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ONGC bags 30 pc stake in 7 Cuban blocks
Jail terms, fines for Tyco former executives
Reliance mulls acquisitions abroad
Pharma industry to be worth Rs 60,000 cr by 2008, says Assocham
UTI
told to pay Rs 3.35 crore |
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Special fund to promote quality tea likely
LSE gears up for change post-demutualisation
CD ratio of banks not adequate, says Singla
Leather units look to Punjab Govt
Dabhol power to cost Rs 2.50 to Rs 2.75 a unit
Matrix Labs buys 43 pc stake
Union Bank rated No 1
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ONGC
bags 30 pc stake
in 7 Cuban blocks
New Delhi, September 20 The ONGC will hold stakes in blocks 25-29, 36 and a part of block 35, according to a company statement. “The hydrocarbon resource potential in the blocks is estimated to be in excess of four billion barrels. One exploratory well drilled in one of these blocks indicated the presence of hydrocarbons,” it said. The statement, quoting ONGC Chairman Subir Raha, noted that the agreement would open doors for other opportunities in the region. The PSU gas major has been scouting for stakes in foreign petroleum assets as domestic oil output, which meets only 30 per cent of India’s demand, has stagnated while the country’s economy is expected to expand 7 to 8 per cent, a year. It has stakes in projects in over 12 countries, including Sudan, Russia, Vietnam and Myanmar but has lost out to Chinese firms in the race for securing energy supplies. Last
month, the ONGC was outbid by China’s CNPC in the race to acquire PetroKazakhstan although the Indian firm said it might submit a counter-bid. China’s oil imports account for more than 40 per cent of the country’s daily consumption of 6 million barrels per day.
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New York: The crude oil futures rose by $ 4.39 today as a new tropical storm threatened production in the Gulf of Mexico, offsetting an offer of extra supplies from the OPEC cartel. At the close of trading New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in October was priced at $ 67.39 a barrel, having reached $ 67.50 during the day. Oil hit a record $ 70.85 a barrel in New York on August 30, one day after Hurricane Katrina devastated the coasts of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. Tropical Storm Rita threatens to become a new hurricane and is heading towards southern Florida on a course that could take it towards oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico. — AFP
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Jail terms, fines for Tyco former executives
New York, September 20 The men, who will be able to apply for parole to avoid serving the full 25 years, were immediately taken in custody after the sentence and whisked out of the courtroom in handcuffs. They were taken to a downtown Manhattan detention centre known as “the Tombs” before their expected transfer in a few days to Riker’s Island, a New York City jail facility where their fellow inmates will include violent offenders like rapists and murderers. Former Chief Executive Kozlowski (58), and Chief Financial Officer Swartz (45), were each found guilty in June of 22 counts of grand larceny, conspiracy, fraud and falsifying business records — a big victory for prosecutors pursuing wrongdoing in corporate America. Kozlowski and Swartz have vowed to appeal the verdicts. Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Michael Obus also ordered the men to pay restitution to the company of around $ 134 million combined. Kozlowski was also fined $ 70 million while Swartz was fined $ 35 million by the state. Both Kozlowski and Swartz briefly addressed the judge before the sentencing. Kozlowski said he recognised he faced jail time but asked the judge to “please be as lenient as possible.” Earlier, Kozlowski attorney Stephen Kaufman said to the judge that his client, once one of the most powerful CEOs in the USA, “is a good man. He is a decent person. His reputation has been tarnished, but his life should not be destroyed.” During the trial, prosecutors said Kozlowski and Swartz stole millions of dollars from Tyco and used the money to buy pricey artwork, throw lavish parties and furnish a fancy Manhattan apartment for Kozlowski with a $ 6,000 shower curtain and a $ 15,000 umbrella stand. They were found guilty after an earlier trial ended in a mistrial. Each man had faced as much as 30 years in prison and as little as one to three years each. Prosecutors had asked for the maximum sentence for both.
— Reuters
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Reliance mulls acquisitions abroad
London, September 20 Mr Atul Chandra, President of Reliance’s international operations, said the company could buy in the downstream petrochemicals sector, but it could also be upstream in oil and gas exploration and production. Mr Chandra declined to comment on a report that Reliance, India’s largest refiner, has considered a bid for Innovene, a BP PLC petrochemical business due to be listed by the end of the year. When Reliance sets its sight on a target, it may consider a listing in a Western financial centre, such as London or New York, Mr Chandra told Dow Jones Newswires. “But first we need to be there” with operations in this part of the world, he added. Reliance shares gained 1.8 per cent to close at Rs 778.50. Industries will shut down major units of its Jamnagar refinery and petrochemicals complex for two months between October and December for planned maintenance, the company said on Tuesday. “The period of shutdown required to complete the maintenance work is expected to be about eight weeks,” the company said in a notice to the Bombay Stock Exchange. It said Reliance would upgrade the facilities to improve yields, productivity and output of high-value products after the revamp.— AP, Reuters
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Pharma industry to be worth
New Delhi, September 20 Pharmaceutical exports from India would grow at 18 per cent to touch the volume of Rs 30,000 crore in 2007-08 from Rs 15,500 crore during 2003-04, according to a study released by Assocham here today. “India with a low production cost of generic drugs has an edge over its competitors in foreign markets. Several products in the developed markets are supposed to lose patent protection in coming years, which would benefit Indian products,” Assocham President M.K. Sanghi said. The study also points out that globally drugs worth $ 40 billion would go off patent this year and another $ 70 billion drugs would go off patent in 2008. Indian pharma companies would then raise their stake in the world market to 30 per cent, it said. The study also observed that migration to the new product regime would benefit the domestic pharma industry in the long run. Indian companies could leverage their strength in terms of a low cost of production and availability of quality manpower as the domestic production cost was 50 per cent less as compared to that in the developed countries, it said.
— PTI
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UTI told
to pay Rs 3.35 crore New Delhi, September 20 The court said that the loss of a large number of cheques during transaction was the responsibility of the UTI as the post office had only acted as its agent. Dismissing the appeal of the UTI against Consumer Commission’s order that it was responsible to pay the money if the cheques sent to the investors on maturity had not reached them, a Bench of Mr Justice S.N. Variava and Mr Justice A.R. Lakshmanan said “we see no reason to interfere on questions of facts” of the case. UTI had started receiving complaints from unit holders some years ago, which swelled to about 1,600 gradually, stated that they had not received the cheques on maturity. The total amount involved in the whole transaction to these people was to the tune of Rs 3.35 crore. On UTI’s complaint, the police had registered FIRs against unnamed persons about the fraud, which was either at the stage of investigation or trial proceedings in hundreds of cases.
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Special fund to promote quality tea likely
Chennai, September 20 This was stated by Union Minister for Commerce and Industry Mr Kamal Nath at the 112th annual conference of the United Planters Association of South India (UPASI) at Coonoor in Udhammangalam district,500 kms from here. He said the Centre was aware of the problems affecting the plantation industry and was making an array of corrective measures to tide over the situation. Mr. Nath said India was facing stiff competition from countries like Sri Lanka, Kenya and Vietnam and stressed:“Quality is of utmost importance to maintain a competitive edge and the Tea Board has taken up the mantle of a regulatory authority to ensure quality tea meant for exports.The fixing of minimum prices for green leaf and made-tea may not be feasible in the market-driven industry as the artificial price fixation would be counter-productive.” He said that there were graded variations in tea and different methods of production such as the orthodox and CTC outputs. Mr. Nath observed that though the auction prices of tea in south India had been moribund in the past few months, it was mainly due to the declining quality of green leaf inputs to the processing units while superior quality continued to fetch good prices. The minister expressed concern at the mixing of imported low -quality tea with Indian high- quality tea for export, which diminished the quality as much as reducing the prices, and said the Central Government had issued a new Tea (Distribution and Export) Control Order last April. It prescribed strict quality norms for import and export of tea. Apart from withdrawing the additional excise duty of Re 1 per kg, the Centre had also sanctioned two schemes, one providing incentive for production of orthodox teas to augment the supply of export- quality tea and the other to assist the Tea Research Association (TRA) and UPASI Tea Research Foundation with an allocation of Rs 93 crore. Mr. Nath said the government had also announced a ‘coffee package’ worth Rs 287 crore in June,2005, for sharing of interest on special coffee term loans during the three-year moratorium period. He observed that the coffee industry had suffered the worst- ever price crisis since 1999 but the supply-demand position had improved during the current crop year. Apart from the ‘coffee package’ announced in June this year, the Union Finance Ministry had been advised to request the banks to lower the interest rates charged on special coffee term loans from the existing 11 per cent to that to the agricultural sector or to 9 per cent, whichever was lower. The Coffee Board would extend interest subsidy of 5 per cent to small growers and 3 per cent to large growers on the working capital loans.
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LSE gears up for change post-demutualisation
Ludhiana, September 20 With the approval, LSE would take three months to complete the process, whereas brokers would off-load their shares to the extent of 51 per cent within one year, said Executive Director, LSE, Mr H.S.Sidhu. The scheme, which was drafted in accordance with Securities Laws (Amendment) Ordinance, 2004, on the corporatisation and demutualisation of the stock exchanges, was approved by the LSE’s Board of Directors in August this year. Post demutualisation, which means segregation of ownership, management and trading functions of the stock exchange, LSE will have to adopt new Memorandum and Articles of Association. While owners would be separate, LSE would now be supervised by professional managers. “As LSE gets demutualised, we are looking forward to many more opportunities in terms of further investment and greater autonomy in decisions,” said Mr Sidhu. He said now that LSE would become a ‘for-profit’ organisation, its actions would be directed towards fulfilling its profit motive along with ensuring investors’ protection. The governing body of LSE would be re-constituted now and the Board of Directors would have only one-fourth of representation on the governing board instead of one-half that is being currently enjoyed by them. Presently, there are six broker directors of which three would resign within three months of the due date. The exchange shall ensure that at least 51 per cent of its shares are held by public other than shareholders having trading rights in accordance with the Securities Contract (Regulations) Act, 1956. The exchange, upon demutualisation, shall not use its assets and reserves or proceeds from the disposal of its assets for any purpose other than discharging its current liabilities or business operations.
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CD ratio of banks not adequate, says Singla
Chandigarh, September 20 Mr. Gupta said the aggregate deposits of the banks increased by 11.79 per cent as against an increase of 5.6 per cent during the corresponding period last year. He also informed that the state government has brought necessary changes in the Agriculture Produce Marketing Act thereby opening the gate for private sector. This would pave the way for contract farming, he said. Punjab Finance Minister Surinder Singla, who was the chief guest on the occasion, pointed out that bankers, especially private sector banks, are enjoying huge deposits from the government institutions but are not ploughing it back in the state, particularly in the agriculture sector. He expressed concern that despite best resources available in the state, CD (credit-deposit) ratio is not up to the mark. He also exhorted the banks, both public and private to finance power sector companies, which are coming forward in the state. Punjab National Bank has already set up a Farmers’ Welfare Trust at Shamsher Nagar village near Sirhind. While six such centres are already functioning in the state, another one would start functioning at Mehraj (Bathinda) shortly. The convener bank launched a website, www.pnbkrishi.com, and has set up rural kiosks with 24-hours Internet facilities.
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Leather units look to Punjab Govt
Jalandhar, September 20 The industry, which is plagued by problems ranging from lack of quality hides and slaughter houses, has asked the government to set up more slaughter houses and promote cattle rearing in a big way in the state. The more the number of slaughter houses, the better the quality of hides, say industry sources. “The past one decade has seen a marked decline in the quality and quantity of raw hides and skins that are available to the leather industry here,” said Mr Ashok Sharma, a member of the Council of Leather Exports, Jalandhar. “More than 75 per cent of the raw material is of a rejection grade though the defects could be easily eradicated,” he said, pointing that quality suffered due to unprofessional skinning. A large number of animals are taken to UP or Delhi for slaughtering. The state has only one slaughter house at Dera Bassi, despite having the second highest number of cattlehead after UP.
— PTI
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Dabhol power to cost Rs 2.50 to Rs 2.75 a unit
New Delhi, September 20 GAIL, which has been tasked with the sourcing of fuel to fire the plant, anticipates the price of (LNG) for the project to be in the range of $ 4.5 to 5 per million British thermal unit, implying a tariff in the range of Rs 2.50 per kilowatt hour to 2.75 per KWH (unit). “When the restructuring process was initiated the cost of crude oil was $ 34 per barrel as compared to the current price of $ 60 per barrel. The LNG market is presently very tight and is expected to case only from 2009 onwards,” GAIL said in a presentation to the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGOM) on September 8. GAIL had previously estimated a generation cost of Rs 2.30 per unit as it was confident of sourcing LNG for $ 3.65 per mBtu. Sources said so far LNG had only been tied for Phase-I (740 MW) from Qatar at a rate which will translate into a final tariff of around Rs 2.50 per unit. The EGOM approved the provisional capital cost of Rs 10,038 crore for the restructured Dabhol project.
— PTI
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Matrix Labs buys 43 pc stake
Hyderabad, September 20 Managed by a team of scientists, Explora also possesses know-how in the chemistry of nucleic acids (DNA & RNA derivatives) that are mainly used in the development of anti-viral and anti-cancer drugs. “Access to Explora’s scientific team would accelerate the entry of Matrix into high potential growth and niche areas such as corticosteroid and anti-cancer segments, “ a company press note said here. Matrix has a large portfolio of products in the therapeutic segments of CNS, cardiovascular, anti-bacterial, anti-viral, anti-retroviral, anti-asthma, anti-histamine, anti-fungal, proton pump inhibitors and pain management.
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Union Bank rated No 1
Kulu, September 20 The bank, which had 2,056 branches across the
country, had been rated by Assocham as the number one among banks in value creation for shareholders with the shareholder’s wealth increasing by 124 per cent in one year. The bank had achieved 100 per cent computerisation of
branches, with 70 per cent of the business in core banking solution covering over 660 branches and 51 extension counters. The bank had launched a new product called “Union White Card” to promote milk production in the
country. As many as 13,212 Union White Cards had been issued so far during the current year.
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Newbridge Flextronics centre Google plans
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