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Steel cos jack up prices
New Delhi, April 2
Major steel producers SAIL, JSW and Essar today increased prices of their products by up to Rs 2,500 a tonne due to rising input cost in a move that could make automobiles and consumer durables costlier.

Maruti cars dearer
New Delhi, April 2
The country's largest car maker, Maruti Suzuki India, today raised the prices of its vehicles across various models by up to Rs 10,000 citing rising input costs and introduction of new emission norm BS IV.

JSW Steel to pump in $6 bn
Mumbai, April 2
Steelmaker JSW Steel today said it plans to invest around Rs 25,000 crore in expanding the capacity of its Bellary plant in Karnataka by 6 million tonnes to 16 million tonnes in next three years.



EARLIER STORIES



Overseas investment norms for telcos eased
Mumbai, April 2
The Reserve Bank has liberalised investment norms for Indian telecom companies by allowing them to invest in international submarine cable consortia through automatic route.

Inflation to decline from July: Expert
New Delhi, April 2
At a time when country’s food prices reversed on easing trend and accelerated in the week-ended March 20, the government has said July onwards there should be a definitive decline in inflation rates.

Sugar coops unwilling to pay higher income tax
Mumbai, April 2
Maharashtra's sugar cooperatives controlled by the state's influential politicians are balking at paying higher income tax after rising prices from the latter half of last year boosted their profits.





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Steel cos jack up prices

New Delhi, April 2
Major steel producers SAIL, JSW and Essar today increased prices of their products by up to Rs 2,500 a tonne due to rising input cost in a move that could make automobiles and consumer durables costlier.

"We have increased steel prices in the range of Rs 2,000-2,500 a tonne mainly due to rise in raw material prices," Steel Authority of India chairman S K Roongta told reporters on the sidelines of the SAIL Open Golf Tournament here.

Private Steel makers JSW Steel and Essar Steel, too, confirmed hiking their prices. World's sixth largest steel producer Tata Steel, however, said it has not yet taken a decision on raising prices.

JSW Steel director sales and marketing Jayant Acharya said the company has increased the prices of its products by 5-7 per cent and will review the rates again in mid-April to fix the prices for the next month.

"It is a preliminary review. We are partly offsetting the rise in raw material cost pressure," he said.

An Essar Steel spokesperson said, "The price increase is in the same range as of other steel producers. It is mainly due to steep rise in raw material prices." The increase in prices by the companies is effective from April 1.

On the rising steel prices in the domestic market, SAIL chairman said India would follow the rising global trend where the rates have gone up due to increase in prices of iron ore and coking coal - two key raw materials for steel.

Asked about the government's view on rising steel prices, Steel Minister Virbhadra Singh said, "There has been a spurt in steel prices recently but it is a temporary phenomenon and at present there is no inflationary concern due to that." However, the minister cautioned that measures would be taken to control the prices if it rise abnormally.

Global mining firms like Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton, Vale are in process of entering into new iron ore and coking coal supply contracts with global steel makers.

According to industry experts, mining firms are entering into iron ore supply contracts with steel makers for the April-June quarter at about $110-120 a tonne, which is 80-100 per cent more than the levels in 2009-10.

Asked if SAIL has followed the global trend and signed coking coal contracts for the current quarter at $200 a tonne with mining firms, Roongta said, "...the global benchmark prices and practices are followed by SAIL." — PTI 

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Maruti cars dearer

New Delhi, April 2
The country's largest car maker, Maruti Suzuki India, today raised the prices of its vehicles across various models by up to Rs 10,000 citing rising input costs and introduction of new emission norm BS IV.

"Due to sharp increase in the input costs and also introduction of BS IV norms in some models, Maruti Suzuki India has decided to pass on part of this cost impact to customers," the company said.

The company's latest models Ritz and A-Star will be costlier by Rs 1,000, Estillo by Rs 2,500 and Swift by Rs 3,750.

Entry-level sedan Dzire will be dearer by Rs 7,000 while the mid-sized sedan SX4 will cost Rs 9,000 more.

The introductory prices for the multi-utility van, Eeco, is withdrawn, too. The new prices for the Eeco will be up by approximately Rs 10,000, the company said.

Prices have also been revised on the BS-III compliant cars like Maruti 800 and Omni (LPG) by Rs 3,000 and Gypsy by Rs 10,000, it said. — PTI 

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JSW Steel to pump in $6 bn

Mumbai, April 2
Steelmaker JSW Steel today said it plans to invest around Rs 25,000 crore in expanding the capacity of its Bellary plant in Karnataka by 6 million tonnes to 16 million tonnes in next three years.

"We have decided to expand steel manufacturing capacity at our Bellary plant from 10 million tonnes to 16 million tonnes at an investment of $5-6 billion (around Rs 20,000- 25,000 crore) in the next three-years," JSW Steel's vice-chairman and managing director, Sajjan Jindal, told reporters here.

"We are also looking at investing in infrastructure to develop roads, railways and power plants at our Bellary unit," Jindal said.

"We have already invested close to Rs 40,000 crore in the Bellary plant and will continue to invest in Karnataka due to the proactive policy of the Karnataka government," he said. — PTI 

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Overseas investment norms for telcos eased

Mumbai, April 2
The Reserve Bank has liberalised investment norms for Indian telecom companies by allowing them to invest in international submarine cable consortia through automatic route.

"As a measure of further liberalisation, it has now been decided... to allow Indian companies to participate in a consortium with other international operators to construct and maintain submarine cable systems on co-ownership basis under the automatic route," RBI said in a notification yesterday.

"Accordingly, banks may allow remittances by Indian companies for overseas direct investment," the notification added. — PTI 

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Inflation to decline from July: Expert
Vibha Sharma
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 2
At a time when country’s food prices reversed on easing trend and accelerated in the week-ended March 20, the government has said July onwards there should be a definitive decline in inflation rates.

Food inflation, after hitting a four-month low of 16.22 per cent in the previous week, is inching up once again and is currently at 16.35 per cent. Chief Economic Adviser Kaushik Basu is, however, optimistic that after April, when slight increase is expected in Wholesale Price Index (WPI), downward trend will be seen in numbers.

Driven by firm food prices, the WPI rose to 9.89 per cent in February. For the week ended March 20, higher prices of milk and pulses drove food inflation up to 16.35 per cent, which in turn contributed to overall inflation almost touching the psychological mark of a double-digit figure.

Basu says the good news is that since last couple of weeks India was carrying on an expected path. “After May there should be a downward trend in inflation with some fluctuations. July onwards it will be a fairly steady run,” he said.

Basu’s optimism is based on three factors - early indications of an “average” monsoon this year, future price of oil that is $2 above the spot price and the base effect on inflation figures.

The CEA says this year the country may see an average monsoon. Some anticipation is also based on oil futures, which are $2 above the spot. In other words, expectations are that international oil prices in the near future may not go up. Base effect is another reason for optimism.

Meanwhile, there are risks of food inflation spilling over to manufacturing activities. In view of rising prices of essential goods and fears of food inflation spreading to manufacturing sector, experts feel the RBI can take more measures in its forthcoming monetary policy on April 20.

“I expect overall inflation to reach the double-digit mark for March, when we will also know what is its spread to the non-food sector. If inflation is largely food-specific, the RBI may not act as tightening money supply also has a dampening effect,” he said. 

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Sugar coops unwilling to pay higher income tax
Shiv Kumar/Tribune News Service

Mumbai, April 2
Maharashtra's sugar cooperatives controlled by the state's influential politicians are balking at paying higher income tax after rising prices from the latter half of last year boosted their profits.

According to sources, the Income Tax Department had sent notices to most of the 172 sugar factories registered with the Maharashtra Sugar Cooperatives Federation, raising demand for higher taxes to the tune of almost Rs 250 crore.

Sugar prices had almost doubled at Rs 3,165 a quintal for the S-30 variety and Rs 3,275 a quintal for the M-30 variety late last year before falling sharply in recent weeks. The sugar industry had attributed the price hike to unseasonal rains late last year which reportedly affected output.

Agreeing to the demands of the sugar cooperatives, the Maharashtra government raised the Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP) for sugar to Rs 1,575 a tonne from Rs 1,077 a tonne from the year before.

Sources attached to the Maharashtra Sugar Cooperatives Federation say the Income Tax Department is accessing them based on the higher prices paid for sugar by the Maharashtra government.

The cooperatives are up in arms at this and have described the methods adopted by the Income Tax Department as coercive. 

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BRIEFLY

Forex reserves down
Mumbai
: Country's foreign exchange reserves fell by $1.151 billion to $277.042 billion for the week ended March 26, against $278.193 billion in the previous week. Foreign currency assets, during the week, slipped to $252.755-billion, against $253.845-billion in the week-ago period, the RBI said in its weekly report on Friday. — PTI

Gold surges by Rs 200
New Delhi
: Gold prices surged by Rs 200 to Rs 16,760 per 10 grams in the bullion market here on Friday on brisk buying triggered by positive global cues. Standard gold and ornaments gained Rs 200 each to Rs 16,760 and Rs 16,610 per 10 grams, respectively, while sovereign gained Rs 25 to trade at Rs 13,925 per eight-gram piece. — PTI

L&T plans power plant
Mumbai:
Engineering and construction major Larsen & Toubro plans to set up a 1,600 MW power plant in Karnataka, a top company official said on Friday. "We have bid (for a project) under the public-private partnership (PPP) model along with the Karnataka Power Corporation. This will be a coal-based power plant involving an investment of Rs 10,000 crore," L&T's vice-president, power business, A K Chatwani, said. — PTI

Central Bank plan
New Delhi
: The Central Bank of India on Friday said it planned to open over 100 branches during the current fiscal. "We are going ahead with the branch expansion not at the pace it was there in past it's more calibrated growth. Still we would be opening more than 100 branches this year," Central Bank of India CMD S Sridhar said. — PTI

Tata Docomo in HP
Chandigarh
: Tata Docomo, GSM brand of Tata Teleservices, has announced the launch of its operations in Himachal Pradesh. The company also announced its ‘pay-for-what-you-use’ model in the state. — TNS

ITI turnover
Bangalore
: State-run telecom company ITI on Friday said its turnover jumped more than two-fold to Rs 4,732.43 crore in 2009-10. This is the highest turnover in the company's history and is more than double of the previous high of Rs 2,317.63 crore recorded in 2001-02. — PTI

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