New Delhi, December 10
Bharti Airtel today announced a comprehensive telecom infrastructure sharing arrangement with Mukesh Ambani-promoted Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited.

Under the agreement, the two will share infrastructure created by both parties. This will include optic fibre network - inter and intra-city, submarine cable networks, towers and Internet broadband services and other such opportunities identified in the future.

Airtel said, “The cooperation is aimed at avoiding duplication of infrastructure, wherever possible, and to preserve capital and the environment. This will also provide redundancy in order to ensure seamless services to customers of the respective parties”.

The joint statement said: "The arrangement could, in future, be extended to roaming on 2G, 3G and 4G, and any other mutually benefiting areas relating to telecommunication, including but not limited to jointly laying optic fibre or other forms of infrastructure services." The pricing would be at “arm’s length”, based on the prevailing market rates.

As part of this arrangement, Bharti and Reliance Jio have already announced an agreement under which Bharti has provided capacity on its i2i submarine cable to Reliance Jio.

What makes this agreement stand out is that it comes just a few weeks before the spectrum auctions in January where there is expected to be a fierce fight between incumbent telcos, including Bharti and Vodafone, for retaining the precious 900 mhz spectrum in Delhi and Mumbai circles.

This agreement would help both the operators to use the network even if Reliance Jio, which has no spectrum in this band, plays a spoilsport by jumping in the fray.

The announcement could also be interesting as there is the traditional rivalry between the two telecom companies even in 4G.

Reliance is the only company which holds a pan-India 4G licence but is yet to begin services. It has begun testing process but there is still no word on whether it will also offer voice along with high speed data on its 4G network although it has got a go ahead from the government.

New Delhi, December 10
Reflecting the prevailing economic conditions, passenger car sales declined for the second month in a row with an 8.15% drop in November as customers continued to defer purchases amid weak macroeconomic cues in the domestic market.

Automobile industry body, Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), which released sales data for November today, said any turnaround in the automotive market can only be possible after a new government is elected post the general election scheduled next year.

Sugato Sen, deputy director general, SIAM, said, “We are going through a challenging phase. We had anticipated that the sales will decline after a spurt in demand during the festive season. The high demand was unsustainable under the current economic conditions.”

"The current situation is unlikely to change till the time a new government comes. At this stage, this government cannot do anything spectacular to bring about a revival," added Sen.

Domestic passenger car sales in November stood at 1,42,849 units as compared to 1,55,535 units in the same month last year.

He said factors like high fuel prices, high interest rates, tighter lending norms, among other reasons impacted the demand during the month.

Maruti Suzuki India posted 4.22% decline in its domestic sales at 71,649 units as against 74,793 units in the year-ago month.

Hyundai Motor saw its sales declining by 3.66% to 33,427 units as compared to 34,698 units in November last year.

The tapering demand for diesel-powered models took its toll on M&M and Tata Motors. While Tata Motors saw its car sales drop by 41.57% to 7,910 units in November as against 13,538 units last year, Honda Cars India had 150.87% jump in sales to 9,310 units on the back of its compact sedan Amaze, up from 3,711 units in the year-ago month.

Mahindra & Mahindra also saw its domestic sales decline by 30.46% to 16,249 units from 23,369 units in the same month last year. Total sales of commercial vehicles were down by 28.78% to 43,730 units as compared to 61,403 units in the corresponding period last year.

Motorcycle sales grew by 1.44% to 8,80,015 units from 8,67,508 units in the same month previous year.

New Delhi, December 10
Fair trade watchdog Competition Commission has slapped a fine of Rs 1,773.05 crore on Coal India for allegedly abusing dominant position in supply of the dry fuel - its first major penalty on a state-owned company.

Competition Commission of India (CCI) has found that Coal India is operating independently of market forces and enjoys an undisputed dominance in the market for production and supply of non-coking coal in the country.

The ruling has come on complaints filed by Maharashtra State Power Generation Company and Gujarat State Electricity Corporation against Coal India and its three subsidiaries — Mahanadi Coalfields, Western Coalfields and South Eastern Coalfields.

As per press statement, Coal India and its subsidiaries have been found to be "imposing unfair/discriminatory conditions in Fuel Supply Agreements (FSAs) with the power producers for supply of non-coking coal". Such conditions violate fair trade norms.

Apart from issuing a cease and desist order against Coal India and its subsidiaries, CCI has directed modification of FSAs.

Besides, the regulator has asked the company to consult all the stakeholders for making the modifications in the FSAs. — PTI

New Delhi, December 10
Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has emerged as the country's biggest company in terms of annual revenue, followed by Mukesh Ambani-led private sector giant Reliance Industries (RIL) at the second place, as per an annual list of Fortune 500 companies in India.

This year's list of the country's 500 largest corporations, compiled by the global business magazine Fortune's Indian edition, shows there are as many as seven energy companies in the top 10 list.

IOC was the biggest with annual revenue of Rs 4,75,867 crore, followed by Reliance Industries (RIL) with a full-year revenue of Rs 4,09,883 crore.

This is followed by Bharat Petroleum (Rs 2,44,822 crore) at the third place and Hindustan Petroleum (Rs 2,17,771 crore) at fourth.

Besides, there are a total of six state-run companies in the top-10 positions, as against four from the private sector. This year's list shows "while sales growth has slowed, there are signs of recovery in profit. However, interest cost continues to be spoilsport."

"The good news is that the data shows that Indian companies are maturing... They are not letting up their determination to win the battle for talent — salaries and wages have actually grown, despite bad times," the magazine said. — PTI

New Delhi, December 10
The government today fixed the issue price for the sale of PowerGrid Corporation shares at Rs 90 apiece, the upper end of the band, which would fetch about Rs 7,000 crore.

The follow-on public offer (FPO) of the state-run transmission utility last week saw bids for 530 crore shares, or 6.74 times the 78.7 crore shares on offer.

Retail investors and eligible employees will get a discount of Rs 4.50 a share on the issue price, Power Grid said in a filing to the BSE. The price band for the FPO was Rs 85-90 apiece.

The Cabinet approved the FPO last month. The government will get about Rs 1,600 crore from selling 18.51 crore shares, while Power Grid will raise close to Rs 5,400 crore from its offer of 60.18 crore new shares. — PTI

BRIEFLY

NTPC sinks over 11% amid tariff concerns
Mumbai: Shares of NTPC tanked over 11% on Tuesday, eroding Rs 14,223 crore from its market value, amid concerns that the proposed electricity tariff regulation would have a negative impact on the country's largest power producer. The company’s share crashed 11.9% to Rs 135 in intra-day trade and finally ended 11.26% down at Rs 136 on the BSE. At the NSE, it dipped 11.37% to close at Rs 136. — PTI

Sumit Bose is new Union Finance Secretary
New Delhi: Revenue Secretary Sumit Bose, an IAS officer of 1976 batch, will be the new Finance Secretary. Bose, a Madhya Pradesh cadre officer, is the senior most Secretary in the Finance Ministry. Arvind Mayaram (Economic Affairs) and Ratan P Watal (Expenditure) are the other two Secretaries. — PTI

Silver jumps Rs 830 on fresh buying, global cues
New Delhi: Snapping a six-day losing streak, silver prices surged by Rs 830 to Rs 44,300 per kg on Tuesday on buying by industrial units amid a firm global trend. Traders said fresh buying by industrial units and coin makers along with higher global trend mainly led the recovery in silver prices. — PTI

Bajaj Electricals to tap rural market
Chandigarh: Bajaj Electricals Ltd will tap the rural market to increase its sales in the current financial year, said PS Tandon, executive director, consumer business, here on Tuesday. He said the Chandigarh region (comprising the states of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and J&K) had achieved sales of Rs 105 crore till November this year and they expect the sales to touch Rs 180 crore in FY’14. He said the company would also open 7-8 ‘Bajaj World’ outlets in the region. — TNS