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Rs 525-cr package for coop sugar mills
Punjab State Coop Bank declared best
PC sees higher farm output next year
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Foreign players react to tender terms
No farm land for Salem group, says Buddhadeb
Not a trader’s delight
Mittals also to set up plant in Jharkhand
Exports clock record growth
IA Fortune Safari 2 & 4 scheme
UCO Bank plans 4 offices abroad
CDMA operators seek 3 months
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Rs 525-cr package for coop sugar mills
New Delhi, September 13 “The on-going kharif season is progressing well. Rains in last couple days also brightened prospects. The area under almost all major kharif crops, including rice has increased this year. Overall, the crop situation is good,” Pawar told reporters here. He said, “The Central government will provide an interest subsidy of Rs 525 crore to bring down the interest rates on the loans of sick and viable sugar mills.” Pawar said, in addition, the apex agricultural cooperative bank, Nabard, would provide liquidity support of Rs 500 crore for restructuring of sugar mills in the country. He said the current acreage under important crops like sugarcane and cotton also recorded substantial increase this year over the previous year. On sugar production outlook, he said the higher acreage this year would ensure record production for next season. Pawar, also the Food Minister, said the country has enough of foodgrain stocks to meet its demand. The procurement of rice stood at 244.1 lakh tonnes as on date as against 226.43 lakh tonnes last year, he said.
No to ban on onion export
Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar on Tuesday ruled out a ban on the export of onions and expressed optimism that the prices of the commodity, which have skyrocketed of late, would subside as the new kharif production has started hitting the markets. Mr Pawar said the onion prices rose because of the short supply as onion crops had been damaged due to excessive rain in Maharashtra, the main onion-producing state of the commodity. Besides, the continuous rain in western parts of the country delayed the sowing of onion, which resulted in the loss of production by 20-25 per cent.
— TNS
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Punjab State Coop Bank declared best
Chandigarh, September 13 The Finance Minister today awarded the best performance award to Mr Jasjit Singh Randhawa, Cooperation Minister, Punjab, at a ceremony held today at National Agriculture Science Complex, New Delhi. Every year, Nabard reviews the working of all-state cooperative banks from all parameters. Appreciating the role of Punjab state cooperative banks, Mr Chidambaram said this bank has vast network of 19 central cooperative banks having 811 branches in the state, which plays a vital role in the economic development of the people of Punjab. It was only the timely, adequate and easy availability of financial assistance to the rural peasantry in agriculture and allied activities such as dairy, poultry, cash credit to farmers and traders which has been instrumental in making these activities most successful, he added. Mr Jasjit Singh Randhawa said the cooperative banks in the state have funds to the tune of Rs 1,043.54 crore, deposit to the tune of Rs 5,209.32 crore and have earned a net profit of Rs 134.21 crore during the financial year ending March 31 this year. The bank has adopted 20 students of engineering college, Talwandi Sabo, to impart them technical education. The bank also provides cash credit limits to traders and farmers to meet their day-to-day economic requirements by providing scholarship.
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Punjab’s credit-deposit ratio improves Ludhiana, September 13 Although Punjab’s CD ratio of commercial banks jumped by 14.6 per cent in the last five years, it is at 16th position at the country level. Moreover, Punjab is also behind India’s CD ratio of 66.04 per cent. Among public and private sector banks in the state, private sector banks command higher overall CD ratio of 85.57 per cent while overall CD ratio of public sector banks stand at 51.83 per cent for the period ending March 2005, the report said. Achieving handsome growth of 8.6 per cent in terms of deposit mobilisation, the aggregate deposits of banks in Punjab has grown by Rs 5,333 crore from Rs 61,946 crore to Rs 67,279 crore in the last fiscal, the report added. Similarly, the credit expansion in the state has also increased by Rs 7,629 crore from Rs 29,066 to Rs 36,695 crore in the last fiscal. Sixty-nine new bank branches have been opened in the state in the last fiscal, thus raising the number of branches from 2,671 to 2,740, it added. Posting a growth of 28.1 per cent, the priority sector advanced in Punjab by Rs 4,535 crore to Rs 20,694 crore in the last fiscal. In agriculture sector also, banks secured a jump of Rs 2,038 crore to Rs 9,143 crore during the period.
— PTI
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PC sees higher farm output next year
New Delhi: Expecting farm output to be better this fiscal, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram today said agriculture has to grow by 3 to 4 per cent for the economy to sustain a high 8 per cent growth.
“Agriculture growth will be significantly better in 2005-06 than last year. For all crops, except one item, the area sown is higher than previous year,” Mr Chidambaram said on the sidelines of a Nabard award function here. He said the dry spell witnessed in some areas have become “less dry” after the recent showers. The finance minister, however, declined to hazard a guess on farm growth. “We are keeping our fingers crossed,” he said.
— PTI
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REL to set up two captive power plants
Mumbai, September 13 The first two plants will be set up by Reliance Energy Ltd, according to Ashok Chavan, Minister for Industries. REL’s plants at the industrial estate in Butibori,
Nagpur, and at Belapur, Navi Mumbai, will generate 110 MW and 100 MW of power, respectively. However , power will be reserved exclusively for consumers in these two areas. Companies here will have to sign power- purchase agreements (PPAs) with REL to buy power. The state power regulator has fixed tariffs between Rs 2.80 and Rs 3.10 per unit. Others in the fray included Tatas and L&T. The government will soon open bids for similar captive power plants in Kolhapur, Ahmednagar, Pune and Thane
districts. Each power plant is expected to cost around Rs 300 crore.
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Foreign players react to tender terms
New Delhi, September 13 Close on the heels of Changi dumping the joint proposal with Bharti for bidding for the airport modernisation project, German player Hochtief Airport GmbH has expressed “unwillingness” to participate in the bid. Hochtief had joined hands with Indian majors L&T and Piramal Holdings to participate in the bidding, sources said, adding that the foreign partner has virtually opted out of the consortium and the Indian players were looking for options of whether they could take some other partner. The resistance appears to be on the condition that a hefty penalty could be imposed on the foreign partner in case of delay in execution of the project. As per the conditions of tenders, the modernisation would be executed by a joint venture between the Airport Authority of India (AAI) and the consortium comprising Indian and foreign partners. Meanwhile, Essel group, promoted by Subhash Chandra came in support of the conditions, saying these would keep at bay ‘non-serious players’. Essel and its foreign partner, TAV Group, would submit their bid tomorrow, Essel spokesperson told PTI. The condition of technical compliance for eligibility to the extent of 80 per cent was a must for any bidder, failing which the earnest money of about Rs 50 crore would
be forfeited, along with Rs 300 crore performance guarantee stipulation would deter ‘non-serious’ players. When contacted, sources in Anil Ambani-controlled Reliance Energy said that they were going through the conditions and a decision on bidding would be taken shortly. Reliance Airport Developers Pvt Ltd-Reliance Energy had joined hands with Aeropuertos Servicios Auxiliare (ASA) for participation in the modernisation programme. Under the Operation Management and Development Agreement (OMDA) of the bid document, the joint venture company of the winning bidders and Airports Authority of India (AAI) would have to carry out mandatory capital projects at Delhi and Mumbai airports by March 31, 2010. They are also required to spend Rs 2,800 crore for Delhi and Rs 2,600 crore in Mumbai over the next five years and the eight bidders would have to submit their technical and financial bids till tomorrow.
— PTI
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No farm land for Salem group, says Buddhadeb
Kolkata, September 13 Mr Bhattacharjee sent a three-page note to the
CPI, the Forward Bloc and the RSP assuring that no agricultural land would be handed over to the Salem
group, adding that the interests of farmers and small landowners would be safeguarded at all cost. Mr Bhattacharjee contended that he was not making any new venture in inviting foreign investment in Bengal. On the contrary, he was just carrying out his predecessor Jyoti Basu’s industrial policy of 1994, which the Left Front parties had endorsed and welcomed, he remarked. These front parties and a section in the CPM had been openly opposing Mr Bhattacharjee’s plan for transferring agricultural land in South 24-Parganas to the Salem group which he had announced during his recent “business tour” to Singapore and Jakarta.
Incidentally, CPM General Secretary Prakash Karat , in a writing in the party’s mouthpiece, strongly criticised the Left Front Government’s decision to amend the Land Reforms Act for facilitating the transfer of agricultural land for industrial use. Mr Bhattacharjee’s note to the front partners might have pacified these parties but the Trinamool
Congress, the Congress and some other parties, including
SUCI, and the Naxalites would not stop their agitations till the Salem proposal was formally dropped. But both the Chief Minister and the party secretary, Mr Anil
Biswas, are firm in implementing the Salem’s Rs 50,000-crore industrial project, requiring about 5,100 acres of land in the Bhangur-Sonarpur areas in South 24-Parganas (a large part of which is agricultural land).
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Not a trader’s delight
New Delhi, September 13 According to the report, co-sponsored by the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, South-Asian economies are increasing the pace of reform to help small and medium businesses generate more jobs, but heavy legal burdens on business remain in most countries in the region. The annual report, which for the first time provides a global ranking of 155 economies on key business regulations and reforms, finds that South Asian countries have had the third-most reforms per country over the past year. The report tracks a set of regulatory indicators related to business start-up, operation, trade, payment of taxes, and closure by measuring the time and cost associated with various government requirements; it does not track variables such as macroeconomic policy, quality of infrastructure, currency volatility, investor perceptions, or crime rates. India ranks rather low at 116, 25 places behind China’s 91st ranking and behind all South Asian countries, except Afghanistan. However, India made noteworthy reforms to credit registries and enforcement of collateral law, making it easier for businesses to get new finance. The South Asian countries are ranked as follows — Maldives 31, Nepal 55, Pakistan 60, Bangladesh 65, Sri Lanka 75, Bhutan 104, India 116, and Afghanistan 122. Pakistan was the top reformer in the region and the number 10 reformer globally — making it easier to start a business. The top 30 economies are — New Zealand, Singapore, the United States, Canada, Norway, Australia, Hong Kong/China, Denmark, the United Kingdom, Japan, Ireland, Iceland, Finland, Sweden, Lithuania, Estonia, Switzerland, Belgium, Germany, Thailand, Malaysia, Puerto Rico, Mauritius, the Netherlands, Chile, Latvia, Korea, South Africa, Israel, and Spain.
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Mittals also to set up plant in Jharkhand
Ranchi, September 13 The development comes within a few days after the signing of MoU between the Tata group and the state government for setting up of another steel plant. A delegation of Mittal group, led by its Executive Vice-President Sudhir Maheshwari met Chief Minister Arjun Munda, Finance Minister Raghubar Das and Mines Minister Madhu Koda here on Saturday and put up the fresh proposal before them. Confirming the development, Mr Koda said here today that the group had agreed to drop the condition of 30 per cent export of iron ore as essential for setting up a steel plant. “They have communicated their desire to drop the clause. Now we are waiting for a detailed report, which they have promised to send soon. We have no problem if they want to do business on our conditions. We had objected to this clause from the very beginning keeping the national interest in view,” he said.
— UNI
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Exports clock record growth
New Delhi, September 13 Exports during April-August, 2005-06, are valued at $ 35759.90 million ,23 per cent higher than $ 29076.46 million during April-August, 2004-05. India’s imports during April-August, 2005-06, are valued at $ 53191.14 million.
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IA Fortune Safari 2 & 4 scheme
New Delhi, September. 13 - At the end of the three-month scheme, there will be a draw for a mega prize in which the prize winner will get a Tata Safari Dicor VX car. Likewise, passengers who have flown twice in a specified month can participate in “Fortune Safari 2”, which offers 15 prizes every month, and a mega prize of two 12-coupon executive class super-saver tickets at the end of three months.
— TNS
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UCO Bank plans 4 offices abroad Kolkata, September 13 The bank has also geared up to raise Rs 150 crore as tier-II capital from tomorrow to meet some urgent requirements despite enjoying a fairly comfortable capital adequacy ratio of over 14 per cent now. However, the bank has no plan to go for any tier-I capital, at least in the near future, UCO Bank Chairman and Managing Director V Sridar told UNI here today after signing an agreement with ICICI Prudential for the sale of its mutual fund products.
— UNI
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CDMA operators seek 3 months
New Delhi, September 13 The rearrangement of the PoIs would involve a lot of testing and physical work, which would take a considerable amount of time”, the operators association AUSPI said in a letter today to Telecom Commission Chairman J.S. Sarma. “A sufficient time frame of at least three months be given to our members for implementation of this rearrangement of PoIs, interconnect billing, customer billing. In order to avoid any litigation in the telecom industry, “AUSPI earnestly requests you to accede to our request so that there is no disruption of service and our members are not put in a difficult situation”, it added.
— PTI
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