The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

AI seen posting Rs 7,000 crore loss
National airline is in talks with banks to restructure $4 bn debt

New Delhi, August 3
Ailing state carrier Air India is estimated to report a loss before tax of Rs 6,994 crore for FY11, civil aviation minister Vayalar Ravi said on Wednesday.

“The turnaround plan submitted by Air India envisages substantial equity support,” Vayalar Ravi told parliament in a written reply.

A panel of ministers has been holding meetings to discuss infusing equity in loss-making Air India, and is in the process of preparing a note to the Cabinet, a source familiar with the discussions said last month.

At June end, Air India had outstanding dues of Rs 834 crore on airport charges, while private carrier Kingfisher Airlines had dues of Rs 205 crore, Ravi said on Wednesday.

Jet Airways, which also controls low-cost JetLite, had combined dues of about Rs 51.5 crore, Ravi said in response to a question on airlines' dues on account of landing, parking and other charges.

Air India is in talks with banks to restructure $4 billion of working capital debt and is in the midst of implementing a turnaround plan which would focus on a hub-and-spoke route model, cut costs by redeploying staff and unload non-core real estate.

The airline has not posted a profit since merging with former duopoly partner Indian Airlines in 2007 and relies on handouts from New Delhi to survive. It is behind on its payroll obligations and was forced one day in May to cancel a handful of flights because it had not paid its fuel bills.

— Reuters

Never paid any bribe to anyone: Tata

Mumbai, August 3
Tata group Chairman Ratan Tata today rejected allegations of giving bribe to former telecom minister A Raja to secure 2G Spectrum allocation and said charges being made in the court proceedings were an attempt at diversion.

Facing questions from a shareholder at the AGM of Tata Steel company, he said unfortunately there are no defamation laws in the country and one can say anything in court and get away with it.

"Not even one paisa was paid to A Raja. The money was for the hospital and medical equipment meant for people. Since no hospital was built and no equipment was purchased, no money was paid.

"We do not make payments in advance. The statements made in courts are to create a diversion," Tata said, while replying to a question on reports that the company had paid Rs 20 crore to a hospital in Raja's constituency.

Yesterday, jailed Swan Telecom's promoter Shahid Usman Balwa had said that Tatas gave donation to the tune of Rs 20 crore to a hospital in Tamil Nadu.

"We have not paid Rs 20 crore to A. Raja. It’s being said in the court for other reasons of diversion," Tata told the shareholders at the 104th AGM of Tata Steel.

"Lots of things we have not said in public because we have given all the information to the agencies. Besides, the matter is sub-judice and we may risk contempt of court, if we see anything more," he said, adding, "We have never been asked or given any sort of bribe or gratification to A. Raja or anybody else."

"I am sure, when the dust settles, things will become clearer. Unfortunately, there are no defamation laws in this country. But in a court they can make any statement they like," Tata said. — PTI

Airtel net dips 28 per cent
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 3
The country’s largest telecom operator Bharti Airtel today reported 28 perc ent fall in profit for the quarter ended June 30, mainly as a result of its purchase of African operations, costs of its new third-generation network in India and higher tax outgo.

The company said consolidated net profit fell to Rs 1215 crore for its fiscal first quarter ended June, from Rs 1,682 crore a year earlier. However, total income increased 38 per cent to Rs 16,975 crores from Rs 12,244 crores in the year-ago period.

License fee for Q1 rose 24 per cent from Rs 1,200 crore to Rs 1,490 crore from a year earlier.

"Bharti Airtel has started this fiscal year on a stable note. Revenue growth has been steady across all geographies. In India, the company's efforts in the area of cost efficiencies have helped arrest the margin decline", Bharti airtel Chairman and Managing Director Sunil Bharti Mittal said. In India, the company's efforts in the area of cost efficiencies have helped arrest the margin decline, he added.

Income before taxes dropped to Rs 1,719 crore in Q1, FY12 from Rs 2,072 crore in Q1, FY11, mainly on account of higher interest outgo.

MANAGEMENT TO FOREGO SALARY HIKE

The company today said all its corporate directors and CEOs have volunteered for no salary hike in 2011-12. "This is in line with the company's efforts to drive cost efficiencies," it said. "... all Corporate Directors and Chief Executive Officers (Asia and Africa) of the company have volunteered for no increase in their remuneration for fiscal year ending March 31, 2012," it said.

BlackBerry unveils two new Torch phones

Toronto, August 3
Research In Motion, the makers of BlackBerry, on Wednesday took the wraps off two more powerful versions of its touchscreen BlackBerry Torch, aiming to buy time until it can introduce a radically new software package in its smart phones.

The new phones, along with a Bold upgrade unveiled earlier, are part of what the Canadian company called its biggest global launch ever as it seeks to claw back North American market share losses from Apple's iconic iPhone and a slew of devices running on Google's Android software.

The three touchscreen phones, running on the new BlackBerry OS 7, each boast an improved screen display and pack a 1.2 GHz processor from Qualcomm, the most powerful ever for a BlackBerry phone.

The browser for the new phones is 40 per cent faster than the original Torch, RIM's last major phone launch which hit shelves almost a year ago.

But since co-chief executive Mike Lazaridis has already promised "superphones" next year using the QNX-based operating system running, analysts are looking beyond the launch.

"This is a necessary product refresh in advance of the big bang that we hope and expect will happen with QNX-based phones," said CCS Insight vice-president of research John Jackson.

RIM's newly-promoted global head of sales Patrick Spence said BlackBerry heritage was as a leading communications tool and "what we're talking about now with BlackBerry 7 is really enhancing that experience."

One Torch version is to the eye identical to the original touchscreen device with a slideout Qwerty keyboard, the other is RIM's first touch-only device.

The company’s North American market share has dipped sharply in the past year as high-end Android devices proliferate and Apple's iPhone was added to Verizon's lineup. Globally, the fall has been less severe.— Reuters

LAUNCH

The devices will launch with carriers globally by the end of August, the company said.

Vodafone questions I-T jurisdiction in Rs 11,000 cr tax case

New Delhi, August 3
British telecom giant Vodafone has questioned the Income Tax department’s jurisdiction in slapping Rs 11,000 crore as capital gains tax over its buy out of Hutchison’s 67 per cent stake in Essar-Hutchison joint venture, the final hearing on which began in Supreme Court today.

Arguing before a three-judge Bench headed by Chief Justice S H Kapadia, Vodafone representative and senior advocate Harish Salve contended that transaction between two foreign companies, Vodafone International Holding BV and HutchisonInternational Ltd, had happened outside India, hence the Income tax department can not impose capital gain tax.

"Both the companies are foreigners and the transaction happened outside the country," Salve said, adding that the overseas transaction can not be taxed.

He further contended that the deal was simply a transfer of control of "downstream companies by the two foreign companies and it can not be a basis (for
I-T Dept) to exercise jurisdiction".

Salve while contending that there was no capital gains to Vodafone said that Hutchison controlled stake in Hutchison Essar joint venture through some downstream companies and their control was transferred to Vodafone by an overseas transaction.

Vodafone will continue the arguments tomorrow.— PTI

SEBI nod to single-window clearance for approvals

Mumbai, August 3
Market regulator SEBI today approved a single-window clearance system for market entities, including stock brokers, merchant bankers and credit ratings agencies, for grant of prior approval for change in control of their management structures.

“ To expedite the process of granting prior approval (in case of change of control), it has been decided to adopt a single window clearance at SEBI, for the... intermediaries in case of their having multiple registrations with SEBI," it said.— PTI

RBI committee wants bank deposit insurance of Rs 5 lakh

Mumbai, August 3
To make banking sector more secure and customer friendly, the RBI has proposed several measures including introduction of a system under which a person would be able to block his stolen ATM card through a SMS.

The RBI has also proposed to raise the insurance on bank deposits to Rs 5 lakh and having a single common toll free call number for all banks, besides zero liability against loss in ATM and online transactions.

These form part of the recommendations of the Committee on Customer Service in Banks, constituted under chairmanship of former SEBI chairman M Damodaran, by RBI last year.

The committee — which was tasked to look into banking services rendered to retail and small customers, including pensioners — had submitted its report last month and the proposals were released into the public domain today.

In its report, the Damodaran committee proposed "instant blocking of ATM card through SMS-block for lost/misused cards."

"If an ATM card has been misused by another person, on receipt of SMS about use of the card, the customer should be able to immediately send return SMS to block the card with a single word like 'BLOCK' to prevent further withdrawals.

"...It is observed that considerable time is lost in locating the numbers of accounts, phone numbers etc., which gives the fraudsters more time to commit fraud," the report said.

The report further recommends that in case of default by banks, the Rs 1 lakh cover guaranteed to each account under current rules should be raised to Rs 5 lakh.

"With rise in general income levels resulting in increase in the size of individual bank deposits, this ceiling of Rs one lakh is considered insufficient. The Committee is of the view that this cover should be raised to at least Rs 5 lakh so as to encourage individuals to keep all their deposits in a bank," it said.— PTI

THE PROPOSALS

zero liability against loss in ATM and online transactions

Provision for blocking of a stolen ATM card through a SMS

Creation of a single common toll free call number for customer services for all banks.

Government dispels Parliament concerns over retail FDI
Vibha Sharma/TNS

New Delhi, August 3
Attempting to dispel apprehensions regarding opening up multi-brand retail sector for FDI, the government today said it would take an “early and appropriate” decision after it formally gets minutes of recommendations of top secretaries on the issue. The recommendations, were in interest of all stakeholders, including farmers.

In response to concerns raised by members on issues like job losses following opening up of the sector to foreign retailers, Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma told the Rajya Sabha that the decision would be in "supreme" national interest and create millions of jobs across the country.

India allows 51 per cent FDI in single brand retail and 100 per cent in cash and carry format of the business.

Yesterday, prominent rights’ group Right to Food Campaign also appealed to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to “save” the country’s public distribution system and farmers from “food retailer sharks and cartels”.

In their letter to the PM, Activists Aruna Roy, Nikhil Dey, Arundhati Dhuru, and Kavita Srivastava from the PUCL voiced fears that proposed dismantling of the PDS under the National Food Security Bill was “being done deliberately to pave the way for the entry of organised retail into the country.”

Reliance shuts oil production facilities in KG-D6

New Delhi, August 3
Reliance Industries (RIL) has shutdown production facilities at an oil field in its showpiece KG-D6 block off the Andhra coast for maintenance without any impact on production till now.

On July 31, the company started a shutdown to do maintenance work at a compressor on the Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) unit operating in the MA oilfield, sources said.

MA oilfield produces a little less than 15,000 barrels per day of oil and about 7.6 million standard cubic meters per day of natural gas from the five wells. KG-D6 block, which besides MA oilfield also includes the gigantic Dhirubhai-1 and 3 gas fields, is producing about 45.4 mmscmd of gas today.— PTI