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Rs 2,300-cr package for micro, small units
Mobile operators to get support from USO fund
Hooda invites NRIs to invest in Haryana
ONGC seeks changes in royalty payment criteria
Rs 5,000-cr oil bonds issued
Indo-ASEAN FTA talks in Nov
HMT to launch 75 hp tractors
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Tata Motors launches cars in Ghana
GAIL to invest Rs 1,125 cr on CBM blocks
DS Constructions bags HP power project
Indian Bank
Sensex gains 191 points
Corporate
Results
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Rs 2,300-cr package for micro, small units
New Delhi, October 16 “The package would provide support for the development and promotion of micro and small sector units, facilitate employment generation and enhance their competitiveness,” a government spokesperson said after a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA). While he did not spell out more details of the package, sources said the package would be for five years and would entail financial commitment of more than Rs 2,300 crore. The package was initially resisted by the Finance Ministry as the package called for fiscal concessions and proposed new schemes. Apart from fiscal support, the package would provide legislative support. As part of providing legislative support the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development (SMED) Act has already been passed by Parliament and become operational this week. The government is also working on a law to provide for limited liability partnerships (LLP). The SMED law and LLP would provide the legislative framework to promote the small-scale sector. The proposed package would focus on development of clusters and improve their efficiency. Under efficiency and development-related issues the package’s focus would be on capacity building, development of common facilities for units in a cluster, building forward and backward linkages. The package would also focus on technology upgradation of small units with special emphasis on energy efficiency. It would also emphasise preferential assistance to women entrepreneurs and suggest improvement in design parametres of the Prime Minister Rozgar Yojna for the educated unemployed. The package would also make it mandatory to hold a census of SSI units every five years and sample surveys every year. — PTI
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Mobile operators to get support from USO fund
New Delhi, October 16 The USO Fund, which is now provided for subsidy only to basic telecom operators for offering fixed line services in rural areas, would now cover mobile operators too, Parliamentary Affairs Minister P.R. Dasmunsi told reporters after the Cabinet meeting. The Union Cabinet gave its approval for recommending the promulgation of the Indian Telegraph (Amendment) Ordinance, 2006. A Bill to this effect would be brought in the winter session of Parliament. Various telecom service licensees are paying a licence fee to the government at the rate of 6 to 10 per cent of the adjusted gross revenue. Out of this, 5 per cent of the AGR is towards the USO fund contribution. The fund balance at the end of the year ending 2005-06 was Rs 7206.42 crore. And, only Rs 1766.85 crore has been used. DoT officials said the blame for under-utilisation lay with the Finance Ministry, which controls the USO Fund disbursements. “The USO fund collected as a percentage of the operator’s annual gross revenue goes straight into the Consolidated Fund of India. The Finance Ministry allots money every year as budgetary provision to DoT for universal services and over the years we have fully utilised whatever has been allotted to us,” said a senior DoT official. The USO Fund proposes to implement a scheme for the creation of infrastructure like tower, power supply and back-up in rural and remote areas which are not covered by any wireless signal. Telecom service providers would utilise the infrastructure created with the support from USO Fund to extend cellular mobile services in these areas. A maximum of three telecom service providers would be able to share the infrastructure so created. This will be also used for providing broadband services in villages. It is expected that approximately 10,000 towers would be set up in the country, Mr Dasmunsi said.
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Hooda invites NRIs to invest in Haryana
Chandigarh, October 16 Mr Hooda apprised them about the number of incentives being offered to the entrepreneurs under its new industrial policy. He said an industry-friendly climate had been created and the law and order situation was well under control. He was all praise for the NRIs and said they had made a mark in every field and added that there were many success stories of NRIs in UK as well as in other countries. Indian High Commissioner to the UK Kamalesh Sharma described Haryana as a symbol of dynamism for its ability to adjust to the changing world. Those present on the occasion included Lord Navnit Dholakia, Deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords, and Lord Daljit Rana.
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ONGC seeks changes in royalty payment criteria
New Delhi, October 16 “The royalty is to be paid on price realised, which currently is the price we get after extending discounts to refiners. But we are asked to pay royalty on the pre-discount price, which is unfair,” a top company official said. Meanwhile, ONGC will shell out Rs 5,023 crore to subsidise kerosene and LPG in the second quarter of the current fiscal. Government-owned gas utility GAIL (India) Ltd will shell out Rs 379 crore while Oil India Ltd (OIL) would have to pay Rs 589 crore to subsidise cooking fuel, official sources said. As per a government diktat, upstream firms ONGC, GAIL and OIL subsidise one-third of the under-recovery on selling fuel below cost. For July-September quarter, ONGC would give a discount of $26.1 per barrel on the crude oil it sells to refiners IndianOil Corp, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum. ONGC had in April-June quarter this fiscal paid out a subsidy of about Rs 5,120 crore, which worked out to $26.5 a barrel discount. Sources said the subsidy payout by ONGC, GAIL and OIL would fall in the second half of current fiscal as crude oil prices had come down substantially. ONGC, GAIL and OIL were to pay Rs 24,000-crore subsidy out of the Rs 73,500 crore under-realisation on selling petrol, diesel, LPG and kerosene estimated for the fiscal. But with crude oil falling by over $10 a barrel from the $67 average taken to calculate the Rs 73,500 crore figure, the under-realisation is now estimated at Rs 57,000-60,000 crore, sources said. This reduction would translate into a proportionate reduction in upstream’s share and oil bonds issued by the government, which had originally estimated an issue of oil bonds worth Rs 28,300 crore. — PTI
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New Delhi, October 16 The bonds (GOI Special Bond, 2021) carry a coupon rate of 8.13 per cent and have tenure of 15 years. Indian Oil Corporation, including IBP, has been issued bonds worth Rs 2,838 crore, BPCL Rs 1,135 crore and HPCL Rs 1,027 crore. — PTI
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Indo-ASEAN FTA talks in Nov
New Delhi, October 16 “The meeting of the trade negotiations committee (TNC) is likely to be held on November 18 or 19,” Commerce Secretary G.K. Pillai said after presenting the Engineering Export Promotion Council (EEPC) awards. The meeting in November assumes significance as the December deadline to conclude the negotiations is round the corner. Both sides have already missed the June, 2005, deadline to finalise the FTA. The TNC would attempt to build an agreement on the list of items from both sides on which duties would not be cut. ASEAN comprises 10 South East Asean countries—Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia. While India has a list of 560 items on which it has refused to cut tariffs, ASEAN members have come up with a list of 600 items. “We have not heard from them as yet,” Mr Pillai said. India has claimed that negative list of 600 products sent by the ASEAN countries was resulting in the inclusion of just 80 per cent of products that are traded while India’s list takes care of 95 per cent of the traded products. India has substantially reduced its negative list of 1,440 items to 854 tariff lines in the first step and to 560 in its revised offer. However, for 294 items, it has said that tariffs will be gradually reduced. In addition, Mr Pillai said negotiations with the European Union for the trade, investment and services agreement would be completed in two years. While distributing awards to the exporters of the northern region, Mr Pillai expected that the Indian engineering exports may touch $50 billion by 2010. Speaking on this occasion, Mr Rakesh Shah, Chairman, EEPC, said the export of engineering goods had crossed $ 5 billion in the first quarter in 2006-07, posting 20 per cent growth over last year’s. “We are targeting a 1.5 per cent share in the global trade by 2009-10, he said, adding that Indian engineering exports would touch $23 billion by the end of the next fiscal from the current figure of $20 billion. Prominent among the companies awarded on the occasion were BHEL, Ircon, PEC Ltd, Hero Exports and others.
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HMT to launch 75 hp tractors
Chandigarh, October 16 Mr Sharma said the new tractors would not only have a higher hp than 65 hp in ordinary tractors but also have a synchronised gear box. “Initially, we are planning to manufacture 500- 1,000 tractors per annum, and as the corporate farming takes wings, we will increase the capacity,” he said. Recently, HMT had launched tractors (with varying hp of 65, 75, 90 and 108), which are also aimed at the corporate farming sector. “We are targeting mainly mines, resorts under construction in hill areas and companies executing huge infrastructure projects,” he said. A sum of Rs 20 crore was sanctioned to HMT, Pinjore, for its modernisation. Of this, Rs 5 crore would be utilised for setting up an emission testing laboratory to ensure that the tractors met the stringent pollution norms. A sum of Rs 6 crore had also been earmarked for the new paint plant while the remaining money would be utilised for the modernisation of the existing plant. |
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Tata Motors launches cars in Ghana
New Delhi, October 16 The distribution and marketing of Tata passenger vehicles in Ghana will be handled by Tata Ghana and PHC Motors Ltd, which also distributes Tata Motors’ commercial vehicles, Mr Kumar added. Tata Motors is already present in Ghana with its commercial vehicles, which were launched in 1974. |
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GAIL to invest Rs 1,125 cr on CBM blocks
New Delhi, October 16 The total expected capital expenditure for the entire project, with the project duration assumption of 20 years, will be to the tune of Rs 2,700 crore. Tata Power company is also a consortium partner in two of the awarded blocks. Out of the three blocks, one block is in Rajmahal coalfield, Jharkhand and the other two blocks are in Mandraigarh and Tata Pani Ramkola coalfields in Chhattisgarh. As per the DGH, the resource potential of Rajmahal block, Mandraigarh and Tata Pani Ramkola coalfields is 5.5 tcf, are 4.2 tcf and 1.9 tcf, respectively. The estimated expenditure for the first phase of exploration of the three blocks is to the tune of Rs 72 crore, out of which GAIL’s share would be Rs 27 crore. Exploration activities are expected to start in early 2007. Production from the blocks is expected to start in
2011. — PTI |
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DS Constructions bags HP power project
Chandigarh, October 16 The company has made a bid for an upfront payment of Rs 52 lakh per MW for this project. Once completed, the project will have a capacity of generating 1075.26G MW of power comprising of three units of 86.67MW each. The concession period for the project is 40 years, informed Mr M.S. Narula, MD of the company. — TNS
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Indian Bank
New Delhi, October 16 |
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Corporate Results
Mumbai, October 16 The company’s total income is Rs 3683.87 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2006 whereas the same was at Rs 2501.30 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2005. As per the consolidated results, the group has posted a net profit of Rs 1018.68 crore for the quarter whereas the same was at Rs 693.71 crore for the same quarter last fiscal. Total Income is Rs 4513.92 crore this quarter whereas the same was at Rs 2966.05 crore in the previous quarter. Comparative figures do not include the figures of the four companies which were amalgamated with the company retrospectively with effect from April 1, 2005. Consequently, the comparative figures are not comparable with the figures for the quarter and six-month period ended September 30, 2006. Further, the Board of Directors has declared a second interim dividend of Rs 3 per equity share of Rs 1 each. Indiabulls
Indiabulls Financial Services Ltd has posted an increase of 59.19 per cent in net profit at Rs 30.63 crore for the quarter ended September 30, as against Rs 19.24 crore for the same quarter last year. The total income of the company increased 27.56 per cent to Rs 69.56 crore for the quarter ended September 30, from Rs 54.53 crore for the corresponding quarter a year ago, the company informed the BSE. The Board of Directors declared a dividend of 5 per cent. The group posted a profit after tax of Rs 171.71 crore from Rs 101.74 crore for the same period last year and the total income of the group increased to Rs 491.09 crore from Rs 253.66 crore a year ago. Philips
Dutch healthcare and lifestyle technology group Philips posted third quarter results showing a leap in net profit but a fall in sales at its consumer electronics division. Net profit surged by 195 per cent to 4.242 billion euros from 1.436 billion in the third quarter of 2005, owing to the sale of 80.1 per cent of Philips’ semiconductors division. Earnings per share jumped to 3.57 euros from 1.14 euros. But overall sales rose by just 1.0 per cent to 6.313 billion euros, lower than the range of 6.442-6.612 billion forecast by analysts. Gujarat Ambuja Exports Ltd
Ahmedabad-based Gujarat Ambuja Exports Ltd has declared the net profit high by 70 per cent at Rs 11.52 crore for the first quarter ended September 30, 2006 as against Rs 6.75 crore for the same period last year. The company reported a turnover of Rs 358 crore as against Rs 316 crore of corresponding period last year, thereby showing a jump of 13 per cent. Based on the performance, the company’s EPS is Rs 0.83 per share of Rs 2.00 as compared with Rs 0.48 of corresponding period last year. Castrol India
The lubricant company of British Petroleum, Castrol India Ltd, has posted a marginal increase in net profit after tax at Rs 33.96 crore for the quarter ended September 30, as compared to Rs 33.60 crore for the same quarter in 2005. The total income (net of excise) of the company increased 25.69 per cent to Rs 424.55 crore for the quarter ended September 30, from Rs 337.75 crore for the corresponding quarter a year ago. Haryana Tourism Corp
The Haryana Tourism Corporation had a turnover of over Rs 171 crore as against Rs 148 crore achieved during the corresponding period last year. During April 2006 to July 2006, the corporation has registered an increase of 5 per cent in its turnover as against the same period last year. An HTC spokesman said several tourist complexes in the state would be developed as ideal tourist destinations.
— Agencies/TNS |
Nestle to sell Asian milk units Dunlop unit to reopen |
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