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North okays BBMB hydel proposal
India keen to join Iran gas pipeline consortium
Boeing showcases B-777-200 plane
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Jet Airways owes Rs 2,437 lakh to govt
Industrial production up by 12 per cent
Panel seeks cut in import duty on petrol
‘Keep petro price hike at minimum’
L&T bags Rs 1,550 crore Tata order
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North okays BBMB hydel proposal
New Delhi, August 4 “We have received formal clearance from Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan, and informal clearance from the Himachal Pradesh for the SPV. The Ministry of Power is also quite positive about it, and we hope that the SPV will soon be registered to take up new hydel projects in Himachal Pradesh,” Mr Nath said on the sidelines of a conference “ Impact of Bhakra Nangal dam” organised here. Since the BBMB — a joint collaboration of these states — is annually providing an average revenue of Rs 150 crore to the states, he said, the Board had urged them to provide that amount to institute a SPV that can take up projects to exploit the vast potential of hydel power in Himachal Pradesh. The SPV is likely to be registered as Northern India Power Company. The SPV is expected to take up initially a project worth at least 300 MW capacity which would require an investment of around Rs 2,000 crore. As per the present norms, the BBMB has proposed that it could have an equity-debt ratio of 30:70.The states can contribute to the equity, say Rs 600 crore, by foregoing their revenue share for four years and the remaining funds could be raised from the financial institutions like Power Finance Corporation. Significantly, after the Punjab Water Termination Act, the neighbouring states had initially expressed their reluctance to execute any new project through the BBMB and asked for setting up a separate SPV. Consequently, the Board has proposed an independent SPV floated by these states which would later assign the task of project execution and management to the BBMB, said Mr Nath. Commenting on the proposal, Mr Sharat C. Mahajan, Member (Power), BBMB said, “Since there is no dispute over the allocation of power from the Bhakra-Nangal dam with a capacity of around 2,800 MW, the states would benefit immensely from the new project as well. The Board is supplying power to these states today at a price of mere 10 paise per unit.” The chairman disclosed that the BBMB would soon add around 94 MW additional power generation capacity to the Bhakra-Nangal dam. Allaying aside the allegation of anti-dam lobbies, he asserted, “The dam has played a crucial role in bringing green revolution in the northern states, besides contributing to the state economies.” He said a Japanese company had also evinced interest to buy carbon credit from the BBMB to meet the Kyoto protocol for adding additional 94 MW power capacity as it would help cut down carbon dioxide level if that power was generated by coal or fossil fuel. Earlier, Power Secretary R.V. Shahi informed that the government was considering to amend the Electricity Act, 2003, which is expected to undertake the concern of the Left parties and other stake-holders.
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Exporters stage protest, threaten stir from Aug 15
New Delhi, August 4
“Exporters are being unnecessarily harassed by the Revenue department and despite various assurances nothing has been done so far,” Mr Subash Mittal, a committee member of Federation of Indian Exports Organisations, said here. Exporters, who had gathered from all over the country under the aegis of All-India Exporters Grievances Forum also submitted memoranda to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Finance Minister P Chidambaram and Commerce Minister Kamal Nath highlighting the problems pertaining to misinterpretation of provisions with regards to taxation of Duty Entitlement Passbook (DEPB) and negative profits. Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath today said that the grievances expressed by the country’s exporting community regarding negative profits were genuine and indicated that he would take up the matter with the Prime Minister. Negative profits relates to the issue of whether it is to be calculated after addition export incentives to the profit directly derived from exports and this be eligible for tax benefits to exclude such incentives. The issue of DEPB refers to the levy of income tax on profit from sale of DEPB. The main grievance of the exporting community is the retrospective interpretation of the provision by the tax authorities, which according to the exporters, is leading to harassment, impacting particularly on the small and medium exporters who operate on thin profit margins. Urging the government to intervene, the exporters have requested that a clarification be issued by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) that export profit would be calculated after adding export incentives to the profits directly derived from exports as has been the practice for the last 10 years. They have also sought a suitable amendment to the Section 28 of the Income Tax Act to incorporate “DEPB” through the Finance Bill, 2005-06, so as to include it with effect from April 1, 1997, for the purpose of tax exemption.
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India keen to join Iran gas pipeline consortium
New Delhi, August 4 At the end of the two-day Indo-Iran joint working group on the pipeline, Petroleum Ministry made a climb down from its earlier position that it would take delivery of gas at Indian borders and said it would go to the Cabinet for an approval for joining the project consortium. India is expected to join the consortium once the three countries decide on the project framework by year-end. In a joint statement, both countries agreed that the trilateral framework agreement would be finalised by the end of the current year on the project structure between the three countries. The Iranian delegation, led by Dr M. H. Nejad Hosseinian, Deputy Petroleum Minister for International Affairs, Iran met Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar and had a first meeting of India-Iran Special Joint Working Group (JWG) project. Indian delegation was led by Petroleum Secretary S. C. Tripathi. “We will have no control over the price of gas if we were to merely sit on the fence and be just a buyer. We need to get involved with the project. Besides, we can ensure security of the pipeline in a much better way once we are part of the consortium operating the pipeline,” said a senior official of the Ministry. Mr Talmiz Ahmad, Additional Secretary (International Cooperation), Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas said India and Pakistan would by the month end or early September appoint separate financial consultants to suggest project structure and address technical, financial, commercial and legal aspects to make the project safe and secure. In order to facilitate the work of the Indian consultants, the two sides agreed that an Indian technical team would visit Teheran in the third week of August.
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Boeing showcases B-777-200 plane
New Delhi, August 4 Boeing officials also said that the aircraft had been offered to both Air-India (A-I) and Jet Airways at a “comprehensive pricing package”. The new generation aircraft, which will fly non-stop from Mumbai to San Francisco on Saturday over the North Pole in over 16 hours, has also been ordered by three other global carriers — Pakistan International Airlines, Qatar Airways and EVA Air of Taiwan. “We have given a comprehensive pricing package to Air-India,” Boeing’s Vice-President (International Sales) Dinesh Keskar told reporters on board the B-777-200 LR, called Worldliner, while it flew over the Rajasthan sky before returning to Delhi. Air-India is looking at purchasing eight of these planes apart from others from Boeing while Jet Airways has placed orders for six, with 10 other planes on option. Besides the US, the aircraft can be used for non-stop flights from India to the US, Australia and Japan, Mr Keskar said, adding that once Air-India formally places its orders, it would take 15 months to deliver the first aeroplane. Mr Keskar pointed out that the aircraft that flew today was only “an experimental aircraft that was yet to be certified”. He said the plane was powered by two General Electric engines producing 1,15,000 pounds of thrust that would enable take-offs on shorter runways. Air-India Board’s decision to acquire an all-Boeing fleet of 50 aircraft is to go through the processes of the Public Investment Board (PIB) before being cleared by the Union Cabinet.
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Jet Airways owes Rs 2,437 lakh to govt
New Delhi, August 4 He said dues were monitored regularly by the Airports Authority of India and action through legal or arbitration or the Public Premises (PPE) Act was taken wherever necessary. Patel said besides this, interest is levied for the overdue period on defaulting airlines and they are put on operation on cash-and-carry basis. The Minister said the government was also adjusting the security deposits of some of the private airlines for recovering the outstanding amount. Besides these two airlines, defunct East West Airlines owes Rs 1,622 lakh, NEPC Airlines Rs 354.98 lakh, Skyline NEPC Rs 166.1 lakh, Elbee Airlines Rs 95.76 lakh, Continental Aviation Rs 184 lakh, VIF Airways Rs 24.79 lakh, Archana Airways Rs 39.22 lakh, Air Deccan Rs 628.05 lakh, Jagson Airlines Rs 114.18 lakh, Blue Dart Rs 36.33 lakh, Gujarat Airways Rs 11.47 lakh, Mesco Airlines Rs 306.23 lakh .
— PTI
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Industrial production up by 12 per cent
New Delhi, August 4 During the month of June 2005, the industrial production on 209 item groups, which are monitored by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion grew by 12.8 per cent. In May this year, the growth rate was 12.7 per cent and in April it was 10.4 per cent. “Thus, during the first quarter of the year, the industrial production has grown by 12 per cent as compared to 10.9 per cent last year”, Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath said. He said the measures to promote manufacturing and requisite physical infrastructure such as the Industrial Infrastructure Upgradation Scheme (IIUS) to enhance productivity competitiveness of the domestic industry by providing quality infrastructure in functional clusters and the industrial park scheme had been initiated. As per the figures of the Central Statistical Organisation (CSO), the overall annual growth rate of the industrial sector in 2004-05 was 8.3 per cent as against 7 per cent in 2003-04.
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Panel seeks cut in import duty on petrol
New Delhi, August 4 It asked the government to replace the ad valorem component in the excise duty on products by a single specific component. “At present, the excise duty on petrol has a specific ad valorem mix of 8 per cent plus Rs 13 a litre. Consequently, 36 per cent of the retail selling price of petrol and 17 per cent of diesel comprises excise duty component. This means, Rs 14.74 out of Rs 40.49 in retail price of petrol and Rs 4.93 out of Rs 28.45 of diesel in Delhi owe to the excise component alone,” the report said. Noting that high incidence of state levies were mostly responsible for the high and varied retail selling prices, it asked the Centre to persuade state governments to bring down sales tax to a uniform floor rate.
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‘Keep petro price hike at minimum’ The committee has asked the government to keep the increase in prices of petroleum products at the minimum, and recommended scrapping of import parity pricing. In the report, presented to the Lok Sabha today, the Standing Committee on Petroleum and Natural Gas also urged the government to peg the prices of domestic crude to Free-on-Board price of crude in the international market. — UNI
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L&T bags Rs 1,550 crore Tata order
Mumbai, August 4 L&T informed the BSE here today the company will construct India’s biggest blast furnace with a capacity of 2.5 million tonnes of steel per year,
valued at Rs 1,190 crore. The company’s construction division will execute the contract in consortium with Paul Wurth Italia within a stringent timeframe of 32 months. The L&T’s share in this project will be Rs 713.90 crore. The order, incidentally, was won against stiff competition from Chinese bidders. L&T has also bagged in partnership with Outokumpu technologies, Germany (formerly Lurgi Metallurgie), a contract worth Rs 360 crore, for construction of a 2.3 million tonne per annum capacity Sinter Plant to be built in 24 months. The Companys share in this project is Rs 288 crore.
HAL may outsource
In a major initiative to boost public-private partnership in the aviation sector, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited is planning to outsource Rs 600 crore work to Indian industries this year, HAL Chairman Ashok Baweja said today. “HAL will support the fundamental concept of public-private partnership and has taken administrative and policy measures to put the concept in place,” Mr Baweja said during his address at a two-day conference on ‘Public-Private Partnership with HAL’ organised here. The outsourcing work, which had grown from Rs 90 crore to Rs 200 crore last year, was targeted to jump to Rs 600 crore this year. HAL was therefore keen on tying up with competent partners in the private sector who could ensure strict delivery schedules, Mr Baweja said. “HAL’s order books were very, very large,” he said, adding the work potential was expected to increase significantly, once the “offsets flow in after the acquisition plans of Air India and Indian Airlines.” Outsourcing would be largely in the area of volume production, besides design packages, which was another area being explored for outsourcing ventures, he said.
TCS pilot project
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Oracle have begun a pilot project involving international carrier Virgin Atlantic to manage critical parts used in aircraft maintenance and repairs by tagging them with a Radio Frequency Identification Device (RFID). The pilot will use the RFID and sensor-based solution to manage the accurate consignment, storage and dispatch of parts of Virgin at its Heathrow Airport warehouse in the UK, TCS said today. Virgin Atlantic Airways, a long-standing Oracle and TCS customer, agreed to the pilot to try and find a complete and easy to implement low-risk solution. The proposed solution would be used along with process reviews and Virgin Atlantic’s current materials management software, Ultramain.
Fiat management
Italian carmaker Fiat today announced the inclusion of three Indians in the top management of its Indian subsidiary. The move is part of Fiat India’s overall re-engineering exercise, the company said in a statement here. Under the initiative, technology head S.M. Shirodkar would replace Mr Bruno Frate as head of Process Engineering and Maintenance and Mr R. Rokade, will head Production replacing Mr Ruggieri Rosario. The position of Mr Prinsi, CFO, will be split into accounting and controlling and will rest with the Managing Director ad interim. This development is in sync with the global re-engineering of the Fiat organization structure.
— Agencies
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