The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	Nepal PM woos Indian investors Tribune News Service New Delhi, August 19 Nepal Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal has called upon Indian corporates to shed their perceived fear of insecurity and park their funds in his nation. The Prime Minister while addressing the Indian industry at a joint meeting of Assocham, CII and Ficci said he was going to establish a high-level political committee to ensure speedy clearances of foreign investment proposals in Nepal. He assured Indian investors that his office would coordinate to ensure that investments coming from India get priority. Regarding the ongoing violence and unrest in the country, the PM said the general law and order condition in the Himalayan Kingdom was returning to normalcy. He said his government would shortly unveil its security plans in consultation with all Nepalese political parties, which would offer security to investments and ensure manufacturing without interruption. The new security plan will address the issue regarding strikes and disruptions, so that industrial production is maintained at steady pace and investors’ interests are adequately protected. Nepal cited investment opportunities in hydropower, roads, bridges, infrastructure, construction, tourism, agro-processing and financial services. It offered full subsidiaries to Indian companies or joint ventures with Nepalese companies in fields like energy, light engineering, manufacturing, information technology etc. He assured that both nations would strive hard to avoid double taxation and trade barriers so that exchange of goods and services happen unhindered. Trade between both nations has risen to $2.13 billion in 2007-08 from the $ 209.5 million in 1995-96. Indian companies operating in Nepal had suffered due to recent violence in the country. Branches of Dabur Foods, and Asian Paints were badly affected and had nearly shut down during Maoist violence in the country.
	OilMin backs NTPC in RIL case Tribune News Service New Delhi, August 19 Dismissing the advertisement campaign unleashed by Anil Ambani group against Mukesh Ambani-led RIL and Petroleum Ministry, Law Minister Veerappa Moily today said the government was “not interested” in such a move. The ministerial group formed by the Prime Minister to supervise the government’s stand on the gas dispute in the Supreme Court today huddled in a meeting to take a stand against the advertisement campaign unleashed by Anil Ambani group in the media. “We are not interested in any advertisement campaign by any private party,” Moily said. It is believed that the meeting, which had been called for determining power firm NTPC’s next move in its legal battle with RIL for getting the gas at a committed price, remained inconclusive and is likely to resume tomorrow. The Petroleum Ministry pledged support to power firm NTPC in its legal battle to get natural gas from Mukesh Ambani-led RIL at a price committed in 2004 and said the PSU’s interests would not be compromised. Oil secretary RS Pandey, power secretary HS Brahma and NTPC chairman RS Sharma were present in the formal meeting, official sources said. NTPC has been contemplating moving the Supreme Court after RIL amended its petition in the Bombay High Court to say that it cannot sell gas to NTPC at the price it had bid for in the 2004 tender due to the government’s stand on the issue. An informal Group of Ministers meeting was held by Law Minister Veerappa Moily, Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, Petroleum Minister Murli Deora and government counsel Mohan Parasaran. However, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee was absent from the meeting. There are apprehensions in government circles that NTPC may even claim damages from RIL for not keeping its commitment, if the power major has to buy gas at $ 4.4 per mmBtu. NTPC may move the apex court against RIL asking them to pay the difference between the government approved price of $ 4.2 per mmBtu and the one committed in the tender of $ 2.34 per mmBtu. While the ministry declared its support to NTPC in the court case against RIL, it has been opposing Anil Ambani group firm RNRL’s claim over KG-D6 gas at a similar price on the grounds that a private family memorandum of understanding could not impinge on the government’s right to approve price and fix usage of gas.
	SBI sees no increase in interest rates till Diwali Tribune News Service Hyderabad, August 19 The present downward trend in interest rates for both advances and deposits is likely to continue in the coming three to six months, SBI chairman OP Bhatt said here today. “There is very little possibility of interest rates rising till Diwali. In fact, interest rates may go down by 25-50 basis points between now and the busy season,” the chairman of the country’s largest lender said. Speaking to the media here after inaugurating a specialised corporate accounts group branch, Bhatt said it was not possible to predict the interest rates on a long-term basis. The SBI chairman’s comments came in the backdrop of speculation that interest rates may go up because of the huge government borrowing programme. However, Union Finance Secretary Ashok Chawla had said yesterday that the government borrowing programme would not jack up interest rates. Bhatt said SBI had reduced interest rates across the customer profile in the past few months. It also gave incentives for new customers. “The credit offtake this fiscal has been good so far and the retail sector, particularly the home loans and automobiles, have been seeing good attraction,” he said. There are good signs of revival in the retail segment and it would double the quantum of retail lending. Last year, the bank lent more than Rs 1,000 crore a month to the retail segment, he said. Though the first quarter had seen a muted response from the large and mid corporates, Bhatt said SBI was optimistic of the credit offtake from these sectors increasing in the second and third quarters. The credit growth rate on a year-on-year basis was about 23 per cent annually and this year it might close at 25 per cent (200 basis points), he said, adding that SBI had restructured loans to the tune of Rs 21,000 crore. Though acquisitions were not on the immediate agenda, Bhatt said SBI had been receiving some offers from international banks. “We are evaluating the prospects if they fit into our asset classes. We are not in a hurry to close the deals immediately'' he said adding that the market conditions now were giving realistic valuations. It was now focused on organic growth in its overseas business, the chairman said. Bhatt said there might be a drop in the recovery rate in the next fiscal if the present drought conditions continue for some time. He, however, did not foresee any loan waiver scenario. On the consolidation of associate banks, he said SBI was waiting to hear from the government for further action.
	FDI proposals of Unitech, ByCell put off Girja Shankar Kaura Tribune News Service New Delhi, August 19 While Unitech Wireless today announced that it had secured a loan of Rs 5,000 crore from the State Bank of India (SBI) to fund its mobile network rollout, the government deferred its foreign investment proposals along with that of another foreign telecom company, ByCell Telecommunication, seeking to make an entry into India, due to security reasons. A Swiss company, ByCell, founded by a group of Russian businessmen, was to hold 74 per cent share in an Indian telecom company set up in partnership with Hyderabad-based Jayalakshmi Group. The company had received approval to begin operations in five zones across 13 states, including Assam, Bihar, northeastern states, Orissa and West Bengal. However, the government revoked all foreign collaboration approvals given to ByCell after the home ministry withdrew security clearance to the firm, citing concerns regarding the original source of its investment involving over Rs 2,500 crore. There were also concerns from the revenue department that had expressed concerns about the company’s shareholding structure, its source of funding and lack of clarity about the company. ByCell had also approached the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) to reconsider its proposal. ByCell Holding AG, Switzerland, holds 64.66 per cent in ByCell Telecommunications, India, while its Indian partner Bitcorp holds 35.34 per cent. A similar proposal of Unitech Wireless (Tamilnadu) to raise its foreign share-holding up to 74 per cent has also been deferred. At present, Norwegian telecom giant Telenor has 67.25 per cent stake in the joint venture. The FIPB deferred the decision following reservations over the Norwegian firm’s strong presence in Pakistan and Bangladesh. Unitech plans to roll out its services by December and has partnered with companies such as Wireless-TT Info Service Ltd, Quippo Telecom Infrastructure, Alcatel-Lucent, Wipro and Huawei Technologies India for infrastructure and management services.
	FDI up 8 pc in June to $2.58 bn New Delhi, August 19 India witnessed a turnaround in foreign direct investment in June with 8 per cent increase in inflows in the midst of the global economic woes. FDI inflows in June aggregated $2.58 billion against $2.39 billion in the same month in 2008-09. This is for the first time since February that the country has seen an expansion in overseas direct investment. "From numbers going below $2 billion in February and March, it is again rising," Secretary in the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion Ajay Shankar told reporters on the sidelines of a CII event on piracy here. The cumulative FDI inflows during April-June contracted by over 30 per cent to $7.02 billion over the same quarter of 2008-09. In the first quarter of the previous fiscal it was $10.07 billion. — PTI
	Dismissal of PPCB chief sought Dyeing units’ stir enters 3rd day Shivani Bhakoo Tribune News Service Ludhiana, August 19 The Federation of Knitwear, Textile and Allied Industries Associations (FEKTAA) has requested Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal to resolve the stalemate between Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) and dyeing industry of the district. In a letter written to the CM today (a copy of which is with The Tribune), Vinod K.Thapar, president of FEKTAA, said the situation was created as drastic measures undertaken by the PPCB resulted in snapping of power connections to about 12 dyeing units in the district. He said what was more disturbing was that the PPCB authorities were taking decisions, like the introduction of ‘zero discharge’, according to their own parameters, which created complications for dyeing units’ owners. The fact that compliance with ‘zero discharge’ was not stipulated by any other pollution control board in the country, which proved that the PPCB was riding rough shod over dyeing industry, said the letter. “We, as apex body of knitwear, textile and allied industry represent about 25,000 industrial units, including 12,000 knitwear, textile manufacturing units employing about 4 lakh workers. All these units are totally dependent upon the dyeing industry. Understandably, non-functioning or under functioning of dyeing units is bound to affect the whole knitwear industry and will render lakhs of workers jobless,” said Thapar. FEKTAA members requested the CM to intervene in order to settle the matter. It may be mentioned here that the agitation by the dyeing industry entered its third day today. The members have threatened to intensify their agitation if PPCB chairman Yogesh Goel was not removed immediately.
	Debt Waiver Scheme Banks told to dispose of all cases Tribune News Service Chandigarh, August 19 In order to ascertain that maximum farmers reap the benefits of the Rs 71,000-crore agriculture debt waiver scheme, the RBI has asked all banks to ensure that each case under the scheme be disposed of by citing reasons for rejection or acceptance of the claims made by farmers. The RBI directed all primary (urban) cooperative banks to ask its grievance redressal officers to dispose of all grievances under the scheme through a speaking order on the fate of these claims. These officers were appointed by the banks after the scheme was announced in the Budget 2008. Ever since the scheme was announced last year, a number of farmers have failed to get the benefits of this scheme after their claims were rejected by the grievance redressal officers. Over four crore farmers across the country have reportedly benefited from the scheme. Several of these orders have been challenged in various courts of law. Recently, the Kerala High Court observed that “whenever the grievance redressal officers decide against the claim of a person that he is an agriculturist entitled to the benefit of the scheme, the officer is bound to give reasons for his decision”.
	BSNL services not hit by strike Tribune News Service New Delhi, August 19 State-run telecom major Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) today said its services had not been hit as a result of the two-day strike by its employees. “BSNL has made adequate arrangements to ensure that telecom services rendered to our esteemed customers remain uninterrupted,” a company statement said here. While about 10,000 engineers are on an indefinite strike in support of their demands, another 1,50,000 BSNL workers went on a two-day strike from today demanding a higher wage revision. aAs the indefinite strike by BSNL engineers entered its second day, the telecom company said the issue of absorption of group A officers was under active consideration of the government and was likely to be finalised soon.
	RCom unveils ‘Antakshari’ service Chandigarh, August 19 Reliance Mobile yesterday launched ‘Antakshari’ service on its R-World platform for both its GSM and CDMA users. The service will allow a subscriber to play ‘Antakshari’ with a selected community or his friend on the move. An official release said Reliance was creating a special viral marketing portal where a subscriber would be able to throw a challenge to the other that the recipient could respond to. This service will be offered for a subscription charge of Rs 30 for 30 days with 30 minutes free usage. — TNS