The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	PM on three-nation Asian tour India, Japan economic partnership will wait Ruchika M. Khanna Tribune News Service New Delhi, October 22 A Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) between India and Japan is unlikely to be signed during the Prime Minister's three-day visit to Japan, beginning October 24. Though several rounds of negotiations have taken place, the signing of the agreement will have to wait for a while. The Prime Minister is embarking on a significant three-nation Asian tour covering Japan, Malaysia and Vietnam. India is expected to sign at least five documents regarding bilateral trade and regional security cooperation during the tour, which will end October 30.This tour is in line with India's "Look East" policy, which aims to enhance synergies and civilizational linkages within the South East Asian region, besides Indian economy's integration with those of its East Asian counterparts. It is learnt that though the CEPA negotiations between India and Japan have concluded successfully, some legal scrubbing is taking place within the Japanese government. Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao today said that though Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan will announce the conclusion of negotiations between the two countries, the actual signing of the Agreement will not take place during the Indian Prime Minister's visit in the coming week. "This is a development of great significance since this agreement signifies the economic alignment of two of the largest economies in Asia and would lead to a marked increase in our business and economic ties. CEPA is a win win proposition for both the countries," she said. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Japanese counterpart Naoto Kan will also be holding extensive discussions on bilateral, global and regional issues like UN reforms and regional integration within East Asia. The progress in talks regarding civil nuclear cooperation will also take place. “We have completed two rounds of discussion on this issue. There is a political will on both sides for the treaty to reach its logical conclusion, but it will still take some more time,” said Rao. Discussions on Japanese involvement in major infrastructure projects in India - the Dedicated Freight Corridor and the Delhi- Mumbai Industrial Corridor, will also take place. “India continues to be the largest recepient of Japanese ODA. Japanese companies have invested $ 2.3 billion in India between Ap ril 2000 - March 2009 and as many as 1049 Japanese companies have set up rep offices in India, besides 627 companies having their business operations in India," informed the Foreign Secretary. It may be noted that India has successfully concluded free trade agreement (FTA) with the 10 Asean (Association of South East Asian) countries on goods and Singapore and South Korea , besides sorting out all outstanding issues in the comprehensive economic partnership agreement (CEPA) negotiations with Malaysia, Thailand and Japan. In fact, during his visit to Malaysia between October 26-28, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Malaysian Prime Minister Dato Sri Mohd Najib Tun Abdul Razak are expected to announce the conclusion of negotiations on the bilateral Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA). India is also likely to sign agreements striving for better strategic orientation to the partnership and forging ties in IT, infrastructure, health, biotechnology and energy sector. During the final leg of his Asia tour, for participation in the 8th India- ASEAN summit and 5th East Asia Summit, Prime Minister will hold discussions with his Asean counterparts on expediting and completing negotiations on trade in services and investment agrrement. India has already signed Trade in Goods Agrrement with ASEAN early this year. Discussions will also be held taking the bilateral economic aggreement (CEPEA) with the 10 Asean countries and six other countries including China, Japan, Korea, Australia and New Zealand.
	AI defers payment of incentives, flying allowance Mumbai, October 22 National carrier Air India has deferredpayment of productivity-link incentives (PLI) and flying allowance to over 29,000 employees by a fortnight, citing cash crunch. The salaries will be disbursed on November 1 in view of Diwali festival, PLI and flying allowances would be paid on November 15, according to a staff notice by the airline management. Meanwhile, ministry officials have said that Air India will be paying its employees the salary for October on November 1 and flying related allowances, including the PLI, on November 4. The reasons listed for the delay in paying the allowances and PLI is primarily cash crunch caused by month-end rollover payments including those for aircraft acquisition. On an average, PLI/Flying allowance comprised almost 50-60 per cent of the employees' pay package, union sources said. “This is for the sixth time in the last eight months that the company has failed to keep its commitment signed with the Indian Commercial Pilots Association on November 30 last year,” they said. Under the agreement, it was agreed that payment of wage, allowances and PLI will be made and settled as per laid down practises and schedules, which were in vogue prior to January 2009. Airline officials said the major reasons for the delay in paying the allowances and incentives were committed month-end payments to oil companies, aircraft induction, spare parts payments, bank loan rollovers and repayment of loans and interest obligations. Air India has also written to the Chief labour Commissioner on October 20 about the delay, citing cash-crunch in the National Aviation Company of India Ltd (NACIL), along with these reasons, ostensibly to preempt any industrial action by the employees, the union sources said. — PTI
	Taxman asks Vodafone to pay Rs 11,218 cr in a month New Delhi, October 22 The government today asked Vodafone to pay Rs 11,218 crore in taxes within a month for the acquisition of Hutchison's stake in the telecom joint venture in India in 2007. “The IT department today issued an order raising a tax demand of Rs 11,217.95 crore on Vodafone International holdings BV treating it as an assessee in default... for failure to deduct tax as required before making a payment of $11,076 million (about Rs 55,000 crore) to Hutchison Telecommunication International Ltd,” a statement said. The notice was issued following the SC directive on September 27 to the IT assessing officer to determine and quantify the tax liability of Vodafone within 4 weeks. Vodafone had bought majority stake owned by Hutchison in the Hutchison-Essar joint venture offering mobile services in India. Vodafone said, it was the acquirer and not the vendor and has made no gain on the transaction. "Vodafone strongly disagrees with the tax calculation released by the Indian Tax Office... It continues to believe that it is not liable for any tax on this transaction involving the transfer of a company outside of India," a Vodafone spokesperson said.
	SC stays tribunal order on spectrum usage rate hike New Delhi, October 22 The Supreme Court today stayed a tribunal order upholding a hike in 2G telecom spectrum (radio waves) usage charges, but asked telcos Bharti, Vodafone and Idea to deposit with it 50 per cent of the fee they would have otherwise had to pay. Hearing an appeal filed by the GSM operators, a bench comprising Chief Justice S H Kapadia and Justices K S Radhakrishanan and Swatantar Kumar stayed telecom tribunal TDSAT's September 1 order that upheld Telecom Ministry's decision to increase 2G spectrum usage charges. It, however, directed Vodafone, Bharti Airtel, Bharti Hexacom (operating in Rajasthan) and Idea Cellular to deposit 50 per cent of the proposed increase in fees with the Supreme Court registry. The Apex Court further asked the telcos to furnish a bank guarantee, for the rest 50 per cent liability. Telecom service providers have to pay a percentage of their adjusted gross revenue (AGR) to the government as spectrum usage charge. This charge depends on the quantity of spectrum held by the operators. The new charges vary between 3-8 per cent depending upon the quantum of airwaves held by the respective operators. An operator holding spectrum up to 4.4 Mhz will have to pay 3 per cent of the AGR compared to 2 per cent now. "Looking into complexity of the matter and stakes involved... we stay the impugned order passed by the tribunal," the SC said. Vodafone has to pay Rs 135 crore and the two Bharti firms have a joint liability of Rs 220 crores on account of enhanced spectrum usage charges. — PTI
	Airport licences mandatory from July 2011 Tribune News Service New Delhi, October 22 No airport in the country would be able to undertake any air transport services from July next year if it is not licensed by the civil aviation regulator, Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). The civil aviation ministry today issued a notification saying: “No person shall operate scheduled air transport services to or from an aerodrome with effect from June 30, 2011, unless it has been licensed by the DGCA”. Therefore, an aerodrome that has not been licensed can continue to operate without obtaining the license up to June 30 next year, according to this legal provision The licensing procedure was initiated as part of the standards which were notified by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO). Subsequently, the licensing norms were also amended in the Aircraft Rules, 1937. “While making the amendment in the Aircraft Rules, a provision was kept for the licensing of aerodromes which were already in use for scheduled flight operation,” the ministry statement said.
	Anil Ambani to set up ICT University in Bhopal Aditi Tandon Tribune News Service New Delhi, October 22 Corporate interest in higher education today came further to the fore with the decision of Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group to set up Dhirubhai Ambani University (DAU) in Bhopal. The MP government has issued a letter of intent and provided land for purpose. Anil Ambani, Chairman, Reliance ADA Group, said, “A high-quality university at Bhopal that offers programs in the information technology is a priority for a state like MP that is on the vanguard of making great strides in economic development on the strength of its intellectual resources. The experience and the expertise which the group has acquired by establishing the Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Information Technology at Gandhinagar.”
	Two-wheeler sales to slowdown: Study Girja Shankar Kaura Tribune News Service New Delhi, October 22 Two-wheeler sales in the country are likely to see a slump in the coming months as a result of the high base effect in the last year, a study carried out by Credit Analysis and Research Ltd (CARE) has said. The study states that the two-wheeler industry will see a slump in growth from 27 per cent in April-August 2010 to 13.5 per cent in September 2010 to March 2011, with sales averaging between 935,000-940,000 units a month. The study says that the lower growth can be attributed to high base effect last year. Domestic sales had witnessed 33 per cent growth in September 2009 to March 2010 period over similar period in 2008-09. According to CARE Research estimates, overall domestic two-wheeler maintained the strong growth momentum, registering a growth of 19.4 per cent this fiscal, while it witnessed 27 per cent growth in domestic sales from April-August 2010 period over similar period last year. The research added the two wheeler industry will continue to cruise on a fast growth track on the back of stronger replacement demand. The longer term outlook is also expected to be healthy, with domestic sales projected to grow in double-digits over the five years. The research expects an investment between Rs 900 crore and Rs 1000 crore in the sector over next 2-3 years for capacity expansion as well as product development to meet rising demand. Research has observed that around 50 per cent of two-wheeler population is more than five years old, whereas around 20 per cent of the two-wheelers were made more than 10 years. However this proportion varies in all the three segments. In the scooter and moped segments, the proportion of vehicles made over 10 years is higher; it is much lower in the motorcycle segment. The consumer preference has shifted in the last 8-10 years from metal bodied geared scooters to motorcycles that score high on technology and styling. The number of motorcyles made below 10 years constitutes significant proportion in overall motorcycle population. Around 40 per cent of the scooters on road have been in use for more than 10 years. For mopeds, the ratio is this proportion is close to 43 per cent. However, only 11 per cent of the motorcycle fleet is in use for more than 10 years. After facing the recession in fiscal 2008 and fiscal 2009, the two-wheeler industry went in top gear last fiscal, registering strong domestic sales growth of 26.4 per cent. The acceleration has continued in with the first five months of this fiscal, registering 27.2 per cent growth.
	Bathinda refinery progress SP Sharma Tribune News Service Bathinda, October 22 The management of the upcoming Guru Gobind Singh Refinery has urged the Punjab government to improve the road network leading to the refinery when the state chief secretary SC Aggarwal visited the project today to review the progress of construction. Top officers of the Rs.18,919 crore refinery that is a joint venture of the HPCL and the Mittal Energy Ltd told Aggarwal that the refinery would generate a daily traffic of about 400 truckload of petroleum products when it is commissioned early next year. Aggarwal went around various components of the under-construction refinery to meet the target date of commissioning. About 89 per cent of the works have been completed.
	Results Wipro net profit up 10 per cent Tribune News Service Bangalore, October 22 Software major Wipro’s net profit for the second quarter ended September 30, increased 10 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y) to Rs 1,285 crore. The profit was down sequentially 2.7 per cent from the first quarter this fiscal. Total revenue for the quarter under review is Rs 7,731 crore, an increase of 12 percent y-o-y and 6.8 per cent sequentially Under the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), net income in second quarter is $288 million and total revenue is $1.73 billion. Revenue from its global IT services business in rupee terms is Rs 5,747 crore. “We saw strong momentum in demand as customers tried to catch up with the under-investment in IT during the previous years. While the macro-economic environment continues to remain uncertain, there is higher degree of confidence at the micro level,” Wipro chairman Azim Premji said. CFO Suresh Senapaty said wage increase and sharp appreciation of rupee against the dollar during the quarter affected the operating margin in IT services business by 2.5 percent sequentially. “Though we saw a strong volume growth of 6.6 per cent sequentially, operating margin declined to 22.2 per cent in second quarter from 24.7 per cent in first quarter owing to 1.3 per cent impact of wage hike and 1.2 per cent impact from lower foreign exchange realisation,” Senapaty said. NIIT Q2 net up 9% IT training firm NIIT today posted about nine per cent growth in its consolidated net profit at Rs 28.5 crore for the quarter ended September 30. The company had registered a net profit of Rs 26.2 crore during the same quarter in the previous fiscal. However, its revenue dipped by four per cent to Rs 345.8 crore in the July-September quarter as against Rs 359.8 crore. Biocon net up 20% Biocon has registered 20% growth in net profit to Rs 89 crore for the second quarter this fiscal and exuded confidence of sustaining the strong show for the rest of the year. For the three-months ended September 30, the company registered a total income of Rs 688 crore.