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Nod to 1,000 MW project for Punjab
China hits back, withdraws export tariff
No transparency in petro pricing, says NGO
India to make revised offer to WTO on opening services sector
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Siemens’ transformer unit in Thane
Iffco to invest $ 1 billion
Ispat eyes sponge iron market
Delhi HC asks Tata Tele to pay BSNL
Bank account
Corporate
results
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Nod to 1,000 MW project for Punjab
New Delhi, May 30 The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas has cleared the proposal submitted by Chief Minister of Punjab for this purpose. It has conveyed GAIL’s participation of up to 10 per cent stake in the proposed joint venture project with PSEB. This will be the second power project in which GAIL will take equity participation. GAIL already has a 12 per cent equity stake in the 156 MW power plant at Hazira of Gujarat State Energy Generation Limited. The project is likely to be executed by the Punjab State Electricity Board and will be funded by the financial institutions. A press statement from the GAIL issued here today stated that the plant will be set up at Doraha, near Ludhiana in Punjab. As per the guidelines of the Power Ministry, the project is likely to have debt-equity ratio of 70:30, implying that around Rs 2,450 crore would raised from the financial institutions. GAIL (India) Limited and the Punjab State Electricity Board have signed Heads of Agreement (HoA) for the supply of 4.5 mmscmd (million metric standard cubic meters per day) of natural gas for the proposed mega power project. The project is likely to be commissioned by the year 2008-09 at an estimated cost of Rs 3,500 crore, it added. In order to meet the demands of the proposed power plant in Doraha and other allied industrial, agricultural, transport and domestic sectors along the line, GAIL will be required to extend its Dadri - Panipat gas pipeline to Ludhiana. The same is being taken up for implementation. Apart from the Doraha power plant, the existing and new fertiliser plants will provide the anchor load for gas and other industrial, agro sectors. The retail gas markets in the catchment area of the pipeline will provide the secondary load. The gas-based Doraha power project will help Punjab to meet the growing power demand in the growing industrial towns of Ludhiana, Mandi Gobindgarh, Khanna, besides increasing supply to the agriculture sector. Once the Iran-India gas pipeline becomes a reality, the power plant may get direct gas supply from Iran via Pakistan, said official sources. Significantly, the peak power shortage in the state has reached over 20 per cent, forcing the state to buy power at hefty price from the eastern and other regions. The Power Ministry has recommended that in view of the increasing coal prices and scarcity, the state should go for the gas-based power projects. In addition, it can have equity stake in the neighbouring Himachal Pradesh, where hydel power potential worth 15,000 MW has so far remained untapped. The government has already declined the state government’s proposal to set up any nuclear power plant in the state due to security reasons in a border state.
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China hits back, withdraws export tariff hike on textiles
Beijing, May 30 China would no longer impose export tariffs on 81 categories of textile products, beginning June 1, the official Xinhua news agency reported. “A previous decision to quintuple the export tariffs on 74 textile categories, on which export tariffs were imposed on January 1 this year, was revoked,” it quoted sources from the Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council, China’s Cabinet, as saying. The export tariff on flax yarn would also be abolished, the commission said. On May 20 China had taken a decision to revoke export tariffs on two categories of textile products. The strong Chinese response comes in the wake of European Union’s decision to impose quotas on imports of Chinese textiles, as well as the US decision to re-impose restrictions on seven kinds of Chinese textile and clothing imports recently. China had yesterday opposed the EU decision to impose quotas on imports of two categories of Chinese textiles. The EU move, based only on a three-month data collection, cannot be termed as an “accurate judge and a correct decision,” Commerce Ministry spokesman Chong Quan said. China hoped that the current trade disputes between the EU and China could be solved through consultations, Mr Chong said. The EU on Friday asked Beijing for formal consultations on two categories of textiles and clothing products — flax yarn and T-shirts.
— PTI
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No transparency in petro pricing, says NGO
New Delhi, May 30 “The claim of huge subsidy burden on petroleum products and bleeding oil companies is exaggerated, and most of the burden is passed on to the consumers,” CUTS Secretary-General Pradeep Mehta said at a Finance Ministry meeting with various stakeholders to get inputs for preparing a roadmap for a new focused subsidy regime. He said the government collected about Rs 6,000 crore as cess on domestically produced crude oil and had an equal amount in the form of petroleum subsidies. “Over the past three decades, the government had collected about Rs 50,000 crore as cess and almost all of it has gone to the coffers of the Finance Ministry. The cess amount now seems to be an implicit arrangement of meeting the petroleum subsidy burden,” Mr Mehta said. The cess was introduced in the mid-70s to provide financial assistance to state-owned companies. Slamming too much intervention, Mr Mehta said though the administered price mechanism was abolished in March, 2002, the government continued to play a major role in determining the prices of petroleum products and there was absolutely no ‘transparency’ in their pricing. He said even the method of calculating subsidies on LPG and kerosene was distorted, as it was based on import parity pricing of petroleum products and not on the basis of unrecovered costs, which was the appropriate figure for calculating subsidy.
— PTI
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India to make revised offer to WTO on opening
New Delhi, May 30 The Cabinet Committee, which met here today
under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, directed the
Commerce Ministry to make improved offers in sectors where initial
offers had already been made in 2003. The sectors in which initial
offers were made included business services, construction and related
engineering services, health related and social services, tourism and
travel related, maritime and transport services. But opening up of
retail, legal and accountancy services would be solely driven by
national interests even though there was a mounting pressure on India
from the USA and other developed countries on the issue. “While
making the revised offer, New Delhi will also be guided by the range and
depth of the improved offers that would be made by the developed
countries in modes and sectors of interest to India,” Commerce
Minister Kamal Nath said. “The Cabinet Committee on WTO discussed
the issue. We will await the offers and requests of other countries
before we make our offer. So far, only Canada and Australia have made
their offers," Mr Nath told reporters after the 90-minute
meeting. Given its strengths in this area, India is a demanding in the
WTO negotiations for liberalisation of trade in services. Currently,
India’s earnings through services exports are estimated at 30 billion dollars. According
to the Boston Consulting Group, this has the potential
to increase to 200 billion dollars by 2020, if the developed countries
provide better access to their markets, especially through improved
offers in respect of Mode 1 (cross-border supply which covers BPO) and
Mode 4 (movement of natural persons), he added.
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Siemens’ transformer unit in Thane
Mumbai, May 30 This is the company’s eighth factory in Maharashtra and the third factory belonging to its Power Transmission and Distribution
(PTD) division. The state-of-art facility will go on stream by the end of 2006, by which time the Maharashtra government and Siemens will sort out the issue of natural gas pipeline connection, power supply and strengthening of infrastructure facilities required for transporting the transformers. The factory will produce transformers for the domestic and export market upto 800 KV (Kilovolt) and 600 MVA
(Megavolt Ampere) ratings for AC and DC technology and special applications transformers for traction furnace applications. Speaking to UNI, Mr Juergen Schubert, Managing Director, Siemens Ltd, India said that they will sell 70 per cent of their transformers in India and 30 per cent of them will be exported. Spread over an area of 40,000 square meters, the new factory will provide direct employment to about 500 persons and another 1000 will get employment in ancillary industries.
— UNI
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Iffco to invest $ 1 billion
Abohar, May 30 Disclosing this, Mr Surinder Kumar Jakhar, Chairman, Iffco, said as a result the fertiliser production capacity of the cooperative would increase to 86 lakh tonnes per annum from the present 61 lakh tonnes. Iffco has targeted fertiliser production of 100 lakh tonnes in the medium term. These investments would also ensure backward integration for assured supply of phosphoric acid, one of the major raw materials. Mr U.S. Awasthi, Managing Director, Iffco, enumerated major components of the new business plan that included a state-of -the-art phosphoric acid plant in Egypt. The project would be executed through a joint venture company with the equity association of El Nasr Mining Co. (ENMC) of Egypt as a joint venture partner. Iffco would hold the majority equity with over 75 per cent along with management control while the Egyptian counterpart ENMC would pitch in with balance equity in the joint venture. ENMC will supply rock phosphate for the project and IFFCO will buy the entire phosphoric acid. This will lend stability to the international prices of phosphoric acid. He said that second phosphoric acid plant would be installed in Kutch district, Gujarat, with a capacity of five lakh tonnes per annum would be set up. This plant would be wholly owned by Iffco. The two phosphoric acid plants are being executed as part of Iffco’s strategy to achieve backward integration vis-à-vis vital ingredients for its DAP production capacities. A DAP / NPK plant, with a capacity of 18 lakh tonnes per annum, would be set up in Kandla. The new facility with the latest know-how would also be fully owned by Iffco. According to Mr Awasthi, Iffco was in advance stage of negotiations with a government entity in Egypt to undertake rock-phosphate mining. This venture will involve production of 20 lakh tonnes of rock phosphate per annum to feed the phosphoric acid plant facility in India. The two phosphoric acid units, one DAP/NPK facility and rock phosphate mining, will involve a total investment of $ 800 million. And, $ 200 million is being invested in Iffco’s energy saving and expansion scheme. This will, eventually, result in subsidy savings worth Rs 800 crore per annum as the production costs of urea would be pruned substantially. Iffco is targeting a debt equity ratio of 2:1 for the $ 1 billion business plan. Negotiations have commenced with both domestic, foreign banks and financial institutions to tie-up the debt funds for the greenfield projects. About $ 670 million would be raised in debt and the rest $ 330 million would be mopped up towards equity. Financial closure for all its new projects would be completed during this fiscal. Commercial production would commence in the first quarter of 2009.
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Ispat eyes sponge iron market
Chennai, May 30 The Mittals are one of the largest steel producing groups in the world with seven large plants abroad and two plants within the country with a total of 15 million tonnes production capacity annually. IIL’s DRI plant with a 1.6 million tonnes capacity is one of the world’s largest mega module plants. IIL is the only integrated steel producer in the country, which enjoys the technological capability and advantage to switch to various raw materials feed-mix for making steel. Ispat today has a finished steel- making capacity of 2.4 million tonnes for which its metallics is fed predominantly through a mix of DRI and hot metal. According to company sources, Ispat will expand its steel- making capacity to over 3.3 million tonnes within the next few months.
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Delhi HC asks Tata Tele to pay BSNL
New Delhi, May 30 The interim direction to this effect was passed by Mr Justice S. Ravindra S. Bhat while disposing a petition filed by TTSL seeking to restrain BSNL from taking coercive action for realising its demand of Rs 95 lakh for interconnectivity on Walky. The court said the same principle would apply on rest of the bills raised by BSNL. It also said the parties could approach telecom tribunal TDSAT. Tata Teleservices had contended that the demand letter of May 12 for Chennai circle by the state-owned telecom operator was ‘illegal’. BSNL had threatened that in case of failure to make the payment by May 20, it would encash the private operator’s bank guarantee and disconnect points of interconnection throughout the country. Tata Teleservices had also contended that BSNL was attempting to ‘alter’ the IUC and ADC (Access Deficit Charge) regime without authority of law.
— PTI
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Federal Bank profit down
Mumbai, May 30 The board has recommended a dividend of 25 per cent. The total income in the reporting fiscal has dropped to Rs 1,403.05 crore from Rs 1,490.29 crore in the previous fiscal, it said. On a standalone basis, the bank has posted a net profit of Rs 90.09 crore for FY-05 as compared to Rs 136.30 crore in the previous fiscal while the total income decreased to Rs 1,403.01 crore (Rs 1490.29 crore in FY-04), it said. Kangra Bank
Kangra Co-operative Bank, the premier bank of Himachal Pradesh, has earned a net profit of Rs 61 crore last fiscal while its net profit the year before stood at Rs 85 crore, an official spokesman said today. The bank also disbursed credit to the tune of Rs 152.82 crore between April- December, 2004, against the annual commitment of Rs 130.01 crore. The bank, which has 157 branches throughout the state, had deposits totalling Rs 2024.19 crore in December, 2004, while loans worth Rs 802.00 crore were disbursed under various developmental schemes and activities. The working capital of the bank on Dec 31, 2004, stood at Rs 2616.94 crore. —
PTI
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IOC net dips, declares 100 pc dividend
New Delhi, May 30 The company has apprehended further dip in net profit in the first two months of the current fiscal due to cap on the retail petroleum products coupled by increase in the international crude oil. Presenting the financial result of the company, Mr S. Behuria, IndianOil today said the company has urged the government to revise the retail oil prices. Meanwhile, the Board of Directors of the company has recommended a final dividend of 100 per cent for 2004-05, in addition to 45 per cent dividend already declared and paid in January 2005. IOC’s total income for FY05, however, increased to Rs 1,50,677 crore from Rs 1,30,203 crore, registering a growth of 15.72 per cent. During 2004-05, the company breached the Rs 1,50,000-crore mark in sales turnover, while at the same time grossing its first $ 1 billion in revenues through initiatives in new business. In the downstream segment, the corporation’s product sales crossed 509 million tonnes and its countrywide network of retail outlets expanded beyond 10,000 during the last fiscal. Hindware profit
Hindustan Sanitaryware & Industries Ltd (Hindware) has reported a 59 per cent jump in net profit to Rs 11.84 crore in the fourth quarter of 2004-05 compared to Rs 7.43 crore in the corresponding period previous fiscal. Gross sales in the January- March 2004-05 quarter rose 30.88 per cent to Rs 110.96 crore as against Rs 84.78 crore in the year ago period, Hindware said. The company also declared a dividend of Rs 2.75 per share to its shareholders for 2004-05. The net profit during 2004-05 increased by 35 per cent to Rs 28.97 crore compared to Rs 21.46 crore. Gross sales rose 8.54 per cent to Rs 331.55 crore as against Rs 305.46 crore in 2003-04.
Mahindra & Mahindra
Mahindra & Mahindra has posted a consolidated higher net profit of Rs 724.07 crore for the year ended March 31, 2005, against Rs 451.12 crore in 2003-04. The board has recommended a dividend of 100 per cent and a special dividend of 30 per cent (Rs 13 per share), which would absorb a sum of Rs 171.97 crore, inclusive of tax (previous year Rs 117.79 crore), the company said. The consolidated total income, net of excise, for the reporting year stood at Rs 9,565.51 crore as against Rs 7,035.49 crore in FY-04. On a standalone basis, M&M posted a net profit of Rs 512.67 crore for FY-05 (Rs 348.54 crore in FY-04) while the total income stood at Rs 6,769.05 crore (Rs 5,057.44 crore), it said.
Kanoria Chemicals
Kanoria Chemicals and Industries has reported a 62 per cent increase in its net profit for fourth quarter ended March 31 at Rs 8.4 crore as against Rs 5.2 crore in the corresponding quarter the previous year. The company’s net profit in the fiscal 2004-05 increased by 14.4 per cent to Rs 22.7 crore as against Rs 19.8 crore in the previous year, the company said. The Board of Directors also recommended a 30 per cent dividend on equity shares and 13.5 per cent on cumulative
redeemable preference shares for the year 2004-05, it added. The net sales for the fiscal 2004-05 stood at Rs 287.43 crore, an increase of 13.6 per cent from the previous year, it added.
ZF Steering Gear
ZF Steering Gear has declared a dividend of 125 per cent for the financial year 2004-05 and issue of bonus shares. The Board of Directors has recommended a 100 per cent dividend, and a special silver jubilee dividend of Rs 2.50 per equity share, totalling 125 per cent, the company said.
NBFA payout 100 pc
Nava Bharat Ferro Alloys (NBFA) has declared a dividend of 100 per cent for the financial year 2004-05 and said it would invest Rs 3 crore in Singapore-based wholly-owned subsidiary NBFA PTE Ltd. The Board of Directors has recommended a dividend of 100 per cent, absorbing a sum of Rs 12.36 crore, and also approved an investment of around Rs 3 crore in its wholly owned subsidiary, NBFA PTE Ltd in Singapore, the company said. The board has also approved to subdivide equity shares of Rs 10 each into equity shares of Rs 2 each.
Bajaj Electricals
Bajaj Electricals has posted a 32.62 per cent increase in net profit for the fiscal ended March 31, 2005 at Rs 13.66 crore compared to Rs 10.30 crore for 2003-04. “The board has recommended a dividend of 30 per cent for the reporting fiscal compared to 10 per cent in the previous year”, Bajaj Electricals Chairman and Managing Director Shekhar Bajaj said today. The Revenue from operations was higher at Rs 650 crore in 2004-05 as against Rs 507 crore in the previous year, showing a growth of 28.2 per cent. The net profit for the fourth quarter ended March 31 stood at Rs 4.88 crore as against Rs 4.80 crore in the corresponding quarter in 2003-04 while sales during the reporting quarter increased by 20 per cent to Rs 228 crore as against Rs 190 crore in Q4 of FY-04.
— TNS, Agencies
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Swift bookings cross 12,000
Jaipur, May 30 ‘’So far, the sales have been very good. It is up 8 per cent as compared to May 2004,’’ General Manager (Marketing) Mayank Pareek said here. Maruti had sold 44,212 vehicles in May, 2004, as against 39,186 vehicles in May, 2003. The company was expecting to sell over six lakh vehicle units this financial year. The company had also received over 12,000 bookings for its European-style compact hatchback Swift, launched last week. The maximum bookings had been done in Delhi. Mitsubishi Motors
Mitsubishi Motors Corp (MMC) said its Indian partner, Hindustan Motors Ltd (HML) would increase the production of Mitsubishi’s Lancer sedans at its Chennai plant in January, 2006, and expand the line-up of imported built-up models to include Pajero, Outlander and Grandis. HML began production of Lancer vehicles at the Chennai plant in 1998. ‘’HML is to start production of another model in the Lancer range in January 2006,’’ the Japanese auto major said. The new models to be added to the line-up will be sold through the HML sales network in India. Further, HML would also add Mitsubishi models — Pajero, Outlander and Grandis to its line-up of imported models. HML, part of the Birla group, sold about 2,200 Lancers and Monteros in the last fiscal.
— UNI
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