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Petro prices may be cut if oil falls to $50: Deora
Haryana under pressure on land acquisition for Reliance SEZ
Commerce Ministry opposes cess on iron ore exports
J&K seeks relief for VAT losses
Sun Group plans stake in 4 OIL blocks
Orissa inks MoUs for 10 power projects
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Tata Power to invest Rs 9,000 cr in Orissa
Dabhol power for Maharashtra
Honda Motor to pump in Rs 400 cr
TRAI favours auction of 3G spectrum
BSNL operating profit up
SEBI extends deadline for PAN compliance
Nasscom to set up regulator for IT, BPO industry
HCL plans
Singapore Airlines’ offer
A-I profit dips by Rs 16.29 cr
Canara Bank to raise $300 m
Adlabs Films to infuse Rs 400 cr in FM radio biz
Sukhjit Starch bonus issue
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Petro prices may be cut if oil falls to $50: Deora
New Delhi, September 26 “The global crude oil prices have eased but have not fallen that much. If the price reaches $50 a barrel or below this, we may look at revising the domestic retail prices,” Mr Deora said. He said the falling oil prices would help state-run companies, the country — India imports 70 per cent of its crude oil needs — and consumers. The government had revised the petrol price by 9.2 per cent and of diesel prices by 6.6 per cent in June after the average crude import price had risen 12.3 per cent since the previous retail price hike in September, 2005. Official sources said the petrol price could easily come down 80-85 paise a litre if the international price during the first fortnight of September was taken into consideration. But the oil companies are unlikely to cut the prices, saying that they were still not charging the international prices for diesel, LPG and kerosene. The oil companies have claimed that during the past year there was a short recovery to the tune of Rs 72,500 crore on account of subsidies on four products-kerosene, LPG, diesel and petrol. But industry sources said the fall in the international crude prices might encourage private players like Reliance to review the petrol and diesel prices, as the company was charging Rs 2-3 a litre more in the market. It had badly affected sales at its retail outlets and caused resentment among company dealers. Meanwhile, Oil India Limited plans to tap the capital market with an IPO this fiscal and offload a 10 per cent stake.
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Haryana under pressure on land acquisition for Reliance SEZ
New Delhi, September 26 In letters written to Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and other Chief Ministers, Union Commerce Minister Kamal Nath said: “In recent days concerns have been raised about the diversion of prime agricultural land for SEZs and the inadequate compensation and rehabilitation problems faced by farmers…,” and asked them to “ensure that developers provide for an adequate relief and rehabilitation package for the affected.” Official sources in the Commerce Ministry said: “Although the ministry has so far approved 164 SEZs across the country, the whole controversy is revolving around a few SEZ projects, including the Reliance SEZ in Haryana, the Dadri SEZ in UP and in Navi Mumbai in Maharashtra due to mishandling of the state governments.” Considering strong opposition within the party and displeasure expressed by Congress President Sonia Gandhi, the Commerce Ministry is of the view that Hooda Government should review the acquisition of land for the SEZ and hike compensation to the farmers. The state has acquired 25,000 acres for the Reliance SEZ falling in Gurgaon and Jhajhar districts, where the prices are touching an all- time high due to investment by global companies and builders. “We are also in favour of good compensation to farmers and stake in these billion dollar worth projects. But, only the state government could take effective steps,” said a senior official in the ministry. Disassociating himself from the controversy over the acquisition of cultivated agricultural land below the market rate, the minister said only waste or barren land should be preferred to set up SEZs. The critics have lamented the some state governments, including the Hooda Government in Haryana, were apparently helping the builders and corporate houses at the cost of affected farmer families, thus creating ill-will for the prestigious project. Mr Nath said: “ If perforce a portion of double cropped agricultural land has to be acquired to meet the minimum area requirements, the same should not exceed 10 per cent of the total land required for SEZs.” The issue is likely to be raised in the Chief Minister’s conclave in Chandigarh on September 28, which would be presided over by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The Punjab Government is also facing opposition from farmers over the acquisition of land for setting up an SEZ in Amritsar and Mohali.
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Commerce Ministry opposes cess on iron ore exports
New Delhi, September 26 At a high-level meeting here on the issue, the top brass of the Steel Ministry suggested that a policy announcement be made on conservation of iron ore resources in India as the demand for steel would be much greater than envisaged in the National Steel Policy. It suggested levying a cess of Rs 500 per tonne on ore meant for exports, besides constituting a forum of ore exporters and steel manufacturers to sort out production, sale of iron ore and related pricing issues. But Commerce Ministry officials disagreed, saying that rather than placing quantitative restrictions on iron ore exports, magnetite resources needed to be explored and exploited as was the international practice. They pointed out that the spot prices for high grade lumps were currently lower than the long-term agreement (LTA) prices and the Commerce Ministry’s projection was that in the next five years the difference in both prices would neutralise whereby any quantitative restrictions on exports or tapering of exports would damage India’s exports. The Commerce Ministry officials argued that since India was a minuscule player in the iron ore export market, pricing remained out of its control and as such any export duty would not be preferred by the ministry. — PTI
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J&K seeks relief for VAT losses
New Delhi, September 26 “The state is suffering huge losses due to the deviation from approved VAT rates by the neighboring states eating into Jammu and Kashmir’s business due to trade diversion,” Mr Karra said at the meeting of the Empowered Committee of Finance Ministers here yesterday. He suggested constitution of zonal sub-groups of Finance Ministers form the East, West, North, South and Central Zones to seek convergence on issues and sort out problems of tax evasion and deviation from VAT. The minister advocated placement of walnuts in the zero per cent rate schedule under VAT regime. “Walnut being a native fruit of Jammu and Kashmir provides livelihood to a large number of people, usually the poor growers,” he added. He said placing walnuts in zero per cent rate schedule would provide relief to a large number of growers, who otherwise fall prey to the machinations of intermediaries. He also called for compensating the loss due to slashing of tax by the Central Government on LPG from 12.5 per to 4 per cent. — UNI
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Sun Group plans stake in 4 OIL blocks
New Delhi, September 26 Suntera Resources, a 50:50 joint venture between Sun Energy and Russian gas firm Itera, proposes to farm into two Rajasthan, one Mahanadi and one Assam-Arakan basin blocks held by OIL, official sources said. Suntera would take 30 per cent stake in RJ-ONN-2001/1 in Rajasthan, reducing operator OIL's stake from 70 per cent to 40 per cent. The 3507.11 sq km block has ONGC as the minority partner with 30 per cent stake. In 2,535 sq km Rajasthan basin block RJ-ONN-2000/1, awarded in NELP-II, Suntera will take 40 per cent from OIL to reduce India's second largest oil producer's stake in the block to 60 per cent. Suntera would acquire 15 per cent stake in Mahanadi basin block MN-ONN-2000/1 (NELP-II block) and 10 per cent in Assam-Arakan basin block AA-ONN-2002/3 (NELP-VI block).
— PTI |
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Orissa inks MoUs for 10 power projects
Bhubaneswar, September 26 A high-level clearance authority chaired by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had cleared 11 thermal projects, including a 4,000 MW project by Reliance Energy Ltd (REL) on September 20. However, REL did not sign the MoU today due to a 'last minute glitch,' official sources said. ''There is some problem. A task force has been constituted to sort out the pending issues with REL,'' Orissa Energy Minister Suryanarayan Patra said without elaborating. The major players who signed MoUs with the government today included Tata Power Company Limited, CESC, Essar Power Limited, Jindal Photo Films Ltd, Visa Power Ltd and Sterlite Energy Private Ltd. With the signing of the 10 MoUs today, the state government has so far entered into agreements with 13 private players for power generation in the state. Earlier, the government signed three MoUs with GMR energy Ltd, Navbharat Power (P) Ltd and Mahanadi Aban Power Ltd.
— PTI
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Tata Power to invest Rs 9,000 cr in Orissa
Mumbai, September 26 With this, Tata Power seeks to foray into Orissa and the project will be set up at Naraj Marthapur in Cuttack, said the company's release issued here. Another 1,000 MW is expected to come up as the second phase of project development and will take the total capacity to 2,000 MW with an estimated investment of Rs 9,000 crore, the release added. The MoU signifies the intent of the Orissa Government for rapid industrialisation and prosperity of the state and its people. The government will assist Tata Power for single-window clearances and approvals. The government will also recommend to the Central Government for allocation of captive coal blocks or will assist in necessary coal linkages for the project. A Government of Orissa nominated agency will purchase a portion of the power generated, for which a PPA is to be subsequently signed. Tata Power will also sell power to distribution entities from the other states. It will also serve the power requirements of Tata Steel's proposed steel plant in the state as well as certain large industrial units in Orissa. — UNI
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New Delhi, September 26 The Central Electricity Regulatory Commission permitted RGPPL to enter into an agreement for selling power to Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Co Ltd in case the state utility was willing to buy electricity generated with naphtha as fuel, a CERC statement said. However, the Commission did not fix any tariff as RGPPL's proposal was a stop-gap arrangement for sale of infirm power and the plant was yet to start commercial generation. The regulator allowed RGPPL and MSEDCL to come to a mutually acceptable and reasonable tariff rate considering energy charges, incidental charges and operating schedule. During the hearing, MSEDCL indicated that a price of about Rs 5.50 per unit would be acceptable to them. Naphtha price had come down in recent times and the energy cost would be about Rs 4.80 per unit, while the incidental charges could be about 87 paise per unit, the utility said. — PTI
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Honda Motor to pump in Rs 400 cr
New Delhi, September 26 ''We have already invested Rs 600 crore at our plant in Haryana and will invest another Rs 400 crore to raise our capacity to 1.2 million units from the current 9 lakh units in the next two to three years,'' HMSI President and CEO Yukihiro Aoshima told reporters here. The 1.2 million target will be shared in a 50-50 proportion for the company's scooters and motorcycles, he said. With a market share of 70 per cent in the mid-size scooter segment, the company plans to launch age group-specific vehicles in the next one year. Larger chunk of HMSI's revenues comes from its scooters, as the company sold 6 lakh vehicles last year of which merely 1 lakh were motorbikes. — UNI
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TRAI favours auction of 3G spectrum
New Delhi, September 26 According to sources, TRAI held its meeting prior to recommendations given to the DoT and a consensus was arrived at that the spectrum, which is a scarce commodity, should be allocated only through auction process. To begin with, TRAI is of the view that only five mobile operators should be given the frequency. All these five operators should be among the existing players. If these recommendations were considered by the DoT then mobile operators, having pan-India presence, stand good chance to get the permission and the required spectrum to start 3G services. Currently Bharti, Hutch, Reliance, Tatas and BSNL are the major five operators who have a country-wide presence of mobile services. Among these, Reliance and Tata are offering CDMA- based mobile services while other operate in GSM technology.
— PTI |
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New Delhi, September 26 Net profit was Rs 8,940 crore on a revenue of Rs 40,177 crore for the year 2005-06. The company has registered a net increase of 11.13 per cent in revenue during the year. BSNL also declared a dividend of Rs 1,175 crore which is inclusive of interim dividend of Rs 375 crore for the fiscal 2005-06, BSNL said after its AGM. — UNI
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SEBI extends deadline for PAN compliance
Mumbai, September 26 The present deadline of September 30, 2006, for complying with the mandatory PAN requirement has been extended to December 31, 2006, as a one-time measure, said a circular issued by SEBI here
today. — PTI
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Nasscom to set up regulator for IT, BPO industry
New Delhi, September 26 The SRO has already completed its initial round of funding and the final rollout phase, including industry memberships, is underway, Nasscom President Kiran Karnik said today. It would commence operations in the next 3-6 months and has already received approval of the Nasscom executive council, he said. "The SRO will provide training and capacity building for small companies who do not have enough systems for data security and will lay down certain practices to be followed in this area," Nasscom Vice- President Sunil Mehta said. Nasscom had earlier also launched National Skills Registry, which acts as a centralised database of employees of ITeS and BPO companies. About 25,000 employees and 24 companies accounting for 30 per cent of the industry's total workforce have registered with NSR, Mr Mehta said. — PTI
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HCL plans
Kolkata, September 26 “We have decided on major thrust in mine development where we have competitive edge. Investment in new mine and existing development could be between Rs 1,500 crore and Rs 2,000 crore,” HCL Chairman and Managing Director S. C. Gupta said today.
— PTI |
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Singapore Airlines’ offer
Amritsar, September 26 A return economy ticket to Singapore will now be available for Rs 11,400. Similarly, a return ticket to Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok will be available for Rs 11,700 and Rs 12,300, respectively. However, these special fares do not include taxes and surcharges. The bookings for the offer must be made between September 25 and October 7 and is valid for travelling between October 1 and October 31. The tickets will be valid for a minimum of two passengers travelling together. |
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A-I profit dips by Rs 16.29 cr
New Delhi, September 26 With the fuel bill rising by Rs 952 crore, the management of the state-owned carrier has extended the hedging limits from 10 per cent of its international fuel uplifts to 25 per cent. The decision was made effective last week. Sources said the airline, in the past eight months, had managed to save $400,000 due to hedging on oil lifted from abroad.
— PTI |
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Canara Bank to raise $300 m
Mumbai, September 26 In the current fiscal, the bank raised a total of Rs 1,075 crore domestically out of which Rs 575 crore qualify for the lower tier-II capital while Rs 500 crore is upper tier-II capital. The MTN would also qualify for tier-II
capital. — PTI |
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Adlabs Films to infuse Rs 400 cr in FM radio biz
New Delhi, September 26 The Anil Dhirubhai Ambani group-controlled Adlabs’ radio venture BIG 92.7 FM would be heard across the metros of Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata, besides Bangalore and Hyderabad over the next fortnight. It aims to target listeners in the age group of 20-45 years with adult contemporary content and music and has signed up Bollywood actor Abhishek Bachchan as its brand
ambassador. — PTI |
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Sukhjit Starch bonus issue
Mumbai, September 26 The shareholders at the AGM on September 20 also approved a dividend of 42 per cent on its equity shares for the year ended March
31. — PTI |
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