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Armed with details, Aiyar to meet FM today IndianOil net grows 15 pc, declares 160 pc dividend
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PM heads CCEA
WB thumbs up for CMP
Flextronics’ huge Hughes deal
Kalam moots sops for solar buildings
Corporate news
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Armed with details, Aiyar to meet FM today New Delhi, June 8 According to sources in the Petroleum Minister, Mr Aiyar was earlier scheduled to meet Mr Chidambaram today but was asked by the Finance Minister to provide “additional information on certain key issues regarding profits of the oil companies, expected fall in international crude oil price and actual losses to the oil companies,” before the scheduled meeting. The officials of the public sector oil companies have already made presentations before Mr Aiyar, urging him to increase petrol and diesel prices by Rs 4 to 5 per litre, as they had suffered over Rs 1,100 crore losses during January-May period. Industry analysts said after the meeting of oil ministers of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in Beirut on June 3 has come down from around $ 42 per barrel to below $ 38 per barrel. “ For the Indian crude oil basket, international prices had come down from around $ 36 per barrel to $ 34.5 per barrel falling by about 10 per cent over the past one week,” says Mr M.S. Ramachandran, Chairman, IOC. Sources said the prices are further expected to come down to $ 30 to $ 32 per barrel for Indian companies by June 15. The government has asked the oil companies to wait till June 15 before announcing any hike in petrol and diesel prices. The officials of the IndianOil and other companies admit that after a fall in international crude oil prices, their case for hike in petrol and diesel have weakened to a great extent, but the prices are not likely to touch $ 28 to $ 29 per barrel prevailing before January this year. Last time, the Indian companies had increased oil prices on December 31, 2003. The Indian companies have also made a saving of over Rs 2,000 crore during past one year due to lower cost on foreign borrowings after appreciation of rupee value, besides saving of around Rs 2,000 crore due to notional recovery of 20 per cent customs duty on petro products on domestic production during last year though they never paid that duty to the state exchequer. “We are demanding an increase of Rs 4 to 5 per litre though government may allow just Rs 1 to Rs 1.50 per litre increase in petrol and diesel prices. But we know that government will not provide any relief if we do not cry loudly,” said a senior official of the oil company. Oil companies are also pressing to reduce excise and custom duty on oil products in the coming Budget. Sources in the Petroleum Ministry said Mr Aiyar is pressing the Finance Ministry to reduce customs duty on crude oil from 10 per cent to 5 per cent, besides cut in customs duty on petrol from 20 per cent to at least 10 per cent. But, they said, “ the Finance Minister is asking for detailed information about the profits of the oil companies, improved refinery and market margins before considering any cut in duties.” |
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IndianOil net grows 15 pc, declares 160 pc dividend
New Delhi, June 8 Expecting a favourable decision about increase in oil prices in the next few days, the Board of Directors has declared dividend of 160 per cent amounting Rs 1,869 crore. The company had announced 50 per cent interim dividend in January this year. IT has also announced to open 1,000 fuel outlets this year. Addressing a press conference here today, Mr M.S. Ramachandran, Chairman, IndianOil, said, “During the previous year, the company has performed quite satisfactory despite an increase in the international crude oil prices during last quarter. The turnover of the company for 2003-04 has increased to Rs 1,30,203 crore as compared to Rs 1,19,884 crore during the previous year, up by 9 per cent.” However, due to the increase in the crude oil prices and freezing of oil prices in the domestic market, the company’s net profit for the quarter ended on March 31, 2004, declined to Rs 1,849.94 crore as compared to Rs 2,199.65 crore for the quarter ended on March 31, 2003. However, he admitted that due to appreciation of rupee, the net cost of foreign exchange borrowing had come down to 1.3 per cent. Consequently, the IOC had increased share of foreign borrowing in the total borrowing from 36 per cent to 42 per cent during the reference period. The share has been further increased to 58 per cent during this year, he said.
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PM heads CCEA New Delhi, June 8 An official release issued here said that the reconstituted CCEA would have 10 other members, including Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Finance Minister P Chidambaram and Railways Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav. The Deputy Chairperson of Planning Commission will be a special invitee to CCEA. The other members of the CCEA are Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister Ram Vilas Paswan, Shipping and Road Transport Minister T R Baalu, Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath, Power Minister P M Sayeed, Rural Development Minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh and Communications and IT Minister Dayanidhi Maran. The Government has also constituted a Cabinet Committee on WTO with the Prime Minister as its Chairperson and will have nine other members and two special invitees. They are Mr Pranab Mukherjee, Mr Sharad Pawar, Mr Ram Vilas Paswan, Mr P Chidambaram, Mr Shankarsinh Vaghela, Mr Kamal Nath, Mr Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, Mr Dayanidhi Maran and Mr Kapil Sibal. |
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WB thumbs up for CMP
New Delhi, June 8 “The Indian economy will grow at 6 per cent over the next five years against the target of 7 or 8 per cent unless the government reins in fiscal deficit and raises investment to improve physical and social infrastructure in rural areas,” World Bank Country Director (India) Michael Carter told reporters here at a meeting held by Ficci. He said the CMP had laid special emphasis on social services and programmes for the poor. “What now really matters is the implementation of the CMP, but it is too early to judge that aspect,” he said. The government had said it would not pursue privatisation of the Navratna firms and profit-making public sector units. However, the privatisation of loss-making firms would be on a case-by-case basis. “The privatisation of loss-making units and restructuring them to face competition is a welcome measure,” Mr Carter said at the “Knowledge Forum: Rural Services Innovation Summit”.  |
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Flextronics’ huge Hughes deal
New Delhi, June 8 Flextronics, an electronics manufacturing services company, will pay Rs 547 per share for the deal which is expected to be closed by October this year. As per the rules, the Singapore-based company will come out with an open offer within the next four days to acquire another 20 per cent outstanding shares of Hughes Software Systems as per the regulatory requirements. “For the open offer, Flextronics will have to shell out $ 82 million more taking the size of the entire deal to $ 308 million,” Mr Ash Bhardwaj, President, Design Services at Flextronics, told newspersons. After the acquisition, HSS board will change to include representatives of Flextronics and will continue to be listed on the Indian stock exchanges, Mr Bhardawaj said. The promoters of HSS were one of its top five customers. “We (HSS) have got an assurance while the deal was being finalised that they will continue to remain our major customer,” Arun Kumar, President and Managing Director of HSS, said. Flextronics will also retain the current management team at HSS. “It is a good team doing a great job. We will like it to continue taking HSS forward,” he said. Bhardawaj said the acquisition of HSS completes the range of offerings by Flextronics. “Electronics companies typically outsource component manufacturing, assembly services and design services. We had expertise in all these but were lacking on the software side. The acquisition of HSS has completed our range of offerings and will take us to the next level. This will help us service our customers better,” Mr Bhardawaj said. HSS also hopes to get into new service lines with the change of promoters. “Our focus has been on telecom and Flextronics is into service lines where we aspire to be. Our association with them will help us to service telecom original equipment manufacturers,” Kumar said. HSS will, however, continue to stick to telecom as there are a lot of opportunities in this sector, Bhardawaj said. Promoters of HSS, Hughes Network Services, had put their stake on block, as it did not gel with its core business of entertainment. There was a lot of speculation as to who will pick up the stake.
— PTI |
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Kalam moots sops for solar buildings New Delhi, June 8 Speaking at the 10th annual convention and national seminar of Indian Buildings Congress on Energy Management in Buildings and Services, the President said, “ the National Building Code has recently been revised which lays down a set of minimum design provisions to protect people with regard to architectural and structural efficiency,” Mr Kalam said, adding “however, there are no standard guidelines for energy efficiency designs.” While highlighting the importance of conserving solar energy, the President said: “if a building has an innovative solar passive feature, a reduction in the rates of property tax could be considered.” The buildings designed with Solar Passive Feature have large south-facing windows with material that absorbs and stores sun’s heat during the day and releases the same during night. The Passive Solar Feature takes advantage of local breeze and landscape such as trees and windbreaks, and uses simple system to collect and store energy with no switches or controls. |
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Corporate news
Mumbai, June 8 The company’s board also recommended a dividend of Rs 5.50 per share of a face value of Rs 10 each, which would result in a total payout of Rs 133.47 crore, up from the previous year’s payout of Rs 112.08 crore, Tata Chemicals Managing Director Prasad Menon told here today. The Tata group company’s total income during the year under review rose to Rs 2,621.26 crore, from Rs 1613.14 crore posted during the same period of the previous fiscal, he said. Tata Chemicals posted a lower net profit of Rs 29.65 crore in Q4 ended March 31 on a total income (net of excise) of Rs 566.02 crore. Nirma
Nirma Ltd has posted a net profit of Rs 65.95-crore for the quarter-ended March 31, 2004 as compared to Rs 54-crore for the quarter-ended March 31, 2003, an increase of 22.13 per cent. Announcing the results, the company said its total income has increased from Rs 517.32-crore in the MQ-03 to Rs 583.74-crore in the quarter-ended March 31, 2004. It has posted a net profit of Rs259.94-crore for the year-ended March 31, 2004 as compared to Rs215.25-crore for the year-ended March 31, 2003. Total income has increased from Rs 2,074.51-crore in the FY-03 to Rs2,234.85-crore in the year-ended March 31, 2004. The board of directors of Nirma has recommended, subject to approval of members at the ensuing AGM payment of dividend @ 40 per cent on equity shares for the year 2003-2004.
— Agencies |
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