New Delhi, July 19
Reliance Industries today posted a 19 per cent jump in its first-quarter net profit at Rs 5,352 crore on the back of stronger margins in its core oil refining and petrochem businesses.

Net profit soared 18.9 per cent to Rs 5,352 crore, or Rs 16.6 per share, in April-June quarter from Rs 4,503 crore, or Rs 13.8 per share, a year earlier, the company said.

Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), which operates the world's biggest refining complex at Jamnagar in Gujarat, reported a 84 per cent rise in revenue from its shale gas venture in the US on rising production. Petrochemical margins improved while retail revenue rose 53 per cent.

The company posted a better-than-expected gross refining margin of $8.4 per barrel in the first quarter ended June 30. It had earned $7.6 on turning every barrel of crude oil into fuel in Q1 of 2012-13 fiscal.

However, gas production at its flagship KG-D6 field dropped by a steep 53 per cent to 49.2 billion cubic feet or 15.32 million cubic metres per day. RIL had produced about 33 mmcmd in April-June quarter last year and 49 mmcmd in Q1 of 2011-12.

"Fall in production is mainly attributed to geological complexity, natural decline in the fields and higher than envisaged water ingress," RIL said.

Production at Krishna Godavari basin fields has since dropped 14.02 mmcmd this month and government's Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) predicts it will not rise before 2016-17.

"Reliance achieved strong results during the first quarter of FY 2013-14, while investing in projects that will provide sustainable advantage for a longer period," company Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh Ambani said.

RIL is investing Rs 1.5 lakh crore in new projects.

Ahead of the results announcement, RIL shares hit a six-month high of Rs 923.15. — PTI

New Delhi, July 19
Reliance ADAG chairman Anil Ambani and his wife Tina Ambani were today directed to appear as prosecution witnesses in the 2G spectrum case by a Delhi court which allowed CBI's plea that their testimony may throw light on alleged investment of over Rs 990 crore by his group companies in Swan Telecom.

The court said CBI's plea to summon Anil Ambani, Tina and 11 others as prosecution witnesses was essential for arriving at a just decision in the case.

Special CBI Judge OP Saini said testimony of Anil and Tina is required to prove the facts "pertaining to incorporation of shell companies as some of the witnesses examined earlier have not been able to do so." The court also noted that both Anil and Tina were holding responsible positions in Reliance ADA group and the "shell companies" and their testimonies cannot be said to be totally unnecessary or unconnected with the case.

"Both these witnesses, that is, Anil D Ambani and Tina A Ambani are holding responsible positions in Reliance ADA group and the shell companies and investments/divestments and applications of Swan Capital (P) Limited/Swan Telecom (P) Limited for UAS Licences and its transfer to DB Group pertain to realm to which these two witnesses are supposed to be acquainted with.

"As such, their examination can’t said to be totally unconnected with the case. Rather, it may help in reaching the truth of the case," it said. — PTI

Chandigarh, July 19
Seeing a huge potential for growth, HDFC Bank is looking at expanding its network in the un-banked rural and semi-urban areas of Haryana.

It has now decided to open 85 per cent of its new branches in the rural and semi-urban areas this year.

Talking to The Tribune here today, Smita Bhargava Bhagat, executive vice-president and head branch banking - North and Mumbai, said the bank proposed to open 70 new branches in Haryana this year, of which 50 would be opened in the un-banked areas. “Of these, 85 per cent would be opened in the semi-urban and rural areas. We also have a healthy CD (credit-deposit ratio) of 60 per cent in the rural areas of Haryana and increasingly there is a demand in the rural areas for all financial products being offered by the urban bank branches. It’s not just because of the regulator (RBI) push that we are concentrating on expanding our business in the rural areas. We see a huge business opportunity in the rural and semi-urban areas of Haryana,” she said, adding the bank proposes to have 6-10 branches in each district of the state.

She said the bank had managed to rope in sugarcane farmers across the state, not just for lending to them, but also helping them evolve better payment solution for them from the sugar mills. The bank has opened its branches near the major mandis and claims that 45 per cent of the active arhtiya accounts are with them. “Besides lending to allied agriculture sector, we are also issuing large number of kisan credit cards, with 15,400 cards being issued last year alone,” she added.

Bhagat said the bank’s total business in Haryana is Rs 5,900 crore, with Rs 3,200 crore as deposits and Rs 2,700 crore as advances. She said by the end of 2014, the bank aims to have 250 branches and among the top three banks operating in the state.

New Delhi, July 19
Unfazed by the poor performance of Vodafone Group Plc in a large number of markets across the world, Vodafone India has taken the lead in showing the way out with an increase of 13.8 per cent in services revenue for the quarter ended June 30, 2013.

Increased competitiveness and pricing environment has seen the group revenues fall across most of the Europe with the service revenue in the parent UK falling by 4.5 per cent, mainly due to price pressure.

Vodafone Group was also hit in Italy where the revenues fell 177.6 per cent and in Spain where the revenues fell 110.6 per cent, leading to group revenues, including those in joint ventures, declining by 3.5 per cent, excluding the joint ventures.

However, there was good news for Vodafone India as the joint venture recorded an increase of 13.8 per cent in its services revenue which went up $1467 million (£963 million) last year in the same period to $1662 million (£1,091 million) in the April-June 2013 quarter.

Company officials said strong customer additions benefited from improved subscriber verification processes and a number of operators reducing their presence during the previous year. Mobile customers increased by 2.7 million during the quarter.

A key positive for the company has been an increase in the data usage. Vodafone India has recorded 29 per cent increase in data usage because of increase in the number of data customers and increased usage per customer.

As on June 30, 2013, Vodafone India’s active data customers totalled 41.2 million, including approximately 3.7 million 3G subscribers.

Other factors which led to the growth of services revenue is that the number of telcos reduced their presence in many circles in the past one year, company officials said.

New Delhi, July 19
The Finance Ministry has formed a panel headed by Parthasarathi Shome, Adviser to the Finance Minister, to discuss tax disputes with the industry.

A statement said from time to time, representations are received from Chambers of Commerce or Industry Associations on tax-related issues and tax-related disputes that concern the industry as a whole or concern large sections of the industry. They have represented that there must be a forum at which they can be heard so that their point of view is placed before the government for its consideration. The request is found reasonable. Exchange of views between industry groups and government on tax-related issues or tax-related disputes would give an opportunity to government to hear the arguments of the industry groups. It will also give the government an opportunity to explain its stand on tax-related matters. Thus this exercise would be mutually beneficial.

He will be supported by officers of the Tax Policy and Legislation (TPL) wing of the Central Board of Direct Taxes and the Tax Research Unit (TRU) of the Central Board of Excise and Customs.

New Delhi, July 19
The Finance Ministry yesterday notified guidelines for tax incentives for skill development. The National Manufacturing Policy (NMP) 2011 had proposed to provide weighted deduction of 150 per cent of the expenditure incurred in Public-Private Partnership (PPP) projects for skill development in manufacturing sector in separate facilities in coordination with National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC).

As a follow-up of NMP, the Finance Act, 2012, inserted a new Section 35CCD in the Income-tax Act, 1961 (‘the Act’) which provides that for computing business income, a company shall be allowed a weighted deduction of 150% of expenses (other than land or building) incurred on skill development project notified by the Board in accordance with the guidelines.

The NSDA will be the nodal agency to scrutinise the applications made by eligible companies. It is intended that the skill development project shall provide training to potential employees or newly recruited employees. Skill development of existing employees of the company shall not be eligible for notification under Section 35CCD.