New Delhi, September 5
Over 850 mobile subscribers across the country are likely to get relief from pesky commercial calls and messages as the telecom regulator Monday said new laws governing such communications would be implemented from September 27 and violators penalised heavily.

“Relevant clauses of regulations have been amended and the regulations are being implemented from Sep 27, 2011,” said the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) in a statement.

Customers will have to register with the National Customer Preference Registry, earlier known as ‘Do Not Call’ Registry.

In recent times, while the number of pesky calls has reduced, messages still remained a menace. On an average, as many as 47,454 complaints per month are being registered.

Although over 130 million mobile subscribers had registered with the national do not call registry till August 25, consumers are still pestered with unwanted commercial calls and messages.

TRAI had announced a set of new measures last year to curb such unsolicited commercial communications which were to be implemented from January 1, but it kept repeatedly postponing the implementation sate.

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has allocated ‘140’ number series to telemarketers for fixed line network.

Access providers have to make relevant provisions in their network before allocation of resources to telemarketers using ‘140’ numbering series from fixed line network.

Unlike the previous regulation that asked customers to register their numbers in “Do Not Call” list, the new regulations allows customers to choose from different categories like Fully blocked or Partially blocked.

TRAI has disconnected over 72,000 telephone connections of registered telemarketers and over 118,000 of unregistered telemarketing companies for breach of guidelines related to commercial calls and messages up to May 2011. —IANS

THE Road to Relief

Customers will have to register with the National Customer Preference Registry, earlier known as ‘Do Not Call’ Registry

The new regulations allows customers to choose from different categories like Fully blocked or Partially blocked

The regulations include fines ranging from Rs 25,000 to Rs 2.5 lakh on defaulting companies.

New Delhi, September 5
Japanese car major Honda today said it will call back 72,115 units of its mid-sized sedan City to replace defective power window switches.

The statement added that the replacement would be carried out free and owners will be contacted to carry out the exercise smoothly.

Honda, which is present in India through a joint venture with the Siel Group — Honda Siels Cars India — said the recall will be for the model made in India from 2005 to 2007.

“Honda extends the power window switch replacement to 72,115 units of City in India... HSCI is carrying out the part replacement as part of a global exercise by Honda Motor Company to ensure stringent quality standards for its products,” a company statement said.

“Although no incident has been reported in India, HSCI is extending the same exercise to the previously sold Honda City manufactured in from 2005 to 2007,” it said.

Honda Motor Co is recalling 9.36 lakh cars, including hatchback Jazz, City and sports utility vehicle CR-V, globally due to defective power window switches.

HSCI, however, said the global recall does not impact the Jazz and CR-V sold in India. The company said the third generation City, which it sells in India at present, is not affected by the recall. — PTI

New Delhi, September 5
OP Munjal-promoted Hero Group today said it will foray into India's hospitality sector and plans to develop a five-star hotel in Haryana.

The group, which is mainly into auto components and bicycle business, has already acquired 3.9 acre land to develop a 280-room property in Gurgaon.

"We have acquired the land through bidding done by a bank...the skeleton of the building already exists and it will be further developed into a five star property with around 280 rooms," a Hero Group spokesperson said.

He said the group was in talks with several international hospitality brands, including Four Season, Conrad, JW Marriot for a management contract.— PTI

New Delhi, September 5
Oil and Natural Gas Corp's (ONGC) much-delayed Rs 11,000-crore share sale is likely to be launched on September 20, with the state-run explorer filing papers for the public issue with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) today.

“ONGC filed a 610-page red herring prospectus (RHP) with the regulator,” a source said.

The follow-on public offer (FPO) is likely to open on September 20 and close on September 23.

The government plans to sell 5 per cent, or 427.77 million shares, through the FPO. At its today’s closing price of Rs 256.85 per share on the BSE, the share sale will fetch about Rs 11,000 crore.

After the FPO, the government's stake in ONGC will come down to 69.14 per cent from the current 74.14 per cent.

A Group of Ministers headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee is likely to decide on the price band for the FPO on September 16 and the issue price would be fixed on September 25.

The source said roadshows for the FPO will begin today in the US. Promotional roadshows will also be held in Singapore, Hongkong and London. The same will be held in Mumbai on September 19 and in the national capital the next day.

Sources said the RHP incorporates the financials of the company till the April-June quarter.

The FPO was originally planned in the 2010-11 fiscal, but the launch was later deferred to April 5 as the company did not have adequate number of independent directors on its board to meet SEBI's listing norms.

It was then rescheduled for July 5, but was again deferred due to adverse market conditions.

In January, the government had appointed Citigroup, Nomura Holdings, Bank of America Corp, HSBC Holdings, JM Financial Services and Morgan Stanley to manage ONGC’s share sale.

New Delhi, September 5
The Doha Round of negotiations for liberalising trade is "deadlocked" and the countries need to play a leadership role in opening of the global commerce, WTO Director General Pascal Lamy said today.

“..We know that for the moment the Doha Round is deadlocked," Lamy said while launching the ‘Regional Trade Policy'’ course at the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade.

On its part,India reiterated that the goal posts set in the negotiating Round cannot be altered. “Any dilution of the developmental dimension of the Doha agenda will not be acceptable at all,” Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma said.

He added that it was important that the negotiaions are taken forward as an single undertaking.

Expressing confidence that the forthcoming WTO Ministerial Meeting in December would show a path forward, Lamy said, "Leadership is crucial because trade negotiations are governments' actions and governing requires making choices, taking decisions and being ready to defend them at home..."

While he did not refer to anyone while emphasising the "leadership" role the WTO member countries need to play,India along with Brazil,South Africa and China are seen as advanced developing countries in the developed world.

“India hoped at the beginning of this year that a multilateral trade-opening agreement was possible in 2011, unfortunately it was not materialised. There have been disappointments...” Sharma said.

India and other developing nations are defending their agricultural markets to protect millions of subsistence farmers.— PTI

Mumbai, September 5
Gold demand in India, the world's biggest buyer, was moderate on Monday after the prices in the local market rose 2 per cent to a record high tracking firmness in the world market and due to a weak rupee, dealers said.

The gold contract has risen over 20 per cent since the beginning of August.

"Demand was normal. People were buying despite the record high prices," said T.K. Chandiran, managing director with Coimbatore-based KTM Jewellery.

"Though most people are buying jewellery, sales of coins and bars have also risen."

International gold prices rose back above $1,900 an ounce on Monday as expectations grew that the United States could implement a further round of monetary easing after Friday’s weak payroll data, while concerns over the euro zone debt crisis resurfaced.

The Rupee stayed weak in afternoon trades on Monday as the dollar gained overseas with investors seeking safe-haven assets after bleak jobs data on Friday cemented view the US might be slipping back into a recession.

The Rupee plays an important role in determining the landed cost of the yellow metal, which is quoted in dollars.

India’s wedding and festival season demand will gain pace and peak in October before tapering off in December.— PTI

New Delhi, September 5
Reversing its earlier stand, a high-level government committee said that domestic natural gas users cannot be asked to subsidise costlier imported Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) as pooling of natural gas prices was not feasible.

A few months back, an inter-ministerial panel headed by Planning Commission Member Saumitra Chaudhuri in its draft report had suggested averaging out price of costlier imported LNG with cheaper domestic gas.

The averaging out, called pooling of prices, would have resulted in users of cheaper domestic natural gas paying double the existing rates so that imported LNG could be sold at affordable rates.

In its final report, which was prepared after extensive consultation with the industry, it said, "The Committee does not recommend pooling mechanism for natural gas at the overall level, nor does it recommend a price pooling on sectoral basis."

Instead, the committee in its August 25 report said preferential allotment of domestic gas to be done to priority sectors of fertiliser and power only and the rest of the consumers like steel plants should be allocated imported LNG.

Domestic gas is currently priced at $4.2-5.5 per million British thermal unit (mmBtu), while the fuel imported in ships in its liquid form (LNG) is priced at 
$10-14 per mmBtu.

“These (non-priority) users operate in a market environment where their output prices are market driven with no regulatory burden and hence they should be able 
to pass on the higher costs 
of gas feedstock,” the report said.— PTI

Beijing, September 5
Making its presence felt at China’s biggest Information Technology (IT) fare with a high-power delegation, India today asked Beijing to deliver on its commitment to open up huge IT sector to Indian firms to bridge the yawning trade gap.

Leading the Indian IT delegation, which included NASSCOM President Som Mittal and top officials of major IT companies, Indian Ambassador S Jaishankar said that it was the time China should open its markets, like India did to Chinese products.

“We represent an industry symbolise by Bangalore. It has clocked revenues of $76 billion last year which is expected to grow to $225 billion by 2020. It employs 2.5 million workers, includes more than 5,000 companies, and services almost 70 nations in 35 different languages,” Jaishankar said.

“Our presence in Nanjing today is a statement of this industry’s interest in China,” he said in his address at the inauguration of seventh China International Software Product Expo at Nanjing.

“The big missing piece in the industry’s global portfolio is business from Chinese companies, particularly State-owned enterprises. This is significant in itself but even more noticeable against a backdrop of surging India-China economic cooperation,” he said.

“We believe that an IT relationship with India will not only help them become more efficient, but also enhance connectivity with the Indian economy,” he said.— PTI 

BRIEFLY

Morgan Stanley MF launches liquid fund
Mumbai: Morgan Stanley Mutual Fund on Monday launched an open-ended liquid scheme, which is similar to shot-term deposits and is considered to be low risk investment. The new scheme opens todat and closes on September 7 and has a minimum investment option of Rs 1,000.— PTI

SBI Life’s new health insurance plan
Chandigarh: SBI Life Insurance has launched a health insurance plan – Hospital Cash. The plan provides fixed daily allowance to the insured for every day of hospitalisation irrespective of the hospital bill amount. — PTI

Kotak Mahindra launches biker expedition
Chandigarh: Kotak Mahindra Bank plans to add 175 branches over the next 18months. This would take its total number of bracnhes in the country to 500. Talking to media persons, after flaging off a biker expedition from Chandigarh to Bangalore, a marketing initiative called Money ka Matlab Diaries, Mahesh Subramanian, executive vice-president and co-head, branch banking, said that almost 40 per cent of the bank’s total business came from North India. — TNS

Venus Remedies’ anti-cancer drug in Europe
Chandigarh: Venus Remedies has received Market Authorisation (MA) for its anti-cancer product, DOCETAXEL in Europe.The drug will hit markets by year-end— PTI

Ranbaxy launches anti-ulcer drug in the UK
New Delhi: Ranbaxy Laboratories on Monday said it has launched generic esomeprazol tablets, used for treating ulcers, in the United Kingdom (UK). Ranbaxy (UK) Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd, has launched esomeprazole tablets in strengths of 20 mg and 40 mg, in the UK, the company said..— PTI