The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	New defence policy to speed up purchase: CII Tribune News Service New Delhi, January 10 Industry body CII has praised certain aspects of the new Defence Procurement Policy (DPP) 2011. However, it has opined that the policy falls short on providing a level-playing field to the domestic industry. The new policy takes effect from January 1, 2011, and was released by the Ministry of Defence on January 6. The CII in conjunction with rating agency Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC), have analysed that the new policy takes steps towards liberalising ‘offsets’ and fast tracking the existing procurement procedures. The ministry changed the scope of offset policy guidelines. Offset obligation is a clause under which foreign firms have to produce some 30 per cent of the equipment locally. The ambit, so far, was restricted that firms making a particular product had to have localisation of the same. Now, this has been expanded to include civil aerospace, internal security and training within the ambit of eligible products and services for the discharge of offset obligations. The CII-PwC analysis says expanding the existing scope offsets the confusion which prevailed regarding their acceptance has been removed, besides improving our ability to absorb offset obligations. A number of SMEs which are in the field of homeland security are bound to gain from the new offset policy, it said. Gurpal Singh, Deputy Director- General, CII, termed this as a move towards fast tracking the existing procurement procedures and introducing industry-friendly procedures. However, it does not live up to expectations of providing a level-playing field for domestic private industry. The DPP, however, does not address a number of expectations of the Indian industry in the form of allowing transfer of technology and extending the time limit of banking of offsets. The “Make” and “Buy and Make Indian” categorisations in the DPP were introduced to encourage domestic industry. The procedures under these categorisations are very cumbersome in their original form and to date, not a single proposal under these categories has fructified. Unfortunately, the new policy has not made any attempt to simplify them, the analysis says. The new warship building policy appears to be to fast track and monitor the progress of projects. It is hoped that these amendments will not insulate defence shipyards from competition but place greater accountability on them, the analysis said. In the DPP, the ministry has allowed private shipyards to participate in building warships and submarines. It will no more be the exclusive domain of four Defence Ministry owned shipyards.
	India seeks financial accounting by World Bank Kolkata, January 10 India has voluntarily sought a comprehensive Financial Sector Assessment Programme (FSAP) by IMF and World Bank, Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said here today asserting the country has been found to be compliant with such international financial standards. “We have voluntarily sought a full-fledged Financial Sector Assessment Programme to be conducted by the IMF and the World Bank,” Mukherjee told the International Financial Conference at IIM here. He said that FSAP was an international evaluation exercise where the financial sector was assessed by institutions like IMF and World Bank. Mukherjee said that India did a self-assessment of its financial sector in 2009. The finance minister said that it was found that India was compliant with most of the internationally accepted standards in banking, securities markets and insurance sector. Mukherjee said that the global crisis had offered an opportunity to review the approach to financial sector reforms. “The government is committed to take the reforms process forward,” he said. — PTI
	iGate to acquire majority stake in Patni for $1.2 bn Bangalore/Mumbai, January 10 US-listed software firm iGate, backed by private equity firm Apax Partners, is buying a majority stake in Patni Computer Systems for $1.2 billion, marking one of the largest deals in India's technology sector. Small-and mid-cap IT services firms have been grappling with tepid demand and high attrition rates due to tough competition from larger rivals, and a rise in costs expenses in India's $60 billion software services sector. Combining operations would allow mid-sized companies such as iGate and Patni to increase scale and target bigger clients for outsourcing contracts in India's export-driven IT services industry. Patni, ranked No.7 in the sector and smaller rival iGate, will be better placed to take on bigger rivals such as Infosys Technologies Ltd and Wipro Ltd to compete for orders from overseas clients. “There is scope for consolidation in this sector and it will happen,” said Rakesh Rawal, head of private wealth management at Anand Rathi Financial. “Smaller players will have to get together for value creation,” he said. iGate said it agreed to pay Rs 503.50 a share for a 63 per cent stake in Patni, valuing the deal at $921 million. It will buy an additional 20.6 per cent stake through an open offer to Patni minority shareholders for $301 million. The stake is being sold by Patni’s three founding brothers, who collectively own 45.6 per cent, and private equity firm General Atlantic, which owns 17.4 per cent, iGate said.— Reuters
	Investors lose Rs 5 lakh cr in 5 days Tribune News Service & Agencies Mumbai, January 10 Investors' stock market wealth has plunged by nearly Rs 5,00,000 crore in five straight days of trading, as the market continued its downslide today with a 468-point plunge in the benchmark Sensex. Barring the first day of trading on January 3, markets have recorded a loss on all days so far in the New Year with the Sensex losing 1,337 points in five consecutive trading sessions. The 30 Sensex companies together lost about Rs 2,00,000 crore in the last five days of trading. Analysts expected interest rate hikes would hurt the bottom line of most companies in the coming quarters. With bearish expectations all around, investors are expecting markets to be hammered some more in the coming days. Among sectoral indices, the oil and gas stocks and capital goods companies fell 3 per cent or more. Even the big players like BHEL and L&T fell 4.5 per cent and 3.5 per cent. The bearish sentiment spread with mid-caps and small cap stocks falling more than 2.5 per cent. Global markets too have been bearish with Hang Sen, Kospi and other Asian indices closing in negative territory.
	Govt to roll out MNP from January 20 Ruchika M. Khanna Tribune News Service Chandigarh, January 10 Hundreds of thousands of telecom consumers in the Punjab telecom circle can now look for better quality of service and improved mobility from their service providers. With the government all set to roll out Mobile Number Portability (MNP) across the country, consumers in the Punjab circle, which has the highest teledensity outside of the metros, can now look forward to better service, as customer retention becomes the buzz word. The MNP will be launched here (and all other telecom circles) on January 20. With customer retention being the top priority now, most cellular operators here are busy making their business plans to thwart any attempt from competitors to erode their customer base. From offering incentives like life insurance cover, New Year gifts to their dealers, to upgrade their existing infrastructure, cellular companies, especially the established players, are getting their systems in place to avoid mass migrations. The operators, including Idea Cellular and Airtel, are busy making plans to identify high revenue generating customers, especially those who have been associated with them for many years. Most operators fear that it is the new subscriber with each service provider that can switch loyalties or migrate to another service provider, especially as MNP can be availed for just Rs 19. Since retailers will play a key role in customer retention, operators are also keen on “pleasing” them.
	Govt exempts sugar from import duty New Delhi, January 10 Faced with high food inflation, the government today exempted sugar imports from customs duty till March 31, 2011, even as the country has started exporting the sweetener and output is set to exceed demand this year. In April 2009, the government had abolished import duty on sugar as domestic output had declined sharply to nearly 15 million tonnes against the annual domestic demand of 23 million tonnes. The zero-duty regime lapsed on December 31, 2010, bringing into effect the earlier duty structure of 60 per cent. A fresh notification issued by the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) dated January 8 has again brought down the import duty on sugar to zero till March 31, 2011. “The exemption on sugar (raw/refined) has been extended by three months up to March 31 and since the notification is dated January 8, the import, if any, between January 1 and January 7 may not benefit by this exemption,” Deloitte India Indirect Tax leader Prashant Deshpande told PTI. Sugar production of India, the world's second biggest producer, is estimated to touch 24.5 million tonnes in 2010-11 sugar year (October-September) against the annual domestic demand of 23 million tonnes. Besides, the country has an opening stock of about five million tonnes. On the expectation of better output, the government has allowed sugar exports of 1.5 million tonnes under Open General Licence (OGL) and Advance Licence Scheme (ALS). In the wake of high food inflation, the government has slashed import duty on onion to zero and has extended zero duty on pulses till March 2012. The inflation, mainly the food inflation, has been at uncomfortably high levels for the last few weeks. Soaring onion and other vegetables’ prices led to the sharp rise in food inflation at 18.32 per cent for the week that ended on Christmas, up from 14.44 per cent recorded in the previous week. However, sugar prices, which skyrocketed to nearly Rs 50 per kg in January 2010 have come down to Rs 30-32 each kg. — PTI
	Credent Organics to begin exports to Ghana Tribune News Service Chandigarh, January 10 Mumbai-based agri biotechnology group, Credent Organics, hopes to double its sales turnover to Rs 30 crore this year, as it forays into export of organic crop care products to Ghana and other countries of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). The company is expected to send in the first consignment of its products. The company will provide crop care products for maize, potato, sugarcane, palm and cashew cultivation in Ghana. Ravindra Kumar Tiwari, head, international business, Credent Organics, said that as the economies to scale were expected to increase through exports, they are mulling expansion of Pune facility. “We have a capacity to produce 150,000 litres of organic crop care products per month, and we are working at our optimum capacity. We can expand our production facility at Pune, and look forward to taking it from 4 acres to 20 acres,” he said. The agri biotech company plans to launch farm development centres, called Credent Krishi Vikas Kendras (KVKs). With each of these KVKs assigned to look after 12 villages, the company proposes to add hundreds of KVKs. “We have started establishing our KVKs, and it has been successfully done in Maharashtra and Karnataka, where we already have 500 such centres. We are now targeting the agriculture stares of Punjab, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. We have established 30 KVKs in Punjab and 20 in Haryana,” he added.