New Delhi, September 28
Rising security concerns have forced the government to seek details of foreigners employed by national telecom companies and also the share-holding pattern of the foreign companies having interests here.

The Department of Telecom (DoT) has written a letter to all telecom companies asking them to furnish personal details of foreign nationals employed by them as CMD or CEO and CFO.

They have also been asked to give information like share-holding pattern and overseas collaborations on annual basis for security clearances.

The letter has apparently been written after Ministry of Home Affairs sought to carry out random checks on the background of foreign nationals so employed by the telecom companies.

All cellular mobile operators and unified licencees have been told that this requirement was as per the notification of the revised guidelines vide press note-3 in connection with enhancement of the FDI ceiling from 49 per cent to 74 per cent in the telecom sector.

Officials say such steps have become necessary in view of the changing security scenario. It will rule out possibilities of foul play and leakage of any internal information.

The telecom firms are also required to submit presence of investing companies and shareholders in countries across the world, including collaborations with other companies as part of the security drill.

A number of telcos have foreign collaborators and investment proposals of some companies having interests in other hostile countries (to India) have also been put on hold.

Ludhiana, September 28
The unprecedented power cuts in Punjab have crippled the industrial production of all sectors. The industry has already suffered heavy losses and some industrialists are thinking of shifting to other states. Steel industry in the state has been the worst sufferer as it got only 60-hour power supply per week during the past four months.

Enquiries by The Tribune have revealed that the power cuts began in June and have continued till date. The state did not witness much power cuts till May thanks to the parliamentary poll in the country.

The paddy load of power began in mid-June and the same has continued to burden the power supply due to failure of the monsoons and late sowing.

Even domestic feeders were subjected to 8 -10 hours of power cut daily to provide electricity to the tubewells. Tubewells in rural areas were supplied eight hours power daily till the first week of September. Now-a-days, the duration of power supply has been reduced to five hours.

From June onwards, there have been regular blackout days -one to three days compulsory off in a week - resulting in the crippling of industry. The induction and arc furnaces are the worst hit as these are subjected to a three-day compulsory weekly off. The general industry is still facing two-day weekly off.

Punjab State Electricity Board officials admit that induction and arc furnaces could be supplied only 60-hour power in a week minus the 21 hours of compulsory peak load restrictions in a week to the general industry.

Avtar Singh, general secretary, Chamber of Industrial and Commercial Undertakings, Ludhiana, said industrial production gets reduced to 40 per cent during the power cuts. Although Ludhiana is still the favourite hub of industrialists but they are mulling a shift to states where power supply is better.

Some of the engineering units have already moved to Himachal Pradesh because of availability of cheap power and other concessions in the income tax and state taxes announced by the NDA government.

Similarly, some industrialists of Mandi Gobindgarh - the steel city that has been hit by power cut of three-hour compulsory off in a week - have set up their units in Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh taking advantage of the concessions announced by the Central government.

However, about 15 new furnace units were under erection in Gobindgarh despite power shortage and they had applied for power connections with the PSEB.

Enquiries by The Tribune show that much of Ludiana-based industry could not move out of the city as it is dependent upon ancillary units. For e.g., the hosiery industry is dependent on the woollen and spinning mills for raw materials.

London, September 28
India-born cola queen Indra Nooyi has topped the list of world’s 50 top business women compiled by the Financial Times, which also features three Indians Britannia’s Vinita Bali, Biocon’s Kiran Mazumdar Shaw and HT Media’s Shobhana Bhartia.

Nooyi, chairman and chief executive of beverages and soft drinks major Pepsico, is followed by US-based Avon Products’ Andrea Jung and French entity Areva’s Anne Lauvergeon.

In the league of ‘Top 50 women in world business’, Bali, who is the head of Britannia Industries, is ranked at the 22nd spot while Mazumdar Shaw and Bhartia are placed at 47th and 48th positions, respectively.

“Just 3 per cent of Fortune 500 chief executives are women. Across Europe, only 10 per cent of board directors of the largest companies are women (quotas have made Norway the exception, with more than 40 per cent) and the numbers are even lower in Asia. This is all the more surprising given the substantial evidence that better gender balance has a positive impact on performance,” it said. — PTI 

BRIEFLY

Abbott to acquire Solvay pharma
NEW YORK: American healthcare major Abbott Laboratories on Monday said it would buy pharma business of Belgium-based Solvay Group for $6.6 billion. The two entities have entered into a definitive agreement in this regard for the all-cash transaction, which is expected to be completed by the first quarter of 2010. — PTI

Airtel festival offer
NEW DELHI: Cellular services provider Bharti Airtel has launched two special offers for the consumers calling from US during the festive season. The company is offering 1,353 minutes of talktime for $24.99 for its consumers calling from the US to India and the offer is valid for the six months. It has also launched a toll-free plan under which it offers call rate of 2.5 cents per min and talk time of 400 minutes for $14.99. — PTI

Tata Power scouts for coal
NEW DELHI: Private power producer Tata Power is scouting for coal mines abroad, including Australia and Mozambique, to meet demand for their upcoming projects. “We are looking at mines in Australia, Mozambique and some smaller ones in Indonesia, that could give us 2-3 million tonnes of coal,” a company official said. Tata Power already has 30 per cent ownership in a block in Indonesia. — PTI

Wockhardt hospitals
NEW DELHI: Fortis Healthcare on Monday said Wockhardt’s 10 healthcare facilities that it had acquired would be re-branded as Fortis Hospitals. It will take around nine months to complete all transactions. Once the transactions and other formalities are completed, these hospitals (acquired from Wockhardt) would get re-branded as Fortis Hospitals. — PTI

Tourism website launched
Chandigarh: A tourism website named “tourismnewsindia.com” was launched here on Sunday on the eve of World Tourism Day. MM Khanna, owner of the website, said it would provide information in all related fields of tourism like hotel bookings, airlines, railways, and tours and travels. — TNS

Axis Bank branch
Chandigarh: Private sector lender Axis Bank opened its branch at Ambala City on Monday. Sharad Sharma, vice-president and regional retail head, Punjab, inaugurated the branch. — TNS

New Dabur units
MUMBAI: Personal care and food products maker Dabur India plans to open three manufacturing facilities in India and overseas, which will be operational by July next year. — PTI