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DTH licence to Doordarshan struck down
New Delhi: The Election Commission vetoed
the government's proposal to grant Doordarshan a licence for exclusive operation of a
direct-to-home service for five years.
The
commission said the grant of an exclusive licence is a major policy decision in the
broadcasting sector, which should be debated and finalised by Parliament. The matter
should await the completion of the election process and should be rightfully taken up by
the new government through its cabinet before the 13th Lok Sabha, the
commission said.
The commission approved the finance ministry's proposal
for disinvestment of VSNL's equity through retail offering of one million shares.
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Sole agency for FDI
New Delhi: The Union cabinet decided to set
up a Foreign Investment Implementation Authority, independent of the Foreign Investment
Promotion Board, to act as a single point interface between the investor and various
government agencies. The agency will be headed by the secretary of the industry
department.
The authority will be a proactive one-stop service for
investors, helping them in obtaining necessary government approvals.
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Fiat India permitted to hike
equity
New Delhi: The cabinet committee on foreign
investment has approved the proposal of Italian Fiat Spa to increase its equity holding in
the wholly-owned Indian subsidiary Fiat India Auto Ltd from the present Rs 910 crore to Rs
2,000 crore.
The company has become a 100 per cent subsidiary of Fiat
Spa of Italy in September 1997.
The committee has cleared the proposal in view of the fact
that there is no foreign exchange outgo.
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Knowledge park in Andhra
Pradesh
Mumbai: ICICI is joining the Andhra Pradesh
government to set up a knowledge park near Hyderabad, which will offer world class R&D
facilities at reasonable costs to high-tech companies.
ICICI sources said the park will have well-equipped
modular laboratories, which will be leased out on a multi-tenanted basis. It will also
offer property space to create custom built research centres and offices. All the units in
the park will be connected to a high-speed data network.
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Trai requests court to spell
out its role
New Delhi: The Telecom Regulatory Authority
of India has filed a petition in the Delhi high court seeking judgement in the case
between the cellular operators and the government on the role of the regulator on
arbitration.
Trai chairman S.S. Sodhi said Trai will withdraw the
petition if the cellular operators, who moved the court, do not withdraw their petition by
29 July, which is the cut-off date prescribed by the department of telecommunications for
all cellular operators to withdraw their litigation against the government in case they
wished to migrate to the revenue-sharing system from the licence fee system.
A single judge of the court had earlier ruled that the
regulator had no jurisdiction over licensor-licencee disputes, and some of the cellular
operators and the Cellular Operators Association of India had approached the high court
against the judgement of the single judge.
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ICICI Bank plans more
internet banking products
Mumbai: ICICI Bank is planning to add more
products to internet banking. These will include corporate banking products and online
account facilities for non-resident Indians.
The bank will launch the online account facility for NRIs
in August, which will be followed by web-based banking products for companies, ICICI
officials said
The products will help companies implement different
functions via the web, including establishing letters of credit and forward contracts and
submitting stock statements.
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IFCI to revoke fund sanctions
for power projects
Mumbai: The Industrial Finance Corporation
of India is understood to be considering revocation of sanctions worth over Rs 550 crore
for six power projects with a combined capacity of about 2,800 MW.
IFCI is saying these projects have been delayed. The list
includes the Hinduja-promoted project in Visakhapatnam, the AES-promoted project in Orissa
and two RPG group- promoted projects in Rajasthan and West Bengal.
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Stanchart to take over
Bank of Bali
London: Standard Chartered has finalised a
deal to take control of Bank of Bali, one of Indonesia's largest private sector banks.
The deal, Standard Chartered says, will give the
international bank a substantial consumer banking franchise in Asia.
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