towers, while Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) has 3,500 towers.

On the listing of TTSL's tower subsidiary, Sardana said it would be decided after the strategic stake sale.

"We will also add 3,000 towers every year for the next five years," he added.

The company, which has recently got approval for offering GSM services, would continue to focus on CDMA segment for providing data services.

"CDMA is a very good technology for providing data services, we will continue to focus on it," he said. — PTI