New Delhi, September 30
The Union Government’s fiscal deficit surged nearly two-fold to Rs 2.7 lakh crore during the first five months of the current fiscal due to low revenue realisation. The deficit was Rs 1.5 lakh crore in April-August period of 2010.

The fiscal deficit, the gap between overall expenditure and receipts, in the first five months of the financial year is over 66 per cent of the Budget estimate of Rs 4.12 lakh crore for 2011-12, as per the latest data of the Controller General of Accounts (CGA).

The rise in Centre’s fiscal deficit is on account of lower tax mobilisation compared to the same period last fiscal. The tax refund has brought down the net revenue collection.

The revenue receipt stood at Rs 1.88 lakh crore during the period against the Budget Estimate (BE) of Rs 7.89 lakh crore for the entire fiscal. This is 23.9 per cent of the BE.

At the same time, the non-tax revenue collection has declined sharply to 34.8 per cent compared to 102.8 per cent in the same period a year ago.

The non-tax revenue stood at Rs 43,655 crore as against the Budget Estimate of Rs 1.25 lakh crore for the whole year.

Besides, the government has mobilised just Rs 1,145 crore from disinvestment, although the target for the entire fiscal is Rs 40,000 crore. Disinvestment plan of the government has been hit due to uncertainty in the stock market fuelled by global economic slowdown.

Meanwhile, the revenue deficit, the difference between revenue earned and expenses, during April-August this year stood at Rs 2.3 lakh crore. This is almost twice the Rs 1.01 lakh crore figure during the first five months of 2010-11.

This also constitutes 75 per cent of the Budget Estimate of Rs 3.07 lakh crore revenue deficit for the entire 2011-12 fiscal. — PTI 

New Delhi, September 30
With rail tickets unavailable, high festive season travel demand has pushed up airfares exorbitantly, with most of the direct flights between metros, especially from or to the eastern region, being completely sold out.

One-way fares for the next few days range from about Rs 14,000 to a whopping Rs 30,180 on high demand sectors like Kolkata-Delhi or Ranchi-Delhi, while a major chunk of direct flights have been fully booked, travel portals and airlines sites showed.

The travel portals showed that air travellers have been left with no option but to reach their destinations on hopping flights and that too, at a very high price.

“I have asked the DGCA to use its powers and look into the matter, although beyond a point, we cannot do anything,” Civil Aviation Minister Vayalar Ravi said here yesterday.

While officials maintained that the high rates were being constantly monitored by a committee in the Directorate General of Civil Aviation set up a year ago, there seems to have been no impact on the fare levels.

The last-minute fares of almost all major airlines have risen by an average of 30-40 per cent due to the festive season, though sources in the airline industry maintained that due to high passenger traffic, the low-fare buckets were getting filled up fast leaving only the high-fare options.

They said the heightened demand has led to most of the direct flights, say from Kolkata, Guwahati, Ranchi, Patna or Bhubaneshwar, being sold out. Due to this, a passenger wanting to travel from Ranchi to Delhi would have to travel via Patna, Kolkata, Guwahati, Raipur or even Mumbai. — PTI 

New Delhi, September 30
India and 25 other countries including the US, China, Russia and Brazil, have opposed the European Union’s plan to include aviation under its emission trading scheme (ETS) and impose emission charges on airlines flying into the region starting next year.

After a two-day meeting here, the non-EU ICAO members adopted a joint declaration in which they termed as “unilateral” the imposition of EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EU-ETS), saying it was “inconsistent with applicable international law”.

Vowing to oppose the imposition of the ETS tax on their airlines flying to the EU, Civil Aviation Secretary Nasim Zaidi said, “The members asked the EU and its member states to refrain from including flights by non-EU carriers to and from an airport in the EU in its emission trading system.” The recent measure by the 27-nation bloc to impose carbon curbs on flights to and from the region have sparked protests by the non-EU members.

The EU move, which would become effective from 2012, would lead to a hike in air fares on these flights as the airlines, which would be paying the ETS charges, would pass them to their customers.

The EU-ETS, also known as the European Union Emissions Trading System, is the largest multi-national emissions trading scheme in the world. The joint declaration also said that the aviation emissions should be addressed by ICAO.

Under the EU-ETS, large emitters of carbon dioxide, including airlines, within the EU must monitor and annually report their carbon dioxide emissions.

They are obliged every year to return an amount of emission allowances to the government that is equivalent to their carbon dioxide emissions in that year.

Earlier, Civil Aviation Minister Vayalar Ravi had opposed the EU’s plan in an interview saying, “How can they dictate terms to us and why should we accept it? This is their fantasy.” — PTI 

New Delhi, September 30
Close on the heels of a sharp increase in petrol prices, Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) rates were hiked by a steep Rs 2 per kg today, mainly on account of a fall in the rupee value against the US dollar, pushing up the cost of inputs.

Indraprastha Gas Ltd (IGL), the sole supplier of CNG to automobiles and piped cooking gas to households in the national capital region, said CNG will cost Rs 32 per kg in Delhi from midnight tonight, as against Rs 30/kg at present.

Similarly, in neighbouring Noida, Greater Noida and Ghaziabad, CNG will cost Rs 2.30 per kg more, at Rs 35.90/kg, from midnight tonight, the company said in a press statement here.

This is the fifth increase in CNG prices this year and follows the Rs 3.14 per litre hike in petrol prices effected by fuel retail firms from September 16.

The hike was necessitated because IGL is being forced to buy expensive imported LNG due to a drop in supplies from Reliance Industries’ eastern offshore KG-D6 gas field. — PTI

New Delhi, September 30
In a relief to telecom service providers such as Bharti, Tatas and RCom, the telecom tribunal TDSAT today stayed the BSNL from disconnecting the services of the private operators on account of inter-connectivity charges.

Passing an interim order over the petitions of Reliance Communications and Tata Teleservices, the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) stayed the BSNL from disconnecting services.

The tribunal also directed the PSU to restore the Points of Interconnection (PoIs) of the private telecom operators, wherever they have disconnected.

Moreover, the tribunal said till the next date of hearing, operators would continue to pay at the old IUC rates. The matter would now come up for hearing on November 1.

The BSNL has disconnected PoI of RCom, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and the TTSL in Punjab circle.

The BSNL is claiming outstanding dues of Rs 165 crore for interconnect usage charges (IUC) from the private operators. It has already issued notice to players asking them to pay about Rs 165.62 crore for the IUC.

The IUC is paid by one operator to the other for using its network to complete calls and send SMSes.

The BSNL is claiming IUC at the rate of 65 paise per minute for such calls from all the private operators. However, the operators are insisting on paying 15 paise per minute.

New Delhi, September 30
Snapping two days of losses gold today rose by Rs 200 to Rs. 26,640 per 10 grams on buying support by stockists at existing low levels amid a firm trend in the Asian region.

Silver also shot up by Rs 800 to Rs. 54,300 per kg on increased offtake by industrial units and jewellers for the ongoing festive season.

Trading sentiments turned better after gold climbed in Asia, as investors sought to protect their wealth against Europe’s sovereign-debt crisis and a potential slowdown in the global economic recovery. Gold in the Asian region rose by 1.6 per cent to $1,640.32 an ounce and silver by 2.2 per cent to $31.29 an ounce in Singapore.

In addition, pick-up in local demand for the ongoing ‘Navratra’, considered an auspicious period in Hindu mythology for making new purchases, also supported the uptrend in both gold and silver.

On the domestic front, gold of 99.9 and 99.5 per cent purity recovered sharply by Rs. 200 each to Rs. 26,640 and Rs. 26,500 per 10 grams, respectively. The metal had lost Rs. 575 in last two trading sessions.

In line with a general firm trend, silver ready jumped up by Rs. 800 to Rs. 54,300 per kg on increased offtake by industrial units, while silver weekly-based delivery lost Rs. 280 to Rs. 52,160 per kg on lack of speculator’s support. — PTI