 |
|
Hiked power charges shock industries in Himachal
Satnam Overseas to set up rice mill in London
Reliance Info offers start-up kit with
Mumbai, December 7 In the battle between the two brothers, Anil Ambani-headed Reliance Energy today sought to put the Reliance Industries on the defensive claiming that everything was transparent about investments in various energy projects, an issue that was believed to have created the rift between them.
A-I may fly from Amritsar to UK
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Bill to streamline bourses adopted
Bangladesh gives nod to Indo-Myanmar gas pipeline
Flexcube on Linux
|
|
Hiked power charges shock industries in Himachal
Shimla, December 7 The upward revision has been effected bypassing the state electricity regulatory commission (SERC), the statutory body for fixing tariffs. The charges, which are recovered from the promoters industrial units at the time of granting the power availability certificate (PAC), have been increased almost tenfolds from the existing Rs 200 per kilowatt to Rs 1925 per kilowatt. Out of this, Rs 1155 per kilowatt would be non-refundable while Rs 770 per kilowatt would be refunded in six-monthly instalments after the unit comes into production. The new industrial units will also be required to pay a hefty amount as advance consumption deposit at the rate of Rs 750 per kw. Not only have the charges been increased sharply, the board has also decided to implement the revised tariff, retrospectively, from February 2004, when the single window clearance system for new industrial units was put in place. Big industrial houses have been making a beeline to the state ever since the Centre sanctioned the package of incentives. Officers of the industries department feel that the unreasonable hike
will put the process of industrialisation, which picked up rather well over the past one year, in the reverse gear and the promoters of power-intensive units in particular will have second thoughts before setting
units. The government has sanctioned 54 power-intensive induction furnace based steel processing units. The average requirement of power of such units comes to around 5 MW though it go up to 18 MW in case of big units. Thus, on an average, an entrepreneur will have to pay Rs 95 lakh in place of the existing Rs 10 lakh. It could upset the feasibility of the project as the amount has to be paid at the very outset a project is
cleared. The board has been forced to raise the charge as it does not have the funds to upgrade the transmission and distribution to make 900 MW of power available for the industries coming up at Baddi and Barotiwala area by 2007. It requires about Rs 400 crore for the purpose and the hike will enable it to raise 50 per cent of the requirement. While the officers of the board maintain that infrastructure development charges were not covered in the definition of tariff, the Sections 45 and 46 of Electricity Act, 2003, make it quite obvious that it was very much within the domain of the commission. Section 46 (6) clearly states that the commission may allow the public utility to recover such expenses as incurred on electric plant, lines and creating required
facilities trial consumers who could always approach the commission.
|
|
Satnam Overseas to set up rice mill in London
New Delhi, December 7 Talking to reporters on the sidelines of India Economic Summit, Mr Satnam Arora, Joint Managing Director of the company disclosed that with the starting of operations at the mill, located at Felixtowe Port in London, the company would be able to increase its export to the UK and Europe to 10,000 tonnes a year. The present export of the company to the region is around 5,000-6,000 tonnes a year. The new facility has a capacity of 8 tonnes per hour. Brown basmati from India would be processed and packaged at the new mill, Mr Arora said adding that he was expecting a 15 per cent growth in SOL’s turnover this fiscal. “Last year the company’s turnover was Rs 530 crore and this year we are seeing 15 per cent growth both in terms of volume and rupees,” he said. Last fiscal, SOL’s turnover in volume terms was 1,50,000 tonnes. On the European markets, Mr Arora said the exports of brown basmati to the region would go up in future. At present, 20 per cent of the company’s exports is to the European
markets.
|
|
Reliance Info offers start-up kit with SIM card
Chandigarh, December 7 Addressing
mediapersons here today, Himanshu Kapania, CEO-Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh, said they would be launching the Handset Change Card that would enable the customer to retain his existing number while changing the handset. This would be available in the market within the next 15 days. Announcing the launch of its services in 372 towns and 11,800 villages in Punjab and Haryana during the second phase, Mr Kapania said network expansion was being undertaken as a part of the company’s nationwide phase-II roll out to cover 5,000 cities and towns by March 2005. With this the number of towns covered in Punjab will go up to 243, 129 in Haryana and 56 in Himachal Pradesh. Besides the national and state highways, all railway routes will also be covered. As many as 343 additional towers will be put up in Punjab and Haryana. “The increased network coverage will help in providing better telecommunication services at the tehsil, village and block levels, especially in the newer and more remote areas of the areas, especially the agricultural belts,” he added.
|
|
We are transparent, claims REL
Mumbai, December 7 Reliance Energy today came out with a press statement about the October 20 board meeting in which it had made a presentation before entire board of the majority shareholder RIL including Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh Ambani. “This is the first time ever in the history of corporate India that a listed company has called the full board of its majority shareholder to one of its board meetings. The unprecedented decision is in line with REL’s commitment to uphold the highest standards of transparency and corporate governance in its functioning,” REL said in the press note.
— PTI
|
|
A-I may fly from Amritsar to UK
New Delhi, December 7 The minister’s assurance came after a number of Left party members from West Bengal demanded that Kolkata be immediately put on the Air-India map. Mr Patel assured Congress member M S Gill that the government would favourably consider commencing operations to certain destinations in UK and Canada from Amritsar airport. The Minister informed the House that during bilateral civil aviation meetings in September last, India and UK had decided to enhance bilateral air services operations from the existing 19 services per week to 40 services per week. He said Air-India proposes to add six services to London by next summer, including one in January, subject to availability of slots.
|
|
Bill to streamline bourses adopted
New Delhi, December 7 Replying to a brief discussion on the Bill, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said this legislation would encourage retail investors to come to stock markets as “they were the driving force of any stock market.” The Securities Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2004 envisages allowing, in certain cases, members of one stock exchange to enter into contract with members of other stock exchanges subject to such terms and conditions as stipulated by respective stock exchanges with prior approval of Sebi, he said. Pointing out to the provision of the Bill that all stock exchanges would have to submit their schemes with Sebi, Mr Chidambaram said once approved, it would have to be implemented in a set time frame. It also proposes certain amendments in the Depositories Act, 1996, providing for enhancing existing penalties, making provision for monetary penalty for certain contraventions and providing for crediting penalties into the Consolidated Fund of India, the Minister said. He said the voting rights of the shareholders would be limited to 25 per cent under the new law. The Sebi was being empowered to issue directions, he
said.
|
|
Bangladesh gives nod to Indo-Myanmar gas pipeline
New Delhi, December 7 “We have a positive bent of mind towards a Myanmarese gas pipeline to India,” said Mr Saifur Rahman, Bangla Minister for Finance and Planning, at the India Economic Summit, jointly organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry and the Davos-based World Economic Forum. Asked about charging a transit fee for allowing the pipeline to pass through Bangladesh, the minister said the issue of levying a transit fee never came up for discussion. “In principle, at the government level we will discuss the pipeline issue,” he said. India plans to build the 290-km pipeline, which is expected to cost more than $ 1 billion. The pipeline will enter eastern Bangladesh through its Brahmanbaria border and cross into West Bengal through the northern Rajshahi border. The pipeline would enable supply of gas from A-1 block in Myanmar to India. South Korea’s Daewoo International operates and owns 60 per cent of Myanmar’s gas-rich A-1 block, in which Oil and Natural Gas Corp. Ltd. holds 20 per cent stake, while Gail India Ltd. and Korea Gas Corp each hold 10 per cent. ONGC is also expected to pick up 30 per cent stake in Daewoo’s 100 per cent-owned A-3 block which is close to A-1, and could hold 6 trillion cubic feet of recoverable gas.
|
|
Flexcube on Linux
Chandigarh, December 7 The company plans to accelerate its Linux-based deployments to meet the increasing customer demand for such industry-standard solutions.
|
bb
Nestle Bhel De Beers Guj NRE Coke Asiamoney External debt |
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
