Chandigarh, September 23
The government plans to offer a new sop to export-oriented Information Technology (IT) companies, that are not operating out of a Special Economic Zone, by up to 50 per cent of the tax paid. For this, a non-profit linked incentive scheme is being mooted.

The incentive, being offered to almost 8,500 IT companies, registered with Software Technology Parks of India (STPI), will mainly be in the form of reimbursement for income tax.

The scheme will initially have a corpus of Rs 5,000 crore. Exemptions will be granted only to those units that are located in Tier-II and Tier-III cities.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the E-Revolution conclave organised by Chandigarh Administration and Government of Punjab, Omkar Rai, director general of STPI, said that the idea was to ensure that there was no adverse impact on growth of IT units because of discontinuation of the STPI scheme.

“A draft of this scheme has been submitted to STPI. We had roped in consulting firm Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, to prepare a study report on this incentive scheme, which is aimed at boosting small information technology companies,” he said.

The draft will now be sent to various ministries for consultation. After incorporating the observations of these ministries, a final draft will be presented before the Cabinet for its approval. This process could take up to one year, said Rai.

The STPI scheme expired on March 31 this year.

Under this scheme, IT units registered with STPI were liable for 100 per cent tax exemption, for a period of 10 years.

Currently, about 8,500 IT units are registered with STPI. Over 6,000 units are engaged in exports.

scheme details

* The incentive, being offered to almost 8,500 IT companies, registered with Software Technology Parks of India (STPI), will mainly be in the form of reimbursement for income tax.

* The scheme will initially have a corpus of Rs 5,000 crore. Exemptions will be granted only to those units that are located in Tier-II and Tier-III cities. 

Mumbai, September 23
The Securities & Exchange Board of India (SEBI) today notified a new takeover rule under which an entity buying 25 per cent stake in a listed firm will have to mandatorily make an open offer to buy an additional 26 per cent shares from public.

The new norms mark an increase in the open offer size for public shareholders from 20 per cent currently. Also the trigger for making such an offer has been raised from 15 per cent under the existing regulations.

“No acquirer shall acquire shares in a target company which taken together with shares or voting rights held by him... entitle them to exercise 25 per cent or more of the voting rights..., unless the acquirer makes a public announcement of an open offer," it said.

The new regulations, titled as 'The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Substantial Acquisition of Shares and Takeovers) Regulations, 2011', will come into effect from the next month.

Under the new rules, there would be no separate provision for non-compete fees, which allows promoters to higher price than the public shareholders, and all shareholders should be given the exit option at the same price. Partly accepting the recommendations of a SEBI-appointed panel on the matter, the regulator also decided to abolish the non-compete fees that acquirers generally pay to the sellers in merger and acquisition deals. The notification follows the decision taken at SEBI’s board meeting in July.— PTI

New Delhi, September 23
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has sought information from leading service providers on their bilateral agreements for entering into 3G roaming pacts. This is being done to ensure that there is no violation of licence terms and conditions.

“TRAI is investigating into 3G roaming agreements of telecom operators,” a source in the regulator body said.

The watchdog is looking at as to how these companies are selling 3G Spectrum services under the agreement, TRAI sources said.

The pacts were highlighted by the new tariffs announced by Idea Cellular, which were up to 50 per cent cheaper than the older ones and that too in circles where it did not have a licence.

While earlier it was charging Rs 450 for 600 MB — enough to cover the Internet usage from a smart-phone for a month.

Under the new scheme, it was offering services at only Rs 199 for 500 MB, or less than 40 paise per MB.

These were also available in the Delhi and Mumbai circles where Idea did not have its 3G services and as such it came into the notice of DoT.

In Delhi, Idea is using Vodafone’s 3G network to deliver its own 3G and is much cheaper than the rates offered by Vodafone itself.

In July, to reduce cost and offer pan-India 3G services, Vodafone, Bharti Airtel and Idea Cellular had started sharing their networks to provide seamless service to their customers.

These companies had entered into a bilateral roaming agreement, both inter and intra circle, to provide 3G services to customers in the circles where they can not build their own 3G network as they do not have the licence, to bring a pan-India experience of 3G services to their users.

Airtel, Aircel and Reliance Communications each owns 3G Spectrum licence in 13 of the 22 telecom circles, while Vodafone has it in 10 circles and Idea and the Tatas has it in nine circles.

Chandigarh, September 23
The Information Technology (IT) sector in the domestic market is banking heavily for growth on Small and Medium Entreprises (SMEs). Most IT companies now have dedicated business verticals, aimed at expanding their reach in the SME sector.

The growth in the SME sector is not jut restricted to these SMEs engaging in technology directly. These small companies are now also engaging in cloud computing in order to cut costs, which is propelling growth for the big IT companies.

Speaking to The Tribune on the sidelines of the E-Revolution conclave here today, Rajiv Rao, director, small and medium business (SMB), Lenovo, said: “From a market share of 1.7 per cent in the SMB sector in October last year, our share has grown to 5.1 per cent. SMB growth has forced us to invest more here. The best business for us is coming from small cities, rather than metroes,” he said.

Of the the 3 million units Lenovo sells in a quarter, almost 11 per cent were now being sold to SMEs, he said. The company is now creating exclusive Lenovo stores, especially for the SMBs.

Ganesh Lakshminarayanan, MD, Dell India, said that they have been expanding manufacturing facility at Chennai in order to meet the growing demand for PCs by SMBs.

“Almost 90 per cent of our units manufactured in India are being consumed by the domestic market, and demand is mainly fuelled by SMBs,” he said.

Karnal, September 23
Expressing concern over diminishing returns in the dairy sector, Managing Director, Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation, and RS Sodhi today emphasised on the need to ensure remunerative pricing for milk producers.

Sodhi, who was the chief guest at the 5th national seminar on “Integration of Indian dairy and food industry for future sustenance”, said that dairy farmers might opt for other vocations if the dairy sector failed to ensure higher returns to them.

Pleading for diversification of dairy products, he said that milk processing industry should be strengthened and expanded by widening the value added products to supplement the incomes of dairy farmers.

He said that “Amul Dairy”, the flagship of the Rs 9,774-crore Anand-based Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation is processing only 4 per cent of total milk production of 114 million tonnes.

Of the 30 crore litres of milk produced per day in the country, 50 per cent was consumed and only 50 per cent was available for sale. There was need to increase organised milk production for increasing processing, which was as low as 5.5 crore litres, he observed.

Director, National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI), AK Srivastava said that globally, 80 per cent of the food was processed while in India, the share of processed food was only 10 per cent.

New York, September 23
After showing doors to two CEOs withing a year, Hewlett-Packard has appointed high profile Meg Whitman to head the company which is facing criticism for its various business strategies.

The appointment of Whitman, who was formerly President and CEO of eBay and known for bolstering the fortunes of the auction site, is primarily aimed at restoring investor confidence in the business prospects of HP.

Whitman would replace Leo Apotheker, who was at the helm of HP for just about 11 months after the ignominious exit of Mark Hurd in the wake of allegations of unethical practices. As a part of the management reshuffle, HP late on Thursday said Non-Executive Chairman Ray Lane has been appointed as Executive Chairman.— PTI

New Delhi, September 23
India's crude oil production rose by 1.6 per cent in August to 3.24 million tons as higher output from Cairn India operated Rajasthan fields offset the decline at the state oil and gas explorer ONGC's assets.

Crude oil production in August was up 1.6 per cent to 3.24 million tons as against 3.19 million tons in the same period a year ago, according to the data released by the Oil Ministry here.

Cairn's Rajasthan oilfields produced 5,42,000 tons, 1.8 per cent more than August 2010. On the other hand, Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) saw a decline in output by 1.1 per cent to 2.03 million tons.

Its prime Mumbai High fields produced 2.2 per cent less crude at 1.41 million tons. State-owned Oil India Ltd (OIL) reported a 4.7 per cent rise in output to 330,900 tons.

Natural gas output dipped for the ninth straight month, declining 5.3 per cent to 4.1 billion cubic meters, according to the data.

Nineteen public and private sector refineries processed 3.9 per cent more crude in August at 14.03 million tons with state owned Indian Oil Corp (IOC) reporting a 0.8 per cent rise in crude throughput to 4.29 million tons.

Reliance Industries' 33 million tons a year Jamnagar refinery in Gujarat reported about a percentage drop in crude throughput at 3 million tonness. Essar Oil, the only other private refiner in the country, raised output by 3.9 per cent to 1.27 million tons.

Refineries operated at 109.5 per cent of the capacity in the month, compared to 102.3 per cent capacity utilisation in the year-ago period. — PTI