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Power tariff reduction on the cards
TCS to pay Tata Sons Rs 2,300-cr as net asset transfer after IPO |
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Transaction tax cut buoys bourses
NGOs want standards for soft drinks |
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Men get rich with well digging, women with transplanting
Britannia to set up Rs 552-m plant in Uttaranchal
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Power tariff reduction on the cards New Delhi, July 21 The industry experts claim that the power tariff, especially for the hydel sector, could come down by 30 per cent in the near future if the government takes required steps, besides checking power pilferage. Power majors, including National Hydro Power Corporation (NHPC), National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) and state electricity boards are pressing upon the Centre to bring down the excise and custom duties on power generation equipment and coal, besides income-tax exemption on the profit of power sector. Union Power Minister P.M. Sayeed in a written reply to the Lok Sabha today informed that to bring down the power tariff rates, the government has decided to extend benefits under the mega-power policy to all inter-state projects which fulfil the basic criteria of minimum capacity of 1,000 MW for thermal and 500 MW for hydel projects. The benefits will include zero custom duty for import of capital equipment and deemed export benefits for domestic suppliers. Further, he said: “The government has also decided to reduce the customs duty on coal and electricity metres from 25 per cent to 15 per cent. In addition, under the accelerated power development and reforms programme (APDRP), projects will be financed to reduce system loss reduction. All these steps are likely to reduce to cost of delivery of power.” Industry experts claim the power tariffs are substantially higher in India for the manufacturing and commercial sectors even when compared to China. It adversely affects the competitiveness of the economy in the global market. On the other hand, the state electricity boards, including Punjab State Electricity Board and power utilities in Haryana opine that recent hike in the coal prices by over 16 per cent has further affected their bottom lines. Officials in the power ministry admit that high cost of power and erratic supply in northern states like Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan are the major hurdles for attracting investors to these land-locked states. At present, power tariffs for the industry are in the range of Rs 2.50 to Rs 2.85 per unit in Himachal Pradesh as against Rs 3.35 to Rs 3.90 per unit in Punjab and Rs 4.12 to Rs 4.45 per unit in Haryana. Consequently, a large number of steel and other units are shifting to Baddi in Himachal Pradesh to save power bill. The industry representatives of the steel re-rolling mills and auto units have proposed to the government to bring down power tariff in the near future to enhance the competitiveness of the industry and push exports in the near future. |
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TCS to pay Tata Sons Rs 2,300-cr as
Mumbai, July 21 Tata group Chairman Ratan N Tata today said the motive behind the IPO for TCS was to give it a separate corporate entity and this separate status was required in the international market. Addressing newsmen here today, Mr Tata said the IPO would give an additional mileage to TCS in the domestic and international market other than being a Tata Sons’ division. “After the IPO, TCS is planning to expand the board by inducting eminent personalities from India and outside,” Mr Tata said. About the global listing, Mr Tata said it would be considered at a later stage and he informed the IPO money would be used for expansion of Tata Sons, including the expansion of Tata Group companies and of companies in new areas. Meanwhile, TCS has registered a net profit of Rs 519 crore in the June quarter of 2004-05 against Rs 303 crore in the corresponding quarter in 2003-04, thereby marking a 71 per cent growth. The revenue of the firm shot to Rs 2,134 crore in the same quarter from Rs1,526 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. — UNI
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Transaction tax cut buoys bourses Mumbai, July 21 After breaching the 5000 barrier, the BSE bellwether Sensex, however, dropped to 4993 points on profit-booking, still a gain of 36 points over the previous close. Nifty ended slightly below the 1600 level at 1581. However, there were sectoral fluctuations. Cement stocks fell on expectations of a weak monsoon, affecting rural demand. Grasim, ACC and Gujarat Ambuja were in the negative territory. The other losers included Colgate, Dabur, P&G and ITC. Auto scrips like Hero Honda, LML and TVS Motor gained more than 1 per cent while Bajaj Auto and Tata Motors remained constant. However, banking scrips gained. The Bank of Baroda was up nearly 4 per cent while IDBI Bank, IndusInd Bank, Karnataka Bank, Vijaya Bank and Punjab National Bank gained Steel stocks gained as well. The biggest gainers were oils
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NGOs want standards for soft drinks New Delhi, July 21 “As provided under the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act (PFA), the standards should be for the final product which in this case is soft drinks and not restricted to only the raw materials used in its manufacture,” CSE chief Sunita Narain told newspersons here. Reacting to Health Ministry’s notification for following the same standards for water used in manufacturing soft drinks as in case of bottled drinking water, she said the norms must be extended to soft drinks as well. Ms Narain said the PFA regulates the quality of the final product and even contaminants from raw materials could not be carried to the finished produce. These proposed standards must not be voluntary in nature as is the case at present and must be instead made mandatory like the norms for bottled and packaged drinking water. She welcomed the draft voluntary standards for soft drinks prepared by the Bureau of Indian Standards on which public comments have been solicited before their notification. If notified, these would be the first quality standards for soft drinks in the world, she added. Unlike the Health Ministry norms, the proposed BIS standards, though voluntary in nature at present, are quite comprehensive as they even set limits for caffeine, pesticides, and PH value (acidity) in soft drinks, she added. |
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Men get rich with well digging, women with transplanting New Delhi, July 21 According to the rural labour enquiry data of Labour Bureau released here today, the next highest-paid activities for men are ‘ploughing’ and ‘sowing’ and for women ‘harvesting’ and ‘thrashing.’ The average daily water rates in well digging at all-India level varied from Rs 81.14 in July 2002 to Rs 85 in February 2003. The survey said the average wage rates for men in well digging were the highest in Kerala and the lowest in Madhya Pradesh throughout 2001-02 and 2002-03. The all-India average daily wage rate for women in transplanting ranged from Rs 46.54 in September 2002 and Rs 49.77 in June 2003. ‘Herd keeping’ was observed to be least remunerative occupation for all categories of workers. The annual daily wage rates for men and women were as low as Rs 40.36 and Rs 31.60, respectively, during 2002-03. Amongst the non-agricultural occupations, ‘masonry’ was the highest-paid occupation for men followed by ‘carpentry’ and ‘blacksmithry’. The all-India average daily wage for male masons ranged from Rs 114.58 in July 2002 to Rs 117.63 in June 2003. For women, ‘sweeping’ was the highest-paid occupation as their all-India average daily wage varies between Rs 47.15 in October 2002 and Rs 51.15 in March 2003. The data revealed ‘sweeping’ to be the lowest-paid occupation for men while ‘masonry’ was found to be lowest-paid for women. The other notable feature of the survey was that average daily wage rates for women were found to be generally lower than those of men in most of the occupations during 2001-02 and 2002-03. None of the female worker was found employed as carpenter, blacksmith, cobbler and tractor driver. |
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Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) will pay Tata Sons Rs 2,300-crore as part of net asset transfer after the initial public offer.
