New Delhi, October 7
Even as new World Trade Organisation (WTO) chief Roberto Azevedo is garnering support for the ministerial-level talks in Bali in December, India has firmly conveyed its stand that programmes like the Food Security Bill are essential for developing countries like India.

Ahead of the WTO ministerial meet at Bali, WTO head Roberto Azevedo today said India's food security law would raise subsidy levels and the issue needs to be addressed in a positive manner.

Some developed countries have raised concerns over the procurement and stocking of subsidised foodgrains arguing that it creates market distortions while developing countries like India are arguing that food security is essential and impacts the livelihoods of millions of the poor. "One important issue where India is much involved is the food security proposal. Now what is behind that is because prices have been rising in the last few years, we see some countries like India, for example, getting very close to their commitments in the WTO. They would soon be breaching what we call AMS (Aggregate Measurement of Support) commitments in the WTO. So, they are asking for some kind of actions in Geneva that could allow those programmes to continue to work unaffected," the WTO Director General said.

Terming it as a complex issue, he said, "I doubt immensely that we are going to have finalised solution on all aspects of this issue in four weeks. It is just impossible."

India is implementing the Food Security Act which entitles 82 crore persos to 5 kg of foodgrain per person per month at the rate of Rs 1-3 per kg. The country needs 62 million tonnes of foodgrain in a year to implement the law.

"The initial proposal (on food security) which was tabled by the G33 was immediately rejected by many countries for different reasons, but we have made lot of progress since that point of time. From upfront rejection, we now are building environment for an constructive engagement that will try to address this issue in a positive manner," Azevedo said in a joint press conference along with Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma said.

"The negotiations are complex, but there is an appreciation of legitimacy of food security and the associated concerns in India and other developing countries. Now, we have to work towards an acceptable formulations," Sharma said. 

Mumbai, October 7
Arundhati Bhattacharya was today appointed chairperson of the State Bank of India (SBI), the first woman to head the country's largest lender in its 207-year history.

The 57-year-old Bhattacharya, the front-runner for the post on account of years of service left, was managing director and chief financial officer of the bank prior to her elevation.

An SBI statement this evening said Bhattacharya assumed charge as the chairperson of the bank today, succeeding Pratip Chaudhuri who retired on September 30.

The SBI, which has a chairman or chairperson unlike other Public Sector Banks (PSBs) who have a combined post of CMD, has four MDs. Bhattacharya's elevation leaves one MD post vacant.

It also has over a dozen Deputy MDs and over 35 Chief General Managers (CGMs).

Bhattacharya joined the SBI as a probationary officer in 1977 and has had stints in areas such as retail, treasury and corporate finance during her 36-year career.

She has held various positions, including Deputy Managing Director and Corporate Development Officer, Chief General Manager of the Bangalore circle and new businesses and head of its merchant banking arm, SBI Caps, the statement said. She also played a vital role in setting up general insurance, custody services and SBI Macquarie Infrastructure Fund subsidiaries, the statement added.

She also had a stint at the bank's New York office as the head of external audit and correspondent relations, the SBI said.

Her appointment comes at a time when the government is all set to open the country's first bank dedicated for women, Bhartiya Mahila Bank.

The SBI and its five subsidiaries today control over one-fifth of the nation's banking assets and is the 66th largest bank in the world. 

an achievement

Arundhati Bhattacharya (in pic), who took over as the new chairperson of the SBI on Monday, is the first woman to be appointed to the top job at the country’s largest lender in its 207-year history

Arundhati, 57, who has been youngest managing director and chief financial officer since August 2013, will hold the office for a period of three years.

She joins other women heading PSBs — Allahabad Bank (Shubhalakshmi Panse) and Bank of India (VR Iyer) and private sector banks — Chanda Kochhar of ICICI Bank, Shikha Sharma of Axis Bank and Naina Lal Kidwai of HSBC India

New Delhi, October 7
In a bid to boost liquidity, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) today cut the marginal standing facility rate by 50 basis points to 9 per cent, further trimming an overnight rate that it had hiked to firefight on the falling rupee.

Today’s cut in the MSF rate follows a 75 bps cut in the rate last month. The RBI’s an increase of 200 basis points in the MSF rate in July had tightened short-term market liquidity.

"It has been decided to reduce the marginal standing facility (MSF) rate by a further 50 basis points from 9.5 per cent to 9 per cent with immediate effect," the RBI said.

The cut comes after a review of evolving liquidity conditions and in continuation of its calibrated unwinding of exceptional measures taken since July, a statement said. This is the second reduction in the rate since the September 20 mid-quarter monetary policy review, when it was lowered to 9.5 per cent from 10.25 per cent. The RBI said it conducted open market purchase operations of Rs 9,974 crore today with the aim of injecting liquidity into the system. It said it would provide additional liquidity through term repos of seven-day and 14-day tenor for a notified amount equivalent to 0.25% of net demand and time liabilities of the banking system through variable rate auctions every Friday, starting October 11. The notified amount and tenor of the term repo auctions will be announced prior to the auction dates.

Last month, the RBI said it injected about Rs 1.5 lakh crore into the system daily through the liquidity adjustment facility, the export credit refinance facility and the marginal standing facility. 

New Delhi, October 7 
The government must tackle a jump in spending on fuel and food subsidies sooner rather than later, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said, part of a series of steps aimed at stabilising the economy to be announced ahead of an election due within seven months.

The economy is suffering its longest and deepest slump in at least a decade. Rating agencies have threatened to downgrade its sovereign debt to "junk" status, and the government is racing to revive growth in a bid to return to power for a third consecutive time.

"We've done a lot of things, but we have to do many more things, and I think we will do them in the next few weeks and months, both by the government and by the central bank," Chidambaram said.

India imports nearly 80% of its oil needs and a sharp decline in the rupee's value since May has made government fuel subsidies more costly.

“On the government side, sooner (rather) than later we will have to address the issue of higher subsidies than budgeted, on both fuel and food,” he said, on the eve of a week-long trip to the United States.— Reuters

New Delhi, October 7
Though he retracted under attack, Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh today stuck to his ground that Air India has to be privatised for which a political consensus has to be built.

“This government has only about six months left. There is no plan (for privatising Air India) and the issue is not under active consideration at all,” he said.

He, however, maintained it was his personal belief that, in the future, “the government of the day will have to look at privatisation and build a political consensus on the issue before taking a position. I never said I am going to do it.”

Maintaining that the government would not give any more funds to the airline after the equity infusion of Rs 30,000 crore till 2021, he said, "I am firmly of the view that government should not be in the service sector like hotels. Future governments will have to study the (privatisation) issue. But today, the time and the situation is not correct.”

A day after Opposition parties like BJP and the Left criticised him for his remarks on the issue, Singh said he was “amazed” to be hearing such reactions. — PTI

Karnal, October 7
With the International Grains Council (IGC) revising rice production estimates for 2013-14, pegging India's production at record 107 million tonnes and exports at 8.5 million tonne, the country is set to retain its position as the world’s top rice exporter.

India had displaced its main competitors Vietnam and Thailand, to second and third position, respectively last year, mainly due to the lifting of a ban on the export of non-basmati rice in December, 2012.

“With an increase of three per cent in the area under paddy and farmers opting for high-yield varieties of rice, the production is bound to rise this year and may cross 110 million tonnes. Exports will also retain last year’s level of 10.4 million tonnes," says Vijay Sethia, former president of the All India Rice Exporters Association.

He said the estimates made by the IGC were premature and the authentic figures of production and exports would be available in the next four months. He said, "India is likely to export 3.4 million tonnes of basmati and 6.5-7 million tonnes of non-basmati rice. Already 1.8 million tonnes of basmati and 2.75 million tonnes of non-basmati have been exported and it is just the beginning of the season."

India produced 105.30 million tonnes of rice in the 2012-13 crop year which is likely to be increased to 110 million tonnes whereas there is no rise in demand which was 97.9 million tonnes last year. The total supply of the grain has been projected at 129.9 million tonnes this year and more rice would be available for export.

However, the IGC put the exports at 8.5 million tonnes, 10% less than last year, followed by Vietnam's 7.4 million tonnes and Thailand's 6.5 million tonnes.

After the notification of high yielding variety Pusa 1121 as basmati in 2010, farmers preferred growing this variety and area under basmati increased. However, another variety, Pusa 1509 developed by the Indian Agriculture Research Institute (IARI), has beaten Pusa 1121 as it takes 120 days to mature while the latter matures in 145 days.

Moreover, the farmers have been earning between Rs 90,000 and Rs 1 lakh per hectare from the Pusa 1509, which is less water consuming and has better cooking qualities as compared to Pusa 1121, Vijay Setia said.

The Pusa 1509 can be grown July to August 10, when monsoon is active and enough water is available from natural rains. It is being exported and sold as basmati and after a formal notification from the government in this regard, rice exports would get further boost.

New Delhi, October 7
Apollo Tyres’ $2.5 billion deal to acquire Cooper Tire has run into rough weather as its demand for price reduction because of problems related to the US firm’s operations in China and concessions to workers’ union has been rejected by the latter.

According to a complaint filed by Cooper in a US court, Apollo wanted a price renegotiation “far greater than the $2.5 reduction it had earlier proposed, and at one point referencing ‘$8 or $9' per share”. As per the original deal announced in June this year, Apollo had agreed to buy Cooper at $35 per share in an all cash transaction.

The Indian firm accused Cooper of misrepresenting facts about its Chinese operations and also of unwillingness to give financial concessions to worker’s union, but the US firm asserted that the risks were part of their deal.

In a statement, Apollo said the firm and its financing banks were justified under their merger agreement to ask Cooper to provide updated financial statements “in light of the significant and unanticipated costs that go well beyond those Apollo is obligated to bear under the agreement. “Cooper has acknowledged to Apollo that some price reduction is warranted. The issue now is by how much." — PTI

BRIEFLY

Ratan Tata joins NAE in US
Washington: Leading industrialist Ratan Tata has been inducted into the prestigious National Academy of Engineering (NAE) in the US for his outstanding contributions to industrial development in India and across the world. Besides Tata, eight Indian-Americans have been inducted into the institute, considered among the highest professional distinctions accorded to an engineer. — PTI

IOC sole bidder for Haldia Petro
New Delhi: In a surprise move, state-owned Indian Oil Corp (IOC) on Monday emerged as the sole bidder for the West Bengal government’s stake in Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd (HPL), with an offer of less than Rs 3,000 crore. Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), which had been considered the strongest contender, had not put in a bid by the noon deadline, sources privy to the development said. — PTI

FMC told to check NSEL contracts
Mumbai: In an ad-interim order, the Bombay High Court on Monday directed the Forward Markets Commission (FMC) to monitor paired and e-series bullion contracts traded at the crises-ridden National Spot Exchange Ltd (NSEL). The court was hearing a petition filed by borrowers, who urged that the settlement of e-series bullion contracts at NSEL be aggregated with that of the paired contracts being overseen by FMC. — PTI

Alto 800 anniversary edition launched
NEW Delhi: Maruti Suzuki India on Monday said it had launched anniversary edition of its compact car Alto 800, with a starting price of Rs 3.12 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi), to commemorate one year of its launch in the Indian market. — PTI

Japan Airlines orders 31 Airbus A350 jets
BARCELONA: Airbus clinched its first jet order from Japan Airlines on Monday, breaking open the last big market dominated by Boeing. The deal for 31 wide-body A350 jets with a combined $9.5 billion list price follows an intense battle between JAL and ANA Holdings as they seek dozens of jets over the next decade. — Reuters