Customers browse Microsoft's new operating system "Windows Vista" with some 200 PCs at the WPC computer trade show in Tokyo on Wednesday. Microsoft will launch the new "Windows Vista" in January, 2007. — AFP

10 pc cap on voting rights to go for banks’ consolidation 
New Delhi, October 18
The government is making concerted efforts to please the Left to get its support on the Banking Bill, pending in Parliament for almost a year, so that the consolidation of banks could be moved forward by removing 10 per cent cap on voting rights in the state-run-banks.

S&P: Corus bid negative for Tata Steel risk profile
Mumbai, October 18
Tata Steel’s proposed offer to acquire the Corus Group could have an adverse impact on the domestic steel giant’s financial risk profile, although a successful acquisition can improve the business profile of the merged entity, global research major Standard and Poor’s believes.

Bosch to invest Rs 1,800 cr
Coimbatore, October 18
Germany-based Bosch will invest 325 million euros (Rs 1,800 crore) in India during 2005-2008 and would make efforts to develop new products, a top executive of the company said today.

Rupee down by 9 paise
Mumbai, October 18
The rupee today closed a low of Rs 45.37 per US dollar as compared to the previous closing of Rs 45.27.50.

Corporate Results
Grasim Q2 net up 80 pc at Rs 338 crore 
Mumbai, October 18
Grasim Industries Ltd, the flagship company of the Aditya Birla Group, today said the net profit of the company increased by 80.03 per cent to touch Rs 337.84 crore in the quarter ended September 2006 as compared to Rs 187.65 crore in the same period last year.

Bank Account
UBI Q2 net up over 3- fold 
Mumbai, October 18
Union Bank of India (UBI) has posted an increase of over three fold in net profit at Rs 194.16 crore for the quarter ended September 30, as compared to Rs 61.10 crore for the same period last year.

New Delhi, October 18
The Prime Minister's Office has sought the opinion of various ministries for creating an umbrella legislation that would empower the government to suspend any foreign investment in sensitive sectors such as telecom, airports and IT on national security considerations.

The National Security Council has proposed the 'National Security Exemption Act' to empower the "government to suspend or prohibit any foreign acquisition, merger or takeovers of an Indian company that is considered prejudicial to national interests."

Sources said the NSC has suggested security screening of foreign participation in sensitive sectors, sensitive locations and from countries of concern.

Sensitive sectors were identified as seaports, airports, telecom, Internet service providers, international long-distance telecom services, oil refining, gas pipelines, oil and gas exploration, shipping, metallurgy, defence, data processing and pharmaceuticals.

Jammu and Kashmir, Chhattisgarh and North Eastern states and areas in proximity to vital nuclear, space and defence installations and border areas were classified as sensitive locations.

Foreign investment, according to the NSC, from countries such as China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and North Korea could threaten security interests as the entities from these countries could be manipulated.

Sources said the NSC was of the opinion that flow of unverifiable investments both from tax havens like Mauritius, Cyprus and Cayman Islands and from criminal groups operating from other countries posed a security threat as the source of money could be illegal and it could be used to create economic crisis through sudden withdrawal or pumping in.

Besides, it was difficult to identify the real ownership in investments from tax havens.

FDI or foreign participation in Indian projects under the present system could be a process for laundering money and hawala transaction, which were a serious threat to the country's economic security, the NSC said.

"The existing system is flawed in the sense that it does not have a mechanism for examining comprehensively, funds coming to sensitive locations, sensitive sectors and from countries of concern, neither at the time of approval nor during the period of operations of foreign entities," the NSC note said.

It suggested foreign participation in sensitive sectors and locations and from countries of concern should be subjected to special security screening both at the time of approval as well as during the entire period of their operation.

Besides, sectoral regulators should seek opinion of intelligence and security agencies and Ministry of Finance be made the nodal point for implementation and monitoring of security guidelines. — PTI 

New Delhi, October 18
The government has approved 22 FDI proposals worth Rs 896.25 crore, including over Rs 500 crore in real estate by Singapore-based Solitaire Capital Investments.

Solitaire, with Rs 511.50 crore, was the single largest investor cleared by the Finance Ministry. The company will accept contributions on repatriation basis into a venture capital fund for making these investments.

The proposals, cleared by Finance Minister P. Chidambaram on the recommendations of the Foreign Investment Promotion Board, also include a plan by Mauritius-based Bijlee Bharat Holdings that will bring FDI inflow of Rs 307.94 crore.

Bijlee Bharat will set up a wholly owned subsidiary in Hyderabad for investing in multiple power plants.

Also, NSK Limited of Japan has committed Rs 41.25 crore to set up a new JV in Chennai to manufacture magnetic clutch bearings and ball bearings. The Tokyo-based company will bring in Rs 41.25 crore into India.

Spain-based Lladro Commercials S.A. will pump in Rs 5.85 crore for increasing its equity in Spa Agencies (India) from 26 per cent to 49 per cent.— PTI 

New Delhi, October 18
IndianOil Corporation (IOC) will import 60,000 tonnes of naphtha to fuel the 740 MW block of Dabhol power plant that will be restarted next month after lying idle since June.

The naphtha will be used to run the block till March next year.

The other two blocks of the renamed Ratnagiri Gas and Power Private Limited (RGPPL) of similar capacity will be started in April and June next year.

LNG is expected to be made available by Petronet LNG from RasGas of Qatar.

The Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) has approved the proposal of Ratnagiri Gas Power Project Limited (RGPPL) to sell up to 700 MW power to Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Co Ltd (MSEDCL) at a mutually agreed base price of Rs 5.01 per KWH for the period November 2006 to March 2007. — PTI

Chandigarh, October 18
The Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who today kicked off the last leg of his European visit in Madrid by meeting investors based in Spain, expressed his satisfaction at the response generated during his present visit to Europe.

While interacting with potential investors at a meeting organised by the Confederation of Employers and Industries of Spain (CEOE) in Madrid, Mr Hooda said his government had succeeded in attracting investment from both foreign and domestic sources. He said Spanish companies like Rinder, Halwell and Floral SA already had presence in the state and invited the assembled Spanish investors to visit Haryana to get a first-hand knowledge of the state.

Mr P.K. Chaudhary, Industries Secretary of Haryana, made a presentation highlighting the policies of the state government for attracting foreign investment.

Roundtable discussions were held where Mr Hooda and other members of the delegation answered queries from the representatives of various industrial associations.

Mr Hooda also attended an interactive session organised by CII in collaboration with Indo-British Partnership Network. He was welcomed by Mr Karan Billimoria, Chief Executive Officer and Founder, Indo-British Partnership Network. The session was attended by a number of NRIs and entrepreneurs based in UK. 

Bangalore, October 18
Driven by a strong volume growth of 7.9 per cent in its global IT business, Wipro Limited today reported a 46 per cent jump in second quarter net profit at Rs 700 crore as compared to Rs 478 crore in the year-ago period.

Total revenues of the Bangalore-based firm grew by 41 per cent year-on-year to Rs 3,546 crore from Rs 2,506 crore in July-September period last year, its Chairman Azim Premji told reporters.

"We are seeing a great momentum in all our businesses," Mr Premji said." Revenues from our global IT services at $589 million for the quarter were well ahead of our guidance at $577 million, primarily driven by strong growth in our differentiated services and focused verticals." He said the company's India, West Asia and Asia Pacific IT business recorded year-on-year revenue growth of 36 per cent in the second quarter and profit before interest and tax growth of 57 per cent.

Mr Premji said the company's BPO business was now enjoying a margin of 22 per cent. "We should be able to sustain those margins if not improve upon them," he said.

Meanwhile, Wipro is now scouting for buy-outs within India in the consumer care and IT areas.

“Yes, we are looking at (acquisitions) within the country also,” said the Bangalore-based company’s Chairman Azim Premji, who added that the firm was eying buyouts in the consumer care and IT areas in India.

New Delhi, October 18
The government is making concerted efforts to please the Left to get its support on the Banking Bill, pending in Parliament for almost a year, so that the consolidation of banks could be moved forward by removing 10 per cent cap on voting rights in the state-run-banks.

“The Cabinet wants faster clearance of a parliamentary Bill to remove a 10 per cent cap on voting rights in the state-run banks, We want it (removal of the cap on voting rights) to be done at the earliest,” Minister of State for Finance Pawan Kumar Bansal said here today.

Foreign banks and investors shy away from state-run banks as voting rights are not proportional to shareholdings.

Stating this while releasing the Assocham study on `Consolidation of Indian Banks - Restructuring for Global Expansion’, Mr Bansal said bank mergers were necessary to cut cost of operations and lower lending rates but the government would not force banks to merge.

“It is for the banks to decide. The government will facilitate it (mergers),” Mr Bansal said.

The government has already initiated the process of consulting various political parties, including Left, to evolve a consensus for removing the 10 per cent cap on voting rights in the stake holders concerned to facilitate consolidation among private banks and pass the new Banking Regulation Bill in the winter session of Parliament.

The minister expressed concern saying that mergers & consolidation in the banking sector would be difficult if the 10 per cent voting cap remains in existence for long.

The minister said that consolidation was necessary to facilitate larger access to institutional credit as currently just 27 per cent of the people had access to banking finance.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Banking has already given its comments on the Bill and the UPA Government would try to place a new and modified banking act in place in the next few months to facilitate consolidation in the banking sector without resistance.

Asked if a particular time frame would be fixed for affecting its consolidation process among private banks, Mr Bansal answered in the negative, saying that it was for the individual banks and their Boards to decide about consolidation and the government would not intervene on this issue.

Mumbai, October 18
The rupee today closed a low of Rs 45.37 per US dollar as compared to the previous closing of Rs 45.27.50.

Earlier, the domestic currency opened up at Rs 45.25 and in the mid-morning traded low at Rs 45.38/39.

The six-month forward premia was fixed low at 1.65 per cent (1.72 per cent) and the one-year premia was also flat at 1.57 per cent.

The RBI today fixed the reference rate at Rs 45.26 as compared to the previous rate of Rs 45.36. — UNI

Mumbai, October 18
Grasim Industries Ltd, the flagship company of the Aditya Birla Group, today said the net profit of the company increased by 80.03 per cent to touch Rs 337.84 crore in the quarter ended September 2006 as compared to Rs 187.65 crore in the same period last year.

Total income of the company for the July-September quarter touched Rs 2,061.04 crore, up 22.67 per cent from Rs 1,680.04 crore in the corresponding period last year, the company informed the BSE.

Mumbai, October 18
Union Bank of India (UBI) has posted an increase of over three fold in net profit at Rs 194.16 crore for the quarter ended September 30, as compared to Rs 61.10 crore for the same period last year.