New Delhi, April 18
Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) today approached the Supreme Court seeking appointment of an arbitrator on behalf of the government to decide its dispute with it over recovery of cost for developing the country's key natural gas field in the Krishna-Godavari (KG) basin.

The move came in the wake of government's refusal to settle the dispute through arbitration over recovery of cost incurred by the company in developing the D6 hydrocarbon field in the KG basin.

The petition filed by RIL said it has already appointed former Chief Justice of India SP Bharucha as arbitrator but the government has not done so as per the contractual obligation.

In the petition, RIL has asked the Chief Justice of India SH Kapadia to appoint a second arbitrator on behalf of the government.

The petition filed through advocate Sameer Parekh said as per the contract government cannot reduce the recovery amount.

The Petroleum Ministry had proposed to restrict the cost of around Rs 6,343 crore, which the company had sought to recover for developing the KG D6 field.

RIL had issued an arbitration notice to the government on November 23, 2011, proposing appointment of a former Chief Justice of India SP Barucha as arbitrator in the dispute and asked the ministry to appoint a second arbitrator.

However, the government has refused the plea of RIL saying there is no dispute, the advocate said.

RIL's petition stated that instead of appointing an arbitrator as per the Arbitration Agreement contained in Production Sharing Contract (PSC) dated April 12, 2000, the government has called upon the company to withraw the November 23 arbitration notice.

It said the contentions raised by the government to deny the recovery cost were "entirely misconceived" and "are nowhere envisaged in the terms of the Production Sharing Contract." The petition stated that RIL and the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons and the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas have differed over the scope and interpretation of the provisions of the PSC relating to contractor's obligations in achieving rates of production, carrying out activities like drilling of development wells and the consequent entitlement of the contractor to recover the incurred costs.

Seeking apex court's direction to appoint "a fit and proper person" as the second arbitrator, RIL said the "disagreements and differences which have arisen will inevitably lead to serious problems in the working of PSC".

The company said the problems may also lead to situation where the government "may deny the right of the contractors to recover the actual costs incurred by it". — PTI

Chennai, April 18
Daimler India, the subsidiary of Stuttgart-based Daimler AG, would set up a new assembly line at their new manufacturing facility in Oragadam near here to manufacture Actros brand of trucks, a top company official said today.

"We will be shifting the CKD (completely knocked down) line from Pune to Chennai. It is premium product. We will set up an assembly line (here)", Daimler India Managing Director and CEO Marc Llistosella told reporters after the inauguration of the Rs 4,400 crore new facility at SIPCOT Industrial Park in Oragadam by Chief Minister Jayalalithaa.

Jayalalithaa said the presence of Daimler here strengthened "Chennai's reputation as the Detroit of India." She said after her government came to power last year, there has been an overwhelming response from investors."Our government will soon sign MoUs with a number of companies, including both vehicle and component manufacturers." According to company officials, currently, Actros range of products are assembled at their Pune facility. Since 1996, the company has sold six lakh Actros trucks in more than 100 countries.

Talking about future plans, Daimler AG Board of Management Chairman Dieter Zetsche said their plan of introducing compact cars was progressing well and they would soon introduce their third model — a compact car — in Beijing next week. — PTI

New York, April 18
US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer is close to reaching a $9 billion deal to sell its infant nutrition business to Nestle.

The Wall Street Journal said Nestle, the Swiss food giant, had apparently beaten out Groupe Danone and Mead Johnson Nutrition, which had considered a joint bid for the business, and that the final deal could be announced next week.

A Pfizer spokeswoman contacted by AFP refused to comment on the report, saying "no decisions have been made at this point" on the sale of the infant nutrition business or an animal health business also set to be auctioned off.

"The animal health and nutrition businesses are highly valued assets, and our decision about strategic options will be driven by value creation and delivering the best after-tax value for our shareholders," she said.

Pfizer has moved to unload peripheral entities in recent months in order to focus on its core medicine business. — AFP

New Delhi, April 18
India received $2.21 billion in foreign direct investment (FDI) in February, showing an annual growth of 74 per cent, taking cumulative inflows to $28.40 billion for the April-February period of the last fiscal.

In February 2011, the country received FDI worth $1.27 billion.

Experts say there is a much greater potential for attracting higher foreign investment provided economic reforms are pushed.

"There is an urgent need for strong reforms like 100 per cent FDI in sectors like multi-brand retail and insurance.

There is a need to boost investor confidence. $2 billion in month is not a big number," Ficci secretary-general Rajiv Kumar said.

The sectors which received large foreign FDI inflows during the 11-month period of 2011-12 are: services ($5.05 billion), pharmaceuticals ($3.21 billion), telecom ($1.99 billion), construction ($2.52 billion), power ($1.61 billion) and metallurgical industries ($1.76 billion), an official said.

Mauritius remained the top source of inflows ($9.42 billion), thanks to the double taxation avoidance treaty.

FDI inflows into India totalled $19.42 billion in 2010-11, down from $25.83 billion in 2009-10.— PTI

Ludhiana, April 18
Punjab Excise and Taxation Department is expecting a whopping Rs 15,000-crore revenue for 2012-13 through VAT and CST. Although no new taxes have been imposed, the department is eyeing an overall jump through existing taxes and sale of liquor.

To achieve the target, the department is tightening noose around traders in the state to meet its tax collection target. Excise and Taxation Commissioner A. Venu Parsad while talking to The Tribune said, "No new taxes have been imposed and we are targeting Rs 15,000 crore revenue mark for this financial year. We will launch a special drive to curb the nexus that is bringing goods without bill," he said.

In the previous financial year, the department had earned a revenue of Rs 12,000 crore, he added.

This includes Rs 1,700 crore earned from taxes on diesel, petrol, LPG and kerosene oil. Excise revenue from the sale of liquor will reach around Rs 3,600 crore.

To increase the excise revenue, the department has shifted its focus on transporters, who are running a nexus and evading taxes worth crores of rupees. "The tax-evading mafia is operating in the state and we will curb them by imposing heavy penalties on them," he said.

According to an estimate, the government is losing nearly Rs 500 crore through such gangs every year, said a source from the department.

New Delhi, April 18
State-owned IDBI Bank today announced a cut of up to 0.5 per cent in lending and deposit rates, a day after Reserve Bank reduced key short-term rates.

While IDBI Bank lowered lending rate by 0.25 per cent, it cut the fixed deposit rate by as much as 0.5 per cent.

The new rates will be effective from April 20, the bank said.

The bank has also decided to reduce the retail term deposit rates by 0.1-0.5 per cent in various buckets having maturity of six months and above. — PTI