The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	Tata opens Nano plant in Gujarat Sanand (Gujarat), June 2 Tata Motors today inaugurated the world's cheapest car, the Nano's, manufacturing facility here, nearly two years after it was forced to shift the plant out of West Bengal over a land row. The new plant at Sanand was inaugurated by Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata, who seven years ago dreamt of making an affordable family car for the common man. "When I came here first on an industry visit invited by Gujarat Chief Minister, I was told that if it (the Nano plant) is not in Gujarat, I will be a stupid. "I am no longer stupid after investing on the plant in Gujarat," Tata said while inaugurating the plant. Spread over about 1,100 acres, the plant in Sanand has been created at an investment of about Rs 2,000 crore. Speaking on the occasion, Modi said: "The revolution brought by Ford in the early 20th century with its small car is being replicated now by Ratan Tata with his Nano." Every middle-class family's dream to own a car is being fulfilled at Sanand with the inauguration of the Nano plant, he added. Ratan Tata's dream of making a car costing only Rs 1 lakh crore had to face challenges - both technical and political — ever since it was conceived in 2003. At a time when input costs were soaring, keeping the cost of production of a comfortable mini car powered by a 623cc engine giving a competitive mileage, was a challenge big enough for the engineers of Tata Motors. While Tatas were able to overcome it, the group was unable to beat political challenge from Trinamool Congress and had to shift manufacturing base from the original location at Singur in West Bengal to Sanand in Gujarat in October 2008. Tatas, by then, had already put over Rs 1,000 crore in Singur. It delayed not only the original plans for the commercial launch of Nano by about five months, but also affected its availability. Till the time the Sanand facility was ready, the company went ahead with limited production of Nano - touted as the world's cheapest car with a factory gate price of Rs 1,00,000 (little over $2,000) - from Pantnagar in Uttarakhand. Bookings for the car opened in April 2009 and deliveries began in July that year. It has so far delivered over 35,000 units. However, only the first 1,00,000 customers are assured of getting the car at an ex-factory price of Rs 1,00,000. The Sanand facility has the capacity to manufacture 2.5 lakh units annually, which can subsequently be increased to 5 lakh units per annum. Pilot commercial production of Nano at Sanand has already begun. — PTI
	Etisalat eyeing stake in RCom? RCom refuses to comment; scrip surges 11 pc Girja Shankar Kaura Tribune News Service New Delhi, June 2 As Abu Dhabi's telecom major Etisalat confirmed that it was looking to buy a stake in an Indian mobile operator in a bid to improve its footprint in one of the world’s fastest-growing mobile phone market, Reliance Communications (RCom), the company Etisalat is reportedly interested in, refused to comment. While the shares of RCom today surged 11 per cent on the BSE on the basis of a newspaper report, the Anil Ambani-company while refusing to react, just said this was a media speculation. According to a media report, Etisalat is in talks to acquire 25 per cent stake in RCom and is in advance stages for the $3.8 billion deal. The reaction from RCom came even as Etisalat said it could decide within weeks about a deal in India. RCom said it has been receiving proposals from time to time from international telecom companies expressing interest in acquiring a strategic equity stake in it. Etisalat's Mohammad Omran said in Abu Dhabi: "We are talking to several Indian operators and are evaluating several Indian operators but have not reached a final decision." Omran, however, declined to comment specifically about their interest in RCom and said Etisalat had not taken any final decision. "It may take a few weeks or it may take a few months," he said. If the deal is finalised, Etisalat will make an open offer to acquire an additional 20 per cent stake in the Indian firm from the public, the newspaper report said, citing market sources. Buying a stake in India's second-biggest mobile operator would give Emirates Telecommunications Corp or Etisalat, a vital presence in the world's fastest-growing mobile market, where it owns a stake in a start-up telecom firm. India has more than 600 million subscribers and nine of the 15 operators already have foreign partners. RCom is the only big telecom firm that does not have a direct foreign stake. The infusion of money could help it fight the price war which is currently underway and also help it surge further in holding onto its second spot in the country’s telecom market after Bharti Airtel. Incidentally, the report on Etisalat-RCom talks comes within days of another report saying that the Indian firm may again open talks with South Africa’s MTN to acquire stake after its failed bid earlier. Etisalat bought a stake in an Indian telecom firm in 2008, which has been since renamed to Etisalat DB Telecom India. The company launched its services in March.
	Mega IT SEZ inaugurated Suresh Dharur Tribune News Service Hyderabad, June 2 In a major sign of revival of the IT industry, a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) exclusively for IT/ITES sector is being developed near Hyderabad to attract global players. New York-based real estate developer Tishman Speyer (TS), in association with ICICI Venture Ltd and Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (APIIC), is in the process of developing a 100-acre IT and integrated township project at Tellapur on the city outskirts. The first phase of “Wave Rock”, built at an estimated cost of Rs 600 crore and comprising 7,00,000 sqft of office space to accommodate 7,000 professional, was inaugurated by Chief Minister K Rosaiah yesterday. The works on phase-II would commence by the beginning of next year and will take four years to be completely operational, TS chairman and co-CEO Jerry Speyer told reporters. “Post the completion of the Rs 700-crore phase-II, the Wave Rock project will provide IT space of 2.46 million sqft to support an employment opportunity for about 25,000 people,” he said. Speyer said the company would shortly be spreading its wings to Mumbai and New Delhi either through acquiring existing properties or developing new projects. Inaugurating the phase-I of the project, Rosaiah said creation of physical infrastructure of international standards was a pre-requisite for the ICT industry to set up shop and operate in a most optimal manner. “AP has the highest number of 57 IT SEZs out of the total number of 351 approved across the country. When all these SEZs become fully operational in the next three years, they will create more than 100 million sqft of office space and about 1 million direct jobs in the IT sector,” the Chief Minister said. Wave Rock phase-II will be a majestic building with an area of 1.7 million sqft generating employment for 17,000 people. Tishman Speyer, headquartered at New York City, is one of the world's leading developers of first class real estate, with operations spanning 30 cities in 11 countries spread over 5 continents. In New York, landmarks such as The Rockefeller Centre and the Chrysler buildings are part of the group.
	BoR unions urge RBI to block merger Jaipur, June 2 The employee unions of the troubled Bank of Rajasthan (BoR) have sought the intervention of the Reserve Bank to stall the proposed merger with ICICI Bank. United Forum of Bank of Rajasthan Unions convener Gopal Dass Gupta said the forum has urged RBI Governor D Subbarao to look into the proposed merger. "BoR and ICICI Bank have deep differences in their work culture, clientele, approach to social objectives and service conditions of their employees. "BoR is a member of the Indian Banks Association and the industry level bipartite settlement and pension settlement entered by the IBA and the bank unions are applicable on its 4,200 employees, whereas ICICI Bank, a commercial entity having 73 per cent equity of foreign institutions, engages in contractual employment or on different wage set-up and service conditions," he said. The forum had already announced a five-day strike on June 4-6 and June 17-19 to protest against the merger. Its has also called for an independent probe into the dubious modus operandi of the merger plan. BoR is fundamentally strong and has been generating operating profit over the years. Since its promoters committed irregularities, on which RBI and SEBI have taken cognisance, the dominant shareholders (Tayal group) are ensuring a safe exit with the merger, he said. — PTI
	SC to hear ULIP case in July New Delhi, June 2 The Supreme Court will hear the case pertaining to the row over control of ULIPs between market watchdog SEBI and insurance regulator IRDA next month but may not decide on the controversy over who would regulate these market-linked insurance products. "The Supreme Court is in vacation.The transfer petition is likely to be taken up in July," Irda chairman J Hari Narayan told PTI today when asked about the progress on resolving its dispute with SEBI over controlling unit-linked insurance products (ULIPs). Significantly, the IRDA chief is not sure whether the apex court will decide on the issue of jurisdiction of ULIPs as it is not directly raised in the transfer petition filed by SEBI before the apex court. "The issue of jurisdiction is not squarely mentioned in the petitions. It is only obliquely mentioned," said Narayan, who was in the Capital and met Finance Secretary Ashok Chawla. Earlier, SEBI had filed a petition in the Supreme Court seeking transferring all the ULIP-related cases from various high courts to the apex court. In this regard, the apex court had issued notices to the Centre, IRDA and 14 life insurers. SEBI and IRDA have been locking horns over who has the power to regulate ULIPs, which are equity and bond-linked insurance products. The dispute snowballed into a major controversy after SEBI on April 9 banned 14 life insurers, including those belonging to SBI and Reliance Life of the Anil Ambani Group, from raising any fresh money from Ulips unless they are registered with the market watchdog. — PTI
	Jan Aushadhi scheme fails to deliver Ruchika M. Khanna Tribune News Service Chandigarh, June 2 With the objective of ensuring supply of unbranded generic drugs at almost half the cost of branded drugs, the SME Pharma Industries Confederation (SPIC) has urged the government to include the SME pharma companies to source drugs for Jan Aushadhi stores. The Jan Aushadhi campaign was launched with the objective of making available quality medicines to the people at affordable prices. But even after two years since this scheme was announced by the government, it has failed to deliver the desired results because of alleged shortfall in supplies from the pharma public sector undertakings. Though officials in the Department of Pharmaceuticals deny that there is a shortfall in supplies, the fact remains that not all 220 medicines in the essential drug list (approved for sale), are available at these Jan Aushadhi centres. Talking to TNS here yesterday, Jagdeep Singh, secretary-general of the SPIC, said in order to expand the scope of the Jan Aushadhi scheme and to ensure that cheaper drugs are available to all, the government must tap the pharma SMEs. “The government had earlier shortlisted 175 schedule M-compliant SMEs to source supplies for these low-cost pharma outlets. The government must expand this list of SMEs for abundant availability of drugs. In fact, the drugs supplied by the PSUs can also be supplied by the SMEs on the same price pattern,” he said. The confederation has written to the Department of Pharmaceuticals that so far only generic drugs were available in the Jan Aushadhi centres. They have demanded that some life-saving drugs be allowed to be sold through these outlets which will effectively reduce existing MRPs.
	Security certification must for import of telecom equipment Tribune News Service New Delhi, June 2 Laying down stringent conditions for international telecom companies, including the Chinese, to sell their equipment in India, the Union Home Ministry has laid down guidelines that will require a security certification of equipment to rule out any embedded software or virus in it. The telecom service providers in India will have to enter into agreements with their equipment providers to get it certified for security and also that it does not carry any spyware. Eight international agencies have been shortlisted that will check the equipment before issuing a certification. This will apply to equipment being manufactured in any country, sources confirmed today while adding that it was not China-specific. Sources said the certification will be for the security aspect of the equipment and to rule out any attempts to stall the country’s communication network. The other rules like providing clarity on ownership of the companies will apply as usual. The Home Ministry, acting on advice of intelligence agencies, had banned two Chinese companies Huawei and ZTE from operating in India following suspicions over their respective ownership.