New Delhi, March 30
The Central Board of Trustees (CBT) of the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF), which met under the chairmanship of Union Minister for Labour & Employment Mallikarjun Kharge for its 193rd meeting here today, decided to entrust the task of managing these funds to State Bank of India (SBI).

According to the communication from the Union Labour and Employment ministry, these EPF funds were being managed by HSBC AMC, ICICI Prudential AMC, SBI and Reliance Capital AML. The Board rejected a proposal to extend the term of management of these funds by these managers for another three months up to June 30. The present extended term of these banks for managing these funds comes to an end on April 1.

The Board deliberated upon the proposal for extension of the tenure of existing fund managers and its concurrent auditor by a period of three months as it is still deliberating on selecting new fund managers for EPF.

The selection of four fund managers, namely HSBC AMC, ICICI Prudential AMC, SBI and Reliance Capital AML for the management of CBT’s EPF corpus was decided by on July 29, 2008 on the basis of recommendations made by the 92nd regular meeting of the Finance & Investment Committee of the CBT held on July 24, 2008.

The appointment was done initially for two years extendable by another year on mutual consent of EPFO & the Portfolio Managers. Under this arrangement their tenure began from September 17, 2008, till September 16, 2010.

This was then extended for another six-and-half months up to March 31, 2011 by the CBT at its 189th meeting held on April 4, 2010. The meeting also elected three representatives each of employees and employers to the executive committee of the, CBT.

It decided to defer presenting report of the working group on comprehensive amendment to the Employees’ Provident Fund and Miscellaneous Provision Act, 1952, as the group sought some more time to send views on the recommendations to the Chairman, CBT.

New Delhi, March 30
The government is considering roll back of 10 per cent Excise duty on branded garments, due to large scale protest by industry bodies in many parts of the country, including West Bengal, which goes to polls next month.

“The excise duty on readymade garments is being opposed heavily, especially in West Bengal. It might be rolled back ,” a Finance Ministry official told PTI.

Although Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee had diluted his proposal to tax readymade garments, the decision failed to satisfy the garment manufacturers who have continued the protest demanding complete roll back of the proposal. In the Budget, the government has levied 10 per cent excise duty on branded ready-made textiles garments.

However, while replying to debate on Finance Bill, Mukherjee had proposed to enhance the abatement from 40 per cent to 55 per cent of the retail sale price. With this relief, a unit will continue to be eligible for SSI exemption in 2011-12 even if it had a turnover based on retail sale price of Rs 8.9 crore in the current year, the Minister had said.

The garment traders had criticised the proposed 10 per cent excise duty on ready made garments, saying it would hurt the small business. However, the garment traders are not satisfied with the abatement and they want the tax to be full exempted.

Nearly 3,000 members of different garment and hosiery manufacturers’ associations marched in a procession in Kolkata. Hundreds of protesters were lathicharged and few of them were also arrested as they scuffled with the cops. The imposition of Excise duty on branded garments has emerged as a major election issue at Metiabruz in South 24 Parganas district of West Bengal, which houses more than 50,000 small garment manufacturing units employing lakhs of people.

Mukherjee is also a Member of Parliament from the state. Moreover, garment manufacturers in the national capital, Ludhiana and Kolkata have also gone on a strike against the proposal, said an industry association. — PTI

New Delhi, March 30
Sistema Shyam TeleServices Ltd (SSTL), a joint venture between Russian Sistema and India's Shyam group, today said that its had completed the formalities of issue of shares to the Russian government with the transfer of 54,73,12,918 equity shares against $600 million received in December 2010.

“The rights issue was launched in the middle of February and closed on March 8, 2011. It was done to accommodate the foreign direct investment by the Russian Federation into SSTL. The rights issue was open to all existing shareholders of SSTL, excluding Sistema,” SSTL said.

“We have received an overwhelming response from all our existing shareholders to the rights issue. With formalities relating to the allotment of equity shares to the Russian federation also getting completed, this is a milestone,” SSTL President and CEO Vsevolod Rozanov said.

The company offers mobile service across various circles under the brand MTS. Under the MBlaze brand, it provides mobile broadband services to more than 500,000 customers in over 130 towns across the country.

New Delhi, March 30
The government will release the revised consolidated FDI policy paper, a ready reckoner on foreign investment related regulations, here tomorrow.

The third edition of the Consolidated FDI Policy Circular may contain guidelines on domestic companies issuing shares to foreign entities for considerations other than cash with a view to check possible FDI policy violation and money laundering, a source said.

The need for such norms is being felt in the wake of an increasing number of cases where shares are issued against non-cash considerations like trade payables and import of capital goods.

Sources added the new Circular may also give relaxation in a 13-year FDI rule by allowing foreign investors to bring in fresh money and technology to India, irrespective of the impact on local partners in any existing joint venture.

Under the present dispensation, a foreign player who entered India before January 12, 2005 has to take government approval and ‘demonstrate’ that fresh investment in the same field would not affect interest of his domestic joint venture partner.

In September last year, the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), the nodal agency on FDI policy, had floated discussion papers on these two issues. In 2010, the government had decided to come out with consolidated FDI policy paper summarising all the regulations, including those of FEMA and RBI, for the benefit of foreign investors, from March 31, 2010 and revise it every six months.

The consolidated document aims at helping foreign investors as it contains all the current regulatory framework and subsumes all FDI policies announced earlier. — PTI

New Delhi, March 30
In a top management reshuffle in the Wadia group firms, textile firm Bombay Dyeing gas has appointed Jeh Wadia as the Managing Director of the firm with effect from April 1. Besides, Ness Wadia would step down from the post of Joint Managing Director on March 31 and will become an Additional Director from April 1.

Ness will now become a Joint Managing Director of Bombay Burmah Trading Corporation, a part of the group, with effect from April 1, 2011.

Ness Wadia said the reshuffle is a part of a “routine rotation within the group companies.” — PTI

New Delhi, March 30
Political upheavals in North Africa and West Asia have taken a toll on the aviation industry, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) has said, reporting a significant slippage in international air travel in February.

The international trade body has reported that passenger demand rose by 6 per cent, while freight increased by 2.3 per cent last month compared to February 2010. The increases were far below those recorded in January of 8.4 per cent and 8.7 per cent, respectively.

The IATA expects a further drop this month as a result of the Japanese earthquake.

“Another series of shocks is denting the industry’s recovery from the recession. As the unrest in Egypt and Tunisia spreads across West Asia and North Africa, demand growth across the region is taking a step back. The tragic earthquake and its aftermath in Japan will most certainly see a further dampening of demand from March. The industry fundamentals are good. Extraordinary circumstances have made the first quarter of 2011 very difficult,” IATA’s Director General Giovanni Bisignani said.

According to IATA, Asia-Pacific airlines reported major slowdown to 3.0% growth, half of the 6.3% recorded for January. Capacity increase of 6.6% pushed the load factor down to 75.4%. Chinese New Year fell at the beginning of February, pushing some of the holiday traffic into late January.

West Asian airlines saw demand growth fall from 12.0% in January to 8.4% in February. Capacity increase of 11.0% resulted in a load factor of 72.2%. Political unrest in Bahrain, Yemen and Syria is expected to have an impact on the region’s markets in March. These three countries represent about 6% of West Asian traffic and 0.3% of global capacity.