GAIL favours gas at market price
New Delhi, September 19
The Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL) is in favour of gas being available to consumers at market prices and on a non-discriminatory basis and has submitted its comments to the Petroleum Ministry to work out a gas pricing formula.

Goldman Sachs to invest $1 b
New Delhi, September 19
US-based global investment banking major Goldman Sachs said today it would invest $1billion in India for expanding operations in sectors like real estate and infrastructure over the next two years,” Goldman Sachs India LLC CEO L Brooks Entwistle said on the sidelines of a CII conference.

MRPL to raise Rs 5,200 crore
New Delhi, September 19
Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL), a subsidiary of ONGC, will raise about Rs 5,200 crore in debt market to part finance the expansion of its refining capacity to 15 million tonnes.

New Delhi, September 19
Despite reports of the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) having objections to the Civil Aviation Ministry’s plans to merge the two public sector airlines Air-India and Indian (Airlines), the ministry is likely to move a Cabinet note on the proposed merger in November after it receives a report from consultancy firm Accenture.

“There are no impediments in the process. Everything is going on as planned”, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel told reporters here. He said the consultancy firm, appointed to prepare the roadmap for the merger of the two state-owned carriers, would submit its report in October.

“We hope the Cabinet note on the matter should be ready by November after we receive this report”, Mr Patel said in response to questions, adding that the proposed merger process was moving on track and would be completed as planned within the current financial year.

However, reports emerging from the official circles said the PMO had objections to the merger and had prepared a note on it. The note apparently includes the comments from the Finance and the Commerce Ministries.

They are said to be of the opinion that the proposal in its current format was not viable and that their merger would weaken their position domestically and internationally. The Finance Ministry has pointed out that Indian has to fly to a number of loss-making destinations, which, after merger would prove to be costly when the merged airline would be forced to compete with other international airlines.

On the other hand, reports suggested that the Commerce Ministry has argued that Indian gets certain subsidies, specially during Haj pilgrimage, which could be questioned by the World Trade Organisation.

However, the Civil Ministry officials said they so far had not received any note from the PMO on the merger proposal and that the ministry was going ahead with its proposal. Besides, the objection could also be raised at the time when the proposal is actually moved for Cabinet clearance.

But the ministry would not hold back its move to prepare a Cabinet note for clearance from the Union Cabinet, officials said.

Official sources also said there were some key areas like human resources, operations and infrastructure which needed to be looked into in greater detail, before the proposal could be finalised. A decision on the future of their subsidiaries, Alliance Air and Air-India Express, would also have to be taken.

The merger of Air-India and Indian would churn out a mega carrier with about 130 aircraft that could take on major global carriers like Singapore Airlines, Emirates and British Airways.

New Delhi, September 19
The ONGC said today it was aggressively pursuing opportunities to import LNG and was seeking petroleum assets in Kazakhstan and Cuba.

The ONGC will also issue bonus shares in November with the company’s AGM approving the issue today.

“The Board had proposed a bonus issue in August in the ratio of 1:2 and the AGM has approved the same today,” ONGC Chairman and Managing Director R.S. Sharma said here today.

The ONGC Chairman told shareholders that the company was keen to partner national oil companies abroad to explore oil and gas, and hoped to win many domestic exploration blocks in the sixth round of India’s new exploration licensing policy (NELP).

Mr Sharma said LNG was an attractive business for the energy-deficient country, which imported 70 per cent of the oil it consumed and could meet barely half the demand for natural gas.

Meanwhile, the ONGC is likely to import the first cargo of crude oil from the Sakhalin field in Russia in the second week of November. “The first parcel of 90,000 tonnes will be processed at our subsidiary MRPL,” the ONGC CMD told reporters. ONGC Videsh Ltd, the overseas arm of the ONGC, has 20 per cent stake in the Sakhalin-1 field in far-east Russia.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is likely to receive the crude oil at Mangalore. The Prime Minister may also lay the foundation stone for a petrochemical complex of the ONGC.

UNI adds: The ONGC has posted the highest-ever net profit of Rs 14,431 crore, 11 per cent higher than Rs 12,983 crore last year, and paid the highest-ever dividend of 450 per cent at Rs 6,417 crore.

The company also went for the highest-ever subsidy pay-out of Rs 11,956 crore (up 244 per cent from Rs 4,104 crore in FY05). The total payout of dividend in absolute terms works out to be Rs 6,417 crore (up 12.5 per cent from Rs 5,704 crore).

The ONGC Board approved the investment of Rs 950 crore for exploration and development of coal-bed methane (CBM) in six blocks in Jharkhand and West Bengal.

The ONGC recorded the highest-ever gross income (turnover) of Rs 49,440 crore (up 4 per cent from Rs 47,245 crore in FY05). The company posted its highest-ever earning per share (EPS) of Rs. 101.20.

New Delhi, September 19
NTPC Ltd said today it was planning to triple its power generation capacity to 75,000 MW by 2017 while strengthening its focus on hydroelectric projects, coal mining and nuclear plants.

The company would add about 21,941 MW generation capacity during the 11th Plan (2007-12) at an estimated expenditure of Rs 1,60,000 crore.

Meanwhile, the company has posted a 15.38 per cent increase in revenues at Rs 2,875.07 crore while the net profit nearly remained the same.

The net profit after tax for the year was Rs 582.02 crore almost at the same level as the previous year’s profit of Rs 580.70 crore. However, on an adjusted basis, the profit after tax was Rs 532.63 crore as compared to Rs 451.76 crore in the previous year, thus growing by 17.90 per cent.

NTPC would have an installed capacity of about 51,000 MW by 2012 and more than 75,000 MW at the end of 12th Plan from 26,194 MW at present, company Chairman and Managing Director T. Sankarlingam told shareholders at the annual general meeting.

The public sector company will start coal production from one of the eight mines allocated to it by December 2007. NTPC was also looking to acquire coal mines abroad as part of efforts to ensure fuel security, he said.

Mr Sankarlingam said the company was buying natural gas from the spot markets as a short-term measure to run its gas-fired plants. In the long-term, the firm was exploring opportunities for participation in the gas value chain, including exploration and production, he said.

Giving details of generation projects, he said NTPC was currently working on plants with a total capacity of more than 11,000 MW. The company has also taken up three integrated coal mining and power projects with a capacity of 10,400 MW. 

Bangalore, September 19
The UB Group is all set to make a foray into the Chinese spirits market, with the UB Spirits Company shortly setting up a marketing office in Shanghai.

UB Group Chairman Vijay Mallya told newsmen on the sidelines of the United Breweries AGM that initially the group would market its liquor products in China. ‘’I had visited the country and looked around, there is enough space for our brands in the market’’ he added.

Commenting on the expansion plans he said United Breweries would invest Rs 400 crore to expand its brewing capacity across the country in the next three years. The exercise would increase the capacity by 50 per cent he said, adding that capacity expansion was envisaged in Rajasthan, UP, Orissa and Andhra Pradesh.

United Breweries would launch Kingfisher Wine within the next six months. He said beer and wine would gel well and all efforts would be made to encash on the super brand equity of Kingfisher.

Similarly, UB would soon launch a premium beer brand ‘’UB Ultra’’ to take on multinational beer brands such as foster.— UNI

Dubai September 19
IndianOil plans to set up its own blending plant at the Jebel Ali Free Zone.

The company, which is currently finalising the distributorship of its Servo brand lubricants in the UAE, Oman and Bahrain, will process and blend some of its 400 graded lubricants in Jebel Ali.

“We have a relationship with the UAE for blending lubricants for this market, currently about 1,500 kilolitres,” said Mr D.V. Ramana Rao, MD of IndianOil Middle East FZE.

“The company is targeting sales volumes of 10,000 tonnes per annum and intends to set up its own blending plant,” he was quoted as saying in Gulf News.

IndianOil established a representative office in Dubai in 1998 to market Servo lubricants and pursue business opportunities in engineering, technical consultancy, training and manpower assistance. The demand for lubricants in the Gulf is more than $52 million (Dh2 billion), he said.— PTI

New Delhi, September 19
The Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL) is in favour of gas being available to consumers at market prices and on a non-discriminatory basis and has submitted its comments to the Petroleum Ministry to work out a gas pricing formula.

The company said when a transparent mechanism on pricing of gas did not exist, the prices should be linked to alternative fuels available.

The ministry has also set up a panel to examine alternatives for approving the price formula under production-sharing contract.

GAIL said such linkages of gas price to alternative fuels would help the government realise its share of the gas under product-sharing contract in the form of royalty and profit petroleum. — UNI

Kochi, September 19
The RBI has asked banks to utilise the services of post offices to extend loans to customers in rural areas in order to expand their reach and keep transaction costs in check.

The RBI has asked the IBA to circulate among its members a scheme to enable banks in Maharashtra to provide rural credit in association with post offices, RBI’s Executive Director V.S. Das said here.

This would enable banks to enhance their credit deployment in rural areas at lower transaction costs. If the scheme succeeds in Maharastra, it would be implemented in other states after consultation with the central authorities of the Department of Posts, he said in his address at a conference on ‘Financial Inclusion and Beyond: Issues and Opportunities for India’.

There are around 1.39 lakh post offices catering to the rural populace with unique customer interaction, he said.

The banks have also been issued guidelines to utilise the services of farmers’ clubs and NGOs as business facilitators and business correspondents, he said.

A National Pilot Project for Financial Inclusion (NPPFI) has been launched in Pondicherry for a one- year period from January 1.

The scheme envisages the opening of savings bank account to all eligible individuals at their doorsteps in rural and semi-urban areas using simplified know-your-customer (KYC) procedure and documentation norms over a one year period to eligible farmers to enable them source their input, consumption and post-harvest requirements.
— PTI 

New Delhi, September 19
The Department of Telecom (DoT) has suggested having uniform security guidelines for telecom companies, irrespective of foreign investments or foreign nationals heading the firms.

There should not be any discrimination on the basis of nationality and uniform guidelines should prevail, the DoT said in its Cabinet note forwarded to the Home Ministry.

The response from the Ministry of Home Affairs is awaited but DoT is hopeful that its proposal would muster pass MHA's earlier reservations.

On another crucial issue of remote access, which the current guidelines prohibit, the note says ultimately network vendors have to give access from India and not remote access. But remote access could be allowed in special cases and for a limited period. Continuous monitoring from an overseas centre was not possible, the note said.

DoT is gearing up to place the changed FDI norms before the Cabinet before October 2, when the current extension for compliance to the guidelines expire. Operators opposed some of the of current norms, which is why DoT had sought time till October 2 to work out changed norms acceptable to the industry.

At present, there are many security restrictions imposed on telecommunication companies like appointment of only Indian nationals on the top management, including CEO.

Under the earlier rules, companies with up to 74 per cent equity would not be allowed to hire foreigners in top position. It also disallowed remote access to any equipment manufacturer or agency outside the country for repairs or maintenance of the network. — PTI

Mumbai, September 19
M&M today launched its all-new Scorpio at Nairboi in Kenya as part of a series of international launches. M&M has appointed a Kenyan company - Oriel Ltd - to lead it into the East African market. The new Scorpio SUV is being launched in Kenya with 40 changes and improvements, all based on direct feedback from the East African market, the M&M said here today. This flagship model will be swiftly followed by M&M’s Bolero, a one-tonne pick-up.—UNI