New Delhi, September 17
The Supreme Court today issued notices to Bharti Airtel and Vodafone on a BSNL petition, seeking that the private telecom operators pay interconnection charges, along with penalty, for transferring to its network their calls that did not identify phone numbers.

A bench headed by Chief Justice S H Kapadia issued notice to Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Essar Gujarat directing them to file their reply.

The apex court further said that it would hear BSNL's plea later, along with a similar case where the state-owned firm is in dispute with Reliance Communications.

BSNL had asked Bharti Airtel and Vodafone to pay more than Rs 90 crore for routing calls with non-Caller Line Identification (CLI), incomplete CLI and unauthorised CLI from its Wireless in local loop, or WLL and basic landline phones between May 2003 to August 2005.

BSNL said that as per the Interconnect Agreement with the private telcos, it is entitled to charge in highest slab, which is for incoming ISD calls.

BSNL issued disconnection notice to the operators, which was challenged by them before the telecom tribunal TDSAT. The tribunal, passing an interim order on May 29, 2008, directed Airtel to deposit a sum of Rs 35 crore.

However, on February 11, 2010 Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal passed its final order and set aside PSU's demand.

The order was challenged by BSNL today in the apex Court.

It has contended that "demand raised by BSNL for the relevant period are legal and BSNL is fully entitled to recover... even the interconnect agreements signed in the year 2002 (between BSNL and Bharti) entitles it to make and raise demand".

BSNL added, "... calls with regard to non-CLI, incomplete CLI or unauthorised CLI or wrong hand of call shall be liable to be charges at the highest slab, which is rates applicable to the IUC of incoming ISD Call" It further submitted, "any handover of non-CLI, incomplete CLI or unauthorised CLI etc has a direct impact on the amount of IUC payable to BSNL and it is fully justified and entitled to raise demands to recover all its dues from the respondent". — PTI 

New Delhi, September 17
Telecom operator Bharti Airtel has selected global technology giant IBM to manage the computing technology and its services across 16 African countries where it took over business from Zain Telecom earlier this year.

An agreement is expected to be finalised in the fourth quarter, Bharti said here today.

The strategic partnership will enable the telecom operator to scale up its network and systems to cater to more than 100 million African customers by 2012, it added.

Commenting on the partnership, Bharti Airtel chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal said, "There are huge opportunities throughout Africa to transform how people communicate and how communities interact. Delivering on that opportunity through affordable mobile communications for everyone is our focus". Under the agreement, IBM will deploy and manage state-of-the-art IT infrastructure and applications to support Airtel’s goal of bringing affordable and innovative mobile services to remote locations in Africa.

In addition, IBM will deploy advanced technologies created by IBM Research, including the Spoken Web — a voice-enabled Internet technology that allows users to access and share information simply by talking over an existing telephone.

The company had acquired Zain's African operations for $10.7 billion on March 30, 2010. Bharti had entered into the deal to acquire Zain Telecom's operations in 15 nations, excluding Sudan and Morocco.

IBM will also build automated internal systems for Bharti Airtel's business, which will result in enhanced efficiency and empowerment for employees through applications that deliver processes and data on a real time basis — both on PCs and mobile devices.

Chennai, September 17
An exodus of workers from the industrial city of Coimbatore has hit the small and micro sectors.

Over one lakh workers from Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh have been working in about 25,000 small sector units in Coimbatore for three years but nearly 40,000 have left in the last few months following clashes with locals.

The Tamil Nadu Association for Cottage and Micro Enterprises said the situation was alarming as 40 per cent of the unskilled labour was from all ove the country. Association district president J James said that they had started employing workers from all over the country two years ago since local employees were not available for unskilled jobs.

“Most youths in Tamil Nadu are educated or trained in skilled jobs and they could not be employed for lower wages,” he said. “Workers, especially those from West Bengal and Bihar, do not demand higher wages or good accommodation facilities,” he added.

The conduct of these workers in public, especially with local women, had earned the wrath of local people. Six months ago, two workers had tried to misbehave with a woman, leading to a clash between locals and workers. “We ensured that both workers were arrested and legal action initiated, but the locals strongly objected to the presence of north Indian workers, in residential areas. Following resentment, most workers left,” Coimbatore-Tirupur district Micro and Cottage Entrepreneurs Association president S Ravikumar said, adding that 30 per cent production had been affected and companies were losing job orders.

A Sivashanmuga Kumar, president of Coimbatore Tiny and Small Foundry Owners Association, said the district collector had promised adequate protection to workers coming from outside but it had not stopped the exodus.

New Delhi, September 17
The country's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India is understood to be planning to ramp up its output by about 10 per cent to produce over 1.1 lakh units every month from October.

With this level, the company's annual production will cross 13 lakh units in 2011-12, compared to about 12 lakh units planned for this fiscal.

According to industry sources, Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) has started work for increasing its production from last month and it plans to scale up the same to beyond 1.1 lakh units a month from the current of about 1 lakh units level.

The company's hatchback Swift and Ritz do have 3-4 months and 1-2 months of waiting period. While customers are queueing for 4-5 months to own the sedan DZiRE, MSI is taking about 5 months to deliver the multi-purpose vehicle Eeco.

At present, MSI has an annual capacity of 8.5 lakh units at its Gurgaon plant, while Manesar can produce 3.5 lakh units annually, with the overall capacity totaling to 12 lakh units per year.

Last week, the company announced to invest 35 billion yen (Rs 1,925 crore) to set up a third plant with an installed capacity of 2.5 lakh units inside the Manesar facility.

Currently, MSI is investing Rs 1,700 crore on a second plant at Manesar, having an annual capacity of 2.5 lakh units. With completion of both the new units, the total output from MSI will be at 17.5 lakh units.— PTI

Hyderabad, September 17
Not very long ago, Andhra Pradesh epitomised IT-savvy and investor-friendly state and took pride in itself being called the poster boy of India Inc. However, prolonged political turmoil over Telangana statehood issue and an uncertain future have left an adverse impact on the business environment now.

Several big companies have either put on hold their expansion and investment plans or diverted their businesses to other cities. The uncertainty over status of Hyderabad, in the event of state's bifurcation, has sent the once-booming real estate sector into jittery. Similarly, IT, pharmaceuticals and hospitality industries are feeling the heat.

The captains of the industry voiced their apprehensions at a meeting with the Chief Minister K Rosaiah here. The representatives of the industry chamber Ficci told the Chief Minister that a sense of uncertainty over Telangana issue was hampering the flow of investments.

“I know you have apprehensions about disturbances in the state, but I would personally like to assure you that my government will extend all support to industry for peaceful operations in the state. Be assured that your investments are safe,” Rosaiah told the industry barons at an executive committee meeting of Ficci.

He asserted that agitations would not come in the way of the state’s development.

On repeated questions regarding Telangana, he said the final decision would be taken by the central government based on the report by Justice BN Srikrishna Committee, which is expected by the end of the year.

“The state government has no role on this matter. However, I may hasten to add that my government will not favour one region and play spoilsport for the other," he said.

There is an overwhelming feeling among the delegates that the brand image of Hyderabad will suffer a dent and investments would cease if the state is bifurcated.

With over 2.50 lakh employees, Hyderabad is now one of the top five IT-ITES hubs in the country and is home to over 1,000 IT firms. At present, AP accounts for 18 per cent of the country's total software exports. It is also considered the bulk drug capital of India, producing nearly Rs 15,000 crore worth bulk drugs out of the total Rs 20,000 crore worth domestic production.

There are growing worries over the impact of Telangana row on the future of several Special Economic Zones (SEZs) coming up on the outskirts of Hyderabad involving huge investments. The present political uncertainty has also hit potential projects in the industry department. The officials admit that the investors were backing out on commitments due to hostile atmosphere.

The cosmopolitan city of 70 lakh population has become a major bone of contention between supporters and opponents of Telangana statehood.

Though the city is part of Telangana region, there have been demands that it should be made a joint capital, on the lines of Chandigarh, in the event of the state's division. 

Melbourne, September 17
Faced with regulatory hurdles, National Australia Bank (NAB) has called off its $12.4 billion offer for wealth manager AXA Asia Pacific Holdings' Australian and New Zealand businesses.

The complex transaction, which was announced in December last year, was twice rejected by the Australian competition watchdog.

NAB in a statement today said the agreement with AXA Asia Pacific to acquire the latter's Australian and New Zealand businesses has been terminated. The decision came after Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) did not approve the proposed deal for the second time this year on September 9. The rebuff came on concerns that the transaction could adversely impact the competition in Australia's financial services market.

The transaction would have bolstered NAB's presence in the lucrative and growing wealth management industry.

NAB's Group chief executive Cameron Clyne said it is very committed to participating in the wealth management industry which is an important part of the bank's future.

"However, considering all the options, continuing with this agreement is not in the best interests of shareholders," he added. AXA Asia Pacific has a good presence in Asia, and has operations in India through non-life insurer Bharti AXA Life. — PTI 

New York, September 17
Gold today climbed to a record for a second day as a weakening dollar spurred demand from investors for wealth protection. Silver advanced to the highest price since March 2008.

The gold set all-time high levels in New York and London as investors remained net buyer to protect their money concerned over uncertainty in global economic recovery.

The metal in New York rose by $10.60, or 0.8 per cent to $1,284.40 an ounce and in London by 0.6 per cent to $1,282.97. — PTI