New Delhi, March 4
Virtually ruling out rollback of 3 per cent hike in excise duty on sports utility vehicles (SUVs), Finance Minister P Chidambaram today assured India Inc that a clutch of decisions, mainly on indirect taxes, would be announced during the course of debate on budget and Finance Bill in Parliament.

He said several steps to boost FII inflows would also be announced during the debate.

In his post-Budget meeting with the industry, Chidambaram justified the increase in excise duty on SUVs from 27 per cent to 30 per cent. He said since diesel was subsidised by the government, this was a form of compensation.

The Finance Minister said the auto sector needed some help observing that high interest rates were impacting auto sales. He also expressed the confidence that the RBI would reduce interest rates.

"We will re-look at all suggestions on indirect taxes and announcements will be made in Parliament. I have all of March to look into all suggestions. We will take decisions and announce them when I reply to the debate in Parliament by the end of March," he said.

The Finance Minister said some measures to address concerns of the FIIs would be announced as it was important to get copious flows given the current account deficit. He said he would visit Japan, the USA and Canada to address foreign investors.

Merely because something was not announced or touched upon did not mean that those areas would be ignored, he said.

"Budget making is a continuous process. When I reply to the debate on the Budget, there will be some more announcements and when we reply to the Finance Bill, there will be more announcements. A number of decisions which are in the making, or are in the process of being taken, will be announced in Parliament," he said.

In her comments, FICCI president Naina Lal Kidwai hoped that the proposed Tax Administration Reforms Commission would help address the ineffective dispute resolution mechanism and release nearly Rs 2 lakh crore locked up in adjudication and Rs 43,000 crore held up in IT refunds.

Kidwai said the threshold for availing investment allowance should be brought down to Rs 10 crore from Rs 100 crore to encourage investments by SMEs.

New Delhi, March 4
The RBI today said financial inclusion plan would be an important criteria for getting new bank licences in the private sector. The RBI came out with new bank licence guidelines last month wherein it said the important criterion for processing application would be business model of the applicants and it should provide for financial inclusion.

RBI Governor D Subbarao with OECD Deputy Secretary General Richard Boucher at the India-OECD-World Bank Regional conference on Financial Education in New Delhi on Monday. — PTI

"We have also said new banks are required to establish at least 25 per cent of their branches in places with less than 10,000 population...

"I hope the new bank applicants interested in financial inclusion will come up with innovative and imaginative ideas," RBI Governor D Subbarao said at an event here.

As per the guidelines, the interested entities would have to send in their applications by July 1, 2013.

As per the new norms, the RBI has prescribed private corporates and public sector entities with 10 years’ experience to be eligible to apply for new licence.

The initial paid-up capital for new banks has been set at Rs 500 crore.

Subbarao said: "An important part of the mandate of central banks is financial stability and an essential pre-requisite for financial stability is financial literacy and the central bank has a unique leverage in providing financial literacy".

Listing the various challenges for financial inclusion, Subbarao said a liberalised Know Your Customer (KYC) norm and having the Unique Identity Number would help simplify the process.

He said banks still see financial inclusion as an obligation and not as business opportunity and hence the reach of inclusion was less.

He asked the banks to take up financial inclusion as a business opportunity to help poor come under the banking operation. — PTI 

Mumbai, March 4
Telecom major Bharti Airtel today hit the overseas bond market to raise a minimum of $500 million, said merchant banking sources who are advising on the sale.

"The bond sale programme, which is going to be a benchmark size, is carried out by the company's foreign arm - Bharti Airtel International Netherlands. The company has given an initial pricing guidance of 5.5 per cent. The final coupon and size will be fixed later,” a merchant banker working on the issue said.

Last Monday, Bharti had launched roadshows in Asia, Europe and the US and had picked seven foreign banks for this unsecured senior bond issue, or RegS bonds, which can be issued to non-US residents and qualified institutional buyers with lesser protection clauses.

Barclays, BNP Paribas, Citi, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, StanChart and UBS are the arrangers for the investor meet.

Bharti Airtel carried a BBB- rating from Fitch, BB+ from S&P.

A benchmark-sized bond means raising at least $500 million and benchmark bonds are those which provide a standard against which the performance of other bonds can be measured.

On February 1, Bharti Enterprises Group, (holding company of Bharti Airtel) Chief Financial Officer Sarvjit Dhillon had said the company was planning to raise up to $1 billion before the end of the fiscal.— PTI

New Delhi, March 4
Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal is learnt to have approved the recommendation of a DoT committee to impose Rs 50 crore penalty each on seven licences of Bharti Airtel that entered into 3G roaming agreements with other operators to offer services beyond permitted zones.

Sources said the committee held that the "breach" of 3G provisions by seven licences of Bharti Airtel does not attract maximum penalty which is termination of the licences but recommended "imposition of maximum financial penalty permitted under licence conditions i.e. Rs 50 crore against each licence".

The minister approved the recommendation on February 27, the sources said.

Airtel won 3G spectrum in 13 out of 22 telecom circles in 2010 through auction and entered into a quid pro quo agreement with other players who won the spectrum in other service areas where it did not have spectrum to offer 3G services.

DoT has held that it is illegal to offer third-generation or 3G data services beyond a company's licensed zone or circle. On December 23, 2011, the DoT had issued a letter instructing various telecom service providers, including Bharti Airtel, to immediately stop providing the intra-circle roaming service in all service areas.

The operators, however, had moved the tribunal (TDSAT) challenging the DoT order, saying it would harm customers and investment in the sector. — PTI

New Delhi, March 4
Failure to pay excise duty and service tax could lead to arrest of defaulters, as per the provisions proposed in the Finance Bill 2013 introduced by Finance Minister P Chidambaram in the Lok Sabha.

As per the provisions, offences relating to excise and customs duty evasion of over Rs 50 lakh would be made cognisable and non-bailable.

Similarly, in case of service tax, the failure to deposit the tax amount exceeding Rs 50 lakh with the government would result in imprisonment up to seven years.

The Finance Bill has proposed to introduce Section 91 to provide for power to arrest a person for specified offences, particularly non-payment of collected service tax, by an officer not below the rank of Superintendent of Central Excise.

It has also proposed to make at least four offences non-bailable under Section 135 of the Customs Act.

This would include import or export of any goods which have not been declared in accordance with the provisions of this Act and the market price of which exceeds Rs 1 crore. — PTI

New Delhi, March 4
Infrastructure major GMR Group today said it will divest its 70 per cent stake in GMR Energy (Singapore) Pte (GMRE) to FPM Power for SGD 660 million (Rs 2,907 crore).

"GMR Group has entered into a share purchase agreement today to sell its 70 per cent interest in GMRE to FPM Power Holdings Ltd for a total equity value of SGD 660 million," the company said.

It said the agreement was in line with its "Asset Light, Asset Right strategy" under which it followed the principle of develop, build, create, value and divest.

Of the SGD 660 million, FPM Power will invest SGD 60 million in GMRE as balance equity.

"This divestment of our stake results in a profit of Rs 1,356 crore and releases capital amounting to Rs 1,616 crore," it added.

The transaction is subject to approval from project finance lenders to GMRE, it said, adding, "the sale translates to an enterprise value (100 per cent basis) for GMRE of SGD 1,612 million on project completion by the end of 2013".

GMR Group chairman GM Rao said: "GMRE is a solid testimony of GMR's ability to identify a good opportunity, develop and execute a world class power project of high efficiency in a developed country like Singapore. The project is completely on schedule and within budget." GMRE is a company established for construction, operation and maintenance of a 2X400 natural gas fuelled power plant on Jurong Island, Singapore. — PTI

New Delhi, March 4
US-based iconic cult bike maker Harley-Davidson today said it would start assembling three more models in India that will result in slashing of prices by up to Rs 4.55 lakh, close on the heels of the government increasing customs duty on imported superbikes in the Budget.

The company's Indian arm, Harley Davidson India, will now assemble models Fat Boy, Fat Boy Special and Heritage Softail Classic at its Bawal facility in Haryana.

The Harley-Davidson Fat Boy will now be available at Rs 14.9 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi) as against the previous imported price of Rs 19.45 lakh. Similarly, Fat Boy Special will cost Rs 15.6 Lakh (ex-showroom Delhi) as against the previous imported price of 19.70 lakh.

The Heritage Softail Classic model will be tagged at Rs 16.25 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi) as against Rs 20.45 lakh earlier.

Harley-Davidson India managing director Anoop Prakash said: "Since we entered India in 2009, we have been consistent with our plans to have more local assembly of our products and make them accessible to more enthusiasts and customers across the country." When asked if the company planned to assemble all the models that it sells in India, he said: "It is not possible for a long time to come. Our flagship 'Touring Family' has its own heritage, we want to maintain it and moreover the market for it hasn't developed yet here in India." — PTI

New Delhi, March 4
In a major relief to Reliance Industries, the Defence Ministry has agreed to relax the "No-Go" zones imposed on its producing KG-D6 gas block and discovery block of NEC-25 in the Bay of Bengal and permitted oil and gas activities with certain conditions.

The Ministry of Defence had in all declared 7 blocks, including RIL's Krishna Godavari basin KG-D6 block and gas discovery area of NEC-25 in the North East Coast (NEC) region, "No-Go" zones for reasons like overlapping with proposed Naval base or being close to missile launching and Air Force exercise area.

While the MoD has relented on RIL blocks, five other areas of state-owned ONGC, BG Group of UK and Cairn India will continue to be under "No-Go" areas and no oil and gas activity will be allowed, sources said.

Sources said 30 per cent of the 7,645 square kilometre KG-DWN-98/3 or KG-D6 block in the KG basin overlapped with the Navy's firing and exercise area and was branded a "No-Go" zone by the Ministry of Defence.

The MoD was of the view that any exploration and production activities near its Naval Base would hamper surveillance and detection operations and the noise generated would also compromise the sonar and other radar functionalities. — PTI