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Govt
stake sale in BHEL and MUL on hold
New
Delhi:
The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance Government
has confirmed that it has put on hold the sale of Government
stake in Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) and Maruti
Udyog Ltd (MUL).
Finance
minister, P. Chidambaram, told the Lok Sabha today that
"Letters have been received from workers' unions
and others opposing disinvestment in BHEL. The objections
are under consideration. No further decision has been
taken in the matter."
Separately, the Minister for Heavy Industries and Public
Enterprises, Santosh Mohan Dev, has also informed the
media that the Government does not plan to sell its residual
stake in MUL either to the majority partners Suzuki Motors
or through a public offering.
The
Ministry of Heavy Industries is the administrative ministry
for MUL and holds around 18 per cent residual stake in
the largest domestic car manufacturer. The Ministry also
has two members on the company's board.
In
the case of BHEL, in May this year the Government had
decided on an offer for sale of 10 per cent equity out
of the Government's holding of 67.72 per cent through
the book-building process of which 15 per cent was reserved
for the company's employees.
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Japanese
minister: Gurgaon incident not to impact Japanese FDI
New Delhi: Commerce minister Kamal Nath has assured
his Japanese counterpart Shoichi Nakagawa that the Gurgaon
mishap is an isolated incident and not the norm.
The
Japanese minister, in turn, assured Nath that such an
incident would not affect the flow of Japanese investment
in India. He added that Japanese companies were investing
in a big way in West Bengal.
In
a meeting with Nakagawa in Geneva on Friday, Nath explained
the circumstances, which led to the incident and apprised
him of the action taken by the government to resolve the
issue, a release said.
On
Monday, hundreds of striking employees of the Honda Motorcycle
& Scooters India (HMSI) in Gurgaon clashed with the
police. The police action left several workers severely
injured sparking widespread protests from all quarters.
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Week
ended July 16: Inflation at 4.18 per cent
New Delhi: India's annual wholesale price inflation
rose 4.18 percent in the week ended July 16, up from the
previous week's 4.14 percent due to increase in food,
energy and manufactured product prices, government data
showed on Friday.
The
inflation rate was at 7.61 percent during the corresponding
week of the previous year.
The
central bank left its short-term benchmark interest rate
unchanged at 5.0 percent in a rate review earlier this
week, saying it wanted to keep fast growth on track at
a time when global uncertainties were on the rise. It
said domestic demand pressures were not as severe as it
had thought in April, when it last raised the rate by
25 basis points.
The
government raised fuel prices by about 7 percent in June,
and the central bank said that though the impact of higher
global crude prices may not have been felt fully, nonetheless
inflation remained moderate.
The
WPI is more closely watched than the consumer price index
(CPI) because it has a higher number of products in its
basket and is published weekly. CPI is published monthly.
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Karnataka:
Energy audit to be made mandatory after 2006
Mangalore: Energy audit for installations having
a connect load of more than 500 KW will be made mandatory
after 2006. This was stated by the Managing Director of
Karnataka Renewable Energy Development Ltd (KREDL), Dr
B. Shivalingaiah in Mangalore on Friday.
KREDL
is the designated agency for energy conservation and energy
audit in the State.
Dr
Shivalingaiah said that though the Karnataka Government
has introduced energy audit for those having a connect
load of more than 500 KW, it is not mandatory till 2006.
Beyond 2006, it will be made mandatory for those having
a connect load of more than 500 KW. "They will have
to submit reports after auditing," he said. Urging
the need to conserve at least 10 per cent of the total
energy consumed, he said energy audit would help identify
the areas of conservation.
Stating
that there is a big gap in energy demand and supply, Dr
Shivalingaiah said the country would need additional one
lakh MW by 2012. At present, a majority of energy requirement
is met by thermal and hydro sources. However, there is
limitation for natural energy resources. He stressed the
need for the effective usage of natural resources.
Dr
Shivlingaiah was speaking at a seminar organized in the
city.
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Airlines
resume normal operations from Mumbai
Mumbai: Air India operated 15 flights on Friday
morning to destinations in Europe, the US, the Gulf, South-East
Asia and Africa in an effort to restore normalcy in flight
operations following the re-opening of Mumbai Airport
last evening.
AI
will continue to operate all its flights as per normal
schedule, the spokesman added. Passengers booked on Air-India
flights can contact Air India at 2287 6464/2287 6565 or
Toll Free No. 1600 227722 regarding their travel plans.
Meanwhile,
Jet Airways on Thursday operated over 25 flights, both
domestic and international, to clear the backlog that
had developed on account of the suspension of operations
due to heavy rains in the city.
Similarly,
an Indian Airlines spokesperson said IA operated 15 flights
on Thursday to clear the backlog of passengers stranded
on account of the rains. The airline has since resumed
normal operations, he said.
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ONGC
restores 70 per cent of normal gas supply from Mumbai
High
New Delhi: Oil and Natural Gas Corporation has
restored about 7.2 million standard cubic metres per day
(mscmd) of gas supplies from the Mumbai High fields. This
is about 70 per cent of the normal gas supply, the ONGC
sources said.
The
restoration of supply has been done from Bombay High South,
which had earlier dropped to 20 per cent after the Bombay
High North, a key oil facility, was destroyed in a fire
on Wednesday evening.
The
Mumbai High fields produced 11 mscmd of gas and 2.6-lakh
barrels of oil per day prior to the accident. Arrangements
have been made to supply gas by bypassing the destroyed
facility, the sources said. They further said there is
no spillage of oil. There are no storage facilities on
the process platform.
The
company hopes to restore gas supplies to normal production
in a few weeks.
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