The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	Govt rules out curbs on foreign borrowings New Delhi, November 19 The government today ruled out limiting companies from borrowing money from overseas market and said that the surge in foreign money is not a matter of concern at present. "There is no such proposal," Finance Secretary Ashok Chawla told reporters when asked about speculations that the government might ask corporates to bid for External Commercial Borrowings. Media reports suggested that government could limit the number of companies for the purpose of tapping overseas market for funds. Currently, companies are allowed to raise $500 million annually under the automatic route while infrastructure firms under the approval route can remit up to $100 million for rupee expenditure. For other companies, the cap on approval route remittance is set at $50 million. Capital inflows have reached record levels as investors borrow cheap from advanced countries and invest in high-yielding assets in developing countries. This has led to speculations that the government might put in place a system of auctioning ECBs, so that excess flow of money through commercial borrowings is checked. In India, foreign inflows through FIIs (foreign institutional investors), ECBs and FCCBs (foreign currency convertible bonds) have been on the rise, while FDI is not picking up as fast. Chawla said foreign capital inflows are not a cause of concern. "As of now, it is not a cause of concern. As the situation evolves, we will see what needs to be done," he said. Yesterday, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, too, said FII inflows are not disturbing and there are arrangements to counter them if they create "distortions." According to the RBI data, overseas borrowings by Indian companies through ECBs and FCCBs increased by 38 per cent to $1.51 billion in September. On a quarterly basis, the funds raised through ECBs and FCCBs increased by 70 per cent in the September quarter to $4.61 billion from $2.71 billion registered in the previous quarter. Also, Foreign Institutional Investors have put in a record over Rs 71,900 crore (over $15 billion) in the equities market so far this year. The net debt purchased by them was over Rs 5,000 crore. FDI inflows, on the other hand, have come down to $15.3 billion in the first half of this fiscal from $17.2 billion a year ago. The combined effect of these inflows has led to rupee appreciating by over five per cent during the last six months, raising difficulties of exporters already reeling under poor demand in traditional markets. Exports have dipped for 13 straight months, falling 11.4 per cent to $12.5 billion in October this year. — PTI
	Gas Row Rules can’t be changed after awarding contract: RNRL R Sedhuraman Legal Correspondent New Delhi, November 19 The government cannot change the rules of the game after allowing, under the oil and gas exploration contract, the Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) to fix the gas price through competitive bidding, senior counsel Ram Jethmalani argued in the Supreme Court today. Mukesh agreed to supply gas to the then RIL's wholly owned subsidiary, Reliance Natural Resources Ltd (RNRL) headed by his brother Anil, at $ 2.34 a unit after the price was decided through competitive bidding in response to a tender floated by NTPC. RIL was able to bag the NTPC contract as it outbid other companies which had quoted about $3 a unit. If the government now wanted to charge a higher price of $4.2 a unit, how could it justify the exclusion of the companies, which had quoted rates lower than this, from the NTPC tender process, he questioned. It was a different thing that a decision was taken subsequently to demerge RIL, Jethmalani told a special Bench headed by Chief Justice KG Balakrishnan while opening his arguments in the case. Justices B Sudershan Reddy and P Sathasivam are the other members of the Bench. Under the exploration contracts, the government had agreed to provide "fiscal stability" to RIL and other contractors during the entire tenure of the contract. Under the new exploration policy, the government had the right to step into the pricing mechanism only if it felt that the bidding process had been rigged or there was no possibility of following this drill.
	Mukesh Ambani is richest Indian New York, November 19 With a fortune of $32 billion, industry leader Mukesh Ambani has topped the list of richest Indians, where his estranged brother Anil figures at number three with nearly half the wealth. Steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal, who lives in London but holds an Indian passport, is sandwiched between the Ambani brothers in the list at number two with a networth of $30 billion, US business magazine Forbes said in its annual rich list for the country, which put Anil's net worth at $17.5 billion. Together, the three saw their wealth grow by over $25 billion to $79.5 billion on the back of a rebound in stock market over the past one year, but were still a far shy of their record total of $145 billion at the peak of stock market boom in November 2007. The list of India's richest 100 people included 52 billionaires, nearly double from 27 a year ago and just short of 54 in November 2007, but there were only six women. The collective wealth of these 100 is $276 billion (nearly Rs 13 lakh crore), which corresponds to almost one-fourth of the country's GDP. While the top three of the pack have retained their respective positions for second year in a row, telecom czar Sunil Mittal has slipped from fourth place to eighth and IT veteran Azim Premji has moved up to fourth. Besides, Adi Godrej, who heads a diversified conglomerate, have moved out of the top-10 league and Essar group's Ruia brothers have entered the top-five club. — PTI
	Food inflation rises to 14.55% New Delhi, November 19 Food inflation rose to 14.55 per cent in the first week of November fuelled by higher prices of staple items like potatoes, onions and pulses. On a weekly basis, inflation rose 0.87 percentage points from 13.68 per cent. On yearly basis, prices of potatoes shot up by 102.47 per cent, onions by 38.24 per cent and that of pulses by 27.03 per cent. Analysts expect prices to remain at elevated level, unless rabi crops are abundant. "Food inflation is likely to remain high, unless prospects of rabi are known. It is a matter of concern," Crisil principal economist DK Joshi said. — PTI
	3G Spectrum Auction EGoM fails to reach consensus Tribune News Service New Delhi, November 19 The Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) meeting here today failed to bring about a consensus on the release of the spectrum by the defence forces which would facilitate the auction of the air waves for the advent of the next generation 3G services in the country. The government plans to commence auction of 3G (third generation) spectrum from January 14, next year, but lack of clarity on number of slots to be sold could derail the process. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who heads the EGoM, had called for the meeting with Telecom Minister A Raja and Defence Minister AK Antony to resolve the issue. But despite all efforts from the Finance Minister, the meeting remained inconclusive. Apparently, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) is sticking to its stand that it does not have any more air waves to release which would help in increasing the number of slots for the auction of the 3G spectrum. The government has estimated a revenue of about Rs 35,000 crore from sale of spectrum in the current financial year. But in the absence of the air waves, the auction could be put off again with not enough players wanting to participate. The EGoM's meeting was the second in three days. Earlier this week also, the two (DoT and MoD) had failed to resolve the contentious issue of vacating spectrum for 3G mobile telephony. Sam Pitroda, Adviser to the Prime Minister on infrastructure, innovation and information, has also been roped in to help the Defence Ministry in vacating the spectrum. Telecom Minister A Raja had written two letters to Mukherjee seeking his intervention to get the spectrum vacated from the Defence Ministry. On Defence Ministry's claim that they had released two slots of 3G spectrum but the same was not disclosed by the DoT, the officials denied any such development, and feared that a continued deadlock may force the country miss the auction deadline once again.
	‘Govt biased towards industry KS Chawla Ludhiana, November 19 While Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal claims that worst is over so far as the industrial development of Punjab is concerned, the industrialists do not agree and maintain that industry in Punjab has no future. The industrialists want to know from the Chief Minister what is the basis of the claim of industry coming out of the woods in the state. Has the state government come out with a package during the past three years to help the industry or given any other relief to it? There has been no such thing and the industry continues to suffer. The industrialists allege that the state government has a biased attitude towards the industry and is concerned only about the welfare of the farming community, forgetting the fact that employment can only be provided by the industry. A random survey of the industry done by The Tribune has shown that there is a strong resentment among the industrialists against the indifferent attitude of the state and the central governments. They alleged that the industry has suffered badly due to the global meltdown and the state government has failed to provide any package to the industry. The industrialists point out that industry was starved of power supply for six months and entire power was diverted to agriculture. Now, when the power supply is being made available to the industry, the tariff has been hiked. All promises of the chief minister that the hiked tariff has been kept in abeyance have proved hollow as the industry is getting the bills under the hiked tariff. Not only that, they are also being charged arrears from the month of April according to enhanced power tariff. The industry has been demanding release of the VAT arrears and instead of giving any relief, the government has further tightened the noose on this score. It has made filling of forms C and H compulsory along with the application for refund of VAT. Avtar Singh, general secretary, Chamber of Industrial and Commercial Undertakings, Ludhiana, says that VAT arrears worth over Rs 700 crore are pending with the government. The government has announced the industrial policy of the state after three years, but it does not provide any relief to the existing units, he said. VP Chopra, president, Federation of Punjab Small Industries Associations, laments that the state government has not given any incentive to the industry. The Punjab industry has no future as the neighbouring states are giving more benefits to the industry and the industries are shifting to these states. He said the government must come to the rescue of the industry if it wants industry to develop.
	Sugar stocks crash over cane pricing Aditi Tandon Tribune News Service New Delhi, November 19 Political turmoil over sugarcane pricing today found a reflection in the stock markets, with sugar companies losing heavily. Throughout the day, the uncertainty on the prices of cane and the subsequent disruption of the Lok Sabha on the matter, severely impacted the stock prices of most sugar companies. The latter emerged as major losers on the exchanges, as stocks of most companies fell between 4 to 7 per cent through the day. The sugar stocks have been in the limelight for quite some time now amidst reports of a rise in retail sugar prices across the country. The stocks prices fell today on reports that the cane crushing could not start as farmers had stopped supplies to sugar companies in anticipation of a higher price. There were reports that sugar mill owners had agreed to pay Rs 180 per quintal for sugarcane. The farmers are, however, demanding Rs 200 plus or more for the same, on the grounds that prices did not match production costs. Major players like Bajaj Hindustan, Balrampur Chini, Triveni Engg and Shree Renuka fell by 4 to 7 per cent. Among othe major losers are Andhra Sugar, Dhampur Sugar, Dharani Sugars, Dwarikesh Sugar, EID Parry, KCP Sugar, Mawana Sugars, Oudh Sugar Mill, Ponni Sugars (E), Simbhaoli Sugar and Upper Ganges Sugar, which lost somewhere around 2 to 5 per cent.