 |
|
|
Reliance seeks sops for selling petrol, diesel
Let market decide price: Teri
Maruti hikes prices
Industry seeks reforms in Budget
BSNL STD rates may see 70 pc cut
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Reliance Info to raise $300 m loan
Pak telecom co signs MoUs with Reliance, BNC
PowerGrid to buy choppers
Federal Bank keen to acquire Ganesh
Bank
Volvo to foray into city bus segment
|
|
Reliance seeks sops for selling petrol, diesel
New Delhi, January 9 “After APM (Administered Pricing Mechanism) was demolished in 2002, I (Reliance Industries) should be treated on par with public sector companies,” RIL director R.K. Narang told reporters on the sidelines of a panel discussion on petroleum pricing organised by Teri here today. He said if part of the losses made on petrol and diesel sales by IndianOil Corp, IBP, Bharat Petroleum Corp and Hindustan Petroleum Corp were made up through issue of government bonds and discounts extended by upstream firms like Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC), Oil India Ltd and GAIL, then the same should also be given to Reliance. Reliance, which has set up over 900 petrol stations throughout the country, commands 9 per cent of the petrol and diesel market share. While the retail-selling price of petrol barely makes up for its cost of production, diesel was currently being sold at a loss of Rs 2 a litre. When asked why was Reliance selling fuel at a loss when it was unlike the PSU firms, not bound by government pricing dictats, Mr Narang said: “I cannot sell (petrol and diesel) at a price more than my competition.” Reliance, he said, had been “unfairly” asked to extend discounts to the tune of Rs 750 crore on the petrol, diesel, LPG and kerosene it sells to PSU retailers. “Its illogical and irrational call made (on Reliance). I am not in marketing of LPG and kerosene yet I have to pay Rs 750 crore.” “We should be treated on par with public sector firms,” he said. Reliance Industries has made out a case for being compensated on par with public sector firms before the high-powered Rangarajan Committee appointed by the Prime Minister to look into the pricing of petrol, diesel, LPG and kerosene. “I do not agree to the subsidy sharing (scheme of the government). The scheme has led to oil companies bleed,” he said. Under the subsidy sharing scheme, the losses made by IOC, BPCL, HPCL and IBP on petrol, diesel, LPG and kerosene sale are shared by upstream firms, stand-alone refiners — Reliance, Kochi Refinery, Chennai Refinery and Mangalore Refinery — and the retailing firms equally.
— PTI
|
|
Let market decide price: Teri
Industry think-tank Teri has demanded an end to government dictats on pricing of petroleum products and sought subsidies on domestic cooking gas (LPG) and kerosene to be directly provided to consumers.
Instead of government providing subsidy to oil companies, prepaid cards with subsidy amount loaded can be provided to targeted consumers, The Energy and Resources Institute (Teri) said in a study on Petroleum Pricing in India. The government should move to market determined prices of petrol, diesel, LPG and kerosene immediately. Subsidised LPG and kerosene can be provided to targeted consumers by giving them prepaid cards from which the subsidy amount would be deducted every time a purchase was made. This would help check black-marketing and help track pattern and extent of subsidy utilisation, the study said. “The Import Parity Pricing formula (used for calculating retail prices of fuel) needs to be revisted to ensure that the Indian refining industry enjoys a rational margin that is fair to producers as well as consumers,” it said.
|
|
Maruti hikes prices
New Delhi, January 9 The company, which earlier announced a hike October last year, said the rising oil prices were behind the increase in costs. “The company had decided to pass on only a part of the impact of increase in freight costs and other input costs to the customers then (in Oct 2005) and had indicated that another price revision may be undertaken in the early 2006,” Maruti said. As per the new prices, entry-level Maruti 800 will be costlier by Rs 3,000 while the popular Alto model will also be dearer by the same amount. On the other hand, the company’s latest offering Swift will see a Rs 3,500 hike on the base model while the mid and top-end variants will be expensive by Rs 10,000. The price increments on the Zen and WagonR models is Rs 5,000 while the highest impact will be on the prices on the SUV Grand Vitara, which will see the prices go by as much as Rs 15,000. The mid-size Baleno and Esteem will be dearer by Rs 3,000 while the MPV Versa will be expensive by Rs 12,000. The Omni van will be dearer by Rs 1,500 while its LPG variant will be expensive to upwards of Rs 3,000.
Ford Fiesta to cost more
Chennai:
The Ford Fiesta, the fifth model of Ford India in six years, will cost more from January 16 with the diesel version crossing the Rs 7 lakh barrier. The company cited rising input costs as the reason for revising the prices of the newly launched Ford Fiesta. “The price revision will come into effect from January 16,” a press note said here. As a special gesture, the company would hold the present price for all orders booked for Fiesta till January 15. The revised ex-showroom prices for Fiesta in Chennai would be Rs 5.65 lakh for its 1.4 EXi petrol version, Rs 6.39 lakh for 1.6 ZXi petrol version. The 1.6 SXi petrol Fiesta would cost Rs 6.99 lakh while 1.4 diesel would be available at Rs 7.09 lakh. The other models that Ford offered in India included the Ikon, Fusion, Endeavour and Mondeo.
— PTI
|
|
Industry seeks reforms in Budget
New Delhi, January 9 In his pre-Budget consultations with industry leaders, Mr Chidambaram hinted at taking measures in the Budget to boost the farm, irrigation, food processing and social sectors. There was a broad consensus among India Inc for simplifying FBT and lowering the overall tax burden on corporates, now at over 40 per cent. “If you don’t abolish it (FBT), you can simplify it,” CII President Y.C. Deveshwar told reporters after the meeting. FICCI and Assocham also pitched for scrapping or simplifying FBT. “There is a need to review the existing FBT provisions and simplify it. Genuine business expenditure incurred by corporates should be allowed deduction,” FICCI Vice-President N. Srinivasan said. Instead of FBT, Assocham President Anil K. Agarwal and Senior Vice-President Venugopal N. Dhoot said the Finance Minister should hike corporate tax by 2 per cent. The CII President submitted that the FM should announce a target for capital formation in infrastructure for the next three years. Expressing concern over the misuse of ground water in states like Punjab, Haryana and Maharashtra, Mr Deveshwar asked the FM to begin a price regime that could promote a shift of resources to horticulture and agro-forestry in these regions. The CII urged the government to give tax exemptions for five years to companies engaged in R&D, agro-forestry. FICCI proposed a cut in the corporate tax rate from 30 to 25 per cent as it in the case of most ASEAN members. “Telecom is a vital sector but has punitive taxation. We wanted lowering of licence fees, ADC and USO charges,” Bharti Chairman Sunil B. Mital said Mr Anil Ambani of Reliance Infocomm, who also attended the meeting, refrained from making any comment.
|
|
BSNL STD rates may see 70 pc cut
New Delhi, January 9 The IndiaOne Uniform STD rates, which are likely to be announced by January 15, will come before the announcement of revenue-share based access deficit charge and set in motion the PSUs’ tariffs aligning themselves to this grand initiaitive of telecom minister Dayanidhi Maran who sees a single rate for STD across the country as the way to bring affordability in this segment. This will put rest to speculation on delay in launching IndiaOne tariffs by telecom PSUs. Sources in BSNL said OneIndia rates should see enough reduction in mobile STD also. At present, BSNL call charges for distance beyond 50 km is Rs 2.40 for a 30 second pulse rate effectively making Rs 4.80 for a minute inter-circle (STD) call for its basic telephone users. Intra-circle rates below 50 km is also charged at Rs 2.40 but for a 90 seconds pulse. For cellular users of BSNL, under various plans there are different STD rates for a 60 second pulse. Under Plan 225, the cell-to-cell STD rates are Rs 2 a minute for a 60 second pulse while under Plan 325 and Plan 525, it is Rs 1.80 for the pulse for same duration. Officials also said rentals were to remain at the same level and there is no change on rental as well as on local call fronts. About 7.5 crore mobile users can look forward to a major cut in their STD bills this month, as the government is likely soon to approve collection of a fee (access deficit charge) from telecom operators based on revenue-share mode instead of a fixed amount. The revenue-share percentage is likely to be less for national long distance calls (STD) compared to international long distance calls (ISD), which would allow operators to cut STD tariffs.
— PTI
|
|
Reliance Info to raise $300 m loan
New Delhi, January 9 The entire $300 million syndicated foreign currency loan is likely to bear an interest rate of less than Libor+100 basis points. The proposed loan will be used to repay the company’s earlier $300 million loan, which was raised at a higher rate of Libor plus 200 basis point, sources said, adding this will directly result in a saving of 100 basis points above
Libor, which in turn will go a long way in improving the bottomline and profitability of the company. Meanwhile, Reliance Infocomm today extended its ‘India One’ tarrif scheme to fixed wireless segment. Under the new plan, fixed wireless customers will be able to make calls to anywhere in the country for Re one per minute, the company said here. But the STD calls across the country would be available at Re 1 per minute under a particular scheme with a fixed monthly rental of Rs 499. Meanwhile, the new scheme hiked the local call charges from Reliance to other networks by 2.5 times.
|
|
|
Pak telecom co signs MoUs with Reliance, BNC
Islamabad, January 9 Reliance and BNC inked the agreement while Indian telecom is expected to join the pact shortly. This is the first time that Pakistan has opted to have a direct link with India in the telecom sector. Last year, the Indian companies were not permitted to take part in the bidding of privatisation of PTCL. “Pakistan is ready to make the new cable operational as early as in a month. We are waiting for the final go-ahead from India,” the Daily Times quoted a top PTCL official as saying. Meanwhile, Pakistan has given the go-ahead for a long-pending deal to sell a strategic stake in the country’s main state-run telecom company to Etisalat of the UAE, a statement said today. Under the deal approved by the cabinet committee on privatisation, Etisalat will pay $1.14 billion of the $2.6 billion it agreed on in June for 26 per cent of PTCL.— PTI, AFP
|
|
PowerGrid to buy choppers
New Delhi, January 9 Almost all thermal and hydel power stations had to be shut down on that day after the failure of around 20 main transmission lines in Punjab, Haryana and J&K. A high-level meeting convened by the Ministry of Power took this decision .The meeting was attended by senior officials of state electricity boards in North India, Central Electricity Authority and was chaired by CMD of PowerGrid R.P. Singh. Members expressed concern over the tripping of so many lines on December 23 due to heavy fog although preventive maintenance, including the cleaning of insulators, was claimed to have been done before the onset of the winter. A senior official, who attended the meeting, said it had been agreed that Power Grid would procure helicopters and costs would be recovered by imposing tariff on the state power utilities which may recover it from the consumers. It would also give helicopters to the state electricity boards on rent for washing the insulators on their lines. These helicopters could also be utilised for construction in difficult terrain. He said it has been decided that de-mineralised water available from nearby thermal power stations located in the northern region would be utilised for cleaning. “Use of helicopter would minimise transmission lines shutdown duration and the consequent interruption to consumers,” said the official, adding that a committee with members from the CEA, PowerGrid and UPPCL had been formed to examine this scheme and submit a detailed feasibility report within one month. The CMD of PowerGrid pointed out on December 23 that major damage was averted since the main transmission system of Northern Grid was fairly robust. It helped in minimising the adverse effect even after the outage of 49 lines in 220 KV and 400 KV network and the system showed its resilience. The members felt the need for undertaking the renovation and modernisation (R&M) of protection equipment and transmission system on priority as any such failure had the potential to cause a grid disturbance. A major disturbance in 2001 in the Northern Regional Power System resulted in collapse of the Northern regional grid, causing a loss of about 15,500 MW of generation.
|
|
Federal Bank keen to acquire Ganesh
Bank
Mumbai, January 9 Both banks have been given time till January 21 to consider the draft scheme after which the central bank will take a view on the future set-up of Kolhapur-based Ganesh Bank. Earlier in the day, Federal Bank expressed its intention of acquiring Ganesh Bank. “We
have submitted our expression of interest for the amalgamation of
Ganesh Bank to the RBI and expect the due process to be completed in
one month”, Federal Bank Chairman and Managing Director Venugopalan
said. Federal Bank has, among other things, proposed to pay the depositors fully. The RBI has examined the proposal received from Federal Bank, keeping in view its financial parameters, retail network and synergies as well as strategic advantages. About
the amount that Federal Bank would have to shell out to acquire the
beleaguered bank, Mr Venugopalan said: “We expect the maximum
outflow to be around Rs 10-15 crore.” According to the draft
scheme, if there is any disagreement between the two banks over
valuation, the matter will be referred to the RBI — PTI
|
|
|
Volvo to foray into city bus segment
New Delhi, January 9 Mr Passey said the company was talking to city-bus service operators in Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chandigarh and Ahmedabad for the buses. “We will be delivering the first lot of 25 buses in Bangalore before March,” he said adding that despite high costs, the company was hopeful increased safety and efficiency levels will help the vehicles penetrate the market. The company is already a preferred player on the inter-city route, having sold as many as 1,000 buses since 2001. In fact, in 2005, it sold 400 units and Volvo buses are not only being used by inter-city operators in Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan and Punjab but also on the India-Pakistan bus route.
— PTI
|
|
Sona Group into car rental business
New Delhi, January 9
|
|
|
Rupee at 44.29 v dollar
Mumbai, January 9
|
bb
IAFL Jalandhar unit expands Bank of Rajasthan branch at Shimla Kribhco-Oswal deal has govt nod TIS bags two European firms Dish TV offer Erich Stamminger |
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
