New Delhi, November 16
With the economy showing mixed signals of recovery, the government today said all components of stimulus packages may not be withdrawn at one go when the rollback process kicks in, which is unlikely this year.

"The general indication today is that stimulus will continue this year, that is the indications given by everybody. Let us not think stimulus is something that will be withdrawn all at once," Cabinet Secretary KM Chandrasekhar told reporters on the sidelines of a CII event.

Chandrasekhar said certain things in stimulus packages might be retained while certain things might go. He, however, refused to specify which part of stimulus will be withdrawn.

"We have not thought what to remove. Stimulus contains many things that might change," he said.

On broad spectrum, the government has cut excise duty by six per cent, service tax by two per cent and stepped up plan expenditure.

However, certain sector-specific sops like more leeway to IIFCL to raise money to fund infrastructure project, interest subvention and duty refunds for exports were also doled out to help the industry.

While industrial growth has been on the upswing, exports have declined for the 13th month in a row.

At the seminar, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, too, said "short term" stimulus would be withdrawn when recovery is firmly in sight.

After contracting for months since October last in a fall out of the deepening global financial crisis, industrial production has started firming up again.

Industrial growth stood at a whopping around 11 per cent in August and 9.1 per cent in September.

However, merchandise exports shrank to $12.5 billion, down by 11.4 per cent, for the 13th month in a row in October, as demand continued to remain sluggish overseas.

The grim scenario is that exports declined, despite a low base of October last year. However, Chandrasekhar said stimulus packages have been working and there is improvement on all economic parameters. Indian economy grew by 6.1 per cent in the first quarter of this fiscal against 5.8 per cent in the preceding two quarters.

Mukherjee said the impact of the financial crisis on the common man in India would have been harder without stimulus packages provided by the government and RBI.

He said the impact of the meltdown has been less pronounced on India, particularly because of market discipline enforced by sector regulators, while maintaining competitive environment.

The Finance Minister also allayed concerns that the current high level of fiscal deficit, projected to be 6.8 per cent of GDP this fiscal, would leave little resources for the private sector. — PTI

Chennai, November 16
A new tyre manufacturing factory with an investment of Rs 4,000 crore will come up in Tamil Nadu, about 50 km from here at Thervoy Kandigai village in Tiruvallur district, with the state government signing an MoU today with Michelin Group, one of the world's leading tyre manufacturers.

Michelin, the French MNC, with 69 production sites in 19 countries, sales organisations in more than 170 countries and employing 1.10 lakh personnel, will invest Rs 4,000 crore within seven years to set up all manufacturing at the same place at an area of 290 acres.

Michelin tyre manufacturing plant would provide direct employment to about 1,500 persons.

Tamil Nadu principal secretary for industries MF Farooqui and Prashant Prabhu, president, Michelin, Africa-India-Middle-East, signed the MoU in the presence of Chief Minister M Karunanidhi and Deputy Chief Minister MK Stalin. India programme director for the company, Nicolas Beaumont, was also present.

Prashant Prabhu, who thanked the state government for providing the necessary infrastructure to commence operations, said "with the accelerating development of road and highways infrastructure and the number of ongoing road development projects, India is on course to offer customers the opportunity to extract the full value from radial tyres. We believe that India holds tremendous potential for the Michelin Group in terms of establishing a world-class manufacturing facility".

He said the company decided to invest in Tamil Nadu due to favourable climate for investments. The infrastructure facilities in the state was good and efficient personnel with quality education was also adequately available, he said. Besides, marketing opportunities was an added advantage, he said.

The manufacturing facility would focus on a range of radial truck and bus tyres, he said. The plant would start operations in 2012 and focus on the growing Indian market.

Philipe Neyrat, commercial director, Michelin India, said the company was confident of providing the customers the latest technology products which provided cost-efficient solutions and added that Michelin followed the same code of quality throughout the world.

Farooqui said this factory with a huge investment would boost industrial development in Tiruvallur district near Chennai. It would be situated at the SIPCOT complex that has been developed in Tiruvallur district recently, he added. 

Mumbai, November 16
The stock market benchmark Sensex today gained 184 points to close above the 17,000-points level as investors, foreign funds in particular, bet their money on Indian stocks amid a smart rally in other markets.

The Bombay Stock Exchange 30-share barometer settled the day at more than a three-week high of 17,032.51, netting a rise of 183.68 points or 1.09 per cent over its last close.

The National Stock Exchange 50-share Nifty also spurted by 59.10 points or 1.18 per cent to 5,058.05 from its last close.

Asian and European markets rallied smartly as dollar weakened against a basket of currencies. Shanghai Composite gained 2.74 per cent, Strait Times 2.08 per cent, Hang Seng 1.73 per cent, Taiwan weighted 1.66 per cent and Kospi 1.30 per cent. European markets were trading firm in their early trade this afternoon.

The market sentiment was also boosted by sustained capital inflow into equity. Foreign Institutional Investors bought shares worth $774.2 million so far in November, taking the total purchases to $14.8 billion in the current calendar year.

The market, however, came under pressure at the day's higher levels on concerns about rising inflation which stood at 1.34 per cent for October. Auto stocks attracted continued demand from investors as the sector registered robust sales growth in October.

India's largest small car maker Maruti Suzuki soared by 5.45 per cent, the bike maker Hero Honda by 3.82 per cent and the truck marker Tata Motors by 2.32 per cent.

Rate sensitive realty sector also attracted heavy buying support after an recent steep fall, as a result the BSE Realty Index jumped by 3.15 per cent.

IT stocks, however, witnessed pressure on reports that European Union plans to impose value-dded tax on services delivered from non-EU nations, including India.

The market breadth was strong as 1,756 stocks registered gains while 1,017 others finished with losses. — PTI

New Delhi, November 16
The government today said its serious fraud probe arm SFIO will start prosecution proceedings against Satyam founder B Ramalinga Raju and others this month, as there was sufficient evidence of their involvement in the over Rs 10,000-crore scam in the IT firm.

"During this month, the SFIO will begin prosecution on those or those areas of company laws that the SFIO is expected to and have been authorised to proceed with," Corporate Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid told reporters here.

In January this year, Raju had disclosed what became the country's biggest corporate fraud involving over Rs 10,000 crore. He had, in a letter to Satyam Board, said he had fudged accounts of Satyam Computer and inflated its profit for years.

Besides the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO), CBI and Enforcement Directorate are also investigating the scam, including siphoning of money by Raju and others.

The SFIO will seek prosecution of Raju, his brother Rama Raju, Satyam's ex-CFO Vadlamani Srinivas, and partners of the company's former auditor Price Waterhouse — S Gopalakrishnan and Srinivas Talluri — would be carried out on 30 charges under different sections of the Companies Act, 1956.

Khurshid said the agency is "dutifully and diligently" pursuing what it is supposed to do in the Satyam case. The SFIO had submitted a preliminary report in April. — PTI

Chandigarh, November 16
The Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) is now mulling a unified return for state and central taxes, once the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime comes into force next fiscal. The idea is to simplify the tax procedures for the common man.

Talking to mediapersons on the sidelines of a programme to launch Automation of Central Excise and Service Tax (ACES), the board chairman, V Sridhar, said the issue was being discussed with the Empowered group of state finance ministers. The idea is that an assessee will have to file a common return at a single venue, which will then be segregated for state and central GST at the back-end office. The assessees will be provided with a 15-digit PAN-based number (first 10 digits will be the PAN number), which will help them register as assessees of both central and state GST, he said.

Talking about the implementation of GST in the next fiscal, Sridhar said the Empowered Group of Finance Ministers were also discussing on working out a suitable model to compensate state for loss in revenue through purchase tax withdrawal in Punjab and Haryana and from octroi in case of West Bengal and Maharashtra. “Though a broad framework and consensus has been reached between the states and the Centre, some issues have to be sorted out. But, we are hopeful to implement GST from next fiscal,” he added.

Answering a query regarding the fall in revenue collection, the CBEC chairman said they were expecting a revenue shortfall of Rs 15,000 crore this fiscal, mainly because of the continuation of the three fiscal stimulus packages announced by the government last year. “This year, we had set a target for Rs 2,68,000 crore as tax collection through central excise, customs and service tax. This was the same as the total tax collection in 2008-09. But, with the government having reduced the service tax by two per cent and the rate of excise duty from 14 per cent to eight per cent, as part of the stimulus packages, we foresee the tax collection falling short by Rs 15,000 crore,” he said, adding that between April and October, the collection was down by 22 per cent.

Sridhar also said with the GST regime coming into effect next April, they were targeting a revenue neutral rate of growth. Subsequently, the tax collection would begin to pick up, he added.

Earlier, while inaugurating the ACES here, Sridhar said of the 104 central excise, customs commissionerates across India, the automation service has been implemented in 45 commissionerates. “By December 31, we will implement this across all our commissionmerates,” he assured.

Tokyo, November 16
Japan's economy grew at the fastest pace in two and a half years in the third quarter of 2009, smashing market forecasts and extending a recovery from the worst downturn in decades, data showed today.

The world's second largest economy expanded 1.2 per cent in July-September from the previous quarter 4.8 per cent on an annualised basis, the government reported.

It was the best performance since January-March 2007 and much better than analyst projections for an annualised rate of less than three per cent. Asia's biggest economy posted a second straight quarter of positive growth as it emerges from a severe year-long recession on the back of rebounding exports and the government's massive stimulus spending.

Exports soared 6.4 per cent quarter-on-quarter in July-September, while corporate capital expenditure rose 1.6 per cent and household spending went up 0.7 per cent. Japan sank into recession in the second quarter of 2008 as the global economic downturn battered demand for its cars, electronics and other exports.

The economy returned to positive growth in April-June of this year, expanding 0.7 per cent quarter-on-quarter, but there are concerns the recovery could lose steam as the boost from the government's pump-priming efforts fades. — AFP

New Delhi, November 16
Ruias-owned Essar group yesterday announced acquisition of majority stake in Dhabi Group's Warid Telecom operation in Uganda and Congo, a move that would further strengthen Indian firms' presence in South Africa.

The combined enterprise value of Warid Telecom Uganda and Warid Telecom Congo is estimated to be $318 million.

According to sources close to the development, the Essar Group has acquired 51 per cent equity for about $160 million. Essar investment in Warid Telecom in Africa is part of its strategic plans to grow its businesses in Africa.

The agreements to this effect were signed by Sheikh Nahyan Mabarak Al Nahyan on behalf of the Dhabi Group and Prashant Ruia, group chief executive, Essar Group, in Abu Dhabi. The Essar Group has committed growth capital to both telecom operations to facilitate network expansion and marketing, a joint statement from Dhabi Group and Essar Group said.

"Upon completion, the Essar Group will acquire a majority stake in both assets. The partnership is also expected to bring operational efficiencies to the African operations", it said. Commenting on the development, Sheikh Nahayan Mabarak Al Nahayan, chairman of Dhabi Group, said, "We are pleased to join hands with a Group that both complements and extends our synergies to expand further into Africa." — PTI

BRIEFLY

Shoppers Stop to open 15 stores
New Delhi: Retail chain Shoppers Stop on Monday said it would invest Rs 250 crore in the next three years to open 15 more stores across the country. "We will invest Rs 250 crore in the next three years to add another 15 stores. Each store would require an investment of Rs 12-15 crore," Shoppers Stop vice- president marketing and loyalty Vinay Bhatia said. — PTI

Godrej Properties’ plan
Chandigarh: Godrej Properties, the real estate arm of Godrej group, on Monday announced the setting up of its first commercial project at Chandigarh with an investment of Rs 200 crore. This is the first project of the group in North India, said the company’s executive director, Pirojsha Godrej, while talking to mediapersons here. The company is developing modern offices and retail spaces over an area of 4.04 acres with a development size of 6.80 lakh square feet. — TNS

Hi Lite forays into India
Chandigarh: The Canada-based aluminum shoring frames manufacturer, Hi Lite, has announced its entry into the Indian market. Announcing its foray in the Indian market, Yoginder Jain, managing partner, Exporations, which has the marketing rights for India, said they would initially be importing all frames from Canada, and later set up a manufacturing base here. — TNS

SAIL cuts prices
New Delhi: State-run steel maker SAIL on Monday cut prices of some of its products, used primarily by the automobile and the white goods industry, by a further Rs 500 a tonne mainly on weak global demand. Earlier this month, the PSU had reduced prices of its flat steel products in the range of Rs 750-1,500 a tonne. — PTI

RCom launches mVDO
New Delhi: Telecom operator Reliance Communications (RCom) on Monday announced the launch of its value-added service 'mVDO', which will allow its subscribers watch, share, search and upload videos online. Users can use the 'Search' option for searching videos across various categories and download it to their GSM mobile phones, while the 'Upload' option makes uploading videos from mobile phones easier. — PTI