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Anguish among maize farmers continues HUBLI, Mar 11: Anguish among maize farmers in Karnataka continues despite the State Government...more
Lord Paul appointed member of new EAC LONDON, Mar 11: Lord Swraj Paul, Non-Resident Indian industrialist and chairman of the 500 million pound Caparo Group, has been appointed...more Banks step up efforts in Bhuj, dig out Rs 36 bn deposit record NEW DELHI, Mar 11: After retrieving records of depositors’ accounts totalling Rs 3,600 crore, banks have relaxed norms for settling claims and....more Eradi
committee asks NEW DELHI, Mar 11: An expert committee has asked the Government to lower the tax on income of life insurance policy holders from 12.5 per ..more |
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Rajasthan to harness wind energy for power generation JAIPUR, Mar 11: Rajasthan Government has embarked upon a plan to harness wind energy to generate electricity on a large scale to help meet the.....more
India’s victory against EU’s anti-dumping policy positive HAMBURG, Mar 11: India’s recent victory in a case against the European Union’s (EU) anti-dumping policy at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) will......more CDMA
technology is NEW DELHI, Mar 11: As the bids for the fourth cellular operator start off, an issue has cropped up whether the soon to be introduced CDMA (Code..more Draft
rehabilitation NEW DELHI, Mar 11: A draft rehabilitation scheme for the perennially sick National Textiles Corporation (NTC) having financial liabilities of over.....more |
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Anguish among maize farmers continues HUBLI, Mar 11: Anguish among maize farmers in Karnataka continues despite the State Government succeeding in getting extended the procurement period of the cereal and the district administrations speeding up the process. There was nearly ten lakh quintals of maize grown in the area and the procurement agencies could lift only about 3.43 lakh quintals till yesterday. The procurement of the bumper crop commenced in mid-November and would continue till March 31. With only about 20 days left, farmers feel that it would be impossible for the Government to purchase all the maize grown. Even the Food Corporation of India (FCI), the main procurement agency, withdrew its graders from the procurement centres since February 28. They were appointed with the help of district administration through Karnataka food and civil supplies corporation, the sub agent for the procurement. The administration, which was facing storage problem, recently acquired a godown with one lakh quintals capacity belonging to Mysore Kirloskar and efforts were on to acquire another godown with five lakh quintals storing capacity at Miraj in Maharashtra. Deputy Commissioner Vandana Gurnani, who is the head of the task force formed to co-ordinate between the farmers and procurement agencies, said yesterday that the FCI has released only Rs 2.35 crore for procurement. But the maize procured so far was worth about Rs 11.18 crore. Efforts are continuing to get further amount released from the FCI and payments would be made within 15 days from the date of procurement, she assured. The State Government was also approached by the district administration for an advance of Rs ten crore to make immediate payment to the farmers till FCI cleared the balance amount. Ms Gurnani also assured the farmers that maize laying in purchase centres would be procured on priority bais as there was no cover for the 83,000 quintals lying at the centres. The procurement through market intervention has helped the prices to recover a bit in the open market. The price of maize, which had collapsed to Rs 330 per quintal has now risen to Rs 445 per quintal, she added. (UNI) |
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Lord Paul appointed member of new EAC LONDON, Mar 11: Lord Swraj Paul, Non-Resident Indian industrialist and chairman of the 500 million pound Caparo Group, has been appointed member of the new Economic Affairs Committee (EAC) of the House of Lords. Lord Peston will be Chairman of the 12-member select committee which will among other things, draw up guidelines for the monetary policy and economic affairs of Britain. Other members of the committee are Lord Barnett, Lord Burns, Lord Cuckney, Lord Elder, Lord Hogg, Lord Newby, Lord Oakeshott of Seagrove Bay, Baroness O’Cathain, Lord Roll and Lord Vinson. The committee has power to appoint specialist advisers, it was officially stated here today. Lord Paul is also the British Ambassador for overseas business. (PTI) |
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Banks step up efforts in Bhuj, dig out Rs 36 bn deposit record NEW DELHI, Mar 11: After retrieving records of depositors’ accounts totalling Rs 3,600 crore, banks have relaxed norms for settling claims and are working on war-footing to rebuild Bhuj and other earthquake-hit areas of Gujarat. Although the banks have offered a two year moratorium for credit offered in the area and extended fresh loans at 10 per cent to the affected segments, they have asked Government to provide interest subsidy to agriculture and other sectors that were not affected by the killer quake. Dena Bank Chairman A G Joshi, who headed the committee of bankers appointed by the Government, told PTI that banks have already sanctioned loans at prime lending rates to 375 cases. They have also expedited the settlement of claims to legal hiers of the affected people in the state. "It took some time to retrieve the records of deposit worth Rs 3,600 crore from debris. About 70-75 per cent of the deposits are of Non-Resident Indians (NRIs)," he said. Joshi said the banks have settled claims in 28 cases paying upto Rs 50,000 till February end. They have relaxed norms for claim settlement and are paying back deposit amounts to legal hiers on production of ‘Varsa’ certificate issued by the State Government. Government constituted a committee comprising representatives from the banks concentrated in the region including Dena Bank, Bank of Baroda, Bank of India, Central Bank, State Bank of India, State Bank of Saurashtra, along with Small Industries Development Bank of India, NABARD and National Housing Bank, to facilitate funds flow in the devastated areas. (PTI) |
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Eradi committee asks Govt to lower tax on life policy income NEW DELHI, Mar 11: An expert committee has asked the Government to lower the tax on income of life insurance policy holders from 12.5 per cent to 5-7 per cent as part of efforts to increase the spread of insurance cover in the country. The recommendations of the Eradi Committee on taxation of life insurance sector, close on the heels of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) report, is under active consideration of the Government, sources said. Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha has already announced a "level playing field" in terms of tax incentives allowed by deduction or rebate on payment of LIC premium to all life insurance companies, but Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) is yet to come out with a clear cut guideline on tax rates. When contacted, V U Eradi told PTI that the committee had suggested a lower tax rate of five per cent to ensure relief to small policy holders accounting for 76 per cent of LIC’s policy holders with income below taxable limits. Since there are a significant number of policy holders in the higher income bracket, the committee favoured a tax rate of seven per cent, he said. "Accepting the trade-off between equity on the one hand and simplicity and revenue consideration on the other, we recommended that policy holders surplus may be taxed in the hands of insurer at a comparatively lower level of five to seven per cent," he said. (PTI) |
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Rajasthan to harness wind energy for power generation JAIPUR, Mar 11: Rajasthan Government has embarked upon a plan to harness wind energy to generate electricity on a large scale to help meet the power shortage in the state. Work on a three mw wind power project had already commenced at Barabagh village in Jaisalmer district by a private company of Indore in the first phase, Sudhansh Pant, Managing Director of Rajasthan State Power Corporation Limited, said. Power generation may start at the project within a month, Pant added. Buoyed by the success of pilot demonstration projects, several private sector companies are coming forward to generate 100 mw of power, he said adding appropriate sites had already been identified, Pant said. While two demonstration projects, first in the northern India, have already started power generation at Amarsagar in Jaisalmer district and at Deogarh in Chittoregarh district. The Amasagar project, which went into generation last year, has so far supplied 40 lakh units of electricity successfully. The 2.25 mw Deogarh project started generation last week. The third demonstration project is being set up at Phalodi in Jodhpur district. It will be completed later this month and will generate 38 lakh units of electricity per year. (PTI) |
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India’s victory against EU’s anti-dumping policy positive HAMBURG, Mar 11: India’s recent victory in a case against the European Union’s (EU) anti-dumping policy at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) will have a "far-reaching impact" on the 15-nation bloc’s anti-dumping practices, according to German business and industry groups. EU’s anti-dumping policy was one of the key issues that figured during Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha’s dialogue with top German investors here yesterday where he voiced concern on the ‘disproportionate’ number of anti-dumping actions by the EU. "India had to face 13 per cent of EU’s total anti-dumping actions while it accounted for only two per cent of EU’s global imports," Sinha said, regretting that India and other developing nations were yet to become `equal partners’ in global benefit sharing. The subject of EU’s controversial anti-dumping practices was broached by Peter Clasen, Chairman of the Asia-Pacific Business Association (OAV) while noting it was ‘not surprising’ that India won a case against EU’s anti-dumping policy at the Geneva-based WTO appellate today. ‘There is scope for improvement of EU’s anti-dumping laws,’ said Clasen, while admitting that they were trade barriers and obstacles for fair competition. The appellate body of the WTO last week had toughened a ruling against the EU that it had imposed illegal duties on Rs.400 crore worth imports of bed linen from India. The body while upholding the original decision of a three-member panel against the EU, said it (panel) had gone easy on the 15-nation bloc on India’s complaint on this matter. Clasen endorsed the idea of ‘fair and true’ competition by countries as propagated by Sinha asserting that this needed a ‘new momentum’, especially from the European side in its trade dealings with Asian countries. Dr Thomas Fischer, a senior member of the Board of Deutsche Bank, said the slowdown in the US economy will not have any adverse impact of India’s economic growth. ‘India is prepared and will go forward whatever happens in the US,’ said Fischer while praising the Indian Government for some ‘daring and encouraging’ plans to expedite the pace of second generation economic reforms. Dr Fischer said the targetted fiscal deficit level of 4.7 per cent of the GDP set for 2001-02 was ‘very adorable’. Describing some of the budget proposals as market friendly and investor friendly, Dr Fischer hoped they would not be threatened by any political compulsions. Clasen said EU should not forget to invest political awareness, entrepreneurial creativity and capital in the Asia region in order to exploit the promising potential of their cooperation. He wanted Asia to consider setting up an Asian Monetary Fund saying this idea has gained new attractiveness because of the weakening of some Asian currencies. (PTI) |
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CDMA technology is digital, comes under mobile licensing NEW DELHI, Mar 11: As the bids for the fourth cellular operator start off, an issue has cropped up whether the soon to be introduced CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access), technology will come under the purview of mobile licenses and be subject to terms and conditions as applicable to mobile operators. According to the guidelines recently announced by the Government for introduction of fourth operator in cellular services, it has been clearly reiterated that any digital technology which can be used to offer mobile services will come within the purview of mobile license. The standing committee on information technology has been informed by the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) that CDMA technology which will be used to offer limited mobility is digital and "if it is so it is not understandable how without a mobile license Basic Service Operators (BSOs) will be able to offer mobility, even if it a limited one". However the committee has said that consumer interest should have all the priorities but no section of the operators should be provided special facilities at the expense of the other. The committee says that more indepth study should have been made, so that consistent with the interest of the consumers, no special or unusual decisions are taken which raise questions about providing level playing field to the operators. The cellular operators have pointed out that the license agreement for the Basic Service Operators (BSOs) provides for use of WLL CDMA, which does not permit mobility and therefore BSOs should not be permitted to offer mobility. The standing committee says that in view of the new technology when the WLL systems are capable of being used to provide mobility within a specified area using the same frequency spectrum at a much cheaper rate which will be for the benefit of the consumers, such technological development cannot be ignored but its use should not create any controversy which may affect consumer interest. However the COAI has alleged that provision of mobility in wll CDMA utilises much more spectrum, which is a scarce natural resource, per subscriber than the provision of Fixed Wireless Terminals (FWTs) and thus DFSPs will use this scarce resource INA sub-optimal manner under the preferential fixed service license terms. The Association of Basic Telephone Operators (ABTO) on the other hand says the WLL CDMA technology uses the existing spectrum already available for BSOS for which spectrum charges are also being paid and hence does not encroach upon the spectrum allocated for cellular mobile service which uses Global System for Mobile (GSM) technology. On the spectrum scarcity issue, TRAI has clarified that introduction of a service cannot be restrained only because in the initial stages the demand is likely to outstrip the supply. The regulator has recommended that the frequency spectrum made available to both BSOS and CMSOS should be very reasonably priced and the basis of such allotment and pricing should be the same for both operators so as not to create a serious pressure on their revenues. However the committee is of the opinion that availability of frequency spectrum and the price at which it is available to the service provider is going to be the most critical factor in the growth of telecom services. The committee would like that the department should carefully examine the COAI’s apprehensions of the sub-optimal use of the frequency spectrum by fixed service providers under the preferential fixed service license terms and all other issues that have been raised so that the interest of the consumers can be protected. (UNI) |
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Draft rehabilitation scheme for sick NTC on anvil NEW DELHI, Mar 11: A draft rehabilitation scheme for the perennially sick National Textiles Corporation (NTC) having financial liabilities of over Rs 6000 crore is being prepared for consideration of the Group of Ministers (GoM) headed by Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha. "The Textiles Ministry is preparing a mill-wise techno-economic viability report for the 169 mills of the NTC for consideration of the gom," official sources told PTI. The Textile Research Association has been asked to prepare the techno-economic viability report with a view to turn-around the ailing NTC, they said. Meanwhile, in a last ditch attempt to keep the only National Textile Corporation subsidiary out of the BIFR net, Government is considering a revival package for the Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry (TN&P) subsidiary of the Corporation. "A cabinet note has been prepared by the Textiles Ministry for reviving the Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry subsidiary of NTC which needs fresh infusion of around Rs 55 crore," the sources said. They said as per the revial package under consideration, six of the 10 mills of the subsidiary would be turned around while four would be closed. Viability of each mill would be worked out by the Textile Research Association on the basis of which a draft rehabilitation scheme would be prepared and the same would then be submitted to the BIFR. (PTI) |
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