Narad panel on oil deregulation works out transition modalities
New Delhi: Companies investing over and above Rs 2,000 crore in oil exploration and production, refining, pipelines or terminals should be permitted to set up retail outlets and sell their products on an ex-depot basis, the Narad committee on deregulation of the oil sector has proposed.

The panel recommendation would enable companies such as Reliance Petroleum Ltd (RPL), which has a 27 million-tonne refinery, to set up retail outlets. However panel has suggested phased plan to ensure that existing outlets will not be encroached upon. The panel has suggested that principles for determining the price of crude from ONGC and Oil India Ltd must be firmed up and the companies given adequate time to tie up the marketing end. The committee has also suggested an oil stabilisation fund to cushion oil price shocks in the international market. The resource for the fund could be raised through levy of cess, etc.

The Narad committee, headed by the petroleum ministry additional secretary, Mr. Naresh Narad, was set up last year to look into the issues involved in deregulating the sector.
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UTI subsidiary seeks FII status
Mumbai: Unit Trust of India arm, UTI Investment Advisory Services (UTI-IAS) has applied to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) for grant foreign institutional investor (FII) status. Sebi has recently recieved about half-a-dozen such applications from domestic companies for getting themselves registered as FIIs.

UTI-IAS manages the India Growth Fund Inc, an offshore fund of UTI. It also renders fund accounting and compliance services to UTI offshore funds - namely India Fund, India Access Fund, India Information Technology Fund and India Public Sector Fund.The FII status would enable UTI-IAS to manage foreign investment in the Indian capital market through portfolio investment route.

As per Sebi regulations, asset management companies and portfolio managers registered with Sebi can register themselves as FII to manage foreign investments in the Indian capital market through the portfolio investment route. The domestic approved asset management companies would be required to first seek registration as portfolio managers.
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