NEWS – OCTOBER 2007

• Restrict monopoly in financial markets, says Rangarajan
  The Financial Express, Tuesday, October 16, 2007
• 11th Plan power projects: Govt sets strict deadlines
  The Business Line, Tuesday, October 09, 2007
• AICTE showcause notices to 120 unrecognised foreign institutes
  The Financial Express, Friday, October 12, 2007
• Bidding date for Krishnapatnam extended; REL, Tatas in fray
  The Financial Express, Wednesday, October 10, 2007
• BSNL gets additional GSM spectrum
  The Business Line, Friday, October 05, 2007
• Budget ‘08 may tax cross-border M&As
  The Financial Express, Tuesday, October 16, 2007
• CCI may become telecom M&As big brother
  The Financial Express, Monday, October 01, 200
• Centre to study hardware manpower scenario
  The Business Line, Monday, October 15, 2007
• COAI wants representation in telecom panel
  The Financial Express, Thursday, October 25, 2007
• Coal supply pacts to be mandatory for power utilities
  The Business Line, Monday, October 15, 2007
• Coir sector opposes cess on turnover
  The Business Line, Monday, October 29, 2007
• Competition Commission to settle mergers faster
  The Financial Express, Tuesday, October 09, 2007
• Create one-stop shops for project clearances at municipal level: World Bank
  The Financial Express, Monday, October 08, 2007
• DoT bypassed Trai on dual tech guidelines
  The Financial Express, Tuesday, October 23, 2007
• DoT may not alter licensing norms for new applicants
  The Financial Express, Tuesday, October 16, 2007
• DoT may seek Ministry help for verifying new applicants
  The Business Line, Thursday, October 11, 2007
• DoT puts spectrum allocation on hold, for now
  The Financial Express, Wednesday, October 24, 2007
• Duty cut to avert fuel prices hike proposed
  The Financial Express, Tuesday, October 09, 2007
• FDI policy review for Cabinet
  The Business Line, Sunday, October 07, 2007
• Floor price may replace ban on rice exports
  The Business Line, Tuesday, October 23, 2007
• Foreign cos can bid for 3G licences
  The Financial Express, Tuesday, October 16, 2007
• Govt plans to set up nationwide retail chain
  The Financial Express, Monday, October 29, 2007
• Govt puts new telecom players in call waiting
  The Financial Express, Thursday, October 04, 2007
• Govt re-drafting Broadcasting Bill
  The Financial Express, Thursday, October 18, 2007
• Govt spares consumers another hike in fuel prices
  The Financial Express, Thursday, October 11, 2007
• Govt to have a say in natural gas pricing
  The Financial Express, Thursday, October 25, 2007 at 2305 hrs IST
• Hardware manufacturing policy by month-end
  The Financial Express, Saturday, October 13, 2007
• I&B may question TDSAT role in Red FM ban
  The Financial Express, Wednesday, October 03, 2007
• It’s back to bidding in telecom
  The Financial Express, Monday, October 08, 2007
• L&T, Sterlite, Rel Power in fray for AP project
  The Financial Express, Wednesday, October 24, 2007
• Maha industrial body may have to wait for power trading licence
  The Financial Express, Wednesday, October 24, 2007
• Mahindra joins the retail bandwagon
  The Business Line, Thursday, October 11, 2007
• Mars Telecom mulls new products in VoIP segment
  The Financial Express, Tuesday, October 16, 2007
• Microsoft eyes bigger share of IT business in India
  The Financial Express, Tuesday, October 09, 2007
• Mineral policy goes to Cabinet this month
  The Financial Express, Wednesday, October 10, 2007
• MTNL seeks lower bids for global traffic carrier
  The Financial Express, Monday, October 15, 2007
• New coal supply policy to hurt cement, steel
  The Financial Express, Friday, October 19, 2007
• New pricing method to lower price of complex fertilisers
  The Financial Express, Friday, October 26, 2007
• No more purchase preference to PSUs
  The Financial Express, Thursday, October 25, 2007
• Plan to hike fertiliser freight sops gets nod
  The Financial Express, Thursday, October 18, 2007
• Plea to make blending of ethanol with petrol mandatory
  The Business Line, Monday, October 29, 2007
• Power ministry wants level playing field for private cos in hydro sector
  The Financial Express, Wednesday, October 10, 2007
• Registration must for investment advisers: SEBI draft
  The Business Line, Thursday, October 11, 2007
• Regulator turns down Ratnagiri tariff plea, seeks more details
  The Financial Express, Wednesday, October 03, 2007
• Rs 1,050 cr for small firms’ cluster
  The Financial Express, Wednesday, October 10, 2007
• SEZ developers seek more fiscal sops to meet cost escalation
  The Financial Express, Thursday, October 11, 2007
• Steel prices rise by Rs 400-800/tonne
  The Hindu, December 26, 2007.
• Tariff ceiling fixed for non-CAS areas
  The Business Line, Friday, October 05, 2007
• Why the government banned export of rice
  The Financial Express, Monday, October 22, 2007
• MRTPC spares B-schools due to staff crunch
  Business Standard, October 13, 2007
• World Bank asks govt to reduce taxes on telecom services
  The Business Line, Friday, October 5, 2007
• Bharti, Vodafone, Idea may merge tower bizs
  The Business Line, Saturday, October 06, 2007

Restrict monopoly in financial markets, says Rangarajan
The Financial Express, Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Mumbai, October 16, Chairman C Rangarajan at a panel discussion said, that the tendency of natural monopolies in the financial markets must be restricted. Creating a creative competitive atmosphere in the financial markets would spur growth. The panel discussion set the stage for the release of a report by CUTS titled, “Competition & Regulation in India, 2007,” by Rangarajan. The report takes stock of how the country has moved forward in promoting growth and equity through regulatory reforms and better management, and what still needs to be done.

 
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11th Plan power projects: Govt sets strict deadlines
The Business Line, Tuesday, October 09, 2007

New Delhi, October 8, Faced with a daunting prospect of adding 78,577-MW power generating capacity during the current plan period, the Centre is not taking any chances and has fixed stringent time-lines for placement of orders and project execution.

 
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AICTE showcause notices to 120 unrecognised foreign institutes
The Financial Express, Friday, October 12, 2007

Kolkata, October 11, The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) is all set to crack the whip on unrecognised foreign institutions running degree or diploma courses in the country in association with local partners. It has sent showcause notices to 120 such institutes across the country.

 
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Bidding date for Krishnapatnam extended; REL, Tatas in fray
The Financial Express, Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Mumbai, October 10, Reliance Energy Ltd (REL), Tata Power and NTPC are among the 10 qualified bidders in fray for the 4,000-mw Krishnapatnam ultra mega power plant (UMPP) in Andhra Pradesh, request for proposals (RFPs) for which will be accepted till October 24.

 
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BSNL gets additional GSM spectrum
The Business Line, Friday, October 05, 2007

New Delhi, October 4, Even as private cellular operators are clamouring for more radio frequency, the Government has allocated additional GSM spectrum to State-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd in 16 States across the country.

 
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Budget ‘08 may tax cross-border M&As
The Financial Express, Tuesday, October 16, 2007

New Delhi, October 16, The tax authorities are scrambling to keep up with corporate India’s recent overseas buying spree and Budget 2008-09’s big story is expected to be taxation of cross-border capital gains, particularly mergers & acquisitions. Early warning signals are hard to miss and top officials said much more in terms of beefing up policies on international taxation and transfer pricing rules are in the works.

 
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CCI may become telecom M&As big brother
The Financial Express, Monday, October 01, 2007

New Delhi, Telecom Companies may not any more require the approval of the department of telecommunications (DoT) for mergers and acquisitions. The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has instead proposed that telcos involved in M&As should report only to the commission as it is best suited to deal with such issues.

 
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Centre to study hardware manpower scenario
The Business Line, Monday, October 15, 2007

New Delhi, October 14, The Government may rope in hardware association MAIT (Manufacturers Association for Information Technology) to undertake a comprehensive study that would project the manpower skill-set demand and supply in electronics hardware manufacturing space, including IT hardware, consumer electronics, components and strategic electronics.

 
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COAI wants representation in telecom panel
The Financial Express, Thursday, October 25, 2007

New Delhi, October 24, Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), the lobby representing GSM operators, on Wednesday asked the government to appoint its representative in the Telecom Engineering Centre’s (TEC) committee on efficient use of spectrum for mobile services.

 
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Coal supply pacts to be mandatory for power utilities
The Business Line, Monday, October 15, 2007

New Delhi, October 14, The new coal distribution policy, likely to be notified soon, will make it mandatory for all consumers to conclude fuel supply agreements with concerned coal companies.

 
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Coir sector opposes cess on turnover
The Business Line, Monday, October 29, 2007

Kochi, October 28, The Indian Coir Association has expressed concern over the move of the Kerala Government to impose one per cent cess on the turnover of all engaged in the business of coir in the State.

 
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Competition Commission to settle mergers faster
The Financial Express, Tuesday, October 09, 2007

Kolkata, October 8, CCI has decided to move faster in giving clearances to mergers and acquisition following concern that the limit of 210 days is too long a period when compared with practices prevalent in the US or European Union.

 
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Create one-stop shops for project clearances at municipal level: World Bank
The Financial Express, Monday, October 08, 2007

New Delhi, Even as shopping malls and high-rises sprout in every nook and corner of major cities, it is time India leveled the numerous speed-breakers at the municipal level. For, this is where the brakes are usually applied on projects waiting to get construction clearances and building licences, leading to delays.

 
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DoT bypassed Trai on dual tech guidelines
The Financial Express, Tuesday, October 23, 2007

New Delhi, October 23, DoT has violated procedural norms while announcing the new guidelines on October 19 allowing telecom Companies to use dual technology and enhancing the subscriber base norms for getting additional spectrum by not informing TRAI as is mandated under the TRAI Act.

 
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DoT may not alter licensing norms for new applicants
The Financial Express, Tuesday, October 16, 2007

New Delhi, October 16, DoT is not likely to change norms for new applicants seeking licences. Indicating this, communications and IT minister A Raja said on Tuesday the existing telecom policy coupled with TRAI recommendations on “reforms in licensing regime” would decide the fate of over 500 applications.

 
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DoT may seek Ministry help for verifying new applicants
The Business Line, Thursday, October 11, 2007

New Delhi, October 10, In a bid to prevent violation of cross holding norms by companies which have recently applied for new telecom licences, DoT is considering to seek the help of Ministry of Corporate Affairs to verify the identity of the actual promoters behind the applicant firms.

 
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DoT puts spectrum allocation on hold, for now
The Financial Express, Wednesday, October 24, 2007

New Delhi, October 24, DoT has assured the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) that it will not allot spectrum to any player till November 12, the next date of hearing on a petition filed by the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) against the new norms.

 
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Duty cut to avert fuel prices hike proposed
The Financial Express, Tuesday, October 09, 2007

New Delhi, October 8, In what could be seen as another political gimmick for averting a hike in the prices of domestic petroleum products, a mid-term duty rejig in the petroleum sector was discussed at a high-level meeting convened by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh with the ministers of petroleum and finance.

 
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FDI policy review for Cabinet
The Business Line, Sunday, October 07, 2007

New Delhi, October 6, The review and streamlining of foreign direct investment (FDI) by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion would be sent to the Union Cabinet for its endorsement and more areas for FDI such as stock exchanges, commodity exchanges and civil aviation for aircraft maintenance and repair would be opened up.

 
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Floor price may replace ban on rice exports
The Business Line, Tuesday, October 23, 2007

New Delhi, October 22, The Commerce Ministry is examining the viability of imposing a minimum export price (MEP) of around $450 a tonne on rice shipments, in place of the current blanket ban on export of all non-basmati rice.

 
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Foreign cos can bid for 3G licences
The Financial Express, Tuesday, October 16, 2007

New Delhi, October 16, Global telecom players like Deutsche Telecom or NTT DoCoMo can now enter the Indian market through the 3G route. DoT has decided that since 3G licences would be fresh authorisations and not extensions of existing 2G licences, any player–whether global or local–could bid for them.

 
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Govt plans to set up nationwide retail chain
The Financial Express, Monday, October 29, 2007

New Delhi, October 29, The retail cauldron is set to overflow. The Centre is planning to foray into the sector with a countrywide organised format under a single entity. For the purpose, the government would leverage its presence in the supply-chain segment to provide a pan-India vendor service.

 
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Govt puts new telecom players in call waiting
The Financial Express, Thursday, October 04, 2007

New Delhi, October 4, Communications and IT minister A Raja said the government would take another 10 days to finalise guidelines for issuing new licences to telecom players. He also said all three categories—existing operators, licence holders without spectrum and fresh applicants—would be dealt with separately for allocating licences.

 
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Govt re-drafting Broadcasting Bill
The Financial Express, Thursday, October 18, 2007

New Delhi, October 17, Facing severe criticism from the industry, the government said it is in the process of redrafting the controversial Broadcasting Bill, besides considering increasing FDI in the cable segment to 74% from 49%.

 
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Govt spares consumers another hike in fuel prices
The Financial Express, Thursday, October 11, 2007

New Delhi, October 11, Political compulsions continue to overrule economic considerations as the government decided to spare consumers a hike in the retail prices of petrol and diesel. Instead, it has chosen the easy way out by again issuing oil bonds to help public sector downstream Companies absorb the impact of the surging global crude oil prices.

 
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Govt to have a say in natural gas pricing
The Financial Express, Thursday, October 25, 2007 at 2305 hrs IST

Mumbai, October 25, In a significant development, the Model Production Sharing Contract (MPSC) for the seventh round of the New Exploration Licensing Policy (Nelp-VII) has incorporated the empowered group of ministers’ (EGoM) recommendation on gas pricing.

 
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Hardware manufacturing policy by month-end
The Financial Express, Saturday, October 13, 2007

Hyderabad, October 12, In order to kick-start a real action, the proposed hardware manufacturing policy mooted by the Central government is expected to be announced in the next two to three weeks. The policy is in final stages in sync with semiconductor policy. Besides, it is also in the process of developing IT-manufacturing regions as part of the hardware policy.

 
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‘I&B may question TDSAT role in Red FM ban
The Financial Express, Wednesday, October 03, 2007

New Delhi, October 02, A spat between Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) and information and broadcasting ministry over banning Red FM radio channel may well be around the corner as the ministry plans to question the tribunal’s intervention on matters of content violation by the radio channel.

 
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It’s back to bidding in telecom
The Financial Express, Monday, October 08, 2007

New Delhi, October 07, For new licences, telecom returns to bidding. The department of telecommunications is moving away from the present policy of first-come-first-served basis. The DoT will also involve the finance ministry and Sebi to scrutinise the shareholding patterns and funding sources of all the 400-odd Companies that have applied for the countrywide, 22-zone telecom licences.

 
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L&T, Sterlite, Rel Power in fray for AP project
The Financial Express, Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Mumbai, October 24, Three power utilities — L&T, Sterlite and Reliance Power — filed requests for proposal (RFP) with the Power Finance Corporation (PFC) for the 4,000-mw Krishnapatnam ultra mega power project (UMPP) in Andhra Pradesh. Curiously, other qualified bidders, including Tata Power Company, NTPC, Essar,Torrent, AES, DS Construction and Sumitomo, have refrained from submitting RFP.

 
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Maha industrial body may have to wait for power trading licence
The Financial Express, Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Mumbai, October 23, The state-run Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) will have to wait until January for the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission’s (CERC) approval for an inter-state trading licence. MIDC has been granted three months to submit the state government’s notification authorising it to trade electricity.

 
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Mahindra joins the retail bandwagon
The Business Line, Thursday, October 11, 2007

Mumbai, October 10, The Mahindra Group is the latest entrant to retail sector. Mahindra Intertrade, a fully owned subsidiary of Mahindra and Mahindra, said it would be entering the organised retail business.

 
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Mars Telecom mulls new products in VoIP segment
The Financial Express, Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Hyderabad, October 15, Betting big on outsourced product development (OPD), Mars Telecom Systems, engaged in offering product development to global telecom, networking and converged application providers, is looking at key investments in new product developments. The company is working on new products in the VoIP segment in the emerging convergence spectrum.

 
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Microsoft eyes bigger share of IT business in India
The Financial Express, Tuesday, October 09, 2007

Bangalore, October 08, Microsoft Corp plans to increase its share of the technology business in India as retail and small and medium sized firms step up investment in a booming Economy.

 
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Mineral policy goes to Cabinet this month
The Financial Express, Wednesday, October 10, 2007

New Delhi, October 10, The National Mineral Policy, which seeks to make investments in the mining sector easy, will be put before the Cabinet for approval this month and may be tabled in Parliament in the winter session.

 
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MTNL seeks lower bids for global traffic carrier
The Financial Express, Monday, October 15, 2007

New Delhi, October 15, International call rates may be cut as the state-run MTNL on Monday invited fresh tender from Indian ILD operators seeking lower carriage rates for outgoing transmitting its outgoing ISD traffic.

 
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New coal supply policy to hurt cement, steel
The Financial Express, Friday, October 19, 2007

New Delhi, October 19, The new coal distribution policy announced by the government on Friday spells bad news for cement and steel sectors, as it reduces assured coal supply to the two key sectors by 5 percentage points to only 75% of their requirements.

 
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New pricing method to lower price of complex fertilisers
The Financial Express, Friday, October 26, 2007

New Delhi, October 25, The government has decided to lower the retail price of complex fertilisers. Under the new pricing mechanism, the prices of the nutrients -based fertilises may be brought down from the current level of Rs 8,100 to Rs 5804 a tonne except single super phosphate (SSP).

 
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No more purchase preference to PSUs
The Financial Express, Thursday, October 25, 2007

New Delhi, October 25, The government on Thursday decided to terminate the purchase preference policy (PPP) on products and services of state-run firms from March 2008. This is in order to provide private players with a level playing field and enhance competition.

 
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Plan to hike fertiliser freight sops gets nod
The Financial Express, Thursday, October 18, 2007

New Delhi, October 17, In a bid to streamline the fertiliser supply line up to block level, the chemicals and fertilisers ministry has cleared a proposal for an increase in freight subsidy. Under the proposal, strategic stock points will be created up to block levels, facilitating quicker delivery of fertilisers to farmers and improve stock position in shortage-hit areas.

 
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Plea to make blending of ethanol with petrol mandatory
The Business Line, Monday, October 29, 2007

Madurai, October 28, The Sattur Chamber of Commerce and Industries has made an appeal for mandatory blending of ethanol with petrol. In a letter addressed to the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, said import of petroleum products draw a major portion of the foreign exchange. In Brazil, a 10 per cent blending of ethanol with petrol must be implemented and made mandatory, it was noted.

 
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Power ministry wants level playing field for private cos in hydro sector
The Financial Express, Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Mumbai, October 10, The power ministry will soon seek approval of the Cabinet for providing a level playing field for the private sector in expediting the investments in the hydro sector. The ministry proposes to offer an exemption from competitive tariff bidding till January 2011, to the private sector as enjoyed by the public sector undertakings (PSUs) under the National Tariff Policy, 2006

 
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Registration must for investment advisers: SEBI draft
The Business Line, Thursday, October 11, 2007

Mumbai, October 10, SEBI has suggested that registration be mandatory for all investment advisers, in its draft norms. It has framed draft SEBI (Investment Advisers) Regulations, 2007, which is placed in public domain for comments and suggestions.

 
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Regulator turns down Ratnagiri tariff plea, seeks more details
The Financial Express, Wednesday, October 03, 2007

Mumbai, October 03, The Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) has refused to approve the tariff of the Ratnagiri power project, merely on the basis of mutual agreements reached between the Ratnagiri Gas & Power Pvt Ltd (RGPPL) and the Maharashtra Electricity Distribution Company Ltd (Maha Vitaran).

 
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Rs 1,050 cr for small firms’ cluster
The Financial Express, Wednesday, October 10, 2007

New Delhi, October 10, The government is working on a Rs 1,050 crore cluster development programme for MSMEs as part of its objective to take the benefits of economic growth to every corner of the country, particularly backward districts.

 
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SEZ developers seek more fiscal sops to meet cost escalation
The Financial Express, Thursday, October 11, 2007

New Delhi, October 11, Developers of special economic zones (SEZs) have reacted promptly to the new resettlement and rehabilitation (R&R) policy, cleared by the Cabinet on Thursday, by asking for additional fiscal incentives. They say, this is in order to meet project cost escalation due to additional compensation to displaced families.

 
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Steel prices rise by Rs 400-800/tonne
The Business Line, Tuesday, October 02, 2007

New Delhi, October 01, Rising international and input costs has seen domestic steel prices increase between Rs 400 and Rs 800 per tonne across various products with effect from Monday. The largest domestic steel manufacturer, Steel Authority of India Ltd, has increased prices between Rs 500 and Rs 600 across all product categories.

 
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Tariff ceiling fixed for non-CAS areas
The Business Line, Friday, October 05, 2007

New Delhi, October 04, Cable consumers will finally be able to choose their own bouquet of channels. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has fixed ceiling prices for cable television, in areas not subscribed by the Rs 5 per-paid channel tariff under the conditional access system.

 
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Why the government banned export of rice
The Financial Express, Monday, October 22, 2007

New Delhi, October 21, Numbers reveal the Centre’s urgency in banning rice exports although exporters and critics denounce the move as knee-jerk. The case in study here is the export ban on non-basmati rice, the latest commodity to come under the government’s export-import policy scanner.

 
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MRTPC spares B-schools due to staff crunch
Business Standard, October 13, 2007

Shortage of staff is preventing the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission (MRTPC) from summoning over 140 B-schools to furnish details about their fee structure, faculty payments and tie-ups. The body issued notices to around 100 “defaulter” B-schools last week.

 
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World Bank asks govt to reduce taxes on telecom services
The Business Line, Friday, October 5, 2007

New Delhi, The World Bank has asked the government to cut a slew of duties, including entertainment tax on broadband Internet connections in some States, on telecom services. The Bank said in a high-volume business, lower taxes create a win-win situation for everyone.

 
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Bharti, Vodafone, Idea may merge tower biz
The Business Line, Saturday, October 06, 2007

New Delhi, October 5, This could be one of the biggest mergers in the telecom sector. After entering into an agreement to share their infrastructure, GSM mobile companies including Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular are now exploring the possibility of merging their passive infrastructure to form a mega tower company.

 
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