The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	Eye on 12th Five-Year Plan (2012-17) Infrastructure needs Rs 41 lakh cr: PM Tribune News Service New Delhi, March 23 Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said India would need to spend over $1 trillion (around Rs 41 lakh crore) in infrastructure development during the 12th Five-Year Plan (2012-17). He said this high investment would be crucial for fuelling India ’s economic growth. Addressing a conference organised by the Planning Commission, the Prime Minister said, “We need to do much more in infrastructure development. For this, we should utilise the potential of public-private participation… The Finance Ministry and the Planning Commission are now actively engaging states for developing infrastructure”. Pointing to the need of the involvement of the private sector in this investment, he said the investment could not be mobilsed from the public sector alone. The investment requirement for the infrastructure sector was pegged at $500 billion during the Eleventh Plan (2007-12). Commenting on the resilience of Indian economy, the Prime Minister said: "Despite adverse global situation, the economy grew by 6.7 per cent during fiscal 2008-09, which will accelerate to 7.2 per cent this fiscal that ends in a few days time." "We expect a growth of 8.5 per cent in 2010-11 and I do hope we can achieve 9 per cent in 2011-12," he said, adding that: "But we need to do even better. A 10-per cent per annum target is what we should work towards." He also called for “effective” implementation of policies and projects and urged the states to “tightly monitor” the implementation process. "For growth, we will make continued improvements in our policy regime and procedures," the prime minister, who is also the chairmen of the Planning Commission, told the conference. The conference was organised to deliberate on Building Infrastructure: Challenges and Opportunities. Besides the Finance Minister, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, Road Transport and Highways Minister Kamal Nath, Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde and Planning Commission Deputy Chairman were among those who attended the conference. Pvt firms to issue infra bonds Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said the private sector would be allowed to raise resources by issuing long-term infrastructure bonds carrying tax benefits. "It will of course be for the private sector as well as the public sector". Noting that funding was a major constraint, Mukherjee said, the decision would help in augmenting resources of the public as well as private sector for developing the country's infrastructure. In order to promote investment in the infrastructure sector, the Budget for 2010-11 proposed to exempt investment up to Rs 20,000 in long-term infrastructure bonds from income tax. The amount is in addition to the existing overall tax exemption limit of Rs 1 lakh per annum for personal income taxpayers. The long-term infrastructure bonds entitled for the benefit will be notified by the government later.— TNS
	Mid-Term Appraisal of 11th Plan Panel Growth target lowered at 8.1 per cent The growth rate projection for the 11th Plan ending 2012 has been scaled down by the Planning Commission to 8.1 per cent from 9 per cent in the wake of the global financial crisis that slowed the pace of economic expansion. The commission said in its Mid-Term Appraisal (MTA) of the Eleventh Plan placed before Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that the average rate of growth in the Plan period could be little over 8 per cent (8.1 per cent). This would be below the original plan target of an average of 9 per cent growth..., but it would be better than the 7.8 per cent achieved in the Tenth Plan period. The report came after Manmohan Singh, while addressing a conference on building infrastructure hosted by the Planning Commission, exuded confidence the Indian economy would grow by 8.5 per cent in the next fiscal and accelerate to 9 per cent the following year from an estimated 7.2 per cent this fiscal. Going forward, the country should step up the pace of economic expansion to above 10 per cent per annum in the 12th Five Year Plan (2012-2107) to generate employment for the youth and remove poverty, the Prime Minister said. "We expect to achieve 8.5 per cent growth rate in 2010-11... I hope we can achieve growth rate of 9 per cent in 2011-12," he said. "For eliminating poverty and providing productive employment for our young population in the near future, we must aim at accelerating the pace of economic growth to above 10 per cent per annum. This is the growth target which we should work towards for the 12th Five Year Plan," the Prime Minister said.— TNS
	Piramal pops Cipla’s i-pill Mumbai, March 23 Piramal Healthcare today said it had entered into an agreement for acquiring Cipla's contraceptive pill brand, i-pill, in India for Rs 95 crore.i-pill is an emergency contraceptive pill (ECP) and is available over the counter. It is not an abortion pill, the company said. The company has signed a definitive agreement for purchase of all intellectual property rights in India related to the i-pill brand of Cipla, Piramal Healthcare said. The acquisition of i-pill strengthens Piramal’s over-the-counter (OTC) portfolio, which has strong consumer brands such as Lacto Calamine skin care range, Supractiv Complete, Saridon and Polycrol antacid. "Our decision to divest the brand is driven by our current domestic product portfolio focused on prescription drugs. We are pleased that Piramal Healthcare, with a strong OTC portfolio, has bought the brand and are confident that they will successfully accelerate the future growth of this brand," Cipla joint managing director Amar Lulla said. — PTI Suven gets patent for Alzheimer compound Suven Life Sciences today said it had received patent from the US Patent Office for a compound used in the treatment of neuro diseases like Alzheimer and Parkinson. The patent is for the compound discovered by Suven and is useful in the treatment associated with neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer's disease, attention deficient hyperactivity disorder, Parkinson and schizophrenia, the company said in a press note. — PTI
	Hyundai cars to cost more Driver: Shifting from BS III to BS IV standards Kolkata, March 23 Hyundai Motor India is mulling over raising prices of all its models in the first week of April by up to Rs 5,000, a company official said."Hyundai will increase the prices in the first week of April," Hyundai Motor regional sales manager Kumar Priyesh said, adding that the shift from BS III to BS IV standards was the main reason for the price rise. "The price hike will be in the range of Rs 4,000-5,000. (But) The entire hike will not be passed on to customers," said Priyesh. This will be the second price hike effected by the company after the announcement of the Budget in February. Meanwhile, the company is in the process of designing a small car for the Indian market in Korea. He said the car would have an engine capacity of 800cc. Hyundai would also launch Santa FE in the SUV segment by October this year, he said, adding that the SUV would be priced around Rs 20 lakh. — PTI
	JHS to make detergent for P&G Kala Amb (HP), March 23 JHS Svendgaard Laboratories today began producing detergents for US firm Procter and Gamble (P&G) from its plant in this industrial town, a company official said."We will exclusively manufacture detergents for P&G at our Kala Amb plant which has an installed capacity of 10,000 tonnes per month. This will be the largest off-site plant for P&G in the country," JHS managing director Nikhil Nanda told IANS. "This unit will manufacture 17 variants of P&G's detergent brand Tide ... It's a five-year contract with the company," Nanda said, adding the state-of-the-art plant was set up with an outlay of Rs 50 crore. The BSE-listed company is also in the business of manufacturing oral care products for Elder Pharma, Cipla, Dabur, Big Bazaar, Wall-Mart and US-based Church and Dwight. The company has an installed capacity to make 250 millions toothbrushes per year. Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal inaugurated the plant, the company's third one. Its second unit is at Noida in Uttar Pardesh. — IANS
	Bonanza for EIL investors Mumbai, March 23 Engineers India Ltd today said its board had approved the issue of bonus shares and a special dividend of Rs 100 per share (or 1,000 per cent).The board of directors also approved the sub-division of shares in the ratio of 1:2, that is one share of Rs 10 will be divided into two shares of Rs 5 a piece, EIL said. The board has approved the payment of special interim dividend for 2009-2010 at Rs 100 per share of the face value of Rs 10, the filing said. The company has already obtained the approval from the government in this regard. Besides, the board has also approved the bonus issue of shares in ratio of 2:1, that is for every one share, two bonus shares will be issued. The bonus issue, special dividend and the stock-split is ahead of EIL's proposed FPO through which the government would divest its 10 per cent stake in the company. EIL provides engineering and related technical services for petroleum refineries, oil and gas pipelines, petrochemical industries and chemical process plants. — PTI
	Exim Bank branch opens today Ruchika M. Khanna Tribune News Service Chandigarh, March 23 The surge in exports by small and medium enterprises in this region has propelled the Export Import Bank of India (Exim Bank) to launch its operations from Chandigarh. To be inaugurated tomorrow, the bank will provide alternative financing solutions to exporters in the region, aiding them in their efforts to be internationally competitive. The bank is looking at a huge business from exporters in textile, auto component, sports goods, scientific instruments, hand tools and agro industry. With a huge potential of exports from this region and its contribution to the country’s export basket, the bank is looking at serving exporters in Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Chandigarh. This branch will be the tenth in India. Talking to TNS here today, S Srinivas, general manager, Exim Bank, said initially they were looking at identifying the special needs of export houses through close interaction with existing and prospective clients and suggest innovative financial instruments to their potential. “While Punjab and Haryana have a huge potential for farm exports and manufacturing sector, we will also look at export houses in the Baddi-Barotiwala belt in Himachal and the Jammu region. We already have a number of exporters as our clients, and it is to facilitate them that we have decided to set up an office here,” he said. The bank is not only looking at big ticket exporters from this region as clients, but also the SME sector that forms the backbone of the industry in the region. The bank has recently set up a group to cater to the financing requirements of export-oriented SMEs. This group handles credit proposals from SMEs under different lending programmes. The agri business group of the bank, too, will help agri exporters here to promote exports. It may be mentioned that the bank has a paid-up capital of Rs14 billion and a networth of Rs 38.7 billion.
	Hero Honda plans unit in Sirmaur Shimla, March 23 Hero Honda is keen to set up a manufacturing unit in Himachal Pradesh with an outlay of Rs 2,000 crore, an official said today."Hero Honda has shown keen interest in establishing its manufacturing unit in Sirmaur district. It has plans to invest about Rs 2,000 crore," Industries Commissioner Manoj Kumar told IANS. "The company is also planning to set up its auxiliary units along with the main unit on more than 400 acres. Its officials are visiting the state next week to finalise the site," he said, adding that, "We have identified three or four sites and now it's up to the company to finalise the site". This will be the company's third unit in the country. It has a unit in Gurgaon in Haryana and Haridwar in Uttarakhand. "The company is keen to commission its third unit in Sirmaur as it borders Uttarakhand and is near its Haridwar facility," a senior official said. According to him, the company has proposed to provide employment to 10,000 people in the new facility. — IANS
	NTPC not to sell power in market New Delhi, March 23 The Power Ministry today said it would not allow the NTPC to sell electricity at market-determined prices."We are not agreeing to the NTPC's proposal. Our interest is to serve the country and not to make profit," power secretary H S Brahma told reporters on the sidelines of the gas partnership summit here. He, however, added that as per the Electricity Act 2006, the NTPC could sell power in the open market (market-determined prices) from April, 2011. "The company has so much work to do, they have so much to add in the wind, solar sector etc," Brahma said, adding that the they should concentrate on that. At present, the NTPC sells 100 per cent of its power to the state power utilities, distribution companies through long-term power purchase agreements. This exchange takes place as per allocation finalised by the Ministry of Power and based on the tariff determined by the power sector regulator CERC. As per Electricity Act, 2003, a generating company can supply electricity to any licensee. It can tie up part-capacity of its generating station in long-term power purchase agreement. — PTI