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Indian ‘Wal-Mart’ launches itself
FinMin opposes curbs on FDI from specific countries
Economy can withstand shocks: RBI Governor
Reining in inflation priority: FM
After Mittals, ONGC ropes in Hindujas
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SBI hikes charges for ATM usage, levies service tax
India to have more billionaires than China in 2006
Chinese Co in talks with Arcelor Mittal for 49 pc stake sale
IT refund scam unearthed
BSNL broadband users to touch 10m by 2010
Caparo project stone laid
Inflation at 5.41 pc
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Indian ‘Wal-Mart’ launches itself
Hyderabad, November 3 According to Morgan Stanley, the retail market in the country is estimated to surge 15-fold to more than $60 billion by 2015. Reliance retail is planning to open 1,500 outlets serving a third of the towns and cities across the country. Projecting a win-win situation for farmers and consumers, Mr Raghu Pillai, RIL President and CEO, said the consumers would get the best value for their money and fresh-from-the-farm supplies. The farmers, he said, would get the right price, may be higher as the company would procure directly from the field. Asked whether the company would enter into a contract, he said “different models would be worked out. Contract farming, cooperative farming and other models would be tried out. But emphasis would be on quality produce for procurement.” Asked specifically about the 5,000 acres of land the company has got in Punjab, he said “no land has been purchased in the state.” Mr Asthana tried to dispel the impression that the entry of Reliance in retail would pose a threat to kirana or neighbourhood shops. “The retail market size in the country is about $300 million and we hope to capture only a small insignificant portion by 2015,” he said. It would set up cold chains across the country as more than 50 per cent of the farm produce got wasted due to lack of storage. Reliance aims to have 4,000 stores by 2010. Reliance Fresh already stocks its own private label of “Reliance Select” in staples and food label. Eventually the label will include other food categories such as dairy products, jams and even colas. After ITC’s Choupal Fresh and Landmark’s Max Retail stores, Reliance joins the list of retailers who have chosen Hyderabad to test the waters since Hyderabad offers low real estate prices and a population that’s happy shopping in supermarkets.
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FinMin opposes curbs on FDI from specific countries
New Delhi, November 3 Responding to a note by the National Security Adviser, circulated by the Prime Minister's Office, the Finance Ministry wrote back recently advocating full scrutiny of all FDI proposals but only on a case-to-case basis and not on the basis of origin of investment, ministry sources said. Opposing any kind of discrimination against FDI cases vis-a-vis domestic investment, the ministry has proposed that no country should be singled out on security grounds. Security laws should be same for FDI and domestic investment, the ministry said, adding that if these cannot check domestic investment, they would not scrutinise FDI as well. The issue of security concerns relating to FDI arose after the presence of Egypt's Orascom Telecom in Hutchison-Essar came under severe criticism from the PMO in its review of potential threats to national security from FDI. The Department of Telecom had also said that FDI and security should be dealt with separately, but the PMO has put the case of Orascom Telecom in its section on recent examples of sectoral threats. The DoT had also said that in the telecom sector, boundaries are demolished and cited the example of France Telecom, which is managed from India. According to the PMO, the concern over Orascom's entry into India stems from the fact that the company has received investments from late Palestinian leader Yaseer Arafat's organisation. Moreover, the company is the biggest telecom player in Pakistan and has a large market share in Bangladesh. The issue assumed importance when Hutchison sold about a 19 per cent stake to Orascom, resulting in protests from its Indian partner, Essar, which said that they should have been consulted before any such decision. The National Security Council (NSC) had earlier warned that FDI in certain industrial and service sectors can be a security threat. The Cabinet has set December 31 as the deadline for resolution of inter-ministerial differences and addressing concerns, particularly security aspect.
— PTI |
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Economy can withstand shocks: RBI Governor
New Delhi, November 3 Inaugurating a conference on global risks organised by Assocham, Dr Reddy said strong global demand for their exports, favourable terms of trade and easy access to external financing were boosting the Indian economy. Second large foreign currency reserves along with reduced external debt as percentage of GDP, he said, were cushion factors against any sudden withdrawal by investors in the financial markets. He added “ though public debt in several EMEs still remains at elevated levels, many of them are of longer maturity and considerably higher proportions are in local currency demonstration. The resilience to eternal shocks is reinforced by combination of less balance sheet exposure to exchange rate changes, less refinancing risks in debt structures and strong fiscal and financial cushions and above all an observed tendency for more flexibility in policies”. However, the Governor warned that those who would have risk factors like weak public sector balance sheets, large current account deficits and less well-anchored inflation expectations might be vulnerable to global changes. Referring to RBI’s stance on inflation rising to 5.41 per cent today, he said “the stance of the RBI has not changed.” Dr Reddy said “in the overall assessment, while global growth has been strong and broadbase, there seems to be some indications of moderation in recent one. There are also perceptions of risks to growth and from the cooling of the housing market in the US and the potential drainage of liquidity from financial markets. While global inflation condition has not worsened, concern relating to potential price pressures persist, particularly in the context of firming up of food and metal prices. While geopolitical risks continue to caste a shadow, it was necessary to recognise that global risk had not changed significantly in the last few months, he said. Global financial markets had revised expectations in response to the changes in the magnitude and pace of monetary tightening between June and September 2006. |
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Reining in inflation priority: FM
Hyderabad, November 3 "The most important and immediate goal of the government is to control inflationary expectations," Mr Chidambaram told a banking seminar
here. Stating that inflation was largely on account of a rise in the prices of primary articles, the minister, however, said he expected the economy to grow at 8 per cent for the fourth year in a row. "The RBI Governor has through a modest increase in the repo rate signalled that he would be ready and willing to take monetary steps. So is the government ready to take fiscal steps," he said. |
After Mittals, ONGC ropes in Hindujas
New Delhi, November 3 While the ONGC roped in Mittal Group to use its 'influence' in African and Central Asian countries to acquire oil and gas fields, the state-run firm is tapping Hindujas to leverage their business relations in the oil and gas rich West Asian region, industry sources said. A formal agreement to float a 51:49 joint venture, similar to the ONGC Mittal Energy Ltd (OMEL) formed last year, is likely to be signed this month. The ONGC-Hinduja venture has initially identified seven countries - Iran, Qatar, Kuwait, Libya, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the UAE - for acquiring a stake in oil and gas fields and firming up LNG supplies. Though OMEL had identified Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Congo, Angola, Trinidad and Tobago, Romania and Indonesia as priority areas for doing business, the joint venture has landed with two blocks in Nigeria. Sources said the ONGC had last year signed an MoU with Ashok Leyland Project Services, a Hinduja Group company, to float a 50:50 joint venture to invest in LNG terminals with associated power, petrochemicals, gas pipeline grid projects and related opportunities in southern India. The MoU called for the Hindujas to play a lead role in importing up to 10 million tonnes of LNG per annum and jointly set up power plants with a capacity of between 1,000 MW-1,800 MW. However, the MoU could not be implemented due to objections from government Directors on the ONGC Board. After much debate and consideration, a fresh MoU has been approved, which would be signed later this month, sources said.
— PTI |
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Intel may set up unit in India
New Delhi, November 3 "For the past 10 years, we have been asked this question on our India plans.. It is still an open issue. We are eagerly waiting on the government's incentive package and we had extensive discussion with the government on this. We are awaiting the final set of rules and regulations and will respond quickly once we get the policy," Mr Craig Barrett, Chairman, Intel said here today. Mr Barrett's remarks come close on the heels of IT Minister Dayanidhi Maran's recent announcement that the IT Department would soon seek the Cabinet's approval for a comprehensive policy for encouraging semiconductor industry, including provision of incentives and special packages. Mr Barrett is on his eighth visit to India. Although, he did not commit on the ATM unit which falls well short of a full-fledged chip manufacturing plant as Intel has in many other countries, Barrett's statement could scotch rumours that Intel has lost interest in the project.
— PTI |
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SBI hikes charges for ATM usage, levies service tax
Chandigarh, November 3 Though the use of State Bank ATMs for the State Bank debit card holders will be free of charge, the usage of these cards on ATMs of other banks will now cost more. The rates per transaction at ATMs of other banks under the Master Card network, within India and abroad, have been increased. Officials in the bank informed TNS that the new rates have come into effect from this month. Not only have the rates been revised, but a 12.24 per cent service tax has also been levied on each transaction. Earlier, service tax was not charged on the transactions through the ATM-cum-debit cards. The ATM-cum-debit cards issued by the SBI and its associate banks can be used on 12,500 ATMs of Andhra Bank, Bank of India, Corporation Bank, Dena Bank, HDFC Bank, Indian Bank, IndusInd Bank, Punjab National Bank, UCO Bank, Union Bank of India and UTI Bank. The cash withdrawal charges through the ATMs of these banks has been increased by Rs 5 (from existing Rs 20) per transaction in addition to the 12.24 per cent service tax. Now, each balance enquiry through ATMs of these banks would cost Rs 13.46. The ATM-cum-debit card issued by the bank can also be used in India on the ATMs of banks other than those under bilateral sharing agreement under Master Card network. The bank's international debit card can be used on more than 10,00,000 ATMs across the world. For transactions through these ATMs within the country, the rates for balance enquiry have been revised from Rs 8 per transaction to Rs 10 (plus service tax). |
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India to have more billionaires than China in 2006
Beijing, November 3 "This year there were 15 billionaires in China but last year in India, we had 20 billionaires," Contributing Editor of Forbes Justin Doebele said here on the sidelines of the release of the Forbes' 2006 China Rich List. "So, there are more billionaires in India than in China," he said without divulging the details of the India Rich List, to be published later this month. "We expect the numbers to go up as the markets in India have done pretty well this year," Mr Doebele said, noting that the Forbes Rich List in India would be mostly based on public listing. Mr Tine Wee, Executive Director of Forbes Asia, said that Forbes would release the India Rich List, the third annual list, on November 27.
— PTI |
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Chinese Co in talks with
Beijing, November 3 No other details were provided by the 'China Daily' report. In December last year, Mittal Steel had confirmed that it was involved in talks with Baotou Iron & Steel Group Co Ltd. Prior to Mittal Steel's acquisition of Arcelor, the latter had signed an agreement with Chinese producer Laiwu Steel Group that would allow the European company to hold a 38.41 per cent stake in Laiwu Steel Corporation. Mittal last year acquired a 36.67 per cent share in Valin Steel Tube & Wire Co Ltd in central China's Hunan Province. Meanwhile, Baotou Steel Union Co in North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous region, a subsidiary of Baotou Iron & Steel Group, plans to pay about 6.97 billion yuan ($882 million) to buy assets from its controlling shareholder to expand, the report said. The listed steelmaker will offer 3.03 billion new yuan-denominated shares to Baotou Iron & Steel Group at 2.3 yuan (29 US cents) each, the company said yesterday in a statement. The acquisition will mean that almost the entire group is publicly traded, making it easier for Baotou Steel Union to take over or merge with rivals. China, the world's biggest steelmaker, is encouraging consolidation in the industry to curb overcapacity and boost competitiveness as its economy expands.
— PTI |
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IT refund scam unearthed
New Delhi, November 3 According to an official statement, the scam was detected by an officer of the department, who alerted the bank, leading finally to the arrest of the accused persons. The accused have been remanded in judicial custody. According to Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) spokesperson A.K. Sinha, the board has taken several steps to prevent fraudulent encashment of refunds. The possibility of issue of refunds through a refund banker is also being worked out. A pilot project in this regard is being launched to test its viability. Finance Ministry officials said the government had also introduced the issue of refunds directly to the bank account of the taxpayer through the electronic clearance scheme (ECS). This scheme is being implemented in 25 major cities. Further, it has been made mandatory to quote bank account details on the refund vouchers with effect from January 1, 2006. Although every effort is being made to prevent frauds relating to refunds, the official said the taxpaying public should also cooperate with the department. Many returns were still received without bank account details or with incomplete details. Taxpayers must quote their bank account details. |
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BSNL broadband users to touch 10m by 2010
New Delhi, November 3 “We have placed orders for this year and our rollout process is also going robust. We also plan to reach about 20,000 villages and many smaller cities to expand our broadband connectivity base,” said BSNL CMD Anil Kumar Sinha. BSNL has invested Rs 1,500 crore to expand its broadband service in 1,000 more cities in two years. The broadband service has already been launched in Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad and Kolkata. Soon, it would be extended to more than 200 cities, Mr Sinha said. BSNL is in the process of commissioning of a world-class, multi-gigabit, multi-protocol, convergent IP infrastructure through National Internet Backbone II (NIB-II), which will provide convergent services through the same backbone and broadband access network. |
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Caparo project stone laid
Chennai, November 3 Prince Andrew, Duke of York, laid the foundation stone for the Rs 400 crore project, which would include a research and development centre, tool room, aluminium foundry and forgings to cater to the needs of the automotive industry. The complex will be the company's largest in the world, Mr Angad Paul, CEO of the group and son of Lord Swraj Paul, said here today. The Caparo group also planned to set up a centre of excellence in technology near Chennai soon.
— PTI |
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Inflation at 5.41 pc
New Delhi, November 3 |
SBI not to hike lending rate Paramount fleet Satyam centre |
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