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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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