By Deepak Arora

NEW DELHI, April 21: The Initial Public Offer of Reliance Petroleum has received an overwhelming response and has set several new world records. The public issue that opened on April 13 has been subscribed 50 times.

The IPO has beaten the record for the highest number of investors in book building may times over and has set the new standard for the capital markets world over. The book value of the applications is likely to top Rs 1,50,000 crore, again a world record. Against the total booking orders, the company had planned to raise Rs 2,565 crore and Rs 2,790 crore at the lower and upper end of the price band respectively. The IPO has also set new benchmark for the market for the financial year 2006-07.

RPL had fixed a price band of Rs 57-62 for the IPO, which comprises of 135 crore shares of which Reliance Industries (RIL) has subscribed to 90 crore shares and the balance of 45 crore shares has been offered to the public.

By afternoon, the quota for qualified institutional buyers was subscribed by 38 times, that of high networth individuals by 12 times and retail investors by 6.8 times. Over 10 lakh applications from retail investors alone were received, market sources said.

Sixty per cent of the shares on offer have been reserved for QIBS, while 4.5 crore shares have been blocked for non- institutional investors. Retail investors can get a maximum of 13.5 crore shares. The RPL shares are expected to be listed on the stock exchanges between May 5 and 10.

RPL, a subsidiary of Mukesh Ambani`s RIL, plans to spend Rs 27,000 crore on the new 580,000 barrels-per- day refinery, next to Reliance Industries 660,000-bpd refinery at Jamnagar in Gujarat.

Huge response for RPL IPO

By Deepak Arora

NEW DELHI, April 20: The Initial Public Offering (IPO) of Reliance Petroleum Limited (RPL) has been over subscribed 17 times by Wednesday afternoon. The quota for Qualified Institutional Buyers (QIBs) has been over subscribed 23 times, for High Networth Individuals (HNI) nine times and for retail investors three times.

In view of the unprecedented demand for the RPL shares leading to a huge load on brokers all over the country to punch data into the BSE and NSE systems, the stock exchanges have officially announced extension of the IPO market till 9 pm.

There has been an overwhelming response to the RPL IPO and even the banks across the country have received countless and large requests for Demat accounts due to the RPL IPO.

Meanwhile on the RIL front, share prices crossed Rs 932 which is higher than RIL prices pre-demerger which was Rs 920-927. Post de-merger, RIL has given more than Rs. 218 returns on opening price of Rs 714 which works out to 30 per cent in less than three months and more than 120 per cent on annualized basis. Market capitalization of RIL went up to Rs 1,28,000 Crore on Wednesday.

Large rush is expected on Thursday, the last day of the IPO, across the country for the RPL issue and SEBI is considering extending time for filing applications tomorrow also.

Behuria said IOC, which controls roughly half of the Indian fuel market, was losing Rs 80 crore per day on selling petrol, diesel, LPG and kerosene below the production cost. He informed that in April alone, their revenue loss was estimated at Rs 2500 crore.

Sources said the under-realisation in revenue by state-run oil marketing companies, IOC, Bharat Petroleum Corp and Hindustan Petroleum Corp for selling petrol and diesel below their production cost was Rs 883 crores in the first fortnight of April. This was over and above the Rs 14,756 crore shortfall faced by the OMCs in April 2005-March 2006.

Petroleum Minister Murli Deora is likely to meet Finance Minister P Chidambaram next week to discuss a package of tax measures to help loss-making oil refiners.

Maruti launches loyalty-cum-rewards programme

NEW DELHI, April 19: Car market leader Maruti Udyog Limited rolled out a first of its kind 'Loyalty cum Rewards Programme' for its existing and new customers. Maruti car owners can easily earn as many as 20,000 Autopoints in four years. One Autopoint is valued at One Rupee. This Rs 20,000 can be used for additional discount by the customer while purchasing the next Maruti Suzuki car.

Alternatively, the accumulated points can be instantly redeemed by customers when they get their car serviced at Maruti Suzuki workshops or while purchasing a Maruti Genuine Accessory worth equivalent amount.

The program is quite unique in terms of the focus on Maruti Suzuki car customers, and the technology deployed to offer flexibility to customers. The loyalty cum rewards programme will be operated through a Maruti Suzuki Autocard which will be offered to Maruti Suzuki car owners who choose to enrol in the programme. A combination of chip based card technology, state-of-the-art Point of Sale Swipe Terminal and IT hardware has been used to make the program user-friendly. The programme has been initially launched in 36 cities.

Maruti has launched the Loyalty cum Rewards programme in conjunction with Citibank, part of Citigroup, the world's largest and most diversified provider of Financial Services and Indian Oil Corporation, the largest commercial enterprise in the country and a leader in the petroleum retailing business in India.

The programme rewards Maruti Suzuki car owners for all their spends at Maruti outlets, IndianOil fuel outlets and for life style spend as the Maruti Suzuki Autocard can be used as an international credit card.

The loyalty cum rewards program offers attractive benefits to customers. It includes 6 per cent reward on service bill, plus 500 exchange loyalty bonus for each periodic service at any Maruti authorized workshop; 3 per cent reward on purchase of car insurance and Maruti Genuine Accessories; 1.5 per cent reward on purchase of fuel at IOC petrol stations. (0% surcharge for all fuel purchases); 1000 points can be earned for each referral given by a customer which gets converted into sale of a new Maruti Suzuki car; and 1 per cent reward on all spends at card accepting establishments.

Besides expenditure on car maintenance, even a Sunday night meal out or a shopping trip can contribute to making the customer's next Maruti Suzuki car a whole lot cheaper. The customer has the option to carry over the points for redemption against exchange (trade-in) of his car for a new Maruti Suzuki car. In addition to autopoints earned by customers, Maruti and its dealers will provide attractive exchange loyalty bonus based on regular servicing and age of car at the time of exchange.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Jagdish Khattar, Managing Director of Maruti Udyog Limited, said, "Maruti's loyalty and rewards programme is designed to genuinely benefit our customers. They can earn and redeem points conveniently, from their normal car-related and lifestyle spends, and be rewarded handsomely when they buy their next Maruti Suzuki car. We are delighted to be associated with Indian Oil and Citibank, both leaders in their respective domain, in this programme".

Mr. Sarthak Behuria, Chairman, IndianOil, said, "We are glad to be the Fuel Partner to Maruti's Autocard programme. With over 15,000 retail outlets in the IndianOil group, we are networked throughout the Indian subcontinent right from Kashmir to Kanyakumari and from Kutch to Kohima. Our long association with Maruti has been continuously enriched by the mutual value addition that we have pursued whether it is in fuels or lubricants. SERVO, India's largest selling lubricant brand is already an integral part of the Maruti OEM family. With the other partner, Citibank, we have had the unique distinction of being one of the pioneers of co-brand credit cards in the country."

"Presently, IndianOil Citibank Credit Card is one of the largest co-brand credit cards in India. Ultimately, our endeavor is to keep looking at newer and more innovative ways to reach out to customers. In the marketplace, half the battle is won when you have the right coalition," Mr. Behuria added.

Mr. P. S. Jayakumar, Country Business Manager, Global Consumer Group, Citigroup India said, "The Maruti Loyalty programme truly places the customer at centrestage making the car owner's relationship with Maruti deeper, more meaningful and longstanding."

"I believe that the programme will set a benchmark for the industry as a whole. We at Citibank are delighted to leverage our strengths as a leading card issuer to partner Maruti in this first-of its kind programme", Mr. Jayakumar added.

With a strong customer base of over 4.5 million, Maruti hopes to enrol over one million customers. Maruti is setting up a Partner Relationship Cell, as it expects many more partners to join the Loyalty cum Reward Programme. This will help Maruti to offer even more benefits to its customers.

Crude Oil Price Hits $70 a Barrel in Asia

SINGAPORE, April 17: Crude oil futures hit $70 a barrel for the first time in seven-and-a-half months Monday, lifted by concerns over declining gasoline stocks in the U.S., supply disruptions in Nigeria and tension over Iran's nuclear program.

Light, sweet crude for May delivery rose to $70 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange before slipping slightly to $69.92 a barrel, up 47 cents from Friday's close. The last time crude futures surpassed $70 a barrel was on Aug. 30 when they reached a record $70.85 a barrel, after Hurricane Katrina struck the U.S. Gulf coast.

"Gasoline inventories in the U.S. continue to be an issue in the market because last week's inventory report showed a stock decline as we approach the summer driving season," said Victor Shum, an energy analyst at Purvin & Gertz in Singapore.

According to a weekly report from the U.S. Department of Energy on Wednesday, gasoline inventories dropped 3.9 million barrels in the week ending April 7 to 207.9 million barrels — down nearly 2 percent from year-ago levels.

"But perhaps the concern over gasoline's stock drawdown is a little overdone as it's largely a result of the refinery maintenance season," Shum said. "When the refineries come back from maintenance, gasoline supplies may build, and then we could see the market go through a correction." Heating oil prices rose 1.09 cents to $1.9985 a gallon while gasoline futures jumped 1.28 cents to $2.1198 a gallon — a level not reached since early September.

The market was also driven by the disruption of Nigerian crude supplies by rebels, the possibility of Iranian oil exports being halted due to political tension. In Nigeria, the world's 12th-largest oil producer, more than half a million barrels of crude a day are being blocked due to militant violence, and rebels have said they will target more supplies.

In Iran, the world's fourth-largest oil producer, no oil exports have been disrupted, but some market participants are worried they might be, depending on the U.N. Security Council's response to the Iran's defiance of council resolutions concerning the country's nuclear program.

Meanwhile, natural gas gained a cent to $7.188 per 1,000 cubic feet on Monday after the U.S. Department of Energy reported that natural gas inventories grew by 19 billion cubic feet in the week ending April 7 to 1.7 trillion cubic feet — less than most analysts had expected.

NEW DELHI, March 15: With a magic wand, Anil Ambani has overnight become the "second riches" Indian with his personal wealth valued at US $ 12 billion.

To understand the quick journey to riches, its important to know that Reliance Communications Ventures (RCoVL) had market capitalization of Rs 36,000 crore before the merger of Reliance companies was announced on March 10 this year. Its 120 crore shares have a market valuation of Rs 300 per share.

Reliance Communication Ventures holds 65 per cent in Reliance Infocomm and balance 35 per cent is held by Anil Ambani and "friends".

This old valuation of RCoVL of Rs 36,000 crore was 80 per cent due to Reliance Infocomm. Therefore, 35 per cent share would have got Anil Ambani shares worth Rs 9,600 crore.

How much would Reliance Telecom and Reliance Communication and Infrastructure have fetched him?

Reliance Telecom with 1.65 million subscribers based on Spice Telecom "independent" valuation of US $ 200 per subscriber works out to US $ 330 million or Rs 1,400 crore.

Out of this, Anil Ambani holds 48 per cent in Reliance Telecom and so he should get shares worth Rs 710 crore. Although, he owns 65 per cent, net holding after cancellation of cross holding is only 48 per cent.

Although he owns 100 per cent of Reliance Communication and Infrastructure, its total assets after deducting debt is only Rs 250 crore.

The total entitlement of Anil Ambani thus comes to Rs 10,560 crore. In fact, he gets additional shares worth Rs 24,600 crore. This is almost 25 per cent of the Indian Government's Budget.

However, Anil Ambani gets extra shares worth Rs 14,000 crore thanks to the Sunday Board meeting which was said to be attended by "his close friends and members of his close circles" such as Gautam Doshi and Bakul Dhalakia among others.

This is so much more for a man who only some months ago was fighting his elder brother, Mukesh Ambani, for "corporate governance".

Anil Ambani is said to have issued these shares to himself on the recommendation of valuers appointed by him.

The information on the swap ration of the companies was not available.

When contacted, a spokesman of the company said he was not sure of the swap ratio. However, he said the international valuers - KPMG and JP Morgan Stanley - were of international repute.

Corporate governance back to centrestage in Reliance battle

NEW DELHI, March 5: The issue of corporate governance is back to the centrestage in the seemingly never-ending Reliance battle. Last year, Anil Ambani cried himself hoarse over the alleged lack of corporate governance in the undivided Reliance Group controlled by his elder brother, Mukesh Ambani.

Now, the companies that fell into the younger Ambani's kitty after the settlement in 2005 are ready to be listed on the stock markets. And, he seems to have little regard for the principles of corporate governance so assiduously championed by him in the past.

In the notice submitted to the stock exchanges prior to its listing on March 6, Anil Ambani's Reliance Communication Ventures Ltd (RCoVL) seeks shareholders' approval through postal ballot for granting the authority to the Board of Directors (read Anil Ambani, beacause the notice says 'Board' means any committee constituted by the Board to exercise its powers) to issue fresh capital to the extent of 25 per cent of the then issued and outstanding capital.

There's a catch here. Analysts point out that the resolution, if passed, can be used to issue virtually any amount of capital at any rate at any time in future. For example, if the issued capital on March 1 is Rs. 650 crore, the RCoVL board can issue further capital of Rs 160 crore. On March 15, it now has new issued and outstanding capital of Rs. 810 crore, so on March 20, it can issue additional capital of Rs 200 crore. And so on.

A company that practises good corporate governance would go to the shareholders with resolutions where shareholders are given exact amount of capital to be issued, the price range at which the capital is to be issued and the time frame within which this capital needs to be issued, analysts point out.

According to the resolution, for which shareholders' approval has been sought through postal ballot, the issue will be in the form of GDRs/ADRs convertible into equity shares, preference shares, or any other type of securities.

A listed company needs to adhere to the SEBI guidelines for issuance of preference shares. However, if the Board, or a committee authorised by it, decides to issue preference shares in the manner suggested in the resolution, what happens to the SEBI guidelines?

Energy Security: The Chinese Strategy

By Deepak Arora

NEW DELHI, Feb 14: The aim of China's strategy for energy security is to maintain abundant energy supplies, especially sufficient, secure and stable supply of oil, to secure the sustainable development of economy and the improvement of people's living conditions. This strategy has been formulated according to the conditions of China's energy resources' particularly oil supply and demand, according to Xia Yishan, Senior Research Fellow, China Institute of International Studies.

Although China is a resource rich country as well as a large producer of energy, its energy supplies are unable to meet the country's increasing demands and the gap between demand and supply is becoming larger and larger. In recent years, China has suffered from the deficiency of electricity, coal and oil. All of these ascribe to its large population, the small amount of resources per capita and the rapid development of energy demand. Its energy problem has become a bottleneck in its sustainable development path, says Xia Yishan in his paper at the conclave on 'India's Energy Security: Major Challenges', organised by Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi.

In order to cut down the dependence on overseas supplies, reduce the risk of the energy supply disruptions and avoid being controlled by others, China relies on enhancing domestic production. To that end, China is strengthening its capabilities in prospecting, exploring and refining oil. Simultaneously China is also carrying out energy conservation strategies and improving energy utilization efficiency to relieve the contradiction between the energy supply and economic development.

To enhance the effectiveness of these strategies, China carried out programmes to educate people about energy conservation. China is establishing strategic storage system for oil in order to mitigate the risk of oil supply disruption. China is also developing renewable energy supply, including the wind energy, solar energy, biomass energy, geothermal energy, small hydroelectric power, nuclear energy and hydrogen energy in order to improve the energy consumption structure and also reduce the proportion of oil in the overall energy consumption.

China is also developing the use of coal in a clean way. In order to mitigate the effect of high oil prices, the Chinese government issued a set of directives, including the Middle- to Long-term Program of China's Energy, the Middle- to Long-term Program of Energy Conservation and the Renewable Energy Law.

These measures have had significant effect. In 2005, China's oil production researched 181 million tonnes, which was 6 million tonnes more than that of the last year. Meanwhile, the demand for oil was 311 million tonnes, which increased by only 6 per cent and was much lower than the 19 per cent increase of the year 2004. The import of crude oil was 130 million tonnes, which was an increase of 3.3 per cent over last year. 122.72 million tonnes were imported in 2004, which was increase of 34.8 per cent over the previous year.

In other words, the increase of the crude oil import in 2005 was 30 per cent lower than that of 2004. This improvement can be attributed to the policy of enhancing domestic resources. China achieved this despite very high economic growth rates.

Despite increased domestic production China will have to import oil to fill the increasing gap between the oil supply and demand. In that light, a significant strategic measure of China is to secure overseas oil resources and in addition establish oil supply systems overseas.

The world's oil and natural gas resources are abundant enough to meet the demand of all countries in the 21st century. At present, the main sources of oil import are the Middle East and Africa but these countries are characterised by political uncertainty. Moreover, oil is transported through the oceans and in areas such as the Malacca straits, oil tankers have to face the danger of pirates and terrorist attacks. In order to mitigate risk of supply from these areas, it is necessary for China to seek to import oil from Russia, Central Asia and Southeast Asia.

Thus China has embarked on enhancing both domestic and international oil supply which has both advantages and disadvantages.

The advantages

On the whole, China has built up a peaceful, friendly and cooperative relationship with other great powers and in particular countries holding oil resources. The world's oil reserves are abundant, and on the whole, the supply of oil exceeds the demand. This situation will at least last to the end of the 21st century. The transport of oil has evolved over the years and there is co-operation between oil importers and exporters.

Although the countries that export oil are competitive, they have many common interests in maintaining stable oil supplies and reasonable oil prices. This provides sufficient space for cooperation. China's economic strength has grown continuously, and the technological appliances and managing skills of China's oil corporations have been improved. Therefore, they have the capability of entering and exploring oil resources overseas.

The disadvantages

China has entered the arena of securing overseas oil resources at a stage when the world's energy resources have almost been completely taken over by western oil companies. The opportunities for China to acquire oil resources are becoming smaller and smaller. China can only explore regions where the western companies can't go or must move away from, because of political instability, high risk, difficult geology and high cost.

When trying to win the bid for stocks sold by western oil companies, China is usually treated unfairly and discriminated against. These companies often reject China's bid on the excuses that it will undermine their national security if China purchases their stocks. They also use the so-called principle of "the domestic priority" to force China out. Western companies have long-term management experience and the advantages of capital, technology, management, and information. The Chinese companies are fairly weak in these areas and Chinese companies have not worked out a mechanism to work together. Therefore, they are in an inferior position when it comes to international competition.

It has been only 12 years since China became a country whose import of oil exceeds export, and only 2 years since China finally became a country that imports 100 million tonnes of oil per year. Therefore, when dealing with the abrupt rises of international oil price, its experiences are deficient and capability of dealing with emergencies is weak. China's national strategic energy storage is still under construction and so its national energy security is devoid of necessary guarantee.

On the whole, when it comes to China's importing and applying overseas oil resources and building up overseas oil supply systems, the advantages exceed the disadvantages. China is therefore confident of achieving its goals in this area through the hard work of its companies.

The Role of International Cooperation.

We must remember two concepts when developing international cooperation. One is that every country has the right to participate in the re-allocation of the world's energy resources. The other is that we should change our old concepts and establish a new concept for energy security when developing cooperation.

The world's mineral resources is estimated to be almost 200 including mental minerals such as gold, silver, copper, iron, aluminum and hydrocarbon resources such as coal, oil, natural gas. All these resources are impossible to be allocated evenly in every country. Despite some countries like China which have various types of minerals and abundant reserves, they cannot achieve self-sufficiency for every mineral. Therefore, all countries in the world should supplement each other's needs and participate in the world's energy reallocation.

It is the same with oil. All over the world, the allocation of oil is rather unequal. On the whole, some developed countries and rising industrialized countries lack oil resources and need imports, while some developing countries have extra oil resources that can be exported in exchange for the foreign exchange. It is necessary and reasonable for new industrialized countries such as India and China to vigorously participate in the reallocation of the world's oil resources, because they embarked on this mission rather late. Western countries should treat India and China as their equals and not discriminate against them or set up obstacles for them.

The new energy concept

Interdependence and cooperation in the energy security is absolutely essential. Energy security involves not only one country, but also every country. The energy security of one country will not be guaranteed unless the issue of international energy security can be solved. Since there are worldwide energy problems, all countries form an interest group, which will probably win or lose but only together. Therefore, every country should not only pay attention to its own energy security, but consider other countries' as well as the world's energy security.

Cooperation between all countries should be promoted, and harmful competition should be avoided. The aim of international cooperation is mutual benefit, 'twin-win' or 'multiple-win'. Energy cooperation should cover multiple aspects, components and areas. Multiple aspects include prospecting and exploring oil resources, establishing strategic oil storage, guaranteeing the safety and security of oil transition channels, maintaining the stability of markets, mutual development of new resources and renewable resources, expanding and applying energy conservation and the technology for increasing efficiency and adhering to environmental safety measures. The components should include technology, capital, talents, production, transportation and markets. Multiple areas cover every region in the world, including one's own country.

Cooperation through flexibility and diversification

Cooperation can be bilateral or multilateral, between countries or companies, carried out in the name of countries, national holding companies or enterprises run by the private sector. It is possible to purchase an oil field or a company as a whole, or just buy parts of their stocks. One company can bid alone, or two or more companies can be united to bid for the stocks. The cooperation can be long-term or short-term. We should actively build up relationship and dialogue with regional energy organizations, such as OPEC, and promote regional energy cooperation and energy cooperation mechanism to mutually maintain the security of world's oil supply and reasonably stable oil prices.

At present, great powers have already started broad and close cooperation. For example, U.S. has participated in China's coal bed gas; Europe is exploring the technology of new energy such as the wind energy, solar energy, biomass energy and so forth, and has introduced it to China; China and Russia are cooperating in the fields of transportation, prospecting and exploring of oil and natural gas in the Eastern Siberia. As long as all great powers in the world desert old concepts for energy security persist in the new concepts for energy security, take the course of equality and mutual benefit, as well as mutual development, the prospect of international energy cooperation will be broad and bright.

China and India are friendly neighbouring countries, and we have already established strategic partnership. The economy of both countries is developing rapidly, and the demand for energy is increasing continuously. Both countries have cooperated in regions such as Sudan. Not long ago, they united to win the bid in Syria. Their cooperation is speeding up.

In January 2006, Mr. Mani Shankar Aiyar, the former Indian Oil and Natural Gas Minister paid a visit to China, and both sides inked the "Memorandum for Enhancing Cooperation in the Field of Oil and Natural Gas". Both sides will carry out comprehensive cooperation in the field of oil, including exploring, producing, the down stream industry, strategic storage, research and development, clean energy usage, as well as less conventional energy sources such as methane, coal gasification and so forth. They also decided to set up a united working group and hold high-level meeting once a year.

The trend of China-India cooperation is good, and it will probably extend to the Iran-Pakistan-India natural gas pipeline. China and India cooperate well, not only in a bilateral relationship, but also probably in the China-Russia-India trilateral relationship within the framework of Shanghai Cooperation Organization. China and India enjoy broad prospect for cooperation and that is a model for the rest of the world.

Iffco is Numero Uno Enterprise among unlisted companies

NEW DELHI, Feb 7: Indian Farmers Fertiliser cooperative (IFFCO ), world's largest fertiliser cooperative, has emerged as the premier enterprise in terms of sales, networth, profitability and fixed assets in the recent survey of large unlisted companies conducted by ET Intelligence group (ETIG), an Economic Times initiative.

IFFCO topped the ETIG ranking list owing to its sales worth Rs 7224 crore during 2004-05. The cooperative major was ranked fourth in terms of profitability with net profit touching Rs 320 crore in a year that was marked by droughts and erratic rainfall.

The fertiliser cooperative has hogged the second ranking in terms of networth and gross fixed assets. By 2004-05, IFFCO's networth touched Rs 3282 crore while the cooperative's gross fixed assets were valued at Rs. 4572 crore.

The ETIG Survey has put IFFCO ahead of Hyundai Motors,Tata Internationals, HCL Infinet and Citibank in terms of sales achieved by unlisted companies during 2004-05. In terms of net profits, the cooperative enterprise has been ranked above Reliance Utilities and Power,ABN Amro, Balco, NSE and Wipro BPO solutions.

As far as the gross fixed assets are concerned, Tata Teleservices is the only unlisted company that has surpassed IFFCO, the ETIG concluded. As per ETIG Survey, the one single driver in the fertiliser sector is IFFCO.

IFFCO has earlier been ranked second amongst the 60 leading fertiliser producers in urea, di-ammonium phosphate and complexes production. The Society was placed second in a survey of UK-based agency Integer Research Ltd., world's premier research and consultancy firm.

It may be mentioned that IFFCO, as the largest cooperative icon, has 37,441 cooperatives as its members. Its accumulated reserves of Rs. 2879.84 Crore as on March 31, 2005. The cooperative has interests in general insurance, commodities trading, collateral management, farm forestry, cooperative and rural development apart from fertilisers. Its net worth as on March 31, 2005 stood at Rs. 3301.15 Crore.

The company has won several laurels during the year 2004-05 including the prestigious Best Managed Work Force Award instituted by Hewitt Associates and CNBC TV18.

IndianOil retains No. 1 spot by sales

NEW DELHI, Feb 2: IndianOil, India's flagship oil company, has retained its numero uno position by sales in the latest corporate rankings released by the Economic Times. The ET500 report goes on to add, "IndianOil has been the largest Indian company by sales for as long as anyone can remember".

Apart from sales, the ET 500 ranking lists companies based on market capitalisation, net profit, price-earnings ratio and return on net worth, etc.

In the above listings, IndianOil is also ranked No. 6 by both market capitalisation and net profits respectively. These rankings assume significance considering that India's downstream majors in the petroleum industry have been bearing both subsidy and under-recovery burdens owing to a steep rise in global crude oil prices throughout the year 2005, thus affecting both net profit and market capitalisation.

Cotton farmers demand export incentives

By Deepak Arora

NEW DELHI: Keeping the glut in global market and fall in international and domestic prices, the Indian cotton farmers lobby has urged the Government to increase the import duty and give significant incentives for exports to protect the farmers.

It is being suggested that the Government now should embark on procurement at high speed at remunerative prices and give significant incentives for exports. At least 75 lakhs bales must be exported to mitigate the hardship to the farmers.

It is also being suggested that the Government must put NAFED, CCI, MARKFED and such agencies in procurement, storage and export of cotton with targets fixed for each of these. Similarly, these agencies must enter into the market immediately to procure cotton from farmers so that farmers are not forced to resort to distress sale of cotton this year.

It may be mentioned that a series of developments both in India and in the international market are now creating an explosive situation for cotton farmers in India. The international cotton market has been flooded with 15 per cent increased production globally over the previous year. The major cotton producing countries are US, China, India, Pakistan and Uzbekistan.

Additionally, the world cotton production is estimated to cross 25 million tonnes in cotton season of 2005-2006 against the consumption of only about 22.5 million tonnes. This would mean a surplus of 2.5 million metric tonnes of production over the consumption. Added to that is the stock of about 10 million metric tonnes which were there in the beginning of the season and this will show the monumental size of the surplus and the burgeoning problem.

The US subsidy to its farmers has also hit global cotton prices. The USA, the largest producer of cotton in the world, has been giving huge subsidies to the cotton farmers and also additional subsidies to the domestic users of the US cotton. The subsidies would be in the region of US $ 4.5 billion this year. These subsidies work out to almost Rs 50 per kg on the total crops produced by the US farmers.

As a result of this, the international prices have crashed last year by 35 per cent and this trend is expected to continue even in this cotton year due to the massive surplus. Apart from over production in India by almost 20 per cent, that is from 177 lakhs bales to a minimum of 213 lakhs bales, Indian farmers had to face the world over-supply and the crash in the international prices of the cotton. As a result, the Indian prices of cotton have also crashed by almost 30 per cent. The increase in the cost due to delay of monsoon last year, requiring re-sowing of cotton seeds and the effect of the untimely rains in the current period affecting the standing crops has also added to woes of the cotton farmers in India.

The question being asked is whether the Government has done enough to mitigate this hardship to the farmers. The crisis was created in India when the Cotton Advisory Board announced as early as in Sept 2004 that the Indian cotton production would be in the order of 213 lakhs bales. This affected the sentiments of the trade and the buyers shied away from buying any cotton in the hope that the prices will continue to crash, as domestic consumption was much lower than availability.

The farmers lobby then also urged the Government to increase the import duty of cotton to protect cotton farmers and declare a remunerative minimum support price and pick up a large quantity of cotton from the farmers. As this has not been done earlier, over 90 per cent of the arrivals of cotton went into the hands of traders at substantially lower prices. However, the government later procured cotton at the minimum support price.

Meanwhile, the traders who had purchased the cotton stocks from cotton farmers at distress prices subsequently went and sold the same cotton to CCI and Maharashtra Monopoly Cotton Purchase agency.

While the traders made a killing last year, both the farmers and the Government Procurement Agencies incurred heavy losses. It is being suggested that there was high probability of this being repeated even this year unless the Government intervenes and saves the situation for the farmers as this year the cotton production in India is expected to be 250 to 270 lakhs bales.

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