New Delhi, July 4
The nine million metric tonne per annum (MMTPA) Bathinda refinery is expected to be completed in 2010-11, six month ahead of schedule, a senior HPCL official said here today.

“Normally a new refinery requires 48 months, but we hope to complete the project six month ahead of the schedule,” said B S Sant, managing director, Guru Gobind Singh Refinery Ltd (GGSRL).

Explaining the progress of the HPCL-Mittal joint venture refinery project to a delegation led by Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, he said the project would be monitored by independent international consultants.

Sant said the financial closure and finalisation of licences would be done by the end of this month and advance ordering of the long lead items was being done.

He added that the Rs 18,919 crore grassroot refinery would have a captive power plant of 165 MW and a 1,011 km crude oil pipeline from Mundra in Gujarat to Bhatinda. It would have flexibility to process a wide variety of crude oils including heavy, sour and other opportunity crudes, high value added products like LPG, naphtha, petrol, diesel and aviation fuel.

Sant said the built-in cost would be in the debt equity ratio of 1.5:1 i.e. equity of Rs 7,155 crore and Rs 10,733 crore debt.

Mittal Investments, who have become joint venture partners in the project after several other firms parted ways with HPCL, would hold 49 per cent equity along with the state run firm holding an equal share. The balance two per cent would be held by Indian financial institutions.

New Delhi, July 4
The ever increasing pressure on Indira Gandhi International Airport could reduce in near future with the ministry of civil aviation today stepping up construction of another international airport in the National Capital Region (NCR) at Greater Noida.

The ministry officials said they had received a techno-feasibility study and project report from the Uttar Pradesh government for setting up an airport at Greater Noida. The ministry has considered the report, but it could take approximately three months to get an ‘in-principle’ approval for the airport from the central government under the prevailing circumstances.

It has, however, given an assurance to the Uttar Pradesh government that the proposal would be considered with a positive view.

This would effectively mean that like West Bengal, Maharashtra, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, the state of Uttar Pradesh would also be able to have direct links to foreign destinations, besides hosting domestic flights as an alternative for NCR.

According to reports, the government is expected to give its clearance for the international airport on the lines of the ‘greenfield airports’, which have been approved for Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.

It will be a joint venture with a private party selected through a competitive bidding process. The equity composition such that the private party would hold 74 per cent of the stake in the airport while the state government, through its sponsor, would hold 13 per cent stake. The rest of the 13 per cent would be held by the other government agencies such as the Airports Authority of India.

The proposal for setting up an airport at Greater Noida was first received by the ministry of civil aviation from the Uttar Pradesh government in 2001 and the technical approval for the selected site was conveyed in 2003.

The proposed site, identified for the construction of the Taj International Aviation Hub by the UP government, is nearly 72 km from Delhi and 120 km from Agra. About 1,500 hectares of land has been identified for the construction of the project. As per the feasibility report of the state government, the site has been selected keeping in mind all other strategic points in the nearby areas and so as to have the least environmental impact.

New Delhi, July 4
The centre today cleared 10 FDI proposals worth Rs 2,339 crore, including that of Morgan Stanley Mauritius Company Limited, Rakindo Developers pvt Limited and EMAP Publishing (Netherland) BV.

Union finance minister P Chidambaram approved these proposals recommended by Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) in its meeting held on June 22.

The FDI of Morgan Stanley – worth Rs 1,894.41 crore – is to invest up to $465 million in a mix of equity and compulsorily convertible preference shares and permitting Morgan Stanley to carry on securities sales, trading and broking, merchant banking and corporate advisory services and other NBFC activities.

Rakindo’s Rs 407.11 crore proposal is to set up a JV in the name of Rakindo Developers Pvt Limited and act as a holding company to make downstream investment in construction development projects.

EMAP’s proposal, worth Rs 4.81 crore, is for induction of foreign equity up to 40.1 per cent by EMAP publishing, Netherlands in M/S Next Gen Publishing Ltd engaged in publishing of magazine ‘Car India’.

Among other proposals cleared by the centre include Furukawa Electric Company Limited, Japan’s Rs 19.64 crore proposal to set up a JV company with a foreign equity of up to 51 per cent.

New Delhi, July 4
Car maker Hyundai Motor India today launched alternate fuel variant of its flagship hatchback Santro-CNG at a starting price of Rs 3,25,361 (ex-showroom Delhi).

The CNG powered Santro would be pitted against rival Maruti's Wagon R LPG duo, which comes at a base price of Rs 3.49 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi).

The CNG kit would be retrofitted at the dealership level and the alternate fuel variant has been introduced only in Delhi.

The company has introduced four variants of CNG Santro — XK (non A/c), XL, XO and AT (automatic transmission).

CNG Santro would also come with a two-year, unlimited mileage warranty. — PTI

New Delhi, July 4
Small is beautiful. This is the gospel that country’s largest car maker Maruti Udyog Limited (MUL) is trying to evangelise in its export markets - even to the sheikhs of the Arab world known for their penchant for fuel guzzling humongous SUVs, as it steps up to boost overseas sales.

The company, which has set an export target of around 2,20,000 units by 2010, is spreading into new markets like the UAE, where it has just started shipments of its best selling small car Alto, and Philippines and Indonesia.

Besides, MUL is also intensely focusing on penetrating deeper into the existing export market, where in many of the cases it is pitched against cheap imported second hand big cars.

“Our strategy has been to promote the small car and how a brand new fuel efficient vehicle is better and more environment-friendly than those second hand imported big cars through our distributors in those markets,” MUL managing director Jagdish Khattar said.

Already the strategy seems to be working for Maruti and this fiscal’s target of 50,000 units from exports is on track. — PTI

Mumbai, July 4
The rupee today rallied to a new high in over nine years at 40.45/46 against the dollar on expectations of robust foreign fund inflows in the near future and lack of intervention by the central bank.

The Indian unit had hit an intra-day high of 40.28 on May 28 this year and the previous high was at 39.85 a dollar recorded on May 13, 1998.

It gained nine paise today over the previous close and garnered a total 55 paise in the last five straight sessions.

In active trade at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market, the domestic currency opened slightly better at 40.52/54 per dollar from yesterday’s close of 40.54/55 a dollar.

It remained stable in morning trade on expectation of intervention by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) at 40.50 level.

Sustained bullish equity market also helped the rupee to rally further. — PTI

Mumbai, July 4
Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI) has hiked the interest rates on Foreign Currency Non-Resident (Banks) Scheme deposits (FCNR(B)) and Non Resident External Deposits(NRE).

The revised rates for FCNR(B) deposits in dollar are 4.68 per cent for deposits having tenure of one year to less than two years and two years to less than three years respectively.

For deposits having maturity period of three years to less than four years, the rate has been fixed at 4.71 per cent.

The revised rates are 5.43 per cent and 5.46 per cent for deposits having maturity periods of one year to less than two years and three years respectively.

The revised rates have come into effect from July 1, IDBI said. — UNI

New Delhi, July 4
The Delhi High Court today stayed an order of Central Information Commission (CIC) bringing stock exchanges under the purview of Right to Information (RTI) Act.

Acting on a petition by the National Stock Exchange, a Bench of Justice B.D. Ahmed also issued notices to market regulator SEBI, ministry of finance and CIC seeking their replies. The court asked them to submit affidavit within four weeks and file rejoinder, if any, in four weeks thereafter.

The NSE had challenged CIC's decision of June 7 to open up the bourses under the transparency legislation.

Gopal Subramanium, the counsel for NSE, contended that bourses did not come within the definition of the state and so, cannot come under the purview of RTI Act.

Subramanium, who is also additional solicitor general, said information under RTI can be sought only against the government or its agencies and not against a company. NSE is a company incorporated under the Companies Act, he said.

Organisations which come within the ambit of RTI Act should be constituted, controlled and substantially funded by the central or the state government. Stock exchanges do not fit in the definition and their board of directors are not appointed by the government, he added.

Contesting the government's view it had no control on bourses, the SEBI counsel said it monitored exchanges and the regulator was a government body.

The CIC had last month on a plea by two investors against NSE and Jaipur Stock Exchange directed all bourses to comply with RTI rules within three months. — PTI

Mumbai, July 4
The third unit at Tarapur Atomic Power Plant (TAPP-3), which was activated last year, has reached 100 per cent capacity, according to the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL).

Full power from the 540 MW plant is being fed to the national electricity grid from Tuesday onward, officials said.

While TAPP-3 has begun to operate at 100 per cent capacity, other nuclear power plants in the country are facing severe shortage of fuel. Observers say India’s hurry to sign nuclear deal with the USA has been the result of a severe shortage of domestically produced nuclear fuel.

The Uranium Corporation of India has been mandated with sourcing fuel for India’s nuclear power plants. The company is scouring sites in Orissa and Meghalaya for natural sources of uranium.

Like TAPP-4, TAPP-3 has pressurised heavy water reactors and an installed capacity of 1,080 MW. Both use natural uranium fuel and heavy water as moderator as well as coolant.

NPCIL is charging power at the rate of Rs 2.65 per unit. Maharashtra is the biggest beneficiary from the new power units bagging about 40 per cent of the power generated from TAPP-3 and 4.

New Delhi, July 4
Vectra Aviation will launch helicopter charter services across the country on July 15, a senior company official said yesterday.

The company aims to cover locations in north India initially, connecting destinations like Agra, Jaipur, Ludhiana, Dehradun, Rishikesh, Chandigarh, Simla, Hemkund Sahib, Badrinath and Kedarnath.

Vectra’s subsidiary HeliAir will offer last mile convenience with five-seater and 12-seater choppers, said its marketing manager Severine Rodosavljevic.

“India, with its diverse terrain and varied weather conditions is ideally suited for helicopter travel with many applications like private and corporate charters, heli-tourism, religious tourism, medical and emergency services,” she said.

HeliAir will start operations with three flying machines and increase the fleet size to 14 in coming years to connect similar hubs in major metro cities. Vectra operates a six million euro facility for maintenance, repair and overhaul services for Eurocopter, an EADS company. — UNI

Mumbai, July 4
Two sets of parents from the eastern and western parts of the country are vying for records of a different sort — the youngest Indian to have a Permanent Account Number (PAN) card.

One day after a Rourkela-based couple, journalist Saroj Rout and Geetanjali, bagged a PAN card for their three-month old son Ayush, a Mumbai-based stock broker Sameer Thacker said the honour should go to his son Krishshey. The infant managed to bag the PAN card in March this year when he had just turned two months old. Now at five months, the baby happily uses the strip of plastic for some oral gratification before journalists.

Both parents insist that their babies would be earning money before uttering their first syllables and would, therefore, require a PAN card.

The Orissa-based couple say their son would feature in advertisements for which he would be paid a fee and should therefore be treated as a tax assessee. Krishhey’s doting dad is, however, buying shares in his son’s name.

Though minor children’s incomes are clubbed with their parents and therefore do not really require a PAN card, the above set of parents are going by the fine print, feel IT officials.

Krishshey’s mother, a dentist, called up the media to stake claim for producing the country’s youngest PAN card holder after the Orissa couple made it to the headlines.

IT officials hope that news coverage of the two youngest PAN card holders would motivate more people to apply for the same.

Meanwhile, the Association of Mutual Funds (AMFI) has informed that anyone desirous of investing in mutual funds should apply for a PAN card regardless of their income.

Even investors investing Rs 100 on Systematic Investment Programmes of mutual funds would have to produce their PAN cards from January next year. At present, only those investing above Rs 50,000 have to produce their PAN number.