Race for acquiring Orissa Sponge gets more intense

The race for acquiring the resource-rich Orissa Sponge has got more intense. Bhushan Steel, the Neeraj Singhal-controlled company, is expected to come out with a counter open offer by Saturday, according to persons familiar with the development.
Bhushan Steel’s offer is the third open offer to the retail shareholders of Orissa Sponge, a company jointly promoted by Dr P K Mohanty and the Bhubaneshwar-based Ipicol. While the Sanjay Singhal-controlled Bhushan Power was the first to come out with an open offer at Rs 300 per share, on Wednesday, Monnet Ispat made an offer at Rs 310.
Saturday is also the last day for submitting counter bids for Orissa Sponge.
Bhushan Steel is being advised jointly by IDFC-SSKI and JM Financial for the open offer, which could likely indicate a close fight for Orissa Sponge’s captive coal mines and iron ore mines.
Monnet Ispat had earlier bought IDFC’s stake of 5%, apart from acquiring another 10% from the promoters, according to people close to the development.

KEC International bags orders from Power Grid

KEC International on Thursday said it has secured two orders worth Rs 227 crore from Power Grid Corporation for supplying power transmission equipment.
In a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange, the company said it has received two 765 kV S/c projects in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra and in Punjab and Haryana from PGCIL.
"We are delighted that our order pipeline is flowing continuously. Power Grid Corporation is very important customer for us,'' KEC International Managing Director and CEO, Mr Ramesh Chandak said.
The two orders are worth Rs 124 crore and Rs 103 crore, the filing added. The first order is for the supply and construction of 765 Kv S/c transmission line to be constructed in the states of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.
The total length of lines is 135 Kms and the project is scheduled to be completed by February 2011, it added. Further, the second order is for supply and construction of 765 kV system in the state of Punjab and Haryana.
The total length of lines is 160 Kms and the project is scheduled to be completed by May 2011, it added.

TCS extends contract with Singapore Airlines

Tata Consultancy Services recently announced that it has been chosen by Singapore Airlines to provide IT services for three years for a suite of applications used by the Singapore Airlines Group of Companies
After the end of the existing term, Singapore Airlines went through a formal vendor selection process and chose to partner TCS based on the firm's strong capabilities in offering integrated IT services to support a range of processes and applications across the airline, a TCS release said.
For the past 12 years, TCS said it has successfully helped the airline improve efficiency, reduce operational and maintenance costs enabling productivity gains in its applications space. Under the agreement, TCS would continue to manage a significant portion of Singapore Airlines' IT systems including 24x7 business critical application ranging from passenger reservations to flight operations.
"TCS' rigorous metrics-based management model and airline domain expertise will ensure increased responsiveness for Singapore Airlines customers and its application rationalisation programme will help the airline minimise costs, reduce risks and increase business agility'', it said.

L&T bags orders worth Rs 1,162 cr Q4, stock up 1.5%

Larsen & Toubro’s (L&T) buildings and factories operating company – part of its construction division – has bagged new orders aggregating around Rs 1,162 crores in the fourth quarter of 2008-09 for the construction of factories and residential projects.
L&T has bagged a major design and build order valued at Rs 605 crore from the Andhra Pradesh Rajiv Swagruha corporation for the construction of an integrated thematic township to be completed in two years time, according to the release by the company. It has also received major orders aggregating Rs 557 crore for the construction of cement plants and other strategic factory buildings.
The orders further enhances the order book of the company which has already secured major design and build orders in the airports, IT parks and commercial space.
The company has early this week announced that it has bagged three new orders worth Rs 1438 crore. Out of this, two orders worth Rs 1130 crore were booked in the Gulf region and a third, worth Rs 308 crore, was bagged from the West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Company.

IT Inc on Obama's outsourcing plan

Seems the current recession is turning US ‘inwards’. In the country, which taught the world lessons of `open economy', the demand for protectionism is getting louder. The pains of turbulent economy is making many Americans target outsourcing.
Giving his first speech to a joint session of the US Congress, the county's president Barack Obama said, “We will restore a sense of fairness and balance to our tax code by finally ending the tax breaks for corporations that ship our jobs overseas.”
If Obama follows through with the announcement in the budget, the move may hurt India's BPO sector as without the tax breaks, US companies may find it less attractive to outsource jobs to India.
Obama's conservative stance on outsourcing poses a threat to the growing Indian IT industry already reeling under the effects of a troubled global economy.
Here's over to how Indian IT is reacting to Obama's outsourcing plan.

Infosys
Reacting cautiously to US President Barack Obama's remarks on outsourcing, Kris Gopalakrishnan, CEO of Infosys Technologies, said outsourcing had enhanced the competitiveness of US corporations and had created more jobs within the US economy.
"The US is a very open economy and a strong proponent of free trade globally. We are confident the US will not take any measure, which might hurt its global competitiveness," Infosys said.
"We need to wait for more details to understand Obama's statement," Infosys added. TV Mohandas Pai, board member and director, human resources at Infosys Technologies, said IT outsourcing was the least of Obama's worries. "Over 60,000 US jobs are being lost every month and reviving the manufacturing sector there is the target," he said.

Wipro
Wipro said in the current economic environment, it was imperative for global corporations to collaborate on technology and innovation. Wipro executive director and chief financial officer Suresh Senapaty said that policies of protectionism would only hinder the revival of the world economy.
He added, "We feel that in the current economic environment it is imperative for global corporations to collaborate on technology and innovation."

Nasscom
IT industry body National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom) said it was heartening to note that Obama had supported the need to "avoid protectionism" in his speech.
"This is not the time for protectionism but for global collaboration, if the world is to come out of this economic downturn quickly. We hope that all other countries would support this and continue to be proponents of free trade," Nasscom said.
"Global outsourcing has helped (US) companies gain the vital competitive edge - time to market, transformation of businesses, integration of processes, reduce costs and enhance efficiency -- all of which are key drivers for revival of economic activity," it added.

Inflation at 15-month low of 3.36%

Inflation declined to about a 15-month low of 3.36% mainly due to fall in the prices food articles like fruit and vegetables, pulses,
and some manufactured items, raising hopes of cuts in the key policy rates by the RBI.
Wholesale price based inflation declined by 0.56 percentage points during the week ended February 14 against 3.92% in the previous week.
Yesterday, the government expressed confidence that the RBI may ease money supply further.
Replying to the debate on the interim Budget in the Rajya Sabha, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee said, "I am fully concerned that increased public spending may put pressure on the government's borrowing programme and overall credit offtake in the economy."
Mukherjee said: "There is, however, scope for appropriate compensatory monetary policy options, (which) I am sure will be exercised by the RBI at the right time."

ArcelorMittal says no to merger, acquisition

After creating the world's biggest steel empire mostly through merger and acquisitions, NRI billionaire Lakshmi Mittal has decided to apply brakes on his takeover drive as a fallout of the global economic slowdown.
ArcelorMittal is the world's single steel company to have attained a size of over 100 billion dollars and most of the credit goes to its numerous merger and acquisition deals.
However, to tackle the changing market conditions, the company in a regulatory filing said, it is now "curtailing merger and acquisition activity".
In May 2008 ArcelorMittal, whose CFO and Lakshmi Mittal's son Aditya used to have an 80-page folder listing hundreds of potential M&A targets, had received shareholders' approval for expanding its equity capital to meet the firm's future M&A requirements.
The company's plans to go slow on M&As comes in sharp contrast to its earlier stated position of continuously being on the look-out for potential opportunities.
At an Extraordinary General Meeting on May 13, 2008, the shareholders had authorised the board to raise the company's share capital, so that it is in a position to issue shares for entering into potential growth opportunities such as M&As.

Govt reduces excise duty, service tax by 2 per cent

Giving relief to the industry reeling under the impact of slowdown, the Government on Tuesday reduced by two per cent rates of excise duty and service tax.
While the general excise duty has been reduced from 10 per cent to 8 per cent, the rate of service tax cut from 12 per cent to 10 per cent.
Four per cent excise cut announced earlier in the stimulus package in December will continue beyond March 31, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said while winding up the debate on the Interim Budget in the Lok Sabha today.
The Lok Sabha later approved the Interim Budget by voice vote, amidst a walkout by the Opposition BJP and erstwhile supporters Left parties.
Mukherjee further said that duty on bulk cement has been reduced from 10 per cent to 8 per cent.

ONGC pares oil output target by 3.5%

The country’s biggest oil and gas explorer, Oil & Natural Gas Corp (ONGC), has trimmed its crude oil output target by around 3.5% for the current financial year to end-March because of infrastructure shortages and technical issues, although the state-run firm expects production to rise next year as several new fields come on stream.
In its annual plan document for 2009-10, the company said crude oil production during 2008-09 was now expected to be 26.085 million metric tonnes (MMT) as against the earlier estimate of 27.054 MMT, hit mainly by a 0.611 MMT shortfall from its offshore assets and a 0.358 MMT shortfall from its onshore fields mainly in Gujarat.
“(The) main reasons for the shortfall...are non-availability of production infrastructure like floating production, storage and offloading vessel required for interim processing of crude, less number of development wells due to non-availability of rigs and the delay in integrated development of...fields in the east coast,” ONGC said in the document.
But the company, in which the government owns a 74.16% stake and was the first to discover oil in India in the 1960s, has marginally increased its production target for 2009-10 by 0.865 MMT anticipating crude oil production from Bassein & satellite, Neelam & Heera, Assam, Ahmedabad and Mehsana fields.
ONGC said it expected to produce 22,248 million metric standard cubic meter (MMSCM) of natural gas in 2009-10, slightly down from a revised estimate of 22,287 MMSCM in 2008-09 but higher than its original estimate of 21,668 MMSCM for the year.

Subhash Projects bags INR 77.04 crore order

PTI reported that Subhash Projects & Marketing has bagged an order worth INR 77.04 crore for construction related works.
Subhash Projects in a filing to the National Stock Exchange said that it has received an order for INR 77.04 crore on January 29th for construction of pumping station at Rithala, Delhi.
Further, the order is on design, build and operate basis for carrying 33.34 MGD treated effluent from EPS at Rithala to Puducherry Power Corporation Plant at Bawana, Delhi.

Cash-rich SBI goes for big push in retail loans

The State Bank of India (SBI) is planning an aggressive push of its retail business. It has taken the lead to bring down interest rates for retail loans — home loan rates are down to 8 per cent and auto loans to 10 per cent.
“The large cash reserves of the bank and dip in the cost of funds leave the bank with room to induce more interest rate cuts or customer-friendly measures in the coming months,” a senior SBI official told Financial Chronicle.
As on December 31, 2008, SBI retail book has grown by Rs 4,562 crore to Rs 104,261 crore over the previous quarter.
SBI mobilised well over Rs 40,000 crore in term deposits in November 2008 with attractive interest rates of 10.5 per cent and 11 per cent for senior citizens through its special deposit mobilisation scheme.
As a result, although total interest expenses grew by 45 per cent to Rs 12,272 crore by end of third quarter (December 31) from just Rs 8,410 crore in the corresponding period last year, the bank has managed to keep the expense ratio under check because of the fall in bulk deposit rates to less than 7 per cent. The expense ratio fell by 439 basis points to 47.35 per cent, as on December 31, 2008.
In addition, in an official note, SBI states, “There will be a major push on retail assets especially home loans for a portfolio growth of 22 per cent by the end of the financial year 2008-09. For this, the bank will have a sales force strength of 1,900.”
Additionally, there will be 1,200 financial advisers in place for wealth management, cross-selling of mutual funds and insurance business.
SBI has already cornered 18 per cent of the home loan market, making it the third largest lender after HDFC and ICICI Bank. SBI’s home loan portfolio has grown by Rs 1,478 crore to Rs 52,062 crore during the third quarter.

NTT DoCoMo gets nod for TTSL stake

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has the proposal of Japanese telecom major NTT DoCoMo to acquire 27.31% equity capital of Tata Teleservices for about Rs 12,924 crore.
It also approved the Japanese company’s proposal to acquire 20.25% stake in Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) Ltd for about Rs 949 crore and converting the Indian entity into an operating-cum-holding company. The twin investment by NTT DoCoMo is one of the largest FDI to flow into the telecom sector in last one year.
The CCEA, which met under the chairmanship of external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee, cleared over 40 proposals making the meeting one the lengthiest in recent past. Briefing mediapersons, home minister P Chidambaram, however, clarified that this was not the government’s last Cabinet meeting before elections and more could flow in following weeks.

Ten more SEZs get nod

The UPA government, in its last meeting on its flagship special economic zones policy on Monday, cleared 10 more proposals for such tax-free zones, taking the total number of SEZs in the country, after the enforcement of SEZ Act and Rules, to 714.
The commerce ministry expects exports from SEZs to touch Rs 90,000 crore by this fiscal-end. Exports from SEZs in April-December 2008 have touched Rs 67,000 crore, which is more than the Rs 66,638 crore in the whole of 2007-08. “There is a little bit slowdown but we think we will cross Rs 90,000 crore,” commerce secretary GK Pillai said. SEZs approved by the Centre on Monday include Navi Mumbai gems and jewellery SEZ, promoted by an aide of Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani, and L&T’s shipbuilding SEZ.
The board of approval (BoA) for SEZs, on Monday, also gave its approval for an application to merge three notified SEZs of the Adani group—4,846 hectare (Mundra Port SEZ I) and 1,074.17 hectare (Mundra Port SEZ II), as well as 293.88 hectare Adani Power SEZ – taking the total area of the combined zone to 6214.05 hectare. The total investment proposed for this SEZ is Rs 100,000 crore and the zone is expected to provide employment to 5 lakh people over the next 10 years.
This is the first time since April 2007—when an empowered group of ministers (EGoM) fixed the 5,000-hectare cap on the maximum area for a special economic zone (SEZ) following protests against forcible land acquisition for the zones – that the Centre has given the nod for a tax-free enclave to breach this cap. Earlier, the EGoM had given the green signal for the same application.

A Rs5000cr sop opera in Bengal

In a mad rush to beat the Election Commission’s model code of conduct, the West Bengal government on Monday gifted the electorate a Rs 5,106-crore pre-poll package that includes providing rice at Rs 2 a kg to those below the poverty line.
The generosity will cost the state exchequer Rs 1,000 crore. Finance minister Asim Dasgupta dubbed it “extra-budgetary allocation”. While most annoucements will be implemented within a week, some schemes would spill over to the new fiscal, he said. The EC is set to announce the dates for the Lok Sabha polls by the month-end.
Dasgupta denied that the Rs 2-a-kg rice sop — it will cost the government Rs 370 crore since the state has around Rs 1.8 crore BPL cardholders — had anything to do with the polls. “We had already tried a pilot project three months ago.”
He insisted that the announcement had nothing to do with the elections. “It’s recession and the polls are also here. In times of meltdown, we had to expand the domestic market by helping the common man increase his income,” Dasgupta said.
So, the finance minister announced recruitment of 50,000 teachers (to fill up the existing 60,000 vacancies) and a 20 % hike in pay for college and university teachers.
The last, he explained, was as per the UGC’s recommendations. Till the other day, however, the minister had been insisting that there was a severe funds crunch in the wake of the meltdown. That was also his reason for reimposing sales tax on fuel. On Monday, he claimed to have “calculated some excess generation in the coming budgetary year”. He refused to elaborate.

Shriram EPC bags Rs 70-cr order

Shriram EPC said it has bagged an order worth Rs 70 crore from Cape Energy for supplying wind electric generator.
In a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange, the company said that it has bagged an order worth Rs 70 crore for 60 units of its 250 KW wind turbines.
"Despite an environment that continues to be challenging, we see a large amount of interest in renewable energy projects," SEPC CEO and Managing Director T Shivaraman said.
The company received this order from Capre Energy, an associate of Bergurren Holding, a private equity funded company with interests in infrastructure and real estate development in India, the filing added.
The scope of order includes supply of wind electric generators including all components, operation and maintenance of the turbines, it added.
Further, the order envisages setting up a wind farm project in Tirunelveli district, Tamil Nadu, with a total generation capacity of 15 MW. The project is scheduled for completion by end-April this year, the company said.
"With a shorter break-even point and pent-up situation due to caution exercised for the last couple of quarters, we believe we are on the cusp of an exciting demand scenario for renewable energy projects," it added.

Aircel plans Rs 1,100 crore investment in Karnataka

Into the second phase of its expansion in Karnataka, telecom operator Aircel will invest Rs 1,100 crore over the next year to set up base stations across the state. Aircel marked its formal entry into the state by launching GSM mobile services in Bangalore on Monday.
Aircel chief operating officer Gurdeep Singh said on the occasion that the company has so far spent Rs 550 crore as start-up investments in Bangalore, and become the ninth cellular operator to start operations in the city.
A late entrant into the state, the Chennai-based firm plans to set up 1,200 new base stations in Karnataka over the next two months, from the 500 base stations it has employed currently to start operations in Bangalore Urban and Rural districts.
“Bangalore has a penetration rate of 78 per cent, and this is indicative of the huge potential the market holds for us. Many overseas markets have penetration rates in the region of 130 per cent or so. Hence, we see huge scope to widen the market further through innovative product launches and value-adds,” Singh said.
Aircel has operations in 11 telecom circles, which include the states of Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Bihar, Orissa, Assam and Kerala. Last week, Aircel announced plans to invest Rs 500 crore in its first phase of expansion in Kerala. Services in Hyderabad are scheduled to be launched within two weeks, and New Delhi, Mumbai and east and west Uttar Pradesh circles are expected to come under Aircel’s footprint by September this year.
“We expect to close 2009 with a topline of over $1 billion (from about $600 million in 2008), operating in 18 circles in India out of a total of 23 circles,” Singh said. He added that the company, which sponsors the Chennai Super Kings team, is keen to acquire a pan-India presence before the next edition of the Indian Premier League sets in.
With a market share concentrated predominantly in Tamil Nadu, Aircel has a national subscriber base of over 16 million currently.

Sugar seen down as government imposes stock limit

India sugar futures may fall on Tuesday following the government's decision to impose stock limits, analysts said.
India will impose limits on the amount of sugar that can be stocked and may raise the price millers have to pay farmers for cane by up to 50 percent, in order to tame prices and help lift sugar production out of this year's expected slump.
After a meeting of the federal Cabinet, Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram said the formal notification detailing th regulations, which would initially apply for four months, will most likely be released on Tuesday.
The April contract NSMJ9 on the National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange ended down 0.31 percent at 2,229 rupees per 100 kg on Saturday. The market was closed on Monday on account of a holiday.
Government and trade estimates suggest India's output will fall by nearly one-third to around 18 million tonnes in 2008/09 from 26.3 million tonnes a year ago.

Indian Rupee Weakens as Global Stocks Slump Damps Risk Appetite

India’s rupee weakened versus the dollar, falling in tandem with regional currencies as slides in U.S. and Asian stocks damped investor demand for riskier assets.
The currency dropped after data from the capital markets regulator showed funds based abroad stepped up sales of Indian equities last week. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell 2.5 percent, headed for its lowest close since 2003, after the U.S. Standard & Poor’s 500 Index sank to a 12-year low yesterday.
“The rupee has weakened on expectations the stock market will witness further losses,” spurring capital outflows, said Roy Paul, assistant manager of treasury at Federal Bank Ltd. in Mumbai. “Asian equities are substantially down and so are those in the U.S.”
The rupee slid 0.5 percent to 49.89 per dollar as of 9:46 a.m. in Mumbai, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The currency, which has lost 2.2 percent this year, reached 50.0625 on Feb. 18, the weakest since Dec. 3. All of Asia’s 10 most-used currencies excluding the yen declined today.
The rupee may trade as low as 50 today, Paul said. It will end the current quarter at 49, according to the median estimate of 25 strategists and economists surveyed by Bloomberg.
Offshore contracts indicate traders bet the rupee will trade at 50.28 to the dollar in a month, compared with expectations of 49.95 yesterday. Forwards are agreements in which assets are bought and sold at current prices for future delivery. Non-deliverable contracts are settled in dollars rather than the local currency

BSE Sensex falls

The BSE Sensex fell more than 2 percent in early trade on Tuesday, as fresh concerns about the global financial system and economy dampened investor sentiment and sent Asian markets tumbling.
After steep losses in the United States, financial stocks and the shares of outsourcers fell sharply on worries the deepening global crisis and a slowing domestic economy would hurt growth prospects.
Largest-listed firm Reliance Industries lost 3.4 percent to 1,211.25 rupees ($24.3).
"The sentiment is weak because of the meltdown in international markets. Most investors are staying away, and activity is restricted to exiting select stocks," said Gajendra Nagpal, chief executive of Unicon Financial Intermediaries.
By 11:41 a.m., the main BSE stock index had fallen 1.6 percent to 8,702.14, after slipping 2.5 percent at one point and touching its lowest since Dec. 3. Twenty-six of its components were trading lower.
Strong gains in Asian shares on Monday were completely erased as optimism over reports that the U.S. government could take a bigger stake in Citigroup gave way to fresh questions about whether Washington is doing enough to stabilise the ailing banking and credit sectors.
In India, financial stocks saw sharp losses as foreign investors sold on worries higher bond yields will cap treasury income that has sustained profits in the previous quarter.

Ficci moots separate EPC for auto industry

Industry body Federation of Indian chambers of commerce & industry (Ficci) has said there should be a separate export promotion council for the country's automotive sector, which would work with a mission of achieving 5 per cent share of India in global automotive trade by identifying the true potential for exports of various categories of automotive products from India. Currently, India's share in global automotive trade is only 0.5 per cent, which is much lower than that of many other developing countries like Brazil, Mexico, China, Thailand. This share has not increased much since 2000, when India’s share was 0.2 per cent in global automotive trade, Ficci pointed out.
India’s automotive exports stood at $5.8 billion in 2007 compared to $55 billion for China, $44 billion for Mexico, $18.2 billion for Turkey, $14.6 billion for Thailand and $19.5 billion for Brazil in 2007, Ficci said.
Ficci further said that Indian automotive industry needs to diversify its destinations of exports for which this Council would be instrumental. Currently, India does not export significant amount of automotive items to some of the major importing countries like Australia, Canada, Russia and Saudi Arabia, noted Ficci.

Posco-India chief leaves Orissa

After a three year stint as the chairman-cum-managing director of Posco-India, Soung Sik Cho has left Orissa for
South Korea.
Cho who on behalf of the company had signed mou with the Orissa government on June 22, 2005 for setting up of a steel mill near Paradip, left the state yesterday, a company spokesman told media.
Claiming that Cho's departure would in no way affect the company's India project, the spokeman said that the company was yet to announce name of the new CMD of Posco-India, a subsidiary of South Korea
based Posco.
The new CMD for Posco-India will be chosen at the board meeting in Korea on February 28, Posco-India General Manager Saraoj Mohapatra added.
Besides being CMD of Posco-India, Cho was also the senior executive vice-president and member of the board Posco.
Though Cho's dream of beginning construction work at the proposed plant site could not materialise during his tenure, he was instrumental in obtaining the state government's recommendation for prospecting license over the iron rich Khandadhar reserve despite opposition from different quarters.
Besides, Cho had also enabled the company to get stage-I of the forest land diversion proposal clearance.

Renault Sandero Hatchback may come to India

Though Indians have a penchant for small cars such as the Maruti 800, the Hyundai Santro or the i10, small family cars such as the Mahindra Logan have become somewhat popular. Mahindra has collaborated with Renault to get the car to India and it seems that this partnership will move to one more vehicle.
According to Indian newspaper, The Times of India, Renault is planning to get the Sandero to India. The carmaker from France will be using their collaboration with Mahindra to get the Sandero hatchback to India next year. They hope that this will use the Nashik plant’s excess capacity. Mahindra seems to be mum as the head of the automotive division, Pawan Goenka remarked, “Nothing has been decided as yet. Talks are at a preliminary stage.”
The Renault Sandero will be a special car for both the companies as it will be their first product in the segment that is called as “high-volume compact car”. But the hatchback will be built on the Logan platform. And yes, the Sandero is expected to come in the petrol and diesel versions. Let’s hope that besides the Renault Sandero, the French auto company also gets the Laguna to India.

CBDT, CBEC to have new building

The Central Board of Direct Taxes and Central Board of Excise and Customs will have a new building and are likely to be shifted there in three years time from their present stay, mostly in the North Block.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Monday laid the foundation for the new building, Rajaswa Bhawan at Lutyen's Bungalow Zone, even as he requested the Urban Development Minister Jaipal Reddy to help in getting more houses for revenue department officials in big towns.
The building with 46,000 sq ms built-up area, will house all the offices of the two boards at one place and would serve as headquarters for the boards. It would have facilities like auditorium, display spaces, conference halls among other things.
At present, the two boards are in the North Block, but a number of their offices had to be shifted to other places because of space crunch, creating administrative bottlenecks, inconvenience to trade and industry.
Officials present in the foundation laying ceremony said building is expected to be constructed in three years time by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

Tata sends Nano on pilgrimage

Given all its troubles last year, it is no surprise that the Nano is seeking divine blessings as its commercial launch date nears.
While two factory-fresh Nanos — one white, one silver — were driven to the Golden Temple in Amritsar on Friday for blessings, on Sunday afternoon, yet another Nano made its way through the narrow, crowded lanes outside Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti’s dargah in Ajmer, Rajasthan. Tata officials with the car offered a chadar at the shrine.
“Ratan Tata himself instructed that the blessings of different leading shrines of our pluralistic country should be sought before the Nano hits the road,” said one of the five officials who travelled in the car to Amritsar, refusing to be named.
With the plant that will eventually manufacture the Rs 1 lakh car still being built at Sanand in Gujarat, the model taken to the Golden Temple was assembled at the factory in Uttarakhand, 400 km away. “We drove down from Pantnagar,” said the Tata official.
The Nano in Ajmer was built at Pimpri in Maharashtra, airlifted from Mumbai to Jaipur and driven down, said a Tata Motors dealer.

Set up detailed plan to put Satyam back on track: Spice Grp

BK Modi of Spice Group stated that he has been in touch with the Satyam board, who he claims is keen to have him on board.
Modi said he was in talks with lawyers in the US to evolve a legal strategy to buy Satyam and added that he was preparing a detailed roadmap to put the Satyam back on track. The 51% control Modi believes is imperative in order to deal with class action suits filed against the company.
Spice Group had joined the fray to buy Satyam along with L&T and Tech Mahindra amongst others.
The Satyam Board, on February 21 decided to allow a strategic investor to buy up to 31% equity through a preferential allotment and an additional 20% through a mandatory open offer. The Company Law Board (CLB), last week had permitted the besieged company to raise its authorised capital to Rs 280 crore from Rs 160 crore, and also allowed it to induct a strategic investor through a competitive auction process.

Citi in talks to hand big stake to U.S. government

Citigroup is in talks with federal officials which could see the U.S. government holding as much as 40 percent of the struggling lender's common stock, the Wall Street Journal reported on its website.
Citigroup executives are hoping the talks with U.S. federal officials will result in a stake closer to 25 percent, the Journal reported, citing sources familiar with the talks.
The report comes amid heavy selling of U.S. bank shares last week on fears the U.S. government may be forced to nationalize some ailing banks to stave off further damage to the economy.

BHEL bags Rs 3,150-cr contract from MP

State-run power equipment maker Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL) today said it has bagged the Rs 3,150-crore contract from the Madhya Pradesh Power Generating Company.
"BHEL has bagged the Rs 3,150-crore order for installing main plant package (steam turbines and generators) at the Malwa Thermal Power Project from Madhya Pradesh Power Generating Company (MPPGCL)," a company statement said.
This is the first order secured by BHEL for the new-rating units of 600 MW, it said.
The company's scope of work in the contract includes design, engineering, manufacture, supply, erection and commissioning of Steam Turbines, Generators, Boilers and associated Auxiliaries, including Transformers, in addition to civil works for the main power block.
The first set is scheduled to go on stream in 3 years, the second set will be commissioned in 43 months (over 3 three years) from the date of contract.

Foundation stone laid for Rel Power's Butibori plant

The Maharashtra Chief Minister, Ashok Chavan on Sunday laid the foundation stone for Reliance Power's 300 MW Butibori Group Captive Power project near here.
The coal-based power project to be commissioned in the second quarter of 2011, would feed around 2,000 MUs to the state, a release said.
The project, which is being developed on a fast-track basis, would help overcome the prevailing deficit of around 21 per cent in the state, it said.
Besides, it would provide cheap and reliable power to different categories of consumers across the state, the release stated.
The power generated would be supplied to nearly 200 companies mainly in Butibori, Hingna and other nearby industrial areas, the release said.

EPF Board recommends 8.5 per cent interest

The Central Board of Trustees of the Employees Provident Fund met here on Sunday and recommended 8.5 per cent interest to the subscribers for 2008-09, as against the demand for 9.5 per cent by trade unions.

The meeting also considered coverage of contract employees under the EPF Act and better extension of social security cover to the existing employees.

The matter would be discussed after obtaining views from various members, an official release said.

Objection

Representatives of major trade unions — the AITUC, CITU, BMS, HMS and AIUTUC — registered their protest at the meeting convened here under the chairmanship of Labour Minister Oscar Fernandes.

They were among those who said that the EPF interest rate be hiked to 9.5 per cent as promised by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

CITU Secretary Ardhendu Dakshi told The Hindu that barring 2005-06, when the interest rate stood at 9.5 per cent, it had always been low. He said that at a time when the government was announcing bail-out packages for various sectors, relief should have been given to workers for most of whom it is lifetime savings.

Mr. Dakshi said about 70 per cent of the fund’s Rs.33,000-crore corpus was with the government’s special depository schemes.

Contention rejected

The government’s contention that it would return interest out of the amount it earned was rejected by the unions.

For instance, even at the current 8.5 per cent, the government said there was a shortfall of Rs.140 crore.

Disappointing

CPI MP and labour leader Gurudas Dasgupta said the decision was “highly disappointing.”

He said the government should have declared a higher rate since the money it had was a perpetual loan.

The government should spend the funds to build social infrastructure.

Homage

The board paid respects to its former member Alampalli Venkataram, who passed away in January this year.

He was associated with the board for nearly 20 years as an employee’s representative.

BSNL has launched 3G telecom services

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), the government owned telecom behemoth has launched 3G telecom services in the country.

Launched Sunday in the presence of Tamil Nadu chief minister N Karunanidhi in Chennai, the launch gives an advantage to BSNL over its private sector competitors who are still to be given licenses to launch the coveted services.

Notwithstanding the government funding and the government support that showed when BSNL and MTNL were given preference by allowing it to launch 3G services, the government owned companies have failed to make proper use of the preferences.

Once the only telecom operator in the country BSNL has faltered in recent years and has been relegated to also ran player in the telecom sector.

Late last year while making the announcement in this regard Communication and IT Minister A Raja had given an advantage to telecom PSUs - BSNL and MTNL - of allocating 3G spectrum ahead of others with a condition that both will pay the price equivalent to the highest bid

This was done keeping in mind the cumbersome process to procure equipment by the PSUs vis-a-vis by the private players.

Earlier 3G mobile services were launched on test basis in Haryana’s Gurgaon and Faridabad areas a few weeks ago.

The 3G platform will enable telephone companies in the country to offer high-end services such as high-speed internet, video conferencing on mobiles, interactive gaming, ultra fast downloads of video and music clips amongst other services. The PM also witnessed for sometime a live telecast of the India-England Test match on a mobile handset using 3G services.