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Hold the price line, FM tells India Inc
Govt ‘open’ to Mobile Virtual Network Operators
SEBI slashes fee for filing offer documents
REL to buy back shares worth Rs 2,000 cr
Air India gets fifth Boeing 777-200LR
Pvt insurers go rural
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Tata to retain Jaguar, Land Rover image
TCS to set up SMB unit
Yamaha rejigs India biz
Olive oil extraction unit for Himachal
Industrial Expo
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Hold the price line, FM tells India Inc
New Delhi, March 5 At a post-budget interaction with industry chamber Ficci, the finance minister in particular appealed to sectors like pharma, two-wheelers, cars, buses, chassis and paper, which have been given deeper tax cuts in the Budget, to retain the price line or try to lower prices, if possible. "Expand volume of production and gain in volume what you might lose by not increasing prices," he said, adding that the industry would hurt itself in the long run if it exploits short term supply-demand mismatches. Referring to oligopolistic (situation of few sellers in market) tendencies in some industries, he said fair practices body MRTPC has come out with two judgements on cement firms, pointing out that these companies are acting like a cartel. Exuding confidence that demand will definitely rise in 2008-09, he said, now it is for the industry to take a challenge and produce goods and services to meet the rising demand. The wholesale price-based inflation rose to nine-month high of 4.89 per cent for the week ended February 16 from 4.35 per cent in the previous week due to rising cost of petroleum products and some food items. Even though, inflation is partly caused by rising food prices, contribution of manufacturing sector to it is not insignificant, Chidambaram said. States told to reimburse taxes on exports
The finance minister today appealed to states to reimburse taxes collected from exports sector, a demand being raised by exporters in view of the appreciating rupee. "I make an appeal to all Chief Minister right here...just as the Central Government reimburses every single tax collected from exports sector, state governments should also reimburse or return every single rupee of tax collected from exports sector," he said. He expressed hope that state chief ministers would respond to his appeal. Open to revisit ECB curbs
The government toady said it was open to revisit the restrictions imposed on bringing money raised through External Commercial Borrowings (ECBs) to India, erected in the wake of unbridled capital inflows, if the situation that led to rupee appreciation eased. "Only restriction (on ECB), that we have placed, which I hope would be temporary, is that you must spend the money abroad on capital expenditure... If things get better, we shall certainly revisit these restrictions," finance minister P Chidambaram said. He said restrictions on ECBs were imposed because the government was struggling to moderate capital inflows in most part of last year. To list more PSUs
The government will list more public sector undertakings, barring navratnas, depending upon the appetite of the markets. "Keeping navratnas out, there is scope for listing of many more companies. Forty-four central public sector undertakings are listed on stock markets," the finance minister said at his post-budget interaction with industry chamber
CII.— PTI |
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Govt ‘open’ to Mobile Virtual Network Operators
New Delhi, March 5 "We are open to this... Indian telecom market is maturing and this can be allowed," telecom secretary Siddartha Behura told reporters. Under Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNO), companies buy airtime from mobile players and sell it in their own brand name. GSM operators have been opposing the move, saying this is not allowed as per the existing licensing conditions. The government has sought clarifications from the Tatas about their deal with Virgin, Behura said, while dismissing reports that the Department of Telecom has put the deal on hold. Tatas have said it was only a franchise agreement between the two companies and no clause of the telecom licence has been violated as alleged by the GSM operators' lobby Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI). The COAI has written two letters to Behura saying Tatas' joint venture with Virgin is a blatant violation of the license and has caused a loss of Rs 1,651 crore to the exchequer as Virgin would become a virtual operator without acquiring a licence. Tatas have also launched a counter attack on the GSM players and questioned the outsourcing of complete infrastructure to foreign companies by some of the mobile players such as Bharti and Vodafone. — PTI
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SEBI slashes fee for filing offer documents
New Delhi, March 5 At its board meeting held here, SEBI has also slashed the fee for offer documents for buyback of securities and registration fee for venture capital funds, effective beginning of next financial year. While addressing the media after the board meeting, SEBI chairman C.B. Bhave said there have been increase in registrations of FIIs since October, when SEBI clamped down the P-Notes. According to him, there were nearly 200 registrations of FIIs, which is double the number registered earlier. As regards the rationalisation, fee for filing offer documents for public issue and mutual funds will be reduced from 0.03 per cent to 0.005 per cent, Bhave said. While the cap on fee for public offer is Rs 3 crore, the ceiling for mutual fund is Rs 50 lakh. SEBI will also cut by 50 per cent the registration fee for venture capital fund from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 5 lakh. At the same time, the annual fee for registration for the custodians of mutual fund will be reduced to 0.0005 per cent of assets under custody from existing 0.001 per cent. The fee for the rights issue offer document will be slashed from 0.05 per cent to 0.005 per cent, subject to a maximum of Rs 5 lakh, he said. Fee for filing offer document for buyback of securities will be reduced from 0.05 per cent to 0.125 per cent, subject to a maximum of Rs 3 crore.
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REL to buy back shares worth Rs 2,000 cr
Mumbai, March 5 The buyback would be done in two phases, the company said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange. “REL will buyback shares up to a maximum price of Rs 1,600, representing a premium of over 30 per cent to the low of Rs 1,225 recorded during the calendar year 2008...," it said. Shares of the company closed at Rs 1,459.45, down 3.01 per cent on the Bombay Stock Exchange.
— PTI |
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Air India gets fifth Boeing 777-200LR
New Delhi, March 5 This is the fifth in the series of eight new aircraft which Air India would receive over the years from Boeing as part of the efforts to refurbish its image. The four aircraft received earlier have been named Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar and Gujarat and have been deployed to operate non-stop services between Mumbai-New York and Delhi-New York. Air India was the first to commence non-stop services to New York out of India, in August last year. The latest B777-200LRs are equipped with all amenities like flat beds in first and executive class and state-of-the-art inflight entertainment system offering a wide choice of programmes. The 238-seater aircraft will have eight seats in first class, 35 seats in executive class and 195 seats in economy class. According to Air India officials, the first class cabin has been designed to offer the passenger comfort and luxury with exclusivity. Like the first class, the 35-seat executive class, too, is spacious and has comfortable seats. The economy class also offers enhanced service and comfort levels. The entire aircraft cabin has the facility of mood lighting in soft shades of mauve, green, pink to soothe and relax passengers. Air India had ordered eight Boeing 777-200LR aircraft and the remaining three aircraft will be delivered in mid 2009. Other aircraft that form part of the 68 aircraft order placed in 2005 are 15 B777-300ER, 27 B787 Dreamliners and 18 B737-800.
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Pvt insurers go rural
Chandigarh, March 5 With 65 per cent of the life insurance business coming from the rich business class, the private insurance companies are looking at the rural and low-income groups as potential demand drivers. Industry sources say that the rural penetration is likely to increase from 25 per cent at present to 35- 42 per cent by 2012, while penetration in the low-income group will increase from 30 per cent at present to 35-40 per cent by 2012. Insurance companies say that considering a large untapped market in micro- finance, they are now looking at a geographical expansion in rural and urban areas. They say that since insurance penetration has a long gestation period, they are undertaking confidence-building measures (CBMs) by collecting the premiums and delivering maturity payments at the earliest. Rakesh Wadhwa, regional director, sales, Aviva India, says that they have developed four specific products for the rural and urban poor and have a separate marketing policy for this segment. Kenneth Sannoo, senior vice-president, Max New York Life Insurance, said:“India’s ratio of life insurance premium to its gross domestic product is just 4.1 per cent, as against 6 to 9 per cent in the developed countries. Seeing a huge market here, we have launched special policies in micro-insurance sector. Special training is imparted to our staff so that they can link better with the rural and urban poor”. The company has launched many micro products like the Easy Term policy for this segment. Its not just general insurance, but also health insurance where the private insurance companies see a huge market potential. With a meagre 0.5 per cent penetration of health insurance in rural areas and 1.9 per cent in small towns, these companies are also coming up with special health insurance policies. Sannoo says that they are also examining the possibility of announcing region-specific health insurance schemes, which will provide cover against epidemics occurring in the region.
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Tata to retain Jaguar, Land Rover image
London, March 5 Tata Motors is in an advanced stage of negotiations with Ford to acquire the British brands and a final decision is expected next week. Speaking at the Geneva Motor Show yesterday, Tata said: "Our intentions over Jaguar Land Rover are not to take the technology, not to outsource [production] but we are interested in the brands and the cultures behind them. "We plan to retain the image, touch and feel of these brands and not tinker with them in any way," he said. Tata also stressed that the management teams of the companies that it previously purchased — Corus Steel, Daewoo and Tetley tea — were still in place.
— PTI |
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TCS to set up SMB unit
Mumbai, March 5 Through this new unit, TCS wants to provide technological solution for SMBs. "TCS will offer IT-as-a-service in an innovative business model giving SMBs the experience of customised low-cost solutions scalable to their growing business needs," TCS managing director and CEO S Ramadorai told reporters. Quoting industry figures, Ramadorai said SMBs revenues touched $8 billion in revenues in 2007, up by 24 per cent in 2006. TCS's SMB unit would start from April and it has bagged 10 clients. TCS is betting on SMBs because the next stage of growth would come from there in India, he
added.— PTI |
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Yamaha rejigs India biz
New Delhi, March 5 The joint venture, to be named India Yamaha Motor Private Limited (IYM), would take over the existing manufacturing and business operations of Yamaha Motor India Private (YMI) Ltd starting April, the company said in a statement. Yamaha, which has so far invested Rs 1,600 crore in the Indian operations, said it planned to eventually take it up to Rs 5,600 crore to strengthen its position.
After the restructuring, the company said, in the first year of operations (nine months period starting April 2008) it expects sales worth Rs 1,000 crore. Mitsui, which had last year acquired 3 per cent stake in Yamaha, will pick up 30 per cent stake in the IYM, it added. Yamaha currently employs about 2,000 perons in India.
— PTI |
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Olive oil extraction unit for Himachal
Shimla, March 5 This was stated by Chief Minister P.K. Dhumal, who discussed the setting up of the olive oil extraction unit with Jose Manuel Santamaria, managing director, Sijovit S.L. Company, here yesterday. Dhumal said the setting up of such a project would be in the interest of the stakeholders and the people of the state. He said olive trees had a very long life and could bear fruit till the age of 2,000 years. “It will not only benefit farmers but will also help improve the green cover in the state by making use of the wastelands,” he stated. He said the farmers in various parts of the state could be encouraged to plant olive tress and sell their produce to the company on remunerative prices. “It is the most eco-friendly way of increasing green cover and the company will provide the technical know how and other assistance to the farmers, the Chief Minister said. |
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Industrial Expo
Ludhiana, March 5 |
Reliance 'iStore'
Hikal-Bayer pact Orders for L&T |
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