The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	US distributor sues M&M Washington, June 16 Automaker Mahindra & Mahindra's exclusive American distributor has filed a law suit against the company for taking too long to launch its pick-up truck in the country.Atlanta-based Global Vehicles (GV), Mahindra & Mahindra's (M&M) sole distributor in the US, in the law suit filed before an Atlanta District Court, alleged that there has been inordinate delay in the launch of the truck. M&M and GV entered into a pact in September 2006 and Mahindra proposed to launch the pick-up truck, based on its SUV Scorpio platform, in 2009. However, this got delayed over regulatory clearances. The company set a revised target of entering the US market by the beginning of this fiscal year, which was later postponed to end of 2010. In its lawsuit filed on June 14, GV said it spent close to $35 million in preparation for the launch of the Mahindra vehicles in the US and had signed with as many as 360 dealers nationwide. This also includes an initial distribution appointment fee of $8.5 million. GV also said the US dealers have spent more than $60 million in franchisee fees for the right to sell Mahindra vehicles. It has also initiated arbitration proceedings against M&M. Reacting to the development, an M&M spokesperson said: "Mahindra & Mahindra has learned that GV has filed a lawsuit in the US. GV has also initiated separate arbitration proceedings. Mahindra firmly believes these legal actions to be without merit and will vigorously contest these actions." GV has also asked the court to prevent M&M from selling its vehicles through any other dealer or distributor. On whether the lawsuit will further delay launch of its vehicle in the US, the M&M spokesperson said: "Mahindra remains committed to launching its products in the US market." She, however, did not elaborate stating "this matter is now under litigation, Mahindra would not like to comment further at this stage on these unfortunate developments." — PTI
	IOC, HPCL in pact with RIL for KG gas New Delhi, June 16 State-owned Indian Oil Corp (IOC) and Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) have signed contracts with Reliance Industries to buy natural gas to replace costlier liquid fuel at their refineries. IOC has signed a Gas Sale and Purchase Agreement (GSPA) for buying 0.8 million cubic metres per day of gas from RIL's eastern offshore KG-D6 fields, while HPCL has inked a pact for 0.2 mmcmd, officials at the state-owned firms said. KG-D6 gas will replace crude oil or fuel oil that IOC and HPCL use for production of hydrogen at their refineries. IOC would use the gas at its Koyali refinery in Gujarat, while HPCL would take the fuel at its Mumbai unit, they said, adding that supplies are likely to begin in a week's time. The firm had sought 1.92 mmcmd of KG-D6 gas for its Koyali refinery, near Vadorara, 0.81 mmcmd for its Mathura unit in Uttar Pradesh and 3.85 mmcmd for its Panipat refinery in Haryana. HPCL had placed a demand for 2.18 mmcmd for its refinery in Mumbai, but was allocated much less. — PTI
	Tata Nano available off the shelf now New Delhi, June 16 Customers will no longer have to wait for long periods to own the Tata Nano as dealers are now offering almost immediate delivery of the world's cheapest car.However, the company is yet to clear a backlog of orders placed by customers. Due to production constraints, Tata Motors had decided to make bookings through a lottery system and deliver the first one lakh units of the Nano by the end of this year. While the company had recently stated that open market sales of Nano are likely to begin by August with its Sanand plant going into production mode, dealers said the base model can now be purchased within a period of just two days. "The base model is almost readily available. You can book today and take the delivery tomorrow," a staffer at a New Delhi showroom said. Another dealer said medium and top-end versions of the car would take longer to deliver. "If booked today, the top-end model can be delivered in 15-20 days," he added. When asked how they could entertain new bookings when the first one lakh cars were yet to be delivered by the company, the dealer said that it was being done through "management quota". "You have to write an application to Tata Motors and it will be registered for booking... The car will be delivered under management quota," one dealer official said. When contacted, a company spokesperson said: "Tata Motors is now engaged in delivering Nanos to those who have already booked, as per schedule, and at the same price as was committed during the booking." Earlier this month, the company had inaugurated the mother plant for Nano at Sanand in Gujarat. The plant has a capacity of 2.5 lakh units per annum. — PTI
	TCS bags outsourcing deal from Telenor Tribune News Service New Delhi, June 16 IT major Tata Consultancy Services today said it has signed a multi-year outsourcing contract with Norway's Telenor. Although the financial terms of the contract were not disclosed, it comprises application maintenance and development services and will involve a modernisation of Telenor’s Norway’s application portfolio across its OSS, fixed, mobile, data warehouse and accounting system domains. “This contract marks an important milestone for the IT industry in Norway and signifies the acceptance of global service delivery in Norway. We expect this deal to serve as a catalyst for other Norwegian organisations who are currently evaluating the use of Global Service Delivery,” said Tom Olsen, Head of TPI Norway. With this contract, Telenor Norway will improve its operational efficiency, refresh its IT stack and will become more agile to respond to its customers changing needs. "By implementing this measure we are making the necessary adaptations to provide our customers with improved and more innovative services in relation to capacity, speed and stability, as well as better quality in both voice and data, and to facilitate current demands for accessibility," said Ragnar Kårhus, CEO of Telenor Norway.“Our selection by Telenor to drive this modernisation demonstrates the headway we have been making in the Nordic market and highlights our strong telecom domain expertise,” said AS Lakshminarayanan, vice-president and head of TCS, Europe.
	ONGC, RIL top in advance tax payment New Delhi, June 16 The country's top 100 companies, led by ONGC and Reliance Industries, have paid Rs 12,661.73 crore in advance tax to the government in the first quarter of this fiscal, representing an 18.68 per cent jump over the same period last fiscal. But some large corporates like State Bank, Grasim Industries, ACC, Ambuja Cement, Siemens, Deutsche Bank, Barclays Bank, and Bank of America, paid less tax to the exchequer compared to the year-ago period, according to the finance ministry sources. ONGC has paid the highest tax at Rs 1,093 crore, up 24.20 per cent from Rs 880 crore it had paid in the first quarter of the last fiscal, the sources said. Reliance Industries' tax outgo stood at Rs 653 crore this quarter, more than double the Rs 314 crore it had paid in the same period last fiscal. This is followed by the country's largest lender SBI which has paid Rs 869 crore, which is a steep 18.63 per cent less than Rs 1,068 crore it had paid in Q1 last fiscal. However, the bank comes up as the second largest tax payee. Mirroring an uptick in the economy, corporate India's advance tax payments have jumped sharply in the April-June quarter of this fiscal. The tax payments are in line with industrial production, which zoomed by 17.6 per cent in April, the first month of the current fiscal, from 1.1 per cent in the same period a year ago. The government proposes to collect Rs 3.01 lakh crore as corporate tax during the current fiscal, up from Rs 2.5 lakh crore in the previous fiscal. — PTI
	RCom, Videocon offer unlimited Internet on mobile Tribune News Service New Delhi, June 16 Competition in the mobile telephony sector heated up today with Reliance Communications (RCom) and Videocon Mobile Services today coming out with unlimited mobile internet access for their subscribers. While RCom is offering the unlimited access to its subscribers at an additional cost of Rs 99 per month, Videocon has come out with the same offer at Rs 96 per month. According to RCom officials, the company has launched MobileNet Plan, which allows unlimited mobile internet access to its post-paid and pre-paid subscribers at Rs 99 per month. The plan, the first initiative by the company to roll out its 3G services, will allow customers access to social networking sites, instant messaging applications, chat services and email accounts like yahoo, gmail and hotmail. They will also be able to download free multimedia content. "This special mobile internet plan offers seamless connectivity to the Internet on mobile across the country and our customers will be allowed unlimited access to internet and any sites of their choice on the move using the mobile as an intermediate," Reliance Communications' marketing, wireless business president, Mahesh Prasad, said. RCom's Mobile Internet Plans also offer lower subscription rates for the convenience of the customers, including day pass at Rs 5, weekly pass at Rs 29, and fortnight pass at Rs 51. RCom is rolling out the MobileNet Plan across 24,000 cities and 600,000 villages in the country. On the other hand, Videocon said after the success of recent unique, unlimited tariff plans for voice services, it has now extended the unlimited concept to data services by launching the ‘Unlimited Internet’ pack for its customers. The offer would be available to its subscribers in Mumbai, Tamil Nadu, Punjab and Haryana. ‘Unlimited Internet’ pack offers subscribers the freedom to stay connected through the internet for a nominal charge of just Rs 96 for 30 days, without enforcing a limit on the number of kilobytes that can be downloaded, the company officials said.
	Probe launched into E&Y audit of Lehman Bros London, June 16 A British regulatory body has launched a probe into global consultancy Ernst and Young's audit of the Lehman Brothers' financial statements in the months prior to the collapse of the US investment bank. The Accountancy and Actuarial Discipline Board (AADB) has begun an investigation under its accountancy scheme into the conduct of members and Ernst & Young LLP, as auditors of Lehman Brothers International (Europe), it said in a statement. The preparation and audits of the financial statements of Lehman Brothers Holding Inc and UK operations, including Lehman Brothers International (Europe), for the year ended November 30, 2007, would be investigated, the statement added. It said the board would also probe, "the use and accounting treatment of transactions known as 'Repo 105s' and 'Repo 108s' by Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc and UK operations, including Lehman Brothers International (Europe)." The AADB is an independent investigative and disciplinary body for accountants and actuaries in the UK. The Financial Times cited people with knowledge of the inquiry as saying that the probe was triggered by the March publication of a report into Lehman's collapse by Anton Valukas, a US court-appointed bankruptcy examiner. The daily also quotes E&Y as stating, "We will co-operate fully with the AADB investigation." Ernst & Young's audit opinion stated that Lehman's financial statements for that year were "fairly presented" in accordance with the relevant accounting standards, and "we remain of that view". — PTI
	RIL may bid for mega power projects New Delhi, June 16 After telecom, Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries is looking to enter thermal power projects and may bid for the ultra mega power projects in Chhattisgarh and Orissa. "The company is likely to bid for the two UMPPs for which the government has issued RFQs (Request for Qualification)," a source close to the development said. However, RIL spokesperson declined to comment. The government has invited bids for the 4,000 MW Sarguja UMPP in Chattisgarh by July 5 and a similar project at Bedabahal in Orissa by July 30. RIL and Reliance ADA Group, led by his brother Anil Ambani, on May 23 agreed to cancel all existing non-compete pacts which the groups had signed in 2006. This allows them to enter areas of business hitherto barred for each other. After the Supreme Court verdict on years of long, bitter gas dispute, both RIL and ADAG also announced to expeditiously negotiate gas deal in accordance with the Supreme Court order. The UMPP bids may mark Mukesh's entry into power sector. The government has already allotted four ultra mega power projects of 4,000 MW each in the states of Madhya Pradesh (Sasan), Andhra Pradesh (Krishnapatnam), Jharkhand (Tilaiya) and Gujarat (Mundra). — PTI
	GSM operators add 11 m users in May New Delhi, June 16 Indian GSM telecom operators added 11.25 million new subscribers in the month of May, taking the all-India cellular subscriber base to 444 million, according to cellular operators' association COAI. Bharti Airtel added three million new users in May, taking its total subscriber base to 133.6 million, data released by the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) today showed. Bharti is the market leader, with a 30.07 per cent market share. Rival Vodafone Essar added 2.59 million subscribers during the month, taking its subscriber base to 106.3 million, it said. Idea Cellular added 1.4 million users in May, taking its total user base to 66.72 million, while Aircel added 1.6 million customers to reach the 40.07 million-mark. State-run telecom firms BSNL and MTNL registered 1.04 million and 40,297 new users respectively, which took their subscriber base to 65.79 million (BSNL) and 4.85 million (MTNL). The COAI data excludes RCom figures. — PTI