GMR Hyderabad airport to be ready by year-end
Hyderabad: The greenfield Rs2,478-crore GMR Hyderabad International Airport (GHIAL), which is through 50 per cent financially and 69 per cent physically, would be ready to function by the year-end. The company would then be able to initiate statutory trials to get certifications on various operational issues to clear the way for commencing commercial operations in March 2008.

With 76 check-in counters, 18 immigration counters, 42 aircraft parking bays (including 12 aerobridges), 2,300 seats spread across domestic and international areas and automated baggage transfers, the upcoming airport will offer a different kind of experience to passengers.

The 4.26-km-long runway, the longest in the entire South Asia, can handle 30 air traffic movements (the total number of take-offs and landings) per hour as against the present 16 at the Begumpet airport.

The runway is being connected with a parallel taxiway with angular rapid exit ways. This allows the aircraft to come and go off the runway in shortest possible time, reducing the taxiing time and facilitating more air traffic movements, a GHIAL official said.
When the first phase is completed next year, the airport could handle 12 million passengers a year. As traffic grows the company plans to develop another runway and another infrastructure on the northern side so that it could handle 40 million passengers a year.
The airport expects to generate 20-30 per cent of its revenues from non-aeronautical streams such as retailing, advertisement, car parking and other activities.
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India ranks 27th in competitiveness
New Delhi: India has remained ranked at the 27th spot in competitiveness in 2007 according to a survey by IMD, a Lausanne-based premier business school. The parameters for the survey included domestic economy, international trade, international investment, labour market, social framework and employment.

In the Asia-Pacific region, India has been ranked ninth for the second year in a row. Among the countries with population of more than 20 million, India has secured the 10th ranking, compared with 18th in 2003.

According to the survey report, India has improved the most in the number of mobile phone subscribers, direct investment in stocks abroad, export of commercial services, Internet users, high-tech exports, total reserves, per capita number of computers, stock market capitalisation, export of goods, direct investment inflows, trade-to-GDP ratio, and urbanisation.

The areas in which India has seen the sharpest decline are personal income tax rates, consumer price inflation, direct investment flows abroad, ease of doing business, long-term employment, brain drain, emphasis on science in schools, freedom to foreign investors to acquire control of domestic companies, bureaucracy, exchange rates, current account balance, and water transportation.

India has fallen to the 10th position in economic performance from seventh position in 2006, a quantum leap from the 20th place it was at four years ago.

While the report says the efficiency of the government has worsened, efficiency in business has recorded some improvement. Compensation levels, working hours, attraction and retention of talent and remuneration to management staff have been recognised as strengths. After showing some improvement in infrastructure in the last three years, India has been ranked 50th, the same as in 2003.
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Government owes Rs11,640 crore as subsidy to fertilizer cos
New Delhi: The Centre owes fertiliser companies a whopping Rs11,641.51 crore as outstanding subsidy reimbursement, arising from the difference between their concession rates (roughly corresponding to the actual production or import costs) and the controlled prices at which they sell nutrients to farmers.

The Rs11,641.51-crore amount includes Rs7,750.08 crore of claims against the Centre's existing concession rates and Rs3,891.43 crore on account of cost escalations not provided for, pending the notification of new rates. While Rs5,951.65 crore subsidy dues are towards urea, the balance Rs5,689.86 crore is on potassic, phosphatic and assorted complex fertilisers.

Iffco has been most severely affected by the piling up of subsidy claims. The government owes Iffco Rs2,579.54 crore not counting the Rs908.59 crore dues to its subsidiary, Indian Potash Ltd. Others badly affected are the K.K Birla Group (Rs1,711.49 crore receivable, including Rs521.93 crore for Chambal Fertilisers and Chemicals, Rs505.04 crore for Zuari Industries and Rs684.52 crore for Paradeep Phosphates), the public sector National Fertilizers Ltd (Rs1,080.54 crore) and the Murugappas (Rs831.97 crore, including Rs442.26 crore for Godavari Fertilisers & Chemicals and Rs389.71 crore for Coromandel Fertilisers). Other affected companies are Tata Chemicals (its Babrala plant in Uttar Pradesh has outstandings of Rs669.88 crore), A.C. Muthiah's Southern Petrochemical Industries Corporation (Rs413.26 crore), K.S. Raju's Nagarjuna Fertilizers & Chemicals (Rs380.19 crore), Ajay Shriram's DCM Shriram Consolidated (Rs379.45 crore), Vijay Mallya's Mangalore Chemicals & Fertilizers (Rs337.28 crore), the state-owned Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilisers (Rs739.17 crore), Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilizers Company (Rs438.93 crore) and Gujarat State Fertilizers & Chemicals (Rs347.45 crore).

The worst is yet to come. The Rs12,000-crore claims for March 31 could be carried forward and taken care of by the Rs22,451-crore budgeted subsidy bill for 2007-08. But that would leave only about Rs10,500 crore for the current fiscal, when the Department of Fertilisers is projecting a requirement of around Rs33,000 crore. That means taking forward claims of some Rs22,000 crore for the next fiscal.
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