The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	Gas supply: RNRL invites Reliance for talks New Delhi, June 23 Within days of the Bombay High Court asking Mukesh Ambani-run Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) to supply gas to Reliance Natural Resources Limited (RNRL), the Anil Ambani group firm has asked the other side for talks to suggest a way forward to firm up an agreement. But RIL is yet to agree for a discussion on the grounds that it is studying the implication of the judgment. The Bombay High Court had on June 15 given the two companies a month's time to work out a firm gas volumes, price, timelines and other commercial details for sourcing the fuel from Krishna Godavari basin fields. Sources said RNRL had written a letter to Mukesh Ambani-run RIL seeking time and date for talks on the agreement. The high court had ruled that RIL should honour its commitment in the family split agreement to supply gas to RNRL. The terms, as per the MoU that split the Dhirubhai Ambani empire in 2005, were to be based on RIL's bid for NTPC tender. Spokespersons of both companies declined comments but sources said RIL was studying the implications of the judgment before committing to a meeting with RNRL. RNRL has already filed caveat in the Supreme Court to prevent any ex-parte order in case Mukesh Ambani's RIL was to appeal against the Bombay High Court order. In the MoU that split Dhirubhai Ambani empire, the Mukesh Ambani-run firm had committed to supply 28 million standard cubic meters per day of gas to power plants of the group run by his younger brother for 17 years. Mukesh had got petrochemicals, refining and oil and gas business while the power plants, telecommunication and financial services business had gone to Anil in the split. The price in the MoU was the same as the one RIL had bid for a 2004 NTPC tender. RIL had bid to supply 12 mmscmd gas to the state-run firm at a delivered price of $2.97 per million British thermal unit. The landfall price was $2.34 per mmBtu. However, RIL did not sign a gas sale-purchase agreement (GSPA) with NTPC over disputes on liability in case of default in supplies. The state-run firm has since taken RIL to court seeking 'performance' of the bid. The Bombay High Court in its judgment had asked the two brothers to take the help of their mother, if necessary, to arrive at a commercial contract for supply of gas. The terms they have to agree to includes annual volumes, the year of beginning supplies, take-or-pay clause and a host of other similar commercial agreements leading to GSPA. — PTI
	Nooyi, Narayen among 25 ‘top gun’ CEOs: Forbes New York, June 23 Two India-origin persons — Indra Nooyi and Shantanu Narayen — have been named among the top 25 chief executive officers in the US, who kept their companies on success path despite challenging economic conditions, according to Forbes magazine. Adobe System's chief executive officer Shantanu Narayen and beverage major Pepsico's Indra Nooyi have been ranked at the 16th and 17th places, respectively in the list of 25 'top gun CEOs' for 2009 who kept their firms thriving amid the recessionary situation. “This past year has given top executives many reasons to be nervous about whether their firms will stay alive, let alone turn a profit. But some executives did more than just get through hard times and some put their companies on the path to success,” Forbes said. The list is topped by business solutions provider Automatic Data Process's Gary C Butler. About Nooyi, the magazine said she had the right long- term strategic vision and had executed very well. About Narayen, Forbes said he had been in the industry for a very long time and "always has a strong sense of what the next key steps are in terms of positioning the company." About 317 US companies were reviewed by 2,500 asset managers to determine the 'Top Guns' chief executive officers were ranked quantitatively and qualitatively with data from this past year. — PTI
	Airtel brings HTC Magic to India Tribune News Service New Delhi, June 23 Taiwanese handset maker HTC launched its latest model “Magic”, a handset based on Google's operating system software 'Android' for mobiles and other wireless devices, in the country here today. Bringing in the phone exclusively in partnership with telecom operator Bharti Airtel, the “Magic” is priced at is priced at Rs 29,900. "The handset would be available in the Indian market in the first week of July,” HTC India country manager Ajay Sharma said here. HTC Magic is a touch screen handset equipped with a 3.2-inch screen, 3.2 mega pixel camera and has 3G capabilities. "Airtel customers would get free data download of 100 MB per month for six months,” Bharti Airtel chief marketing officer Raghunath Mandava said.
	Gurnani is CEO of Mahindra Satyam Tribune News Service & PTI Mumbai, June 23 Tech Mahindra today appointed CP Gurnani CEO of Mahindra Satyam and S Durgashankar the new chief financial officer (CFO) with immediate effect. Gurnani succeeds AS Murthy, who was appointed by the government board after the multi-crore rupee scam broke out in the then Satyam Computer Services. Gurnani has been heading the global operations of Tech Mahindra. Durgashankar was earlier senior vice- president (M&A) for Mahindra Group. The post of CFO in Mahindra has been lying vacant since former Satyam CFO Vadlamani Srinivas was arrested for his alleged role in the financial fraud in Satyam. Mahindra Satyam Executive vice-chairman Vineet Nayyar said Satyam had been a leader in the telecom technology space but there was still a huge growth potential. Gurnani will be responsible for exploring the telecom technology space, Nayyar added. Meanwhile, Tech Mahindra strategic initiatives head Sanjay Kalra has been promoted as the new CEO of the company. CBI to seek interpol help Hyderabad: The CBI, probing the Satyam Computers scandal, will seek the help of Interpol to identify how the money was diverted from the software giant by its disgraced former chairman B Ramalinga Raju. “Evidence of diversion and misappropriation of Satyam funds through foreign bank accounts has come to light. Interpol help has been sought to identify the end use of these funds,” the CBI told Andhra Pradesh High Court. While Raju had confessed to fudging account books and inflating the company’s profits and turnover, the investigations revealed that he had also diverted the company funds to other businesses.
	Srinivasan MD of HAL’s chopper unit Shubhadeep Choudhury Tribune News Service Bangalore, June 23 Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) has created a new position of managing director (helicopter complex) to streamline its activities in the area of helicopter production. HAL spokesman said R Srinivasan had been appointed at the new post. Prior to this appointment, he was general manager in HAL’s helicopter MRO (maintenance, repair and overhaul) division. “HAL has decided to bring helicopter design, development and manufacturing activities under one umbrella. Srinivasan will head five critical divisions of HAL, consisting of the helicopter division, helicopter MRO, rotary wing research and design centre, composite manufacturing division and Barrackpore division,” he said. HAL’s new helicopter programmes like the light combat helicopter, light observation helicopter and the medium lift helicopter are some of the key projects that will come under Srinivasan’s ambit. “ALH is the key and I will be focusing on further increasing serviceability of this machine so that all the customers get what they want without any delay. On the civil front, too, we will try to make more inroads and that will also figure in my agenda,” Srinivasan was quoted to have said. HAL had earlier tasted success in the ALH front with the manufacture of the multi-role Dhruv. Dhruv was first exported to Nepal and Israel, and is on order by several other countries for both military and commercial uses. Deliveries of the Dhruv, however, commenced in 2002, 10 years after the prototype's first flight and 18 years after the programme was announced.
	Unique number for TDS assessees in IT return New Delhi, June 23 Assessees whose tax is deducted at source will have to wait for some time this year before filing returns as they will be required to quote a new number in the form. The new number, Unique Transaction Number (UTN), has been made mandatory because there are some lacunae like individuals having more than one permanent account number (PAN), sources said. The IT Department has asked individual assessees whose tax is deducted or collected at source to quote the UTN. The UTN will be given by depository NSDL to those whose tax is deducted or collected at source and individual assessees could get the numbers from deductors. “Assesses must ensure that the deductor and the collector have provided them with separate UTNs in respect of each TDS and TCS transaction,” said a recent circular issued by the department. When asked whether NSDL has started giving UTNs, tax officials said the department had asked the depository to communicate on the progress in this regard by June 30. Taxpayers still have about 40 days to file tax returns, so they should wait for their UTN, experts said. Also, taxpayers will be able to get the claim only if they quote their UTN. “Therefore, the credit for any TDS or TCS claim will be allowed, among others, if the assessee quotes the relevant UTN for every TDS and TCS claim and the said UTN matches with the UTN in the database of the IT Department,” the circular said. — PTI
	Mahindra Holidays IPO subscribed 20 pc on Day 1 Mumbai, June 23 The initial public offer (IPO) of Mahindra Holidays & Resorts got subscribed 20 per cent on the first day of its issue today with most of the bids coming in from institutional investors. The issue received bids for 18.75 lakh shares, representing 0.20 times of the shares on offer, as per data available with the National Stock Exchange. The price band for the issue has been fixed between Rs 275 and Rs 325 per equity share. Qualified institutional buyers, which include foreign institutional investors and mutual funds, subscribed 32 per cent of the 55.59 lakh shares reserved for them, the NSE data shows. The company has come out with an IPO of over 92.65 lakh shares and the issue would close on June 26. The issue proceeds would be utilised for setting up new projects and expanding some of the company's resorts in Coorg, Binsar(Uttarakhand) and Ashtamudi (Kerala) to provide a larger range of resorts. — PTI
	1.55 lakh Nano customers selected by draw New Delhi, June 23 Auto major Tata Motors today said it has selected over 1.55 lakh customers for its small-car Nano, which the company will start delivering from next month. The company would deliver the first one lakh cars by March 2010, while the handing over of the Nanos in the next phase to 55,021 customers would start thereafter. "Tata Motors is pleased to announce that it has completed the process to select the first 1,00,000 owners of the Tata Nano from among 2,06,703 final list of applicants, who had booked the car," the company said in a statement. The company has also completed the selection process for the second phase by alloting slots to 55,021 customers. The entire selection process was done through a computerised lottery, it added. "Tata Motors reconfirms that the first 1 lakh owners are price-protected, and will get their Tata Nano at the ex- showroom prices, announced at launch on March 23," it said. Of the total booking, about 67 per cent of the applicants (1,37,867 people) had intended to retain their bookings in case they are not selected in the first draw. — PTI