New Delhi, May 29
The government has deferred the decision on raising retail fuel prices for a few days. According to sources, the government is still thinking as to what really could be the right solution.

Petroleum minister Murli Deora said, “There are chances that the government will take a decision in the matter in a few days”. The oil minister reportedly met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and other Cabinet ministers and once again apprised them of the situation of oil marketing companies.

A meeting of the Cabinet, which was to take up the matter today, has been postponed. "The Prime Minister and finance minister saw papers (of projected revenue loss and options thereof). They realise very much that we need to help (PSU oil firms) on a war-footing," Deora said

He said the Prime Minister would discuss the issue with the UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, and a decision will be taken accordingly.

Deora also said that the Left allies have been sounded of the situation.

However, the Left parties had earlier said they would oppose any kind of hike and had instead suggested tax measures on private oil firms to meet the losses.

PTI adds: A hike in petrol and diesel prices looks imminent by the weekend after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh finalised details of a package to bail out state-run oil firms reeling under high international oil prices.

Singh discussed with external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee, finance minister P Chidambaram, petroleum minister Murli Deora and Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia the scenario emerging from doubling of crude prices since the last price hike in February.

Though Deora refused to say what the expected decision would be, official sources said a hike in petrol and diesel prices along with a minor duty rejig and oil bonds for fuel retailers would form part of the package that would be placed before the Cabinet for approval.

The package, they said, would be a climb down from the Rs 10 a litre hike in petrol, Rs 5 per litre in diesel and Rs 50 per cylinder increase in LPG prices demanded by the petroleum ministry, along with cut in customs duty on crude oil and slashing excise duty on fuel.

New Delhi, May 29
Two days after Reliance Communications (RCom) shares fell on reports of the company having entered into exclusive talks with the South African telecom company MTN for a possible merger, the company’s stock rose today as a report from a market analyst and brokerage firm said share-swap deal being evaluated was positive.

Market reports said the shares of RCom rose more than 6 per cent after Macquarie Research analysts said the deal was positive. The stock rose as much as 6.5 per cent to 587.70, the highest since last Friday, the last day of trading before the talks about a possible tie-up with MTN were announced.

The stock had lost 3.6 per cent on Monday. The report referring the media reports of a share swap between ADAG, which owns 66 per cent in RCom, and MTN said, "This deal structure would require no equity dilution and/or issuance of new debt at RCom, which makes the deal doable".

The deal would see MTN become the largest shareholder in RCom and ADAG in turn becoming the biggest controlling shareholder in MTN.

"We see the deal as positive for RCom due to the ramp-up in non-wireless businesses and we expect the sale of shares to MTN to be at a premium to RCom’s current price," the report said. A deal with MTN would help Reliance Communications' international unit, Reliance Globalcom, to tap emerging markets in Africa and the West Asia for its non-wireless businesses.

New Delhi, May 29
Concerned at sluggish growth of excise duty collections, finance minister P Chidambaram today asked the Excise Department to take stern measures to check tax evasion and devise a mechanism to collect third party information to correctly assess the liability of tax payers.

"Problems in excise are well known. It continue to be, one, clandestine movement of goods. Two, misuse of Cenvat credit and others," he told reporters after addressing the annual conference of chief commissioners of central excise and customs.

Referring to a fall in excise collections in April, the fimance minister said it would be a "formidable task" to meet the budget target of over Rs 1,36,000 crore under the head this fiscal, but exuded confidence that overall budget target of about Rs 3.2 lakh crore for indirect tax collections would be met.

On "sluggish growth" in excise duty collections, he said there was still misuse of Cenvat credit by small, medium as well as large industries, which usually issue "fictitious bills" or fake invoices for payments to other parties. "We have to check that." Pointing out that each assistant commissioner in the Excise Department had to cover only 200-250 tax payers, finance minister said "we have advised closer monitoring, close relationship with the assessees, very close monitoring of his manufacturing as well as his clearances".

He said the department could follow Income Tax department to use third party information like VAT payments and electricity bills to verify the tax returns. — PTI 

New Delhi, May 29
India and China, the world's two fastest-growing economies, leads the list of best places for investment and development, driven by their current GDP growth rates, appropriate investment climate and substantial trade opportunities, a latest report says.

According to global consultancy Grant Thornton's International Business Report 2008 on emerging global markets, China, India and Russia have emerged as the top three most-favoured destinations for investment and development.

These are followed by Mexico at fourth and Brazil at fifth place. The study also revealed the presence of 22 other rapidly growing global economies, including Malaysia, Indonesia, Iran, Pakistan, Thailand and Poland, that offer immense avenues for future growth.
"Emerging markets offer great potential for growth in a global economic slowdown scenario," Grant Thornton India National Markets Leader Monish Chatrath said.
"Availability of low-cost yet highly educated labour force with strong work ethics, combined with fast industrialisation, technology deployment and a strong focus on infrastructure development is enabling these countries to close the gap with the more affluent and relatively slower-growing mature economies," Chatrath said.

According to recent projections, China's economy would move ahead of the US by 2027, India would catch up with the US by 2050 and the BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India and China) as a group will surpass the G7 by 2032.

Emerging and developing economies' will on an average grow by 6.3 per cent in 2008 and 6.4 per cent in 2009. In contrast, "advanced economies" are forecast to grow by 1.3 per cent during this period.

"India's position in the second place comes as no surprise. The Indian economy has consistently been riding high on waves of growth since the 1990s and the current scenario has been characterised by an almost insatiable enthusiasm for technology, openness to global trade and tangible progress towards fiscal consolidation," Monish said. — PTI 

Ludhiana, May 29
The Governor of Punjab, Gen S.F. Rodrigues (retd), today called on the industry to come forward for empowering people for a better India at the 30th annual day function of the Ludhiana Management

Association, held here today. Mahashya Dharam Pal, founder of MDH Spices, was conferred LMA Sat Paul Mittal Lifetime Achievement Award by the Governor on the occasion. Addressing a massive gathering of industrialists, professionals and business experts from across the country, the Governor said vast talent pool was India's strength.

"However, there are people in the country who need to be empowered. There is no dearth of people but there is a dearth of those who can come forward and do something about it."

"We are good analysts and we have talent. But we are low in confidence. The countries outsourcing work to us are not doing us any favour. They are dealing with us because we are the best in the world," he asserted.

The LMA also announced its annual awards on the occasion. LMA Vardhman Entrepreneur of the Year award was given to Dr Gopal Munjal, managing director and CEO of Ind Swift Ltd, while the LMA Dayanand Munjal Manager of the Year award was presented to chief executive of Abhishek Industries P.K. Markandey.

The LMA Trident Young Innovative Entrepreneur of the Year Award went to Rishi Oswal, managing director of Malwa Industries and the LMA Sat Pal Mittal Lifetime Achievement Award, instituted for the first time, went to MDH Spices’ founder Mahashya Dharam Pal. Mahashya Dharam Pal, founder of MDH Spices, which has crossed a turnover of Rs 800 crore, said:

"Around 20 per cent of your thoughts and planning contribute in your success, the remaining 80 per cent is contributed by the good fortune that comes from the company of honest people you keep." 

Chandigarh, May 29
Here is a good news for those involved with information technology. Global Infotech leader, Key Management Group (KMG), has announced to branch out into education. Besides other regions, KMG has chosen Punjab as a focus area with the KMG announcing that it will train and upgrade the skills of Punjab youth in Microsoft, Net, Java, mainframes and IBM series (AS/400).

“We are focussed on providing our clients, partners and employees with constant innovation, learning, teamwork, knowledge sharing and growth,” says company CEO Subhash Bhatia. He disclosed that as part of KMG’s expansion plans, it was building a 500-seater office at Mohali followed by 600-seater at the Chandigarh Technology Park.

“These facilities will be used for training, software development and BPO operations equipped with world-class infrastructure. We are in talks with medium and large companies in the Tri-city to strengthen our expansion plan,” he said.

With this objective, KMG started operating from Chandigarh last year. To address the shortage of skilled IT professionals as per industry’s requirement, KMG Infotech launched KMG Education to provide training in the areas of AS/400 (iSeries), Java, .Net, testing and personality development. KMG Education will target people aspiring to be software professionals or wanting to upgrade skills.

Manish Govil, vice-president, technologies, said, “The key differentiator of this training programme being equal emphasis on both technical and professional skill sets. After the successful completion of the training, KMG will employ students from its trained batches as well as assist in their industrial placements with the top software companies with which it has alliances”.

Mumbai, May 29
Engineering major Larsen & Toubro (L&T) today announced a 38 per cent increase in quarterly net profit beating all analysts' estimates and went onto issue a one-to-one bonus share. The company announced a standalone net profit of Rs 966.76 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2008.

The total income rose to Rs 8,715.92 crore in the latest quarter from Rs 6,466.26 crore in the same period a year ago. The board has declared a total dividend of Rs 17 each, on every share of face value of Rs 2 for 2007-08.

BRIEFLY

PTC to raise $500m
New Delhi: Power Trading Corp of India (PTC) would raise $500 million for its energy fund, said a top official here Thursday. "In our country, the power requirements are huge. But we also have to look at market condition. Any fund worthwhile should not be less than $300 million. But as a beginning, we will go for $500 million and then raise further," said PTC chief T.N. Thakur.— IANS

Jubilant Organosys buyout
New Delhi: Jubilant Organosys Ltd on Thursday said the company has acquired Canada-based Draxis Speciality Pharmaceuticals Inc (Draxis) for $253 million. ''Draxis is a debt-free company and Jubilant is financing $253 million transaction using a combination of proceeds from a previous FCCB issue and debt amounting to $160 million, '' a company statement said.— UNI

Videocon plan for U’khand
New Delhi: Diversified business group Videocon is planning to set up a 1,000 MW hydro power project in Uttarakhand with an investment of Rs 6,000 crore. It plans to rope in a US partner for the proposed project. This was announced by group's CMD Venugopal Dhoot on the sidelines of a power seminar here on Thursday.— PTI

ING Vysya Life plans
Chandigarh: ING Vysya Life on Thursday announced the launch of two new insurance products, ING Term Life and ING Term Life Plus. Both products offer flexibility to choose premium-paying terms between 10 years and 30 years. —TNS

ATLAS Group foray
Chandigarh: ATLAS Group (Gwalior) having diversified business interests in bicycle, steel & e-bikes has now ventured in the pharmaceutical sector by launching ATLAS Laboratories and Pharmaceuticals Ltd (ALPL). The company has also entered the Chandigarh market and launched a wide range of medicines. — TNS

Piramal Life debuts at BSE
Mumbai: Piramal Life Sciences, the newly hived off research and development business of Piramal Group, today gained 4.63 per cent to close at Rs 313.9 in its debut trade on the Bombay Stock Exchange. The scrip, which listed at Rs 300, touched an intra-day high of Rs 519.80 in early trade but finally closed up 4.6 per cent at Rs 313.90 on the BSE. — PTI