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Public sector banks get autonomy
ONGC signs pact with Russia’s Gazprom
IA launches scheme for executive class
Wage Board for newspaper staff ‘shortly’
Tax incentives for EOUs likely
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Nath defends chilli exports
Bajaj Allianz to have more bank partners
Group to study opening up of legal services
First tranche of FCI bond issue presented
Textile expert upbeat on
Auto scene
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Public sector banks get autonomy for acquisitions
New Delhi, February 22 “To enable public sector banks to be better equipped with greater operational flexibility to transact business more efficiently, the government has issued a blueprint in making room for such autonomy to provide the public sector banks with a level playing field so as to compete effectively with the private sector banks in India”, the Finance Ministry said. The move is expected to trigger a major round of consolidation exercise within the banking landscape in the country. At present, there are 28 public sector banks and 29 private sector banks in the country. As per the government’s decision today, the Board of Public Sector Banks will enjoy freedom to carry out their functions efficiently “without any impediment”, subject to statutory requirements, government policy prescription and regulatory guidelines issued by the RBI from time to time, it said. Banks will be allowed freedom of action in the following areas:
The managerial autonomy to banks has also been attached with performance linked parameters. These include: a track record of three years consecutive profit, capital adequacy ratio of over 9 per cent, net non-performing assets (NPAs) of less than four per cent, minimum owned funds of Rs 300 crore, capital adequacy ratio of 9 per cent The public sector banks fulfilling these criteria will have additional autonomy for framing their own HR policies and procedures for recruitment, for creating additional posts of General Managers, for sanctioning differential pay linked to performance within the pay scales decided after negotiations and for deciding the amount of contribution to be made to the staff welfare fund, the Finance Ministry said. The government claims that the decision to offer managerial and functional autonomy to banks are consistent with the commitments made in the National Common Minimum Programme (NCMP). Experts tracking the developments in the country’s banking sector said that granting functional autonomy to public sector banks was long overdue. However, caution should be maintained mergers take place with “regional synergies” in mind as several public sector banks have a distinct regional character and not entirely pan-Indian. The Narasimham Committee, upon whose recommendations the first phase of the banking sector reforms were initiated in the 1990s,had suggested merger of existing public sector banks to achieve optimal efficiency.
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ONGC signs pact with Russia’s Gazprom
Moscow, February 22 ONGC, which already is investing over $ 2.7 billion in Russia’s giant Sakhlain-I oil and gas project, is negotiating a stake in Sakhlain-III and Vankor oil and gasfields and is talking to Gazprom for a tie-up for all aspects of gas business — production to shipping. ONGC chairman Subir Raha and Gazprom head Alexei Miller signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) that provides for assessment of prospects of collaboration in joint oil and gas projects in India, Russia and third countries and deliveries of the joint production in India and third countries. Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar said ONGC’s foreign arm ONGC Videsh Ltd is a ‘zero-debt’ company and can raise up to $ 25 billion for investments in various projects in Russia and other countries. OVL has bagged projects in 10 countries and will participate in future tenders to develop oil and gas deposits in Eastern Siberia, Mr Raha said. New Delhi is encouraging its companies to acquire stakes in oilfields abroad as its domestic production has reached a plateau at 33 million tonnes and meets only 30 per cent of the demand. Mr Aiyar arrived here yesterday on a two-day visit to woo Russian investment in Indian oil and gas exploration and production and also met his Russian counterpart to explore possibilities for ONGC’s involvement in oil and gas opportunities in the former Communist nation.
— PTI
Crude oil imports jump
New Delhi: With the rise in demand for petroleum products, India’s crude oil imports have increased by 8.5 per cent, to 8.615 million tonnes as against 7.939 million tonnes imports during corresponding period last year. Domestic demand for refined petroleum products rose by 3.3 per cent to 9.658 million tonnes in January as against 8.134 million tonnes a year ago. Consumption of diesel, which accounts for 40 per cent of the oil product basket, increased 8.5 per cent to 3.319 million tonnes while petrol demand sore 10.1 per cent to 688,300 tonnes. “Private firms, who control 3 per cent of the oil market, registered 9.6 per cent growth in petroleum product sales as against 2.2 per cent recorded by public sector firms,” said an official of the Petroleum Ministry. Export of petroleum products jumped 66.1 per cent to 1.454 million tonnes when compared with 8,75,700 tonnes of products exported in January 2004. On the other hand imports remained almost unchanged at 7,15,300 tonnes. India imported 80.434 million tonnes of crude oil in April-January, 7.4 per cent more than 74.88 million tonnes of the corresponding period last year.
— TNS
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IA launches scheme for executive class
New Delhi, February 22 As part of its inaugural promotion on the new sector, Air Deccan is offering a price of Rs 1,499 for one-way travel on the airline for the first 15 days till March 8. After that, the cost of the tickets on the airlines will return its dynamic pricing system. Capt Gopinath, head of the airlines, said they saw a huge potential for the airlines in this sector. Specially as their helicopters were already based at Katra and flying close to 400 pilgrims to the Vaishno Devi shrine everyday. Meanwhile, the Indian Airlines extended its bumper super saver scheme to the executive class providing 16 flight coupons on the domestic sector at Rs 1 lakh. The public sector carrier claimed that it was due to the “consistent market demand” from executive class frequent flyers that the scheme was being launched from tomorrow. The flight tickets would have to be used within a period of one year from the date of issue, an IA spokesperson said. Like the economy class scheme which cost Rs 65,000, the passenger can use these coupons and go straight to the airport to board a flight, provided seats are available. The scheme does not require advance purchase or any other booking condition. If the IA-American Express co-brand card was used for payment for this coupon, an added discount of 5 per cent could be availed of, the spokesperson said. A coupon can be used for any domestic destination, barring travel on four sectors where two coupons would be required for a single flight. These sectors are Delhi to Kochi, Kozhikode, Thiruvananthapuram and Coimbatore and vice versa. The only requirement for the passenger would be to carry a valid photo identity document, which would also be used at the time of booking, the spokesperson said.
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Wage Board for newspaper staff ‘shortly’
Kolkata, February 22 Talking to newsmen at the All-India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) office here, Mr Rao said the wage board has been “long overdue” as it had been eight years since such a board had given a report for wage revision. The Ministry, he said, will stipulate a timeframe of around a year for submission of the report of the wage board. “The last time the wage board was formed they submitted the report after five years. This time we will make sure that they submit the report within the timeframe stipulated by the ministry so that the amendments can be implemented within a timeframe,” he said. The Labour Ministry, Mr Rao said, will also make arrangements for the board members to visit various places to assess the facts rather than to sit at Delhi while preparing a report.
— UNI
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Tax incentives for EOUs likely
New Delhi, February 22 The tax incentives that are under consideration of the government include removal of sunset clause in Para 10 B of the Income Tax Act to encourage fresh investments in the scheme. In addition, EOUs may also receive exemption of central sales tax, the reason being these cannot be factored into the export price and thus have to be neutralised, sources said. Sources said the EOUs should be put on an even keel with the Special Economic Zones (SEZs). The empowered Group of Ministers (GoM) have recently cleared the SEZ Bill and once approved by the Parliament will allow units set up in SEZs to avail of special fiscal and other benefits. Unlike SEZs, where the infrastructure is built by the government, EOUs are primarily located in the underdeveloped areas and quite often have to create their own infrastructure consuming a large chunk of investment. Moreover, while units within SEZs are bound by special legislations, EOUs have to general norms and conditions. Besides, as against SEZs, EOUs are present in all 22 states, he said. Indications are that without appropriate fiscal and other incentives, investment in EOUs would follow a declining trend. This can be gauged from the fact that the level of investment in EOUs has been constantly declining over the last few years. From Rs 18,168 crores in 2002-03, the cumulative investment in EOUs have come down to Rs 17,586 crores in 2003-04. In value terms, exports from EOUs last year stood at Rs 28,000 crore and the government is of the view that with an appropriate incentive system, the sector has a potential to grow by more than 10 per cent on annualised basis.
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Nath defends chilli exports
New Delhi, February 22 A five-tonne consignment of chilli powder imported from India reportedly contained traces of Sudan -I—a carcinogenic element. This had resulted in recall of the consignment and triggered panic in several countries across the world.
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Bajaj Allianz to have more bank partners
Ludhiana, February 22 Mr Sam Ghosh, country manager, Bajaj Allianz, who was here today, said the company attained 300 per cent growth last year and expects a 100 per cent growth this year. Such a stupendous growth would not have been possible without the efforts of bancassurance partners, agents and company’s sales team. The company is currently generating around 26 per cent of its business through bancassurance partners, he revealed. Mr Ghosh said now that private insurers have captured a large chunk of the total insurance business in the country, challenges with them lie in terms of widening their distribution network and combating competition among themselves.
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Group to study opening up of legal services
New Delhi, February 22 Under the WTO negotiations, international trade in services is categorised under four different “Modes”. These are: Mode 1: Cross-border supply. Mode 2: Consumption abroad. Mode 3: Foreign commercial presence. Mode 4: Movement of natural persons. A developing country such as India with high abundance of skilled manpower in various disciplines is likely to benefit as restrictive controls of movement of people across territorial frontiers diminish under the agreement coming under Mode 4 or “Movement of natural persons”. Movement of natural persons is linked to other negotiations because many services need the applied knowledge, expertise and technical skills of individuals if they are to be supplied successfully. The ability to move key personnel into foreign markets in order to provide a service is an essential component of business strategy for all kinds of suppliers with international operations. The reality around the world, however, is that nearly every country has visa, residence and work permit restrictions which can impede or delay the movement of professionals to country locations where they are needed. Services liberalisation talks have tended to concentrate on issues such as cross-border supply and commercial presence. But India, and a number of other developing countries, including Thailand, Egypt and Argentina, argued that their service providers did not have the capital to establish branches or subsidiaries abroad (i.e. to have commercial presence).
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First tranche of FCI bond issue presented
New Delhi, February 22 This is the first tranche of private placement of the maiden issue of the Government of India Guaranteed Bonds by the Corporation; carrying an average rate of 7.12 per cent for the tenure of 5 to 10 years, an official press note said. The FCI Bond issue was oversubscribed to the extent of Rs 9,000 crore in a record time of just one day against the target of Rs 1,000 crore. The current issue of bonds is the first tranche out of the total Rs 5,000 crore market borrowings size approved by the government in phase I. The private placement of bonds for the remaining amount is being completed in the current financial year. The FCI has already initiated the process for further borrowings to the extent of Rs 5,000 crore by way of bonds/term loans in phase-II. The amount raised by way of current Bond Issue is the first step towards Debt Restructuring Plan of the FCI. An appropriate mix of borrowings by way of bonds, term loans and consortium financing for meeting the total funding requirements of FCI would be resorted to.
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Textile expert upbeat on India’s skill
Jalandhar, February 22 Mr Munish Tyagi, a Delhi-based textile expert, said this while interacting with the media after the inauguration of a two-day UGC-sponsored national seminar on “Service marketing in design industry” organised by Apeejay College of Fine Arts here today. Mr Tyagi said lifting of the quota regime on textile industry for world trade since January this year had given the textile industrialists of India a free hand. He said since China did not have skilled labour for embroidery works and was not dealing in small orders, India could definitely fill in the gap. The textile expert said that China industrialists were smart enough in pre-empting the situation as they had already made a huge investment. |
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Auto scene
Mumbai, February 22 “Along with better power and torque, the Scorpio 2.6 Turbo CRDe offers additional benefits in the form of cleaner exhausts, which makes it compliant with the BS III auto emission norms,” M&M executive director and president Alan Durante told reporters here. The new ‘Scorpio’ would be priced about Rs 33,800 higher than the basic model, he said, adding the Turbo CRDe is one of the most powerful engines on the Indian road with a silent BHP of 115 HP. M&M COO (automotive sector) Pawan Goenka said the company has finalised a Russian joint venture partner for setting up a local assembly unit in that country for its vehicles. “However, an announcement about the partner and operations would be made later,” Mr Goenka said. M&M would add Russia and Malaysia to its present four export destinations for vehicles and also plans to enter the Chinese market, he said. The exports have gone up 70 per cent during the current fiscal from a very small base, he said, adding overall sales growth is expected to be about 25 per cent during 2004-05. Suzuki Motors
Japan-based Suzuki Motor, which makes cars with Maruti in India, plans to develop two new global models by 2007 as competition increases with Toyota Motor and Hyundai Motor in Asia’s fourth-largest vehicle market. The new models may be bigger than the Suzuki Swift compact car made in Japan, China, India and Hungary, President Hiroshi Tsuda said in Hamamatsu city, southwest of Tokyo. The new models would help Suzuki fend off challenges by Toyota, Hyundai Motor and other larger carmakers, which are investing to catch up in India. Suzuki, Japan’s largest maker of minicars, will also make and sell the models in Europe and Asia to seek new markets. ‘We want to maintain our 50 per cent share in India,” said Tsuda. “We aim to release a model that is suitable in four main areas in the US, Europe and Asia, excluding Japan.” The Swift was Suzuki’s first global model. The compact car, which comes with either a 1.3-liter or 1.5-liter engine, was designed in Europe because customers in “Japan and other Asian countries tend to favour European designs,” Tsuda said. Hyundai Motor said it would open a second India factory by 2007 to increase its market share to 20 per cent from 17 per cent. Toyota also plans to sell Daihatsu mini-cars in India from 2008 onwards, aiming to raise its market share to 10 per cent by 2010 from 1.5 per cent.
— Agencies |
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