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POWER MINISTRY MULLS FUND TO FINANCE HYDRO PROJECTS

NEW DELHI: The power ministry plans to create a fund to provide long-term finances to hydropower developers, and aims to play an active role in resolving state level sues that are blocking such projects.

“Hydropower did not get the desired attention as concerned ministries and departments were working in silos, and problems with states and central authorities could be resolved.

However, the new government is working in tandem as a team and we are hopeful to resolve pending issues to give conducive environment to hydropower sector,” power, coal and renewable energy minister Piyush Goyal said on Tuesday.

He said one of his first projects Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated was the

RAJASTHAN GOVERNMENT BANKS ON HPCL DATA TO NULLIFY LATTER’S CLAIM

JAIPUR: The Rajasthan government while censuring previous Congress government for ignoring state’s interests while signing memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL), has banked on the HPCL’s own consulting firm, SBI Caps’ report.

Chief minister, Vasundhara Raje, during her budget speech, said that based on appraisal report, the project will earn revenue of more than 68,000 crore within 15 years, from the day of production.

According to government officials, the data was cited from the report prepared by HPCL-appointed consulting firm, SBI Caps. Riding on these figures, the government is firming its stand on renegotiating the terms. “These facts came

FireEye’s (FEYE) CEO Dave DeWalt on Q2 2014 Results – Earnings Call Transcript

FireEye, Inc. (NASDAQ:FEYE) Q2 2014 Earnings Conference Call August 5, 2014 17:00 ET Executives Kate Patterson – Vice President, Investor Relations Dave DeWalt – Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Michael Sheridan – Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Analysts Rick Sherlund – Nomura Rob Owens – Pacific Crest Securities Matthew Niknam – Goldman Sachs Daniel Ives – FBR Capital Markets Walter Pritchard – Citi Gary Powell […]

Bollywood billboards weigh on Air India earnings

Mumbai’s towering billboards, which hawk everything from the latest Bollywood movies to soda, block out more than some sunlight. They’re also a physical hurdle preventing Air India Ltd. from reaching its potential on what should be one of its most lucrative routes. The height of billboards near India’s financial hub means the Boeing 777-300ER jets the carrier uses for non-stop flights to Newark, New Jersey, near New […]

End of dollar’s ‘extraordinay esteem’

|By K Raveendran| Is the ‘irrational exuberance’ man at it again? Allen Greenspan, whose description of the state of the market during the course of a nondescript banking speech in 1996 presaged a bubble burst three years later, has spoken out again. The former Federal Reserve Chairman has in a TV interview suggested that the ‘extraordinary esteem’ in which dollar is held around the world may not […]

Microsoft’s Xbox One Is Failing

By Bargain Bin: During Microsoft’s (NASDAQ:MSFT) second quarter, the company sold a total of 1.1 million video game consoles, including both the Xbox 360 and the Xbox One. This was only a 10% increase in unit sales year-over-year, a surprisingly small increase that was partly due to excess retail inventory. But looking at unit sales over the past few months, Microsoft has bigger problems than excess inventory, […]

MINISTRY WORKING ON SWEETENING BANKRUPTCY PILL FOR SICK UNITS

NEW DELHI: The government is working on developing a bankruptcy framework to offer easier exit routes to sick companies while helping revive those with viable options, said Kalraj Mishra, the new minister for micro small & medium enterprises (MSMEs).

Another issue the ministry is dealing with is availability of land for industrial units. It is asking states to create land pools by listing out all unused land available with them.

“Entrepreneur bankruptcy framework will be developed to enable easy exit of sick units,” Mishra told ET. “It has been a major demand of the MSME sector for a very long time. The details will be worked out soon.”

SMEs employ close to 40 per cen

GOVT OPEN TO MINOR CHANGES IN INSURANCE BILL

New Delhi: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Monday said the government was open to accommodating minor modifications to the Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2008, so that it could be passed in the current session of Parliament. He also said calling a joint session of Parliament was a real option if the Bill was defeated in one of the Houses. After an all-party meeting failed to break the deadlock on the issue between the government and Opposition, Jaitley on Monday reached out to the Congress. But the Congress continued to insist the Bill be sent to a select committee of Parliament, as it now was much changed from the one the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government had tabled in the Rajya Sabha. The party added it would be willing to support the legisl

INDIA EYES $40-BILLION PIPELINE FROM RUSSIA TO IMPORT GAS

NEW DELHI: In a move aimed at ensuring India’s energy security, the Narendra Modi-led government plans to import huge volumes of natural gas from Russia. The Centre is working out the contours of a $40-billion (Rs 2.4 lakh-crore) mega onland pipeline project carrying gas from Russia to India, in one of India’s biggest energy projects till date.

Top government officials told HT that the move follows Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Brazil on the sidelines of the Brics summit.

The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) along with the ministry of petroleum and natural gas are preparing a blueprint to examine the feasibility of this new project, they added.

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DIC completes Mauser sale

|By TAP Staff|Dubai International Capital, the private equity arm of Dubai Holding, announced that it has completed the sale of Mauser Group  to Clayton, Dubilier & Rice for  $1.7 billion. The agreement for this sale was announced on 12 May 2014.  David Smoot, Chief Executive Officer of DIC, said the transaction demonstrated DIC’s ability to improve and grow the companies it has invested in to ultimately achieve […]

India leads in BRIC investments into UAE

|TAP Special| Inflows from BRIC countries, including India and China, into the UAE have surpassed those from the Middle East and Africa region and India leads the other BRIC countries in this respect. According to a report of the Fortress Investments, the UAE is attracting significant capital from the BRIC countries and this is the result of progressive government measures and global partnerships. This significant revelation comes […]

China move to allow private oil imports has price implications

China is poised to allow more private companies to directly import oil, a move that will have only a marginal impact on crude markets but may have a disproportionate impact on fuel oil prices. The vast majority of China’s crude imports come via the two state giants, PetroChina and Sinopec , which account for about 90 percent of the imports of the world’s second-largest oil user. Last […]

Middle East Proves a Bright Spot for HSBC

Women walk out of a branch of HSBC at Dubai Internet City in Dubai. Reuters With the largest presence of any international bank in the Middle East, HSBC’s results usually serve as a good indicator of the health of the region’s financial services industry. Going by the bank’s results for the region published on Monday, that outlook looks encouraging: the banking giant posted a 8.8% rise in […]

CENTRE PLANS CHANGES IN ATOMIC ENERGY LAW FOR NPCIL VENTURES TO TAKE OFF

NEW DELHI: The Centre is looking to move amendments to the Atomic Energy Act, 1962 to enable the licensing of three joint ventures proposed by state-owned Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd — with NTPC Ltd, Indian Oil Corporation and National Aluminium Company Ltd (Nalco) — to set up new atomic power projects in the country.

Amid concerns over India’s nuclear liability provisions holding up the deployment of imported Light Water Reactor-based projects in collaboration with global vendors, the proposal by NPCIL to strike joint ventures with cash-rich PSUs is being seen as an alternative strategy to tide over the paucity of funds and ramp up execution capability for new projects using the indigenous pressurised heavy water react

BP & NIKO CANNOT BE PARTY TO ARBITRATION

NEW DELHI: Stung by Reliance Industries’ alleged bid to “influence” the foreign third arbitrator appointed by the Supreme Court in the KG-D6 block case, the government is set to approach the court with a plea that the relevant arbitration be done strictly within the country sans a foreign umpire.

Armed with a law ministry opinion conveyed to it recently, the petroleum ministry will also take the firm stand that RIL’s foreign partners, BP and Niko, should not be made a party to the arbitration, which was initiated by the Indian company, sources familiar with the matter told FE.

The government’s move would escalate the conflict between it and RIL over the alleged suppression of gas production at the once-pro

Advantage Dubai: Singapore is losing shopping charm

|TAP Special| Dubai stands to gain from a changing shopping profile of Singapore as strengthening exchange rate, rising labour costs and sales tax are putting foreign shoppers at a disadvantage in the island city state. Reports already suggest a marked drop in tourist arrivals, particularly from China. Dubai retailer Al-Futtaim has closed its stores for brands including Shana and Vince Camuto in Singapore, and is closing Mango […]

Aldar misses analyst estimates

Aldar Properties, the developer that took over Sorouh Real Estate Co. last year, dropped in Abu Dhabi after reporting quarterly profit that missed estimates. The shares fell 3.2 percent to close at 3.65 dirhams. Aldar, which has the fourth-highest weighting on the benchmark ADX General Index (ADSMI), helped drag the measure down 1.2 percent. Second-quarter net income surged to 506 million dirhams ($138 million) from 189 million […]

Chinese head for Harvard

Chinese students have a new favorite summer destination: Harvard University. So many students and their families are visiting Boston-area schools such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Tufts University that Hainan Airlines Co. started direct flights to Boston from Beijing in June and increased the number from four to seven a week in July and August. Tufts gets so many requests from large organized groups that […]

Dubai World creditors seek to cut exposure thorugh offloading

|TAP Special| Some foreign banks with exposure to Dubai World are believed to be planning to divest parts of their debt as they feel it may be a good time to offload to take advantage of improved confidence in Dubai. Obviously, the improving Dubai rating would mean more value to the debt. $25 billion worth of debt is owed by Dubai World, which is keen to restructure […]

POOLED PRICES, SUBSIDIES TO REVIVE GAS-BASED POWER

NEW DELHI: The government is formulating a policy package aimed at infusing life into 26,489 MW of gas-starved power plants. The plan includes partially revisiting the gas pooling proposal, which the UPA government conceptualised but later turned wary about, given the huge subsidy cost it entailed.

As per the new plan, some 10,382 MW of administered price gas-based installed power capacity, running at a very low plant load factor (PLF) for want of the fuel right now, would get pooled gas — at a price higher than the APM gas price — with an assurance that the cost of power from these plants above a threshold of R5.50 per unit will be subsidised.

As for the balance gas-based capacity, sources said, some 7,000 MW bas

STAKE DILUTION IN GOVT BANKS TO START IN NOVEMBER: SANDHU

New Delhi: The government is likely to start selling its stake in public sector banks (PSBs) in November. It is also expected State Bank of India (SBI), India’s largest lender, will tap the markets this year. Financial Services Secretary G S Sandhu on Thursday said the government would seek a Cabinet nod for stake dilution in PSBs, adding the sale would be in tranches, based on banks’ requirement of funds. “It will be a combination of follow-on public offer (FPO) and, in some cases, it will be through qualified institutional placement. It may start around Diwali, most likely November,” he told reporters after a meeting with the heads of PSBs and other financial institutions. Asked whether large banks such as SBI and Punjab National Bank (PNB) would op

US WANTS TO LINK POWER PACTS WITH CLIMATE CHANGE AGREEMENT

NEW DELHI: A visiting US team has told Indian negotiators it would link pacts on the power sector to the agreement the two countries draw on climate change and one would not happen without the other.

This message was conveyed by the US team to India in a meeting held with the power ministry on Wednesday. Power Minister Piyush Goyal and other ministry officials attended the meeting.

The US team, headed by Todd Stern, the US special envoy on climate change, also called on Environment, Forests and Climate Change Minister Prakash Javadekar in its bid to stitch an agreement on various climate change issues.

Sources said the meeting with the environment ministry focused on areas where the two countries

Ismaik trims Arabtec stake

Dubai construction company Arabtec’s former boss has sold about $4 million worth of shares in the group this week, cutting his stake slightly, stock exchange data showed. Arabtec’s shares have swung around wildly this year on apparent tensions between chief executive Hasan Ismaik and Abu Dhabi state fund Aabar Investments, also a major Arabtec shareholder. Ismaik resigned abruptly in June. Ismaik cut his stake to 28.77 percent […]

PETROL GETS CHEAPER BY RS 1.09 PER LITRE, DIESEL PRICES UP BY 56 PAISE

NEW DELHI: Petrol became cheaper by Rs 1.09 per litre in Delhi from Friday after state oil companies slashed the price of the fuel for the first time since mid-April because benchmark gasoline rates in the international market dropped.

Companies, however, raised the price of diesel by 56 paise in Delhi, helping to reduce the gap between pump and market rates by about Rs 1.50 per litre and increasing the prospects of deregulating the fuel soon.

If the trend continues, diesel pricing could be freed from state control in three months, government and industry officials said. Prices of diesel sold to bulk consumers such as the railways and state transport companies at market rates have been reduced, IOCsaid in a statement.