New Delhi, February 19
Close on the heels of Goa government, buckling under political pressure, seeking scrapping of all SEZs in the state, the Export Promotion Council (EPC) and SEZ developers have underlined the need for “stability and continuity” of SEZ policy to multiply Indian exports.

“In just two years of the notification of Special Economic Zone (SEZ) Acts and Rules, exports from Indian SEZs have crossed $10 billion. This is a clear indication that we are in the right direction. There should be no structural change in the SEZ Policy,” Lalit B Singhal, director-general, Export Promotion Counicl for EoUs and SEZ units, told The Tribune here.

“If the investors confidence has to be sustained and our exports are to be multiplied, then there should be stability and continuity of the (SEZ) policy,” he said.

According to government data, the exports from SEZs have touched Rs 40,000 crore in the last nine months (April-December, 2007), showing a growth of almost 100 per cent in the corresponding period last year.

The total incremental employment generated by the operational SEZs after February 2006 is 1,46,128. The total incremental investment during the same period is over Rs 70,416 crore out of which about Rs 67,347 crore has been invested in the newly notified SEZs.

India today has 42 operational SEZs. The total number of SEZ proposals received is 439. Out of this, 197 have been notified and 138 have got in-principle approval.

“With the huge growth potential in India, setting up of more SEZs will result in a surge in exports, investment and creation of employment opportunities. The exports from SEZs are likely to cross Rs 1,00,000 crore in 2008-09,” Singhal said.

“In order to further utilise the full potential of SEZs there is a need to operationalise and establish the remaining SEZs. India needs to acknowledge that SEZs require stability and continuity of schemes to maintain and accelerate the growth rate,” said Ajay Nijhawan, vice-president of Reliance Haryana SEZ Ltd.

Seeking consistent approach by both the Centre and state governments, Nijhawan wanted state governments to tap the potential of SEZs by really putting in motion ‘single-window’ system for speedy clearances.

Talking about the current scenario of SEZs in India, Nijhawan, convener, EPCES panel for SEZ developers said, “SEZs can contribute to the economic growth of India through employment creation, imparting training to the unskilled workforce and increasing the quantum of exports. Success on this front critically depends on the country’s ability to create a favourable business environment, by providing better infrastructure and a hassle-free policy regime.”

“Gujarat government has passed its own legislation for single window system. Tamil Nadu government has devised a special mechanism for it, which has paved way for real time clearance,” he said, urging other states also to adopt similar mechanism to ensure that the SEZ projects are operational at the quickest possible time.

Singhal wanted the government to implement in letter and spirit the provision (no. 26) of the SEZ Act, which categorically provides for exemption of service tax for services required for carrying out authorised operations in an SEZ.

Singhal also demanded that the RBI should treat SEZ as infrastructure project and not as a real estate project. “In fact, SEZs create industrial infrastructure, commercial infrastructure and also social infrastructure,” he pointed out.

New Delhi, February 19
In order to provide relief to exporters weighed down by a stronger rupee, the government today extended service tax exemption to three more services, including those provided by courier and goods transport agencies.

The exemption will cover services provided by agencies for transport of export goods from factory to place of export like container depots, ports and airports, said a finance ministry notification.

Similarly, services provided for transportation of goods for exports by rail will also be exempt from tax, it said.

“Courier services provided to an exporter in relation to transportation of document, goods or articles, to a destination outside India” have been included in the exempted list, it added. With inclusion of three more services, the number of services enjoying tax exemption will go up to 13.

Commerce and industry minister Kamal Nath had in April last announced that the government would exempt various export-related services from the purview of service tax.

The move will help exporters, whose profitability has been hit due to the appreciation of rupee against the dollar. — PTI

New Delhi, February 19
The fifth international land and naval systems exhibition- Def Expo-2008- came to a close here today with India making a determined effort to acquire cutting edge technology.

There were as many as 3,490 trade inquiries made at the DefExpo as India made a realistic assessment where it stood in the technology in comparison to the top ranking defence manufacturers of the world.

With more than 20 memorandum of understandings signed between Indian and foreign companies over the past four days, it was no surprise that about 40,000 business visitors trooped in to the various stalls put up by more than 30 countries from around the world.

While countries like the US, Israel, UK, Russia, France, Australia, Singapore and Italy had a strong presence with the US and Israel leading the pack of more than 250 top companies of the world, Indian private and public sector companies also displayed their weapon systems and made a mark.

Director general of the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) Lt. General S.S. Mehta, however, admitted it would take at least two more such expositions to rank DefExpo as world class. The DefExpo was jointly organised by the defence ministry and the CII.

Delivering the valedictory address, minister of state for defence production Rao Inderjit Singh said the exhibition helped India to evaluate its position vis-à-vis the other countries in the field of technology.

“It has helped us evaluate how far we have climbed up the ladder to be on par with other countries,” he said, adding that the DefExpo had also helped the exhibitors to know that that India was ready to absorb the quantum of offset. “Not only would the defence public sector undertakings be absorbing the offsets but the private sector would also gain from it.”

He stated that even the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) were eager to reap the benefits of the offsets.

The DefExpo India exhibition was conceptualised in 1998 by the Department of Defence Production and ministry of defence in partnership with the CII with an objective to promote defence exports from India and at the same time exhibit the capabilities of Indian defence R&D and production.

New Delhi, February 19
Land and ground support equipment major Bharat Earth Movers Ltd (BEML) has emerged as one of the major players at the Defence Expo (DefExpo) 2008.

Addressing mediapersons here, BEML chairman VRS Natarajan, while saying that the company had declared an interim dividend of 55 per cent for the current financial year, talked of the latest products developed by the company.

While the company signed an MoU with French major Thales yesterday, he said the company had displayed a command post vehicle, BEML-Tatra driving simulator, armoured recovery vehicle, aircraft-towing tractor and weapon loading system at its stall.

The command post vehicle is surveillance and reconnaissance vehicle system built on the BEML-Tatra (8X8) vehicle that can access and function in difficult terrain and is useful for border security purposes.

The vehicle has the capacity to wade through water up to 1,400 mm and can be equipped with electronic imaging, communication and gun mounting tools.

The company has signed a MoU with Canada's General Dynamics to manufacture four-wheeled armoured patrol vehicle and with Britain's WFEL to produce 46 meters of dry support bridges for the Indian Army.

New Delhi, February 19
Tata Group today announced investing in ‘BJETS’, a business jet venture based on fractional ownership model, that placed orders for 50 aircraft worth over Rs 2,400 crore at the ongoing Singapore Airshow.

The Tata’s Indian Hotels Company will partner Singapore’s Briley Group in the business - Asia’s first private jet company that would sell fractional ownership of these planes, primarily to corporate houses.

BJETS said it had placed orders for 20 new Hawker jets worth over $450 million with options to buy 10 more, along with a firm order for 20 Citation CJ2 Plus business jets valued at $150 million.

“We have placed orders for 50 business jets worth over $600 million or Rs 2,400 crore to be delivered over a period of five years,” BJETS CEO Mark Baier said from Singapore. He said the first 15 business jets would be delivered by the end of this year.

The flight operations would begin in "the second quarter of this year, probably by May," Baier said, adding that it would have the largest fleet of private jets in Asia in the very first year of operations.

The BJETS CEO said the private jets would operate not only within India, but also between Indian destinations and those in Southeast Asia and the Gulf.

In Singapore, BJETS would operate out of Seletar airport, while in India, it would be headquartered in Mumbai with its flight operations centre based in the new Hyderabad International Airport. He said all licenses and permits required for India operations have already been received. — PTI

Chandigarh, February 19
Yatra.com is integrating with a global company Pegasus to offer class hotels at bar rates. The service, which entails that customers get hotel reservations on the prevailing tariff, will be launched on the portal next week.

Talking to The Tribune here today on the sidelines of the launch for yatra.com holiday lounge, Dhruv Shringi, co -founder and CEO of the company, said this service will be based on a GDS system, which will help the portal display the current room rent charged by a hotel. “We will be the first travel portal in India to launch this service. With hotels changing their tariff based on the occupancy rates and reasons, we will be able to serve our customers better,” he said.

The company will also be launching multi-lingual services to their customers and the company’s call center staff will be trained so that they can deal with customers in different languages.

The CEO said by August, they propose to set up a new call center. Beginning next week, yatra.com will also be launching country-based promotions. “We have tied up with the tourism boards of Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Mauritius, Switzerland and the UK and will be launching a fortnightly promotion in each of these country,” said Ashish Kishore, business head (leisure services) of the company.

He added that the company is now focusing on the inbound tourists from the USA, UK and Canada, especially the NRIs. “We have launched a US-India portal and will soon be launching a UK-India and Canada-India portal to cater to the Indian diaspora in these countries,” he said.

Mumbai, February 19
The Bombay High Court has sanctioned the demerger of Bajaj Auto Ltd's automobile and financial services businesses into two separate independent entities.

While Bajaj Holdings and Investment Ltd would administer the two and three wheeler manufacturing business, Bajaj Finserv Ltd would be responsible for the company's financial services business including insurance and auto finance.

"The High Court... vide order dated December 18, 2007 received by the company on February 19, 2008 has sanctioned the scheme of arrangement between the company, Bajaj Holdings and Investment Ltd and Bajaj Finserv Ltd and their respective shareholders and creditors," the company said in a communique to the Bombay Stock Exchange.

The effective date and the record date will be intimated soon by the company after filing of the order with the office of Registrar of Companies, it added. — PTI

Mumbai, February 19
Pharma major Ranbaxy Laboratories today said its board has approved the hiving off of its research and development (R&D) unit into Ranbaxy Life Science Research (RLSRL) with its existing shareholders having four shares proposed to receive one share in the new company.

The board of directors of the company has approved the scheme of demerger of the company's New Drug Discovery Research (NDDR) unit into a subsidiary, following which the shareholders of Ranbaxy would receive one equity share in the newly-formed entity for every four shares held in Ranbaxy, the company informed the Bombay Stock Exchange.

All assets, liabilities, research personnel and pipeline related to the NDDR unit would be transferred to RLSRL. The new entity would be listed at the Bombay and National stock exchanges and the Global Depository Receipt's at the Luxembourg Stock Exchange, the company said.

"The demerger of our NDDR unit into a separate entity establishes a robust structure to carry out path-breaking research at the cutting edge of modern medicine," Ranbaxy CEO and MD Malvinder Mohan Singh said.

The demerger would also enable RLSRL to create intellectual property at a faster pace while positioning it for the future, Singh added.

The appointed date for the scheme to come into effect after receipt of all the requisite approvals is January 1, 2008, it added. — PTI

Mumbai, February 19
Reliance Communications (RCom) and HDFC Bank today said they are jointly launching India’s first virtual credit card.

As a result, Reliance mobile customers, who opt for this facility, will no longer need to carry a physical credit card and would be able to use their mobile phones to pay for purchases. At present, this facility would be available only to HDFC Bank credit card holders, who also own Reliance mobile phones.

Both companies say about 15 lakh people have both an HDFC Bank credit card and a Reliance mobile phone and would thus be able to use this facility immediately. However, both companies will launch joint marketing campaigns to tap a bigger user base, say sources, adding that in the coming months, other mobile companies and banks would launch similar facilities.

An advantage of such a facility is that credit card users wouldn’t have to reveal details to employees at merchant retailers. This would reduce the risk of fraud, they added.