The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	Hong Kong out of recession Hong Kong/New Delhi, August 14 Showing fresh signs of global economic recovery, Hong Kong has followed Germany and France in coming out of recession, with the Asian economy expanding 3.3 per cent in the second quarter of 2009. European economic majors - Germany and France - have witnessed second-quarter growth, after an year of recession, while the downturn in the American economy is bottoming out. Moreover, economies in the Euro zone - a grouping of 16 nations sharing the common currency euro — shrank 0.1 per cent in the second quarter, much less than the first-quarter contraction. Hong Kong, which has been in recession for four straight quarters, has recorded a GDP growth rate of 3.3 per cent for the three months ended June. "... on a seasonally adjusted quarter-to-quarter comparison, real GDP resumed growth at 3.3 per cent in the second quarter, after contracting for four consecutive quarters," as per preliminary figures released by Hong Kong's Census and Statistics Department said in a statement today. In the first three months of 2009, the economy contracted 4.3 per cent. Generally, recession is defined as two consecutive quarters of negative growth. Financial Secretary John C Tsang said the govenment's strategy to stabilise the financial system, preserve employment and support enterprises had yielded results in supporting the economy and helping to slow the rise in unemployment. “We are seeing encouraging signs of an economic recovery and the economy will hopefully improve further in the second half of the year. For 2009 as a whole, the forecast for the economy is now revised upward to a contraction of 3.5 - 4.5 per cent," Tsang noted. Springing a surprise, Germany and France on Thursday announced their economies have returned to growth, with their respective GDP rising 0.3 per cent in the second quarter. However, the Census and Statistics Department warned that economic outlook remains "highly uncertain". In the wake of the ravaging financial turmoil, majority of the countries worldwide are seeing severe economic downturn. — PTI
	Gas row: Why government is on backfoot Bhagyashree Pande Tribune News Service New Delhi, August 14 The government yesterday formed a Group of Ministers (GoM) to defend itself on the KG basin gas dispute. The government is embarrassed by the allegations made by Anil Ambani on the biases it has shown on various issues regarding the KG basin gas field, its pricing, policy and other initiatives. There are policy issues that the government has fumbled on many occasions. To begin with, the present stand by Oil Minister Murli Deora that the gas is a sovereign asset and should be used for the economic development of the country is baseless. If the government was so conscious of its rights then it should have designed the production sharing contract signed between RIL and the Oil Ministry in a way that would bring gas to the country right from day 1. Instead, it designed the contract in such a way that it gave away sovereign rights of a gas field to the operator (in this case Reliance Industries) so that the he can recover all his cost incurred first before giving any gas to the government. Besides, if the government was so conscious of such a resource and its importance then it should have first evolved a policy of valuation of exhaustible resources like gas, oil, coal and other minerals. How does the government define what constitutes overall benefit to the nation as has been stated by Murli Deora? Have all stakeholders like power and fertiliser companies, the state government and other consumers participated in developing an economic model for the utilisation of gas? Does Mr Deora understand the nature of entire business of natural gas - from production to exploration, transport, development of gas-based industry? The government formulated a gas utilisation policy in a hurried manner few months before the gas started to flow from the KG Basin. The world over the practice is that a policy for such important asset is formulated soon after the discovery is made taking views of all stakeholders into consideration. It takes on an average 4-5 years for development of a gas field, and simultaneously setting up of facilities that are going to consume gas like power plant, fertiliser plant and petrochemical plants. In addition to this, another area where the government has been careless is that it allowed its inexperienced officials to approve cost of such an important asset. The cost approvals for KG basin, which was of around $9 billion, was approved by the management committee comprising junior officials of the Oil Ministry, junior officials of the Directorate-General of Hydrocarbons, and RIL. These officials are not technically or commercially qualified to approve such an important project, which is being taken up for the first time in the history of the nation. The Oil Ministry has approved routing of gas by building a pipeline from East to West for Maharashtra and Gujarat. So how does the country benefit as a whole as claimed by Deora ? States like Maharashtra and Gujarat will benefit from this, but they already have enough gas supply sources from Bombay High, Panna Mukta Tapti, South Bassein field and liquefied natural gas supply from Ras Gas of Qatar. The present stand of the Oil Ministry only helps RIL as gas producer and owner of gas transmission network since the pipeline laid by the company directly links the KG basin field to Jamnagar refinery.
	Indian, Gulf investors eye British Land London, August 14 Shares in British property companies rose on Friday after a report that a group of Indian and Gulf investors was mulling a £10billion-plus ($16.6 billion) takeover of British Land. The Daily Telegraph said a consortium comprising Indian steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal and the Abu Dhabi royal family had approached Credit Suisse for advice on a possible acquisition of Britain's second-largest real estate company, as a two-year property slump nears an end. An approach has not been made, the paper said. Spokespeople at British Land and Credit Suisse declined to comment. The newspaper, without citing sources, said the investors looked at buying British Land's flagship Broadgate office complex in the City of London financial district but have also spoken to bankers about a possible takeover. British Land is one of the biggest office landlords in Britain and its portfolio of offices and retail property was valued at around £8.6 billion at end-March. Meanwhile, analysts were sceptical about the likelihood of a takeover bid from the rumoured suitors. “If you want exposure to prime UK property assets at depressed prices, you buy a single asset, not a corporate vehicle," said Michael Burt, an analyst at Noble Group. Property stocks have enjoyed a massive rally since March, as a blistering correction in bricks and mortar prices showed signs of slowing. ‘We are not going to say takeovers are 100 per cent ruled out, but this looks odd to us," said Harm Meijer, property analyst at JPMorgan. Meijer said a potential takeover bid of 600 pence per share reported in the Financial Times would imply a premium to latest net asset value of 51 per cent, which he described as "not exactly a knockdown price." — Reuters
	RBI: Borrowings hindering monetary policy objective Suresh Dharur Tribune News Service Hyderabad, August 14 The government’s huge borrowings were coming in the way of the monetary policy objective of a lower interest rate regime in the country, Reserve Bank of India Governor D Subba Rao said today. “The RBI has cut its policy rates several times since October hoping that interest rates will come down, but the borrowing programme has militated against it,” he said. The RBI Governor was participating in a panel discussion on "Challenges for the Central Banks", organised by the RBI here as part of its platinum jubilee celebrations. He said making monetary policy independent of fiscal policy was an important reform measure for the country. Stating that coordination between monetary and fiscal policies had become a challenge, Rao said: “The first challenge is to manage the coordination between monetary and fiscal policy. This very rapid expansion in the borrowing programme has impeded monetary transmission.” The RBI Governor, however, pointed out that there had been no policy decision taken so far about the government raising its level of borrowing. This was despite the fact that Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee announced plans to borrow Rs 4,51,000 crore to fund the government's spending programme. Referring to the drought conditions in the country and its potential impact on inflation, the central bank chief said it was “too early” to take action regarding inflation. “I feel that there is still hope for agriculture,” he said, pointing out that monsoon season had not yet come to an end. The RBI, he said, was sensitive to existing drought-like situation and its potential impact on inflation. “Currently there is a reason to be concerned about food prices. We are watching the situation and will continue to monitor it and take whatever action necessary,” Rao told reporters on the sidelines of the panel discussion. “I am unable to say to what extent the drought situation will translate into pressure on prices and what action and at what point of time the Reserve Bank will act,” he said.
	DTH viewers in for a treat Ruchika M. Khanna Tribune News Service Chandigarh, August 14 Television is no longer the idiot box. With changing times, the television is also reinventing itself as a ‘smart box’ by offering a plethora of services like matrimonial search, job search and booking a holiday. Till now available through the Internet, these services are now being offered on the television by leading direct-to-home (DTH) service provider Dish TV. It has tied up with job search and recruitment site monster.com, matrimonial website shaadi.com and travel portal yatra.com to provide these services to its DTH subscribers. Talking to The Tribune here today, Salil Kapoor, chief operating officer, Dish TV, said as of now these services would be provided free of cost to its customers, irrespective of the package they were availing. “Through these value-added services along with previous ones like news active and games active, we will further increase the penetration of DTH and compete with cable operators." Dish TV, which enjoys a market share of 42 per cent with a subscriber base of 5.5 million. “We realised that if we have to take the DTH penetration further, we had to provide value to our subscribers. Since the internet penetration in the country is quite low as compared to the television penetration, we saw a perfect opportunity to offer these online services on television. Our subscribers will also get special discounts, apart from packages for hotels, if they book through yatra.com. The business model is such the revenue will be earned jointly through advertising on the sites,” said Kapoor. He said the DTH operator was also in the process of tying up with companies, which would enable subscribers to download ringtones, wall papers and order home delivery. “Another service allows viewers to watch movies two weeks after its release on their TV sets. We have tie-ups with production companies like UTV and Sony on an equal revenue-sharing basis”, he said.
	Infosys most admired Indian firm: WSJ New York, August 14 IT bellwether Infosys Technologies has been adjudged as most admired Indian company, ahead of Tata Consultancy Services and Bharti Airtel, says a survey. Infosys has topped the list of 10 most admired Indian companies and is followed by IT major TCS at the second position, according to the survey conducted by The Wall Street Journal Asia. Telecom giant Bharti Airtel is at the third spot, engineering major Larsen & Toubro has cornered the fourth place and IT firm Wipro is at the fifth position. Others on the list are Tata Steel (sixth), FMCG major Hindustan Unilever (seventh), HDFC Bank (eighth), State Bank of India (9th) and conglomerate ITC (10th). The ranking is based on the Asian 200 survey of subscribers of The Wall Street Journal Asia and other business people. The survey takes into account factors such as financial reputation, vision, corporate reputation, quality and innovation. Infosys has also been ranked first in terms of corporate reputation, vision and quality. State Bank of India has topped the list in terms of financial reputation followed by Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries at the second place and HDFC Bank at the third position. Tata Steel and Reliance Industries have cornered the second and third places, respectively, in terms of vision. A total of 2,622 executives and professionals participated in the Asian 200 survey across 12 Asian-Pacific countries. — PTI
	RIL discovers gas in Mahanadi basin New Delhi, August 14 Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) has found natural gas reserves in a well drilled on its NEC-25 block in Mahanadi basin, off the Orissa coast, the company's junior partner Niko Resources of Canada said today. Gas was discovered in the well AJ2 last month, Toronto-listed Niko said in a regulatory filing. According to a source, this is not a new discovery but appraisal of earlier gas finds. “AJ2 is an appraisal well drilled to access the potential in the previous A6 and J1 discoveries. Gas was struck in AJ2 but it is not a new pool." Niko Resources holds 10 per cent interest in the Mahanadi basin shallow water block covering an area of 10,755 sq km in water depths ranging between 20-600 meters. RIL holds 90 per cent interest in the Bay of Bengal block. — PTI