New Delhi, August 24
The much-awaited new indirect tax regime Goods and Service Tax (GST) is unlikely to be implemented from the scheduled date of April 1, 2011, a top government official said today.

"In all probability, it (the introduction of GST) will miss the deadline," Revenue Secretary Sunil Mitra said.

GST is expected to replace excise duty and service tax on the Centre's end and VAT on the states front, besides local levies, cesses and surcharges. He, however, did not say when the GST will actually come into effect.

Mitra said the Constitution Amendment Bill on GST may not be tabled in the ongoing monsoon session of Parliament as there is no consensus on the issue. The session ends on August 31.

"We had hoped if we had such an agreement (with states on GST Constitutional Amendment Bill), then we will be able to introduce the amendment in the present session. Now it is not possible," Mitra said.

The BJP-ruled states and a few other states have been opposing the revised draft of the Constitution Amendment Bill on GST and sought one month more to build their views more firmly.

Mitra said if the draft Bill was introduced in the monsoon session, then after discussion and deliberation, it could have been voted in the Budget session in February.

"If we could set (Constitutional Amendment Bill ) in (monsoon session), it could have been examined by a select committee and could be voted in the Winter Session. "If it was voted and accepted, then we would have time for ratification by 50 per cent state and for introduction of legislation, GST legislation and Central legislation, which could then be debated discussed and perhaps voted in the Budget session," he said.

At his meeting with the state GST panel last week, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee had emphasised the introduction of the Bill in the Monsoon Session and said the discussions between the Centre and states could run parallel.

The BJP-ruled states had objected to the revised draft of the GST, saying it does not clarify how the changes would be brought about in the GST structure.

The earlier draft was rejected by the states on account of the proposed vesting of veto powers with the Union Finance Minister on state taxation issues.

The first draft had proposed setting up a GST Council to take decisions on GST with the consent of the Union Finance Minister and a two-third majority of states.

The revised draft, however, said the council could take a decision only when there was a consensus.

However, the BJP-ruled states wanted to know the clear meaning of consensus and suggested changing this word with "consent". Both drafts have also suggested a Dispute Settlement Mechanism.

Mukherjee had said a third revised draft would be prepared to sort out states' concerns.

The state finance ministers are likely to meet in early September to sort out the issue. — PTI

New Delhi, August 24
Religare Enterprises promoters Malvinder Mohan Singh and Shivinder Mohan Singh will infuse Rs 857 crore to hike their stake by 8 per cent which will trigger an open offer. Promoters plan to increase their stake to 65.79 per cent from the existing 57.10 per cent, Religare Enterprises (REL) said in a statement.

Religare Enterprises group COO Sachindra Nath said the open offer (for further 20 per cent stake) would begin next month and will be priced at Rs 445 a share.

Shares of Religare gained 8.4 per cent, or Rs 39 a piece, to close at Rs 500.80 on the BSE today.

Promoters will purchase the 8.03 per cent stake through a combination of preferential allotment and warrant conversion for which they will shell out Rs 500 crore.

Post-preferential allotment and warrant conversion, the total paid-up share capital of the company will increase, diluting promoters' stake.

Further, they will purchase a 5.58 per cent stake for Rs 357 crore from the public, taking their total stake purchase to over 8 per cent.

They have to announce an open offer for buying another 20 per cent as under the current regulatory norms a promoter has to make a public offer if his holding crosses 5 per cent limit a year.

"The open offer will begin next month and will be priced at Rs 445 a share. The open offer announcement will come tomorrow," Religare Enterprises Group COO Sachindra Nath said.

"The move will bolster our plans of making Religare a leading global financial services player from the emerging markets," REL chairman and managing director Sunil Godhwani said.

Earlier in July, the board of Religare had approved the raising of funds to the tune of Rs 2,000 crore. — PTI

Hyderabad, August 24
B Ramalinga Raju, the tainted founder of Satyam Computer, today appeared before a local court trying the Rs 14,000 crore accounting fraud in the company, but framing of charges was deferred to August 26.

Raju, who has been undergoing treatment for liver infection in the Nizam Institute of Medical Science (NIMS) here since September last, appeared for a few minutes in the court accompanied by his doctor.

Magistrate BVLN Chakravarti allowed Raju, who was granted bail last week by the Andhra Pradesh High Court, to leave the court when the later made a request to return to the hospital.

Arguing the case, Uma Maheswara Rao, Raju's counsel said Section 409 of the IPC (Criminal breach of trust by public servant, or by banker, merchant or agent), one of the sections under which the accused were charged, would not be applicable to the case.

He argued that there was no audit conducted either by the company or by the CBI to establish that.

He found fault with the charge sheet in which the CBI alleged that PriceWaterhouse auditors were given freebies by the accused to manipulate company accounts.

"Auditing is a highly professional job and fee charged by auditors varies from one auditor to another. The CBI charge will not stand in the court of law," Rao argued.

Meanwhile, according to Bharat Kumar, also representing Raju, said Raju appeared in the court because "it was one of the conditions set by the High Court while granting bail. — PTI

New Delhi/Jakarta, August 24
Anil Ambani group firm Reliance Power is looking to invest about $ 5 billion for developing coal mines in Indonesia to feed its mega power projects, among others, in India.

Reliance Power's chief executive J P Chalsani today met Indonesia's vice-president Boediono in Jakarta to discuss investment in the southern part of Sumatra island, said Boediono's spokesman Yopie Hidayat.

"The company plans to build a 230-km long railway that will link its coal production base in Batang Hari to a port, which it will also build," Hidayat was quoted by Bloomberg in a report today.

The report said the company may invest $ 5 billion for developing the mines. Reliance Power plans to develop three coal mines in South Sumatra from where it targets to produce as much as 50 million tonnes of coal per annum, he added.

However, the company's spokesperson declined to comment on the development.

The company had informed the Bombay Stock Exchange on June 10 this year that it would buy two Indonesian coal companies through Reliance Coal Resources.

"Reliance Coal Resources has entered into share purchase agreements with two Indonesian coal firms that own three coal mines there," Reliance Power had said. The company has not disclosed the financial details of the transaction.

According to the statement, the coal from Indonesia will be used for the Krishnapatnam Ultra Mega Power Projects and other power projects of Reliance Power.

Krishnapatnam UMPP is a 4,000-MW supercritical coal-fired power generation facility. — PTI

New Delhi, August 24
The only unlisted state-owned lender Punjab & Sind Bank is likely to file draft prospectus with Sebi by the end of this month to raise about Rs 600 crore from its initial public offer (IPO).

"We will be filing our DRHP (draft red herring prospectus) by the end of this month," Punjab & Sind Bank executive director P K Anand said.

As part of the IPO, he said, the government would offload about 18 per cent stake and the bank expected to raise Rs 500-600 crore from the public issue.

The fund proceeds would be utilised for business expansion. At the same time, the bank planned to increase its branch network from 918 to 1,000 by the end of March 2011. The bank had earlier got approval from the government to offload 17 per cent stake but later revised the stake dilution to 25 per cent. This was done following the government's decision that all listed companies should increase their public holding to a minimum of 25 per cent in a phased manner.

However, the government provided exemptions to few public sector entities, including Punjab & Sind Bank, from meeting this criteria.

Following the exemption, the bank pruned its IPO size to its original level of 18 per cent.

Currently, the government owns 100 per cent stake in the bank and is the only unlisted bank among 19 nationalised banks in the country. — PTI

Mumbai, August 24
After raising a question mark on the proposed nuclear power plant site at Jaitapur near Ratnagiri in Maharashtra, the Ministry of Environment and Forests under Jairam Ramesh has tightened the screws on thermal power plants coming up along the Konkan coast.

Earlier this month, the ministry imposed a moratorium on consideration of environmental clearances for individual thermal plants and iron ore mines proposed in the region. The moratorium which comes into effect immediately will be applicable till December this year, according to state government sources.

Various environmentalist groups active in protecting the ecologically fragile Western Ghats had come together under the banner of ‘Save the Western Ghats’ and protested the ministry’s policy of granting clearances for individual projects. The activists felt that the ministry should look at the impact on the region’s environment as a whole before granting clearances to these projects.

As a result, projects mainly in Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg districts will be on the backburner, say sources.

A specially constituted panel of experts will study the impact of the projects on the Western Ghats and make recommendations to the ministry, according to sources. “The entire range of development activities in the two districts will be taken into consideration by the ministry,” says Madhav Gadgil, chairman of the panel.

The Maharashtra government has been pushing for these projects despite local village panchayats and gram sabhas voting against such projects.

According to the Save the Western Ghats movement, the Maharashtra government proposes to throw open villages in the Sawantwadi district bordering Goa for mining. This follows iron ore mines in Goa reporting lower yields.

New York, August 24
Dubbing Mukesh Ambani as a high-life socialite and perceived-playboy Anil as having turned ascetic, the controversial author of the “Polyster Prince” wonders in his new book who carries Dhirubhai's legacy as business guru or unsurpassed corruptor - or both? Hamish Mcdonald, whose book on the saga of Reliance was banned in 1998 in India after the corporate house moved court, has come out with the poser in his book “Mahabharata in Polyester -- the making of the world’s richest brothers and their feud” to be released on September 1 in Australia.

“Big brother Mukesh Ambani seemed to have learned more from his father and has often taken the upper hand in the squabbles with his brother,” Mcdonald was quoted by the Wall Street Journal as saying in the book.

"To say that the sibling tycoons are not close is an understatement; their feud -- personal and business -- is an extraordinary story (in) itself," according to the book's promo by the Australian publisher, University of New South Wales Press.

The spokesperson of Reliance Industries in Mumbai declined to comment. No comments could be obtained from the Anil Ambani group either.

According to the excerpts of the book by McDonald: "There was also a curious role-reversal. Mukesh had become the high-life socialite, with estimates of the cost of building his (high-rise mansion in Mumbai) Antilla getting ever larger despite his attempts to downplay them."

Commenting on the younger Ambani, the writer says: "The perceived playboy Anil was portrayed as more ascetic, making frequent pilgrimages to Hindu shrines, even journeying on foot to circle the holy Mansarovar Lake and Mount Kailash in Tibet.

"He ran daily for kilometres before dawn and stayed in cheap business hotels instead of luxury suites on his travels." On the infamous years-long succession battle that led to the division of the Reliance empire, he says that communication between them came down to stiff press comments by spokesmen and mounting number of court actions. — PTI