The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	Food inflation slips, but not prices New Delhi, January 21 Food inflation fell to 16.81 per cent during the week ended January 9, even as prices of a host of essential items like pulses, potatoes and cereals continued to rule high, prompting the government to announce supply augmenting measures for the poor. Although the rate of food price rise declined for the third week in a row, it still stood at an elevated level compared to last year’s 11.59 per cent. Food inflation stood at 17.28 per cent a week ago. Prices of potatoes rose by close to 50 per cent year-on-year while pulses became costlier by 47.90 per cent. Cereal prices were up 14.18 per cent, with wheat rising nearly 15 per cent and rice 12.64 per cent. To shield the poor from price rise, the government has decided to give 10 kg rice and wheat more to poor families for this month and February at ration shops. Milk prices soared by 13.95 per cent over last year and are expected to surge further on lower availability. “We are facing insufficient availability of milk, especially in northern India,” Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar had said yesterday. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will meet states over the issue of surging food prices on January 27. Economists said rising food prices would force the RBI to tighten money supply, but it would not lead to rise in lending rates as there is excess liquidity in the system. “The RBI could withdraw excess liquidity from the system. It may not move the policy rates, but may raise CRR to signal that stern measures could be taken if the prices do not come down,” said Suresh Tendulkar, former chairman of the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council. The Reserve Bank is scheduled to come out with its monetary review by January 29. Rise in fruit prices was moderate at 3.73 per cent. Onion prices rose by over 15 per cent while vegetable prices were up 7.95 per cent. Even though some economists see food inflation softening in the weeks ahead to soothe the overall inflation, chief statistician Pronab Sen expects wholesale price-based inflation to rise to 9 per cent by March-end from over 7 per cent in December. “The easing (of food inflation), I expect to continue. There would be impact on other prices also and the general inflation level,” Tendulkar said. Inflation will touch 9 per cent by this fiscal-end, Sen said. Among other categories, mineral prices fell by 5.18 per cent during the week ended January 9, LPG by 7.14 per cent and petrol by 2.18 per cent. — PTI
	‘No plan to divest stake in SCI, DCI’ Mumbai, January 21 The government has no plans to divest stakes in maritime major Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) and port dredging firm Dredging Corp of India (DCI), a senior official said today. "As of now, there is no immediate proposal that we are working on. We will have to look at the corporations' own needs and the government's fiscal requirement. They (SCI and DCI) will manage on their own," Shipping Secretary K Mohandas told reporters here. In July last year, the Shipping Ministry had announced plans to offload stake in many public sector units, including SCI and DCI. The government holds over 80 per cent stake in SCI and 78.56 per cent in DCI. "We feel this is the time for Shipping Corporation to acquire more vessels and expand fleet, because there is some advantage in the current market conditions for acquisition of vessels," Mohandas said. He added India was weak in the area of dredging of ports and DCI needed to enhance its capacity by collaborating with international companies. "Dredging capacity in India as of now is not adequate so both DCI and the private Indian dregding industry has to definitely grow more. We have to create more terminals to increase dredging capacity," Mohandas said. He said DCI plans to place orders for three new dredgers before the end of this fiscal. "We would also like to build dredger-building capacity in the country. Cochin Shipyard has a proposal to tie up with one of the major dredger-builders in the world. It is still being discussed," Mohandas said. The secretary said cargo traffic handled at India's 12 major ports had jumped 10 per cent in November-December 2008, against the same period previous fiscal. — PTI
	Sops to big rice shellers irk small millers Ruchika M. Khanna Tribune News Service Chandigarh, January 21 Rice millers in Punjab are up in arms against the Punjab government for promoting the setting up of rice shellers under its mega industrial projects policy. With the mega units getting a plethora of concessions from the state government, the smaller units say that these are facing the risk of being wiped out of business. Punjab has about 3500 rice shellers, with most of the units being in the small and medium category. It was only last year that the state government approved two rice shellers as mega units- one in Sangrur and other in Fatehgarh Sahib. But a bumper basmati produce in the state this year is now attracting other rice shellers to come to Punjab and set up new units under the mega industrial projects policy. Recently, approvals had been granted to three other companies for setting up rice shellers under the mega project policy, and another three units are awaiting approval from the Empowered Committee for mega projects. The small units, however, claim that the profit margin in their business is just 3 to 4 per cent. However, the units that are now being approved under the mega unit policy (with an investment of Rs 100 crore or Rs 25 crore in case the unit is located in the border area) get a complete waiver of market fee (2 per cent), rural development fund (2 per cent) and Punjab Infrastructure Development Fund (3 per cent). “Since these mega units get a total waiver of 7 per cent as incentive, they can drive the market by lowering their prices. The smaller units, which already work on small margins, will therefore be driven out of business,” rued Ashok Sethi, executive director, Punjab Rice Millers Association, adding that if the taxes were not uniform, the small units would be forced to close shops. Rajeev Setia, executive director of Amritsar-based Chaman Lal Setia Exports, said the old Industrial Policy of 2003 had put the rice industry on the negative list and rice shellers were not given the concessions being given under the mega projects policy. “However, this was later ignored and the shellers were granted all kinds of concessions. Thus the existing rice industry has a big disadvantage in lieu of the exemptions granted by the Punjab government and also lower the rate of taxation in the other states,” he said.
	J&K’s power policy in the offing Tribune News Service Jammu, January 21 Highlighting the importance of hydro energy in the state’s socio-economic prosperity, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said a comprehensive power development policy was being formulated to put in place three-track hydro power generation strategy and rope in investors in the field. “We have to take faster steps to make the good of the available water resources and fill the gap between the demand and generation in the power sector”, he said, adding that Jammu and Kashmir with the highest hydro energy potential should not lag behind in meeting the electricity requirements. Addressing the Himalayan Power Producers Association (HPPA) here, the Chief Minister said his government had termed the power sector as one of the most focused areas to catapult hydro energy generation from present short fall situation to the self-reliance status. Omar said the draft power policy would be placed on the internet for public domain to receive suggestions, comments and views from experts and general public to make the document comprehensive, holistic and befitting.
	Nod to Alstom’s proposal New Delhi, January 21 The government today approved French power equipment maker Alstom's proposal to invest Rs 490 crore and form joint ventures with Bharat Forge for setting up manufacturing facility here. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) today gave approval to the proposal of Alstom to establish two joint venture companies with Bharat Forge for manufacturing supercritical and sub-critical power equipment in India, a statement said. The approval will result in foreign direct investment of 70.5 million euro (Rs 490 crore approximately) in the country. Alstom Power Holdings of France, Alstom Technology of Switzerland and Alstom France had proposed to establish JV companies in India for manufacturing power equipment. — PTI
	Corporate Results BHEL logs 35 pc net growth Mumbai, January 21 BHEL today reported a growth of 35.67 per cent in its net profit at Rs 1,072.5 crore for third quarter ended December 31, 2009, over the same period last year. The company's total income rose to Rs 7,422.5 crore for the December quarter, against Rs 6,328.5 crore in the same period the previous fiscal, BHEL said. The company also had an outstanding order book position of about Rs 1,34,000 crore, at the end of third quarter. L&T Larsen and Toubro today said its net profit declined by 50 per cent to Rs 758.8 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2009, over the same period last year. The total income fell to Rs 8,355.7 crore for the quarter ended December 31, against Rs 8,924.3 crore in the same quarter previous fiscal, Larsen & Toubro said. ONGC ONGC today reported a 23.4 per cent jump in the net profit to Rs 3,053.58 crore in the third quarter ended December 31, 2009. The net profit in the October-December quarter at Rs 3,053.58 crore was 23.38 per cent more than Rs 2,474.81 crore in the same period a year ago, ONGC said in a statement. The profit surge was mainly because it realised higher price for oil it produces and paid less fuel subsidy. ICICI Bank ICICI Bank today reported a 26.36 per cent drop in consolidated net profit at Rs 1,148.66 crore for the third quarter (Q3) ended December 31, 2009. The total income declined to Rs 14,176.84 crore during the October-December quarter, from Rs 16,922.73 crore in the year- ago period, ICICI Bank said. On a standalone basis, ICICI Bank posted a 13.45 per cent fall in the net profit at Rs 1,101.06 crore in the third quarter. The total income decreased to Rs 7,762.71 crore during the three-month period, from Rs 10,350.62 crore in the year- ago period. Biocon Biocon today said its consolidated net profit witnessed nearly three-fold jump at Rs 80.8 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2009, over the same period previous fiscal. The total income rose to Rs 641.5 crore for the quarter ended December, against Rs 452.4 crore in the same period last year, Biocon said. On the standalone basis, the company has posted a net profit of Rs 65 crore for the December quarter, a two-fold jump over the year-ago period. Kotak Mahindra Bank Kotak Mahindra Bank doubled its standalone profit after tax (PAT) to Rs 142 crore in the third quarter of FY'10. It stood at Rs 71 crore in the year-ago period. For the nine months ended December, 2009, PAT (standalone) rose 107 per cent to Rs 358.6 crore from the year-ago period. Network 18 Network 18 Media & Investments today posted a consolidated net loss of Rs 54.51 crore for the third quarter ended December 31. The company had a net loss of Rs 87.26 crore for the same period previous fiscal. Revenue of the company stood at Rs 370.11 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, while the same was Rs 222.75 crore for the same period corresponding fiscal, Network 18 Media & Investments said. Shree Cement Shree Cement today reported a 35 per cent rise in the net profit at Rs 167 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2009, on the back of higher sales. It had posted a net profit of Rs 124 crore in the same quarter last fiscal.The total sales during the quarter increased by 30 per cent to Rs 866 crore against Rs 664 crore in the same period a year ago. On the outlook, he said a better show is expected in the last quarter of the current fiscal, with about 15 per cent growth in sales over the third quarter. Idea Cellular Idea Cellular today said its consolidated net profit stood at Rs 170 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2009. The company had a net profit of Rs 219 crore in the quarter ended December, 2008, Idea Cellular said. On standalone basis, the company posted a net profit of Rs 218 crore for the October-December quarter. It had a net profit of Rs 284 crore in the same quarter corresponding fiscal. — PTI