New Delhi, December 10
The government today introduced a Bill in Parliament to amend the Competition Act that would confer powers on fair trade 
regulator Competition Commission of India (CCI) to vet all Merger and Acquistion deals and also authorise its Director General to carry out search and seizure activities.

The DG is the investigating arm of the CCI that keeps a tab on anti-competitive practices in the marketplace. Currently, DG can 'search and seize' only after authorisation from the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Delhi. This is under Section 41(3) of the Competition Act, 2002.

Other amendments include change in the definition of terms like turnover and group in competition related matter.

The amendments also aim to bring down the time for the Commission to decide on combinations (M&A deals) to 180 days from the present 210 days.

Corporate Affairs Minister Sachin Pilot introduced the ‘The Competition (Amendment) Bill, 2012'’in the Lok Sabha to amend the Competition Act 2002.

The amendments, approved by the Cabinet in October, are aimed at fine-tuning the regulations to bring rules on par with the prevailing scenario and in light of the experiences gained over the past years.

In a move to bring all voluntary mergers and acquisitions (M&As) under the CCI purview, changes as well as a new clause have been proposed in the Act.

As per the new Section 5A, “Notwithstanding anything in Section 5, the Central government may, in consultation with the Commission, by notification, specify different values of assets and turnover for any class or classes of enterprise for the purpose of Section 5.”

Section 5 of the Act relates to combinations of entities.

Earlier, there had been requests for exempting M&A deals in sectors like banking and insurance from the CCI ambit.

However, the CCI, which has to ensure that M&As do not adversely impact competition, would have to take the views of sectoral regulators in cases of ailing banks or insurers. — PTI

New Delhi, December 10
The Lok Sabha today approved an amendment Bill to make easier recovery of bad loans by banks amid walkout by the BJP, Left and some other parties after the government rejected their demand for referring it to the Standing Committee.

The Enforcement of Security Interest and Recovery of Debts Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2011, which was approved by voice vote in the Lower House, seeks to convert any part of debt into shares of defaulting company by the asset reconstruction Company (ARC).

The Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha in December, 2011. While the opposition demanded that the bill be referred to the Standing Committee for scrutiny, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said when the bill was introduced last year the Speaker decided against referring it to the Parliamentary committee.

Referring it to the committee now would delay the process further, he said, adding the then minister wanted it to be passed without delay as amendments were of technical nature.

“The bill was introduced in 2011 and should not be referred (to Standing Committee) now after 12 months...It would defeat the very purpose the bill. In the interest of banking sector, it is necessary to pass the bill in 2012,” he said, adding the move would quicken the process of loan recovery.

On the issue of rising non-performing assets (NPAs) of banks, Chidambaram said the banking sector is well regulated and the gross NPA, which is around 3.5% of total loans, was not high and the situation would improve with economic recovery.

Chidambaram said, “Because of stress in the economy, several sectors are not doing well. So gross NPAs has risen. Efforts are to ensure that these sectors come out of difficulty. We must do some handholding to them to bring them out of stress.” Dismissing concerns of members that the bill was against farmers and small borrowers, he said the Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT) law deals with only those persons who had borrowed in excess of Rs 10 lakh.— PTI

New Delhi, December 10
Even as the government is hopeful of implementing free roaming in the country from next year, Bharti Airtel today said issues like varied spectrum pricing and tariff in different circles need to be studied before introducing such facilities.

"The issue has to be viewed holistically. Its not just about one part, it includes STD...we have to look at the 22 circles in the country. Every state has different spectrum pricing. Tariffs are different," Bharti Airtel CEO (India and South Asia) Sanjay Kapoor sides on the sidelines of an Assocham event.

All these issues have to be studied and then one can comment on the issue, he added.

In September, Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal had said that mobile phone subscribers would not have to pay roaming charges from next year with implementation of 'one nation, free roaming' announced earlier this year.

The National Telecom Policy 2012, approved in May, aims to abolish roaming charges and allow mobile phone subscribers to use same number across country without having to pay extra charges for services once they are outside their telecom circle.

On reduction of the reserve spectrum price for four circles, Kapoor said, 'I am not in a position to comment,' but added that "lower the prices, higher the participation, and its good for competition in the country."

Asked if Airtel would participate, Kapoor said "We will figure it out."— PTI

New Delhi, December 10
The Reserve Bank is likely to leave key policy rates unchanged at its mid-quarter monetary policy review next week but will go for 0.25 per cent CRR rate cut to support growth, Bank of America Merrill Lynch said in a research report.

It said the RBI will go for a 0.25 per cent cut in the cash reserve ration (CRR), which is the portion of bank deposits parked with the central bank, on its December 18 policy review to support growth and will resume cutting rates only from January once inflation peaks off.

"We expect the RBI to resume cutting rates only from January - 75 basis points (0.75 per cent) till July - once inflation peaks off," the report said, adding that "The RBI rate cuts will not transmit into lending rate cuts unless the liquidity situation improves." Over the past three months, the Reserve Bank has reduced the cash reserve ratio by 0.50 per cent to 8 per cent. But these cuts did not lead to an easing of overnight rates.

Though, the RBI has finally decided to resume open market operations (OMOs) to ease liquidity, BofA ML said "RBI Governor Subbarao may not want to take chances with the RBI's inflation fighting image by cutting rates at 7.5 per cent inflation." India is the only BRIC where lending rates are almost at their 2008 peak, the report said.

India had been growing around 8-9 per cent before the global financial meltdown in 2008. The growth rate in 2011-12 slipped to a nine-year low of 6.5 per cent.

According to the official data, the Indian economy grew by 5.3 per cent in the July-September period this year, while in the quarter ended June 30, the economy grew by 5.5 per cent.

Inflation as measured by all indices has remained elevated and Wholesale Price Index-based inflation has remained above the Reserve Bank's comfort zone of 5-5.5 per cent for nearly three years now.

The RBI is scheduled to announce its mid-quarter monetary policy review on December 18.

Reserve Bank governor D Subbarao has resisted a widespread call for the growth-propping rate cuts for some time now, citing the elevated inflation.— PTI

Washington, December 10
The US intelligence has predicted that in 2030, India could be the rising economic powerhouse of the world as China is seen today and that it will continue to consolidate its power advantage over Pakistan.

“In 2030, India could be the rising economic powerhouse that China is seen to be today. China’s current economic growth rate - 8 to 10 per cent - will probably be a distant memory by 2030,’ said the fifth installment of the ‘Global Trends 2030: Alternative Worlds’, of National Intelligence Council (NIC), released on Monday.

As the world’s largest economic power, China is expected to remain ahead of India, but the gap could begin to close by 2030.

“India’s rate of economic growth is likely to rise while China’s slows,” said the report which is aimed at providing a framework for thinking about the future.

According to the report, the total size of the Chinese working-age population will peak in 2016 and decline from 994 million to about 961 million in 2030.

“In contrast, India’s working-age population is unlikely to peak until about 2050,” it said.

Also of significance, India will most likely continue to consolidate its power advantage relative to Pakistan.

“India’s economy is already nearly eight times as large as Pakistan’s; by 2030 that ratio could easily be more than 16-to-1," the US report said.

The NIC report said the diffusion of power among countries and from countries to informal networks will have a dramatic impact by 2030, largely reversing the historic rise of the West since 1750 and restoring Asia’s weight in the global economy and world politics.

In a tectonic shift, by 2030, Asia will have surpassed North America and Europe combined in terms of global power, based upon GDP, population size, military spending, and technological investment.

China alone will probably have the largest economy, surpassing that of the United States a few years before 2030.

Economic growth in emerging markets was expected to drive technological innovation and flows of companies, ideas, entrepreneurs and capital to developing countries will increase, the report said.— Agencies

New Delhi, December 10
The Finance Ministry has warned tax evaders that “the Income Tax Department will reach their doors” if proper payments of advance tax are not done by December 15.

Revenue Secretary Sumit Bose said in a statement, “The government would urge all assesses to disclose their true income. There is no advantage in suppressing the true income or avoiding paying income tax that is due because, sooner than later, the information available with the Income Tax Department will lead the department to the doors of such persons.”

He said for those assesses who have not yet paid the correct advance tax, there is an opportunity to rectify the mistake and pay the advance tax by December 15.

Bose said that during the assessment year 2012-13, only 14.62 lakh assesses, including professionals and companies have declared their taxable income of over Rs 10 lakh, adding “any fair minded person will agree that this is a gross under-statement.”

Bose said the I-T department has information that 33.83 lakh persons made cash deposits totalling Rs 10 lakh or more in the savings bank account.

Also 16 lakh persons made payments of Rs 2 lakh or more against their credit cards and over 11.91 lakh people decided to purchase or sell house property worth Rs 30 lakh or more.

On August 6, Finance Minister P Chidambaram made a statement on the policy of the government regarding taxation and tax administration. He emphasised that clarity in tax laws, a stable tax regime, a non-adversarial tax administration, a fair mechanism for dispute resolution, and an independent judiciary will provide great assurance to investors. 

New Delhi, December 10
As the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) today announced that the next edition of the country's premier biennial automobile show, Auto Expo, will be held from February 6-12, 2014 at Greater Noida, there was not much good news for the automobile industry on the whole.

The slump in the automobile industry continued with the passenger car sales on a year-on-year basis going down 8.25 per cent in November on negative consumer sentiment as a result of the continuing high fuel and interest costs.

Data released by SIAM states that the car sales in November stood at 1,58,257 units down from 1,72,493 units sold in the corresponding month of last year.

Automobile exports registered a drop of 4.57 per cent during the April to November period this fiscal, compared to the same period last year.

While the passenger vehicle exports grew by 8.03 per cent with passenger cars growing by 7.81 per cent at 356,791 units but vans registered a drop in exports to 1159 units, down eight per cent.

According to SIAM, sales of commercial vehicles last month declined 7.31 per cent to 61,410 units from 66,254 units sold in November 2011.

Overall commercial vehicle exports dropped by 1.37 per cent, exports of medium and heavy commercial vehicles dropped 28 per cent to 12,916 units.

Two-wheeler sales during the period inched higher by 1.23 per cent at 1,175,429 units from 1,161,176 sold in November 2011.

Motorcycle sales in the month under review were marginally up at 8,67,518 units from 8,67,088 units sold in the corresponding period of 2011.

Scooter sales were up 6.64 per cent at 2,44,392 units from 2,29,173 units and so was the case with the three-wheelers where the sales were up by 20.67 per cent at 51,670 units from 42,821 units in the month under review.

SIAM, meanwhile said the next edition of Auto Expo, will be held from February 6-12, 2014 at Greater Noida. The change in timing and venue was mainly to avoid clash with the Detroit Auto Show and unavailability of Pragati Maidan.

SIAM director general Vishnu Mathur said the change was necessitated due to Detroit Auto Show. "Lot of global CEOs who wanted to be here have said to us that they could not because of their engagement with the Detroit Auto Show. So we decided to shift our Auto Expo to February," Mathur said.

New Delhi, December 10
Tata Housing Development Company on Monday ruled out pulling out of Maldives and is discussing with the government there regarding an alternate site for a housing project following plans to construct the Supreme Court on one of the allotted sites.

The Tata group entity also said it is 'seriously considering' the island government's offer of an alternate land parcel instead of an earlier location and hopes to settle the issue within next 1-2 months.

“We are not pulling out of Maldives. We are amicably discussing with the government there. We hope that in the next 1-2 months, we will have a final settlement,” Tata Housing Development Company senior vice president Sandeep Ahuja said.

The company has been facing issues with the government there for one site, in which a Supreme Court building is planned. The Indian firm was offered four sites to develop housing projects.

“We have four land parcels under our possession in Maldives and out of that construction work is going on in three sites. For the fourth one, the government is requesting us to take an alternate land and has offered us 3-4 sites. We are seriously considering their offer," Ahuja said.

The development regarding the Tata Housing project comes close on the heels of the take over of GMRs USD 500 million airport project by the Maldives government.

Ahuja said: “They (Maldives government) are having problems with GMR. We are not having any problem with them."— PTI

Mumbai/New Delhi, Dec 10
Great Wall Motor (GWM) Co, China’s biggest SUV maker, is in talks to set up a wholly-owned business in India, an Indian industry official said today, in what would be the first Chinese car maker to enter the country alone.

Great Wall sent a delegation to India last week, and targets starting manufacturing of vehicles in India in 2016, Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers director general Vishnu Mathur said.

“They are looking at coming into India to set up manufacturing.They are meeting industry, the government and suppliers,” Mathur said.

Great Wall executives met with SIAM representatives last week, Mathur said. He did not provide details of investments planned.

He said GWM is “looking for an independent entry in the Indian market” and not through any joint venture.

Comments from the company could not be obtained as an emailed query remained unanswered.

India’s car market has attracted billions of dollars in investment from overseas manufacturers, such as General Motors, Ford and Toyota. But Chinese car makers have not yet made significant inroads into the country.—Agencies