The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	ArcelorMittal to invest Rs 30,000 cr in K’taka Bangalore, June 3 ArcelorMittal today entered into pact with the Karnataka government to set up a Rs 30,000-crore plant and hoped that the project would come up faster compared to its plans in Jharkhand and Orissa. “We are pleased with the progress and today we have signed an MoU with the Karnataka government. We hope that we will make fast progress and the project can come up faster than compared to other states (Jharkhand and Orissa),” ArcelorMittal Chairman and CEO Lakshmi Mittal told reporters at the ongoing two-day Global Investors Meet here. Mittal had entered into an initial agreement with Karnataka government to set up an estimated six million tonnes steel plant in iron ore rich Bellary district. The company has been struggling to launch its proposed Rs 1 lakh crore steel projects in Orissa and Jharkhand (12mpta each) for about five years now which are stuck due to regulatory hurdles and problems in land acquisition. Referring to projects in Orissa and Jharkhand, he said, “In other states, we have a lot of other issues in connection with not only land, forest approvals, environment clearances and protest. So the progress is slow”. However, the company is now looking for an alternate site Jharkhand while going slow on its proposed project in Orissa. To a question whether there had been trade-offs given the fact he was now focusing more on Karnataka than on Jharkhand and Orissa, he said, “ArcelorMittal believes in growing in India and there is no trade-off”. Asked when the project would be completed, Mittal said it would take 36 months. Admitting that the mining issue in Karnataka is still being sorted out, Mittal said “Mining location is a problem. We are in the process of working with the government to get mining lease. We do not have a mining lease, but the process is on”. He said, “We are now only at the preliminary stage of the MoU,” adding that the real progress would only begin now. He reiterated that they were happy over the ‘positive support and attitude’ of the administration. In six months land had been allocated and payment had been done. The government had demonstrated a very strong commitment for the project, he added. — PTI
	Food inflation rises to 16.55 pc New Delhi, June 3 Driven by higher prices of pulses, milk and fruits, food inflation rose to 16.55 per cent for the week ended May 22. Inflation increased by 0.32 percentage point from 16.23 per cent in the previous week, food inflation data released here today showed. Potatoes and onions became cheaper by 34.09 per cent and 11.55 per cent respectively. Prices of pulses, on the other hand, shot up by 30.84 per cent, that of milk by 21.12 per cent, fruits 13.7 per cent and vegetables 1.34 per cent. Among other food items, rice and wheat turned costlier by 7.30 per cent and 3.07 per cent respectively. Although food prices have been firming up, experts feel prices will come down in the next 2-3 months. "Seasonal pressure on certain food products is expected to ease in early July... From August and September we will see a continuous downtrend in food inflation," said HDFC chief economist Abheek Barua. As regards spiralling prices of pulses, Barua said, "Globally there has been a shortage of pulses and the impact is also evident in India." The overall inflation for April, that includes food and manufactured goods, stood at 9.59 per cent, moderating slightly from 9.90 per cent in March. — PTI
	Hike in petro prices on cards New Delhi, June 3 The government may, from next week, find it easier to decontrol petrol and diesel prices as softening global rates would require fuel costs to be raised by just Rs 3.50 a litre for the purpose. An Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM), headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, is scheduled to meet on June 7 to consider a Kirit Parikh Committee report that calls for the freeing of petrol and diesel prices from governmental control, besides steep hikes in LPG and kerosene rates to cut fuel subsidy. "Earlier, there were doubts if the government would actually free auto fuel prices - particularly that of diesel — as the hike required to make them at par with international rates was over Rs 6 per litre. But the fall in global oil prices has made the task easier," an Oil Ministry official said. The EGoM will have to raise the price of petrol by Rs 3.35 per litre and that of diesel by Rs 3.49 a litre to free them from government control. International crude oil prices have shaved off over $10 per barrel to bring them down to $72-74 a barrel. "The hike needed to free auto fuel prices till last week was Rs 6.07 a litre in petrol and Rs 6.38 a litre in diesel. Raising prices, particularly that of diesel by such an amount in one go, was considered politically difficult," he said. "Things have, however, changed now," the offical added. The revenue loss that state-owned Indian Oil Corp, Hindustan Petroleum and Bharat Petroleum incurred on fuel sales came down to Rs 203 crore per day, from Rs 255 crore a day till last week. — PTI
	Govt gives ONGC, OIL freedom to price gas New Delhi, June 3 In a significant development, the government has given national oil firms ONGC and OIL freedom to price any additional natural gas produced from blocks given to them on nomination basis at market rates. So far, all gas, current and future, produced from blocks given to Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) and Oil India Ltd (OIL) was priced at government-controlled rates, called APM. The Petroleum Ministry, in an order dated May 31, has now made a distinction between existing producing fields and new ones in the nomination blocks. “ONGC and OIL will have the freedom to sell any production from new fields in their nominated blocks at non-APM rates,” the order said. Even the price of APM gas from June 1 has been more than doubled to $4.2 per million British thermal units, at par with the rate at which Reliance Industries sells gas from its eastern offshore KG-D6 fields. “It has been decided that the price of APM natural gas produced by national oil companies (NOCs) be fixed at $4.2 per mmBtu less royalty. Hence, the APM price inclusive of royalty (to customers) will be $4.2 per mmBtu,” the order said. APM gas prior to June 1 was sold at Rs 3,200 per thousand cubic metres or $1.79 per mmBtu. For customers in the Northeast, the net consumer price would be 60 per cent of the new rate, i.e. $2.52 per mmBtu. The government has also made a significant departure from the previous practice of pricing natural gas in rupees and has now decided to price it in US dollars. “The price (of $4.2 per mmBtu) will be converted to Rs per thousand cubic metres (mscm) at the RBI reference exchange rate of the month previous to the month during which supply of APM gas is made. The price in Rs per mscm will be adjusted every month on the basis of RBI reference exchange rate,” the order said. This rate would be excluding cess, transportation charge, marketing margin, service charge and taxes. The order said the government had also decided that company marketing the APM gas, GAIL India Ltd, had been allowed to charge a marketing margin of Rs 200 per mscm. — PTI
	BWA Auction Pan-India bid touches Rs 9,000 cr Tribune News Service New Delhi, June 3 As Mumbai left Delhi behind in bidding for the Broadband Wireless Access (BWA-WiMAX) licence, the pan-India bid licence touched an all-time high of Rs 9,000 crore today giving the government revenue of over Rs 27,000 crore from the sale of three slots. At this bid price, the total revenue for the government from the 3G and BWA auctions will amount to close to Rs 95,000 crore, far beyond the expectations of the government. The reserve price for the BWA all-India licence was fixed at Rs 1,750 crore. Experts said the total revenue from the sale of the 3G spectrum and the BWA might just touch the Rs 100,000 crore mark, greatly reducing the burden on Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee as the borrowings for the fiscal deficit. On the ninth day of the auction, Mumbai left Delhi behind in the bidding with the bid price for the licence in the city reaching Rs 1,404.17 crore. Bid price for Delhi stood at Rs 1,384.89 crore after 68 rounds of bidding ended today. Yesterday, bids for Delhi and Mumbai were equal, at Rs 1,304.66 crore. While Mumbai with excess demand by two more bidders than the available BWA slots, the increment for the next round has been fixed at Rs 20 crore and for Delhi it was kept at Rs 13.84 crore. Tamil Nadu continued to be at the third spot with a bid of Rs 1,271.62 crore, with Karnataka following at Rs 1,004.20 crore.
	Flydubai starts Dubai-Lucknow flight Lucknow, June 3 Flydubai, a low cost airline owned by the government of Dubai, today launched its operation in India with a direct flight between Dubai and Lucknow. The launch was announced by the Ambassador of United Arab Emirates Mohamed Sultan Abdalla Al Owais along with chief executive officer of the airline Ghaith Al Ghaith. “I am delighted to be here with history being made with the launch of Flydubai in India and I congratulate the airline for its first flight to the historic city of Lucknow,” Owais said. Ghaith said the airline, which was formed by the Dubai government in March 2008, would provide people the option to travel between Lucknow and Dubai at an affordable price of Rs 6,300, including all taxes and charges. “The airline will operate flights between Dubai and Lucknow thrice a week,” he said, adding that the airline had a fleet of eight new aircraft and was operating between 21 destinations. — PTI
	BoR staff on strike from today Jaipur, June 3 Around 4,200 employees of Bank of Rajasthan will go on two-day strike from tomorrow to protest against the proposed merger of the bank with ICICI Bank. "Employees today staged demonstrations at BoR's central, corporate and regional offices and will go on strike from tomorrow against the proposed merger," United Forum of Bank of Rajasthan Unions convener Gopal Das Gupta said here today. "At the central office here, 125 staff were on dharna. We are not alone, our movement is supported by 10 lakh bank employees and trade unions," he claimed. "The move is a conspiracy, and threat to 4,200 employees jobs. We also want RBI, SEBI and the Finance Ministry to clear their stand on the issue," he said. — PTI