TDSAT asks TRAI to price DTH services
New Delhi: Telecom Disputes Settlement And Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) has asked the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to fix the prices of television channels under the direct to home (DTH) service following a similar arrangement for conditional access system (CAS).

TDSAT said that while under CAS TRAI had come out with an order of Rs 5 per channel while under DTH no plan has been fixed.

TDSAT said that in the absence of any firm pricing formula, DTH companies would continue to fight among themselves as a result of which customers would suffer.

Since pay channel prices under CAS are regulated, DTH firms have also been forced to lower costs in areas where CAS is being implemented.

However, in areas outside CAS, overall costs of DTH are still perceived as high.
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Infrastructure industry growth rises by 9.5 per cent
New Delhi: The index of six infrastructure industries rose to 221.6 in November 2006 a growth of 9.5 per cent.

During the April-November 2006-07 period, six core-infrastructure industries registered a growth of 7.8 per cent, as against 5.2 per cent during the corresponding period of the previous year.

The infrastructure index has a combined weightage of 26.7 per cent in the index of industrial production (IIP).

Crude petroleum production (weightage of 4.17 per cent in the IIP) rose by 10.1 per cent in November 2006, compared to a negative growth rate of 8.5 per cent during the same period in the previous year.

Petroleum refinery production, having weightage of 2 per cent in the IIP, registered a growth of 16.4 per cent in November last year, compared to growth of 1.5 per cent in November 2005.

Refinery production grew by 13.5 per cent during the April-November 2006-07 period.

Coal, cement and finished steel also grew by 4.9 per cent, 11.5 per cent and 9 per cent in November 2006 respectively.

Their production during April-November 2006-07 also grew by 4.8 per cent, 10.2 per cent and 7.6 per cent respectively.

Electricity generation, with weightage of 10.17 per cent in the IIP, registered a growth of 8.8 per cent in November last year, compared to a growth rate of 3.4 per cent in November 2005.

Its generation grew by 7.3 per cent during April-November 2006-07, compared to an increase of 4.9 per cent during the same period of 2005-06.
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Import duty slashed on edible oil
New Delhi: The government has slashed the import duty on crude and refined edible oil coming from the six neighbouring countries in South Asia.

Customs duty on refined edible oil from Pakistan and Sri Lanka has been cut to 52.5 per cent from 68.75 per cent earlier, a Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) notification said.

The import duty on refined edible oil coming from Nepal, Bhutan, Maldives and Bangladesh has been cut to 52.5 per cent from 56.67 per cent at present.

The import duty on crude palm oil from Pakistan and Sri Lanka has been cut to 50 per cent from 65 per cent, while the same from Nepal, Bhutan, Maldives and Bangladesh has been reduced to 50 per cent from 53.33 per cent.
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Direct tax collections rise by 42.74 per cent in April-Dec 2006
New Delhi: The Centre's direct tax revenues continue to be buoyant, with net collections in April-December 2006 recording a 42.73 per cent increase to Rs1,46,405 crore as compared to Rs1,02,577 crore in the same period in the previous year.

The net collections up to December 29 represent about 69.5 per cent of the Budget estimate of Rs2,10,684 crore for direct taxes in 2006-07.

Going by this, direct tax collections would comfortably surpass the Budget estimates for 2006-07.

At this stage during last fiscal, the net direct tax collections of Rs1,02,577 crore represented 58 per cent of the Budget estimate of Rs1,76,812 crore for fiscal 2005-06.

The Budget estimate of Rs1,76,812 crore was later revised downwards to Rs1,70,077 crore. In fiscal 2005-06, direct tax collections stood at Rs1,65,208 crore. The direct tax collections in 2004-05 stood at Rs1,32,771 crore.
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Crude basket falls to $57.8/barrel
New Delhi: The Indian crude basket closed the year at $57.79 a barrel on December 29. The international crude prices were hovering around $60 per barrel. The Indian basket from April 2006 to date averaged at $64.39 per barrel.

The December (to date) average stood at $60.35 per barrel. With the downward trend in oil prices effective October 2006, the under recoveries suffered by the oil marketing companies (OMCs) also came down.

The loss suffered by Indian Oil Corporation Ltd on sale of petroleum products — petrol, diesel, kerosene under public distribution system and liquefied petroleum gas is now close to Rs50 crore per day compared to Rs110 crore per day, which the company was incurring earlier.
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