Centre weighs another cut in diesel prices before elections

 THE government is exploring plans to cut diesel prices again — the third time in less than two months — with the political leadership of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance favouring a further reduction ahead of the crucial parliamentary elections later this summer, said a government official who asked not to be named. 
    A cut in diesel prices could help bring down prices of essential commodities such as rice, edible oil, fruits, vegetables, eggs and milk, strengthening the UPA’s hand at the time of elections. 
    The government slashed pump price of petrol by Rs 5 a litre, diesel by Rs 2 a litre and cooking gas by Rs 25 per 14.2 kg cylinder on January 28. Last December, prices of petrol and diesel were reduced by Rs 5 a litre and Rs 2 a litre respectively. The latest proposal, which is still in discussion stages, involves cutting the price of diesel by Rs 2-3 a litre. 
    “The current price of petrol reflects the retail price of June 2005. The existing price of diesel is almost at the level of September 2005. Due to falling international oil prices, the government could reduce prices of fuels,” said a Cabinet minister, requesting anonymity. 
    The minister added the previous cuts in diesel prices had helped the poor by bringing down prices of essential items, while the reduction in petrol and cooking gas prices helped the middle class. 
    The cut being planned now may happen as another interim measure, or as part of a resurrected deregulation agenda in case of auto fuels helped by low global prices and healthy margins for state-run oil companies. “In December last year the Cabinet had in-principle favoured deregulating petrol and diesel prices and that proposal has not been abandoned,” a senior official who was present in the December meeting told ET. 
    A government official said the profit margin for refiners on diesel now stands at Rs 4.45 a litre, giving the government enough cushion to cut prices. But other officials said a cut is expected to be opposed by the oil ministry because public sector oil marketing companies (OMCs) are still losing money on the sale of subsidised kerosene and cooking gas. 
    “Currently, OMCs are losing Rs 11.25 on the sale of PDS kerosene (sold through fair price shops) and Rs 74.53 on every cylinder of cooking gas. But the margin is positive on petrol (by 0.03 a litre) and diesel,” another official said, adding the overall margin on the sale of four fuels is positive by Rs 329 crore on a monthly basis for the OMCs. 
    rajeev.jayaswal@timesgroup.com 

Source : http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Scripting/ArticleWin.asp?From=Archive&Source=Page&Skin=ET&BaseHref=ETM/2009/02/21&PageLabel=7&EntityId=Ar00702&ViewMode=HTML&GZ=T

Reliance gas to hit market by April

NEW DELHI: Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Murli Deora on Wednesday told the Parliamentary Consultative Committee that the first consignment of natal gas from the Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Industries’ Eastern offshore KG-D6 fields will hit the markets by April this year.

“The arrival of the natural gas would certainly ease fuel deficit being faced by power and fertilizer units. Reliance is likely to start gas production by the first week of March but the initial volume would go for testing the equipment and building pressure in the pipeline. The first sale may be by early April,” he added.

Mr. Deora said that it had been decided to supply the first 40 mmscmd (million metric standard cubic metre per day) of natural gas to meet the shortfall in existing gas-based urea plants, LPG plants and power plants. KG-D6 gas would be a boon for the fuel-starved fertilizer and power companies, increasing production at cheaper rates. Reliance gas priced at $4.20 per million British thermal unit, at least 50 per cent cheaper than competitive domestic gas, would increase supply of urea in the country and bring down fertilizer subsidy, he said. Mr. Deora also said that Reliance had started crude oil production from its deep sea KG-D6 block in Krishna Godavari basin in September with initial output of 8,000 barrels a day.

The initial volumes from KG-D6 would be sold to gas-based urea manufacturing plants and the Dabhol power plant in Maharashtra.

source : the hindu

XTRAPOWER FLEET CARD HOARDING - NEW

HIGHLIGHTS OF INTERIM BUDGET 2009-2010

Source : The Hindu

NEW DELHI: Belying all expectations of India Inc. of fiscal sops to weather the impact of the global downturn, the United Progressive Alliance government, in the interim budget 2009-10 presented on Monday, announced a massive allocation of Rs. 1,31,317 crore for its various flagship programmes to spur the economy and benefit the common man. It also indicated the need for tax relief in 2009-10, when the regular budget is presented by a new regime after the Lok Sabha elections.

Presenting the interim budget for a vote-on-account for the necessary government expenditure in the first four months of the new fiscal, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who holds charge of Finance, desisted from announcing any sops as he did not have the parliamentary mandate to “tweak” the rates and did whatever he could under the constraints.

“Constitutional propriety requires that new government formulates the tax and expenditure policies for 2009-10… Therefore, I am presenting an interim budget for the purpose of vote-on-account to enable the government to meet expenditure during the first four months of the next financial year,” he said.

Detailing the performance of the UPA regime with regard to its Common Minimum Programme and achieving a gross domestic product growth of 9 per cent and above in three consecutive years till 2007-08, he highlighted the steps taken to tackle the slowdown in the current fiscal.

Besides making a much higher allocation for defence at Rs 1,41,703 crore in view of the deteriorating security environment owing to cross-border terrorism, Mr. Mukherjee announced massive spending on social sector schemes for the larger benefit of the “aam aadmi.” Among these, the Bharat Nirman programme was allocated Rs. 40,900 crore while Rs. 30,100 crore has been set apart for the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme for the new fiscal.

With the thrust on higher spending on the social sector, the “Sarva Siksha Abhiyan” has been allocated Rs. 13,100 crore, the Integrated Child Development Services Rs. 6,705 crore, the Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Scheme Rs. 11,842 crore, the National Rural Health Mission Rs. 12,070 crore, the Rajiv Gandhi Rural Drinking Water Mission Rs. 7,400 crore and the Total Rural Sanitation Programme Rs. 1,200 crore.

“In the current environment, there is a clear need for contra-cyclical policy and it calls for a substantial increase in expenditure in infrastructure development, where we have a large gap and in rural development where programmes such as Bharat Nirman and NREGS are playing a vital role,” he said.

Huge allocations for flagship schemes:

1. Sarva Siksha Abhiyan : 31,100 crores

2. Integrated child development scheme : 6,705 crores

3. JNURNS : 11,842 crores

4. National rural health mission : 12,070 crores

5. Rajiv Gandhi Rural drinking water mission : 7, 400 crores

6. Total rural sanitation programme : 1,200 crore

7. Bharat Nirman : 40,900 crores (Covers rural roads, telephony, irrigation, drinking water supply, housing and electrification).

8. NREGS : 30,100 crores (Which generated employement for 138.76 crore man days covering 3.51 crore households, gets an increased allocation of 30,100 crores)

New Schemes :

1. Indira Gandhi National Widow Pension :

2. Indira Gandhi National Disability Pension Scheme

3. Unique identification Project

Fiscal Defecit

http://www.hindu.com/2009/02/17/stories/2009021760031600.htm (for more info)

Unique Identification Project

1. Allocation  : 100 crores

2. The Unique Identification Authority of India is being established under the aegis of the Planning Commission for which a notification has been issued in January 2009. A provision of Rs.100 crore has been made in the annual Plan 2009-10 for this,” Mr. Mukherjee said while presenting the interim budget.

3. The project envisages assigning a unique identification number to each resident in the country. It aims at eliminating the need for multiple identification mechanism prevalent across various government departments. The government has been working on improving arrangements to ensure that development deliverables reach the intended beneficiaries.

National Investigation Agency

1. Alloted with 10 crores 

2. The NIA, under the administrative control of the Home Ministry, was set up by an Act of Parliament in December last. The agency has concurrent jurisdiction which empowers the Centre to probe terror attacks in any part of the country, covering offences such as challenge to the country’s sovereignty and integrity, bomb blasts, hijack of aircraft and ships, and attacks on nuclear installations.

Central Plan Outlay By Sectors

Car - In - A - Tank - Sceme

IndianOil

Fill up your tank and win a car! IndianOil offers 'Car-in-a-tank' scheme

‘Car-in-a-tank’ is an on-ground campaign at all IndianOil/IBP/AOD petrol/diesel stations (retail outlets) sellingXTRAPREMIUM and/or XTRAMILE and/or Autogas and is valid from 1st February to 30th April 2009. Being an SMS-based scheme, the basic steps for customers to participate in the campaign are given below: Purchase XTRAPREMIUM or XTRAMILE or Autogas, worth Rs 300/- SMS ‘IOC Bill No.’ (Bill of purchase of XP/XM/Autogas) to 53636 Winners to be selected through a system-based random process Customers may ensure that the SMS sent should have the keyword correctly keyed in. E.g., if the bill no. is 1234 he/she should SMS ‘IOC 1234’ (The space between IOC and 1234 should be maintained. Also, there should not be any space before IOC).The cost of each SMS varies from 80p to Rs 3/-.

Prizes:

Maruti Suzuki SX4 - 01 Nos. Maruti Suzuki A-Star – 04 Nos. Maruti Suzuki M 800 Duo - 08 Nos. iPod or equivalent – 500 Nos. XP/XM/Autogas Rs 500 gift voucher – 1000 Nos

Terms & Conditions of the "Car in a Tan" offer – 2009 Employees of IndianOil and their families, IndianOil Dealers & Distributors, employees of Advertising Agencies of IndianOil, other Channel partners/Service providers/Event managers etc. associated with this offer, are not eligible to take part. Participation in this offer is deemed acceptance of these Terms and Conditions. Offer commences on 1st February 2009 and closes at 12.00 pm IST (midnight) on 30th April 2009 - ("Offer Period"). Any entries received after 12.00 midnight, on the 30th April 2009 will not be considered. Entry to this offer shall be treated as void wherever such offers are prohibited under local laws. By entering this offer, you agree that the information provided by you may be used by IndianOil for the administration of the draw. We may also use the information to carry out research about this offer or communicate future promotions to you. This offer is open to Indian Citizens aged 18 or over, as on 1st February 2008, residing in India only. Only those customers who purchase Rs. 300 or above worth branded fuels XTRAPREMIUM or XTRAMILE or Autogas are eligible to participate in the offer. This offer is applicable for purchase of XTRAPREMIUM/ XTRAMILE/ Autogas at any IndianOil, IBP or Assam Oil Division retail outlets only. A customer purchasing branded fuel XTRAPREMIUM/ XTRAMILE/ Autogas worth Rs 300 or more, should SMS ‘IOC Bill No.’ to the short code 53636. Here the ‘Bill No.’ is the number of the ‘bill of purchase’ issued by the fuel station for the purchase of XTRAPREMIUM/ XTRAMILE/ Autogas worth Rs 300 or more. The space between IOC and the bill number has to be maintained if not an error message will be received by the customer. For Eg: If the bill no is 2345 the customer has to SMS, IOC 2345 to the number 53636. If the bill no is 6 the customer has to SMS,IOC 6 to 53636. The SMS facility is available through all service providers including the majors like BSNL/MTNL/ Vodafone(Hutch)/Airtel/Reliance/Idea/ BPL etc. The premium rates as applicable would be charged for the SMS being sent to take part in the offer. A customer can make multiple entries for repeat purchases however each SMS should have a separate bill no. Multiple entries using the same bill number will be considered invalid. The prizes on offer are 1st Prize - Maruti Suzuki SX4 – 1 Nos. 2nd Prize - Maruti Suzuki A-Star – 4 Nos. 3rd Prize - Maruti Suzuki 800 Duo – 8 Nos. 4th Prize - iPod or equivalent – 500 Nos. Consolation Prizes - XP/XM/Autogas Rs 500 gift vouchers – 1000 Nos. The customer is required to preserve the original Cash/Credit memo of the purchase of XTRAPREMIUM/XTRAMILE based on which the customer has entered the offer for claiming the prize, if any, won by him/her. Loss/mutilation of the original Cash/Credit memo would disqualify the customer. No photocopies of cash/credit memos will be accepted. The prizes would be decided based on a system based random process that would select the winning Mobile Number and the corresponding bill of purchase, from a dump of valid entries (SMSes) received. This process would be conducted in the presence of an independent third-party auditor and winners declared within 6 weeks of the close of the offer or within such period as the Corporation may deem fit. The list of winners would be displayed on the IndianOil website, www.iocl.com The list of winners would be displayed on the IndianOil website for a period of one month after the prize winners are declared. The decision of the Corporation shall be final and no communication in this regard will be entertained. The selected Mobile Numbers would be contacted by our back-end operator for further processing. In case the mobile number has been changed/terminated/blocked/out of reach etc. IndianOil will not be held liable for not being able to communicate/handover prizes to the winners. No queries/clarifications/suggestions will be entertained on the modality of selection or the selection process which would be entirely the discretion of IndianOil. All statutory levies including taxes, duties, octroi etc., applicable on the prizes would have to be borne by the prizewinners. Any other costs including insurance, registration etc of the Car prizes given would have to borne by the prizewinners. Winner have to provide the following documents before receiving the car prize from M/s Maruti – A) Proof of Tax Paid/Copy of Tax Paid counterfoil (paid at any State Bank). The amount of Tax to be determined on the basis of the car won and the state/area where the winner is. B) Copy of Pan Card of the winner. C) Indemnity bond from the winner on stamp paper declaring that the tax paid is from his income under Section 194B of the Income Tax act. D) DD/Cheque/cash for insurance charges, RTO charges and handling charges E) any other statutory requirement as applicable. All winnings shall be liable for withholding and other taxes and the winner shall become entitled to get the prize only after all the taxes are paid. The car would be delivered ex-showroom of the nearest convenient Maruti Dealership once the above formalities are completed. The car prize winner would be given a maximum of 6 weeks to complete the above formalities. If the prize winner is not able to complete the above formalities, including payment of taxes etc., within this period of 6 weeks he shall forfeit the same. Travel arrangements, boarding and lodging if any for availing the Prizes under this offer shall not be the responsibility of Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. Prize winners have to make their own arrangements to reach the venue. The offer is not transferable and cannot be exchanged/redeemed for cash. No cash claim shall be entertained in lieu of the offer. This offer may not be combined with other IOCL Promotional or Discount Offer. Indian Oil Corporation Ltd., shall not be liable for any loss or damage whatsoever that may be suffered as a result of participating in the offer or enjoying the prizes. The decision of Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. is final and binding and is non-contestable. Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. reserves the right to withdraw and/or alter any of the terms and conditions of this offer at any time without prior notice. No correspondence would be entertained on this account. IOCL reserves the right to audit all claims/winning entries to ensure that the Terms and Conditions of the promotion have been met; and to request additional information regarding any and all claims and supporting documents. Indian Oil Corporation Ltd., and its partners shall not be liable for any loss or damage theft or any other mishap whatsoever, that may be suffered as a result of participating in the scheme or enjoying the prizes. Apart from the entitlement to the prizes, the winner or his/her legal heirs will have no rights or claims against IndianOil or its partners. 30. As a general rule no correspondence will be entered into. Any correspondence would be at the discretion of IndianOil. The submission of false, incorrect, misleading or fraudulent documentation may result in disqualification from this promotion and from future IOCL promotions. The submission of false, misleading or fraudulent information may result in the claimant being subject to civil or criminal liability. All disputes are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of Mumbai.