The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	Core industries register sluggish growth at 3.7 pc New Delhi, September 29 Key infrastructure industries registered a sluggish growth of 3.7 per cent in August, leading to apprehensions that it may pull down the country's overall industrial output for the month. The growth rate was 6.4 per cent in August 2009. The six core industries -- crude oil, petroleum refinery products, coal, electricity, cement and finished steel -- had registered 4 per cent growth in July this year. The expansion of the infrastructure industries has an impact on industrial growth, as they contribute over one- fourth (26.7 pr cent) to the Index of Industrial Production (IIP). The IIP data for August would be released next month. The IIP in July was 13.8 per cent. The growth of these six industries in August is far less than the 5 per cent and 5.4 per cent growth rate achieved in May and April, respectively. This translates into an average growth of 4.1 per cent for the first five months of this fiscal, as against 4.8 per cent during April-August 2009-10, showed the data released by the Commerce and Industry Ministry. "This is not a good sign for a sustainable growth. The lower (core sector data) numbers would pull down the IIP of August,"Crisil Principal Economist D K Joshi said. He said the slow growth in cement, coal and electricity was reflecting sluggish construction activities. August's petroleum refinery production contracted by 2.3 per cent, against positive growth of 3 per in year-ago month. The crude oil output growth was 15 per cent while it had contracted by 2.5 per cent in August 2009. Production of both coal and electricity slowed to mere one per cent each, as against robust growth of 13.3 per cent and 10.2 per cent in August 2009, respectively. Similarly, cement production too slowed to 1.6 per cent from 17.5 per cent in the year ago period. However, finished steel output grew by 7.7 per cent in August this year. It was 0.3 per cent in the same month last year. During the April-August period, crude oil, petroleum refinery products and cement production registered a growth of 6.5 per cent, 5.3 per cent and 4.6 per cent, respectively. Growth in refinery products had contracted in the same period last year by 4.9 per cent. As per the data, growth in coal output during the first five months of the fiscal slowed to 0.9 per cent from 12.6 per cent in the year-ago period. Similarly, growth in electricity generation slowed to 4.4 per cent from 6.2 per cent in April- August 2009-10. However, finished steel output growth was higher at 3.5 per cent in April-August 2010-11, as against 1.9 per cent in the corresponding period last year. — PTI
	Merkel eyes FTA with India Tribune News Service New Delhi, September 29 The CII CEOs’ delegation was in Berlin to participate in Confederation of German Industry’s (BDIs) Annual Meeting. This was the first time in the history of BDI that a foreign delegation had been invited to participate in its Annual Meeting, signifying the strong relationship between CII and BDI. The conference was addressed by Dr Angela Merkel, German Chancellor. Dr Merkel highlighted the strong Indo-German relationship and said she was looking forward to the FTA between India and Germany as it will take the relationship between the two countries to even higher levels of cooperation. She further added that 2011 will be the 60th year of Diplomatic relations between India and Germany and that Germany was going to celebrate it with a year long festivities to be organized in India. Dr Merkel spoke about the contribution made by BDI and CII in enhancing the business between the two countries and hoped that business will prosper and grow further. The BDI conference had a special focus on two important areas of similarities between Indian and German Industry- A large number of SMEs and pre-dominance of family-run business. Earlier in his address as the guest of honour, Hari Bhartia, president, CII, shared with the leaders of German industry, CIIs agenda for inclusive growth, highlighting the importance of skill development. Manufacturing and technology were the key areas for cooperation between India and Germany in all areas, including energy and climate change.
	Chandigarh zone’s excise collection falls 54 pc Anuja Jaiswal Tribune News Service Chandigarh, September 29 Reflecting a marked recovery in industrial activity in post-recession period, the excise duty collection in the northern region have shown an encouraging rising trend with an increase of 27 per cent in the first four months of the current fiscal. The excise collection of the period have shot up to Rs 181.88 crore as compared to Rs 142.24 crore in the corresponding period of 2009-10. Talking to The Tribune, PK Sirohi, Chief Commissioner for Customs, Central Excise and Service Tax, Chandigarh, said the positive trends of rising collection have been witnessed "across the board" in zones of Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir. However, Chandigarh (I) zone comprising UT and Mandi Gobindgarh defied this rising trend by registering fall of 54 per cent in excise duty collection, declining from Rs 61.30 crore in the last fiscal to Rs 27.89 crore for the current financial year. He attributed this rise to the deduction in excise duty, which was part of the Centre’s stimulus package for industrial growth. The collection in Punjab zone-comprising Ludhiana is 1,681 per cent (from Rs 2.07 crore to Rs 36.88 crore) followed by Chandigarh (II) zone is 83 per cent increase (from Rs 40.61 to Rs 74.42) and 11 per cent growth in Jammu and Kashmir (from Rs 38.26 to Rs 42.69 crore). The upwardly swing in the excise collection in the region has been in tune with the national trend. On all India basis, the excise collection has gone up by 55 per cent to Rs 19,563 crore in the first quarter (April to June) of this fiscal. Sirohi said while the excise duties had risen, there had been 11 per cent dip in the custom and service tax collection in the region. As per figures, custom collections in North region zone went down to Rs 178.84 crore as on July 2010 against Rs 200.01 crore in the same period previous fiscal. Similarly, service tax collection has gone down from Rs 209.17 (April to July 2009) to Rs 185.22 crore ( up to July 2010). The Central Excise department has set a target of Rs 820 crore for collection from Excise. The target for Service Tax and Custom collection from the region has been Rs 475 crore and Rs 700 crore, respectively.
	Punjab, Haryana target IT biggies Ruchika M. Khanna Tribune News Service Chandigarh, September 29 Punjab and Haryana are not only attracting big IT companies to set up their base. The two states are also the new battleground for these IT companies for bagging orders to roll out various national e-governance initiatives. The eRevolution conclave that kicked off here today brought to the fore how the two states were now attracting various IT firms to start the state and district data centres, roll out state portals and initiate other national e-governance projects like Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS). The big IT companies are not just eyeing major business from the two states for project implementation, but also for run rate business (supplying of hardware or software for various state government projects). Business representatives from various top IT companies who converged at the IT conclave here said that the two states, as well as the union territory Chandigarh, were making good progress in the implementation of state data centre and the state portals. Both the states have already implemented State Wide Area Network (SWAN), to create core common infrastructure to provide connectivity, set up State Data Centres for reliable and secured data and Common Services Centres for delivery of services. While Haryana has already initiated the implementation of the State Data Centre at the New Secretariat building in Chandigarh, Punjab too is in the process of starting work for its State Data Centre. Officials in Punjab informed TNS that the Request for Proposal (RFP) to set up the state data centre will be floated in October. Once the RFP is accepted, the state will start work on this centre. Price Waterhouse Coopers has bagged the project in Haryana and Wipro is doing the consultancy work for Punjab to set up these centres. Both states are also in the process of setting up the state portals, which will then allow them to roll out the State Service Delivery Gateway. With this, it will be possible for citizens across the country to submit applications, check their status as well make payments online for availing various government to citizen services like property registration, payment of commercial taxes and several municipality services among others. Though none of the company officials are willing to be quoted, but the fact remains that the government business has become very significant for the top line of these IT companies, in a downturn hit market. With the growth in the IT sector coming down to just about five per cent, most of these companies are banking on the government business - which now contributes to almost 15-20 per cent of business for top IT companies like Wipro.
	SBI extends teaser home loan scheme New Delhi, September 29 Country's largest lender State Bank of India today said it will extend its 8 per cent concessional home loan scheme, popularly called teaser rates, by another 3 months till December. "We will extend it(concessional home loan scheme) till December," SBI Chairman O P Bhatt told reporters on the sidelines of an event to launch Para Military Salary Package here. The popular home loan and car loan schemes by SBI was due to expire on September 30. Bhatt's comments came close on the heels of HDFC relaunching its teaser rates and its chairman Deepak Parekh's announcement that the schemes were going to stay permanently. For the first year, SBI home loan is offered at 8 per cent interest rate and at 9 per cent for the second and the third year. From the fourth year onwards, home loans up to Rs 50 lakh attract 9.25 per cent interest while higher loans carry 9.75 per cent interest rate. At present, the scheme carries 10 per cent interest rate from the fourth year onwards. Car loan is also available at 10 per cent concessional rate. — PTI
	Satyam loss Rs 8,176 cr Tribune News Service Hyderabad, September 29 Nearly 20 months after being hit by the worst corporate scam, Mahindra Satyam, earlier known as Satyam Computers, today unveiled the restated accounts for the financial years 2009 and 2010, showing net loss of Rs 8,176 crore and Rs 124 crore respectively. It was a day of reckoning for the company as its board met here to take stock of its efforts to clear the mess, created by Satyam Computers founder-chairman B Ramalinga Raju, and consider the financial results. For the year ended March 31, 2010, the company reported a net loss of Rs 124.60 crore on net sales of Rs 5,481 crore. For the year ended March 2009, the restated earnings show a net loss at Rs 8,176.8 crore on net sales of Rs 8,812.6 crore. This was due to enormous fraud committed by the previous management. The total impact of the fraud on the company’s profit and loss was put at Rs 6,800 crore. “It was a challenging task for us. We are well on the way to recovery. The process of restructuring the company will take about two years to complete,” the company chairman Vineet Nayyar told a press conference here. It has been a tumultuous yet a rewarding journey for Tech Mahindra which took over the scam-hit Satyam Computers in April last year. “It was like a patient in the ICU when we took over. Now, the patient is recovering and it will take about two years for him to be healthy and running,” Nayyar said. The company CEO CP Gurnani said that they had succeeded not only in weathering a devastating storm but also putting software firm back on tracks. The company now has a cash balance of Rs 2,117 crore, repaid the bank loans, restructured the staff and added 44 new customers since the takeover. Asked about the plans for merger of Tech Mahindra with Satyam, Nayyar said the process would be set in motion after the company announces its Q1 and Q2 results, slated for November 15. “After completing the formalities, the proposal will be put before the boards of the two companies for approval. The entire process will take about two years,” the chairman said. During the process of restating the accounts, several financial irregularities, committed by Ramalinga Raju and his team, had come to light, Nayyar said. Over 7,500 inflated invoices were found. The fictitious revenue reported during Aprril 2002 to September 2008 was Rs. 5,352.8 crore.
	Another blow to Vedanta HC orders closure of copper smelting plant N Ravikumar Tribune News Service Chennai, September 29 The Vedanta group, whose proposal to mine the Niyamgiri Hills in Orissa was rejected by the Union government a month ago, suffered another blow with the Madras High Court ordering the closure of the copper smelting plant, run by the group's flagship company, Sterlite Industries, at Tuticorin in South Tamil Nadu. The court also came down heavily on the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) and the TN Pollution Control Board for giving clearance for the project. A Bench comprising Justice Elipe Dharma Rao and Justice N Paul Vasantha Kumar, said the authorities had not applied their mind while allowing the company to set up the plant. Passing orders on a batch of petitions filed by MDMK leader Vaiko and the National Trust for Clean Environment yesterday, the court directed the immediate closure of the plant on grounds of polluting the air and water in the area. The Bench said "Courts cannot afford to deal lightly with cases involving pollution of air and water. Those who discharge noxious, polluting effluents into streams, rivers or any other water bodies and into the atmosphere, inflicting harm on public health, should be dealt with strictly". “The materials on record show that the continuing air pollution being caused by the noxious effluents discharged?is having a more devastating effect on the people living in the surroundings. There has been unabated pollution by the respondent company, which should be stopped at least now so as to protect the mother nature from being tarred,” the judges observed. While the company wanted the court to take into consideration a “favourable” report submitted by National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) in 2003, the judges said a subsequent report by NEERI in 2005 was clear that the waste from the company had high concentration of heavy metals, arsenic and fluorides. The Madras High Court had in November 1998, three years after the setting up of the factory, had ordered its closure. However, a month later, considering the “pros and cons” of the matter, the court revoked the order subject to certain conditions, on an experimental basis. The plant was originally proposed to be set up in Gujarat and then in Goa. Owing to local opposition in both states, it was shifted to Ratnagiri in Maharashtra. Again following stiff resistance, Maharashtra revoked the licence, even though the company had started construction and invested about 200 crore. The company employs over 1,050 workers.