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New FDI policy by month-end: Nath
India-Mexico pact on tax avoidance
Gas Price: RIL warns of cartelisation in case of rebid
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Acquires Malaysian firm
RIL’s net profit soars to Rs 11,943 cr
RBI withdraws five circulars
BHEL, NTPC form power JV
Isuzu to invest Rs 300 cr in Punjab
Rs 9,249 cr for BSNL under reimbursement package
Parliament okays Competition Bill
Can Bank, HSBC, OBC in pact
Coke unveils projects to conserve water
Real estate fund
HUL clarifies on marine biz
Videocon to develop SEZ in Punjab
Help desk for exporters
Airtel browser
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New FDI policy by month-end: Nath
New Delhi, September 10 "We are in the process of consultation between ministries, and I think in the course of this month the policy will be announced," he said. The commerce ministry is keen on amending the FDI policy to ensure that FDI is used for generation of more employment in the country. The FDI flow into the country in January-June 2007 was $11.4 billion, a whopping 218 per cent jump over the same period last year. According to government data, the inflows were $4.9 billion during the first quarter of the current fiscal as against $1.7 billion, an increase of 185 per cent. Meanwhile, faced with criticism for inordinate delay in the announcement of duty-free and quota-free package to least-developed countries (LDCs), the commerce minister said the matter would soon be placed before the Cabinet for clearance. "There is no delay. There is a consultation process going on in the ministry... It will go next week to the Cabinet," Nath said, adding that it could not be taken up by the Cabinet last week, as he was not in town. Asserting that the proposed package was "absolutely independent of WTO talks", he said India had very old ties with the African countries, which would be major beneficiaries of the package. Under the proposed package for LDCs, the government is likely to allow duty-free and quota-free import of a host of products from countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. At World Trade Organisation (WTO), the minister said, India was waiting for the United States’ proposals on agriculture for progress in the ongoing talks at Geneva. Earlier, addressing the first international conference on India-Africa Cooperation, organised by UNIDO, Nath said India was keen to share its expertise with Africa in the fields of industry, trade and investment. The government is also committed to promote South-South cooperation, he said, adding “We would like to continue to share our experience, expertise and technology with our brothers and sisters from Africa.” Known as the Sanjay Lall Memorial Conference, the five-day conference is being organised under the banner of the recently established UNIDO Centre for South-South Industrial Cooperation (UCSSIC), and is being attended by 42 delegates from 13 African countries — Cameroon, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.
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India-Mexico pact on tax avoidance
New Delhi, September 10 The agreement, aimed at promoting economic co-operation between the two countries, shall come into force on a date to be notified in due course, official sources said. The agreement was signed by union finance minister P Chidambaram on behalf of the Government of India and Mexican foreign minister Patricia Espinosa Cantellano, on behalf of the Government of the United Mexican States. The DTAA between India and Mexico will cover, in the case of India, income tax, including any surcharge thereon and in the case of Mexico, the federal income tax. The DTAA provides for taxation of dividend, interest, royalties and fees for technical services-both in the country of residence as well as the country of source. However, the rate of tax in the country of source shall not exceed 10 per cent of the gross amount of payment in case the beneficial owner of the payments is a resident of the other contracting state. The DTAA provides that capital gains from alienation of shares of a company shall be taxable in the country where the company is a resident. The incidence of double taxation shall be avoided by one country giving credit for taxes paid by its residents in the other country. There is a provision for exchange of information in cases, which are under investigation in either of the two countries.
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Gas Price: RIL warns of cartelisation
New Delhi, September 10 “The bidding process followed by RIL (that discovered the price of $ 4.33 per million British thermal unit for KG-D6 gas) was a transparent and legally complete process in line with the provisions of the Production Sharing Contract,” RIL president & CEO-Petroleum P M S Prasad wrote to Petroleum Secretary M S Srinivasan. The Prime Minister’s economic advisory council had, in view of doubts about transparency of the bidding process, suggested rebidding although it acknowledged the rationality and competitiveness of RIL’s pricing formula for KG-D6 gas. An Empowered Group of Ministers, (EgoM) set up to look into the matter, will also meet tomorrow to discuss the issue. Prasad said any fresh bidding process for price discovery would distort market and lead to cartelisation “as bidding will be now done under a pre-conceived allocation mechanism under a so called utilisation policy”. “In case the government does declare a policy on allocation for certain sectors or companies it would lead to cartelisation by parties and not constitute a process of arms’ length price discovery in as much as the price that the favoured allottees of gas would be willing to pay would never be reflective of true market price of gas,” he said. RIL said the price discovered and submitted by it reflected the price for sale of gas for transactions between willing and unrelated parties. Prasad said RIL followed the Petroleum Ministry’s guideline for arms-length transaction by discovering price “through competitive bidding between non-affiliates”. RIL, he said, had invited bids from all customers meeting specified criteria. — PTI
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Acquires Malaysian firm
New Delhi, September 10 Established in 1989, Hualon is an integrated polyester- to-textile maker with half a million tons of polyester capacity, 250,000 spindles for spun yarn and facilities for weaving and processing of 5,800 shuttle-less looms. The company also has nylon filament manufacturing capability. Reliance has “reached an agreement with the receivers and managers of Hualon Corp to acquire assets of
Hualon...” a company press release said here. Hualon has manufacturing units at Nilai and Malacca in Malaysia and is one of the largest exporters in that country. This acquisition, when consummated, will be the second international acquisition in the polyester sector of
RIL. — PTI |
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RIL’s net profit soars to Rs 11,943 cr
Mumbai, September 10 The results are not comparable due to amalgamation of Indian Petrochemicals Corporation Ltd with RIL, the country's largest private sector enterprise today informed the Bombay Stock Exchange. Total income jumped to Rs 1,12,171 crore in 2006-07 from Rs 81,894 crore during the previous year. The Group earned a net profit of Rs 12,075 crore in 2006-07 from Rs 9,398 crore for the year ended March 31, 2006. Total income of the group rose to Rs 1,14,421 crore in 2006-07 from Rs 84,130 crore in the previous year. The board of directors today considered the already paid interim dividend of Rs 11 per equity share of Rs 10 each, as the final dividend for the year ended March 31,
2007. — PTI |
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Mumbai, September 10 The five circulars, which were withdrawn by RBI after consultation with the government, dealt with delegation of powers to CMD and ED of public sector banks for giving advances, writing off loans, reporting of robberies in banks, payment of fraudulent instruments and vigilance arrangements. One of the circulars restricted the powers of the CMD to lending, after sanction of the board, up to Rs 15 crore in case of banks having total advances of Rs 5,000 crore and Rs 30 crore if advances were beyond Rs 5,000 crore. Also, the upper ceiling for writing off loans by CMDs was Rs 50 lakh. Similar restrictions were there on the powers of EDs. — PTI
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BHEL, NTPC form power JV
New Delhi, September 10 NTPC and BHEL, the biggest engineering and manufacturing firm, have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to carry out engineering, procurement and construction activities in the power sector on “mutually beneficial terms”. “Through the JV company, to be owned by BHEL and NTPC on 50:50 equity participation, the two companies will work jointly to complement their respective core strengths in the power sector,” a statement from BHEL said here. The NTPC and power ministry had earlier partially blamed BHEL for delay in supplying equipments, resulting in slippage of 10th plan capacity addition target of 41,000 MW by nearly 50 per cent. BHEL, however, had denied such allegations and instead accused NTPC of not placing contracts on time. Irked by delays in supplying equipment by BHEL, the power ministry had even asked NTPC to get into manufacturing. The company has since then acquired a 44 per cent stake in Transformers and Electricals Kerala (TELK) and also looked at acquiring Tungbhadra Steel Products Ltd to enhance its own manufacturing capacities. BHEL chairman and managing director A K Puri and his NTPC counterpart T Sankarlingam signed the MoU.
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Isuzu to invest Rs 300 cr in Punjab
Chandigarh, September 10 An announcement to this effect was made by the Isuzu chairman Yoshinori Ida, along with Sumitomo Corporation chairman Motoyuki Oka, during deliberations with the Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, here today. The company would initially invest Rs 300 crore and roll out 12,000 buses in the first year. The capacity would be enhanced to 24,000 buses and trucks later on. The company would ink a tie-up with Swaraj Mazda group for further expansion. Badal assured full support and cooperation to Isuzu Motors to make Punjab its manufacturing hub for its range of products sold worldwide. The government claimed that Sukhbir Badal had been interacting with Isuzu ever since the SAD-BJP alliance formed a government in the state. While interacting with the joint 18-member high-powered delegation of Isuzu Motors and Sumitomo Corporation from Japan, Sukhbir said the entry of Isuzu would prove to be a milestone for attracting major investments from the automobile giants like Volvo, Mercedes Benz etc besides domestic automobile makers like Tatas and Ashok Leyland.
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Rs 9,249 cr for BSNL under reimbursement package
New Delhi, September 10 The five-year commitment was made to ensure that BSNL does not go back on its social obligation of offering rural telephony. BSNL has been reimbursed Rs 9,248.64 crore from 2001-02 to 2005-06 for the licence fee and spectrum charges, an official sources said. BSNL was set up on October 2000 by corporatisation of the Department of Telecom's operations and services except policy making. The government at that time had decided a package of measures would be provided to ensure that BSNL's viability is not impaired on account of its social
obligations. — PTI |
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Parliament okays Competition Bill
New Delhi, September 10 The Rajya Sabha approved without debate the Competition (Amendment) Bill, 2007, which was earlier passed by the Lok Sabha. The Bill moved by company affairs minister Premchand Gupta was passed in the Upper House even as it was witnessing uproar by NDA members over the Indo-US nuclear deal. According to the Bill, the Commission will ultimately replace Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Commission (MRTPC). The new law, when it comes into operation, would bind the companies to inform CCI about mergers and acquisitions within 30 days. Companies could be penalised in case they fail to do so. The Bill has a provision for a three-member quasi-judicial body Competition Appellate Tribunal to hear appeals against any direction issued by the Commission. It also seeks to empower the CCI to impose penalty of up to Rs 25 crore or up to three-year imprisonment or both in cases of continued contravention of its orders if the chief metropolitan magistrate deems fit. MRTPC will continue to deal with pending cases even two years after the establishment of CCI and will be dissolved thereafter. However, MRTPC would not entertain any new cases after the CCI is constituted. Cases pending with MRTPC after two years of setting up of CCI will be transferred to the latter. — PTI
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Can Bank, HSBC, OBC in pact
Bangalore, September 10 Under the agreement, inked here on Saturday, Canara Bank will have 51 per cent stake in the new company, HSBC 26 per cent while Oriental Bank of Commerce will have the remaining 23 per cent. The new life insurance company will be capitalised at Rs 325 crore (approximately $ 80 million), of which HSBC will contribute Rs 177 crore (approximately $ 43.6 million), Canara Bank Rs 102 crore (approximately $ 25.1 million) and Oriental Bank of Commerce Rs 46 crore (approximately $ 11.03 million). The new company willl be called Canara HSBC Oriental Bank of Commerce Life Insurance Company Limited.
— PTI |
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Coke unveils projects to conserve water
Jaipur, September 10 The company has 27 own and 17 franchisee-run bottling operations in the country established at an investment of $ 1 billion, providing jobs to 6,000 and indirect employment to 1.25 lakh. There are two main charges against the company: pesticides in cola beyond the acceptable levels, a charge levelled by an NGO, the Centre for Science and Environment, that shook the nation in August, 2003, and over-exploitation of groundwater. On the presence of pesticides, Coca-Cola officials say: "We make sure that the water used in beverages goes through multiple-barrier treatment, which is a six-stage purification process. The sugar used is subjected to hot carbon treatment to ensure that the final product is safe". After the pesticide controversy hit its operations, the company has recouped partly the business losses as its sales have grown in the last four consecutive quarters. The second charge of excessive extraction of underground water has led to protests in Rajasthan, UP, Bihar, West Bengal and Kerala. The Kaladera bottling plant, near Jaipur, for instance, produces 600 bottles in a minute. Farmers of the area had launched a prolonged agitation against Coca-Cola, holding the company responsible for the declining water table. According to villagers, the water table in about 50 villages, including Kaladera, Anop Pura, Kanarpura, Bai Ka Bans, Sabalpura and Dhinoi in Chomu and Amer tehsils has gone down after the Coca-Cola plant came up. To pacify villagers, the company has put up rainwater harvest structures and a drip irrigation system at Kaladera, which is an education hub, to provide an exposure to the students to the latest water-conserving techniques. To counter protests, company officials, including Deepak Jolly, explain that their aim is to reduce water used in producing beverages, recycle used water and replenish ground water. The company hopes to achieve the goal of replacing, through water harvest and other measures, all groundwater used in beverages by 2009. The Energy and Research Institute (TERI) is conducting an independent assessment of the company's water resource management practices. Coca-Cola India has installed 300 rainwater harvesting structures in 17 states, repaired bawaris (community water reservoirs) in Rajasthan and contributed to the reconstruction of a dam in Andhra Pradesh. Besides, to dispel doubts and refurbish its sullied image, the company organises plant visits by journalists and schoolchildren. One such visit was organised to the Kaladera plant, 40 km from Jaipur, on September 8. Company officials also took the journalists from the northern region to a bawari at Amer, on the outskirts of Jaipur, which the company has renovated. Besides, Coca-Cola organises medical camps, provides scholarships to meritorious students and sewing machines to widows. It has given some computers to a college in Kaladera.
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Real estate fund
Mumbai, September 10 Claiming that the fund is the first of its kind in India with similar structure to Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT), the company said the fund will target a corpus of Rs 1,000 crore. This
will include a green shoe option of Rs 500 crore, and will be open for subscription between September 10
and October 30.
— UNI
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HUL clarifies on marine biz
Mumbai, September 10 HUL, in a statement here today, said a few months back it had obtained shareholders’ approval for an ordinary resolution to transfer the marine undertaking of the company engaged in the business of manufacture and sale of marine products in export markets. “This was an enabling resolution,” the company said.
— UNI |
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Videocon to develop SEZ in Punjab
Chandigarh, September 10 "We will be developing a 1,000 hectares SEZ in the field of agriculture as well as electronics and hardware sectors in Punjab which will involve an investment of over Rs 100 to Rs 500 crore," Videocon Industries CMD, VN Dhoot, who is also Assocham chief, said. “We do not want the government to acquire land for us. All government help we need is that it should facilitate title transfer in our name after we acquire land in the open market. Initially, Videocon will invest Rs 100 crore in the SEZ. Besides we will rope in electronic and hardware industry giants from Korea, China and Japan also.”, he said. Dhoot met the Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal last evening and presented him a copy of an Assocham report. At present, Videocon has a small TV assembling unit in
Mohali. |
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Help desk for exporters
New Delhi, September 10 "While filing applications and making payments online, it has been observed that exporters and importers face technical problems on account of non-availability of relevant documents, malfunctioning of system etc. For attending to these technical problems, DGFT, under the ministry of commerce, has set up a help desk," an official statement said here. The help desk will receive the complaints and issue the reference number, which can be quoted by exporters if their issues remain, unresolved. |
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Airtel browser
Chandigarh, September 10 Unstructured Supplementary Service Data is a technology unique to GSM. It allows the customer the freedom to activate and get a host of services directly on his mobile without having to dial 121 and go through customer service.
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Bharti Airtel IPTV in Punjab Kirloskar buyout Online auction Shell stations Blackberry 8830 Volvo plan HDFC card |
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