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Hike in FDI cap very soon
Global oil prices worry Aiyar
Press Note 18 meet remains inconclusive
Trai report on spectrum next month
DEPB rates for steel products revised
Market access only if subsidies go, says Nath |
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Stakeholders views to be taken for Cos Bill
More HPCL outlets to dot region
PNB lends Rs 5,302 cr farm credit
Reliance offers Mobile Office
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Hike in FDI cap very soon
New York, October 7 Action in the case of “civil aviation, that is, domestic airlines, we will be able to do it within this month, in telecom in the near term but in insurance, I said, it would require Parliamentary approval,” he said in an interaction after addressing more than 500 investors here yesterday. To a question on foreign investment in media, the minister told the investors’ forum that a ministerial committee would examine the issue. “I said it is our intention to raise the cap in civil aviation, telecommunication and insurance. I said in civil aviation, domestic airlines the intention is to raise the cap from 40 to 49 per cent, in telecom from 49 to 74 per cent and in insurance from 26 to 49 per cent,” the Finance Minister said. He also told foreign institutional and other investors that India provides a lucrative market for their investments and assured them that the government would remove any procedural hurdles that they might face. Stressing the importance of foreign investment, he said it is imperative for India as it needs a growth rate of 7 per cent if it is to find jobs for millions of new entrants every year. “Let me tell you categorically that my country remains committed to the process of reform, and that this process will go forward, we will try to go even faster,” the minister said. Mr Chidambaram, who had meetings with several investors during the day, told reporters later that they were “uniformly enthusiastic and responsive.” “What I saw today was interest mixed with curiosity about the policies of new government.” He explained the policies and they seem to appreciate them, he added. The investors, he said, did not raise any major concerns though some issues of procedure came up.
— PTI
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Global oil prices worry Aiyar
Chandigarh, October 7 In a talk with mediapersons, the Minister also noted the oil imports were becoming costlier by the day because of the rising international price of the crude oil. Therefore, a way would have to be found to meet the rising price of crude. He noted the price of petroleum products in India had remained frozen for the past two months despite the fact that their prices in the international market had been rising for the past two months. Fortunately, the comfortable foreign exchange reserves had made it easy for the country to meet its requirements of petroleum products through imports.
Creating history
World oil prices bolted up to new record summits beyond $52 today on markets nervous about tight global supplies with winter looming in the northern hemisphere. The price of reference light sweet crude for November delivery climbed 36 cents to $52.38 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the highest level in the contract’s 21-year history. In London Brent North Sea crude oil for delivery in November rose 37 cents to $48.36 a barrel.
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Press Note 18 meet remains inconclusive
New Delhi, October 7 Secretaries of various economic departments of the Union government attended the meeting, which was presided over by the Union Cabinet Secretary B.K. Chaturvedi. Although none of the officials who attended the meeting commented about the deliberations, sources indicated that no decision has been taken. The officials discussed the policy paper reportedly prepared by the Planning Commission, which favours middle path of guarding the genuine interests of both domestic investors and foreign collaborators. Sources indicated the meeting of Secretaries was first in a series of consultations between different government departments before the proposal is placed before the Union Cabinet for any decision. However, Union Commerce Minister Kamal Nath had clearly indicated the government’s intention to scrap the Press Note 18. He said that Press Note 18 is “restrictive” in nature and was “not in tune” with the times. He is the second minister in the UPA government who has voiced in favour of scrapping the Press Note 18. Earlier Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram had also voiced in favour of scrapping of this restrictive measure. Voicing opposition to the government’s likely move, the National Secretary of CPI, D. Raja, told The Tribune that the Left parties would strongly oppose any such measure as it
adversely affects the interest of Indian industry. He said scrapping of the Press Note 18 would give “multinational companies unlimited freedom” to operate in the country. Mr Raja said the National Common Minimum Programme talks of protecting and safeguarding the interest of Indian entrepreneurs, but, the move to scrap this safeguard mechanism would favour the multi-national companies and adversely affect the interest of Indian companies. The CPM said the “scrapping of Press Note 18 would harm the interest of domestic industry and provide the MNCs with additional leverage.” The industry chamber, Ficci, in a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said the Press Note 18 should continue to ensure commercial fairness and safeguard the Indian entrepreneurs’ future. “This is vital to uphold commercial fairness, shareholders’ and financial institutions’ interests and the Indian entrepreneurs’ future,” Ficci president Y.K. Modi said, adding that it was needed specially for agreements entered into prior to 1998.
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Trai report on spectrum next month
New Delhi, October 7 The proposed unified licensing policy, which is expected to come about in December, will integrate the services of Internet, cable TV, DTH and radio broadcasting. “The issue of spectrum allocation will become clear when we give our recommendations. It will take about one and a half months,” Trai Chairman Pradip Baijal told newspersons on the sidelines of a conference organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) here. Trai is also at present examining the new data received on the access deficit charge. “A lot of new data has come and we are examining the data on minutes of use, about time of international calls and others. We are sifting the data,” Baijal said. Speaking at the CII conference he said that bandwidth rates were very high in the country at $15.63 per kbps per month as against Korea where the rate is $0.25 per kbps per month. “There is a need to subsidise bandwidth with USO funds to revolutionise broadband connectivity,” he said.
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DEPB rates for steel products revised
New Delhi, October 7 The new rates have been fixed on the basis of freight on board prices in February. The announcement follows Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s intervention when Commerce and Finance Ministries failed to resolve the differences over the quantum of the cut. While the Commerce Ministry had favoured the rates on the basis of freight on board prices in August, the Finance Ministry wanted it on the basis of February prices. DEPB benefits were restored to the steel industry in the Budget and since customs duty on various items was brought down simultaneously, the rates had to be aligned accordingly. The Directorate-General of Foreign Trade has notified the new rates for 602 engineering products apart from fixing value caps for some. LPG cylinder with valves will get DEPB benefit at 4 per cent, while it would be 7 per cent for steel wire rope and mild steel wire mesh at 3 per cent. Some products have been deleted from the DEPB category. Among other engineering products, new rates have been notified for certain aluminium and brass items as well.
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Market access only if subsidies go, says Nath
New Delhi, October 7 Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath said mercantilist compulsions of corporatised agriculture should not drive the negotiations in the World Trade Organisation (WTO). According to a Commerce Ministry statement issued here, at the international conference on “Liberalisation and the Future of Agriculture Policy”, Mr Nath said developed countries must remove trade-distorting agricultural subsidies first and market access in developing countries would only follow the removal of such subsidies, not precede it. “Governments have more recently resolved at Geneva to uphold the legitimate food and livelihood security and rural development needs of developing countries in the agriculture negotiations,” he said. “What we are confronting is a real-life situation facing real persons desperate for recognition of the condition in which they live and the pressures on them from the subsidy-laden policies of other countries,” he added. Effective reduction in subsidies and non-tariff barriers in trade in agriculture by developed countries would increase world incomes and expand world trade far more than similar progress in any other area and there had to be a social consensus on this, he said.
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Stakeholders views to be taken for Cos Bill
New Delhi, October 7 He said his ministry had come up with a consultation paper and given 90 days’ time to submit suggestions. Mr Gupta was speaking at the national conclave on the Draft Companies Bill organised by Ficci here today. He disclosed that the government would soon set up a high-level committee headed by a non-government expert to study the suggestions on the consultation paper, before drafting the Bill. He assured the industry that the administrative rules would be put up on the ministry website as soon as the new Act was enacted. Earlier, Mr Yogendra Kumar Modi, President, Ficci, requested the government to lay down broad parameters within which the entrepreneurs should have full freedom to run their businesses with the consent of shareholders. Lamenting over the increasing number of defaulting companies cheating small investors, he said, “The UPA government would not allow the fly-by-night companies to loot the investors of their hard-earned income.” He asked the industry to introspect the issue whether celebrities, sports stars and retired army generals, who lend their names to the companies for becoming directors, should not be held responsible, when the investors were cheated by the companies. The ministry agreed with the suggestion that a separate law should govern private and small companies, and they could be exempted from complying with certain provisions of the Companies Act. Responding to the industry demand to follow the guidelines of the USA and other countries, he said, “the Indian industry should not ask for liberties on the pattern of the USA. Otherwise, they should be ready to pay heavy penalty even in case of a minor error”, he added, while reminding the industry about the penalty of $690 million imposed on Citi Bank for not “properly” informing the public. The minister added that the new Act would also emphasise on investors’ education along with providing a congenial environment to the companies for growth.
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More HPCL outlets to dot region
Chandigarh, October 7 Talking to TNS, Mr Sanjay Grover, Senior Manager, Allied Retail Business, who was in the city today said eight such outlets would be set up in the Chandigarh region, including Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh and parts of Punjab and Haryana. HPCL also plans to storm the hinterland with no-frill petrol stations which also serve as a one-stop shop for farmers. HPCL’s rural outlets called “Hamara Pump” are convenient refill points and have shops that sell fertilisers, seeds and agricultural tools. The company is approaching villages for identifying land to set up the pumps, and which will be subsequently operated by the owner of that land. It costs Rs 10 lakh to12 lakh to set up this low-cost version of a regular pump. Already, more than 100 such pumps are operating across the country and HPCL plans to add 400 more in the current fiscal.
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PNB lends Rs 5,302 cr farm credit
New Delhi, October 7 In a press note issued here, he said, “the PNB has consistently exceeded the target of credit disbursements under the SACP and Kisan Credit Scheme for the past five years.
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Reliance offers Mobile Office
Chandigarh, October 7 Mobile Office would enable employees to access their enterprise applications like office e-mail on their mobiles. Mobile office supports enterprise e-mails such as Microsoft Exchange, Lotus Notes and other e-mail servers. The service would be available on R-World free as of now.
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NTPC issue HPFC loan NHPC order Auto spares |
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