The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	Visiting an ATM to pinch more New norms for transactions applicable from today New Delhi, June 30 There is some good news and some bad news for people using ATMs for their banking transactions from tomorrow. As per an RBI directive, banks will have to credit the wrongly debited amount to the customer's account due to failed ATM transactions within seven days of the complaint from tomorrow onwards, as against the current norm of 12 days. However, the number of free transactions allowed at ATMs of banks other than where a customer holds the account would now also comprise non-financial transactions like balance inquiry. Currently, customers are allowed a limited number of free transactions, generally five, for cash withdrawal and other financial transactions from other bank ATMs, while there is no cap on number of free non-financial transactions like balance inquiry, PIN change and mini statement. Now, the RBI has allowed the number of free transactions permitted per month at other bank ATMs to be inclusive of all types of transactions, financial or non-financial. These free transactions would be available to only the savings bank account holders. Banks have started informing their respective customers about the proposed changes. In one such notification, HDFC Bank said it would charge Rs 20 per financial transaction such as cash withdrawal beyond five free ones. Besides, it would charge Rs 8.50 for every non-financial transaction such as balance inquiry, pin change and mini statement after the five free transactions a month. At the same time, HDFC Bank said that it "will credit such wrongly debited amounts within a period of 7 working days from the date of the complaint. In another measure to check any fraudulent use of bank accounts, banks have also been told by the RBI to provide SMS and e-mail alerts to customers for every transaction from tomorrow, as against the current practice of alerts for only select transactions.— PTI
	Cabinet nod to Cairn-Vedanta deal New Delhi, June 30 The government on Thursday conditionally approved the company's plan to buy majority stake in oil explorer Cairn India. "This will create an appropriate sentiment in the market," finance minister Pranab Mukherjee told reporters after a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA). The long-awaited approval of the Cairn-Vedanta deal comes 10 months after it was mooted. It is likely to send a positive signal to the foreign investors. Petroleum minister Jaipal Reddy said the cabinet has accepted most of the recommendations made by the group of ministers (GoM), headed by the finance minister. "I would like to invite foreign investors in oil and gas sector," Reddy said while Reddy said the government has given its conditional nod and now it was up to the companies to decide on the deal. "Now the ball is in Cairn and Vedanta court. They have to take further decisions," he said. Cairn Energy in August 2010 agreed to sell its majority stake to Vedanta in a deal that is valued at $9.6 billion. The deal was held up due to protests from the state-owned ONGC, which has a 30 per cent stake in Cairn India's oilfields in Rajasthan - the biggest onshore finds in the country in two decades. Although it owns less than a third of stake in the oilfields, ONGC has to pay royalty for the entire output of crude from the fields. — IANS
	AI arms expected to be operational by year-end Vibha Sharma Tribune News Service New Delhi, June 30 Air India’s two planned subsidiaries, an important constituent of the turnaround plan, are expected to be operational by the year-end. The companies would have an independent paid-up capital between Rs 70 crore and Rs 120 crore, said sources. Sources said a note on operationalising the proposed subsidiaries, one for ground handling and the second for setting up an MRO (Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul) at four places in India, has been forwarded to the Cabinet by the Civil Aviation Ministry. The issue is likely to be figure in the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) soon. Envisaged as profit making companies from day one, the subsidiaries - Air India Transport Service Ltd and Air India Engineering Services Ltd - are expected to take the burden of at least 20,000 employees of Air India. The ground handling as well as the engineering unit will take up work for other airlines, making them both self-sufficient and profit-making entities. AI sources say the MRO units at Delhi, Mumbai, Thiruvananthpuram and Nagpur will be a big help for all airlines. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told Editors yesterday that he would ask Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee to take ‘expeditious decisions’ to revamp the ailing carrier. The business plans of the two subsidiaries have been submitted to the government. The carrier has sought an additional Rs 1800 crore, taking the total infusion to Rs 5,000 crore during this financial year itself. The government infused Rs 2,000 crore in 2009-10, raising the airline’s equity base to Rs 2,145 crore.
	Core sector growth slows down to 5.3 pc in May New Delhi, June 30 With natural gas and cement showing decline in production, the growth of eight core infrastructure industries slowed down to 5.3 per cent in May against 7.4 per cent a year ago. The core industries - crude oil, petroleum refinery products, natural gas, fertilisers, coal, electricity, cement and finished steel - have a weight of 37.90 per cent in the overall index of industrial production, according to the provisional data released today. With addition of two sectors - fertilisers and natural gas - the number of key infrastructure sectors, picked up separately for measuring performance has now gone to eight. Six sectors showed positive growth, the pace of expansion declined in the case of refinery products and steel. Natural gas and cement showed a negative growth of 9.6 per cent and 2.3 per cent, respectively. Sectors like crude oil, electricity, fertilisers and coal showed an improvement in growth. During April-May 2011, these sectors grew at a slower pace of 4.9 per cent compared to 7.9 per cent in the same period last year. — PTI
	No tie-up with Huawei to set up testing lab: Sibal Tribune News Service New Delhi, June 30 Amid security concerns, India has decided to conduct testing and certification of software and hardware of all foreign telecom companies. Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal said the decision had been taken in view of the fact that 70-80 per cent of telecom equipment are imported and have been deployed largely by the private service providers. Sibal denied that the Home Ministry has objected to the Indian Institute of Science’s agreement with a Chinese telecom company Huawei Technologies. Sibal said Huawei is not in any sort of privileged position as the same details will be sought from other networking companies such as Juniper, Cisco etc. To perform ‘Testing’ on recent generation of telecom hardware being manufactured world over, the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore was entrusted with the job to set up a lab at an estimated cost of Rs 60 crore of which Rs 50 crore would be funded by the government. The IISc had simultaneously approached several vendors including Cisco, Juniper, Huawei from the US, Europe and Asia to share internal details of their telecom equipment like detailed design document and internal architecture which are vital for detailed testing. Sibal pointed out that this agreement between Huawei and IIsc was termed as ‘Memorandum of Understanding’ or MoU. “It is not an MoU, but an NDA (non-disclosure agreement),” he said. “We are not collaborating with any company to set up our testing laboratory,” he said.— With Agency Inputs
	India-Malaysia FTA takes effect today New Delhi, June 30 The free trade agreement between India and Malaysia will come into force from tomorrow, giving Indian professionals like accountants, engineers and doctors access to the key South-East Asian nation. Exports of items of considerable interest to India, like basmati rice, mangoes, eggs, trucks, motorcycles and cotton garments, will attract lower or no duty in Malaysia with the implementation of the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA), according to a statement of the Commerce Ministry issued here today. Sensitive sectors like agriculture, fisheries, textiles, chemicals and automobiles have been given protection from imports without duty or with significant cuts. The CCEA will facilitate temporary movement of business people, including contractual service suppliers and independent professionals in accounting, architecture, engineering services, medical and dental, nursing and pharmacy, computer services and management consulting. — PTI
	Ashok Soota offloads 5.5% in MindTree; scrip up 9% New Delhi, June 30 Ashok Soota, former Chairman of IT firm MindTree, today sold half of his 11.4 per cent stake in the company in a block deal. It was, however, not clear who has picked up his stake since the transaction has taken place in the open market. Soota confirmed the news of him selling his 5.5 per cent stake sale in the IT company, but did not specify the buyers and price of the deal. He added that the sale took place on the National Stock Exchange at a decent premium. Shares of Mindtree zoomed up by over 19 per cent in morning trade on the bourses following the reports that 22 lakh shares of the company changed hands in a block deal. According to the reports, the deal was done at Rs 428 per share, which is at an 18.58 per cent premium vis-a-vis on yesterday's closing price of Rs 361. The stock soared by 18.17 per cent to touch a month's high of Rs 426.60 on the BSE, while on the NSE, the scrip surged by 19.13 per cent to touch an early peak of Rs 430. The stocks settled at Rs 392.65, up 8.77 per cent from its previous close on the BSE.Soota, along with nine other industry professionals, had set up MindTree in August 1999. — PTI
	Punjab traders lament excess paperwork Neeraj Bagga Tribune News Service Amritsar, June 30 About 1.75 lakh registered VAT dealers in the state are perturbed with the Punjab government for overburdening them with paper work by issuing notifications now and then. The Excise and Taxation department, in its recent notification, directed the traders to separately mention articles sold in their VAT forms and had also given a list of 1,800 items under it. The traders are perplexed that it would be a time-consuming process to prepare separate lists. Surinder Singh, a general merchant, said there were hundreds of items in his shop and to show them separately in the form would require him to hire an accountant. He said it would increase their expenditure and would consume a lot of time. Punjab Pradesh Beopar Mandal president Amrit Lal Jain said with each notification, the government was making trading tiresome and miserable affair. The fresh notification has added to the woes of the traders, who were already protesting against a notification that came into effect on June 20. The notification says the government bifurcated the payment of the VAT surcharge. Jain said it was the government’s duty to disburse funds to various departments after collecting taxes.
	DLF sells 400 plots worth Rs 700 crore New Delhi, June 30 The country's largest realty company DLF today sold 400 plots worth about Rs 700 crore in Gurgaon. The company today launched these plots at a basic selling price of Rs 40,000 per sq yard. The size of the plots varies from 300 sq yard to 500 sq yard. These plots will be part of the 101-acre township where a large group housing project is being developed. "We launched 400 plots in Gurgaon. We have received more than 400 applications for booking the plots," a company spokesperson said. The sales realisation is estimated at about Rs 700 crore over the next two years, sources had said yesterday. Last month, DLF had said that the company would focus more on plotted development this fiscal.— PTI
	Punjab identifies firms making false purchases Manav Mander Tribune News Service Ludhiana, June 30 The Punjab Excise and Taxation Department has identified 5,000 firms in the city involved in purchasing from the bogus firms. Notices are being sent to such firms. The department is hopeful of finding more such firms once the records of these firms come under scanner. To claim Income Tax Credit (ITC) and refund traders show bogus transactions and nearly 60 per cent of the firms showing bogus turnover are from Ludhiana. Assistant Excise and Taxation Commissioner, Rishipal Singh, said : “The department has already sent notices to nearly 600 firms till date while the remaining is in process.”