Kolkata, October 4
The three-hour long all-party meeting, which was held today at Writers Building for resolving the problems involving transfer of agricultural land at Singhur and Hooghly to Tata Motors, ended in a fiasco with both Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and opposition parties sticking to their opposite stands.

After the meeting, state Industries Minister Nirupam Sen declared that the government would start the land-transfer process and it would be completed by December.

On the other hand, the opposition parties participating in the meeting and the Trinamool Congress, which stayed away from the meeting, reiterated that they would not allow transfer of an inch of fertile land to industries ignoring the interests of farmers.

The Trinamool Congress and the Congress will observe a bandh on October 9 in protest against the transfer of agricultural land to industries and the police torturing of Ms Mamata Banerjee and others during their dharna in front of the office of the BDO at Singhur on September 25.

Today’s meeting was called by the Chief Minister following a written demand by the Congress. The main Opposition party, the Trinamool Congress, and other partners of Ms Banerjee’s democratic front, including the BJP, the Samajwadi party, the RJD, the PDS and the CPI(M-L), boycotted the meeting. These parties were of the opinion that it made no point to take part in the meeting on an issue, on which the action plan had been already decided.

After the meeting, the Chief Minister did not talk to mediapersons. But, Mr Sen claimed that all political parties attending the meeting agreed to allow the government to go ahead with the Rs 10,000-crore Tata’s small motor car plant at Singhur.

Some 700 acres, including fertile land, would now be handed over to the Tatas.

However, both the Congress and SUCI representatives present at the meeting, categorically denied that they agreed to allow the transfer of fertile land to Tata Motors. The SUCI leader, Mr Manick Mukherjee, warned that there would be blood shed if any attempts were made to forcibly evict the farmers and hand over their lands to Tata Motors.

Dr Manash Bhuiya of the Congress said they had demanded that the land-transfer process be withheld for the time being and the government should first bring out a white paper clarifying the actual land positions and its character, proper compensation and rehabilitation package, etc, to both farmers and different political parties.

The leader of the TMC and former Union Minister, Mr Ajit Kumar Panja, said they would not allow forcible transfer of farmers’ lands to Tata Motors.

New Delhi, October 4
Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said today that softening of international crude prices would not be passed on to consumers as of now and would rather help the subsidy bill of oil companies and government.

“When the international oil prices increased, we did not pass the entire burden to the consumers and the reduced international oil prices have only lessened the subsidy burden of firms like ONGC, oil marketing companies and the government,” Finance Minister said on the sidelines of 'Exposition of khadi, village and coir industries'.

He said the reduced subsidy would mean that funds would be available for re-investment by these companies. However, he added that the reduced international prices would not affect the size of oil bonds to be issued by the government later.

He, however, evaded a reply on the timing of the issue of bonds.

The government had earlier said oil bonds worth Rs 14,150 crore would be issued to the oil companies in September.

The oil bonds are being given to the oil marketing companies (OMCs) to compensate them for selling petrol and diesel at government-administered prices, which are much lower than the prevailing international price of these fuels.

Crude oil dropped to the lowest in more than seven months on expectations that US fuel supplies will climb for an eighth consecutive week.

New Delhi, October 4
The government today launched a nationwide scheme to mix an imported marker in the kerosene which would detect adulteration of highly subsidised fuel in petrol and diesel.

The adulteration of oil products is currently estimated at over Rs 30,000 crore annually, which includes diversion of subsidised kerosene meant for public distribution system (PDS) and damages to vehicles.

“The new marker system introduced today for the first time by the Oil Ministry is expected to curb auto fuel adulteration,” said Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Murli Deora while launching the kerosene marker at Indian Oil Corporation’s (IOC) Bijwasan terminal today.

Petroleum Secretary M.S. Srinivasan said the ministry was approaching the Law Ministry to take legislative measures to make the tests of adulteration as legally binding. The marketing guidelines are also being changed to check the adulteration.

He said over 22,000 retail outlets across the country would be equipped with a testing kit within two months. “ Consumers will be able to use the kit to test the fuel and report adulteration. Though every test would cost around Rs 60, but consumers will not have to pay any amount,” he said.

IOC Chairman Sarthak Behuria said the entire programme would cost the oil industry Rs 160 crore annually.

New Delhi, October 4
Concerned over the plight of the ailing small-scale industry, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram today announced a special promotional package ‘Jawahar Satkar’.

“I understand the package is much needed for the Indian small-scale industry (SSI) in order to face competition and other challenges,” Mr Chidambaram said while inaugurating the National Expo of Small, Khadi, Village and Coir Industries here. The expo, being held at Ashoka Hotel, will go on till October 7.

The promotional package would make it mandatory to hold a census of SSI units every five years and sample surveys every year. The package is likely to be approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs by month-end.

The proposed package is aimed at developing SSI clusters and improving their efficiency.

The Finance Minister urged the Ministry of Small-Scale Industries to shed old inhibitions and adopt new and innovative methods of marketing products.

Meanwhile, the Finance Minister has sought views of the Chief Ministers on the recommendations of the Investment Commission.

In his letter, Mr Chidambaram said the commission, in its report of February, 2006, had made sector-specific as well as multi-sectoral recommendations. The commission has observed that sustaining growth at over 8 per cent per annum will require an increase in investment levels in the economy from approximately 28 per cent of the GDP to about 32 per cent. 

New Delhi, October 4
The Centre has put a spanner on two ambitious SEZ proposals of Reliance Industries in Maha Mumbai and Jhajjar, by questioning the excess allotment of land in Maharashtra and asserting that the double-crop criterion would be strictly followed for the Haryana zone.

''We have asked the state government to explain why so much land has been given for the Maha Mumbai SEZ'', Commerce Secretary G.K. Pillai said.

At the same time, Mr Pillai added that the double-crop restrictive rule would be strictly applied as and when the RIL proposal for setting up a SEZ in Haryana comes up before the Board of Approals.

''Till now, the RIL Haryana SEZ proposal has not come to the BOA'', Mr Pillai said.

As per the new criteria, if more than 10 per cent of land acquired is a double-crop area, the SEZ would not be cleared.' Yes , they will face problems'', the Commerce Secretary said when asked whether the RIL proposal for the 10,000-hectare Haryana SEZ could face roadblocks on this count.

As for the proposal of the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG) to set up the Dadri power plant under the SEZ category, Mr Pillai said though the land is fertile in that area, the company has not come back for the final approval.— UNI

Mumbai, October 4
WL Ross & Co, a global private equity investor in corporate restructurings, today announced it’s entry into India, with the acquisition of OCM India for a consideration of $37 million in cash ( Rs 170 crore).

The acquisition of OCM is being made pursuant to a scheme of arrangement between Birla VXL Ltd and its existing lenders, creditors and shareholders and OCM and its shareholders and being carried out through The Asset Reconstruction Company of India (Arcil), said an HDFC press note.

‘’The OCM acquisition is the first 100 per cent buyout of a major Indian enterprise by a global turnaround fund,’’ Managing Director & CEO of Arcil Sudhamoy Khasnobis said.

OCM has a state-of-the-art worsted textile manufacturing facility that is one of the first ISO 9001 certified mills in India. It is one of the leading brands in the worsted fabric market and well known for its tweed and jacket suitings sold not only across the country, but also globally.

It may be recalled that WL Ross entered the textile industry in 2003 through the acquisition of Cone Mills and Burlington Industries to create one of the largest textile companies in the world, International Textile Group (ITG) with investments in the US, Mexico, Latin America, China, Vietnam and Nicaragua.

“OCM establishes us in India textile sector and further adds to the resources and synergies of our textile holdings. We expect rapid growth there in the future,’’ Chairman & CEO of WL Ross, Mr Wilbur L. Ross Jr., said.

WL Ross, which opened its Indian office in Mumbai five months ago, has sponsored over $4.5 billion (equivalent of Rs 20,000 crore) of alternative investments since its founding in 2000.— UNI

New Delhi, October 4
India has been ranked as the worst performer by Transparency International on its global Bribe Payers Index, which is based on the propensity of companies from the world’s 30 leading exporting countries in bribing abroad.

The international corruption watchdog said today overseas bribery was still common among the world’s export giants despite the existence of international anti-bribery laws, while companies from emerging export powers — India, China and Russia —are the worst performers.

India has been ranked at the 30th position in the Transparency International 2006 Bribe Payers Index (BPI), with a score of 4.62. A score of 10 indicates a perception of no corruption, while zero means corruption is seen as rampant.

Switzerland has been ranked at the top slot with a score of 7.81, followed by Sweden, Australia, Austria and Canada at the top five positions on the index. The US and the UK have been ranked at the 10th and sixth positions, respectively.

According to the report, businesses from India, China and Russia, who are at the bottom of the index, have more propensity to pay bribes.

Companies from the wealthiest countries have been ranked in the top half, but they still routinely pay bribes, particularly in developing economies, it added.

“Bribing companies are actively undermining the best efforts of governments in developing nations to improve governance, and thereby driving the vicious cycle of poverty,” said Transparency International chairperson Huguette Labelle.

The index has been prepared on the basis of responses of more than 11,000 business people in 125 countries polled in the World Economic Forum’s Executive Opinion Survey, 2006. —PTI 

Mumbai, October 4
Spot silver and gold crashed two-week low on at Rs 690 per kg and Rs 240 per 10 gm, respectively, on sluggish demand and on bearish global advice, traders at the Bombay Bullion Association said today.

Spot silver .999 fineness variety opened two-week low at Rs 17,630 per kg on thin buying support. It edged down and closed at Rs 17,615 per kg with a massive loss of Rs 690 from yesterday's close.

Similarly, standard gold (99.5) also opened two-week low at Rs 8,630 per 10 gm and closed at Rs 8,650 per 10 gm with a huge loss of Rs 230 from its last close. — UNI

New Delhi, October 4
World Bank's private lending arm IFC is considering investing $45 million to buy a stake in Cairn India Ltd.

A Cairn India spokesperson confirmed IFC's interest in taking a stake but refused to divulge the percentage of equity IFC proposes to buy.

Cairn India Ltd, the Indian arm of Cairn Energy Plc of the UK, is planning an IPO of up to 50 per cent equity shares later this year.

The spokesperson said IFC's investment would be over and above $1 billion loan the lending agency along with 14 other banks and financial institutions had given to Cairn India.— PTI