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SC dismisses Tata Tele, RCom's pleas
RCom plans DTH foray
India’s shipping tonnage on the decline
‘US woes loom large’
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Maharashtra offers interim franchisee route to private power companies
Corporate Results
Banking Transaction Tax to go, says FM
New inflation index by year-end
‘Govt ready for higher fertiliser subsidy’
Leyland to invest 3,000 crore
RIL takes 90% stake in Peru oil block
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SC dismisses Tata Tele, RCom's pleas
New Delhi, April 30 Company officials here said the provision for the levy had been made over the years. "The case pertains to the period 2002-03, prior to the corporate reorganisation of Reliance Communications and has been fully provided for in the previous fiscals. There is no additional liability on the company following the judgement", a RCom officials said. Earlier in the day, the Supreme Court held Tata Teleservices’ 'Walky' and Reliance Communication's (formerly Infocom) 'Unlimited Cordless' as limited mobile phones and hence they were liable to pay Access Deficit Charge (ADC) to BSNL for interconnection. The two companies had challenged the TDSAT order, which held that its fixed wireless telephone was equivalent to mobile service. Thus, Reliance was liable to pay ADC of over Rs 400 crore and the Tatas would have to pay about Rs 300 crore as levy to BSNL. PTI adds: A bench headed by Justice H S Kapadia, while dismissing Tata Teleservices and Reliance Communication's petitions, has upheld telecom tribunal TDSAT's order of September 2005 that held these services are not fixed lines telephones, but limited mobile. The tribunal in September 2005 had rejected the Tata Teleservices's petition and held that 'Walky' was actually a WLL (M) service, with limited mobility, and not a fixed telephone service, contrary to the licence granted to the company. TDSAT had ruled that 'Walky' service offered by Tatas was a mobile service, thus the private company was liable to pay ADC to state-owned BSNL as per the interconnect order of telecom regulator TRAI.
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RCom plans DTH foray
Mumbai, April 30 He indicated that the listing will be subject to market conditions and if the company can get good value. He also unveiled plans for the launch of its DTH foray. "The DTH (Direct-To-Home) service will be known as Big TV and is already in market catering to 35,000 customers. The commercial launch of the service will take place shortly," he said.
— PTI
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India’s shipping tonnage on the decline
New Delhi, April 30 Over the years although there has been a rise in the tonnage in India when compared to previous year’s figures, but when the same are compared with the international figures, it is on a major decline. According to statistics released by the ministry of shipping, road transport and highways, India’s tonnage compared to the world tonnage has gone down from 1.33 per cent in 1997 to 1.16 per cent in 2006. The figures, the ministry says, are as per those released by Lloyd’s Register-Fairplay World Fleet statistics. Incidentally, the decline in the Indian share of the tonnage has been despite the growth in the economy and reflects that the shipping industry has not been growing accordingly and there has not been enough investment in this sector. The ministry also attributes slipping of the Indian tonnage share to inadequate growth in the sector. The officials say that there has not been adequate growth in the Indian shipping fleet. According to officials, there has been a regular review and discussions have been held with the Indian National Shipowners’ Association (INSA) to increase the tonnage, but till the time no fleet augmentation has happened. As part of the measures, government has already introduced tonnage tax to facilitate augmentation of shipping tonnage. Similarly, policy on ship acquisition has also been liberalised and the acquisition of all ships has been brought under the Open General Licence. Further, the government has also allowed 100 per cent FDI in ship acquisition and the registration formalities of the newly acquired ships has been simplified. As per available figures, about 33 per cent of the Indian fleet operating in overseas trade comprised of dry bulk carriers and some 40 per cent of the overseas fleet consisted of crude carriers. The other disconcerting factor has been the deteriorating age profile of the Indian fleet. As on April 1, 2003, the average age of the fleet was 16.5 years. In terms of DWT, over 31 per cent of the overseas fleet, totalling 80 ships of 2.91 million DWT, was over 20 years of age, while another 29.3 per cent between 15 and 19 years. Thus, over 60 per cent of the Indian fleet needs to be replaced. In fact, the Planning Commission's Working Group had also in the past recommended acquisition of 156 ships of 3.25 million GRT so as to maintain the strength of the Indian fleet at around 7 million GRT. Meanwhile, maritime states have requested the ministry to identify suitable location for setting up of international size shipyards, one each on the east coast and west coast. For the new shipyards, the states have sought a minimum land requirement of 1,000-1,500 acres and waterfront of about 2.5 km in length. The government has received about 10 proposals as of now for sites in Karnataka, Kerala, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat and would be taking a decision after seeking some more clarifications. |
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‘US woes loom large’
New Delhi, April 30 The main concern has been on part of inflation, which has soared to 7 per cent in the past few weeks as against 3 per cent in October, 2007. Rising international crude price, which rose from $62.4 a barrel during 2006-07 to $99 a barrel in April 2008, and food scarcity around the world has led to inflationary situation. Adding to this, there has also been high prices of iron, steel and cement in international and domestic markets, leading to inflationary pressure. Internationally, the price of wheat has gone up by 56 per cent from a year ago and the price of rice has risen by three times in Thailand since January 2008 and in Indonesia, the rice prices have gone up by as much as 71 per cent. India, which is dependant on 70 per cent of its crude oil imports, and 35 per cent of commodity imports, has suffered on this count and will continue to do so as the situation aggravates, say economists. The government has allowed crude oil refining and importing companies to hedge their commodity risk on overseas exchanges for domestic price of crude oil, thus allowing them a little cushion in volatile markets, say analysts. However, RBI is optimistic that with the cumulative effects of domestic monetary policy and assuming that supply management would be conducive, the policy endeavour would bring down inflation from the current high level of above 7 per cent to around 5.5 percent in 2008-09. Global developments has brought forward new realities posing severe challenges to economies, especially in the emerging and developing economies, say economists. There are concerns relating to the US slowdown and the intensity of its spillover effect on other economies, specially when economies across the world integrate and world becomes a big global village, say economists. Across the world, it is also observed that there are trade benefits and opening of economies, but at the same time there are protectionist tendencies on the rise, especially in countries that produce commodities. This can lead to restriction of availability of supplies to international markets, adding to inflationary pressure in the long run, say analysts.
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Maharashtra offers interim franchisee route to private power companies
Mumbai, April 30 The ‘de-merger’ hasn’t been all that effective if one goes by the number of hours the state faces load shedding. It is up to 8-10 hours in some parts of the state while major cities go without power for a few hours every day. However, with complaints pouring in from industry, the Maharashtra government has come up with the idea of bringing in private players all over the state using the ‘interim franchisee’ model. As per a trial undertaken by the government in towns like Pune, Thane and the surrounding areas of Mumbai like Navi Mumbai, Mulund, Bhandup and Kalyan will come under the sway of ‘interim franchisees’. “We had to do something in order to prevent industries from shifting to Gujarat where power supply is uninterrupted,” a senior bureaucrat told The Tribune. The Narendra Modi government had privatised power supply and distribution across Gujarat more than five years ago and as a result the state faces little problems on this front. Sources say the initiative to bring uninterrupted power supply to the cities of Maharashtra has been undertaken by various industry associations and the state unit of the Confederation of Indian Industries. The first initiative to bring in interim franchisees was undertaken in Pune earlier this month after industry representatives and state government officials held marathon meetings. “Under this arrangement, Tata Power has been supplying 100 MW of power to Pune daily,” says state energy minister Dilip Walse-Patil, adding, the same experiment will now be extended to Mumbai. Apart from TPC, Reliance Energy and the Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport Undertaking are seeking to emerge as franchisee distributors across the state. “If the arrangement works, we can turn it into a permanent one,” a senior state government official said. To begin with, the interim franchisee will supply power for nine months every year excluding the monsoon. However, there will be a huge price to pay. To begin with, areas coming under the interim franchisee will have to pay about Rs 150 more on every power bill. Additional power purchased by the franchisee companies will cost around Rs 13 per unit. But small business owners say the higher price tag is still worth it. Generators and inverters cost much more apart from adding to the pollution. |
NHPC earns profit of Rs 1,002 crore
New Delhi, April 30 NHPC achieved an all-time high sales turnover of Rs 2,311.47 crore, compared to Rs 1,962.76 crore during 2006-07, the company said here. Company chairman S.K. Garg said the much-awaited IPO of the company was likely to hit the market by August this year. The hydropower utility with current capacity of 5,000 MW, aims at become the 10,000 MW plus company by the end of 11th Plan. RCom PAT up 70 pc
Anil Ambani group firm Reliance Communications (RCom) today announced a consolidated profit after tax (PAT) of Rs 5,401.14 crore for the year ended March 31, a 70.51 per cent growth over the previous year. The company had a profit after tax of Rs 3,167.59 crore for the year ended March 31, 2007, Reliance Communications said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange. The total income of the group increased to Rs 19,067.76 crore for fiscal year 2008, from Rs 14,468.29 crore last year. HDFC nets Rs 2,712 cr
Private sector lender Housing Development Finance Corporation today said it has posted a profit after tax of Rs 2,712.19 crore for the year ended March 31, excluding Rs 293 crore it earned through derivative exposure. The company's PAT for the year is 54.74 per cent higher than the last fiscal when it earned Rs 1,741.98 crore. The board has recommended a dividend of Rs 25 per
share. Dabur nets 79.64-cr profit
Dabur India has announced a consolidated net profit of Rs 79.64 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2008, where as the same stood at Rs 76.91 crore in the corresponding period a year-ago. Following the merger of its wholly-owned subsidiary Dabur Foods Ltd with the company retrospectively from April 1 last year, the results are not comparable, the firm said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange.
ING Vysya net up 77 pc
Private sector ING Vysya Bank has reported a net profit of Rs 156.09 crore for the year ended March 31, an increase of 77 per cent over the previous fiscal. Profit before tax
(PBT) stood at Rs 251.4 crore from Rs 127.6 crore over the same period and total income was up by 37 per cent to Rs 2,078.6 crore, compared to Rs 1,519.9 crore in last fiscal, it said while releasing the financial results for 2007-08. Net Profit for the quarter ended March 31, 2008 increased by 133 per cent to Rs 42.9 crore from Rs 18.4 crore, it said.
— TNS, Agencies |
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Banking Transaction Tax to go, says FM
New Delhi, April 30 Intervening in the debate on the Finance Bill in the Rajya Sabha, Chidambaram said the BTT was introduced for a specific purpose of detecting unaccounted money in the absence of alternative methods. "The tax (BTT) will be withdrawn by the end of the year," he said. The alternative methods to catch people with unaccounted money would be provided by the provisions in the new Money Laundering Law, Chidambaram said. The finance minister disagreed with BJP leader Jaswant Singh that the BTT was causing inconvenience to people. "How many people take out Rs 50,000 in cash in single transaction in a day," he asked. Chidambaram offered to share the names of some 'big fish' who were caught by the tax authorities with the help of the cues provided by the BTT. He clarified that the tax was applicable only on cash and not on payment by cheques. — PTI
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New inflation index by year-end
New Delhi, April 30 The new WPI series with base year 2004-05 would give inflation figure on a monthly basis, with the exception of price movements of essential commodities like agricultural products which would be continued to be released weekly. The number of items which would be part of the index would be doubled to about 980 from 435 at present, a senior government official said. The increase in number would largely include items from the manufacturing sector. In existing scheme of things, the sector has a weightage of over 63 per cent in the index. Price quotations would also go up from the existing 1,918 to 6,000 which will give better picture of the price variation. Thus the revised series will have a substantially updated and representative basket of commodities as well as their varieties/grades and markets, he said. The coverage of the new series has been rationalised by incorporating important new items, dropping unimportant items and amalgamating items with those to which they are akin, the official said. The 2004-05 base year will be considered to capture the price variation in commodities over the next 10 years, he added. — PTI
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‘Govt ready for higher fertiliser subsidy’
New Delhi, April 30 "We will do nothing to hurt farmers. If that means higher imports of fertilier, bearing higher subsidy...every one of that will be done," finance minister P Chidambaram said in the Rajya Sabha replying to the debate on the Finance Bill. He said CTT is the mirror image of Securities Transaction Tax (STT) which was also imposed on the stock markets and met with similar resistance. On the lines of STT, CTT would also be accepted, he said. The Rajya Sabha later returned the Finance Bill completing the process of the Budget for 2008-09.
— PTI |
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Leyland to invest 3,000 crore on expansion
New Delhi, April 30 A part of the planned investment will also be on engine development. The company is developing six-cylinder and four-cylinder engines with Austrian firm AVL complying with the Euro IV norms. "The company will be investing Rs 3,000 crore on the new vehicle plant coming up in
Uttarakhand, which will be capable of rolling out 50,000 vehicles and expansion of manufacturing facility at Ennore and the new engine development project," Ashok Leyland CFO K Sridharan told reporters on the sidelines of CFO Asia Summit here.
— PTI |
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RIL takes 90% stake in Peru oil block
New Delhi, April 30 Reliance bought the stake in Block 141 in the high plateau of Peru from Pan Andean Resources Plc, company CEO and president (Oil & Gas) P M S Prasad said today. Pan Andean will hold the remaining 10 per cent stake. As part of the deal, Reliance will incur all exploration costs through commercial discovery. Following a commercial discovery of an agreed size, Pan Andean will reimburse Reliance for its share of the exploration costs.
— PTI |
CPI-IW up by two points Cognizant in Fortune list Shyam group plan
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