DoT surprises private telcos
New Delhi: The department of telcommunications has demanded licence fees from private telecom operators for the period August 1999 to October 1999, to be paid by 25 September 1999, computed on the basis of the interim revenue sharing formula.

Private operators have to now compute average revenues for August to October 1999, based on actual figures for April to June 1999, and pay 15 per cent as licence fees. Interconnect payments made to DoT and MNTL and service tax paid by the private operators to the government can be excluded from the calculation. From the next quarter onwards, payment of licence fees has to be made ten days before the commencement of the period.

In the meantime, DoT has not yet sent letters to Koshika, JT Mobile, Fascel, Hughes Ispat and Essar Commvision for terminating their licences. These firms, according to DoT, have violated one or more of the norms stipulated for migration to the revenue sharing system.
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Petroleum ministry given a month to solve oil pool tangle
New Delhi: The petroleum mnistry has been given one month time by the cabinet to come out with a solution for the problems faced on the oil pool front. The oil pool deficit, according to latest figures, has crossed Rs.5,000 crore.

V K Ramamurthy, petroleum minister, has said that the new government that will take charge after the elections will take a decision in the matter. The ministry was basically in favour of increasing the price of high speed diesel among the controlled products. Other controlled products such as petrol, LPG and kerosene will probably not be touched.
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Hudco shortlists 8 for securitisation issue
New Delhi: Hudco Ltd, an infrastructure finance company, has shortlisted eight banks and finance companies, out of seventeen applicants, to manage its forthcoming Rs.1,000-crore securitisation issue.

Hudco intends to complete the Rs.1,000-crore issue in the financial year 1999-2000 in two tranches. This issue is part of the company’s Rs.5,000 crore securitisation plans.

Of the eight, two are consortia. They are the combined teams from HSBC-Arthur Andersen and SBI-IDBI-DSP Merill Lynch. Others shortlisted are ABN Amro, ANZ Grindlays, Citibank, ICICI, Kotak Mahindra, and KPMG. These banks/companies will be called for making another presentation, after which three of them will be given the mandate.
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IDBI, Canara Bank to cut stake in CARE
Mumbai: The 26 per cent and 23 per cent shareholdings of the Industrial Development Bank of India and Canara Bank in Credit Analysis and Research Ltd will be cut to below 10 per cent. CARE is a credit rating agency jointly promoted by these institutions.

IDBI and Canara Bank will privately place their holdings between Rs.15 and Rs.18 per share with State Bank of India, Life Insurance Corporation of India and General Insurance Corporation of India.

In the meantime, ICICI has decided to sell around 2 per cent of its stake in Crisil to Standard and Poor’s.
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SBI to review service charges
Mumbai: Following the Reserve Bank of India directive to banks to set their own service charge structure, the State Bank of India has set up a committee to review its structure. The three-member panel will review the entire service charge structure of the bank, such as demand draft charges, remittance charges, safe deposit lockers and automated teller machines.

The Reserve Bank of India had very recently said that banks need not adhere to benchmark rates set by the Indian Banks Association, thus letting service charges be market driven. But the Reserve Bank has said that banks should not set service charges that are below their costs for servicing.
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Indian short-term rates are still high
Mumbai: India’s three-month rates of around 10 per cent, according to a study made by Amex, are mid-way between Japanese rates of around 0.1 per cent, 3.2 per cent in Malaysia, US rates of 5.5 per cent, and 20 per cent in Brazil.
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India plans to be a top nuclear power by 2020
Mumbai: If the department of atomic energy’s plans come true, India will be generating around 20,000 MW of nuclear power, and will join the ranks of the US, France, Japan and Germany as one of the top nuclear power houses in the world. India’s total power requirement by 2020 is expected to be around 2,00,000 MW. India currently generates 1,695 MW of nuclear power.

The nuclear power generated by the top countries are: US - 96,423 MW, France – 61,653 MW, Japan – 43,691 MW, Germany – 22,282 MW, Russia – 19,843 MW.
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External debt goes up by $4 billion
New Delhi: India's external debt was $98.2 billion as of March 1999, up nearly $4 billion from the March 1998 level. It is now closing in on the all-time high of $99 billion recorded in March 1995. One of the main reasons for the increase is the issue of $4.2 billion Resurgent India Bonds, and approximately $600 million in fresh FCNR deposits with banks.

India ahead in country ratings, lags in PLR cuts
New Delhi: India’s country risk is rated on a better plane compared to Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines. The country is considered marginally riskier than China, Australia and New Zealand. Singapore and Taiwan are the least risky, according to a Dun & Bradstreet survey of Asia-Pacific economies.

An analysis of 15 countries in the Australasia region shows that India is lagging behind in terms of reduction of prime lending rates. India implemented a 4 per cent reduction in PLR, while Australia, New Zealand, South Korea and the Philippines made cuts of 7 to 11 per cent during the period 1990-1998. Japan lowered its PLR by 6.75 per cent, and China by 2.86 per cent. Pakistan increased its PLR.
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ICICI, SBI Caps to co-arrange Trishakti project
Mumbai: ICICI Ltd. and SBI Capital Markets Ltd. will be co-arranging the Rs.2,700 crore, 525 MW coal-based power project of Trishakti Energy, in Tamil Nadu.

The two institutions will syndicate a Rs.230-crore rupee loan and a $250 million deferred payment guarantee. The UK’s ECGD will stand guarantee for foreign loans of $250 million. The rest of the project funding will be done through an equity issue and external commercial borrowings aggregating $105 million.

Trishakti is a joint venture between the US-based Public Service Enterprise Group and Malaysia-based Pembinan Redzai. PSEG operates capacities of around 4,000 MW in total. PSEG will be the operations and maintenance contractor, and Alstom the engineering, construction and procurement contractor for the project.
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RR Financial to manage MPEB issue
New Delhi: The Madhya Pradesh Electricity Board’s 13.7 per cent, seven year, Rs.300-crore bond issue will be managed by R R Financial Consultants. The issue opens on 17 September 1999. MPEB had earlier given the mandate to RR and AK Capital, but has cancelled the name of AK Capital now.

The interest will be payable half-yearly. The bonds carry a put and call option at the end of four years and eleven months and redemption at the end of the sixth and seventh years in the ratio of 1:1.

The Madhya Pradesh government guarantees the repayment of principal and interest in the issue.
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Allahabad Bank issue may be by December 1999
Calcutta: Allahabad Bank will enter the capital market with its maiden public issue sometime between  December 1999 and January 2000. The pricing decision has not yet been taken. The bank has a capital of Rs.246 crore and the bank will soon approach the Securities and Exchange Board of India for the necessary approvals.
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Central Bank’s business target revised upwards
Ahmedabad: The Central Bank of India’s business will probable increase by Rs.9,000 crore in financial year 1999-2000. The bank would have done Rs 53,000 crore of business during the year
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