New Pension Scheme subscribers touch 5 lakh mark: Govt
According to a government data, there are more than five lakh people who have subscribed to New Pension Scheme (NPS) as at June-end. Launched by the government for government employees, the benefits of NPS were extended to all citizens of the country from May 1, 2009. NPS allows 50% of the funds to invest in the stock markets.
The Minister of State for Finance informed the Rajya Sabha that the total number of subscribers in the New Pension System as on June 30, 2009 was 5,40,244.
Previously, the benefit of Section 80 CCD of the Income-Tax Act, 1961 were restricted to the employees of the central government and other employers (i.e. the salaried class). Other individuals (like self-employed) were not allowed to avail the benefits. Meanwhile, the minister has also said that The Finance Bill, 2009 has proposals for extending the benefit of Section 80 CCD of the Income-Tax Act, 1961 to all individuals.
For a healthy development of NPS, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in his Budget allowed exemption from the STT to all purchase and sale of equity shares and derivatives by the NPS Trust. The pension fund industry players have welcomed the move to exempt the New Pension Scheme (NPS) Trust from the Securities Transaction Tax (STT).
The man who saved India during Global Economic Crisis – Dr. Y. V Reddy
This is reference to an article that appeared in India’s Business Standard newspaper on 22 July 2009 under the same title. It reviews a recent book, India and the Global Financial Crisis, by Dr Y. V. Reddy, who was governor of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) over 2003–08. This period saw exceptional challenges to macro management, and it was largely owing to the pre-emptive – but unpopular – policies of the RBI under Dr Reddy that India managed to avoid a far more debilitating hit from the global credit crisis. The charts on the left have been added for this note and were not included in the newspaper version.
We recommend our readers to Read the book by Dr. Y. V Reddy.
Anil Ambani attacks RIL’s Mukesh and Murli Deora – Ambani Sepration MoU
Reporing Live from Rliance Natural Resources Ltd Annual General Meeting. The high profile Chairman who has been a victim after family separation attacked his older brother and Chairman of Reliance Industries Ltd – Mukesh Ambani.
Mr. Anil said,
Despite binding commercial agreement, RIL has tried every trick to fall out of its contractual obligation. he further added, I’m really sorry to say that the Oil Ministry is deliberately twisting facts. [Murli Deora is the Oil Minister of India] The sovereign ownership is a boogey to bail out RIL.
Mr. Anil Ambani also said,
We are not claiming ownership of gas under production sharing contract. We are claiming rights only on RIL’s share of gas. Our claim is also in the consistence stance of the government on the floor of Parliament in the past three years.
The issue is as simple as this. As per MoU after the separation of Reliance empire, RIL’s chief Mukesh has signed an agreement to supply Gas to RNRL a newly crated company but now run by Anil Ambani. However, Mukesh is taking th best use of his father’s friend Murli Deora now the oil Minister of India to say that RIL is a mere contractor, etc to favor Mukesh.
Paladion selects HP Software for Application Security Testing
Paladion, a managed security service provider, today announced that it is setting up an Application Security Testing Center of Excellence (CoE) built around HP Application Security Center software. The first of its kind Application Security Testing CoE in India, it will enable Paladion’s customers to reduce the risk of application security breaches by integrating the discovery and resolution of critical vulnerabilities into existing application design processes.
The CoE consists of dedicated infrastructure with experienced application security professionals who will develop Proof of Concepts (POC), methodologies and Best Practices based on HP Application Security Center.
Rajat Mohanty, Founder and CEO, of Paladion told us,
Paladion, through the CoE, will help customers to identify and fix security vulnerabilities right from the application design process, HP Application Security Center provides the right platform for helping protect intellectual property and increase productivity at a lower cost to the business. The alliance with HP and our new Application Security Testing CoE will only further strengthen our capabilities.
Textile industry wants cotton at international prices
India’s textile industry has demanded that the state-owned Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) should sell cotton at international rates. The demand comes in wake of the industry being forced to pay higher than international prices due to a hike in the minimum support price (MSP) announced by the government in September last year.
The demand was presented in a report submitted to the textile ministry by the industry body Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI). The report said that the government agencies should primarily be selling to the textile mills and sale to traders and exporters should be restricted to only when stocks reaches 2-3 months of physical inventory.
The industry also wants the government to ensure that representatives from the textile industry are present on boards of the government agencies like the CCI and National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India as it would ensure greater communication between the industry and government.
Following the demand of the industry, textiles minister Dayanidhi Maran has said that while paying the MSP was an obligation for the government, which needed to fulfill to ensure welfare of the farming community, the government would try to supply cotton to the textile industry at prices not higher than what would be prevalent in international markets.
India emerges 3rd largest consumer of natural rubber: Rubber Board
India has emerged as the third largest consumer of natural rubber after China and the US, and exceeding Japan, according to the 2008 figures released by the Rubber Board.
According to a report by the Rubber Research Institute of India (RRII), rubber prices have recorded a negative growth of 0.55% between 1980-81 and 2007-08. On the other hand, farm income rose during the period by 3.13% due to productivity growth of 3.71%.
Natural rubber consumption in India in the fiscal 2009-10 increased a mere 1.2%, reflecting the impact of recessionary tendencies. The previous fiscal had witnessed an increase of 5%. However, there have been visible signs of recovery since February 2009. During April-June, consumption increased by 1.9%. Consumption during 2009-10 is projected at 8.81 lakh tonnes, according to the Rubber Board.
The Board referred to the Automotive Tyre Manufacturers Association’s (ATMA) report that truck and bus tyre production had declined 2% over the previous year, while exports fell 20%. However, economic recovery is expected to gather momentum in the second half of the current fiscal, providing impetus to the manufacturing sector. The average price of RSS4 during 2008-09 in the domestic market was Rs 101.12 per kg as compared to Rs 103 .79 per kg reported for RSS3 in the international market.
One MTS, One India 35 Paise / Minute Calling
MTS India Wireless Services offered by Sistema Shyam TeleServices Limited (SSTL), today launched One MTS, One India”, for MTS subscribers in India. Priced at an incredibly low and unmatched price of Rs 11, subscribers can make local and STD call within their network at a uniform price of 35 paise per minute. The service is available for subscribers across 600 towns of Rajasthan, 250 towns of West Bengal & Kolkata, 271 towns of Bihar, 262 towns of Kerala and 561 towns of Tamil Nadu.
Mr. Leonid Musatov, Chief Marketing Officer of Sistema Shyam TeleServices Limited said,
Our brand is build on the value, that consumers need quality product with a simple and honest price. The “One MTS, One India” is a simplified tariff and billing plan, and offers our customers the flexibility of talking at one price point across India. What you see is what you will get there are no hidden costs. We are already getting queries for providing on-net call discounts between our markets and are responding to this demand now rather than waiting until we have full national coverage.
Tata Indicom Broadband + NEC India for education and hospitality verticals
Tata Indicom Broadband, internet service from Tata Communications has formed alliance with NEC India, a wholly owned subsidiary of NEC Asia and NEC Corporation which aims to offer integrated solutions for education and hospitality verticals.
The two companies will target a common customer base and bundle their products. NEC and Tata Indicom Broadband would explore further opportunities to take this relationship forward offering exciting bundled promotions.
Together the alliance will strive to empower both the Indian education and hospitality sectors with continual innovations and superior services.
Tata Indicom Braodband offers different forms of internet access like broadband, Wi-Fi, Dail-up and other services like gaming, movies, music, anti-virus etc on a single account.
NEC offers solutions and services for ubiquitous networking supported by Next Generation Network (NGN) and IT integrated technologies. This partnership is uniquely positioned to deliver key value-added solutions that enable both companies to capitalise on their respective strengths.
General Insurance penetration in India is low
In a joint research paper on Indian Insurance Industry brought out by Assocham, it was revealed that the penetration level of the general insurance business in India is just 0.60% of its GDP, despite posting an annual growth by 16% under this segment.
The low penetration is in comparison with the global average of 2.14%. The business of general insurance in India is worth Rs 300 billion in terms of annual premium.
The paper further states that one of the biggest constraints facing the general insurance business is the lack of reach beyond the cities. While life insurance players are struggling with the quality of insurance advisors, general insurance players face difficulty in getting intermediaries to distribute their products.
The two drivers for growth are increase in the value of underlying assets with rising GDP and personal incomes, as well as the increasing penetration across categories.
India ranks 136th on penetration levels and lags behind China (106), Thailand (87), Russia (86), Brazil (85), Japan (61) and the US (9). The penetration of general insurance in India remains low on account of low consumer preference, largely untapped rural markets and constrained distribution channels”, adds the paper.
BGR Energy secures $80.5 mn worth of contract from SCOP
BGR Energy Systems has announced that the State Company for Oil Projects (SCOP), Ministry of Oil, Iraq, has increased the value of the contract it placed in the Oil and Gas Equipment division of the company from $76.6 million to $80.5 million.
In October 2006, SCOP had awarded a lump-sum turnkey contract worth of $76.60 million to BGR Energy, for design & supply of gas processing complex of Kormor Gas Field Development (KGFD) project. But the project could not take-off due to change in operating parameters.
The state-run entity has now awarded a fresh contract for development of two gas fields viz, Akas and AI-Mansuria.
The company has secured this contract after out-bidding European companies like OGI – Ireland, Petrel – United Kingdom (UK), Snamprogetti – Italy and Equinox – Canada.
The scope of the new contracts includes engineering, procurement and supply of key utilities viz., turbo gas generators, water system plant, fire and gas detection, fire water system and instrumentation air system.
Both Akas and AI-Mansuria gas processing projects are of 110 mm standard cubic feet per day high pressure gas processing fields and will be completed over 18 months.
This is the latest of the fourth consecutive order to BGR Energy from SCOP. It has supplied 45 hydro carbon tanks worth of $17.88 million against first and second contracts for Najaf Tank project.
Currently, the company is executing the third order for supply of 17 Tanks valuing $9.30 million for Aumara Tank project.
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