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No major pact to be signed on US trip, PM informs the Left
New Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has assured the Left leaders that no major economic or defence agreement would be inked during his visit to the US and India's foreign policy would not be compromised.

There would be a joint statement, but that would voice larger Indo-American concerns, he said at the two meetings he held with the Left last night.

The assurance is crucial with the Left having expressed its reservations over the Indo-US Framework Agreement signed during Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee's visit to Washington.

Like the CPI(M) and Forward Bloc leaders who met the PM last night, the CPI leadership also sought strict adherence to the Common Minimum Programme and an independent, non-aligned foreign policy. The Left leaders said there should be no change in the policy of disallowing FDI in the retail sector.

The PM told Left that apart from terrorism, he would have to discuss with Washington the contentious issue of nuclear fuel, which he said was a key area.

Home Minister Shivraj Patil, National Security Advisor M.K. Narayanan and Principal Secretary to PM, T.K.A. Nair, attended the meeting.
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Dabhol power plant to get its shareholder pact soon
New Delhi: The government has directed the National Thermal Power Corporation, Gail and IDBI-led consortium of Indian lenders to draw up a shareholders' pact and a power purchase agreement within a week so that the 2184-mw Dabhol power plant can start generation by July next year.

"All cases related to the project have been settled and the plant will begin generation within a year," Union law and justice minister H.R. Bhardwaj told reporters here today.

Power secretary R.V. Shahi said, "We have asked NTPC, Gail and financial institutions to finalise the shareholders agreement and the power purchase agreement within a week."

MSEB will be the sole buyer of the power generated from the plant. The power would be priced at Rs2.30 per unit, half of which is the cost of the fuel. Shahi said liquefied natural gas (LNG) for the plant has not been arranged as yet, but talks are going on. Gail has been entrusted with the task of importing the LNG.

A special purpose vehicle (SPV) floated by the NTPC, Gail and domestic lenders to the project, would operate the Dabhol plant.
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India and Iran to meet to discuss pricing of gas
New Delhi: The Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline initiative will witness another move forward at the end of July with another bilateral engagement with Iran on the issue. The Iranian deputy minister for international cooperation is due to visit India around the end of the month.

Petroleum Secretary S.C. Tripathi will head the Indian delegation, which will engage the minister.

The basic agenda for the talks will be the issue of the pricing of the piped gas. While the Iranian side will be briefed about the headway in the recent talks between India and Pakistan, financial, commercial and other issues will also be taken up, sources said.

''The idea is to firm up the issue of pricing with Iran so that before the JWG of Pakistan and India meets in August, the basis for the trilateral agreement will be worked out," sources in the Petroleum ministry said.

A study has also been conducted by an international research firm on the issue of pricing of piped gas.

While India is pushing for a price of around $2 per MBtu for the piped gas, Iran is keen to link the piped gas price to the LNG prices which will work out to $3.5 per MBtu. Such a price is high for India. It is expected that the pricing issue will be thrashed out in the bilateral with Iran.
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Inflation rate falls to 4.09 per cent
New Delhi: The recent price hike in petro-products, notably diesel, appears to have exerted no pressure on commodity prices, with inflation falling to 4.09 per cent in the week ended July 2 mainly due to cheaper food items.

The point-to-point Wholesale Price Index (WPI) inflation fell marignally by 0.05 per cent from the previous week's 4.14 per cent and it was as high as 7.08 per cent in the previous year period, showing that the Base year effect helped in the fall in general price level.

WPI fell by 0.2 per cent to 193.6 points despite fuels becoming costlier. However, primary articles became cheaper, while manufactured items' prices remained unchanged to a great extend. The index was at 186 points a year ago.

The final inflation was revised upwards to 5.67 per cent during the week ended May 7, 2005.
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