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Bajaj, LML sales down, NEW DELHI, July 23: Leading scooter manufacturers like market leader Bajaj, LML and Maharashtra Scooters ownward movement in sales while.....more India challenges basmati NEW DELHI, July 23: It took two years and two committees for the Indian Government to file a......more BHEL executes project NEW DELHI, July 23: At a time when fast track mega power projects have virtually remained a non...more |
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Mixed tendency develops in freight charges NEW DELHI, July 23: Mixed tendency developed on the local truck transport market .....more British gas approach NEW DELHI, July 23: British gas, promoters of the 2.5 million tonne LNG project in Gujarat, has......more Annual inflation NEW DELHI, July 23: Annual rate of inflation based on the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) remained...more Rural sector NEW DELHI, July 23: Guidelines for the insurance sector will make it mandatory for all the...more Raw sheep salted NEW DELHI, July 23: Barring a slight fall in raw...more |
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India challenges basmati patent in USPTO NEW DELHI, July 23: It took two years and two committees for the Indian Government to file a petition before United States Patents and Trademarks Office (USPTO) challenging grant of patent on basmati rice to Ricetec inc, texas, the Centre informed the Supreme Court. "The Government of India has now filed a petition before the USPTO for re-examination of the grant of patent to Ricetec," an affidavit filed by the Centre stated. However, it said "even if India succeeds at USPTO, it will not prevent Ricetec from continuing to call its rice strain a `basmati-like’ or `basmati strain’." On the other hand, the Government said regardless of the grant of patent, Indian farmers could grow basmati rice without any hindrance on account of Ricetec’s patent. Explaining the delay, it said the Government had to of the secretary of department of industrial policy and promotion as the nodal group to formulate a strategy to challenge the grant of patent to Ricetec. Separately, a technical committee under the chairmanship of Secretary, Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, was also formed to examine the matter from the technical point of view, the Government said. Explaining the setting up of the committees, it said the procedure before uspto is "one-shot" where by all documentary material justifying re-examination must be made available in the first instance. Justifying the time taken for collection of detailed data, Government said "the introduction of supplementary material in a particular re-examination application is not possible, and no hearing is given to the party requesting the re-examination." The affidavit filed by Director, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, said "during the course of its examination voluminous material was scrutinized to ascertain the data in respect of various claims and characterstics such as burst index, chalkiness and starch index." It said the primary claim of Ricetec in the patent related to the capacity to grow a particular strain of rice in United States and Mexico using what was claimed to be their developed rice seed. "This claim does not, in any manner, affect any Indian interest as such," the Government said and added "various other claims as to the characterstics of the rice which would be produced utilising Ricetec’s rice seed have also been made which again do not affect Indian commercial interest". However, it said only the claim which sought to suggest that Ricetec’s product alone would have certain characterstics that would affect Indian commercial interest by way of constituting an impediment to Indian exports. The Government said it would file a re-examination petition before USPTO for wider examination of the patent granted to Ricetec depending on the outcome of the present petition. (PTI) |
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BHEL executes project without plan resources NEW DELHI, July 23: At a time when fast track mega power projects have virtually remained a non-starter, public sector Bharat Heavy Electricals has executed a project without any plan resources. BHEL’s southern division executed Rs 1545 crore Karnataka Power Corporation 420 MW Raichur fifth and sixth units in record time which is funded totally by non-plan resources without any foreign assistance. The project is funded by a consortium of Indian agencies including BHEL, KPCL, public sector banks, financial institutions and Power Finance Corporation. BHEL’s executive director A.N. Jagadeeswaran told PTI that this is the first project of its kind to be structured on the lines of independent power project with totally Indian funding, technology and equipment. Very few of the so-called eight fast track power projects with foreign funding has taken off in the country putting into difficulty the fund-starved state electricity boards in meeting ever-growing power requirements. Jagdeeshwaran said with the commissioning of the two 210 MW units at Raichur ahead of schedule, KPCL saved substantial money by way of interest and project cost. Financing has become crucial in the present environment with plan resources becoming increasingly scarce for power projects. Lately, customers have also started demanding that suppliers of main equipment, which account for 55 per cent of project cost, provide supplier’s credit. As none of the fast track projects have sought to buy main equipment from this solely indigenous power equipment manufacturer, BHEL has strengthened its capability in arranging project finance to woo new power projects through domestic funding. With improved debt-equity ratio, BHEL was now in a position to mobilise fairly large resources from its own balance sheet besides sanctioned line of credit of Rs 1,700 crore from Indian financial institutions IDBI, ICICI and IFCI. The public sector company has provided supplier’s credit of over Rs 2000 crore to a number of projects in the country. Arranging and syndicating financial packages from financial institutions and banks as in raichur project could provide the answer for funding some of the new power projects, Jgdeeshwaran said. BHEL’s southern division which executes power projects in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Orissa and Kerala, commenced, on July 17, work on the Rs 2,300 crore World Bank funded talcher super thermal power project. BHEL has secured the single largest order for boilers for NTPC’s four 500 mw units at talcher. The project is to be commisoned within 36 months, Jagdeeshan said. Jagdeeshwaran said it is in the process of securing the seventh 210 MW unit of Raichur Thermal Plant, two 250 MW units at Srimushnam and one 500 MW and two 210 MW units at Turicorin in the southern region. It was also carrying out erection work two months ahead of schedule at two 500 MW units at Simhadri in Andhra Pradesh, he said adding the southern division was expecting orders for seven combined cycle plants in the region. The seven are 108 MW combined cycle plant at Perungulam, 108 MW at Kutralam, 100 MW at Samayapuram (all in Tamil Nadu), 100 MW at Harihar, 50 MW at Ginigera, 200 mw at Bidadi and 106 MW at Nanjungud (all in Karnataka). (PTI) |
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Mixed tendency develops in freight charges NEW DELHI, July 23: Mixed tendency developed on the local truck transport market for the nine metric tonne pay load freight charges with some destinations freight rates rose due to busy cargo movements and a few dropped in view of excess position of lorries. Delhi to Ahmedabad rates went up by Rs.400 to settle at Rs.5500 while Kanpur traded higher by Rs.200 at Rs.3900 respectively. Rates to Baroda also remained in demand and asked higher at Rs.5800 from Rs.5600. Gwalior finished up at Rs.3000 from Rs.2800 and goat showed a Rs.500 jump at Rs.13500. On the other hand, Delhi to Hyderabad, Vijaywada freights plunged by Rs.500 each to conclude at rs.15500 and Rs.19500 respectively. Cochin rates tumbled down by Rs.1000 to close at Rs.26000 while Jaipur lost Rs.300 at Rs.2500. Elsewhere, rest all other destinations freight charges from Delhi maintained overnight closing levels on some enquiries. (PTI) |
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British gas approach Govt to allow GAIL NEW DELHI, July 23: British gas, promoters of the 2.5 million tonne LNG project in Gujarat, has approached Government to facilitate equity participation of state-owned Gas Authority of India Ltd (GAIL) in the LNG venture. The multinational company has approached GAIL as well as the Petroleum Ministry saying they were willing to give equity to the gas marketing company in the 300 million dollar venture which is yet to be accepted by GAIL, sources in the Petroleum Ministry said. Sources said the Petroleum Ministry has asked GAIL to consider the proposal and look into the prospects of picking up equity in the project if the state-owned company found it feasibile. GAIL is yet to decide on the British gas offer as it already has a 10 per cent stake in another joint venture Petronet LNG which is coming up with a five million tonne LNG import terminal at Dahej in Gujarat, the sources said. GAIL has to decide whether it could take up equity in Pipavav terminal without affecting the business prospects of Petronet LNG, as GAIL would be marketing the gas from the Dahej terminal along with Indian Oil Corporation, sources said. Meanwhile, GAIL sources said they were considering the offer made by British gas and were working on possibilities of picking up equity in this LNG venture also. While the offer made by British gas is yet to be considered by GIAL, National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) has already agreed to pick up 26 per cent stake in the Pipavav LNG Project, the sources said. Interestingly, NTPC also has a 10 per cent stake in Petronet LNG company and is one of the major consumers of the fuel for its upcoming gas based power stations in the region. While NTPC has agreed to pick up LNG from Petronet LNG for its Kawas and Gandhar power stations, Thed Auraiya Power stations, the sources said. British gas is coming up with the LNG Terminal along with Pipavav port and the company is looking at various options for importing the fuel including selecting the fuel supplier through bidding process, sources said. Petroleum Ministry sources said that in Gujarat region itself about five LNG terminals are being planned with a total capacity of 20.5 million tonnes per annum. Apart from the Dahej and Pipavav terminals, Reliance is also planning to come up with an LNG terminal of five million tonnes each in Hazira and Jamnagar, the sources said. Royal Dutch Group of Companies is also planning to set up a 2.7 million tonne of LNG terminal in Hazira, they added. (PTI) |
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Annual inflation remains static NEW DELHI, July 23: Annual rate of inflation based on the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) remained static at 5.92 per cent during the week ended July 8, according to provisional figures. The rate was at 1.99 per cent a year ago. Inflation has been moving down in the past few weeks mainly on account of decline in prices of agricultural products following the onset of monsoon. During the week, the index for primary articles, which includes mainly agricultural products rose by 0.4 per cent to 163.9 (p) from 163.3 in the week ended July one. The index for all commodities (1993-94=100) stood unchanged at the previous week’s level of 152.2 (p). According to the latest data, the Wholesale Price Index and the annual rate of inflation for "all commodities" for the week ended May 13, 2000 remained static. The rate of inflation based on the Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers (CPI-IW) for the month of May was 5.51 per cent. Inflation rate has been high compared to last year as state-controlled prices of products like petroleum have gone up sharply. Index of fuel, power, light and lubricants, which mostly consists of items whose prices are controlled by the state, shot up by 26.79 per cent during the last one year while indices of other two major groups, primary articles and manufactured products rose merely by 3.79 per cent and 1.46 per cent respectively during the last one year. During the week under consideration, while the index for primary articles rose, that of maunufacture products declined, and the index for fuel, power, light and lubricants remained unchanged at the previous week’s level of 194.5 (p). Products whose prices fluctuated sharply during the week include urad (up 3 per cent), raw silk (up 7 per cent), raw rubber (up 5 per cent), sunflower (up 4 per cent) and bajra and poultry chicken (down 3 per cent each). The indices for food articles and non-food articlesrose by 0.3 per cent each to 172.1 and 147.9 from 171.5 and 147.5week. In the food articles section, prices of wheat, gram, fruits, vegetables and eggs (up by 2 per cent each), ragi (up one per cent) rose and that of jowar, maize, barley, moong, condiments and spices declined by one per cent each. However the prices of raw tobacco (3 per cent), gingelly seed and castor seed (2 per cent each) and raw cotton, mesta and copra (one per cent each) declined. Manufactured products’ index declined by 0.1 per cent to 138.7 from 138.9 in the previous week. During the week, the index for "food products" declined by 0.7 per cent to 146.1 from 147.2 due to lower prices of bagasse (22 per cent), biscuits, gingelly oil and sunflower oil (2 per cent each) and ghee and coconut oil (1 per cent each). However, the prices of soyabean oil (5 per cent), cotton seed oil (4 per cent) rape and mustard oil (3 per cent) and butter (2 per cent) moved up. The index for "textiles group" declined by 0.1 per cent to 116.6 from 116.7 for the previous week due to lower prices of tyre cord fabric (4 per cent) and hessian cloth (2 per cent). Hessian and sacking bags witnessed a price rise of one per cent during the week. "Wood and wood products" index rose by 0.7 per cent to 192.2 from 190.8 due to a two per cent increase in the price of plywood commercial planks. The index for "chemicals and chemical products" declined by 0.1 per cent to 160.6 from 160.7 due to a two per cent fall in price of all kinds of acids. "Basic metal, alloys and metal products" group index rose 0.1 per cent to 138.2 from 138.1 due to a 17 per cent rise in price of LPG cylinder. Indices for all other groups remained unaltered at their respective previous week’s level. (PTI) |
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Rural sector NEW DELHI, July 23: Guidelines for the insurance sector will make it mandatory for all the players to earmark a portion of the business for the rural sector, which is likely to be defined as per the census. The guidelines, which are in the final stages of preparations, will make it mandatory for both the new and the existing players who will also have to undertake business in the socially backward sector, sources said. The Insurance Regulatory and Deverural sector taken by the census, will ensure that the new players in the sector strictly adhere to the rules, sources said. Currently, state-owned Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) and General Insurance Corporation (GIC) sell a large portion of their policies in the rural sector. However, if the census definition was adopted by the IRDA in its proposed guidelines, then both LIC, GIC and its subsidiaries will have to do further more business from the current levels, sources said. Government recently opened up the insurance sector and the first insurance licence in the private sector is expected to be issued by Diwali (November). Specifying a certain portion of the business in rural and socially-backward sectors is in line with the Government’s assurance in parliament that that new insurance companies in India do business in these sectors, which are perceived to be non-profitable. Sources said that definition of the sector was necessary so that new insurance companies do not circumvent the rules. "It is always necessary to put things in black and white," Government source said. (PTI) |
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Raw sheep salted price drops on increased supply NEW DELHI, July 23: Barring a slight fall in raw sheep unsalted prices due to lack of buying interest, all other varieties of raw and treated leather showed no huge fluctuation during the week under review on restricted arrivals coupled with sporadic demand. In raw leather section, sheep unsalted price of 32x40 inches started steady at Rs.170-200 on little doings and maintained the level till midweak, but thereafter it dropped to finish at Rs.170-190 due to increased arrivals. Its salted variety prices managed to hold the last closing levels on little doings and traded at Rs.120-130 per piece of 32x40 inches. Goat salted and unsalted price of 30x40" piece also maintained last closing levels on some support and quoted unchanged at Rs.50-55 and Rs.75-80 respectively. In treated leather section, prices remained quiet throughout the week on scattered demand and finished around the same levels. Goat Suede traded at Rs.2.00-6.00 or 4.00 lot, Napan Rs.1 50-3.50 or 3.00 lot, Sheep Napa at Rs.1.25-4.00 or 3.00 lot per sq dm while buff leather quoted unchanged at Rs.25-70 per sq ft. (PTI) |
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