The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	FDI in multi-brand retail Consumer Affairs ministry for a ceiling of 49 pc Sanjeev Sharma Tribune News Service New Delhi, July 18 The Department of Consumer Affairs while broadly supporting the proposal to allow FDI in multi-brand retail has suggested that the FDI level should be restricted to 49 per cent. As part of the consultation process on the proposal to allow FDI in retail, various ministries are being consulted on a proposal by the Industry Ministry and all these deliberations will be taken up by a Committee of Secretaries (CoS) which is looking into the matter after which it will go to the Cabinet for a final view. While Industry Ministry had proposed FDI at 51 per cent, the Department of Consumer Affairs favours 49 per cent. It has also made a point that the FDI should be by way of infusion of fresh capital to the enterprise and not by merely transfer of existing shares of Indian investors in organised retail. Against the proposal of 50 per cent investment in back-end, the Department of Consumer Affairs says that out of the total investment at least 75 per cent should be in back-end infrastructure and this should not fall below 50 per cent at any point. It says that an enterprise getting FDI should be directed to invest most of the fresh capital in upgradation of technology and the back-end chain. The proposals for FDI may also incorporate the manner in which farmers will have accessibility to this infrastructure. The investment of FDI in working capital should not be allowed. Also, the Department of Consumer Affairs has said that some kind of credit arrangement may be made for small retailers to modernise and adopt technologies to protect them. In addition, it says that the government should have the right of first procurement given the issues relating to the Food Security Bill. At least a percentage of the jobs in the retail outlet should be reserved for the rural youth. It says the conditionality has to be designed in such a way that the benefit actually flows to the rural youth. The Department of Commerce has supported the proposal with only one rider that it will be implemented in only those states which agree to come on board without their own conditionalities. It says that it is assumed that in order to take advantage of investments coming in multi-brand retail sector, the states would initiate reforms which are required. The Department of Agriculture has raised the point that confining the proposal to multi-brand retail would restrict it to only trading in agricultural products of international brands. This would not allow sale of unbranded agricultural products of India. Even branded agriculture products will not be sold in such formats unless the same is sold internationally as well. It has, therefore, proposed that the approval should be sought for FDI in retail and not restricted to FDI in multi-brand retail. It has also said that minimum 60 per cent of the agriculture products should be sourced domestically. Industry Ministry had proposed FDI at 51 per cent FDI should be by way of infusion of fresh capital to the enterprise Out of the total investment, at least 75 per cent should be in back-end infrastructure At least a percentage of the jobs in the retail outlet should be reserved for the rural youth Minimum 60 per cent of the agriculture products should be sourced domestically
	MNP: Idea leads the race with lowest ratio Vodafone, Airtel follow with 0.67 pc and 0.72 pc Girja Shankar Kaura/TNS New Delhi, July 18 As mobile phone users’ disenchantment with their existing telecom operators is growing, it is Idea Cellular which is leading the pack of service providers with the lowest ratio of Mobile Number Portability (MNP) “port in” requests. According to figures, requests of MNP stood at 105.70 lakh subscribers in May, a jump of 24 per cent over the figure of 85.41 lakh in the preceding month. Figures for June point out that it is Idea Cellular which has got the lowest ratio of “port in, port out” requests, followed by Vodafone and Airtel. The highest port in and port out ratio is with the Tata Teleservices’ CDMA service closely followed by the Reliance Communications. While Idea has got 19,93,684 port in requests, it has also got 11,33,886 port out requests. This leaves Idea with as many as 8,59,758 subscribers seeking to join the network with a port in and port out ratio at 0.57 per cent. While Airtel has got the maximum number of port in requests, it is at the third position as far as the port in, port out ratio is concerned with 0.72 per cent, just behind Vodafone which has a 0.67 per cent ratio. Vodafone has got 22,87,179 port in requests with as many as 15,27,269 port out requests leaving it with 7,59,910 new subscribers. Bharti Airtel has got the highest port in requests at 24,07,929 subscribers. But it has also got the highest number of port out requests at 17,37,992 subscribers, leaving it with 6,69,937 new subscribers. On the other hand, RCom’s CDMA service has got a port in request from 36,640 subscribers against a port out request from as many as 5,78,902 subscribers leaving in the negative with 5,42,262 subscribers and with a ratio of 15.80 per cent.
	India’s growth seen hurt by inflation, rate pressures Bangalore, July 18 Economists have scaled down their growth expectations and raised inflation forecasts for the Indian economy, compared with their outlook just 10 weeks ago, a Reuters quarterly poll showed. A poll of more than 20 economists, taken over the past week, showed the median estimate for 2011/12 GDP growth in Asia's third largest economy was down to 7.9 per cent from 8.3 per cent in the previous poll in May. "Just two months ago we were expecting an 8.8 per cent growth rate for this fiscal year but inflation is not showing signs of moderation, interest rates have surged and global uncertainty has increased so we were forced to revise it down to 8.1 per cent," said Arun Singh, senior economist at Dun & Bradstreet. Indian GDP is expected to grow 7.8 per cent in the June-quarter and then slow to 7.5 per cent in the next quarter, but pick up after that to stay above 8 per cent until at least the end of 2012, according to the poll.— Reuters
	Car rental firm buys fleet of 90 Mercs! Sunit Dhawan/TNS Gurgaon, July 18 Carzonrent, a car-rental company, created quite a flutter here today as it inducted a fleet of 90 customised C-Class Mercedes cars in the largest-value single-party luxury transaction in the country. This purchase makes Carzonrent the single-largest owner of Mercedes vehicles in the country with a fleet of 160 Mercedes cars. This fleet is exclusively targeted at premium clients of the mobility solutions company whom it has been catering for years. Peter T Honegg, MD and CEO, and Debashis Mitra, Director- Sales and Marketing, Mercedes-Benz India, made the formal handover to Rajiv Vij, MD, Carzonrent, here today. “The demand for luxurious personal mobility solutions is rapidly on the rise. We partner with various international and domestic airlines, hotels and financial services companies to service their high-flying guests. Today, almost 25 per cent of our car rental revenues come from this segment; and the demand is growing at a much faster pace as compared to other segments,” said Vij, adding that “the brand value of Mercedes-Benz is unparalleled; as such it was our natural choice.” Honegg and Mitra said: “A fleet of Mercedes-Benz cars offers a clear edge to brands that wish to benchmark themselves for their customer-oriented services.”
	BSNL launches voice and video telephony service New Delhi, July 18 State-run BSNL along with Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) provider Sai Infosystem today launched their voice and video telephony over Internet Protocol to its customers. Now any customer can make audio video calls at will on any landline, mobile or Internet Protocol phone anywhere in the world, provided that both the ends have requisite video phone equipment, BSNL said. The Voice and Video Over Internet Protocol (VVOIP) service will cost 40 paise per minute for audio calls and Rs 2 per minute for video calls within the country. International calls charges using VVOIP service are very affordable like a call to US will cost Rs 1.20 per minute, to the UK it will cost Rs 1.20 paise on landline, Rs 7.20 paise to mobile and Rs 1.20 paise per minute to China. Monthly charges for VVOIP will be Rs 150 only. The services will start from Ahmadabad and later will be available to Gujarat and then to Maharashtra and Chattisgarh. — PTI
	First phase of Orissa project by Jan’14: Tata New Delhi, July 18 Tata Steel today said the first phase of its Orrisa plant with three million tonnes per annum (mtpa) capacity may go on stream by the beginning of 2014. "The first phase of the project is expected to be commissioned by January 2014. This phase will have a three mtpa crude steel capacity feeding hot and cold rolling mills," the domestic steel major said in its annual report. The second phase with an annual capacity of three mtpa would be completed by March 2015, it added. Tata Steel has already embarked on setting up a six mtpa greenfield facility at Kalinganagar in Orrisa. It would produce premium flat and value-added products and supplement the production capacities of its Jamshedpur plant. Tata Steel said work on the site was already underway and the boundary wall around it had been completed. The project has received all necessary statutory clearances from the relevant regulatory authorities to set up the plant. "The construction site at Kalinganar is being connected via rail linkages to the nearest railway station and the Dhamra Port to enable efficient transfer of raw material and finished products once the plant is operational," it said. Tata Steel said the power requirement for the project would be met through two captive power plants to be set up by Industrial Energy Ltd, a joint venture between Tata Steel and Tata Power.— PTI