The Appellate Tribunal for Electricity has admitted the OMCs' plea challenging the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board's power to adjudicate on the matter.
To prevent sugar prices from becoming a tool in the hands of opposition parties in the parliamentary elections, the government has allowed government agencies like MMTC, STC, NAFED and PEC to import one million tonne of white sugar duty-free. The export obligation on raw sugar imports under open general licence scheme has also been removed.
Mitsubishi Motor Corporation's plan to produce a volume-generating compact car from India has been indefinitely deferred for lack of funds and sliding demand.
After launching the Nano early this week, the country's leading truck and bus maker, Tata Motors, is now looking to set up a truck manufacturing plant in Myanmar with support from the Indian government in the form of financial participation.
The Mumbai-based company will take on Hero Honda, Bajaj Auto and HMSI and will have models in the 100cc, 125cc and 150cc mobike segments, and also in the ungeared low and high-powered scooter segments. Hero Honda has a 60 per cent share of the motorcycle segment, while HMSI commands a 58 per cent of the scooter market. Anand Mahindra said: "Our two-wheeler project is complete; we have already begun marketing the fleet in Bangalore."
"The scene will be a bit like the Maruti 800 days. Those who are lucky enough to be allotted cars this year can resell it immediately at a premium of Rs 30,000 due to the anticipated shortage," an executive at a Motors dealer said. Supply, Tata Motors dealers say, would be between 40,000 and 50,000 cars, with 100,000 being the most optimistic estimate. This would mean customers may have to wait for up to two years to get delivery if all the bookings are accepted.
The initial cost of the reserve, expected to become operational by 2012, was estimated at Rs 2,400 crore (Rs 24 billion), excluding the cost of crude oil. Strategic Petroleum Reserves Ltd, special purpose vehicle that is implementing the project, has asked Engineers India Ltd to work on the revised cost," said sources. EIL is the management consultant for this project.
Prices of second-hand cars, mainly compact ones, have fallen 15-20% in the last few days. Dealers in the unorganised market fear a further price dip of 10 per cent when delivery starts and the Nano is seen prominently on roads. The Nano, expected to sport an on-road price of Rs 1.25-1.3 lakh for the no-frills, base version, will compete with the compact cars of Hyundai Motors, Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors and General Motors.
Tata Motors subsidiary Telco Construction Equipment Company Ltd (Telcon) has opposed a proposal to the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) from John Deere for a joint venture with Ashok Leyland to distribute and market its construction equipment in India.
SBI may charge 14 to 14.75% for 5-year loans.
The food-price segment in the WPI has been growing at 8.3 per cent, much higher than the rise in the index for manufactured articles. In fact, segments like minerals and fuel have witnessed a decline in the WPI and have pulled the inflation down. The rise in food prices affects the common man more than the increase in prices of any other item.
Part of government strategy to push demand.
Procurement by the end of this season is likely to touch a new record of 29-30 million tonnes, surpassing the earlier high of 28.4 million tonnes. The country's rice output in 2008-09 is also estimated at an all-time record of 98.89 million tonnes. Punjab has been the largest contributor to the rice stock at 8.38 million tonnes, followed by Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Chattisgarh. Procurement is up in all top-producing states except in Haryana and Chattisgarh.
The proposals under consideration include waiving the current 5 per cent Customs duty on naphtha and reducing the excise duty on mono ethyl glycol from 8 per cent to 4 per cent. The Cabinet secretariat has sought views from various ministries and departments for this package.
India's sea ports do not have equipment to detect radioactive or contaminated consignments, exposing the country to security and safety risks, besides damaging reputation of goods manufactured in the country.
Automobile component manufacturers are rejoicing over a sudden 30-40 per cent spurt in demand in February. Analysts are, however, not entirely sure of the reason for this high growth; many are doubtful if it can be sustained, given the other gloomy signals. An analyst says, "Almost all car makers have either completely withdrawn or drastically reduced their promotional offers." Also, payment issues as far as vendors are concerned remains a problem.
The first phase of SMOs was undertaken by RBI in June last year. The second phase, which began in November 2008, ended in the first week of January this year. Under the arrangement, RBI bought oil bonds from these companies and issued them dollars to import oil. Other than the RBI, the Life Insurance Corporation of India is another major subscriber to such bonds and certain quantities are also traded in the market.
At a time when the economic slowdown is eating into corporate earnings, the country's economy hotels, including Krizm Hotels and Berggruen Hotels, are going ahead with their expansion plans.
Sales of Maruti Suzuki India during January-December 2008 stood at 697,850 units while those of Suzuki Motor Corporation for the same period stood at 679,215 units. The comparable growth for MSIL in India comes on the back of an almost 2 per cent decline for the company in a year-on-year basis during the calendar year. Its sales were higher in calender year 2007 at 710,532 units, according to the data provided by the company.
After a year of sluggish growth in fuel retail outlets, the three state-run oil-marketing companies--Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat Petroleum Corporation and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation--have chalked out aggressive plans for expansion in the next financial year. They will be commissioning over 2,100 outlets in 2009-10--over three times what they added in the current year--at an investment of about Rs 1,200 crore.
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