B2B e-commerce among those allowed 100 per cent FDI
New Delhi: In a spate of liberal announcements notified by the government, 100 per cent foreign equity in business-to-business e-commerce activities has been allowed. The relaxation comes with the rider that foreign investors will divest 26 per cent of the equity in such ventures, in favour of Indian public, within a period of five years.

The other changes announced in today’s notification were, 100 per cent FDI in refinery projects, scrapping of the upper limit on foreign investment in power projects eligible for automatic approval and removal of the dividend-balancing condition for the consumer goods industries.

The removal of dividend-balancing clause, under which it was mandatory for consumer goods industries to balance foreign exchange outgo on account of dividend payments through exports, will come into effect from today.

In the case of power projects, the Rs. 1,500 crore equity limit applicable for automatic approvals, has been removed. This restriction has been lifted for hydroelectric power plants, coal/lignite-based thermal power plants, thermal power plants, and gas-based thermal power plants. Generation, transmission and distribution of electrical energy produced in atomic reactor power plants, however, will not be eligible for automatic approval.

The 100 per cent automatic approval for FDI in refinery projects in private sector has been permitted as per the recommendations of the Hydrocarbon Vision 2025 report, which was subsequently cleared by the Group of Ministers.
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OPEC’s readiness for increase in production to ease oil prices
London: A decision by the oil cartel, OPEC, to lift supplies by half a million barrels per day, saw international oil prices easing a little. The international benchmark Brent crude for September delivery settled 67 cents down at $28.56 a barrel by 1945 GMT and US August light crude lost 57 cents to $30.83.

According to American analysts, an increase in Opec production should make it easier for refiners to make heating oil, thus saving consumers high heating bills.

The Opec news agency annaounced that all producers, excluding sanctions-bound Iraq, are expected to increase output to 25.9 million bpd before the end of July if current strong oil prices do not decline.

Oil market players are increasingly frustrated by the oil cartel's inability to follow up words with actions, and have regarded this announcement with a degree of scepticism. According to a London-based oil broker, the cartel will wriggle out of this commitment to increase production if they believe that the prices have fallen enough.
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Alliance aircraft crash claims 51 lives
Patna: A good number of company executives from large corporates travelling on the ill-fated Alliance Air flight CD 7412 from Calcutta to New Delhi via Patna and Lucknow, perished as the flight crashed into a government colony barely two km from the Patna airport.

The crash claimed 51 people, including all six crew members on board, while seven passengers survived.

Companies whose executives were aboard the ill-fated flight include, Eveready Industries, Jenson & Nicholson, Reliance Telecom, Usha Martin Infrastructure Services, State Bank of India, Bank of India, National Thermal Power Corporation and Central Electricity Authority.

The Union government has announced a court of inquiry headed by a sitting judge of the Patna High Court. A departmental inquiry led by the Director-General of Civil Aviation, Mr. H.S. Khola, has already begun.

The exact cause of the crash, however, will be known after the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) and flight data recorder (FDR) are decoded. Popularly known as the black box, both the CVR and FDR have been recovered from the crash site.
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