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US offers farm subsidy cut to $15 billion
MTN may look at other Indian telcos
50 Ludhiana units embrace carbon credit norms
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Fuel economy norms for cars
BSNL campaign to popularise broadband in Himachal
Corporate Results
OilMin seeks bonds worth Rs 50,000 cr
Iran opposes OPEC oil output hike
Ranbaxy wins price rigging case in UK
TRAI notice to ESPN over DTH tariff
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US offers farm subsidy cut to $15 billion
India rejects offer India today rejected the US offer to cut its overall trade distorting farm subsidies to $15 billion a year, saying the move would not help as it still gives America enough headroom to increase the
incentives. Reacting strongly to the US offer being made at a press conference, India's commerce secretary Gopal Pillai told
PTI, "India does not negotiate through the press. We negotiate in the green room at WTO meet."
— PTI
Geneva, July 22 The move came on the second day of a meeting aimed at reaching a long-awaited breakthrough on farm and manufacturing trade issues at the centre of the nearly seven-year-old Doha round of world trade talks. Because of high international farm prices, current US spending on trade-distorting farm programmes is about $7 billion, or well below the $48.2 billion ceiling the United States is allowed under World Trade Organisation rules. But Schwab said the offer— which is dependent on other countries opening their markets to more foreign farm and manufactured goods — would require Congress to rewrite recently passed farm legislation. President George W. Bush vetoed the 2008 farm law which boosted subsidies, but was overridden by Congress. The offer would dramatically reduce the amount of government assistance US farmers would receive when farm prices are low, Schwab said, noting that the United States spent $18.9 billion on trade-distorting support in 2005 and close to $25 billion in both 1999 and 2000. "My immediate response is it doesn't pass the "laugh test"," a senior Indian official told Reuters, speaking on condition that he not be named. European Union Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel said the offer would take the negotiations forward but declined to comment further. A Brazilian diplomat said developing countries would press the United States to offer deeper cuts. "This is only the second day of the talks here, so we imagine there is room for manoeuvre to reduce them further," the diplomat said. A third developing country official called the US offer "unacceptable", but others said they had expected the United States to announce an even higher initial number with several days of negotiation still to come.
— Reuters |
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MTN may look at other Indian telcos
Johannesburg, July 22 Besides, MTN might pursue a potential deal with companies from other emerging markets in Latin America and Asian nations like Pakistan and Bangladesh, media reports said here. The door is not yet shut on MTN in India as the country is "a huge market to walk away from," a report in financial daily Business Report said, quoting an analyst from research firm IDC. The analyst added that "India had other small and regional operators that would make suitable targets for MTN." MTN is likely to pursue other operators in India, after its talks with Reliance Communications (RCom) to create a $70-billion telecom company were cancelled on Friday, Business Report said. MTN began exclusive talks with billionaire Anil Ambani-led Reliance Communications in the last week of May after the South African firm's discussions with another Indian player Bharti Airtel fell apart. However, RCom and MTN called off their talks citing certain regulatory and legal issues last Friday. Another South African financial daily Business Day quoted an MTN spokesperson as saying that "MTN will always look at what we call value-enhancing opportunities for shareholders and for the company, and that's what we will continue to do." As part of our vision we want to be a leading provider of telecom services in emerging markets," the spokesperson added. — PTI
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50 Ludhiana units embrace carbon credit norms
Chandigarh, July 22 Talking to TNS here today, S.C. Ralhan, regional chairman of Engineering Export Promotion Council (EEPC), said though as many as 300 forging units in Ludhiana have decided to be part of the carbon trading process, a cluster of 50 units have already replaced their equipment so as to bring down the pollution levels. “These 50 units have already gone in for baseline energy audit and will be eligible for carbon emission reduction (CER) credits,” he said. He said these industrial units would bring down consumption of furnace oil by anywhere between 20 per cent and 50 per cent - by replacing the burners and furnaces and using LPG or electricity. The project has been funded by SIDBI and a special purpose vehicle, Ludhiana Hand Tools and Forging Envirocare. SIDBI has worked with the World Bank consultants, who have determined that the SPV would get tradeable CERs worth Rs 50 crore. The units would need to make upfront investments of between Rs 25 lakh and Rs 50 lakh, depending upon the equipment that each unit would need to replace. The investments would be funded by loans from the SIDBI, which are being provided without a collateral. Ralhan says that these loans could be paid back out of cost savings within one year. |
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Fuel economy norms for cars
New Delhi, July 22 The proposed standards are using a front-runner approach for each of the nine vehicle classes to be classified on the basis of weight of vehicles. Front-runner vehicles are those that are already leading their respective weight-class in terms of fuel economy. This will push the rest of the carmakers to improve to catch up with the top runner. The BEE initiative to set fuel economy standards and labelling programme for cars has received support from Centre for Science and Environment (CSE). CSE has been demanding standards and a labelling policy for a long time. However, it says the auto industry must not be allowed to scuttle the move. The industry must shoulder the responsibility of addressing the energy crisis and commit itself to the mandatory standards, says the environmental organisation. Standards must now be implemented immediately to stop the frenetic oil guzzling and for a more energy-secure future, said CSE’s Anumita Roychowdhury. As per government estimates, there were around 100 million vehicles on Indian roads at the end of 2007, of which 17 per cent are passenger vehicles. Roychowdhury said the automobile industry was resisting mandatory fuel economy standards for cars. She says that not only have car numbers increased, demand has shifted further towards mid-sized and bigger cars. A staggering 48 per cent growth has been reported in the mid-size segment, while sales of compact cars have grown by a paltry 0.3 per cent in June. Luxury car numbers are also increasing. "If we do not act now, oil guzzlers can make India's oil security more precarious," contends Roychoudhury, adding that a move to tax oil guzzlers should be implemented as a progressive measure coupled with fuel economy standards. |
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BSNL campaign to popularise broadband in Himachal
Shimla, July 22 Anil Kaushal, chief general manager of Himachal telecom circle , flagged off a demonstration mobile van which will enable the people in interior areas to have first-hand experience of the broadband services. The accompanying staff will book broadband connections on the spot. He said broadband services were available in 237 telephone exchanges on demand and to popularise the service, BSNL was offering free trial for 15 days with unlimited download facility. For the corporate customers, committed Internet bandwidth ranging from 64 kbps to 2 mbps and their multiples was being offered at competitive rates. BSNL had also entered into an MoU with personal computer manufacturer HCL to help provide computers to customers on easy instalments or lumpsum payments. The government employees had been offered a discounted package to encourage e-governance activities. He said BSNL had also slashed STD call rates and roaming charges for mobile segment for pre-paid customers. The validity of normal SIM card had been increased from 30 to 180 days as promotional offer. To reward loyal customers, a new SIM card was being offered free of cost as bonus to subscribers who had been regular customers for the past two years or more. |
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Tata Tele launches new tariff plan
Shimla, July 22 The Rs 150 monthly rental plan offers talk time worth Rs 50 with a uniform call rate of 90 paise per minute, for both local and STD calls while under the Rs 275 plan, there will be no free talk time but the call rate will be a nominal 50 paise per minute. The Rs 450 rental plan offers unlimited free calls to all Tata mobiles across the country and for other networks the charges for STD calls will be Re 1 per minute and local calls 50 paise per minute. The walky talky handset will be available for Rs 1,299 and the connection could be activated immediately by paying Rs 200 for post-paid and Rs 100 for pre-paid subscribers. The seven-digit connection could be used as a mobile phone within the city and the 10-digit connection in the entire state. |
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Corporate Results
Mumbai, July 22 The company had a net profit of Rs 55.88 crore in the first quarter of FY'08, Lupin said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange. The consolidated total income rose 49.15 per cent to Rs 882.47 crore in the latest quarter, from Rs 591.65 crore in the year-ago period. IDBI Bank
Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI) today announced the first quarter standalone net profit at Rs 159.76 crore, a 4.34 per cent growth over the corresponding period a year-ago. IDBI had a net profit of Rs 153.12 crore in the first quarter of FY'08, the public sector bank said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange. The total income rose to Rs 2,739.12 crore in the latest quarter, from Rs 2,193 crore in the year-ago period. NIIT Technologies
IT services provider NIIT Technologies today announced a net profit of Rs 35.1 crore for the quarter ended June 30, similar to the same period in FY'08. However, on the back of revenue from European and other markets the consolidated revenue grew seven per cent to Rs 229.4 crore in the latest quarter, from Rs 245.8 crore in the year-ago perio d, the company said in a filling to the Bombay Stock Exchange. Thermax net up
Engineering company Thermax today announced consolidated net profit of Rs 58.42 crore for the first quarter of this fiscal, a growth of 5.01 per cent over the corresponding period a year-ago. The group had a consolidated net profit of Rs 55.63 crore in the quarter ended June 30, 2007, Thermax said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange. Total income of the group rose to Rs 782.99 crore for the the first quarter of this fiscal from Rs 723.88 crore a year-ago. United Spirits
Vijay Mallya-controlled United Spirits today announced a standalone net profit of Rs 117.13 crore for the first quarter ended June 30 2008, a 33.74 per cent growth over the corresponding period a year ago. The standalone total income of the company increased to Rs 1,020.57 crore for the latest quarter from Rs 770.57 crore in the year-ago
period. — Agencies |
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OilMin seeks bonds worth Rs 50,000 cr
New Delhi, July 22 The ministry has sought Rs 14,956.17 crore as bonds for IOC, BPCL and HPCL for the last quarter of 2007-08 and an additional amount of Rs 35,672.70 crore for the first quarter of 2008-09 financial year, official sources said. Sources said for the 2007-08 fiscal, the total revenue loss on sale of petrol, diesel, domestic LPG and kerosene was put at Rs 70,579
crore. Of those, 50 per cent was to be met through the issue of oil bonds and during April-December 2007 bonds worth Rs 20,333.33 crore have been issued and the ministry has now sought Rs 14,956.17 crore for the January-March period. For the April-June quarter, the revenue loss has been estimated at Rs 51,922.70
crore. IOC and sister state-run firms Hindustan Petroleum and Bharat Petroleum are currently selling petrol at a loss of Rs 16.70 per
litre, diesel at Rs 27.61 a litre, kerosene at Rs 38.09 per litre and domestic LPG at a discount of Rs 338.53 per 14.2-kg cylinder. Sources said the share of upstream companies ONGC and OIL India will be limited to Rs 45,000 crore for this full financial year.
— PTI |
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Honda to launch 800cc bike
Chandigarh, July 22 This was stated by N.K. Rattan, divisional head, sales and marketing, while addressing mediapersons here today. In town to launch a new bike, CBF Stunner, Rattan said they were now working to increase the capacity from 10 lakh units to 14 lakh units. “This year we hope to launch a bike of over 800 cc. Though we have not decided on the model to be launched here, it will be a completely-built unit (CBU) imported from either Japan or Europe,” he added. He said since riding the high cubic capacity bikes requires specialized training, they have already got four of their staff members trained at Singapore. “We are now selecting dealers, where the staff can be trained in riding this heavy bikes and also in providing after sales service,” he said. Rattan said that though the two wheeler industry in India had shown a negative growth of seven per cent last year, HMSI had seen a surge in its growth. “As compared to 7.15 lakh units sold in 2006-07, we sold 9.07 lakh units in 2007-08. This year, we will cross the 10-lakh unit mark,” he said. |
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Iran opposes OPEC oil output hike
Tehran, July 22 "The market is in a good situation," oil minister Gholam Hossein Nozari told reporters in Tehran on the sidelines of a petrochemical conference. "In the next OPEC meeting we are heading towards winter. I think that preserving the current situation is the most appropriate one," he added. The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is scheduled to hold its next regular meeting on September 9 in Vienna. Algerian energy minister and President Chakib Khelil yesterday said that OPEC states possess "considerable excess oil capacity that would be able to satisfy any increase in demand for crude." Iran receives the majority of its foreign currency earnings through oil exports and has vehemently resisted calls from consumer countries like the United States for a hike in the OPEC output
quota. — AFP |
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Ranbaxy wins price rigging case in UK
New Delhi, July 22 The English Crown Court has quashed the prosecution of Ranbaxy (UK) Ltd (RUKL) by UK Serious Fraud Office (SFO), Ranbaxy said in a statement. "The court has also declined an application by the SFO for permission to appeal to the English Court of Appeal," it said. The SFO, however, retains a right to appeal to the Court of Appeal directly, it added. SFO had initiated prosecution against Ranbaxy in April 2006 for alleged price rigging of pencilin-based anti-biotics, including amoxicillin, ampicillin and flucloxacillin, that were supplied to the NHS between 1996-2000. Welcoming the decision of the court, the company said: "Ranbaxy is a responsible company committed to providing high quality generic medicines at affordable prices to its customers and patients."
— PTI |
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TRAI notice to ESPN over DTH tariff
New Delhi, July 22 TRAI has given three days time to sports broadcaster ESPN to respond to the notice. "If no written statement of explanation is received within the time so allowed, the matter will be proceeded with on presumption that ESPN has nothing to offer in its defence," said TRAI in its 18-page long notice issued to the broadcaster. — PTI
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IBM centre in Pune Vodafone revenue jumps 19 pc SBI MF declares 20 pc dividend Airnetz air-taxi service Tata Capital’s tie-up
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