The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	Mega deal for ONGC-led group New Delhi, February 11 A group, led by the ONGC, has bagged 40 per cent stake in a $19 billion-project to develop a major crude oil block in Venezuela. ONGC Videsh Ltd, Indian Oil Corp and Oil India Ltd along with Spain's Repsol YPF SA and Malaysia's Petroliam Nasional Bdh won rights to develop the Carabobo-1 block in Venezuela's Orinoco Belt, the company said in a statement here. An official said the group would pay $1.05 billion to Venezuela as the signing amount and initially invest another $ 9 billion in developing the block that can produce 4,00,000 barrels of oil per day (20 million tonnes per annum). The total spending on the block over 25 years would be $19 billion. Besides, it would also extend $1.05 billion credit to Venezuela's state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PdVSA), which would have 60 per cent interest in the project. OVL, Repsol and Petronas will have 11 per cent share in the Empresa Mixta (or Mixed Company), which will develop the Carabobo-1 Norte and Carabobo-1 Centro blocks located in the Orinoco Heavy Oil Belt, while IOC and OIL will split a 7 per cent stake in the project equally. OVL, IOC and OIL, he said, would seek the government approval to invest $2.45 billion -- their share of signature bonus, loan to PdVSA and phase-I development cost. Since signature bonus is to be paid by only the foreign firms, the share of OVL, IOC and OIL would be $ 472.5 million or 45 per cent of $1.05 billion. They will also contribute a similar amount to PdVSA as their share of credit. The official said licence agreement for the block that was likely to start production in three years would be signed on March 25. Plateau production would come within 1-2 years from output share. This is the first major overseas project Indians have won since 2008 when OVL acquired London-listed Imperial Energy. — PTI
	Exports grow 11.5 pc in Jan New Delhi, February 11 Growing for the third month in a row, exports in January jumped 11.5 per cent to $14.3 billion on the back of demand revival in the US and Europe. Revealing the January export numbers, Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma said, "Between now and March 31, we hope to maintain and further strengthen the growth, which will help us in registering healthy export figures and reducing gap (dip in year-on-year exports)substantially." In January, 2009, exports stood at $ 12.9 billion. Exports were hit badly by slump in demand in key markets in the wake of global financial crisis and fell continuously for 13 months. They reversed the trend in November, 2009, by growing 18.2 per cent. In December, the rise was 9.3 per cent. Analysts said the rising trend of the past three months mirrored that the outward shipments had come out of the woods. "The figures of the past three months are reflecting that exports are moving out of the red," Rakesh Mohan Joshi, a trade expert with the prestigious IIFT, said. However, it is still early to feel upbeat as some sectors are still struggling to come out of the bad phase. Sharma said engineering goods, textiles, jute, carpets, handicrafts and leather "continue to do badly" and are a cause for concern. He further said though there had been recovery in global economy "it will take time for the demand (for Indian goods) to return to pre-recession level". During April-January 2009-10, exports were about $133 billion against $144.2 billion in the year-ago period. In the Foreign Trade Policy 2009-14, the government had set an export target of $ 200 billion for 2010-11. Segments which have done well include fruits and vegetables, marine products and tobacco. Also exports of tea, coffee, gems and jewellery, pharmaceuticals and plastics registered significant improvement. Federation of Indian Export Organisations president A Sakthivel said, "The growth looks sustainable. However, to achieve $ 200 billion (of export) by 2010-11, exports should be over $ 15 billion per month." The Commerce and Industry Ministry has made several recommendations, including continuation of fiscal sops like interest subsidy to exporters in the coming Budget. "Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has been very understanding and he has taken our concerns on board," Sharma said. — PTI
	Infosys to recruit 15,000 Mumbai, February 11 Infosys Technologies today said it hoped to recruit 15,000 people in the days ahead and had already begun the process by visiting campuses, even as it looked for acquisitions in Europe and some non-English speaking countries. "We are looking for acquisitions," Infosys CEO and MD Kris Gopalakrishnan told reporters here on the sidelines of the Nasscom India Leadership Forum today. The company is looking at acquisitions across Europe, and non-English-speaking countries and even in the US, Gopalakrishnan said, adding that, "We are open to acquisitions everywhere... and across verticals." He said the company has plans to recruit from campuses for the next year. TCS to hire 30,000; Wipro 7,500 Indian IT companies are rebooting to hiring mode after a dormant 2009, with TCS saying it will hire 30,000 people and Wipro disclosing that it has already sent out 7,500 offer letters. "We are looking at a gross addition of 30,000 in fiscal 2011. Approximately 70 per cent will be freshers and 30 per cent will be experienced professionals," TCS CEO and MD N Chandrasekaran said. During the October-December quarter, TCS had a gross addition of 12,854 employees. Its total headcount across 42 countries stood at about 1,49,000, as of December 31, 2009. — PTI
	Food inflation nears 18 pc New Delhi, February 11 Food inflation rose for the third straight week to touch 17.94 per cent in January-end, fuelled by costlier potatoes and pulses, but the government was confident that the prices of essential items would cool down soon. Food inflation rose by 0.38 percentage points during the week ended January 30 from a week ago, prompting analysts to believe that the government may continue with the zero import duty regime for import of food items like wheat, rice, pulses, sugar and edible oils in the Budget later this month. Inflation, which began easing after touching the decade's high of about 20 per cent in December, rose mainly because the cost of potatoes and pulses were up 40.57 per cent and 41.24 per cent, respectively, from the year-ago level. — PTI
	FDI norms eased Tribune News Service New Delhi, February 11 The limit for foreign direct investment proposals that will not require prior approval of the Union Cabinet have been doubled to Rs 1,200 crore, leaving the Finance Minister with greater powers to decide on such matters. A meeting of the Cabinet Committee Economic Affairs, presided over by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh here, raised the limit based on the recommendations by the Commerce and Industry Ministry. At present, on the basis of the recommendations made by the Foreign Investment Promotion Board, all proposals with a total project cost of up to Rs 600 crore are approved by the Finance Minister and those above are placed before the Cabinet. In another decision, the Cabinet gave its approval to a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between India and Scotland in the areas of new and renewable energy. The Cabinet gave its nod to the MoU signed in October, 2009, between India 's Ministry of New and Renewable Energy and Scotland 's ministry of culture, external affairs and the constitution. The Cabinet also discussed the recommendations of 13th Finance Commission on how economic relations between the Centre and states should be structured for the next five years. The government has also approved the signing of an Air Services Agreement (ASA) between India and Nepal. Fuel hike off discussion The issue of hike in petrol and diesel prices was not discussed at the meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) that held here today, Home Minister P. Chidambaram said.
	SBI to fund Dairy Plus scheme Ruchika M Khanna Tribune News Service Chandigarh, February 11 In order to boost milk production and promote dairy farming in Punjab, the Punjab dairy development department, Milkfed and Progressive Dairy Farmers Association have now joined hands with State Bank of India. With the bank ready to finance more dairies across the state (start-ups as well as upgradation of existing dairies), Punjab could well make-up for the shortfall in demand and supply of milk. It is learnt that SBI has earmarked a sum Rs 100 crore under the scheme “Dairy Plus”, which is to be disbursed by the end of this fiscal. The bank will sanction loans to both the existing as well as a start up dairy ventures, with a requirement that the minimum number of cows (cross bred cows) in each farm should be 25. These dairies will have to be integrated dairies with state of art technology and will be granted loans at an interest of 9.75 per cent. Officials in SBI informed TNS that they are planning to rope in 150 farmers this year, while a target of roping in 350 farmers will be roped during the next fiscal. Roughly, for a dairy farm of 50 cows, a sum of Rs 58 lakh is required (Rs 48 lakh as project cost and Rs 10 lakh as working capital loan). The bank will give 75 per cent of this as loan for a period of seven years. The farmers will not be required to make any repayment in the first year, and will have to pay the interest amount only during the second and third year. The balance interest and the principal amount will have to be paid during the fourth to seventh year. “The loans will be disbursed by the regional business offices. These loans are meant for the hi-tech dairy farms as the idea is to boost milk production, wherein the farmers can utilise the loan for upgrading their equipment, constructing new sheds and for pedigree upgradation of cows,” informed a senior official of SBI. Other than this, the state government will give 50 per cent subsidy on all equipment and machinery bought by the farmers. A total subsidy of Rs 1.5 lakh will also be given by the state government for construction of new sheds for cows.
	New Lending Rate System Mumbai, February 11 The RBI today issued draft guidelines to replace the current method of calculating lending rates by banks with a new model, which is expected to help credit growth to small borrowers. The current method followed by banks is to use the benchmark prime lending rate (BPLR) as the norm to calculate customer segment specific rates. "The base rate system will replace the BPLR system from April 1. Banks may determine their actual lending rates on loans and advances with reference to the base rate," said the central bank in a statement on its website. "Since the base rate will be the minimum rate for all commercial loans, banks are not permitted to resort to any lending below the base rate," it added. The base rate system will be applicable for all new loans and for those old loans that come up for renewal. For existing borrowers, who want to switch to the new system, a revised rate can be agreed upon mutually by the bank and the customer. The RBI had set up a committee under the chairmanship of its deputy governor Deepak Mohanty to review the BPLR system of fixing lending rates after criticism that banks were lending to corporate customers at rates below the BPLR. "It is expected that deregulation of lending rates will increase the credit flow to small borrowers at the reasonable rate. Thus, direct bank finance will provide effective competition to other forms of high cost credit," said the RBI statement. — IANS
	Patni to pay 150 pc Mumbai, February 11 Software exporter Patni Computer today reported over 2-fold growth in consolidated net profit at Rs 188 crore for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2009. The software exporter had a net profit of Rs 78 crore in the fourth quarter of FY'08 as per the US accounting rules, Patni said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange. The company’s revenue at the end of the December quarter stood at Rs 789.61 crore, down from Rs 857 crore in the corresponding period a year-ago. The board has declared a dividend of 150 per cent at the rate of Rs 3 a piece, on every share of Rs 2 held for FY'09. For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2009, Patni posted a net profit of Rs 555.79 crore, 14 per cent growth over the year-ago period. — PTI
	Reliance tariff plans Shimla, February 11 Reliance Communications has come out with a special tariff offer for customers in Himachal Pradesh under which a talk time of Rs 600 will be available on a top up of Rs 500. A top up of Rs 200 will offer a talk time of Rs 222, Rs 300 a talk time of Rs 333 and Rs 500 a talk time of Rs 555 to all GSM and CDMA customers of Reliance in Punjab, Haryana. Reliance has also launched new vouchers that will provide free unlimited local and STD calling facility to its customers. Using pack of Rs 59, a Reliance mobile subscriber make free local as well as STD calls to any other Reliance mobile between 11 pm to 6 am. For all other calls 50 percent discount on tariff will be provided. Customers who want only local Reliance Mobile to Reliance Mobile calls free at night from 11 pm to 6 am can use pack of Rs 29 only. — TNS
	Colgate, arm to merge Mumbai, February 11 Colgate Palmolive today said it would merge its subsidiary Professional Oral Care Products with itself. The board today approved the merger of Professional Oral Care Products, a wholly owned subsidiary of the company, with itself from April 1, 2009, Colgate Palmolive (India) said. Colgate Palmolive, which held a 75 per cent stake in Professional Oral, last week, bought the remaining 25 per cent in the Goa-based firm for Rs 2.4 crore from public shareholders. The oral care products manufactured by it include toothpastes, toothpowder, toothbrushes and whitening products, while personal care products comprise body wash, liquid hand wash, and those for skin and hair care. "The entire equity share capital of Professional Oral is held by the company.," the filing added. — PTI