Mr K.B.Sachdev has taken over as Director (Marketing) of National Fertilisers Ltd.

23 Indian Cos shine on Forbes’ list
Singapore, October 31
India has emerged as the fourth biggest home to the best small companies in Asia with 23 domestic firms finding place in a list of ‘200 best under-billion companies’ prepared by the Forbes magazine.

$400-m Airtel order for Nokia
New Delhi, October 31
Bharti Airtel Ltd today awarded Nokia, mobile communications leader, a $400-million, three-year contract to expand its managed GSM/GPRS/EDGE networks in eight circles and deploy a pan-Indian WAP solution across its networks.

Dunlop Tyre unit re-opens
Kolkata, October 31
Dunlop & Company, the country's oldest British-owned tyre factory in Hooghly's Sahaganj, which was closed in July 1999, was re-opened today under the ownership of Mr Pavan Kumar Ruia in the presence of the Chief Minister, Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, and the Union Minister for Heavy Industries, Mr Santosh Mohan Dev.

CPI-IW up
Shimla, October 31
The all-India Consumer Price Index number for industrial workers (base 2001-100 increased by one point during September to stand at 125.

Corporate Results
Hindustan Lever Q3 net at Rs 520.74 crore
Mumbai, October 31
FMCG major Hindustan Lever Ltd has posted a net profit of Rs 520.74 crore for the quarter ended September 30 whereas it was Rs 325.96 crore in the corresponding quarter last year.

New Delhi, October 31
The Petroleum Ministry has suggested extending the government subsidy on domestic LPG and kerosene for an indefinite period as the gap between the domestic retail price and the current international prices was too large to be bridged through a price hike.

As per the roadmap for dismantling of the administered pricing mechanism (APM) for petroleum products, the subsidy on PDS kerosene and domestic LPG was to be phased out by March 31, 2005. This deadline was extended by two years to March 31, 2007. But now the ministry wants to extend it indefinitely.

A ministry proposal to the Finance Ministry states that the retail selling price of LPG would have to be raised by Rs 150 per cylinder and of PDS kerosene by Rs 16 per litre to bring them at par with the cost of production.

“Under these circumstances it is proposed that the scheme may be extended till the prices of these two commodities are reasonable and market determined,” the proposal said.

The PDS kerosene and domestic LPG subsidy scheme, 2002, under which the government’s fiscal budget meets a part of under-realisation on sale of the two mass consumed cooking fuels, is valid up to March 31, 2007.

Official sources said the total revenue loss of not increasing domestic cooking gas (LPG) and kerosene prices in line with a rise in the cost of production was Rs 27,500 crore in 2006-07. Against this the budgetary subsidy was Rs 2,900 crore. The remaining amount is to be met through contribution from upstream companies like the ONGC and the issue of oil bonds.

At the time of dismantling of the administered pricing mechanism (APM) with effect from April 1, 2002, it was decided that the subsidy on PDS kerosene and domestic LPG would be met from the Consolidated Fund of India. Accordingly, the subsidy scheme was formulated, which was to be phased out in three years, that is by March 31, 2005.

In June, 2004, the government decided that the scheme be extended further for two years, that is up to March 31, 2007 “with the hope that the international prices will become reasonable and the domestic prices market-determined.”— PTI 

New Delhi, October 31
Bankers said today there would be no impact on home and auto loans due to the 0.25 per cent hike in one of the key short-term rates by the RBI, but lenders having liquidity problems may hike loan rates for personal, real estate, consumer goods and equity market.

In the Monetary Policy Review today, the RBI raised the repo, the rate at which it lends to banks, by 0.25 per cent to 7.25 per cent while keeping the reverse repo, the rate at which it borrows from banks unchanged at 6 per cent.

“Banks having liquidity problem may charge a higher price for personal loans, real estate, equity market, consumer goods loans,” Oriental Bank of Commerce Executive Director Allen C.A. Pereira said.

Welcoming the RBI’s policy stance, he said the repo rate hike signalled that productive sectors should get sufficient credit while non-productive sectors should pay a little more.

Those banks having less liquidity will have two options — to mobilise resources from the public through deposits or borrow from the RBI.

Many weaker banks borrow from the RBI as it is not easy to mobilise adequate funds from the public due to competition with bigger banks and the hike will increase their fund cost.

Punjab National Bank Executive Director K. Raghuraman said the RBI’s repo rate hike was a caution about credit growth, especially for banks that are aggressive toward the market. “The banks borrowing from the RBI to meet liquidity demand may jack up interest rates,” Mr Raghuraman said.

Both PNB and OBC saw a stable interest rate scenario and might not raise the lending rates as these were comfortably placed liquidity-wise PNB Chairman and Managing Director S.C. Gupta said the bank would not immediately hike interest rates.

Mr M. Balachandran, Chairman and Managing Director of Bank of India, said deposit accretion would become a major source of raising resources for banks.

He dispelled any fears of a slowdown in credit but said banks must ensure that credit was channelled towards productive segments like manufacturing. He also felt there might not be any immediate upward bias on inflation.

Chairperson of Central Bank of India H.N. Daruwala described the policy as a prudentially protective one and said it supported the push toward fuller capital account convertibility. —PTI

New Delhi, October 31
Industry captains today expressed fear that over-cautious approach of the RBI in its mid-term credit policy may put strains on credit availability to certain sectors, especially the SME, retail and housing loans.

“The announcement of a hike in the repo rate by 25 basis points from 7 to 7.25 per cent, the third time in a row will raise the cost of capital for industry,” said FICCI President, Mr Saroj Kumar Poddar.

The FICCI chief pointed out that that the doubling of the ceiling of remittance by resident individuals to $50,000 and the easing of ECB rules signal country’s march towards full rupee convertibility.

Welcoming the overall stance of the Monetary Policy, Ms Sushma Berlia, President, PHDCCI, said “taking into consideration the comfortable level of inflation, higher growth in aggregate deposits to 20.7 per cent and marginal decline in non-food credit to 30.5 per cent, the hike in repo rate should have been avoided.”

Meanwhile, speaking through a video-conference, RBI Governor said, “ the objective of hike in repo rate is to give a signal to the banks to manage their portfolio, and not expect immediate assistance from the Central Bank.”

"We are very munch concerned over the inflation, considering that despite easing of oil prices for the time being, supply pressure on cereal, sugar, pulses is there due to hardening of position in the domestic and global market," he said.

Ms Berlia said the RBI should have revised the bank rate downwards by 0.5 per cent to ease the pressure on prime lending rates which was still high as compared to the countries with which Indian economy had to compete.

Ms Berlia appreciated the extension of the date for compliance of Basel II Norms to March 31, 2008.

Assocham President Anil K Agarwal said, “the fact that the RBI has chosen to maintain stable lending rates, including for home loans and maintaining growth momentum is a good sign for keeping the vibrancy in the economy.”

Mr Agarwal also welcomed the move not to make the home loans expensive since the housing is a priority area while the growth in construction sector is creating lot more additional jobs.

Terming RBI policy ‘very balanced and forward looking’, CII President R Seshasayee said, “while the 25 basis points increase in the repo rate would effectively sound the note of caution on the liquidity front, leaving the bank rate and the reverse repo rate unchanged signal RBI’s commitment towards growth.”

New Delhi, October 31
India today invited Russian participation in the country’s refining sector and Bathinda Refinery in Punjab could be a major benificiary if Moscow shows keen interest.

HPCL, which is executing this project, found itself in an odd situation when the British Petroleum backed out of the project even after signing an expression of interest.

The Petroleum Ministry sources indicated that Bathinda was one of the projects, which the Indian delegation in Moscow presented to Russian investors for participation.

The delegation led by the Petroleum Minister Murli Deora during his interaction at the 6th Russian Oil and Gas Week presented the increasing refining potential of the country and invited participation from Moscow, while pitching for Indian investments in Russia, including Sakhalin-3 offshore field.

India has plans to double its refining capacity from 2.7 million barrels per day currently over next 5-6 years to cater to the gap between global demand and spare and the refining capacity.

He invited Russian companies to invest in the refining sector in India and pointed out that Indian refineries were producing high-quality environment-friendly fuels.

HPCL is setting up an 1,80,000 barrels per day (bpd) refinery in Bathinda. The refinery is expected to cost Rs 14,144 crore and will be ready by September 2010. The Bathinda refinery will be capable of processing 9 million metric tonnes of crude oil per year.

However, the country’s second largest refiner is planning to off-load 50 per cent stake in the Bathinda Refinery to Oil India Ltd as well.

HPCL CMD M B Lal had recently stated that the company was looking for partners in domestic and international markets. The company has already spent Rs 350 crore in the project and has finalised the refinery design, technology, project managers and financial consultants.

Promoters have to pump in about Rs 6,000 crore equity in the Rs 14,144 crore project.

The Indian delegation is also looking for international investment in refinery at Bina in Madhya Pradesh, Paradip in Orissa and Barmer in Rajasthan.

New Delhi, October 31
The Supreme Court today gave a clean chit to the NDA Government on its policy of disinvestment with regard to ITDC hotels which had come under severe attack from the then opposition parties, mainly the Congress and the Left.

Dismissing a petition of the All-India ITDC Workers Union and some other petitioners, challenging the disinvestment policy of the NDA Government, a Bench of Mr Justice A.R. Lakshmanan and Mr Justice A.K. Mathur said since it was a policy decision of the government taken in consultation with experts, there was no reason for interference by a judicial review.

The ruling came in a case pertaining to the disinvestment of Hotel Agra Ashok.

But the court clarified that the disinvestment was not confined to Hotel Agra Ashok as there were other hotels in the advanced stage of disinvestment process in pursuance of the government’s policy decision for ITDC hotel units.

Under the ITDC disinvestment scheme, pursued by the then Disinvestment Minister, Mr Arun Shourie, the government had issued notifications for outright sale of six hotels and offered long-term lease for two others in 2001.

Though before the apec court only the case of Hotel Agra Ashok was under challenge, it examined its sale by taking into account the entire disinvestment policy of the NDA Government with respect to ITDC properties.

The employees had challenged the disinvestment decision of Mr Shourie on the ground that the government’s majority stake was offloaded only for Rs 3.90 crore in favour of private company Yamuna View Ltd while, according to them, it was estimated to be worth Rs 20 crore.

They had also said that the voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) announced by the government for the employees was not as was given to other hotel employees earlier under the disinvestment policy.

Dismissing their contentions the apex court Bench —while applying the same yardstick in the case as was applied in the Balco disinvestment case— said “we see no reason to interfere with the decision.”

In case the employees felt aggrieved individually on any aspect of the terms of reference and formalisation of agreement and completion of disinvestment affecting them directly, it was always open to them to approach courts for redressal of their grievances, the court said.

Apart from Hotel Ashok Agra, Centaur in Mumbai, Ashok Yatri Nivas, Kanishka and Ranjit in Delhi were disinvested by the NDA Government, which had come under severe attack from the Congress and Left parties. 

Chandigarh, October 31
Bilateral trade and cooperation between India and Switzerland, particularly the Canton of Jura, has the potential to grow manifold in view of certain common inherent strengths.

This was stated by Mr Jean-Francois Roth, Minister, Jura Canton, Switzerland, while addressing members of CII at a session on trade and investment opportunities with Jura Canton, Switzerland, organised by the CII here today.

Leading a 17-member business delegation to India, Mr Roth expressed a desire to see much greater bilateral trade between both countries.

Recalling the trade relations between the two countries, Mr Roth observed that tapping into important emerging markets like India was a key part of their international strategy.

Talking about the advantages Jura Canton can offer to Indian investors, Mr Xavier Jourdain, Trade and Investment Consultant, Jura Canton, said it had much to offer Indian businesses looking to access the Swiss market because of its skilled work force, peaceful work conditions, multilingual environment, patnership with authorities, and a 100 per cent tax holiday for 10 years.

Earlier, Mr Pratap Aggarwal, Chairman, CII Chandigarh Council apprised the delegates about Indo-Swiss trade scenario. "Bilateral trade between India and Switzerland has been growing steadily. Switzerland ranks 10th in the list of countries investing in India with a consolidated investment amounting to $575.74 million since 1991."

Mumbai, October 31
FMCG major Hindustan Lever Ltd has posted a net profit of Rs 520.74 crore for the quarter ended September 30 whereas it was Rs 325.96 crore in the corresponding quarter last year.

The total income increased to Rs 3,162.82 crore for the quarter while the same stood at Rs 2816.42 crore for the year-ago period.