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Exports dip 4.17% to $22.3 billion in Nov
Kingfisher lessor takes back 4 planes; tax dept confiscates one
HSBC to pay biggest bank fine
Direct cash transfer not easy to implement: Oil Secy
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CDMA spectrum delay may help SSTL Tata Motor’s JLR mulls plant in Saudi Arabia
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Exports dip 4.17% to $22.3 billion in Nov
New Delhi, December 11 Commerce Secretary SR Rao said although the shipments are declining, the contraction has been slightly arrested during the first eight months of the fiscal. “There has been a slight improvement. Hopefully, the government is now coming out with a new package for boosting exports in the last quarter which the minister (Commerce Minister Anand Sharma) will be announcing by the weekend,” Rao told reporters here. The Crisil Research said in a note that India’s trade deficit for November 2012 at $19.3 billion was 7.9% lower than the previous month. It declined primarily because of both lower oil and non-oil import bill. It added that exports are expected to remain weak due to tepid global demand and import demand is likely to weaken in line with decelerating domestic growth. As a consequence trade deficit in FY13 is expected to be lower than last fiscal. Apparel Export Promotion Council chairman A Sakthivel said the situation in US and EU has not changed and the contraction in exports still continues. He further said the government should ease the procedure to import fabrics and an easy import policy would help in boosting the textiles exports from country. The rising trade deficit is a cause of concern, said Ahmed, as the same has already touched $130 billion in eight months of the fiscal year which would put pressure on Indian rupee.
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Kingfisher lessor takes back 4 planes; tax dept confiscates one
Mumbai, December 11 Neither Kingfisher nor the lessor — International Lease Finance Corporation (ILFC) — offered any comment. “One more lessor, International Lease Finance Corporation has taken back four Airbus planes from Kingfisher following non-payment of lease rentals,” sources said, adding that the aircraft are now parked at the Mumbai airport. According to the sources, Kingfisher has six Airbus planes leased from ILFC in its fleet of 42 aircraft. ILFC did not comment on the issue. "At this time we are not offering any comment on Kingfisher," an ILFC spokesperson said in an email response from the company headquarters in Los Angeles. It could not be ascertained as to how much was the amount pending for payment to ILFC. Kingfisher spokesperson too responded in a similar manner saying it does not comment on its relationship with vendors. However, the service tax department confirmed today that it had confiscated an ATR plane from the carrier for defaulting on tax dues running into Rs 63 crore. The airline owes Rs 190 crore in service tax dues of which the airline has contested the department's claim for Rs 127 crore in arrears. The developments come amid reports that Kingfisher is working on a revival plan to be presented to the aviation authorities by the end of this month. — PTI
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HSBC to pay biggest bank fine
Washington, December 11 HSBC Holdings Plc admitted to a breakdown of controls and apologised in a statement on Tuesday announcing it had reached a deferred-prosecution agreement with the US Department of Justice. "We accept responsibility for our past mistakes. We have said we are profoundly sorry for them, and we do so again. The HSBC of today is a fundamentally different organisation from the one that made those mistakes," said chief executive Stuart Gulliver. "Over the last two years, under new senior leadership, we have been taking concrete steps to put right what went wrong and to participate actively with government authorities in bringing to light and addressing these matters." The deferred prosecution agreement, when detailed by US Justice Department officials later on Tuesday, could yield new information about a failure at HSBC to police transactions linked to Mexico, sources familiar with the matter said. Details of those dealings were reported this summer in a sweeping US Senate probe. The Senate panel alleged that HSBC failed to maintain controls designed to prevent money laundering by drug cartels, terrorists and tax cheats, when acting as a financier to clients routing funds from places including Mexico, Iran and Syria. The bank was unable to properly monitor $15 billion in bulk cash transactions between mid-2006 and mid-2009, and had inadequate staffing and high turnover in it s compliance units, July's report said.— Reuters
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Direct cash transfer not easy to implement: Oil Secy
New Delhi, December 11 The government has identified 51 districts for the rollout of the scheme in the first phase beginning January 1. Speaking at the 11th Petro India Conference organised by India Energy Forum and Observer Research Foundation, Oil Secretary GC Chaturvedi said the direct cash transfer is “a very good concept as will check a lot of pilferage that is currently taking place in marketing of cooking gas (LPG).” The scheme involves government transferring cash subsidy of Rs 520.50 in bank accounts of LPG consumers and asking them to buy their LPG at market price of Rs 931 per cylinder. Presently, oil companies sell LPG at subsidised rates of Rs 410.50 per cylinder in Delhi and the difference between the cost and price realised is made good by subsidy doleout to them. This has led to subsidised LPG being diverted to unintended use like commercial establishments who are otherwise supposed to buy gas at market price. “But the cash transfer is not easy as Aadhar penetration is very low. Only 20 crore population has been enrolled for Aadhaar out of the population of 120 crore,” he said. “Rolling out the scheme in districts Aadhaar penetration of less than 80-90% will be difficult. We cannot make Aadhaar for cash transfers as the basis in such places.”— PTI
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CDMA spectrum delay may help SSTL New Delhi, December 11 With the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) on telecom deferring decision on the 800 MHz spectrum auction saying that it would require further discussion, would open a window for SSTL, which has also filed a curative petition in the apex court in regard to the cancellation of its licences. SSTL is set to lose all its operating permits, expect Rajasthan, in January as a result of a February Supreme Court order cancelling 122 telecom licences. With the government not being able to carry out the auction in the 800 MHz CDMA brand, some concession would have to given to SSTL, which operates only in the CDMA brand and has been pointing out that it had been unfairly treated in the cancellation of the licences. Incidentally, the government’s move to not conduct the auction in the 800 MHz band also stems from the fact that there had been no takers for the this band when auctions were conducted for the 2G spectrum last month. Initially, there had been two operators, Tata Teleservices and Videocon, showing interest in the CDMA auction. But then both withdrew from the race leaving the government with no option but to put it off. SSTL is set to lose the liecences on January 18, the time before which the government would not be able to conduct the auction in the band. Officials said that the government would have no other option but to again approach the Supreme Court and seek more time for carrying out the CDMA auction, in the process seeking an extension for the Indo-Russian JV as well. Reports said that SSTL would also have to approach the apex court with an appeal for extension. It had earlier in May filed a curative petition before the apex court seeking restoration of its licences. But, it is yet to be listed for hearing. SSTL president& CEO Vsevolod Rozanov had earlier said the firm would seriously consider participating in the next auction, if the government decides to conduct another auction at the level of 2008 reserve price. Incidentally, the 2G mobile phone spectrum auction was virtually a flop as the government managed to garner bids worth just Rs 9,407 crore as against a minimum target of Rs 28,000
crore.
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Tata Motor’s JLR mulls plant in Saudi Arabia New Delhi, December 11 Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) and NICDP will now begin a detailed feasibility study together to determine the viability of setting up an automotive facility, the company said. JLR chief executive Ralf Speth said, “The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is an attractive potential development option, complementing our existing advanced facilities in Britain and recent manufacturing plans to expand in other countries, including India. The firm is committed to further international partnerships to meet the demand for its highly sought after vehicles.” Discussions between JLR and the Saudi government are at a preliminary stage, although opportunities have already been identified in aluminium component production, Tata Motors said.
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Exporters are hopeful that the proposed sops by the government will add to the competitiveness of Indian shipments.
Exports fell for the seventh month in a row in November by 4.17% to $22.3 billion, as the government indicated that it will announce incentives by the weekend. However, imports grew by 6.35% to $41.5 billion in November, leaving a trade deficit of $19.28 billion. The cumulative export for April November is $189 billion with a negative growth of 5.95%.