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RBI ups
repo, reverse repo rates by 25 bps Telcos line up for
BWA,3G spectrum auction NELP VIII |
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HC rules out extension BoB chief sees interest rates hardening soon SBI to focus lending on
agri, hydro power in North Disinvestment by August, says Coal India
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RBI ups
repo, reverse repo rates by 25 bps
Mumbai, March 19
“These measures should anchor inflationary expectations and contain inflation going forward. As liquidity in the banking system will remain adequate, credit expansion for sustaining the recovery will not be affected,” RBI said in its statement. The apex bank noted that there has been significant macroeconomic developments since the Third Quarter Review of Monetary Policy in January 2010. "On the growth front, the advance estimates by the CSO for 2009-10 and for Q3 of 2009-10 suggest that the recovery is consolidating,” it said, adding that the manufacturing sector, in particular, recorded robust growth. Investment activity showed signs of revival while exports have been increasing.
Reiterating the need for hiking rates, RBI said rising inflation was a
source of growing concern. “Notwithstanding some moderation in recent
weeks, food prices remain at elevated levels. In fact, consumer price
inflation has accentuated further. The acceleration in the prices of
non-food manufactured goods and fuel items in recent months has been of
particular concern,” RBI said.
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Telcos line up for
BWA,3G spectrum auction New Delhi, March 19 The government has fixed Rs 3,500 crore as reserve price for pan-India 3G spectrum and Rs 1,750 crore for broadband wireless access (BWA) services. Today is the last date for submission of the forms to participate in the 3G auction. The auction for 3G spectrum begins on April 9 that will be followed by auction for BWA. Going by the reserve prices, the government will garner about Rs 20,000 crore. However, the bid price may go quite high as the number of operators in the fray far outweighs the number of slots available in both services. The government will be selling spectrum to three players across the nation with the exception of a few states where four slots will be on offer. According to the notice inviting applications (the detailed guidelines), only Punjab, Bihar, West Bengal, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir will have four private players offering high-speed content download and broadband services (3G). For BWA, only two slots are on the block. Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, RCom, Tatas, Idea Cellular have bid for both 3G as well as BWA spectrum indicating aggressive bidding for both types of airwaves. The last date for submitting applications expired today. While Etisalat and Videocon have bid for 3G spectrum only, US-based chip maker Qualcomm, HFCL, Tikona and Spice are understood to have put in their applications for BWA. According to sources, Aircel has also applied for 3G. But it could not be confirmed independently. Successful bidders would be allowed to offer 3G services on commercial basis from September 1, 2010. A Department of Telecom official had said yesterday the proposed auction had generated enough interest among the telcos and an aggressive bidding was expected. As per the schedule, the pre-qualification of bidders would take place on March 30, mock auctions would be held on the April 5 and 6 followed by auction on April 9. —
PTI |
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NELP VIII New Delhi, March 19 The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved award of 33 out of the 36 exploration areas that were bid in the latest NELP round that closed on October 12, Home Minister P Chidambaram told reporters. Of the 70 blocks offered in NELP-VIII, only 36 attracted bids with ONGC and partners bidding for a maximum of 25. The state-owned firm and its partner won 17 areas. Among the 24 deep water blocks that the government had put on offer, only eight received bids, all of which were single bids. ONGC and partners bagged seven, while Cairn Energy of the UK was the winner of the other such block. — PTI
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New Delhi, March 19 A division bench comprising acting Chief Justice MB Lokur and Justice Mukta Gupta held that the Department of Telecom (DoT) has followed norms and maintained transparency while inviting bids for 3G spectrum. The bench did not agree that 25 days' time given for submitting the bids in the Notice for Inviting the Application of February 25 was very less and small operators would be deprived. “Transparency is there. The government has already put all the information regarding the auction on its website in October last year," the bench said. It also added that the auction was in nature of commercial transaction and all the norms were followed. The court also observed that the petitioner Umesh Joshi was not even an interested party as he was not going to bid for the 3G spectrum. After that it imposed a cost of Rs 15,000 on Joshi and said if he failed to submit it then action would be taken against him. Joshi in the petition contended that the form issued by the government for participating in 3G auction was very complicated and complex. He said the terms and conditions fixed by the government could not be fulfilled within the stipulated time of 25 days, as the last date is fixed for March 19 for submission of forms. He alleged that such less time would favour only big and established players in the market and the small and new entrants would be deprived of it. — PTI
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BoB chief sees interest rates hardening soon New Delhi, March 19
Led by high food prices, the overall inflation has been on the rise. The headline inflation rose to a 16-month high of 9.89 per cent in February compared to 8.56 per cent in January. Food inflation came down from 17.81 in the last week of February, but still stood at a high of 16.30 per cent in the first week of March. Analysts and policymakers expect the Reserve Bank to hike its key policy rates in its April policy announcement or even before that to rein in runaway inflation. Earlier during the day, Morgan Stanley Asia managing director Ranodeb Roy also said RBI might increase policy rates up to 150 basis points during the year to anchor inflationary expectations. To a query on any possibility of an immediate hike in interest rates by BoB, Mallya said “not at the moment”. Besides, he said the credit off-take remains sluggish. “Credit off-take continues to be a little bit muted, even though, of late, in the last one month, we have seen an increase in credit pick-up,” Mallya said — PTI
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SBI to focus lending on
agri, hydro power in North Chandigarh, March 19 With the bank having huge cash reserves, several innovative products are now being drawn by the bank to ensure a good credit off take in these sectors. With the net interest margin (NIM) of the bank going down - thanks to high deposit growth and low credit off take in the past one-year - the bank is now coming up with several products to advance loans, especially in these sectors, besides small scale industry and traders. The NIM for the bank in this region had gone down from over three per cent in December 2008 to 2.5 per cent in December 2009. With advances now increasing, the NIM has gone up to 2.8 per cent now. Talking to TNS here today, SK Sehgal, chief general manager, SBI, Chandigarh circle, said the bank was striving for a 50 per cent of loan exposure in agriculture and agro-based industry in Punjab, Haryana, HP and J&K. “Though as of now, over 45 per cent of our advances are to the agriculture and agro industry in this region, we will cross the 50 per cent target in the coming fiscal,” he said. The bank’s advances in the region stand at Rs 28,000 crore till date, of which Rs 4,500 crore have been advanced to the agriculture sector and around Rs 8,000 crore to agro industry like cotton ginning mills, rice shellers and flour mills. In the present fiscal, the bank has come up with innovative schemes to advance loans and promote commercial dairy farming and floriculture. “Advances worth Rs 200 crore have been given to farmers under these two schemes this year, thus ensuring that we cross the target of 18 per cent lending to priority sector,” he said. Sehgal said with several mini-hydel projects coming up in J&Kand Himachal Pradesh, the bank would be financing these projects in a big way. “We will also be increasing our presence in the region, by opening 94 new branches in the coming year. Emphasis will also be given on promoting mobile banking in the region, which will automatic,” he said.
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Disinvestment by August, says Coal India
New Delhi, March 19 The company also said it would divest 10 per cent stake through an initial public offer by August. Country’s largest coal producer CIL has received seven proposals from the US-based Peabody Energy to partner in buying stakes in global coal assets, company chairman Partha S Bhattacharyya told reporters here, when asked about Coal India Ltd’s overseas plans. CIL is currently examining two of these proposals, Bhattacharyya said on the sidelines of the 20th Asian Corporate Conference. He added that, “We are deliberating on the proposals.” — PTI |
HSIL to buy Havells arm Tribunal bars First Global’s Shankar Sharma MTNL to get tax refund of Rs 1,380 crore Caparo Group enters power generation biz BSNL Board’s second
nominee replaced
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In what could give hopes to Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee of generating handsome funds, top telecom firms, including Bharti, Vodafone, RCom and Tatas, have put in their applications for acquiring spectrum for both 3G mobile and wireless broadband services.
“Inflation is on the increase and therefore, going forward, one would expect interest rates to slightly harden,” Mallya told reporters after launching the bank’s life insurance venture India First here today. India First Life Insurance is a three-way joint venture between BoB, Andhra Bank and the leading British risk, wealth and investment company Legal & General.
