He was categoric that the approach of developed countries in managing global affairs was not acceptable and raised questions about the subsides given by the West in WTO regime to the detriment of developing countries.

“There are, of course, a few big powers and these will continue to exercise global influence but we must learn to work with nations big and small,” Dr Manmohan Singh observed while inaugurating a seminar by FICCI and the Shri Ram Centre for Industrial Relations here today.

The Prime Minister said, “We cannot continue to live in a world of butter mountains and rivers of milk liberally funded by government subsidies when the poor starve in the villages of the Third World”.

He regretted that even the United Nations, which could have been a political instrument in managing globalisation, had not succeeded. He cautioned that the UN would not be able to succeed unless it reform as an institution and its own management was “more democratic and more representative”. The increasingly multi-polar world required global rules of the game not just for trade and capital flows but for the management of peace and security.

Dr Manmohan Singh stressed that the government would continue to play an important role in a liberalised and borderless economy coupled with greater attention being paid to the political management of globalisation.

“I do believe that even in a wholly globalised and integrated world, states have a role to play. People in democratic societies expect the governments to deliver on their basic needs.”

He said while the private sector would increase its role in the economy, the government would play a role in services like basic education, public health and basic medical care.

Dr Manmohan Singh said as economies globalised and integrated with each other, barely any thought had been given to its political fallout on the free movement of professionals across borders.

“When we talk of globalisation or about a borderless world, the focus has largely been on movement of goods, capital and largely financial and logistical services.”

Union Commerce Minister Kamal Nath emphasised that globalisation must deliver on its promises to the poor and the disadvantaged most of whom live in the developing world. Globalisation would have to squarely address sustainable development and poverty reduction so that it did not discredit itself. 
The minister said India was striving for fair trade by substantial and effective reduction in agricultural subsidies and protection provided by the developed countries.

Mumbai, December 18
Tata Motors announced today that it would make pick-up trucks in collaboration with Thailand's Thonburi Automotive Assembly Plant Co in that country.

Tata Motors' Managing Director Ravi Kant said here that the company would invest 70 per cent in the Rs 120-crore joint venture project, with Thonburi Automotive footing the rest.

The joint venture would make vehicles at Thonburi's manufacturing facility, with the production commencing next year.

The new venture would help the Indian automobile major tap the Thai market, the second largest market for pick-up trucks in the world after the US.

As per the agreement, both partners would jointly manage the operation for production and marketing of the product to be sold in Thailand and also exported to other potential markets in the region. — PTI

London, December 18
The battle for Anglo-Dutch steelmaker Corus is set to intensify with the UK Takeover Panel mulling over a rare intervention by arranging an auction between the two bidders - India's Tata Steel and Brazil's CSN.

Tata Steel has launched a formal bid of £4.7 billion (500 pence per share) for Corus. But CSN has made a higher offer of £4.9 billion (515 pence per share).

The panel is set to intervene in the battle as both bids are being made through a scheme of arrangement that requires court approval, the Financial News magazine reported.

The report said it would be a rare intervention and has been taken by the panel only three times in its history.

The magazine cited unidentified sources as saying that the panel plans to consult the three parties and decide on an auction date and avoid a drawn-out battle. The panel may decide on a sealed process where bidders' offers are final, or a standard auction held over a period of days, it said.

The terms of CSN's pre-conditional offer remain valid until July 20, 2007, resulting in a long period of uncertainty for Corus and its shareholders, the report said.

Schemes of arrangement, which require the approval of a majority of shareholders holding at least 75 per cent shares, are attractive because the buyer does not need to pay the 0.5 per cent stamp duty tax applicable.

"We have a situation where there are two buyers and you need some mechanism to decide the winner," Takeover Panel's Deputy Director-General Anthony Pullinger was quoted as saying.

The report also quoted a Corus spokeswoman: "All parties are continuing their dialogue with the panel, as they have done throughout the process." —PTI

New Delhi, December 18
Lanco Infratech and Tata Power Company have emerged as the lowest bidders for the two 4,000 MW ultra mega power projects, to be set up in Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat, at a total investment of up to Rs 40,000 crore.

The Lanco-Globoleq combine quoted a tariff of Rs 1.196 per unit to outbid nine other companies for the coal pithead-based Sasan project in Madhya Pradesh while Tata Power outsmarted five rivals with a tariff of Rs 2.26 per unit for the imported coal-based Mundra project.

“The process (of tariff-based competitive bidding) has been vindicated... it has been established that when we have support from the government on tying up inputs and clearances, the confidence level increases,” Power Secretary R.V. Shahi said, adding that the industry had responded with the most competitive rates and this was the ultimate objective of the government to provide electricity at affordable rates.

The two projects would be awarded to the selected companies by the end of this month. Financial closure is expected within six months and power generation is likely to start from 2010-11.

The Power Finance Corporation, the nodal agency to conduct bidding for these projects, had received 10 bids for the Sasan project and six for the Mundra project.

Besides these projects, the third plant at Krishnapatnam in Andhra Pradesh would be awarded by March 2007, Mr Shahi said.

Tata Power has joined hands with Germany’s Siemens and Korea’s Doosan for equipment procurement and construction.

The result comes as a setback for NTPC Ltd, which had submitted its bid alone. The firm was earlier allowed by the Cabinet to tie-up with BHEL for equipment procurement. The Power Ministry plans to develop nine such projects. — PTI

Chandigarh, December 18
In Punjab, the concept of agri-clinics is still not growing. Just six such clinics and agri-business centres have come up in the state this year till September, against an annual target of 180. Failure on part of agriculture graduates to cultivate interest in setting up such clinics is being cited as one of the reasons by the Department of Agriculture.

Doling out figures, experts attending the 98th state-level Bankers’ Committee meeting held here today, reveal that the number of such centres is just 3.33 per cent of the annual target. Describing the progress as “not satisfactory”, they add that last year till September the banks had financed as many as 13 such units.

The progress this time has been slow despite the fact that a list of unemployed agriculture graduates was forwarded to all banks with an appeal to contact and motivate them into setting up the clinics. Quoting the findings of the agriculture department, the experts at the meeting say the agriculture graduates are more interested in white-collar jobs.

The youngsters feel that there is hardly any scope for them as technical services are also being provided free by extension departments of Punjab Agriculture University to the farmers. Besides this, there is a well-established system of supplying agricultural inputs, including seeds, fertilisers and insecticides.

Giving details of the meeting, Executive Director of Punjab National Bank K. Raghuraman said, “Priority Sector Credit” in the state had crossed the milestone of Rs 25,000 crore. In fact, it stood at Rs 27,597 crore as in September this year. The advances to economically weaker sector in the state had also crossed the landmark of Rs 5,000 crore by touching the level of Rs 5,057 crore. 

New Delhi, December 18
Noting that India has one of the highest incidences of indirect tax on goods, where most manufactured products attract 16 per cent excise duty and 12.5 per cent VAT, the CII has recommended reduction of excise duty rate from 16 per cent to 14 per cent.

In its pre-Budget memorandum the CII has also sought reduction of excise duty on processed foods, pesticides for agriculture, energy efficient triphosphor fluorescent lamps, electric fans, caprolactum and two wheelers from 16 per cent to 8 per cent, on all type of cars from 24 per cent to 16 per cent and on cement from Rs 400 to Rs 350 per tonne.

The CII hassuggested allowing full CENVAT credit on capital goods on the date of the receipt, allowing payment of excise on used capital goods at the time of removal either on the transaction value or on the depreciated value as against the present provision of reversal of full CENVAT credit.

It also demanded CENVAT credit on LDO and HSD when used for generation of power or in the process of manufacture, relaxing the requirement of pre-authentication of invoices for assessees paying excise duty of more than Rs 5 crore, fixing a time limit for review of abatement rate by the Advisory Committee and giving feedback of the findings of the committee to the applicant.

It has also drawn the attention of the government for implementing its earlier proposal of bringing down CST from 4 per cent to 2 per cent from April 1, 2007, and thereafter announcing a roadmap for further reduction of CST to nil.

On service tax, the CII has recommended that the present rate of 12 per cent should remain unchanged. For increasing the revenue from service tax, it has suggested that more services should be brought under the tax net.

New Delhi, December 18
The government told the Lok Sabha today that there was no proposal to impose restrictions on withdrawal from the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF).

Minister of State for Labour and Employment Oscar Fernandes denied that the government proposed to impose certain restrictions on withdrawal from the EPF. No such proposal had been sent to the government by the Central Board of Trustees, EPF. There was no proposal to extend provisions of the ESI Act to unorganised sector workers.

New Delhi, December 18
Corporate house Essar has found an unlikely ally in Egyptian firm Orascom, which feels that the Indian partner in the mobile service joint venture Hutch-Essar should have been consulted by Hutchison Telecom before it was taken on board the JV.

Mr Naguib Sawiris, CEO of Orascom, which is open to acquire Hutch-Essar, told reporters during his India visit that "they (Essar) felt bad because they thought they were not consulted before (the Egyptian firm) came on the Board. I am open to meet Essar officials for clearing their position."

Earlier this year, Essar had protested to HTIL that they were not consulted when the Hong Kong-based company gave indirect entry to Orascom in the Indian venture by giving it 19.3 per cent equity in the Hutchison Telecom International, which has 67 per cent holding in the Indian joint venture.

This had triggered a bitter battle between the two partners, with Essar even approaching the government raising the issue of security concern.

Asked about Essar's security apprehensions, Mr Sawiris said: "I understand their position. Our visit to India is that we want to play a bigger role here, but we are looking also for some answers and clarity on the security and FDI issues. And we are here to find out if there is any restriction on our companies here."

Orascom is one of the three players, besides Reliance Communications and Malaysia's Maxis that are understood to be in the race for Hutch-Essar where consent of the Indian partner, holding 33 per cent equity, would be crucial for the success of the acquisition.

Essar officials declined to comment on Orascom's position. — PTI

Frankfurt, December 18
DaimlerChrysler will appeal the ruling of a U.S. court on Friday ordering it and its heavy truck-making unit, Freightliner LLC, to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in a tangled multinational fraud case, a DaimlerChrysler spokeswoman said.

The Oregonian newspaper reported on Saturday that a Multnomah County Circuit Court jury had found Freightliner liable for shifting assets among several of its divisions in a bid to avoid a legal judgement.

Freightliner and its parent company, DaimlerChrysler North American Holding Corp., were ordered to pay $350 million in punitive damages — an amount believed to be the largest such award ever in Oregon, the paper said.

The decision follows a British court ruling in the case last year ordering Freightliner, headquartered in Portland, Oregon, to pay at least £250 million ($489 million) to German truck maker MAN AG .

"We are very disappointed by the jury's ruling," a DaimlerChrysler spokeswoman said on Saturday, adding that Freightliner had never attempted to hide assets from MAN.

Daimler's appeal on the ruling would be heard next year, she said. "We are confident that we ultimately will be able to successfully show that there was absolutely no misconduct on Freightliner's part," the spokeswoman said. — Reuters