The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	Hind Copper sale price fixed at Rs 155/share; stock up 11% New Delhi/Mumbai, November 22 The base price for sale of the government's 4 percent stake in state-run Hindustan Copper Ltd has been fixed at Rs 155 a share, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter said on Thursday. The share sale, to be launched on Friday, will raise Rs 5.74 billion at the floor price. Shares in Hindustan Copper ended 11.3 per cent higher on the BSE on Thursday at Rs 266.15. The government, which owns 99.6 per cent of Hindustan Copper, said on Wednesday it would sell a 4 per cent stake in the company through auction of shares. The government aims to raise Rs 300,000 crore through share sales in state-run companies in the current fiscal year that ends in March, but has thus far drawn a blank as weak market conditions have deterred public issues or auctions. SCRIP JUMPS 11%: A day before 4 per cent disinvestment in the company, shares of Hindustan Copper gained more than 11 per cent on the Bombay Stock Exchange on Thursday, adding a whopping Rs 2,509 crore to its market worth. This will be the first stake sale in any public sector undertaking in the current financial year during which the government plans to raise Rs 30,000 crore by way of disinvestment. Reacting to the news, the shares of the company jumped 15.59 per cent to touch an intraday high of Rs 276.50 on the Bombay Stock Exchange. The stock, however, lost some ground and settled for the day at Rs 266.30, climbing higher by 11.33 per cent on the BSE. In a single trading session, the stock has added Rs 2,509 crore to its market worth. The company’s market capitalization has improved from Rs 22,129 crore on Wednesday to Rs 24,638 crore today fuelled by the rally in the stock. The government had earlier planned to offload 9.59 per cent of its 99.59 per cent equity in Hindustan Copper. However, it has now decided to offload stake in the copper major in two tranches. On September 14 this year, the government gave its approval for disinvestment of 9.59 per cent equity of the state-owned company through an offer for sale of shares through stock exchanges. After disinvestment, the government's shareholding in Hindustan Copper would come down to 90 per cent. — Reuters/PTI Cabinet okays 9.5% stake sale in NTPC The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved disinvestment of 9.5% of NTPC Ltd.This will be done out of the government holding of 84.50% through an offer for sale of shares through stock exchanges as per SEBI rules and regulations. After this disinvestment the government’s shareholding in the company will come down to 75%. The paid up equity capital of the company as on March, 2012 is Rs 8245.46 crore. NTPC is a listed maharatna PSU under the administrative control of the power ministry primarily engaged in business of power generation through coal based and gas based sources. he divestment drive is part of the plan announced by the finance ministry to reduce the fiscal deficit. The government had earlier approved divestment in companies like HAL, Nalco, MMTC, Hindustan Copper as the government has set a target of Rs 30,000 crore in receipts this financial year. — TNS
	Eurozone faces deepest downturn since early 2009 as China, US tick up London, November 22 The eurozone economy is on course for its deepest downturn since early 2009, while Chinese factories returned to growth last month bringing better news for the world economy, business surveys showed on Thursday. The latest purchasing managers indexes (PMIs), which survey thousands of companies all over the world, at least suggested the global economic slowdown is not getting worse, despite the prolonged downturn in Europe. The US index, released on Wednesday because of the Thanksgiving holiday, showed manufacturing growing at its quickest pace in five months. China's vast manufacturing sector, meanwhile, expanded for the first time in 13 months. Still, Europe looks set to remain the major drag on the world economy next year. It re-entered recession in the third quarter, and this quarter seems unlikely to bring any respite. While factory data in the eurozone also surpassed expectations, there was a worrying decline in its services sector, comprising the banks, hotels and restaurants that make up most of its economy. PMI compiler Markit said the surveys were consistent with the eurozone economy shrinking 0.5 percent this quarter, which would be the worst reading since the first quarter of 2009, when the economy hit its lowest ebb during the financial crisis. "Looking ahead, we still think ... the improvement in the global economy, as signaled by the further pickup in the Chinese PMI, will provide some respite to the eurozone economy," said Martin van Vliet, economist from ING. But that could be some way off. "The weak PMI outturn for November is a major disappointment in light of the increases in the German and French PMI surveys, and suggest the recession on the eurozone's periphery is gathering further pace." German business activity shrank for a seventh straight month in November, dragged down by services firms, while the French PMI signalled the risk of a sharp economic contraction taking place this quarter. — Reuters
	Fiscal deficit may hit 5.5-5.6% in FY13 New Delhi, November 22 The country's fiscal deficit could reach 5.5-5.6 percent of GDP in the current fiscal year that ends in March, forcing the government to borrow up to Rs 40,000 crore (US $7.2 billion) extra from the market, a senior government official told Reuters on Thursday. Just last month, subdued tax revenue and higher spending on subsidies forced the government to revise its fiscal deficit target to 5.3% for the current financial year from a previous target of 5.1%. However, a dismal response to last week's auction of mobile phone airwaves, has cast doubts on that target. India, which had budgeted for Rs 400 billion revenue from the auction of mobile phone airwaves, managed to raise about Rs 94 billion from an auction this month. The government plans to conduct a second auction in this financial year for the unsold airwaves. Global rating agencies have threatened to downgrade India's sovereign credit rating to junk if it fails to put its fiscal house in order. Analysts said while the disappointing auction would likely not be a deciding factor, it underscored the challenges facing the government in trying to slash the deficit. In setting the new deficit target, the government was banking heavily on generating billions of dollars from the auction of second-generation (2G) mobile phone licences. But the auction this week yielded just under 25% of the targeted Rs 40,000 crore ($7.3 billion), a result that caught officials offguard. — Reuters
	Cadbury India caught in Rs 213 cr tax evasion case Mumbai, November 22 Tax authorities are investigating the Indian unit of chocolate maker Cadbury over allegations the company may have evaded as much as Rs 213 crore in taxes, minister of state for finance S.S. Palanimanickam said Thursday, as the country beefs up its efforts to increase revenues to contain a widening fiscal deficit. "Two cases of tax evasion by Cadbury India Ltd have been detected by the Directorate General of Central Excise Intelligence during the years 2009-10 to 2012-13, up to October 31, 2012," he told Parliament in a written reply to questions from lawmakers. This is the second time in as many years Cadbury has run into trouble with Indian authorities. Last year, an investigation was launched to determine whether Kraft Foods Inc needed to pay taxes arising from its $19 billion takeover of Cadbury. That probe is ongoing. The latest of the two cases against Cadbury's India unit, which is controlled by Mondelez International Inc, involves alleged evasion of central excise duty, or factory gate tax at a company facility in Himachal Pradesh. A media report earlier this month had said Cadbury had "wrongfully" claimed an area-based tax exemption of about Rs 1 billion for its unit in Himachal. A spokesman for Cadbury India said the company was "fully cooperating" with authorities. "Since the investigation currently is underway, it will be inappropriate on our part to discuss the details at this time," the spokesman said in an emailed statement. Tax officials were not immediately available for comment. Kraft Foods Inc last month spun off its North American grocery business as Kraft Foods Group. Mondelez International is the name of what remains from Kraft Foods Inc after the spinoff. Its brands include Oreo cookies, Cadbury chocolate and Trident gum. — Reuters
	Rs 500, Rs 10 banknotes with rupee symbol soon Mumbai, November 22 The RBI will issue Rs 500 and Rs 10 denomination bank notes with rupee symbols shortly, it said in a release on Thursday. "The Reserve Bank of India will shortly issue Rs 500 denomination banknotes with rupee symbol on the obverse and the reverse, inset letter 'E' in both the numbering panels," it said. While the Rs 10 denomination banknotes to be issued with rupee symbol would bear inset letter 'A'. Both the banknotes in the series-2005 bearing signature of governor D. Subbarao will carry the year to printing '2012' on the reverse, it added. The design of these banknotes to be issued would be similar in all respects to the banknotes issued earlier in the 2005 series, RBI said. The central bank said both the kind of banknotes issued by it in the past would continue to be legal tender. — PTI
	Rupee weakens for third day in a row Mumbai, November 22 The rupee weakened for a third straight session on Thursday as persistent dollar buying by oil refiners and absence of major dollar inflows due to a holiday in the US hurt the local unit. Traders are also growing wary of India's fiscal stance after a government source said fiscal deficit could reach 5.5% to 5.6% of its GDP in the financial year to end March, which could require additional market borrowing of Rs 350-400 billion . "Personally, I continue to run moderately short USD positions even at this stage. I do not agree to the consensus of 56-57 levels on the pair and think the rupee can appreciate hereon with a second round of capital inflows," said Samir Lodha, MD at QuantArt Market Solutions. The partially convertible rupee closed at 55.21/22 per dollar versus its previous close of 55.11/12. Traders estimated about $200 million worth of dollar demand, which they attributed to Cipla. — Reuters
	Telcos may switch off in some regions from Jan 18 Tribune News Service New Delhi, November 22 Come January 18 and it will be curtains for some cellular operators in the regions where they have been operating till now but did not manage to get spectrum there in the recently concluded 2G spectrum auction. The high base price kept by the government in the just-concluded auction led to its partial failure with less than half the GSM spectrum being bid for and no auction at all for CDMA spectrum, since no one was interested in putting up a single bid. Thus, the revenues generated were also far below the government’s expectations. The failure of the auction, would also have an adverse effect on hundreds of thousands of subscribers across the country with many cellular operators switching off their operations in circles where they failed to bag spectrum. Experts point out that with these switchoffs, not only would subscribers have to move to other operators, but they might end up paying more due to less competition. The switchoffs could also mean tariff hikes, if not now, then certainly in the near future.
	RBI rules out introduction of Islamic banking Kochi, November 22 Reserve Bank of India governor D. Subbarao on Thursday ruled out introduction of Islamic banking in the country but said other methods for channelizing funds based on the principles of Islamic law can be looked at. "Islamic banking is not possible", he said, adding the central bank could look at other vehicles based on Islamic banking principles to channelize nonresident Indian funds. Replying to a question on the issue, Subbarao said: "There are some legal problems. We have studied the issue. We appreciate the objectives behind the request. But there are some legal problems. It can be got around not through banking, but other vehicles". He said that introduction of such banking was not possible in absence of a separate law for Islamic banking. The RBI chief further said the state’s chief minister, Oommen Chandy, had told him that there were several nonresident Indians in Kerala who wanted to contribute to the development of the state and that there should be a mechanism for channelizing their funds. To questions on inflation, Subbarao said: "I’ll only say that our next midquarter monetary policy review is on Dec 18. The last policy review was on Oct 30". — PTI
	Reliance Life’s new distribution channel Mumbai, November 22 Reliance Life Insurance, a unit of Reliance Capital, has unveiled a unique service-based distribution system called "face-to-face" to focus on servicing customers whose agents have become inactive and provide post-sales service to policyholders. "The main goal of this distribution format is to target existing customers who are currently not connected to any advisor and distributor," president & ED Malay Ghosh said. The company has hired around 200 female employee advisors in seven cities during the pilot phase, and plans to scale up across the country in the next few months. The new sales format will focus on Tier I and Tier II cities. — IANS