New Delhi, May 2
CII president B Muthuraman today met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and apprised him about the chamber's priorities for the year including skill development and its commitment towards weaker section of the society.

Muthuraman, who is also the vice-chairman of Tata Steel, took over as the president of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) on April 9.

“Whenever a new President takes over, he calls on the Prime Minister,” a CII official said. In his first press conference, Muthuraman had outlined the challenges before the Indian economy. These included improvement in investment climate.

He had said that the chamber would request for the removal of discretionary powers of government functionaries which are often "misused".

CII had also raised the concern over black money in the economy. — PTI

London, May 2
Oil prices fell more than 3 per cent on Monday after the US forces killed Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden following a decade of military operations across central Asia and West Asia.

Brent crude futures for June fell $4.22 to a low of $121.67 a barrel before rallying to $123.65. Last month Brent hit a 32-month high above $127. US crude slid $1.90 to $112.03.

European futures trading volume was depressed by a public holiday in Britain and several other countries, which may have added to price volatility, oil brokers said.

But analysts said most of the risk premium attached to oil prices was based on the war in Libya, wider unrest in the West Asia and North Africa, as well as increasing global oil demand.

"The fall in price should be short-lived," said Carsten Fritsch, commodity analyst at Commerzbank in Frankfurt.

"Talk that the risk premium should ease due to bin Laden's death is premature. The risk premium is high because of the war in Libya and ongoing unrest in the West Asia, and that is unlikely to change," he added. — Reuters

New Delhi, May 2
Exports jumped by an impressive 37.55 per cent to $245.86 billion during 2010-11, boosting confidence of exporters who have set an ambitious target of $300 billion for themselves for the current fiscal.

Shipments of Indian merchandise increased by a huge 43.85 per cent in March to $29.1 billion on the back of a smart recovery in the US, key European markets.

Besides, the country's strategy of diversifying the export market to Latin America and Africa also paid dividend, exporters said. Though imports crossed $350 billion, but they grew at lower pace of 21.6 per cent to $350.69 billion in 2010-11 over the previous fiscal.

The trade deficit of $104.82 billion for the 2010-11 fiscal was less than earlier forecasts of $120-130 billion, lessening concerns over the country's overall current account deficit.

For March, imports totalled $34.7 billion, up 17.27 per cent year-on-year. The government has finalised a strategy paper for raising India's exports to $450 billion in 2013-14. Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma is scheduled to unveil the same tomorrow. "Diversification strategy is paying off and the country is set to reap dividends in the near future. Exports in 2011-12 would cross $300 billion and would touch $500 billion by 2014-15," Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) president Ramu S Deora said. The government incentivises exporters to explore African and Latin American markets.

The country's total merchandise trade has almost touched $600 billion, half of India's gross domestic product of $1.2 trillion. The sectors which registered impressive growth during the fiscal include engineering, with exports rising by 84.7 per cent to $60 billion, followed by petroleum products at $42.5 billion (up 50.5 per cent).

Similarly, gems and jewellery exports grew 15.4 per cent to $33.5 billion, while drugs and pharmaceuticals shipments rose by 15 per cent to $10.3 billion. Commerce Secretary Rahul Khullar has said that while there has been an improvement in demand in the US and even in the EU, "My hunch is that export growth (also) came from new markets, particularly from Latin America".

In March, oil imports increased by 8.2 per cent to $9.43 billion from $8.72 billion in the same period last year. Similarly, non-oil imports grew by 21 per cent during the month under review to $25.3 billion as against $20.9 billion in the corresponding period last year. — PTI

Ludhiana, May 2
The Excise and Taxation department has issued a circular to clear dispel among traders on entry tax. The department has listed the pro forma of documents to be submitted, if a trader does not wish to pay entry tax, till the matter is pending in the HC.

Ludhiana-based Bhushan Power and Steels had filed a writ petition in the High Court against the entry tax. The court had given a stay in the case, which said that traders who give an undertaking that they will pay entry tax with interest in case the petition is dismissed, will be exempt from paying the tax. The circular states that the department has evolved a mechanism to facilitate the extension of the applicability of the interim order of the High Court to ‘similarly placed persons’ who have not filed any writ petitions in the Court.

Those who wish to get themselves exempted have to submit an Undertaking and Affidavit before the AETC in charge of the District where the importer is registered. Besides, traders will also have to submit an Indemnity Bond with each transcation at the ICC of entry point with other statutory documents presently being submitted.

“All those apart from the petitioner who wish to get themselves exempted from the entry tax now have to submit three documents stating that they will pay entry tax with interest, if the petition is dismissed. It will only create unnecessary burden on the traders,” said tax professional Jatinder Khurana.

New Delhi, May 2
The much-awaited meeting of a Group of Ministers headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukhejree on London-listed mining group Vedanta Resources' $9.6 billion acquisition of Cairn India has been postponed.

"The meeting was scheduled for 1930 hours today, but it has now been postponed," a senior government official said. No reasons were given for the postponement.

Besides Mukherjee, the GoM includes Oil Minister S Jaipal Reddy, Law Minister M Veerappa Moily, Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal and Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia.

"This was the first meeting of the GoM since it was asked by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on April 6 to vet the deal for according government approval," he said. — PTI

New Delhi, May 2
POSCO Steel Project, India's largest FDI project which has been hanging fire for over five years, finally got the green nod today from the Environment Ministry with certain conditions.One of the conditions is that it should not export raw material from the proposed plant.

Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh granted approval to Orissa Government for diversion of forest land to the South Korean company, which plans a $12 billion project at Jagatsinghpur.

“...In view of the state government's latest communication of April 29, final approval is accorded to the state government for diversion of 1,253 hectares of forest land in favour of POSCO," the Minister said.

"POSCO would also bear the cost of regeneration of an equivalent amount of open, degraded land in a district to be determined and indicated by the state government," said Ramesh, who had given initial clearance to the company in January on certain conditions including ensuring of tribal rights and compensatory afforestation.

Observing that the MoU signed between Orissa government and POSCO in 2005 had expired last year and "has yet to be renewed," the Minister said, "I would expect that the revised MoU between the state and POSCO would be negotiated in such a manner that exports of the raw material are completely avoided." — PTI

New Delhi, May 2
The slowdown in the automobile sales in the country continued for the second month as a result of increasing interest rates and the automobile makers passing on the costs of the rising inputs to the customers.

Even as most of the car makers increased the costs of their car models, most automobile makers reported an increase in sales but not at the same level as a few months ago.

Country's largest car maker Maruti Suzuki India Ltd (MSIL) today reported a 4.40 per cent jump in April sales to 97,155 units.

Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL) also saw an increase in sales although marginal at 0.1 per cent over the sales figures of April 2010.

While seeing a sharp dip in the exports it reported a total sales of 52,058 units for April, 2011, as against 52,020 units in April 2010.

MSIL said sales for the same month last year stood at 93,058 units.

MSIL's total passenger car sales rose 7.63 per cent to 73,905 units in April from 68,668 units in the same month in 2010, it added.

Hyundai Motor's domestic sales grew 11 per cent for April 2011 to 31,636 units as against 28,501 units in April, 2010.

Tata Motors reported a 13 per cent jump in total sales in April to 64,383 units from 57,199 units in the same month last year.

In April, the homegrown firm registered a 1.24 per cent increase in passenger vehicle sales in the domestic market to 23,387 units from 23,099 units in the same period last year.

During the month, small car Nano's sales soared by 184 per cent to 10,012 units during April, it said.

Skoda Auto India announced a sales growth of 90 per cent for April 2011 over the same period last year. Skoda Auto India ’s total sales for April stood at 2,446 units against 1,285 units in April last year.

Toyota Kirloskar Motor registered sales of 9,681 units in April 2011. The company sales grew by 61 per cent when compared to the corresponding period last year.

TVS Motors reported 14 per cent growth in overall sales for April 2011, propelled by the company's scooter sales and international business besides substantial growth in the three-wheeler segment.

New Delhi, May 2
Key infrastructure industries showed an improved growth of 7.4 per cent in March over 6.8 per cent a year ago, raising prospects of a steady overall industrial growth.The six core sectors - crude oil, petroleum refinery, cement, electricity, finished steel and coal - have a weight of 26.7 per cent in the overall Index of Industrial Production (IIP).

The infrastructure growth was led by crude oil and finished steel which expanded by 12.1 per cent and 9.9 per cent respectively in March.

However, the overall performance in fiscal 2010-11, improved by a narrow margin to 5.9 per cent from 5.5 per cent in the previous year. — PTI 

Mumbai, May 2
Allahabad Bank today reported a 14.7 per cent increase in net profit to Rs 257.6 crore for the fourth quarter ended March, 2011, compared to Rs 224.5 crore in the corresponding year-ago period.

Total income rose to Rs 3,588.6 crore during the January-March period of FY'11 from Rs 2,608.6 crore in the same period a year ago, Allahabad Bank said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange.