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Korea can’t relax norms on imports: Moo-hyun
Birlas file criminal case against Lodha
Oil breaches the $ 50 mark again
Centre’s nod not must for transfer of shares
Trai begins mobile billing verification
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Public utility status of banks extended
Kerala short of hotel rooms for tourists
Airtel cards for ISD/STD
Nabard staff strike work
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Korea can’t relax norms on imports: Moo-hyun
New Delhi, October 5 “The government does not have enough room to manoeuvre on these areas (sanitary and phyto-sanitary standards). It would be very difficult for me to do any thing on this. Koreans are very meticulous about safety of food products,” Korean President Roh Moo-hyun said while addressing captains of Indian industries at a meeting organised jointly by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci). The Korean President was responding to the issue raised by Commerce Minister Kamal Nath who said that the “sanitary, phyto-sanitary (SPS) and non-tariff barriers imposed by the Republic of Korea create impediments in increasing the volume of Indian exports”. “No such barriers restrict the import of manufactured goods from Korea to India. I would request that a closer look be taken at the SPS regulations, insofar as they apply to India at least, with a view to rationalising them, and minimising, indeed eliminating, non-tariff barriers”, Mr Nath said. Moo-hyun said the IT sector would determine the future of the two countries. Korea has emerged as one of the most advanced countries in the competitiveness of the IT manufacturing sector. “If Korea’s merits in the hardware sector were coupled with India’s unrivalled software, it would not only benefit us both but also open the path for jointly venturing into third nations. The agreement reached on this occasion to establish an Indian IT software human resource training centre in Korea will serve as the first meaningful step towards greater cooperation in the IT sector,” he said. Nath said the two countries should aim at annual trade of $10 billion over next three years and average annual investment of $1 billion. Referring to the proposed Comprehensive Economic Partnership between India and Korea, Nath suggested that the group, which would discuss the framework of the economic partnership, including a Free Trade Agreement, would go about its work in a target-oriented manner. He noted that although total trade between India and Korea last year stood at a “respectable” $ 3.3 billion, the figure “hides two truths which bear analysis”. “The first issue to be noted is that of the total trade, India’s exports were only 800 million dollars, whereas imports from Korea were 2.5 billion dollars. Thus the balance of trade was heavily skewed”, Mr Nath said. While, there was nothing wrong in higher imports as it demonstrates the confidence and requirements of a growing economy, the spurt in imports from Korea was largely due to the import of a number of coaches for the Delhi Metro project. “We can’t expect the Delhi Metro to go on indefinitely and sustain our bilateral trade. We should- and must—find other avenues”, he said. Mr Nath also regretted that cummulative FDI inflow from Korea during the last 13 years was only about three per cent of India’s total inflows and it did not account for even one billion dollars. “I understand that the outward investment by South Korea annually is three billion dollars. India wants at least a third of that, i.e. one billion dollars a year investment should be what we must aim for”, the Commerce Minister said. The Korean President said that development of resources, including steel, is an area with substantial potential for bilateral collaboration.
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Kexim aid to NTPC
The Export-Import Bank of Korea (Kexim) has announced to provide $ 354 million to the NTPC for financing its thermal power plant in Chattisgarh. This was disclosed by Kexim Deputy President Gyu Lee at a function here last night.
The loan constitutes the maiden funding by Kexim in the power sector in India. The NTPC is developing the 1980 MW plant in Sipat area in Chhattisgarh, which is emerging as an important power centre in the country. Korean power plant supplier Doosan Heavy Industries and Construction Company has executed a contract with the NTPC for the supply of the steam generators. Kexim came back to India recently after winding up operations in the country in 1998 due to the lack of market opportunities and the Asian financial crisis.
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Birlas file criminal case against Lodha
Kolkata, October 5 On a petition filed by Rajinder Prasad Pansari on behalf of Birlas, the Chief Judicial Magistrate, South 24 Parganas, Mumtaz Khan, asked Lodha and three others to appear before him on November 29. Rejecting the plea for issuance of a search warrant, the Judge said the court has no reason to believe at this stage that the accused persons would not produce documents of three charitable trusts under the MP Birla group if summoned or ordered to produce them. Earlier, moving the petition, lawyer Ram Jethmalani submitted before the court that Lodha had
committed a fraud on Priyamvada Birla, who by a purported will had bequeathed the entire assets to him. He also claimed that Lodha had dissolved three trusts under the MP Birla group, days before Priyamvada’s purported will was made and had converted all trust properties worth Rs 2400 crore into Priyamvada’s personal property. He urged the court to issue search warrant against Lodha to recover the original documents of the trusts.
— PTI
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Oil breaches the $ 50 mark again
London, October 5 The main New York oil contract briefly climbed to a new record high level of $ 50.69 a barrel in electronic trading today on worries about production stoppages in Gulf of Mexico. Oil prices had hit all-time peak of $ 50.47 in New York a week ago. In London the price of reference Brent North Sea crude oil for delivery in November rose 51 cents to $ 46.70 in early deals. “It is all technical-led at the moment,” GNI-Man Financial trader Kevin Blemkin said. “There was some technical buying in London, which pushed the market higher,” added
Invested Securities analyst Bruce Evers. “Prices broke through technical levels, triggering more buying.” The oil price in New York had slipped below $ 50 a barrel yesterday as rival gangs in the oil-rich Niger Delta signed a ceasefire. Two rebel groups fighting for control of oil resources in the Niger Delta region signed a government-brokered ceasefire and disarmament agreement late on Friday after months of violence. Despite the easing of tensions in Nigeria, markets remained concerned about tight supplies ahead of winter in the northern hemisphere. Mexico production out of action since the hurricane (Ivan),” Mr Evers said.
Opec decision
The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) will “probably” increase its production ceiling at the group’s next meeting in Cairo on December 10 to account for current production levels above the group’s official quota, Venezuelan Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez has said. Mr Ramirez said Opec, which produces about a third of the world’s oil, is currently producing 2 million barrels a day above the group’s official quota.
— Agencies
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Centre’s nod not must for transfer of shares
Mumbai, October 5 This liberalisation was made with a view to make the environment in India more attractive to foreign investors and also simplify procedures transfer of shares or convertible debentures by way of sale, according to an RBI notification. The simplification is available for activities of the investee company, which are under the automatic route under FDI policy, and transfer does not attract the provisions of Sebi (Substantial Acquisition of Shares and Takeovers) Regulations, 1997. The non-resident shareholding after the transfer, should be complying with the sectoral limits under the FDI policy. The price at which the transfer takes place is in accordance with the pricing guidelines prescribed by the Sebi and the RBI. The onus of complying with the sectoral cap or limits prescribed under the FDI policy as well as other guidelines or regulations would rest with the buyer and seller or issuer. The government also clarified that cases of increase in foreign equity participation by fresh issue of shares as well as conversion of preference shares into equity capital is put under general permission provided such increase falls within the sectoral cap in relevant sectors and are within the automatic route. These directions will become operative with immediate effect.
— UNI
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Trai begins mobile billing verification
New Delhi, October 5 Trai proposes to appoint a consultant, who will advise it on the methodology to be followed for auditing the billing systems of telecom operators, keeping in view the best international practices and Indian conditions. “Trai has been regularly receiving many billing-related complaints, particularly from mobile customers. Most of these complaints emerge from likely lapses and flaws in the billing programme. The Quality of Service (QoS) Survey, which Trai is conducting quarterly, has also reported that the billing parameter is far below the QoS norms and the operators need to focus on this to improve,” Trai said in a statement.
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Public utility status of banks extended
New Delhi, October 5 The Labour Ministry in a notification issued here said the services of the banking industry have been declared public utility under the Industrial Disputes Act for another six months with effect from September 30, an official press note said today. The government had declared services in this industry as public utility for six months from March 30. The employees will have to give six weeks notice in advance to start conciliatory proceedings. “During the conciliatory proceedings and seven days after their completion, the employees cannot go on strike,” the note said.
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Kerala short of hotel rooms for tourists
Kochi, October 5 In the next three years, the shortage of rooms, vis-à-vis the tourist demand, is estimated at 9,000. Registering a growth of 20 to 26 per cent every year, the state Tourism Department seems to have now woken up to the impending grave situation and is now gearing itself up to discharge its responsibilities. In the recently concluded Kerala Travel Market (KTM), the state tourism was busy wooing investors to come up with new hotel projects to fill the gap of nearly 9,000 rooms anticipated in 2007 (as estimated by the WTTC). Though several leading hotel groups, like Aman and The Grand, have already announced their hotel projects in Kerala, the state tourism managers and the political leadership have started impressing upon the non-resident Malayalees to venture into hotel projects in the state. “There are at least 1,000 non-resident Malayalees who have the capacity to invest at least Rs 10 crore in Kerala,” Tourism Director T O Sooraj said, adding “our effort was to attract these Malayalees to invest in tourism infrastructure.” Mr Sooraj and Kerala Tourism Development Corporation Managing Director M N Gunavardhanan were recently in Dubai in this connection. “It is a difficult task indeed. But we will have to achieve it to sustain the tourism boom which we have generated through years of planning and promotion,” Mr Sooraj said pointing out that the state now has only 6,000 hotel rooms in tourist centres. “Additional 9,000 rooms is a great deal because we will have to add 150 per cent more in the present hotel room capacity.” Mr Sooraj said the government is already offering a lot of facilities, including investment and power subsidy to new hotel projects. “However, in the new scenario we will have to certainly think of making our package more attractive to lure more private investment in tourism sector.” Another major strategy that the tourism department has chalked out is to develop new tourism spots so that more investors are attracted there. North Malabar had already been identified for promotion as a “triangle” linking Kappad, Kadavu and Vythiri, Mr Sooraj said. The “Grand Hotel” is all set to start work on a five-star hotel project at the historic Bakel Fort in north Kerala.
— UNI
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Airtel cards for ISD/STD
Chandigarh, October 5 As a bonus, the customers are also not required to pay any security deposit and processing fee. Customers who do not have the STD/ ISD facility stand to gain. These cards can be used anywhere in India with local Airtel SIM card access.
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Nabard staff strike work
Chandigarh, October 5 A press note stated that the agitation was against the Central government and Nabard management denying them the established parity with the Reserve Bank of India in pay scales and other service conditions since its inception in 1982.
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Korea today ruled out any kind of relaxation in the existing norms of sanitary and
phyto-sanitary standards even as it maintained that information technology sector would be the harbinger of enhanced trade with India.
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