Kochi, January 7
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday pushed for phased rationalisation of energy prices to bring them in line with international prices to meet the targeted rapid inclusive and sustainable growth.

Energy remained under-priced in the country with coal, petroluem products and natural gas prices remaining well below international prices, he said laying the foundation stone for the Rs 14,225 crore BPCL-Kochi Refinery’s Integrated Refinery Expansion Project at nearby Ambalamugal. “To meet our target of rapid inclusive and sustainable growth, we must undertake a phased rationalistion of engery prices,” Singh said.

The Prime Minister said the central and state governments must work together to create awareness among the public on the need for curbing energy subsidies.

“To achieve our target of rapid growth, we need an adequate supply of energy at affordable price. Oil and gas will continue to meet a very large part of our energy requirements for many years to come,” he said.

Pointing out that India remained dependent on imports for meeting a major portion of its crude oil requirements, he said “It is for this reason, we will require largescale investments in the field of exploration for oil and gas.” He said the government remained committed to encouraging companies to undertake domestic explorations for oil and gas.

“Our public sector companies are also looking at opportunities abroad. I am happy to know that BPCL has made significant successes in the upstream exploration and production sectors, particularly in Mozambique and Brazil,” Singh said.

The BPCL-Kochi refinery project, expected to be completed by December 2015, aims at meeting the country’s growing energy needs and make auto fuels more environment-friendly.

It envisages increasing the refining capacity of the Kochi refinery from the present 9.5 million metric tonnes per annum (MMTPA) to 15.5 MMTPA.— PTI

Coromandel International with revenues of Rs 9,823 crore is a part of the Murugappa group and its business segments include fertilisers, speciality nutrients, crop protection and retail. Coromandel manufactures a wide range of fertilisers and markets around 2.9 million tonnes making it a leader in its core markets and the second largest phosphatic fertiliser player in India.

In an interview to Sanjeev Sharma, Coromandel International Limited managing director Kapil Mehan talks about the upcoming fertiliser plant in Bathinda, expansion of fertiliser capacity, joint venture in Tunisia and outlook for agricultural growth.

Q: What are Coromandel's manufacturing and investment plans for Punjab?

We are setting up a green-field single super-phosphate plant (SSP) at Bathinda in Punjab, at a cost of Rs 116 crore. Currently, land acquisition work for this project is underway. We have already signed an MoU with Hindustan Mittal Energy Limited for the supply of key raw material - the Sulphur. This project is expected to be ready within 16 to 18 months after getting an environmental clearance. Once ready, the facility will have a capacity of 264,000 tonnes a year. Our strategy is to sharpen focus on fast growing SSP segment in the wake of it being a very affordable fertiliser.

Q: What are the plans for expansion of fertiliser capacity?

Keeping in the view of the greater demand for fertilisers, we have started expansion of our Kakinada Plant (C-Train) project in Andhra Pradesh a year ago, with an investment of about Rs 400 crore. Now, the expansion works are almost completed and the project is likely to be commissioned soon. Currently, the plant is undergoing pre-commissioning trails of the third unit there. Pre-expansion, this plant has a capacity to produce 15 lakh tonnes of complex fertilisers. Post the expansion - the capacity will touch 19.25 lakh tonnes a year. Thus, this plant will probably become the largest single-location phosphate fertiliser production facility in India.

Q: What is the current status on overseas joint ventures?

Overseas, we are focussing on our Tunisia project. Our joint venture company TIFERT in Tunisia is set to start production of phosphoric acid soon. Indeed, this plant was expected to be commissioned more than a year ago, but got delayed due to political developments in Tunisia. We are expecting that raw material from this plant will start flowing in by early next year.

Q: How do you anticipate revenue and growth targets?

As a policy, we don’t give any guidance on our revenue growth targets. However, we are constantly on the lookout for opportunities to grow our portfolio of products to help farmers improve agricultural productivity, thus enhance their economic status.

Q: What type of initiatives is Coromandel International planning to take on the retail front?

Our retail division has two interesting developments in the recent times. One is expansion of our retail network and the other is introduction of farm mechanisation solutions.

Our rural retail journey started during 2007-08 with establishment of Mana Gromor Retail Centres. Considering the customers’ response and strategic fit, we have expanded this network to 641 outlets. Today, a farmer has access to complete farming solution, from farm inputs to farm husbandry inputs, in these centres. We are planning to add another 350 retail centres in next 2-3 years.

Coming to farm mechanisation solutions business, we are planning to expand this business by undertaking paddy transplantation on 10,000 acres this year, using innovative techniques.We see a big opportunity in this business as the farming community continues to face labour shortage.

Q: What are the growth estimates for agriculture given that there has been a patchy monsoon?

We estimate agriculture to grow by around 2% this year despite weak monsoon during first half of Kharif and Rabi seasons. 

New Delhi, January 7
The government will kick off the second round of spectrum auction in March after the Union Cabinet takes a decision on reducing reserve price of 800 MHz band, used for offering CDMA-based mobile services, which remained unsold in the last round with no bidders available for it.

The Empowered Group of Ministers on spectrum, headed by Finance Minister P Chidambaram, on Monday has decided to seek advice of the Cabinet on the pricing of the 800 MHz band which could get a cut of 30 to 50% from the pricing which was cut earlier. Earlier the pricing for the unsold spectrum in the 1800 MHz band for the four circles has also been cut by 30% to make it viable for the operators to bid for it.

After the EGoM meeting Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal said, “All auction will be held in March.” On CDMA auction, he said the bidding for the 800 MHz band will take place in all the circles before March 31.Sibal said airwaves in 1800MHz and the 900MHz bandwidth of the GSM spectrum will be auctioned first, followed by the auction of the CDMA airwaves in the 800 MHz bandwidth in all circles.

Sources said the EGoM will get the Cabinet with a proposal for cutting the CDMA spectrum pricing by 30 to 50% and the Cabinet will take a final decision on the issue.

The government had earlier set the reserve price of CDMA airwaves at 1.3 times that of GSM airwaves, which was considered as too high by the operators. 

Q: I am married with no children and I don't have any property or agriculture land in my name. How can I create my Hindu undivided family?

— Shiv Shankar

The joint and undivided family is the normal condition of the Hindu society. An undivided Hindu family is ordinarily joint, not only intestate, but also in food and worship. A Hindu undivided family is a unit of assessment under the Income Tax Act 1961. It consists of all persons lineally descended from a common ancestor and includes their wives and daughters. A Hindu undivided family is a creature of law. It is only the corpus which can be thrown into such a family so as to make it a unit of assessment. Such a corpus can be obtained by a joint family by receiving a gift which can generate income for the purposes of an assessment. Such a gift should be evidenced by a gift deed. Your family consisting of you and your wife can thus take a gift from a close relative so as to form a unit of assessment under the Act. 

New Delhi, January 
Banks have demanded that interest income for the purpose of TDS on fixed deposits be increased from Rs 10,000 to Rs 25,000. This was among the demands raised by the heads of leading and financial institutions in a pre-budget meeting with the Finance Minister P Chidambaram.

They also demanded that a lock-in period for tax-saving deposits be brought down to three years from five years to channelise more funds into the banking sector. The banks also sought permission to issue tax-free bonds like other financial institutions for raising funds and augmenting business.

"Tax-saving bonds are already there (with banks), tax saving deposits are already there. So there was a requirement that this lock-in period should be reduced from five years to three years on the tax saving deposits to bring it in line with tax saving ELSS (equity linked saving schemes)," SBI chairman Pratip Chaudhuri said.

Among the other demands was that tax exemption of Rs 20,000 under Section 80CCF for investing in infrastructure tax-free bonds be reintroduced, bringing more transparency in gold and real estate transactions at par with equity transactions, to bring the housing sector within the definition of infrastructure and encouraging long-term funds for investment in the housing sector. Other proposals discussed include treat Urban Cooperative Banks at par with those in rural areas, to exempt social security insurance schemes from service tax, tax concession on contribution to leave encashment as on group gratuity and to include NBFCs and AFCs for promoting financial inclusion and grant them tax parity with banks.

New Delhi, January 7
Kingfisher lenders will soon decide on the future course of action with regard to the grounded airline as they do not want the company to close down, State Bank of India (SBI) said on Monday.

“The representatives met in Bangalore ... the plan for action the consortium is deciding. We don’t want to put a lock on the company’s office,” chairman of SBI, lead lender to Kingfisher, Pratip Chaudhuri said here.

Last week, the meeting between lenders and the Kingfisher management remained inconclusive as bankers were ‘not impressed’ with the revival plan, sources said.

The next meeting will be held in Mumbai soon where lenders are likely to push for better commitment from Kingfisher Airlines, sources said.

The 17-bank consortium has extended Rs 7,000 crore loans to Kingfisher. The SBI alone has an exposure of Rs 1,500 crore, which has not been serviced since January, 2012.

As per the revival plan submitted to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation last month, Kingfisher had said it would require about Rs 652 crore over the next 12 months for running its operations. These funds would come from the UB Group’s resources as the banks were unwilling to fund the cash-strapped airline.—PTI