New Delhi, May 19
Rejecting the plea of steel makers, the Petroleum Ministry has ordered natural gas produced from Reliance Industries' KG-D6 field to be first allotted to core users in power and fertiliser sector, asserting it is competent to take such a decision.

“...the fact that production from KG-D6 fields is presently below expectation, the supply of non-core sector on whom cut has been imposed cannot be restored at the cost of the core sector," the ministry said in a order dated May 18.

On May 8, Reliance had cut supplies to sponge iron makers, refineries and petrochemical plants so that its falling output can meet full demand of core users like fertiliser and power.

The move was challenged by sponge iron makers Welspun Maxsteel and Ispat in the Bombay High Court and Essar Steel in Delhi High Court. The Bombay HC asked the ministry to hear the petitioners and yesterday's order was issued following that hearing.

"The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas is competent to take decision on gas supply within the Gas Utilisation Policy laid down by Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM)," it said rejecting the steel makers plea that such a decision can only be taken by EGoM which had originally allocated gas.

The EGoM had in 2008 and then in 2009 allocated KG-D6 gas among users in fertiliser, LPG plants, power units, steel makers, refineries, petrochemical units etc.

Ras Al Khaimah, May 19
Indian businesses wanting to venture abroad face a lot of difficulty in choosing a central global destination to operate from. There is a solution for such businesses. The emirate of Ras Al Khaimah (RAK), an hour’s drive from Dubai Airport, allows businesses to establish presence in its Free Trade Zone (FTZ) at investments starting from as little as Rs 2.3 lakh.

The concept of the FTZ is similar to the Special Export Zones in India . However, land is not sold and is available only on lease.

Businesses operating from RAK FTZ enjoy full tax exemption, no controls on import and export and full connectivity to both the Western and the Eastern global markets. The Authority also allows 100% capital and profit repatriation.

However, to keep a level-playing field vis-à-vis domestic companies, traders cannot sell directly to the local Emirates’ market and have to employ a local resident to sell and pay a 5% tax.

“Indian businesses contribute 3% to our GDP of 17 billion Dirhams. We want this to increase even more,” said Oussama El Omari, CEO and Director General, RAK FTZ.

“Power is huge opportunity here. Water desalination is also one of our focus areas. R&D firms, especially in renewable energy, and the pharma sector will find our facilites to their liking,” said the CEO Omari. He added that the FTZ had tied-up $5 billion in infrastructure projects over the next few years. More than 5,000 companies were registered with the FTZ.

Bissoon Surnam, Regional Manager RAK – FTZ, India Liaison Office, said: “We are carrying out B2B meetings in at least two major cities per month. We provide tailor-made solutions to Indian businessmen, so we can assist them in growing internationally by having a business set-up in UAE We offer four types of business licences. Our processing time is less than two days.”

He added that the most popular and cost-effective package offered was the Flexi Facilites package, which came bundled with a Commercial or Consultancy/Services licence.

Mumbai, May 19
Infrastructure major Larsen and Toubro (L&T) today reported a 17.25 per cent growth in standalone net profit to Rs 1,686.21 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2011.

However, the net profit could have been flat had there not been an exceptional gain of Rs 226.77 crore achieved out of the sale of its investment in an associate company.

L&T had reported a net profit of Rs 1,438.10 crore for the corresponding quarter of 2009-10, the company said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange.

During the quarter, net sales of the company stood at Rs 15,078.39 crore, a growth of 12.73 per cent compared to Rs 13,374.89 crore in the January-March quarter of FY'10, the filing added.

Boston, May 19
Citigroup today said it has rewarded CEO Vikram Pandit with an over $16 million ‘retention award’ for his ‘outstanding job’ of steering the financial giant to profitability and executing a strategy for sustainable growth. Pandit has been taking home a token $1 salary from Citigroup since 2009.

The three-part multi-year retention award will accrue to Pandit if the company meets certain performance goals, New York-based Citigroup said in a filing with to the SEC.

"Vikram has done an outstanding job since coming on board as the financial crisis began. Under his leadership, the management team has navigated Citi through the crisis, returned Citi to profitability and is executing a strategy for sustainable growth," the Chairman of Citigroup's board of directors, Richard Parsons, said.

Parsons said the "long-term, multi-year, performance-based structure of this award is designed to retain Vikram as our CEO and reward him for future performance benefiting the company."

The first part of the retention award is deferred stock valued at $10 million. Pandit will receive the stock in three equal instalments in December of 2013, 2014 and 2015 only if the company determines that he has satisfied objectives in three areas.— PTI

New Delhi, May 19
After a top finance ministry adviser pitched for Planning Commission Deputy chief Montek Singh Ahluwalia as the IMF head, India today said it is watching the situation following the resignation of Dominique Strauss-Kahn.

"Strauss-Kahn has tendered his resignation... We are watching the situation," Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said. Battling allegations of sexual assault, Strauss-Kahn today resigned as Managing Director of IMF.

Chief Economic Adviser in the Finance Ministry Kaushik Basu has said, "In my view, Montek is the best name... not only from India's point of view, but from the world's point of view also."

Gurgaon, May 19
The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) has unveiled a roadmap to boost investments in Haryana. The state has the potential to grow at a double-digit, it says.

“Major upgradate of physical and social infrastructure, creation of a more investor-friendly policy framework and getting the bureaucracy to play a conducive role are required for this purpose,” said Lalit Khaitan, chairman, ASSOCHAM's Northern Region Development Council.

He said the state economy grew at an annual compounded rate of 9 per cent between 2000-01 and 2009-10 against the national average of 8.7 per cent. It had live investments worth Rs 427,000 crore last year, as compared to Rs 354,845 crore in 2009. Of these, 79.6 per cent are at implementation stage.

“ASSOCHAM plans to organise Invest Mart in the near future, where nearly 300 investors from various countries will converge to explore the possibilities of investing in Haryana,” he said.

He also proposed setting up 14 new industry clusters, each accommodating about 1,000 units and generating direct and indirect employment opportunities for 4 lakh workers.

These may include Ambala (for mixers and grinders, scientific instruments), Bhiwani (power loom, stone crushing), Faridabad (auto components, stone crushing), Gurgaon (electronic goods, electrical engineering equipment, readymade garments), Bahadurgarh (mechanical engineering equipment) etc.

Secretary General DS Rawat asserted that the Haryana advantage was yet to materialise fully. He also listed the association’s suggestions in this regard, which include enhanced emphasis on developing the agriculture sector, need to develop real-estate as a responsible sector, promoting innovations for improved research and development.

New Delhi, May 19
The Electrical equipment maker Crompton Greaves (CG) today said it has acquired Sweden-based Emotron Group for 57.8 million euro (about Rs 370 crore).

"With this acquisition, the company achieved its ambition of becoming a global player capable of providing comprehensive solutions in its industrial systems business," the company said.

The enterprise value of this acquisition is equivalent to 57.8 million euros, it said. Emotron is a power electronics and engineering company and is engaged in making of various equipment, including variable frequency drives (VFDs).

"The rising energy costs, global focus on energy efficiency, low carbon emissions coupled with global legislations for energy efficiency is expected to catapult the global market for VFDs from $10 billion in 2010 to $16 billion till 2014," it said. CG already has its operations based in Europe and offers variety of motors and generators for industrial markets.

"With this combination, both companies are expected to substantially gain and become a major force to reckon with in the global VFD/industrial motors market," it added.

The acquisition would also enable the firm to offer the latest technology in India. The present market for VFD's in the country is estimated to be $375 million. This is the eighth acquisition in a span of six years by the company. — PTI

New Delhi, May 19
Falling prices of pulses, wheat and vegetables brought down food inflation to an 18-month low of 7.47 per cent for the week ended May 7, a development described as "declining trend" by the government.

However, experts cautioned against any complacency and said rate of price rise of non-food items still remain high and could prompt the RBI to further raise interest rates.

The latest numbers are the lowest since food inflation data, as a separate index, began to be released since late 2009.

“Both on food inflation and overall Whole Price Index (WPI) there is a declining trend,” Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said. Food inflation, as measured by WPI, was 7.70 per cent in the previous week. It was above 22 per cent in the first week of May 2010.— PTI

BRIEFLY

Godrej’s new refrigerator
Chandigarh: Godrej Appliances on Thursday launched a music-enabled refrigerator- Edge SX Muziplay, which will have a FM radio and an MP3 Player. Kamal Nandi, vice-president, sales and marketing, said that the company hoped to get additional 3- 5 per cent market share in the direct cool segment of refrigerators. — TNS

Airtel’s recharge coupon
Chandigarh: Airtel on Thursday launched an innovative Re 1 SMS and voice-paper recharge coupon. This coupon will be given to over 10,000 shopkeepers in Punjab, who can pay their balance bills in the form of this mobile recharge coupons. Customers can make 10 local and national SMSes, or two local airtel to airtel calls for one minute each. —TNS

Canara HSBC’s new insurance product
Chandigarh: Canara HSBC Oriental Bank of Commerce Life Insurance on Thursday announced the launch of Life Insurance Simulator (LIS), aimed to help the customer in their financial planning. The service will be available in English, Hindi, Punjabi and Kannada. This is an interactive financial need assessment software, said Rishi Mahur, senior vice-president, (products and marketing). —TNS

LinkedIn corp IPO gets good response
New York: Shares of LinkedIn Corp opened more than 80 per cent above their IPO price in their public trading debut on Thursday and continued rising, in a jump reminiscent of the heyday of investors' love affair with Internet stocks at the beginning of the century. Shares rose to $88.70 in early trading on the New York Stock Exchange, 97 per cent above their $45 initial public offering price. LinkedIn on Wednesday raised $352.8 million by selling 8 per cent of the company. — Reuters