New Delhi, August 15
The Petroleum Ministry has offered a price of Rs 21 a litre for ethanol, about 35 per cent more than the price for equivalent calorific value fuel that the government wants to use for doping petrol.

Ethanol gives 44 per cent lower energy than petrol and as per international practices, like the one followed in world's largest ethanol-petrol blender country Brazil, it should have been priced at roughly 60 per cent of the manufacturing cost.

The energy equivalent price of ethanol works out to Rs 15.60 a litre taking one-year peak petrol cost of Rs 26 per litre, but the ministry at a meeting with Indian Sugar Manufacturers Association (ISMA) last week has offered a price of Rs 21 a litre, industry sources said.

ISMA is, however, not satisfied with the price and wants Rs 28-29 a litre, a price even higher than the cost of importing petrol. In 2005-06, ethanol manufactures were paid a price of Rs 18.75 a litre.

Sources said IndianOil Corporation, representing industry, at the last meeting called by Petroleum Secretary on July 25, strongly advocated pricing ethanol according to its calorific value (energy equivalent price).

In Brazil, ethanol is priced 50-60 per cent of petrol price due to its lower energy content.

Sources said the government wants to make 5 per cent of ethanol blending in petrol mandatory and a Cabinet note circulated recently for the purpose even suggested importing ethanol from Brazil (only).

Sources said the industry, however, want the present system of voluntary ethanol blending to continue till adequate ethanol availability on long-term basis is assured.

The previous NDA government had introduced compulsory blending of ethanol in petrol, but the scheme had to be scrapped in 2004, following lower availability due to drought.

Unlike Brazil and the USA, land for sugarcane cultivation has remained stagnant over the last decade and droughts often affect crop.

In India, where water, power and fuel are very expensive, more energy goes into producing ethanol than energy produced by using alcohol, as fuel in petrol gives negative energy balance.

Sources said the government's objective of reducing imports is defeated as even 10 per cent ethanol blending in petrol gives energy security of only 1 per cent of oil import bill of the country.

Ethanol blending as fuel would substitute crude oil imports of $500 per tonne (at $70 per barrel) while its use as chemical can add 2-3 times value (end products $800-2000 per tonne). — PTI

New Delhi, August 15
A parliamentary committee has asked the Income Tax Department to strengthen its investigation wing to bring those people in business, industry and professions in the tax net as they have been avoiding it.

“Strengthen the investigation wing of the department to bring a considerable number of people in business/industry/professions to the tax net, who inspite of earning income which may be liable to be taxed, are not paying the requisite income tax,” said Mr Vijay Kumar Malhotra, who headed the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).

The committee expressed surprise that the details of final revenue collections from “search and seizure” cases were not maintained by the department and they also had not maintained consolidated statistics of the detection of concealment of income and their recovery through search and seizure operations.

The report asked the Finance Ministry to set up a coherent mechanism to monitor these operations, particularly with a view to ascertaining the sustenance of assessments made in respect of “search and seizure” cases.

The number of search and seizure cases declined over the years and the number of conviction was meagre 10.43 per cent, the report noted.

The committee observed that the rate of growth of post-assessment tax collection has declined from 20.54 per cent to 14.67 per cent after restructuring.

The report said it found that “the department had not maintained any date or conducted any study to correlate tax collection to the specific competencies/efficiency achieved in assessment and collection functions consequent to the implementation of the scheme of restructuring.”

The Committee asked the Department of Revenue to “critically analyse this decline so as to arrive at a more transparent, precise and objective benchmark to assess the revenue outcomes of restructuring.”

Mr Malhotra also asked the government to bring larger number of cases for scrutiny assessment.

As per the Mishra Committee Report, a total of six lakh scrutiny assessments should have been possible to be completed in a year. However, the committee observed that the number of scrutiny assessments completed each year after restructuring was below two lakh.

The report said the percentage of scrutiny assessments completed in a year as a percentage of total assessments due declined to 0.72 per cent after restructuring in 2003-04 from 3.81 per cent in 1991-92, even though the number of assessing officers and supervising officers had increased from 6,172 during pre-restructuring period to 8,111 after the restructuring.

Chandigarh, August 15
With non-performing assets (NPAs) of banks rising to an astounding Rs 70,000 crore, the Credit Information Bureau India Limited (CIBIL) will now contain credit history of all borrowers from banks, financial institutions, non-banking financial companies, housing finance companies and credit card companies.

Sources in the banking sector informed TNS that information like name of borrowers, name of companies or partnerships, full address, registration number, name of directors/partners, credit facilities availed and total outstanding amount against each facility, would also be available to the member banks, FIs, NBFCs and credit card companies.

"This data account will help launch a credit score system. Based on the performance of the borrower, they will be accorded credit points. This rating will be used by the banks/ FIs to reward the borrower by assigning him interest rate on future loans and assigning credit limit," informed a top official in the SBI.

CIBIL was launched for banks, FIs and other financiers to share retail and commercial customer information in 2000, and was initially promoted by the SBI, HDFC and Dun Brad Street Information Services. The bureau, which provides both positive and negative information on bank borrowers, now has about 130 members, including 40 leading banks of the country. The total number of accounts with CIBIL are nearing 100-million mark, with over 90 members now sharing their data on customers.

Mr Y.L. Madan, General Manager, Canara Bank, Chandigarh Circle, informed that a member bank or other financier can access the CIBIL database of customers by sending a query through the Internet. "CIBIL will respond in a matter of seconds, which will help the financial companies to make a decision on extending credit to a customer,” he said.

Washington, August 15
India's recent growth has had a strong urban bias: while the services sector is booming, agricultural productivity has declined, adversely affecting the country's poor depending on agriculture for their livelihoods, according to a new World Bank report.

The role of agricultural research and development is critical to enhance agricultural productivity, said the report on the launch of a $200-million National Agricultural Innovation Project to help increase agricultural productivity in the country.

The slowdown in agricultural growth is of special concern in the green revolution states of Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh that have traditionally been the bread basket of the country, accounting for 74 per cent of India's wheat and 26 per cent of its rice production.

Their declining agricultural growth is, therefore, raising concerns about continued food security, it said. It was also a concern in the poorer states of Bihar and Orissa where dependence on agriculture is high and rural poverty persists.

The use of inputs such as fertiliser, other agrochemicals, improved seed varieties and irrigation appears to have had a limited impact on agricultural growth, the report said.

Punjab, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh use the largest amount of these inputs, but in the 1990s the southern and western states recorded faster agricultural growth than the national average despite their limited use of these inputs and less access to irrigation.

The southern and western states have also recorded the highest degree of crop diversification. The northern region continues to specialise in food grains, particularly in rice and wheat, encouraged by favourable government price support policies for these commodities.

India has ample scope to increase its yields of several major crops substantially. Its rice yields, for example, are about half those in Vietnam and Indonesia, and one-third of China's. With the exception of sugarcane, potato and tea, the same is true for most other agricultural commodities.

With limited scope to expand the area under cultivation, the role of agricultural research and development is critical to enhance agricultural productivity. Indian agriculture will have to shift from resource and input-based growth to knowledge and science-based growth, triggered by innovations and the application of science to agriculture.

Similarly, in marginal and disadvantaged areas where it is difficult to expand irrigation, technological advancements complimented with institutional and policy support, can improve productivity, the World Bank report said. — IANS

Hyderabad, August 15
In a climbdown over privatisation, the Andhra Pradesh Government yesterday decided to withdraw the controversial GO No.5 which was aimed at restructuring the state PSUs.

The decision, taken on the eve of the monsoon session of the Assembly starting from August 17, is apparently aimed at preempting the opposition attack on this issue.

The state government had recently issued GO No.5 for downsizing of 30 public sector units which included AP State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) and Singareni Collieries.

The opposition parties and trade unions rose up in arms against the government's move, alleging that the objective of the GO was to remove about 64,000 employees from the state PSUs, particularly in Singareni and the APSRTC.

Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy made valiant efforts to defend the GO, and even wrote a detailed letter to the unions assuring that no one would lose jobs due to the restructuring of PSUs.

With agitated unions, supported by opposition parties, including TDP and CPM, refusing to buy the argument of the administration, the Congress government had decided on August 3 to keep the controversial GO in abeyance. The critics, however, demanded its outright withdrawal to allay employees’ fears.

Mr Reddy yesterday called for a meeting to review the Public Enterprises Department, wherein the decision to scrap the GO was taken.

Talking to mediapersons later, Finance Minister K Rosaiah said the government's decision to cancel the GO No.5 did not mean stoppage of reforms in the state.

New Delhi, August 15
An overhelming majority of 89 per cent Indian CEOs and Managing Directors believes that the partial ban on Cola sales in certain states on health-related fears would not impact FDI inflows into the country, a survey report said today.

According to an Assocham Business Barometer (ABB) survey, about 76 per cent of the CEOs did not agree with the comments of the US Under Secretary for International Trade Franklin Lavin that ‘’this kind of action is a setback for the Indian economy’’.

The respondents said the Indian reform process had come a long way since 1991 and was much deep-rooted to be affected by occasional issues which become, at times contentious.

In any case, India was not the only country to have witnessed a public outcry on the issue of food safety and concerns arising out of the toxic levels of pesticides in the food products.

‘’Such kind of issues do erupt all through the world and to say that they would be a setback to the economic reforms would be an exaggeration, Assocham President Anil K Agarwal said.

However, almost 91 per cent of the ABB respondents from different sectors felt that it was high time the safety standards were finalised by the government — taking into account the views of the stakeholders, be it the cola companies, industry, state governments and the NGOs.

They said composite standards in the food chain were important not only for the Colas but also for other products.

As for the Cola products, the Indian market has assumed a critical mass and the economy is large enough to set its own standards.

The country does not have to necessarily look at others. ‘’Why cannot we have our own standards and lead the world in food safety,’’ the Assocham President said. He, however, welcomed the statement from the Cola majors that they are willing to accept safety standards for the finished products. — UNI

Houston, August 15
Dell Inc, the world’s largest PC maker, is recalling 4.1 million notebook computer batteries made by Sony Corp. because they could overheat and catch fire, the company said.

Round Rock-based Dell announced the voluntary recall of lithium-ion batteries yesterday in cooperation with the US Consumer Product Safety Commission and other regulatory agencies worldwide.

According to spokesperson of Dell Ira Williams, the company sold or provided these batteries with the notebook computers, as part of a service replacement, and as individual units from April 1, 2004, through July 18, 2006.

The computers with these batteries sold for between $500 and $2,850 and individual batteries sold for between $60 and $180.

Dell does not expect this recall to have a material adverse effect on its results of operations, financial position or cash flows.

The recalled batteries were sold in some Dell Latitude, Inspiron, XTS and Tprecision mobile workstation notebooks.

Dell planned to launch a website overnight that would describe the affected models.

Williams said the website would tell consumers how to get free replacement batteries from Dell. — PTI

Bangalore, August 15
Karnataka Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy today used his Independence Day speech to “remind” Information Technology (IT) firms in the state that they must provide jobs to the local population to end allegations of bias against locals levelled against them by unemployed youth.

Stressing that this was their “responsibility”, he urged that his statement be taken in a positive perspective as every time politicians urged IT companies to provide jobs to locals they were termed as “anti-IT”.

The Chief Minister said the state government had on its part done its utmost to facilitate the growth of IT and biotechnology (BT) industry. He said in this light the companies should also try their utmost to provide Kannadiga people with jobs. In case locals were found wanting in certain spheres, they could be given training to match up with the required skills.

Mr Kumaraswamy also made out a case for expansion of the IT industry into tier two and tier three cities of the state utilise properly talent spread all over the state.

He also called for putting an end to all border issues across the country once and for all, apparently referring to the border dispute with Maharashtra over parts of Belguam district. He said the recommendations of the Mahajan Commission should be implemented in toto to resolve the dispute.