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THE TRIBUNE SPECIALS
50 YEARS OF INDEPENDENCE

TERCENTENARY CELEBRATIONS
B U S I N E S S

Truckers’ strike from April 5
New Delhi, March 5
Over 75 lakhs trucks will go off the road from April 5 with the apex truckers' body, All India Motor Transport Congress, today calling for an indefinite strike demanding a rollback of the fuel price hike announced in the Budget, among others.

Maruti to roll out small car by year-end
Chandigarh, March 5
Maruti Suzuki will be launching a new small car, Cervo, this year. Priced at below Rs 2 lakh, the car is targeted at giving competition to Tata’s Nano. The company will also be launching a diesel variant of SX4 by middle of this year. The car maker has now given up further development of LPG vehicles and is now concentrating of CNG variants.

S Tel asked to stop services
New Delhi, March 5
S Tel, a joint venture between Chennai-based Siva Group and Bahrain Telecom (Batelco), has been directed to immediately stop its mobile services in Himachal Pradesh, Bihar and Orissa, citing national security concerns.



EARLIER STORIES



Models with painted faces showcase creations by designer duo Shyamal & Bhumika on the first day of the Lakme Fashion Week Summer/Resort 2010 in Mumbai on Friday. The bi-annual fashion show, featuring creations by over 50 designers is on till March 9
Models with painted faces showcase creations by designer duo Shyamal & Bhumika on the first day of the Lakme Fashion Week Summer/Resort 2010 in Mumbai on Friday. The bi-annual fashion show, featuring creations by over 50 designers is on till March 9. — AFP

Oil PSUs to get Rs 12,000 cr
New Delhi, March 5
The government will give state fuel retailers Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum Rs 12,000 crore to partly compensate them for losses on LPG and kerosene by March 31.

4 new directors on AI Board
New Delhi, March 5
Former IAF Chief Air Chief Marshal Fali H Major and eminent industrialist Anand G Mahindra were among the four new non-official directors appointed by the government today on the Board of cash-strapped Air India.

SEZ units can now export rice, pulses
New Delhi, March 5
The government has allowed the special economic zones (SEZs) to re-export commodities barred from outbound shipments, like non-basmati rice and pulses, after importing them in raw form and processing in these tax-free enclaves.

This combination of undated handout pictures released on Friday by Olive Communications shows a front (L) and rear (R) view of their cellular phone which is powered by a single "AAA" sized battery. The company has launched a low-cost handset that uses commonly available AAA-sized batteries aimed at the hundreds of millions who live in areas where power supplies are erratic. Priced at Rs 1,699, Olive Telecommunications' "FrvrOn" has a rechargeable lithium-ion battery common to mobile phones, but also a facility to include a AAA, dry-cell battery
This combination of undated handout pictures released on Friday by Olive Communications shows a front (L) and rear (R) view of their cellular phone which is powered by a single "AAA" sized battery. The company has launched a low-cost handset that uses commonly available AAA-sized batteries aimed at the hundreds of millions who live in areas where power supplies are erratic. Priced at Rs 1,699, Olive Telecommunications' "FrvrOn" has a rechargeable lithium-ion battery common to mobile phones, but also a facility to include a AAA, dry-cell battery. — AFP

RBI defers base rate system by 3 months
Mumbai, March 5
The Reserve Bank today deferred the introduction of base rate system, which will be the new benchmark lending rate for banks, by three months to July 1. Banks will now implement base rate system from July 1, 2010, RBI Deputy Governor Usha Thorat said here. "Concerns on base rate have been sorted out," she said.

Honda to invest Rs 1,100 crore in 2nd unit
Jaipur, March 5
Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India Pvt Ltd (HMSI) will set up its second plant in Rajasthan at an investment of Rs 1,100 crore with an installed capacity to produce 12 lakh units per annum. "Keeping in view the economic and financial environment of the state, the Cabinet has granted its approval for granting a customised package to the company (HMSI)," a top government official said.

Essar close to buy Trinity Coal
New Delhi, March 5
Ruais-led Essar Group is in the advanced stages of negotiations to acquire the US-based Trinity Coal for about $550-600 million to meet the rising raw material requirement of its steel business, sources said.





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Fuel Price Hike
Truckers’ strike from April 5

New Delhi, March 5
Over 75 lakhs trucks will go off the road from April 5 with the apex truckers' body, All India Motor Transport Congress, today calling for an indefinite strike demanding a rollback of the fuel price hike announced in the Budget, among others.

"We have submitted four major demands to the government and will wait till the midnight of April 5, 2010. And if the demands are not met by this time, we will pull out all our trucks from the road," All India Motor Transport Congress (AIMTC) president G R Shanmugappa said.

He said AIMTC has demanded a rollback of the hike in fuel prices, especially that of diesel, which rose by over Rs 2.5 a litre consequent to a duty hike on fuels.

"The hike is abnormal, unbearable and intolerable, which will further deteriorate the already dwindling condition of truckers," he said.

The AIMTC is also demanding the implementation of the agreement on national permit that will require truckers to pay only a one-time fee of Rs 15,000 for a year, against the current norm of paying each state a fee of Rs 5,000, as promised by the government during the last year's strike.

The Centre had signed an agreement with the AIMTC on February 23, 2009, for implementing the new national permit scheme before January 1, 2010, but despite of the minister's assurance, the government has not notified it.

The AIMTC claimed that if its demands were not met, over 75 lakh truckers will be taken off the road and the strike would also have the support from other segments such as tempos and other small goods carrying vehicle owners.

The AIMTC also asked the government to notify and implement the same before March 31, 2010.

"Besides this, we are also demanding reduction in toll rates across the country and the government should also remove anti-dumping duty imposed on the import of tyres," Shanmugappa said. — PTI

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Maruti to roll out small car by year-end
Ruchika M. Khanna
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 5
Maruti Suzuki will be launching a new small car, Cervo, this year. Priced at below Rs 2 lakh, the car is targeted at giving competition to Tata’s Nano. The company will also be launching a diesel variant of SX4 by middle of this year. The car maker has now given up further development of LPG vehicles and is now concentrating of CNG variants.

The company is also going in for expansion of its production capacity at its plant in Manesar, besides coming up with a research and development centre at Rohtak. It has earmarked Rs 3,000 crore for this expansion. The company proposes to add 2,50,000 units to its capacity at Manesar by adding another production line by 2012.

The R&D centre will be commissioned completely by 2014-15, and will ensure that India becomes the global research hub for Maruti.

Talking to TNS here today, RC Bhargava, chairman, Maruti Suzuki India, said in keeping with the company’s policy, they will be launching one new car each year. Though he refused to give any details about the new car to be launched this year, sources informed TNS that the company was all set to launch Cervo by the end of this year. “The small car market is expanding and we are looking at a bigger chunk of the pie in this segment. The launch of Kizashi, luxury sedan, however, has been put off for the time being,” the chairman said.

In town to present the North West Qualtech awards by Gian Jyoti School of TQM and Entrepreneurship, Bhargava said Maruti was looking at a robust growth of over 22 per cent this year. “We have crossed the production of one million units during this fiscal. We are in the process of increasing the production of Swift and Dzire by almost 70 per cent, so that the backlog and long waiting list for these models can be cleared,” he said.

He said this year they had done well in exports and were now looking at developing new markets.

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S Tel asked to stop services

New Delhi, March 5
S Tel, a joint venture between Chennai-based Siva Group and Bahrain Telecom (Batelco), has been directed to immediately stop its mobile services in Himachal Pradesh, Bihar and Orissa, citing national security concerns.

The company has licences for Himachal Pradesh, Orissa, Bihar, Jharkhand, Jammu and Kashmir and Assam circles but is operational only in the three circles. The company has a user base of over eight lakh. Sources in the Department of Telecom said the company has been asked to stop services in all these three states.

Batelco, which has 42.7 per cent stake in S Tel, has entered into a partnership with Bahrain-based Islamic investment bank Global Banking Corporation (GBC), which in turn will acquire 11 per cent stake in S Tel for $50 million. GBC buying 11 per cent in S Tel will indirectly raise Batelco's stake in S Stel by 6.3 per cent to 49 per cent.

When contacted, the company confirmed of having received an order asking to stop "voice and SMS services" till further clarification. — PTI

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Oil PSUs to get Rs 12,000 cr

New Delhi, March 5
The government will give state fuel retailers Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum Rs 12,000 crore to partly compensate them for losses on LPG and kerosene by March 31.

The IOC would get Rs 7,100.18 crore, BPCL Rs 2,370.77 crore and HPCL Rs 2,529.05 crore, Minister of State for Finance Namo Narain Meena said in a written reply to Lok Sabha here.

The Rs 12,000-crore compensation would be given as cash from the Budget, a departure from the practise of issuing bonds to make up for fuel losses. The compensation is, however, less than Rs 20,989 crore sought by the retailers to make up for the losses they incurred on selling domestic LPG and kerosene below cost during April-December period.

The IOC had sought Rs 12,419 crore, BPCL Rs 4,147 crore and HPCL Rs 4,423 crore, he said, but did not say if the Finance Ministry was inclined to release more money. State-run fuel retailers are projected to lose Rs 47,400 crore on selling petrol, diesel, domestic LPG and kerosene below cost. Of these, the losses on petrol and diesel are made up by upstream firms like Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) while, Rs 31,574 crore revenue loss on cooking fuel is to be made good by the government.

The compensation indicated till now leaves a gap of Rs 19,574 crore. Retailers currently sell petrol at a loss of Rs 4.97 a litre, diesel at Rs 3.27 per litre, kerosene at Rs 16.91 per litre and LPG at a loss of Rs 267.39 per cylinder. — PTI

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4 new directors on AI Board

New Delhi, March 5
Former IAF Chief Air Chief Marshal Fali H Major and eminent industrialist Anand G Mahindra were among the four new non-official directors appointed by the government today on the Board of cash-strapped Air India.

The other two to be on the Board are Ficci secretary general Amit Mitra and industrialist Harsh Neotia. Air India is facing a whopping loss of over Rs 7,000 crore.

The appointments of the new directors, who will be in part-time capacity, were announced after the Civil Aviation Ministry made it clear that it was looking at having skilled professionals on the national carrier’s Board with the hope this would help turn the airline around with some new ideas.

The appointments of the four directors on the Board of National Aviation Company of India Limited (NACIL), which runs the national carrier Air India, will be for a period of three years or till further orders whichever occurs earlier, a statement from the Civil Aviation Ministry said.

Last month, the government decided that the national carrier would get equity infusion of Rs 800 crore in two instalments to tide over its cash flow problem and to finance fleet acquisition plans. The induction of fresh equity was approved by a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, presided over by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh only after it adopted a turnaround plan. — PTI

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SEZ units can now export rice, pulses

New Delhi, March 5
The government has allowed the special economic zones (SEZs) to re-export commodities barred from outbound shipments, like non-basmati rice and pulses, after importing them in raw form and processing in these tax-free enclaves.

“It has been decided that SEZ units should be permitted to export prohibited items provided they import raw-material for the same...,” the Commerce Ministry has said.

However, the SEZ units would have to take a prior permission from the inter-ministerial Board of Approval (BoA), headed by Commerce Secretary Rahul Khullar for re-exports. It is also stipulated that these units cannot under any circumstances source items locally for export purpose.

The government has prohibited exports of agriculture commodities like non-basmati rice and pulses, as prices of these essential items were skyrocketing in domestic markets. — PTI

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RBI defers base rate system by 3 months

Mumbai, March 5
The Reserve Bank today deferred the introduction of base rate system, which will be the new benchmark lending rate for banks, by three months to July 1. Banks will now implement base rate system from July 1, 2010, RBI Deputy Governor Usha Thorat said here. "Concerns on base rate have been sorted out," she said.

Earlier, banks were expected to implement the base rate system from April 1. RBI has come out with a proposal on replacing the current benchmark prime lending rate (BPLR) with base rate system, below which no banks would be allowed to give commercial loans.

The current BPLR has been much abused, since banks provide many loans to high rated corporates below this rate.

As such there is no transparency in the lending rates, prompting RBI to ask banks to implement the new base rate system. — PTI

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Honda to invest Rs 1,100 crore in 2nd unit

Jaipur, March 5
Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India Pvt Ltd (HMSI) will set up its second plant in Rajasthan at an investment of Rs 1,100 crore with an installed capacity to produce 12 lakh units per annum. "Keeping in view the economic and financial environment of the state, the Cabinet has granted its approval for granting a customised package to the company (HMSI)," a top government official said.

While HMSI officials were not available to confirm the development, the Rajasthan government official said the company would set up the plant near Bhiwadi with an initial capacity of six lakh units per annum in the first phase at an investment of Rs 500 crore over a five-year period. — PTI

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Essar close to buy Trinity Coal

New Delhi, March 5
Ruais-led Essar Group is in the advanced stages of negotiations to acquire the US-based Trinity Coal for about $550-600 million to meet the rising raw material requirement of its steel business, sources said.

"The deal is in the final stages of negotiations and could be concluded shortly, may be in the coming weeks," a person in the know of the development said. When contacted, an Essar Group spokesperson declined to comment on the development.

Sources said the company was in the advanced stage of negotiations with the US-based investment firm Denham Capital Management, which controls Trinity Coal. The development could not be independently confirmed with Denham Capital. Trinity Coal has an estimated reserves of about 200 million tonnes, including both metallurgical and thermal. — PTI

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BRIEFLY

Re at 2-month high
Mumbai:
The Indian rupee on Friday closed at two-month high of 45.60/61 against the US dollar, extending the gains for the fifth straight day today. At the Interbank Foreign Exchange market, the local currency touched a low of 45.81 before concluding at the day's high level of 45.60/61. — PTI

Emaar MGF public offer
New Delhi:
Realty major Emaar MGF on Friday said it has received SEBI's approval to launch its Rs 3,850-crore initial public offer. "We have received the final observations to our DRHP from the regulator. As per the new SEBI regulations we have a one year window to complete the IPO. The board of directors of the company are considering an opportune time to open our IPO," the company spokesperson said.— PTI

Zicom plan
Mumbai:
Zicom Electronic Security Systems Ltd on Friday said it would sell its electronic security system business to Schneider Electric India for about Rs 224.7 crore. Following the announcement, shares of Zicom surged nearly 19 per cent to a year-high level of Rs 133.60 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) from previous close.— PTI

Oilmeals’ exports dip
New Delhi:
India's oilmeals export dipped by around 26 per cent in February to 3.29 lakh tonnes as against 4.44 lakh tonnes in the same month last year mainly due to weak export demand. However, in value terms, exports were down by over 40 per cent in February to Rs 472 crore compared to Rs 794 crore in February 2009, Solvent Extractors’ Association of India said. — PTI

Oil above $80
Singapore:
Oil prices bounced back in Asian trade on Friday on bargain buying, recovering from earlier falls ahead of a key US government jobs report, analysts said. New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in April, gained 39 cents to $80.60 a barrel. London's Brent North Sea crude for April was up 48 cents to $79.02.— AFP

Gold weakens
New Delhi:
Despite firm global cues, gold fell by Rs 15 to Rs 17,185 per 10 grams on the bullion market here on Friday on restricted buying. Standard gold and ornaments shed Rs 15 each to Rs 17,185 and Rs 17,035 per 10 grams, respectively. — PTI

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