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Stalemate again on EPF interest rate
India offers 50 pc hike in LNG price
ONGC,
Reliance deposit Rs 120 cr in penalties |
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Airtel
CallHome offer for NRIs
Lakshmi
Mittal tops UK’s rich list SBI public offer next fiscal Kamal Nath woos Arab investors PFC gets 16 bids for 2 mega units Tata Power enters defence sector Skoda, Toyota cars to cost more IOC opens first fully automated filling station Intel still open to set up base in India Carlsberg to build brewery in Rajasthan CCEA
okays NHPC public offer French help in technology areas sought
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Stalemate
again on EPF interest rate
New Delhi, December 7 While, union representatives in the CBT, particularly those affiliated to the Left parties, demanded a 9.5 per cent interest rate, other representatives, including those from the employers' side, central and state government officials were of the view that the interest rate be in proportion to the returns from the EPF. With Parliament in session, the Board decided to defer its decision lest it should stir a political controversy. Even Labour Minister Oscar Fernandes, who is ex-officio Chairman of the EPF Board, left the meeting mid-way to attend the session. "No recommendations," Labour Secretary
K.M. Sahni told reporters when asked whether the meeting had deferred a decision on the EPF rate. Chief Provident Fund commissioner A. Vishvanathan said views of the Board members would be conveyed to the government. If need be, another meeting could be held on the issue. He refused to specify whether the meeting has deferred a decision on the EPF rate. Labour Minister Oscar Fernandes appealed to the members to reach a consensus on the EPF rate. Addressing the CBT meeting which lasted more than five hours, Mr Fernandes said: "Although we could not reach a consensus on the issue in the last meeting I exhort all members to cooperate and help the Board reach a consensus so that the interest rate can be declared today to the relief of the subscribers as well as the organisation.” Coming out of the meeting CITU representative Wardhrajan said: We have asked the Labour Minister to take up the union's demand for a 9.5 per cent interest rate with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. He claimed the Prime Minster had promised in 2004 not to reduce the EPF rate below what was given by the NDA regime --9.5 per cent. The government had notified an 8.5 per cent interest rate for 2005-06 and trade union leaders feel that the government is toying with the idea of reducing it to 8 per cent as the present rate will leave a deficit of Rs 365.89 crore. Last year too, the Finance Committee of the EPFO had recommended an 8 per cent interest, which was supported by the government, but unions stuck to their demand for 9.5 per cent. The reduction in the EPF rate was suggested as the EPFO ended up with a deficit of Rs 716 crore in 2004-05 by offering a high 9.5 per cent interest. The deficit was met through the reserve fund, which last year stood at Rs 250 crore. |
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India offers 50 pc hike in LNG price
New Delhi, December 7 "We are willing to pay up to $4.775 per million British thermal unit as against earlier capped price of $3.215 per million Btu," a top official said. In June, 2005, GAIL, Indian Oil Corp and Bharat Petroleum signed a deal to import 5 million tonnes of LNG per annum at a free-on-board price of $2.90 per million Btu for the initial two years. The price would be raised to $3.21 per million Btu from 2011 onward. The official said as per the formula agreed last year, Iran was to charge India 6.5 per cent of Brent crude oil price at the time of loading of each consignment plus a fixed price of $1.2 per million Btu. The price, according to this formula, was to be capped at $3.215 per million Btu at $31 a barrel Brent price. "We are willing to raise the $31 cap to $55," the official said, adding that Tehran had sought a higher ceiling of $65 per barrel. At $65, the fob price would come to $5.425 per million Btu. To this $0.30 per million Btu would be added for transporting the gas in its liquefied form in specialised tankers from phase 12 in gigantic South Pars.
— PTI |
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Airbus to invest $1 billion
New Delhi, December 7 Airbus Executive Vice-President Marketing and Contracts Consumer Affairs, Mr Kiran Rao, said here that the areas where the Toulouse-based aircraft maker is looking to invest in India include setting up of training centres; maintenance, repair and overhauling (MRO) facility; engineering centre and design centre. "We plan to have a training centre for A-320 Airbus by 2007 starting with about four simulators, which can be then expanded up to eight simulators over the next five years at an investment of about $300 million," Mr Rao said. The training centre would cater to the requirements of the Asia region for Airbus, he added. On the MRO facility, he said the company was in talks with various partners, including two Indian forms. Mr Rao said the company also planned to set up an engineering centre at Bangalore, which would be operational by next year. He said Airbus was relocating some French engineers to Bangalore to start with and would also look at recruiting local talent.
— PTI |
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ONGC, Reliance deposit Rs 120 cr in penalties
New Delhi, December 7 "The RIL has deposited Rs 57.87 crore against a due amount of Rs 89.3 crore in lieu of unfinished work programme," Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dinsha Patel said in the Lok Sabha here. The ONGC and its consortium partners were asked to deposit Rs 117.8 crore in lieu of unfinished work programme for six blocks. "The ONGC has deposited an amount of Rs 60.75 crore against a due amount of Rs 76.48 crore as liquidated damages for availing extension in exploration phases." Mr Patel said. Officials said the Directorate-General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) had recommended a total penalty of $107.391 million on the ONGC and $26.535 million on RIL for failing to fulfil the work programme committed on the blocks awarded to them. The DGH levied a penalty of $7.275 million on RIL for failing to do a 3D seismic survey and drill two exploratory well on block KG-OSN-97/3 and $2.645 million for unfinished 2D and 3D seismic survey and one undrilled exploratory well on block KG-OSN-97/4. Officials said the ONGC was fined for not meeting the minimum work commitment in six blocks. The regulator recommended recovery of $6.351 million for failure to drill two exploratory wells on block MB-OSN-2000/1, $19.615 million for three undrilled wells on block MB-DWN-2000/1 and $22.807 million for not drilling two wells on MB-DWN-2000/2. The ONGC was also fined $6.450 million for failing to drill one committed exploratory well on block GS-DWN-2000/1, $28.293 million for two undrilled wells on block GS-DWN-2000/2 and $23.872 million for one unfinished well on block KK-DWN-2000/4, they added.
— PTI
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Airtel CallHome offer for NRIs New Delhi, December 7 "Compared to other options, this service — CallHome — comes at a significant 40 per cent less in terms of pricing," Mr Manoj Kohli, Bharti Airtel President (Mobility), said. CallHome is available in denominations from $5 to $200. — PTI
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Lakshmi Mittal tops UK’s rich list
London, December 7 The Sunday Times Rich List said seven of the 10 wealthiest billionaires living in Britain come from overseas and in the city there are as many as 40 billionaires. Mr Roman Abramovich, the Russian oil tycoon and Chelsea football club owner, comes second with a fortune worth £ 11 billion . The combined wealth of the top 10 on the list is £ 52.55 billion . It is also the highest wealth total yet recorded and represents a 23.3 per cent rise on last year. Besides Mittal and Abramovich, others in top ten are Duke of Westminster (£5.6b), Hans Rausing (£4.95 b), Philip and Christina Green (£4.85 b), Oleg Deripaska (£4.37 b), Sir Richard Branson (£3 b), Kirsten and Jorn Rausing (£ 2.75 b), David and Simon Reuben (£2.5 b) and Spiro Latsis family (£2.4 b). New entries this year include inventor James Dyson, newspaper proprietor Richard Desmond, and Iraqi-Born tycoon Nadhmi Auchi. The wealthiest woman on the list is Christina Green, who shares a £ 4.85 billion fortune with her husband, retail giant Philip Green.
— PTI |
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Gets ‘Leadership Award' New York, December 7 He was speaking at the 50th anniversary dinner of the Asia Society here last night that honoured him with its 'Leadership Award' for business acumen, entrepreneurship and tenacity, especially witnessed during his takeover bid of Arcelor. — PTI
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SBI public offer next fiscal
New Delhi, December 7 "For raising Tier I capital we are awaiting approval for the Bill....we would not be able to do so before June next year," SBI Chairman O.P. Bhat told reporters on the sidelines of a LSE Asia Forum here. He said the Tier I capital would most probably be raised through a public offer. At present the RBI holds 59 per cent in SBI and according to provisions of the SBI Act it cannot fall below 55 per cent. Mr Bhat said the bank would raise another Rs 2,000 crore worth of Tier II capital by March this fiscal.
— PTI |
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Kamal Nath woos Arab investors
Dubai, December 7 India needs over $400 billion in investments in power, telecom, roads, ports and housing and presents a rewarding environment for Arab countries ready to invest in Asia's growing economies, he told delegates at the first India-Arab World Business Summit 2006, which opened here today. Talking about the specific areas, Nath said India is well placed to provide refining services to the Gulf countries; facilities located in India would be able to enhance their capacities. The delegates, including 44 CEOs from India and ministers from the UAE, agreed to participate in new opportunities by the changing world order.
— PTI |
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PFC gets 16 bids for 2 mega units
New Delhi, December 7 While 10 requests for proposals (RfPs) have been submitted for the pithead coal-fired Sasan project in Madhya Pradesh, six companies are in the race for imported coal-based Mundra power plant in Gujarat. Five companies — Tata Power, Anil Ambani group company REL, engineering giant Larsen & Toubro, Ruias-controlled Essar Power and Vedanta group firm Sterlite Industries — had bid for both projects. While the technical bids were opened today, the price bids would be opened on December 11. The two projects would be awarded to the selected developers by December 29.
— PTI |
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Tata Power enters defence sector Mumbai, December 7 Tata Power said it had been given the licence to undertake design and development of mission critical systems in defence strategic electronics. Under the licence, the company would design, develop, manufacture, assemble and upgrade mission critical systems in seven core areas of defence, it added. Tata Power SED CEO Rahul Chaudhry said the seven defence production licences pertain to design, development, manufacture, assembly and upgradation of electronic warfare systems, avionics airborne assemblies, air defence guns, naval combat, military grade products and weapon systems such as rocket and missile launchers. |
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Skoda, Toyota cars to cost more
New Delhi, December 7 The company, which sells luxury sedans Octavia and Superb, said the price revision has been necessitated due to rising input costs. Meanwhile, Toyota Kirloskar Motor is also considering an increase in prices of all its products by January next year. The increase will be across all products, including Toyota Innova, Corolla, Camry and Prado.
— Agencies |
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IOC opens first fully automated filling station Chandigarh, December 7 As almost all operations are computerised at these stations, the chances of attendants indulging in unfair practices while refuelling vehicles are reduced to a large extent. The company is also launching hi-tech LPG refill booking kiosks using touch-screen technology. After selecting the distributor’s name, Indane customers have to key in their consumer numbers. Within five minutes, the distributor concerned confirms the booking number. These kiosks are being set up at the fully automated and other petro stations across the country. Inaugurating country’s first kiosk and one such fully automated station in Sector 34 here, IOC’s Director (Marketing), Mr G.C. Daga, said the company was planning to introduce retail automation at a total of 1,000 outlets in the first phase by March next year at an approximate cost of Rs 170 crore.
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Intel still open to set up base in India
Kolkata, December 7 The company would take the final decision in this connection in the first quarter of 2007. Speaking to the mediapersons here today on the sidelines INFOCOM, 2006, Intel Technology India Country Manager Ramammurthy Sivakumar said here today: "We are eagerly awaiting the government's semi-conductor policy and we had extensive discussions with the government on this. We are awaiting the final set of rules and regulations and will respond quickly once we get the policy." IT Minister Dayanidhi Maran recently announced that the IT Department would soon seek the Cabinet's approval for a comprehensive policy to encourage semi-conductor industry, including provision of incentives and special packages. Intel India did not rule out the possibility of rolling out Wi-max in India. Mr Sivakumar said Wi-max was a wireless technology that provided high-throughput broadband connections over long distances. He preferred Wi-max to another version of the wireless broadband technology Wi-Fi, saying that the former offered a long range of wireless connectivity while Wi-Fi's connectivity range was less.
— UNI |
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Carlsberg to build brewery in Rajasthan New Delhi, December 7 According to a statement posted on the company's website, Carlsberg will build its 4.5 lakh hectolitres brewery through the joint venture route. The brewery is expected to be operational in the first quarter of 2008. While the Industrialisation Fund for Developing Countries (IFU) will hold 10 per cent stake in the JV, a 45 per cent stake would be with the company's investors, including its Sri Lankan partner, Lion Brewery Ceylon Ltd. The joint venture in India, South Asia Breweries Ltd, would operate through its office in Delhi, the statement added. The total beer market in India is approximately 8 million hectolitres. — PTI
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CCEA okays NHPC public offer New Delhi, December 7 The present authorised capital of NHPC is Rs15,000 crore and the paid-up share capital is Rs 10,349 crore. He said the Cabinet gave its approval for the non-implementation of the earlier government’s decision of November, 1999, to transfer shares to MTNL employees at a concessional rate of Rs146 per share. The CCEA also approved financial restructuring and strengthening of Bharat Pumps and Compressors Limited, Allahabad. — TNS
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French
help in technology areas sought New Delhi, December 7 In his meeting with Mr Francois Loos, Minister Delegate of Industry, France, in Paris, Dr Kumar stressed on the strategic partnership between the two countries, and the importance that India attaches to this relationship, an official press note said here today. Dr Kumar stressed that there was great scope for cooperation between India and Frnace, especially in competitive clusters in advanced and newer technologies and sought the support of France in these specific sectors. |
Oil above $62 Stake in UK Co CBoP plan Satyam centre
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