New Delhi, November 16
The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has pulled up the Telecom Ministry for not recovering Rs 679 crore as penalty or liquidated damages from six new operators for missing the network roll-out schedule as per the licence.

Of the 122 Unified Access Service (UAS) licences awarded in 2008, as many as 85 licences were given to the six new entrants to the telecom sector. The audit found that none of them had rolled out services as per the provisions of licence.

These six companies are Unitech (brand name Uninor), Swan (name changed to Etisalat), Allianz (since merged with Etisalat), Datacom (name changed to Videocon), S Tel and Shipping Stop DoT Com (name changed to Loop Telecom).

Having failed to roll out the services, they are noe demanding that the Department of Telecom (DoT) should either allow them to sell their licences or let them merge with existing telecom operators as they do not have the resources to roll out the services.

The representatives of these start up telecom firms have been trying hard to convince the DoT of their proposal and a move had also been made by the department to work out a solution for them.

Any solution for these telecom operators would be a win-win situation for them as they would not only be able to recover their blocked amount but would possibly earn profit from the sale or merger if the government does not recover penalties from them.

As per the conditions of the UAS licences, these licensees were required to roll out the services in the 90 per cent service area in metros and 10 per cent district headquarters in other service areas within 12 months of the date of award of licences.

Audit found that though these six new operators obtained the initial 4.4 Mhz spectrum in 81 service areas during the period April 2008 to January 2009, none of them had rolled out their services as required in any service area till December, 2009.

"DoT also failed to recover liquidated damages and penalty of Rs 679 crore from these six operators for inordinate delay in the rolling out of services till December 31, 2009," the CAG report said.

Since there were many existing telecom licensees in dire need of this scarce natural resource (spectrum), it resulted effectively in hoarding of the finite natural resources of the nation by these operators, it added. DoT did not earn any revenue from this natural resource during 2008-09 and 2009-10 due to inordinate delay in the commencement of services.

Jalandhar, November 16
Licensed surveyors and loss assessors are worried about various provisions of the proposed Insurance Amendment Act (2008), which, according to them, would help insurance companies sideline them and render them jobless.

Practising professionals say the government is set to dilute Section 64 UM of the existing Insurance Act- 1972, which states that insurance companies are bound to engage the services of licensed independent surveyors to assess losses with estimate more than Rs 20,000.

“The government is trying to dilute this very provision in the amendment Act and wants to shift it into the domain of rules and regulation of Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA),” said AS Sodhi, Chairman of the Punjab unit of Indian Institute of Insurance Surveyors and Loss Assessors (IIISLA), a national-level body of the surveyors.

If passed, corporate insurance companies would easily prevail over IRDA to change the regulation to increase in the minimum limit from Rs 20,000 to Rs 1-2 lakh, added Sodhi.

He added that often losses incurred during accidents ranged between Rs 50,000 and Rs 1 lakh. Thus, besides independent surveyors, the customer (insurance policy holder) would also stand to lose.

“After amendment, insurance companies will get empowered to employ their own surveyors, who would, for the profit of their employer, definitely assess the loss less than that by an independent surveyor,” he added.

UPS Sachdeva, secretary, IIISLA, said that this would negate the spirit of the section 64 UM of the Insurance Act - 1972. He alleged that even now the private sector insurance companies are making mockery of the section 64 UM of the Insurance Act- 1972. “Instead of engaging independent surveyors, such companies are openly taking services of their non-technical employees to assess the losses with estimate of more than Rs 20,000,” said Sachdeva. 

New Delhi, November 16
The government kitty swelled by Rs 1.80 lakh crore as indirect tax collections recorded a jump of 42 per cent during the first seven months of the current fiscal, This could also be indicative of a pick up in industrial growth momentum from next month.

“Total revenue collections from the indirect taxes at all India level during April-October stood at Rs 1,80,261 crore, which is 57.5 per cent of the budget estimates of 2010-11,” the finance ministry said in a statement.

Revenue collections from Customs jumped 65.9 per cent to Rs 75,349 crore as against the year-ago period.

Mop up from central excise rose to Rs 71,078 crore in April-October 2010, an increase of 36.2 per cent.

The high tax collections from these two heads show that the industry is on expansion mode and abysmally low figure in August and September may well prove to be an aberration.

Industrial growth plunged to a 16-month low of 4.4 per cent in September. In August it expanded by 6.92 per cent.

Earlier in the day, Chief Economic Advisor Kaushik Basu exuded confidence that industry would gather steam from next month.

"The (IIP) data that you will get on December 12 (for October) should see a reasonably good recovery," Basu said.

So far as services sector is concerned it fetched revenue of Rs 33,833 crore in the first seven months of current fiscal, up by 16.9 per cent.

Revenue Secretary Sunil Mitra had earlier hoped the government will surpass tax collection target of Rs 7.45 lakh crore this fiscal.

Hit by stimulus packages, that include tax cuts, given to spur up the economy impacted by the global financial meltdown, tax collections took a beating last fiscal. Tax mop up fell short of the target of Rs 6.41 lakh crore in 2009-10. — PTI

Abohar, November 16
Gautam Ahuja, a kinnow grower of Khubban village in Abohar, was not happy with the yield of fruit as the plants were dotted with only a few fruit buds. He even had the scary thought that he would not be able to recover his expenditure on the 
35-acre orchard.

Gurpreet Singh, another kinnow grower, had started thinking on the lines of shifting to traditional wheat-paddy cycle after uprooting his orchard as production of the fruit is expected to slip to 40 per cent of last year’s production.

Things, however, have started turning in favour of kinnow growers of this area as rates have picked up in the beginning of season. Growers are also getting advance orders from traders belonging to Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai and other metropolitan cities in large quantities.

“Kinnow has been seliing at Rs 16 to Rs 20 a kg this year, compared with rates ranging from Rs 7 to Rs 9 a kg, last year,” claimed Rajinder Kumar, a leading trader.

He added that growers and contractors have got some sort of solace from the prevailing prices.

Amit Kumar, an orchard owner, added that if rates dipped, a large section of farmers would shift to wheat and paddy, which fetches Rs 70,000 to Rs 80,000 per acre.

Traders expect prices to pick up further as orange yield in Southern India has dipped and orders were expected from there. Orders had also been received from Bangladesh.

“So far the kinnow is being sent to Jammu and Kashmir due to high demand on the eve of Eid festival. The other destination, where kinnow is being sent, is Delhi. The rates may go up when the traders start sending it to Southern states and other parts of country in the coming weeks,” pointed out Sanjeev Godara, a leading orchard owner of Seeto Guno village.

A cross-section of orchard growers has demanded that the Punjab government must make arrangements to facilitate export of their produce to Dubai and other countries to enable them fetch better prices.

BRIEFLY

Allahabad Bank opens Kundli branch
Sonepat: Allahabad Bank has inaugurated its 46th branch in Haryana at Kundli, Sonepat on Tuesday. “The Bank has set a target for achieving a total bank business of Rs 2,20,000 crore by March 2011,” said CMD of the bank, JP Dua. the bank would soon open its branches at Narnaul, Gharonda, Nilokheri, Bawal, Samalkha and at other strategic locations in the state. — TNS

J&K bank opens another ATM
Srinagar: The J&K Bank commissioned yet another ATM terminal that was inaugurated by the Executive President of the Bank, Ajit Singh at a function at Noor Bagh on Tuesday. Singh assured Bank’s full cooperation to its customers, especially the business community. — TNS

Indmobile’s international SIM
New Delhi: Indmobile Ventures today announced the launch of international travel SIM cards and said it was aiming for a turnover of Rs 30 crore in the first year of operations. Launched under brand name 'Hopsim', the calling card can be used in more than 200 countries and is compatible with more than 400 telecom networks globally. — PTI

Freight corridor to Ludhiana
Dankuni (Hooghly): Aimed at giving a fillip to industrial growth in the country, Union Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee laid the foundation of Rs 56,000-crore Dankuni-Ludhiana freight corridor here on Tuesday. Banerjee said negotiations were now on with private landowners and different state governments for acquiring the remaining around 15,000 acres. — TNS