Former customs chief interrogated by CBI
New Delhi: The country’s top customs official, Mr. BP Verma, was interrogated alongwith his son, Siddarth Verma and business associate, Mr. Rohit Jain, for misuse of his official position, allegedly favouring an export house and amassing huge wealth.

The former Central Board of Excise and Customs chief is known to have assets disproportionate to his income and these include Rs 24 lakh in fixed deposit, Rs 7 lakh in current account, Rs 24 lakh worth jewellery, Rs 20 lakh investment in a company and Rs 1.4 lakh cash.

Besides the above, Mr. Verma also owns a hotel in Nainital, a house in Kolkata, a flat in Delhi’s Kalkaji, and a farm house on the outskirts of Delhi.

The CBI had conducted raids at 15 places, including Verma’s office and residence, the residence of Sandeep Shrivastav -- officer on special duty -- the school run by Verma’s wife in Delhi and the office of the A K Enterprises in Chennai.

While the CBI has registered a case of alleged criminal conspiracy against Mr. Verma, indications are that he will be arrested.
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Liquor, cigarette and cars protected
New Delhi: Even as the new exim policy deregulated the import of several items and lifted quantitative restrictions in scores of items, the the government is treating import of liquor, cigarette and automobiles as highly sensitive.

While the sensitive list broadly comprises farm goods and items produced by small-scale industries, it is understood that the liquor, cigarette and automobile industries have been protected by the government. Trade analysts wonder if there is any need to put them on the list of sensitive items.

The government has imposed high tariffs and cumbersome procedures for the import of items affecting these three industries. Besides the basic Customs duty on these items is 150 per cent, the government has imposed a high countervailing duty equal to the highest state excise duty prevailing in the country.

Industry representatives feel it will be difficult to explain why the benefit of a close watch has not been extended to items like copper rods, woven sacks and acrylic fibre which have been flooding the country.
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Pay first and then get the license, DoT tells applicants
New Delhi: Not wanting to repeat its previous experience with the license fee payment, the department of telecom has stated that all applicants for basic telecom licenses in the current round, will have to clear all their outstanding dues to DoT for acquiring the licences as stipulated in the letter of intent issued to prospective operators.

As a result of this, operators like Essar group, which has submitted 24 applications for basic telecom licenses, is likely to get the licences only after clearing all the dues of its cellular subsidiary, AirCell Digilink, for acquiring the licences.

DoT has received 147 applications for basic telecom licences. It is already understood to have issued letters of intent for 40 licences to three companies, which inlcude Reliance, Himachal Futuristic and Tata.

During first round of bidding for cellular and basic services, the operators had to pay the licence fee over a period of 10 years. While most operators quoted a high licence fee, they could not pay these fees due to their business plans going haywire.

Sources said most of the operators of basic and cellular services have to pay spectrum charges to DoT.
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Market access initiatives to boost exports to $75 billion
New Delhi: Union commerce minister, Mr. Murasoli Maran, stated that the market access initiatives introduced by the new exim policy would boost commercial intelligence and help push up exports to $75 billion annually by 2004.

The initiative has been planned on the US Model, and the ministry is working out the specifics for the scheme to make it as effective as it was for the US.

The market access initiative includes redefining the role of commercial attaches in the Indian missions abroad.
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Government will not prop up weak banks
New Delhi: In a move that is likely to send strong signals to weak banks, the government has not provided for any fund infusion into three weak banks, the Indian Bank, Uco Bank and United Bank of India. With this the government has clearly stated that it would no longer prop up weak banks and that these banks should earn profits to provide for funds to enhance their capital adequacy.

The above mentioned three banks had sought Rs 2,200 crore from the government to meet their capital adequacy norms. The banks were required to meet certain pre-conditions before receiving this money. It is learnt that these three banks have initiated branch rationalisation, voluntary retirement scheme and other cost-cutting measures.

Senior finance ministry officials confirmed that these banks have been allowed to close down their branches. Even rural branches could be closed down, provided the area is represented by some other bank. "We will not allow any area to be without a bank," said the officials.
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