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Gail inks pact with Bangladesh firm
India to explore oilfields with Kazakistan
Govt mulling FDI in construction
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Deora’s firms returned Info equity, says Reliance
PNB leads in giving credit to women
Non-lapsable fund for health likely
Rediff ties up with Ensim Corp
Cafe Coffee Day to focus on region
HP server sales up
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Gail inks pact with Bangladesh firm
New Delhi, February 15 The MoU was signed on the sidelines of the third Asia Gas Buyers’ Summit, by Mr B. S. Negi, Director (Planning), Gail, and M. Khalid H. Khan from Spectra. As part of this MoU, Gail will consider undertaking CNG and gas distribution projects on a Build, Own, Operate and Transfer (BOOT) basis as offered by the Government of Bangladesh/authorised agency in Bangladesh. Spectra will offer certain services required in the implementation of projects in a cost-effective and timely manner and provide necessary support and coordination in obtaining all the statutory clearances required for such projects. Gail and Spectra will jointly identify opportunities for setting up gas sector training facilities in Bangladesh. Spectra will develop business opportunities involving Gail’s expertise in CNG, gas distribution and marketing to private and public sector companies in Bangladesh. Gail and Spectra will also offer consultancy services to Petrbangla and its subsidiaries and other companies on design development, operation and maintenance and feasibility studies for CNG, gas distribution and marketing projects in Bangladesh.
Also signs MoU with Infosys The initiative will include development of information technology solutions for system safety management, system integrity management and customer services. The two companies will also jointly impart training to clients for the use of software and other services. Infosys and Gail will form a joint working group to work out the modalities of creating a software solution for the Retail Gas/ Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) market.
— TNS
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India to explore oilfields with Kazakistan
New Delhi, February 15 Both the countries are expected to sign agreements on
mutual cooperation in the field of hydrocarbons, IT and biotechnology, Mr Aiyar said at a press conference here today. “There is a vast scope in the field of energy sector to expand ties that would mutually benefit the both countries.
Kazakistan has one of the highest oil reserves and there is scope for Indian companies to explore joint ventures, participation in the ongoing projects and to invest in new fields,” he said. He said the emphasis of two-day discussions would be on enhancing the cooperation between the two countries in hydrocarbon sector and the ONGC
Vides Limited
(OVAL) would try to get contracts for certain blocks or oilfields for exploration in the oil rich
Kazakistan.
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Govt mulling FDI in construction
New Delhi, February 15 “We are reviewing FDI provision relating to investment in construction, housing sector. We are examining it with the aim of spurring development and generating employment in rural sector,” he said here while speaking at conference organised by the CII and UNDP and Ministry of Urban Development. Without giving any time frame for allowing FDI into the construction sector, Mr Nath said that discussion were on with the stakeholders. Under the existing policy, FDI is permitted only in township development. Meanwhile, India and Italy have set a bilateral trade target of Euro 5 billion to be achieved within two years. At a meeting of the India-Italy Business Forum, which was attended by the President of Italy Mr Carlo Azeglio Ciampi and the Italian Minister for Production Activities, Industry, Energy and Trade, Mr. Antonio Marzano and others, Mr Nath said that the volume of two-way trade between India and Italy with a total turnover of about Euro 3 billion was growing at about 10 per cent. He said it was way below the potential and expressed confidence that with the enabling environment in India’s foreign trade sector, trade and industry on both sides would be able to achieve the target.
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Left warns govt on FDI–in-banks issue
New Delhi, February 15 “Any effort to bypass Parliament, by adopting the notification route invoking Section 4 of Banking Regulation Act, will be met with opposition,” CPM, CPI, RSP and Forward Bloc said in a 13-page joint note sent to the government. They said the Left would oppose the proposed FDI hike up to 74 per cent in private banks and easing of voting rights. Notifying the dilution of BR Act, allowing acquisition of shares above the existing RBI guidelines by foreign investors and subsequently presenting the amendment in Parliament as a “fait accompli” would not be acceptable, it said. Citing RBI’s draft guidelines issued on February 3, 2004, it said any acquisition over five per cent was not allowed and voting rights restrictions and other related provisions of the BR Act should continue to be applicable. Referring to the National Common Minimum Programme, which states that the social obligations imposed by the regulatory bodies on private banks will be monitored strictly, the Left said, “Can the government abide by this commitment if the foreign and private ownership norms of banks are diluted?” Asking the government to increase the efficiency of the banking system within the existing regulatory framework, the Left parties said funds should go to credit-starved rural areas, particularly into agriculture and not agri-business. “It is unfortunate that the UPA government has chosen to carry forward the policy of the banking deregulation following the footsteps of the NDA Government, despite the cautious approach adopted by the RBI,” it said.
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Deora’s firms returned Info equity, says Reliance
New Delhi, February 15 The three companies — Fairever Traders, Prerna Auto and Softnet Traders — had taken the shares reportedly in 2002 and were believed to have returned them in December 2004, a little after the controversy broke in mid-November when Mukesh and his younger brother Anil Ambani began their public spat. In a bid to establish that there was no wrongdoing in share allocation, RIC said in a statement that it had given some equity to the three nominee companies of Ashish Deora as a nominal compensation for helping the company in obtaining permissions for buildings and right of way. “However, Deora was not able to fulfil his commitments. As a result, the shares were returned to the trust. The three companies or Deora do not hold any shares of RIC,” the statement said . There were some media reports linking these companies to former Communication Minister Pramod Mahajan prompting Infocomm to issue a stern denial to say there was no Mahajan link. Mukesh Ambani, facing criticism on 12 per cent sweat equity, had returned fifty crore shares, estimated to have been valued at about Rs 7,000 crore in December and this is the second incident of some other shareholders returning the equity.
— PTI
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PNB leads in giving credit to women
Chandigarh, February 15 Addressing a seminar on Women Empowerment, General Manager of the bank’s North Zone, Mr B.P. Chopra, said they had set a target of financing 3,000 Self-Help Groups in Haryana by March 31, 2005 and have already financed 1,622 groups, of which 957 are all women groups. He said the bank’s credit to women beneficiaries had increased from Rs 1,790 crore in March 2003 to Rs 2,606 crore in March 2004. The bank has introduced several innovative schemes for women like the Mahila Sashaktikaran Abhiyan and Mahila Samridhi Yojna to facilitate credit on easy terms by offering special relaxations in terms of softer interest rates, low margins and partial waiver of up-front fee to women beneficiaries. Under the former, in priority sector advances to the women rate of interest has been reduced by 0.50 per cent per annum. In the non-priority sector advances the rate of interest to the women borrowers has been reduced to 0.25 per cent per annum. Women attending the seminar highlighted the practical problems being faced by them in accessing the channels of institutional finances and the procedural formalities involved. Presiding over the seminar, Mrs Umesh Nanda, Commissioner and Secretary, Institutional Finance and Credit Control, Haryana, impressed upon the need for a policy change to make more and more women self reliant through its schemes. “Provision of timely and adequate institutional finance will help strengthen the empowerment process and bring them in the mainstream,” she said. Enterprising women from various fields were honoured on the occasion and bank officials also assured to formulate some policy for helping the artists.
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Non-lapsable fund for health likely
New Delhi, February 15 Sources said that the government is also considering renaming the existing rural health mission to that of public health mission in order to increase the spread of the scheme and bring the urban poor under its ambit. The National Rural Health Mission, which was approved by the Union Cabinet only last month, aims at integrating different vertical programmes, decentralising health care service delivery at the village, and improving intersectoral action. Sources said that the non-lapsable fund, which is under consideration of the government, might be set up by the proceeds of a cess on cigarettes, tobacco and other health hazardous projects. Sources said that a major portion of the budgetary outlay would be earmarked for national programmes for control of communicable and other diseases. The outlay on medical and public health mainly includes allocation for national AIDS control programmes, vector-borne diseases (malaria, kala azar, Japanese encephalitis, filaria and dengue) control programmes, leprosy eradication programme, cancer research and control programme, including tobacco-free initiatives, TB control programme and medical education and research programmes. Sources said the government is particularly concerned about the very low level of public investment in health. “The level of public investment in health is grossly inadequate. It is about 1 per cent of the GDP and this translates to about one-fifth of the total health related expenditure in the country”, they said. Raising government investment in the health sector is one of the avowed priorities of the UPA government as envisaged in the National Common Minimum Programme (NCMP). The CMP has promised an increase in government spending to 2 to 3 per cent of GDP. “Additional budgetary support is required for the control of several communicable disease and also to give a boost to the national AIDS control effort”, source said. The non-lapsable fund for health would operate along the lines of Elementary Education Fund. Sources said there is also a likelihood that of constituting a special health insurance scheme for the rural poor.
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Rediff ties up with Ensim Corp
Chandigarh, February 15 “This tie-up will enable the Indian SME segment to create their own advertisement campaigns, which would be displayed on the portal. Besides this, they would be able to create blogs, enhance online chat, and take benefit of other high-demand hosted services,” said Mr Uday Sodhi, Vice-President (Subscriptions), Rediff.com, in an interview with The Tribune. Mr Uday was in Chandigarh today to participate in the e-business conference organised by the CII. He says that with the tie-up business enterprises would be able to host their own websites and share the same server as that of rediff.com. “This would give SME clients greater accessibility,” he adds. The tie-up would also give the portal users compatibility with standard Linux applications, server-level virus scan and spam filter options. Rediff.com, a Nasdaq-listed firm, which was founded in 1996, has its offices in New York and New Delhi. It is headquartered in Mumbai and has over 33 million registered users. The portal has constantly been innovating and it was only last year that rediff.com created ripples in the online world when it enhanced mail storage capacity to 1 GB for its subscribers forcing others to follow suit. “That was a good business strategy and our subscriptions jumped manifolds,” he recalls. With its eyes on B2C (Business-to-Consumer) segment, the portal’s Vice-President predicts another dotcom boom in near future, “which would be more focussed.” “With lead players, like MTNL and Reliance, expressing keen interest in broadband services, Internet penetration is bound to grow and so is online business,” he says. The portal offers a personalised surfing and shopping environment. In the second quarter (ending September 2004) total revenues were $ 2.9 million, an increase of 29 per cent over the same quarter last year, driven by a 73 per cent growth in India online revenues.
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Cafe Coffee Day to focus on region
Chandigarh, February 15 In the next phase of expansion, focus will be on Punjab and Chandigarh. In this region, the company is venturing into starting cafes on highways and a petrol stations. Meanwhile, Cafe Coffee Day has started Leading Edge Retail Automation (LERA). It enhances table service with wi-fi enabled hand-held order taking devices to avoid delays. Because of this new technique, bills will be printed in a jiffy and clipped to the customer table to reduce staff intrusion. The service also has the facility to get information about customer name and preferences by tracing to previous orders. Soon, the customers will be provided with the facility of payment by credit cards.
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HP server sales up
Bangalore, February 15 The solutions — including servers, software, HP StorageWorks systems and hardware services — span industries such as financial services, manufacturing, network and service providers and the public sector. The company had added new customers like The Bank of New York, Premier Bankcard, Inc., and CRI/Criterion. In addition, HP released new enhancements to the entire Integrity server family.
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Chandigarh, February 15
