New Delhi, August 1
India today joined the elite group of countries that would offer third generation (3G) mobile services, which will enable customers to enjoy voice, video, data and downloading facilities on their mobile phones.

Telecom minister A. Raja unveiled the much-awaited 3G policy that would allow up to 10 players in a service area, including foreign players, who could offer the next generation mobile telephony in the country. The government expects up to Rs 40,000 crore from the global auctioning of spectrum for 3G services.

The government also announced the policy for the consumers to have the option of switching operators without changing numbers.

Raja also announced the mobile network portability (MNP) that would first start in the four metros in next two months and subsequently roll out in rest of the country over the next 6-12 months.

India has 60 Mhz of 3G spectrum available. The auction will take place in the 2.1 Ghz band.

As per the policy, the government has set a base price of Rs 2,020 crore for each bid for a pan-India license. Initially, there will be three to five operators to sell the 3G services, including state-run BSNL and MTNL.

The government has also favoured the PSUs in the policy giving them an edge over the private players to roll out the 3G services. As they do not have to bid for the spectrum, the PSUs would in a position to roll out the services earlier than others provided they are able to put in the equipment needed for the same in place by the time the auction takes place.

As per the guidelines, the PSUs only have to match the highest bid in their respective circles. The minister said an external agency would be appointed in the next 15 days to oversee the e-auctioning process and by December the mobile operators to roll out 3G services.

As per the guidelines, any licensed telecom operator can bid for 3G spectrum and the radio waves will be auctioned in 5-10 blocks depending on the availability. Each successful bidder will be allocated only one block in a service area.

For CDMA players the spectrum will be auctioned in the 450 Mhz, 800 Mhz band for EVDO and in 1,900 band when it is available.

According to the reserve price, for 3G spectrum fixed by the government 2x5 Mhz block of spectrum for Mumbai, Delhi and category-A cities would cost Rs 160 crore, for Kolkata and category-B Rs 80 crore and category-C Rs 30 crore.

India, which has 287 million wireless subscribers, saw its mobile user base grow 25 times in the last five years making it the second largest wireless market in the world after China.

The government would also distribute licenses for MNP soon and the eligible applicant should have an experience of operating successfully, number portability solution for a mobile subscriber base of not less than 25 million in one or more countries for at least two years.

New York, August 1
India is the second best country for business investment, a new survey of American corporate executives shows. Conducted by Development Counsellors International every three years, the ‘winning strategies in economic development marketing’ survey has tracked trends in economic development since its inception in 1996.

This is the first year respondents were asked to rank the business favourablity of the world’s 25 largest countries (based on GDP).

Of the 281 corporate executives who responded, 53.1 per cent named China as the most favourable country followed by India (45.1 per cent), Mexico (30.1 per cent), Britain (25.4 per cent) and Canada (22 per cent).

The corporate decision-makers who named India as the best for investment cited the country’s labour force, including its supply, skill-level and cost 65 per cent of the time, as the reason for their positive perceptions.

India’s “growing economy/ business opportunities” and “low overall/operating costs” were named 38 per cent and 18 per cent of the time, respectively. The survey also polled the executives about the best US states for business.

Texas, North Carolina and Georgia are viewed as having the best business climates, while California, New York and Michigan were perceived as having the least favourable business climates.

“With the global battle for business more intense than ever, countries and their economic development organisations need to pay close attention to the results of this survey,” DCI president Andrew T Levine said.

“Whether accurate or misguided, perceptions about a location’s business climate often play a crucial role in site selection where companies invest money and create jobs.” — PTI

New Delhi, August 1
Air fares have shot up once again. Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines raised their basic fares by 5-10 per cent today to offset the latest increase in jet fuel prices by about three per cent.

While Jet's economy and business class fares have increased by five per cent and 10 per cent, respectively, Kingfisher-Deccan combine raised their basic fares by 10 per cent for all classes.

Now the cheapest Delhi-Mumbai ticket on these airlines — which was available for around Rs 6,800 — will cost around Rs 7,200.

''We have spared the passengers of any increase in fuel surcharge, and there is no change in taxes and surcharge at this moment,'' a Kingfisher spokesman said.

This is the fifth hike this year, leading to the increase in fares by more than 120 per cent. — UNI

New Delhi, August 1
With oil import bill growing by over 53.4 per cent, India’s trade deficit widened to $9.78 billion despite exports showing a healthy growth of 23.5 per cent to $14.66 billion in June.

While the overall imports grew by 25.9 per cent to $24.45 billion, oil imports shot up to $9.03 billion in June this year from $5.89 billion in the same month last year, thanks to a sharp rise in crude prices.

For the April-June period, exports increased by 22.3 per cent to $42.84 billion from $35.03 billion in the corresponding month last year. Imports for the first quarter went up by 29.7 per cent to $73.27 billion.

Trade deficit increased by 41.7 per cent to $30.42 billion during the first quarter this fiscal from $21.4 billion during the comparable period last year, according to official figures released today.

The Indian crude basket for the April-June quarter this year stood at $118.50 per barrel. Last year, it was $77.25 per barrel. International crude prices are currently ruling at $123.35 a barrel in the Asian market, off from a record high of $147 a barrel seen last month.

In rupee terms, exports posted a growth of 29.7 per cent in June at Rs 62,790 crore, against Rs 48,386.49 crore in the same period last year.

Commenting on the export figures, Federation of Indian Export organisation president Ganesh Gupta said: “Any growth of over 20 per cent is welcome one, but for meeting export target, we require an growth of about 28-30 per cent.”

The slight increase in the non-oil imports shows that manufacturing may decline in months to come. It is a concern to industry as well as exporters, Gupta said.

Export target for 2008-09 has been fixed at $200 billion. Last year, exports had missed the target of $160 billion and stood at $155.5 billion. The shortfall was partly attributed to a sharp rise in rupee value that has started depreciating this fiscal. — PTI

Chandigarh, August 1
Banks in Punjab were today pulled up by the state government for not coming forward to help debt-ridden farmers for swapping their loan taken from private moneylenders. The private banks were also pulled up for failing to advance loans under the priority sector lending.

Against the target of covering 13,805 farmers under debt swap scheme in 2007-08, banks in Punjab provided financial assistance to just 4,033 farmers (loan advanced was Rs 29.21 lakh). Some banks like State Bank of Patiala, Oriental Bank of Commerce, Canara bank, Andhra bank, UBI and Dena bank did not assist even a single farmer under the debt swap scheme in 2007-08. This was revealed during the state-level bankers committee meeting for Punjab, held here today.

While expressing concern over the low advances in this scheme, D S Kalha, principal secretary, (finance) said some banks were not coming forward to assist state farmers under debt swap scheme. He suggested that the banks should start working on a target-oriented approach by adoption of village or cluster of villages in each rural branch for completely swapping debt from moneylenders.

While reviewing the performance of the banks in Punjab, J.M. Garg, executive director, Punjab National Bank, said 149 new branches of commercial banks were opened in the state during the review period, thus raising the network to 3,048 as on March 2008. The aggregate deposits of the banks registered growth of 15.6 per cent. In absolute terms, deposits increased by Rs 13,509 crore from Rs 86,359 crore to Rs 99,868 crore during the period under review.

Chandigarh, August 1
Micro finance schemes in Punjab are under the scanner with revelations of several self help groups (SHGs) in Ludhiana functioning as kitty groups coming to the fore.

It is learnt that a number of banks formed these SHGs in the Khanna, Samrala and Machchiwara blocks in Ludhiana, were actually formed as kitty groups. After each member got her share, these SHGs exist only on paper and have not been credit linked. This revelation was made during the state-level bankers’ committee (SLBC) for Punjab, held here today.

The bank officials, who brought this irregularity to light, maintained that the same was true for many SHGs formed across the state. Stunned at the revelation, the executive director of Punjab National Bank (PNB), J. M Garg, has asked the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to conduct a thorough probe. D. S Kalha, principal secretary (finance), Punjab, who was also present in the meeting, too, reprimanded the bankers for emphasising on creating more SHGs rather than strengthening the existing ones and credit-linking them.

During the meeting it was also revealed that bankers in Ludhiana had formed just three SHGs in Ludhiana and four in Faridkot during the last financial year. Amongst the three groups formed in Ludhiana district, the banks had failed to provide credit link to any of them. 

New Delhi, August 1
Central Bank of India has said its net profit has seen a 39.68 per cent decline at Rs 59.32 crore for the quarter ended June as compared to Rs 98.35 crore during the corresponding period last year.

BRIEFLY

‘No restrictions on LPG  connections’
NEW DELHI: Clarifying the reports regarding restrictions on allotting new domestic LPG connections, the petroleum ministry on Friday said there would be no restrictions on releasing new allotments and the oil marketing companies (OMC) would keep on enrolling fresh applications. “There would be no restrictions in releasing LPG connections by OMCs -- IOC, HPCL and BPCL,” an official statement said here. It added that the OMCs would continue to enroll fresh applications and release the connections. — UNI

BoI mulls BPLR, deposit rates hike
MUMBAI: Bank of India is considering a hike in its benchmark prime lending rate (BPLR) following the RBI raising its key rates earlier this week. The bank’s asset-liability committee would meet within the next 10 days to take a decision on its BPLR, BoI chairman and managing director T S Narayanasami said here on Friday. He also said there could be a marginal increase in the bank’s deposit rates as well. — PTI

Federal Bank plans
MUMBAI: Federal Bank is looking to pick up small strategic stakes in other lenders, including major ones, a top executive said on Friday. The private bank has already acquired small percentages (up to 5 per cent) in three south-based banks, bank’s executive director K F Harshan told reporters here. The three banks are South Indian Bank, Catholic Syrian Bank and Lakshmi Vilas Bank. The bank now intends to expand its branch network in the south and would approach the RBI for more licences, he said. — PTI

Strides Arcolab buyout
MUMBAI: Strides Arcolab on Friday said it has completed acquisition of 50.1 per cent stake in Australian firm Ascent Pharmahealth. The company at final closing in September 2008 would own up to 55 per cent in the Ascent Pharmahealth (formerly known as Genephram Australasia), Strides Arcolab said. — PTI

Power Grid Corp chief
NEW DELHI: Power Grid Corp on Friday said S K Chaturvedi has taken charge as chairman and managing director of the company. “S K Chaturvedi has assumed the charge of chairman and managing director of the company from today,” a company statement said. Chaturvedi was director (personnel) with NHPC Ltd. — PTI

New steel secretary
NEW DELHI: Pramod Kumar Rastogi on Friday took charge of secretary to the ministry of steel. He replaces R S Pandey, who has taken over as the secretary to the ministry of petroleum and natural gas. Rastogi earlier was special secretary to the ministry defence. — PTI