The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	Bandh: Loss to nation Rs 13k crore, says Ficci New Delhi, July 5 Bharat Bandh today partially disrupted economic activities with commodity markets and the transport sector taking a hit in many parts of the country, and the industry pegged losses at up to Rs 13,000 crore. While Mumbai, the financial capital of the country, and several industrialised states including Maharashtra, Gujarat, were affected, the impact was partial in many other states like Tamil Nadu and in the national capital Delhi. The 12-hour strike was called by the Opposition parties to protest the fuel price hike and rising inflation. "The bandh is estimated to have cost the nation close to Rs 13,000 crore in terms of GDP loss," industry chamber Ficci said. Another industry body Assocham put the losses at Rs 10,000 crore, while CII pegged it at Rs 3,000 crore. Wholesale commodity markets remained shut in most of the cities, while several flights from key airports like Mumbai were cancelled. According to the All-India Motor Transport Congress, 6 lakh vehicles were off the road. Though the screen-based stock market remained open, the trading volume at the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) was down 52 per cent to Rs 2,857 crore against a daily average of nearly Rs 6,000 crore. According to reports by industry chambers like Ficci and Assocham, thin attendance was witnessed in commercial establishments in several states, while the economic activity came to a complete halt in states like West Bengal, Gujarat and Kerala. Ficci said most of the industrial activities remained shut in Bangalore and majority of MNCs and IT firms preferred to give a holiday to their employees. In Mumbai, transport services were "completely affected" and traders were mostly off the market. The PHD Chamber catering mainly to the northern states, said the impact was felt in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and UP. Banking services were completely paralysed in Left-governed West Bengal and Kerala while some disruptions were noticed in Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Mumbai. The industry leaders, including Rahul Bajaj and Adi Godrej, have opposed the bandh and termed the protest as "odd and absurd". — PTI Stock market biz tumbles 42 pc Mumbai: Business at stock markets was hit hard by a nationwide bandh called by Opposition parties, as turnover at the bourses fell by over 42 per cent, or nearly Rs 35,000 crore, from the daily average. The cumulative turnover at the country's top two stock exchanges NSE and BSE in equity and derivatives segments fell down to near Rs 50,000 crore, down from the daily average of close to Rs 85,000 crore in the current month. The equity trading volumes of BSE was the worst hit with turnover falling by over 52 per cent to Rs 2,857 crore.
	Bandh Blues: IT firms log off Shubhadeep Choudhury Tribune News Service Bangalore, July 5 Hundreds of IT firms, including Indian bellwethers TCS, Infosys Technologies, Wipro and Mindtree, remained closed here today due to the nationwide shutdown against the hike in fuel prices. “As a precaution, we have given off on Monday to our employees working in the Bangalore campus. They will compensate by working on Saturday (July 10),” Mindtree senior vice-president Kalyan Banerjee told TNS. Infosys has made arrangements for employees working on important projects and BPO services to work in the night when the dawn-to-dusk shutdown will be over. “We have made arrangements for those employees for overnight stay,” an Infosys official said. Infosys has its largest software development centre in the Electronics City here where about 16,000 employees work. Similarly, Wipro, which has two software development centres in the city declared a holiday, directing its employees to report for duty on July 10 in lieu of today. “We declared holiday for our employees on July 5 in view of the nationwide shutdown. They have been asked to work on July 10 though it’s a weekend,” a Wipro official said. Due to uncertainty of public transport by the state-run Bangalore Metropolitan Corporation, hundreds of small and medium enterprises in the IT and biotech sectors have extended the weekend holiday to their employees up to Monday. As a precautionary measure, multinational firms like HP, CITRIX and others also observed holiday today and asked their employees to compensate by working on Saturday. The nationwide shutdown has been called by the leading opposition parties, including the BJP, which is the ruling party in this southern state. The BJP had earlier sought cooperation from educational institutions, transporters, government agencies and private firms for making the bandh a success.
	Merger Impact: RNRL tanks 27 pc, R-Power up over 3 pc Mumbai, July 5 ADAG firm Reliance Natural Resources (RNRL) today sank over 27 per cent, while the group firm Reliance Power closed up over 3 per cent after touching a 52-week high intra-day. Yesterday, the boards of both the companies approved the merger of RNRL with Reliance Power in an all-stock deal with an exchange ratio of one equity share of R-Power for four shares of RNRL. Shares of RNRL plunged 27.26 per cent to close at Rs 46.30 on the Bombay Stock Exchange. The scrip touched a month low of Rs 45.50, down 28.51 per cent during the day. On the contrary, the shares of Reliance Power remained strong even in a volatile market to surge to a 52-week high of Rs 189.80, up 8.36 per cent. The stock, however, pared the early rally and closed at Rs 181.40, up 3.57 per cent. "This deal has left the RNRL shareholders in a very tight situation. It will be a difficult time for the investors of both the companies as it will take at least three-four years for Reliance Power to get the benefits of gas promised by Reliance Industries. The shareholders are left with no choice but to stay invested," Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services assistant vice-president Gaurang Shah said. The ADAG group has claimed that Reliance Power would reap benefits from RNRL's coal bed methane blocks, and fuel supplies through the latter's coal supply logistics and shipping business. The combined entity would have over 60 lakh shareholders, the largest in the world. — PTI
	Exempt BSNL, MTNL from spectrum fee: Raja to FM Tribune News Service New Delhi, July 5 The much-needed support for the two beleaguered state-run telecom companies, BSNL and MTNL, finding hard to make the payment for the high costs of the 3G spectrum and Broadband Wireless Access (BWA), came today as Telecommunications Minister A. Raja has written to Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee seeking an exemption for the two. According to officials, Raja has written to Mukherjee seeking reimbursement of the Rs 29,598.33 crore paid by the two PSU telecom operators for spectrum. The recent auction of the 3G spectrum and BWA had raised over Rs 1,06,262 crore for the government, which included the amount shelled out by the two PSUs for the pan-India licence, already kept reserved for them. The letter from Raja comes despite strong opposition from the private telecom operators, who have been seeking a level-playing field with the two PSUs. "BSNL is the only service provider giving connectivity to the far-flung rural areas. The services rendered by BSNL in the rural areas of the country cannot be replicated," Raja said in a letter to the Finance Minister. While BSNL has paid Rs 18,500.38 crore, MTNL paid Rs 11,097.97 crore for the 3G and BWA licences. The letter from Raja is of great importance to the two PSUs as MTNL virtually had to raise the entire amount for spectrum through loans from different banks to pay the government and BSNL, which is likely to post losses for the last financial year, was made to pay a huge amount to the government from its reserves. "Both BSNL and MTNL have made a desperate request for reimbursement of the charges paid," Raja said. In his letter Raja emphasised that in terms of the New Telecom Policy, 1999, BSNL (then DoT) was not required to pay an entry fee for cellular mobile licences, which were bundled with initial spectrum of 4.4 Mhz. Similarly, BSNL was also exempted from payment of 2G spectrum charges of Rs 1,650 crore in view of its immense social and rural obligations, he added.
	Now, visit Facebook on Airtel free Tribune News Service New Delhi, July 5 Telecom operator Bharti Airtel today said it would offer the full mobile site of Facebook, the popular social networking service, free of charge for its 130 million plus customers across India. However, the offer will remain valid till August 31. For the two-month period, the partnership will enable Airtel customers to access Facebook’s full mobile site faster and at no data cost from their Airtel mobiles via m.facebook.com. It will allow Airtel customers to post status updates, comment and write on walls, message others. Besides this, they will also be able to view or upload photos - all without any data charges. Announcing the offer, Shireesh Joshi, chief marketing officer, mobile services, Bharti Airtel, said, “We are pleased to bring an industry-leading offer to our 130 million plus customers by announcing this long-term partnership with Facebook - the popular social media service. Our mobile customers will also be the first in the world to enjoy Facebook on their Airtel mobile in five vernacular languages”. Facebook’s mobile site will be initially available in English and Hindi, with five other languages - Punjabi, Bengali, Telugu, Tamil, and Malayalam - soon to follow by July 15.
	Toyota recalls 92,000 cars Tokyo, July 5 Toyota started recalling more than 90,000 luxury Lexus and Crown vehicles today in Japan over defective engines, the latest setback for the automaker beset with quality problems. Toyota Motor Corp said recalls in overseas markets will follow soon. Toyota told the Japanese government today it was recalling 91,903 vehicles for flaws in the valve springs, a crucial engine component, that could make the automobile stall while in motion. It already has recalled more than 8.5 million vehicles worldwide for various problems. Toyota said it was replacing the valve spring in the recalled vehicles, produced between July 2005 and August 2008 Lexus models GS350, GS450h, GS460, IS350, LS460, LS600h, LS600hL and Crown models. — AP