VC investment in the country at $700mn for FY07, matches China, UK
New Delhi: India has attracted about $700 million in venture capital (VC) during FY'07, which is almost at par with those of other major economies such as China ($820 million) and UK ($800 million) for the same period, chief advisor to the finance minister, AK Lahiri said on Friday.

Lahiri said, "The growing Indian economy is giving a tremendous opportunity to the VCs and private equity funds to park their surpluses in Indian companies, especially in large and medium-sized enterprises."

Lahiri said that VCs hardly made any investments in India before 2000, but the trend has reversed since then. According to Assocham, 40 US-based VCs and private equity funds have already raised capital worth $400 million to invest in India.
Back to News Review index page  

Deora meets Iranian president on LNG project
New Delhi: Petroleum and natural gas minister Murli Deora met Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Thursday and sought an assurance for early implementation of the June 2005 agreement providing for supply of 5 million tonnes of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) to India at a total cost of $22 billion.

Deora unscheduled stopover in Iran on Wednesday evening was evidently necessitated by the fact that the Economic Supreme Council of Iran refused to ratify the LNG agreement demanding that India make an upward revision in the price.

Deora also met his Iranian counterpart, Kazem Vaziri Hamaneh, and Iranian foreign minister Manouchehr Mottaki.

Deora was accompanied by a delegation comprising petroleum secretary MS Srinivasan and the chairmen and managing directors of the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, the Gas Authority of India Limited and Engineers India Limited.

The Supreme Economic Council has not ratified the deal at the two-year-old price of $3.215 per million British thermal unit (mBtu). Tehran is apparently asking for $5.1 per mBtu for the LNG. On its part, India was ready to offer a higher price for the additional 2.5 million tonnes of LNG that India wants beyond the already contracted volumes.

Deora apparently stressed the need for early implementation of the LNG contract and reiterated India's commitment to the gas pipeline project. He also conveyed the growing interest and keenness of India's private sector to participate in Iran's economic development in cement, steel, fertilizers, pharmaceuticals and automobiles sectors.
Back to News Review index page  

IIMs' admission lists out
New Delhi: The Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs), the institutes at Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Calcutta, Indore and Lucknow, have released the list of successful candidates on their websites following a directive from the HRD ministry. IIM Kozhikode has not released the list yet.

However, IIM-Ahmedabad will send out only 239 offer letters as of now instead of 250 since it is unable to fill the seats reserved for candidates belonging to ST category. In addition to 239 firm offers, another 52 candidates have been put on the waiting list in ranked order. The wait-listed candidates would be offered admission strictly as per rank in case the candidates who have been made firm offers either decline the offer or do not submit their acceptance along with admission fee by May 14, 2007.

IIM-Ahmedabad has announced that depending on the future directive of the HRD ministry, with regard to implementation of OBC reservation, it will offer admission for up to 30 additional seats, if required, at a later date.

IIM-Bangalore had made offers to 330 candidates for 240 seats as some of them would receive offers from more than one IIM and might not choose the institute.
Back to News Review index page  

Govt may review export tax on iron ore
New Delhi: The government may review the export tax levied on iron ore in the third week of May this year as the ministry of mines plans to take up the issue in the next group of minister (GoM) meeting on May 14.

The mining industry had recently protested against the proposed export tax of Rs 300 a tonne. Consequently, the ministry of mines had asked the finance ministry to discuss and review the issue in the GoM meeting on mineral policy, sources said. The mining and steel industries are at odds over the issue.

The mining industry alleges that this will render iron mining uneconomical making Indian produce uncompetitive in the international market.

The demand for waiver of duty on export of low-grade iron ore (less than 64 per cent) is being more emphasised.
Back to News Review index page  

Inflation stays at 6.09 pc
New Delhi: The country's wholesale price index rose 6.09 per cent in the 12 months to April 14, unchanged from the previous week's increase, data showed on Friday.

The annual inflation rate was 3.70 per cent during the corresponding week of the previous year.
The wholesale price index is more closely watched than the consumer price index.
Back to News Review index page