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Bangladesh gives transit for gas
ONGC to hire offshore lawyers for
Anil fires fresh salvo at Mukesh
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Rules for unified licensing regime laid
Gail to import LNG
Broadband service launch today
Production starts in Ind-Swift’s new facility
CORPORATE RESULTS
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Bangladesh gives transit for gas from Myanmar
New Delhi, January 13 After persistent efforts, Bangladesh has agreed to provide transit to India to import natural gas from Myanmar, and in return, India will favourably consider granting transit to Dhaka to import hydro-power and a corridor for the supply of commodities from Nepal and Bhutan through the Indian territory. A decision in this regard was taken today at the end of a two-day meeting of petroleum and energy ministers of Myanmar, Bangladesh and India in
Yangon, stated a joint statement issued by the Government of India. The decision is likely to help India meet a major portion of its natural gas requirements in West Bengal, Bihar and Orissa for fertiliser and other industries. Due to security concerns, gas pipeline deal from Iran to India via Pakistan has not been so far signed. “The Government of Myanmar agrees to export natural gas to India by pipeline through the territory of Bangladesh and India to be operated by an international consortium as may be agreed upon by the parties, concerned, based upon technical and commercial feasibility,” said the joint press statement. It added that the governments of Bangladesh and India reserved the right to access the pipeline as and when required, including injecting and siphoning off their own natural gas; details in this regard will be worked out on the basis of commercial agreements. The joint press statement was issued after a tripartite meeting among Myanmar Energy Minister Brig Gen Lun Thi, Bangladesh’s Minister for Energy and Mineral Resources A K H Mosharraf Hossain, and Indian Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar. Earlier Indian Petroleum Minister held separate meetings with his Myanmar and Bangladesh counterparts to work out an agreement that would benefit to both the countries. “The route of the pipeline may be determined by mutual agreement of the three governments with a view to ensuring adequate access, maximum security and optimal economic utilisation,” the statement released here, said. The pipeline was one of several options being considered by India to bring gas reserves at Shwe field in Block A-1 in offshore Myanmar, as well as volumes that are expected to be discovered in its adjacent block A-3. ONGC Videsh has 20 per cent stake and Gail has 10 per cent in both the blocks where South Korea’s Daewoo is the operator. The official sources in the Petroleum Ministry said that Bangladesh is likely to earn about $ 125 million annually as transit fee of the pipeline, which would run through Arakan
(Rakhine) state in Myanmar, the Indian states of Mizoram and Tripura before crossing Bangladesh to
Kolkata. They said about 290 km gas pipeline costing around $ 1 billion would be operated by an international consortium.
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ONGC to hire offshore lawyers for Yukos stake
New Delhi, January 13 “We have asked ONGC to hire legal experts with knowledge of both Russian and US law and appoint international consultants specialising in mergers and acquisitions for studying the implications involved in taking stake in Yuganskneftegaz (Yugansk),” a top official in the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas said. Russian oil firm Rosneft has offered ONGC 15 per cent stake in Yugansk after Moscow effectively nationalised it through an auction last month to collect unpaid tax dues. Yukos, which had got a bankruptcy court in US to stay the auction, has threatened ONGC with legal action if it acquires stake in Yugansk and would seek $ 20 billion in damages. Russia, however, ignored the US court ruling and went ahead with the auction, which ultimately went in favour of
Rosneft. Yuganskneftegaz produces one million barrels per day of oil or over 60 per cent of Yukos output. The official said ONGC was talking to Rosneft and Russian authorities for the stake. “ONGC would do a proper due diligence before deciding on the stake.” “We are not talking to Yukos... We are evaluating an offer (from Rosneft) for 15 per cent stake in Yugansk,” he said downplaying Yukos’ threat of legal action. “We are discussing an offer made by a sovereign government and its legally established company,” he added.
Picks stake in Gujarat find
ONGC has picked up 30 per cent stake in Hindustan Oil Exploration Co’s Pramoda oil discovery in Gujarat. “We have exercised our ‘walk-in’ right of 30 per cent in Pramoda oil field in Block CB-ON/7 in onshore Cambay basin,” a company official said. The block had HOEC and Gujarat State Petroleum Corp Ltd as equal partners with 50 per cent stake each. With ONGC farming in, HOEC and GSPC would hold 35 per cent apiece.
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Anil fires fresh salvo at Mukesh
New Delhi, January 13 Anand
Jain, director of Reliance company IPCL and confidant of RIL Chairman Mukesh Ambani, was the target of a letter sent by Anil to his brother. Anil had attacked Jain earlier this month also by accusing him of conspiring to divide the family. The fresh attack from the younger brother comes amid reports that a formula for legal separation was being worked out at the behest of Kokila Ben, the widow of Reliance founder Dhirubhai Ambani, by ICICI Bank Chairman
K.V. Kamath. Referring to his letter of January 3, where he had tendered resignation as Vice-Chairman of
IPCL, Anil said in his latest communication that Anand Jain was a Director on the Board of the erstwhile PSU acquired by the group in 2002 and was also acting as a distributor of the company. “This is obvious conflict of interest,” the younger brother said in his letter to the Chairman of IPCL, Mukesh Ambani, and requested guidance on the issue, according to sources close to Anil Ambani. While officials and spokesperson in RIL were not willing to comment, sources in Anil’s camp said the letter referred to media reports on Anand Jain’s dealings with IPCL and RIL.
— PTI
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Rules for unified licensing regime laid
New Delhi, January 13 In its recommendations issued today, Trai said a licensee should be able to provide any or all telecom services by acquiring a single license. However, to offer ‘broadcasting services’, the unified licensee will have to apply to the I&B Ministry in case such a clearance is required and fulfil other requirements as prescribed, it said. Customers can get all telecom services, including voice, data, cable TV,
DTH, radio broadcasting through a single wire or wireless medium from a unified licensed operator. The service specific licensing regime permitted to be continued till two years of implementation of unified licensing regime. The registration fee shall be Rs 107 crore besides entry fee paid by new basic operators who entered after 2001. The total registration fee shall be reduced gradually reduced to Rs 30
lakh after five years. Significantly, under the new recommendation, niche operators would be allowed to operate in short distance charge areas
(SDCAs) with fixed rural teledensity below one per cent, providing fixed telecom services including multimedia Internet telephony and other IP enabled services only in these SDCAs. Trai also recommended a reduction in revenue share as licence fee to a maximum of 6 per cent from the current 15 per cent of the adjusted gross revenue and proposed no revenue share or entry fee for a number of services. Standalone licenses for broadcasting services would continue to be issued. After a period of two years no new service specific license, including unified access license, as in the existing licensing regime, shall be issued and all new service providers shall be licensed under the unified licensing regime. Meanwhile, Telecom Dispute Settlement Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) today allowed Tata Teleservices to continue with the advertisement for its fixed wireless service, Walky, which Trai had termed as `misleading’ and asked the operator to withdraw. TDSAT, however, asked Trai to issue a show-cause notice to the company for Walky, which has been advertised as ‘Freedom of mobility at landline rates.’
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Gail to import LNG
New Delhi, January 13 “Gail seeks to source additional LNG from multiple sources across the globe. Supplies of LNG to Gail offer attractive and long-term business opportunities for potential suppliers of consistent high sales volumes.
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Broadband service launch today
New Delhi, January 13 Minister of Communications and Information Technology Mr Dayanidhi Maran will launch the Broadband Services from Chennai. The services will also be launched simultaneously from Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Kolkata through video-conferencing.
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Production starts in Ind-Swift’s new facility
Chandigarh, January 13 This is in addition to the existing macrolides facilities, which is due for FDA inspection in early 2005. The new facility will help the filing of the four drug manufacturing facilities in the US, which will enable the company to participate in the $10 billion opportunity by 2006-08. The company is in talks with a number of Global Generic Companies for contract manufacturing deals.
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Corporate results
Mumbai, January 13 Announcing the results, the company said its total income is Rs 2,219.86 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2004. As TCS has been demerged from the parent group company Tata Sons recently, the company has no comparable quarter review figures. The TCS Group has posted a net profit of Rs 713.31 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2004. Total income is Rs 2691.78 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2004.
Hero Honda
Hero Honda Motors Ltd today announced impressive
financial results for the nine-month period, April-December 2004. The results were announced following the company’s board meeting held today. Sales volume zoomed to 19,35,981 motor cycles, up by a significant 31 per cent as compared to 14,77,429 units sold during the corresponding period last year. Profit after tax grew to Rs 603 crore, an increase of 17 per cent.
Indiabulls
Indiabulls Financial Services Ltd has posted a net profit of Rs 18.4 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2004 as against Rs 6.7 crore in the same period last fiscal. The total income for the reporting quarter rose by 116 per cent to Rs 47.1 crore from Rs 21.8 crore in October-December 2003, the company said in a release here today. The strong growth was achieved amidst tepid market turnover, as overall trading volumes were approximately flat, its Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Sameer Gehlaut said.
iGate
iGate Global Solutions Limited today posted a net profit of Rs 18.98 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2004, a jump of 218 per cent. The company had reported an income of Rs 124.85 crore for the period October-December 2004, up 24.67 per cent over Rs 100.14 crore in the third quarter last year. It has posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 15.84 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2004, as compared to a net loss of Rs 2.66 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2003. Total income stood at Rs 157.80 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2004, as against Rs 145.36 crore for the period in 2003.
— TNS, Agencies
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