Spurt in cement sales in April
Mumbai: Cement majors Larsen & Toubro and Gujarat Ambuja have shown higher cement sales of 12 to 13 per cent in April. Grasim Industries also saw an increase of 9 per cent. The lone exception was ACC, which reported a 1.33 per cent drop in sales.

The increase in sales come in line with the pre-monsoon growth in construction activities. Added to this has been the increase in offtake in Gujarat, where rehabilitation activity is said to have begun.

Meanwhile, the cement prices in Mumbai fell to Rs 171-173 per 50 kg bag as a result of discounts offered to the dealers by the cement majors, while holding on to the official price levels at Rs 182 per bag.
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GE rethink on DPC
Mumbai: Now, General Electric, equipment supplier and 10 per cent shareholder in Dabhol Power Company is likely to withdraw.

Following the controversy where DPC is threatened with stoppage of funds from lenders in view of the likely termination of the 2,184 MW power project, GE is worried about future payments, although DPC is yet to default on payments to GE.

Bechtel, the EPC contractor and 10 per cent shareholder had earlier threatened to stop further work.

What is worrying General Electric is the scenario after June 7, when about 700 mw power will be commissioned after the second phase trial runs. After the second phase of 1,444 mw is commissioned by December, 2001, MSEB will have to pay DPC a minimum of Rs 500 crore per month. The escrow account for this has not been made operational by the state electricity board, which has absolved itself of all liabilities after DPC invoked the political force majeure clause in its contract with the board.

Hence, payments to Bechtel and GE could hang fire.

The lenders to the project are also worried, since DPC has virtually refused to negotiate with the Godbole panel, set up by the Maharashtra government to renegotiate the second phase of the contract.
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DoT to issue amended LoIs for basic services
New Delhi: Fresh letters of intent may be given to prospective basic telecom operators Reliance, Tata and Himachal Futuristic Communications, including the recommendations made by the group on telecom and information technology (GoT-IT) in its report on limited mobility.

The three companies were issued 40 LoIs for basic telecom licences about a month ago. With the rules for limited mobility changing, new licences would be given, reflecting the new roll-out obligations and penalty for non-compliance of the licensing conditions suggested by GoT-IT.

These conditions include equal coverage of three short distance charging areas, namely, rural, semi-urban and urban, performance bank guarantees for compliance, but not the suggestion of reducing revenue share in long distance from 60 to 5 per.
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Reliance allowed third party sale of power
Mumbai: Reliance is allowed to sell power, generated at its 447 MW power project at Patalganga, directly to third parties, even outside the state, if the Maharashtra State electricity Board does not lift the power generated. The power purchase agreement signed by Reliance with the Maharashtra government has a clause to this effect, according to Reliance.

Thereby, the group could sell power to industrial and commercial customers within and outside Maharashtra. Since the state electricity board gets 80 per cent of its revenues from such consumers, Reliance could emerge as a potential rival to MSEB.

This freedom is seen as a departure from existing norms, where, except in captive power plants, and in some renewable energy sectors like wind energy, independent power producers can sell power only to state electricity boards. They can sell power outside the state only if they qualify for mega power project status, where the minimum capacity should be above 1000 MW. With its 447-mw capacity, the Patalganga project is hardly eligible.

The government's permission is also viewed askance in the light of its stand on the Dabhol power project, where it is yet to agree to third party sale of power by the Dabhol Power Company, which application has been pending with it for months. It is only now, in the face of threat of closure of the project, that the government is willing to consider third party sale as suggested by the Godbole committee.

The Patalganga project along with the Ispat group’s 1,082 mw Bhadravati project has been put on hold till the Godbole committee submits its second report.
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MRTP slaps notices on TV channels
New Delhi: Major TV channels including STAR TV, Sony, El Zee, Discovery, News TV, Turner International, ESPN and Modi Entertainment have been issued notices by the Monopolies & Restrictive Trade Practices Commission for their alleged restrictive trade practices by "hiking subscribers fees frequently and arbitrarily".

MRTPC had received four complaints against these TV networks, from Jammu Communications Network, Noida Network Systems, and Nirmal Jain.
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