CERC files case in SC to fix power trading margin
New Delhi: The Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) has filed a case in the Supreme Court against the refusal by the Appellate Tribunal for Electricity (ATE) to uphold its powers to fix trading margin for sale of electricity by a generator to a trader or an intermediary.

The SC has issued notices to 24 respondents, including Gajendra Haldea, various state commissions, Power Trading Corporation, Grid Power Corp of Orissa and others to file replies to CERC's petition and tagged the matter with a petition filed by PTC.

The SC on PTC's plea in January this year, had stayed the ATE's order, directing CERC to determine the base price upon which the electricity generating companies can add a maximum of up to 4 per cent margin while selling electricity to a trader or intermediary to prevent exploitation of consumers.

According to CERC, the tribunal had erred in holding that a generator was free to have direct commercial relationship with a trader or an intermediary without any restrictions by an appropriate commission.

CERC said in its petition that the generation tariff so fixed by CERC should apply to every licensee whether it is a trader or distribution licensee. Therefore, a generating company cannot sell electricity to a trader at a tariff different from the one fixed by the Commissions

intermediary or by a trader to any person. The ATE's order came on a petition filed by Haldea alleging that power traders were profiteering at the cost of consumers.
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Planning Commission sees 8.5-per cent GDP growth
New Delhi: The Planning Commission has said the Indian economy would grow at an 8.5 per cent growth in the current fiscal. Along with its assessment of gross domestic product for the year, the commission feels the annual wholesale price index-based inflation will cool from the current 6 per cent-plus levels to 4-5 per cent later in the year.

The Planning Commission has already said the first two years of the Eleventh Five-Year Plan would be vulnerable to a cyclical downturn, complicated by the effect of the oil prices and the lack of sufficient flexibility in fiscal management, arising from the Fiscal Responsibility Budget Management (FRBM) Act.

The Plan panel also expects the central government to achieve the fiscal deficit target of 3.3 per cent of the GDP in 2007-08.

However, it feels that the non-Plan expenditure will exceed the target by the end of the current year. Non-Plan expenditure for 2007-08 is estimated at Rs4,35,421 crore, a 6.5 per cent increase over 2006-07.
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Oilseeds production expected to dip 17 pc 2007
Mumbai: The total oilseeds production is estimated at 23.26 million tonne (mt), for 2006-07 a decline of 17 pc from the final estimates for the last season at 27.98 mt according to the Union Agriculture Minister.

Oilseeds production during the kharif season is likely to decline by 17.2 pc to 13.88 mt while that in rabi season is projected to slump by 16.3 pc to 9.38 mt.

Similarly, pulses production is estimated to rise by 5.3 pc to 14.10 mt this year as compared to 13.39 mt last year.

Although the government estimates a 0.8 pc decline in pulses output during kharif season at 4.83 mt, the rabi season is likely to witness the bumper output with a growth of 8.8 pc to 9.27 mt from 8.52 mt last year.

Total tur output during the kharif season is estimated to decline by 8.3 pc to 2.51 mt while gram output is slated to go up by 6.6 pc to 5.97 mt from 5.60 mt.

Total foodgrain production is estimated to jump by a meagre 1.5 pc to 211.78 from 208.60 mt last year. The estimate hinted a 0.8 pc decline in total rice production at 91.05 mt as compared to 91.79 mt last year.
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