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Centre to miss disinvestment target
- The Centre is likely to miss the disinvestment target of Rs.40,000 crore for the current fiscal as the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) on Wednesday failed to reach a consensus on selling the government's stake in ONGC and BHEL.
- The EGoM had met to decide on the disinvestment in the two major government-owned firms aimed at garnering around Rs.14,500 crore in 2011-12.
- So far the government has been able to garner only Rs.1,145 crore by diluting its share in Power Finance Corporation (PFC).
- Last fiscal, the government had raised around Rs.22,500 crore through stake sale in PSUs.
Telecom licences will be delinked from spectrum
- To be a major component of the proposed National Telecom Policy 2011, the new guidelines say all future licences will be ‘Unified Licences' that will be delinked from spectrum allocation, while all existing telecom licences will be migrated to the new regime.
- “There will be uniform licence fee across all telecom licenses and service areas which will progressively be made equal to 8 per cent of the adjusted gross revenue (AGR) in two yearly steps starting from 2012-13,” Mr. Sibal said. At present, this varies from 6 to 8 per cent depending on the telecom circles.
- Mr. Sibal also said the prescribed limit on spectrum assigned to a service provider will be 2x8 MHz (paired spectrum) for GSM technology for all service areas other than Delhi and Mumbai where it will be 2x10 MHz (paired spectrum). The current prescribed limit is 2x6.2 MHz of GSM spectrum as per licence norms.
- All the operators holding extra spectrum will have to surrender it within one year. We have also decided to renew licences for just 10 years that may be extended for another 10 years
- Existing licences are given for 20 years, while the licenses of old operators like Bharti and Vodafone will expire in 2014.
- Referring to merger and acquisitions, Mr. Sibal said the new regime would allow up to 35 per cent market share for the merged entity, while the government would the TRAI recommendation to consider market share up to 60 per cent. The new policy will allow spectrum sharing between operators in the same circle, while spectrum will not be permitted among licensees having 3G spectrum. Mr. Sibal also clarified that spectrum trading would not be allowed in India.
National policy on natural fibre mooted
- G. Balachandran, who assumed charge as the Chairman of the Coir Board, has underlined the need for a national policy on natural fibre.
- The policy could encompass natural fibre such as jute, abaca, banana, sisal and coir.
- He said value added products of coir such as Bhoovastra and ornaments had high potential to attract international market. Bhoovastra could be utilised in road laying works to improve the condition of the roads.
