New Delhi, September 12
Government's revenue from indirect tax, comprising customs, excise and service tax, has touched Rs 1,12, 643 crore by August-end, thus achieving over 35 per cent of the budget estimates for the current fiscal.

Revenue collection from customs and excise duty grew by 10.5 per cent to Rs 93,856 crore by August-end, while service tax collection rose by 24.9 per cent at Rs 18,787 crore till July-end, against Rs 15,043 crore collected during the same period last year, a finance ministry statement said.

Revenue collection from customs duties grew by 17.8 per cent and stood at Rs 47,734 crore during first five months of this fiscal against Rs 40,505 crore collected a year ago, while excise collection rose by merely 3.7 per cent to Rs 46,122 crore, against Rs 44,469 crore during the same period a year earlier.

Earlier, finance minister P Chidambaram had also expressed concern about the sluggish growth in excise duty collection.

According to Budget 2008-09, indirect tax collection are estimated at Rs 3,21,264 crore during the current fiscal, which include Rs 1,18,930 crore from customs, Rs 1,37,874 crore from excise and Rs 64,460 crore from service tax.

Meanwhile, during the April-August period, the net direct tax collection stood at Rs 84,409 crore, up 38.31 per cent from Rs 61,030 crore in the same period last year.

However, in August, revenue collection from customs duty slowed down, growing at 8.9 per cent to Rs 9,484 crore, against Rs 8,713 crore a year ago.

Excise duty collection rose merely by 1.2 per cent in August touching Rs 19,013 crore, against Rs 9,898 crore during the corresponding period last fiscal. In July, for which latest data is available, service tax collection grew at 9.4 per cent to Rs 3,876 crore against Rs 3,543 crore a year ago, the statement added. — PTI 

New Delhi, September 12
The petroleum ministry is looking into a dual pricing policy for diesel that would entail charging bulk users a higher price for the subsidised fuel, a senior official said today.

"It (dual pricing policy) is under consideration right now and bulk users would be charged more if implemented," petroleum secretary R S Pandey told reporters here.

Oil PSUs had proposed to the petroleum ministry that diesel for industries and big cars be sold at Rs 57 per litre instead of the current price of Rs 34.80 a litre.

Pandey refused to comment on when the matter would be taken to the Cabinet for approval. If the policy is implemented, bulk/industrial users would be charged Rs 22.20 more, he added.

Last month, petroleum minister Murli Deora had a brainstorming meeting with chiefs of oil firms where he was informed that diesel demand in April-July had gown up by 18 per cent, with bulk of the growth coming from industrial users like power plants.

The unprecedented growth in demand has seen domestic output fall short of the requirement and a total of 4.14 million tons of diesel may have to be imported in 2008-09. Of this, 1.267 million tons has been imported in April-July.

Oil companies are projected to lose about Rs 1,00,000 crore on diesel sales this year as the subsidised fuel is being increasingly used in industries for power generation.

The power sector had seen a whopping 152 per cent rise in demand in the first quarter to 53,000 tons, while fisheries and marine sector had seen a near-40 per cent growth, sources said. — PTI 

New Delhi, September 12
There is a hope of growth in industrial growth as the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) recovered to 7.1 per cent in July from the dismal performance in previous two months of the current fiscal.

Even though it moderated compared with 8.3 per cent recorded a year ago, this comes at a time when inflation is also showing signs of moderation.

While the manufacturing, which contributes about 80 per cent to IIP, grew by 7.5 per cent in July, compared with 8.8 per cent a year ago, electricity generation was up by 4.5 per cent, against 7.5 per cent. Mining output growth, however, was quite higher at 5 per cent from 3.2 per cent a year ago.

The growth in industrial production was low at 3.8 per cent in May and 5.4 per cent in June.

In April, however, industrial growth stood at 7 per cent, more or less same as in July.

As such, industrial growth turned out to be 5.7 per cent in the first four months of this fiscal, against 9.7 per cent a year ago. The data came close to first quarterly economic growth figures at 7.9 per cent and would play a crucial role for the GDP figures for the next quarter.

If this trend continues and other sectors like agriculture and services also contribute, GDP figure may be quite higher for the second quarter, analysts said.

The improved data may give some breather to the government and RBI, struggling hard to check the double-digit inflation through tightening monetary policy, which hampers the growth process. 

Chandigarh, September 12
The war in the sky is getting hotter. With four players now offering the Direct-to-Home (DTH) service and trying to outdo the other in terms of pricing, the consumer is the real beneficiary.

While Dish TV and Tata Sky have been active in the region for quite some time now, the entry of Big TV (Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group) and Sun Direct now, the consumer is being offered a plethora of services. The entry of two new players has also led to a tariff war, with each service provider trying to outdo competition by offering more for less money. And why not? At stake are the seven million TV homes in the three states of Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh — which have neither a cable/satellite nor DTH connection.

It is learnt that of the 14 million TV homes in the region, seven million have a cable/satellite connection. “It is the remaining seven million TV homes that we are targeting. We may not get the early bird advantage that our rivals would have got last year, but our USP would be the pricing and offering of a wider bouquet to the consumers,” said Tony D’silva, chief operating officer of Sun Direct, while launching the service in North India today.

Sun Direct has launched its service by offering its connection at Rs 1,999, with a one-year free subscription for a package of 135 channels. By the evening today, Dish TV, which has a 54 per cent market share in the DTH industry, too, had announced a similar package to counter the Sun Direct offer and retain its customer base. Talking to TNS, Salil Kapoor, chief operating officer of Dish TV, said they have launched a ‘Happy Family Pack’ at Rs 1,990 with a one-year free subscription for 125 channels. Both the players are offering regional content (Punjabi channels) in these packages.

Big TV, which had launched its services last month with a special package of 200 channels at Rs 1,499, too, claims that it has received an excellent initial response. A company spokesman informed TNS that they are not just adding new subscribers, but their aggressive pricing has also helped it wean away customers from other DTH service providers. 

Panipat, September 12
Indian Oil Corporation's naphtha cracker complex along with the PX-PTA units is coming up at the Panipat refinery at a cost of Rs 14,439 crore. With the commissioning of the complex, the company's exports of naphtha will stand reduced to 1 MT.

With the expansion of Panipat refinery to 15 million tonnes and setting up of the 15-MT Paradip refinery, the company's annual refining capacity, including that of its subsidiaries, will increase to 81.4 MT by 2011-12.

Indian Oil's Panipat and Haldia refineries would be capable of processing 80-90 per cent high sulphur crude. "Except at Barauni and Digboi, all refineries will be able to process high sulphur crude," IOC’s director (refinery) B.N. Bankapur said.

High sulphur crude is $4-5 a barrel cheaper than sweet crude. "New discoveries are all high sulphur and heavy crude," he said.

IndianOil is also upgrading its processing facilities for handling high sulphur crude. High sulphur crude at present comprises 60-70 per cent of its total crude requirement. The share of high sulphur crude will increase to 76 per cent by 2012 with the commissioning of Paradip refinery.

Meanwhile, Cairn India may have to sell its crude from the Barmer fields in Rajasthan at a discount of $16-18 a barrel to the Bombay High crude, which is benchmarked to Bonny Light. Indian Oil Corporation, which owns 10 of the country's 19 refineries with a combined refinery capacity of 60.2 million tonnes, wants the discount since Cairn's crude is waxy and heavy in nature.

"We are ready to take the crude provided it is economically priced. After research and development, we have estimated that we can substitute maximum 10 per cent of the crude in our pipeline with the Rajasthan crude," Bankapur said. He added that its pipeline system could take around 1.5-2 million tonnes of Rajasthan crude.

Cairn had recently increased its production estimate to plateau rate of production from the three proven Rajasthan fields — Mangala, Bhagyam and Aishwariya — to 1,75,000 barrels of oil per day from the previously forecast figure of 150,000 barrels of oil per day. The company is also engaged in upgradation of fuel quality to Euro -IV norms from April 1, 2010, for supply in 13 major cities. The rest of the country will switch to Euro- III norms. The total expenditure on product quality upgradation will be over Rs 16,941 crore. 

Chandigarh/Sirhind, September 12
Rising inflation notwithstanding, Punjab National Bank is targeting a growth in profit of 20 per cent in the next five years.

This was stated by the chairman and managing director of the bank, K.C. Chakrabarty, during an interaction with mediapersons after inaugurating an ATM in Mohali this evening. He had earlier launched a pilot project on biometric smart card, at Sirhind, which aims at creating interest in saving money among the villagers, especially women.

Answering queries on how the fall in inflation would affect the interest rates, the CMD said though the inflation would reach a single-digit figure next year, its impact on the interest rates would be felt only in the first quarter of next fiscal. “The net interest margin this year will be 3.2 per cent, as compared to 3.41 per cent last year,” he said.

He said the bank was planning to open 150 new branches across the country this year. “As many as 4,300 branches are already on core-banking solution (CBS), and we will convert all our branches to CBS this year,” he added.

Earlier, while speaking at the launch of the pilot project, he said the main motive of this scheme was to bring common people into the banking fold. "We believe that this scheme would benefit even illiterate masses. Over 30,000 villages of country would be included under this scheme till 2010. We are hoping that 7.5 crore people from 1.5 families would avail benefit of this scheme. As many as 27 such projects have already been launched,” he said, adding that five lakh accounts have been opened in Rajasthan alone.

Chakrabarty pointed out that if this scheme proves successful, it would be extended across Punjab. He also distributed more than 2,000 biometric smart cards among self-help group members and others. 

BRIEFLY

Mumbai
Rupee loses 18 paise: The Indian rupee on Friday fell by 18 paise to close at a fresh 23-month low of 45.75/76 against the US dollar, as banks continued to buy the greenback amid regular capital outflows. The rupee has lost 111 paise or 2.5 per cent over the week to close near the 46 level for the first time since October 10, 2006 when it ended the day at 45.80/81 vis-a-vis the greenback.— PTI

New Delhi
BEL chairman awarded: VVR Sastry, CMD of Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), has been conferred with prestigious ELCINA — Dun and Bradstreet Electronics Man of the Year Award for 2007-08. The award was presented to him by Dr V. Krishnamurthy, chairman, National Manufacturing Competitiveness Council, at ELCINA's 32nd award function held in New Delhi. — TNS

Chandigarh
Vodafone lifetime offer: Vodafone Essar has announced that its lifetime pre-paid connection will now be available for Rs 199 in Punjab. Rajiv Kohli, CEO, Vodafone-Essar, Punjab, said apart from getting lifetime connectivity, customers could make calls at cheaper rates as all local and STD calls would be charged at Re 1 and Rs 1.50, respectively.— TNS

Kotak Bank ups deposit rates: Kotak Mahindra Bank has announced the upward revision of interest rates on its term deposits in the general category. Customers will now be able to earn a retail term deposit rate of 10.35 per cent per annum (annualised yield —10.75 per cent).— TNS

Gangtok
NHPC public offer: State-run National Hydro Power Corporation Ltd (NHPC) plans to float its IPO around Diwali in October to raise Rs 1,680 crore from stock markets to meet financial requirements of ongoing expansion work. The company would issue 168 crore shares in the capital market at the rate of Rs 10 at face value per equity comprising 10 per cent fresh shares and five per cent shares to be divested by the government, NHPC chief managing director S.K. Garg told a select group of reporters here on Friday.— PTI