The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	Pawar hints at decontrolling sugar New Delhi, July 9 Hoping to take advantage of good sugar production and lower prices, Food and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar today favoured ending government's role in fixing sales quota on industry. Stating that industry associations have been demanding decontrol, he said a decision on this could be taken if there is good production in the next crop year starting October. The minister, however, assured that the government would continue to fix the support price of sugarcane for farmers. The government controls the sugar sector right from fixing the support price of cane to allocating the monthly quota of sugar that mills sell in the open market. "Industry bodies have written to us saying that this is the time when the government should consider (on decontrolling the sector). We are dicussing and assessing the entire situation," Pawar said on the sidelines of a sugar conference. He said the government will have an estimate of sugarcane planting and sugar output of 2010-11 by September first week. Sugar year runs from October to September. "Based on the assessment, we will take a final decision (on decontrolling sugar sector) and recommend to the Cabinet. Till then, we will not recommend," Pawar said categorically. Asked whether the ministry would propose full decontrol or it would be in a phased manner, he said, "One thing is for sure, the right to fix the support price of cane for farmers will definitely be with the government." Earlier addressing the conference, Pawar pointed out that the sugar sector is the only industry under the government control and said this is a right time to withdraw controls as output during next crop year would be on higher side and prices will be reasonable. "I honestly feel this is the time where the government, NFCSF and ISMA (industry bodies) should sit together and take some of the major policy decisions. My thinking behind is that this is the only industry in the country which has too much controls from the government side. "And the time has come from the government side to give a second thought about this approach. If we have to give a second thought, we have to withdraw the government controls on sugar industry and give a full freedom to those who are managing the industry like others," Pawar observed. Noting that the next crop year would be a good year for both consumers and farmers, the minister said some "drastic decision" could be possible to take. "Definitely, we are ready to discuss with NFCSF and ISMA and take a collective decision, which will show a new path to the sugar sector". Pawar said the country would have enough sugar production next crop year to meet the annual demand of 23 million tonnes. India is estimated to produce 18.5 MT in 2009-10 crop year. — PTI Sugar stocks soar Mumbai: The sugar counters gained 11 per cent buoyed by Food and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar's statement that he favours ending government's role in fixing sales quota on industry. Cheering the move, shares of Bajaj Hindusthan Sugar & Industries rose 3.19 per cent to settle at Rs 22.65 on the BSE after going up 4.78 per cent during the trade to an intra-day high of Rs 23. Balrampur Chini Mills finished at Rs 87.15, up 3.87 per cent after climbing 5.72 per cent to hit a month high at Rs 88.70. Oudh Sugar Mills closed at Rs 40.40, up 10.38 per cent after rising 15.16 per cent to touch a month high of Rs 42.15. Other sugar stocks, including Shree Renuka Sugars climbed 3.12 per cent to close at Rs 71.15 after touching a month's high of Rs 72.50, while Simbhaoli Sugars finished at Rs 42.70, up 5.17 per cent, Triveni Engineering & Industries settled up 5.34 per cent at Rs 107.55. — PTI
	Reliance Life aims to double market share in 3 years Rakesh Lohumi Tribune News Service Shimla, July 9 Reliance Life Insurance has crossed the 6-million policies mark in less than five years to emerge as the top private player in the life insurance sector in the country. Announcing this here today, president and executive director of the company, Malay Ghosh, said the company issued 2.3 million policies in 2009-10 alone, the largest business addition by the company in any fiscal. It was the 11th company to enter the sector in 2006 and was doing exceptionally well as evident from the achievement in terms of various performance parameters. It had jumped to 4th place in terms of total premium and 3rd in weighted received premium. The objective of the company is to increase its market share from the existing 5.5 per cent to 10 per cent over the next three years by three-pronged strategy of diversification into health insurance, focussing on traditional products, and targeting the vast rural market. The plan is to achieve three-fold increase in the new business premium (NBP) from Rs 6,500 crore (2009-10) to Rs 20,000 crore and the assets under management (AUM) from Rs 13,677 crore to Rs 30,000 crore over the next two fiscals. The net loss came down from Rs 1,048 crore to Rs 284 crore in 2009-10 and it was set to achieve break even during the current year. The company will now enter the health insurance sector and aims to find a slot among the top three private players in the country through its network of 1,247 branches and 1,95,000 agents. The company’s strategy to gain a cutting edge over competitors was to provide the best customer services and ensure speedy settlement of claims. Last year, it paid over 10,000 death claims involving an amount of Rs 100 crore and settled 13,000 other claims, 94 per cent of which were dealt with within 30 days.
	China renews Google’s licence Shanghai, July 9 Google Inc said on Friday that the Chinese authorities had renewed its licence to operate a website, averting a potential shutdown of its flagship search page in the world's biggest Internet market. Google said last week that it would stop automatically rerouting users to its uncensored Hong Kong-based search page, explaining that Beijing had indicated it would not renew its Internet Content Provider licence if it continued to do so. That had prompted speculation that China might use the opportunity to shut down Google's China search page, in what would have been a blow to its other business in the country. "China has renewed our licence," a Google spokeswoman told Reuters. "We are very pleased that the government has renewed our ICP licence and we look forward to continuing to provide web search and local products to our users in China." Google stunned markets and consumers in January when it warned it might quit the country, saying it would not provide the censored search results that China requires. In March, Google began to redirect visitors to its China website to a search site in Hong Kong that provided uncensored results. But it stopped automatically rerouting users last week, in what analysts saw as a softening of its stance and a willingness to compromise to maintain a foothold in the world's biggest Internet market by users. — Reuters
	Import of Telecom Equipment Govt working on resolving issue: Telecom Secy Tribune News Service New Delhi, July 9 Facing a possible delay in the rollout of 3G services in the country as a result of the security restrictions on import of telecom equipment, the government is working to sort out the issue of bringing in the equipment from China. Telecom Secretary PJ Thomas said here today the government was looking into the issue of import of telecom equipment from China. But, he did not provide a time frame for when a decision would be reached. "We are working on that. We had a discussion with organisations, associations and they have helped us with their own suggestions," he told reporters. Comments from Thomas came just a day after AUSPI, the umbrella body of the CDMA operators, shot off a letter to him stating that in the absence of DoT permission to import equipment, augmentation of capacities and expansion of network would affect the 3G rollout process of some operators. The government is yet to announce guidelines for telecom equipment import. "Some of our members have invested heavily in acquiring 3G spectrum, but the delay in permission for import of equipment may derail the 3G rollout and business plans," it said. AUSPI has also requested DoT to come up with a list of core equipment which would need prior clearance. The controversy over security concerns regarding Chinese vendors has been rocking the telecom sector since the past few months. Though the government denies any blanket ban on import of telecom equipment and network gears from China, Huawei and ZTE complain that the government had not approved their deals in the past few months. In the wake of security concerns raised by the Home Ministry over Chinese telecom equipment, DoT had said it would come up with a comprehensive list of core equipment that would require mandatory security clearance before placing purchase orders by any operator. However, on the hand, the Centre has further expanded the list of ‘core equipment’ that will now require mandatory security clearance. Incidentally, the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), the body representing telcos offering mobile services on the GSM platform, has also approached Telecom Minister A Raja demanding that the additions to the core list be removed.
	Merck to cut 15,000 jobs New York, July 9 Global healthcare major Merck & Co is planning to close 16 research and manufacturing sites worldwide and slash 15 per cent of its workforce over the next two years, as part of its cost cutting initiatives. Merck will phase out operations at eight research sites and eight manufacturing sites over the next two years and continue consolidation of its office facilities worldwide, which are part of its restructuring plan after the merger with Schering-Plough in December last year, it said in a statement yesterday. The company also stated that "its total workforce would be reduced by about 15 per cent across all areas of the combined company worldwide as part of the initial phases of its merger restructuring program." As per a report in The New York Times, Merck plans to lay off around 15,000 people worldwide over the next two years. With these plans announced, Merck expects the initial phases of the merger restructuring program would result in savings of around $2.7-3.1 billion in 2012, the statement added. "These changes are crucial to drive future growth and realise the promise of being a global health care leader for the long term. While we believe these actions are necessary to support Merck's competitive advantage, they required difficult decisions that will impact some of our colleagues, their families and local communities," he said. Merck is present in 140 countries worldwide and delivers innovative health solutions. — PTI
	Oberoi Ranthambhore world’s best hotel New Delhi, July 9 The Oberoi Group's Vanyavilas Hotel at Ranthambhore has been ranked the best in the world, by the Travel + Leisure magazine. The hospitality major also reinforced its position at the top with four of its properties making it to the top 15 list released by the magazine today. Commenting on the recognition, the Oberoi Group chairman PRS Oberoi said, "I am delighted that The Oberoi Vanyavilas has been ranked the best in the world and our four group (hotels) have been ranked among the 15 best in the world." Besides, the Amarvilas Hotel in Agra, the Rajvilas Hotel in Jaipur and the Udaivilas Hotel in Udaipur have also been ranked at the fifth, 13th and 15th slots, respectively, among the world's best hotels in 2010. These Oberoi properties have also bagged the top four slots in Asia. The rankings are based on the characteristics of rooms and facilities, location, service, restaurants, food and value, among other criteria. — PTI
	Railways’ earnings up 7% Tribune News Service New Delhi, July 9 Railways have posted over seven per cent growth in earnings during the first three months of this fiscal. During the period between April 1 to June 30, it earned Rs 22,061.13 crore as compared to Rs 20,610.63 crore during the same period last year, registering an increase of 7.04 per cent. While the total goods earnings went up from Rs 13,927.05 crore during this period last year to Rs 14,930.11 this year, the total passenger revenue earnings also went up to Rs 6,190.70 crore, an official statement said. Earnings from other departments stood at Rs 626.01 crore during this period. The statement further said that approximate number of passenger bookings during April-June 2010 stood at 1,937.22 million compared to 1,836.51 million during the same period last year, showing an increase of 5.48 per cent.