New Delhi, August 2
The government today sought Parliamentary approval for additional gross expenditure of Rs 34,724 crore for 2011-12 with an assurance that the net cash outgo of Rs 9,016 crore will not push fiscal deficit beyond projections in the Budget.

This is the first batch of supplementary demand for grants in the current year.

The Supplementary Demands were presented in the Lok Sabha by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee with the promise that while extra expenditure of over Rs 34,724. crore was being earmarked, "there would be overall savings in other grants."

As the government aims to stick to the fiscal defict target of 4.6 per cent of GDP in 2011-12, it is seeking additional resources in a conservative way.

The additional demands for grants include a provision of Rs 2,300 crore for Rural Development Ministry for meeting expenditure for conducting surveys on BPL, a crucial requirement for implementing the proposed National Food Security Act. The additional provision of about Rs 10,612 crore is being sought for providing loans to International Monetary Fund.

The government is also seeking Parliamentary nod for Rs 1,585.7 crore for additional equity investment in the bonus shares issued by ONGC. Rs 410.73 crore have been asked for providing payment of ex-gratia to victims of Bhopal gas tragedy.

As much as Rs 434.6 crore are being provided in the supplementary demands to Air India towards payment of maintenance of aircraft used for VVIP travel.

Besides, the government plans to provide Rs 1,000 crore more on the national clean energy fund.

Later, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee told reporters that the additional supplementary demands would not impact the fiscal deficit target.

The grants are being sought in advance so that the departments get more time to implement their projects. "I will keep my borrowing within limit," Mukherjee said.

The net market borrowing of the central government via dated securities in 2011-12 is estimated to be Rs 3.43 lakh crore. — Agencies 

Mumbai, August 2
DLF Ltd, the country’s top listed real estate developer, on Tuesday met street estimates with a 12 per cent fall in quarterly net profit, hit by higher operational and land costs, with rising interest rates in Asia’s third-largest economy dampening buyer sentiment.

New Delhi-based DLF said consolidated net profit fell to Rs 360 crore ($81 million) for its fiscal first quarter ended June, from Rs 410 crore a year earlier. Total expenditure rose 26 per cent to Rs 1,505 crore in the quarter.

New Delhi, August 2
Even as the Air India Management has sought Rs 33,000 crore from the Centre , the employees of the debt-ridden national carrier are set to get two-month salary and one month Performance Linked Incentive (PLI) this week.

An assurance in this reagrd was made today by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in a meeting with CPI leader Gurudas Dasgupta who raised the issue on an urgent basis.

Earlier during the day, the Trinamool Congress also demanded payment of AI staff salaries and exhibited placards in the Lok Sabha to substantiate their demands. The issue was however first raised by Dasgupta at an early July meeting of the Petitions Committee of Parliament of which he is a member. The Petitions Committee can take up complaints which involve action on part of the Centre.

“The Air India management appeared before the Committee and said they needed Rs 33,000 bailout from the Centre and were not in a position to pay salaries. There is no guarantee that this bailout money will turn around the fortunes of AI, which has become a bottomless pit,” Dasgupta today told The Tribune after meeting the PM in Parliament.

The Left Front also said the AI financial mess would prove a bigger scam than the ongoing 2G Spectrum issue as evidence had come to light of planes being withdrawn from profitable routes and of planes being bought in excess of the demand.

“Files pertaining to the diversion of planes from profitable routes have gone missing,” Dasgupta said. The report of the Comptroller and Auditor General on the downslide of AI following its merger with the Indian Airlines is expected to be tabled shortly in this session of Parliament.

In the meeting with Dasgupta, the PM summoned Civil Aviation Minister Vayalar Ravi and later announced that the salary of two months and a PLI of one month of each employee would be disbursed within three to four days. Two month salary and four-month PLI of AI Employees stands defaulted.

"I told the PM that his inaction is hurting. The matter needs his urgent intervention. He has asked me to return tomorrow for discussions," Dasgupta said.

New Delhi, August 2
The government proposes to ban distribution of gifts and food coupons at the Annual General Meetings of companies, as these activities distract shareholders from serious business.

"No company shall offer any other thing except tea, coffee, soft drinks and snacks etc in the AGM...Any other gifts, food coupons or gift coupons and other enticement shall be treated as misconduct on the part of board of directors of the company," the Corporate Affairs Ministry said in the draft circular.

Inviting comments from stakeholders on the draft circular, the MCA said the directors of such companies will have to pay back the cost of such expenses to the company and would also be liable for the penal action under section 168 of the Companies Act, 1956, for not convening the AGM as required.

"It has also been brought to the notice that the companies offergifts, extravagant food and other charms to shareholders who attend AGM to divert the attention of the shareholders from the main purpose of AGM and their right of key role in the management of the company through AGM," the MCA said.

It added that the Secretarial Standards on General Meeting issued by the Institute of Company Secretaries of India also specifically mentioned that no gifts, gifts coupons or cash in lieu of gifts should be distributed to the members at or in connection with the meeting.

The draft would be available for comments till August 14.— PTI

Chandigarh, August 2
After Airtel, Vodafone Essar users in the state would have to pay more from tomorrow with the cellular company deciding to raise its call rates by 20 per cent and SMS charges by 66 to 150 per cent from tomorrow.

Announcing changes in the tariff plan for 'pay per second' in the public notice, the company has said local and STD call rates on 'Vodafone to Vodafone' and from 'Vodafone to others' network will be 1.2 paise per second from 1 paisa per second at present.

Currently, Vodafone is charging 1 paise per second from its prepaid customers.

Vodafone Essar has also announced local SMS charges of Rs 1 per SMS as against 60 paise being charged at present, showing an increase of 66 per cent in charges.

The rates are on a par with those of Airtel, which had also hiked the SMS rates.— PTI

Chandigarh, August 2
The decision to allow the export of cotton under the open general licence (OGL) has brought cheer to the cotton traders and ginners in the region. Within a day of the curbs on exports being lifted, the prices of cotton have gone up by Rs 100 per mound in various mandis in the region.

Cotton prices have jumped from Rs 3,210 per mound last week, to Rs 3,325 per mound in Bathinda mandi today. Traders in Bathinda said that the prices would go up further with all restrictions on cotton exports being removed by the Government of India.

With cotton prices in the domestic market being less than the existing price in the global market, the gap would now be bridged as the traders start exporting cotton.

Rakesh Rathi, president of The Northern India Cotton Association, said that the price of cotton (Punjab J 34 variety) in the domestic market was around 90 cents per pound .

“The price of a similar variety of cotton in the global market is around 105 cents per pound. With all quantity restrictions being removed on export of cotton, farmers and cotton traders will fetch a much better price,” he said.

It may be mentioned that the government had capped cotton exports last year in order to protect the domestic textile industry, which was saddled with the high cost of raw material. In March this year, cotton prices had zoomed to Rs 6,700 per mound in this region. As a result, quantity restrictions on cotton exports were imposed.

As stocks piled in the domestic market and restrictions on exports continued, it led to a crash in prices, which came down to Rs 3,200 per mound. Bhagwan Bansal, president of Punjab Cotton Factories and Ginners Association, told the Tribune that had the government not lifted the curbs in exports, the cotton growers and ginners would not have been able to fetch good prices.

New Delhi, August 2
Tata Motors plans to carry out changes in dealership network. The focus would be on opening product category-specific outlets. The company, which launched a new look Aria today, would be looking at opening 300 Nano-specific outlets and 100 utility vehicle specific showrooms by the fiscal-end.

It presently has 250 showrooms which Tata Motors complete range of products.

Tata Motors MD India Operations P M Telang said, "There are few corrections needed to be done in few areas and there is a need for rethinking and rejigging of the product portfolio. We are also looking at some alternative dealership route".

His reply came to a specific query about the company's falling sales of passenger vehicles.

Explaining the "alternative dealership" route, company Vice-President (Commercial) Passenger Car Business Unit R Ramakrishnan said: "We are moving away from full range of dealerships to product specific dealerships."

There will be three kinds of dealerships - Nano-specific, utility vehicle (UV)-specific and passenger car-specific - although some could remain full-range dealerships.

Ramakrishnan said: "We are still at the early stages of understanding the market. We are going through a learning curve and are trying a lot of different things in marketing activities, like selling the car through Big Bazaar outlets." 

BRIEFLY

SAIL FPO deferred due to market volatility
New Delhi: State-run Steel Authority of India's (SAIL) much awaited follow-on public offer,tentatively scheduled for June this year, was deferred on account of stock market volatility, Parliament was informed on Tuesday. "The transaction for the first tranche, which was tentatively scheduled to open for public subscription in June 2011, has been deferred due to volatility in the share market, coupled with low market price of SAIL scrip," Minister of State for Finance S S Palanimanickam said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.— PTI

HDFC hikes lending rates
New Delhi: The country's leading housing finance company HDFC today hiked retail prime lending rate by 50 basis to 16.50 per cent. The revised rate is with effect from August 1. A new loan borrower will be charged an interest of 10.75 per cent per annum for loans up to Rs 30 lakh, 11 per cent for loans over Rs 30 lakh but under Rs 75 lakh and 11.5 per cent to those above that, a company spokesman said— PTI

Consumer price Index for industrial workers
New Delhi: The All-India Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers (CPI-IW) having base 2001=100 increased by two points and stood at 189 during June 2011. During the month, the index increased by 8 points in Doom Dooma Tinsukia centre, by 7 points in Rajkot centre, by 5 points each in Puducherry, Varanasi, Guwahati and Chandigarh centres, while it increased 4 points in 7 centres, 3 points in 8 centres. — Agencies

ED to interrogate Citibank-fraud mastermind
New Delhi: Enforcement Directorate will now interrogate Shivraj Puri, the mastermind of Rs 461 crore-fraud case at the Citibank branch in Gurgaon under the provisions of anti-money laundering laws.— PTI