Enron wants Supreme Court to review stay on arbitration
New Delhi: US power company Enron has questioned the authority of the Maharashtra Electricity Regulation Commission and wants the Supreme Court to review the Mumbai High Court order which has stayed the ongoing arbitration proceedings in London and suggested that the dispute be sorted out by the MERC.

Enron has questioned the appeal made by MSEB to the MERC after it went ahead with arbitration proceedings. Enron has argued that if the MERC superseded the arbitration proceeding provision of the power purchase agreement, then MSEB should not have gone ahead with the arbitration proceeding at all.

Enron has also questioned the status of the MERC vis--vis the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 and the New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards, 1958 to which India is a signatory.
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IRDA for better rural coverage
Bangalore: The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority will discuss with representatives of the National Labour Union and life insurance companies (both new private and the LIC) in August to help increase the reach of these companies in rural areas.
IRDA chairman N Rangachary said the current insurance legislation in the country made it mandatory for all life insurance companies to service the rural customers also. According to him, private insurance companies are trying to meet this requirement by tying up with non-government organisations to retail policies in the rural sector.
An amendment is to be brought into insurance legislation, which stipulates that all directors of a banking company have to undergo and pass an examination before the organisation can enter into insurance distribution. This is to be amended to make it mandatory for only one specialist officer in the organisation needing to meet this requirement.
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PSU banks form Rs 2,000-cr US-64 bailout package
Mumbai: Eight state-run commercial banks including State Bank of India (SBI) Punjab National Bank, Bank of Baroda, Bank of India, Central Bank of India have reiterated their decision to form a consortium to fund the bailout package of between Rs 1,500-2,000 crore for investors of Unit Trust of India’s (UTI) flagship scheme US-64, following a meeting with its new chairman M Damodaran.
This would be done through a six months to one-year collateralised back-stop facility.
The pricing would depend on the quality of collateral pledged with the banks, which would be inclusive of both equity and debt. Individual banks would decide upon the specific stocks against which they would lend to UTI.
These commitments were mainly stand-by arrangements in case UTI required liquidity support to pay out investors who wanted to exit US-64.
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JP Morgan lowers India's GDP growth forecast
Mumbai : JP Morgan has lowered its estimate of India's gross domestic product growth for the current financial year to 5.3 per cent from its earlier forecast of 6.0 per cent due to sluggish demand. The firm is also trimming its forecast for 2002-2003 (April-March) to 6.2 per cent from the earlier 6.5 per cent.

Official Indian government figures point to a slowdown, with the Indian economy expanding by an estimated 5.2 per cent in the year to March, down from 6.4 per cent the previous year.

JP Morgan said it expected agricultural and industrial sectors to rebound mildly leading to a turnaround in the economy in October, but the distribution of rainwater from a good monsoon will be crucial. But it says that a 2.6 per cent year-on-year growth in agriculture was plausible on the basis of a low base and preliminary monsoon news, which would lead to a rebound in industrial activity.
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