Rlys to spend Rs 5,000 cr on IT operations in 11th Plan
New Delhi: The railway ministry plans to spend Rs5,000 crore for its information technology-related operations in the Eleventh Five-Year Plan marking a four fold increase in this segment.

A major part of the funds would go into expanding ticketing facilities, with the aim of taking it to the passenger's doorstep.

With the railway ministry having expanded its e-ticketing facility to passengers through cyber cafes, automated teller machines and even filling stations the Rs5,000 crore fund will be used for further consolidation of these facilities. The focus will be more on saving expenses on back-end operations.

The ministry is already in talks with the department of posts for making railway tickets available in post offices and authorising the postman to deliver tickets at the passenger's doorstep.

Also, through its ticket and catering service provider arm, the Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation, the railway ministry is talking to Indian Oil Corporation and other oil public sector utilities for providing e-ticketing facilities at filling staions.

IRCTC recently tied up with Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd for using its petrol pumps for e-ticketing facilities.

The railway ministry is also in the process of expanding the unreserved ticketing system to all the small stations of the country. This system was introduced in 2001, wherein daily passengers for short distance journeys were given the option to buy tickets 72 hours in advance. This facility would also be extended to stations in mofussil towns so that passengers there do not have to travel to the nearest major station to buy tickets for short distance travel.
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WSEB bifurcation gets cabinet approval
Kolkata: The West Bengal State Electricity Board has been bifurcated into two parts and has received approval by the state Cabinet as part of the restructuring of the power sector. West Bengal has become the 16th state to implement restructuring in line with the requirement of the Electricity Act, 2003.

The West Bengal State Electricity Transmission Company Ltd would look after transmission and state load despatch functions while the distribution and hydro-business were vested with the West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd.

The bifurcation would not lead to any retrenchment due to restructuring. There were 30,000 employees, of whom 27,000 are in distribution and 3,000 others would be transferred to transmission.
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Deeper reforms needed in India to sustain growth: IMF
Pune: Deeper reforms and improved competitiveness are needed in India to sustain rapid growth without fuelling inflation, according to an International Monetary Fund official.

IMF first deputy managing director John Lipsky said while fast-rising asset prices in Asia's fourth-largest economy were not unexpected, policy makers needed to keep an eye on them.

India's economy grew at an annual pace of 9.1 per cent in April to September, after average growth of about 8 percent in the last three fiscal years.

That has raised concerns that the economy could be close to overheating due to capacity constraints, poor infrastructure and very strong loan growth.

Earlier this month, Moody's Investors Service service said the economy was showing signs of overheating, with an official putting the long-term potential growth rate at 6.5 per cent.
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WB approves loan package for Tamil Nadu
Chennai: The World Bank has approved a $485-million (Rs2,134 crore) package for Tamil Nadu to modernise its irrigation infrastructure, according to a press release from the World Bank.

The World Bank project to restore traditional water bodies and improve irrigated agriculture and water management in the State is targeted to increase agriculture productivity. It will modernise irrigation system over 60,000 hectares, improve farm income and create 50,000 jobs.

The project is also designed to modernise irrigation systems spread across 63 sub-basins throughout the State.

There are 17 river basins in Tamil Nadu, and many of these are water stressed due to pollution, low supply and increasing competition from urban centres, the release said.

In the World Bank package, $335 million loan (Rs1,474 crore) is from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and has 20 years to maturity including a 5-year grace period.

The International Development Association (IDA), the World Bank's concessionary lending arm, is providing a credit of $150 million (Rs660 crore) with 35 years to maturity and a 10-year grace period.

The activities of various agencies in irrigation, on-farm development, agriculture, horticulture, marketing, livestock, fisheries and applied research will be integrated for agriculture development.
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Crude oil output up 10.6 pc in Dec
New Delhi: Crude oil output in India rose by 10.6 per cent in December 2006. Natural gas output fell by one per cent to 2.723 billion cubic metre (BCM) in December from 2.751 BCM during the same month of the previous year.

The Petroleum Ministry said companies including ONGC produced 2.923 million tonnes (m.t) of crude oil last month compared with 2.642 m.t during the same month last year though in the month under review, output was 5.6 per cent less than the Government's target of 3.096 m.t.

During the first nine months of the current fiscal year, crude output totalled 25.484 m.t, 6 per cent more than the 24.033 m.t produced in the corresponding period a year earlier.

Output from the Mumbai High fields rose 22 per cent to 1.56 m.t in December. The Mumbai High Fields, operated by ONGC, account for more than half of India's annual oil production. The crude oil production by non-state-owned companies such as Cairn Energy Plc rose 8.3 per cent to 429,000 tonnes in December up from 396,000 tonnes during the same period last year, the statement said.

Indian Oil Corporation and Reliance Industries Ltd processed 6.1 per cent more crude oil in December as demand rose. The refiners processed 12.27 m.t of crude oil into fuel in December up from 11.56 m.t in the same month a year earlier.
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Duty slashed on edible oil
New Delhi: The Finance Ministry has effected a 10 percentage point cut in the basic customs duty on crude palm oil (CPO) and 12.5 percentage points in respect of RBD (refined, bleached, de-odourised) palmolein.

The government has also decided to keep the tariff values — the base prices on which duties are computed — on palm oils frozen at their end-July 2006 levels. As per the Revenue Department's notification issued here on Wednesday, the basic duty on CPO, crude palmolein and other fractions of CPO has been slashed from 70 to 60 per cent.

There has been a corresponding reduction in the duty on RBD palm oil, RBD palmolein and other refined palm oils from 80 to 67.5 per cent, and from 75 to 65 per cent for crude sunflower oil and from 85 to 75 per cent for refined sunflower oils.

The effective import duty on CPO will now work out to 67.6 per cent (60 per cent basic duty plus 2 per cent education cess on 60 plus 4 per cent special additional duty on 160), as against the earlier 78.2 per cent.

The effective duty on refined oils would be 75.55 per cent (67.5 per cent basic duty plus 2 per cent education cess on 67.5 plus 4 per cent special additional duty on 167.5), from the earlier level of 88.8 per cent.
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