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CII pledges to put KOLKATA, May 27: Impressed by the sixth Left Front Government’s new-found bonhomie with industry, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) ........more Karnataka
asks BANGALORE, May 27: Apparently drawing a lesson from the Enron payments row, Karnataka has told 11 private firms with which it had entered....more FIIs
net buyers in MUMBAI, May 27: The Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net buyers in equities at Rs 193.5 crore (USD 41.2 million) and net sellers in debt at Rs .......more Centre’s
plan to begin NEW DELHI, May 27: Amidst all the Brouhaha raised by the states over Decentralised Foodgrain Procurement (DFP),......more |
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Foodgrains output likely NEW DELHI, May 27: Enthused by forecast of a normal monsoon and its early arrival, Government hopes foodgrains output this year would surpass ......more Indian,
Chinese BEIJING, May 27: Leading Indian companies would ink key agreements and firm up 12 Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) with their Chinese .......more Industrial
thrust necessary for drought-proofing JAIPUR, May 27: Rajasthan needs a major industrial thrust to tide over its almost-recurring drought problem which hits a staggering .........more Power T&D losses in some areas in Delhi 70 pc: DVB NEW DELHI, May 27: The Delhi Vidyut Board (DVB) has admitted before the Delhi High Court that Transmission and Distribution (T&D) losses in .......more |
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Karnataka asks private power firms to bring down cost BANGALORE, May 27: Apparently drawing a lesson from the Enron payments row, Karnataka has told 11 private firms with which it had entered into power purchase deals to bring down the cost to competitive levels or give up hopes of selling electricity to the state. "KPTCL has been putting pressure on the 11 Independent Power Producers (IPPs) to bring down the power cost to competitive and affordable levels," Chairman and Managing Director of the state-run Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Limited, which has a monopoly in distribution, V P Baligar told PTI. To a question, he said the KPTCL could afford a cost of Rs 2.30 per unit. Even upto Rs 2.60 per unit—the price at which it was presently purchasing power from Jindal plant—was alright. To another question, Baligar said if it was not acceptable to the IPPs, it would be difficult for KPTCL to buy power from them. "If it is costly, we are not in a position to buy and pay them. It will be difficult. It will be putting up a plant, for the sake of putting up a plant. We don’t want that to happen. We would not like to be defaulters." He said the IPPs had proposed varied tariffs depending on fuel—Rs four to Rs five for Naphta and around Rs three for coal and LNG. Noting that the Government has taken a policy decision not to extend any "escrow" cover or Government guarantee to new IPPs, Baligar said "IPPs should come based on their financial strength and financial strength of KPTCL." KPTCL had never been a defaulter and experience of four IPPs (not the 11 referred earlier) who had started generation was good as far as payments by KPTCL were concerned, he said. He said the power purchase deals with those 11 IPPs had been lingering for a long time now, adding, only couple of them seemed to be serious. "They have not made progress. Most of them are in different stages but the progress has been very very slow. Some of them have abandoned." KPTCL had been putting pressure on the serious ones to bring down the capital and variable costs, and encouraging them to go in better technology and management, he said. Baligar said the enron had taught the country that one should be careful while signing the PPA and tough in negotiations to protect the interests of the state. The other lessons were that one should go in for PPAs only if it was affordable and one should not go for high cost projects. "PPAs linked to dollar fluctuations and international oil price fluctuations are difficult for us to handle now," he said. (PTI) |
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FIIs net buyers in equities at Rs 193.5 crore MUMBAI, May 27: The Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net buyers in equities at Rs 193.5 crore (USD 41.2 million) and net sellers in debt at Rs 160.5 crore (USD 34.2 million) for the trading week ended May 25. The mutual funds, however, were net sellers in equities at Rs 73.87 crore and Rs 305.37 crore for four days beginning May 21, according to data available with the Securities and Exchange of India here. The foreign funds bought and offloaded equities worth Rs 248.5 crore and Rs 156.1 crore respectively on May 21, turning into net buyers of Rs 92.4 crore (USD 19.7 million). They were also net buyers on May 24 at Rs 67.4 crore (usd 14.4 mn) and on May 25 at Rs 54.5 crore (USD 11.6 mn). The BSE benchmark 30-share index was trapped in a very small range of 3709.18 and 3630.03 before ending the week at 3659.81 as against last weekend’s close of 3655.03, netting a rise of 4.78 points. FIIs were net sellers on the remaining two days of the trading week. On the debt front, FIIs did not transact any business on the first day of the week. Except on May 22, the foreign funds only offloaded in the market with the highest being on May 23 at Rs 60.1 crore (USD 12.8 mn). The data on MFs shows that they were net buyers and net sellers respectively on all the four days. On May 21, MFs were net sellers in equities worth Rs 39.07 crore. On debt side, they were net buyers of Rs 118.14 crore, which was the highest in the week. (PTI) |
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Centre’s plan to begin
DFP by kharif 2001 NEW DELHI, May 27: Amidst all the Brouhaha raised by the states over Decentralised Foodgrain Procurement (DFP), Centre’s proposal to launch the scheme by kharif 2001 may be indefinitely deferred with the Prime Minister forming a standing committee to examine the issue threadbare. Pleas made by the Centre for DFP to cut mounting subsidy on account of huge foodgrains worth Rs 50,000 crore lying in FCI godowns were lost in the recently concluded conference of Chief Ministers, most of whom rejected the proposal. "To streamline transportation costs, provide foodgrains conforming to local preferences and get over the reluctance of some states to accept rice from others, DFP will be an ideal policy," Food Secretary R D Kapur told PTI. By suggesting the start of DFP by kharif 2001, Centre apparently wanted to reduce the economic cost of procurement, complaints of quality, pressure on freight movement by rail and dependence of states on FCI for PDS supplies. While the issue will now be studied by the Chief Ministers’ committee, Kapur feels higher local procurement would reduce pressure on the railways while the farmers would continue to get the Minimum Support Price (MSP). Sources said under the system the designated state agency would have procured, stored and issued foodgrains to PDS as per the allotments indicated by the Central Government which will work out the subsidies payable to the states. This would be on the basis of the differential between economic cost of foodgrains and the Central Issue Price (CIP). If the state procured quantities in excess of its PDS requirements, it was to be permitted to hand over the surplus to the FCI. Kapur said at present major food deficit states were located in north-east and far-south making it necessary for FCI to transport foodgrains from Punjab and Haryana. The DFP concept, therefore, was intended to enable deficit states to establish direct links with surplus ones. This was because FCI’s activities were restricted to a few states. But in the event of DFP, Karnataka and Kerala could establish direct linkage with Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu for sourcing requirements through state agencies. Assam could procure not only for its own needs but also for the requirement of the north-east, while Gujarat and Maharashtra could procure grains from Punjab and Haryana. In all cases the difference between economic cost and CIP would be passed off as subsidy, they added. Consequent upon DFP, role of FCI would be restricted to maintaining buffer stocks at strategic locations, open market intervention and EXIM operations. At present FCI’s operations were stretched to such an extent that it led to diseconomies of scale and it was unable to undertake Open Ended Procurement (OEP) in all states. OEP and depressed market conditions, both local and international, had led to accumulation of excess stocks in the central pool. Against a buffer stock norms of 11.8 million tonnes for rice and four million tonnes for wheat, the actual stocks were 23.2 mn tonnes and 23.3 mn tonnes respectively. They said the states’ contention of infrastructural bottlenecks was not valid as over the years they had built up regulated market yards, market cooperative societies and civil supplies corporations. These could make procurement in pockets of marketable surplus, store and move grains to consumption centres. (PTI) |
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Foodgrains output likely to surpass record of 1999-2000 NEW DELHI, May 27: Enthused by forecast of a normal monsoon and its early arrival, Government hopes foodgrains output this year would surpass the record production of about 209 million tonnes achieved during 1999-2000. "If monsoon rains are normal, as predicted by Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), foodgrains output in 2001-02 can even surpass the record harvest attained during 1999-2000", Agriculture Commissioner Dr C R Hazra told PTI. He said the onset of monsoon rains in Kerala on May 23, about eight days in advance, is likely to encourage the farmers in southern India to undertake early sowing for the coming kharif season. Describing IMD’s forecast as a "welcome" relief in view of sharp drop in foodgrain output by about 13 million tonnes, he said farmers in other parts of the country may also start early sowing if the monsoon moves in accordance with expected pace and direction. "Sometimes monsoon gets weakend despite its initial surge due to various factors and one cannot be certain if rains will take place in advance in all regions", he said, adding "despite normal monsoon last year, uneven distribution caused drought conditions in several states". The likelihood of good monsoon has triggered jubiliation among farmers who are readying themselves to kickstart sowing operations pushing aside the setback of last year when foodgrain output dropped sharply to 196 million tonnes due to drought in several states. Dr Hazra said a meeting of the inter-ministerial group comprising officials from various ministries including agriculture and water resources and concerned organisations would be held shortly to analyse monsoon forecast and work out strategies for higher kharif output. He said due to adverse weather the total rice production in 2000-01 declined to about 85.5 million tonnes, about four million tonnes less than the record production of 89.5 million tonnes achieved during the previous year. The decline was mainly due to the fact that the area under rice cultivation in West Bengal was less by about a million hectare primarily because of moisture stress at the time of sowing, they said. Similarly, wheat production was estimated at 68.5 million tonnes, seven million tonnes less than previous year. In view of last year’s experience, top officials of the Centre and State Governments have held detailed discussions to chalk out a strategy and prepared a state-wise action plan for achieving a higher production level during kharif 2001. States have been asked to focus on larger coverage of area under high yielding varieties, larger propagation of hybrid seeds, timely supply of inputs like seeds, fertilisers and regular surveillance of pest and diseases. Government is anxious as adverse weather not only led to sharp fall in foodgrain output in 2000-01 but also caused industrial slowdown due to considerable drop in consumer demand in the vast rural areas where about two-thirds of the country’s population live. Monsoon rains between June and September would play a key role in ensuring higher growth, officials say. (PTI) |
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Indian, Chinese companies to sign agreements, MoUs BEIJING, May 27: Leading Indian companies would ink key agreements and firm up 12 Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) with their Chinese counterparts to enhance bilateral cooperation in various sectors including hydro power, bio-technology, IT, tourism, food and telecom. The documents would be signed during a week-long visit by a 16-member delegation of Indian CEOs, under the auspices of Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM), beginning here tomorrow. ASSOCHAM president Raghu Mody - who is leading the delegation - would sign an mou with his counterpart, Chairman of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT), to formalise their role as nodal agencies for facilitating joint ventures in India and China as well as third countries, ASSOCHAM sources said. Besides assisting their respective enterprises in the formation of joint ventures and other business contacts, the two organisations will provide consultancy services, including legal consultancy to each other. The MoU stipulates exchange of visits to spur investment and trade, project study groups and economic and trade exhibitions. According to Mody, the visit by the ceos to Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and other Chinese cities comes in the wake of the Chamber’s thrust in establishing mutually beneficial contacts overseas and turn the challenges emerging from China into opportunities for the Indian companies. Welcoming the delegation’s visit to China, official sources here said frequent exchange of visits by the business community of both countries would help dispel several myths. "The Chinese market offers tremendous opportunities for Indian businesses. However, one cannot tap the vast Chinese market sitting in India", first secretary, commercial wing of the Indian Embassy, Dinesh Patnaik, said. China currently imports goods worth 230 billion dollars, and by the next year the figure is likely to touch 300 billion, he said. However, India’s share in Chinese imports is just 1.35 billion dollars or 0.6 per cent of the Chinese imports. Hence, there is a huge opportunity that awaits Indian companies, Patnaik stressed. He said that while the number of Indian businessmen scouting for opportunities in China is rising, the number of Chinese businessmen going to India was even higher. Patnaik further noted that Sino-Indian trade during the first quarter of 2001 has risen sharply by 45.6 per cent over the corresponding period of 2000. Bilateral trade touched 857.276 million dollars during January-March compared to 586.069 million dollars. India’s exports to China touched 421.717 million dollars, up 46.5 per cent, while Chinese exports to India rose to 435.559 million dollars, up 44.7 per cent. In 2000, Sino-Indian trade was worth 2.91 billion dollars. (PTI) |
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Industrial thrust necessary
for drought-proofing JAIPUR, May 27: Rajasthan needs a major industrial thrust to tide over its almost-recurring drought problem which hits a staggering 80 per cent population of the state. Senior officials feel that dependence of the masses on agriculture and animal husbandry, the worst-affected by shortage of water, has to be reduced to provide a long-term solution. "An answer to the drought problem of Rajasthan lies in increasing the pace of industrialisation which has been very, very slow till now," State Relief Secretary Ram Lubhaya told UNI here. He said the labour force needed to be shifted from agriculture-dependence to other sectors like service and industry. The desert state faces a third successive drought this year with almost four crore human and 5.36 cattle population being hit. Figures reveal that around 8.94 million hectares of crop land, valued at a whopping Rs 3511.77 crore, was damaged due to no rains last year which affected 30,583 villages. Mr Lubhaya said a major hurdle in the way of industrialisation was lack of adequate infrastructure. "The infrastructure here is backward as yet with the transport network poor, compared to other states. Coupled to this is the locational disadvantage and shortage of water and power." The state has mostly mining-based industries like zinz, copper, cement and marble. Apart from this, it has also has revenue generation from textile mills and tourism. But these industries are able to generate employment for a very few. However, according to a National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) official in New Delhi, figures collected upto late ninties showed that contribution of the manufacturing sector to the state’s coffers was very low. "It is almost half the national average and if it continues, the vulnerability of the state to calamities like drought is very high," he said. Chittorgarh District Magistrate Ramrakh agreed with the view that industrialisation was a possible solution to people’s woes due to shortage of water. The state has guaranteed money and food against work to only 14 lakh people out of the nearly four crore affected under the ‘food for work’ programme in which Rs 60 and five kg of wheat is paid for a stipulated amount of work per day. Out of this around Rs 23 is deducted as money for the wheat. Ramrakh admitted that this was not enough because while the number of affected people per district was in lakhs, the labour sanctioned was only in a mere thousands. Ajmer District Collector Usha Sharma said to tide over such problems, they had started a novel Self Help Group (SHG) scheme, with the help of NABARD, where the womenfolk were motivated to form small financial cooperatives against which they got loans from banks. Under the scheme, around 10-20 women formed a cooperative and deposited small monthly amounts, even as low as Rs 20, into it. After six months of collection, the accumulated amount is deposited in a bank against which it pays four times the transferred money. "We have around 4500 SHG’s in our district with a membership of around 57,000. Also loans upto Rs 2.5 crore have already been distributed under it," Mrs Sharma said. (UNI) |
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Power T&D losses in some areas in Delhi 70 pc: DVB NEW DELHI, May 27: The Delhi Vidyut Board (DVB) has admitted before the Delhi High Court that Transmission and Distribution (T&D) losses in some areas in the capital was as high as 70 per cent due to power theft. DVB also said that till April this year, theft over Rs 217 crore has been detected. "As per DVB’s energy audit, the losses in different districts vary from as little as 21 per cent to as much as 70 per cent and this variation corroborates strongly with the existence of unauthorised developments," DVB’s Chief Engineer (East and Research and Development) said in an affidavit. Claiming that Board’s efforts had prevented further increase in transmission losses, the affidavit filed before a division bench comprising Justice Anil Dev Singh and Justice O P Dwivedi, said between December 1998 and April this year 34,720 cases of power thefts were detected which amounted to causing DVB a staggering loss of Rs 217.54 crore. The affidavit was filed after the court on March 28 had sought details about the electricity supply position in the city, which faces frequent power cuts, especially during peak summer causing hardships to the citzens. The issue was brought before the court by common cause Director H D Shourie through his counsel Meera Bhatia, seeking direction to DVB and Delhi Government to immediately stop the menance of power theft and improve the supply. The court had also directed Union Power Secretary, DVB Chairman and concerned officials of city Government to hold a meeting to find a solution to the problem. The DVB said that in April alone, 5,651 illegal tappings on its transmission lines were detected and removed. The loss of revenue on this account was assessed at Rs 85.19 crore, the affidavit said. Between October 1999 and April 2001, Board’s Enforcement Department collected over Rs 93.18 crore as penalty for the illegal power connections and meters in unauthorised colonies were being given on the spot in special camps organised for this purpose, it said. The court had also sought minutes of the issues discussed in the meeting so that it could analyse whether any effective steps were being taken by the authorities to improve the power situation in the capital, while the demand during the current summer is likely to be as high as 3,000 mw. DVB said due to rapid expansion of the city the demand of power increases by seven to eight per cent every year in Delhi while Board’s own generation is merely 400 mw. The Board hoped to add 330 mw to its own generation with the completion of gas-based Pragati Power Station by November 2002, the court was informed. The peak demand of 3,000 mw would be met by deriving 1500 mw from Northern Grid, 600 mw from Badarpur station, 100 mw from Himachal Pradesh, 200 mw from Chhattisgarh, 100 mw from central sector stations, 70 mw from Malana project near here apart from DVB’s own generation of 400 mw, the affidavit said. The Board had generated a total revenue of Rs 3080.24 crore on account of power bills during the financial year 2000-2001, it said. (PTI) |
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