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ONGC chief Raha may be shown the door
Govt okays Reliance, HP, Wipro SEZs
EU, China ink textiles deal
Deccan Chronicle to buy book store chain
PC on instalments, courtesy BSNL
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Gods as brand ambassadors!
GAIL to set up plant in China
FM charts strategy to boost SMEs
Cost-cutting makes FCI turn corner
Opening bank account made easy
Mahavir Spinning to invest Rs 1,000 cr in MP
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ONGC chief Raha may be shown the door
New Delhi, September 5 A joint secretary, representing 74 per cent government shareholding, may vote for Mr Raha’s resignation at the AGM once the ministry is able to push through appointment of two additional directors on ONGC Board, a top ministry official said. Mr Raha has opposed appointment of the two new directors as the company already has three government directors and one of the new ones proposed, the Director-General of the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons, is the sector regulator. It would be a conflict of interest if a regulator were on the board of a company being regulated by him. Faced with Mr Raha’s opposition, the ministry wants the matter to be taken to the AGM but the chairman plans to table his resignation for consideration of the AGM if the ministry’s proposal was passed, as the appointments would be in violation of the corporate governance norms, the official said. The ministry representative plans to immediately second Mr Raha’s resolution. Mr Raha has already written to Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar on resolutions likely at the AGM. Petroleum Secretary S.C. Tripathi declined to comment saying: “These are internal communications... we will let you know when a decision (on them) is taken.” Mr Tripathi says the role of DGH is “misunderstood”, but Mr Raha in his August 22 letter to Mr Aiyar said: “The government order of 1993 setting up the Directorate specifies the functions of the DGH, which include regulation of the E&P business on behalf of the sovereign owner.” Recognising the regulatory role of the DGH for the upstream business, the ministry is engaged in setting up a separate regulator for only the downstream oil refining, gas, retailing and pipeline transportation business. Mr Raha wrote that the government directors “attempted to intimidate” him on the issue of appointment of additional directors and were treating public sector firm as their “fiefdom.” Mr Tripathi, the official said, as a way out, has suggested that ONGC appoint DGH as government director for two months and that he would be withdrawn thereafter. But Mr Raha is unrelenting saying appointment of DGH was against the corporate governance norms. — PTI
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Govt okays Reliance, HP, Wipro SEZs
New Delhi, September 5 The Board of Approval’s meeting, chaired by Department of Commerce Additional Secretary G.K. Pillai, cleared various SEZ proposals, including Reliance’s 10,000-hectare mega SEZ at Jamnagar in Gujarat. Reliance Industries Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh Ambani had made an announcement earlier this year at the Gujarat Global Investors’ Summit on the company’s proposal to set up an SEZ in the state. The board, under the Commerce Ministry, also approved Wipro’s proposal for setting up SEZs in Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Noida and Pune, official sources said. However, Wipro’s bid to set up an SEZ in Gurgaon and Kolkata was turned down as the proposal was found to be ‘very less.’ Among other proposals, which received the government nod include Serum Institute’s Pharma and Biotechnology SEZ in Pune, Hewlett Packard’s SEZ for IT and Biocon’s biotechnology SEZ in Bangalore. The board approved a free trade warehousing proposal by Free Trade Warehousing and IL&FS apart from an animation and gaming services SEZ by Kinfra in Kerala. — PTI
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EU, China ink textiles deal
Beijing, September 5 The deal came about after several round of negotiations between EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson and Chinese Commerce Minister Bo Xilai, who started talks yesterday, a day ahead of the EU-China Summit here, and continued today. Details of the deal were not provided by the official Xinhua news agency. China and the EU have set up sound dialogue and consultation mechanisms in various fields over the past years, hoping that the two sides would make full use of these mechanisms to deepen mutual understanding, narrow differences and boost cooperation. “I would like to confirm that Chinese and European negotiators have managed to reach an agreement on the textiles that were stopped in customs,” EU Commission spokeswoman Francoise Le Bail told reporters in Brussels. She said the agreement was “equitable” and both sides would share the burden of the extra imports this year. The deal would allow some 75 million garments into the EU, Le Bail said. Le Bail said the Commission was still in talks with EU member states over how to release the goods as soon as possible. Countries with large textile industries of their own, led by France, Italy and Spain, have opposed allowing more Chinese imports into Europe this year without Beijing agreeing to cut its export quotas for in 2006 and possibly 2007. But EU states, which have strong retail sectors, have been pushing for a quick release of the goods. Talks between Beijing and Washington to create an EU-style deal for Chinese exports to the United States ended last week without an agreement. — PTI/Reuters
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Deccan Chronicle to buy book store chain
Mumbai, September 5 DCHL will acquire 100 per cent equity of Odyssey comprising 115,14,140 shares with a face value of Re 1 for Rs 61.20 crore in the all- cash deal. “Odyssey’s acquisition is a strategic move which brings synergies at two levels. it not only brings us closer to consumers in relevant markets who are our readers but also brings us closer to large FMCG companies which are big advertisers,”Mr T. Venkattram Reddy, Chairman, DCHL, said. Odyssey has stores in 12 locations, mostly in the south, totalling 50,000 sq.ft. of retail space. It plans to expand to a more national presence by March, 2008.
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PC on instalments, courtesy BSNL
New Delhi, September 5 Under this novel scheme, an HCL PC that costs around Rs 17,000 will be available at an EMI of Rs 400 over a four-year period. The telecom major has tied up with Xenitis and HCL Infosystems for broadband-enabled computers to its landline users. BSNL is also in talks with SBI and Union Bank of India and non-banking finance companies, such as Bajaj Auto Finance for getting loans. The customer’s credit profile will be assessed on the basis the past record in paying phone bills. — UNI
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New Delhi, September 5 An archival exhibition that has just concluded in the Capital revealed that the Gods had moved out of the temples to posters and newspaper advertisements to help sell consumer goods almost a century ago. Even today, Lord Krishna, Goddess Saraswati and other Gods help sell brands like hair oils, soaps, gripe water, fire crackers, candles and edibles like butter through advertisements and poster calendars. As Chairman of Asian’s Connoisseurs of Art Neville Tuli, puts it: “The advertisements used the Gods as brand ambassadors as no other nation did. The sense of design for the advertisements and the manner with which our Gods are utilized to sell and become brand ambassadors is unique.” Mr Tuli, who was the curator of the ‘Revisualising India’ exhibition, which displayed a portion of his own archives, added: “Krishna must have endorsed more hair oil and Saraswati more soap than the rest of the world put together.” “Only in India are our Gods and merchants icons and consumers placed with such equanimity”, he added, regretting in an interview that ‘this tolerant and wise imagination is losing its grip in modern times.’ — UNI
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GAIL to set up plant in China
Mumbai,
September 5 As a preliminary step, GAIL will enter into an agreement with the Shaanxi Huashan Chemical Industry group to carry out a feasibility study for setting up a coal-gasification- based petrochemical plant . The two companies will subsequently consider setting up a joint venture for implementation of the proposed project and a distribution and marketing network in China. Shaanxi Huashan Chemical is already operating a fertiliser plant based on old coal gasification technology and is willing to adopt the modern Shell coal gasification technology to upgrade its plant. Abundant coal at a competitive price is available in Shaanxi province. The region is also endowed with large deposits of oil and gas reserves, GAIL
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FM charts strategy to boost SMEs
Coimbatore, September 5 Unveiling the country’s first dedicated credit rating agency for SMEs (SMERA), he said the SME Development Bill would be taken up for passage in Parliament in the winter session. The Finance Minister said the flow of credit to the SSI and tiny sector was targeted to be doubled in five years. The limit for credit-linked Capital Subsidy Scheme too would be enhanced from Rs 40 lakh term loan to Rs 1 crore while the percentage would be simultaneously enhanced from 12 to 15 per cent. A notification for this was expected shortly, Mr Chidambaram said. SMERA was another important aspect of the government’s broad plan to boost SMEs.
— PTI
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Cost-cutting makes FCI turn corner
New Delhi, September 5 “It is no mean task as manoeuvring space in the FCI is very limited. About 90 per cent of the FCI expenses in the form of procurement prices for grains and freight for transporting it to different states are statutorily controlled which leaves hardly any room for cutting corners,” the 1970 batch IAS officer told The Tribune. One major expenditure that offered some scope for manoeuvring was the huge interest rate burden, owing to the levy of an 11 per cent interest by an State Bank-led consortium. Eight months of intense bargaining resulted in bringing down the interest rate first to 9.35 per cent and then further to 8.35 per cent but the effective rate still hovered around 9 per cent, Mr Malhotra said, adding that “we were handicapped as the FCI could not go to any other bank without the consortium’s permission”. With a view to overcoming this hurdle,permission was sought from the Finance Ministry to raise Rs 5,000 crore through bonds. The first tranche of Rs 1,000- crore bonds at 7.12 per cent was oversubscribed on the first day itself”, the Managing Director said, adding that a 1 per cent interest cut results in a Rs 300 crore saving for the FCI annually. “We are thinking of mobilising additional Rs 5,000 crores through bonds so as to reduce the interest burden further”, he said. Apart from this, a voluntary retirement scheme introduced in June, 2004, resulted in the abolition of 8,777 posts in four categories of employees, Mr Malhotra said. The FCI has a mammoth task to perform as it caters to 582 districts from its 15,000 godowns. “The FCI uses 12,000 railway rakes to transport grains and one rake contains 45,000 bags of 50 kg each. This means 55 crore bags every year. Each bag travels an average distance of 1500 km”, he said, adding that the organisation procured 20 per cent of the total foodgrain production. As the transportation cost is heavy, sustained efforts are needed to reduce freight. It roughly comes to about 15.3 per cent of the average economic cost. On an average, the distribution cost comes to Rs 1,263 per quintal. One way is to encourage states to procure grains locally which will save freight. “We are telling states that it is in their interest to procure from their own farmers locally as they are losing Rs 710 crore by way of income from taxes. Moreover, the farmers of that particular state lose Rs 1,167 crore of additional income as they have to sell their grain in the open market which does not ensure the minimum support price”, Mr Malhotra said. Only Punjab and Haryana were surplus states in grain production and these two states fed other states but if the seven states of UP, Uttaranchal, Orissa, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Chattisgarh made some efforts in procuring wheat and rice from their own farmers these would be able to meet a substantial part of their annual requirements for the public distribution system, Mr Malhotra pointed out, adding that this would result in substantial savings. The computerisation of operations and interlinking of different segments of the FCI had resulted in higher efficiency, Mr Malhotra said.
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Opening bank account made easy
Chandigarh, September 5 According to the Director of the Regional Office of the RBI, Mr D.P.S Rathore, account holders would neither have to do much paperwork nor would they be required to furnish identity proofs in the bank. However, a condition has been imposed. These account holders, who will not furnish any documents, cannot keep more than Rs 50,000 in the account and the loan against such an account shall not exceed Rs 1 lakh. If this limit or ceiling is crossed, then the account holder will be required to furnish identity proofs, otherwise the bank will stop all transactions from the said account. The RBI had made opening of bank account stringent in December 2004 to check malpractices and keep a tab on anti-social elements. Banks had been directed to function as investigating agencies to verify the credentials of the applicants. Following this, banks had started seeking identity proofs making opening of bank account difficult for labourers, people of weaker sections and newcomers to the towns. SBoP revises rate of interest
The State Bank of Patiala (SBoP) has carried out a revision in the rate of interest on non-resident external (NRE), foreign currency non-resident (FCNR) and remittance facility term deposits with effect from September 1. In a press note issued here today, the SBoP authorities said that interest rates on FCNR separately for different sets of periods.
Central Bank’s loan for teachers
The Central Bank of India (CBI) has announced concessional interest loan schemes to mark the Teacher’s Day. It includes offering an exclusive personal loan up to Rs 2 lakh to the teachers. Teachers could now approach any branch of the bank and avail a maximum loan up to Rs 2 lakh at an interest rate of 10 per cent payable in 48 monthly instalments. The bank has also decided to offer educational loans at a concessional rate of 10.5 per cent and a further reduced rate of 10 per cent for students securing admission to IITs and IIMs. For girl students, the rate has been further reduced to 9.50 per cent.
PNB scheme for students
Punjab National Bank (PNB) today launched a new scheme that facilitated students above 10 years of age to open a savings account without any minimum balance or payment of any other charges. For students above 18 years of age and staying away from parents for studies, the scheme “PNB Vidyarthi Savings Account”, launched on the occasion of Teacher’s Day, gives provision to avail of overdraft facility up to Rs 10,000 to meet short-term requirements, bank General Manager U.S. Bhargava said. Under the scheme, students would have the added benefit of “free” cheque book. They would also be spared from commission on drafts for examination and other fees and incidental charges. Besides, there would be no condition of maintaining the minimum balance in the account.
— TNS, UNI
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Mahavir Spinning to invest Rs 1,000 cr in MP
Ludhiana, September 5 “We will be investing Rs 1,000 crore for setting up a new textile plant near Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh and it could take three or five years to become operational,” Mahavir Spinning Mills Ltd President and Executive Director D L Sharma told PTI here. Besides, the company also proposed to set up a captive power plant, having capacity of 25 MW at an investment of Rs 150 crore, for meeting the power requirements of the new plant. — PTI
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