The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	Food inflation rises to 17.4 pc Monetary Policy Review Today Vibha Sharma Tribune News Service New Delhi, January 28 In what could spell some more trouble for Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, already in line of fire for rising food prices, food inflation inched up to 17.40 per cent for the week ending January 16 as compared to 16.81 per cent in the previous week. This is first time in the past four weeks that India's annual food price inflation showed signs of acceleration. The numbers are clearly above comfort levels of the RBI. The bank is due to review its credit policy tomorrow and may tighten it to prevent inflation from spilling over to the broader economy. Food inflation reached 19.95 per cent in the week to December 5, the fastest pace since December 1998. Food inflation, which had started falling after touching the decade's high in December, has been driven mainly by rising prices of lentils, fruits, vegetables and other food articles. The RBI has already signalled the possibility of raising borrowing costs. To achieve that the bank is likely to increase cash reserve ratio (CRR) by 25-50 basis points in credit policy. Debt markets have already priced in a 25-50 basis point increase in the CRR, with some dealers hedging in anticipation of rise in key interest rates. Analysts say monetary steps are also required as food inflation is entering into the manufacturing sector as also to factor in international crude prices that are rising. Interestingly, Pawar on Wednesday said monetary measures were not required to contain food inflation. Amid speculations that the RBI may squeeze money supply to rein in surging food prices, Pawar, when asked if monetary measures were required to rein in food inflation, said if supply situation improved, food prices would come down. The Congress may have decided not to target Pawar, especially after his clarification that he was certainly not aiming at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh over the price rise issue, sources, however, say there is a very strong mood in the Congress against the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief. The Congress Working Committee (CWC), scheduled to meet next week, will discuss inflation and the growing public anger against price rise in view of state elections in Bihar this year. During the last CWC also the price rise issue had featured prominently.
	‘Taming inflation without hurting growth a challenge’ Shiv Kumar Tribune News Service Mumbai: Ahead of tomorrow's third quarter review of the monetary policy, the RBI noted that the withdrawal of stimulus could derail the global economic growth even as growing liquidity in the system could cause a spike in inflation. The RBI noted that inflation remained a major concern during the third quarter. RBI said reining in inflation without hurting economic growth will be the main challenge before the bank. "Returning to the high growth path while avoiding the situation of generalised increase in inflation through monetary policy action has emerged as a delicate challenge for the RBI," the apex bank said in its macro-economic review. The central bank noted that the pace and shape of recovery continue to remain uncertain. "By far the biggest anxiety is about the recovery losing momentum once the props of fiscal stimulus and monetary accommodation are withdrawn," the RBI said.
	Tata Steel, HDFC among most sustainable: Forbes New York, January 28 Two Indian firms, Tata Steel and HDFC, have made it to a list of the world's most sustainable companies by media firm Corporate Knights. Tata Steel has been ranked on the 90th spot, while HDFC cornered the 92nd position in the world's 100 most sustainable companies list, the Forbes said attributing to the Toronto-based media company that compiled the list. "To be considered sustainable, companies must squeeze four times more wealth out of every resource they use," Corporate Knight editor-in-chief Toby Heaps said. US-based General Electric has topped the list, followed by San Francisco-based utility company Pacific Gas and Electric Corp. Mail delivery firm Tnt Nv of the Netherlands and Swedish clothing company H&M Hennes & Mauritiz have been ranked on the third and the fourth place. Among others on the top 10 list includes-- Finnish handset maker Nokia (5th), Siemens Ag of Germany (6th), the UK's Unilever (7th), Vodafone (8th), UK-based capital goods firm Smith Group (9th) and Swiss company Geberit (10th). The mining giant Rio Tinto and Google did not figure on the list. "Google was shut out of the top 100 because of privacy concerns and issues related to its China operations," Heaps said. The research was based on 10 environmental, social and governance performance metrics, including energy productivity, waste productivity, CEO-to-average-worker pay ratio and transparency. "Corporate Knights relied on the companies to give it the accurate data. When a company will not provide information for one of the 10 metrics, Corporate Knights assigned it a null score for that category and then penalised it with an unfavourable transparency score," the Forbes said. While the list has the most number of firms from the UK at 21, America is at the second spot with 12 companies followed by Australia and Canada with nine each. Food and beverages firm Diageo, Japanese auto maker Toyota Motor, British insurer Prudential, South Korean Posco, America's Coca-Cola, Intel are the other firms to figure on the sustainable companies list. — PTI
	Obama Move US firms will lose more: Nasscom New Delhi, January 28 Nasscom today sought to downplay US President Barack Obama's decision to end tax breaks for companies shipping jobs abroad, saying the real worry was "protectionism" and not tax breaks. "I think the concerns that we have is about indirect protectionism. I don't think the tax break issue is really the one which is important for us. Obama's comment was not related to outsourcing. Its about US companies operating in regions where they get tax benefits," Nasscom VP Ameet Nivsarker told PTI. Obama today said, "To encourage ... businesses to stay within our borders, it is time to finally slash the tax breaks for companies that ship our jobs overseas, and give those tax breaks to companies that create jobs right here in the USA. Nivsarkar said the move would hit American companies more than $60-billion Indian IT and outsourcing industry, which earned more than half of its revenue from the US. "The whole issue about taxing companies, which were shipping jobs overseas and taking away tax breaks actually does not relate to the work that is done out of India or other locations. That is really about US subsidiaries which have set up plants overseas," he added. — PTI
	Canara Bank net zooms 50 pc Mumbai/Delhi, January 28 Canara Bank today reported a 50 per cent jump in the net profit to Rs 1,052.58 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2009. The bank had a net profit of Rs 701.50 crore during October-December quarter last financial year. The total income of the lender also rose to Rs 5,469.10 crore during the December quarter of the current fiscal from Rs 5,382.90 crore in the corresponding period a year ago, Canara Bank said. The bank's earning from interest during the quarter rose to Rs 4,687.81 crore from Rs 4,625.44 crore in the year ago quarter. OBC Oriental Bank of Commerce today reported a growth of 14.76 per cent in net profit at Rs 289.43 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2009, over the same period last year. The total income rose to Rs 2,909.27 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, from Rs 2,718.20 crore in the same period previous fiscal, OBC said. Central Bank of India Central Bank of India today said its net profit declined by 13.25 per cent to Rs 306.44 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, over the corresponding period last fiscal. The total income rose to Rs 3,495.42 crore for the latest quarter against Rs 3,033.41 crore for the same period previous fiscal, Central Bank of India said. Bank of India Bank of India today said its net profit declined by 53.50 per cent to Rs 405.50 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, over the same period corresponding fiscal. The total income declined to Rs 5,057.83 crore for the latest quarter against Rs 5,393.74 crore previous fiscal, BOI said. — PTI
	Jan 31 last date for e-filing returns Traders in a fix as snag hits server Ruchika M. Khanna Tribune News Service Chandigarh, January 28. The Punjab government does not seem to learn from its mistakes. After technical snag in the main server of the Excise and Taxation Department ensured that assessees could not file their returns electronically during the last quarter, the business community is once again on tenterhooks as the electronic filing of returns has hit a technical roadblock. With January 31 being the last date for filing of VAT returns, thousands of assessees across Punjab, who have an inter-state sale or purchase of goods, are in a fix. Assessees as well as taxation consultants rue that they are unable to file returns as the server remains jammed. Because of excessive traffic on the server, very few returns are being accepted on the server. Traders have also complained that the software being used by the department is old and not commensurate with the software being used by them for filing of returns. B K Saluja, a Ludhiana taxation consultant, said for the past three days not a single return could be filed electronically. “The department insists that the returns be filed electronically, but their server is too slow and cannot handle the huge traffic. Though the problem was solved temporarily for some time today evening, the server again got jammed late evening,” he said. Assessees also complained that they have not received their passwords and hence could not file their returns electronically. In many cases where the passwords have been provided to the assessees, the system fails to accept the password and the password has to be regenerated again However, officials in the department maintain that most of the 95,000 assessees in the state have already received their passwords before December, 2009. Officials in the department, however, maintain that though there was a tevhnical snag earlier, the problem has been solved now. “ As many as 25,000 returns have already been received electronically and we are expecting 1 lakh returns by January 31. With the electronic filing being a success now, we plan to make e-filing mandatory from the next quarter,” said Excise and Taxation Commissioner, A. Venu Prasad.
	Oriental Insurance to target villagers Shivani Bhakoo Tribune News Service Ludhiana, January 28 Oriental Insurance Company is committed to providing a vast range of products to its customers. Now, the company aims to focus on Below Poverty Line (BPL) families so that in the times of "misfortunes", they do not remain at the mercy of God alone. These views were expressed by CMD, Oriental Insurance Company, Dr R.K.Kaul on the sidelines of a review meeting here yesterday. Dr Kaul said the company's major thrust was to reach to the common masses. He said as per latest guidelines, 7-8 per cent total insurance covers would focus on the rural section. Kaul said the company was already running various insurance plans in 12 districts of Punjab. Besides, insurance covers were being provided to labourers, who could avail health services anywhere in the country. "Camps are being organised by our agents in villages to make the masses aware about several insurance plans", said Dr Kaul.
	Aptech acquires MAAC Mumbai, January 28 Aptech Ltd has sealed a major buyout in the animation and multimedia education space by acquiring Maya Academy of Advanced Cinematics (MAAC) for Rs 76 crore. "This acquisition will make us an education powerhouse, give us scale and synergy as well as a significant marketshare," Aptech's CEO and MD Ninad Karpe said here today. "The deal is structured to include a cash payout as well as issue of equity shares of Aptech Ltd to shareholders of MEL. The enterprise value is Rs 76 crore and the breakdown between the cash and equity components will be finalised very soon," Karpe said. — PTI
	Pauper status for ex-Satyam chief New York, January 28 Ramalinga Raju, former chairman of Satyam Computers, who last year confessed to have inflated his company's assets by over $ 1 billion, has been declared a pauper by a court here exempting him from paying court costs. New York judge Barabara S Jones approved the “pauper” status for Raju, his brother Rama Raju, Satyam's former chief executive officer, and Srinivas Vadlamani, the company's former head of finance. In October, 2009, the defendants filed an "in forma pauperis" and for the appointment for a pro bono counsel. The accused stated that they were "unable to engage an attorney in the US to defend (themselves) in the class action litigation and to pay any court fees or to meet any financial obligations which might be imposed by this court". — PTI
	Corporate Results Colgate, Tata Steel profits up New Delhi/Mumbai, January 28 Colgate-Palmolive today reported a 50 per cent increase in the net profit at Rs 116.39 crore in the third quarter ended December 31, 2009 over the same period last fiscal. The company had a net profit of Rs 77.74 crore in the third quarter ended December 31, 2008, Colgate-Palmolive said in a statement. Tata Steel Tata Steel today reported a whopping 155 per cent jump in the net profit at Rs 1,191.75 crore for the third quarter ended December 31. The company had a net profit of Rs 466.24 crore in the same period the previous fiscal. The total income of the company rose to Rs 6,374.88 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2009, from Rs 4,810.40 crore in the corresponding quarter last fiscal, Tata Steel said. Jindal Steel & Power Jindal Steel & Power Ltd (JSPL) today said its consolidated net profit declined by 3.20 per cent to Rs 874.35 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, compared to the same period corresponding fiscal. The total income declined to Rs 2,687.10 crore for the latest quarter against Rs 2,948.57 crore for the same period previous fiscal, JSPL said. MRF MRF Ltd today posted a net profit of Rs 119.41 crore for the quarter ended December 31. The company had a net loss of Rs 38.30 crore for the same period corresponding fiscal, MRF said. The net sales stood at Rs 1,653.84 crore for the latest quarter while the same was Rs 1,351.30 crore during the corresponding fiscal. Cipla Cipla Ltd today reported a 29.3 per cent increase in the net profit at Rs 289.03 crore for the third quarter ended December, 31, 2009. The company had reported a net profit of Rs 223.44 crore for the same quarter last fiscal, Cipla said. BPCL BPCL today reported a fall of 52.6 per cent in the net profit at Rs 379.09 crore for the third quarter of 2009-10. It had a net profit of Rs 799.84 crore in the year-ago period. Marico Marico Ltd today said its net profit increased by 22.2 per cent to Rs 62.19 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2009. The company had reported a net profit of Rs 50.89 crore for the quarter ended on December 2008, it said in a statement. Havells Havells India today reported a five-fold jump in its net profit at Rs 58.93 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2009, over the same period last year. The board has also proposed an interim dividend of Rs 1.25 per equity share for the financial year 2009-10. Mundra Port and SEZ Mundra Port and Special Economic Zone today reported net profit of Rs 163.25 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, while the same was at Rs 100.81 crore during the year-ago period. The company declared an interim dividend of Rs 2.50 per equity share for the financial year 2009-10. — PTI