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Currency trading norms to be relaxed
Operationalising N-pacts to take time, says PM
Petrochemical Project
Delhi, Mumbai to have heliports
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RBI unlikely to change key rates: FinMin
International air traffic growth falls in August
HSIIDC records 67% jump in net profit
Exports up 26.9 pc in August
FDI cap on single-brand retail may go
BEL declares 207 pc dividend
FDI in DTH services may go up
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Currency trading norms to be relaxed
Mumbai, October 1 "There are demands from market participants that the currency trading norms should be relaxed. RBI and SEBI are working together to relax the norms," SEBI chairman, C B Bhave said here. Relaxation in currency trading norms is expected to enable all category of market particpants to trade in currency futures. At present, only a selected category of players are allowed to trade in currency futures. The regulators have been trying to ensure transparency and timely settlement of transactions in the system, which are essential to develop a healthy financial system in the country, Bhave said. "We have been trying to bring in assurance of settlement and transparency in the market...the present financial crisis in global markets is an outcome of lack of faith on these principles," Bhave said. Meanwhile, BSE today launched currency derivatives segment (BSE-CDX) that would enable participants to hedge their currency risks through trading in the US dollar-rupee platform. The NSE had kicked off exchange-traded currency futures for the first time in the country on August 29, while leading commodity bourse Multi Commodity Exchange of India (MCX) is expected to launch the facility soon. — PTI
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Operationalising N-pacts to take time, says PM
On board PM's special aircraft Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday said it would take some time before the nuclear cooperation agreement with France or similar accords that India would sign with other nations in the days to come were operationalised."It will take some time before this agreement (with France yesterday) or other agreements that we sign to be operationalised," Singh told reporters who accompaned him on his 10-day visit to the US and France. India proposes to sign a nuclear accord with Russia when Russian President visit New Delhi in December. Accords were in the pipeline with other European countries also in the wake of the NSG giving its nod to India to undertake nuclear commerce. Leading French nuclear giants like Areva, Alstom and EDF are eyeing a share in the $100-billion nuclear commerce which will be generated with India's atomic isolation having ended now. Areva, the world's largest builder of nuclear reactors, is working on plans for nuclear work in the Indian market. The Nuclear Power Corporation of India is already in preliminary talks with Areva to sell two latest third-generation Europen Pressurised Reactors (EPR) and nuclear fuel. Asked whether the agreement has finally cleared the decks for French nuclear firms to enter the Indian market, Singh said the pact was a framework agreement and there were several steps to be taken by both countries to go through various procedures. "I think the sequencing will be decided on its own merits." Atomic Energy Commission chairman Anil Kakodkar also indicated in Paris after the accord was initialled yesterday that it would take some time before the French nuclear firms can set up shop in India. Asked how soon can French nuclear companies expect to win contracts, Kakodkar said there were some parallel processes which needed to be followed like having additional protocols in India-specific IAEA safeguards. The world's second producer of nuclear energy after the US, France is vying to lead a worldwide revival of the industry, fuelled by global warming and rising energy prices.
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IOC averse to being equal partner
Ruchika M. Khanna Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, October 1 Citing financial crunch because of underwriting on account of subsidies on petroleum products, IOC has said that it is willing to be a minority partner in the project. The issue was put up before the Board of Directors of HSIIDC, in its meeting held earlier this week. The Board of Directors has now asked HSIIDC to go ahead with the project on its own, after diluting the stake of IOC. Confirming the decision, Rajiv Arora, managing director of HSIIDC, said that the corporation has also been given a go-ahead to scout for a private investor by floating an expression of interest. “The basic funding of Rs 3,730 crore will be done by HSIIDC. We are already in the process of acquiring 2,000 acres of land for the first phase of the project. While 800 acres has already been acquired, we have to announce the award for another 130 acres,” he said. This world-class petrochemical hub will come up in around 4,000 acres near the IOC’s Panipat refinery. As part of IOC’s plans for diversification, a mega petrochemical complex based on naphtha as feedstock and comprising naphtha cracker/associated units and downstream polymer/ chemical units is being commissioned at estimated investment of Rs 11,000 crore. Since Polyester Staple Fibre (PSF), Polyester Filament Yarn (PFY), Partially Oriented Yarn (POY) are generally used as ingredients of manufacturing textiles, mostly on polyester-oriented garments, carpets and other domestic usable products, the availability of these would help in the growth of downstream petrochemical industry in the petrochemical hub. Even polymer products like LLDPE, HDPE and PP, can be converted by end-processors to the various consumable items like packaging films, shopping bags, heavy duty sacks, lamination, canal lining and other agricultural uses, bottles and containers, wires and cables, items like overhead tanks, heavy duty crates, containers, bins, storage bins, woven sacks, fibrillated yarn, medical and hospital use products, blow moulded bottles, moulded industrial products, staple fibre, automotive industry (bumpers, inside furnishing of automobiles). These industries, too, can come up in the petrochemical hub. Arora said the potential investment in the downstream industries could be around of Rs 15,000 crore. This investment in downstream petrochemical and end-products industries are likely to experience an annual turnover of around Rs 12,500 crore, leading to increase in tax revenue of the state.
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Delhi, Mumbai to have heliports
New Delhi, October 1 The ministry of civil aviation on Wednesday said Delhi and Mumbai would soon have independent heliports. Besides, efforts were also on to carve out a separate area in the Delhi airport from where choppers could operate independently. The country's budding helicopter industry is currently going through difficult times due to high costs of operations and taxation. Coupled with that, tedious clearance procedures and huge deficits are virtually nipping the emerging sector in the bud. Operating heli-charter business is not commercially viable due to high operational costs is evident from the fact that majority of operators are running into deficits. “There is not a single charter company in the country that has been able to purchase a new helicopter out of its own earnings, except for government-owned Pawan Hans,” says Deccan Aviation (sirector) Vishnu Rawal. Helicopter operators say high customs duty being charged for import of helicopter could be reduced substantially to help the industry. Besides operational costs could be substantially reduced by cutting out taxes on ATF, simplifying procedures, reducing the time on ground and straightening routes. Though subsidising the industry is not possible, operators say the AAI could assist by exempting heli companies from route navigation and other such charges. Heli tourism, at present is little explored area in India. There are merely 184 helicopters in charter business here as compared to 30,000 rotary wings flying in the US.
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RBI unlikely to change key rates: FinMin
New Delhi, October 1 Finance ministry sources say that RBI is unlikely to change short-term lending and borrowing rates — repo and reverse repo — in the upcoming policy review. RBI last raised CRR by 25 basis points to 9 per cent in July this year. But the good news for the consumers is that there would be a pause on the rate tightening cycle, banking sources say. "By the end of October or early November, the first tranche of Rs 25,000 crore to banks for their outgo on farm debt waiver would be released which is more than about one per cent CRR cut," the sources said. On the rupee depreciation, sources said RBI was controlling the rupee's volatility against dollar but has not set any target value for the domestic currency.
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International air traffic growth falls in August
New Delhi, October 1 It says international passenger demand growth slowed to 1.3 per cent, following disappointing growth of 1.9 per cent in July. Passenger load factor fell to 79.2 per cent from 81per cent recorded during the same period last year. International freight traffic saw its third consecutive month of contraction with a 2.7 per cent decline following drops of 1.9 per cent in July and 0.8 per cent in June. “Passenger traffic grew by 5.4 per cent in the first half of the year. That slowed to 1.9 per cent in July and 1.3 per cent in August. The contrast between the first half of the year and the last two months is stark,” IATA director general Giovanni Bisignani said. “The slowdown has been so sudden that airlines can’t adjust capacity quickly enough. While the drop in the oil price is welcome relief on the cost side, fuel remains 30 per cent higher than a year ago. And with traffic growth continuing to decline, the industry is still heading for a $5.2 billion loss this year,” he said. Air freight has declined for the past three months, led by Asia Pacific carriers that posted a 6.5 per cent decline in July and a 6.8 per cent decline in August. Asia Pacific carriers reported a 3.1 per cent contraction, following a 0.5 per cent decline in July. Economic distortions surrounding the Olympics in China and a weakening Japanese economic outlook contributed to the decline. While some recovery in this weak performance is expected in coming months, clearly the region’s economies are feeling the impact of the turmoil in the financial markets. Middle-Eastern carriers saw traffic growth drop to 4.3 per cent following 5.3 per cent in July and well below the 10.6 per cent growth recorded during the first six months of the year.
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HSIIDC records 67% jump in net profit
Chandigarh, October 1 Stating this here today, M.L. Tayal, principal secretary to Chief Minister and chairman of the corporation, said the corporation had maintained a consistent record by earning a gross profit of Rs 90.27 crore this year against a profit of Rs 40.89 crore last year. The gross income during the year had also exceeded the target and touched Rs 106.35 crore as compared to Rs 57.05 crore during the previous financial year. The net worth also registered a significant increase from Rs 678.43 crore last year to Rs 770.66 crore during this fiscal. Tayal said the term loan activity of the corporation also registered a significant growth during this year. The corporation sanctioned term loans to the tune of Rs 91.23 crore this year. The disbursement and recovery stood at Rs 55.02 crore and Rs 73.04 crore, respectively, during this period. Rajeev Arora, MD of the corporation, said the corporation had spent Rs 1,045.25 crore on the development of industrial infrastructure in the state, which was significantly higher than Rs 940.42 crore spent last year. He said the corporation had drawn an ambitious plan for setting up new industrial estates and infrastructure projects for which a land bank of about 17,000 acres was being created. The investment outlay for these projects would come to Rs 12,000 crore. |
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Exports up 26.9 pc in August
New Delhi, October 1 Exports grew to $16 billion in August from $12.61 billion, while imports rose to $29.94 billion from $19.8 billion in the same period last year. The trade deficit widened to $13.94 billion in August from $7.19 billion a year-ago, according to official figures released here today. India's crude oil import bill shot up by 76.7 per cent to $10.96 billion from $6.2 billion in August 2007. For the April-August 2008 period, exports showed a growth of 35.1 per cent to $81.22 billion. Imports rose by 37.7 per cent to $130.36 billion in the first five months of the fiscal. Consequently, the deficit in this period stood at $49.13 billion.— PTI |
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FDI cap on single-brand retail may go
Paris, October 1 "If so required, we will certainly look at it," Nath said in his interaction with top French luxury designers under the aegis of Ficci and Comite Colbert. He was asked whether the Indian government will consider allowing 100 per cent FDI in single-brand retail. Since the government allowed 51 per cent in 2005, several global luxury brands have set up joint ventures in the country. President of Louis Vuitton Yves Carcelle, who raised the question of removing the FDI cap, asked, "Why will anybody come unless they allow 100 per cent?" In India, besides 51 per cent FDI allowed in single-brand retail, 100 per cent is allowed in cash and carry. However, the FDI in multi-product retail is still not allowed due to wider political opposition. Organised retail accounts for less than 5 per cent of the $400-billion retail market in India.
— PTI |
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BEL declares 207 pc dividend
Chandigarh, October 1 BEL would spend 1 per cent of profit after tax (PAT) on corporate social responsibility — in the areas of health care, education, rural development, environment protection and conservation of resources, according to company statement. The PAT was Rs 826.74 crore for 2007-08 as against the previous year's figure of Rs 718.16 crore. The expenditure on R&D would be enhanced in the current financial year. Significantly, 83 per cent of the turnover in 2007-08 accrued from indigenously developed products. BEL recorded a turnover of Rs 4,102.54 crore for 2007-08, an increase of 3.79 per cent over previous year's turnover of Rs 3,952.69 crore. |
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New Delhi, October 1 "We are of the view that FDI across all services should be uniform," information and broadcasting additional secretary Uday Verma told reporters here. Keeping this in mind, when asked if the government is looking at increasing FDI in DTH services to 74 per cent, he said, "that is what being discussed" within the ministry. He added that the government is also looking at calculating revenue share for the DTH operators from an adjusted gross revenue (AGR) basis rather than the current practice of gross revenue. — PTI
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London Mumbai New
Delhi Grass Roots’ buyout:
UK-based Grass Roots Group on Tuesday said it has acquired 90 per cent stake in the Mumbai-based merchandise and corporate Ludhiana
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