New Delhi, November 30
The country’s economy grew by an impressive 9.2 per cent in July-September 2006-07 compared to 8.4 per cent in the second quarter of last year riding on the rapid growth in the services and manufacturing sectors.

However, the agriculture sector, which accounts for about 23 per cent of the GDP, declined to 1.7 per cent during the second quarter this fiscal compared to 4 per cent in the second quarter of last year.

There has been a record 9.1 per cent GDP growth in the first half of 2006-07.

Manufacturing, which contributes nearly 15 per cent to the GDP, registered 11.9 per cent growth in July-September as against 8.1 per cent in the corresponding period of 2005-06.

Other sectors which registered significant growth in Q2 of 2006-07 over Q2 of 2005-06 are electricity, gas and water supply sector at 7.7 per cent, construction at 9.8 per cent, trade, hotels, transport and communication at 13.9 per cent, financing, insurance, real estate and business services at 9.5 per cent, and community, social and personal services at 6.9 per cent.

According to the latest estimates available on the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), the index of mining, manufacturing and electricity registered growth rates of 2.6 per cent, 12.4 per cent, and 8.0 per cent, respectively, during Q2 of 2006-07 as compared to the growth rates of (-) 2.1 per cent, 7.8 per cent, and 2.0 per cent during Q2 of 2005-06.

The key indicators of the construction sector, namely cement and steel ,registered growth rates of 10.4 per cent and 7.6 per cent, respectively, during Q2 of 2006-07.

The growth rate in agriculture, forestry and fishing at 1.7 per cent and the mining and quarrying sector at 3.1 per cent registered growth rates of less than 5 per cent in Q2 of 2006-07.

Meanwhile, Expressing satisfaction over the 9.2 per cent GDP growth in Q2 of 2006-07, Finance Minister P Chidambaram has said “it is a moment to savour”, the only worrying aspect is inflation.

“As a growing economy with 8 per cent GDP, we should learn to tolerate some inflation, but the tolerance level is anywhere around 4 per cent. So the desire is to push the inflation below 5 per cent and then move towards the 4 per cent mark,” he said.

Revealing the latest tax figures, Dr Chidambaram said the fiscal deficit stood at Rs 87,100 crore during the first seven months of this fiscal as compared to Rs 92,068 crore in the corresponding period last fiscal.

Revenue deficit was Rs 67,299 crore compared to Rs 70,284 crore during the same period last year.

On the Standing Committee on Finance’s recommendation for the withdrawal of income tax form 2F, Dr Chidambaram said he was yet to receive the report and once he received it he would go through it thoroughly.

New Delhi, November 30
The Delhi High Court today gave two weeks to the US telecom major Motorola to file its reply to the application filed by BSNL on the issue of impugned contract of Rs 20,000-crore GSM expansion project to its rivals, Ericsson and Nokia.

Extending the stay, a division bench of acting Chief Justice M.K. Sharma and Justice Hima Kohli directed Motorola to file its plea by December 14, the next date of hearing.

Filing a reply to the petition, BSNL said the handset major did not fulfill all necessary techno-commercial standards required for the project.

Motorola was also not willing to submit certain desired equipment, said the application filed by Mr Sanjay Kumar Varshney, Deputy Director General (CMTS), BSNL.

In a petition, Motorola, which had tied up with Chinese company ZTE, alleged that BSNL had deliberately omitted the company from the financial bid on October 7 after accepting its tender terms fearing alleged “security threat” from China. — UNI

New Delhi, November 30
TRAI has said private GSM operators were acting as a "cartel" against MTNL and BSNL and charging higher tariffs from customers for calls terminating in the networks of the two state-run companies.

The TRAI’s contention came before the TDSAT in the case over the issue of differential tariff being charged by GSM operators for calls in four networks where direct connectivity has been allowed.

"These GSM operators are acting as a cartel against the state-owned MTNL and BSNL... and are accusing BSNL of having a monopolistic attitude," TRAI counsel Meet Malhotra said before the TDSAT.

The government has permitted direct connectivity between Mumbai and the rest of Maharashtra, Kolkata and West Bengal, Chennai and the rest of Tamil Nadu and two parts of UP (east and west). But despite this, the operators were charging higher tariffs for calls terminating on BSNL's CellOne network.

"These operators have still not taken the lease lines between the two circles of the states and are routing their calls through National Long Distance (NLD) Service operators," Mr Malhotra contended, adding that the operators were themselves responsible for high call costs.

The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), the GSM industry body, had contended that since there was no direct connectivity between their networks, calls had to be routed like STD calls. This led to higher tariffs, it argued.

COAI had earlier challenged in the TDSAT a directive by TRAI issued on February 26 to remove differential tariffs for calls terminating on the BSNL/MTNL network in the four states.

TRAI argued that it was the duty of operators to provide lease lines to BSNL and the PSU's role was limited only to providing them ports to connect them.

"If they can establish connectivity between their networks through lease lines, then why not with BSNL... They are complaining about delay in circuit, but who would provide these circuits to BSNL," Mr Malhotra contended.

"Instead of lease lines, these operators are complaining to the Department of Telecommunication and are paying more access deficit charge to NLD providers," the counsel said.

During proceedings, BSNL contended there was no fault from their side in providing interconnection to GSM operators and the company was providing full support. 
— PTI

Islamabad, November 30
India has become the largest exporter of onions to Pakistan with a 90 per cent share of the total 2.5 lakh tonnes of the vegetable imported by the country.

Due to lower arrivals from Afghanistan and Iran from September 15 to November 29, Indian onions dominated the Pakistani palate, local daily Dawn reported today.

Last year, the country had imported 70,000-80,000 tonnes of the commodity in order to meet the demand and ensure price stabilisation.

Despite huge imports, there has been no let-up in the onion prices in Pakistan, which have shot to Rs 30-35 per kg for the past one and a half months due to the failure of crops in Sind, the paper said.

Haji Shahjehan, a wholesale vegetable dealer in Karachi, said the Indian onion was being imported at $250-300 per tonne depending on the quality and it was available in the markets at a rate ranging between Rs 22-30 per kg.

He said there would be more imports of onion in December in view of the advance export shipment booking for more than 350 containers and there were chances of import of onion from India continuing till January in order to meet the rising demand.

If imports would have not been undertaken, the prices would have gone beyond the reach of the common man. — PTI

New Delhi, November 30
Differences on pricing of channels persisted between south India-based broadcaster Sun Group and DTH operator TataSky, which feels that rates quoted by Sun were fit for international channels but not regional.

The two parties failed to resolve the dispute through talks as suggested by broadcast tribunal TDSAT on November 21.

"Sun is not a channel like Star World, having universal appeal... Sun has dialect loyalty and would have limited appeal only," TataSky's counsel Ramji Srinivasan said during proceedings today.

Sun Group submitted that it has three divisions — Sun Limited, Gemini and Udaya — with 14 channels in all on a-la carte basis at a price of Rs 85 per month.

To this, TataSky's counsel "Sun's 14 channels consist of Kannada, Telgu and Tamil channels. How can a subscriber of Karnataka be forced to view a Tamil channel?" This, he said, went against the spirit of DTH platform that provides liberty to consumers to pick a channel of their choice.

TataSky also raised objection on the price demanded by Sun group for its free-to-air channels in the name of intellectual property rights.

Sun has demanded Rs 12 per channel and around Rs 6.25 for free-to-air channels.

Sun also contended that it has offered its channels to TataSky's rival DTH platform Dish TV, promoted by Zee group in the same price. This was also confirmed by Dish TV's counsel present during the proceedings. — PTI

New Delhi, November 30
Encouraged by the cut in oil prices, Assocham today urged the government to cut excise duty on all manufacturing products across-the-board in the coming Budget to bring down inflation.

A 15- member delegation led by Assocham President Anil Agarwal called upon the Revenue Secretary urging the government to reduce the excise rate from the current level of 16 per cent to 14 per cent in 2007-08 Budget and at a later stage to 12 per cent.

The 2 per cent reduction in excise with consequential lower incidence of state and local taxes will have 3 to 5 per cent reduction in prices. He also submitted a five-pronged strategy to the Finance Ministry claiming that it could put the economy on a growth trajectory of 10 per cent by 2010.

Mr Agarwal said a cut in excise duty would, in turn, increase the demand for manufactured goods leading to higher industrial growth. The government should also consider withdrawal of tax exemptions currently extended to a large number of products and retain only for bare minimum items like infrastructure goods and processed foods.

He said: “India needs to increase the rate of investment from the current level of 33-34 per cent of the GDP to 39-40 per cent for accelerated economic growth. A large portion of this has to be invested in key infrastructure sectors like power, ports, roads, airports, roads, mining and high quality infrastructure for services. India needs an investment of approximately $320 billion in the next five years.

Assocham said dividend remittance should be exempted from Indian income tax in the case of 40 per cent Indian shareholding in overseas companies.

Alternatively, the tax paid in the overseas country on the underlying profit from which dividend was declared, should be given credit.

It suggested CST must be phased out without further delay. It recommended that CST should be reduced to 2 per cent from April, 2007.

The government should set up an empowered committee consisting of state and central government representatives at the earliest to finalise the structure of GST and a road ape for its implementation. 

Mumbai, November 30
Larsen & Toubro Ltd, in joint venture (JV) with Alpine Mayreder Bau GmbH, Austria, has bagged a Rs 456-crore order from NTPC Ltd for the execution of 4 x 130 MW Tapovan Vishnugad hydropower project in Uttaranchal. The package includes construction of a concrete-lined head race tunnel of approx. 11.3- km length and 5.6 m finished diameter. The project is located in district Chamoli on the Dhauliganga river, a major tributary of Alaknanda.

This is the second hydropower project the company will execute in Uttaranchal. The earlier project, Singoli Bhatwari project being implemented through BOT route, is located 125 km from Tapovan Vishnugad. — UNI

Shimla, November 30
The Himachal Pradesh State Industrial Corporation (HPSIDC) has earned a record profit of Rs 14.54 crore during 2005-06, Industries Minister Kuldeep Kumar said.

The minister said the corporation had shown a marked improvement in its operations and had been earning profits continuously for the past three years.

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) had been signed GAIL to meet the energy requirements of the state in the industrial and other sectors. The MoU includes the setting up of a plastic park, conservation of the environment, pollution control and e-governance.

There has been a phenomenal growth in demand for industrial sites and the corporation is embarking on a time-bound plan to develop more such plots to be allotted to entrepreneurs, HPSIDC Managing Director Anil Khachi said. Besides government land, 430 bighas (86 acres) of private land had also been identified near Baddi in Solan district," he added.