The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	Govt goes into overdrive to control inflation Sanjeev Sharma Tribune News Service New Delhi, January 7 The government went into overdrive today to try and tackle the unexpectedly high food inflation numbers announced yesterday. However, there seems to be no immediate solution at hand and the effect is being exacerbated by worried consumers and the fact that stock markets today took one of the biggest fall in many months over fears of interest rate hike. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee was at the centre of action of the fire fighting effort and followed up his missive to the states yesterday to look into the supply management of food items with a formal letter to the Chief Ministers on similar lines. With its back to the wall as food inflation numbers hit 18.32 per cent, the UPA government is looking to convey that inflation management cannot be fought alone by the Centre, but has to be fought collectively with the cooperation of the states. In his letter to the chief ministers, the finance minister asked them to look into the local factors that are widening the gap between the wholesale and retail prices, in particular, and crack down on hoarders. He stated that much of this inflation has been due to significant increase in the prices of a few primary items like fruits and vegetables, milk, meat, poultry, eggs and fish. He asked the state governments to ensure that all bottlenecks in the supply chain are removed at the earliest and the availability of the food items causing inflation is improved so that their prices can be brought down quickly. To ensure that this message was not lost on the states and the hoarders, the Income Tax department which falls under the finance ministry, immediately carried out survey operations of over 10 wholesale vegetable merchants across Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir, Haryana and Chandigarh to check hoarding. The operations to check profiteering made by hoarders of vegetables would include investigation of the records and books of accounts of traders. Given that food inflation is the biggest challenge facing the government, it was apt that the finance minister kicked off his pre-Budget consultations today with the first meeting with representatives of the agricultural sector. The FM said at the meeting that in the current year with normal monsoons, a significant rebound in agriculture sector growth is expected at about 6 per cent. This estimate would allay the government fears on the food inflation front which has been stubbornly high. Reflecting the concern over the highest inflation figure in a year and consequent rate hike action by the RBI, the stock markets fell for the 4th day in a row and ended the week down 4 per cent and closed below the psychological 20,000 mark. Stocks like Hindalco, Tata Motors, M&M, Bharti, Sterlite, Reliance Infra were sharply down. Raamdeo Agrawal, joint MD, Motilal Oswal Financial Services, reacting to the Sensex fall said: “Inflation and scams have made short-term outlook very uncertain. Foreigners have been selling every day. Markets are fearing anti-inflationary action from the government.” CRISIS MANAGEMENT n State governments to look into local factors that are widening the gap between wholesale and retail prices n The government wants to convey that inflation has to be fought collectively and with the cooperation of the states n To tame food inflation, the finance minister started his pre-Budget consultations today with meeting representatives from agriculture sector
	Sebi warns investors of two Sahara firms Tribune News Service Mumbai, January 7 Market regulator Securities & Exchange Board of India (Sebi) today warned investors that two Sahara Group companies Sahara India Real Estate Corporation Ltd (SIRECL) and Sahara Housing Investment Corporation Ltd (SHICL) have been raising funds without its approval. It will not be able to redress any complaint in this regard, it said in a public notice. The note added that investors should take investment decision at their own risk. The two Sahara Group companies have been raising funds through OFCDs, which Sebi said ‘were not issued in compliance with the applicable Sebi regulations...’. Furthermore, the notice added, “the Red Herring Prospectus submitted to RoC (Registrar of Companies) has not been vetted by SEBI with reference to compliance to SEBI regulations.” “SEBI will not be able to provide redress to any investor on any complaint in connection with these OFCDs (Optionally Fully Convertible Debentures),” the notice said. The public notice, it added, is being ‘issued to safeguard the interest of investors’. The regulator further added that it had been receiving complaints alleging that SIRECL and SHICL have been issuing OFCDs to the public for many months with varying face value and maturity period extending up to 15 years. Advising the investors to make investment decision into SIRECL and SHICL after taking into account ‘facts and circumstances’ of the case, SEBI said they should ‘also note that the OFCDs are not proposed to be listed on any recognised stock exchange’. No immediate comments could be obtained from the Sahara Group. The Sebi notice further said that SIRECL has already raised Rs 4,843.37 crore from the investors on June 30, according to accounts filed with the Registrar of Companies and the cost of the projects of the two companies are estimated at Rs 20,000 crore each. “SEBI is of the view that the OFCDs issued by these two companies is a public issue and has not been done in compliance with the applicable requirements of the Companies Act, 1956 and the SEBI’s regulations relating to public issue,” the notice said. SEBI’s regulations on public issue prescribes eligibility criteria for accessing public. As the OFCDs were not issued in compliance with the applicable regulations, SEBI in its November 24 order had restrained the two companies and their promoters and directors including Sahara supremo Subrata Roy from raising funds through OFCDs till further directions. The Sahara Group of companies, however, challenged SEBI's order in the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court. The Court in its interim order on December 13 stayed the operation of the SEBI order with liberty to the regulator to proceed with the inquiry. Later, SEBI filed a petition in the Supreme Court, challenging the order of the High Court. The apex court in its order on January 4 held that SEBI could call for any information including the names of the investors who have invested in OFCDs from the companies in the course of the inquiry undertaken by it. “The counsel for the companies submitted that they agree to give information that SEBI will call upon them without prejudice to the rights and contentions in the pending matter,” the notice said.
	Panipat refinery to get a rubber plant Manish Sirhindi Tribune News Service Panipat, January 7 Adding yet another dimension to Panipat petro-chemical hub, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) today performed the ground-breaking ceremony of the first state-of-art Styrene Butadiene Rubber (SBR) plant on the refinery premises. IOC Chairman and Director (business development) BM Bansal performed the brief ritual. Bansal said that the rubber plant would be set up as a joint venture with the Taiwan State Rubber Corporation (TSRC) Corporation of Taiwan and the Marubeni Corporation of Japan. BN Bankapur, who is chairman of Indian Synthetic Rubber Ltd (ISRL), said that it had been decided to the setup the plant at Panipat because the refinery already had the Naphtha Cracker Complex (NCP) to provide butadiene feedstock for rubber production. The decision to set up the plant was taken IOC Board of Directors in November last year. SBR is predominantly used for production of car tyres and light trucks. Besides, making house ware mats, drain board trays, shoe sole, chewing gum, food container sealants, conveyor belts, sponge articles and others. It is also used in pharmaceutical, surgical, and sanitary products along with food packaging. IOC's move is crucial as the country has only two poly-butadiene rubber (PBR) units at IPCL, Vadodara, while there was no SBR units in operation, currently. Wei-Hua Tu, president and CEO, TSRC and Neoya Iwashita, executive officer of the Marubeni Corporation also participated in the ground-breaking ceremony. He expressed hope that the project would be a huge success and would bring prosperity to the state and the country. IOC will have a 50 per cent equity participation in the said joint venture, while the Trimurti Holding Corporation (for TSRC) would be holding 30 per cent and the Marubeni Corporation would have 20 per cent participation. The plant would have a capacity to produce 120 KT of rubber annually. The IOC chairman also inaugurated the Product Application and Development Centre (PADC) that was brought up next to Naphtha Cracker Complex as a part of IOC’s business development strategy.
	Tata Steel in JV with Nippon Steel New Delhi, January 7 Tata Steel today said it has inked a joint venture agreement with Nippon Steel for setting up a Rs 2,300-crore specialty steel-making line with 60,000 tonnes capacity per annum at Jamshedpur to cater to the domestic auto sector. The project is expected to be operational in three years. Tata Steel would hold a majority 51 per cent stake in the unnamed joint venture entity while the Japanese major would have the rest 49 per cent stake, the domestic steel major said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange. "The project (Continuous Annealing and Processing Line) will be set up at a capital cost of approx. Rs 2,300 crore and is expected to come on stream in 2013," it said, adding that the entity was expected to be incorporated within a month. The joint venture entity would source steel from Tata Steel’s Jamshedpur plant and use Nippon Steel’s technology for production of high-grade cold-rolled steel sheet to meet the growing needs of the Indian automobile sector. — PTI
	India seeks French help to develop roads Tribune News Service New Delhi, January 7 India has sought help from France to help develop its fast-growing motorway network and signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the French Ministry of Ecology, Energy, Sustainable Development and Transport and Housing. The MoU was signed by Indian Roads Congress with the French government during the recent visit of Road Transport and Highways Minister Kamal Nath to Paris. Nathalie Kosciusko Morizet, Minister of Ecology, Sustainable Development, Transport and Housing, France was also present at the signing of the MoU. The MoU will promote collaboration between the highway experts of the two countries in the field of planning, design, construction, operation, maintenance and financing of highway including bridges and tunnels. The MoU will provide a forum for analysis and discussion on full spectrum of related issues including roads’ administration and management policies, equipment, materials and consumable products, road finance and economics, technology, safety and environment. Nath has set himself an ambitious target of constructing 20 km of road each day but has so far been able to manage just about constructing 12 kms of road per day this year. The target achieved is less than even the target which was achieved last year or even before that. India is looking to spend $1.5 trillion on infrastructure over the 10 years to 2017 and wants to bring foreign investors into road projects aimed at reducing supply bottlenecks. “It is clear that France has a formidable know-how in the construction and maintenance of motorways, notably in toll roads,” Nath has said during his France visit. Incidentally, France will be organising a Public Private Partnership Seminar here from March 7-9, where a large number of French Companies will be participating. Meanwhile, Nath said here today that the government was actively considering creation of National Road Safety and Traffic Management Board. “A bill in this regard has been finalised,” he said at function organized to mark the road safety week. The Board would act as a dedicated agency to oversee road safety activity in the country and would have powers to issue guidelines on a wide range of issues concerning road safety.
	Govt seeks report on captive coal blocks by January 15 New Delhi, January 7 The government today sought status report on development of captive coal blocks from allocatee companies for the October-December 2010 period, ahead of its decision on the fate of blocks lying idle with firms. In a letter to all captive coal block allocatees/joint venture companies, that include Tata Steel, ArcelorMittal and NTPC, the Coal Ministry asked them to furnish status of the blocks for October-December 2010. “You are being a captive coal block allocatee, are requested to send the detailed information for the quarter ended December 2010 in respect of allocated coal/lignite block and associated end use project to this office by January 15, 2011," the Coal Ministry said in the letter.— PTI
	Jewellery exports up 38% at $23.5 bn Mumbai, January 7 The gems and jewellery exports posted 38.5 per cent growth at around $23.5 billion in the first three quarters of this fiscal. Exports during April-December 2008-09 fiscal was at around $14.46 billion, according to data given by the Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC). ”Exports in diamonds were more than gold, and the shipments to the US which is recovering from recession, grew by 20 per cent than last year," GJEPC Chairman Rajiv Jain told reporters here. Jain said he expected the exports to be 25-30 per cent more in FY11. US accounts for around 50 per cent of the jewellery exports from the country. India also exports to countries in the Middle East, Hong Kong and Europe. "The European market is not growing as it should, as it is a mature one," he said. The gold jewellery exports witnessed around 30 per cent growth in April-December period, Jain said adding that, however, in volume the amount remained same as last year. GJEPC, Jain said, is trying to enter into new export destinations, like Latin America, Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and South East Asian countries. "We are trying to venture into China with cut diamonds. Besides, we are also exploring markets in Latin America, Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and South East Asian countries," he said. "At present we are focusing on the Chinese market. We are selling diamonds there, but we have plan to sell jewellery in China in next two years," he said. — PTI