New Delhi, October 18
Global oil giant BP Plc and its partner Reliance Industries today promised to invest $8-10 billion in producing more gas. BP chief executive Bob Dudley and RIL chairman Mukesh Ambani first met Oil Minister M Veerappa Moily and then Finance Minister P Chidambaram to voice concerns over being penalised twice for gas output from their KG-D6 fields not matching targets.

The meetings come at a time when the Oil Ministry at the insistence of the Finance Ministry is seeking to deny RIL-BP a gas price revision for producing less than projected gas from their eastern offshore KG-D6 fields.

This punishment is on top of $1.8 billion penalty that is already being imposed on them for the same reason. Also, the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) is seeking to strip them off 8 gas discoveries holding 1.15 trillion cubic feet of reserves worth $14 billion.

While Moily said issues surrounding KG-D6 were discussed in the meeting, Dudley said BP was "committed to working with the Government of India in their quest for energy security".

"I think we are working very hard to develop further gas reserves in India," Dudley said after meeting Chidambaram.

They explained how it was not possible to hoard gas and that the penalties that are being sought to be imposed were in violation of the signed contract.

Dudley is believed to have told Moily that no investment will come in oil and gas hunt if signed contracts are not honoured.

He asked why his company was being penalised without a fair trial. His contention was that it has not been proved that RIL-BP deliberately produced less than targets so how can they be penalised.

Ambani said if the government is citing PSC to say that no international expert can be appointed to verify reasons for fall in KG-D6 output, then how was one-man reservoir expert P Gopalkrishnan appointed by DGH and on whose recommendations RIL and BP were being penalised.

New Delhi, October 18
Days after being named in a CBI FIR in the coal scam, Aditya Birla group chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla today met Finance Minister P Chidambaram as India Inc warned that an atmosphere of fear may be created after such instances.

Birla said on Friday that Hindalco Industries has done no wrong and he is not worried about the fallout on the group's application for a bank licence.

The industrialist spoke after meeting Finance Minister P Chidambaram and Revenue Secretary Sumit Bose.

"As of now, I am not worried about it. There is nothing wrong that has been done, so why should one worry?" he told reporters when asked if the CBI FIR would cast a shadow on the Aditya Birla Group's application for a bank licence.

Birla said he discussed the issue with the minister. "I obviously brought this up with the Finance Minister. So many other things to talk about. Work goes on. We are in so many other industries. There are so many other things to discuss with him," he said.

Industry body CII today joined industrialists and trade bodies in expressing concern over action against reputed individuals saying that "extreme caution" should be exercised by the CBI to ensure that there is no atmosphere of fear created.

Reacting to the CBI case against Birla, CII president Kris Gopalakrishnan said, “Every effort should be made to ensure that there is no atmosphere of fear created, when it comes to decision making”.

The CII president added, "Reputations of institutions and individuals take years to build and therefore, extreme caution needs to be exercised before any action is taken, which jeopardises reputation that institutions and individuals build for themselves".

He said while it is absolutely within CBI's rights to proceed against any person to ensure that the law of the land is preserved irrespective of the stature of the person, it is desirable to ensure that all facts of the case are laid upfront before proceeding against respected and reputed individuals.

The CPM today attacked Commerce Minister Anand Sharma for his statements on CBI naming Birla in the coal scam, saying it was a "blatant" attempt to influence the case.

"It is shocking that a Union Minister has come out in defence of a big industrialist claiming he is innocent in the case," the party Politburo said.

New Delhi, October 18
Aditya Birla Group firm Hindalco is unlikely to get tapering coal linkage for its captive power plant in Odisha with the Coal Ministry conveying to the firm that state-owned CIL does not have sufficient fuel.

"Hindalco had approached the Coal Ministry seeking tapering linkage for its captive power plant in Odisha as the company stated that the production from the coal block (Talabira II) allocated to it for the plant would be delayed," said an official.

The Coal Ministry, the official said, has indicated to the company that it was not possible for Coal India Ltd to provide tapering linkage as it does not have sufficient coal.

When contacted, Hindalco said: "The company's proposal for tapering linkages for its captive power plant in Odisha is not rejected". — PTI

Washington, October 18
Toyota has said it was recalling 885,000 vehicles worldwide to fix a problem with air conditioning equipment that could cause a leak that could affect air bags.

It said the recall was for model years 2012 and 2013 of its Camry, Camry Hybrid, Avalon, Avalon Hybrid, and Venza vehicles. The bulk of the recalled vehicles are in the US — 803,000 — while 15,000 are in the Middle East and 1,600 in Europe. — AFP

New Delhi, October 18
The next round of spectrum auction is expected by the end of this year with lower reserve prices compared to the ones fixed by the government in the previous round, Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal said today.

"Next set of auctions which are going to take place, we are looking by end of December, hopefully. What will be set for floor price on which telecom operators will bid...will be, I think, relatively lower for them to make competitive bids," Sibal in a video message on the occasion of re-branding of GSM industry body COAI.

He said the matter will be decided by inter-ministerial panel Telecom Commission. The ministry will then send its views to the Empowered Group of Ministers, which will forward its recommendations to the Cabinet for the final decision.

Meanwhile, a separate Inter-Ministerial Committee formed for overseeing auction modalities has tentatively set January 7-8, 2014 to start the auctions.

Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has recommended up 62 per cent reduction in base price of premium 2G spectrum and up to 37 per cent in case of radiowaves freed from the cancellation of 122 licences, compared to the amount fixed for previous auction.The Telecom Commission has sought clarity on explanations given by TRAI to lower reserve price and the next meeting of the Commission is scheduled for October 29. — PTI

New Delhi, October 18
Indian companies have a long way to go before adhering to corporate governance best practices, as their performance is below par on parameters like rotation of auditors, attendance of directors and board composition, a study has said.

An analysis of the top 100 companies that form part of the Nifty and Junior Nifty indices shows that 10 per cent of these firms have Board sizes of either more than 16 directors or less than seven directors.

The Companies Act, 2013, prescribes a minimum of three and maximum of 15 directors on the Board of a company and permits firms to appoint more than 15 directors after passing a special resolution.

According to a report by InGovern Research Services based on proxy voting disclosures, 17 per cent of directors on an average in these 100 companies attend less than 75 per cent of Board meetings.

Average number of Board meetings held by top 100 Indian Companies is seven.

It further said 13 per cent of companies taken into consideration were non-compliant with Clause 49 of the 'Listing Agreement' with less than 50 per cent Independent Directors on their Board.

The report said 22 per cent of Independent Directors have served on the Board for more than nine years.

"Corporate India has a long way to go before adhering to corporate governance best practices. The data stands out with even top companies not treating corporate governance practices in the right spirit. Institutional investors and regulators should demand better practices from promoters and company management.

The new Companies Act and initiatives from SEBI to improve corporate governance are steps in the right direction," InGovern founder and managing director Shriram Subramanian said. — PTI

New Delhi, October 18
Under pressure from the US over the strong Preferential Market Access (PMA) policy brought out by the government earlier, the Union Cabinet yesterday approved a revised version of the policy that will apply to the supply of electronic and telecom equipment that has security implications.

Reports said the government has watered down the PMA policy, which in its original form would have hurt the business interests of the US-based companies wanting to supply equipment to Indian operators here.

The move to water down the policy comes after the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), on July 8 last announced that the mandatory sourcing requirement for private companies - the PMA policy - will be revisited as well as reviewed, and a new re-calibrated policy would be brought before the Cabinet for approval.

The previous version of PMA Policy approved by the Cabinet on February 2, 2012, called for giving preference to domestically manufactured electronic products that have security implications for the country, covering the government and the private sector.

The new policy is in line with the World Trade Organisation rules which state that security concerns cannot be used to promote local manufacturing.

According to an internal note of the DoT, the revised proposal not only includes defence procurement but also removes the clause that disallowed imports of equipment on the grounds of security concerns.

The previous policy faced opposition from US-based groups where the government itself had limited imports of technology products from Chinese companies on security grounds, including cyber espionage threat. 

BRIEFLY

Muhurat trading on Diwali
Mumbai: The National Stock Exchange (NSE) on Friday said a special muhurat live trading session will be held on November 3, on account of Diwali. The stock market would open from 18.15 hours and close at 19.30 hours, the NSE said. — PTI

BSNL cuts rates for international calls
New Delhi: BSNL has launched special tariff vouchers (STVs) wherein its customers would get over 75% cheaper rates for making international calls. The public sector firm has launched STVs in the range for Rs 23 to Rs 41 for pre-paid customers whereas post-paid users have to pay a fixed monthly charge of Rs 20 to Rs 40 to avail the cheaper rates. — PTI

Micromax CEO resigns
Mumbai: Homegrown cellular phone handset maker Micromax said on Friday its CEO Deepak Mehrotra has quit the firm. "Deepak Mehrotra has stepped down from the position of CEO Micromax, on account of personal reasons," the company said. — PTI

RCom launches US roaming pack
New Delhi: Reliance Communications (RCom) on Friday launched a roaming pack for post-paid GSM customers travelling to the US claiming that they can save 98 per cent on data usage and up to 76 per centon outgoing voice calls. The roaming pack is available for Rs 849 with a validity of 30 days, the company said. — PTI