CAS: Govt may opt for soft launch
New Delhi: The government officials and private players converged at a CAS programme on Friday and spoke about implementing it as scheduled. Delhi BJP chief Madan Lal Khurana but was opposed to it. Khurana said on Friday that the capital will be spared for the moment. Information and broadcasting minister Ravi Shankar Prasad refused to react to Mr Khurana’s statement. Officials ruled out heavy handed implementation, including prosecution for flouting conditional access. As per government notification, the conditional access system (CAS) should be implemented in the four metros in phases starting September 1.

According to Khurana, he has been assured by prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and deputy prime minister L K Advani that CAS would not be implemented in Delhi on September 1. Delhi is among the states scheduled for Assembly elections this year. And, CAS is seen to be an anti-consumer move in the election year. A similarity is being drawn with shortage of onions in 1998. Sources said that Prasad held a meeting with his officials on Friday to discuss the CAS situation. Indications are that a move is on to put on hold CAS after the first phase. Also, in all probability set-top boxes may not be made mandatory from September 1. In other words, we might see a soft launch of CAS. Theoretically speaking, CAS is all about accessing pay channels of your choice through set top boxes.
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Govt clears three OBU proposals
New Delhi: The proposal for setting up overseas banking units (OBUs) in the special economic zones (SEZs) has materialised. The proposal was mooted in the 2002-03 Exim policy for providing them term loans at globally-competitive rates besides working capital. Three such OBUs had been established by State Bank of India, ICICI Bank and Bank of India at the Santa Cruz SEZ on the basis of licences issued by the Reserve Bank of India, said commerce ministry officials and pointed out that the proposal was not applicable to branches of foreign banks operating in the country.

Besides, applications have been received from six more banks for setting up OBUs in SEZs. Besides Bank of India, they included Vijaya Bank and HDFC (all of Mumbai) and Punjab National Bank and Canara Bank (both of Noida), said the officials, adding that licences will be issued to them shortly. In addition, officials say licences have already been issued to six banks for setting up one or more OBU. The banks include SBI, ICICI, Punjab National Bank, Bank of Baroda and Oriental Bank of Commerce. As per the current policy, OBUs will be exempted from cash reserve ratio and statutory liquidity ratio stipulations imposed by the RBI.
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