The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	Gas Row Ambanis heading for settlement Bhagyashree Pande Tribune News Service New Delhi, August 11 The ongoing feud between the Ambani brothers, which includes division of the multicrore business empire between Mukesh and Anil, and national asset like gas, seems to be reaching a settlement soon. Sources close to development say that the two brothers have met recently and the settlement is on the cards. Government sources have confirmed that settlement between the two brothers is in the offing and it is likely that the matter will go for an out-of-court settlement. The issue of KG basin gas supply to Anil Ambani-led firm RNRL is also being resolved. However, those close to the development in the family say it is still in the initial stages and that there is a lot of government intervention and pressure from high- level that is making this possible. As regards the time frame of the settlement, the sources say, it is being worked out that the matter does not come up in the Supreme Court for hearing, which is expected to take place in September. The government sources say that mudslinging in the media over politicians is becoming too embarrassing for the Manmohan Singh government, especially at a time when the new government is gearing up to invite foreign investors. It is learnt that Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Oil Minister Murli Deora and Home Minister P Chidambaram, amongst others, are involved in reaching an agreement between the brothers. Recently, Anil Ambani in the AGM of RNRL had hit out at the Oil Ministry, saying that it had played a partisan role in the dispute. The KG basin gas and its pricing was also the matter that the junior Ambani raised, saying that a price of $4.20 per unit of natural gas was far too high and that the price should be no more than $1.5 per unit. However, Oil Minister Murli Deora, who has been repeatedly accused of being biased, has sought refuge in the fact that the matter is sub judice. The elder brother, who maintained a dignified silence in the matter, had on Friday said that he was hurt by the personal comments made by the junior Ambani.
	OilMin misleading PMO: Anil Anil Ambani Group on Tuesday accused the Petroleum Ministry of "misleading" the Prime Minister's Office by claiming that Reliance Industries' KG-D6 facility is required to sell natural gas as per the Gas Utilisation Policy of the government. The ADAG issued a statement on Petroleum Ministry's response saying the Production Sharing Contract (PSC) gives contractors freedom to market the gas. The PMO has sought comments from the oil ministry on a letter from Anil Ambani. "Petroleum Ministry is intentionally and deliberately misleading the PMO and public at large by claiming that PSC required RIL to sell natural gas as per the Gas Utilisation Policy of the Government," it said. The ministry had in its response cited Article 21.1 of the PSC which states that "natural gas has to be sold as per the Gas Utilisation Policy of the Government". An Empowered Group of Ministers, headed by the then External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee that went into the whole issue of pricing and usage of RIL's KG-D6 gas for almost two years, approved a Gas Utilisation Policy and made allocations of gas among fertilizer and power firms. ADAG, which is locked in a bitter dispute on sourcing of gas from Mukesh Ambani-led RIL, repeated its earlier stand that the Petroleum Ministry should terminate KG-D6 contract if it feels the PSC had been violated. "If the Petroleum Ministry is firmly convinced of the facts, it is within their powers under the provisions of PSC to terminate the PSC it has signed with RIL," ADAG said. The ADAG stated that the "Petroleum Ministry seems to be suddenly realising the virtue of public interest at such a belated stage only to justify its action disregarding the fact that Bombay High Court allowed the Government to intervene in the matter keeping in mind the public interest." ADAG said the Petroleum Ministry "was in full knowledge of the details of the gas supply arrangements between RIL and (ADAG firm) RNRL way back in June 2006, if not earlier. Copy of the gas supply agreement was duly submitted by us to the Petroleum Ministry in June 2006." — PTI
	Family pact flouts govt authority: OilMin New Delhi: The part of the Ambani family MoU that divides the gas found by RIL between brothers Mukesh and Anil group firms is against public interest, flouts government authority and will set a wrong precedent for others, the Oil Ministry has said. Responding to comments sought by the PMO on a letter from industrialist Anil Ambani, the ministry last week wrote that the family MoU was clearly against the provisions of the Production Sharing Contract (PSC) and will "harm the public interest." Anil had written to the Prime Minister on July 15 seeking a direction to the Oil Ministry to stop favouring Reliance Industries in a commercial dispute between two companies. The Bombay High Court's June 15 order that upheld the MoU, gives "precedence to a private family MoU over the government's rights under the PSC, the policies approved by the Government and the Constitution of India," it said. The court had asked RIL to supply more than one-third of peak output from KG-D6 fields to Anil Ambani Group's Reliance Natural Resources Ltd at $2.34 per million British thermal unit, a rate 44 per cent lower than government approved price for the fuel from the fields. — PTI
	Bathinda refinery work put on fast track SP Sharma Tribune News Service Bathinda, August 11 Work on the Rs 20,000-crore refinery of HPCL-Mittal Energy Ltd (HMEL) here has been put on fast track to commission it in the next two years by mid-2011. The project has brought to the country one of the largest Foreign Direct Investments (FDI). According to Rajeev Parmar, a senior functionary of the project, about 37 per cent of the work on the Guru Gobind Singh Refinery has been completed. The consortium of 26 bankers and financial institutions that has provided loans amounting over Rs 10,000 crore for the refinery visited the project recently to review its progress. A sum of Rs 4,500 crore has so far been spent on the project and orders for more than 90 per cent equipment have already been finalised. The sponsors, the HPCL and LN Mittal Group Company, have already put in about Rs 2,000 crore and will contribute equity of Rs 6,555 crore by 2011. Among the members of the consortium are the State Bank of India, Canara Bank, Punjab National Bank, Bank of Baroda, Allahabad Bank, Union Bank, Syndicate Bank and Life Insurance Corporation. The company’s future plans were also presented to the consortium. The bankers visited various units of the refinery and reviewed the construction progress, completion schedule and other relevant details of the unit. The bankers expressed satisfaction on various financial and technical parameters of the project. A specific mention was made on the strict health and safety code being enforced by the company on the more than 14,000 workers employed at the site. The project on completion shall be the biggest investment on a single project in the state. In addition to catering to the requirements of petroleum products in the state, it shall also provide various value added products, notable among them being polypropylene and pet coke.
	No terror funds in stock markets: Centre to SC R Sedhuraman Legal Correspondent New Delhi, August 11 The government has filed a fresh application in the Supreme Court, allaying the apprehension that terrorist outfits were manipulating the stock markets. It has also sought dismissal of the PIL on black money filed by former Law Minister Ram Jethmalani and five others. "Upon inquiry, it has been confirmed by the Bombay and Chennai Stock Exchanges that no fictitious or notional companies can be stated to be involved in stock market operations," the Centre averred in its latest affidavit. The government made the assurance in response to the PIL's charge that even National Security Adviser MK Narayanan had reportedly acknowledged "isolated instances of terrorist outfits manipulating the stock markets to raise funds for their operations." The NSA had also stated that "exchanges in Mumbai and Channi have, on occasions, reported that fictitious or notional companies were in stock market operations." Among the petitioners is former Punjab police chief KPS Gill. The government also disputed the reported statement of former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalitha expressing similar doubts about the terror link. "…the apprehensions expressed therein are unfounded in the light of the fact" that the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) was regulating funds pumped in by foreign institutional investors (FIIs)." At the same time, the government ruled out the possibility of banning participatory notes. "The present petition does not disclose a breakdown of the rule of law nor does it disclose any constitutional breach much less the breach of any fundamental rights under Article 32 of the Constitution. The petitioners have not been able to make out a case compelling judicial review….no case is made out for interference…the present case may be dismissed at the preliminary stage itself," the Centre has pleaded.
	REC to raise Rs 30,000 crore New Delhi, August 11 State-run Rural Electrification Corporation mulls raising nearly Rs 30,000 crore this fiscal through issuance of bonds and borrowings from the global markets. "The company is planning to raise this sum (Rs 30,000 crore) through a mix of instruments like taxable bonds, international borrowings, Follow-on Public Offer and also through banks," Power Ministry sources said. The state-run firm plans to use the fund to disburse loans for power projects. It expects to sanction Rs 45,000 crore worth loans and disburse approximately Rs 23,000 crore during the current financial year (2009-10). The company is mulling raising Rs 2,900 crore via FPO, which is expected by the end of this fiscal and the Cabinet approval for the same awaited. REC would issue around 17 crore shares of Rs 10 face value each at a premium to be decided by the company later. This amount does not include the capital that REC would raise for the Revised Accelerated Power Development and Reforms Programme (R-APDRP), sources added. The objective of R-APDRP is to reduce Aggregate Technical and Commercial losses to 15 per cent and below. It is proposed to cover urban areas– towns and cities with population of more than 30,000. — PTI
	Award for Kurali industrialist Tribune News Service Chandigarh, August 11 Tejinder Pal Singh, managing director of Technic Fabrications Pvt Ltd, Kurali, has been awarded the Indian Achievers Forum Award for the category of small scale industries on the national level. Indian Achievers Forum is a non-governmental body engaged in promoting competitiveness in business in order to meet global challenges. It conducts a nationwide survey to select achievers in business excellence in various fields based on parameters such as business ethics, job generation, eco-friendly technology promotion, customer relations and export potential. Tejinder Pal Singh, an engineering graduate from Guru Nanak Engineering College, Ludhiana, had set up Technic Fabrications Pvt Ltd in 1989. Today, it is one of the largest companies in the country to be exclusively engaged in manufacturing special application and mobile hydraulic vehicles. It offers employment to over 100 persons. The company is ISO 9001:2000 certified.
	9.47 m GSM users added in July Tribune News Service New Delhi, August 11 Over nine million GSM subscribers were added by the telecom companies in July to take the total tally to over 325 million users in the country. According to data released by the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), a total of 9.47 million GSM subscribers were added in July. The subscriber addition in July is higher than June's 8.89 million, but still lower than 10.8 million recorded in March. The total tally stood at 325.7 million subscribers. The figures, however, do not include Reliance Communication's GSM subscribers, which would clearly take the tally beyond 10 million subscribers being added. It also does not include the subscribers added by the CDMA operators.
	C Rangarajan to head PMEAC New Delhi, August 11 Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today reconstituted his Economic Advisory Council (PMEAC), which will be headed by noted economist C Rangarajan. The other members of the PMEAC are M Govinda Rao, V S Vyas, Suman Bery and Saumitra Chaudhuri. Rangarajan, 77, will replace Suresh Tendulkar. Rao, Director of the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP), and Chaudhuri, member, Planning Commission, have been retained as members of the PMEAC. Bery is Director-General of the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER), while Vyas, former director of IIM, Ahmedabad, is a noted agriculture economist. Rangarajan, a former RBI Governor, was head of the PMEAC for three years beginning 2005. He quit the PMEAC in 2008 to join the Rajya Sabha as a nominated member. — PTI