Tatas sign $2 billion EoI with Bangladesh
Dhaka: The Tata group has signed an Expression of Interest (EoI) with Bangladesh's Board of Investment (BoI), for an investment of $2 billion - the biggest in the country since independence.

The deal sets the ground for the finalisation of the Tata group's plans for setting up a 1,000 MW power station (in two phases), a steel mill with a capacity of 4.2 lakh tonnes annually (also in two phases), and a one million tonne fertilizer unit. All the plants will be based on the supply of natural gas from within the country.

The Bangladeshi Government has said it would evaluate the pricing and supply of gas for the proposed plants.

The demand list of the Tata group includes uninterrupted supply of gas for its proposed plants for 20 years, a competitive price for the gas they would use, quick facilitation of its investment proposal and selection of suitable sites.

The signing ceremony was held yesterday, where the visiting Tata group Chairman, Ratan N. Tata, and senior Bangladesh ministers including the Finance and Planning Minister, M. Saifur Rahman, the Foreign Minister, M. Morshed Khan, and the Indian High Commissioner, Veena Sikri, were present.

Firdose A. Vandrevala, Managing Director of Tata Power, Prasad Menon, MD of Tata Chemicals, B. Muthuraman, MD of Tata Steel, and Md Nazrul Islam, BoI Member, signed the agreement.
Ratan Tata, who is on a two-day visit, said, "We want to make genuine investment which can generate employment here. We are committed to making it a reality as early as possible,'' adding that "We want to be associated with Bangladesh's prosperity through the investment.''

Tata has said his group has decided to single out Bangladesh as a new investment location as part of its plan to go international.
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Government clears Customs pact with EU
New Delhi: The Union Cabinet has approved the agreement between India and the European Community for cooperation and mutual assistance in customs matters.

The agreement, which was signed on April 28, will help in the availability of reliable, quick and cost effective information and intelligence for the prevention and investigation of customs offences. It would also help in apprehending customs offenders.

The European Community is the largest trading partner of India.
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Broadband policy: No last-mile access on BSNL
New Delhi: The Government has rejected the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India's (TRAI) recommendation for allowing private sector operators to access the last-mile lines of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) for offering broadband services.

The broadband policy has also deferred the implementation of the various fiscal incentives proposed by the regulator along with its suggestion to allow operators to hire transponder capacity on foreign satellite for Internet applications.

The only significant decision taken as part of the new policy is to permit use of Wi-Fi (Wireless Fidelity) on the 2.4 GHz band in outdoor locations against the present regime of restricting it to a closed area. The move will enable consumers to access the Internet even while they are travelling in a car or train similar to what they can do with mobile phones.

The policy augurs well for BSNL since its opposition to unbundling the last mile has been taken cognisance of by the Government.

Unbundling would have allowed small Internet Service Providers (ISP) to use the state owned company's copper lines across the country to offer broadband services.

In other measures, the Government has opened up the 5.15 Ghz band for indoor use of low power Wi-Fi systems. Procedures for obtaining clearance for radio frequency usage have also been simplified for VSAT operators. Broadband operators will also be able to use the Cable TV network as franchisees.
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Government clears PSU dues
New Delhi: THE Government has approved a package worth Rs517 crore for settling employees' dues and statutory dues in 24 loss-making central public sector units (PSUs) under the Ministry for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises (MoHIPE).

The amount will be used for liquidating outstanding statutory dues, salaries and wages for the period up to July 2004. The combined losses of these PSUs currently stand at around Rs1,800 crore.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has also increased the ex-gratia payment to the PSU employees who will be opting for voluntary retirement.

The Minister for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises, Santosh Mohan Dev said, "Payment of salaries of employees of 24 PSUs till July 2004 will start from today and the process will be concluded by Durga Puja. The payment of statutory dues like provident fund of employees of 21 PSUs will be taken up in the first phase."

It has also been decided that out of the 24 PSUs, the Government would consider the closure of seven companies. They are Richardson and Cruddas Ltd, Triveni Structurals Ltd, Tungabhadra Steel Products Ltd, National Instruments Ltd, Bharat Opthalmic Glass Ltd, Hindustan Cables Ltd and Hindustan Photo Films Ltd.

The other 17 companies will be considered for revival. Out of these , the joint venture route will be adopted for the revival of three companies - Andrew Yule and Company Ltd, Bharat Pumps and Compressors Ltd and NEPA Ltd.
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Government dissolves the Khadi and Village Industries Commission
New Delhi: The Union Government has dissolved the Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC). An official statement states that the step has been taken to revamp KVIC and make it more professionally competent, effective and efficient for the development and promotion of khadi and village industries as also for the generation of more employment opportunities in the rural non-farm sector.

The former Chairman and all other members of the commission have been removed. The statement adds that the commission's Financial Advisor and Chief Executive Officer (In-charge), Maya S. Sinha, has been appointed as Commissioner till further orders.

The newly appointed Commissioner shall exercise all the powers of the erstwhile KVIC. The Government has also decided to appoint a committee to examine the functioning and performance of the erstwhile commission and suggest its restructuring along with necessary changes in the KVIC Act. The modification of the KVIC Act shall be completed shortly, the statement adds.
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Software exports up twenty six per cent
New Delhi: The exports of computer software and services including IT Enabled Services (ITES) surged 26.1 per cent during the first quarter of the current financial year to an estimated $3478 million against $2757 million in the year-ago period.

As per the provisional export estimates by Electronics and Computer Software Export Promotion Council (ESC), the electronic hardware exports stood at an estimated $413 million during April-June 2004, up 8.88 per cent from $379 million in the corresponding period previous year.

Overall, the IT exports (computer software and services along with electronic hardware) surged 24.09 per cent during the period to touch $3891 million against $3136 million in the same period in the previous year.

ESC has projected that the IT exports (software services and hardware) would touch $19 billion during 2004-05. Of this, computer software and services exports would clock $17.09 billion while hardware exports would be pegged at $1902 million.
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