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Punjab clears 20 mega projects
Sale of assets of 11 PSUs suggested to
India invites investment in exploration sector
Left open to FDI in food processing
RBI directive on soiled notes
TRAI’s bandwidth order upheld
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Draft policy proposes mandatory roaming
Nath for simplified tax regime
Jubilant eyes acquisitions
Asian Paints to expand overseas
Internet boom pushes online retail
Chinese airline signs $ 1.48 b Airbus deal
Merck to cut 7,000 jobs
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Punjab clears 20 mega projects
Chandigarh, November 28 The committee met today and cleared 20 mega projects comprising textile units ,shopping malls , residential complexes to a steel unit. Leading the pack are DLF builders with a proposed investment of Rs 3,000 crore in the residential sector. Abhishek Industries - a unit of the Trident group of companies-has got approval for a Rs 900- crore home textile project in Bathinda. This is in addition to the unit the company plans to set up at Barnala. This would result in direct and indirect employment for about 15,000 persons. Meanwhile, Modern Steel Ltd would set up a unit at Mandi Gobindgarh at Rs 210 crore which was expected to generate direct and indirect employment for 1,900 persons. The major thrust of the committee was on residential projects. Projects involving an investment of about Rs 4400 crore have been approved for the districts of Jalandhar, Ropar and Bathinda. This was expected to generate employment for 24,000 persons. These companies were DLF Universal (Rs 3000 crore), PACL India Ltd (Rs 200 crore), Ansal Mittal Township Projects (Rs. 205 crore), Taneja Developers (Rs.266.5 crore) and Ansal Township and Projects Ltd. (Rs. 750.50), a spokesman said . The committee had approved a multiplex, a shopping mall and a hotel on the Delhi-Ambala -Zirakpur- Shimla road at Zirakpur ( close to Chandigarh) involving an investment of Rs. 129 crore by Paras BuildTech. Also, multiplexes with shopping malls have been approved for Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Mohali at a cost of Rs 176.32 crore. These would be built by Ansal Township Projects. A close scrutiny of the projects reveals that a major chunk of this investment is directed at Chandigarh and the surrounding areas which attract a lot of NRI buyers. While DLF has plans for a huge residential complex in Mohali, Paras BuildTech is eyeing the fact that Chandigarh needs good -quality hotels and it has plans for one on the busy Delhi- Ambala-Zirakpur - Shimla highway. The spokesman further informed that empowered committee had so far approved 80 projects with a total investment of about Rs 24,700 crore. These projects in the districts of Ludhiana, Amritsar, Ropar, Patiala, Hoshiarpur, Ferozepore , Mandi Gobindgarh, Fatehgarh Sahib, Bathinda, Jalandhar and Sangrur sanctioned earlier were under various stages of implementation, the spokesman added.
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Sale of assets of 11 PSUs suggested to fund revival
New Delhi, November 28 “The BRPSE has cleared the revival of 23 public sector companies of which seven have got the clearance from the Cabinet. Of the 23 cases cleared by the BRPSE in 11 cases it has
recommended unlocking of surplus assets to fund the revival plan,” Minister for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises Santosh Mohan Dev told the Rajya Sabha. He denied that the Ministry of Heavy Industry and Public Enterprises has written to the Planning Commission and the Finance Ministry that the funds for revival of public sector units should come from budgetary resources and as loans from commercial banks. Mr Dev said 73 central public sector enterprises were registered with the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) of these revival schemes had been sanctioned in 16 cases which were under implementation. Meanwhile, HMT Machine has been incorporated as a subsidiary of HMT ltd since April 1, 2000, and comprises machine tools complexes located at Bangalore, Kalamassery, Hyderabad, Ajmer and Pinjaur. A comprehensive revival plan in respect of the subsidiary has been formulated by the company and submitted to the government for approval. The revival plan formulated by HMT Machine tools includes a package of Rs 735 crore towards capital expenditure, repayment of VRS loans and long-term loans and discharge of other liabilities.
— UNI
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India invites investment in exploration sector
New Delhi, November 28 “We will soon start opening acreage allowing foreign companies to bid for blocks they would like to explore rather than us identifying the blocks for exploration,” Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar said here today. Meanwhile, the Indian Oil Corporation has called upon the government to restrict the supply of subsidised kerosene to the below poverty line families under the public distribution system. Addressing the India Economic Forum, 2005, organised jointly by the World Economic Forum and the CII, he stressed the need to boost domestic production. In the case of oil, India’s imports have risen to 76 per cent and are expected to reach 80-85 per cent within a few years. Despite new gas discoveries in the country, which are expected to become available by 2008, the minister said the shortfall would continue to be 50 per cent. Speaking at the meeting, Economic Affairs Secretary Ashok Jha hinted that insurance and pension reforms were under way, though there was a “tremendous” need for consolidation to enable banks gain financial muscle and absorb risks in the years to come. “If PSU banks want to go for the marriage, the government will bless them. But it (government) will not find the suitor,” he said. Supporting India’s focus on boosting domestic oil and gas
exploration, Mr Jin Liqun, Asian Development Bank Vice-President, Operations, said neglect of this area for many years has led to ‘misconceptions about Indian prospects’. While lauding India’s exploration focus through award of 90 blocks in the past seven years, he expressed optimism that the Bay of Bengal could prove the promise of having good oil and gas reserves.
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Left open to FDI in food processing
New Delhi, November 28 This move of the Left could have serious implications for North India, especially Punjab and Haryana, which have been hoping to garner large chunk of FDI in this sector. What has made the Kolkata red flag bearer to give welcome sign to green bank is the Centre’s decision to set up 15 per cent of the food parks in the land of renaissance. This master stroke of West Bengal Chief Minister comes even as his comrades in arms are agitated over allowing FDI in retail, airport and insurance sectors. Left leader in a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, days ahead of finalisation of private bidders for restructuring of Delhi and Mumbai airports, have said the modernisation of these two airports would not address projected demands beyond next 5-6 years and sought the construction of greenfield airports in these and other metros. "We feel the best course would be to go for creating truly huge capacity (airports) in Delhi and Mumbai and may be some other important metros through greenfield projects," the four Left parties said in the letter. Participating in a three-day global convention on “Food World India 2005” organised by FICCI, the Chief Minister said: “Without FDI we cannot advance…. We are not against globalisation. Rather we are in favour of it provided the rich countries also reciprocate by lowering huge agricultural subsidies.” Emphasising his government’s commitment to develop the processing sector, he said, “thanks to the success of implementation of land reforms, West Bengal is today one of the largest producers of rice, potato, pineapple, mangoes and flowers in the country. We are in final stages of signing agreements with investors of Malaysia, Indonesia and Germany for setting up plants in food parks.” While pleading with Mr Bhattacharya to prevail upon his colleagues to support the opening of this sector, Minister for Food Processing Industries Subodh Kant Sahai said, “We are hopeful that the Integrated Food Bill will be passed with the support of the Leftist parties soon, and will be implemented from next financial year.” Elaborating government’s vision to develop food processing sector, Mr Sahai said, “ The Vision 2015 based on extensive study of Rabo Bank envisages trebling the size of the processed food sector so as to enhance farm income, generate employment opportunities, provide choice to consumer at affordable prices, and contribute to overall national growth. The aim is to increase the level of processing of perishables from 6 per cent to 20 per cent, value addition from 20 per cent to 35 per cent and share in global food trade from about 1.6 per cent to 3 per cent. We envisage an investment of Rs 1,10,000 crore in this sector during next 10 years, “he said.
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RBI directive on soiled notes
Ludhiana, November 28 Under the clean note policy, which was formulated by the RBI in 1999, public sector banks and other designated private banks were instructed to accept soiled notes from customers and give them clean notes in exchange. However, most people are not aware of this, which is why the apex bank has now started a Currency Notes Adjudication Programme, said Mr Swaroop Singh, Deputy General Manager, RBI, Chandigarh, while talking to The Tribune here yesterday. He said if the RBI received any complaint on a bank's refusal to accept soiled notes, it would investigate the matter and take action. Under the note adjudication programme, the RBI has started conducting camps where people can exchange soiled notes. The apex bank will conduct such programmes in various towns and cities in Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh.
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TRAI’s bandwidth order upheld
New Delhi, November 28 Earlier directed by TDSAT, TRAI had carried out TDSAT-mandated disclosures with the incumbent operator. TRAI had fixed a ceiling tariff of international private leased circuit (half circuits) in respect of E-1, DS-3 and STM-1 capacities at Rs 13 lakhs, Rs 104 lakhs and Rs 299 lakhs per annum, respectively. These ceiling tariffs resulted in a reduction of 29%, 64 per cent and 59 per cent in tariffs for E-1, DS-3 and STM-1 capacities respectively (as compared to the existing listed price prevalent in the market for the India USA Atlantic route). The authority had fixed the ceiling tariffs for three most commonly used capacities — E-1 (speed of 2 MBPS), DS-3 (45 MBPS) and STM-1 (155 MBPS). VSNL had challenged these reductions questioning the methodology adopted by TRAI to arrive at these figures and had also sought disclosure of more data in this regard from TRAI. The TDSAT had asked the regulator to disclose the relevant data with VSNL. TRAI’s main contention was a skewed market structure that is detrimental to competition and the services of IPLC are critical to the penetration of broadband/Internet services and to IT and IT-enabled services. — PTI
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Draft policy proposes mandatory roaming
New Delhi, November 28 "Roaming will be made mandatory subject to commercial terms and agreements between the operators", the draft NTP 2005 said. At present, both these PSUs roam into each other's network where consumers are given free of cost roaming services (only PSTN chargeable), but do not have by choice any agreement with the private players like Bharti, Hutch, Reliance Infocomm and Tatas. BSNL officials consider the
exclusivity of roaming among them keeping in mind the wider reach of the PSU
almost all over the country as 'Unique Selling Proposition'. BSNL has roaming agreements with most of global telecom operators.
— PTI
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Nath for simplified tax regime
New Delhi, November 28 In his address as the chief guest at the plenary session of the India Economic Summit, 2005, entitled “India: The New Paradigm”, Mr Nath said the most striking feature was that the economic reforms in India had been transformed from the crisis-driven to success-driven. “I stress this point because more than anything, it is this paradigm shift in public perception that is the greatest guarantee that the economic reform process is irreversible”, he said. The minister pointed out that: “Changing corporate strategies and production systems open new possibilities for developing countries to enter technology- intensive and export-oriented activities they could not otherwise have undertaken, and become part of the international production system. India intends to make full use of this opportunity. We are determined that India exploits this potential to the fullest,” he said. He mentioned that India’s capital markets had also played a significant role in creating growth impulses in the economy. In 2004, for example, Indian firms raised three times more capital from overseas money markets compared to that in 2000. FDI in India, though not as much as in China, had produced results one and a half times more productive, more effective. “We have now raised the bar of our GDP growth and are poised to enter into an 8 per cent growth trajectory”, he added.
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Jubilant eyes acquisitions
New Delhi, November 28 “We are looking to have a presence in China by acquiring a manufacturing unit to produce fine chemicals,” Jubilant Organosys Co-chairman and Managing Director Hari S Bhartia said here on the sidelines of the India Economic Summit. “Yes, we are looking at sizes bigger than 20 million dollars, but it would depend on the fit we have,” he said. Asked about the
investment he said the company may look for further equity participation from partners but it would depend on the size of the requirement. The company’s main area of clinical trials are oncology, dermatology and central nervous system.
— PTI
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Asian Paints to expand overseas
New Delhi, November 28 The company also said it would hike prices of some of its decorative products by 0.5 per cent from next month. ''We are actively looking for acquisition in the Middle-East and South-East Asian countries to expand our international business,'' Asian Paints President, International Business unit, Mr Jalaj Dani said on the sidelines of the India Economic Summit 2005. However, he said the company had not set a time limit for the acquisitions. When asked whether Asian Paints was interested in acquiring smaller companies in the domestic market, he said the company was continuously on the look out for opportunities, but nothing concrete has been firmed up.
— UNI
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Internet boom pushes online retail
New Delhi, November 28 What is more surprising is the fact that the market growth is fuelled by non-metro centres like Punjab and Chandigarh (14 per cent share), Goa (10 per cent) and around 28 per cent trade from
Daman-Diu and Pondicherry besides metros, says an industry report. Mr Samarjeet Singh, Head, eBay Academy, a major online market player, said, "On an average, on eBay India, a piece of jewellery is sold every five minutes, a mobile handset every eighth minute, and a laptop every 70 minutes". The other major players in the domestic online retail market include
Rediff, Indiatimes, Yahoo, Sify and Googles. The eBay with its presence in 33 countries has taken over the Baazee.com and is fuelling the online market. It has now over 17 lakh registered users from over 240 towns across the country. According to a recent study on 'Internet Markets and Usage Trends' by
AccessMedia, the Internet subscriber base in the country will grow at 60 per cent compounded growth over the next five years. Mumbai and Delhi, the report says, are expected to grow at 33.3 per cent and 36.7 per cent. Concerned over the unregulated growth in the market, the Ministry of Consumer Affairs has issued directions to the online players to build consumers' confidence.
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Chinese airline signs $ 1.48 b Airbus deal
Beijing, November 28 The new airline intends to buy 10 A-320s from Airbus on credit offered by the aircraft manufacturer and lease the other 10 from General Electric’s financing arm, GE Commercial Aviation Service, a joint statement said. Following Boeing’s $ 4 billion signing a week ago to supply 70 737 aircraft to eight Chinese airlines, Airbus will deliver the first three planes in May, 2006, when East Star Airlines is expected to launch its first flights. “There is demand from the market and private airlines are a new market in the Chinese aviation market,” Airbus spokesman Kevin Gu told AFP. East Star Airlines, founded by three firms, will offer flight services connecting more than 10 domestic cities.
— AFP
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Merck to cut 7,000 jobs
Washington, November 28 The company said that its programme would generate a pre-tax savings between $ 3.5 to $ 4 billion between 2006 and
2010. — PTI
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Rupee loses 15 paise Gold zooms to Rs 7,465 Novartis to sell food business Nicholas eyes stake Satyam plan Stake acquired MSK Projects Siemens bags Rs 2,600-cr order ThyssenKrupp bid Sona Koyo to set up steering plant RBI nominees on J&K Bank Board recalled |
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