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Govt to sell equity in Bhel, Maruti next fiscal
Centre for exporters in Chicago by March
A-I taps banks for aircraft financing
Rules laid for pvt carriers flying abroad
Security for LPG connections up
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Oil PSU workers oppose mega-merger plan
No decision yet on hiking gas prices
The upgraded Maruti 800 with more user-friendly features. The upgraded cars will be rolled out in the country over the next 10 days. — PTI
photo
Banks in Punjab disburse Rs 9,842 cr to farmers
Holcim sells shares to fund ACC bid
NTPC net grows 66 pc
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Govt to sell equity in Bhel, Maruti next fiscal
New Delhi, January 25 The selloff is expected to realise an estimated Rs 2,500 crore and the matter will come up for discussion at the Cabinet meeting scheduled for Thursday. “We agreed today that there will be disinvestment of 10 per cent shares in Bhel and 7.5 per cent stake in Maruti”, Heavy Industry Minister Santosh Mohan Dev told newspersons after a meeting with Finance Minister P Chidambaram here today. The government holds 52.82 million shares of MUL comprising 18.2 per cent stake in the company. At current prices, the divestment of 7.5 per cent equity in MUL is expected to realise Rs 800-900 crore. In Bhel, the government holds 165,7,55000 shares which is equivalent to 67.72 per cent to the total stake. Divestment of 10 per cent equity in the company is expected to generate about Rs 1600 crore. “The shares of Bhel and MUL will be sold in the next fiscal as we expect better value as Bhel likely to post good results. Maruti’s performance has been good”, Mr Dev said. “We have reached a broad agreement on the modalities,” Finance Minister P Chidambaram said, adding that mechanisms will be decided later. Mr Dev said that Bhel employees will be offered as many shares of the company that they can buy. The money generated from the selloff of government equities in these two companies will be used for funding social sector schemes and also for recapitalisation of other public sector undertakings (PSUs).
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Centre for exporters in Chicago by March
Ludhiana, January 25 “Our exporters many times lose out on orders to their competitors from other parts of the globe as they lag behind when it comes to reaching out on buyers’ doorstep,” Mr Rajat Srivastava, regional manager, EEPC, said. As buyers do not keep long inventory and are used to getting supplies at a very short notice, the proposed centre would be a major initiative toward a customer-oriented approach. Mr Srivastava said the IEC would provide not only an outlet, but also warehousing facilities, a distribution centre and offer marketing support as well. Often when there emerges a spot demand of a product in the market, the exporter can take advantage of the situation if his products are stored near the market place. Because of the long distance and long voyage time, buyers in the USA and Europe are sceptical in placing orders with Indian firms even if goods are otherwise acceptable to them. Besides, not only long shipping time, non-availability of shipping space on a short notice from Indian ports to ports in the USA and Europe, customs formalities etc are regular problem areas which make it difficult for Indian firms to keep their delivery schedule with their buyers. The showroom will exhibit goods of the participating companies throughout the year. This would help the Indian company to invite their buyer in the US to the showroom and satisfy them on various aspects connected with quality and specifications of goods.
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A-I taps banks for aircraft financing
Singapore, January 25 “We have started negotiations with banks for external financing,” Mr Prasad told reporters on the sidelines of a regional aviation conference, adding he did not see any difficulties in obtaining the funds. He said the new orders would comprise ultra-long range aircraft, medium capacity long-range 350-seater planes and medium capacity long-range 250-seaters. The initial deliveries of the aircraft are expected in 2006, Mr Prasad said. Air-India said late last year that two-thirds of the planned purchase will be on firm order basis and one-third on an optional arrangement. The airline short-listed three types of long-range aircraft — the medium capacity Airbus 340-500 or Boeing 777-200
LR, the 350-seat Airbus 340-600 or Boeing 777-300 ER, and the 250-seat Airbus 330-200 or Boeing 7E7-8. The new aircraft are scheduled to be delivered over a period of 10 years, during which Air-India plans to increase seat capacity by 12 percent annually. Mr Prasad also confirmed plans by another state-run carrier, Indian Airlines, to acquire 43 new aircraft at an estimated cost of $ 2.06 billion. “The government is expediting necessary approvals so that the deal could be finalised by the end of this fiscal year (March 2005) for induction of the first batch of new aircraft by September 2006,” he told the conference. Indian Airlines is also contemplating adding more planes to operate on short-haul and regional routes. “With the opening up of international skies, Indian Airlines has also come up with specific plans for more overseas operations and proposes to induct nine wide-body aircraft in the first phase from November 2005 onward to service the news international routes,” Mr Prasad said.
— AFP
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Rules laid for pvt carriers flying abroad
New Delhi, January 25 As per the eligibility criteria laid down by the guidelines, the carriers should have continuous operations of at least five years in the domestic sector and a minimum fleet size of 20 aircraft. Besides, they should have a valid air operator’s permit, should be cleared by the Ministry of Home Affairs and have the approval of the Aircraft Acquisition Committee. Except Air-India (AI) and the Indian Airlines (IA), other carriers will not be allowed to operate to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia for three years. For the purpose of route allocation, due consideration will be given to the operational plans of A-I and IA before allocating routes to other eligible carriers. All eligible carriers will be asked to submit their operational plan in the first and the third quarter of each year. At any point of time operational plan of up to a year will be considered for route and traffic right allocation. Allocation of traffic rights to carriers will depend on the availability of traffic rights to the particular countries/ routes. If the total entitlements fall short of the requirements projected by the eligible airlines, allocation of entitlements will be in the ratio of available seat kilometres (ASKMs) deployed by the carriers on domestic routes over the past five years. For this purpose, ASKM deployment of carriers in domestic sector will be determined twice a year — on January 1 and July 1 of each year. Traffic entitlements decided on the basis of ASKM deployment will be rounded off to the nearest whole number.
— UNI
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Security for LPG connections up
New Delhi, January 25 “Orders for increasing security deposit from Rs 650 per cylinder to Rs 850 were issued last week,” said an official in the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas here today. The oil companies have been pressing upon the government to allow them to increase security deposits. The deposit was lowered from Rs 900 to Rs 700 per cylinder in February 2002 based on cylinder procurement price of Rs 690-750. It was further reduced to Rs 650 per cylinder in March 2003 as procurement price fell to Rs 550 during mid-2003.
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Oil PSU workers oppose mega-merger plan
New Delhi, January 25 Meanwhile, the CPI (M) has announced its opposition to the government’s move to disinvest in Bhel and Maruti Udyog Ltd claiming that it was against the spirit of the common minimum programme (CMP). An alliance of 30 trade unions including those affiliated to the pro-Left Centre of Indian Trade Unions (Citu) and All-India Trade Union Congress (Aituc) and the pro-Congress Indian National Trade Union Congress (Intuc) have decided to begin a “phased industry wide agitation” from February 14. The agitational programme will begin with a mass awareness campaign on the restructuring of oil PSUs across the country during February 14-19, Citu secretary Tapan Sen said. On February 25, joint demonstrations will be held by oil PSU workers in their workplaces, including refineries, bottling plants, depots and offices. The demonstrations will coincide with the first day of the Budget session of Parliament, Mr Sen said. An All-India Convention of the National United Forum of Oil and Petroleum Workers to be held in Chennai in March will decide the next course of action, he added. The trade unions are opposing the move to hand over newly-discovered oil fields to private companies, besides disinvestment in oil PSUs, off-loading of jobs and contract work.
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No decision yet on hiking gas prices
New Delhi, January 25 The GoM also did not arrive at a decision on the Petroleum Regulatory Bill, which seeks to set up a regulatory board for the downstream sector. Talking to reporters after the meeting, Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar said, “the Petroleum Ministry could not complete its presentation and the discussion was inconclusive.” He said the GoM would meet again, ahead of the Budget session to discuss issues, but before that secretaries of different ministries will meet and discuss the matter. The minister said the government did not want to delay the matter. However, the next date of the GoM meeting was not fixed, he added. The GoM is likely to meet after the Bihar, Haryana and Jharkhand elections as the leaders will be busy in the poll process, particularly Fertiliser Minister Ram Vilas Paswan, who was opposing the hike in prices. The Ministry of Petroleum wants to raise the price of natural gas from Rs 2,850 per thousand cubic metres to a fixed price of Rs 3,200 per thousand cubic metres for fertiliser units and Rs 3,600 per thousand cubic metres for the power sector on a provisional basis. The ministry says that prices of gas were revised five years ago and no revision could be effected after that. However, fertiliser, power and steel industry have been opposing any hike as the cost of production will increase. This will result in either increase in fertiliser or power subsidy or increase in retail prices. A few state governments like Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh are also against any hike in prices. But the Ministry said that gas produced by private firms and imported gas (LNG) is being sold at a market-determined price, which is almost double the current price, resulting in losses to public sector companies.
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Euro III version of Maruti 800 rolls out
New Delhi, January 25 The Euro III Maruti 800 standard carries an ex-showroom price of Rs 2,14,678 (Delhi), the auto firm said. The existing Euro II version of the model is currently priced at Rs 2,05,678. Maruti, 54.2 per cent owned by Japan's Suzuki Motor Corp, said it also increased the price of the Euro II version of the Maruti 800 to Rs 2,08,678 from Rs 2,05,678 while the air-conditioned version is priced at Rs 2,37,480. India will introduce tougher Euro III norms, which require lower emissions of hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides, in 11 cities from April, up from Euro II now. The rest part of the country will move to Euro II standards from Euro I. The change is forcing all vehicle makers to add new engine technology and raise vehicle prices to meet increased costs. Earlier this month, Maruti had raised prices of its Zen and Wagon R compact cars and the Baleno sedan.
— UNI
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Banks in Punjab disburse Rs 9,842 cr to farmers
Chandigarh, January 25 Mr Harwant Singh, General Manager, Punjab Zone of Punjab National Bank, while presiding over the meeting said India had strengthened its position as one of the fastest growing economies in the world, with a GDP growth rate of 8.2 per cent during 2003-04. This growth rate had been largely driven by the farm sector which is estimated to grow by 9 per cent (highest since 1998-99), indicating a rebound in agriculture, according to a press note issued here. He further said the index of agriculture production in the last fiscal had risen by 19.6 per cent, which is a 14-year-old record. The General Manager said the banks had disbursed Rs 9,842 crore to farmers as against the annual target of Rs 10,923 crore. Mr Harwant Singh informed that on the recommendation of the Vyas Committee, Punjab National Bank had entered into a tie-up with tractor manufacturers whereby a discount of Rs 4,000 to Rs 7,000 is given to a farmer. He added that the bank in Punjab had achieved national goals of priority sector, agriculture advances and advances to the weaker sector.
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Holcim sells shares to fund ACC bid
Zurich, January 25 The world’s second-biggest cement maker — which is bidding for Britain’s Aggregate Industries Plc and for India’s Associated Cement Companies Ltd — said the shares had been successfully placed in the market in the past few days. Holcim made it clear last week that it would not need a capital increase to fund the two transactions. It is bidding £ 1.8 billion ($3.38 billion) for Aggregate and about $580 million for the Indian cement maker. “We have always said that these two acquisitions which are a significant step forwards for us can be done without a capital increase,” Holcim Chief Executive Markus Akermann told the Finanz und Wirtschaft newspaper in an interview this weekend.
—Reuters
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