 |
|
Cairn offers India assets to ONGC for $3.8 b
GAIL inks pact with Aussie firm
Oil firms to benefit from cut in rail freight
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Let shareholders decide on Mittal bid, says Lord Paul
Jalandhar, February 24 Jalandhar-born UK-based steel magnate, Lord Swraj Paul, today defended Lakshmi Niwas Mittal’s Arcelor takeover bid. He, however, pointed out that the issue between the two steel giants should be resolved by shareholders of the two companies but without any “noise” from the governments of the four European countries.
Arcelor buys stake in Chinese firm
Indirect tax collections may go up
BSNL staff oppose new ADC norms
Ultra Motors to launch electric vehicles
Airbus trounces Boeing in getting orders
SBI eyes bank in Bangladesh
|
|
Cairn offers India assets to ONGC for $3.8 b
New Delhi, February 24 Cairn made the offer to sell off its 22.5 per cent stake in the Ravva oilfield, which produces about 50,000 barrels of crude oil per day, and a majority ownership in RJ-ON-90/1 block in Rajasthan, where more than 12 discoveries have been made establishing over 1 billion barrels of in-place oil reserves, in December, 2005, industry sources said. The $ 3.8 billion asking price was also for Cairn’s interest in the Cambay basin block CB/OS-2, home to 130 million standard cubic feet per day producing Lakshmi and Gauri gas fields and a potential oilfield. However, Cairn’s Bangladesh assets are not part of the deal. The sources said the ONGC found the asking price “too high” and had put a figure between $ 2and $ 2.2 billion. While ONGC chairman Subir Raha was not available for comments, Cairn Energy spokesperson David Nisbet said “it was not the company policy to comment on market rumours.” The sources said the relatively small Cairn, which did not have the $ 2 billion required for developing the Rajasthan oilfield and building the refinery to process the crude, was planning an IPO to raise finances and list the Indian subsidiary on local bourses within a year. The ONGC is already partnering Cairn in Ravva and Cambay basin fields and had proposed to jointly build a Rs 8,000 crore refinery in Rajasthan.
— PTI
|
|
GAIL inks pact with Aussie firm
Sydney, February 24 The GAIL and Australian mining company joint venture would be according to the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) and finalised over the coming months. The Indian energy major is poised to pump in substantial money to find gas on Australian territory, a press note said here today. GAIL is likely to invest Aus $500 million in its quest to find gas down under and elsewhere. “Through this agreement we will have an injection of funds and the use of GAIL engineers on secondment, allowing us to rapidly accelerate our Australian development projects,” Arrow Chief Executive Nick Davies said in a
statement. — UNI
|
|
|
Oil firms to benefit from cut in rail freight
New Delhi, February 24 According to an IOC official, “about 35-40 per cent of the 54 million tonnes petrol and diesel consumed annually is moved on rails and the cut in freight would result in savings in excess of Rs 160 crore to the oil industry.” But it is unlikely to have any impact on the prices of petrol and diesel, as freight assumed to calculate the retail selling price of the two auto fuels was substantially lower than the new freight. “The price build-up of petrol and diesel factors in a notional 50 per cent of the prevailing rail freight. The 8 per cent cut in rail freight will, therefore, not have an impact on the price build-up as the new freight charge would continue to be higher than what is accounted for in the price build-up,” he said. The move would, however, save the IOC between Rs 60 and 80 crore annually on moving petrol and diesel from refineries to inland consumption centres on rails.
|
|
Let shareholders decide on Mittal bid, says Lord Paul
Jalandhar, February 24 Mr Paul said that it was a commercial exercise and it was really unfortunate that too many governments got into it. Refusing to accept that criticism from the governments and politicians of France, Luxembourg, Belgium and Spain sprung up due to alleged racial discrimination against Mr Mittal, Lord Swraj Paul said that such bid resistance keep on occurring in Europe every now and then. “It is perhaps for the first time that such a case has come into light for the Indians that they have been talking loud about it,” he said, while interacting with The Tribune during his one-day visit to Jalandhar to attend the annual convocation of Dr B.R. Ambedkar National Institute of Technology here today. About his plans of starting any enterprise in Punjab, he said that he had held talks with the Punjab government officials during his visit to Chandigarh almost two years back but said that he was still trying to figure out as to what could be done. He, of course, hinted about his idea as he said: “Punjab does not have any motor car company. Now every automobile manufacturer wants to have its plant next door. If Punjab had any automobile manufacturing company, I would have been here like yesterday”. Giving his opinion over India’s stand on WTO, Lord Paul said, “Every country must have its own stand. But I believe that agricultural subsidies can be disastrous. In the UK, they believe subsidies to be unfair.”
|
|
Arcelor buys stake in Chinese firm
Paris: European steel group Arcelor signed a deal to take a stake in a Chinese steelmaker on Friday but Chief Executive Guy Dolle said this was unrelated to the $23 billion takeover offer by Mittal Steel Co.
Mr Dolle said he and his Board colleagues would start visiting investors next week to convince them to stay with Arcelor and not accept the unsolicited Mittal cash-and-shares bid, which has still not officially been launched. “I am confident that I can convince them,” Mr Dolle told a telephone news conference on the deal to take a stake in China’s Laiwu Steel Corp, a unit of Laiwu Steel Group
Ltd. Arcelor agreed with Laiwu to buy a 38.41 per cent stake in the Chinese company. Arcelor said it would pay a total of 2.085 billion yuan ($259.2 million) for the stake. Asked to detail his strategic plan in response to the bid, he said, “allow me to inform the shareholders first.” Lakshmi Mittal, head of Mittal Steel, is due to meet French Finance Minister Thierry Breton on Monday to try to convince him of the merits of his bid for
Arcelor. WTO chief Pascal Lamy said France must get used to foreign takeover bids from countries such as India, following French protests over a bid by the Indian-born steel magnate for
Arcelor. — Reuters
|
|
|
Indirect tax collections may go up
New Delhi, February 24 Excise tax collection is likely to touch Rs 1,15,000 crore, while customs duty collections is expected to be Rs 64,000 crore and services tax will hopefully touch Rs 23,000 crore this fiscal, Central Board of Excise and Customs Chairman M. Jayaraman said in his address at an award function here. According to official sources, indirect taxes were up by 16.2 per cent at Rs 1,53,988 crore during April-January, 2005-06. Excise duty collections stood at Rs 85,030 crore during the first 10 months of this fiscal, while customs duty fetched Rs 52,754 crore to the government kitty and services tax collections were Rs 16,205 crore. Finance Minister P Chidambaram said he sincerely hoped target for indirect tax collections would be achieved this fiscal. “I don’t have doubts in my mind that you ( officials of customs and excise department) will exceed the target in customs duty, the question is by how much. And you will surpass the targets in services tax, the question again is by how much,” he said. The Finance Minister said he would personally be very happy and satisfied if the excise duty target is achieved. Excise, which was witnessing single digit growth till December, surged after a robust show in January when it grew by 20.6 per cent at Rs 10,010 crore, official sources said. There are still over 34 days left in this fiscal, Mr Chidambaram said exhorting officials of the Excise Department to work with vigour to achieve the target.
— PTI
|
|
|
BSNL staff oppose new ADC norms
New Delhi, February 24 “TRAI has once again shown its partiality and favour to the private telecom companies by drastically reducing the ADC to be paid by the private operators to BSNL for providing telephones in the rural areas, which are financially unviable but socially essential, to fulfil the commitment of the government,” Mr V.A.N. Namboodiri, convener of the BSNL Employees Union, said. Instead of
calculating the ADC on the basis of period of talk (per minute) for STD and locals as earlier, the new procedure for payment of ADC is calculated as only 1.55 per cent of the adjusted gross revenue, which will reduce the present ADC from Rs 5,300 crore to Rs 2,000 crore, a reduction of Rs 3,300 crore, which would
adversely affect the development plans of BSNL. The ADC continues in ILD calls but is substantially reduced for incoming from Rs 3.20 to Rs 1.60 and on outgoing calls from Rs 2.50 to 0.80 per minute. The union would hold demonstrations all over the country on March 1, demanding review of the decision and restoration of the ADC.
|
|
Ultra Motors to launch electric vehicles
New Delhi, February 24 Having spent three years refining the technology to adapt it for Indian conditions the company will be launching first products, electric two-wheeled vehicles later this year in collaboration with Indian partners, Chief Executive Paul Dyson Ultra Motors said today. “Our first motor products are being manufactured in India currently, for incorporation into the first vehicles... In addition, we have second-generation products ready to be commercialised,” Mr Dyson said. Our three-wheeler demonstration vehicle, which runs at 50 km per hour carrying a load of 500 kg for 100 km on single charge, shows that the technology is not only affordable, clean and quiet but is also scalable to heavy-duty applications, he said. British Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Science and Innovation Lord Sainsbury rode vehicles powered by Ultra Motors here. Sainsbury has pioneered a major initiative driving the Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership (a UK Government initiative for clean transport technologies), a company statement said. The company has wholly-owned subsidiaries in India and Russia, it said.
— PTI
|
|
Airbus trounces Boeing in getting orders
Singapore, February 24 Since Monday, Airbus has won aircraft orders worth as much as $6 billion, from three Asian carriers, while Boeing finalised one order that could earn it as much as $1.4 billion. Boeing Co made no new major announcements today at the Asian Aerospace show, which wraps up on Sunday, but issued low-key statements on pacts with two aviation service centres in this region to repair and overhaul Boeing planes. Airbus said it received orders for a total of 40 A320 planes from two budget airlines, Indonesia’s Adam Air and India’s GoAir. The A320s have a list price of about $70 million each. Adam Air wants 30 leased and purchased A320s to replace its aging fleet of Boeing 737s over the next five years, Chief Operating Officer Dave Fikarno Laksono said. He said the European single-aisle, 180-seat jets have an edge over the 737s in lower fuel and maintenance costs. GoAir placed a firm order for 10 of A320s and took an option to buy 10 more. GoAir gave detail of the deal in New Delhi yesterday but Airbus’ formal announcement came today in Singapore.
— AP
|
|
SBI eyes bank in Bangladesh
Mumbai, February 24 “We are willing to spend around $ 100 million for acquiring a small or medium-sized bank,” SBI Chairman A. K. Purwar said here. The SBI had identified a bank in Bangladesh and was keen about it, he said, adding that the bank had to follow the local laws before going ahead with the acquisition. The country’s largest public sector bank had acquired banks in Mauritius, Indonesia and Kenya last year. Regarding starting a branch in Pakistan, Mr Purwar said the bank was keen on having its presence in that country. About its Singapore venture, Mr Purwar said the bank was directly in talks with the authority of that country to start a full-fledged branch.
— PTI
|
bb
Punjab’s VAT relief REVL listing Inflation down Deutsche Bank |
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
