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Railways fall short of revenue targets

New Delhi, March 13: The railways have fallen short of revenue targets as the total earnings up to January 2008 have shown a drop of less than one per cent over the budget proportion for the period, Lok Sabha was informed on Thursday.

However, the total earnings have registered an impressive growth of around 12.3 per cent over the last year, Minister of State for Railways R Velu said in a written reply.

Railways have taken several steps to increase the passenger earnings in meeting the budgetary targets, which include creating additional seating capacity in trains and attaching additional coaches to clear waiting list.

The revenue target for the next fiscal (2008-09) is Rs 81,801 crore.

Delhi HC seeks response from Centre, NMDC on Tata plea

New Delhi, March 13: The Delhi High Court on Thursday sought response from the Centre, NMDC and the Chhattisgarh government on a petition filed by Tata Steel challenging the order of a single bench, which quashed the prospecting licence of the steel firm saying it did not have the environmental clearance.

A bench comprising Chief Justice M K Sharma and Justice Reva Khetrapal issued notices to the parties and asked them to file their replies and rejoinder, if any, by April 22, the date fixed for the final hearing.

Senior advocates Fali S Nariman and Arun Jaitley, appearing for Tata Steel, contended that the single bench had quashed its prospecting licence (PL) on the ground of not having the environmental clearance, which was not required at this stage as getting the pl was only a preliminary stage.

The environmental clearance has to be applied for at a later stage, Nariman said, adding that the company's application was pending before the Central Empowered Committee (CEC) for environmental approval.

The court, while quashing the PL of Tata on February 20, had said that a clearance under the Forest Act was mandatory before allowing any non-forest activities in a forest area and this was not considered by the centre while granting the licence to Tata Steel.

The Centre in February last year had approved two-year pl over an area of 2,500 hectare at Dantewada in Chhattisgarh.

The single bench had passed the judgement on a petition filed by state-run mineral firm NMDC.

COAI-RCom at loggerhead on spectrum issue

New Delhi, March 13: GSM operators on Thursday asked the government not to entertain Anil Ambani-led Reliance Commuications' request of allotting GSM spectrum in the 900 mhz band, and claimed that existing players have the first right on this band.

Spectrum is the radio frequency used by telecom operators to offer wireless mobile services.

"First, crossover allocation of GSM spectrum to CDMA operators is not permissible... It is submitted that the said CDMA operators (Reliance) was allotted spectrum in 1800 mhz band after due consideration and its request within weeks to swap its spectrum band with 900 mhz is completely untenable and cannot be entertained by the DoT," COAI said in a letter to Telecom Secretary Siddartha Behura.

GSM operators' lobby COAI also said the policy of crossover spectrum itself is also challenged in the telecom tribunal and the legality of this policy is yet to be subjected to a detailed judicial scrutiny.

Reliance Communication has been allocated GSM spectrum in 1800 mhz band and has asked the Department of Telecom (DoT) to swap it with 900 mhz, which is much more efficient in terms of servicing the subscribers.

Ambani had earlier raised the issue with the DoT that the spectrum in 900 mhz band has been cornered by the existing GSM operators illegally and needs to reframed, a demand completely opposed by the COAI.

If accepted, the existing GSM players may have to surrender part of spectrum in the 900 mhz band and may have to settle with 1800 mhz.

Aussies stars to play in IPL for only 2 weeks
Melbourne, March 13

Decks might have been cleared for Australian stars appearance in the Indian Premier League but the cricketers would be able to feature only in the initial part of the Twenty20 tournament in view of their tour of the West Indies.

The Australians will be required to leave the April 18-June 1 competion in its middle to return home for a national camp ahead of their series of West Indies, beginning in the second week of May. CA, though, has not made public its intentions and maintained that it was in the process of weighing options, which include the possibility of practice matches before the West Indies tour.

"Our first priority is to ensure the team has appropriate preparation for the tour of the West Indies," CA Spokesman Peter Young was quoted as saying by The Age. Australia`s opening tour match in the West Indies is scheduled on May 16 ahead of the opening Test in Kingston, Jamaica, on May 22.

Chief coach Nielsen has not decided when the players will assemble for the camp but said the competitive environment amongst some of the world`s finest players in the IPL could be "the best preparation" instead of being harmful to the players.

Hang on, MS Dhoni could be your classmate
Ranchi, March 13

Mahendra Singh Dhoni has tackled the best bowlers in the world and beaten the Australians on their own turf. Now the Indian cricket team captain`s wish to tickle his grey cells and become a graduate has a Jharkhand college in a tizzy.

Dhoni, who has passed higher secondary, Wednesday approached the principal of St. Xavier`s college in Ranchi and expressed his desire to enrol for bachelor`s course in commerce.

`If Dhoni attends the classes, how will we study?` screamed Pinki Kumari, a first-year student of the St. Xavier`s.

`We will only gaze at him from outside the classroom.`

Dhoni did his schooling from D.A.V. Shayamli, but after that the cricketer overtook the student in him. He discontinued his studies as he got busy playing Ranji Trophy before being called to don the `blue` for the country.

Even the teachers are happy that the Indian skipper is setting the right precedent and being a good role model.

`People earn name and fame after completing education but he (Dhoni) will be the first who has earned name, fame and money and then decided to join college,` said Walter Bhengra, head of mass communication department at St. Xavier`s.

But it may not be cakewalk for the master wicketkeeper-batsman. The college authorities are still finding ways to `accommodate` their star student.

`Dhoni is an extra-ordinary case. We will try to condone his attendance shortfall. We will have to take up this issue to the academic council of the Ranchi University,` Nicholas Tete, principal of St. Xavier`s, told IANS.

`Dhoni has just expressed his desire to pursue B Com (bachelor of commerce) course for academic year 2008-2011. He is yet to submit his application form. He will be admitted through sports quota only if he has the required documents,` remarked Tete.

Dhoni`s candidature may not have been finalised but students are already planning to `rag` their new student. His task for the ragging would be to play cricket, said one of the students.

Like most of his innings on field, Dhoni seems to have planned his off-field innings with care - become a graduate and get married.

When asked by reporters about marriage, he said with a smile: `Mera number bhi ayega (my turn will also come).`

How many bats do you have? 10Dulkar has 81!


Sachin Tendulkar has more bats than any sport goods shop as he has kept all the bats with which he scored 81 Test and one-day centuries so far.

The master batsman, who has scored 39 hundreds in Tests and 42 in one-day internationals, however, said he did not know how many bats he had collected so far.

"I have all the bats with which I have scored hundreds (in Tests and one-dayers). I don`t know how many bats I have but I have kept all of them," he said.

Tendulkar, who scored three centuries, two in Tests and one in the tri-series finals, on the recent tour of Australia, singled out two shots against paceman Mitchell Johnson as his `defining moments` of the tour Down Under.

"Probably, the two shots that I played over the wicketkeeper`s head off Mitchell Johnson during the first final in Sydney," he said.

"Similarly, off Brett Lee in the Perth Test. Also, those straight drives off Lee in the Melbourne one-day which we won," he said.

The 34-year-old cricketer, with a career spanning over 18 years, said his obsession with the game had only increased with time.

"Yes, it has. I am enjoying everything and it is fantastic."

Tendulkar said foundation for the Perth Test win was laid in the second Test in Sydney which was the `turning point` of the series.

"That partnership (with Rahul Dravid at Perth) was extremely important. That sent a strong message to the Australian dressing room. But it was the Sydney Test which changed things and caused the turnaround. We just carried that momentum into the next Test at Perth and in Adelaide. It was from Sydney where things started working differently," he said.

Tendulkar`s advice to team-mates for the Test at the WACA, touted to have the fastest pitch in the world, was to spend time in the middle.

"The only thing I told my team-mates was that if you spend some time at the crease in Perth, it is the toughest place for bowlers... There are always opportunities to put the ball away and that`s the way I would approach it... is what I told them."

Tendulkar agreed that a `couple of more` warm-up games in Australia before the start of the Test series would have helped the Indian team.

"Ideally, one would have liked to have a bit more practice. The one warm-up game we played was washed out. That was tough but you don`t make excuses," he said.

Industrial sector to grow by 10.4% in FY 09: CMIE

Mumbai, March 13: The latest government data on industrial growth has painted a gloomy picture but economic think-tank Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy says all is not lost and has pegged the expansion at 10.4 per cent for fiscal 2009.

"We expect the industrial production to grow by 10.4 per cent in FY 09. The current investment boom is expected to correct the slowdown problem," the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) said in its monthly report.

The reason for the current slowdown in industrial production was the supply problem faced by sectors like cement, aluminium, electricity and steel, it said.

India`s industrial growth slipped to 5.3 per cent in January as compared to 11.6 per cent in the same month last year as growth in all major sectors comprising manufacturing, electricity and mining declined.

The report also said, "we expect interest rates to start easing in the first quarter, thus, reviving demand for consumer durables."

It expected the country`s gross capital formation to increase by 15.5 per cent in FY 09 and continue to drive growth in its GDP.

CMIE said India`s GDP was expected to grow by 8.9 per cent in FY 08 and 9.1 per cent in FY 09. The real GDP grew by 7.5 per cent in FY 05, nine per cent in FY 06 and 9.6 per cent in FY 07.

CMIE`s prediction of a 9.1 per cent growth in real GDP in FY 09 is based on the assumption of an adequate precipitation during the monsoon.

Besides, the union budget would help fuel growth as the Finance Minister has proposed a sharp cut in tax rates.

For a large section of urban Indian households, this translates into significant additional spending power, CMIE said, adding this is bound to lead to a substantial increase in the demand for consumer durables and other goods and services that have taken a hit in the recent past.

"Independent of the merits and demerits of the farm loan waiver of Rs 60,000-crore, we see this transfer to the farmers also feeding into additional demand," it said.

While the personal income taxes would spur demand from urban India, the loan waivers and additional allocations for the national rural employment guarantee scheme would spur demand from rural India.

The increase in spending power would help sustain the growth in investments on hand. This would ensure the continuation of the virtuous cycle of additional investments creating additional demand, which in turn spurs further investments, CMIE said.

Angel Broking recruits 16 IIM graduates

New Delhi, March 13: 16 Indian Institute of Management (IIM) graduates have been recruited by leading brokerage firm Angel Broking with a package of more than Rs 18 lakh per annum.

Angel Broking has recruited 16 Management Trainees from IIM. While nine of them are from IIM Ahmedabad, the other seven are from Bangalore, Indore and Lucknow.

Angel Broking Executive Director HR and Corporate Communications. Rajiv Phadke said. "We have hired them with a pay package of over Rs 18 lakh per annum. Though this is a new initiative, considering our growth chart this would be done on an ongoing basis”.

The growth rate of the company has been more than 2-3 times the industry average and these placements were made to create a long term leadership pool to sustain this momentum, Phadke added.

The company plans to increase its branch network from the present size of 125 to 250 by the end of financial year 2009.

The new hires would create an ‘inhouse’ talent pool to meet the expansion plans of the company. "Our current annualised growth rate of 100 per cent is expected to continue over the next two years by extending our presence to nearly 100 tier I and II cities.

"These candidates would undergo a training period of around six months, followed by personal mentoring by the top management and board members after which they would be placed as profit centre heads or functional heads," Phadke added.

Oil breaches USD 111 a barrel

London, March 14: Oil rose to a fresh record high on Thursday, hitting new peaks for the seventh trading day, as a weak dollar overshadowed an increase in US crude inventories.

US crude for April delivery struck a new high of USD 111 a barrel. It was trading at USD 110.93, up USD 1.01 at the time of going to press. London Brent crude for April, which expires on Friday, also hit a new peak at USD 107.88. It was trading at USD 107.77.

“We’re looking at the US currency, we’re looking at speculation and we’re looking at geopolitics. Those three things tying together are defying fundamentals,” said Peter McGuire, managing director of Commodity Warrants Australia.

The dollar dropped to a 12-year low against the yen and a record low versus the euro on Thursday on uncertainty about the long-term impact of the US Federal Reserve’s efforts to ease strained credit and money markets.

“Commodities are likely to have been the key beneficiary of the aggressive Fed rate-cutting cycle,” Citigroup said in its research note. Investors have rushed into commodities to hedge against inflation and the softening dollar. That has contributed to oil’s rally, despite concerns over a recession in top oil consumer the US and rising fuel inventories.

Oil prices rebounded after a drop on Wednesday caused by US government data that showed crude stocks rose more than expected last week and gasoline stocks were at a 15-year high.