Andhranews

New Delhi, Aug. 31: The meeting between the representatives of the petroleum ministry and public sector oil companies on Friday, to review the price of petroleum products, is unlikely to hike the price of petrol, diesel or of LPG.
This is because the price at which India at present is buying crude oil in the global market has come down to the June 5 level, which was when the government last raised the prices.

When on June 5, the government had raised the price of petroleum products, the price of oil (Indian basket) in the global market was $67 a barrel. Then, due to the West Asia crisis, there was a drastic increase in the oil prices. But in last few days, things seem to have returned to normal. On Wednesday, the oil price (Indian basket) came down to $66.62 per barrel from a peak of $75.30.

But the prices of oil kept fluctuating in the month of August. On August 16, the price per barrel of crude was $70.67 (Indian basket) and the next day, it further came down to $69.06. For the next consecutive three days, there was some increase in the price of the crude oil. The price started falling from Monday again. On Monday, the price of the oil was $ 67.57 per barrel, on Tuesday, it came down to $66.96 a barrel and by Wednesday, it was at an all-month low of $66.62 per barrel.

“Since the price of the oil is fluctuating, the ministry would like the oil price to stabilise a bit before a decision is taken,” said an official in the petroleum ministry. Also any increase in the price of petroleum products has wide-ranging implications for the government. The Left parties have already shown their opposition to any hike in the price. The Cabinet had in June decided that oil companies would be free to fix prices of petrol and diesel once the Indian basket of crude crosses $70 a barrel. But though the price of the oil crossed $70 a barrel benchmark, the oil companies were never allowed to hike prices.

New Delhi, Aug. 31: The much-awaited Rs 13,500 crore public issue of real estate major DLF Ltd. hit a roadblock on Friday, with the company withdrawing the IPO prospectus and citing the delay in getting clearance over minority shareholder issue as the “only” reason behind the postponement. The company said that it was withdrawing the Draft Red Herring Prospectus for its proposed IPO and was seeking to re-submit the document in a month’s time.
DLF was asking for a premium of Rs 600 on a Rs 2 share. But Sebi had not given its green signal even though four months had elapsed.

“We wanted to refile the document as lot of positive development have taken place in the last four months and financial figures have become outdated,” DLF CFO Ramesh Sanka said. Conceding that the proposed public issue was getting delayed due to the controversy relating to minority shareholders, Mr Sanka said that Sebi has referred the matter to ministry of company affairs.

Investment protection association Midas Investors Association had written to Sebi complaining about the misleading statements in the DRHP, in terms of misrepresentation of assets by putting projections given by property consultants and other irregularities, in alleged violation of Sebi guidelines. Sebi had passed on the complaints to the merchant bankers to the issue who are responsible to see that the DRHP conforms to Sebi guidelines on IPOs.

Asked about the irregularities in the DRHP, as pointed out by investor groups, a DLF spokesperson chose not to make specific comments, stating that there were no irregularities on the part of the company. He, however, said there will be no change in the size of the IPO.

Hyderabad, Aug. 31: Andhra Bank will be floating a subsidiary for its life insurance joint venture with the Bank of India and the Dai-ichi Mutual Life Insurance Company, the bank’s chairman K. Ramakrishnan said on Thursday.
The bank’s board had on Wednesday gave an “in-principle” approval to form a life insurance joint venture with the Bank of India and The Dai-ichi Mutual Life Insurance Company of Japan.

Speaking to this newspaper, Mr Ramakrishnan said Dai-ichi Life, the second-largest life insurance company in Japan, will hold a 26 per cent stake in the insurance JV, as required by the IRDA. However, both Bank of India and the Andhra Bank are yet to decide on the share each bank will hold in the 74 per cent stake in the JV.

“We have yet to meet and take a view on the shareholding pattern. Bank of India came up with proposal for the life insurance venture along with Dai-ichi Mutual Life because of its long experience in Japan. We took up with project because Bank of India is a large bank compared to Andhra Bank,” Mr Ramakrishnan said. He said the partners had also not decided on the paid-up capital structure of the proposed insurance JV.

According to IRDA norms, the minimum paid-up capital for a life insurance company is Rs 100 crores. Mr Ramakrishnan said once the JV is up and running, both banks will discontinue their bancassurance business, as stipulated by IRDA. “The tieup with Bank of India makes sense because it has a major presence in western and northern India, while Andhra Bank is strong in Andhra Pradesh and other States in the south,” Mr Ramakrishnan said.

The proposed JV will be the seventeeth private life insurance firm in India. Earlier this year, the Chennai-based Shriram group launched a life insurance company in association with Sanlam of South Africa. Last week, the Bharti group launched its life insurance company in partnership with AXA of France.

Hyderabad, Aug. 31: The Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI)-organised ‘Indian Travel Congress’ begins here on Friday with key industry experts and professionals debating the challenges and opportunities that exist in the tourism and travel sector in the State and the country.

Briefing mediapersons on the eve of the event, Ashwini Kakkar, president of TAAI said a ‘Travel Mart’ has been arranged on the sidelines of the Congress with nearly 60 stalls for various companies and different airlines. Talking to this newspaper, Mr Kakkar requested the government for adopting an enlightened approach to boost the travel and tourism industry with public-private partnership for construction of new hotels which play a vital role in generating employment.

“If the government provides land, private companies will construct the hotels,” Mr Kakkar explained. C.V. Prasad, chairman of the Congress Committee, said double taxation had become a burden on industry and requested the government to sort out the complication in luxury and service taxes. “Road connectivity and tourism infrastructure have to improve in Andhra Pradesh. Otherwise most of the tourists prefer TN and Karnataka where the industry is booming.”

Hyderabad, Aug. 31: The Bangalore-based Prestige group, a real estate firm, will be setting up seven shopping malls in southern India, including Hyderabad, Chennai, Mangalore and Kochi, Mr Susil Dungarwal, head of retail (mall business), said on Thursday. Mr Dungarwal, a veteran of the retail industry in India, said the Prestige group envisages an investment of nearly Rs 3,000 crores in the new malls, which are expected to be commissioned in 2008.

“We prefer to own the property where the malls will be located, and the group is planning major investments in the mall business because of the potential in the retail sector,” Mr Dungarwal said. The Prestige group, which currently owns two malls in Bangalore — The Forum & Eva — is building two more malls in the Garden City. “The rollout plan includes a mall in Mangalore, one in Hyderabad and Kochi, and two in Chennai,” he said.

Mr Dungarwal said that for the Hyderabad project, the Prestige group has tied up with the Sujana group. “The Hyderabad mall will have a built-up area of 11 lakh square feet, and we will be commissioning it in 2008,” he said. He said the company would be funding the new mall development through internal accruals and some debt. “Each of the malls is estimated to cost Rs 350 crores, given that we need to acquire land in prime localities in the cities we will be building the malls,” Mr Dungarwal said.

Bhubaneswar, Aug. 31: The Kolkata Port Trust, in association with the Orissa government, is set to start a cruise liner service linking the eastern metropolis to Puri in Orissa , Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh and the Andaman Islands.
The liner will offer five-star services, including casinos and dance bars and can handle 500 tourists. The move will help boost tourism in the region, state tourism director Santosh Sarangi said.

However , it will be run by a private firm for which KPT had already invited expression of interest application at the global level. Mr Sarangi said a committee had been formed which will shortlist the operator. At present, a similar service is run on the Mumbai-Goa-Lakhadweep circuit. The KPT authorities will be extending the requisite infrastructure for running the cruise liner.

Mr Sarangi said plans had been afoot to construct a jetty at Puri where the ship can anchor. To begin with, tourists will be ferried to the shore in boats from an anchorage point in the high seas. It is also exploring the possibility to anchor it at Gopalpur in south Orissa .

But the State would have to wait for a while before the plan materialises. He said the entire process can take up to six months before the ships can start cruising on the Bay. Once the service is launched, Orissa can also expect a surge in foreign tourist arrivals besides attracting those who land in Kolkata en route Nepal, Bhutan or North Eastern States. Besides, of course, a section of the vast crowd that visit Puri every year from West Bengal. The journey from Kolkata to Puri will take about 18 hours.