New Delhi, October 2
The Oil Ministry’s latest proposal to allow state-run GAIL India Ltd charge a marketing margin on sale of subsidised natural gas has created a strange situation where the whole matter melts down to the question of “payment” and “charging”. Now, it is up to the Cabinet to resolve the issue.

GAIL is not allowed to levy any charge for the marketing effort on selling this gas as marketing margin raises the price of gas from the level approved by the Cabinet.

But in a draft Cabinet note on revision of APM gas price, the Petroleum Ministry has proposed to allow the company to charge $0.11 per mmBtu as marketing margin. This is aimed at compensating GAIL for risks like non-payment of bills, billing cost, inventory management and marketing effort. The move happened after a south Indian industrial gas consumer, Karaikal Chlorate, protested against GAIL’s margin.

GAIL levies 18 cents per mmBtu as marketing margin on sale of gas brought in ships and 11-12 cents on gas produced from joint venture fields.

Meanwhile, state-owned NTPC has been fighting a court case against Reliance Industries in the Supreme Court for seeking gas at a contractual price. NTPC had signed pact to buy 0.61 mmscmd of gas from the Krishna Godavari basin fields at $4.20 per mmBtu. The power major has sought confirmation from the government on the payment of the marketing margin. If RIL wins the case, NTPC will have to pay more as marketing margin charges. RIL charges $0.135 per mmBtu marketing margin on gas from its offshore KG-D6 fields to all its buyers.

The Oil Ministry has clarified its position on the NTPC issue by stating that the government has not, till date, fixed or approved the quantum of marketing margin for sale of natural gas by any contractor. The Power Ministry has sought clarification stating that it was not in line with the decision taken by an Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) on gas pricing.

If the government allows GAIL to charge marketing margin from its consumers, then it is set to gain from these levies. On the other hand NTPC will have to pay for the same. This is a tricky situation where the government is either set to win or lose its own revenues.

Meanwhile, Anil Ambani group company Reliance Infra is fighting a legal battle against RIL on the same count, calling the marketing margin that RIL charges for the KG-D6 gas as illegal.

Power Secretary HS Brahma said levies are paid where a distribution chain is involved and not when it’s a “one-man show”. He added that normally marketing margins are (paid) where there is a wholeseller, a distributor (and) a retailer. But in RIL case, there is no wholeseller or retailer.

A senior Oil Ministry official said the matter is “a purely commercial arrangement between the buyer and the seller”. Defending RIL’s stand, he said, if the companies felt that the margins were illegal, then they should move judicial or quasi judicial body. Industry insiders are of the view that both moves, the GAIL proposal and ministry’s statement on the NTPC-RIL issue, are meant to justify RIL’s stand.

New Delhi, October 2
Global conglomerate GE today said all its standalone healthcare business units in India will be merged into its joint venture with Indian IT giant Wipro to "accelerate growth" in the country as well as South Asia. GE holds 51 per cent stake and the rest is with Wipro in their joint venture, Wipro GE Healthcare, which distributes 85 per cent of GE's various healthcare and medical diagnostic products in India.

"The integration will simplify the structure and help us focus on the Indian market. It will help us in developing new products for India and in entering more markets," GE chairman and CEO Jeffrey R Immelt said here today.

Wipro GE Healthcare will now incorporate units like GE Healthcare Life Sciences, GE Healthcare Medical Diagnostics and GE Medical Systems India.

Immelt said about 20 per cent of the products sold in India are manufactured here and in future the company wants to increase the percentage.

"My view is that over the next 5-10 years, maybe 50-70 per cent of the products sold in India should be developed and manufactured here and some of them eventually would be exported as well," he said.

While the Life Sciences and Medical Diagnostics business units currently distribute GE Healthcare's products outside of Wipro GE Healthcare, GE Medical Systems India manufactures X- ray machines and other diagnostic imaging products and accessories. — PTI

New Delhi, October 2
Engineering major Larsen and Toubro has announced that it was ready with its ship-building yard, which would be the country’s largest ship-building yard aimed at constructing naval warships and submarines. The company also said it had invested $500 million in its nuclear power business.

The company said it could build nuclear power plants with total capacity of 3,000 to 4,000 MW per year. To build four to six reactors was not a problem, said AM Naik, chairman and managing director of L&T.

Senior executive vice-president of the company, MV Kotwal said the largest ship-building yard was ready near Chennai. This would be in addition to the company’s plant at Hazira. The company is eyeing the defence market and can take on building of frigates, warships and submarines at the new plant.

L&T already has interests in the defence manufacturing sector. It is credited to have build the outer shell and some of the complex technologies for India’s first nuclear submarine, INS Arihant. When asked if the company could also build an aircraft carrier, Nigam said, “Yes, we can”.

L&T’s announcement assumes significance as China is racing ahead in ship building and expanding its navy. In the past, Naval commanders in the past have expressed their opinion on slow ship- building processes and lack of capacity in India.

The CMD of the company, while talking about nuclear power, said at present the country did not have the capacity to take in more than 2,000 MW of nuclear power. L&T is currently building a 1,200 MW reactor with Atomic Energy of Canada and is waiting for an approval by the government and also is yet to get the plant site for the same, said Naik. The company has already signed an MoU with GE, Westinghouse and a Russian company and is also in talks with Areva of France for a tie-up, Naik said.

Mumbai, October 2
September proved to be fruitful for investors as they grew wealthier by Rs 4.33 lakh crore in the period, with the benchmark index Sensex gaining over 10 per cent.

The investor wealth, measured in terms of combined market capitalisation of all listed companies on the Bombay Stock Exchange, rose by Rs 4,33,651.31 crore in September to Rs 57,08,337.29 crore.

The cumulative market valuation was Rs 52,74,685.98 crore at the beginning of the month.

The market valuation of companies increased on positive momentum in the market with the benchmark index Sensex gaining over 1,500 points or 10.18 per cent to settle at 17,126.84 points on September 30.

The combined market capitalisation of 30-Sensex companies, which accounts for 45.3 per cent of the entire market, rose by Rs 2,22,467.22 crore in the month.

The total market capitalisation rose to Rs 25,85,665.63 crore at the end of the month, from Rs 23,63,198.41 crore at the beginning.

This is the third biggest return by Sensex so far this year. May had been the best month in terms of returns with the index gaining 20 per cent in the month, followed by 15 per cent in April.

The months in which Sensex gave negative returns include January (4.83 per cent), February (1.93 per cent), June (3.43 per cent) and August. — PTI

New Delhi, October 2
NRI billionaire Lakshmi Mittal, who has created the world's largest steel empire through a slew of takeovers, is gearing up to restart doing what it is best at, that is mergers and acquisitions.

"We are beginning to re-examine selected M&A opportunities," said a spokesperson from ArcelorMittal, which had last year decided to apply breaks on its merger and acquisition spree owing to the global economic downturn and its impact on the steel industry.

At the same time, Mittal-led world's largest steel maker would look out for opportunities to expand its operational presence in India, the official told PTI. In India, the company has a long-standing plans for setting up two greenfield steel plants and recently got a operational start with acquisition of 35 per cent stake in domestic firm Uttam Galva Steel to become a co-promoter.

Besides, there are speculations that ArcelorMittal, which was created after an over $30-billion merger between erstwhile Mittal Steel and European giant Arcelor in 2006, is looking to increase its stake to become a controlling shareholder in London-listed Coal of Africa that it already holds 16.3 per cent shares. — PTI