Bangalore, May 16
Airtel mCommerce Services Limited and Axis Bank today launched a joint initiative to make available banking and payment services through mobile platform to people who do not have bank accounts.

According to a press note, no-frills savings account of Axis Bank will be opened for customers on the Airtel Money platform. Called “Airtel Money Super Account powered by Axis Bank”, the account will offer banking transactions, including cash deposit, money transfer and withdrawal facilities. Interest on the balance will also be paid to the account holder.

To begin with, savings and remittance solutions will be provided in the top four remittance corridors involving Delhi and Mumbai on the sending side and Bihar and eastern UP on the receiving side.

Thereafter, these services will be extended to other remittance corridors in the country. Gradually other banking products and services like micro recurring deposits, micro fixed deposits, small loans and micro-insurance products will also be provided through this platform.

Sanjay Kapoor, CEO-India & South Asia, Bharti Airtel, said, “About 43 per cent of our country’s population do not have bank accounts. The mobile platform will act as a no-frills bank account that comes with remittance capabilities like withdrawing cash from the nearby designated Airtel money outlet, keeping money safe and enjoy interest on savings.”

“With Axis Bank’s expertise in banking and Airtel’s extensive distribution network spanning over 1.5 million outlets, we are confident this association will play a transformational role in furthering economic empowerment and fast-tracking the country’s financial inclusion agenda,” Kapoor added.

Infosys is the technology partner. The focused target segment of the scheme will be remittance corridors and “unbanked” areas, where there is greater need of easy money transfers. Other financial products like deposits, insurance, loans etc. will also follow, the press statement said.

Ludhiana, May 16
Despite the hike in customs duty in the Budget, the import of bicycle parts and bicycles from China is going on unaffected as the importers are indulging in "under-invoicing". In the Budget, the customs duty on bicycles was increased from 10 to 30 per cent and on bicycle parts from 10 to 20 per cent.

"Importers indulge in under-invoicing in order to neutralise the impact of hike in the customs duty. The decision to increase the customs duty was taken by the Centre to protect the domestic bicycle manufacturing industry from large-scale import," said Gurmeet Kular, president of the United Cycle and Parts Manufacturers Association (UCPMA).

"The local cycle industry has called for strict monitoring mechanism to check illegal practice of bicycle import. A minimum floor price should be fixed on the import of bicycle and bicycle parts from China. The government should also impose a ceiling on the import of certain bicycle parts," said DS Chawla, former president of the UCPMA.

Bicycle makers said increase in the customs duty had decreased the overall value of bicycles and its parts imported but the quantum of import has not decreased.

According to industry estimates, the import of bicycle and parts from China surged from Rs 300 crore in 2008-09 to Rs 1,600 crore in the last fiscal, thereby hitting the Ludhiana bicycle industry. The heavy import also had a negative impact on the export of bicycles, as the country's bicycle shipments shrunk to Rs 650 crore in 2010-11 as against Rs 1,200 crore in 2008-09.

Imports from China are hitting the domestic industry, particularly manufacturers of bicycle parts. The imports include kids’ bikes and high-end fancy cycles. The bicycle parts that are being imported in large quantities include hub cones, spokes, chains, baskets, chain wheels and cranks, steel balls, plastic handles, levers, saddle parts, pedals, pumps, pedal axle and caliper brake parts.

New Delhi, May 16
Welspun Group today said it has bagged a contract for developing the largest solar power project in Madhya Pradesh entailing an investment of about Rs 1,218 crore.

"We bid Rs 8.05 per unit to bag the 125 MW out of 200 MW that was auctioned by the Madhya Pradesh government," Welspun Energy Ltd Managing Director Vineet Mittal said here.

The 125 MW solar photovoltaic project has been won by Welspun Solar Madhya Pradesh Private Ltd. The project will be set up on barren tract of land in Mandsaur and Neemuch districts within 18 months.

"This is the highest capacity to be awarded to any Indian entity in the solar space till date... With the winning of this project, Welspun Energy has become one of the largest renewable players in the country," Mittal said.

The project would be funded in 75:25 debt-equity ratio, he said, adding that typically, a solar power project costs Rs 9-10 crore per MW.

"Solar energy will become a game-changer and I expect it will reach grid parity by 2015," Mittal said. Grid parity means solar power tariff equalling that of thermal power.

Madhya Pradesh conducted the auction through 'reverse bidding' process under which it would award projects to those who offer to sell power at the best (least) rates. — PTI

New Delhi, May 16
Ravi Narayan Bastia, the man who discovered the gigantic Krishna Godavari (KG) basin D6 field for Reliance Industries (RIL), has quit the company. Bastia, who was in 2007 conferred the Padma Shri for finding the energy-hungry nation's second biggest gas find to date, resigned from RIL last week, industry sources said.

In 2002, RIL made a giant natural gas discovery in the very first well it drilled some 200 km off the east coast in the Bay of Bengal, and Bastia is said to be the man behind the success.

When contacted, Bastia, senior vice-president in RIL, confirmed his quitting the company, but refused to either give reasons for his move or what he would be doing next.

"As of now I am not joining anyone," he said.

Subsequent to the Dhirubhai-1 discovery, Reliance made 17 more gas finds in the block KG-DWN-98/3 (also known as KG-D6).

Under Bastia - the only person in the group to have been conferred one of the four highest civilian awards, RIL also found oil in the block and made a sizeable discovery in block NEC-25 off the Orissa coast.

When Bastia joined Reliance in 1996 from state-run ONGC, the late Dhirubhai Ambani was giving shape to energy foray of the company, which till then was into petrochemicals and textiles. — PTI

New Delhi, May 16
The net direct tax collections rose to a whopping Rs 14,812 crore in April this year, a seven-fold increase compared to the same period of last fiscal.

Net direct tax collections, gross collections minus refunds, was at Rs 1,992 crore in April 2011.

The net collection was higher mainly due to lower refunds given by the revenue department in April, 2012.

The gross direct tax collection in April fell by over 7 per cent to Rs 24,631 crore, official sources said. The collection was Rs 27,091 crore in April, 2011.

During April 2012, the net personal income tax collection went up by a huge 70 per cent to Rs 14,423 crore. The figure was Rs 8,472 crore in the corresponding month last fiscal.

The net collection in corporate taxes was Rs 383 crore in April, 2012. The same was Rs (-) 6,490 crore in the corresponding period of last fiscal.

Besides, collection from Wealth Tax stood at Rs 6 crore, down from Rs 10 crore collected in April 2011.

In the 2011-12 fiscal, the government has collected taxes of over Rs 4.93 lakh crore as per provisional estimates, against a budgeted target of Rs 5.32 lakh crore. — PTI