New Delhi, April 16
The Airport Authority of India (AAI) has short-listed five players, including Reliance Energy, Tata and L&T for the upgradation of Amritsar and Udaipur non-metro airports. The AAI had short-listed five bidders each for the two airports.

The list of short-listed bidders for Amritsar airport are - Reliance Energy, Fraport AG Frankfurt Airport Services, Tata-Changi consortium, Lanco Infratech-Genting (Singapore) consortium and L&T IDPL-Unique consortium, as per information available on AAI website.

While, the list of short-listed bidders for the Udaipur airport include - Reliance Energy, Tata-Changi consortium, L&T IDPL-Unique consortium, Maytas Infra-NCCIHL-VIE Indieu-Beteiligungen consortium and GMR Infrastructure.

As many as 24 infrastructure firms had bid for the development and modernisation of the Rs 200-crore Udaipur airport.

AAI would invite request for proposals by month-end and the outcome of this would be known possibly by June.

Recently, the government had kicked off modernisation of non-metro airports with the identification of 24 out of 35 airports to be undertaken through public-private partnerships.

The move has been aimed at maximising commercial revenues of these airports with the private players managing facilities such a parking, restaurants and shops. — PTI

New York, April 16
Amid fear of global slowdown and its impact on the world economy, the RBI has said that Indian financial market is not vulnerable to overseas development.

“The money government securities and foreign exchange markets, have been stable in India and, in our view, they may not be vulnerable in terms of direct and first-round effects (of global slowdown),” Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor YV Reddy said at the World Leaders Forum here yesterday.

He further said, “In our assessment, the Indian financial sector is likely to be less affected by the contagion than most other emerging market economy (EMEs), in respect of first-round or direct effects.” However, he added, the Indian equity markets, have been volatile in the recent months and that has some impact on changing sentiments.

Referring to the current turbulence in the market, he said, India has not been contributing in the global macro-economic imbalances, “Though it has a stake in how the issues get resolved in the near future.”

Further, making a case for sovereign wealth funds (SWFs), the government-owned investment vehicles, he said, India, which is receiving lot of investment in form of SWFs, “is interested in the current debate”.

Although, he added, the huge forex reserves of $ 300 billion were being managed by the apex bank of the country as per the IMF guidelines.

Pointing out the state of the economy of the country, Reddy said India has “benign inflationary conditions averaging around 5.2 per cent since 2004-05.” However, presently both the domestic output and prices were under pressure due to recent global developments in the prices of food, fuel and metals, and the turbulence in the financial markets, he said.

He added India has witnessed annual average real GDP growth of over 8.7 per cent in last four years. — PTI

Ludhiana, April 16
In a bid to extend its reach to farmers, Punjab National Bank (PNB) is working towards simplifying loan procedures for farmers. The bank is also conducting interactions with families that reported cases of farmer suicides in order to extend banking facilities to them.

“Bridging the gap between farmers and ahrtiyas still remains a challenge and we are devising ways to deal with it. Of the Rs 26,000-crore rural credit in the state, a large percentage comes from sources other than banks, which is a cause of concern. The banks do not normally resort to taking possession of farmlands and we want to convey the same to the agriculturists. We are simplifying loan-related procedures and also working towards financial inclusion of families of farmers,” said I.D. Singh, chief general manager, PNB (Punjab zone), on the occasion of the 114th Foundation Day celebrations of the bank here on Tuesday.

The bank has declared 2008 as year of financial inclusion and is focusing on heavy population of migrant workers. It opened 2,000 accounts of these workers in last one week. Bank officials, who are visiting factories and localities dominated by migrant workers, have set a target of opening atleast 10,000 such accounts.

“During our interactions with the labourers, we found there were people who earned even more than Rs 50,000 annually but had no accounts. They were facing problems like the money being stolen and hassles in sending money to their families back home. As Ludhiana has more than one million migrant workers, we are now focussing on them,” Singh added.

He said the bank has covered 1,154 villages in the zone under the no frills account programme that facilitates opening of an account with zero balance and lesser formalities.

Ludhiana remains a key focus area for the bank in this region and after setting up financial literacy and credit counselling centres in all the seven districts that were allotted to it, PNB would set up another such centre here by June.

New Delhi, April 16
Rahul Bajaj, who is fighting against the division of the group with younger brother Shishir, today contended before the Company Law Board (CLB) that the allegations of oppressing minority shareholder made against him were not maintainable.

During the proceedings of the CLB, Rahul’s counsels pleaded that the petition filed by Shishir seeking division of the group under the pretext of oppressing a minority shareholder was not maintainable.

“Shishir is seeking his 25 per cent shares in the group by filing a petition before the CLB. He is asking for his stake in the group by filing a case under Section 397 of the Companies Act, alleging acts of oppression and mismanagement in the affairs. It has nothing to do with oppression. This is a civil litigation not for oppression,” senior advocate and former Attorney-General Ashok Desai, appearing for Rahul Bajaj, submitted.

Raising question on his 25 per cent ‘legitimate expectation’, Desai said Shishir was also claiming stake in some public charitable trusts run by the group company.

“This could not be a part of a family holding. These trusts are actually employee beneficiary trusts and are maintained by Bajaj family members,” contended Desai, adding that these trust received donations from the Bajaj group of companies time to time.

Meanwhile, Rahul Bajaj side has filed an application for the board meeting of the group holding company Bajaj Sevashram. Shishir side would reply by tomorrow over this. Earlier during the proceedings, Shishir had staked claims on the property owned by the Bajaj family-controlled trusts and on the group’s flagship company Bajaj Auto. — PTI

New Delhi, April 16
Tata group today said it was not holding any talks for a joint venture with Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer. In a statement issued today, a Tata Sons spokesperson dubbed as “untrue and baseless” the reports that the group was holding joint venture talks with the Brazilian firm for production of aircraft.

Earlier, a report from Rio De Janerio in Brazil had quoted sources close to the development as saying Tatas had offered setting up of a joint venture with the aircraft giant Embraer.

Kochi, April 16
The GSM Association has appealed to the government to cut levy on telecom operators’ gross adjusted revenues by half.

The levy, currently at 5 per cent and imposed on telcos’ gross adjusted revenues, is channelised into the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF), which is used to fund rural telephony.

GSMA public policy senior vice-president Gabriel Solomon said at the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation conference on ‘Connecting rural communities Asia forum’ that the levy was increasing operators’ cost and ultimately the cost of mobile services for consumers.

“We strongly support the call by Nirpendra Misra, chairman, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, to cut the 5 per cent levy by at least half and remove the handset taxes as it would make the mobile phones more affordable for rural consumers and spur industry investment in currently unserviced areas,” he said.

The extension of mobile coverage into rural areas can also be fuelled by infrastructure sharing agreements between mobile operators, which can make new base stations more cost effective, he said.

Meanwhile, to bridge the gulf between rural and urban areas in terms of teledensity, both the government and regulators need to may pay special attention to this area and develop appropriate technologies, an official of USOF said today.

While the urban areas have comparatively better teledensity, rural areas lag behind and need special attention, USOF administrator Ajay Bhattacharya said, adding that the government and regulators need to develop appropriate technologies. — PTI

New Delhi, April 16
Blackberry services have become a bone of contention between the government and telecom service providers, who are questioning the rationale behind making them respondent to the concern of security agencies.

The communications ministry feels that Indian telecom players are answerable on the security concerns over Blackberry services that they are providing in the country, an issue being questioned by the operators.

Blackberry services are offered by Canadian firm Research-In-Motion (RIM) enabling subscribers to send and receive e-mails in the form of SMS.

“This is a matter between RIM and the Department of Telecom (DoT) and we are confident that it will be resolved,” Bharti Airtel CEO Manoj Kohli said here.

The DoT is of the view that it has nothing to do with RIM, which offers Blackberry services through mobile operators.

“Our license agreement is with the Indian cellular operators and not with RIM. If any of the clause is flaunted, we have to deal with the operators and not the Blackberry service provider,” DoT officials said. — PTI

Ludhiana, April 16
Bharti Retail kicked off its retail business by setting up three stores, named ‘Easy Day’ here today. The company had announced its plans to foray into retail business a couple of months ago and to mark the beginning, it opened the stores that would offer a wide range of products for day-to-day needs.

A company spokesperson said over 1,800 persons have been provided “intensive and structured” training at the Bharti Academy of Retail set up by the company in here. The company has also adopted an “innovative employment model” for these stores.

“There would be unique opportunities like flexi-hour work schedules for the first time to diverse workforce such as meat sellers, fruits and vegetable vendors, housewives, retired persons, rural population, physically challenged and youth.”

The products that would be offered in these stores would include personal care items, stationery, household articles, hosiery items and daily-need items.

New Delhi, April 16
The clarifications sought by the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) from the Department of Telecom (DoT) over the allocation of 2G spectrum space to operators without an auction could well delay the eventual auction of the 3G spectrum.

The CVC, while advising the DoT to follow an auction process for spectrum allocation, has sought clarifications from the department to give reasons as to why an auction cannot be held for the balance allocation of 2G spectrum.

The clarifications have been sought even as there is a move from the government to allot spectrum to new players.

Incidentally, many companies have moved court contesting the government’s policy of allocating spectrum on a first-come-first-served basis. The CVC wants to know the principle behind this basis.

The CVC has sought clarification from the DoT on whether any technical method has been devised for measuring the optimum use of the allotted spectrum and whether these methods have been used by the Government before considering any request for additional allotment.

The clarifications have been sought after apparently the CVC was not satisfied by the DoT’s earlier presentations in February last. The commission also wanted to know what measures were being taken to weed out non-serious players and speculators.

Clarifications have been sought on ‘combination of technology’ recommendation and the process of allotment of licence and allocation of spectrum under this category.

Details have also been sought as to who were the beneficiaries who were allotted spectrum on TRAI’s August 2007 recommendation of combination of technology and switching over from limited mobility to full mobility.

New Delhi, April 16
The Department of Telecom (DoT), which is in the process of finalising new norms for mergers and acquisitions in the sector, is understood to have finalised a two-year lock-in period before a new entrant could exit the business.

It is also believed to have barred trade the spectrum by new players. Official sources said the move was to discourage the hype about M&As that has led to exorbitant valuations of Indian telcos.

The proposed two-year lock-in period will bar any new telecom operator from selling its stake immediately. In case the company wants to exit after two years, the new norms will make mandatory that it meets the rollout obligations within this period. The final guidelines are expected in the next 10 days.

Sources said banning spectrum trade would make the sector less attractive for fly-by-night operators, which have bought licenses to sell them at a premium. The sale-out of permit will now be without spectrum and operators have to surrender the radio waves to the DoT.

The acquirer will only get the license to operate in the circle where the seller was operating and will have to apply for spectrum separately. Among the other proposed norms, the market share of the merged entity should not exceed 40 per cent of the total subscriber base in the circle and the number of access providers should not fall below four. — PTI

Chandigarh, April 16
Top ranking Korean companies are keen to set up a Korean hub at Gurgaon as a gateway to their future investment in Haryana.

An 11-member Korean business delegation today called on Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda here to seek the state government’s assistance in setting up a Korean hub in Haryana. This was a sequal to Hooda’s visit to Korea in November 2005, seeking investment in the state.

The Chief Minister assured them all assistance in setting up the hub to use it as a base. He also urged them for tie ups with Haryana for construction of highways, or a Korean city, business, manufacturing or technology Park.

Hooda said during his visit to Korea, he was impressed with its progress. He said the Korean investment in the state so far was Rs 280 crore.

He directed Financial Commissioner and Principal Secretary, Industries, P.K. Chaudhary, to look into the issue of setting up of a Korean hub in Haryana and provide them all assistance.

The Korean delegates said the proposed hub would have headquarters of Korean companies under one roof.

Chaudhary said the Japanese had already made Haryana a preferred destination, the state government would also like Korean investment to grow  in Haryana.

He said the state government had decided to set up two more towns similar to Gurgaon, while two more industrial model townships were being set up in the NCR and Faridabad. He said a global corridor was also being put up and it would benefit those seeking serious investment. 

Bangalore, April 16
With Indian Aerospace and Defence budget expected to touch $ 100 billion mark in the next 10 years, an offset clause warranting foreign defence vendors to source 30 to 50 per cent of contract value within India, is expected to fetch several billion dollars worth of business for local industry.

The Indian offset policy states that any defence contract worth over Rs 3,000 million that India enters into with a foreign vendor will have an industrial offset liability to the extent of 30 to 50 per cent, which presents a huge opportunity for India, said Bejoy George, Vice President, Global Sales, Quest. Quest is a provider of outsourced engineering services and manufacturing.

“The foreign vendor would therefore have to source his equipment or services from India, which is 30 to 50 per cent of the contract value, which means that foreign vendors would now have to look for Indian firms to partner with them to cater to this offset obligation,” he said.

“This spells business of around $ 1 billion annually in three to four years, up from $ 150 million currently,” Bejoy said. The Indian aerospace and defence buying budget is expected to be $ 100 billion in next 10 years - this indicates an offset value of $ 30 to 50 billion (depending on the offset percentage applicable to each order) coming into India, he said.

India’s offset clause in terms of the tender for 126 medium multi-role combat aircraft states that 50 per cent of this contract value should be invested by the supplier in the country. This again would mean a business opportunity worth $ 5 to 6 billion over a period of 7 to 10 years, starting 2012-2013, he said. — PTI

BRIEFLY

Edible oil prices up
NEW DELHI: An upward trend continued in edible oil prices in the wholesale oils and oilseeds market on Wednesday largely on the back of higher outside advices amidst millers buying and registered gains between Rs 100 and Rs 350 a quintal. Non-edible oils were unaltered in the absence of demand from consuming industries. — PTI

Scheme for agro industries
NEW DELHI: The government proposes to launch the ‘Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme’ with an allocation of Rs 823 crore to promote agro and rural industries. It would be formulated by the merger of Rural Employment Generation Programme and Prime Minister’s Rozgar Yojana. — PTI

Hyundai to recall Sonata cars
SEOUL: Hyundai Motor Co said on Wednesday it plans to recall some 390,000 units of the Sonata sedan in the US to fix a defect in the cars’ air bag systems. The recall covers 2006-2008 model year Sonatas that were produced at its Alabama factory. — Reuters

PFC Q4 net dips
Mumbai: Power Finance Corporation on Wednesday announced a net profit of Rs 297.32 crore for the quarter ended March 31, a 19.90 per cent decline over the corresponding quarter a year ago. It had a stand-alone net profit of Rs 371.22 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2007. — PTI