New Delhi, January 10
UK's Vodafone as well as India's Essar and Reliance Communications (RCoM) today stepped on gas in pursuit of Hutch-Essar, with the British company's CEO holding parleys with Cabinet ministers and others on the deal.

Vodafone CEO Arun Sarin, who arrived here early this morning, met the Finance, Commerce, and Communication Ministers and briefed them about the company's future plans and interest in India's fast-growing telecom sector.

Even before Sarin met him, Communication Minister Dayanidhi Maran said he wanted good players to enter India.

As if not to be left behind, Mr Shashi Ruia, Chairman of Essar Group, whose bankers today started confirmatory diligence for a deal, also called on Finance Minister P Chidambaram but not a word was spoken about what transpired. In Mumbai, Reliance Communications Chairman Anil Ambani was authorised by its Board to take all necessary steps on the Hutch-Essar front as also tie-up funds. RCoM and its bankers will start due diligence tomorrow.

Separately, Mr Sunil Mittal of Bharti Airtel, in which Vodafone holds 9.9 per cent stake, called on Mr Maran here.

Keeping his options to partner Essar in the joint venture open, Mr Sarin told reporters after meeting Chidambaram that India was a growing market and fitted well in Vodafone's plans.

"Absolutely," was his reply when asked whether Vodafone would join hands with Ruias-promoted Essar, who he termed as a good partner.

Earlier in the day, he said a bid would be made for "whatever (stake) is available... in the next few weeks."

Vodafone had started due diligence of HEL early this week and said would complete it in a couple of weeks. — PTI

New Delhi, January 10
The much-awaited semiconductor policy, which would provide fiscal incentives to this sector aimed at providing the impetus for the growth of hardware sector in the country, is likely to come up before the Union Cabinet tomorrow.

Sources indicated that as per the policy, semiconductor fabrication plants and manufacturers of other hi-tech IT products will have to invest a minimum of Rs 2,500 crore to avail of government incentives.

Meanwhile, the Union Communications and IT minister Dayanidhi Maran expressed satisfaction that international telecom players were vying to enter the Indian telecom market. He said this while referring to British telecom giant Vodafone's aggressive bidding in the Hutch-Essar acquisition tussle.

Talking on the sidelines of the inauguration of the Electronics and IT Exposition, 2007, he said "a lot of speculation is taking place on this and I am not part of this speculation. We want good growth and I want numbers. However, security remains our foremost concern. Who buys what is not my concern and I will not judge who is the best."

"The government took the right decision to allow 74 percent FDI in the telecom sector. I want good players to come in," the minister said.

Asked if the absence of clear guidelines on FDI in telecom could raise doubts in the minds of foreign investors, Mr Maran said: "I want to make it very clear... FDI in telecom is here to stay... There is no going back on that."

He said the government was very clear on the FDI policy and the Cabinet has already taken a decision on that.

New Delhi, January 10
A day after the government said 'worrying' inflation upset the budget of the common man, the Left parties today sought its intervention to contain price rise and charged it with 'encouraging' forward trading and criticised its failure to contain hoarding and reluctance to invest in infrastructure.

The CPI, the CPM and the Forward Bloc, however, were happy with the government's indication to reduce the prices of petroleum products, saying that this was a longstanding demand of the Left.

The Left parties' remarks came after Finance Minister P. Chidambaram blamed a section of the industry, largely the manufacturing sector, for ''artificially'' hiking prices despite a declining trend in the cost of primary items and fuel products.

The rate of inflation stood at 5.48 per cent in the week ending on December 23.

CPI General Secretary A.B. Bardhan observed ''the Finance Minister has awakened very late. The inflationary trend has been visible for quite some time.'' Mr Bardhan said the prices of almost all essential commodities had been rising for the past one year and that it was the result of government's 'pro-rich and anti-poor policies'.

CPM senior leader and politbureau member M.K. Pandhe said the government's ''encouragement'' to forward trading was the main reason behind the inflationary trend. The traders and hoarders were making good use of government's policy in a way that they get loans from the banks, made purchases, store them and sell in the market at huge profits. — UNI

New Delhi, January 10
FICCI today asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to intervene in the drug price control controversy which, it said, would have a 'massive negative impact on the pharmaceutical industry' and also on the consumer.

The proposal by the Chemicals and Fertiliser Minister to bring drug price control through the proposed new pharma policy has been facing opposition from the industry.

In a letter to Dr Manmohan Singh, FICCI President Habil Khorakiwala said the proposed "new policy will bring a major setback to the pharma industry in the domestic market and its dynamism and vibrancy will be put at risk": "Now, we believe that a new policy is being proposed, which will increase the range of price-controlled drugs from the current 74 to 260 covering practically 60 per cent of the industry. Furthermore, this will be based on a cost plus mechanism," Mr Khorakiwala said.

He said the proposal was in contradiction to the Pronab Sen Committee report, which had suggested that price regulation should be on the basis of essentiality of the drug and should be applied only to formulations and not to upstream products, such as bulk drugs.

"Most disturbing is the fact that this policy will re-institute the old Industrial License Raj by bringing in controls over production, distribution and supply of drugs and, even for drugs, which would not be under price control," he said.

The FICCI President also said the new policy proposed 100 per cent monitoring of pharmaceutical products (beyond the 260 drugs under price control) by the government.

"The government will be empowered to reduce the price of any drug by bringing them under price control at any time in the future," he said, adding that the prices of medicines under price control would be further reduced from the current 30 per cent to 60 per cent as per the proposed new policy.

Mr Khorakiwala said the measures would result in a massive negative impact on the pharmaceutical industry and, more importantly, on the consumer.

"FICCI is apprehensive that the industry may be forced to curtail the production of drugs because of the unremunerative prices. This will result in inaccessibility of medicines for many consumers," he said. — PTI

Luxembourg, January 10
There is good news for Jharkhand. Contrary to perception, the world's biggest steel manufacturer Lakshmi N Mittal has not given up plans to set up a greenfield unit in the state.

"We have not closed our plan in Jharkhand," sources close to Mittal said. The state appeared to have lost out to adjacent Orissa which in December, 2006, signed an MoU with Mittals for a 12 million tonne integrated steel project.

More than a year before the MoU with Orissa, Mittal had signed a MoU with Jharkhand in October, 2005, to set up a plant in the state.

But since no follow-up action was taken by the Jharkhand Government, the project remained a paper dream while Orissa is expected to take a call on Mittal project sometime this year.

However, the sources said Mittal's concerns over quick action by the Orissa Government remain as it was evident in the case of acquisition of land and allowing of mining of iron ore for a proposed plant of South Korean steel magnate POSCO. — PTI

New Delhi, January 10
India will make a strong plea for Indian firms getting a stake in future Sakhalin projects in Russia when Russian President Vladimir Putin visits New Delhi later this month.

With ONGC Videsh Ltd's (OVL) 20 per cent stake in Sakhalin-I fields fetching the country 2.4 million tonnes of crude per annum, India, which is 73 per cent import dependent to meet its energy needs, will use the visit of Putin to participate in country's Republic Day celebrations to push for OVL's participation in the Sakhalin-III fields, a top official said.

Sakhalin-I and II projects have already been decided and Russia is planning to invite bids in future for Sakhalin-III, IV, V and VI projects in the vast energy-rich region.

New Delhi wants an agreement between OVL and Russia's Rosneft for joint bidding for the Sakhalin-3 project. Also on OVL radar are the Trebs and Titov exploration blocks in Timan Pechora region, for which a partnership with Rosneft will be sought.

The official said India also wanted OVL to form a joint venture with either Rosneft of Russian gas monopoly Gazprom to pursue other oil and gas exploration opportunities in Russia.

OVL would also seek an agreement with Rosneft for the development of the Vankor field, in which Rosneft is seeking new partners, and a stake in the Kurmangazy field.

Besides, New Delhi wants to convert Sakhalin-I gas into liquefied natural gas (LNG) for shipping it back home.

The official said Petroleum Minister Murli Deora has already written to the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to leverage Putin's visit to Indian oil companies' interest in Russian oil and gas sector.

Mr Deora noted that Rosneft had initially expressed interest in joint bidding with OVL, the proposal for floating a joint venture for participation in exploration and production blocks has not made any headway so far.

OVL, the overseas arm of ONGC, is eyeing oil fields in East Siberia, which is estimated to hold some 20 billion barrels of reserves. It is also looking at participating in Russian continental shelf that may contain oil and gas in 4 million sq km of its total area of 6.5 million sq km (largest in the world).

Also, likely to figure during discussions is OVL's participation in the 3.2 trillion cubic metres super giant gas field Shtokman and Prirazlomneye oilfield, which holds recoverable oil reserves of more than 83 million tonnes.

Other areas of interest for OVL include exploration blocs in Timan-Pechora area, Sakhalin-3 and 6 projects, Vankor oil field and exploration properties in East Siberia. — PTI

Lucknow, January 10
A group of MPs, including Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh have alleged that Petroleum Ministry has allowed Mukesh Ambani-headed Reliance Industries to 'walk away' with Rs 41,500 crore of public money by permitting a 350 per cent escalation in cost for developing KG basin gas field.

In a letter to the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the MPs said Reliance had in 2002 indicated a $1.5 billion (Rs 6,700 crore) cost for developing its KG-D6 field off the Andhra Pradesh cost. This was raised to $2.47 billion in the field development plan filed in November 2004. Further, in November 2006, Reliance revised the cost to $8.82 billion.

"The Directorate General of Hydrocarbons has cleared an expenditure of $5.4 billion and over the next few days the balance capital expenditure demanded by RIL would also be approved by DGH. This smacks of corruption in high places," the December 15 letter by MPs close to Mr Anil Ambani said.

The production-sharing contract provides for the operator recovering all money invested through sale of hydrocarbon and government gets a share only after that.

"In other words, the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas and DGH have effectively decided to allow RIL to walk away with Rs 41,500 crore of public money," it said.

Though, RIL has stated that gas production will be doubled to 80 million standard cubic metres per day, "it is strange that capital cost would also double." "Till today the claims of increased gas production has not been certified by any renowned international agency nor has it been certified by DGH itself. Still DGH has approved the increased capital cost," the letter said demanding an inquiry by the CBI. — PTI

New Delhi, January 10
Planning Commission has warned that sector-specific regulators could become "tension points" between them and the ministries and said there should be a common regulator for transport and energy sectors.

There was no harm in having a regulator for the entire energy sector but having regulatory bodies for each sector would be unviable as they would become tension points between them and the concerned ministries, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said here.

"We at the Planning Commission are thinking on having a common but independent regulator for energy and transport sectors," Mr Ahluwalia said.

Though the Plan panel has not finalised its suggestions in this connection, yet consultation with industry bodies were on to elicit their views, he said.

"We haven't formulated our views, but have consulted the industries in the matter," he said.

In its Integrated Energy Policy, the Commission favoured a single regulator for oil, gas and coal to ensure a defined pricing mechanism for sensitive fuel items.

Official sources said the Plan panel has already been toying with the idea of having a 'super regulator' for the energy and transport sector having all encompassing powers.

The Commission has been able to ensure a broad consensus at a recent meting of the Prime Minister's Energy Coordination Committee. "The government is seriously concerned that proliferation of regulatory bodies could fuel confusion in various quarters," the sources said. — PTI

New Delhi, January 10
As part of its global expansion plans, Dabur Pharma has acquired the sales and distribution network of Thailand-based Bioscience for an undisclosed sum.

"The acquisition is an extension of our forward integration process and this should make us the number one generics cancer drugs company in Thailand," Dabur Pharma Chief Operating Officer Ajay Viz said.

As per the deal, Dabur Pharma had acquired the entire sales and distribution network of Bioscience Co giving it access to all cancer hospitals in Thailand.

Dabur Pharma was looking at similar opportunities in other countries in Europe, the US and less regulated markets such as Brazil and Russia.

"We are also looking at strengthening our presence in markets like the Philippines and Malaysia," he said.

Mr Vij said the company was interested in having a presence in the Chinese market and was currently exploring ways to enter the market. — PTI

Tokyo, January 10
The Japanese electronics giant behind the Panasonic brand said today that it would build the world's largest plasma television plant at a cost of $2.35 billion to meet booming demand.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co said in a statement that it would build the plant in the western Japanese city of Amagasaki in Hyogo prefecture, with a production capacity of one million units a month.

The company said it would build the factory with its joint venture partner, chemical group Toray Industries.

It would be the fifth plasma display panel built by the two partners and was expected to begin operating in May, 2009.

Matsushita company is already the world's top maker of plasma televisions and scored a 156 per cent leap in net profits in the three months to September on the back of brisk sales of ultra-thin televisions. — AFP