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Audi to make A6 in India
30 lakh IT refunds issued till Oct
Cabinet okays coal SPV
Big jolt to SEZ developers in Maharashtra
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Mittal eyes 50 pc in HPCL’s arm
Minister slams Sunil Mittal for outcry against BSNL
Resolve pricing issue with Pak, Iran asks India
Mega brands sell ‘sweet’ alternatives
Inflation at 2.97 pc
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Audi to make A6 in India
New Delhi, November 8 The company, which will also be launching the new A4 sedan in India next year, is planning to start local production of the vehicle by end of 2008 at group company Skoda's Aurangabad plant as it aims to sell about 3,000 units across its portfolio in the country by 2010. "With the start of local production we are trying to give our customer the best. Our initial capacity is about 300-400 units of A6 in the next 12 months and if necessary it could be increased depending on demand," Audi India managing director Benoit Tiers told PTI. The company is also passing on the benefit of locally assembling the sedan to customers with price of the whole Audi A6 range being reduced between Rs 1.40 lakh up to Rs 2.10 lakh depending on the engine. Audi A6 will now cost between Rs 38.90-45 lakh (ex-showroom Mumbai, inclusive of VAT). He said Audi plans to launch the A4 sedan in India next year, which will be assembled here by the year-end. The company said A6 sedan will available to order at the exclusive Audi dealerships in Delhi, Gurgaon, Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chandigarh and the first A6 models will be delivered to customers in December 2007.
— PTI
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30 lakh IT refunds issued till Oct
New Delhi, November 8 Refund payouts in non-corporate personal income tax (PIT) category are ahead by 47.16 percent (Rs 6,135 crore against Rs 4,169 crore) as compared to the first seven months of last fiscal, an official statement said here today. During this year, over 11 lakh electronic returns have already been received. More such returns are expected by November 15, 2007, up to which the last date for filing of mandatory electronic returns stands extended. During fiscal 2006-07, 3,44,343 electronic returns were filed by various categories of taxpayers. Out of these, 2,38,204 electronic returns have already been processed by the department and refunds amounting Rs 7,816.89 crore in such cases have already been issued up to November 7, 2007. The remaining 1,06,139 electronic returns will be processed by November 30. Refunds of over Rs 14,000 crore pertaining to large corporate cases have also been processed. Out of these, refunds of over Rs 5,400 crore have been issued and the remaining refunds will also be issued by November 30. The Refund Banker Scheme — launched in Delhi and Patna towards the end of last fiscal and extended subsequently to Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore and Mumbai — has helped increase the pace of refunds. It will now be extended to the entire country for the non-corporate PIT category of taxpayers in order to facilitate quick and correct issue of refunds. Taxpayers are advised to furnish their bank details and ECS number in their tax returns so that their refunds can be credited to their bank account electronically.
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Reliance Power emerges lowest bidder
New Delhi, November 8 Reliance Power bid Rs 2.33 per unit as the levelised tariff for 25 years, while engineering firm Larsen & Toubro is understood to have quoted Rs 2.70 per unit. Vedanta Group firm Sterlite has quoted a slightly higher tariff, sources said. The financial bids were opened by the government's nodal agency Power Finance Corporation today. Reliance, L&T and Sterlite were the only three firms in the fray. Reliance had earlier this year won the Sasan ultra mega power plant in Madhya Pradesh. While the Sasan project would be run on domestic coal, the Krishnapatnam project is to be operated on imported coal.
— PTI
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Ranbaxy settles patent row with Astellas
As a result of the agreement, Ranbaxy will be able to enter the US market on March 2, 2010, eight weeks prior to the expiry of the pediatric exclusivity, which is likely to be granted to the innovator company, it said in a statement. During this period of pediatric exclusivity, Ranbaxy will be the only generic manufacturer to commercialise the product in the US market, it added. Ranbaxy said Astellas had agreed to stipulate a remand of the pending Federal Circuit appeal and subsequent vacatur of the District Court decision in regards to Flomax (R) (tamsulosin capsules). The case between Ranbaxy and Astellas Boehringer has been dismissed without prejudice, it added.
— PTI
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Cabinet okays coal SPV
New Delhi, November 8 A decision to this effect was taken by the union cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh here, union finance minister P Chidambaram told newspersons here. The proposed SPV will have an authorised capital base of Rs 10,000 crore and a paid-up capital of Rs 3,500 crore, Chidambaram said adding the SPV will have the freedom accorded to a ‘Navratna’ company and would be able to take decision on its own on matters entailing an investment of Rs 1,500 crore. Any investment over it would have to be referred to the Committee of Secretaries and thereafter the cabinet's approval would be sought, the minister said. The Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL), Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd (RINL), Coal India Ltd (CIL), National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) and NTPC have joined hands to acquire coal properties abroad, especially in Australia and Canada, to meet their growing needs. While SAIL and CIL have decided to pump in Rs 1,000 crore each in the proposed SPV, the other three PSUs will invest Rs 500 crore each. The SPV will have three-tier decision making bodies. It will have an apex committee comprising the chiefs of the participating companies, besides a steering committee comprising functional directors of these companies. In the proposed SPV, there will be a joint business development group comprising select officers who would carry out due diligence on investment opportunities in overseas coal mines, steel ministry sources said.
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Pawar asks state govt not to acquire farmers’ land
Mumbai, November 8 The Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation, which was acquiring 5,000 acres of land for a multi-project SEZ by the Videocon group of companies at Wagholi-Kesnand at Pawar's Baramati constituency, has now stopped the land acquisition process, state government sources say. Pawar's order came at a farmer's conference recently where he was nearly gheraoed by farmers opposed to the land acquisition process. The Maratha strongman promised that no land acquisition would be undertaken and companies interested in obtaining agriculture land would have to purchase the same from the land owners. Pawar further promised that the Maharashtra government would denotify the land to be acquired for the SEZ. He hoped that the process initiated in Maharashtra would be adopted all over the country. Earlier, the Maharashtra government had decided not to acquire land for the giant SEZ proposed by Reliance group of companies outside Mumbai. However, with officials still undertaking land surveys there is apprehension that the land acquisition process was going about in a clandestine manner. Farmers living in proposed Navi Mumbai and Maha Mumbai SEZs of Reliance Industries are still holding agitations. Pawar is on record saying farmers should be allowed to follow the Magarpatta model of developing their land. The minister felt that farmers should pool their land and develop projects in partnership with companies. In all, 120 of the 450 SEZs proposed by the union ministry of commerce were to come up in Maharashtra. However, most of them were single project SEZs in sectors like IT and would not be affected since they do not require huge tracts of land. Among the promoters of the proposed multi-product SEZs includes Mahindra and Mahindra, Bharat Forge and India Bulls which require more than 1,000 hectares of land. Encouraged by the success of farmers at Wagholi, villagers affected by the proposed Maha Mumbai SEZ of Reliance have also stepped up protests to get the land acquisition process denotified. Activists of the Anti-Maha Mumbai Action Committee said in a statement here that protests would be intensified so that the land to be acquired for the Reliance SEZ is denotified at the earliest. The activists have received the support of the BJP, which is now demanding that concessions extended to the farmers of Wagholi be extended to others as well. "The same yardstick should be applied all over Maharashtra. Decisions should not be taken only on the basis of narrow considerations like somebody's constituency," BJP leader Vinod Tawade said.
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Mittal eyes 50 pc in HPCL’s arm
New Delhi, November 8 Mittal, which made rapid advances in oil sphere this year first with a 49 per cent stake in HPCL's Bathinda refinery and then partnering the state-run firm for a separate refinery on the east coast, is in talks with financial institutions to buy out their 50 per cent stake in Prize Petroleum, sources close to the development said. The steel baron is looking for a medium-sized firm, mostly entrenched in E&P. "He has had looked at a few firms but nothing is finalised just now," they said. Besides Mittal, Essar Oil, Jaiprakash Associates and L&T are other firms interested in buying a 50 per cent stake in Prize Petroleum. HPCL holds the balance 50 per cent in Prize. Prize operates Cluster-7 field of Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) and won two exploration blocks in fourth and sixth round of auction under New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP). The company plans to produce about 50,000 barrels of oil per day from Cluster-7 fields and believes its NELP-VI block in Madhya Pradesh holds three trillion cubic feet of gas reserves. Prize has 15 per cent in NELP-VI onland block CB-ONN-2002/3 in the Cambay basin where other partners are GSPC (55 per cent), Jubilant Enpro (20 per cent) and GeoGlobal (10 per cent).
— PTI
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Minister slams Sunil Mittal for outcry against BSNL
New Delhi, November 8 "Public Service Enterprises have to face many constraints in their operations not the least being aggressive lobby by the competitors to stymie their expansion," Ramesh said in a letter to Mittal expressing deep disappointment at the entrepreneur's views on BSNL and MTNL. Mittal had objected to allocation of spectrum to the PSUs, especially BSNL that does not fulfil subscriber-based criteria as prescribed in the current policy. "I was anguished at your comments on BSNL and MTNL. I am well aware that there are differing opinions on the best way of allocating spectrum. You (Mittal) have a point of view which you have expressed forcefully. But what pained me is the manner in which you have castigated BSNL particularly," the minister said. BSNL has been facing many hurdles to expand its operations in the mobile telephony and was reduced with virtually nil capacity to offer any new connection and has been losing its market share to private competitors. Ramesh also pointed out that PSUs have done far better in meeting social obligations compared to private players and singled out BSNL for appreciation for the role it played. Mittal, in his letter to the Department of Telecom, had called BSNL and MTNL as 'most inefficient' and had asked DoT to withdraw a large part of spectrum from MTNL to guide the industry in efficient spectrum use. "Surely, the experts within the Department should have helped BSNL and MTNL, the government owned operators, to be the most spectrum efficient and be role models and not the other way round as most inefficient operators having the largest amount of spectrum with a lower subscriber base," he had said. However, both BSNL and MTNL had hit back at Mittal, saying they have been allotted spectrum as per the existing policy.
— PTI Spectrum Row
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Resolve pricing issue with Pak, Iran asks India
New Delhi, November 8 Iranian interior minister Mostafa Pour Mohammadi also hoped that the LNG project with India would be finalised soon, saying it was good if India met its energy requirements from Iran. India has already sought a bilateral meeting with Pakistan to resolve differences over transit fees that India needs to pay to Pakistan for the gas through the pipeline. India is reportedly willing to pay about $0.60 per MMBtu as transportation and transit fee to Pakistan for the gas delivered at its border. Pakistan wants a better price. Nearly 750 km of the 2,775 km IPI pipeline would pass through Pakistan. The Iranian minister, who held discussions with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee here today, said the civilian nuclear agreement between India and the United States was India's internal matter and India would do whatever was best in its national interest. On India's vote against Iran at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), he said India was only trying to take an independent foreign policy decision in line with its national interest. The Iranian minister is scheduled to meet home minister Shivraj Patil and national security adviser MK Narayanan. He also called for security cooperation between India and Iran saying the two countries should talk about it.
— UNI
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Mega brands sell ‘sweet’ alternatives
New Delhi, November 8 More so, this year business is only helped by soaring sweets prices. According to trade estimates, the industry is targeting a market size of Rs 450 to Rs 500 crore during Diwali to sell products like biscuits, chocolates, fruit juices and carbonated drinks among other items. Leading names like PepsiCo, Cadbury, Britannia and Priyagold all have come up with attractive gift packs of their range of products aimed at Diwali. Surya Foods and Agro, which manufactures biscuits under the Priyagold brand, is targeting four-fold jump in its sale at Rs 15 crore this year on Diwali. "This is the second year in running when we are offering some attractive gift packages of our products including biscuits, juices and carbonated drinks," Priyagold's Director Sekhar Agarwal said. He said the products are being offered in the range of Rs 50-200 per pack keeping customers' affordability in mind. While sweets have been the biggest money-spinner traditionally in terms of Diwali sales, their prices have gone up by up to 25 per cent since last Diwali due to a sharp rise in the prices of milk and milk-products. Besides the increased prices of sweets, the manufacturers and sellers of snacks and dry-fruits are also betting on the brand value of their products as well as a change from the traditional practice of gifting plain sweets. Companies like PepsiCo, which has a snack brand Kurkure, are already marketing their products as an alternate to sweets on Diwali with special promotions marked for festivities. "We want that every one should be able to purchase the packet so the prices have been kept at as low as Rs 50," Priyagold's Agarwal said, adding the offer would continue till Bhaiya Duj, a Hindu festival held two days after Diwali. Britannia has also come out with some Diwali packs, which are being sold at retail chains like Big Bazaar at a discount. Britannia organised an event in Kolkata to promote its products during Diwali, sources said. Pepsi's Kurkure has also hit retail stores in attractive gift packs to encash the Diwali fervour. Cadbury, which is the early entrant to tap the Diwali market, has introduced 'dark chocolate' besides existing portfolio this year. It is offering Dark Chocolates and milk chocolates in different flavours at Rs 200-525 per pack. The company also launched new advertising campaign featuring Amitabh Bachchan last month to promote Cadbury's 'Celebrations' range for Diwali.
— PTI
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New Delhi, November 8 The Inflation rate of 2.97 per cent is below the Reserve Bank of India’s new medium term target of 3 per cent.— TNS
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Omaxe buyout Balmer Lawrie
Hyundai centre
Cognizant Tech FHRAI chief Spice mail
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Slashes
price up to Rs 2.1 lakh
