12 Dec 2011;business-standard.com: Maruti Suzuki India expects to complete land acquisition for a plant in Gujarat in a month but has no immediate plan to start construction work there, a company official said. Maruti Suzuki India Chairman R C Bhargava said they would initiate work at the Gujarat plant only when the capacity of its Manesar plant would be fully utilised. "The land acquisition process is on and we hope it will be concluded in this month. I don't think we will start work on it at least two to three years," Bhargava said. On the sidelines of a seminar at Indian School of Business here. "We will need Gujarat plant when the Manesar plant capacity is fully utilised. So, that depends on how the market grows. So, I can't give a date on this," he added. The company has two facilities at Gurgaon and Manesar, both in Haryana, with a collective capacity to manufacture 1.2 million vehicles annually. According to a senior official of the Gujarat government, the initial land requirement of MSI was indicated to be 1,000 acres. The MSI board had also given the nod to purchase of up to 1,500 acre of land in Mehsana district, Gujarat. The auto major had stated in June that along with its vendors, it could invest Rs 18,000 crore in the state as it looks to manufacture nearly 20 lakh units a year in Gujarat. "We have to see how the market goes. It takes three years to build a new plant. So, if I need to take production from Gujarat plant in 2016, then I will have to start work in 2013. "Nobody can create capacity when market does not require. We create capacity to make and sell cars. So if there is no demand for cars I don’t have to create that capacity," Bhargava said. On the automobile industry, Bhargava said now the outlook for the industry is not bright. Maruti this year may end up less than last year's sales. "I cannot tell in terms of percentage because there are four more months to go. Lets see how these four months to go. Chances are will be less than last year," he said. Till November this year, MSI sold 6,81,200 units down by 17.8 per cent over last year same period. Exports declined by 24.4 per cent to 73,783 units till November.
12 Dec 2011;business-standard.com:Vrishti Beniwal:New Delhi: Govt needs to withdraw duty cuts of June to meet yawning deficit, but that would unleash sea of red ink for state-owned oil marketing firms. The decline in the rupee’s value may scuttle the finance ministry’s plan to roll back the cut in excise and customs duties on petroleum products announced earlier this year to deal with rising crude oil prices. Doing so could mean a blow of Rs 49,000 crore in tax revenue to the government for the full year. “Global crude prices have fallen in the last few months but if the trend of a depreciating rupee continues, it will be difficult to restore the duties on petroleum products,” said a ministry official. In June, the government removed the customs duty of five per cent on crude, brought down the import duty on petrol and diesel from 7.5 per cent to 2.5 per cent, and on other petroleum products to five per cent from 10 per cent. It also abolished the Rs 2.6 per litre basic excise duty on diesel, to give some relief to oil marketing companies in the wake of rising crude prices. These prices have now fallen below $100 per barrel after hovering around $115 per barrel in the first quarter of the current financial year. The fall could have given some room to the government to re-introduce the duties in the Budget this February. However, the rupee has slid 16 per cent against the dollar in the past four months, making it difficult for the government to bring back the duties at a time when the borrowing costs for oil refiners have gone up. On Friday, the rupee ended 27 paise lower from the previous day’s close, at 52.03. The mid-year analysis tabled in Parliament last week said with inflation high in India compared to the US, some rupee depreciation is to be expected. Petroleum ministry data has showed every rupee drop against the dollar increased annual revenue losses for the three state-owned oil retailers — Indian Oil Corporation, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation and Bharat Petroleum Corporation — by Rs 8,000 crore. Import of petroleum, oil and lubricants rose 42.7 per cent at $94.1 billion during April-November, 30.4 per cent of the total import of $309.5 bn during the period. Cash needed The cut in petroleum duties is pinching the revenue department a lot, as the growth in its indirect tax collection has fallen from a little over 25 per cent in the first quarter of 2011-12 to 6.5 per cent in November. During the month, central excise collection declined by 6.5 per cent. Despite growth of about 30 per cent in imports in the first eight months, customs collections also posted only a 4.7 per cent rise. After declaring the indirect tax numbers on Friday, S K Goel, chairman of the Central Board of Excise & Customs, for the first time indicated the government may miss the target this year, though by a small margin. The Budget estimate for indirect tax collections in 2011-12 was Rs 3,92,098 crore, later increased to Rs 4,00,635 crore by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee. The Reserve Bank of India had intervened in the foreign exchange market for the first time in September, by selling $845 mn to reduce excess volatility in rupee. During the peak of the 2008-09 global economic crises, the rupee had depreciated significantly to about 52 per dollar, as the dollar gained strength as a ‘safe haven’ currency. Since that time, it had appreciated to about Rs 44 per dollar. Beginning August, it has again depreciated, to above Rs 52.
11 Dec 2011;business-standard.com:Ajay Modi:New Delhi: It’s a capital shock. Delhi, which has more cars than the three other metro cities put together, is seeing a drop in petrol consumption. This is against the national growth trend. The consumption of the fuel declined by a startling nine per cent in November, while diesel grew by 19 per cent. CNG sales have also grown by around 15 per cent. In the April-November period of the current financial year, petrol consumption in Delhi registered a drop of 1.34 per cent. National consumption, on the other hand, has been growing rapidly. In the April-October period this year, the national petrol consumption grew 4.8 per cent — lower when seen against last year’s double-digit growth, but still healthy. The national consumption data comes with a lag of over two weeks, so the numbers for November are not yet available. Delhi’s diesel consumption grew by an impressive 22.4 per cent in the April-November period, way above the national growth of 5.9 per cent in the April-October period. Delhiites could have cut down on petrol consumption as reaction to high prices and shifted to diesel and CNG vehicles, besides using the mass rapid transit system. Nishi Goel, vice-president of the Delhi Petrol Dealers Association, said the declining trend in petrol had been witnessed after more than a decade. “When Supreme Court had, in 1998, ordered conversion of all auto rickshaws to CNG, a decline in consumption had taken place. So, this drop is happening for the first time in more than a decade,” he said. Petrol prices have moved up by 37 per cent, to Rs 65.64 per litre, since decontrol in Delhi. During this period, diesel prices, which are still regulated, have risen just 7.37 per cent to Rs 40.91 per litre. Compared to petrol, CNG offers 65 per cent savings at current prices. According to automobile industry data, sale of diesel passenger vehicles has grown by around 22 per cent this year, compared to a decline of 14 per cent in sales of petrol vehicles. Car owners are becoming sensitive to conservation efforts. Those who have an option to park their cars at metro stations and board metro trains to their destinations are increasingly doing so. Metro parking lots are almost full during office hours on weekdays. With the addition of new lines at regular intervals, Metro ridership numbers have also risen sharply. Employees of BPOs in Gurgaon are being incentivised for taking the Metro at least on one side of their journey. Goel also attributes the fall in petrol consumption to the expanding metro coverage and growth in CNG outlets. Delhi Metro claims to have removed more than 91,000 vehicles from Delhi roads. “With the construction and operation of Delhi Metro, the Metro complements other modes of transport and partially replaces trips made by conventional or traditional means of transport,” it says. If not for the Metro, the 1.9 million people who use it daily would have travelled by cars, buses or motorbikes. According to the oil ministry’s Petroleum Products Planning and Analysis Cell, shifts in the share of petrol, diesel and CNG in the total auto fuel sales can indicate a change in customers’ choice of one fuel over the other. This can happen on account of three factors. First, the cheaper purchase price of a particular fuel-driven car compared to the other; second, one fuel giving higher mileage than the other; and third, the price of one fuel being lower than the other. A combination of these three factors is perceived to lead to a discernible change in the share of a particular auto fuel in the total auto fuel sale in the country.
Reliance selling 2-3 million T/yr fuel to Africa: Exec
10 Dec 2011;economictimes.indiatimes.com:NEW DELHI: Reliance Industries is selling 2-3 million tonnes of fuel a year to Africa, P. Raghavendran, the company's president of refinery business, said on Saturday. Reliance, the owner of the world's biggest refining complex in the western state of Gujarat, operates two refineries with a combined capacity to process 1.24 million bpd oil. Reliance Industries is currently operating 600 out of its 1400 retail outlets in India, P. Raghavendran, the company's president of refinery business, said on Saturday. Reliance, the owner of the world's biggest refining complex in the western state of Gujarat, operates two refineries with a combined capacity to process 1.24 million bpd oil.
Benin invites Indian firms for oil and gas exploration
10 Dec 2011;economictimes.indiatimes.com:NEW DELHI: The West African country of Benin Saturday invited Indian companies to help develop its oil and gas sector. "There is a lot of unexplored mineral reserves in Benin, especially in the oil and gas segment. We want India's expertise in exploration to find these resources and use them," said Chirstophe Kaki, director of cabinet, ministry of petroleum and mineral resources. "I want to invite Indian companies to come and work with us in a mutually beneficial partnership." Unlike neighbouring Nigeria and Ghana, Benin has an underdeveloped exploration sector, which Kaki feels can be developed in collaboration with Indian companies. Benin has also sought education and infrastructural support from India. "We need geologist and other related professionals in the exploration field. India can also help in terms of providing education in this segment," Kaki told IANS on the sidelines of the third India-Africa Hydrocarbon Summit 2011 being held here. "In terms of infrastructure, there is also an opportunity to collaborate," said Kaki. His views were corroborated by Gurjit Singh, additional secretary, East and South Africa, in the external affairs ministry. He said India was looking to develop long-term partnerships with African nations. "We look at Africa not as a source of natural resources only. We believe Africa's biggest resource is its inhabitants. Our policy is focused on developing human resource and capacity in Africa, so that the Africans can use this for their own benefit," Singh said. Singh also said that though India's footprint in Africa's oil and gas sector was comparatively smaller than that of China, it was a matter of time before the country caught up with its neighbour. "Our footprint in oil sector is small, whereas some other countries have a larger footprint. But in many other sectors, we have a bigger footprint and it is only a matter of time and opportunity that our footprint becomes bigger."
Implement high security number plates for vehicles by March 31, 2012: SC to states
9 Dec 2011;timesofindia.indiatimes.com:Dhananjay Mahapatra:NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday set March 31, 2012 as the deadline for states to implement the scheme for fixing high security registration plates (HSRP) in motor vehicles, while directing Delhi government to complete the process by this yearend. "We extend the period for implementation of the scheme till December 31, 2011, by which date, all steps, complete in all respects, should be taken by the Delhi government," a bench of Chief Justice S H Kapadia and Justices A K Patnaik and Swatanter Kumar said. The court asked Delhi Integrated Multimodal Transit System (DIMTS), which has been constituted by the Delhi government as a special purpose vehicle for overseeing transport in the Capital, to ensure that a single person is in charge of supervising manufacturing, affixation of seals, imprinting of numbers and affixation of HSRP on vehicles in the National Capital Territory of Delhi. Like Delhi, Kerala and Manipur have also been directed to implement the scheme by December 31, 2011. West Bengal will implement the scheme by January 31, 2012 while Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Tripura will fully operationalise HSRP by February 29, 2012. States and Union Territories given March 31, 2012 as deadline to implement HSRP are Bihar, Chandigarh, Jammu and Kashmir, Mizoram, Puducherry, Sikkim and Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The deadline of April 30, 2012 for implementation of HSRP was stuck on Assam, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Jharkhand, Lakshadweep, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Punjab and Uttarakhand. Himachal Pradesh and Nagaland will be the last among the states to implement HSRP by June 15, 2012. The apex court asked the high courts not to entertain any petition, as part of judicial propriety, in relation to implementation of HSRP. It warned the defaulting states of contempt action. "In the event of default and non-compliance of any of the directions contained in this order by any authority, this court would be compelled to initiate proceedings against such officer/officers in accordance with the provisions of Contempt of Courts Act, 1971, without any further notice to them," said Justice Swatanter Kumar, who authored the judgment on behalf of the bench. The court took exception to non-filing of affidavits by Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Goa and Karnataka, who cited pending litigation relating to tender process as the reason. Dadra and Nagar Haveli has not even initiated the tender process. "For non-filing of affidavits, these states/UTs have already violated the orders of the apex court," the SC said and granted time till December 31 to file affidavits. On the litigation relating to HSRP pending in various courts, the bench said, "In the interest of justice and to ensure proper implementation of the judgments and directions of this court, as contained in its various orders, in regard to manufacturing and affixation of the HSRP, it is imperative for this court to direct that it will be in the fitness of things and even judicial propriety would demand that no high court should pass any interim order cancelling or staying the tender process in relation to implementation of the scheme."
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