The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	RBI raises interest rates, warns on food inflation Repo, Reverse Repo up 25 bps each Tribune News Service Mumbai, January 25 The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) raised interest rates on Tuesday by 25 basis points, as expected, to clamp down on resurgent inflation, warning higher food prices could become entrenched if steps to boost output are not taken. The RBI raised its repo rate, at which it lends to banks, to 6.5 per cent and it lifted its reverse repo rate, at which it borrows from banks, to 5.5 per cent. The apex bank also announced that it was providing additional liquidity support to scheduled commercial banks under the liquidity adjustment facility (LAF) to the extent of up to one per cent of their NDTL and a daily second LAF up to April 8, 2011. “Even as the rate of inflation itself remains unacceptably high, the reversal in the direction of inflation is striking ..... there are signs of food and fuel price increases spilling over into generalised inflation,” Subbarao said. The governor also warned that rising commodity prices also heightened upside risks to inflation. The RBI has now projected WPI inflation for March 2011 to touch 7 per cent from 5.5 per cent. The Bank also added that the India's GDP was projected to grow at 8.5 per cent in 2010-11 with an upward bias.
	Canada showcases investment opportunities for India In recent times, India Inc has acquired several Canadian companies Sanjeev Sharma Tribune News Service Toronto, January 24 India's growth as an economic powerhouse is reflected by the fact that Indian direct investments into Canada are now five times that of Canadian investments in India. As per statistics of the Canadian government, for 2009, Indian investments were at close to Canadian $3 billion as compared to Canadian $600 million by Canada into India. Some of the recent large Indian investments in Canada have been Tata's $ 239 million buy of Teleglobe, Hindalco's $6 billion acquisition of Novellis and Essar Steel's $ 1.6 billion purchase of Algoma. Sun Life, Magna, Scotia Bank, Bombardier are significant Canadian investors in India. To harness this potential of Indian economic growth, the state of Ontario and its main city, Toronto are wooing Indian companies and investments. Indians are the leading newcomers to the state of Ontario according to Canada 2006 census. Fifteen per cent of recent immigrants came from India followed by China, Pakistan and others. India and China are the top source of recent immigrants to Toronto in Ontario. These two countries combined made up for one third of all newcomers to Toronto. Ontario also has a sizeable Punjabi diaspora and as per statistics, Punjabi is the fifth most popular language spoken at home in the state after English, Chinese, French and Italian. With Toronto hosting the 2011 IIFA Awards for cinema, there is a lot of buzz here and it promises to be a big event of the calender. Akhil Tyagi, area director, South Asia, Ministry of Economic Development and Trade (MEDT), Ontario, the IIFA awards will be an opportunity to showcase Ontario's capabilities. He said a delegation of Canadian nuclear energy manufacturers like Cameco and AECL will be visiting India shortly to discuss opportunities arising out of the nuclear agreement. According to Tyagi, Ontario is the largest economic centre in Canada and provides 37 per cent of GDP and is the seventh largest economy in North America. Tyagi outlined Ontario's competitiveness as an economic and financial services hub and outlined opportunities for investments in sectors like financial services, green technology, aerospace, auto, IT, research and development and education. Ontario is also showcasing some of the leading Indian companies present in the state like TCS, Wipro, State Bank of India, ICICI Bank and other technology innovators like Electrovaya which are working on electric cars. Other Indian companies with presence in Ontario include Bata, subex, Siverline.
	Padma Vibhushan for Wipro boss; Kochhar awarded Padma Bhushan New Delhi, January 25 Wipro Chairman Azim Premji, ITC Chairman Y C Deveshwar and ICICI Bank Managing Director and CEO Chanda Kochhar are among 12 industry leaders who have been conferred with the Padma civilian awards this year. While Premji (65) is the only industrialist who has been conferred the nation's second-highest civilian award Padma Vibhushan this year, eight others have been awarded the Padma Bhushan. Three others, including a non-resident Indian have been conferred the Padma Shri. Besides Kochhar and Deveshwar, Padma Bhushan awardees include Dr Reddy's Laboratories Chairman K Anji Reddy, Infosys CEO and MD S Gopalakrishnan, NIIT Chairman Rajendra S Pawar, HCL co-founder Ajai Chowdhary. Max India Chairman Analjit Singh, GVK Group Chairman and MD GVK Reddy are also on the list of Padma Bhushan recipients. An electrical engineering graduate from Stanford University, USA, Premji has been leading Wipro since 1966, when it was focused only in manufacturing of hydrogenated cooking fat. The company is now India's third largest software exporter after TCS and Infosys. Another noted awardee is diversified business group ITC's Deveshwar (63). He is an engineering graduate from IIT Delhi and joined ITC Ltd in 1968. — PTI
	HUL Q3 net profit falls 2% on high input costs New Delhi, January 25 Fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) major Hindustan Unilever today reported 1.79 per cent decline in its net profit for the quarter ended December 31, 2010, to Rs 637.51 crore, mainly due to impact of high input costs. The company had posted a net profit of Rs 649.11 crore in the corresponding period previous year, Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL) said in a filing to the BSE. The total income during the third quarter of the current fiscal, however, rose 12.12 per cent to Rs 5,127.71 crore from Rs 4,573.23 crore in the year-ago period, it added. Although the domestic consumer business of HUL recorded a volume growth of 13 per cent, its expenditures in purchase of various goods increased substantially during the three-month period, the filing pointed out. The firm's outgo in consumption of raw and packing materials jumped by 19.32 per cent to Rs 1,941.51 crore from Rs 1,627.18 crore in the same period of the previous year. The expenses in purchase of goods stood at Rs 730.64 crore compared to Rs 602.33 crore in the year-ago three months, up 21.30 per cent, the company said. "Input cost inflation continued to rise during the quarter... Buying efficiencies and cost saving programs remain a priority and are being further scaled up," the company said. Spending in advertising and promotions went up by 17.44 per cent to Rs 743.26 crore from Rs 632.88 crore in October-December 2009, while other expenditures were up by 16.71 per cent at Rs 859.27 crore as against Rs 736.25 crore. "In an inflationary environment, we will manage our business dynamically, through judicious pricing actions and increased focus on cost effectiveness, while ensuring that we remain competitive in the market place," HUL Chairman Harish Manwani said. — PTI
	Central excise dept cracks down on tax evaders Anuja Jaiswal/TNS Chandigarh, January 25 The Ludhiana Commissionerate of the Central Excise and Service Tax Department has detected service tax evasion worth Rs 2 crore by two companies, Unique Family Services, which was engaged in providing customers to corporate insurance agent and M/s Bhogal Cycles, manufacturer of cycle carts. In a separate case, the department has also unearthed excise duty evasion of Rs 38 lakh by company, M/s Wave Beverages Private Limited. PK Sirohi, Chief Commissioner, Central Excise and Service tax department (North West region), said that during investigations, it was found that Ludhiana-based company, Unique Family services, was getting commission for providing prospective customers to three firms, M/s Unifam Insurance Services Ltd, M/s Unique Health Care and M/s Unique Insurance service. He said this operation of the company is covered under the category of “Business Auxiliary service and Business Support Service”, and serice tax liability existed. Sirohi said, the company was also receiving income for providing CBT training/education to its down line members. This operation is covered under “Commercial coaching training or Coaching Centre service”. In another case, the department detected service tax evasion of Rs 45 lakh by M/s Wave Beverage, Amritsar. The firm was reportedly receiving the amount from M/s Coca Cola India Pvt Ltd for sale promotion activities behalf of the company, but hadn’t been paying the service tax.
	ICAI to submit report on accounting frauds Ruchika M Khanna Tribune News Service Chandigarh, January 25 The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) will submit its report against unethical practices by big four auditing and consulting firms — Ernst & Young, KPMG, Price Waterhouse Coopers and Deloitte Sells and Heskins — to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs in ten days. These multinationals entered India as consulting firms, but later started auditing work as well. This report also highlights how these practices can be controlled. Amarjit Chopra, president ICAI, said that the ICAI was not after these firms, but were ensuring that laws were followed. “The Satyam fraud, followed by the IPL scam had brought to light how these firms were into surrogate practice of auditing. To unearth irregularities and ensure that such practices are not repeated, we have suggested certain measures to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs,” he said. Chopra also added that ICAI has also advised these firms not to engage in “shopping for small but strong local auditing firms, as this is not desirable”. “Deloitte has already agreed to this and we are advising the others that they can do hand-holding, but should stay away from taking over small firms,” he added. “The emphasis in ICAI has been in bringing greater accountability in the profession and to uphold the values. In case of the chartered accountant firms having audited the records of the IPL teams, too, we have decided to proceed and take action against those ICAI members who did not follow the prescribed norms of auditing. We have questioned the auditors and franchisees of six IPL teams, and in case of two franchisees, we have found that the auditors did not follow the accounting standards and best practices,” he said.
	22.88 mn telecom subscribers added in November: TRAI Tribune News Service New Delhi, January 25 The country’s telecom sector added a record 22.88 million new mobile phone subscribers in November 2010. The addition of 22.88 million mobile phone subscribers took the total number of cell phone users in the country to 729.57 million as on November 30. The number of additions in November was two million more than the record of 20 million which was set in March last year. According to the figures released by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), the wireless phone user base grew 3.24 per cent to 729.57 million in November last year, from 706.69 million in the previous month. With this the total telephone subscriber base in the country, both, in the wireless and wire-line segment, touched 764.76 million and the total telephone density reached 64.34 per cent. The growth in wireless phone category was once again led by Vodafone Essar, which added 3.13 million users. This was 13.66 per cent of the net addition in November 2010, taking its user base to 121.16 million. Country’s largest telecom operator Bharti Airtel followed next with an addition of over 3.1 million subscribers accounting for 13.55 per cent of the net addition during the month under review taking its total number of subscribers to 149.4 million. The Anil Dhirubhai AmbaniGroup-Reliance Communication stood at the third spot with an addition of three million subscribers taking its total subscriber base to 122.4 million. State-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) added 2.99 million subscribers taking its total number of subscribers to 83.73 million. Other telecom players such as Idea Cellular performed remarkably with the addition of 2.8 million users closely followed by Uninor which added 2.45 million users taking their total subscriber base to 78.83 million and 16.19 million respectively. According to the data, the broadband subscriber base grew 1.80 percent from 10.52 million in October 2010 to 10.71 million in November 2010. However, the wireline segment declined further from 35.43 million in October 2010 to 35.19 million in November.
	Huawei files lawsuit against Motorola for IP infringement New Delhi, January 25 Chinese telecom equipment vendor Huawei Technologies has filed a lawsuit in a US District Court, seeking to prevent Motorola from illegally transferring Huawei's intellectual property (IP) to Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN). NSN had, in July last year, announced the acquisition of Motorola's wireless network business for $1.2 billion. Huawei and Motorola have had a cooperative relationship since 2000, in which Motorola resold Huawei's products to customers under the Motorola brand name During this period, Motorola was provided with products and confidential Huawei IP developed by the Chinese company, Huawei said in a statement here. Huawei said it has been seeking assurance from Motorola that it would not transfer this confidential information to NSN, post the acquisition. "Motorola, however, has not responded with assurances that it will prevent disclosure of that information to NSN. If Huawei's proprietary commercial property and information is transferred to a third party, Huawei will suffer irreparable commercial damage," Huawei said. Motorola's failure to adopt measures sufficient to ensure that Huawei's IP information remains confidential has compelled the company to file for the appropriate legal protection of its rights, it added. — PTI