Business

Slashing of petrol prices in Goa has resulted in massive boost in sales at fuel outlets in the state, officials have said.

Various petrol pumps have registered almost two-fold increase in sales in the last two days.

The State’s new BJP-led Government had reduced VAT (value-added tax) on petrol from 20 per cent to mere 0.1 per cent. The decision, announced in the budget presented last month by Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, had come into effect from Monday.

The reduction has resulted in heavy rush at fuel stations in the tourist state.

India is likely to become the third largest aviation market in the world from its current position as traffic volumes grow exponentially, a top official said Tuesday.

“The growth of civil aviation is likely to push India from ninth to third position in the world in terms of volume of traffic, necessitating a very strong security system,” said Gurjot Singh Malhi, commissioner of security (Civil Aviation), Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS).

The Goa government Tuesday cancelled the licenses of nearly 450 iron ore traders registered here in a bid to check extraction and export of iron ore.

The order suspending the licenses was issued late Tuesday by the mines ministry which is headed by Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar.

“All of them have also been issued showcause notices which asked them why action should not be taken (against them),” newly appointed mines department director Prasanna Acharya said.

The long-awaited Rs.18,000 crore financial restructuring plan for cash-strapped Air India has finally been approved by a consortium of 19 banks led by State Bank of India, an official said here Tuesday.

The plan includes a debt restructuring of Rs.18,000 crore by the banks and a committed equity infusion by the government, the official said in a statement here.

The high-cost working capital debt of the national carrier stands at Rs.22,000 crore, of which the banks will restructure Rs.18,000 crore.

IANS Bharti Airtel will launch its 4G services in Kotkata this month, Chief Executive Sanjay Kapoor said Tuesday.

“It will be launched this month in Kolkata,” Kapoor told reporters on the sidelines of a telecom event here.

4G is a successor to the 3G and 2G families, and is expected to be five times quicker than 3G services.

The firm bagged Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) spectrum in four circles — Kolkata, Maharastra, Punjab and Karnataka — for Rs.3,314.36 crore in 2010.

State-owned BHEL, which reported an annual net profit of profit at Rs 6,868 crore for the financial year ended March 2012, on Tuesday said it has withdrawn the initial papers for the follow-on offer filed with Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), following an instruction by the Finance Ministry.

“We received instructions from the Department of Disinvestment that the DRHP (draft red herring prospectus) has to be withdrawn…,” CMD BHEL B P Rao told reporters while announcing the company’s annual results which jumped 14 percent.

The Indian government has asked Coal India Ltd to sign agreements with power producers, guaranteeing them fuel supplies, the coal minister said Tuesday.

The government had earlier asked the state-run miner to sign fuel-supply pacts by March 31. But the company missed the deadline as its board members disagreed on clauses that required it to assure supplies or face penalties.

Coal India will have to meet 80 percent of its annual supply commitments to power producers but it can negotiate on the amount of penalty with fuel buyers, Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal told reporters.

Amid Eurozone crisis and uncertain economic climate, emerging economies of Brazil and India have topped the business confidence index, confirming their role as key drivers of the global economy, says a Regus report.

The global Business Confidence Index is based on a survey of views on revenue, profit trends and expected growth.

According to the latest bi-annual Regus Business Confidence Index (BCI) report which tracks the opinions of over 16,000 business managers and owners from 86 countries, business confidence in Brazil has reached 148 points in March followed by India 143 points.

SpiceJet, the private airline owned by the Marans of Sun TV, appears to have been first off the block to attempt direct imports of aviation turbine fuel (ATF).

According to BusinessLine, the airline has approached the Directorate General of Foreign Trade for permissions, and a private oil company has reportedly been approached to help with the infrastructure. Since Reliance and Essar Oil are the only two private players in the oil business, one of them is clearly going to provide the fuel and logistical support.

AN OFFICIAL Secrets Act case dating back to the time when the two Ambani brothers had not parted ways has now come back to haunt the Reliance Industries.

A Delhi court on Monday framed charges against the company and its three senior executives for possessing secret cabinet documents. The police had found the secret government documents during a raid on the office of the company’s group president in 1998.

The Supreme Court will on Tuesday hear a slew of review petitions filed by the Prime Minister’s Office and telecom companies in the 2G spectrum allocation case.

Reportedly, the apex court will reconsider its own judgments given on issues relating to cancellation of 2G spectrum licences and the grant of sanction for prosecution of public servants.

The petitions were filed by telecom companies and one each by the PMO, the Union government and former telecom minister and key accused in the 2G scam case, A Raja.

The three-week-old agitation by gold and jewellery traders against tax hikes in the budget on Monday turned violent as they clashed with the Mumbai police and disrupted trains in Ghaziabad.

Traders staged dharnas in several parts of the country, including at Jantar Mantar in the national capital and at Zaveri Bazaar in South Mumbai.

The rupee gained 31 paise to Rs 50.56 against the American currency on the Interbank Foreign Exchange market in early trade on Tuesday on increased foreign fund inflows amid firm equity markets.

Dealers said besides increased foreign funds inflows, gains in euro and Asian currencies against the US currency in the overseas market supported the rupee.

The rupee had closed 53 paise higher at 50.87/88 against the dollar in the previous session on Friday following government’s assurance that it will not tax equity investments through participatory notes (P-Notes).

Petrol prices in Goa have dropped down to Rs.54.96 since Monday, the cheapest in the country, an official said.

Long queues were witnessed at most petrol pumps with bikers and car owners opting to tank up, instead of regulating their fill of fuel.

“They are saying that the prices of petrol are again going to be increased by the central government,” said Narayan Gaonkar, who was queued up at a Bhartiya Petroleum petrol pump in Porvorim.

The slashing of rates by Rs.11 was a promise given by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in its election manifesto.

The country’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India Monday reported highest ever monthly sales in March at 1,25,952 units, 3.28 percent jump from 1,21,952 units in the same month last year.

For the entire 2011-12 financial year however, the company’s sales declined by 10.80 percent to 11,33,695 units from 12,71,005 units in 2010-11, Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) said in a statement.

In March 2012, the Delhi-based firm reported highest ever domestic sales at 1,12,724 units, an increase of 2.08 percent over 1,10,424 units in March 2011, it added.

Indo-Japanese car venture Toyota Kirloskar Motor Pvt Ltd closed March with sales of 18,220 units, logging a growth of 87 percent over the comparable period the previous year.

In a statement issued Sunday, the company said it sold 18,220 units as compared to 9,726 units sold in March last year.

The company’s Etios model registered a 57 percent growth with the highest ever monthly sales of 5,104 units as compared to 3,257 units sold in March last year.

The Etios Liva model also registered its highest-ever monthly sales with 4,034 units in the month of March 2012.

Overseas investors have pumped in about Rs 8,381.10 crore ($1.68 billion) in the Indian equity market in the month of March, taking the calendar year to date total to a whopping Rs 43,950.70 crore ($8.89 billion).

During March, Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were gross buyers of shares worth Rs 63,795.10 crore, while they sold equities amounting to Rs 55,413.80 crore, translating into a net investment of Rs 8,381.10 crore, as per data available with market regulator Sebi.

Setting a record of sorts, state-run Syndicate Bank Saturday opened 108 new branches across 15 states and Andaman & Nicobar islands simultaneously through the electronic route from here.

Union Minister of State for Finance Namo Narayan Meena, who was present on the occasion, used the bank’s electronic system to inaugurate all the 108 branches at a time remotely.

With the addition of 108 branches, the leading bank’s branch network across the country has gone up to 2,700 in fiscal 2011-12.

Uninor’s 2G review petition in the Supreme Court, which has rediscovered five documents that have already been in the public domain for several months now, is likely to be a source of major embarrassment for both the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) and Home Minister P Chidambaram, who was finance minister when Andimuthu Raja allotted telecom licences in 2008.

The country’s international financial assets sharply dropped by USD 20.7 billion to USD 432.3 billion at the end Q3 from USD 453 billion, primarily due to the exchange rate fluctuations.

Accordingly, the net international investment position (IIP) deteriorated in the December quarter with the net liability rising to USD 215.7 billion from USD 204.0 billion in Q2, Reserve Bank said in the quarterly provisional report.

In a big boost to its precarious financial position, Air India’s Financial Restructuring Plan (FRP) has been approved by a consortium of banks, which may enable the ailing carrier save several hundred crore in the first year itself.

As part of the FRP, Air India signed four agreements with the SBI-led consortium late last evening. These were Master Restructuring Agreement, Working Capital Facility Agreement, Appointment of Facility Agent Agreement and Appointment of Trustee Agreement, airline officials said on Saturday.

In a big boost to its precarious financial position, Air India’s Financial Restructuring Plan (FRP) has been approved by a consortium of banks, which may enable the ailing carrier save several hundred crore in the first year itself.

As part of the FRP, Air India signed four agreements with the SBI-led consortium late last evening. These were Master Restructuring Agreement, Working Capital Facility Agreement, Appointment of Facility Agent Agreement and Appointment of Trustee Agreement, airline officials said on Saturday.

All banks, including private sector lenders, will remain open till 5 pm on Saturday for special clearings of government transactions for 2011-12.

The Reserve Bank has directed private and public sector banks to remain open on March 31, 2012, with a view to facilitate accounting of all government transactions for the current financial year (2011-12).

Banks have also been advised to ensure that the clearing houses under their jurisdiction conduct business keeping in view the operational convenience at the local centres.

State-owned oil firms are pushing for at least Rs 3 per litre hike in petrol price from April 1 to cover part of the spike in cost of raw material.

“We are losing Rs 6.43 per litre on petrol and after adding 20 per cent sales tax, the desired increase in rates in Delhi is Rs 7.72 per litre,” a senior oil company official said.

“We understand that it will be difficult to raise rates by Rs 7.72 per litre in one go but a Rs 3 or even Rs 4 a litre increase is feasible,” he said.

As flight’s duration is much more important to travelers, US News Travel sought out the most painstakingly long journeys in the sky.
1. Los Angeles to Singapore, Singapore Airlines
• Miles: 9,500
• Scheduled Duration: 18 Hours 30 Minutes