Reliance Telecom tells SC

2
GANGTOK,
HIMALAYAN MIRROR
BUSINESS
WEDNESDAY 29 APRIL 2015
Reliance Group ends accord Sensex, Nifty rebound, end
for Jharkhand power project
in green
Mumbai,
April
28
(IANS) : In a move that
will cut by Rs.36,000
crore the future capital
expenditure of Reliance
Power, a part of the Anil
Ambani-led group, the
company announced on
Tuesday that it has terminated the power purchase
agreement of its 3,960MW ultra mega project at
Tilaiya in Jharkhand.
Citing the reasons for the
termination, the company
said the power purchase
agreement required the
procurers to hand over by
February 2010 the land
for the power station and
the coal mines, as also the
site clearance from the
Ministry of Environment
and Forests.
"However, the required
land is yet to be made
available. Even the forest
land in the power station
area, for which the StageII Forest Clearance was
accorded by the central
government way back in
November 2010, has not
been handed over till
now," the company said
in a statement.
"As regards the coal
block, the land acquisition process is yet to get
initiated, for which the
application was submitted
way back in February
2009," it added, with
respect to the decision
taken by it's wholly
owned
subsidiary,
Jharkhand
Integrated
Power Ltd. (JIPL).
"Considering all these
facts, JIPL has decided to
terminate the PPA with
the Procurers. This decision will reduce the future
capex (capital expenditure) pipeline of Reliance
Power
by
nearly
Rs.36,000 crore."
The company said it pursued in vain with the state
government for some
five-and-half years and
held more than 25 review
meetings. But there was
no movement forward
from the authorities. It
said based on the present
estimates the project cannot be completed before
2023-24.
The decision, incidentally, comes against the
backdrop of Reliance
Power recently announcing that it has successful
achievement full commercial operation of all
the six units of another
ultra mega power project
-- the 3,960-MW capacity
project at Sasan in
Madhya Pradesh.
"It may also be mentioned
that five units of 660-MW
each totaling 3,300 MW
were commissioned in
just about 12 months. The
Sasan project is the
largest integrated power
plant cum coal mining
project at a single location
in the world, involving
investment
of
over
Rs.27,000 crore."
Reliance Power was
awarded the Tilaya project based on tariff-based
bidding managed by
Power Finance Corp, in
February 2009. The company's special purpose
vehicle was handed over
this task in the same year.
Power purchase pacts
were also signed with 18
buyers in 10 states for 25
years.
For fuel security, the project
was
allocated
Kerendari BC captive
coal mine block.
The Reliance Power statement said with the completion of its first phase of
capital investments of
nearly Rs.50,000 crore, it
has six operating plants
with a capacity of nearly
6,000 MW, it said, adding
that it will now focus on
clean and green portfolio
of renewable and hydro
power projects.
With a debt to equity ratio
of 1.5:1, one of the lowest
in the power sector,
Reliance Power remains a
financially conservative
company.
Mumbai, April
28
(IANS) : Rebounding
from
three-and-half
months' low, a benchmark index for Indian
equities, the sensitive
index (Sensex) of the
Bombay
Stock
Exchange, closed 219.39
points, or 0.81 percent,
up on Tuesday as bluechip stocks surged.
The 30-share Sensex,
which
opened
at
27,215.61 points, closed
at 27,396.38 points, up
219.39 points, or 0.81
percent, over the previous day's close at
27,176.99 points. It
touched a high of
27,482.14 points and a
low of 27,073.25 points
in the day's trade.
The wider Nifty of the
National Stock Exchange
also closed 71.80 points
or 0.87 percent higher.
In Tuesday's trade, heavy
selling pressure was seen
in banking, auto,
power and healthcare
sectors, while selling
pressure was seen in fast
moving consumer goods
(FMCG) sector.
Foreign funds remained
net sellers to the tune of
$261.35 million on
Tuesday.Among the 12
sector-specific indices of
the Mumbai bourse,
that for bankex gained
2.41 percent, auto index
moved up by 2.24 percent, realty index inched
up by 1.60 percent,
power index went up by
1.40 percent and healthcare index got augmented by 0.69 percent.
However, FMCG index
fell by 0.73 percent.
The 100-scrip and 200scrip indices were up
with a relatively higher
margin of 0.93 percent
and 1 percent,
respectively, while midcap index was higher by
around 1.49 percent.
Small-cap stocks ended
1.37 percent higher.
The major Sensex gainers on Tuesday were:
ICICI Bank, up 8.02 percent at Rs.326.65;
Maruti, up 4.93 percent
at Rs.3,826.65; BHEL,
up 2.76 percent at
Rs.233.05; and Tata
Motors, up 2.43 percent
at Rs.529.85.
The losers were: ITC,
down 1.92 percent at
Rs.337.50; Coal India,
down 1.32 percent at
Rs.372.70; Infosys, down
1.24
percent
at
Rs.1,961.35;
and
Reliance Industries Ltd.,
down 1.09 percent at
Rs.865.
Among the Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei went
up by 0.38
percent and Hong Kong's
Hang Seng moved up by
0.03 percent, while
China's
Shanghai
Composite Index went
down by 1.13 percent.
In Europe, London's
FTSE 100 fell by 1.08
percent, France's CAC 40
went down by 1.71 percent and Germany's DAX
Index was lower by 1.35
percent at the closing in
the Indian markets.
Spectrum auction policy 'fiscally myopic',
Reliance Telecom tells SC
New Delhi, April 28
(IANS) : Telecom major
Reliance Telecom told the
Supreme
Court
on
Tuesday that auction of
spectrum based on "irrational" tender conditions
may meet the government's goal of higher revenue but is not in conformity with the overall
objective of public policy.
"The auction may meet the
government's need for
higher revenue collection
and bleed the industry
which is recovery mode
but it was certainly not in
conformity with the over-
all objective of public policy involving the government revenue, consumer
use and the viability of the
industry," senior counsel P.
Chidambram told a bench
of Justice Dipak Misra and
Justice Prafulla C. Pant.
Appearing for Reliance
Telecom, a subsidiary of
the
Anil
Dhirubhai
Ambani
Group,
Chidambram assailed the
tender conditions at the
level of micro-classification, saying that it presented an uneven playing field
to existing telecom operators and new entrants
which also included those
whose licences would be
coming to an end by the
ends of the current year.
Taking the court through
about half a dozen microclassifications in different
band-width, Chidambram.
pointing to the glaring mismatch, said that if any
existing telecom service
provider (TSP) makes bid
for 1.25 MHz of spectrum
in a particular band, then
the new entrant will have
to make bid for five MHz
to enter the bidding
process. He said that in
certain cases, the new
entrant will have to make
bids that are 8.5 times
more than the bid made by
the
existing
TSP.Describing the microclassification as "irrational
and having no nexus to the
objective sought to be
achieved", Chidambaram
said that in a situation of
spectrum being in the supply constraint, the prices
will be artificially jacked
as existing TSPs would not
only be competing among
themselves but with new
entrants as well.
Describing the government policy as "fiscally
myopic" and "selective" in
accepting the "convenient"
recommendations by telecom regulator TRAI, he
said that revenue gain
would be more to the government but the loans by
the financial institution
would get converted into
NPAs.
He made his arguments
during the course of the
hearing of a batch of petition challenging the tender
condition for the auction of
spectrum.
The court had, on February
25, embarked on examining the various challenges
ENTERTAINMENT
A
Deepika, Irrfan unveil Piku
Melange Collection
ctress Deepika Padukone
along with "Piku" co-star
Irrfan Khan and director
Shoojit Sircar unveiled the 'Piku
Melange Collection', an ethnic
fusion collection from Melange
by clothing brand Lifestyle.
The collection takes inspiration
from Deepika's carefree, modern meets ethnic styling in the
upcoming family comedy drama
and aims at giving consumers
access to their favourite
Bollywood superstar's style as
seen in the movie, read a statement.
Bringing fans closer to their
dreams of looking like Deepika,
five consumers were given the
opportunity to walk the ramp
dressed in different ensembles
from the collection.
Pampered with professional
make-up, styling and ramp walk
tutorials, the participants perfectly channelled their energy
and confidence as they came on
the ramp in different glamorous
avatars. Deepika crowned the
most stylish participant the 'Piku
Melange Queen'.
"Piku embodies the spirit of the
modern day woman. Taking
inspiration from the movie, the
'Piku Melange Collection' offers
a range of easy to wear pieces
Check accountability, then donate for
quake-hit Nepal: Manisha Koirala
M
anisha Koirala,
who has roots in
Nepal, is saddened by the machinations
of some people who are
trying to make money by
misusing relief funds
meant for earthquake-hit
Nepal. The actress has
advised people to be cautious of such organisations.
“I have been warned that a
lot of organisations would
be misusing this situation
so I request every one who
wants to help to please
double check the accountability and then only offer
help...," a post on
Manisha's official page on
Facebook read.
"A lot of my friends who
want to travel to ktm
(Kathmandu), please be
mindful that too many
people are already there n
there is a shortage of food
n water...we must be prepared for long span of
rehabilitation n relief work
(I m afraid after the initial
shock n hence desire to
help gets diluted by misuse
of help & with time we
become numb n start
ignoring)
“So I request all my well
meaning friends that
please please be mindful
of helping in such a way
that it is maximum utilised
by the victims...the situation
is
very
very
grave...my brother has
been taking rounds on the
field n it is heartbreaking,”
the post further reads.
that merge the ethnic style with
modern sensibilities," Deepika
said in a statement.
The
collection
comprises
endearing kurtas in summery
fabrics that are embellished with
intricate Indian motifs, colour
blocking and minimal ornamentation. Paired with straight
pants, palazzos decorated with
Schiffli lace and printed scarves,
'Piku Melange Collection' captures the subtle elegance of a
modern woman firmly rooted in
tradition.
"Piku" is a roller coaster ride of
a crazy father-daughter relationship essayed by megastar
Amitabh
Bachchan
and
Deepika, with Irrfan top lining
the cast in a pivotal author
backed role.
Produced by MSM Motion
Pictures,
Saraswati
Entertainment and Rising Sun
Films and distributed worldwide
by YRF, "Piku" will release
worldwide on May 8.
to the tender condition for
the auction of spectrum
which had concluded
March 25 garnering government whopping Rs.
1,09,000 crores. It had
stayed proceedings in five
matters
before
the
Allahabad,
Delhi,
Karnataka and Tripura
High Courts wherein
Reliance Telecom, Bharti
Telecom, and Idea Cellular
have contested tender conditions and transferred
them to itself.
In the hearing of the matter
on
February
25,
Chidambram, referring to
the NTP-2012, had told the
court that it recognises
"the predominant role of
the private sector in this
field and the consequent
policy imperative of ensuring continued viability of
service providers in a competitive environment".He
had urged the court to give
more weightage to the
TRAI recommendation
which had favoured fixing
lower ceiling on the minimum spectrum for which
bids could be made by the
TSPs saying that the TRAI
which had "evolved over
the years" and had the
"institutional and technical
capabilities" to decide
such matters.
Hearing of the matter is
rooted in the centre government's appeal challenging the Tripura High
Court's February 12, 2015,
order permitting Reliance
Telecom
and
Bharti
Hexacon to make two bids
- one for 4.4 MHz and
other for 5 MHz of 2G
spectrum in 900 MHz
band - for the northeastern
states.
Further hearing of the matter will take place on
Thursday.
Chetan Bhagat is X-Factor of 'Nach
Baliye 7': Ekta Kapoor
A
fter captivating
audiences of the
small screen with
engrossing tales in the
fiction
genre,
Ekta
Kapoor has ventured into
non-fiction format with
reality show “Nach
Baliye 7”. The TV tsarina
says the ongoing season
will unfold many facets
of a relationship and
terms judge and author
Chetan Bhagat as the 'XFactor' of the show.
Bhagat has taken up the
role of a judge for the
seventh season of the Star
Plus show, which Ekta is
producing. He is accompanied by actress Preity
Zinta and choreographer
Marzi Pestonji on the
judges panel.
“Dance is just one part of
expression and with the
new format, we are trying
to explore layers of each
relationship so that we
will see a lot more storytelling in the dance
defined by the couples
journey in the week.
“Since this year is all
about too much, we
thought why not go ahead
with another twist and
bring in someone that
people would not normally expect. Chetan is the
X-Factor of the show and
his role on the show will
be that of a motivator and
story teller, he will focus
on finding the real perfect
couple on 'Nach Baliye',”
she said in a statement.
Credited for shows like
“Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi
Bahu Thi”, “Pavitra
Rishta” and “Bade Achhe
Lagte Hain”, Ekta says
with the dance reality
show she is “exploring 11
different stories of these
jodis (couples) and that is
my reason for doing this
show”. A lot of twists and
turns are planned for the
seventh season of the
show which will take
audiences into the world
of celebrity couples.
“Viewers today want to
see more than just glamour and glitz - they want
to see the celebrities with
masks off. The fresh
judging panel will bring
varied perspectives to
each relationship and
entertainment to the show
- Preity, Marzi and
Chetan,” Ekta said.
Ekta also pointed out that
“the main idea is test each
jodi on how well they
know and understand
each other. They will be
judged on key aspects
that make any relationship work, so will be taking them through a challenge based on trust,
another one based on
team work, one on compatibility and so on”.
One of the changes is
scrapping the audience
voting system. And Ekta
says the decision to evict
couples will be based on
the love meter and dance
skills. “Every week, basis
the love challenge, the
jodi that scores the maximum points gets love
power, which makes
them safe from saying
goodbye to the show.
They have the power to
choose another jodi to be
safe with them.
"And obviously, keeping
in mind that the show is
primarily a dance show,
the jodi with top points
also gets the love power
and and safe that week.
However, basis the dance
performance and the
judges points, jodis will
either be safe or face
Nach ka The End,” she
said. There were reports
that Ekta may appear on
the show as a 'maha
judge'. Without refuting
the reports, Ekta says the
audience should gear up
for the unexpected this
season. “'Nach Baliye' is
going to be too much.
There are surprises on
every turn, so never know
what comes next,” she
said. The show went on
air on April 26.