 |
|
Coal wage agreement NEW DELHI, May 9: An understanding has been reached between the Coal India Management and Central Trade Unions on all contentious issues and a ......more Punjab gets no response from Pakistan business chambers CHANDIGARH, May 9: Even as Punjab has prepared a list of 25 items for exports to Pakistan, it has got no response from the Islamabad, Lahore and ......more ICICI Bahrain to be made one-stop-shop for NRIs DUBAI, May 9: ICICI bank’s Bahrain branch, which wrapped up business worth 800 million dollars in terms of lending and investments in the six....more Refiners to bear NEW DELHI, May 9: Government is working on a plan to pass on part of the revenue loss public sector oil marketing firms are incurring on sale of LPG and kerosene, to refiners, including Reliance.....more |
|
ONGC bids for acquiring first calgary petroleum NEW DELHI, May 9: State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp has bid for acquiring Canadian oil and gas firm first Calgary......more Tata
motors vehicle NEW DELHI, May 9: India’s biggest bus and truck maker Tata motors’ vehicle sales stood at 23,889 units in April, down 4.3 per cent.....more TT to
invest Rs 100 NEW DELHI, May 9: Integrated knitwears and Textiles Firm TT Ltd will invest Rs 100 crore in the next two years to increase its yarn capacity and expand the company’s presence in Europe, a top company official said......more S P raises
stake NEW DELHI, May 9: Standard and poor’s today said it raised its holding in Credit Rating Agency Crisil Ltd to 58.5 per cent, after it paid about 56 million dollars.........more |
Coal wage agreement soon: Govt NEW DELHI, May 9: An understanding has been reached between the Coal India Management and Central Trade Unions on all contentious issues and a wage agreement is likely to be finalised by this month-end, Government announced in Lok Sabha today. "Government is committed to the welfare of the workers and is accordingly facilitating early finalisation of the national coal wage agreement," Coal Minister Dasari Narayana Rao said in a statement on a calling attention motion by CPI leader Basudeb Acharia. Acharia highlighted the situation arising out of non-finalisation of national coal workers wage agreement and wanted to know the steps taken by the Government in this regard. Rao said after holding discussions with representatives of both sides earlier this month, "an understanding was reached on all contentious issues". Both the Management and Trade Unions have agreed to hold core group meeting on May 18-19. A meeting of the Joint Bipartite Committee for Coal Industry would be held on may 29-30 to finalise the agreement, he said. (PTI) |
 |
Punjab gets no response from Pakistan business chambers CHANDIGARH, May 9: Even as Punjab has prepared a list of 25 items for exports to Pakistan, it has got no response from the Islamabad, Lahore and Rawalpindi chambers of business and trade to its queries regarding the viability of these items for bilateral trade between the two states of Punjab across the Indo-Pak border. "Inspite of best efforts, there has been no response from Pakistan Chambers and the Industries Department of Pakistan Punjab, and as such the tariff and non-tariff barriers imposed by Pakistan Government have not been worked out," Punjab State Industrial Exports Council (PSIEC) has written in its interim report submitted to Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh. Moreover, 13 of these 25 items were presently in the negative list of Pakistan, which meant that these 13 items were banned by the neighbouring nation for imports from India. Significantly, these 13 items included wheat, the rabi crop on which Punjab has always been looking forward to export across the Wagah border if the border was opened. Presently, Punjab is heavily exporting wheat mainly to the south-east Asian countries through markfed. "We have never been able to export wheat to Pakistan due to the trade barriers," a senior official of markfed confirmed. Moreover, the interim report has pointed out that the Indian Government has also banned export of wheat to Pakistan. The rabi crop costs about Rs 830 per quintal in Pakistan, and if it is exported from India, its cost there would be at the most Rs 700, including the freight and other charges, the interim report points out. The exercise of trade inquiries with Pak chambers has been initiated by Punjab following the resolve by both the countries to set up a ‘joint business council’ to promote the bilateral trade during the recent visit of Pakistan President Parvez Musharraf. Besides wheat and sugar, the items in the Pakistan’s negative list which could not be imported from India for the time being are adhesives, food machinery, auto parts, agri machines, communication equipment, hand tools, cycles and cycle parts, drugs and pharmaceuticals, industrial and medical gases, construction material, steel, fruits and molasses. The PSIEC is a part of the core group, formed by the Punjab Government to study the Punjab’s trade potential with Pakistan, so that the State Government could formally bring forward a proposal to the Union Government to open the Wagah border for trade. "We are approaching the Central Government for a heavy representation to Punjab in the proposed Indo-Pak Joint Business Council as Punjab can contribute in the bilateral trade to a very large extent, being on the border," a spokesman of the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) told UNI. Other members of this core group are the representatives of the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI), Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Centre for research in Industrial and Rural Development (CRRID) and the Business School of Panjab University. According to PHDCCI Punjab Chapter Co-Chairman R S Sachdeva, Punjab has a total exports worth around Rs 9,000 crore per annum, and these could increase manifold if the trade was open with Pakistan. "The machine and hand tool industry in Batala and the cycle and auto industry in Ludhiana can get a boost if the Wagah border is opened for smooth trade," Mr Sachdeva said. He said the Union Government should take a strong initiative to negotiate with Pakistan to review the negative list of the neighbouring country. The exportable items out of the list of 25, prepared by Punjab for exports to Pakistan, and not in the negative list included organic chemicals, hand tools, textile machinery, plastic components and goods, rubber items, electrical and electronic components, potatoes and diesel engines. (UNI) |
|
ICICI Bahrain to be made one-stop-shop for NRIs DUBAI, May 9: ICICI bank’s Bahrain branch, which wrapped up business worth 800 million dollars in terms of lending and investments in the six months since its operations in the kingdom, is seeking to make the branch a one-stop-shop for Indian expatriates. The bank’s joint managing director Lalita D Gupte said three billion dollars or 15 per cent of NRIs’ worldwide remittance of 20 to 21 billion annually was remitted through ICICI bank and its market share of the NRI remittances from Bahrain had reached 10-12 per cent. She told Gulf daily news that Bahrain had become a Business Centre for the Bank to reach out to other six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council countries as well as the Middle East and north African markets. ICICI is also planning to make Bahrain its hub for Islamic banking activities, she said adding that it has already concluded two token deals. "We are learning more as new structures are evolving in Islamic banking," she said. (UNI) |
|
Refiners to bear part of LPG, kerosene subsidy: Tripathi NEW DELHI, May 9: Government is working on a plan to pass on part of the revenue loss public sector oil marketing firms are incurring on sale of LPG and kerosene, to refiners, including Reliance Industries Ltd. "We are working on policy for equitable sharing of under-recoveries (on domestic LPG and PDS kerosene) between the OMCS, upstream firms and standalone refineries," Petroleum Secretary S C Tripathi told reporters here. Until now, the revenue loss on LPG and kerosene was being equally divided between OMCS - Indian Oil Corp, Hindustan Petroleum Corp and Bharat Petroleum Corp - on the one hand and upstream firms - Oil and Natural Gas Corp, Oil India Ltd and GAIL (India) Ltd - on the other. Refiners like private sector Reliance Industries Ltd and Mangalore Refineries and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL) were out of the purview. "We plan to bring refiners also in the sharing scheme," he said but did not give details. Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas estimates a revenue loss of Rs 13,720 crore in 2005-06 on selling LPG at Rs 82 per cylinder loss and kerosene being under-priced by about Rs 10 per litre. Tripathi said the new under-recovery sharing scheme would come into effect from this quarter after private refiners are persuaded. "We don’t have a legal mechanism (to enforce subsidy sharing) and so we will persuade them to do so," he said. "We are still in the process of discussing and hope to come up with a policy by end of this month," he said. Tripathi said the ministry was mulling if the revenue loss on petrol and diesel should be shared in the same formula as LPG and kerosene. Petrol and diesel are being sold at over Rs 5 per litre loss, the impact of which cumulatively would be Rs 23,400 crore for the full 2005-06 fiscal. OMCS had on March 1 frozen the Refinery Transfer Price (RTP), which is the price at which they lift products from the refineries. For petrol and diese, the RTP was frozen on March 15. Refiners are getting the March price for their products and not the current import-parity price. (PTI) |
|
ONGC bids for acquiring first calgary petroleum NEW DELHI, May 9: State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp has bid for acquiring Canadian oil and gas firm first Calgary Petroleums Ltd, which owns high potential oil and gas blocks in Algeria. ONGC, through its overseas arm ONGC Videsh Ltd, has made out two bids - one for acquring calgary-based FCP as a whole and the other for acquiring its interest in Ledjmet and Yacoub exploration blocks in Algeria’s Berkine basin, industry sources said. FCP is listed on the London and Toronto Stock Exchanges. OVL faces competition from European and Chinese firms. At least two European majors have also bid. A top company official confirmed having bid for FCP but refused to give details. "All I can confirm is that we have put in our bid." As on October 31, 2004, independent engineering firm Degolyer and Macnaughton has estimated the gross proved, probable and possible recoverable reserves to be approximately 13.5 trillion cubic Feet of Natural Gas Equivalent (TCFE), consisting of 8.4 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and 860 million barrels of oil, condensate and LPG. The reserves are attributed to the ledjmet 405b and Rhourde Yacoub 406A blocks located in Algeria’s Berkine basin. Sources said FCP would be OVL’s second largest investment overseas after the 1.7 billion dollar investment in taking 20 per cent stake in Russia’s Sakhlain-1 oil and gas fields. OVL, which is on an acquisition spree as demand outpaces domestic oil and gas output, has interests in oil and gas properties in Russia, Sudan, Vietnam, Egypt, Qatar, Yemen, Iran, Iraq, Myanmar, Australia, Ivory Coast and Syria. FCP holds 49 per cent stake in the two blocks with the remaining 51 per cent held by Algerian National Oil Firm Sonatrach. (PTI) |
|
Tata motors vehicle sales down 4.3 pc in April NEW DELHI, May 9: India’s biggest bus and truck maker Tata motors’ vehicle sales stood at 23,889 units in April, down 4.3 per cent from the same month a year earlier. "There was an increase in undispatched stock of vehicles due to unanticipated difficulties in certification and procurement of some critical parts. "Efforts to streamline the availability of vehicles are currently underway and the company expects to make up in the next two months," Tata motors stated. Its sales of cars and utility vehicles stood at 12,736 units in the past month, the company said, without giving details of sales in April 2004. Sales of its Indica hatchback rose 7.9 per cent on year to 7,819, while sales of its Indigo Sedan were up 5.8 per cent to 2,881. (UNI) |
|
TT to invest Rs 100 cr in Capex, expand biz in Europe NEW DELHI, May 9: Integrated knitwears and Textiles Firm TT Ltd will invest Rs 100 crore in the next two years to increase its yarn capacity and expand the company’s presence in Europe, a top company official said. "Besides investing Rs 100 crore to enhnace our production capacity and match the growing demand of quality yarn, we are aggressively planning major forays into the western markets, including expansion in Europe," TT Ltd director Sanjay Jain told uni. Jain said the funding will be made through a mix of debt, equity and internal accruals. "We will raise a loan debt of around Rs 65 crore, invite Rs 15-crore equity and invest Rs 20 crore through internal generations," he added. TT Ltd, which is consolidating and expanding on the complete value chain — from fibre to garments, is confident of capturing opportunities thrown up by the post quota regime. TT Ltd, which has made forays into cotton ginning and trading since last two years, is planning an ultra modern ginning facility to take care of quality issues. The company has upgraded its textiles mills, which produce over 6 lakh miles of high quality of yarn per day, with imported modern machines and technologies from Switzerland, Japan and Germany, he said. TT yarn is used in the production of some of the most respected labels in Switzerland, Denmark, Germany, Hongkong, Finland, Norway, Sweden, USA, Australia, which consider its products matching their high standards of quality. The Rs 162-crore company expects 25 per cent growth in its exports this fiscal over Rs 82 crore a year ago, Jain said. The company, which has been for over 58 years in industry and dealing in cotton fibre, yarn, fabric, garments, knitwears and handlooms and many more, has two export oriented spinning mills one in Gajroula (UP) and other in Avinashi (Tamil Nadu), and five knitting and garment units. (UNI) |
|
S P raises stake in crisil to 58.5 pc NEW DELHI, May 9: Standard and poor’s today said it raised its holding in Credit Rating Agency Crisil Ltd to 58.5 per cent, after it paid about 56 million dollars for 3.12 million shares. S P, part of Mcgraw-hill companies inc, bought the additional 49.07 per cent stake in an open offer at Rs 775 a share. Earlier, it held 9.48 per cent. S P has been eyeing India’s strong demand for credit from companies as they expand in an economy expected to grow by about 7 per cent in the current financial year through March. Last year, Indian companies raised 5 billion dollars through debt offerings in 2004, more than double the year before, while domestic bond issues rose to Rs 58,500 crore from Rs 50,900 crore. (UNI) |
|
Record collection under small saving schemes in UT CHANDIGARH, May 9: A record collection of Rs 205.20 crore has been made in Chandigarh under the small saving schemes against a target of Rs 125 crore, assigned by the Government for the last financial year. A amount of Rs 114.85 crore was collected against a target of Rs 100 crore during the fiscal year 2003-04 and Rs 110 crore against a target of Rs 84 crore was collected in 2002-03, an offical release here said. Of the total collection of Rs 205.20 crores, a sum of Rs 113.08 crore has come from the newly introduced senior citizens savings scheme. (UNI) |
|
Goldiam intl declares 5 pc dividend, bonus issue NEW DELHI, May 9: Goldiam International Ltd today declared a dividend of 5 per cent and bonus issue of shares for the financial year 2004-05. The Board of Directors have recommended a final dividend of 5 per cent, that is, Rs 0.50 per share and a bonus issue in the ratio of 1:1, the company informed the Bombay Stock Exchange. The total dividend for the year is 25 per cent, that is, Rs 2.50 per equity share, including the interim dividend of 20 per cent, it said. (PTI) |
|
Regulator for TV channels soon NEW DELHI, May 9: A bill proposing setting up of a regulator for monitoring contents on television channels will be introduced in Parliament soon, Rajya Sabha was informed today. Replying to supplementaries during question hour, Information and Broadcasting Minister Jaipal Reddy said "the bill will be introduced in the house as quickly as possible but not in this session." He said Government is contemplating establishment of an autonomous authority to regulate contents on television channels and details are being worked out. In reply to another question, Reddy said the ministry has finalised a package for expanding 300 radio stations in the private sector and the bidding process will commence in the next few weeks. He said more than 300 private FM radio stations across the country are envisaged to be set up in phase II of private FM radio broadcasting and the policy for second phase of private FM radio is under consideration. On the removal of entertainment tax, he said a meeting of State Information Ministers have favoured a reduction in entertainment tax all over the country to 25 to 30 per cent and hoped it would be done in the next one year. On community radio service, he said it was found to be restrictive and the Government was liberalising the service. (PTI) Allahabad bank consolidated FY05 net up to 557.36 crore MUMBAI, May 9: Allahabad Bank has posted 14.72 per cent growth in consolidated net profit at Rs 557.36 crore for the year ended March 31, 2005 against Rs 485.82 crore for 2003-04. The board has recommended a final dividend of 15 per cent on capital of Rs 446.7 crore, including equity share capital of Rs 100 crore enhanced after March 31, 2005 on account of the public offer, the bank informed the Bombay Stock Exchange, today. Total income during the reporting fiscal increased to Rs 3,840.21 crore as against Rs 3,457.98 crore in FY-04, it said. On a standalone basis, the bank has posted a sharp drop in net profit at Rs 79.31 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2005 against Rs 221.14 crore in Q4 of 2003-04. Total income also declined to Rs 969.14 crore for the reporting quarter against Rs 996.36 crore in Q4 of FY-04, it added. On a standalone basis, the bank has posted a net profit of Rs 541.79 crore for the year ended March 31, 2005 compared to Rs 463.38 crore in 2003-04. The total income grew to Rs 3825.47 crore as against Rs 3418.47 crore in FY-04, it said. (PTI) |
|
|
