New Delhi, November 10
Falling in line with what Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Sunday regarding the stimulus packages, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee today said “the fiscal stimulus will have to continue to generate domestic demand till there is a robust recovery in the global economy.”

He, had, only a week ago said the government was likely to review and maybe withdraw the stimulus package depending on the third and fourth quarter performance of the economy.

“Umpteen numbers of times I have stated that in due course we shall have to take corrective measures (phasing out of fiscal stimulus) but still I do feel that strong domestic demand is necessary... It will continue for some more time,” the Finance Minister told industry leaders.

Incidentally, Mukherjee’s remarks at the India Economic Summit came two days after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced from the same podium that fiscal support would be phased out next year.

He said return to fiscal consolidation was on the government’s agenda, as indicated by the Prime Minister, but till the robust recovery takes place in developed countries, the support would have to continue as a sizable portion of India’s $185 billion exports go to the western markets.

On the growth prospects, Mukherjee said: “I will be happy if I have 7 per cent plus for the next year and 8 per cent the year after that. Thereafter, I think momentum would gather and it would be possible to have 9-10 per cent growth surely during the initial years of 12th Plan.”

Mukherjee returned this week from the G-20 meeting of finance ministers in Scotland, where they discussed a strategy to exit the global stimulus running into trillions of dollars.

As regards the current fiscal, the Planning Commission had projected a growth rate of 6.3 per cent, while the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council expects 6.5 per cent economic expansion.

Replying to questions on tax evasion, Mukherjee said India would start negotiations with all 77 countries for revising the double tax avoidance treaties.

“I have asked the Revenue Department to reopen negotiations for all 77 double tax avoidance agreements...We have entered so far so that we can have real time exchange of information on tax evasion and tax avoidance,” he said.

New Delhi, November 10
Reliance Industries (RIL) today pleaded in the Supreme Court that the company "can't travel beyond the demerger scheme" and supply gas to Reliance Natural Resources Ltd (RNRL) at a price lower than $4.2 a unit fixed by the government.

Continuing his arguments before a three-member Bench headed by Chief Justice KG Balakrishnan, RIL’s counsel Harish Salve said RIL was bound only by the demerger scheme and not the family agreement between the Ambani brothers, Mukesh and Anil.

The demerger scheme had no mention of the Mukesh-Anil MoU, he said. Further, even the scheme was subject to approvals by the shareholders, directors and other stakeholders, besides the government policy and court rulings.

At the same time, Anil Ambani-led RNRL today filed a fresh document in the court, asserting that the minutes of the EGoM meetings specifically clarified that its decision on the price was "without prejudice to both the RNRL-RIL case and the NTPC-RIL case." The EGoM meetings were held on August 28, 2007, and September 12, 2007.

RNRL further stated that RIL had production-sharing contracts with the government for 40 blocks, covering an area of four lakh square kilometres, while RIL's commitment to RNRL would involve less than one per cent of the gas exploration area available to RIL.

Even after accepting RIL's inflated capital expenditure (CAPEX), the cost of production worked out to $1.28 a unit and as such RIL would be making "tremendous profit" even at the rate of $2.34 as agreed in the family MoU.

Making his submissions before the reconstituted Bench , Salve said RIL could not share the revenue with the government by taking the gas price at $4.2 and sell the gas to RNRL at $2.34.

Also, it was not proper to ask RIL to sell gas to RNRL at a lower price as RNRL would sell the electricity, produced using the gas, at market prices. In the absence of RIL's demerger, the company would have paid market price to the government. Nor RIL could have "made assured allocation to itself." All this showed that the relations between the two brothers, good or bad, could not come in the way of law.

New York, November 10
Eyeing to enhance its expertise in mobile advertising, Internet giant Google Inc is all set to acquire mobile display ad technology provider AdMob for $750 million.

Google Inc has signed a definitive agreement to acquire AdMob, for $750 million in an all-stock deal, the company said in a statement.

AdMob is a leading mobile advertising firm engaged in the development of display advertising technology for mobile Internet sites.

"Mobile advertising has enormous potential as a marketing medium and while this industry is still in the early stages of development, AdMob has already made exceptional progress in a very short time," Google vice-president of product management Susan Wojcicki said.

The deal will help Google in its efforts to develop more effective tools for creating, serving and analysing emerging mobile ads formats.

Both companies have approved the transaction, which is subject to customary closing conditions.

The acquisition would enhance Google's existing expertise and technology in mobile advertising, while giving advertisers and publishers more choice in this growing new area. — PTI

New Delhi, November 10
Bajaj-Renault-Nissan’s small car, which is expected to give Tata Motors’ Nano some competition, is expected to be rolled out in 2012. Carlos Ghosn, head of Renault-Nissan, said today the venture to manufacture a low-cost car with India's Bajaj Auto was on track and the new car would be out in another three years.

"Yesterday, we signed an agreement that the low- cost car will be out in 2012. It is going to be an innovative product. The manufacturing cost will be lower than any other available in the Indian market," said Ghosn.

Not willing to disclose the possible price of the car, Ghosn said its design, engineering, manufacturing and component sourcing would be done by Bajaj, while Renault-Nissan would oversee marketing and sales.

"Rajiv Bajaj is not showing any interest in having the Bajaj name on the car. But, it is too early to say what the name and branding will be," Ghosn told reporters on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum's India Economic Summit here. He also said alliances with partners like Hindujas and Mahindra and Mahindra were going well.

Ghosn also said the group was not looking at any more alliances or partnerships with Indian or foreign companies. "If we cannot pull it off with three, we will not be able to pull it off at all," he said.

Shimla, November 10
The state-level Single Window Clearance and Monitoring Authority has granted provisional permission for setting up of 13 new industrial projects involving an investment of Rs 278.31 crore with employment potential of 1,838 persons.

The authority met here last evening under the chairmanship of Chief Minister PK Dhumal.

“Environmental issues and natural resources need to be taken into consideration while setting up of industrial units in addition to the interests of the local people in terms of employment,” he said.

He said during the past two years a large number of multinational companies had shown keen interest in investing in the state despite the global recession. He said the state was being considered a safe destination and preferred for making industrial investments, which needed to be availed of to the optimum.

He said Himachal was offering various incentives to the entrepreneurs in addition to the single-window clearance facility, where all concerned departmental authorities grant clearances within a specified time period to facilitate early execution of the industrial projects.

Dhumal said the condition of 70 per cent employment to the local people was required to be monitored closely by the authorities so that employment potential projected by the industrialists was actually implemented in their operational activities.

He directed the authorities to ensure that minimum wages were being paid to the industrial workers and the industrial houses be also motivated to participate in local welfare activities so that the people providing their land for industrial development were also compensated and benefited.

New Delhi, November 10
Acting on a complaint lodged by one of the new telecom operators, the telecom regulator, TRAI, has sought details from established operators on formation of a cartel and exorbitant fee they were charging to provide inter-connectivity network.

Loop Telecom had alleged that incumbent operators with significant market power were demanding as high as Rs 0.10 per SMS as termination charge.

It alleged that the charges were discriminatory as the established operators did not have a system of termination charge on SMS among themselves. They work on ‘bill and keep’ mechanism.

According to reports, TRAI had sought comments from the operators over the issues raised by Loop Telecom and a decision would be taken after getting the response.

TRAI was looking into two issues, one being whether the termination charge needs to be equal for every player for which Loop has approached TRAI, and the overall issue of SMS tariffs being high.

TRAI’s role has also been sought earlier in regulating the SMS tariff as it could lead to difficult situation for new operators.

TRAI officials feel that it is time for the regulator to re-examine SMS tariffs, which have not fallen as steeply as voice calls. SMS tariffs are around 50 paise whereas voice calls have come down to as low as one paisa per second.