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Saturday,
May 25, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Reliance, Essar, ONGC to sell petrol
China Airlines opens 2 offices in Punjab
Govt has failed on economic front: Congress
Haryana to cut tax on gold to 1 pc
Gold zooms |
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SBI second VRS soon
Afghanistan assures safety of traders
Sensex surge as war fears recede Bail plea of Ketan Parekh
rejected
Adviser for Maruti issue next
week
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Reliance, Essar, ONGC to sell
petrol New Delhi, May 24 The marketing rights of ONGC and EOL, however, have been conditioned upon the fact that these companies have to provide information on the sourcing of products. RPL, which operates the largest grassroots refinery in Jamnagar in Gujarat, has been granted rights to market diesel and petrol through 5,849 retail outlets (ROs) spread across the country. The proposal of EOL to set up a retail outlet network spanning
across 1700 ROs all across the country has also been approved by the Centre, Petroleum
Minister Ram Naik told newspersons here today. The Petroleum Minister said public sector oil exploration major, ONGC has been authorised to retail selling of petrol and diesel through 6,00 filling stations in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat. NRL, on the other hand, which has its refinery in Numaligarh in Upper Assam, has proposed to set up 510 outlets, mainly in the north-eastern region of the country. The granting of marketing rights follows the deregulation of the oil market in the country on April 1, 2002. The Centre had sought applications from prospective petroleum and refining companies seeking to enter into retail marketing of petroleum products in the country. Before this, only public sector oil companies, such as IOC, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited etc were permitted to sell petro-products in the retail market. “These applications have been examined and were found eligible for granting the authorisation to market transportation fuels as they have already invested Rs 2000 crore in oil sector”, the Minister said. He said that ONGC and EOL have to provide “sufficient information as to how they will source petroleum products before finalising ROs”. The decision to grant marketing rights of transportation fuels to private sector oil companies, is likely to infuse to competition in the arena besides creating a stronger oil marketing infrastructure in the country. Experts were of the opinion that deregulation of oil marketing may
create price differentials in the immediate aftermath as the new entrants will be seeking to corner a portion of the market. However, in the medium term, prices reach comparably similar levels, experts opined. Mr Naik said that presently there are 18,401 retail outlets in the country owned by IOC, HPCL, BPCL, and IBP. The oil marketing PSUs are in the process of setting up about 2900 new ROs, he said.
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IOC to sell ONGC, GAIL stake
New Delhi, May 24 “Since the decision (of cross-holding among the oil PSUs) was taken by the Cabinet in 1999, any changes in the equity holding pattern would have to be referred to the Cabinet again,” senior Petroleum Ministry officials said here. The IOC has approached the ministry for permission to offload its 9.61 per cent holding in the ONGC and 4.8 per cent stake in GAIL, a move that can garner the cash-strapped oil retailing company up to Rs 5,100 crore at current prices. IOC had in 1999, acquired 13.7 crore government shares in ONGC for Rs 2,225.15 crore and 4.08 crore government equity shares in GAIL for Rs 245.04 crore as part of cross-holding scheme formulated by the then Finance Secretary Vijay Kelkar.
PTI
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China Airlines opens 2 offices in Punjab Chandigarh, May 24 In a talk with mediapersons, Mr Yung Chun Li, Country General Manager (India), said, “Punjab is a key market for us and we plan to serve this region through new sales offices. Within the first month of four launches, we have achieved a load factor of 80 per cent with nearly 1000 travellers from Punjab.” China Airlines launched its operations in India on April 2, 2002, and is operating three flights a week from Delhi. China Airlines provides one of the fastest one-stop services from Delhi to the East Coast of America with the minimum stop overtime at the hub-Taipei. The airline provides the shortest possible one-stop service to Vancouver with connectivity time of just 18.50 hours. Furthermore, China Airlines also offers the shortest connectivity services of less than 22 hours to Los Angeles and around 11 hours to Tokyo. China Airlines provides fast connectivity to destinations in Japan, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Thailand and Australia. According to Mr Pukhraj Chugh, Managing Director, Ascent Air, the exclusive General Sales Agent of China Airlines, “Our sales and distribution strategy is customised to suit the needs of both our agents and the traveller. In line with providing our customers with comfort and convenience, we offer the Indian population not only the one-stop service but also fast connectivity to their destinations especially in the case of Vancouver, Los Angeles and Tokyo.”
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Tindas, karelas for Punjabis abroad
Amritsar, May 24 He also said the Chief Minister will flag off the inaugural flight to the UK from Rajasansi Airport on May 28.
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Govt has failed on economic front: Congress New Delhi, May 24 The economic resolution at the AICC session, which was moved by senior party leader Manmohan Singh, said the industrial growth was the lowest in the decade and the export growth stood at zero per cent. Talking of its economic agenda, Congress said that the party will launch a massive food-for-work programme, a national employment guarantee scheme and improve public distribution system. Promising to strengthen the foundation of Indian agriculture, the resolution said the party would focus on accelerating creation of new productive employment opportunities on a sustainable basis. Expressing concern over “mindless privatisation” of the public sector built up over decades with larger socio-economic objectives, it said that privatisation has to be part of a policy aimed at revitalising the public sector. Privatisation of central public enterprises cannot be equated with privatisation of enterprises owned and operated by state governments, it said. On the negotiations mandated by the Doha Ministerial meeting of the WTO, the Congress called upon the government to work in close cooperation to ensure that interests of farmers were protected. On the financial sector, the resolution pointed out that the recent scams have shaken ordinary investors and the management of financial sector by the Central government has raised many disturbing questions. “Confidence in the Unit Trust of India (UTI), which is the main institution where the hard-earned savings of the middle class, salaried sections of society, senior citizens and pensioners are invested, has been badly eroded,’’ it said. The AICC called upon the Central and state governments to collectively strengthen the regulatory regime for the financial system including cooperative institutions. The resolution said investments both in private and public sectors have showed no signs of picking up. The events in Gujarat had eroded the confidence of both Indian and foreign investors, it said. The very first year of the 10th Five-Year Plan had made a mockery of its growth objectives, the resolution points out. The Congress claimed that positive aspects of the economy like comfortable foreign exchange reserves, low current account deficit and moderate inflationary pressure were the outcome of its policies framed between 1991 and 1993. The seemingly surplus stocks was not a reflection of the arrival, of an era of plenty but an indication of the BJP-led Government’s inability to increase the purchasing power of the common man, the resolution said.
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Haryana to cut tax on gold to 1 pc Chandigarh, May 24 According to government sources, before the policy of uniform floor rate of taxes was adopted by the Haryana in March, 2000, the tax rate on gold ornaments was two per cent. However, the rate was increased to 4 per cent to conform with the policy of the uniform floor rates. The increase in the tax, however, was resented by the Haryana goldsmiths who also gave representations to the state government complaining about their clientele shifting to other states where gold was cheaper. As a result of these representations, the state government has decided to bring down the tax rate on gold ornaments to 1 per cent. The sources said that the reduction of the tax rate on ornaments would not be a violation of the policy of uniform floor rates as the rate suggested for the ornaments in the policy was either 1 or 4 per cent. The new tax rate, which would be shortly notified, would bring down the price of gold ornaments in the state. The government has also decided to cut down the tax rate on bullion in a bid to encourage trading in raw gold in Haryana. After India adopted the path of opening up of its economy, the smuggling of gold had got virtually extinct. They said to attract the bullion trade in their respective states, various governments were offering lucrative rates for the bullion importers. They cited instances of Delhi, Gujarat and Maharastra, which were charging only 0.5 per cent tax on bullion trade even though as per the policy of the uniform floor rate, the sales tax rate on bullion should not less than 1 per cent. Since many states were not observing the tax rates on bullion prescribed by the policy of uniform floor rate, the Haryana Government too decided to bring down the rate of tax on bullion to 0.3 per cent from the existing rate of 1 per cent.
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Gold zooms
New Delhi, May 24 With the fresh rise in yellow metal, it reached near its everhighest level of Rs 5800 per ten gram experienced on February 7, 1996. The spurt in the bullion prices was on the back of a significant rise in gold prices in international markets where it touched the day’s high of $ 322.50 an ounce and triggered buying in domestic markets here. An ongoing tension on Indo-Pak border and sudden rise in US dollar against Indian rupee were additional factors which made the yellow metal costlier.
PTI
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SBI second VRS soon
Mumbai, May 24 Simultaneously, the management will also float a second round of Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS) for employees which is likely to slash its work force by about 40 per cent. The SBI Managing Director, Mr Y. Radhakrishnan, told reporters after inaugurating an ATM management centre of the NCR Corporation India Pvt Ltd here today that the bank had decided to invest in seven distinct IT projects in the coming 36 months, to step up operational efficiency. This would result in a work force redundancy of 35 to 40 per cent which would be tackled by re-deployment and implementation of a second VRS, he added.
UNI
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Afghanistan assures safety of traders New Delhi, May 24 The Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister of Afghanistan, Mr Hedayat Amin Arsala, said the Afghanistan Government would adopt strict rules and regulations for the banking and financial sector so that the overall micro-economic framework of the country present a positive picture to the international business community. Mr Arsala was addressing industrialists leaders under the aegis of the CII. Stressing that the private sector needed to play a pivotal role in the reconstruction of the war-ravaged country, he said the process of revival of the financial sector has already started in Afghanistan with liberal and modified laws likely to be adopted soon to encourage private sector investment. Mr Arsala assured the Indian business community that the necessary policy framework and the basic infrastructure facilities would be provided by Afghanistan. However, sustained support from the international community was required to ensure the basic fiscal stability of Afghanistan. Commenting on the issues of risks involved in Afghanistan, he said unless risks were taken, peace could not be achieved. It was in the interest of not only the Afghan people but also of the international community that peace and stability must be ensured in Afghanistan.
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Sensex surge as war fears recede
New Delhi, May 24 The BSE index went up by 141.5 points to close at 3255.62 registering an increase of 4.55 per cent, while the Karachi stock market witnessed a rise of 8.8 per cent over previous close. Both markets had lost about 300 points in last 2 weeks.
PTI
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Bail plea of Ketan Parekh
rejected Mumbai, May 24 Defence advocate Amit Desai drew the court’s attention to the remand application in which the government pleader had mentioned that the accused were not co-operating with the investigation agency and they were liable to tamper with the documents related to the case.
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