The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	Govt okays stake sale in PSUs Bhagyashree Pande Tribune News Service New Delhi, October 19 The Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved a proposal to divest stake in state-run utilities NTPC and Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam (SJVN). The government will offload 5 per cent of its equity in NTPC and 10 per cent in SJVN, Commerce Minister Anand Sharma said. At the present valuation, the government will be able to raise over Rs 8,800 crore by divesting 5 per cent stake in NTPC, which generates over 30,000 MW of power. Stake sale in PSUs is back on the UPA government’s agenda as it explores ways to tackle mounting fiscal deficit that is at a 16-year high of 6.8 per cent. Though it is not clearly spelt out if this is possible as the proceeds from disinvestment are made part of general revenues and not parked in the Rs 6000-crore National Investment Fund. “The government is encouraging listing of public sector enterprises on stock markets as this would unlock the true value of a company, improve its corporate governance standards and help it in raising resources for funding future expansion plans,” the Prime Minister had said last Thursday while addressing PSU chiefs at an awards ceremony organised by Standing Conference of Public Enterprises in New Delhi. Bullish market sentiment has also encouraged the disinvestment department to draft a schedule for follow-on public offers (FPO) by listed PSUs. According to the plan, at least one IPO or an FPO will hit the market every month for the next nine months. As a result, REC, NTPC, NMDC, Hindustan Copper, MMTC, Engineers India, SJVN and RITES are expected to tap the market in the six months starting December. The government’s shareholding in NTPC would come down to 84.5 per cent after the divestment. It is expected that market capitalisation of NTPC would be higher and it would help the company to raise resources in the international market on competitive terms. NTPC’s market capitalisation currently stands at Rs 1,72,000 crore. The government had earlier clarified that there would be no fresh equity infusion but only stake sale in NTPC. The government had divested its 10.5 per cent stake in the first public offer of NTPC after which its holding in the company was 89.5 per cent. The CCEA also cleared 10 per cent divestment of another PSU Satluj Vidyut Nigam. SJVN is a joint venture between the Centre and the Himachal Pradesh government. The Centre holds 75 per cent stake in the JV while the rest is owned by the state government. At present, the paid-up equity capital of the company is Rs 4,109 crore. After this disinvestment, the Centre’s shareholding in SJVN would come down to 65 per cent and Himachal Pradesh government’s stake in the firm would remain same at 25 per cent, Sharma said. CCEA has also given a go ahead to 10 per cent stake sale in all profit making PSUs. To make it inclusive and participatory, part of the shares would be offered to the employees of the state-run firms, Sharma said. The instrument through which the stake sale would take place will be decided later. It could either be through a follow-on public offer or through qualified institutional placement of shares by the PSU. In line with the UPA’s disinvestment policy, the Finance Ministry is also in the process of issuing guidelines to make it mandatory for all listed companies to have a minimum float of 25 per cent in the stock market. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee have already approved this plan. WPI index to be monthly now The Cabinet has approved a plan to release the key wholesale price number every month rather than on a weekly basis to improve the measurement of price movements. The new wholesale price index (WPI) with 2004 as the base year will debut on November 14, Commerce Minister Anand Sharma said after the Cabinet meeting. The base year used for the current weekly index is 1993. As part of the new plan announced today, the government will still unveil a weekly wholesale price index for primary articles like rice and wheat and commodities including fuel, power and light to facilitate monitoring of the prices of agriculture commodities and petroleum products that are “sensitive in nature,” a government statement said. — TNS To boost market sentiment: Analysts New Delhi: The government's nod for stake sale in state-run power utilities - NTPC and SJVN - is expected to bolster investor sentiment and propel the stock markets in days to come, analysts said. “The government is confident about the recovery in market and the economy, that is why it is going ahead with its divestment plans. The market is expected to react positively to the news and it indicates a rally in the days ahead,” Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services Research Head Alex Mathew said. Kotak Mahindra Mutual Fund Equities Head Krishna Sanghvi said: “The government has reaffirmed that it is prone to adopt a more liberalised economic policy and is committed to increase investors' wealth. However, the move would not add any value to the company's financial position.” Marketmen believe a follow-on public offer (FPO) of NTPC, the second most valued public sector unit with a market capitalisation of over Rs 1.77 lakh crore, would help increase trading volumes at the counter. — PTI
	OilMin replies to RNRL affidavit Tribune News Service New Delhi, October 19 The Oil Ministry today filed its reply to an affidavit filed by Reliance Natural Resources Limited (RNRL) in the Ambani brothers’ gas dispute. The affidavit asserted that the Centre’s legal rights were affected by the high court judgement of June 15, wherein the court had asked Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries to honour the commitment made in a 2005 family settlement for supply of gas to Anil Ambani group's RNRL at a committed price of $2.34 per mmBtu. The government, in its affidavit filed through the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, said its filing of Special Leave Petition (SLP) in the case was justified and maintainable even if it was not a party to the case in the Bombay High Court. RIL, however, contends that it cannot sell the gas at a price below government-approved rate of $4.2 per mmBtu. The apex court will begin hearing tomorrow on the cross-appeals filed by the companies of the two Ambani groups as also the admissibility of the governments petition to become a party in the matter. As per the court order, technically the first 28 mmscmd of gas should go to RNRL. RIL has signed gas sale agreements with 12 urea manufacturers and a few power utilities in the past two months. All the contracts were signed with the rider that they would be subject to the high court’s final judgment. The Anil Ambani group is scheduled to build a 7,400-MW gas-fired power plant at Dadri in Uttar Pradesh and a 4,000-MW plant at Shahpur. Work on these projects had been slow due to uncertainty over gas supply from KG Basin. Reliance Industries has on October 6 filed an affidavit in Supreme Court stating that it will supply gas to the only existing gas based power plant of Anil Ambani-owned Reliance Energy (REL). In the affidavit, it has been alleged that all action of RNRL and REL are clearly motivated by commercial greed and with the goal of pocketing trading profits.
	RBI revises rules for refund of notes Ruchika M Khanna Tribune News Service Chandigarh, October 19 Coming to the rescue of hundreds of people, the Reserve Bank of India has revised the note refund rules so that the public can adjudicate soiled and mutilated currency notes without any fuss. This simplification of rules for exchange of currency notes will go a long way in solving the problem being faced by the people, who tend to lose money in case the notes get mutilated. Banks generally show reluctance in accepting and exchanging these notes, leaving the public to bear the loss on their own. According to the new rules, the facility for exchange of soiled notes is to be provided by all banks at their branches. The facility of exchange of mutilated notes would be available at designate bank branches (including cooperative banks and regional rural banks). These notes will have to exchanged at the banks, irrespective of the fact that the tenderer is an account holder or not. The rules now mention that the full value of the mutilated notes of Rs 50 and above denomination shall be payable if the area of the single largest undivided piece is more than 65 per cent of the note. Half the value of the note will be payable if the single largest undivided pierce of the note is between 40 and 65 per cent of the note. In case the single largest undivided piece of the note is less than 40 per cent, no value shall be payable and the claim will be rejected. The RBI has said the bank might destroy the notes after the claims have been settled.
	Ad campaign against oil policy gives distorted image: Firms New Delhi, October 19 The apex body of oil firms has petitioned Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, saying a media campaign questioning the government's oil and gas policies gave a distorted picture of how business is done in India. Association of Oil and Gas Operators (AOGO), which was set up in 2006 and has members cutting across the E&P industry from ONGC to Reliance, on October 8 wrote to Singh taking exception to "external parties" seeking fixed returns only on investments made in producing hydrocarbons while the risk money and that spent on unsuccessful exploration was forgotten. Although AOGO did not name as to who was behind the campaign, Anil Ambani group firm RNRL, which is fighting a legal battle with Mukesh Ambani-run RIL for gas supply, had in August brought out an advertisement campaign on the role of government in the tussle. When contacted, a spokesperson for ADAG, which had recently written to Prime Minister stating that the Oil Ministry's policies would adversely impact investors response to oil and gas block auction under NELP, declined to comment. The industry will be affected “if such a campaign creates a wrong perception and results in further creating complicating procedures, or delaying decisions,” AOGO said. “The upstream segment of the hydrocarbon industry is characterised by very high risk and cannot be judged by norms of returns or margins of manufacturing sector," AOGO said. “The campaign conveys a distorted and negative view of doing business in India. This will adversely affect new companies coming to India as well indigenous companies from investing in the country," AOGO said. — PTI
	Cost cutting drive by US firms to go on New York, October 19 With the US economy continuing to be in recession, American firms are likely to carry forward their cost cutting drive into next year in doling out starting salaries, except those with expertise, says a survey. According to a report by staffing consulting firm Robert Half International, starting pays in the accounting and finance, information technology and administrative fields are expected to remain relatively flat or see modest decline next year, but some positions will buck this trend. As per the report, as many as 10 positions would hold strong or might see a slight gain and would be able to retain the national average salaries. “A focus on cost control will continue to shape the hiring landscape next year, and starting salaries clearly are being influenced by that trend.". — PTI
	Set for apex court date New Delhi: Two of the top corporate houses - headed by estranged industrialist brothers Mukesh and Anil Ambani - are set for a showdown in the Supreme Court, which will commence hearing on their gas supply dispute tomorrow. Meanwhile, Justice RV Raveendran has replaced Justice BS Chauhan on the three-member bench of the Supreme Court that will begin hearing tomorrow. The other two members on the bench are Chief Justice KG Balakrishnan and Justice P Sathasivam. The fight relates to supply of gas to Anil Ambani group's Reliance Natural Resources Ltd (RNRL) from D6 block in Krishna-Godavari eastern offshore fields of elder sibling Mukesh-led RIL. Days before the beginning of hearing in Supreme Court, Anil Ambani also made a surprise truce offer to resolve the dispute cordially, but Mukesh Ambani questioned its sincerity without rejecting the proposal. In a public statement on October 11, Anil said all the disagreements could be resolved within weeks, but RIL questioned the sincerity of the offer made "through the public domain" and said Anil could have easily contacted his elder brother directly. — PTI
	Telenor gets nod to up stake in Unitech Tribune News Service New Delhi, October 19 The government today gave its approval for Norwegian telecom major Telenor's proposal to increase its stake in Unitech Wireless (Tamil Nadu) Ltd to 74 percent. The decision was taken at the meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) here. “This is subject to the conditions recommended by the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB). The approval would result in FDI amounting to Rs 3,740 crore in the country,” Commerce Minister Anand Sharma said. Unitech Wireless is a joint venture between India 's Unitech Group and Telenor. The Norwegian firm has invested in the joint venture through its Singapore-based subsidiary Telenor Asia. At present, Telenor has 67.25 per cent stake in Unitech Wireless.
	RIL among top 25 global champions New Delhi, October 19 Reliance Industries has been named among the top 25 global champions for 2009 which managed to outperform the competition in midst of meltdown in the financial markets. RIL is the only Indian company in the 25 AT Kearney Global Champions for 2009 list that has been topped by Japanese firm Nintendo, followed by US-based Google and Apple at the second and the third positions, respectively. Even as the proportion of companies headquartered in emerging countries has dropped from 40 per cent in 2008 to less than a third (33 per cent) in this year's list, RIL along with Mexico's America Movil managed to maintain their status as Global Champions, AT Kearney said. RIL has been ranked in the 11th position ahead of global biggies like Jacobs Engineering, World Fuel Services, ABB, Amazon.com and America Movil. The list includes firms that managed to outperform the competition in the midst of the meltdown in the financial markets, as they combined long-range strategic planning with nimble execution. The top 10 companies in the list include South Korea's Doosan (4th), Hyundai Heavy Industries (5th), French firm GDF Suez (6th), South African firm MTM (7th), US-based Monsanto (8th), Spain's Inditex (9th) and Australia's BHP Billiton in the 10th rank. The constituent of this year's list were identified from the world's 2,500 largest companies operating internationally, with 2008 sales greater than $10 billion and at least 25 per cent of sales derived from outside their home region. — PTI
	Fund managers may see 35 pc drop in bonuses New Delhi, October 19 Global fund managers are likely to witness up to 35 per cent cut in bonuses this year even as the asset and wealth management industry is upbeat about a recovery in financial markets worldwide. According to global executive search and assessment firm Russell Reynolds Associates, this year would be tougher than ever before for chief executives and boards at asset and wealth management firms, to communicate the right performance and reward message. "Profitability and, thus, bonus levels will be driven by three factors - rebound in investment performance, retention of assets under management and how quickly and deeply firms trimmed costs when the downturn hit,” Russell Reynolds Associates’ Asset and Wealth Management Practice MD Cornelia L Kiley said. The report is a qualitative review of compensation trends within both traditional asset and wealth management firms and those focusing on hedge funds, real estate and private equity in the Americas, Europe and Asia/Pacific. — PTI