New Delhi, August 7
The government today refused to review its decision rejecting the price of natural gas proposed to be sold by Reliance Industries Ltd to an Anil Ambani group firm.

“There will be no review of the decision. If we allow the price RIL has proposed, the government will suffer huge losses,” Petroleum Minister Murli Deora told reporters when asked about Anil Ambani’s statement yesterday, saying that the government had taken a “premature” decision.

The minister said ever since he had joined the government, he had been hearing about disputes between Anil and his elder brother, Mukesh Ambani.

“Don’t we (the ministry) have any other job than to settle their matters,” he retorted and said that the ministry has already made its position on the issue clear.

The Petroleum Ministry had last month rejected the price of $2.34 per million British thermal unit proposed by Mukesh Ambani-led RIL for sale of natural gas to Reliance Natural Resources Ltd on grounds that it would lead to massive losses to the government exchequer.

The Petroleum Ministry said in a statement that the decision was in line with globally accepted business practices.

“It is reiterated that the decision has also been guided by the Government’s firm commitment to follow transparent, stable and globally accepted business practices in an area where a level playing field has been provided to all operators from India and abroad,” the ministry said.

“ Stating that the New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP), under which RIL won the D-6 block, provided for freedom to market the gas in India, the ministry said: “It would be inappropriate to think of decisions which are contrary to the provisions of legally enforceable contracts and may drive away investors from this area.” 

New Delhi, August 7
The IOC has signed loan agreements for raising a foreign currency loan of $370 million for funding its oil import requirements.

IndianOil plans to import about 40 million tonnes of crude oil during 2006-07 to feed its seven refineries and subsidiaries.

IndianOil will borrow $200 million from BNP Paribas, Singapore, and $170 million from the Bank of America, Taiwan, at highly competitive rates.

The maturity of the loan from BNP Paribas is one year.

However, the loan facility from Bank of America is revolving in nature within the availability period of one year.

The revolving facility would enable IndianOil to manage its cash flows more efficiently.

IndianOil also has the flexibility to avail these facilities in Japanese yen equivalent.

The company is looking at Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Malaysia and Kuwait, among others, for the purchase of crude oil.

There is competition between the domestic oil refining and marketing companies to source crude from cheaper destinations, given the high international prices.

IndianOil had imported approximately 38 mt of crude oil last year and four mt of petroleum products such as liquefied petroleum gas, naphtha, fuel oil, high-speed diesel, motor spirit and kerosene.

The company plans to process 10,642 TMT (10.642 million tonne) indigenous crude and 31,708 TMT (31.708 million tonne) imported crude during 2006-07 in its refineries.

India imports more than 70 per cent of its crude oil requirements, and IndianOil is one of the largest importers.

India’s crude oil import bill has risen from Rs 83,528 crore in 2003-04 to Rs 1,71,702 crore in 2005-06. — PTI

New Delhi, August 7
Domestic air fares would go up once again across the board from tonight with major carriers raising fuel surcharge on tickets from Rs 500 to Rs 650 on account of increase in jet fuel prices.

Low-cost carriers Air Deccan and SpiceJet became the latest airlines to announce an increase in air surcharge with an increase of Rs 150 over the existing amount of Rs 500. The carriers attributed the increase, to be effective tonight, to the rising aviation turbine fuel (ATF) costs.

Earlier last week, public sector Indian and private carriers Jet Airways and Air Sahara have announced a hike of Rs 150 on all types of fares in all classes and on all domestic routes.

The surcharge would not be applicable on the sale of tickets made on or before August 7, but would be applicable if tickets are presented for any voluntary change on or after August 8, they said.

For tickets purchased outside India, a surcharge of $14 would be applicable on domestic travel in India.

For the fifth month in a row, public sector oil firms raised jet fuel prices in step with rising international crude oil cost. ATF price in Delhi in March 2006 was Rs 34,995.36 per kilolitre, which went up to Rs 35,826.36 in April, Rs 39,642.24 in May, Rs 40,408.02 in June and Rs 41,303.58 per kilolitre in July.

ATF price for domestic airlines in Delhi is now Rs 42,367.51 per kilolitre. In Mumbai, it was Rs 43,826.43. — PTI

New Delhi, August 7
Opposing the continuation of Mr Yash Mahajan and Mr S.K. Tuteja on the Board of Swaraj Mazda, Punjab Tractors Ltd (PTL) today said it was not averse to the appointment of Sumitomo Corporation’s nominee as the Managing Director of the company.

PTL, which has approached the Company Law Board seeking the removal of Mr Mahajan and Mr Tuteja, said Swaraj Mazda Board had on July 29 rejected the appeal for their removal despite withdrawal of their nomination by PTL.

At present Mr Tuteja is the Chairman of Swaraj Majda and Mr Mahajan the Managing Director.

Counsel for PTL said Sawaraj Mazda Board had not given effect to the nomination of its three directors, including Mr A.M. Sawhney, in place of Mr Tuteja, and did not pay heed to the proposal on the appointment of Chairman and Vice-Chairman.

“The proposal was not accepted and my nominees were rejected,” he said.

However, he said that PTL was not averse to the appointment of Sumitomo’s nominee as the Managing Director. “Let him be the Managing Director,” PTL said.

While Sumitomo holds around 41 per cent stake in Swaraj Mazda, PTL has about 14 per cent. Swaraj Mazda was incorporated in 1983 as a joint venture between Sumitomo, Mazda and PTL.

PTL said that as per the jv agreement between the parties, the company was entitled to appoint four directors on Swaraj Mazda’s Board.

However, the counsels for Swaraj Mazda and Sumitomo rejected the arguments of PTL and said it had always acted in the interests of the company. They countered that the existing management of the company “is needed” for its growth.

To allay the fears of PTL, Swaraj Mazda agreed that it would not hold a Board meeting in the next 15 days. The case will now come up for hearing on July 18. — PTI

New Delhi, August 7
The government does not intend to introduce a mechanism to control the prices of steel and iron ore as these are deregulated and are governed by market forces.

“The prices of iron ore as well as steel are deregulated and are governed by market forces. There is no proposal for introducing a price control mechanism,” Steel Minister Ram Vilas Paswan said.

In view of sufficient reserves of iron ore there was no proposal to completely ban the export of iron ore.

Minister of State for Steel Akhilesh Das said SAIL had decided to enter into a strategic partnership with Jaiprakash Associates Limited for jointly producing cement in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh and a letter of intent had been issued to it. — PTI

London, August 7
Companies that bid for lucrative government contracts in the UK are set to be rejected if they do not employ enough black and Asian workers under a pilot scheme.

A government committee has drawn up plans to question competing firms about their attitudes towards race before awarding contracts, a media report said today.

The firms will be asked to provide figures showing the number of blacks and Asians employed. These will be compared to the proportion of people from ethnic minorities living near the company’s offices and will be a factor when deciding on the winning bid, The Times said here. — PTI

Chandigarh, August 7
Fuelled by high sales and deep pockets of Punjabis and Haryanvis, Mercedes Benz has decided to move into the hinterland. To cater to the needs of its growing customers in the backyards of the region, DaimlerChrysler India will be expanding its dealership network by opening shops at Jalandhar, Amritsar and Karnal.

Also in store for the proud owners of the luxury saloon is an exclusive Mercedes Benz Club, which will offer amenities like discs, eateries, hotel, swimming pools, golf course, besides special parking facilities for the members’ Mercedes. The club will be set up on the Chandigarh-Ludhiana highway.

Company officials informed TNS here today that Tai-Pan Traders, who were the franchisees for selling the German saloon North of Delhi, will be opening the three new dealerships by the end of year 2007. “The sales of the car in Karnal, Pipli, Ambala and Hisar districts in Haryana and in the NRI belt of Jalandhar-Hoshiarpur, Amritsar and Bathinda in Punjab have gone up over the past two years. Thus, we have decided to open new dealerships and service stations in these areas,” said Mr Sarabjit Singh Sodhi, Manager Sales, Tai-Pan Traders.

Sources said there were around 1,300 Mercedes Benz saloons on the roads in Punjab, Chandigarh and Haryana (excluding districts in NCR). Of these, maximum Mercs are running on Ludhiana roads (about 700), followed by Chandigarh (150) and about 80 in Karnal, Pipli, Hisar and Ambala. Though 60 per cent of the Mercs in the region are E Class (priced at Rs 35.50 lakh), followed by 30 per cent of the basic model C Class (for Rs 25.50 lakh) and 10 per cent of the high-end S Class (for Rs 75 lakh).

The officials said about 120 Mercs were sold in this region in the last fiscal and they had set a target to sell 150 saloons here during this fiscal.

New Delhi, August 7
Hutchison Telecom International Ltd, the Hong-Kong based parent of Hutchison that operates the Hutch-Essar jv in India with Essar group, has said the termination of BPL Mobile Mumbai circle merger deal by its Indian partner was wrong.

“The BPL Mumbai vendors have failed to undertake completion and on August 1, each of the BPL Mumbai vendors issued a notice to Hutchison-Essar purporting to terminate the BPL Mumbai share purchase agreement,” the company said in an update to its shareholders on the status of the merger, shortly before dragging Essar to court over the matter.

“Hutchison Essar considers the BPL Mumbai vendors to be under an obligation to undertake completion and the attempt to terminate BPL Mumbai share purchase agreement to be wrongful.”

Hutchison Essar is taking all necessary steps and action to pursue completion in accordance with the terms of the agreement, the company said.

Referring to its announcement of September last year about acquisition of BPL Mobile’s Mumbai business, the company said the fruition of the SPA would have enabled Hutchison to have 100 per cent stake in BPL’s Mumbai circle.

Since the announcement and the circular, Hutchison-Essar has completed its acquisition of the entire issued share capital of BPL Cellular (a licencee for GSM mobile services in the telecommunication circles of Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala in India), while the BPL Mumbai SPA was signed in December last year. — PTI

New Delhi, August 7
The government is exploring an entry fee of Rs 250 crore per metro circle for allotting 3G spectrum, while for category B circles it could be around Rs 150 crore.

This suggestion has apparently found favour with the Ministry of Finance, which wants to price the Third Generation Mobile spectrum — whose allocation and pricing have been one of the hotly debated issues by the Government and the industry in recent times.

3G spectrum supports faster and larger quantities of data, which enables additional service offerings in the form of games, music and video using voice, video and data (together known as “triple play”) and helps to bring about broadband on mobiles.

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is also agreeable in principle to the Finance Ministry’s suggestion on pricing of 3G spectrum, but according to sources it may not agree with this quantum of pricing as it feels it to be too high. The DoT may be looking at a cumulative Rs 200 crore entry fee for the entire country.

Telecom regulator TRAI is set to come out with recommendations on 3G spectrum pricing and allocation next month. Recently, it held meetings with individual operators as well as Ministry officials concerned like the MoF and the DoT on the same. The figure of Rs 250 crore per metro circle and Rs 150 crore for category B non-metro circles and Rs 50 crore for category C circles was conveyed by the Ministry of Finance during these interactions with TRAI.

The pricing of 3G spectrum also involves a revenue-share of six per cent annually at this stage. The MoF wants to raise Rs 1,000 crore from each telecom company applying for 3G spectrum licences.

Almost all operators barring Tata Teleservises have opposed any entry fee. Tata group supremo Ratan Tata had suggested an entry fee of Rs 1,500 crore for 3G spectrum.— PTI

New Delhi, August 7
In its bid to revive sick public sector pharmaceutical units, the government plans to spend about Rs 342 crore to bring back on track Indian Drugs and Pharmaceuticals Ltd (IDPL) and Hindustan Antibiotics Ltd (HAL).

Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilisers B.K. Handique said the government had accepted the expert committee report on the revival of IDPL, which had suggested a cash infusion of Rs 204 crore. IDPL had been asked to submit a draft rehabilitation scheme for consideration of the government.

The expert committee had suggested that Rs 204 crore should be provided as a one-time interest-free loan to IDPL, which the company would repay within seven years by sale of excess vacant land available at its units in Tamil Nadu, Hyderabad and Gurgaon.

The committee also suggested the writing off of a total concession of Rs 2,780 crore, including Rs 1,970 crore of loans and interest from the government and another Rs 810 crore from banks and other PSUs.

Mr Handique said the government had allocated a Rs 137.59- crore package for the rehabilitation of HAL. As a part of the package, HAL would be provided a Rs 56.96 -crore interest-free loan pending sale of land by it. — PTI

New Delhi, August 7
The Oriental Bank of Commerce today rolled back the 0.5 per cent hike in home loans up to Rs 20 lakh it had announced earlier this week. However, the increase in interest rate on home loans above Rs 20 lakh will be effective from today.— The bank would take a fresh call on interest rates for home loans up to Rs 20 lakh on September 30. OBC had announced that the floating rate for home loans of up to Rs 20 lakh would go up by 0.5 per cent to 9.25 per cent for 10 years and 9.5 per cent for above 10 years. It had also raised interest rate for loans above Rs 20 lakh to 9.75 per cent and 10 per cent, respectively.— PTI