Luxury carmaker Mercedes-Benz launched its top-of-the-line special protection limousine S-Guard, targeted at politicians, captains of industry, royal families, diplomats and celebrities. The limousine has been built on the platform of S 600 and come with a price tag of over Rs.6-crore, making it the costliest car in the country. DUMPING DUTY SLAPPED ON STEEL, TYRE IMPORTS Concerned over surge in imports, particularly from China, India has slapped anti-dumping duty on several stainless steel products and radial tyres. The Central Board of Excise and Customs has imposed anti-dumping duty of up to $2,254.69 a tonne on steel products, used mainly for making durables like refrigerators and also in automobile and kitchenware industries. The tyre makers seemed pleased with the dumping duty of up to $99.05 per a set of bus and truck radial tyres (including tubeless) from China and Thailand. MARUTI RECALLS ONE LAKH A-STARS Biggest recall in the domestic automobile industry In one of the biggest recalls recorded in the Indian automobile industry, leading car marker Maruti Suzuki India announced that it had recalled nearly one lakh ‘A-Star' cars, the company's flagship export model, to replace a faulty fuel pump gasket. The replacement will be done at no cost to the customers and will help check possible fuel leak, although no complaints have been received from customers. Last month, Japanese auto major Honda had recalled 8,532 units of its sedan Honda City in India due to defective power window switch as part of a global recall initiative. SUGAR EXPORT TO EU WITHDRAWN Coming under attack for rising food prices and indulging export of sugar at a time when the country was faced with shortage and sky rocketing prices, the UPA II Government has cancelled its export order of 10,000 tonnes of white sugar to the European Union (EU). The withdrawal of the export order comes close on the heels of the price rise issue rocking Parliament and the Opposition accusing the government of exporting sugar at a time when the country was faced with a severe shortage and the prices had almost doubled since January 2009. HYUNDAI TO RECALL SEDANS IN U.S. AND S. KOREA
problem. The firm said 1,300 of the cars already sold in the U.S. and another 46,000 in South Korea would be called back from March in response to complaints of faulty front—door locks on some of them. SBI TO OPEN 1,000 ATMS State Bank of India (SBI) is planning to open about 1,000 new ATMs in the current year under its technological initiatives. The bank at present has 70,000 branches and 20,000 ATMs catering to 286 million customers. Out of 65,000 villages in India, only 30,000 were covered by the commercial bank branches. INFRASTRUCTURE SECTOR POSTS ROBUST GROWTH The Economic Survey 2009-10 tabled in Parliament made out a strong case for adopting a liberal foreign direct investment (FDI) regime for health insurance, rural banking and higher education, asserting it could boost trade in services. In the case of the services sector, a more conducive environment can be created by liberalising FDI in services like health insurance, rural banking and higher education as FDI inflows and trade in services have a close relationship. Well thought out policy measures would give a boost to the services sector. The Survey says that with pick up in export of software and increase in foreign tourist arrivals, the country's services exports are expected to grow in the current fiscal, even as it contracted in April-September 2009-10. Software exports, including those from BPO services, have shown a recovery after a negative growth in the first half of 2009-10. The survey says the agriculture services sector attracted FDI of Rs.6,327 crore in the first eight months of the current fiscal against Rs.16 crore in the year ago period. FDI in the sea transport sector was up by 918 per cent to Rs.12,983 crore, while in the electrical equipment segment inflows increased by 202 per cent to Rs. 2,724 crore during April-November 2009-10. AUTONOMY FOR MAHARATNAS The government’s decision to allow greater operational and financial freedom to the public sector companies that qualify as ‘Maharatnas’ — a new category that will have higher performance criteria than applicable to the existing ‘Navratna’ — is a step in the right direction.In 2009, the government established the Maharatna status. What are the norms for elevation as Maharatnas? The six point eligibility criteria are:
7. an existing Navratna status;
8. listing on the stock exchanges with minimum public shareholding as prescribed by the SEBI;
9. annual turnover of more than Rs.25,000 crore for the last three years;
10. average annual net worth of at least Rs.15,000 crore;
11. average annual net profit of more than Rs.5,000 crore for the last three years.
12. a significant global presence. NAVRATNA Navratna was the title given originally to nine Public Sector Enterprises (PSEs), identified by the Government of India in 1997 as its most prestigious, which allowed them greater autonomy to compete in the global market.The number of PSEs having Navratna status has been raised to 18, the most recent addition being Coal India Limited. CRITERIA Navratna status is conferred by Department of Public Enterprises. To be qualified as a Navratna, the company must obtain a score of 60 (out of 100). The score is based on six parameters which include net profit to net worth, total manpower cost to total cost of production or cost of services, PBDIT (Profit Before Depreciation, Interest and Taxes) to capital employed, PBDIT to turnover, EPS (Earning Per Share) and inter-sectoral performance. Additionally, a company must first be a Miniratna and have four independent directors on its board before it can be made a Navratna. MINIRATNAS In addition, the government created another category called Miniratna. Miniratnas can also enter into joint ventures, set subsidiary companies and overseas offices but with certain conditions. In 2002, there were 41 government enterprises that were awarded Miniratna status. CATEGORY I This designation applies to PSEs that have made profits continuously for the last three years or earned a net profit of Rs. 30 crore or more in one of the three years. These miniratnas granted certain autonomy like incurring capital expenditure without government approval up to Rs. 500 crore or equal to their net worth, whichever is lower. CATEGORY II This category include those PSEs which have made profits for the last three years continuously and should have a positive net worth. Category II miniratnas have autonomy to incurring the capital expenditure without government approval up to Rs. 300 crore or up to 50% of their net worth whichever is lower. South Korea's top automaker Hyundai Motor announced that it would recall 47,300 of its latest model Sonata sedans in the U.S. and the domestic market due to a door lock
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