25/05/2013
Govt wants to keep a tab on Net users
The Government wants to keep track of Internet user behaviour, including the Web sites visited and how much time is spent browsing. The Department of Telecom is planning to make it mandatory for telecom and Internet service providers to store data records of all subscribers.Called Internet Protocol Detail Record (IPDR), this system tracks the usage pattern and allows security agencies to track those who mask their IP address. The technology is offered by almost all the global vendors, including Cisco, HP and Nokia Siemens.
|
24/05/2013
Ponzi: RBI, Sebi to get more teeth
The government has ruled out bringing an ordinance, as proposed by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance, to curb the growing menace of chit fund frauds and ponzi schemes like the one allegedly run by the Kolkata-based Saradha Group.Instead, an inter-ministerial group (IMG) on the issue, which met on Thursday, is set to recommend giving more teeth to Sebi and RBI to regulate these schemes.Sebi will get the power to attach immovable properties, search and seize assets and seek information from any entity in connection with its investigations, a senior official told FE.
|
23/05/2013
Cabinet to look at new rules for acquisition, investment by PSUs
The policy for Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) to set up joint ventures or acquire companies is set to change.This was among various measures that were approved on Wednesday by a Group of Ministers (GoM) under the Chairmanship of Finance Minister P. Chidambaram.The group, in its two meetings on April 23 and Wednesday, agreed on various recommendations of the expert panel headed by former Chairman of SAIL S.K. Roongta.“Based on these recommendations and the deliberations of the GoM, we will move to the Cabinet and come out with a fresh set of guidelines to help CPSEs function in a more competitive and transparent environment,” Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises Minister Praful Patel told reporters after the meeting.
|
23/05/2013
Oil retailers plunge on export parity pricing talks
Shares of oil marketing companies corrected sharply as the oil ministry today gave in-principal nod to export parity pricing model for petroleum products, which is likely to result in huge losses for these oil retailers.
Following the news, shares of OMCs like Hindustan Petroleum Corp , Bharat Petroleum Corp and Indian Oil Corp went down 4-6 percent. Earlier Aakansha Sethi of CNBC-TV18 reported that Petroleum minister Veerappa Moily has agreed to price petroleum products using export parity as proposed by finance ministry to cut down government's oil subsidy burden.
|
22/05/2013
Single regulator’ push for chit fund cos
The ministry of corporate affairs (MCA) may soon float a discussion paper aimed at creating a ‘single-law- single-regulator’ system to monitor and regulate the activities of all the chit fund companies.Sources said the MCA is also looking at putting in place a mechanism that will enhance coordination between various authorities — both central and state — for quick redressal of chit fund-related complaints.
"The idea is to protect small investors who are duped of their life savings but such entities. Right now, we are looking at all options. There is an inter-ministerial group also deliberating on the subject. We will need to consult with everyone. I wrote to the chief ministers of most states in February regarding the chit fund issue too. We may take up certain suggestions coming our way," MCA minister Sachin Pilot told FE on the sidelines of the annual day of the fair trade regulator.
|
20/05/2013
Government mulls alternate models to kick start delayed expressway projects
The government is considering alternate financial models, involving low-cost foreign loans and leveraging adjoining land, to kick-start its much-delayed plan of building a series of national expressways even as it has junked the earlier deadline of 2015 for rolling out 1,000 km.The road ministry plans to start with the Delhi-Jaipur expressway, which is expected to cost over Rs 16,000 crore. In 2006, the Cabinet had cleared Rs 16,680 crore for the entire 1,000 km. But project costs have escalated several times over as the government's plans to build expressways, including one mandated by the Supreme Court, continue to be stuck because of the red tape and funds crunch.
|
18/05/2013
France-based Auchan’s hybrid model for retail shot down by DIPP
The proposal by Croix, France-based Auchan Group, the world’s 10th largest retailer, of setting up stores in India under a hybrid model has not found favour with the department of industrial policy and promotion (DIPP). The 46-billion-euro retailer has been told that it cannot use the Auchan brand name in its existing 13 stores on a franchise model with the Landmark Group’s Max Hypermarkets India.
Company representatives had last month met DIPP officials proposing to set up stores in India on a hybrid model and invest more than 2 billion euros over the next two years.
The hybrid model entailed, apart from using a common brand name for stores owned by it in partnership with an Indian entity as well as its current stores in the country being run on the franchise model, using the same back-end infrastructure for both sets of stores. The company was keen on this hybrid model since the policy on foreign direct investment in retail allows for such stores to be set up only in cities with a population of more than 1 million.
|
18/05/2013
HOUSE PANEL FOR ONE REGULATOR TO MONITOR CHIT FUND SCHEMES
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance closely scrutinised the functioning of such schemes which recently led to a series of suicides in West Bengal.Senior officials from RBI, CBDT, SEBI, Corporate Affairs Ministry and Finance Ministry, who appeared before the committee, admitted poor coordination and lack of regulation to control the flourishing chit fund business in the country. While agreeing that thousands of investors are being duped, they told the committee that the major onus lied on the States to regulate the schemes.
|
18/05/2013
'Comprehensive Act needed for telecom'
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has asked a newly-formed committee to re-examine whether a single comprehensive Act was needed covering all the matters related to telecommunications, information technology and broadcasting. This would be done by merging the Indian Telegraph Act, the Indian Wireless Telegraphy Act, the Telegraph Wires (Unlawful Possession) Act, the Information Technology Act.The new panel will decide if the proposal for the single comprehensive Act "is to be accepted or not", according to a recent discussion of the DoT.The panel was needed according to DoT, as an earlier committee reviewed the recommendations of the one-man committee comprising judge Shivraj Patil on the proposed amendments of the Indian Telegraph Act, 1985.
|
17/05/2013
Govt to regulate rates of 652 medicines; prices set to fall
India on Thursday notified new norms that will bring down prices of essential medicines, increase the number of drugs under price control, and alter the way the government regulates prices in the 72,000-crore domestic market.The new regime will replace an 18-year-old price control order and come into effect 45 days from now. The government will regulate the rates of 652 medicines, a substantial increase over the 74 bulk drugs and their formulations that are currently under price control. The current method of fixing prices on a cost-plus basis will be replaced by market price-linked cap for each drug.
|
|