Mumbai, August 21
The Reserve Bank, which made third party ATM transactions free from April, has said not more than Rs 10,000 can be withdrawn each time they were used and limited the number of such transactions to five a month.

The apex bank has sent a communication in this regard to Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) and this is expected to be implemented shortly, IBA chairman K Ramakrishnan said.

“The Reserve Bank has agreed to put a cap of Rs 10,000 per withdrawal in such (third party) transactions. Also, the number of such transactions will be limited to five times a month,” Ramakrishnan said.

IBA, which is the industry lobby of Indian banks, had submitted its recommendations to the central bank last month citing the financial burden faced by banks on account of huge number of third party usage and small-ticket withdrawals.

Since April 1, the RBI had declared third party ATM usage, including cash withdrawals and account enquiries, free for all customers and said banks could charge Rs 18-20 per month from other banks in case of third party ATM transaction.

With the number of third party transactions surging post-April, banks approached the Reserve Bank through IBA to revisit the current norms and make necessary modifications.

RBI executive director G Gopalakrishna told reporters here on the sidelines of a summit that the Reserve Bank has received suggestions from IBA on the matter, which has been examined by the central bank.

Though IBA had also recommended a minimum limit of Rs 1,000 on third party ATM withdrawals, this was rejected by the Reserve Bank to protect the interest of small withdrawer. — PTI 

New Delhi, August 21
Dubbing as “most unfortunate” the advertisement campaign against it by the Anil Ambani group, the government today hit back, saying the propaganda was unleashed on a sub-judice matter.

Countering the claims made by Anil Ambani group that the government stood to lose because of the Petroleum Ministry's connivance with Mukesh Ambani-led RIL on the gas issue, an official statement said the Centre would earn Rs 84,000 crore from KG-D6 gas fields and not just Rs 500 crore as projected in the campaign.

On the ADAG allegation that government will get only Rs 500 cr from KG-D6, it said government expected to in fact realise about Rs 84,000 crore. “The recovery of the government will be increased towards the latter part of the project.” It has been alleged that the project cost has been hiked from Rs 12,000 crore to Rs 45,000 crore. In November 2004, the estimated capital expenditure was $2.45 billion, which was revised in December 2006 to $8.83 billion.

“The said increase has taken place on account of various factors, including increase in reserves by over 2.5 times, production facilities by three times, peak production by two times, increase in number of wells, field life and inflation in equipment and services industry. It may be noted that the figures are only estimates and cost recovery would depend on actual audited expenditure figures.”

“Parties to a dispute would be well advised to reserve restraint in the matter of projection of facts as well as inferences,” the statement said, adding that the government had issued the “limited clarification so that there is no element of public misinformation.” — PTI 

New Delhi, August 21
Facing a peculiar situation of exhausting 10-digit mobile numbers, C-DOT, a research and development organisation of the telecom sector, is studying if the unique identity number could be converted into mobile number.

The identity number could be the one to be issued by the government for which an UID Authority has been set up, or any other like driving licence number.

The situation has arisen in the wake of phenomenal growth in the mobile telephony with over 1 crore subscribers being added every month.

“We are carrying out a study to check whether some other ID numbers can be used as the mobile number. The current, 10-digit number will get exhaust soon. So we are looking at this--one number--concept where in a single number can be used for different purposes," C-DOT executive director PV Acharya said.

“The Department of Telecom (DoT) is planning to come up with 11-12 digit number, but what is guarantee that this will also not fall short of demand,” he said.

“What we have thought is why not have one unique number associated with the person like the social security number in the US or the UID. So that unique number we can use for the purpose of mobile communications also,” he said.

However, Acharya added that it (the number) was not usable right away as there were certain issues of protocol and standard.

“We are examining whether it is usable and if so then what modifications are required in the infrastructure," he added.

The project is still at a very preliminary stage and no funding has been decided yet for the project. — PTI

New York, August 21
For the fourth straight year, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has been ranked as the most powerful woman in the world by Forbes magazine while the US First Lady Michelle Obama made her debut in the top 100 list.

The league of world's 100 most powerful women compiled by the magazine features US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation chairperson Sheila Bair at the second place and India-origin chief executive of Pepsico Indra Nooyi at the third.

Led by Indian National Congress president Sonia Gandhi at the 13th spot, the list has three Indians. While ICICI Bank CEO and managing director Chanda Kochhar has made her debut in the list at 20th position, Biocon's chairman Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw is at the 91st place.

Chandigarh, August 21
The poultry farmers in Punjab are up in arms against the Jammu and Kashmir government’s proposed 380 per cent hike in toll tax on poultry birds. The move, they say, will adversely hit the poultry industry in Punjab, which is already reeling under a crisis because of the sharp increase in prices of poultry feed.

J&K is the main market for poultry produced in Punjab. It is estimated that depending on the season, 2.5 lakh to 3 lakh of birds are sent to Jammu and Kashmir everyday.

The J&K government has proposed to hike the toll tax on poultry birds from Rs 134 per quintal to Rs 500 per quintal.

Talking to The Tribune here today, GS Bedi, president of The Amritsar Poultry Industry Association, said Punjab poultry farmers,having no choice, were now eyeing an alternate market in Delhi.

Bedi said the price of poultry feed was already at an all time high. Within a fortnight itself, the prices of various ingredients meant for the feed had shot up. Maize prices have increased from Rs 980 per quintal to Rs 1,110 per quintal, while soya prices have increased from Rs 1,800 per quintal to Rs 2,200 per quintal.

He said almost 30 per cent farmers have already closed their poultry farms in the state, adding that they would now urge the Punjab government to take up the matter with the J&K government, as this high rate of toll tax is almost equivalent to customs duty on the product being imported from other countries.

New Delhi, August 21
State-run NTPC may lose about Rs 1,000 crore as it opts for expensive imported LNG (liquefied natural gas) over natural gas from Reliance Industries' KG-D6 fields to fire its power plants.

NTPC has signed an agreement with GAIL India to buy 2 million standard cubic meters per day of gas for 10 years at a delivered price of close to $8 per million British thermal unit.

A company official said NTPC would start receiving the regassified LNG (liquefied natural gas) from fourth quarter of 2009 and would cost $6.4 per mmBtu excluding the cost of transportation, taxes and marketing margins. The delivered price at NTPC plants, the official said, would be close to $8 per mmBtu.

Industry sources expressed surprise at NTPC refusing to take the $4.2 per mmBtu priced KG-D6 gas of Reliance Industries. The delivered price of KG-D6 gas at NTPC's plants in Delhi would be $6.7 per mmBtu and the difference will cost the state-run firm Rs 1,000 crore.

NTPC is refusing to take KG-D6 gas as it is locked in a legal battle with RIL to get the fuel at prices committed by the Mukesh Ambani firm in a 2004 tender.

But sources point to Anil Ambani Group firm RNRL, which is also locked in a similar dispute with RIL, taking more than its allocated quantity from KG-D6 at government approved price of $4.2 per mmBtu.

RNRL was allocated 0.19 mmscmd of gas from KG-D6 by the government but it is currently drawing 0.6 mmscmd. NTPC chairman and managing director RS Sharma could not be contacted for comments. — PTI