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Core PPP projects
IOC may shelve Iran investment
Govt may scrap 5-yr norm for airlines to fly abroad
RCOM, Tata Tele made false claims for subsidy: USO
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Be cautious in retail lending, Assocham tells banks
IATA to bid goodbye to paper tickets
Centre may implement e-trade for exporters, importers
Lord Krishna Bank-Centurion merger
India-Asean FTA by Nov: Pillai
TCS on top, Wipro out
DoT may take action against Airtel
Indian Bank revises rates
Elder acquires Bulgarian Co
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FinMin appoints transaction advisers
New Delhi, August 28 The panel, finalised through an international competitive bidding process last week, would work out technical and economic specifications of an infrastructure project before handing them over to private firms for development. These advisers will assist the Centre and the states for setting up public-private-partnership (PPP) projects, official sources said. Among others, the ministry selected Abacus Legal Group, Crisil Infrastructure Advisory, Deloitte Touche Tohamatsu, Ernst & Young, Feedback Ventures and Grant Thornton of UK. The panel also includes PricewaterhouseCoopers, RITES, International Finance Corporation, Infrastructure Development Finance Company and Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (IL&FS), the sources said. They said finance ministry is concerned that PPP projects have not taken off so far, although the government expects a major portion of targeted around $ 450 billion investment in core sector through this route. State governments have also been demanding that there should be a pool of experts that could assist them to firm up all aspects of the project before offering to the private players for development. The appointment of advisers is expected to give a fillip to infrastructure projects, especially in the road, ports, airports and metro train service, in which private sector has shown keen interest, the sources said. — PTI
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IOC may shelve Iran investment
New Delhi, August 28 IOC had signed an MoU with Petropars of Iran in 2004 for developing a gas field, setting up a facility to liquefy the gas and building a terminal for exporting liquefied natural gas (LNG). The agreement expires on October 31 with Tehran choosing not to respond to the Indian firm’s proposal, company sources said. IOC-Petropars had made a pre-proposal to obtain in-principle approval from National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) for allocating blocks in one of the phases in the gigantic South Pars field on nomination basis and for setting up liquefaction facilities. NIOC, however, said that since South Pars field had already been allocated, it would examine the possibility of allocating block to IOC-Petropars from the North Pars field. For conducting due diligence of North pars field, IOC-Petropars was required to enter into a confidentiality agreement with Pars Oil and Gas Company (POGC). A draft confidentiality agreement was jointly prepared by IOC and Petropars and forwarded to POGC in July 2006. POGC, however, did not respond, the sources said. IOC sent reminders and in June sought a meeting of the chief executives of NIOC and IOC, but Iran did not respond to any of the requests.
— PTI |
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Govt may scrap 5-yr norm for airlines to fly abroad
New Delhi, August 28 The ministry has proposed to relax rules that require domestic airlines to fly within the country for five years before they can be allowed to start overseas operations. The Ministry has recommended these changes to a Group of Ministers headed by External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, which is reviewing the new Civil Aviation Policy called ‘Vision-2020’. “The gamut of issues like whether the present norms be amended or whether the insistence on five years of domestic experience is relevant or not, will be discussed by the GoM,” Civil Aviation Secretary Ashok Chawla told PTI here. Under the prevailing norms, an airline which has a fleet of 20 aircraft, has operated in the domestic sector for five years and has a paid-up capital of Rs 100 crore, is allowed to fly abroad. The norms were made to ensure that these airlines have served the country and were financially sound to operate on international sectors. Domestic players like Kingfisher and SpiceJet have been seeking relaxation of these norms, under which only Air India, Indian (now merged) and Jet Airways are currently defined as ‘designated carriers’ to operate overseas. Maintaining that the new norms were suggested by the Ministry to the GoM, Chawla said no major country had any time-bound stipulation to allow their carriers to fly abroad. “Most of them allow their airlines to do so depending on their financial strength and their technical capability... Australia has an additional condition that ‘public interest’ should be ensured,” he said. Chawla also said there was a need to have a fresh look at the Route Dispersal Guidelines which mandate Indian domestic carriers to operate to socially-important but financially unfeasible routes like those in the Northeast. He said the Essential Air Services Fund (EASF) and the guidelines have so far not been able to boost intra-regional connectivity, particularly in the northeast. — PTI
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RCOM, Tata Tele made false claims for subsidy: USO
New Delhi, August 28 Inspections in various circles revealed that their claims included urban lines (known as direct exchange lines or DELs), which fall within municipal limits, as rural lines. This was not eligible for subsidy, official sources said. “The proportion of such wrong claims by universal service providers (USPs) in certain areas was found to range from 48 per cent to 70 per cent of DELs claimed. Action to disallow subsidy was taken in accordance with terms of agreement,” Shantanu Consul, the Administrator of USO Fund, said in a note to the Department of Telecom (DoT). In a particular case, Reliance claimed subsidy amounting to about Rs 7.63 crore for 12,469 DELs installed in four districts of Kerala service area, the administrator’s note said. “On physical verification, it was found that a large number of these DELs are working in urban areas,” it said. The operator submitted a revised claim amounting to about Rs 2.26 crore pertaining to 3,694 DELs, the note pointed out. Similarly, Tata Teleservices has also been found giving false claims. One of the example was in village Bharthana in Uttar Pradesh for the quarter ending December 2006 where it claimed to have installed 647 rural DELs. During physical verification, it was found that all these DELs were in urban areas, for which no subsidy is eligible. — PTI
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Be cautious in retail lending, Assocham tells banks
New Delhi, August 28 Releasing the Assocham eco pulse (AEP) study on retail lending, the chamber’s president Venugopal N Dhoot, without sounding ‘alarmist’, said, “In the backdrop of increased focus on retail strategy and volatility of the financial markets, the Indian banks need to be more cautious while making disbursements in the retail sector.” “They would do well to closely monitor their personal loan portfolios,” Dhoot added. As per the study, ICICI Bank’s retail advances increased by 39 per cent at March 31, 2007, which constituted 65 per cent of advances. Centurion Bank of Punjab has focused on the growth of retail business, thus, its retail loans account for 68 per cent of net advances. Punjab National Bank’s retail credit constitutes 22.7 per cent of its net credit. Retail loans of State Bank of India, one of the largest banks in India constitutes 21.50 per cent of its total loan book. Rising competition has seen over leveraging of customers, which along with rising rates may cause a rise in delinquencies. Even though this market is nascent, it’s one of the fastest-growing loan segments, it said. Unlike in the US, there is no sub-prime market in India. The US sub-prime market consisted primarily of people with little or no credit worthiness, most of them charged to sub-prime borrowers being mortgage loans. In India, the lower end of the personal loan market may be considered as a segment carrying some of the risks attached to the sub-prime. Most customers in India are first-time borrowers from the organised market, and hence, have no credit history. The AEP study found that the big personal loans with an average size of around Rs 90,000 are given to more established individuals at lower rates of 14-28 per cent against the 30-55 per cent level. Competition in the personal loans market has increased with the entry of multinationals, private banks and NBFCs. Citi Financial and GE Money are the oldest players in this market. However, in recent times, companies like ABN Amro, Centurion Bank of Punjab, HDFC Bank, HSBC, ICICI Bank, DBS Cholamandalam, Fullerton India and Religare have been increasingly focusing on the personal loan. In most cases, the sub-prime market for these players constitutes somewhere between 5-20 per cent of the monthly disbursements, it said. Though some players like Citi Financial and Fullerton go through a personal screening of customers, this is not a practice being followed by everyone. Therefore, even though, India is not exposed to sub-prime lending, the likely recession in the US market may affect entire world economy. Though the Indian banks have significantly reduced their NPAs, the sub-prime mortgage crisis in the US might still be a cause for concern in India as well, the study added. |
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IATA to bid goodbye to paper tickets
New Delhi, August 28 About 16.5 million paper tickets were ordered from seven specialised printers to supply the 60,000 accredited IATA travel agents in 162 markets around the world until May 31, 2008. From June 1 next year, all tickets issued through the IATA billing and settlement plan will be electronic. “This is last call for paper tickets,” said IATA’s director-general and CEO Giovanni Bisignani. “It’s been 38 months since we launched the drive for 100 per cent e-ticketing as part of IATA’s simplifying the business initiative. E-ticketing went from 16 per cent in June 2004 to 84 per cent. And in 278 days, the paper ticket will become a collector’s item.” IATA’s settlement systems issue over 400 million tickets annually. With the volume of paper tickets now at 16 per cent of the total and an approaching deadline for the elimination of paper, the final order of tickets was made. The order volume of 16.5 million took into account an estimate of current paper ticket stocks and estimated demand in order to ensure a robust supply of tickets to meet demand. “We are changing an industry with tangible benefits for travellers, agents, airlines and the environment,” said Bisignani. The cost saving of $9 for every e-ticket compared to paper tickets adds up to $3 billion in annual savings for the industry, he said. And eliminating paper will save the equivalent of 50,000 mature trees each year. The IATA represents over 240 airlines comprising 94 per cent of international scheduled air traffic. It has 80 billing settlement plans covering more than 162 countries and territories that handle some $270 billion annually.
— UNI |
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SAP to invest $1 billion in India
New Delhi, August 28 “We plan to increase our customer base to one lakh by 2010 and we will aggressively expand small and medium-sized customer segment,” SAP CEO and chairman Henning Kagermann told reporters here. The company, which had last year announced $1-billion investment for a period of five years, today reaffirmed its commitment to India stating the country would remain a priority for growth in SAP’s scheme of things. It also announced its alliance with Wipro in India, where businesses are investing in technology to sharpen their competitive edge. SAP, whose software helps companies manage tasks such as payroll and inventory, and global rivals, such as Oracle Corp, have increased hiring in India to benefit from technically skilled workers, lower wage bills and a local market increasingly deploying technology to stay ahead of regional competition.
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Centre may implement e-trade for exporters, importers
New Delhi, August 28 Revealing this here at a CII seminar on ‘Containerisation - Building Global Trade Competitiveness’, commerce secretary G K Pillai said this ‘e-trade’ facility would lead to reduction in transaction costs by 2-3 per cent. “Cabinet secretary K M Chandrasekhar will be meeting with officials from various ministries to discuss aspects of e-trade and bring in an electronic system of governance into trade,” he said. The e-trade system would be in place across the country by the end of next year, ensuring a paperless work environment for exporters and importers, Pillai said. On infrastructure development in the country, the commerce secretary said about $ 400 billion would be required to improve infrastructure in the country and that projects worth $ 85 billion in the sector would be complete in the next couple of years. Pillai expressed confidence that the $ 160 billion export target set for the current fiscal would be met. “We are confident of meeting the export target set for 2007-08, if the rupee remains at 40-41 to a dollar,” he said ruling out the need to revise the export target.
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Lord Krishna Bank-Centurion merger TNS and Agencies
New Delhi, August 28 With the RBI’s approval, all requisite statutory and regulatory approvals for the merger have been obtained. The combined bank with its vast coverage in Punjab, Delhi region and Kerala, would serve about four million customers and focus its strengths in retail, SME, agricultural and NRI segments, the release added. The merger of the two banks will result in the creation of a leading private sector bank in the country with a nation-wide presence of over 400 branches and 450 ATMs. The merger would be effective from August 29, with the appointed date being April 1, 2006, CBoP said in a filing to the BSE. As per the terms of the scheme, the bank would issue up to 13.22 crore equity shares of Re 1 each to the shareholders of LKB. These shares would be issued in the ratio of seven equity shares of Re 1 each of the Centurion Bank of Punjab for every five equity shares of Rs 10 each held by them in Lord Krishna Bank the record date to be fixed for this purpose. The RBI’s decision follows dismissal of a petition against the merger by the Kerala High Court. Shareholders of LKB, at its AGM on September 30 last year, had approved the merger. However, one of the shareholders, Umeshkumar Pai, had challenged it and had sought an investigation into the affairs of LKB, arguing that the decision was taken without sufficient discussion and many shareholders were not allowed to participate in the meeting.
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India-Asean FTA by Nov: Pillai
New Delhi, August 28 “The negotiations on FTA with Asean is on and efforts are on to tie up all modalities by September 30. An announcement on the India-Asean FTA is expected to be made by the Prime Ministers at the Asean summit to be held in Singapore in November,” Pillai said. Asked whether the Asean still made an issue of the Indian tariff line for palm oil as also petroleum and related products, Pillai said it would not be appropriate to go into specifics at this sensitive stage. If the agreement is signed within the stipulated time frame, India’s export to Asean could reach $22 billion by 2012. In 2005, two-way trade between India and Asean was at $23 billion, with India’s export share at $8 billion.
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Bangalore, August 28 The survey of 2,844 software, hardware and marketing professionals from 33 IT companies employing 304,834 persons in the top seven cities threw up the top 20 best IT employers based on a combination of employee satisfaction and HR scores. The top five ranks went to TCS, HCL Infosystems, iGate, RMSI and Synechron. The next five positions went to IBM, Capgemini, Infosys, Tavant Technologies and Sun Microsystems. Referring to the drop in ranks by Infosys and Wipro, the Dataquest-IDC survey pointed out that as both companies ramp up rapidly, there seemed to be trade-off. India’s largest company, TCS, retained its numero uno status in the BES top 20 survey for the second year running.
— UNI
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DoT may take action against Airtel
New Delhi, August 28 Although the condition of distance between two towers was relaxed to 500 meters along the international border within Indian territory with effect from February 26 this year, the government considers that Bharti had violated licence agreement as per the conditions existed at the time of vigilance check. Sources said that the licensor (DoT) may impose a financial penalty of up to Rs 50 crore for violation of terms and conditions of licence agreement. The DoT, however, mentioned that Bharti had applied in 2005 for approval to put up towers in Jogbani and Forbejgunj to the wireless planning coordination and the case was pending for want of ‘no objection certificate’.
— PTI
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Indian Bank revises rates
Mumbai, August 28 Interest rates on term deposits of tenure one to less than three years have been revised to nine per cent, Indian Bank informed the BSE. Fixed deposits of 3-5 years would now draw an interest rate of 8.75 per cent, it said, adding that a maturity period of over five years would attract a rate at 8.5 per cent. The short-term deposit rates of tenure 180-364 days and 91-179 days has been fixed at 7 per cent and 6.5 per cent respectively, it added. Following the RBI’s decision to increased the mandatory cash deposits of all banks by 0.5 per cent to 7 per cent in its monetary policy review on July 31, many banks have lowered the deposit rates.
— PTI
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New Delhi, August 28 The Mumbai-based company had also recently acquired stake in London-based Neutrahealth as part of its expansion programme. Elder Pharma currently exports its products to countries such as Nigeria, Vietnam, Mexico, Mauritius, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Brazil. The company recorded sales turnover of Rs 462 crore in the last fiscal from its production facilities at Selaqui in Uttrakhand and Paonta Sahib and Langroa in Himachal Pradesh.
— UNI
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Time Broadband stake Airtel GSM PCOs R-Money Essar Group ABN Amro fund Power Grid IPO TVS gets award |
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