Inflation drops, at 2.93 per cent
New Delhi: The annual rate of inflation declined to 2.93 per cent for the week ended 25 December, after it reached a 10-week high of 3.13 per cent the previous week. The rate of inflation was 5.34 per cent during the corresponding period in 1998-99.
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3 mobile phone companies face axe
New Delhi: The department of telecommunications has recommended cancellation of licences granted to three private telecom companies to operate cellular telephone services in five circles in the country. The operators are Hexacom, which has licences for Rajasthan and the north-east, Modicom, which holds licences for Karnataka and Punjab, and Fascel, which holds a licence for Gujarat. The reason is non-payment of licence fee.

Modicom has not paid its licence fee arrears of Rs 150.3 crore, Fascel Rs 127 crore, and Hecaxom Rs 13.5 crore. Hexacom has disputed its arrears figures, and has already paid Rs 7.5 crore of what it claims to be its arrears of Rs 10 crore.

The Telecom Commission has also recommended to the communications minister that the licences for these five circles be scrapped. Earlier, the commission had suggested that Hexacom be given a chance to repay its arrears, and that the two other operators be prevented from migrating to the revenue-sharing regime.
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Dave panel moots 6 players for pension funds
Mumbai: The S.A. Dave committee appointed by the government to suggest reforms in the pensions sector is understood to be in favour of allowing only six private sector fund management companies in the proposed pension fund management. The committee is learnt to be of the opinion that the six companies should be registered mutual funds with the securities regulator and should be selected through a bidding process. The committee wants the creation of a separate regulatory authority for the sector.
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Government plans to save 3 weak banks
New Delhi: The government is understood to be preparing a plan to resuscitate three weak banks -- Indian Bank, United Bank of India and Uco Bank -- in the way recommended by the Verma Committee. The plan assumes infusion of funds for voluntary retirement schemes as well as for meeting capital adequacy ratio. It plans to route part of the funds through the proposed Asset Reconstruction Company. The government may include these provisions in the budget for 2000-2001.
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ICICI Venture to mobilise funds
Mumbai: ICICI Venture, the wholly-owned venture capital fund from ICICI, is mobilising funds in the range of Rs 500 to 1,000 crore as there is a heavy demand for venture funds in the country. The company will raise nearly Rs 860 crore overseas and the balance from investors in India. A present, it has a corpus of Rs 850 crore.

ICICI Venture, which came into being in 1988, manages nine schemes. It has funded about 250 Indian companies.
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