Govt may approve 8 bln rupee infusion in Air India - min

The government may approve a capital infusion of 8 billion rupees in loss-making national carrier Air India by next week, the Civil Aviation Minister said on Wednesday. "We will move the proposal to the cabinet for the 8-billion-rupee capital infusion in Air India by next week," Praful Patel told reporters after a group of ministers' meet

'GDP data by May to give true idea for stimulus withdrawa

Economic growth numbers for the current fiscal, to be released by May, will provide actual picture to the government to decide if stimulus packages could be rolled back, chief statistician Pronab Sen said today. However, strong industrial growth numbers do indicate that the government may start thinking of withdrawing these measures, Sen told reporters here. Industry growth has started picking up in recent months fueling suggestion from RBI and other analysts for partial roll back of stimulus measures taken to ward off the impact of global economic slowdown last year. Sen, the Secretary, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, said industrial growth figures give supply side picture and does not tell whether demand is actually there to take that supply or only inventories are building. The GDP data provide demand side figures also, Sen said, adding it is up to Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee to take a call in the upcoing Budget on stimulus measures, depending on industrial growth numbers or economic growth figures. "It is up to the Finance Minister to either play safe (in the Budget) and wait for actual economic figures to come out or play gamble and take a decision depending on industrial growth numbers," Sen said. Industrial growth for November stood at 11.7 per cent against just 2.5 per cent a year back. For the first eight months, industrial production grew by 7.6 per cent against 4.1 per cent a year ago

SBI to cover more unbanked villages

State Bank of India has achieved its target of covering one lakh un-banked villages ahead of the March 2010 deadline, with the opening of a customer service point at Sannyasidanga village near Jangipur in West Bengal on January 31. It was inaugurated by Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee. It also coincided with the opening of a rural ATM at Barala village, 2 km away, and a branch at Jangipur town. SBI has now decided to cover at least one lakh more villages out of the over five lakh unbanked villages in India. There are about 6.5 lakh villages, of which the majority do not have access to banking services. In April 2008, SBI Chairman O. P. Bhatt set a challenging task of covering one lakh unbanked villages by March 2010 by providing basic banking facilities to its population.

Few call for Reliance Comm global asset sale

More than a month after putting its biggest global assets up for sale, India's Reliance Communications has found few callers for a package that includes its prized FLAG undersea cable network. Sources close to the deal said Reliance Comm had already extended an initial deadline of late-January for submissions once, but had still attracted little interest for the deal seeking $3 billion. The sources spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation. One source said Singapore Technologies Telemedia - which owns stakes in Singapore's StarHub and undersea cable operator Global Crossing -- is contemplating a bid. A spokeswoman for Singapore Technologies Telemedia, a fully-owned unit of state investor Temasek, declined comment. The source added that another company said to have expressed interest was NTT Corp, though an NTT spokesman said the company was not considering a bid. Sources said complaints surrounding the deal, being shopped by Deutsche Bank, include a dearth of financial information, concerns about debt and over-abundance of the kinds of assets and services being offered. "It is no longer something which is in short supply," said Arun Kejriwal of Mumbai-based investment advisory firm KRIS. "Earlier you thought you cannot do without a cable system of your own. But now it's not the case. You can hire whatever you want."

NTPC may miss 3,300 MW capacity addition target in FY'10

Contractual disputes with Korean vendor Doosan for the 1,320 MW Sipat project may derail state-run NTPC's target of adding 3,300 MW power generation capacity in the current fiscal.The company is unlikely to commission the 1,320 MW Sipat project by March 2010, therefore it (NTPC) would miss the target," a source in the know said. Doosan, the equipment supplier for the project, was demanding 100 per cent increase in the prices, to which NTPC objected, sources said. The two companies are believed to have agreed on price escalation of about 20-25 per cent, but it has resulted in delaying of the project for about six months or so and can only be expected in the second half of the calender year 2010, sources added. NTPC had set a target of adding 3,300 MW of electricity in the current fiscal but with the delay in coming up of Sipat project, this addition seems unlikely

Mid, small-caps soften blow to equity funds in Jan

Equity funds recorded a drop in net values in January, but nearly all of them fell less than the country's benchmark share index on lower losses in mid and small-caps and big bets on energy, bank and technology stocks. Diversified equity funds, the largest group of stock funds by number and assets, lost 4.2 percent on an average. By comparison, India's main stock index fell 6.3 percent on foreign portfolio outflows, concern over the strength of global economy and fears of Chinese policy tightening. Nearly 95 percent of India's 325 diversified stock funds lost less. "Most of these equity funds had higher allocation to banking and technology sectors, which did well as compared to broader index like Sensex," said Chintamani Dagade, a senior research analyst at Morningstar India. "Also, exposure to energy companies worked in their favour during the month." The three sectors collectively accounted for about 40 percent of diversified equity fund assets at the end of December, data from mutual fund tracker ICRA Online shows. In January, while the bank and tech stocks as measured by the BSE Bankex and BSE IT indices lost 4 percent or less, the BSE Oil and Gas index fell 5 percent. A relatively lower decline in shares of medium and small firms, with the BSE Mid Cap and BSE Small Cap falling 3 percent and 1.5 percent respectively, also softened the blow from sharp falls in the funds' large cap portfolios.

National Fertilisers gets CCEA approval

The public sector National Fertilisers Ltd (NFL), a Mini Ratna company and the country’s second largest producer of urea, has won approval from the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) over change in feedstocks at the company’s three plants at Panipat, Bathinda and Nangal. The conversion in feedstocks from fuel oil / low sulphur heavy stock to natural gas is estimated to cost the company Rs 4,066 crore. The change will enhance lifespan of these plants, reduce cost of production of urea, enhance profitability and will simultaneously reduce subsidy burden of the government of India. The company has installed capacity to produce 32.31 lakh tonnes of urea per annum. The successful execution of aforesaid projects will further enable the company to enhance production and competitiveness. The conversion in feedstocks from fuel oil / low sulphur heavy stock to natural gas is estimated to cost the company Rs 4,066 crore. The change will enhance lifespan of these plants, reduce cost of production of urea, enhance profitability and will simultaneously reduce subsidy burden of the government of India. The company has installed capacity to produce 32.31 lakh tonnes of urea per annum. The successful execution of aforesaid projects will further enable the company to enhance production and competitiveness.