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Open up market to farm produce, US to India
Corus takeover: Severstal, Sino Steel may throw in the hat too
Punjab records 22 pc industrial growth
Kingfisher inks $500-m deal with Pratt and Whitney
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TDSAT tells Tata Sky, Sun to sort out rift
SEBI imposes Rs 115-cr fine in IPO scam
Hutch offer for Haryana users
Bank Account
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Open up market to farm produce, US to India
New Delhi, November 21 US Department of Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns cautioned India against shutting out its markets to agriculture produce as a balanced outcome of the Doha Round where trade-distorting subsidies are lowered and finally eliminated would have to be accompanied by market access. Addressing an interactive session on Indo-US Agriculture Trade and the Doha Round: Reaping benefits of partnership, organised by FICCI here, the US Secretary of Agriculture said: In a situation where you protect 20 per cent of your tariff lines, 98 per cent of your market gets protected from imports. Even under the G-20 formula, only 14 per cent of tariff lines would fall below the current and applied rates. That leaves 86 peer cent with no new market access. It is important to remember this when discussing which lines really need special treatment. If no new trade is generated, there is no need for additional protection. The Doha Round is about reducing barriers, not building them. Mr Johanns sought to dispel the impression that US farmers were heavily subsidised. Let me make it clear that 60 per cent of the US farmers receive no cash subsidy. Of the 40 per cent that do get it, receive it for five crops accounting for 90 per cent of the total subsidies, he asserted. He said the US made an ambitious offer to reform its domestic support programme at the Hong Kong Ministerial. The US was willing to cut trade-distorting domestic support by three times the level of the Uruguay Round reductions, but this has not been matched. You (India) could lead the way towards unlocking the Doha negotiating by offering real market access, he said. He said the people of India had much to gain from the successful conclusion to the Doha Round negotiations, especially the 650 million who depend on agriculture for their livelihoods. Mr G.K. Pillai, Commerce Secretary, noted that there was great deficit in trust on account of trade-distorting subsidies and added that the actual amount of subsidies had actually gone up after the Hong Kong Ministerial. He said it was not fair to compare the situation of Indian and US farmers. While in the US, only 2 per cent of the population is dependent on agriculture, the figure was as high as 65 per cent in India. Even in terms of farm incomes, the position was incomparable. Admitting that Indian agriculture reforms were vital, Mr Pillai said that this would take time, perhaps two to three generations, because there were no safety nets to protect the vulnerable farmers from the impact of trade distorting subsidies. |
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Corus takeover: Severstal, Sino Steel may throw in the hat too
New Delhi, November 21 While Brazil's CSN has bettered the $8.1 billion offer of Tata Steel from India to acquire the Anglo-Dutch steel manufacturer, speculation is that Russia's Severstal and China's Sino Steel may also be keen on purchasing Corus -- making it a pure BRIC affair. Such a scenario, where firms from developed nations like the US, the UK, Germany and France are sitting it out on the bench, is not surprising, given the track record of overseas investments by firms in BRIC economies in the past few years. If Europe alone is considered, Indian firms have made 176 investments in that continent between 2002 to 2006, followed by China with 114 deals, according to data available with Invest in France Agency. While Corus is the latest in a string of proposed buyouts involving BRIC countries, there are other deals as well. The month of June saw India-born steel baron Lakshmi Niwas Mittal's Mittal Steel lapping up rival Arcelor, only after warding off Severstal. Even outside the steel sector, there is intense competition among BRIC members, who engage each other in a fierce bidding battle to acquire assets abroad -- as was the case in the sale of PetroKazakhstan, which was acquired by the China National Petroleum Corp beating India's OVL by a very narrow margin.
PTI |
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Punjab records 22 pc industrial growth
Chandigarh, November 21 This was disclosed during the third meeting of the Sub-Committee of State-Level Bankers Committee, held here today, to address the issues relating to promotion of exports from Punjab, with regards to availability of export finance, other bank-related issues and availability of requisite infrastructure. Other than bankers in the region, representatives from various export promotion councils, state government officials and officials from Director-General Foreign Trade attended the meeting. Mr K. Raghuraman, Executive Director, Punjab National Bank, while presiding over the function, said exports from Punjab had increased from Rs 7,014 crore in 2002-03 to Rs 9,656 crore during 2005-06. However, Punjab's per centage share of exports has declined from 2.22 per cent to 2.12 per cent in 2005-06. Rice, yarn and textiles, hand tools, machine tools, auto parts, sewing machines, cycle and cycle parts have shown a positive growth in export turnover. However, export of leather goods and food products has declined during 2005-06. Exports from yarn and textiles were the highest to the tune of Rs 3,362.09 crore, followed by cycle and cycle parts (Rs 1,183.95 crore). Other than Ropar district, all districts in the state have shown a positive growth. The maximum exports were reported from Ludhiana (Rs 6,624.47 crore), followed by Jalandhar (Rs 1487.73 crore) and Amritsar (Rs 949.75 crore). The highest growth of 56.69 per cent has been reported from Gurdaspur (from Rs 14.04 crore last year to Rs 22 crore this year). Mr Raghuraman also spoke about the Mid-Term Review of Annual Policy for 2006-07 announced by the RBI. As per new policy, Foreign Exchange earners may retain up to 100 per cent of their foreign exchange earnings in their Exchange Earners Foreign Currency Accounts. |
Kingfisher inks $500-m deal with Pratt and Whitney
Washington, November 21 The agreement was signed at a ceremony yesterday at the US Department of Commerce witnessed by the Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez and Deputy Chief of the Indian Embassy Raminder Singh Jassal. "After a very detailed analysis for all engine offers for A 330, we decided that Pratt and Whitney gave us the best total solution and met all out technical requirements" Vijay Mallya, Chairman and CEO of Kingfisher Airlines, said. Pratt and Whitney was selected to power Kingfisher's fleet of A 320s, A 319s, ATR 72s and A 300s "because of their ability to support our airline's vision to consistently deliver a safe, value based and enjoyable travel experience to all our guests" he said. The deal will include 10 PW 4000-100 installed engines, one spare and an optional for additional 10 engines. Pratt and Whitney will also have a long-term fleet management programme to overhaul Kingfisher's PW 4000 engines. The total transaction is valued at $300 million plus an additional $200 million if all options are exercised.
PTI |
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TDSAT tells Tata Sky, Sun to sort out rift
New Delhi, November 21 "Both parties would meet on Friday in respondent's office at Chennai," said the TDSAT Bench headed by Justice Arun Kumar. The Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) also directed the Sun Group to file its reply within a week and later Tata Sky to file a rejoinder. TataSky had filed a petition before the tribunal, accusing Sun of not sharing signals of channels offered by the group's network on its DTH platform. Meanwhile, Tata Sky and Sun TV differed with each other on the number of channels of the Sun group during the proceeding. Appearing on behalf of Tata Sky, a 80:20 joint venture between Tata and Star India, Senior counsel Mukul Rohtagi contended that Sun Group has 14 channels and its cable rate is Rs 45. However, Sun denied it and contended that they have 20 channels in two bouquets worth Rs 100. It also alleged that Tata Sky has put wrong information in its petition. PTI Notice to BSNL
To improve the quality of telecom services, TDSAT today issued notice to BSNL, which has been accused by private operators for not providing crucial interconnection. Accepting the request by Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) to make BSNL a party in the dispute over interconnection between them and regulator TRAI, TDSAT sent the notice to the PSU. COAI's counsel also said that BSNL, which provides Point of Interconnection , has not installed much ports, in response to the growing number of subscribers in the country. |
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SEBI imposes Rs 115-cr fine in IPO scam
Mumbai, November 21 In a disgorgement order, SEBI full-time member G Anantharaman has said that affected parties were free to seek greater compensation than what has been quantified. The order is against both the depositories National Securities Depository Ltd (NSDL) and Central Depository Services (India) Ltd (CDSL). Besides, eight depository participants Karvy Stock Broking Ltd, HDFC Bank Ltd., Khandwala Integrated Financial Services Pvt Ltd, IDBI Bank Ltd, Jhaveri Securities Pvt Ltd, ING Vysya Bank Ltd, Pravin Ratilal Share & Stock Broking Ltd and Pratik Stock Vision Pvt Ltd were also asked to pay.
PTI |
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Hutch offer for Haryana users
Chandigarh, November 21 Mr Shankar Bali, Senior Vice-President of the company, said here today that the card offers long-distance tariff at up to 30 per cent lower than the prevailing tariffs (on ISD) offered by any landline or mobile connection.
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ICICI Bank to raise $1-b loan
Mumbai, November 21 They said the bank intended to take advantage of the lower interest rates in Japan by borrowing in yen. Japan has lowest interest rates among the world's major economies. However, there was no official word from the company and an official spokesperson could not be contacted. Borrowing in yen currency would also save taxes for the company due to lower Japanese interest rates. The company later plans to swap the debt proceeds into the rupee, the bankers said. The three-month yen London inter-bank offered rate (LIBOR) is 0.4931 per cent as against the comparable US dollar rate of 5.3706 per cent. Dena Bank Double Deposit Scheme
Dena Bank has launched Dena Double Deposit Scheme, which gives an opportunity to the investor to double his/her investment in eight years, nine months. The scheme will remain operational from till March 31, 2007. The scheme provides 8 per cent interest per annum to the general public and 8.5 per cent interest to senior citizens. Individuals, salaried persons, traders, businessmen, corporates, pensioners, HUFs, charitable trusts, educational institutions, societies and other voluntary organisations are eligible to invest in the scheme, the bank said. Bank of Baroda
Bank of Baroda (BoB) plans to raise tier-II capital of Rs 1000 crore and also plans to start operations in 10 more countries to bolster its overseas presence The bank issued a statement quoting its Chairman & Managing Director Anil K Khandelwal that the capital would be raised in two months. Meanwhile, the RBI has given the bank a licence to operate in 10 more countries, including Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Ghana, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. One of the major focus areas of expansion is the Gulf region. BoB is the only Indian bank present in the UAE (six branches). It intends to open a branch in Kuwait. OBC to raise Rs 250 cr through bonds
The Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC) will raise Rs 250 crore (Rs 125 crore with a greenshoe option) through tier- I perpetual bonds on a private placement basis. The bond will have a coupon rate of 9.40 per cent per annum, the bank said.
Agencies |
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