The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Adani set to buy Australian firm
Announcement likely today
New Delhi, August 2
Adani Enterprises is likely to buy Australian firm Linc Energy's coal assets in Queensland for about Rs 4,200 crore and an official announcement is expected tomorrow.

Crime tracking network project for Wipro
Bangalore, August 2
Wipro Infotech, an arm of software major Wipro Ltd, has been selected for developing software for the prestigious Crime and Criminal Tracking Network System (CCTNS) project under the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP), one of India’s largest e-governance projects till date.

Electronic Benefit Transfer
Haryana takes lead over Punjab
Chandigarh, August 2
Cash-strapped Punjab may still be mulling over the reduction of service charges to start electronic benefit transfer (EBT) for its various social security pensions. But, neighbouring Haryana has taken the leap and successfully used EBT for disbursing old-age, disabled and widow pensions.

A man talks on a mobile in front of a Geely car displayed at the headquaters of China's private automaker Geely, in Hangzhou, east China's Zhejiang province on Monday. Geely Holdings said it has formally completed a deal to buy Sweden's Volvo Cars from US auto giant Ford Motors. — AFP

Punjab floats Rs 500 cr loan
Chandigarh, August 2
The Punjab government today floated Rs 500 crore (nominal) loan to finance part of capital expenditure of Plan Schemes and other development schemes under execution.

New models push car sales up in July
New Delhi, August 2
Higher incomes, low interest rates and launch of new models, especially in the small car segment, continued to push the automobile sales in the country with most manufacturers reporting higher sales in July.

SJVN records 7 pc growth
Shimla: The Sutlej Jal Vidyut Nigam (SJVN) has recorded a more than 7 per cent growth in net sales from the operations of its 1,500 MW Nathpa-Jhakri hydroelectric project in the first quarter of the current fiscal over the corresponding period last year. The net sales during the quarter increased to Rs 524.98 crore from Rs 489.32 crore and it earned a net profit of Rs 290.76 crore as against Rs 285.30 crore in the corresponding period last year. — TNS

	SEBI notice to Anil Ambani Mumbai, August 2 Market regulator SEBI has issued notices to two of ADAG companies and its top executives, including its chairman Anil Ambani, in a matter relating to stock market transactions. The regulator asked the companies - Reliance Natural Resources Ltd (RNRL) and Reliance Infrastructure Ltd (RInfra) — as also five top executives, including Anil, to appear before it for personal hearing on September 3. Besides Anil, who is chairman of both the companies, RInfra's vice-chairman Satish Seth and other directors JP Chalsani, SC Gupta and Lalit Jalan were asked to submit replies by August 27 to the show-cause notices given to them in June. The notices were issued to the companies as also these executives on June 7 "in the matters of dealings by RNRL and Reliance Infrastructure Ltd." Hearing the case, a SEBI Bench headed by Member MS Sahoo noted that though the two companies had sought inspection of documents and postponement of hearing, there was no appearance on behalf of other executives. No immediate comments could be obtained from ADAG officials. SEBI said the two companies and their representatives were earlier asked to reply to the notice by June 30. However, they did not file any reply, the market regulator said. SEBI had also offered them an opportunity of personal hearing. However, none of them availed of the opportunity, the regulator said. — PTI
	Stake sale in PACL: Cartel working to undervalue company? Ruchika M. Khanna Tribune News Service Chandigarh, August 2 The Punjab government today extended the last date for inviting bids for its loss-making PSU, Punjab Alkalies and Chemicals Limited (PACL), to August 16, allegedly amidst apprehension that some bidders had formed a consortium for under valuation of the company. Highly placed sources informed TNS that at least three bidders, for the 44.5 per cent stake in the company, had formed a pool and were not willing to offer the right valuation for the company. As against Rs 50-55 per share that the state government is hoping to get from this disinvestment, the bidders are allegedly not keen on paying more than Rs 40-45 per share. It is also alleged that this consortium, led by a bidder with diversified business interests in hospitality, health and food processing sector, has already picked up nine per cent stake in the company from the market. The share price of PACL today stood at Rs 40.75, down by almost Rs 6 since July 15, when it touched a 52-week high of Rs 46.85. In fact, the shares of the company were trading at sub-Rs 30 levels before the government invited bids for stake sale. Another reason for the extension of last date for inviting bids is that the state government is looking for more bidders. Of the 11 bidders who had initially evinced interest in the PSU, only five companies today came forward to participate in the bidding. According to sources associated with the disinvestment process of the company, many prospective buyers had backed off on the pretext that the cost of getting a 44. 5 per cent stake in the company was much higher than setting up a new company with the state-of-the-art production lines. “At the rate of Rs 50 per share which the government expects, the bidder will have to pay Rs 100 crore to the Punjab State Industrial Development Corporation. Besides, it will have to pay back the debt of Rs 93 crore and another Rs 45 crore for replacement of two production lines of PACL. This amounts to Rs 238 crore. The bidder will also have to pay full renumeration for seven years to the workers of the company. As against this, a company with similar production capacity can be set up with an investment of Rs 300 crore. Besides, the government will also have a lock-in period, before which the company cannot be sold, thus making it all the more unviable,” said a representative of the company which had backed out of the process.
	Adani set to buy Australian firm Announcement likely today New Delhi, August 2 Adani Enterprises is likely to buy Australian firm Linc Energy's coal assets in Queensland for about Rs 4,200 crore and an official announcement is expected tomorrow. "The coal deposits have estimated reserves of 1 billion tonnes and would cost the Indian firm an estimated one billion Australian dollars (Rs 4,200 crore)," a source in-the-know of the development said, adding that an announcement of the same could be made tomorrow. "Adani needs imported coal to feed its coal-based power projects," the source said, adding that as part of the deal, the domestic diversified entity will also develop a port in Australia to ship the coal to India. Meanwhile, in a filing to the Australian Stock Exchange, Linc Energy said it "remains in detailed negotiations with a number of parties in relation to the sale of its non-core Queensland coal tenements. We confirm that Adani Enterprises is one of those parties." The Australian firm added that the talks are at "very well advanced (stage), no concluded contract terms have been agreed with any party." Adani Power, a subsidiary of Adani Enterprises, is working on 4,620-MW power project at Mundra in Gujarat. It has also announced two other projects in the state. "The group will set up another power project near Mundra with a capacity of 3300 MW and has proposed a 2,640-MW project at Dahej, in Gujarat. The imported coal will help run the facilities," the source added. Last month, Adani Enterprises said that it is in detailed negotiations with a number of coal firms overseas for a possible acquisition.— PTI
	Crime tracking network project for Wipro Tribune News Service Bangalore, August 2 Wipro Infotech, an arm of software major Wipro Ltd, has been selected for developing software for the prestigious Crime and Criminal Tracking Network System (CCTNS) project under the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP), one of India’s largest e-governance projects till date. Conceptualised by the Ministry of Home Affairs, the objective of CCTNS is to create a nationwide networked infrastructure for the evolution of IT-enabled and state-of-the-art criminal tracking system. The CCTNS will span across all 35 states and UTs and electronically link over 14,000 police stations and 6,000 higher police offices across the country. The CCTNS will also present a citizen interface to provide basic services to citizens. Once implemented, the application will link the State Crime Record Bureau with the National Crime Record Bureau, thereby creating a database that can be accessed from any police station across the country.
	Electronic Benefit Transfer Haryana takes lead over Punjab Ruchika M. Khanna Tribune News Service Chandigarh, August 2 Cash-strapped Punjab may still be mulling over the reduction of service charges to start electronic benefit transfer (EBT) for its various social security pensions. But, neighbouring Haryana has taken the leap and successfully used EBT for disbursing old-age, disabled and widow pensions. The State Level Bankers Committee for Punjab and Haryana that met recently, lauded the efforts made by the Haryana government to start EBT for payment under its social security schemes. On the other hand, Punjab is still to decide on whether it wants to implement this scheme as it finds the service charge of two per cent (levied by the banks for disbursal) high. Punjab, while asking the bankers committee to work on reducing the service charge, has already constituted a Cabinet sub- committee, headed by Finance Minister Manpreet Badal, to decide on how to implement the scheme. Punjab has contended that it is losing money in these social security schemes as a number of dead, fictitious pensioners are found to be availing of these benefits, besides leakages in pension disbursements by the village panchayats. In Haryana, the scheme was initially implemented in the districts of Rohtak, Karnal, Kurukshetra, Panchkula, Hisar and Panipat, on a pilot basis. In these districts, more than 89,000 accounts of these pensioners have been opened and over 45,000 beneficiaries have been issued the smart cards. Based on the success of this pilot project in six districts, Haryana has now decided to implement the scheme in all remaining districts of the state. “Other than the fact that EBT ensures that there is no fraud in disbursal of pensions as the pensioner will have to be physically present to claim it, it has also helped in financial inclusion of beneficiaries, most of who come from BPL families,” said AM Sharan, Financial Commissioner, Finance, Haryana.
	Punjab floats Rs 500 cr loan Tribune News Service Chandigarh, August 2 The Punjab government today floated Rs 500 crore (nominal) loan to finance part of capital expenditure of Plan Schemes and other development schemes under execution. According to an official spokesman, the state government today notified the sale of Punjab Government Stock (Securities) of 10-year tenure for an aggregate amount of Rs 500 crore (nominal). The spokesman further said the government stock would be sold through RBI by auction which would be conducted in Mumbai tomorrow. The application form duly filled in with the competitive and non-competitive bids should be submitted in electronic format, on the Negotiated Dealing System (NDS) to the RBI, Mumbai, on August 3.
	New models push car sales up in July Tribune News Service New Delhi, August 2 Higher incomes, low interest rates and launch of new models, especially in the small car segment, continued to push the automobile sales in the country with most manufacturers reporting higher sales in July. Country’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India Ltd (MSIL) posted a 29.18 per cent increase in sales at 1,00,857 vehicles last month as against 78,074 in July, 2009. MSIL reported a 1.9 per cent rise in its exports which stood at 10,743 units, while the company's sales volume in the domestic market grew by 33.4 per cent. Segment-wise, the company's A2 cars which include brands like Alto, Wagon-R, Estilo grew by 33.2 per cent, while in the A3 segment that includes D'zire and SX4, sales went up by 13.7 per cent as compared to sales in the corresponding period previous year. Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL) sold 50,411 units (domestic 28,811 units, exports 21,600 units) as against 45,539 units sold in July 2009. While the company registered a 24 per cent growth in domestic market, it suffered a 3.3 per cent reverse in the exports during the period under review. The cumulative growth worked out at 10 per cent. The segment-wise cumulative sales for last month are as follows: A2 (Santro, i10 and i20) 44,522 units; A3 (Accent, Verna) 5,858 units; A5 (Sonata Transform) 31 units. Nissan Motor India said it sold 1,005 units for July out of which 928 units were accounted by its new small car Micra and the balance comprised of Teana (27 units) and X-trail (50 units).