Washington, April 26
The International Finance Corporation (IFC) will help develop rural electrification programme in select Indian villages in West Bengal, Bihar, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Punjab, and Rajasthan.

A Memorandum of Understanding was signed at IFC’s headquarters in Washington, DC with Power Finance Corporation (PFC), India’s public financial institution dedicated to developing the power sector. At present, millions of villagers in India do not have access to electricity.

The IFC is the private lending arm of the World Bank group and Indian Minister of Power, Sushil Kumar Shinde, was present at the signing ceremony.

The pilot projects will include long-term technical and franchising support and would be based on National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) experience with rural electrification in the US The NRECA model has been exported to several developing countries over the last forty-plus years.

NRECA is a not-for-profit association of cooperatives that provides power to rural areas of the US It also has world-class knowledge in designing and operating rural electrification programmes in emerging markets such as Bangladesh, the Philippines, Guatemala, Bolivia, and other countries. NRECA’s members provide power to about 12 per cent of the US population covering 85 per cent of the US land mass.

According to Mr Vivek Talvadkar, Senior Vice-President of NRECA International, India’s push for universal electrification by 2012 provides a timely opportunity to address sustainability issues in the sector.

“Farmers, businesses, and households in India are not that different from their US counterparts when it comes to electricity.

They want reliable service to help them prosper, not a handout.” Noting that India’s non-urban distribution losses cost about $5 billion annually, he said, “without addressing rural subsidies and distribution losses, the Indian economy will suffer needlessly.”

He said the IFC/NRECA partnership with Power Finance Corporation and the states is aimed at establishing business models that reduce economic inefficiencies by focusing on the consumer’s role as the ultimate guarantor of power sector investment.

The programme would focus on the creation of specialised rural area electric service enterprises in selected states. The new rural entities will be demand-driven and commercially sound, serving as models for addressing the electricity service needs of rural populations in currently unserved or underserved regions. The project format is highly flexible and can be adapted to brownfield or greenfield areas, grid extensions or distributed generation, and conventional or alternative energy sources, according to the IFC.

The initial priority states will be selected from West Bengal, Bihar, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Punjab, and Rajasthan. After projects are implemented in the initial states, other states will be approached.

IFC promotes sustainable private sector investment in developing and transition countries, helping to reduce poverty and improve people’s lives. — UNI 

New Delhi, April 26
About 20 banks and non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) have joined hands with the Ministry of Non-Conventional Energy Sources to accelerate the development and deployment of solar water heating systems across the country aimed to save 1,000-MW of power.

“So far, 19 banks and NBFCs recognised by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) have joined the scheme to provide soft loans to the beneficiaries in domestic, institutional and commercial sectors,” said Mr V. Subramaniam, Secretary, Ministry of Non-conventional Energy Sources here today after a review meeting.

Notably, the scheme to implement “Accelerated Programme on Solar Water Heating (APSWH)” was approved in August, 2005.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Subramaniam informed that 11 states have accepted the recommendations of the Ministry by amending building bylaws making use of solar water heaters mandatory.

Under the new scheme, soft loans are available to the users at reduced interest rates of 2 per cent for domestic, 3 per cent for institutions and 5 per cent for commercial users. 

New Delhi, April 26
Amid looming uncertainty of the US sanctions over Iran due to growing conflict over nuclear issue, India has expressed hope to hold a key meeting to kickstart the India-Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline in May and June in Pakistan and Iran, respectively.

Energy ministers of India, Pakistan and Iran will meet to iron out a project structure for implementation for the over $7 billion Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline project.

Petroleum Minister Murli Deora, who participated in the Ministerial Conference of 10th International Energy Forum (IEF) at Doha, had several rounds of talks with his Iranian and Pakistani counterparts.

It was observed that while considerable progress had been made with regard to the project, a few technical issues were in the process of getting resolved which are expected to be taken up in May at tripartite secretary level talks scheduled in Pakistan.

A ministerial level meeting in Iran in June this year for concluding an agreement, paving the way for implementation of this project linking Iran, Pakistan and India beyond the strict confines of energy, has been agreed upon.

Officials in the Petroleum Ministry said discussions took place in a cordial atmosphere and focused on the Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline, which has been described by the Indian PM as a pipeline of peace and progress.

Mr Deora also met Chairman Chevron David O Reilly, Shell’s E and P head, Malcom Brindley.

Chevron has recently entered India with an equity participation in the Reliance Refinery being setup at Jamnagar near their present one. Shell has commissioned a Technology Centre at Bangalore recently. 

New Delhi, April 26
Car market leader Maruti Udyog Ltd today reported an outstanding 39.1 per cent jump in net profit for the quarter ended March 31, 2006, at Rs 360.9 crore and announced a 70 per cent dividend for 2005-06.

The increase in profit came despite sales growing by single-digit and higher raw material costs. The company, following its Board meeting, also announced that it would launch a new export model during 2008-09.

“This model, while serving the Indian market, would be for export, mainly to Europe,” the company said, adding that it will target to export one lakh units of this model annually.

Total income (net of excise) of Maruti, in which Japan’s Suzuki Motors holds 54.2 per cent stake, moved up 8.04 per cent to Rs 3,392.2 crore during the quarter under review against Rs 3,139.7 crore in Q4 of 2005.

Net profit for the year ended March 31, 2006, rose by 39.2 per cent to Rs 1,189 crore against Rs 853.6 crore a year ago. Total income (net of excise) for the full year 2005-06 was up 10 per cent at Rs 12,481.4 crore against Rs 11,346.5 crore in the previous year.

The company’s Board recommended a 70 per cent dividend for 2005-06 against 40 per cent last year. This would aggregate to payment of Rs 3.50 per share, which has a nominal face value of Rs 5.

The company announced that it had purchased the 30 per cent stake of parent Suzuki Motor in new car manufacturing subsidiary Maruti Suzuki Automobile India Ltd (MSAIL) for Rs 12 crore. “The Board also approved the scheme of amalgamation of Maruti and MSAIL,” the company said.

With car sales in the country witnessing a slowdown last fiscal and Maruti managed a 7.6 per cent growth in the domestic market at 1,46,275 units in the fourth quarter.

Raw material and component prices for the company in the January-March quarter saw a 15.6 per cent rise at Rs 2,672 crore against Rs 2,310 crore a year ago.

New Delhi, April 26
Fresh from losing a prime property in Angola, ONGC Videsh Ltd has sought greater freedom in bidding for oil and gas assets abroad and a rethink on the mechanism of approval of its investment proposals.

OVL lost out deep-sea exploration Block 15 as its offer of $150 million signature bonus to Angolan government was way below $902 million winning bid made by Italy’s ENI. It was also substantially lower than Chinese Sinopec’s bid of $750 million and $560 million committed by Total of France.

“Going by the high signature bonus and work programme quoted by the other competing companies, it is clear that in order to be in the zone of consideration, OVL shall have to bid at a level which is much beyond either its or ONGC’s delegated powers,” a company source said.

The Boards of OVL and its parent Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) have been delegated powers to make a bid of up to Rs 300 crore.

Sources said OVL called for a rethink on “the mechanism of approval of OVL’s investment proposals besides substantially enhancing its Board’s delegated authority.”

According to OVL, the present mechanism of seeking prior approval of the government (Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs) every time it makes a bid of over Rs 300 crore or a rebid was constraining as “companies keep evaluating and updating bid parameters till the last hour of the submission of the bid as intake of new inputs is a continuous process.”

OVL says the two-tier examination and approval of its proposals — first by an Empowered Committee of Secretaries consisting of Secretaries in the Ministries of Petroleum, Finance, Planning, External Affairs, Department of Public Enterprises and Law, and than by Cabinet/CCEA did not guarantee its bids remaining confidential.

Meanwhile, ONGC has implemented one of the globally-biggest ERP (SAP/R3) implementations with 13,500 user base on a fast-track of 27 months from concept to corporate roll-out with exceptionally stable commissioning of all 23 modules.

Given this remarkable achievement, the Military Engineer Services requested ONGC’s assistance for upgrading their IT systems and infrastructure, incorporating full-fledged ERP capability. — PTI, TNS

New Delhi, April 26
The gifting away of gold medallions worth Rs 9.32 crore to provident fund (PF) employees and directors is among matters expected to go before a Parliamentary oversight panel next month, its chairman says.

Asked when the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) planned to act on this and other findings of India’s Comptroller and Auditor General Vijay Kumar Malhotra said: “This may be one of the matters to be taken up next month.”

Mr Malhotra said no meeting of the present PAC was scheduled before the end of its term on April 30 and a fresh committee would take office on May 1.

The PAC Chairman said the new committee would go over the findings of the CAG and select paragraphs to go into for detailed examination, which is the procedure.

The CAG reported last month that Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) trustees violated “the basic principles of financial propriety” in distributing gold medallions to their employees—and themselves— three years ago.

In all, the EPF Organisation distributed 19,461 gold medallions to its employees and 32 Board members to commemorate its Golden Jubilee Year 2002, booking the Rs 9.32 crore cost as “publicity/advertisement charges.”

The CAG said the expenditure was “irregular” and in contravention of the government’s economy instructions and fundamental rules.

It said the move violated “the Ministry of Finance, Department of Expenditure’s instructions of October 1992 reiterated in March 2002 for effecting economy in government expenditure.”

The CAG also questioned the propriety in distributing the medallions to 32 directors. — UNI

New Delhi, April 26
India’s largest insurer Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) has earned Rs 5,800 crore net profit during 2005-06 while its first year premium income during the period grew by a record 48 per cent to Rs 18,085 crore.

Besides new products in existing categories, LIC has approached regulator IRDA for launching a micro insurance product for the rural poor.

“Our surplus (profit) was Rs 5,800 crore in 2005-06,” LIC Chairman A.K. Shukla said here on the sidelines of the inauguration of ‘LIC Zindagi Express’, an exhibition showcasing LIC’s 50-year history on a train.

LIC collected Rs 18,085 crore as premium during the fiscal ended March 2006 by selling 3.17 crore policies compared to Rs 12,170 crore collected by selling 2.39 crore policies in the same period last year.

Mr Shukla said LIC’s total investment in stocks is likely to increase to Rs 40,000 crore from Rs 34,000 crore at present.

LIC is talking to PSU non-life insurers for the micro insurance product partnership that would give a composite life and no-life insurance coverage of up to Rs 50,000.