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AI-Indian merger may precede
ONGC Videsh ties up with Gazprom
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Shanghai keen on trade with Gujarat
Rel Cap to buy 14.55 pc stake in Maxwell
TRAI suggestion on cable use
Corporate Results
IOC to strengthen dealership in Punjab
CBoP revises deposit rates
RPL issue oversubscribed
L&T raises Rs 550 crore private equity
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New Delhi, April 21 “As of now, foreign airlines cannot pick up stake in domestic airlines. But government policies evolve with the changing scenario and this could happen when the government feels the necessity. At this stage, the present policy is sufficient to take care of the needs of the Indian airlines,” Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said here today. Foreign investment up to 49 per cent is now allowed in the aviation sector and in domestic carriers, though not by foreign airlines. Official sources said this policy could be revisited once Indian carriers together acquired over 1,000 aircraft in another five years when they would acquire a critical financial strength. At that time, the participation of even foreign airlines could be looked into, they added. To questions on the proposed merger of Air-India and Indian, Mr Patel told reporters that the government would soon take a decision on whether the national carriers would go in for initial public offers (IPOs) separately or do it after merger. “Our advisors are on the job ... working on various options. One suggestion is that may be a better value can be arrived at (on the IPO) after merger. We will take a decision on the basis of good advice”, he said. “We wanted to complete the IPO processes in the first half of this year. But there is a suggestion that there may be better valuation of a merged entity,” he said. Asked about employees of the two national airlines in the aftermath of the merger, the Minister said: “I do not foresee any HR problem. All staff will remain as both the airlines are growing and acquiring more aircraft”. He said the aircraft-employee ratio, which was high now, would be cut down “drastically” once the new fleet is inducted by Air-India and Indian. “We will definitely optimise manpower with the new aircraft coming in”. On the merger and acquisition guidelines, Mr Patel said the Aircraft Acquisition Committee had sent its recommendations. “We will go by them and I don’t see any major obstacles” in mergers and acquisition in the Indian aviation industry, which is growing by leaps and bounds. Officials say that ahead of the merger, the government needs to consider several issues including rationalisation of routes operated by the two airlines. Besides, the decision on which airline would be taken over by whom and the fate of the subsidiaries—Alliance Air and Air India Express—need to be resolved. Both airlines also need to decide how best to utilise their existing manpower. The Ministry of Civil Aviation recently made a presentation to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the proposed merger. To a question on the imposition of over 12 per cent service tax on first class and business class international travel, he said he would take up the matter with Finance Minister P Chidambaram. “We will express our viewpoints as well as those expressed by foreign airlines, the ICAO and IATA. We hope to find a solution”. — Agencies
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ONGC Videsh ties up with Gazprom
New Delhi, April 21 The decision was taken during the first joint working group meeting in Moscow at Gazprom’s headquarters on April 18-19 as a follow-up to the MoU signed in February last year between the two companies. At the meeting chaired by Alexander Medvedev, Deputy Chairman of Gazprom’s management committee, and ONGC Videsh Ltd Managing Director R.S. Butola. The parties reiterated agreement on mutual cooperation in Russia and India as well as in the oil and gas projects in the West Asia, North Africa, South America and CIS, stated a press statement issued by ONGC here today. “The increasing cooperation between the two companies would open up new source of supply of oil and gas for India as well as establishment of new stable and growing market for Russia,” said ONGC CMD Subir Raha. Meanwhile, Petroleum Minister Murli Deora will make efforts for attracting investment in energy infrastructure sector in India from Qatar, during his visit to that country beginning today. Mr Deora is visiting Qatar to attend the annual International Energy Forum (IEF) meet. “Fuelling the future — energy security a shared responsibility” is the theme of the 10th IEF and the 2nd International Energy Business Forum (IEBF) meet being held in Doha during April 22-24. China and Italy are the co-hosts of the 10th IEF, which will seek to underline the mutual dependency of countries for investments in the quest for energy security. In his first major interaction with ministerial representatives from some major oil and gas producing countries and import dependent countries, Deora ‘will be networking and holding one-to-one meetings with his counterparts from countries like Japan, Iran, Venezuela and South Korea. The Indian minister will be chairing a special session on Sunday on ‘Facing the challenges of a new era’. Inks separate pact with Japan ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL) and Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation (JOGMEC) on Friday signed a pact to jointly explore business opportunities in the field of gas and oil, including non-conventional fuels. The memorandum of understanding signed here by JOGMEC president Isao Kakefuda and OVL Managing Director R.S. Butola is a follow-up to the joint statement on mutual cooperation in the field of energy signed between Japan and India in September last year. The new pact provides for “mutual collaboration for business opportunities in exploration and production and research activities relevant to the hydrocarbon sector,” an ONGC statement said. It provides a framework for accelerating and widening cooperation in the hydrocarbon sector, including non-conventional fuels, besides collaboration in exploration and production sector, the statement said. Both India and Japan are net importers of oil and gas. — IANS
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Shanghai keen on trade with Gujarat
Shanghai, April 21 "We are awaiting the decision of the Government of India in this matter," Vice Mayor of Shanghai, Hu Yanzhou, told a Ficci CEO's delegation led by its president Saroj Kumar Poddar here. Hu expressed keen interest in forging a new strategic partnership with states like Gujarat and Maharashtra, Poddar told Indian journalists. The Ficci has invited the Shanghai government to send a high-level delegation to India to discuss new areas for mutually beneficial cooperation in the trade and investment areas, he said. Ficci and CCPIT Shanghai chapter have also established a Joint Working Group to identify areas for cooperation and the Indian side would be led by Ficci Secretary- General Amit Mitra. — PTI
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Rel Cap to buy 14.55 pc stake in Maxwell
Mumbai, April 21 The equity infusion will help achieve financial closure for Maxwell Industries' planned Rs 250 crore expansion aimed at launching international brands in India and export outsourcing projects in the pipeline, company release said.
— UNI
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TRAI suggestion on cable use
New Delhi, April 21 TRAI has asked whether tariffs for commercial purposes should be fixed or not and what should be the methodology for that. Also, it has sought to know how should commercial consumers be defined and differentiated from non-commercial consumers.
— PTI
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Corporate Results
Hyderabad, April 21 Total income increased 31.56 per cent to Rs 1,287.52 crore for fourth quarter in 2005-06 from Rs 978.64 crore a year ago, SCSL Chairman B Ramalinga Raju announced today. Net profit for the year ended March 2006 stood at Rs 1,239.75 crore as compared to Rs 750.26 crore in the previous fiscal, while total income increased to Rs 5,012.22 crore for 2005-06 from Rs 3,546.78 crore a year ago. Revenues from software services stood at Rs 4,793 crore for fiscal 2005-06, up by 36.12 per cent over the previous year. Mr Raju said the Board of Directors has recommended a final dividend of 250 per cent and a bonus issue in the ratio of 1:1. The total dividend for fiscal 2006 stands at 350 per cent, including the interim dividend of 100 per cent. SCSL's BPO subsidiary Nipuna reported revenues of $20 million for the fiscal against a target of $18 million. Exide net up Exide Industries Ltd today posted a 42.09 per cent increase in profit after tax at Rs 25.89 crore for the quarter ended March 31, as compared to Rs 18.22 crore for the corresponding period in 2004-05. The company's total income for the fourth quarter 2005-06 grew 24.69 per cent to Rs 388.91 crore from Rs 311.89 crore in the year-ago period, the company informed the BSE. For the year ended March 31, 2006, the company's a net profit after tax stood at Rs 100.73 crore as compared to Rs 77.28 crore in the previous fiscal. Total income stood at Rs 1395.06 crore for 2005-06 from Rs 1186.16 crore in 2004-05. The Board of Directors has recommended a 30 per cent dividend of Rs 3 per share as compared to 25 per cent paid in the previous year. Castrol India Castrol India today posted a marginal increase in net profit at Rs 32.14 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2006, as compared to Rs 31.96 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2005. The company's total income for the quarter ended March 31, 2006, grew by 16.80 per cent to Rs 379.94 crore from Rs 325.27 crore in the corresponding period in 2004-05. IDBI dividend Industrial Development Bank of India Ltd (IDBI) today reported a net profit of Rs 201.24 crore during the fourth quarter of 2005-06 on a total income of Rs 1,944.16 crore and announced a 15 per cent dividend for last fiscal. IDBI Board recommended a dividend at Rs 1.50 per share of face value of Rs 10, the bank told the BSE. The bank posted a net profit of Rs 560.89 crore during 2005-06, whereas the same was at Rs 307.26 crore for the 6-month period ended March 31, 2005. The IDBI group registered a net profit of Rs 546.49 crore for 2005-06. The net profit of the group stood at Rs 318.57 crore for the six-month period ended March 31, 2005. SSI gains SSI Ltd, an IT training and software services company, today posted profit after tax at Rs 11.52 crore for the quarter ended March 31 as against net loss of Rs 1.33 crore in the corresponding quarter last fiscal. Other income of the company stood at Rs 14.60 crore for the second quarter ended March 2006 in comparison to Rs 47 lakh on year-on-year basis.
— PTI |
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IOC to strengthen dealership in Punjab
Chandigarh, April 21 Within the next two months, the retail division of the IOC in the Punjab state office (comprising Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir) will be changed. The company sells about 3.6 million tonnes of oil (petrol, diesel and furnace oil) a year from its 1,054 outlets in above mentioned states. At present, the retail division is being managed by the retail offices at Chandigarh (for Punjab), Shimla (for Himachal Pradesh) and Jammu (for Jammu and Kashmir). While the retail division in Himachal and Jammu and Kashmir will operate through the existing offices, the Punjab region will be trifurcated, and two other sales offices will be opened in Bathinda and Jalandhar. "This is being done to strengthen our dealership network in the region. Though we are opening the two new offices as sales offices, these will be later upgraded to divisional offices," informed Mr H.S. Bedi, General Manager, Marketing Division, IOC, Punjab state office. With the entry of Reliance, which has already set up over 50 petrol pumps in Punjab, the public sector oil companies are busy trying to retain its customers by offering best of services, with primary thrust on ensuring quality and quantity. Mr Bedi said retail automation will be introduced from depot to retail outlet to terminal, to ensure that there is no adulteration. "Twenty petrol pumps in Punjab will be upgraded to offer facilities like auto billing, display of density of oil, ATMs, food outlets etc. Another 200 outlets in Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir will get a new retail visual identity for brand reinforcement," he said.
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Chandigarh, April 21 The bank is offering 8 per cent per annum for resident Indians for a period of five years and above with an effective yield at 9.72 per cent and 8.75 per cent per annum to senior citizens for the same period, the effective yield working out to 10.83 per cent. — TNS
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RPL issue oversubscribed
Mumbai, April 21 The collection is also nearly double the size of the previous record of Rs 72,500 crore held by state-owned ONGC. The issue also received the largest-ever number of forms from qualified institutional buyers (qibs), high networth individuals (HNIs) as well as retail applications, according to information available from the market.
— PTI
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L&T raises Rs 550 crore private equity New Delhi, April 21 The group of private equity investors comprise of Silver Peak Investments Ltd and a consortium led by India Development Fund, L&T said in a statement here. The post-issue equity valuation of L&T-IDPL will work out to Rs 2,448 crore. — PTI
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Inflation at 3.24 pc Order for BEML Air Arabia HMT product Bank’s pact MCX levy
Kyrgyz team leaves impressed Online policy issuance resented Punjab-specific airfare |
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Managing
Director of Kinetic Motor Company Limited Sulajja Firodia Motwani
poses for photographers as she sits on the newly launched
two-wheeler Blaze scooter at a press conference in Bangalore on
Friday. Priced at Rs 49,990 (ex-showroom, Bangalore), Blaze has 12
bhp four-valve engine and is available in Bangalore, Pune and Goa.
It is the first launch from the seven-vehicle Italian series that
Kinetic Motor acquired from the Italian two-wheeler major Italjet
Moto. — AFP
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