The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

No deregulation of diesel prices for now: Reddy

New Delhi, January 27
With food inflation ruling at uncomfortable level, Petroleum Minister S Jaipal Reddy today ruled out freeing of diesel prices from the government control, saying the move was not politically and practically feasible.

"It is not possible (just now)," he told reporters here.

Decontrol of diesel, as was decided by an Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) in June last year, would mean up to Rs 7 a litre hike in the price of fuel that is used in transport sector and has direct bearing on food and general inflation.

With food inflation ruling at 15.57 per cent, any increase in diesel prices just now would fuel further hike in general prices.

"Let me make it clear, I am in agreement in theory with (Planning Commission Deputy Chairman) Montek Singh Ahluwalia that diesel and other fuel prices should be deregulated but I will request him to examine (such a move) practically and politically," he said ruling out decontrol of prices just now.

Ahluwalia has advocated freeing of diesel prices, on the lines of deregulation of petrol prices, to bring down government subsidies.

Asked if government may consider raising kerosene prices to check its adulteration in diesel, Reddy replied in negative.

"(It is) politically sensitive to remove subsidies, so not feasible," he said.

A litre of kerosene costs Rs 12.32 a litre while diesel is priced at Rs 37.75 a litre. The huge difference makes it lucrative for diverting kerosene from Public Distribution System (PDS) to mixing in diesel.

"Political feasibility means deeper sense means providing commodities to the poorer sections of society. We still have the poorer section of the society depending on kerosene," he said.

The government had in June last year decided to make petrol prices market-determined and had stated that diesel rates will be freed from control in due course.

State-owned oil firms Indian Oil, Hindustan Petroleum and Bharat Petroleum are losing about Rs 7 on sales of every litre of diesel and have been pressing for a price hike.

Asked about petrol, whose rates have been raised seven times since June, 2010, including Rs 2.50-2.54 a litre hike of this month, Reddy said there will be no rollback in prices, though he did indicate there will be no immediate hike either.

Oil companies are losing about Rs 1.20 a litre on petrol as crude oil prices have topped $92 a barrel. In addition, they lose Rs 7 a litre on diesel, Rs 366.28 on LPG and Rs 19.60 a litre on kerosene. — PTI

RIM: Access to corporate mails not possible
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 27
BlackBerry maker Research In Motion (RIM) today asserted that there was no possibility of providing India access to corporate emails on BlackBerry devices.

Having informed the Department of Telecom (DoT) last week that it was installing and testing a new service, to be made available before January 31, which will automatically render lawfully intercepted BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) messages in a format readable by Indian security agencies, RIM vice-president Robert Crow told reporters here that there was no solution for the enterprise Virtual Private Network (VPN) solution, provided through the BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) product.

India has demanded access to all BlackBerry services as part of efforts to fight militancy and security threats over the Internet and through telephone communications. The government had given RIM a deadline of January 31 to provide the security agencies with complete access.

“There is no possibility of us providing any kind of a solution….. there is no solution, there are no keys to be handed,” Crow said.

The company has said it does not have a master key to decode emails, adding that each organisation would have the technical capability to grant access to its own encrypted enterprise email.

"We are confident that it meets the requirements," Crow said of the access to its messenger service.

Earlier last week in a letter to the Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal, Crow had said, "It is our understanding, however, that the carriers (service providers) require an explicit directive from the Government of India before proceeding."

"...It would be to the benefit of all involved for the Government to now issue a directive that will allow the operators to complete their connection to the new automated service and thereby satisfy the Government of India's final outstanding request regarding BBM," he added.

However, lawful access does not extend to the enterprise Virtual Private Network (VPN) solution, provided through the BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) product.

There can be no change to the security architecture for BES in India or any other country as the decoding of BES emails by RIM is not technically possible given that neither RIM nor the wireless operators are ever in possession of the customers' encryption keys, the letter said.

ICICI among top 5 banks in Canada
Sanjeev Sharma
Tribune News Service

Toronto, January 27
ICICI Bank may be looking at an acquisition in Canada where it has grown to be among the top five foreign banks even as it is working to get a full-fledged banking licence in the USA.

Sriram Iyer, president and CEO, ICICI Bank Canada, said the balance sheet size is $5.5 billion of which $4 billion is customer deposits. Iyer did not comment directly on recent speculation in Canada that ICICI may acquire a bank but said this is a matter for the boards of the parent bank and the Canadian subsidiary to consider.

ICICI has only received a franchise licence in the US which means that it cannot take retail deposits and is working on getting a full licence. Iyer said the US licence issue is also determined by negotiations between US and India on the larger policy issues on financial services.

Iyer said the loan book is around $3 billion and the bank has 9 branches and moves are afoot to expand further to another 2-3 branches within next one year or so. ICICI Bank’s focus areas are: deposit mobilisation through a network of deposit brokers, residential mortgages, corporate lending through tapping companies with India linkages.

In this case also, ICICI Bank with its focus on non-Indians, is receiving growing interest from Canadian companies looking at India as a destination, Iyer said.

SBI, the earliest mover in Canada (way back in 1977), is thriving on individual or personal remittance business. Sunil K Tandon, President & CEO, SBI Canada, said in the case of SBI, the major part of North American business is handled by the US subsidiary which explains the smaller balance sheet of SBI Canada at $700 million.

Tandon said the personal remittance business stands at $184 million and it’s growing at 16 per cent per year on an average.

“We are now working on to introduce online requests for remittances. Once that is enabled, commission charges would come down and the process would be even faster and as a result our remittance business will grow further,” said Tandon.

The way forward for SBI Canada would be: entry and strengthening of retail verticals, enhancing its geographic covers, rolling out of new products and services, including bill payment, redesigning of branches and partnership with Big Five banks to participate in Indian syndication, Tandon said, adding that they were already in talks with Canadian banks like BMO and RBC in this regard.

Corporate Results
HDFC Bank’s net up 33 pc to Rs 1,088 cr

Mumbai, January 27
Private sector lender HDFC Bank today reported a 32.9 per cent growth in net profit at Rs 1,087.83 crore for the third quarter ended December 2010. Total income rose to Rs 6,357.8 crore at the end of December quarter, from Rs 4,933.9 crore.

IDBI Bank's net surges 58 pc

Private sector lender IDBI Bank today posted 58 per cent jump in net profit at Rs 454 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2010. Further, as of December 31, 2010, the lender's total business stood at Rs 2,84,729 crore, 12 per cent more than the Rs 2,54,075 crore in the corresponding period of the last fiscal.

NHPC net dips 48%

State-owned power producer NHPC today reported 48 per cent decline in net profit to Rs 300 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2010.

The net sales of the company nosedived 41 per cent to Rs 709 crore in the quarter ended December 31, 2010.

Lupin profit soars

Pharmaceutical firm Lupin today reported a 39.50 per cent rise in its consolidated net profit at Rs 224.03 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2010. The consolidated total income during the third quarter increased by 18.86 per cent to Rs 1,510.21 crore from Rs 1,270.58 crore in the year-ago period, it added.

Dena Bank

Public sector lender Dena Bank today reported a 15.38 per cent jump in its net profit to Rs 155.21 crore in the quarter ended December 31, 2010.

Dena Bank's total income during the third quarter of this fiscal also witnessed an increase of 23.32 per cent to Rs 1,416.95 crore from Rs 1,149.04 crore in the year-ago period.

Marico profit up 12%

FMCG firm Marico today reported a 11.78 per cent increase in its consolidated net profit for the quarter ended December 31, 2010 at Rs 69.53 crore, helped by a robust performance in the rural areas.

The net sales during the third quarter also jumped by 22.13 per cent to Rs 817.74 crore from Rs 669.57 crore in the year-ago period, it added. — PTI

HDFC Bank to hike interest rates

New Delhi, January 27
Two days after RBI raised key policy rates, private sector lender HDFC Bank today said it will soon hike lending rates, a decision that would make EMIs higher for existing and new auto and other loan borrowers.

"There will be an increase in lending rate, both in retail and corporate side. Most retail products, including auto loans, will see an increase in the next few days," HDFC Bank’s executive director Paresh Sukthankar said at a media conference call. — PTI

GM unveils locally made engine
Tribune News Service

Tim Lee (L), President, General Motors International Operations and President and MD, General Motors India, Karl Slym pose with the company’s new engine in New Delhi on Thursday. Tribune photo: Manas Ranjan Bhui

New Delhi, January 27
US auto major General Motors today launched a locally developed engine, Smartech, which will be utilised for the market here.

The 1.2-litre petrol engine has been developed at the General Motors’ technical centre at Bangalore and will be produced at the company's plant at Talegaon in Maharashtra.

Unveiling the engine, General Motors International Operations President Tim Lee said, "India is a key market for General Motors. We are focused on leveraging our unmatched global resources as well as our growing local capabilities to develop segment leading vehicles and power trains in India for India".

It features aluminium cylinder heads, lightweight pistons that decrease weight and enhance fuel emissions.

And a lightweight counter-balanced crankshaft lowers the NVH levels. Initially, the engine will be used for the new models that the company will offer in India.

The Talegaon plant has a capacity of 1.6 lakh power trains and the second phase will have a capacity of 1.4 lakh power trains that will take the total capacity to three lakh. GM will launch six new vehicles this year with new powertrain.

Meanwhile, GM said it planned to source $1 billion worth of auto parts from India over the next two years.

GM expects its India plant in Gujarat to have more than 100,000 unit production capacity in the next few months.

50 DoT staffers under scanner

New Delhi, January 27
The Central Vigilance Commission has imposed a major penalty on 226 officials of different government organisations for their alleged involvement in corrupt practices.

Out of the total 226, a highest of 50 are from Department of Communications, 36 from Central Board of Excise & Customs, 23 from Ministry of Railways and 13 from State Bank of India.

Besides, 10 officials from Vijaya Bank, nine from Punjab & Sind Bank, eight from MCD, seven from Andhra Bank, 6 from Canara Bank and five each from Allahabad Bank, Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd and UCO Bank have been penalised.

The Commission also effected recoveries to the tune of about Rs 2.78 crore after conducting technical examination of some departments. — PTI