Partnership Summit to begin on Jan 16....

BSNL introduces free insurance for customers .....

Ford looking at multiple platforms for small car in India...

China to address India’s concern over rising trade deficit...

SBI to raise Rs 16,736 cr from rights issue

MUMBAI, Jan 14: Country's largest lender SBI today decided to raise Rs 16,736.31 crore from its much-awaited rights issue, which will be priced at Rs 1,590 a share.

According to a decision of the Central Board of the bank here, existing shareholders would be given a share for every five shares.

The price at which shares would be offered represents about 36 per cent of discount to State Bank of India's current share price.

This means shareholders would get a share at a premium of Rs 1,580, if face value of Rs 10 is considered, but at a discount of Rs 889, if today's current price at Rs Rs 2,469 on the Bombay Stock Exchange is taken into account.

For the rights issue, the Bank also decided to raise its issued capital to Rs 650 crore from the existing Rs 526.30 crore.

The bank would also issue shares to employees under Employees Stock Purchase Scheme, SBI said in a filing to BSE.

The decision of the SBI's board came one-and-a-half months after the Union Cabinet gave nod to the rights issue. (PTI)

Partnership Summit to begin on Jan 16....

NEW DELHI, Jan 14: Issues related to global partnerships, trade negotiations and inclusive growth will be addressed at Partnership Summit 2008, beginning January 16.

About 1,000 Indian and international delegates are likely to participate in three-day Partnership Summit, industry body CII said in a release.

The summit, to be held in Gurgaon, is based on ‘Emerging Consensus: Inclusive and Sustainable Development’ and would see participation of 400 international delegates.

Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany would be the guest of honour at the summit, to be chaired by Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath. Haryana would be the partner state.

"The Summit would focus on how an increasingly troubled world can arrive at consensus on issues of economic progress in an inclusive manner as well as environmental sustainability as impact of climate change is being felt all over the world," it said.

The convention would be attended by Ministers and dignitaries from 31 countries including Australia, Ethiopia, Iran, Japan and Singapore and two regional groupings of Common Market of Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) and African Union. (PTI)

BSNL introduces free insurance for customers .....

NEW DELHI, Jan 14: Public sector telecom major Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) today said it will provide free insurance cover of about Rs 50,000 to its four crore subscriber base.

"We plan to provide a cover of about Rs 50,000 to each of our subscribers in case they were to suffer permanent total disability or accidental death," company CMD Goyal told reporters here.

BSNL, which will pay the premium to Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance, plans to provide this facility to its landline subscribers and in later will extend it to mobile subscribers too.

‘Free-Accident Insurance Cover’ will prevent the existing customers from surrendering their connections, besides help the company to expand its subscriber base by adding new users, Mr Goyal said.

(UNI)

Ford looking at multiple platforms for small car in India...

NEW DELHI, Jan 14: Carmaker Ford India today said it was looking at multiple platforms, including its existing models in Europe, to foray into Indian small car market.

"We are looking at various options (platforms) for our proposed small car in India. The company may look at a car built on Ford Europe’s existing platforms but nothing has been finalised yet," Ford India Vice President Marketing Sales and Service Scott McCormack told reporters at the 9th Auto Expo.

He said apart from Ford’s global platforms, the company may also look at bringing in a small car built on its group company Mazda’s models.

"Bringing in a small car built on Mazda’s existing platforms can also be a possibility. We are looking at all possible options," McCormack said without elaborating further.

Ford India recently announced an investment of 500 million dollars (about Rs 2,000 crore) to expand operations in India which include rolling out a small car in the country by 2010.

The company is also looking at setting up a engine manufacturing facility and doubling its manufacturing capacity in India to two lakh units a year by 2010.

The engine manufacturing facility, with a capacity of about 2.5 lakh units, would produce petrol and diesel versions. It would meet Ford’s local requirement and those of its car plants in the Asia-Pacific and Africa region.

This would be Ford’s first engine plant with diesel engine production capability outside Europe, he said. (PTI)

China to address India’s concern over rising trade deficit...

BEIJING, Jan 14: China has agreed to send frequent buying missions to India to diversify its import basket from the country in the backdrop of New Delhi’s concern over burgeoning trade deficit which crossed USD 9 billion last year in Beijing’s favour.

India also wants to diversify the basket of exports to China by including fruits and vegetables and sought access to its aviation and entertainment sectors and removal of technical and non-tariff barriers specifically in pharmaceutical sector, Commerce Minister Kamal Nath told reporters here.

The assurance on buying missions was given to Nath by his counterpart Chen Deming during a meeting on the sidelines of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s three-day visit.

During the parleys, Nath expressed concern over the growing trade deficit and raised many issues that were restricting Indian exports to the communist giant.

"Mr Chen clearly recognised that such a large trade imbalance is not desirable and sustainable. He offered to send buying missions to India frequently to promote a more diversified basket of exports from India to China," Nath said.

He said he had requested CII and the FICCI to host these promised missions and find suitable niche areas where India had core competency with globally competitive edge.

The Indian concerns arise from the fact that the current bilateral trade that stood at over USD 38 billion and the trade deficit was significantly in favour of China.

India has told China there was no China-specific restrictions on investments in India due to security concerns.

Nath also took up with his counterpart many issues related to Indian businesses’ access to Chinese market.

Beijing’s restraining policy on export of coking coal to India for the steel industry was specifically raised.

The huge cess on coking coal and hiking of the price for Indian buyers was also raised. There was no such cess in 2005 and today it was as high as 25 per cent.

It was pointed out that India was supplying iron ore to China at an export duty realisation of only one per cent.

"We lowered this duty at their request and it is now for the Chinese side to reciprocate in the area of coking coal. Our steel industry is asking for a 40 per cent allocation of coking coal exports for India as China had done for the EU sometime earlier," he said.

On diversification of Indian export basket, Nath said India had permission for export of only three from the agreed list of 17 fruits and vegetables and hoped that Chinese Government would expedite the issues of quarantine and other required permissions to allow more exports to China.

India also raised the issue of investment in the restricted aviation and entertainment sectors in China.

The Indian private airlines were ready to fly directly to China and use Chinese airports as hubs for onward flights to the US and other countries. This would stimulate people-to-people contact and strongly promote tourism between the two countries.

"I am hoping that this proposal will be accepted within the framework of a progressive aviation sector understanding signed a few years ago," he said.

Nath also discussed the downlinking of Indian broadcast channels in China. India has allowed Chinese channel CCTV to downlink in India.

Similarly, China is prepared to allow Zee TV landing rights in China, he said, noting that it would help the people to know each other’s culture and practices.

"I am hoping that this market access proposal will be accepted and in turn will strengthen our cultural understanding of each other. It will also open up the Chinese market for our content services, animation, gaming and special effects in the future," he said.

Nath said he took up the issue of regulatory structures in China in many areas which "sometimes tantamount to Non-Tariff barriers".

Citing the case of pharmaceutical industry, he said it takes three to four years in registering a pharmaceutical drug in China which was a major hindrance to Indian exports.

"Frequent changes in rules and regulations across the trading space was another major hindrance to Indian exports and investment capabilities," Nath said and called for a focus on investment in the two nations.

"We have very little investment as of now in each other’s countries," the Minister said.

Nath said an India-China business summit amounted to a "global summit" because 40 per cent of the world’s consumers were represented in this event.

The two nations were looking for investment not just on each other’s soil but in third countries in Africa and Latin America as they have now emerged as the engines of growth, unfazed by western fears of global economic slow down and problems like sub-prime crisis in the US.

He said trade deficit between India and China per se was not a worrying factor but if it persisted and increased then it had to be addressed.

The Chinese minister told the Indian Minister that they were conscious of the issue and were addressing it.

Inviting Chinese investment in Indian infrastructure, Nath said China has offered India that it could use the infrastructure created by it for the Olympics being held in Beijing in August.

This could be used for the benefit of the Commonwealth Games to be hosted in Delhi in 2010.

To a question on increasing the number of points for border trade, he said the issue was being dealt with at the official level. Both India and China have exchanged the lists on the points to be increased.

China has also proposed a partnership with India in the hydro-electric sector in which India has a lot of potential. Beijiing plans to increase its dependence on renewable energy from 6 to 20 per cent. This cooperation could be extended to third countries also.

Addressing the press conference, CII President Sunil Mittal said the earlier fears of Chinese dumping of cheap goods in India had been met by the Indian industy which was competing well.

However, he hoped the Indian government would open up some sectors of economy in a caliberated manner to face the problem of cheap-priced products from China.

Mittal said because of the state ownership of industry in China, losses in one sector could be made up by the govern ment in another sector and but the Indian industry did not not have such a luxury.

FICCI President H Khorakiwala said India and China should create a collaborative platform that would articulate their complementarities. (PTI)