The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	No disinvestment in AI, AAI New Delhi, July 9 The government today ruled out disinvestment in Air India (AI) and the Airports Authority of India (AAI). “There is no proposal for disinvestment of AI and AAI,” Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel told the Lok Sabha during Question Hour. To a question whether the government was considering initial public offer for the national carrier, Patel said: “Presently, there is no such proposal”. When members raised the issue of development fees being levied in privatised airports such as in Delhi and sought abolition of such fees, he said the government had already constituted the Airport Economic Regulatory Authority entrusted with the responsibility of deciding on the issue. Members pointed out that while it was the responsibility of private players to develop the airports, they were charging the passengers for the work. They suggested that private companies should develop them from their own funds and once they complete the works, they could charge development fees as toll levied for newly-built roads. Patel said the Delhi and Mumbai airports were charging development fees from passengers against which the Resources of Aviation Redressal Association (ROAR) had protested. However, there was no protest in this regard from International Air Transport Authority (IATA), he said. “A writ petition has also been filed by ROAR in the Delhi High Court. Development fee at Delhi and Mumbai airports has been levied to bridge funding gap due to reduced expectation from refundable security deposits as a means of finance,” he explained. Noting that completion of modernisation of airports in Delhi and Mumbai in a time bound manner was of paramount importance, Patel said out of the total cost of around Rs 9,000 crore, about Rs 5,500 crore has already been spent. He said the AAI had taken up development work on airports in Chennai and Kolkata. Describing as “not fair” criticisms regarding quality of amenities at airports, the minister said facilities had improved significantly in the recent years. He also assured members that congestion in air traffic in Delhi would be considerably reduced and the taxiing time for aircraft brought down once the new terminal under construction became operational in 2010. To another question, Patel said there was no shortage of pilots in the country. He said in order to have desired quality of pilots over a long period, the Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Uran Akademi has been modernised to increase its annual capacity from 40-100 candidates. “A world-class flying training institute at Gondia in Maharashtra has been set up with capacity to train 110 candidates annually, including 10 for commercial helicopter pilot licence training," he said. — PTI
	Top guns to sit on AI global advisory board Air India is in the process of having a seven-member international advisory board, with former top officials of global carriers, to turn the organisation around. The board, which is likely to be headed by industrialist Ratan Tata, may have former heads of leading carriers like Lufthansa and Singapore Airlines, sources in know said. Discussions are on to finalise the names of other members on this global advisory board, sources said, adding that an advertisement would soon be issued for the newly-created post of chief operating officer so that a professional airline manager works under CMD Arvind Jadhav. The names of National Knowledge Commission chairman Sam Pitroda, Infosys mentor and chairman NR Narayana Murthy and TCS CMD S Ramadorai are doing the rounds for appointment as independent directors of the airline. Hectic activity is on at the national carrier's headquarters for preparing a comprehensive financial restructuring plan, which is to be submitted to the government in the next few weeks.
	Net worth of loss-making PSUs falls by Rs 78,665 cr Bhagyashree Pande Tribune News Service New Delhi, July 9 At a time when UPA government seems to be mulling over disinvestment of public sector undertakings (PSUs), audit report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) presents a grim picture of the investments made by government in PSUs. Audit report of 281 PSUs shows that 25 per cent of these companies have made losses and that the investment made by the government in these companies has been eroded. Actually, 72 companies of the 281, where the government has made investment, have been completely eroded by accumulated losses. The aggregate net worth of loss making companies had become negative to the extent of Rs.78,665 crore as on March 31, 2008. Due to the negative net worth, recovery of the loans given by the government to these companies was doubtful, the report says. Of the total 281 Central government companies and corporations, only 185 have earned profit. Whereas 70 Central government companies have suffered a loss, besides 24 companies had not even started their commercial operations. Some of the PSUs during 2007-08 have made a payment of Rs 916.63 crore to ineligible employees. Out of total profit of Rs 97,919 crore earned by 185 Central government companies and corporations as much as Rs 74,446 crore (76.03 per cent) was contributed by 48 Central government companies and corporations operating in petroleum, power, coal & lignite, steel and minerals & metals.
	BHEL gave work to banned firm The CAG has pulled up BHEL for awarding contracts worth Rs 26.61 crore to a company banned by the power equipment manufacturer itself from doing businesses with it. “The company contravened its laid down guidelines by placing contracts worth Rs 26.61 crore on a banned firm,” CAG said. The Heavy Power Equipment Plant banned in 2006 all dealings with a firm which was found to have indulged in forming a cartel to bag an order quoting higher prices. — PTI
	NTPC overstated profit by Rs 938 cr State-run power firm NTPC overstated its profits by Rs 938 crore in 2007-08, the CAG said in a report, but categorically stated that chances of Satyam like frauds in PSUs are very remote. The report, which was tabled in Parliament today, said PSUs Bharat Electronics Ltd and BEML also overstated their profits by about Rs 61 crore and Rs 3.06 crore respectively in 2007-08 financial year. Another state-fun firm Engineering Projects India also overstated its profits. — PTI
	Inflation declines to - 1.55% New Delhi, July 9 Prices of essential food items continued to soar even as inflation further dipped to (-) 1.55 per cent for the week ended June 27 compared to (-) 1.30 per cent. Inflation, measured by movements in wholesale prices, fell mainly on account of declining prices of manufactured goods. The wholesale price index was as high as 12.03 per cent in the corresponding week a year ago. Among food items, pulses, fish marine, and fruit and vegetables turned expensive. Butter and imported edible oil became dearer by one per cent. This is the fourth week in a row when inflation remained in negative territory. "As far as inflation is concerned, the wholesale price index inflation will go down for a while and (then) it will come up. At the end of March this year (2009-10), this could be in the range of 2 to 4 per cent," Chief Economic Adviser Arvind Virmani had said earlier this week. — PTI
	Fortune 500 Nooyi among 13 women CEOs New York, July 9 India origin Indra Nooyi is among the 13 women who are at the helm of companies featured in Fortune 500 list compiled by the US magazine. Nooyi, who heads Pepsico, was featured in the same category last year as well. This year the beverages company is ranked at the 175th position in the annual list of Fortune 500 companies based on their annual revenues. The number of women CEOs in the list for 2009 has increased by one from last year's list with a new entrant Lynn Elsenhans of US-based firm Sunoco. The other women CEOs in the list include Angela F Braly of WellPoint, Ellen Kullman of DuPont, Irene Rosenfeld of Kraft Foods, Carol Meyrowitz of TJX, and Gail P Kelly of Westpack Banking. Patricia Woertz's agricultural processing company Archer Daniels Midland is top among the firms managed by women. Pepsico revenue rose by 9.6 per cent to $43.25 billion in 2008, while Archer Daniels Midland registered a revenue of $69.81 billion last year. DuPont's Ellen Kullman moved up to CEO post on January 1, 2009, becoming the first female CEO of the company in more than 200 years. The list for 2009 also includes Anglo American chief Cynthia Carroll, Rite Aid's Mary F Sammons, Areva's Anne Lauvergeon, SkandEnskilBank's Annika Falkengren and Premafin Finanziaria's Giulia Maria Ligresti. — PTI
	Wal-Mart biggest employer in 2008 New York, July 9 At a time when the economic crisis is forcing companies to reduce costs and cut jobs, retail giant Wal-Mart has emerged as the biggest employer in the world with a whopping 2.1 million people working for it last year, according to Fortune magazine. The Fortune Global 500 list ranks Wal-Mart stores as the top company in terms of employee strength at the end of 2008. After Wal-Mart, China National Petroleum is the second biggest employer with 1.61 million employees in 2008 followed by the State Grid with 1.53 million employees in the third place, followed by the US Postal Service with 765,088 employees in the fourth place, followed by Sinopec with 639,690 employees in the fifth place. However, Wal-Mart has fallen to the third place in the overall list of 500 elite companies in the world this year as compared to its numero uno position in the 2008 list in terms of revenues. The retailer has seen 7.2 per cent increase in profit at $405,607 in 2008 as compared to the previous year. Other companies ranking amongst the top 10 employers in this year's list are China Telecommunications in the sixth place, France's Carrefour in the seventh place, Taiwan-based Hon Hai Precision Industry in the eighth place, Russian Gazprom in the ninth and German Deutsche Post at the 10th place. Other leading firms in the top employers list compiled by Fortune include IBM (16th place),Volkswagen (20th place), General Electric (28th place), Hewlett Packard (29th place), and ArcelorMittal (31st place) amongst others. — PTI
	Govt to roll back fuel prices if crude eases New Delhi, July 9 The government will roll back the Rs 4 a litre hike in petrol prices and Rs 2 a litre increase in diesel rates if international crude oil prices stabilise between $50-$60 a barrel, Oil Minister Murli Deora said. "Yes, we will cut prices if crude prices stabilise for sometime between $50-$60 per barrel," he said here. The government had last week raised petrol and diesel prices citing spike in international crude oil prices to $70 a barrel. International rates have eased since. The basket of crude oil India buys was at $61.58 a barrel yesterday but the average for July was $65.34 per barrel. The July average was certainly lower than $69.12 a barrel average price of Indian basket of crude for June. Deora said the price rise was unavoidable as India was dependent on imported crude oil to meet 75 per cent of its domestic oil needs. IndianOil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum were projected to lose Rs 4,870 crore in revenues every month on selling petrol, diesel, domestic LPG and kerosene below the cost. "To cover this (revenue loss), the retail prices were required to be increased by Rs 6.94 per litre on petrol, Rs 4.11 a litre on diesel, Rs 96.68 per LPG cylinder and Rs 16.01 per litre on kerosene," Deora said. "However, the government increased the price of petrol only by Rs 4 per litre and of diesel by Rs 2 a litre." — PTI
	Oil drops below $60 LONDON: Oil reversed early gains and dropped below $60 a barrel on Thursday as a downturn in US equities added to pressure from high US inventories and persistent concerns about the timing of any economic recovery. US light crude for August delivery fell 45 cents to $59.69 a barrel - on course for the seventh straight day of declines. London Brent crude eased 11 cents to $60.32 a barrel. Earlier on Thursday, US crude prices had rebounded as high as $61.62 after a 4-per cent fall on Wednesday that meant oil was more than 15 per cent lower so far in July. — Reuters
	Satyam board to meet today New Delhi, July 9 The board of Mahindra Satyam will meet on July 10 to clear the proposal of Tech Mahindra seeking a second round of preferential share allotment to hike its stake in the newly acquired company to about 43 per cent after an open offer evoked a weak response. "The board is meeting on July 10 to consider the proposal of Tech Mahindra to raise its stake through preferential allotment; that is the main agenda of the meeting," Mahindra Satyam chairman Kiran Karnik said. A Tech Mahindra spokesperson said: "Our open offer was for acquiring additional 20 per cent, which is around 199 million shares, of Satyam. But since the share prices have gone up, the open offer has not been successful. Now we will go back to Satyam with a request for a preferential offer. This will bring our stake in the firm to approximately 42.7 per cent.” Earlier, the Company Law Board had authorised Mahindra Satyam to allot 19.86 crore equity shares of Rs 2 each to Venturebay, the SPV of Tech Mahindra, which acquired a 31 per cent stake in Satyam Computer Services (now Tech Mahindra) in the first round of preferential allotment. Mahindra Satyam had moved CLB after Venturebay failed to get 20 per cent of Satyam's shares from the open market.
	Bags 5 $1-million deals since TechM's entry Mahindra Satyam is learnt to have bagged five $1-million contracts from new and existing clients since Tech Mahindra took over the company in April. A Mahindra Satyam official said the company has got five $1-million contracts since April when Tech Mahindra acquired it. Today, the company signed a five-year multi-million dollar SAP contract with existing multinational pharma major Glaxosmithekline. Mahindra Satyam is looking at regaining the eminent position which enjoyed before the scam broke in January. — PTI
	MHBI unit comes up at Nalagarh Ruchika M. Khanna Tribune News Service Nalagarh, July 9 MHB Filter India (MHBI) - a joint venture between German original equipment manufacturer Mann+ Hummel Group and global technology supplier Bosch, will ramp up its production capacity to 80 lakh automotive filters by the end of December. The company will begin exports from its facility at Tumkur in Karnataka this year. Talking to TNS here today after inaugurating its new manufacturing facility, Josef Parzhuber, chairman of MHBI, said with the commissioning of the company’s new facility here the company would be able to produce 80 lakh filters by the end of this year. “This year, we hope to manufacture 16 lakh filters in this plant and increase the production at the Tumkur plant from 40 lakh filters to 70 lakh automotive filters,” he said. Parzhuber said the automotive filter market in India was estimated to be worth Rs 800 crore. “The market is growing rapidly and is expected to double in the next five years. We will be ramping up our production during this time and hope to be amongst the three largest players in the Indian market,” he said. He said in order to increase their market share, Mann+ Hummel would be getting in new technology, especially in the injection systems, while Bosch will be using its marketing skills and reach to sell these products. “One of the reasons why we have decided to set up a factory in North India is to increase our market reach here. This will also help us save on logistics for our client base in Gurgaon, Delhi and other parts of North India,” he said. Parzhuber said that while the Tumkur plant would be primarily manufacturing original equipment, the Nalagarh plant would be manufacturing after market filtration range.