The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	Vedanta may acquire 51% in Cairn India New Delhi, August 13 London-listed Vedanta Resources Plc is in talks to acquire a majority 51 per cent stake in Cairn India for about $8-8.5 billion (nearly Rs 40,000 crore) and the deal may be announced on Sunday evening or Monday. Scottish explorer Cairn Energy Plc, which holds 62.37 per cent interest in the India-listed Cairn India, is seeking up to 20 per cent premium for passing on controlling stake, two persons in know of the development said. Billionaire Anil Agarwal, who heads Vedanta, "is meeting Cairn Energy Plc chief executive Bill Gammell in London today and the deal is likely to be announced as early as Sunday evening or on Monday," one of them said. The deal will be contingent on government approval as Cairn's three producing oil and gas assets including the giant Rajasthan fields and seven exploration blocks either have explicit provision for seeking prior approval before transfer of interest or gives pre-emption or right of first refusal to partners like ONGC. The sources said Cairn Energy has been in talks with Vedanta for three weeks now and talks centre around selling majority stake. "If Cairn Energy was to sell a minority 10-12 per cent stake, they would have done that on the stock exchange. Moreover, it does not make sense for an investor like Vendata to make portfolio investment," a source said. Spokespersons of Cairn Energy and Vedanta declined comments. Upon acquisition of majority stake, Vedanta Resources will have to make an open offer for additional 20 per cent stake and may even choose to delist. However, India's market regulator SEBI has now proposed for revising open offer size to up to 100 per cent, in which case the buyer would have to offer to acquire the entire company. Cairn Energy Plc, which has kept the management of its subsidiary out of the talks, today deputed Cairn India CEO Rahul Dhir to brief the government whose approval is crucial for the deal to go through. After meeting Dhir, Oil Secretary S Sundareshan said the deal will need the government's approval. All production sharing contracts (PSCs) signed by companies for exploring for oil and gas have provisions for government approval if some stake in the field or the company were sold, he said. Dhir said he was not part of the discussions that were being conducted by Cairn India's parent company. "To me it looks like they (Cairn Energy Plc) are not exiting completely... I am not aware of (the details). The discussions are taking place between majority shareholder and Vedanta. I am not part of those discussions," he said. If it is successful, Vedanta - which has iron ore, zinc and copper mines - will be the second largest miner in the world after BHP Billiton to have an interest in oil. — PTI
	‘Only best will succeed me’ Mumbai, August 13 Amid suggestions aplenty, including from a former Tata group veteran to choose someone from within the Tata family to head the conglomerate, incumbent Chairman Ratan Tata today said only the best would succeed him. "The (search) committee will pick the best person. Let's get this issue off the table and put faith in them (the panel). The best person will succeed me," Ratan Tata told shareholders at the Annual General Meeting of Tata Steel. Russi Mody, who was once considered a contender to head the Tata group before Ratan Tata took charge, had through a newspaper column earlier this week opined that the $71 billion group was best headed by someone with a Tata name and that someone from the outside did not sound right. Tata, 72, who is due to retire in December 2012, has been maintaining that his successor need not necessarily be a parsi or have Tata name. — PTI
	Punjab industrialists resent power shortage Ruchika M. Khanna Tribune News Service Chandigarh, August 13 Punjab may have big plans of becoming a power surplus state by 2014. But as of date, shortage of power and obsolete transmission and distribution system has restricted industrial expansion in the state. Many new units that have come up, especially in the Dera Bassi-Lalru belt and in Ludhiana, are being given conditional power supply, valid only for the non-paddy season. Industrialists from all over the state, who had gathered here at the PHD Chamber, for an interactive session with the top officials of Punjab State Power Corporation Ltd (PSPCL), rued that industrial expansion in the state would remain a dream if the issue of power shortage was not sorted out soon. “The government wants the industry to set up base here, but the new units are not being provided power throughout the year. You cannot expect the new industrial units to invest crores of rupees and remain defunct for three-four months during the paddy growing season,” they lamented. The PSPCL chief, KD Choudhri, assured the industry that though PSPCL was a newly formed entity, they were trying to get all systems in place. “The power demand in the state has risen to a whopping 1,600-1,650 lakh units a day. Though we are making short-term as well as long-term arrangements for buying power, the shortage will end only when the new power projects at Goindwal, Talwandi Sabo, Rajpura, Gidderbaha and at the pit head of a coal block in East India, get commissioned. All these projects will be commsioned by end of 2014, and we will be a power-surplus state,” he said. Industrialists also lamented that the newly formed Powercom was slow in releasing new industrial connections or additional load to the existing industrial units, which were aiming at increasing their production capacities. Though officials of PSPCL claimed that the new connections were being released within the stipulated time period of 30-120 days (depending on the load required), industrialists claimed that there was a huge backlog for clearing new connections. Officials, however, assured them that the backlog would be cleared in the next six months. “We have earmarked a major portion of Rs 4,000 crore for upgrading the transmission and distribution system this year, which would solve the problem of overloading of the system, and help us release new connections and allow additional load. While Rs 2,500 crore is being spent on upgrading the distribution system, Rs 1,000 crore has been reserved for scaling up the transmission system. With this boost to infrastructure, we will also sort out the problem of giving conditional supply of power to industry in Dera Bassi and Ludhiana,” said Choudhri. The high cost of power, compared to the neighbouring Himachal Pradesh, was another cause of concern for the industry. With a high electricity duty and octroi on power, power was the most expensive in Punjab, they rued. Choudhri, however, assured them that once the new power projects get commissioned and the state becomes power surplus, the cost of power would come down.
	Maruti unveils CNG variants of 5 models New Delhi, August 13 The country's largest carmaker, Maruti Suzuki India, today launched five of its models in CNG versions, including the best-selling Alto. The other four models introduced with the alternative fuel option are compact cars Estilo, WagonR, multi-purpose vehicle Eeco and mid-sized sedan SX4. "The development is significant on multiple counts. This is the first instance when a car manufacturer has developed and launched factory-fitted, technologically superior CNG engines in India," Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) Managing Director and CEO Shinzo Nakanishi told reporters here. MSI launched the CNG variant of the country's best- selling car, Alto, at Rs 3.23 lakh. The CNG version of the Estilo will come for Rs 4.05 lakh, while the WagonR variant will be offered for Rs 4.11 lakh. The CNG version of the Eeco is priced at Rs 3.64 lakh, while the SX4 variant will cost Rs 7.47 lakh. — PTI
	Volatility in yarn prices hits dyeing industry Manav Mander Tribune News Service Ludhiana, August 13 The fluctuation in prices of acrylic yarn is not only affecting the hosiery industry but also the allied industry as well. While hosiery industry is reeling under the downfall, dyeing industry has also come under its wrath. The fluctuation has gone up to 25 per cent. Hosiery industries shy away from buying acrylic yarn in the wait for prices to come down. In turn, dyeing industry is not getting sufficient orders. The 24-hour dyeing industry is now running only a single shift. "Earlier we used to run our dyeing unit round the clock but due to dearth in orders we are now constrained to run only single shift. Since hosiery industrialists are not buying acrylic yarn, it is in turn affecting dyeing industry as well," said Jatinder Singh, owner of a dyeing unit. The hosiery industry has asked the government to intervene and take effective measures to bring down the yarn prices and save them. Several factors have derailed the textile industry in the past few months making it less competitive in the international market due to increasing input costs. The hosiery industry has urged the Centre and the state governments to take immediate steps to reduce coarser varieties yarn price by at least 25 per cent, ban export of waste cotton and coarser varieties yarn, create guidelines to regulate the yarn price and provide subsidy for diesel used in power generators to tide over the power crisis. "We are not getting yarn for dyeing. Dyeing industry's hay period lasts only for 4-5 months but even during these months we are not getting enough orders," said Ashok Makkar, president, Ludhiana Dyeing Industries Association.
	Punjab offers land to Wipro, TCS at Mohali Chitleen K Sethi Tribune News Service Chandigarh, August 13 In what is expected to lead to a revival of the information technology revolution in Punjab, the state government has written to IT giants Wipro and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), offering them land in Mohali to set up base here. The two companies were to be given almost 70 acres of land in Industrial Area Mohali in 2005 but the state could not fulfil its promise due to pending litigation. “The court case has finished and the land under contention is now back with the Industries Department,” said Principal Secretary, Industries and Commerce, SS Channy. He added that the state government had written to the two companies informing them that the land was available and in case they were still interested they could pursue their offer with the government. The Industries Department had to allot over 40 acres of land to Wipro in 2005 to set up an IT park. The company was to invest Rs 1,336 crore in the project. Wipro had also planned to apply for a product-specific special economic zone status for the development of software and IT-enabled services with an employment potential of around 10,000 persons. Wipro later leased 30 acres in the Rajiv Gandhi Technology Park in Chandigarh for the setting up of a similar facility there. In 2005, Punjab had decided to allot another 25 acres of land to TCS for setting up a software development centre at a cost of Rs 25 crore. The TCS Park aimed to set up over 500 work stations, employing 500 IT professionals and another 100 persons in the first phase of development. However, the projects could not take off as the land which these companies were to be given became a bone of contention in a court case. Now, with all encumbrances gone, the state is keenly awaiting a reply from these two companies. “In case the companies show interest in reviving their projects here, modalities regarding the cost of the land would be reworked,” said Channy. In 2005, these companies were to be sold this land for Rs 35 lakh an acre. Sources said the cost of land in Mohali has escalated several times since 2005 and it might not be possible for the state to give so much of land at throwaway prices. The sources added that in case these companies decide not to come to Mohali, the possibility of giving this land to other anchor units or even smaller and medium units would be considered.
	CAG to scrutinise books of telcos Tribune News Service New Delhi, August 13 Come August 16, the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India (CAG) will start the scrutiny of the financial books of leading telcos. The scrutiny will be undertaken to confirm if there was any under-reporting of revenues by the telcos that could have caused a revenue loss to the government on annual licence fee. The leading operators, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, Tata Teleservices, RCoM and BSNL have been asked by the CAG to submit their account books for the last three financial years to ensure they had paid what is due to the government in terms of annual licence fee. Reports said while RCom and Tata Teleservices had submitted their books in full, Vodafone and Airtel had given access to their documents partially. The Supreme Court on August 2 had asked these telcos to give their financials to the CAG within two weeks. The CAG had been asked by the Centre to check if there was any under-reporting of revenue for calculating the annual licence fee. However, the telecom companies were opposed to this on the ground that they are already scrutinised by the Department of Telecom (DoT). Reports suggested that the CAG would not be auditing the books of accounts of the service providers per se, but only those records which are related to the determination of their Adjusted Gross Revenues (AGR) to determine whether the share of revenue being paid by them as annual licence fee to the government was correct.
	Patni payout Rs 63 Mumbai, August 13 Shares of IT firm Patni Computers today settled with a gain of over 8 per cent on the BSE after the company declared an interim dividend of Rs 63 per share for shareholders of the company. Shares of Patni Computers closed at Rs 516.85, up 8.35 per cent on the BSE. During the session, the stock surged nearly 16 per cent to touch an intra-day high of Rs 551.70. The board of directors of the company, at its meeting held today, declared a special interim dividend of Rs 63 per share of Rs 2 face value. On the National Stock Exchange, the stock settled up 8.78 per cent at Rs 518.75.— PTI