New Delhi, September 9
India has signed the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in services and investments with 10 countries of the south-east Asian and ASEAN region.

The Services Agreement will open up opportunities for movement of both manpower and investments from either side between India and ASEAN. Nine out of 10 Asean countries have signed the same. Philippines is completing its domestic procedure and it is expected to sign soon. The FTA on goods was signed in 2009 and became effective from 2010. The trade agreement has boosted the total trade between India and ASEAN substantially in the past four years.

The signing got delayed as it was scheduled to be signed in Nay Pay Taw, Myanmar, during the Asean Economic Ministers (AEM) meeting on August 26. However, in view of the launch of Prime Minister’s Jan Dhan Yojana for inclusive banking, the Minister of State (Independent Charge) Commerce and Industry Nirmala Sitharaman (who was in charge of the launch of the scheme) could not attend the conclave.

Sitharaman said the signing of the agreement in services and investment is reflective of India’s commitment to have a strong institutional architecture for economic ties with ASEAN.

The FTA in services is in line with other bilateral agreements that India has signed so far. Some of the important articles contained in the agreement are the ones on transparency, domestic regulations, recognition, market access, national treatment, increasing participation of developing countries, joint committee on services, review, dispute settlement and denial of benefits.

Each ASEAN member state has tabled individual schedule of commitments which are equally applicable for India and other ASEAN member states. India on the other hand has tabled three schedules of commitments — one for Philippines, one for Indonesia and another for the remaining eight ASEAN member states.

The agreement will also free movement of individuals as a brief annexure on movement of natural persons (one of the key areas of interest for India) has been included in the agreement. This annexure defines business visitors, intra-corporate transferees (managers, executives and specialists) and contractual service suppliers. This will help provide commercially meaningful market across in ASEAN for Indian professionals, including those from the IT/ITeS sector.

Welcoming the signing of FTA in services and investment with ASEAN, FICCI president Sidharth Birla said, “It will supplement the India-ASEAN FTA in goods and help in getting greater market access for India’s professionals and service providers in the 10-member block. We are happy that an annexure on movement of natural persons has been included in the agreement, which will benefit our professionals”.

Chandigarh, September 9
Biotechnology major Panacea Biotec has threatened to pull out of Punjab, allegedly because of the "indifferent" attitude of the administration to help resolve its labour issues. The company has accused some politicians and trade union leaders of interfering in the smooth functioning of its manufacturing facility at Lalru, thus causing it losses worth hundreds of crores.

The company is facing labour problems at its Lalru plant for the past few months. According to the management, the production at the plant has come to a halt and they are now left with inventories worth hundreds of crores, which will go waste as the chemicals are nearing their expiry date.

Talking to The Tribune today, RK Suri, chief executive, Biologicals, Panacea Biotec, said despite restraining orders, the employees were protesting in front of the plant. "We have approached the district administration and the police and sought action against the striking employees, but to no avail. Some of the employees are playing mischief and have even tried to change the temperature settings inside the plant and create other engineering snags. They have also tried to tamper with the DG sets to hamper production," he said, adding that the striking employees also tried to manhandle some non-striking employees today.

Suri said some local politicians and trade union leaders were stalling the dialogue and compromise formula worked out with some of the absentee employees. "We already have orders for manufacturing vaccines worth Rs 300 crore, which may get impacted as the raw material (antigen) being produced at Lalru is in short supply because of the strike. The problems and shutdown of units in Lalru is having an adverse impact on our entire manufacturing operations," he said. The company has four manufacturing units at Lalru - for manufacturing hepatitis B antigen, diphtheria vaccine, tetanus vaccine, H1N1 vaccine, haemophilus influenzae type B vaccine. The sales turnover of the Lalru plant is Rs 100 crore.

Suri said he would meet the Deputy Chief Minister and seek his intervention to resolve the issue.

"We hope to get a positive response from the Deputy Chief Minister, who seems keen on attracting industry to the state," he said.

Mumbai, September 9
The forthcoming Dhanteras-Diwali season is likely to be a dark one for the diamond trade as the outbreak of Ebola virus has caused a shortage of rough stones in the market.

According to traders here, diamond cutting and polishing units are suspending operations due to shortage of rough stones. “We have shut down production during Ganesh Chaturthi for the first time as there is a shortage of rough stones,” says Jitendra Shah, who owns a cutting and polishing unit in Mumbai and Surat.

Diamond units are so far not laying off workers but it is possible that many employees may not be hired back after the Diwali vacation, say exporters.

India’s diamond trade sources a big chunk of its rough stones from countries like Congo, Ivory Coast, Sierra Leone, Ghana, Nigeria, etc which have been hit by Ebola. “Diamond merchants are no longer going to these countries. Even parcels of rough stones ordered earlier are being returned,” said Dinesh Navadia, president, Surat Diamond Association.

Diamonds account for a big chunk of India’s exports. The rough stones are imported by the trade which are then cut and polished before being exported to Western countries and the Middle-East.

According to traders, India imports as much as $20 million worth of rough stones every month from the Ebola-affected countries alone.

Meanwhile, the diamond trade is looking for alternative sources of supply for rough stones. Exporters say, they are in touch with the Russian diamond industry which is looking for newer markets after the Western countries imposed sanctions over the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

Russia is not a traditional supplier of roughs to India. However, with the sanctions expected to get tougher, diamond merchants may get premium variety of stones, sources said.

New Delhi, September 9
ICICI Bank today approved sub-division of one equity share into five with the aim to increase liquidity of scrip.

“The Board of directors of ICICI Bank has considered and approved the sub-division (split) of one equity share of the bank having a face value of Rs 10 into five equity shares of face value of Rs 2 each,” the bank said. Shares of the bank today closed at Rs 1,547.70 per unit, down 1.31% on the BSE.

Following the sub-division, it said, there would be alteration in the relevant clauses relating to capital of the Memorandum of Association and Articles of Association of the bank. Each American Depositary Share (ADS) of ICICI Bank will continue to represent two underlying equity shares as at present, it said.

The number of ADSs held by an American Depositary Receipt holder would consequently increase in proportion to the increase in number of equity shares. — PTI

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NTPC pays Rs 4,741-crore dividend for 2013-14
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