New Delhi, January 4
Diesel, kerosene and cooking gas LPG prices may be hiked soon as the government considers Vijay Kelkar committee recommendations on cutting fiscal deficit.

The Kelkar committee, which was appointed by the finance ministry to suggest a roadmap for fiscal consolidation, has suggested immediate hike in fuel prices and complete deregulation of diesel prices by start of fiscal 2014-15. It also suggested raising kerosene and LPG prices.

Though Oil Minister M. Veerappa Moily Minister did not indicate a price hike soon, officials speaking on condition of anonymity said a proposal based on the Kelkar panel’s recommendations will be taken to the cabinet soon and rates will go up if it is approved.

The panel had in September recommended "immediate increase in Petroleum prices. This should be continued in the next year in such a way that the prices of diesel are fully deregulated by the start of 2014-15. The prices of kerosene and LPG also should be revised regularly to keep the subsidy levels at affordable levels."

The price of diesel, which currently costs Rs 47.15 per litre in Delhi, was last revised on September 14 when it was hiked by a steep Rs 5.63 per litre. Kerosene prices have not changed since June 2011 and it currently costs Rs 14.79 per litre in Delhi.

State-owned oil companies currently sell diesel at a loss of Rs 10.16 per litre, kerosene at Rs 32.17 a litre and LPG at Rs 490.50 per 14.2-kg cylinder. Moily said the government was also considering raising the cap on supply of subsidized cooking gas (LPG) cylinders to 9 per household in a year from current limit of six.

The hike in supply of subsidized cylinders would lead to an additional Rs 9,000 crore subsidy payout over and above the Rs 155,313 crore that the government is currently having to deal with on sale of diesel, LPG and kerosene at below market price. Since the finance ministry is unwilling to foot this, the only option left is to raise fuel prices, officials said adding a hike in diesel, kerosene and LPG rates would be taken to the cabinet. — PTI

New Delhi, January 4
Sales of tablet computers in India are expected to at least double this year to 6 million, the market's third year of growth, as new devices attract business users and low costs draw consumers, research firm CyberMedia forecast.

Sales are likely to have reached three million in 2012, up from about 0.5 million in 2011, the firm estimated on Friday, citing data for the quarter to end-September, when companies led by Samsung Electronics Co sold 1.1 million tablets.

With the launch of low-cost devices running on Google Inc's Android platform by local firms, sales of tablets and smartphones have grown rapidly in the last two years. A slew of global makers of tablets have also entered the market. In 2013, new tablets based on Microsoft Corp's Windows 8 platform and companies' adoption of tablets for business applications will change the market significantly again, Faisal Kawoosa, lead analyst at CyberMedia's telecoms practice, said in a statement.

India is the world's second biggest telecommunications market with about 900 million mobile phone accounts. But computer penetration is low, and only about a tenth of its 1.2 billion people have access to Internet.

Samsung had a 23.9% share of tablet computers sold in India in the July-Sept quarter last year, CyberMedia Research said. Local firm Micromax ranked second with 15.3% of the market, while Datawind, the maker of Aakash tablet, billed as the world's cheapest tablet, ranked third, it said in the report.

Apple Inc, the maker of iPad tablet computers, was ranked fifth with an 8.7% share, the data showed. — Reuters

Washington, D.C., Jan 4
In a major victory for Google Inc, US regulators on Thursday ended their investigation into the giant Internet company and concluded that it had not manipulated its Web search results to hurt rivals.

The Federal Trade Commission did, however, win promises from Google that it would end the practice of "scraping" reviews and other data from rivals' websites for its own products, and to allow advertisers to export data to independently evaluate advertising campaigns.

Google also agreed to no longer request sales bans when suing companies which infringe on patents that are essential to ensuring interoperability, also known as standard essential patents, the FTC said on Thursday.

Microsoft Corp and other Google competitors have pressed the FTC to bring a broad antitrust case against Google similar to the sweeping Justice Department litigation against Microsoft in the 1990s.

Meanwhile smaller Internet companies such as Nextag have complained about Google tweaking its Web search results to give prominence to its own products, pushing down competitors' rankings and making them more difficult for customers to find.

At a press conference, FTC chairman Jon Leibowitz anticipated criticism of the agency's decision to not further pursue Google on the so-called subject of search bias.

"Even though people would like us to bring a big search bias case, the facts aren't there. The changes Google have agreed to make ensure consumers continue to reap the benefits of competition in the online marketplace and in the market for innovative wireless devices they enjoy," he said.

RIVALS DISAPPOINTED: Microsoft had no immediate comment, but Dave Heiner, its deputy general counsel, complained in a blog post on Wednesday about "Google's misconduct," specifically blocking a fully featured YouTube, which Google owns, from the Windows Phone. — Reuters

New Delhi, January 4
The Securities and Exchange Board of India rejected Reliance Industries Ltd's request to settle a long-pending dispute over the energy conglomerate's 2007 sale of stock futures in a unit, citing rule changes in late May that took a tougher stance on suspected violations.

SEBI included Reliance Industries and a handful of its units on a list of 149 companies or individuals whose requests to settle market rules violation cases with financial payments had been rejected, a notice issued late Thursday showed. A Reliance spokesman declined to comment on the SEBI announcement.

The dispute with Reliance stems from SEBI's investigation into suspected insider trading when the energy conglomerate sold stock futures of Reliance Petroleum before folding the unit into its operations. Reliance Industries has denied engaging in any insider trading in that transaction.

SEBI amended its procedures for so-called consent applications, or requests for out-of-court settlements, in May 2012, effectively banning the use of monetary payments to resolve suspected cases of market rule violations, including insider trading.

The regulatory changes followed criticism that consent orders were being inappropriately used by those under investigation to avoid potentially more damaging rulings by the regulator on wrongdoing.

Uncertainty had remained, however, over whether consent applications such as Reliance Industries' that were submitted before the rule change would be allowed to go ahead.

Although the possibility of a settlement under the old consent applications has been removed, the regulator's brief statement said only that proceedings would continue in accordance with the law, offering no clues on how much longer the case might drag on.

Reliance shares had edged down 0.4% on the BSE as of 1:25 p.m., compared with a 0.5% gain in the NSE's energy subindex. — Reuters

Chandigarh, January 4
Haryana minister of state for labour & employment Shiv Charan Lal Sharma said Friday the national minimum wage should be linked with price index and revised at an interval of every five years.

Speaking at the 45th session of the standing labour committee in New Delhi, Sharma said a minimum wage was a fundamental right of which no labourer could be deprived. “The Haryana government has ensured minimum wages in all jobs. It also supports fixing the national minimum wage and feels it should be linked with inflation”, he added.

Sharma said if some unscrupulous employer stopped the wage of a labour or violated other related provisions, he should be punished for having done so. The punishment should be in the form of heavy fine, so that employer does not think of violating the provision again.

Sharma suggested a system like smart cards or ‘Aadhaar’ cards be started for various projects in the unorganized sector. “Attention must be paid to minimum wages, social security and training in traditional skills for workers in this sector”, he added.