Mumbai, January 5
Gold imports are expected to touch new highs amidst expectations of a stiff hike in import duty in the forthcoming Budget. At present, import duty on gold has been pegged at Rs 300 per 10 grams. However, with gold prices increasing sharply in the past year, the Indian government is expected to take a bigger share of the pie.

"The trade expects a major hike in import duty in the forthcoming Budget as gold prices have increased to more than Rs 20,000 per 10 grams," says Dipchand Jhaveri, a gold importer from Opera House, the country's main import hub of the precious metal.

According to dealers, a slight softening in gold prices over the past two days globally is expected to only increase imports. "International gold prices are expected to go up to $1,450 in the coming months,"Jhaveri said.

Traders expect retail demand for gold to increase as the winter harvest is expected to be good as well. Though gold prices have been zooming upwards for the past two years, buyers have been cautious hoping for prices to come down. However, with the precious metal showing no signs of easing, people are expected to begin buying again with the marriage season round the corner.

India's gold imports stood at around 335 tonnes in 2010, according to information available from the Bombay Bullion Association.

India is the world's biggest consumer of gold. Much of the gold bought by Indians are imported as the country's production is negligible.

Gold imports have also been made easier by the government which has allowed seven more banks to import gold and silver earlier this week.

At the Multi Commodity Exchange, gold for February delivery was trading today at Rs 20,480 per 10 grams after breaching the Rs 20,700 mark.

New Delhi, January 5
The fear of the unknown has forced a churning in the country’s telecom sector with the operators looking to forge alliances to achieve the best from the forthcoming 3G services.

Market analysts point out that there is a hint of nervousness among the telecom operators, both established and the new comers, in the view of the market reaction to the 3G services, which would bring about a sea change in the way the mobile telephony operates in the country.

The 3G services would turn a mobile phone into a TV and an Internet-fired computer, and delivers music, movies, TV, games, information and more seamlessly.

While there is some kind of apprehension among the operators as regards the Mobile Number Portability (MNP), but the main fear is about the 3G services which is forcing the operators to come together to bring down the effect of any possible adverse response to the services which would be available with most of the operators by the end of the first quarter this year.

Besides, the telecom operators, none of whom have been able to get a pan-India footprint as regards the 3G spectrum is concerned, are also looking to exploit the subscribers of their possible future partner in the circle in which the other does not have the spectrum.

Analysts point out that old divisions in the industry are being brought up which include the GSM versus CDMA rivalry, old guard versus the young upstarts and even the 3G haves versus the 3G have-nots. Its more to do with their business strategy and achieving the most from the launching of the 3G services for which they have literally paid dearly from their pocket.

The government has collected over Rs 1 1akh crore from the auction of the 3G and BWA spectrum with the three top operators of the country spending the range of almost Rs 12,000 crore each for the circles in which they have got the licence.

Experts point out that service will be the clincher, especially with 3G services. At the basic level, better service will mean greater voice clarity, fewer call drops and a wider network.

Reports suggest that as a result mobile phone companies are firming up 3G alliances. Reliance Communications and Tata Teleservices have launched services on this high-end platform, other are expected to launch the services in the coming few months.

Aircel and Tata Teleservices are said to be in talks for a pan-India alliance to use each other's 3G airwaves, the three big players in the GSM sector, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Essar and Idea Cellular, are also in the last lap of finalising their strategic 3G alliance.

Experts said all mobile companies are sewing up roaming agreements with each other to retain high-end users. This, as none have a pan-India footprint.

They point out that the operators are more worried about the post-paid sector which also has the most number of high-end users and which incidentally, has always received a step-motherly treatment from the operators when compared to the pre-paid customers.

The post-paid segment is the strong base of an operator's revenues. Although it accounts for about five per cent of the subscriber base of a big operator, it brings in 20-25 per cent of revenues.

New Delhi, January 5
Tata Motors has missed the target of delivering by 2010 its small car Nano to the first one lakh customers, who booked through a lottery system as many buyers decided against taking immediate deliveries. The company had selected 1.55 lakh customers in 2009 for the delivery of the car in two phases.

The delivery of the first one lakh units were scheduled to be over by 2010. Since despatch started in July 2009, the company has so far delivered only over 77,000 cars till the end of December 2010 that includes buyers of the second lot and open sales. "There could be several customers waiting for deliveries, but at their own choice. We had informed everyone that the car was ready," a Tata Motors spokesperson told PTI.

When asked if the rest of people have cancelled bookings, the official said: "There may be some cancellations as well, but some have postponed taking deliveries." After inaugurating the 2.5 lakh-unit capacity Nano facility at Sanand in Gujarat, the company had started open sales in a few states in August last year.

The company has recently offered pan-India off-the-shelf availability of the Nano, touted as the cheapest car, to boost sales, which recovered from 509 units in November to 5,784 units in December last year. From a sale of 9,000 units in July, Nano deliveries fell in every following month.

Sporadic incidents of the small car catching fire has made it difficult for the company to push Nanos sales, despite a number of assurances through various campaign initiatives. Tata Motors had earlier asked Nano buyers to bring back their cars to add safety devices free of cost to prevent any fire accident but insisted it was not a recall. Last month, Tata Motors had announced a four-year or 60,000 kilometre manufacturing warranty on Nano in a bid to woo more customers after it sales plunged. — PTI

New York, January 5
Wireless technology major Qualcomm will snap up Atheros Communications in an all-cash $3.1 billion deal, that will help in expanding the US firm's semiconductor business. Atheros offers technologies for wireless and wired communications.

Qualcomm today said it has entered into a definitive agreement to purchase Atheros for $45 per share in cash, representing an enterprise value of $3.1 billion.

This is among the first big ticket deals to be announced in 2011. According to Qualcomm, the proposed transaction would accelerate thec company's expansion of Semiconductor business.

"The acquisition is intended to help accelerate the expansion of Qualcomm's technologies and platforms to new businesses beyond cellular and provide access to significant new growth opportunities," it said in a statement.

Subject to shareholders' and regulatory approvals, the transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2011.

Atheros' current president and CEO Craig H Barratt is expected to join Qualcomm as president of Qualcomm Networking & Connectivity.

"It is Qualcomm's strategy to continually integrate additional technologies into mobile devices to make them the primary way that people communicate, compute and access content," Qualcomm chairman and CEO Paul E Jacobs said. — PTI

New Delhi, January 5
Oil Minister Murli Deora today said his ministry is not in favour of raising diesel and domestic LPG prices as response to spurt in global crude oil prices, as the move will add to already high inflation rate. "We are trying to see that we do not have to increase prices," he told reporters here.

Last week a meeting of the Empowered Group of Ministers headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee was indefinitely postponed on Deora's insistence of not raising fuel prices just now.

"I don't think the EGoM should meet just now to decide on raising prices," Deora said today.

Others in the government have favoured raising fuel prices as a response to hardening of international crude oil rates to over $90 per barrel while Deora has preferred government subsidies to lessen burden on the common man.

Diesel has a weightage of 4.67 per cent in inflation, while LPG contributes 0.91 per cent. A hike now would further accelerate inflation, which is currently at 7.48 per cent.

Deora wants the government to make up for at least half of the Rs 72,812 crore revenue loss state-owned oil firms are likely to incur this fiscal on selling diesel, LPG and kerosene below cost. — PTI