 |
|
JCT buys Senegal mill
Economic pricing policy for energy needed: PM
BSE seeks details on Reliance investments
PSEB to appeal against tariff reduction
Package to cheer tea, coffee growers
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Yes Bank outsources IT needs to Wipro
Herbal sweetener
in market
Two new Sebi members appointed
|
|
Aiyar hints at suspension of fortnightly review of oil prices
New Delhi, December 14 The system of fortnightly revision in retail prices was designed when the international crude prices were stable and around $ 20 a barrel. It was not meant for situation of extreme volatility in the global oil market, Mr Aiyar said. “The system was not designed to fix retail prices in case they rose abnormally higher and fell sharply in the international markets,” Mr Aiyar told reporters on the sidelines of a function, organised by Gail (India) Ltd here today. Offers probe
Mr Aiyar offered to probe the pricing mechanism of oil marketing companies, which are charging up to 30 per cent higher than international market prices for different petroleum products under the existing pricing scheme. Replying to a question on whether the oil marketing companies were adding 30 per cent on international market rates for working out retail prices of petroleum products, the minister said it was possible as these companies were fixing prices on the basis of import parity prices. The Minister’s remark assumes significance in the wake of Left parties’ statement that oil companies were making huge money and should roll back prices of all petroleum products. Oil companies were using on set of inputs for calculating the ex-storage price and subsequently the retail price and a different set of inputs for fixing import parity, when they were buying crude oil from ONGC and Oil.
Loss to PSUs
Public sector oil companies lost Rs 9,800 crore in the first six months of 2004-05 fiscal for selling petroleum products below the import cost, Mr Aiyar said. “Owing to non-revision in domestic consumer prices in line with international prices of PDS kerosene, domestic LPG, diesel and petrol during the first half of current fiscal year, April-September 2004, oil marketing companies estimate their under-recoveries at around Rs 9,800 crore,” he said in a written reply to the Upper House of Parliament here. Mr Aiyar said while the government was providing Rs 0.82 per litre subsidy on kerosene, the oil companies were bearing a loss of Rs 7.05 on sale of a litre of kerosene. Similarly on domestic cooking gas LPG, oil firms bore Rs 113.03 per cylinder loss as against Rs 22.58 per cylinder subsidy provided by the government.
Marketing LPG
The government will allow exploration firm ONGC and gas utility Gail to market domestic LPG to increase penetration of the clean cooking fuel to 75 per cent of the population. ONGC and Gail would be allowed to market subsidised LPG but only in unsaturated semi-urban and rural markets. Public sector oil marketers have already withdrawn about 5,000 locations in the country for LPG dealerships, which had been advertised and are now being advised by the Petroleum Ministry to stop appointing dealers in saturated urban markets. — Agencies
|
|
JCT buys Senegal mill
Chandigarh, December 14 Says Mr Samir Thapar, Vice-Chairman-cum-Managing Director of the company, “The manufacturing facility in Senegal comprises 19,000 spindles, 160 rapier looms and 12 circular knitting machines with matching fabric-processing facilities. The unit is capable of producing nine million metres of woven fabric and 1.08 million kg of knits per annum. The company also has sophisticated facilities capable of producing 2.45 million garments annually. The CNLT retains the right of buying the textile operations in Senegal after five years, the initial period of lease.” An SPV — IndoSen — floated to manage the Senegal operations has already made invested $ 3.34 million towards advance lease rentals, pre-operative and start-up expenses. A loan of $ 3.20 million has also been tied up with US Exim towards renovation and balancing equipment. “Our entry into Senegal is aimed at taking advantage of the concessions available under the AGOA agreement which provides for duty concessions ranging from 15 to 27.5 per cent are available for garments coming out of Africa to America and Europe. The advantages arising out of duty cuts and logistical benefit, the garments manufactured at Senegal are expected to provide a competitive edge to JCT,” Mr Thapar told The Tribune over telephone. He also revealed that JCT’s Rs. 32 crore expansion-cum-modernisation programme was under implementation. It would double its cotton fabric dyeing and processing capacity at Phagwara to 28 million metres per annum. A 5-MW captive power plant at Phagwara is under implementation. It also plans to add facilities to produce 100 per cent nylon or polyester fabric suitable for active wear and sportswear garments. JCT is also planning investment in captive power plant at Filament Division at Hoshiarpur. JCT has two composite textile mills in north India, one with an annual capacity of 36 million metres of processed fabric situated at Phagwara and another producing about five million metres of grey fabric at Sriganganagar, in the cotton belt of Rajasthan. JCT has already made its mark as a producer of high quality cotton and poly-cotton fabrics to some leading international brands. JCT also plans to set up garmenting facility in Phagwara. The company would initially target at fabricating work wear garments.
|
|
Economic pricing policy for energy needed: PM
New Delhi, December 14 Speaking after giving away National Energy Conservation Awards at a function to mark National Energy Conservation Day, here today, Dr Manmohan Singh said, “Without an economic pricing policy, albeit one that is sensitive to social inequities and income disparities, it will not be possible for us to sincerely address the challenge of energy conservation”. Dr Manmohan Singh said whatever subsidies are offered to consumers, must be offered transparently and be justified on stated economic, social and political grounds. The Prime Minister also called for aligning of research agenda in industry and trade with the needs of energy conservation. “The rational and economic utilisation of scarce resources is indeed a top national priority for us. We cannot blindly ape the West and pursue a highly resource intensive development or for that matter, resource intensive consumption patterns”, he said. He said that pricing of energy was the most important demand side initiative that the government has to take and the single more important energy conservation step that can be taken is to adopt rational and economic pricing for power. This will ensure that there is a built in incentive for conservation, he observed.
|
|
BSE seeks details on Reliance investments
Mumbai, December 14 Acting on the advice of the Security Exchange Board of India (Sebi), the BSE would shortly issue a formal communication to Reliance Industries Ltd. Following media reports which stated that Reliance Group Chairman Mukesh Ambani had obtained a larger share of Reliance Infocomm at the expense of the average RIL investor, Sebi is looking at corporate governance issues concerning Reliance, according to sources. At the weekly scrutiny meeting of Sebi and the stock exchanges on Monday, the market regulator is believed to have asked bourses to look into the listing agreement provisions of Reliance group companies. Sebi has also asked for the scrutiny of the trading pattern of all listed companies in the Reliance group. Sources say, Sebi chief G. N. Bajpai is personally monitoring developments regarding Reliance. The battle between Mukesh and his brother Anil has resulted in Reliance shares losing enormous value. The group’s net worth has been eroded by over 5 per cent in the last one week. Sebi will be examining the chronological sequence of the developments regarding Reliance to determine whether media leaks on the group’s functioning were aimed to influence share pricing.
|
|
PSEB to appeal against tariff reduction
Ludhiana, December 14 “The regulatory commission took the decision without considering all related aspects. This will result in losses of over Rs 500 crore to the electricity board,” said Mr B.K.Bindal, Engineer-in-Chief, PSEB, who was here in connection with the annual energy conservation day celebrations. Mr Bindal said reduction of electricity tariffs would have an adverse effect on the PSEBs revenues and the board, which registered profits last year, would not be able to maintain the same position. “Consumers have always wanted reduced tariffs. The commission gives us targets of cost reduction but without even reviewing the actual situation the decision to reduce tariffs was taken. There are costs like salaries which cannot be avoided,” he said, adding, “the commission must re-consider its decision.” He said the PSEB had managed to reduce transmission and distribution losses by around 1.5 per cent , nearly Rs 700 crore to Rs 800 crore. Mr Bindal also disclosed that the PSEB had urged the state government to create a parallel police for curbing electricity thefts. “Such measures are required, but a decision on the issue is yet to be taken.” He said owing to crisis, the board had purchased electricity worth around Rs 1,000 crore from outside which had caused huge losses.
|
|
Package to cheer tea, coffee growers
New Delhi, December 14 At the same time, however, the Minister said that the issue of export subsidy in these commodities would depend on WTO mandated norms. “A price stabilisation fund with an initial corpus of Rs 500 crore has been established for providing relief to small growers of plantation commodities like tea, coffee, rubber and tobacco. An expert committee has been set up to review the scheme and to make it more useful and attractive to growers”, he said while replying to a calling attention motion in the Lok Sabha today. Over the past few years, international coffee prices have fallen due to surplus coffee production by the producing countries overtaking the consumption of coffee. “Prices of coffee that were Rs 130 per kg for top grade Arabica and Rs 56 per kg for Robusta in 1997, came down to about Rs 56 per kg and Rs 34 per kg respectively in the year 2003. Since nearly 80 per cent coffee produced in India is exported, the industry is mainly dependent on international coffee prices and the regional trade agreements have not affected the price of coffee”, Mr Nath said. He said that on certain occasions, the international prices of coffee were “artificially high” and also new players such as Guatemala and Vietnam has emerged in the global coffee market.
|
|
Yes Bank outsources IT needs to Wipro
Bangalore, December 14 The services will be provided by Wipro Infotech, on a unique build, own and operate basis. Two agreements were signed today, covering core infrastructure and hardware, branch rollouts, networking, managing the data centre and back-up support for disaster recovery. One of the agreements establishes close collaboration between Yes Bank and Wipro to improve operational efficiencies in banking systems by introducing international best practices. These advances will initially be implemented in Yes Bank and thereafter jointly offered in the international banking and financial services sector. A ‘pay-per-use’ model is expected to facilitate 30 per cent cost savings over the next seven years for Yes Bank, with minimal technology investments on the part of the bank. The bank will also be protected against obsolescence and redundancies in technology. Mr. Rana Kapoor, MD and CEO, Yes Bank said: “This outsourcing partnership will enable us to focus on our core business of banking and strategic imperatives, leaving all technology related aspects in the hands of ‘specialists’, with the convenience of technology on tap.” Mr. Azim Premji, Chairman, Wipro Limited, said: “We are happy to be associated with Yes Bank as their IT outsourcing partner. Our thrust in the banking and financial services has been instrumental in us winning this project.” The two Indian promoters of Yes Bank jointly hold 52 per cent of the bank’s equity while 20 per cent of the equity is held by Rabobank, Netherlands. Three other equity institutional investors — CVC, Citigroup, New York, AIF Capital, Hong Kong, and ChrysCapital, San Francisco, collectively own 25 per cent of the equity. The balance 3 per cent has been subscribed by management executives.
|
|
Herbal sweetener
in market
Chandigarh, December 14 The all-natural herbal product with zero calories has no side effects. Talking to mediapersons here today, Mr S.K Srivastava, Director of the company, said Rigil Biotech has entered into an tie-up with Sunlabel Incorporate, Singapore to develop, manufacture and distribute natural
sweeteners and other products derived from Stevia rebaudiana plant in the country. He claimed that doctors also prescribe it for treating ailments like diabetes, high blood pressure, gingivitis, besides other digestive ailments and addictions. The price has been brought down to Rs 85 for a 100 tablet pack instead of Rs 175 and will be further brought down for the benefit of the consumer.
|
|
Two new Sebi members appointed
New Delhi, December 14 The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the posting of the Madhukar and Anantharaman as whole time members of the Securities and Exchange Board of India. “They have been appointed members till attaining the age of 62 years or until further orders, whichever is earlier,” an official release said. Madhukar was earlier chairman of Kolkata-based United Bank of India. He is credited with turning the bank around and putting it on the profit track. Anantharaman, who was earlier chief commissioner of income tax in Mumbai, was an active member in the Kania committee that laid down the roadmap for demutualisation and corporatisation of bourses.
— PTI
|
bb
Reliance in HP SBI camp Guj Ambuja Bharti Tele |
| 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 | |
In video (
