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Nano will roll out on time: Tata
Gear up for full float of rupee, RBI tells banks
Inflation dips to 12.34 pc
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BAE Systems awaits nod for 49% stake
Total plans refinery at Vizag
External debt up 30 pc
BIS gears up to check misuse of ISI mark
Norms for greenfield airports finalised
No plan to list OVL, says ONGC
Sun extends Taro open offer till Oct 3
GAIL okays bonus share of 1:2
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Nano will roll out on time: Tata
New Delhi, September 4 "We obviously want to launch as we had planned. And we'll do everything possible to come as close to the planned launch as we possibly can," Tata said at the 48th SIAM annual convention 2008 here. It was, however, not clear if the first lot of Nano would roll out from Singur or an alternate location, plans for which are under consideration of Tata Motors. Protest led by Mamata Banerjee of the Trinamool Congress over the land given to the firm in Singur forced Tata Motors to suspend work late on Tuesday at the plant where it planned to build the Nano. Asked if customers would be able to buy Nano by October, Tata said, "The question needs to be asked not to me but to others." He was, however, the centre of attraction at the annual conference of automobile industry with everybody wanting to know his mind about the Nano project and whether he would relocate it from West Bengal to some other place. But everybody was kept guessing with Tata sources indicating that it would be premature to comment on it as the West Bengal Governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi has called a meeting on Friday between the state government and protesting Trinamool Congress representatives in a bid to resolve the stalemate. Comments from Tata came even as Italian car manufacturer Fiat announced that it would roll out the world's cheapest car in India by 2010. The launch would take place globally, Fiat's CEO Sergia Marchionne said here at the conclave. He however, did not disclose the price of the proposed "cheapest" car. Meanwhile, reports suggested that notwithstanding the outcome of the talks called by West Bengal Governor tomorrow, Tata Motors has already been looking at other sites to continue the production of Nano. Looking to meet its October (Durga Puja) deadline, the Tatas may well look to augment its already existing facility at Pantnagar in northern Uttarakhand to also produce Nano there. It had already been working on producing most of the car parts at Pantnagar in the wake of the protests and would possibly now shift the entire focus there. Experts, however, pointed out that in announcing the suspension of work at Singur, the company has stopped short of declaring that it was pulling out of West Bengal for good, which has also left the door open for talks.
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Gear up for full float of rupee, RBI tells banks
Mumbai, September 4 "The banking sector requires to develop appropriate capabilities to manage the varied and enhanced risks (on the implementation of fuller capital account convertibility)," the central bank said in its report on currency and finance today. The banking system in a freer capital account regime would be exposed to enhanced risks in terms of currency risk, counter party credit risk, legal risk, risk of regulatory arbitrage, risk in derivatives transactions and reputation risk, the report said. A committee headed by S.S. Tarapore had recommended implementation of fuller capital account liberalisation by financial year 2011. With this, banks are expected to undertake transactions in multiple currencies acting as channels for the flow of funds in and out of the country. A fuller capital account regime is also expected to allow banks to receive deposits and raise borrowings from both residents and non-residents. Banks, then, can also lend and invest in both domestic and foreign jurisdictions. "All these types of transactions add to the risks of the banking system that are not so evident in a less open domestic banking system," the RBI said. Meanwhile, the RBI today warned that the government finances would come under pressure due to the Sixth Pay Commission, as also farm-loan waiver and subsidies, and said it would continue tight monetary policy even as inflation eased for the second successive week to 12.34 per cent. In addition to this, the RBI further said that volatile food and energy prices were other causes of concern that call for attention on urgent basis. Projecting an eight per cent economic growth, the bank said the overall stance of monetary policy would be to ensure a monetary and interest rate environment that accords a high priority to price
stability. — PTI |
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Inflation dips to 12.34 pc
New Delhi, September 4 Meanwhile, the Cabinet Committee on Prices met today under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to discuss the price situation of foodgrains, edible oils and other commodities. It also discussed the impact of recent floods in various parts of the country and its impact on prices. The flood situation in Bihar is likely to impact sugarcane, paddy and maize sown in the season. According to sources, the CCP was informed that despite floods in some states, the prices of food commodities have begun showing downward trend. The decline in inflation last week was largely on account of the drop in the global crude prices and marginal easing of prices of essentials such as fruits, vegetables, eggs, meat and fish. Economists, however, cautioned that it may be too early to assume that the declining trend had set in.
Inflation, which is well above the 12 per cent mark, has remained an area of serious concern for the government which has been taking a number of steps to check the price rise. However, the government is expecting inflation to come down to 8-9 per cent in coming months with the international crude oil prices declining to $109 a barrel from an all-time high of $147.27 per barrel on July 11. |
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JV with M&M
New Delhi, September 4 Julian Scopes, who has been appointed president of the BAE systems’ India operations, told mediapersons today that the company had made a request to the government to allow foreign partnerships at a greater scale. At present, India has restricted foreign participation in domestic defence production in the private sector to 26 per cent. Separately, the government is already debating the possibility of allowing foreign companies to pick up up to 49 per cent stake. Scopes, who has previously worked with the UK ministry of defence, said the business plan was yet to be finalised hence he could not spell out the entire scheduled investment. The BAE systems' proposal needs to be cleared by the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB). He added that the issue of restricted ownership of defence assets was already frustrating several private industries who were eager to enter into an agreement with foreign manufacturers. “We are not demanding from the government to allow 49 per cent stake to foreign companies in Indian private defence industry, but have only put up our case as suggestion,” said Guy Douglas, BAE Systems’ India head of communications, who was also present during the media interaction. Scopes said BAE Systems was not here just to sell, but to be an integral part of India's defence industrial base. “We want to establish ourselves through partnerships and joint ventures with Indian private defence industry, employ Indian people and develop equipment for the armed forces and exports. We want to do design and development, manufacture, and export businesses in India,” he said. Under the arrangement, the Mahindras and BAE systems would bring in capabilities in land vehicles systems, particularly in the area of mine protected vehicles. |
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Total plans refinery at Vizag
Bangalore, September 4 Jewell talked to this reporter on the sidelines of a conference organised here to announce the change of brand name of Total’s range of products from Elf Gas to Totalgaz, which is the name under which their products are marketed elsewhere in the world. Jewell said 92 per cent of the Indian LPG market is constituted by consumers getting cylinders at a subsidised rate. “When 92 per cent of the market is getting gas at a subsidised price, it is natural that some of it will be pilfered and make way into the remaining eight per cent market”, he said. Total, which is the fourth largest publicly traded oil and gas major in the world with revenues in excess of 158 billion euros in 2007, is primarily engaged in supplying LPG to industrial and commercial consumers in India. It sells gas for domestic consumption also. However, according to Jewell, Total’s business of supplying gas to domestic consumers can pick up only if the government abolishes the subsidy given on LPG cylinders sold by official agencies. Jewell said Total India, in collaboration with Oil India Limited and the Mittals were planning to set up an oil refinery at Vizag. This would enable the company to source locally the products being sold by it in India. At present, they are getting LPG and other petroleum-based products to India from the Middle-East. He said Total India had also diversified into supplying LPG for consumption in automobiles. It was also setting up a LPG bottling plant near Bangalore. It has already set up the first and only cavern storage facility of LPG with a capacity of 60,000 MTs at Vizag in equal partnership with HPCL. |
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External debt up 30 pc
New Delhi, September 4 External commercial borrowings (ECBs), used by companies to raise funds from abroad, increased by 40 per cent and short term debt (borrowings) went up by 34.8 per cent. However, the government's debt as a proportion of total external debt declined from 28.4 per cent to 25.6 per cent. The government has said that external debt was in the comfort zone with the foreign exchange cover of the debt being at 140 per cent during the last fiscal, up from 117.4 per cent a year-ago. Debt service ratio, which indicates the ability to repay loans, remained low at 5.4 per cent during 2007-08. Other indicators like ratio of external debt to gross domestic product, which indicates the indebtedness of a country, was 18.8 per cent during 2007-08 and the ratio of short-term debt to foreign exchange reserves stood at 14.3 per cent. The ratio of short-term debt to total external debt was 20 per cent in the end of March this year. |
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BIS gears up to check misuse of ISI mark
Chandigarh, September 4 Talking to TNS here today, Bhupinder Singh, deputy director, BIS, said they have invited tenders for outsourcing this work in this region. “The technical bids for the work have been examined and we will be shortly examining the financial bids, before the companies are approved,” he said. The shortage of staff in this region prevents the BIS from conducting surveillance on the illegal usage of ISI mark. Officials say that the usage of fake ISI mark and certificates has increased. “The idea behind outsourcing is to use private companies to gather information on such illegal usage of ISI marks and certificates and report the same to us. Our staff will then go and conduct raids,” said the deputy director, northern region. A similar initiative was taken in Delhi, Faridabad, Ghaziabad, Ahemdabad, Bangalore, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Jaipur, on a pilot basis. The success in these eight cities has now prompted BIS to initiate the outsourcing of intelligence gathering in this region. The companies which have experience in a related field, and an annual turnover of Rs 2 million, will be selected. BIS, the national standards agency of India involved in the development of technical standards, product quality and management system certifications and consumer affairs, is now working on a skeletal staff. There have been no new recruitments for the past couple of years and with more companies seeking standard certification, the work has grown manifold. The deputy director also said they have invited expression of interest for conducting surveillance of units that are seeking/have sought ISI mark. The agency wants the selected companies to conduct surveillance on units that have been issued certification and check if they continue to follow the set standards. |
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Hooda lays stone of YKK’s second unit
Rewari, September 4 With a total investment of Rs 366 crore, the plant will be commissioned in March, 2009, and will generate direct employment for 250 persons. From this plant, the company will start exporting its product to countries like Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan. The Chief Minister also inaugurated Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the YKK Corporation. The project will be instrumental in reducing carbon dioxide in the environment by 2,200 tonnes per annum. Hooda informed that during the past three and half years, Haryana had witnessed an unprecedented flow of investment. While the state had already received concrete proposals for investment to the tune of about Rs 40,000 crore, an additional investment of over Rs 77,000 crore was in the pipeline. Besides, the state had also received 94 proposals for the establishment of SEZs, out of which 56 had been accorded in-principle approval by the Union Government, he added. |
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Norms for greenfield airports finalised
New Delhi, September 4 These guidelines will apply to setting up of all airports, heliports and upgradation of airfields. However, airports set up for private use, that is the use of the aerodrome for non-commercial purposes, will not be subjected to these guidelines. All proposals for setting up of airports, in whichever category, will be routed through the Steering Committee. While the applicant will have to get clearances from various departments and ministries of Central Government, all proposals will have to be submitted to the Committee. The Committee will adhere to a set time schedule while undertaking the proposals. However, proposals, which need to be referred to the ministry of civil aviation or the Central Government, will require time beyond the set time limit. The Central Government had notified the Policy for Greenfield Airports and constituted a Steering Committee to coordinate and monitor various clearances required for setting up of greenfield airports. Under the finalised guidelines, the ministry of civil aviation will serve as a secretariat of the Steering Committee and will be responsible for processing proposals received by the committee, convening meetings and coordinating with various stakeholders. |
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No plan to list OVL, says ONGC
New Delhi, September 4 "It is absolutely nonsense. We have no plans to list OVL," ONGC chairman and managing director R. S. Sharma said while commenting on reports that ONGC may list OVL to fund the $2.58 billion acquisition of Imperial Energy. OVL had last month won approval of Imperial board for its 1,250 pence a share bid (£1.42 billion) and it now awaits approval of Kremlin to take over the company which has assets in Tomsk region of the western Siberia in Russia. "Where is the question of going to public when parent ONGC has ready cash to fund the acquisition? There is absolutely no need (for OVL listing). Funding is in place for Imperial buy," said Sharma who is also OVL's chairman.
— PTI |
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Sun extends Taro open offer till Oct 3
Mumbai, September 4 Sun Pharma and its subsidiary, Alkalodia Chemical Exclusive Group, said the extension of the open offer expiry date was recommended by the Israeli Supreme Court. "If the temporary order remains in effect and the Supreme Court has not decided the appeal by October 3, Sun will further extend the offer while the temporary order remains outstanding," Sun Pharma said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange. The Supreme Court's order said that the appeal would be heard before December 15.
— PTI |
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GAIL okays bonus share of 1:2
New Delhi, September 4 He said the company proposes to raise Pata Petrochemicals' annual capacity to 500,000 tons in the next one year from the existing 400,000 tons. It will further raise the annual capacity to 800,000 tons in future, Choubey said. — PTI |
Moser Baer raises Rs 411 cr Tata Power buyout Gitanjali Gems, MMTC in pact Shemaroo Entertainment Honda recalls 581,353 cars Jet flight to Muscat SBoP bags national award
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