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Core sector growth slips
OilMin may file defamation suit against RNRL
Rajasthan Oilfields
Govt not looking at hiking fuel prices
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Himachal industrial package to be extended by a year
Baddi loses charm for industrialists
Moody’s lowers growth forecast to 6.2 per cent
Air India, unions talks fail
Demand for safeguard duty on steel rejected
US job market recovering
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New Delhi, August 26 Experts, however, cautioned against drawing conclusion in haste and said one-month drop or pick-up is not an indicator. Industrial production had grown by a surprise 6.8 per cent in July, raising hopes of economic recovery. Core industries grew 5.1 per cent in July last year. The sector, which grew by 6.8 per cent in June, had helped the overall recovery as the industrial expansion touched 7.8 per cent. A contraction of 14.4 per cent in petroleum refinery products--against 11.8 per cent growth in the year-ago period-- dragged the six key industries in July. The core sector comprises petroleum refinery, crude oil, coal, electricity, cement and finished steel. They together account for 26.68 per cent in industrial production. Crude oil at lower rates improved a bit but remained in the negative zone at 0.4 per cent. In the comparable period, it had declined by 3 per cent. However, coal expanded by 9.7 per cent, electricity 3.3 per cent, cement 10.6 per cent and finished steel 1.2 per cent. The expansion in steel is lacklustre compared to 6 per cent in the same month in 2008. — PTI
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OilMin may file defamation suit against RNRL
New Delhi, August 26 The ministry is contemplating seeking law ministry view on slapping the suit on RNRL over a claim that government share from KG-D6 initially will be just Rs 500 crore, while RIL will earn a super-normal profit of Rs 49,500 crore. Sources in the ministry stated that RNRL and its executives stuck to this claim despite the government clarifying in a written statement that its revenues from KG-D6 over the life of the field would be more than Rs 84,000 crore, with a clear objective to "malign and tarnish its image." The file prepared for the same notes that government's take from KG-D6 in the first year of gas production will be Rs 700 crore at a minimum output of 40 mmscmd. At peak output of 80 mmscmd, likely next year, the government will get Rs 1,200 crore in royalty and profit share. Sources said the file is likely to go before Petroleum Secretary R S Pandey and Petroleum Minister Murli Deora before it is sent to Law Ministry for opinion. In any case, the earnings will be more than Rs 500 crore, they said pointing out that royalty at the $4.2 per mmBtu approved price alone came to Rs 541 crore in the first year. Meanwhile, sources said Congress MP KS Rao wrote to the Prime Minister on August 24 stating that the Anil Ambani group was using the country's top two law officers to further its business interests. — PTI
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Cairn to pump in $1.8 bn more
New Delhi, August 26 Cairn India CEO and managing director Rahul Dhir said at a conference call with journalists that the Mangala field would start producing “a few thousand barrels of oil per day” from August 29 and gradually ramp up to 30,000 bpd. Mangala field will hit peak output of 1,25,000 bpd (6.25 million tonnes) in the first half of 2010 and together with Bhagyam and Aishwariya, the production will top 1,75,000 bpd (8.75 million tonnes a year) in 2011. Dhir said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh would inaugurate the first production train and dedicate the field to the nation on Saturday. Oil Minister Murli Deora and Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot would also attend the event. “Cairn and ONGC have till date spent $2 billion (on Rajasthan block)...in 2010 and 2011 or (in the ) next two years, another $1.5 to 1.l8 billion is planned,” he said. Dhir said the first oil would be sold to Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd, a subsidiary of state-run ONGC. Indian Oil Corp would start buying the Mangala crude oil from the first quarter of 2010, he said. HPCL is the other refiner nominated by the government to buy Cairn crude. — PTI
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Govt not looking at hiking fuel prices
New Delhi, August 26 Global prices are not comfortable. But there is no proposal to revise the price, RS Pandey said. India sets retail fuel prices below their market costs to protect customers, and it partially subsidises oil marketing firms for their losses caused by this. Separately, Indian Oil Corp's chairman Sarthak Behuria said his company was currently losing Rs 2.30 per litre of diesel sold and Rs 4.20 per litre on petrol. |
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Himachal industrial package to be extended by a year
Shimla, August 26 "The Centre has agreed in principle to extend the industrial package by one year after its expiry on March 31, 2010," Singh, a veteran Himachal Pradesh leader and five times its chief minister, told reporters at his residence on his arrival here for a week-long tour. The HP government has been making fervent appeals to the Centre to restore the duration of the industrial package granted to the state by the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 2003 to its original term of 10 years. Singh said he along with Union Industries and Commerce minister Anand Sharma, who is also Congress Rajya Sabha member from HP, had sought extention of the package by three years but due to "counter-pressure" from neighbouring states the Centre adopted a "middle-path" and decided to extend it initially for one year. Agreeing that proposed railway projects for Himachal Pradesh had been delayed, Singh said, "I took up the matter with the PM and also Railway minister Mamata Banerjee and they assured me to expedite construction of Bhanupalli-Bilaspur line and sympathetically take up other pending projects of the state," he added. — PTI
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Baddi loses charm for industrialists
Solan, August 26 The Rs 400-crore project was cleared by the Single Window Clearance Agency (SWCA) in September last year. About 100 bighas of land at Lodhi Majra was allotted for the unit a year ago but the non-acquisition of a 15-bigha stretch of private land within that plot has deterred the unit from going ahead with its investment plans. Director of industries Manoj Sharma when quizzed said the group had verbally communicated its unwillingness to go ahead with the project as it lacked the required funds. He said the process to acquire the private-owned land was underway as it would enable them to make ready allotments to bigger units. The department had acquired 576 bighas of land at Lodhi Majra after the payment of almost Rs 45 crore. Another big unit Solaryan Tech Private Ltd is yet to initiate its operations in the region. The group was slated to invest Rs 2,400 crore and this unit too had been cleared in September last year by the SWCA. With hundreds of litigations involving fraudulent sale and purchase of land plaguing the Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh industrial area and the cumbersome process of obtaining clearance under Section 118 of the HP Land Reforms and Tenancy Act, 1972, the groups prefer government-owned land. But the tardy progress had put a question mark over industrial activity in the region. Investors opine that even if the package were extended for a year as professed by Congress leaders, there would be little scope for big units to invest in the state.
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Moody’s lowers growth forecast to 6.2 per cent
New Delhi, August 26 "India's GDP growth for fiscal 2009-10 is forecast to slow to 6.2 per cent," Moody's Economy.com, the global rating agency's research arm said. Moody's forecast is in agreement with the RBI’s prediction of 6 per cent growth with an upward bias. This is lower than the country's growth rate of 6.7 per cent for the financial year 2008-09.
"The drought is clearly taking steam out of India's growth momentum and another emerging concern is food price inflation," the agency said. The report said unlike the global recession, which turned out to be "only a mild drag on India's economic performance" the impact of the delayed monsoon could be more on the economy. Further, it said agricultural output accounts for less than one-fifth of the country's GDP but as two-thirds of India's population lives in the rural area and depend on farm income, the effect could be felt. However, it said government spending is expected to surge despite a high public debt burden. "Policymakers have started exploring new funding channels such as selling stakes in state-owned enterprises and promoting public-private partnerships," it said. — PTI |
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Air India, unions talks fail
Mumbai, August 26 However, the employees refused any pay cuts and instead asked the management to work on a scheme to reduce wasteful expenditure, an office-bearer of the Air Corporation Employees Union (ACEU) Vivek Rao, told reporters. |
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Demand for safeguard duty on steel rejected
New Delhi, August 26 The Standing Board on Safeguard headed by Commerce Secretary Rahul Khullar and comprising Steel Secretary P K Rastogi, among others, rejected the recommendations of Directorate General of Safeguards (DGS) for imposition of the duty on the imports. The DGS had recommended the duty imposition after examining the industry's demand. "We have considered every aspect and did not find sufficient reasons for safeguard duty on imports of key steel and aluminium products," Steel Secretary P K Rastogi told PTI after the meeting of the board. Safeguard duty, a WTO-compliant mechanism, is imposed as and when a surge in import is found to be hurting the local industry. In its revised draft, the DGS had reached a benchmark of Rs 27,000 a tonne. The difference between the landed cost of the imported consignment and the benchmark should have been the safeguard duty on flat steel products like hot-rolled coils, sheets and strips to be imposed as duty. The DGS had also recommended 10 per cent duty on imports of certain aluminium and its waste and scrap. However, these recommendations did not find favour with the board. — PTI
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US job market recovering
New York, August 26 Technology, customer services and sales are the top three areas which have a bullish perspective in these tough times as employers in this segment would be the first ones to add jobs once the economy recovers. According to the survey by Robert Half International and CareerBuilder, around 53 per cent of employers surveyed expect to hire full-time employees over the next 12 months, while 40 per cent would hire contract, temporary or project professionals and 39 per cent would add part-time employees.
— PTI |
US fiscal deficit to widen Inflation rises to -0.95 pc on high food prices MetLife’s monthly income plan DSE in revival mode Airtel launches m-commerce AIBA’s new store opened Retirement planning Infy, Wipro bag BP deal
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Hopes of industrial recovery bit the dust as core industries' growth slipped to the fiscal's lowest level of 1.8 per cent in July as petroleum refinery products skidded into negative terrain and steel lost its sheen.
Experts, however, cautioned against drawing conclusion in haste and said one-month drop or pick-up is not an indicator. Industrial production had grown by a surprise 6.8 per cent in July, raising hopes of economic recovery.
