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Firms should be allowed to sell oil at international rate
CII holds meetings with BJP,
Das to step down as CII director |
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‘Globalisation should benefit the poor’
Stock markets may remain range-bound
Sirsa sugar mill costs Haryana dear
Price of HR coils slashed by Rs 2000
Tatas plan $2 b investment in telecom
McDonalds to phase out French fries GRAPHIC: Top Ten Foreign Investors in India
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Firms should be allowed to sell oil at international rate New Delhi, March 4 Oil sector stakeholders lament that they have to bear a burden of subsidising the LPG and kerosene to the consumers due to political considerations. The lower price of kerosene and diesel has encouraged some dealers to mix them with petrol, thus damaging the engines of lakhs of two-wheelers, cars and other vehicles creating environment pollution in the country. According to Carter Branden, an environmental economist with the World Bank, the cost of environmental degradation in India is estimated to be about 5 per cent of the GDP
annually. The policy and investment implications of these are many. The
consumption of petroleum products in the country is estimated to have reached 103.71 million metric tonnes (MMT) in 2002-03 as against 90.60 MMT in 1998-99 though the domestic crude production had marginally increased from 32.75 MMT to 33.07MMT during that period. According to the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, the demand for petroleum products is growing at an annual rate of 5 per cent. The country is currently spending over Rs 80,000 crore annually on petroleum products to meet 70 per cent of its demand. Senior officials in the ministry maintained that though the annual capacity of 18 refineries in the country had reached 116 MMT, the country had to import LPG and kerosene. Ironically, there was a surplus of petrol and diesel in the domestic market. He said: “In the international market, the difference between the price of petrol, diesel, kerosene and LPG is hardly of Re1 or Rs 2, but in India the price difference is up to Rs 23 between kerosene and petrol and over Rs 10 between petrol and diesel. Consequently, a large portion of kerosene is illegally diverted in the black market and is mixed with the petrol and diesel.” Condemning the advocates of the subsidy, he said, those who advocate energy subsidies and encourage energy consumption with low prices were imposing a heavy burden on the economic efficiency and government budget. According to the “Hydrocarbon Vision 2025,” the country will have to make an investment of $51.02 billion by that year to increase the capacity of its refineries. The demand for petroleum products is expected to reach 368 MMT by 2024-25. The official said the ministry was making efforts to increase the supply of LPG to about 50 per cent of the total population of the country in the next few years to cut down the supply of highly subsidised kerosene. But, he said, “the true picture of demand and supply will emerge after the withdrawal of subsidy to the LPG and other petroleum products as well. The ministry expects that after the elections, the next government will take a decision in this regard.”
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CII holds meetings with BJP, Congress leaders New Delhi, March 4 At the same time, the industry association has recommended its 4,800-member companies to adopt transparent methods for election funding and make contribution to political parties only through
cheque. In a closed door meeting CII members met BJP President M Venkaiah Naidu and Congress leader Dr Manmohan Singh. “The interaction with Mr Naidu and Dr Singh was free-flowing. The idea was to create an open forum for discussion between industry and political leaders. The contents of the meeting obviously is confidential and cannot be divulged”, CII President Mr Anand Mahindra said. He said that Dr Singh presented “his
own view on economy, his party’s agenda”. “We at the CII have been advocating a transparent process of election funding. Our members
have been recommended to make any contributions to political parties to
cheque”, Mr Mahindra said. In fact, his own company Mahindra & Mahindra have made contributions only through
cheque. “During the last three elections, we have made equal contributions to the two main political parties through
cheque”, he said. The Election Commission for the first time has sought the services of CII for some components of electoral management. Elaborating on the brief given by the EC to the industry association, Mr Mahindra said that the CII’s mandate was to “create awareness among voters to vote”, especially young voters. “We are in the process of conceptualising the exercise. We are considering options such as touch screens and information kiosks”, he said. CII Director General Tarun Das, who is personally overseeing the exercise, said that it would undertake an “outreach campaign” which will have two basic components “register yourself as a voter and go out to vote”. “Essentially the objective of the outreach campaign is to get voters of more than 18 years to register and exercise franchise”, Mr Das said.
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Das to step down as CII director New Delhi, March 4 He will be succeeded by N. Srinivasan, who is at present a Deputy Director General with the CII. “Tarun and the CII are indistinguishable”, CII President Anand Mahindra told newspersons here today. Mr Das will continue to serve the CII as “Chief Mentor” and will co-ordinate a newly established Global Advisory Council for the CII. “The newly formed council will include leaders from overseas organisations with whom the CII has built strong connections and prominent Indian leaders, thereby growing and further strengthening the CII’s external network”, Mr Mahindra said. He will also participated in the National Council and Steering Committee of the CII, among other activities, the CII President said. Mr Das is credited in making the CII into such an influential association from its rudimentary beginnings under various names, including the Association of Indian Engineering Industry (AIEI), the Confederation of Engineering Industry (CEI) and finally to the CII. Mr Das’s successor, Mr Srinivasan has been with the CII since 1974 and is believed to be a thorough professional and is a graduate in Metallurgical Engineering.
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‘Globalisation should benefit the poor’ New Delhi, March 4 Delivering his valedictory address at the 18th World Bamboo Congress (WBC) here, he said the main reason for this distortion was that the “policies pursued for the sake of globalisation did not become the means to a more equitable and sustainable growth.” “We need globalisation that works for poverty alleviation and improving the world environment — success of globalisation means that there should be none living in poverty,” he said. His observation came during the six-day Bamboo Congress which is deliberating on application of appropriate technologies in planting, rearing and manufacturing of bamboo products as a means to distribute economic benefits to the poor strata of the society engaged in the bamboo sector. Held for the first time in India, the WBC focused on alternate uses of bamboo, showcasing bamboo technologies and production with emphasis on its socio-economic dimensions contributing to poverty alleviation and environment conservation. India’s domestic bamboo economy is estimated at Rs 2,043 crore with an annual growth rate of 15 to 20 per cent while China’s bamboo industry, at present, is 13 times that of India at Rs 26,000 crore.
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Stock markets may remain range-bound Ludhiana, March 4 Market experts say there is no need to panic and investors should not off load shares at this time as long-term prospects of market remain bullish. It is only in the short term, during the run up to the general elections in May, 2004, that market is expected to trade in a particular range with alternate bouts of buying and selling. The experts are further say that a stable government if it comes through, will help the reforms agenda being carried forward. Further, the expectations of the investors have been raised by the government by giving enough indications in the mini Budget. The two important aspects of the stock markets will be the forms in disinvestment sector and power sector. Once a stable government is in power the FIIs funds inflow will also be sustained and will give a big push to the markets. The experts claim that another factor is that the mutual fund operating in India have collected huge sums running over Rs 30,000 crore and a major part of these funds will find its way into the capital markets. There is also a news report that the stock exchange, Mumbai, (BSE) has inducted 27 new members, most of whom are leading domestic and foreign broking houses. Besides a lot of new foreign institutional investors (FII) have sought registration with SEBI. All these factors give an indication of sustained bull phase in the post-election scenario, says Mr R.C. Singal, a director and a former president, Ludhiana Stock Exchange. According to Mr Singal, it is also felt that the debt instruments will not be attractive for the investors due to low interest regime and as such funds will continue to be diverted to the equity markets in future as well. With enough liquidity in the system, the experts are of the view that from the present level the markets are bound to go up. However, that till the election process is over the markets are likely to remain range-bound with Sensex remaining in the range of 5500-6200.
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Sirsa sugar mill costs Haryana dear Chandigarh, March 4 The mill has crushed only 4.8 lakh quintals of cane in the current year and is the worst performer among the 12 sugar mills in the state. The mill crushed 16 per cent of its total capacity. The mill was also the first to close crushing operations on February 6. Sugarfed had earlier said in a report that only 3 lakh quintals of cane would be available for crushing by the mill in 2003-04. In fact the report raised questions about the viability of the mill in view of unavailability of cane in Sirsa. The state government, however, decided to ignore the observation made by Sugarfed. The value of the cane crushed by the mill in the current season has been worked out to be Rs 5.16 crore out of which Rs 2.8 crore has been already paid to the farmers. The mill will have to pay the farmers Rs 2.36 crore more for which it is likely to ask the state government for help. Sources said the Sirsa mill had been incurring losses since its inception in 2001-02. Its accumulated loss till date has been worked out to be over Rs 18 crore. The Gohana mill, also set up in 2001-02, is doing much better than its counterpart at Sirsa. Though this mill too is in loss, it is at least not suffering from short-supply of raw material. The mill has so far crushed 23.49 lakh quintals of cane in the current crushing season and its performance is second best after the Shahbad mill which has recorded 36.44 lakh quintal in the 2003-04 crushing season.
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Price of HR coils slashed by Rs 2000
New Delhi, March 4 The current price of HR coils is Rs 27,000 per MT (ex-factory) plus excise duty. After the reduction, the price is likely to come down to Rs 25,000 per MT. The reduction is in the larger interest of domestic non-exporting customers, Indian Steel Alliance (ISA) Chairman J.J. Irani said in a statement here yesterday. The move would pass on the benefit of the recent reduction in excise duty in full to customers. This would be approximately an additional Rs 2000. The stakeholders would make required adjustments in their selling prices accordingly.
— UNI
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Tatas plan $2 b investment in telecom
New Delhi, March 4 “The investment target is around $ 2 billion in the next two years or a little more,” K. A. Chaukar, Managing Director of Tata Industries Ltd told reporters on the sidelines of a CII Telecom Summit 2004 here. Chaukar said that the amount would be used for expansion in the existing six telecom circles of Delhi, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, as well as for roll-out in the 11 new circles. “There will be expansion in six circles in the next one month or so and launch in 11 new circles in 3-4 months after that,” Chaukar said. Tatas recently got 11 new Unified licences for offering mobile services for which the company paid Rs 450 crore to Department of Telecom (DoT) towards one-time entry fee. With this Tatas would have presence in 17 circles.
— PTI
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McDonalds to phase out French fries
New York, March 4 The move is part of its campaign “Eat Smart, Be Active” launched last year to revive its sagging sale as America’s love affair with “healthy foods” started picking up. It has also introduced entire-size salads, started providing options for yogurt and fruits with meals and introduced fruit and milk meal for children to win new customers. The decision has been welcomed by the health activists who see their victory in the decision. They blame large fatty potions served by fast food chains for almost half of the United States population - from young children to the old - being obese or overweight. McDonalds said it was making changes to simplify menu and promote a “balanced” lifestyle. But as a matter of fact not many supersize French fries were sold, it asserted apparently to counter the impression that it had done so under pressure. The supersizes include 7-ounce carton of French fries and 24-ounce fountain soda, the sizes, the critics had particularly attacked. McDonalds is not the only fast food chain which is eliminating the supersizes. Others are also quietly shelving such sizes or giving choices beyond fast foods to avoid criticism.
— PTI
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National Bread Day on March 11
New Delhi, March 4 The exercise is aimed at projecting the bread as a nutritious, hygienically processed snack food affordable to the common man.
— TNS
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