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Exports rise 31.5% in April
Over 20 pc fall in new telephone connections
Centre refuses to denotify Goa SEZs
Recovery of energy charges from Reliance
Tata completes JLR buyout
Videocon to pump in Rs 12,000 cr in telecom biz
Notice to Coca-Cola for evading service tax
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UK property investors look to India
Auto Scene
SBoP ups interest rates on NRE deposits
Jet announces fare hike
TataSky cuts charges
Virgin Radio sold for £53.2 m
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Exports in April 2008-09 were valued at $14.4 billion, growing by 31.5 per cent over $10.95 billion a year ago. Fuelled by a 46.2 per cent growth in oil imports, the country's imports stood at $24.27 billion against $17.76 billion in April 2007. Oil imports amounted to $8.02 billion during the month, compared to $5.4 billion in the corresponding period last year. Non-oil imports during April were estimated at $16.24 billion, showing a growth of 32.3 per cent over $12.27 billion in April 2007. The country's trade deficit widened to $9.87 billion in the opening month of the current fiscal against $6.81 billion a year ago. Commenting on the export performance in April, Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) Ganesh Gupta said, "The growth has been mainly on account of shipments of commodities and metals, prices of which are ruling high internationally." India's exports comprised mainly cotton, basmati, maize, oilmeal, metals, minerals and livestock products. Further, Indian exporters would also stand to gain from the depreciating rupee, which is hovering around the level of 42-43 to a dollar. Gupta however expressed concern over the volatility in the currency value, saying it leads to uncertainty among exporters while quoting prices in the global market. PTI
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Over 20 pc fall in new telephone connections
New Delhi, June 2 The worrying part, however, is in the fixed line or the wire line connections, which have seen a steady decline ever since the advent of the mobile and wireless phones. The growth in the sector has been in the negative with the year 2007-08 seeing as many as 1.54 million users opting out of the wire line connections. While in Marh 2007 the figure of wire line users stood at 40.75 million, it fell to 39.21 million at the end of March 2008, a fall of 1.54 million subscribers. According to the figures released by telecom regulator TRAI, while a total of 10.4 million connections were added in March 2008, the number fell to eight million in the month of April 2008, a fall of over 20 per cent. The total number of telephone connections reached 308.51 million at April-end compared to 300.51 million in March. India surpassed the US to to have the world's second largest wireless network in the world after China with the addition of 10.16 million wireless subscribers at March-end. The total number of wireless subscribers, including GSM, CDMA & WLL(F) base, witnessed an addition of 8.21 million subscribers with the total bases standing at 269.30 million at the end of April, TRAI said. The overall tele-density is 26.89 per cent at the end of April 2008 against 26.22 per cent in March . The total broadband subscribers base has reached 4.01 million by the end of April compared to 3.90 million by the end of March.
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Centre refuses to denotify Goa SEZs
Panaji, June 2 The commerce ministry's refusal to denotify three SEZs has come as a tough challenge for the state government that will now have to take stand on the issue within two weeks. Besides, SEZ developers have already filed petitions in the high court against stop orders issued to them. Incidentally, the Goa Bench of the Mumbai High Court, while hearing the matter today gave two weeks time to the state government to decide on the stop work order issued by it to all the three notified industrial enclaves proposed in different parts of the coastal state. The state government under political pressure had decided on December 31 last year to scrap 12 SEZs, which were at different stages of approval and notification while three were referred to the Union Board of Approval under Commerce Ministry to take final stand. PTI
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Recovery of energy charges from Reliance
New Delhi, June 2 A bench headed by Justice C.K. Thakker while seeking reply from Tata Power and Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) asked Tata Power Company (TPC) not to take coercive measures against Reliance till the next date of hearing in July. Reliance has challenged the Appellate Tribunal for Electricity's order dated May 12, 2008, which ruled that TPC was entitled to recover charges for energy supplied to REL at the rate of Rs 2.09 per unit. The balance outstanding dues on account of differences in energy rates between Rs 2.09 per kwh and Rs 1.77 per kwh and shortfall in minimum off-take of energy should be released to TPC within four weeks alongwith delayed payment charges at the prevailing SBI prime lending rate for short borrowing and not at the rate of 24 percent per annum as directed by MERC, the tribunal had held. ATE had also said that the issue relating to 'take or pay' should be examined after the apex court's decision in another appeal relating to the issues, as to whether or not TPC was a distribution licensee and whether or not Reliance's offer of rebate to its consumers to prevent them from moving away from it was tenable in law. It may be noted that the Supreme Court allegedly in a similar petition in January last year had directed TPC to refund 50 per cent of the Rs 451.35-crore to Reliance paid as standby charges for electricity supply in Maharashtra and pay the rest as bank guarantee.
PTI |
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Mumbai, June 2 The acting CEO of Jaguar Land Rover David Smith would be the new CEO of the business, Tata Motors confirmed in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange. In March, the Indian auto major had announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement with the US car-maker Ford to buyout the two British luxury brands. Tata Sons and Tata Motors chairman Ratan Tata was present at the handing over ceremony of Jaguar and Land Rover at the latter's headquarters at Gaydon in the UK. "This is a momentous time for all of us at Tata Motors. Jaguar and Land Rover are two iconic British brands with worldwide growth prospects. ... Jaguar and Land Rover will retain their distinctive identities and continue to pursue their respective business plans as before," Tata said in a statement. Ford Motor's executive vice-president and chief financial officer Don Leclair and executive vice-president Lewis Booth, who is responsible for Europe, Volvo and JLR were also present at the ceremony. The purchase consideration includes the ownership of Jaguar and Land Rover or perpetual royalty-free licences of all necessary Intellectual Property Rights, manufacturing plants, two advanced design centres in the UK, and worldwide network of national sales companies. PTI
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Videocon to pump in Rs 12,000 cr in telecom biz
New Delhi, June 2 "We shall be releasing Request for Proposal (RFP) from telecom vendors for 70 million GSM lines. Our plan is to start rolling out network by August this year," Ravi Sharma, managing director of Datacom, a company led by group Chairman Venugopal Dhoot, told PTI. Videocon, which has a majority stake in Datacom, had earlier announced Rs 6,000 crore investment in the telecom business and it has now been doubled to Rs 12,000 crore. Besides huge investment in the domestic telecom sector, Datacom is also looking for a footprint in the global market through a mix of stake acquisition in existing telecom companies or through greenfield projects. The company is talking to a host of players globally through its international arm Thompson, Sharma said, adding that talks are in the initial stage and fructification of the deal may take some time. Datacom was awarded licences in 22 circles recently and the government has already started allocating spectrum (radio frequency) in some of the circles. The company has been given start-up 4.4 MHz spectrum in states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka and may also get frequency in Orissa and Kolkata soon. Asked by when the company would start offering mobile services in the country, Sharma said the plan is to start services in 2008 itself, at least in circles where spectrum is available. The company has started acquiring sites for erecting towers and installing equipments for the first phase of telecom operations. Datacom has also been approached by various domestic and international telecom companies for acquiring stake in the company, he said, adding: "We are not necessarily looking for financial partnership but what value they bring to the company." Sharma, however, declined to divulge the names of companies who have approached for equity stake in Datacom. Earlier, sources had said that US telecom giant AT&T had evinced interest in acquiring majority stake of up to 74 per cent in Datacom but a final decision has not yet been taken. PTI
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Notice to Coca-Cola for evading service tax
New Delhi, June 2 The Anti Evasion Wing of the Commissionerate of Service Tax slapped demand notices on soft drinks major Coca Cola India for Rs 8.55 crore and German airline Lufthansa for service tax evasion, totalling around Rs 15 crore. The wing also issued notices to seven other companies, including a tax demand for Rs 35 crore on construction company Era Infra Engineering.
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UK property investors look to India
London, June 2 Except in several areas of London, property prices all over Britain have recorded at least a 2 per cent drop in the last year due to the credit crunch. The slowing of Britain's property market has led to several individual and institutional investors looking to India and other international hotspots. India is also seen as an attractive destination due to the Indian governments recent decision to relax rules for foreign investment in the housing sector. Several India-specific investment funds have been set up, while British citizens of Indian-origin are increasingly investing in places such as Gujarat, Gurgaon, Bangalore, Chandigarh, Pune and Jaipur. The investors here are also courted by Indian builders and property agents who organise exhibitions in London, Manchester, Birmingham and Leicester. Merrill Lynch consultants have predicted a 700 per cent increase in the Indian property market by 2015.
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Auto Scene
May New Delhi, June 2 The company said its domestic sales increased by 14.6 per cent during the month at 64,143 units, against 55,952 units in May last year. Its M800 model recorded 25.2 per cent increase at 6,830 units in May this year as compared 5,456 units in the same month last year. The A2 segment comprising Alto, Zen Estillo, Wagon R and Swift registered a combined growth of 14.5 per cent at 44,539 units, against 38,889 units in the same month last year. The company said in May month, Swift recorded its highest ever sales, clocking 10,408 units in May 2008. The A3 segment comprising SX4 and Swift Dzire recorded 18.7 per cent increase at 5,946 units, compared to 5,009 units in May last year. Exports during the month stood at 4,858 units as compared to 3,448 units in the same month last year, up 40.9 per cent. General Motors
Car maker General Motors India today reported a 6.57 per cent jump in its domestic sales at 5,789 units in May, against 5,432 units in the same month a year ago. The sales comprised 1,667 units of multi-utility vehicle Chevrolet Tavera, 1,214 units of sedan and hatchback Chevrolet Aveo and Aveo U-VA, 383 units of the luxury sedan Chevrolet Optra, 2,250 units of its small car Chevrolet Spark and 275 units of Chevrolet Captiva, GM said in a statement. Hyundai Motor
Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL) today reported a 47.27 per cent jump in domestic passenger car sales at 24,510 units during May, against 16,643 units in the corresponding month of 2007. The company's cumulative sales (including exports) during May were up 51.08 per cent at 40,261 units, compared to 26,648 units in the same month a year ago, Hyundai Motor India said in a statement. Its exports for the month rose to 15,751 units, compared to 10,005 units during the same month previous year. HMIL sold 34,328 units of hatchbacks Santro, Getz and i10, 5,874 units of Accent and Verna, 14 units of Elantra, 41 units of Sonata Embera and 4 units of its SUV Tucson in May. SkodaAuto
SkodaAuto India, a fully owned subsidiary of the Czech Republic- based SkodaAuto, part of the Volkswagen Group, has sold 1,802 units this month, 122.5 per cent higher than the sales achieved in May 2007. In a statement issued here, the company said it had sold only 810 units in May 2007. Skoda Fabia, the hatchback model of the European manufacturer, is popular in its category with 753 units being sold this
month. Agencies |
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SBoP ups interest rates on NRE deposits
Patiala, June 2 Similarly, the interest rates on FCNR (B) deposits in US dollars have been increased from 2.33 per cent to 2.41 per cent for deposits of one year but less than two years, from 2.43 per cent to 2.71 per cent for two years but less than three years, from 2.70 per cent to 3.06 per cent for the deposits of three years but less than four years, from 2.93 per cent to 3.30 per cent for four years but less than five years and from 3.11 per cent to 3.47 per cent for a period of five years. |
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Jet announces fare hike
Istanbul, June 2 The announcement was made by CEO Wolfgang Prock Schauer who told PTI that the rising prices of the Aviation Turbine Fuel had left the airline with no other option but to hike the fuel surcharge. "We will be increasing the fuel surcharge on short-haul flights to Rs 300 and Rs 550 on long-haul flights from tomorrow," he said. The decision was taken after ATF prices reported an increase of 18.5 per cent on the opening for the month of June as compared to the prices in May 2008. The country's public sector undertaking Air India has already announced the hike which will come into effect from
tomorrow. PTI |
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Mumbai, June 2 The charge for 'Family Pack' has been reduced to Rs 200 per month from Rs 250 per month earlier, Tata Sky's marketing director Vikram Mehra said. Family Pack offers around 90 Hindi, regional, kids, infotainment and news channels in regional languages. Mehra said the monthly charge for top-end 'Super Saver' pack has also been reduced to Rs 260 from Rs 300 earlier. "The move will help us to reach to the price-sensitive consumers. I also believe that this will help us to achieve the third million-subscriber base much earlier from two million in April," Mehra said. PTI
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Virgin Radio sold for £53.2 m
London, June 2 |
IVRCL Infra bags 838-cr order Crompton Greaves buyout TVS Motor plan PSL bags $418-m order Unitech gets spectrum in Ktaka Honda cuts car prices Tata Motors ups vehicle prices
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New Delhi, June 2
