B U S I N E S S

Inflation the target, says Subbarao
Mumbai, September 5
D. Subbarao, who today took over as Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) from Y.V Reddy, says he would continue his predecessor’s fight against inflation.

Newly appointed Reserve Bank of India Governor Duvvuri Subbarao (L) with outgoing Governor Y.V Reddy as he takes charge of matters at the RBI headquarters in Mumbai on Friday. The appointment of Subbarao, a one-time senior World Bank economist will be for three years but the term can be extended to five. — AFP photo

.... A major concern: PM
Salem (TN), September 5
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said inflation and its control have become a major concern with steep hike in global oil and commodity prices but the government was ensuring that the growth was not hurt by the steps taken to moderate the rising prices.

Diesel for industries to have dual pricing
New Delhi, September 5
Oil minister Murli Deora clarified today that the government is planning for a differential pricing of diesel for industrial users only and not for vehicle owners. The minister said there was a misreporting in media as regards the differential pricing for vehicles which is not possible given the operational difficulty of such a proposal.

Yasuhiko Yokoi, managing director, Toyota Motors Corporation (L), Vikram Kirloskar, vice-chairman, Toyota Kirloskar Motors (center) with Hiroshi Nakagawa, managing director, Toyota Kirloskar Motors, at the launch of ‘Altis’ at Greater Noida on Friday. — Tribune photo

Sensex down on global sell-off
Mumbai, September 5
The stock markets took a beating as global indices fell on fears of a slowdown in the US. After opening down more than 300 points, the Sensex closed 415 points, or 2.79 per cent, lower at 14,483. In the broader markets, the Nifty also dropped 95 points, or 2.1 per cent, to end at 4,352 levels.

Rupee at 21-month low
Mumbai, September 5
The rupee on Friday reverted to weaker end against the greenback to close near to a 21-month low at 44.64/65, depreciating about 30 paise, from its previous close of 44.35/36 per dollar on strong outflow due to weak global sentiments.

ONGC, OIL eye more oil fields in Colombia
New Delhi, September 5
State-run Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and Oil India Ltd (OIL) today expressed interest in taking more oil fields in Colombia while gas utility GAIL proposed to set up a petrochemical plant in the oil-rich South American nation.

K.C Chakrabarty, chairman and managing director, Punjab National Bank, with Kuldeep Goyal, chairman and managing director, BSNL, at the launch of BSNL bills payment facility through PNB ATMs at corporate office of BSNL in New Delhi on Friday. BSNL users can now pay their bills through ATMs of Punjab National Bank. Post-paid mobile subscribers of BSNL can pay their bills in any of the 1,700 ATMs of PNB throughout the country where as for fixed line customers this facility is available in 19 major cities at present. — Tribune Photo

PUSA-1121
Remove non-basmati tag: Punjab
Chandigarh, September 5
The Punjab government has appealed to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to intervene to reverse a decision notifying the long grained Pusa-1121 paddy variety as “non basmati”, saying if this was not done, the state’s policy to switch over to this variety following failure of its diversification plans would also fail.

• Centre nullifies ban

IGL plans Rs 500-cr investment
New Delhi, September 5
Indraprastha Gas Ltd (IGL), the company that sells CNG in the national capital, said it would invest Rs 500 crore over the next two years to expand its retail network with the addition of 50 new outlets before 2010 Commomwealth Games.

‘ICICI, Kingfisher, Taj top brands in Asia-Pacific’
New Delhi, September 5
Three Indian brands — ICICI, Kingfisher and Taj — have emerged as the most admired consumer brands across Asia-Pacific alongside global majors like LG, Sony, Cadbury, HP and Nokia in their respective segments.

Interest rates to ease after March: PNB
New Delhi, September 5
Punjab National Bank (PNB), the country’s second largest public sector lender, today said interest rates would start coming down by next year even though the Reserve Bank of India indicated that it will continue its hawkish stance.

Tata Steel declares bonus
New Delhi, September 5
Tata Steel today said it would pay its employees 20 per cent of their salary as bonus for the year 2007-2008 on account of better performance and centenary year of the company.

Inflation the target, says Subbarao
Tribune News Service

Mumbai, September 5
D. Subbarao, who today took over as Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) from Y.V Reddy, says he would continue his predecessor’s fight against inflation.

“The immediate priority for me as the Governor of the RBI will be to manage inflation and anchor inflationary expectations,” Subbarao told reporters at the RBI headquarters here.

The new governor, who is generally expected to pursue reforms mooted by the government, did not disappoint. Replying to queries by reporters on whether the RBI would continue with reforms, the incoming governor sounded a cautious note. “The priority in the short to medium-term will be to pursue financial sector reforms in the context of financial stability and price stability,” he said.

Before taking over as the 22nd Governor of the RBI, Subbarao was the finance secretary. Going by convention, Subbarao formally took charge and addressed mediapersons along with Reddy. Earlier, the deputy governors of the RBI came down to receive the new governor, who formally accepted office.

Later Reddy told reporters that he was planning to settle down in his hometown Hyderabad and could take up teaching.

.... A major concern: PM

Salem (TN), September 5
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said inflation and its control have become a major concern with steep hike in global oil and commodity prices but the government was ensuring that the growth was not hurt by the steps taken to moderate the rising prices.

“In the last few months, because of the steep increase in international prices of petroleum products and primary commodities, inflation and its control have emerged as a major concerns of policy. We have taken steps to moderate the rise in prices. In so doing, we have also tried to ensure that inflation control measures do not hurt the growth momentum we have built up in the last four years,” Singh said while laying the foundation stone for Rs 1,750-crore expansion project of Salem Steel Plant, a part of Steel Authority of India.

Hoping that the economy would grow by nine per cent annually during the 11th Plan period, he said: “To ensure non-inflationary growth, we must step up production in all sectors — agriculture, manufacturing and services. We still have a long to go in creating infrastructure essential for modernising India. Ready availability of steel is a key requirement for such infrastructure,” he said.

Stating that it was a sellers’ market for steel he complimented the industry, in particular the public sector, saying: “The rising prominence of our steel industry on the world’s steel landscape also mirrors the emergence of our country as a leading economic power in the world.”

He also projected that the country would become the second largest producer by 2015 if present trends continued. — PTI

Diesel for industries to have dual pricing
Bhagyashree Pande
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 5
Oil minister Murli Deora clarified today that the government is planning for a differential pricing of diesel for industrial users only and not for vehicle owners. The minister said there was a misreporting in media as regards the differential pricing for vehicles which is not possible given the operational difficulty of such a proposal.

“The proposal of dual pricing of diesel is under consideration because the situation is very difficult and it will not be possible to give gas guzzling industrial users diesel at the same price as domestic consumers and farmers,” the minister said, adding: “The under recoveries for diesel this year are expected to be to the tune of Rs 1 lakh crore.”

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had met Deora on Tuesday to begin work on the proposal.

The move is being seen as a part of the efforts being made by the ministry to curb unwarranted spurt in diesel demand which is hurting the state-run oil companies. Diesel has traditionally been priced lower than petrol to keep costs low for farmers — who use it for running tractors, pumps and threshers — besides transporters.

The state-run oil companies face problem as they lose more money on diesel than petrol because of the government’s pricing policy.

The spurt in international crude oil prices over the last one year has seen this loss rise as the gap between diesel and petrol has widened to over Rs 10 a litre. The oil companies now lose Rs 13.69 a litre on diesel against Rs 6.31 on petrol.

Sensex down on global sell-off
Tribune News Service

Mumbai, September 5
The stock markets took a beating as global indices fell on fears of a slowdown in the US. After opening down more than 300 points, the Sensex closed 415 points, or 2.79 per cent, lower at 14,483. In the broader markets, the Nifty also dropped 95 points, or 2.1 per cent, to end at 4,352 levels.

The sharp fall in Indian equities came even while oil prices closed below the $108 a barrel mark.

Among the major losers today included realty, banking, IT and metals indices that fell more than 3 per cent each. However, the selling was seen mainly in the frontline stocks while the CNX midcap index fell just 1.6 per cent and the BSE small cap was down just 1 per cent.

Among the index stocks Ranbaxy Laboratories was down 8.8 per cent while Reliance Industries fell 3.4 per cent. Other losers included Housing Development Finance, DLF and Jaiprakash Associates. Among sectoral indices the BSE realty index fell 4.2 per cent or 216 points. The BSE IT index and banking index were also down 3.5 per cent each.

Globally, major European markets were down sharply. Among Asian stocks, the Nikkei was down 2.75 per cent, while the Shanghai Composite fell more than 3 per cent.

Rupee at 21-month low

Mumbai, September 5
The rupee on Friday reverted to weaker end against the greenback to close near to a 21-month low at 44.64/65, depreciating about 30 paise, from its previous close of 44.35/36 per dollar on strong outflow due to weak global sentiments.

The partially-convertible currency fell sharply on speculation that economic slowdown in major global economies including the US and Europe would shun the inflows in emerging-economies especially in Asian markets, dealers said. — UNI

ONGC, OIL eye more oil fields in Colombia

New Delhi, September 5
State-run Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and Oil India Ltd (OIL) today expressed interest in taking more oil fields in Colombia while gas utility GAIL proposed to set up a petrochemical plant in the oil-rich South American nation.

The companies expressed their interest during talks with visiting Colombian minister of energy and mines Hernan Martinez, who signed an agreement with petroleum minister Murli Deora for cooperation between the two nations in energy sector.

ONGC chairman and managing director R.S Sharma and ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL) managing director R.S Butola sought more oil blocks in Colombia and expressed desire to participate in the latest licensing round in the Latin American nation that closes in early November.

OIL chief Pasrija also staked claim for oil blocks on nomination basis and would also participate in the Colombian international bid round where 43 exploration areas have been offered. — PTI

PUSA-1121
Remove non-basmati tag: Punjab
Jangveer Singh
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 5
The Punjab government has appealed to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to intervene to reverse a decision notifying the long grained Pusa-1121 paddy variety as “non basmati”, saying if this was not done, the state’s policy to switch over to this variety following failure of its diversification plans would also fail.

In a letter to the Prime Minister today, state agriculture minister Suchha Singh Langah said the Punjab State Technical Committee for approval of varieties, the central sub-committee on crop standards, notification and release of varieties and the agriculture ministry had already approved the variety as basmati.

The minister said in case the government notified the variety as basmati it could be exported to West Asia and European countries under this label benefiting farmers of the country.

According to experts, the Pusa-1121 variety has all characteristics of basmati, besides having a high-yield potential of 18 to 22 quintals per acre against a yield of 8 to 10 quintals per acre for traditional basmati varieties. Agriculture expert Bhagwan Das Arora said farmers who had planted it last year got higher returns as compared to coarse varieties as its market price ranged from Rs 1,800 to Rs 2,700 per acre.

In his letter, Langah candidly admitted that the attempt at diversification of area under paddy had failed in the state. He said, however, the introduction of Pusa-1121 and its steady gaining popularity had made the government realise that its diversification plans lay in switching over to this variety of basmati. He said Pusa-1121 was beneficial to the state as it was planted in July when the rains set in and did not have an adverse impact on the water table.

Unlike Haryana, which has taken to basmati in a big way with around 48 per cent paddy area under basmati cultivation, in Punjab only around 10 per cent area is under basmati cultivation.

IGL plans Rs 500-cr investment
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 5
Indraprastha Gas Ltd (IGL), the company that sells CNG in the national capital, said it would invest Rs 500 crore over the next two years to expand its retail network with the addition of 50 new outlets before 2010 Commomwealth Games.

“We are ramping up gas compressing capacity of our existing outlets by 40-50 per cent. The compression capacity would be stepped up to 28 lakh kg of gas per day from the current 20.69 lakh kg a day,” IGL managing director Rajesh Vedvyas said.

IGL, a joint venture of gas utility GAIL India and Bharat Petroleum, is in the process of land acquisition for the new outlets.

“We would be investing a total of Rs 250 crore this fiscal with an investment of Rs 10 crore earmarked per station. We have yet to get possession of the land for seven sites in Delhi, for which we have received approval. As many as 16 other sites are under consideration and we expect some progress soon,” Vedvyas said.

A similar amount would be invested next year.

At present the company gets a little less than two million standard cubic meters per day of gas at administered price of $ 1.9 per million British thermal unit and has allocation for an additional 0.7 mmscmd.

It has sought an additional 1 mmscmd for the expansion, Vedvyas said.

IGL, which supplies piped gas for cooking purpose to 1.3 lakh households, has plans to increase penetration and cover 50 per cent of the population in Delhi in next three years.

‘ICICI, Kingfisher, Taj top brands in Asia-Pacific’

New Delhi, September 5
Three Indian brands — ICICI, Kingfisher and Taj — have emerged as the most admired consumer brands across Asia-Pacific alongside global majors like LG, Sony, Cadbury, HP and Nokia in their respective segments.

According to the ‘Asia Pacific’s top 1,000 brands’ survey for 2008 released today by global research firm TNS, ICICI has been named as the top brand in both banks and credit cards segments, while Kingfisher and Taj have topped the rankings in airlines and hotels segments respectively.

Besides, three other Indian brands — SBI, Jet and Oberoi — have emerged as the second most admired brands in their respective segments — banks, airlines and hotels respectively.

Among banks, airlines and hotels, Indian brands have grabbed both top two positions. In other segments, Sony has been named as top brand in television and camera segments, South Korean major LG in the air conditioners’ segment, Cadbury in chocolates, Hewlett-Packard in laptops and Nokia in mobile phones, TNS said.

In the credit cards segment, ICICI is followed by Visa at the second rank, while LG is followed by Samsung among air conditioners and Sony is followed by Canon in cameras. Besides, Nokia, HP and Sony are followed by Sony Ericsson, Dell and Samsung at the second position in mobile phones, laptops and TV segments. Nestle has been named the second most favoured after Cadbury in chocolates segment.

Commenting on the findings, TNS (India) executive director Shobha Subramanian said: “The survey goes beyond mere market or sales share into the realm of consumer share of mind. Brands such as Sony, Nokia, ICICI and HP are in the forefront not just in India but across various markets in this region.” Around 3,600 persons were interviewed for the survey across 10 countries, including Japan, Korea, Australia, China, Hong Kong and India, said in a TNS release. — PTI

Interest rates to ease after March: PNB

New Delhi, September 5
Punjab National Bank (PNB), the country’s second largest public sector lender, today said interest rates would start coming down by next year even though the Reserve Bank of India indicated that it will continue its hawkish stance.

“Interest rates seem stable for some time now. We expect the interest rates will start coming down after March,” PNB chairman and managing director K.C Chakrabarty said on the sidelines of a function here.

The banking regulator said yesterday in its currency and finance report for 2006-08 that “It is critical at the prevailing juncture to demonstrate on a continuing basis a determination to act decisively, effectively and swiftly to curb any signs of adverse developments in regard to inflation expectations.” Inflation, which is reining over 12 per cent, is still way above the RBI’s projection of 7 per cent by the end of current fiscal. — PTI

Tata Steel declares bonus

New Delhi, September 5
Tata Steel today said it would pay its employees 20 per cent of their salary as bonus for the year 2007-2008 on account of better performance and centenary year of the company.

The steel major today signed an agreement, related to bonus payment, with its employees’ union extending the August 2002, MoU with them for another year, a company statement said.— PTI