DoT
surprises private telcos
New Delhi: The department of telcommunications
has demanded licence fees from private telecom operators
for the period August 1999 to October 1999, to be paid
by 25 September 1999, computed on the basis of the interim
revenue sharing formula.
Private
operators have to now compute average revenues for August
to October 1999, based on actual figures for April to
June 1999, and pay 15 per cent as licence fees. Interconnect
payments made to DoT and MNTL and service tax paid by
the private operators to the government can be excluded
from the calculation. From the next quarter onwards, payment
of licence fees has to be made ten days before the commencement
of the period.
In
the meantime, DoT has not yet sent letters to Koshika,
JT Mobile, Fascel, Hughes Ispat and Essar Commvision for
terminating their licences. These firms, according to
DoT, have violated one or more of the norms stipulated
for migration to the revenue sharing system.
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Petroleum ministry given a month to solve oil pool
tangle
New Delhi: The petroleum mnistry has
been given one month time by the cabinet to come out with
a solution for the problems faced on the oil pool front.
The oil pool deficit, according to latest figures, has
crossed Rs.5,000 crore.
V K Ramamurthy, petroleum minister,
has said that the new government that will take charge
after the elections will take a decision in the matter.
The ministry was basically in favour of increasing the
price of high speed diesel among the controlled products.
Other controlled products such as petrol, LPG and kerosene
will probably not be touched.
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Hudco shortlists 8 for securitisation issue
New Delhi: Hudco Ltd, an infrastructure
finance company, has shortlisted eight banks and finance
companies, out of seventeen applicants, to manage its
forthcoming Rs.1,000-crore securitisation issue.
Hudco intends
to complete the Rs.1,000-crore issue in the financial
year 1999-2000 in two tranches. This issue is part of
the companys Rs.5,000 crore securitisation plans.
Of the eight, two are consortia.
They are the combined teams from HSBC-Arthur Andersen
and SBI-IDBI-DSP Merill Lynch. Others shortlisted are
ABN Amro, ANZ Grindlays, Citibank, ICICI, Kotak Mahindra,
and KPMG. These banks/companies will be called for making
another presentation, after which three of them will be
given the mandate.
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IDBI,
Canara Bank to cut stake in CARE
Mumbai: The 26 per cent and 23 per cent
shareholdings of the Industrial Development Bank of India
and Canara Bank in Credit Analysis and Research Ltd will
be cut to below 10 per cent. CARE is a credit rating agency
jointly promoted by these institutions.
IDBI and
Canara Bank will privately place their holdings between
Rs.15 and Rs.18 per share with State Bank of India, Life
Insurance Corporation of India and General Insurance Corporation
of India.
In
the meantime, ICICI has decided to sell around 2 per cent
of its stake in Crisil to Standard and Poors.
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SBI
to review service charges
Mumbai: Following the Reserve Bank of
India directive to banks to set their own service charge
structure, the State Bank of India has set up a committee
to review its structure. The three-member panel will review
the entire service charge structure of the bank, such
as demand draft charges, remittance charges, safe deposit
lockers and automated teller machines.
The
Reserve Bank of India had very recently said that banks
need not adhere to benchmark rates set by the Indian Banks
Association, thus letting service charges be market driven.
But the Reserve Bank has said that banks should not set
service charges that are below their costs for servicing.
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Indian
short-term rates are still high
Mumbai: Indias three-month rates
of around 10 per cent, according to a study made by Amex,
are mid-way between Japanese rates of around 0.1 per cent,
3.2 per cent in Malaysia, US rates of 5.5 per cent, and
20 per cent in Brazil.
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India plans to be a top
nuclear power by 2020
Mumbai:
If the department of atomic energys plans
come true, India will be generating around 20,000 MW of
nuclear power, and will join the ranks of the US, France,
Japan and Germany as one of the top nuclear power houses
in the world. Indias total power requirement by
2020 is expected to be around 2,00,000 MW. India currently
generates 1,695 MW of nuclear power.
The
nuclear power generated by the top countries are: US -
96,423 MW, France 61,653 MW, Japan 43,691
MW, Germany 22,282 MW, Russia 19,843 MW.
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External
debt goes up by $4 billion
New Delhi: India's external debt was
$98.2 billion as of March 1999, up nearly $4 billion from
the March 1998 level. It is now closing in on the all-time
high of $99 billion recorded in March 1995. One of the
main reasons for the increase is the issue of $4.2 billion
Resurgent India Bonds, and approximately $600 million
in fresh FCNR deposits with banks.
India
ahead in country ratings, lags in PLR cuts
New Delhi: Indias country risk
is rated on a better plane compared to Malaysia, Thailand,
Indonesia and the Philippines. The country is considered
marginally riskier than China, Australia and New Zealand.
Singapore and Taiwan are the least risky, according to
a Dun & Bradstreet survey of Asia-Pacific economies.
An analysis of 15 countries
in the Australasia region shows that India is lagging
behind in terms of reduction of prime lending rates. India
implemented a 4 per cent reduction in PLR, while Australia,
New Zealand, South Korea and the Philippines made cuts
of 7 to 11 per cent during the period 1990-1998. Japan
lowered its PLR by 6.75 per cent, and China by 2.86 per
cent. Pakistan increased its PLR.
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ICICI,
SBI Caps to co-arrange Trishakti project
Mumbai: ICICI Ltd. and SBI Capital Markets
Ltd. will be co-arranging the Rs.2,700 crore, 525 MW coal-based
power project of Trishakti Energy, in Tamil Nadu.
The two
institutions will syndicate a Rs.230-crore rupee loan
and a $250 million deferred payment guarantee. The UKs
ECGD will stand guarantee for foreign loans of $250 million.
The rest of the project funding will be done through an
equity issue and external commercial borrowings aggregating
$105 million.
Trishakti
is a joint venture between the US-based Public Service
Enterprise Group and Malaysia-based Pembinan Redzai. PSEG
operates capacities of around 4,000 MW in total. PSEG
will be the operations and maintenance contractor, and
Alstom the engineering, construction and procurement contractor
for the project.
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RR
Financial to manage MPEB issue
New Delhi: The Madhya Pradesh Electricity
Boards 13.7 per cent, seven year, Rs.300-crore bond
issue will be managed by R R Financial Consultants. The
issue opens on 17 September 1999. MPEB had earlier given
the mandate to RR and AK Capital, but has cancelled the
name of AK Capital now.
The interest
will be payable half-yearly. The bonds carry a put and
call option at the end of four years and eleven months
and redemption at the end of the sixth and seventh years
in the ratio of 1:1.
The
Madhya Pradesh government guarantees the repayment of
principal and interest in the issue.
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Allahabad
Bank issue may be by December 1999
Calcutta: Allahabad Bank will enter the
capital market with its maiden public issue sometime between
December 1999 and January 2000. The pricing decision has
not yet been taken. The bank has a capital of Rs.246 crore
and the bank will soon approach the Securities and Exchange
Board of India for the necessary approvals.
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Central Banks business target revised upwards
Ahmedabad:
The Central Bank of Indias business will probable
increase by Rs.9,000 crore in financial year 1999-2000.
The bank would have done Rs 53,000 crore of business during
the year
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