The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	Gas to RNRL if available: Pranab New Delhi, May 14 The government today said allocation of natural gas to companies like Anil Ambani Group's RNRL will depend on availability of the fuel after supplying to already designated users. Allocation to new plants like Anil Ambani group's proposed power plant in Dadri, UP, would be made "when the gas will be available. I cannot be distributing a non-existing and non-available resource," Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said here. The comment comes within days of the Supreme Court upholding the government's sovereign right on gas, while giving its verdict on the four-year-old gas pricing and supply dispute between the group firms of Mukesh and Anil Ambani. "We had already taken certain decisions. Those decisions ought to be implemented... For certain sectors, we had indicated that gas will be available to you as and when you are in a position to take the gas (or) absorb the gas," Mukherjee said. The Supreme Court had on May 7 rejected RNRL's plea for 28 mmscmd gas at $2.34 per million British thermal unit, 44 per cent lower than the government-approved rates, for 17 years from RIL under a 2005 private family agreement between brothers Mukesh and Anil. The court had asked them to renegotiate the deal in conformity with the government policy. Mukherjee, who headed ministerial panels that approved the $4.2 per mmBtu price for gas from Reliance Industries' KG-D6 fields, fixed its users and decided on the government's intervention in the Ambani gas dispute, welcomed last week's Supreme Court verdict establishing the government's right over the national resource. An Empowered Group of Ministers, he headed, had allocated 64 million cubic meters per day of gas from KG-D6 fields to fertiliser, power, petrochemical, refineries and steel plants for five years to March 2014. Another 30 mmscmd was given on temporary or fallback basis while the peak approved output from KG-D6 fields is 80 mmscmd. The EGoM, he said, had decided that Anil Ambani Group's proposed power plant near Delhi would be allocated gas as and when it comes up. Mukherjee said the EGoM had fixed price for five years and decided on users for all the gas for this period. After this period and upon increase in availability, a new gas price may emerge. — PTI
	Govt to consult telcos before hiking 2G fee Tribune News Service New Delhi, May 14 Even as it emerged that the burden on the established telecom operators as a result of new TRAI’s recommendations on holding of 2G spectrum would not be much, the government today said it would hold consultations with mobile phone operators’ before finalising plans to slap new fee structure. “If necessary, patient hearing will be given to all stakeholders,” Telecommunications Minister A Raja said here today. The statement from the minister came as the big and established telecom operators came out against the new norms suggested by the TRAI and said they were arbitrary. They were also looking at legal options if their concerns were not heard and if new norms would be implemented without consultations. TRAI earlier this week gave recommendations which called for companies to pay a one-time fee for 2G radio-spectrum with high bandwidth they won several years ago, a move that will hit established operators and has seen their shares skidding. Country’s largest telecom operator Bharti Airtel in a statement said the recommendations were “shocking, arbitrary and retrograde” and urged the government to reject them. Bharti, along with other operators like Vodafone, Idea, Aircel could end up paying huge amounts for the 2G spectrum they hold beyond the 6.2 MHz. Incidentally, Bharti and others, including Vodafone, Essar, are locked in a multi-billion dollar bidding war for 3G spectrum that has exceeded forecasts. Bharti and Vodafone hold more than 10 MHz in many circles, including Mumbai and New Delhi. As per TRAI proposals, for spectrum between 6.2 MHz and 8 MHz, operators have to pay one-time fee discovered by 3G auction. For spectrum 8 MHz to 10 MHz, the fee is 1.3 times of the 3G price. All TRAI proposals need to be approved by the Department of Telecom (DoT) to be made a law.
	BSNL to expand network for WiMax services Ruchika M. Khanna Tribune News Service Chandigarh, May 14 Buoyed by its excellent performance in Haryana in the last financial year, state-owned telecom behemoth, BSNL, is now focusing on increasing its market share in GSM mobile and broadband connections. Haryana and Orissa are the only telecom circles of BSNL, where the company is making huge profits in its operations. From a profit of Rs 54 crore in 2008-09, the profit in the just concluded financial year (2009-10) has jumped to Rs 100 crore, mainly because of the robust growth in mobile connections. Having earned a high profit margin, the company is now looking at infusing this money to expand its operations. In order to achieve this objective, BSNL is now expanding its infrastructure in the state. With a target of adding 12 lakh new GSM mobile subscribers (to the present 25 lakh subscribers), the company is setting up 600 new BTS sites across the state. While 500 new BTS sites are being set up by a private telecom infrastructure provider, 100 sites are being added by BSNL on its own. Arun Kumar Gupta, chief general manager, Haryana circle, BSNL, said other than increasing the mobile connections, the focus this year would also be on increasing the broadband connections in the state. “We already have 1. 18 lakh broadband connections, and are hoping to add 1.35 lakh subscribers this year. Besides, we will also expand our network for WiMax service in rural areas. We propose to add 73 more BTS sites to expand WiMax across all telecom districts in Haryana. Currently, we have a very minuscule number of WiMax users,” he added. Interestingly, though BSNL has done exceptionally well in all other services in Haryana, its fixed line users have come down by 80,000 in the last fiscal. “We now have 80 lakh landline users. But we have launched innovative tariff plans and schemes to get the disconnected users back in our fold,” said Gupta. He also said the BSNL Haryana circle would roll out Fibre to The Home (FTTH) services throughout the state by August this year. Besides, BSNL also proposes to add more customers for its IPTV and 3G services.
	JSW acquires US coal mines New Delhi, May 14 JSW Steel today said it has completed $100 million acquisition of coking coal assets in the US and will start production from September to partially meet the rising raw material need of its steel business. "Following the board approval to acquire certain coking coal mining concessions in USA on May 3, 2010, the company completed the acquisition," the company said in filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange. "...It is planned to produce 1 million tonnes of coal in the first year starting from September 2010 which will go up to three million tonnes in the third year of operation," it added. Moreover, the company said it is actively looking at acquisitions of coal mines to feed its rising steel production capacity. The acquired coal assets with resources of 123 million tonnes are located in West Virginia in the US. These mines are owned by a string of US-based companies. "While the total coking coal requirement of the company is estimated at 5 million tonnes per annum at the current capacity (about 6 million tonnes) the proposed coking coal from US will give integration to the extent of 20 per cent in the first year and goes up further at enhanced capacity of 11 million tonnes to 35 per cent," it said. Drags Karnataka to SC Meanwhile, JSW Steel, which is running a 6 million tonne steel plant in Karnataka's Vijaynagar, on Friday approached the Supreme Court seeking to direct the state to allot it a suitable captive mine which it was promised at the time of signing the agreement a decade ago. A Bench comprising justices HS Bedi and Deepak Verma issued notice to the state and sought reply from it. JSW Steel counsel Mukul Rohatgi said despite an agreement with Karnataka, it did not allot the promised iron ore mines in Bellary district. — PTI
	Govt plans Rs 50,000-cr infrastructure fund New Delhi, May 14 The Planning Commission has proposed to set up a mega fund with seed money of Rs 50,000 crore to facilitate investment of over Rs 45 lakh crore in the infrastructure sector during the 12th Plan (2012-17). "The Commission has recommended to create a fund with seed money of Rs 50,000 crore to finance infrastructure projects in the country, particularly in XIIth Plan period," an official said. "The panel has also constituted a committee, which would be headed by HDFC chairman Deepak Parekh, to look into funding of the infrastructure sector projects. The committee would submit its report to the Planning Commission," he said. The government will seek funding from multilateral lending agencies like the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank (ADB), financial institutions, insurance companies and pension funds for the dedicated fund. As part of the exercise to step up infrastructure sector funding, the government will also fix annual targets for ministries like road, railways, power and telecom, and would monitor implementation of the projects. "In a bid to boost infrastructure development, besides setting annual targets, the government would make provision for periodically monitoring such projects to ensure desirable growth of the sector," the official said. The decision to set up an effective mechanism to ensure sustainable investment in infrastructure sector was taken at a meeting of the Planning Commission headed by its Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia. — PTI
	SBI net down 32% Declares 300 pc dividend Mumbai, May 14 The country's largest lender State Bank of India today reported a 32 per cent decline in fourth quarter net profit at Rs 1,866.60 crore. The bank had a net profit of Rs 2,742 crore in the same quarter in the previous fiscal, SBI said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange. Shares of the company plunged following the result and were trading down 3.38 per cent at Rs 2,236 in the afternoon session. The total income during the quarter rose 1.8 per cent to Rs 22,474.12 crore from Rs 22,060.61 crore in the corresponding period a year ago. Income from interest was Rs 17,965.59 crore from Rs 17,342.39 crore in the same quarter a year ago. The bank has declared a dividend of 300 per cent at the rate of Rs 30 per share of face value of Rs 10 for the financial year 2009-10. This includes 100 per cent (Rs 10 per share) interim dividend paid earlier. On an annual basis, the net profit of the bank rose by meagre 0.4 per cent at Rs 9,166.05 crore against Rs 9,121.2 crore in the previous fiscal. Its total income rose to Rs 85,962.07 crore compared to Rs 76,479.2 crore in FY 2009. — PTI
	EPFO to settle dues electronically Tribune News Service Chandigarh, May 14 In a major relief to employees, the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO)has launched a national electronic fund transfer scheme for payment to employees provident fund beneficiaries. As per the existing arrangement, payment to EPF beneficiaries is paper-based wherein payments are released through individual account payee cheques. The e-payment will enable the employees to get the dues credited to the accounts of members within a day of claim authorisation. AD Nagpal, secretary, Hind Mazdoor Sabha, who was instrumental in getting e-payment scheme implemented, said this would ensure higher customer satisfaction and reduce grievances. The required software patch for the implementation of e-payment has been prepared and uploaded on the EPFO website. The payments will now be made in three modes — e-payment, cheques for non-networked bank branches and money orders for payments up to Rs 2,000, whenever desired by the beneficiaries.
	Suzuki recalls 10,000 Altos in Europe New Delhi, May 14 Japanese carmaker Suzuki Motor Corp is recalling the automatic transmission version of its compact car 'Alto' in Europe, which is sold under the brand A-Star in India. The recall will, however, not have any impact on the Indian market as its subsidiary Maruti Suzuki India (MSI), which produces the car only at its Manesar plant, does not sell the automatic transmission version here. According to reports from Europe, Suzuki is recalling about 10,000 units of the automatic transmission version of the compact car to rectify faulty transmission system. As per estimates, the automatic transmission version accounts for about 10 per cent of total of over one lakh units of 'Alto' (A-Star) that Suzuki sold in Europe last year. — PTI