NEWS – June 2008
- Duty drawback on iron, steel, rice, cement goes
Business Line, Sunday, June 01, 2008 - A review of competition law from an M&A perspective
Business Line, Monday, June 02, 2008 - New coal washing norm to set prices on fire
Financial Express, Monday, June 02, 2008 - Secondary steel makers hike prices by Rs 3,000/tonne
Business Line, Tuesday, June 03, 2008 - DoT may allow AT&T, DLF in 3G spectrum auction
Financial Express, Wednesday, June 04, 2008 - Pvt players keen to set up sugar mills in Maharashtra
Financial Express, Wednesday, June 04, 2008 - Breather for oil PSUs; govt finances to take the hit
Financial Express, Thursday, June 05, 2008 - ESPN takes on Tata Sky over new package rates
Business Line, Friday, June 06, 2008 - Cement, steel to bear the brunt of fuel price hike
Financial Express, Sunday, June 08, 2008 - RCom, MTN inch closer to sealing merger deal
Business Line, Sunday, June 08, 2008 - Steel : policy uncertainty isn’t any good
Financial Express, Monday, June 09, 2008 - BSNL long distance call tariffs slashed
Business Line, Tuesday, June 10, 2008 - Bhel, Areva, L&T submit bids for 18k-cr MahaTransco project
Financial Express, Thursday, June 12, 2008 - Global bidding for 3G is okay with Law Ministry
Business Line, Friday, June 13, 2008 - Mobile cos reject Trai’s definition of MVNOs
Financial Express, Saturday, June 14, 2008 - DoT may impose eligibility conditions for 3G auction
Business Line, Sunday, June 15, 2008 - Centre backs out from retail, shifts burden to states
Financial Express, Tuesday, June 17, 2008 - Airlines look to trim capacity; fares may go up
Business Line, Wednesday, June 18, 2008 - DoT forms panel for 2G spectrum allocation, pricing
Financial Express, Wednesday, June 18, 2008 - Sebi notifies regulations on listing of debt papers & intermediaries
Financial Express, Friday, June 20, 2008 - Power regulator pulls the plug on inter-state trading licence
Financial Express, Friday, June 20, 2008 - Haryana-Baddi road languishes as Punjab govt delays tender
Financial Express, Tuesday, June 24, 2008 - Trai asks DoT to review termination charges
Financial Express, Tuesday, June 24, 2008 - Trai needs accurate TRP numbers, ropes in stat bodies for evaluation
Financial Express, Wednesday, June 25, 2008 - Govt asks Reliance to supply KG gas first to urea plants
Business Line, Thursday, June 26, 2008 - ‘Govt can’t intervene every time to hold steel prices’
Financial Express, Friday, June 27, 2008 - Meeting of TV channels on regulatory issues
Financial Express, Thursday, May 29, 2008 - Discovery gets Trai’s dictat to modify RIO
Financial Express, Monday, June 30, 2008
Duty drawback on iron, steel, rice, cement goes
Business Line, Sunday, June 01, 2008
In a further move to discourage exports in the face of domestic inflationary pressures, the Centre has withdrawn duty drawback benefits on all iron & steel, cement and rice shipments. Henceforth, exporters of these commodities will not be entitled to any rebate or refund of customs, excise or service tax paid on inputs used for their production.
A review of competition law from an M&A perspective
Business Line, Monday, June 02, 2008
While failures are an integral part of mergers and acquisitions (M&A), Indian industry has realised in the recent past that operating in a global environment with globalised competition requires scaling and ‘skill-ing’ rapidly. Do big M&A deals stifle competition? What should the competition law promote and avoid?
New coal washing norm to set prices on fire
Financial Express, Monday, June 02, 2008
Coal prices will go up by Rs 300-400 per tonne, as the government has made it mandatory for all coal produced in the country to be washed by the producers. The higher price would mean more input costs for thermal power companies and the railways. This is expected to add to the price of electricity. This follows the government’s decision to make it mandatory for all coal produced in the country to be washed, will now mean spending about Rs 1,500 crore to wash coal and about Rs 4,000-6,000 crore to set up such washeries.
Secondary steel makers hike prices by Rs 3,000/tonne
Business Line, Tuesday, June 03, 2008
While the Government has been able to restrain the major domestic steel producers from increasing prices to contain inflation, secondary steel makers have raised prices of their products following increase in international prices in the last 15 days. Market sources told Business Line that prices of semi finished steel such as ingots and billets have increased in the range of Rs 2,500 to Rs 3,000 a tonne.
DoT may allow AT&T, DLF in 3G spectrum auction
Financial Express, Wednesday, June 04, 2008
As many as 342 aspirants, including AT&T, DLF and Deutsche Telecom-MoserBaer who failed to get new telecom licences in the last round, may get to bid for spectrum for launching next generation (3G) mobile services. The department of telecom (DoT) is understood to have mooted the proposal to allow those who had applied for licenses between September 25, 2007 and October 1, 2007, to participate in the next generation 3G mobile telephony services.
Pvt players keen to set up sugar mills in Maharashtra
Financial Express, Wednesday, June 04, 2008
Maharashtra, which is known for its strength in sugar cooperatives, has now begun to attract investments from private players who are keen up setting up projects in the state. Around 80 proposals are currently pending with the state sugar commissionerate for private sugar mills in Maharashtra. At least 11 projects have been granted aerial clearance (distance of 15 km between two sugar factories) by the commissionerate and four of these have already begun their first crushing season.
Breather for oil PSUs; govt finances to take the hit
Financial Express, Thursday, June 05, 2008
The UPA government have announced duty cuts, issued fresh oil bonds and the highest hike in fuel prices during its tenure to partially offset oil PSUs’ mounting losses on Wednesday. While the measures may help the oil companies’ balance sheets look slicker, the Centre’s own finances are expected to take a significant hit. The duty changes in the customs and excise duty on oil and petroleum products are expected to cause revenue losses of about Rs 22,660 crore this fiscal, revenue secretary PV Bhide said. Oil bonds worth of Rs 94,601 crore will also be issued to state-run oil marketers — BPCL, HPCL and IOC — taking the government’s oil bond issuance tally over the last four years to Rs 1,65,000 crore.
ESPN takes on Tata Sky over new package rates
Business Line, Friday, June 06, 2008
A miffed ESPN is encouraging subscribers of Tata Sky to move to cable or even Dish TV to catch its line-up of sports programming. In a public notice, it has accused the DTH operator of “unilaterally and arbitrarily” depriving consumers of its channels along with others from BBC, which have been dislodged from Tata Sky’s basic packages in its new offer. ESPN does not appreciate Tata Sky’s argument that the move allows consumers freedom of choice.
Cement, steel to bear the brunt of fuel price hike
Financial Express, Sunday, June 08, 2008
The recent hike in fuel prices by the government will impact operating costs of most Indian corporates. However, some industries like steel, cement and metals, including aluminium, will truly feel the heat. According to an analyst with a brokerage, “The fuel price hike would not only impact individuals but even oil-dependent industries like automobiles, commercial vehicles and logistics. A freight hikes by fleet operators can not be ruled out.”
RCom, MTN inch closer to sealing merger deal
Business Line, Sunday, June 08, 2008
Reliance Communication and South African telecom company MTN are close to signing a deal to merge the two entities. While the structure of the merged entity has been finalised, issues related to pricing and country-specific regulation are being thrashed out by the two sides. According to sources close to the deal, both sides have agreed on a 35:100 swap formula whereby RCom shareholders will get 35 shares of the merged entity for every 100 RCom shares they hold.
Steel : policy uncertainty isn’t any good
Financial Express, Monday, June 09, 2008
One is worried what is coming up next in the iron ore or steel sector in terms of new measures or withdrawal of a few existing ones. For example, one hears of the government considering withdrawal of export duty on flat steel products. Perhaps there were no reasons to have them at all in the first place. If the duty is to be lifted from this group of products, what is holding the government back from doing so for long products as well? If forcing the steel makers to sell in the domestic market instead of exporting them out was the objective, why is the government in certain quarters seeing the opportunities in generating revenue through export duties?
BSNL long distance call tariffs slashed
Business Line, Tuesday, June 10, 2008
In a move that will benefit over 70 million telephone users across the country, State-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd has reduced STD rates for its fixed line and cellular subscribers by up to 50 per cent. Once the new rates come into effect, from June 11 onwards, BSNL’s 35 million fixed line subscribers will be able to make STD calls within the same circle (equivalent of a State) at 60 paise a minute compared to Rs 1.20 at present. This means a subscriber in Chennai will be able to make a call anywhere in Tamil Nadu for 60 paise a minute.
Bhel, Areva, L&T submit bids for 18k-cr MahaTransco project
Financial Express, Thursday, June 12, 2008
As many as 35 bidders, including Bhel, Crompton Greaves, Areva T&D India, JSW Energy, Larsen & Toubro, have submitted bids to the Maharashtra State Transmission Corporation (MahaTransco) for the Rs 18,000-crore transmission strengthening and upgrade project in the state. MahaTransco proposes to upgrade the transmission network in phases by the end of 2012 and has convened a pre-bid conference on June 16.
Global bidding for 3G is okay with Law Ministry
Business Line, Friday, June 13, 2008
In what could be good news for foreign telecom companies wanting to invest in India, the Union Ministry of Law and Justice has suggested that the Communication Ministry may take the issue of following an open auction for third generation mobile services to a Group of Ministers if it wanted to overrule the views expressed by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.
Mobile cos reject Trai’s definition of MVNOs
Financial Express, Saturday, June 14, 2008
Mobile operators have conveyed it to the Trai the definition of a Mobile Virtual Network Operators as suggested by it needs to be changed to rule out any sharing of spectrum between them and Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNOs). In its consultation paper telecom regulator Trai has said, “MVNO licensee is an entity that does not have an assignment of spectrum for Access Services (2G/3G/BWA) but can provide wireless (mobile) Access Services to customers by sharing the spectrum of the Access Provider “.
DoT may impose eligibility conditions for 3G auction
Business Line, Sunday, June 15, 2008
In a move that could queer the pitch for some of the new telecom licence holders, the Department of Telecom is considering to impose eligibility conditions for participating in the auction for third generation (3G) mobile services. While the auction will be open to new and foreign players, DoT may make it mandatory for the bidders to have a minimum of one year experience in rolling out telecom services in any part of the world and have at least 5 lakh mobile subscribers.
Centre backs out from retail, shifts burden to states
Financial Express, Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Days after the Icrier report was submitted to the department of industrial policy and promotion (DIPP), the government seems to be in no mood to mire itself in any further controversies regarding retail. Out of line with the Icrier report the union government isn’t likely to take any steps of strength. “The matter is now going to be with the state governments, who would have to take independent initiatives to promote unorganised trade”, government sources said
Airlines look to trim capacity; fares may go up
Business Line, Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Domestic air fares could rise by as much as 10-12 per cent in the short term with airlines looking to cut capacity to offset their losses due to the current low realisation and rising aviation turbine fuel (ATF) costs. The President, Travel Agents Association of India, Mr C.V. Prasad, told Business Line, the base fare is likely to be fixed at a minimum level which would be almost double of what it is currently. “The base fare of Rs 200 will no more be there, instead they are likely to be fixed between Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 and with the fuel surcharge etc there is likely to be an increase of 10 to 12 per cent in the fares across the board.”
DoT forms panel for 2G spectrum allocation, pricing
Financial Express, Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Department of telecom has formed a committee to recommend the methodology for allocation and pricing of 2G spectrum for mobile voice services. The committee will be headed by Subhod Kumar, additional seretary DoT, and has other senior officials from the department besides professors from IITs, IIMs, sources said. The terms of reference of the committee, formed for submitting recommendations to the government, are to assess the demand of spectrum for GSM, CDMA and 3G based on projected growth of the Indian telecom sector and availability of the radio waves.
Sebi notifies regulations on listing of debt papers & intermediaries
Financial Express, Friday, June 20, 2008
Sebi has notified Sebi (Intermediaries) Regulations, 2008 with an aim to consolidate the common requirements, which apply to all the intermediaries wherever such requirements are applicable. The regulator has also notified regulations with respect to public offer and listing of securitised debt. This will be called Sebi (public offer and listing of securitised debt instruments) regulations, 2008. Sebi said in a statement that the regulations put in place a comprehensive regulation, which will apply to all intermediaries.
Power regulator pulls the plug on inter-state trading licence
Financial Express, Friday, June 20, 2008
The Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC), in a path breaking order, ruled that it will be a violation of the Electricity Act to grant inter-state power trading licence, when the transmission company and the trading company are owned by one entity and controlled by the board of directors headed by a single person. Based on the existing provisions of the Electricity Act and the law laid down by the Supreme Court, CERC has rejected Maharashtra State Electric Power Trading Company’s (applicant) plea for grant of category “D” inter-state power trading licence. CERC ruled that the applicant and the Maharashtra State Transmission Company, which is the state transmission unit (STU) and also operating the State Load Despatch Centre (SLDC), are the integrated organs of the one concern, MSEB Holding Company.
Haryana-Baddi road languishes as Punjab govt delays tender
Financial Express, Tuesday, June 24, 2008
It is just a 15-km stretch of highway, but the Punjab government says it will take two years from now for the road to complete. This road that runs from Chandigarh to Baddi in Himachal Pradesh goes via Punjab. Another 5 kms of this road that runs through Haryana, has just been improved, after a delay of three years. At Baddi, where the road ends, are those industrial units that have shifted base from Hayrana and Punjab because of the liberal tax write off that the Centre had given to the hilly state.
Trai asks DoT to review termination charges
Financial Express, Tuesday, June 24, 2008
The department of telecommunications (DoT) has asked the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) to review the termination charges and make them cost-based. In a letter written to the regulator, DoT has said that the current termination charge of Rs 0.30 per minute was last reviewed in 2003 and if brought down would lead to even further lower tariffs. The DoT has suggested that the ceiling on the ‘termination’ charges be brought down to Rs 0.10 per minute and cited the reduction in costs and increase in the traffic as the primary reasons of doing so.
Trai needs accurate TRP numbers, ropes in stat bodies for evaluation
Financial Express, Wednesday, June 25, 2008
In order to determine the appropriate sample size that can reflect the TV viewership data with an adequate accuracy, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) is evaluating the option of roping in the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) or Central Statistical Organisation (CSO), both of which fall under the ambit of ministry of statistics and programme implementation.
Govt asks Reliance to supply KG gas first to urea plants
Business Line, Thursday, June 26, 2008
Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) has been asked by the Government to supply natural gas from its prolific Krishna Godavari field in the following order of priority – the urea plants, LPG plants and existing power plants – once it commences production. According to an official statement, the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) examining the issues relating to pricing and commercial utilisation of gas under New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP) has decided that all gas produced from areas awarded in the licensing rounds would have to sell gas in accordance with the marketing priorities determined by the Government.
‘Govt can’t intervene every time to hold steel prices’
Financial Express, Friday, June 27, 2008
On Thursday, steel minister Ram Vilas Paswan said that at a time when global prices are hardening, the government should not intervene again and ask the major steel producers to hold prices for another few months. The minister’s comments came after the three-month time period given by steel majors to hold price line, on the request of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. When asked whether the government would yet again appeal major steel producers to hold prices for a few months, Paswan told reporters, “The government cannot intervene every time as steel rates are governed by international prices.”
Meeting of TV channels on regulatory issues
Financial Express, Saturday, June 28, 2008
The Centre has called a meeting of television channels on July 10 to discuss regulatory issues. “I have called a meeting of television channels to discuss regulatory and TRP related issues on July 10,” information and broadcasting minister P R Dasmunsi said on Friday, while participating in a DVD release function of popular teleseries Discovery of India here. Coming down heavily on television channels, Dasmunsi said that instead of churning out anything under the sun for the sake of TRP, they should come up with a standard programme like Discovery of India. “Do whatever you want to do to garner TRPs, but keep the regulatory dos and don’ts in mind. If you cross the limit, then we will have to send you notice,” Dasmunsi said.
Discovery gets Trai’s dictat to modify RIO
Financial Express, Monday, June 30, 2008
The broadcast regulator Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (Trai) has directed MSM Discovery, distributor of Sony and Discovery group of channels, to modify its reference interconnect offer (RIO) for sharing of channels with DTH operators within 15 days. Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s directive to the broadcaster came after it found that in its RIO, submitted before it, the company was not following the norms laid by the sectoral tribunal TDSAT in this regard.