New Delhi, May 1
Expressing concern about the persisting regional imbalance in industrial development and urbanisation, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today called for credible policy solutions to bring new regions under the industrialisation process.

Dr Singh said it was only through rapid industrialisation that meaningful solutions could be found to the problems of mass unemployment and underdevelopment.

Even though industrialisation may throw up challenges like alienation of the working class, environmental damage and displacement of people, the Prime Minister stressed it was necessary for social transformation and economic development.

"It is necessary to address the concerns of those who may see themselves as losers in the process of industrialisation. We must learn to address their concerns and assuage them to the extent possible," the Prime Minister observed here inaugurating the campus of the Institute for Studies in Industrial Development.

Maintaining that industrialisation ought to be a win-win process for social transformation and economic development, Dr Singh said a "developing country like India just cannot afford to view industrialisation as a negative phenomenon."

The Prime Minister wondered if the political establishment was encouraging crony capitalism as he was surprised with reports in the media that most of the billionaries among India's top business leaders operated in areas where the government conferred special priviliges on a few."Is this a necessary but transient phase in developing modern capitalism in the country" and "are we doing enough to protect consumers and small businesses," he asked.

He impressed upon research institutions to come up with solutions on how to prevent such crony capitalism, inject greater competition in the industrial sector and tackle concerns faced by domestic enterprise.

"Today, Indian companies are going global, becoming multinationals. The process may yet be incipient but the change is visible and here to stay. The nature of competition has changed and so has the nature of regulation."

The Prime Minister said efforts were required to ensure that markets remained competititve by curtailing monopolistic practices and ensure that growth became more balanced, inclusive and tuned towards employment generation.

Shimla, May 1
Known for its delicious apple, the hill state is all set to become the cement bowl of the country with the government giving nod for setting up two more cement plants. This will take the total number of big cement plants in the state to nine.

Apart from the Rs 908-crore project of Lafarge, the world’s leading cement maker with 132 plants across the globe, the government has cleared the proposal of Gujarat Ambuja Cements for a second plant of two million tonne capacity at Darlaghat. The company had originally submitted a proposal to double the capacity of the existing two million tonne plant but the government asked it to set up a separate unit to which it agreed. The project will cost Rs 672 crore as the company already has infrastructure at Darlaghat.

The state already has three big cement plants at Barmana, Darlaghat and Rajban with aggregate capacity of 4.5 million tonnes, while two more such projects, each of two million tonne capacity, are under implementation at Bagha and Nalini.

Early this year, the government had allotted three more big plants to private companies to be set up at Broh-Shind and Chopal. Lafarge is setting up a two million tonne plant at Al Sindi in Mandi district. When all plants will come into production over the next four years, the total cement production will shoot up to about 17 million tonnes.

Gujarat Ambuja Cements already has on lease 546 hectares of mining area. It has applied for another 15 sq m of adjoining land for the second plant. Apart from the Broh-Shind plant in Chamba , Rajban in Sirmour and Chopal in Shimla , the six plants will be in close proximity in the in Darlaghat-Bilaspur-Karsog belt. It will create unmanageable traffic congestion as a plant of two million tonne capacity generates transport work for about 2,000 trucks which only serve as mobile polluters.

The five new cement plants will require about 12,000 trucks which will choke the narrow hill roads.

The problem could be solved if the Rs 1,400-crore Bhanupali-Bilaspur rail project which is hanging fire for the past 15 years, is implemented on priority. The Railways is not keen on the project and the state government has been trying to get it executed under the private-public partnership by involving the cement companies but with little success.

Not a leaf is out of place though or showing the least signs of wilting, with the city looking as impeccably landscaped as ever (except, is that a little more litter than one would expect?). Both the administration and business is responding, including the country’s flagship carrier, Singapore Airlines.

The airline is augmenting its Boarding Pass Privilges (BPP) programme - the BPP scheme allows customers to present their boarding pass, within seven days of their flight, to get a range of value-added benefits and discounts at Singapore’s many tourist attractions, hotels, restaurants, car rentals and shopping, besides facilities at the lounges in Changi Airport.

It was first started off in 2003-4 with only one partner, and in its current form, it has more than 300 partners. It won the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Gold Award in both 2005 and 2006, and is currently available in six destinations - Singapore, Australia, Bali, Bangkok, New York and the Philippines.

“This is also about differentiating the destination,” notes Stephen Forshaw, Vice-President Public Affairs. The airline will extend the programme to the UK and Japan in 2008.

While the BPP programme effectively reinforces the marketing mantra of additional points of contact for the customer, the airline monitors its usage to the maximum extent possible. An estimated 150,000 night stays at hotels have been made under BPP, notes an airline official.

Apart from discounts at the hotels and restaurants, tourists will also be able to put the programme to good use at Singapore’s several award winning tourist destinations. The Singapore Zoo, for example, has long been a popular attraction. Value additions like the “Night Safari”, where visitors traverse the zoo in a tram viewing animals with the barriers well disguised and non-intrusive, are well frequented.

Also on the BPP programme are special room rates at the historic Raffles Hotels, the Sentosa island, the ‘Funvee’ city tours, the Jurong Bird Park and participating outlets at the entertainment and dining district Clarke Quay.

The Tribune correspondent experienced the BPP programme at the invitation of Singapore Airlines.

Chandigarh, May 1
The Punjab government has found a “novel” way to stem the fall in the small savings collection in the state.

With small savings collection having gone down by Rs 975.39 crore in the past one year, hundreds of state government pensioners are being forced to buy National Saving Certificates (NSCs) with the pension arrears being released to them.

The pension for private-aided school teachers were revised by the state government last year, with effect from April 1, 2004. The pensioners have now been told that arrears would be credited to their bank account if they buy NSCs, and have asked them to submit details of these NSCs to the pension disbursing bank branch.

Up in arms against the order, these pensioners rued that it was their prerogative as to where they would like to invest the arrears. “The rate of interest offered under various schemes of National Small Savings varies between 6.25 - 8 per cent. Comparatively, banks offer much higher rates of interest on short term deposits (8.50-11.50 per cent), and we would like to invest our money there,” said Usha Sharma, a pensioner from Jalandhar.

Officials in the state government admit that they have asked the private-aided school pensioners to buy NSCs with the arrear money. “But the arrears received by each of the pensioners is not more than Rs 5000, for the period between April 2004- March 2006 (which are to be invested in NSCs). The arrears for the remaining period (April 2006- February 2007) are being paid in cash,” said a senior official, requesting anonymity.

According to statistics of National Savings Institute net small savings collection in Punjab has come down from Rs 2,310.99 crore in 2005-06 (till February 2006) to Rs 1,335.60 crore in 2006-07 (till February 2007).

New Delhi, May 1
Days after the centre relaxed emission norms for foreign motor cycle companies, American cult bike maker Harley-Davidson today accused India of maintaining "daunting trade barriers" in the form of high duties to keep it away.

In an e-mailed interview, Harley Davidson Motor Co (HDMC) vice-president, government affairs, Tim Hoelter, said besides the emission norms, there was a far more "daunting trade barrier" facing the company in India that it hope could be addressed.

"Presently, India maintains a 60 per cent rate of duty on heavyweight motor cycles. This extraordinary tariff rate when coupled with taxes of 30 per cent, would double the price of a Harley-Davidson motor cycle in India, were we to enter the market," he said.

Questioning the rationale behind India's high duty on heavyweight motorcycles, he said such a norm was to prevent companies like HDMC from entering the market.

"Frankly, we do not understand why India maintains a 60 per cent duty on heavyweight motorcycles when the average industrial tariff rate in India is only around 10 per cent," he said.

The practical effect of such an "extraordinarily" high rate of duty is to dissuade firms like Harley-Davidson from entering the market and of course prevent the government from earning any tariff revenue whatsoever, he added.

Last month, New Delhi and Washington reached an agreement whereby the US eased phyto-sanitary norms for the Indian mangoes while India harmonised emission norms on bikes above 800cc with Euro III standards, paving way for import of Harley-Davidsons.

Hoelter said if the company were to bring its bikes in India, the price would be too much to expect the Indian consumer to pay to "participate in the Harley-Davidson Experience".

By all estimates, under the current duty structure an imported Harley Davidson bike in India will not come for less than Rs 5 lakh.— PTI

Mumbai, May 1
SBI Life Insurance, the third largest private life insurer in the country, plans to enter health and micro insurance business this fiscal.

SBI Life, a 74:26 joint venture of the State Bank of India and Cardif SA of France (a BNP Paribas Group company), today announced a 88 per cent jump in net profit and 210 per cent growth in new business premium in 2006-07.

“Two new markets we would like to enter in the new fiscal is health and micro insurance," SBI Life deputy chief executive officer Pier-Paolo Dipaola said. — PTI