New Delhi, February 23
The ISD and STD call rates are expected to tumble with the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) today announcing substantial changes in norms for access deficit charge paid by private operators to BSNL, which has been slashed by 33 per cent.

“We are expecting tariff to come down following the new regime. However, we can’t say by how much (it would drop) as tariffs are market- driven,” said TRAI Chairman Pradeep Baijal after announcing the new norms, wherein the access deficit charge on domestic traffic would be on a revenue sharing basis instead of call duration.

The new regime would come into effect on March 1.

On the international traffic, ADC has been slashed to Rs 1.60 and Rs 0.80 per minute on incoming and outgoing calls (ISD).

In a significant decision, TRAI has fixed a ceiling on carriage charges for domestic long-distance calls (STD) at Rs 0.65 per minute. This may reduce the STD charges in distance beyond 50 km but could increase tariffs for 0-50 km segment, as the earlier carriage charges were Rs 0.20 per minute.

Explaining the rationale for lowering ADC on ISD calls (both incoming and outgoing), TRAI said this would result in reduction in arbitrage and hence the grey market.

One of the ILD operators, however, objected to double taxation for them as TRAI has included revenue from ILD traffic in the revenue, which has been taxed at the rate of 1.5 per cent.

TRAI has retained the termination charges at Rs 0.30 per minute in both mobile and fixed-line phones. The regulator also exempted inclusion of revenue from rural operations of operators in the total earnings on which ADC has been levied at the rate of 1.5 per cent.

The complete package for domestic and international calls would reduce the levy payable to BSNL by other operators from an estimated Rs 5,000 crore to Rs 3,200 crore.

Welcoming the decision of the regulator, Communications and IT Minister Dayanidhi Maran said “BSNL was anticipating this and had and had taken into account all these before announcing the OneIndia tariff under which domestic long-distance STD call would cost just Re 1 across the country.”

He said both BSNL and MTNL were gearing up to the competiton and particularly BSNL knew that such a regime was coming.

ADC or access deficit charge is the levy paid by private operators to BSNL, which at present stands at Rs 5,340 crore per year. BSNL has cut this by a whopping Rs 2,000 crore annually.

Although the two telecom PSUs - MTNL and BSNL - have already announced STD calls at Re 1 across the country, private operators were waiting for the new ADC regime to be announced by TRAI.

On ADC to be phased out completely, TRAI reiterated that “ADC should ideally be merged with the universal service obligation (USO) regime over the time, say in about 3-5 years, meaning that ADC should become zero by fiscal 2008-09.” To achieve this, ADC has been reduced to a two-thirds of Rs 4,800 crore to Rs 3,200 crore annually.

Bharti Tele-Ventures in a statement said “it is pleased to note that a time frame is clearly set for complete abolition of ADC by 2008-09. It will be the industry’s desire to see this timeframe shortened.”

Commenting on the carriage charges, which have been fixed as a ceiling at Rs 0.65 per minute, TRAI said: “We are aware that this ceiling limit is higher than value of Rs 0.20 per minute fixed for calls up to 50 km in the existing regime and there may be a tendency for some operators to charge this higher amount.

“One alternative before TRAI was to prescribe a new ceiling for distance up to 50 km. The other alternative was that should such a situation arise, competitive forces will encourage other operators to set up infrastructure to cover such distances.

“Therefore, TRAI has decided to retain only one distance independent ceiling for carriage charge. The situation will be kept under observation and if required, a review will be carried out,” the regulator said.

New Delhi, February 23
India’s two top business houses appear headed for a showdown over their joint holding in Idea Cellular, with A.V. Birla Group urging the government to direct Tatas to expeditiously reduce stake in the company, but the latter wanted to take its own time to get ‘fair value.’

Responding to a missive fired by Birla in the shape of a letter to Communication Ministry for “swiftest” action in accordance with licence conditions, Tata Group said that no regulatory compulsion should be imposed on it, as it “needed sufficient time to reduce its holding at a fair value”.

Amid the confrontation between the two, A.V. Birla Group Chief Kumaramanglam Birla met the Telecom Minister Dayanidhi Maran and his Secretary J.S. Sarma last week.

When contacted, Mr Sanjeev Aga, a Director in Aditya Birla Nuvo Limited (ABNL), termed as “courtesy call” the meeting between Mr Birla and Mr Maran, while declining to comment on the issues simmering between the Tatas and Birla group, which holds over 50 per cent stake in Idea.

In a letter written to Mr Sarma, the ABNL official said: “We are compelled to seek your intervention to ensure the swiftest adherence to the conditions of licence.” Quickly reacting to the Birla’s communication asking the Telecom Ministry to “determine the level of the Tata group shareholding in Idea, whether below 10 per cent or nil”, Tatas shot a letter to Sarma terming as “misleading and incorrect,” the allegations levelled by ABNL against them.

When contacted, a Tata Group official said from Mumbai that “Birlas have raised some issues and we have given appropriate and correct answer,” but did not elaborate.

Birla Group holds 50.14 per cent stake in Idea Cellular while Tatas hold 48.14 per cent. — PTI

New Delhi, February 23
The failure of the state governments and the Centre to meet the deadline of May 31, 2005, to introduce high-security registration plates for vehicles across the country has adversely affected insurance companies and customers.

The Centre had earlier too extended the deadline from January 1 to May 31 last year as the states had asked for more time to identify vendors for supplying these plates.

The insurance companies have reportedly informed the government that due to the delay in implementation of this scheme, they are incurring losses in crores for they have to pay substantial amounts to the affected customers.

As per industry estimates, nearly 50,000 vehicles worth over Rs.150 crore are stolen in India every year. Only about 15,000 are traced, often in unroadworthy condition, with many components missing. Consequently, insurance companies have to pay heavy amounts in case the customers have taken insurance cover.

These registration plates will have such security features as make removal, tampering or counterfeiting of such plates difficult.

“As per notification, the scheme was to be implemented by the deadline of May 31, 2005, which the state governments could not achieve. The state governments have been advised to speed up the process of implementation,” Minister of State for Shipping, Road Transport and Highways K. H. Muniyappa informed the Lok Sabha today.

Officials said the new number plate rules specify a chromium hologram and laser numbering containing an alpha-numeric identification, besides a third registration plate on the windshield. But due to lack of cooperation of state governments in the name of lack of vendors, the decision could not be implemented.

Industry insiders said the auto-lifting gangs usually targeted family cars like Maruti-800 and Zen ,mainly in metros and large towns like Chandigarh, Ludhiana, and Ahmedabad. Police officials claim the relative ease with which these cars can be stolen, coupled with ready demand in the North-East, are the major reasons for their theft. The police suspects the involvement of organised gangs, operating from Patna, Dimapur in Nagaland and Nepal, in such thefts. 

New Delhi, February 23
After successfully starting the Munabao-Khokhropar rail service between India and Pakistan, the government is considering to build a railway line linking the North-Eastern states with Myanmar, aiming to change the economic scenario in this region through enhancing bilateral trade.

Following the discussions between New Delhi and Yangon in October last year, the government has proposed to build a railway line from Jiribam-Imphal-Moreh — under the aegis of Mekong-Ganga cooperation. For this, Rites Ltd. has conducted a feasibility study recommending a rail link between Jiribam-Imphal-Moreh at a cost of Rs. 2,941.08 crore.

This would be the first step, said official sources, for building a trade route through Delhi-Hanoi Rail Link in Vietnam with the Asean countries. The total bilateral trade between India and Myanmar has increased from $435.32 million in 2001-02 to $506.8 million in 2004-05.

The proposed link would require construction of rail link between Tamu (Moreh) - Kalay - Segyi at a cost of Rs 1,339.02 crore in Myanmar and rehabilitation of existing line from Segyi-Chaungu Myohaung at a cost of Rs. 283.959 crore.

In a written reply to the Lok Sabha today, the Minister of State for Railways, Mr R.Velu, said: “The link would provide substantial benefit to bilateral trade between India and Myanmar.”

According to Director General, Research and Information System for the South-Asia Nagesh Kumar, “Although India-Myanmar and Thailand are contiguous neighbours, poor physical connectivity doesn’t allow them to reap the benefits of this contiguity such as the movement of trade overland so that industrial restructuring could take place across the countries.”

Petroleum Ministry is already exploring an alternative gas pipeline route through North Eastern region, bypassing Bangladesh, to import gas. 

New Delhi, February 23
India and Canada have agreed to explore the possibility of cooperation in the field of diamond mining.

A decision in this regard was taken here at a meeting between Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Kamal Nath and Mr. Joseph Cordiano, Minister of Economic Development and Trade, Province of Ontario, Canada.

Mr Kamal Nath proposed investment by Indian companies in diamond mines in Canada for sourcing of rough diamonds which could then be cut and polished in India for export.

He said India had emerged as a top exporter of cut and polished diamonds in the world while there was good scope for Canadian mines being tapped for rough diamonds.

Both ministers underlined the potential for expanding trade and investment ties. Although the annual bilateral trade between India and Canada had grown significantly over the past decade from Canadian dollars 788 million in 1992 to Canadian dollar 2.45 billion in 2004, India’s share in Canada’s imports is only about 0.5 per cent.

India is the 37th largest source of direct investment in Canada, with more than half of the Indian investment there being in pulp and paper.

Mr. Cordiano stressed the need for diversifying trade in terms of both products and markets.

Chandigarh, February 23
Steel manufacturers desire that excise duty on steel should be reduced from 16 per cent to 8 per cent in the forthcoming Budget to boost industry.

This view was expressed by steel magnets from all over the region who had gathered at the CII to attend the two-day Steel Mart, which concluded here today.

Mr Krishan Goyal of Modern Steels, Mandi Gobindgarh, and Chairman of the CII Chandigarh Council, said there were clear indications of a push for infrastructure in the coming Budget, which would have a cascading effect on the steel industry. “The import duty (5 to 10 per cent) should remain unchanged,” he said, adding that the government should work for accelerating growth in the agriculture sector (3. 5 per cent), which was slowing down the overall growth rate.

His views were supported by Mr Ratan Jindal, Vice-Chairman and Managing Director of Jindal Stainless. “The excise duty should be reduced from 16 per cent to 8 or 10 per cent. Of the 1.7 million tonnes of steel produced in India as of now, 200,000 tonnes was exported to South-East Asia and China, where infrastructure growth was taking place,” he said.