New Delhi, August 23
Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma has written to Environment Minister Jayanthi Natarajan and complained that environmental clearances were taking too long.

This, he said, was delaying projects. He also said that the environment ministry was insisting on earmarking 5 per cent of the project investment for corporate environmental responsibility, which was beyond its brief.

In the letter to Natarajan, who took over as environment minister recently, Sharma has pointed out that industry captains raised serious concerns on environmental regulations, in a recent meeting chaired by the Finance Minister.

Sharma has said that industry has strong apprehensions on certain regulatory aspects administered by the Ministry.

It was highlighted that environment clearances for power and industrial plants typically take 9 to 12 months, clearances for diversion of forest land for such projects takes anywhere between 1-2 years and clearances for diversion of forest land for coal mines takes a similar amount of time.

“The recent policy circulars issued by your Ministry state that environment clearances need to follow a sequential order rather than proceed parallely as was done earlier. This will lead to enormous delays in crucial projects specially in the core sector of economy, with a cascading impact on growth of infrastructure in India. The FM has given an assurance that the matter would be expeditiously addressed by the government and corrective measures would be taken.”

Sharma pointed out that even a CSR agenda was administered voluntarily and was not to be mandated by the government.

He has asked the Environment Minister to intervene to invoke necessary correctives and allay the misapprehensions of industry leaders. 

Mumbai, August 23
India needs to plug gaps in existing banking rules before it lets corporate houses open banks, the Reserve Bank chief said on Tuesday, signalling the need for tighter regulation to deter firms from practices like self-lending.

Duvvuri Subbarao's comments come amid expectations that the Reserve Bank of India will soon announce initial draft guidelines for the issue of new bank licenses, a move keenly awaited by a host of Indian corporates eyeing the banking space.

"As much as these prescriptions are extensive, there are still gaps," Subbarao told a banking conference, noting that if a corporate had an interest in a bank as a promoter or shareholder but had no board position, current rules did not prevent the bank from lending to the corporate.

“As we contemplate allowing corporates to promote banks, there is need for changes in statutes and regulations to address these concerns," Subbarao said.

Corporate houses such as the Tatas, the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, the Bajajs and the Mahindras who are in the financial services space through non-banking financing companies, may look at the banking space as it opens up avenues to mop up low-cost deposits and raise large amounts of funds.

The government brought a bill to parliament in March to amend the banking laws to give the RBI more teeth.

The measures include giving the RBI powers to set conditions while approving the acquisition of share capital and also to call for information and returns from associate companies of banking companies engaged in financial services.

"We have sent a draft amendment to the Banking Regulations Act to the government and the government is working on it. So amendments to the Banking Regulations Act are necessary before we contemplate corporates coming into banks," Subbarao later told reporters.

The RBI had last issued licenses a decade back and has said it will only issue a few new licenses.

The RBI issued an initial discussion paper last year on new bank licenses and subsequently sought feedback. But the issue has since been delayed as the Finance Ministry and RBI reportedly had differences on issues such as the scale of foreign ownership permitted in new banks.— Reuters

Taipei/Hong Kong, August 23
Asian suppliers to Apple Inc have begun manufacturing a lower-priced version of its hot-selling iPhone 4 with a smaller 8 gigabyte flash drive, according to two people with knowledge of the matter.

The flash drive for the 8GB iPhone 4 is being manufactured by a Korean company, one of the people said on Tuesday, declining to name the company. Apple currently sources its flash drives from Japan's Toshiba and South Korea's Samsung Electronics. Sources declined to be identified because the information has not been made public.

Apple, which demands high levels of secrecy and security from suppliers and employees, declined to comment. Samsung also declined to comment.

The existing iPhone 4 was first launched in June 2010 with 16 GB and 32 GB versions, with a white version added to the lineup in April. The 8GB version is expected to launch within weeks, the sources said.

Some analysts said the cheaper 8GB iPhone 4 could help Apple boost sales in emerging markets.

"Apple may want to push into the emerging market segment where customers want to switch to low- to mid-end smartphones from high-end feature phones, which usually cost $150-200," said Yuanta Securities analyst Bonnie Chang.

"But I think for an 8GB iPhone 4 the price is hard to go below $200, so Apple will still need a completely new phone with low specifications for the emerging markets."

IPHONE 5 BY END-SEPT?

In addition to the launch of the smaller iPhone 4, Apple is targeting an end-September launch for the next-generation iPhone 5, one source said, confirming earlier reports on Apple follower blogsites and industry websites.

The new iPhone, which some call the iPhone 4S because of its largely identical appearance to the existing iPhone 4, will have a bigger touch screen, better antenna and an 8-megapixel camera, one of the people said. The iPhone 5's two manufacturers have been told to prepare production capacity for up to 45 million units altogether, the source said. The phone will be made by Hon Hai and Pegatron, the person added.

Apple sold 20.34 million iPhones in the second quarter versus an expected 17 million to 18 million, and is increasingly looking to Asia to boost future earnings.

COO Tim Cook said in July the company is particularly optimistic about Greater China. "I firmly believe that we are just scratching the surface right now," Cook said about China. "I think there is an opportunity for China there."— Reuters

Chandigarh, August 23
The doubling of limit for the debt swap scheme has failed to get any positive response from the farmers under loan in Punjab and Haryana.

Under this scheme, farmers could swap loans (with a maximum limit of Rs 50,000) taken from money lenders with a bank loan. But this scheme failed to pick up as it involved a lot of paperwork.

Also, the maximum limit set for debt swap was too less.

The scheme, meant to wean away farmers from the clutches of money lenders and to provide them with access to institutional finance, has not even met 20 per cent of its target set by the state level bankers committee in the two states.

The scheme has managed to achieve just 9 per cent of its target in Haryana, and just 16 per cent of its set target in Punjab.

The scheme has been completely ignored by the private and cooperative banks in the two states, though the public sector banks and the regional rural banks have started implementing this scheme.

Bankers said that the main reason for the poor response to the scheme was the fact that farmers have a long association with the money lenders, who are generally the commission agents through whom these farmers also sell their produce. Also, these money lenders lend them money as and when required, while it may take time for the banks to process the loan.

The scheme was introduced in 2008. It was decided that at least 3 per cent of disbursement under agriculture should be earmarked for loans under the Debt Swap scheme. The state level bankers committee has not just reduced the paperwork involved, but had asked all banks to also raise the limit to Rs 1 lakh. — PT

London, August 23
Investors peering through the receding fog of war will find plenty of promise and a few pitfalls in a post-Gaddafi Libya. If peace takes hold in Africa's largest oil producer after a six-month civil war, the long-dormant economy could rapidly flourish provided there has been no substantial damage to the oil and gas infrastructure underpinning its national wealth.

Much remains undecided as anti-government forces gain control of Tripoli in their final push to end the four-decade rule of Muammar Gaddafi but a new Libyan government could herald a bonanza for Western companies and investors.

"Libya is a fantastically wealthy country that doesn't need foreign money but foreign expertise. This could be the start of an experiment in hydrocarbon-fuelled capitalism with a lot of money up for grabs," said Emad Mostaque, Chief West Asia and North Africa strategist at Religare Capital Markets.

Though less advanced than the rest of North Africa even prior to the civil war, the Libyan economy has ample resources it could marshall for national reconstruction.

An estimated $150 billion in sovereign assets once controlled by Gaddafi and his inner circle has been frozen abroad by foreign governments and 144 tonnes of gold is held by the Libyan central bank.

Combine that with a modest population of 6.4 million and standards of education on a par with established emerging economies such as Malaysia and Mexico, and Libya looks well placed for recovery, said Sven Richter, head of frontier markets at Renaissance Asset Managers. "From that point of view, they are in a quite enviable position," he said.

A sovereign wealth fund set up in 2006 to manage Libya's oil revenues could also prove pivotal if the new government does not purge all personnel associated with Gaddafi.

Though somewhat depleted, the Libyan Investment Authority still holds billions of dollars in cash and a number of lucrative equity stakes in Western blue-chip companies such as Pearson and UniCredit. It could spearhead infrastructure development and make up for some of this year's slump in foreign direct investments, which according to United Nations data swelled Libya's coffers by $3.8 billion last year. Investment from the fund could also help broaden the Libyan economy away from oil and help attract other sovereign wealth funds and longer term foreign investors.

Politics remains key. "In the last couple of weeks, there have been increasing questions about the unity of the rebels, especially after the killing of General Abdel Fattah Younes just 12 days ago," said Raza Agha, MENA economist at RBS.— Reuters

New Delhi, August 23
Ahead of its takeover by Vedanta Resources, Cairn India today said its Chief Financial Officer Indrajit Banerjee has quit the company. "Banerjee has stood down from his position as Executive Director and CFO with effect from August 23 to take a new position elsewhere," the company said.

Cairn Energy is selling 40 per cent and controlling stake in its Indian unit to London-listed mining group Vedanta.

Stating that Banerjee had joined Cairn India in early 2007 after its listing on the BSE and the NSE, Cairn India CEO Rahul Dhir said,

“During his four and half years with Cairn India, Indrajit played a major role in putting the Rajasthan development funding plan in place and also established world class systems, processes and governance mechanisms.” — PTI