Shiv Sena workers protest Reliance power tariff hike

Police today resorted to baton charge to disperse the Shiv Sena workers who disrupted traffic on the Western Express Highway protesting hike in electricity charges by Anil Ambani-promoted Reliance Energy Ltd (REL) in suburban Santacruz here.

Sena’s agitation against the tariff hike of REL turned violent after its workers pelted stone at REL’s headquarters on the Andheri-Kurla road and also tried to set a police vehicle on fire.

REL, which distributes power to around 2.6 million consumers in city’s western suburbs, has asked for an average tariff hike of 5 per cent across all the categories of consumers from power regulator Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC).

According to Jitendra Janawade, a local Sena leader, the agitation was not just against the proposed tariff hike. Recently REL replaced old meters with the Chinese-made ones which has put additional burden on the consumers who have started receiving 30 per cent higher bills. “And once your bill increases, the company also asks for additional security deposit which is a double whammy for the common man,” he said.

Janawade, however, held the police responsible for the agitation turning violent, saying as the delegation of senior leaders was inside REL’s premises discussing the grievances of consumers, with senior company officials, police resorted to baton charge on the peaceful demonstrators. This angered the Shiv Sainiks and common people, who had joined the agitation, and some incident of stone pelting took place.

Sena leaders also raised the issue in the state Assembly and demanded immediate suspension of the police officials who ordered the baton charge.

Meanwhile, a senior REL official said “while we have proposed only an average 5 per cent hike, Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST), which is controlled by Sena and distributes power in the island city, has asked for a tariff hike of 52 per cent”. “It is ironical that activists of the same party are holding agitation against us,” he said.

source:http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/shiv-sena-workers-protest-reliance-power-tariff-hike/360503/

Tatas reputed than Google, MS: survey

They may not be as big as their global peers in terms of revenue and profits, but Indian companies are top of the lot in terms of their reputation, as per a study that has ranked Tatas as more reputed than the likes of Google, Microsoft, Coca-Cola, GE and Walt Disney.

Noting that the world looks to “corporate India to find trust, admiration and good feeling,” the US-based brand and reputation management consulting firm Reputation Institute has named five Indian firms among the top-50 in its annual list of the world’s most reputed companies.

While the global list has been topped by Italy’s chocolate maker Ferrero, Sweden’s retailer IKEA, and Johnson &Johnson in the US, the Tata group has been ranked 11th.

Among Indian companies, Tatas are followed by SBI (29), Infosys (39), Larsen & Toubro (47) and Maruti Suzuki (49th).

There are 22 other Indian companies on the list of 600 largest companies, ranked in terms of their reputation.

“Corporate India has the best reputed companies. Of the 27 Indian companies ranked among the 600 largest in the world, almost 90% received scores above the global mean, withfive ranking among the Top 50,” the Reputation Institute saidin its annual study for 2009.

Only the US had more number of companies in the top-50 (17 companies), the report noted. In terms of overall presence also, the US had five times the number of companies in the list than India.

The list is made on the basis of admiration, trust and good feeling that consumers have towards a company.

Other Indian companies on the list include—Hindustan Unilever (70th rank), ITC (96), Canara Bank (103), HPCL (112), Indian Oil (113), Wipro (117), Reliance Group (133), Mahindra & Mahindra (138), Bharti Airtel (164), Bank of Baroda (175), BPCL (176) and Punjab National Bank (178).

The report did not clarify whether the Reliance group means the Mukesh Ambani Group or Anil Ambani group of companies. The report revealed that corporate trust is higher in the emerging markets, while companies in industrialised markets are trusted less.

“Proportionally, the largest companies in Brazil, Russia, India and China (Bric) enjoy a stronger emotional connection with consumers than the largest companies in the industrialised world,” it added.

Out of the 289 companies from the US, Japan, the UK, France and Germany, 45% have reputations below the global average, while only 34% of the 142 companies from Bric nations have below-average reputations, with Chinese companies dragging down the...

source: http://www.financialexpress.com/news/Tatas-reputed-than-Google-MS-survey/457115/

Hearing on Anil Ambani's yacht case today

The Bombay High Court on Wednesday adjourned the hearing of petition challenging seizure of a yacht belonging to Ammolite Holdings, an associate company of Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group.

ADAG's lawyer, senior advocate Aspi Chenoy, sought time for filing reply to customs' affidavit. The yacht, reportedly a gift by ADAG head Anil Ambani to his wife, was purchased by Ammolite Holdings, an associate of ADAG, last October. It has been chartered by Reliance Transport and Travels Ltd, another ADAG company.

In February, customs seized it for alleged duty evasion.

ADAG claims that the Yacht, named `Tian', was not imported into India, but it is a ship with foreign flag which can sail in international as well as Indian waters, so there was no question of paying any import duty.

Division bench of Justices F I Rebello and J H Bhatia will hear the ADAG lawyer on May 8.

source:http://www.hindustantimes.com/

Ambani yacht ‘flounders’ on customs duty

A luxury yacht chartered by a subsidiary of the Reliance-Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (R-Adag) that was seized by Indian customs earlier this year will not be released until Rs28 crore customs duty is paid in full and a bank guarantee of an additional Rs15 crore is provided by the firm, a senior customs official said.

The luxury yacht named Tian, purportedly a gift for Tina Ambani from her husband, R-Adag promoter Anil Ambani, was seized in February by the central intelligence unit of the customs department in Mumbai following a probe that began in January. The customs official mentioned earlier, who declined to be identified because the matter has not yet been resolved, said the yacht had been seized “due to non-payment of duty. It was illegally brought to India and was used without paying duty.”

“Till now the department has received a draft of Rs25 crore from a representative of R-Adag,” the same official told Mint. “The investigation is still on and the department will release the yacht once the dues are recovered.” The department has also asked R-Adag to deposit a bank guarantee of Rs15 crore before it releases the yacht. The official said this was routine procedure pending a probe with the bank guarantee serving as collateral for any penalty that could be imposed.

The customs department has alleged that the yacht’s final destination according to its shipment papers was Colombo, Sri Lanka; it was to be unloaded at Mumbai from where it was to sail to Colombo.

According to the department’s investigation, the Tian was purchased in mid-2008 from an Italian yacht maker by Ammolite Holdings Ltd, a Channel Islands-based associate firm of Reliance Capital Ltd and brought to India on 31 October under a charter agreement with Reliance Transport and Travels Pvt. Ltd, an R-Adag company. The Channel Islands are located off the French coast of Normandy.
Reliance Transport and Travels later took permission from port authorities to park the yacht in Mumbai for a few days before it sailed to Colombo. The customs department has alleged that the yacht did not leave for Colombo for over three months and was instead being used in India without paying duty. Duty is usually paid at the destination—in this case, Colombo.

Another customs official familiar with the case and who also did not want to be identified alleged that Tina Ambani had taken the yacht to Goa during New Year celebrations. However, in its reply to the customs department, Reliance Transport and Travels has claimed that the yacht sailed to Goa to test a repaired generator in late December 2008 and returned on 2 January.

In response to Mint queries, an R-Adag spokesperson said: “We have already communicated our stance to the concerned authorities.”
The funds for the charter came from a Singapore-based firm, Gateway Net Trading Pte Ltd. Ammolite Holdings, according to the customs official mentioned in the first instance, is a small firm with “share capital of $100,000 (Rs50.4 lakh today),” while Gateway Net Trading is an associate firm of Reliance Communications Ltd, also an R-Adag company.

In a letter to the customs department dated 18 February 2009, Ammolite Holdings and Reliance Transport and Travels have denied evading customs duty. In the letter, which has been reviewed by Mint, Ammolite Holdings said: “The yacht was duly and validly brought into Indian waters in compliance with all laws and regulations with the permission of the customs department.”

Ammolite Holdings and Reliance Transport and Travels have also said the Rs25 crore paid was a voluntary deposit “to demonstrate bonafides and to avoid any unwarranted or unpleasant consequences”. The two firms have also requested the department to release the yacht and refund the money.

The yacht—a Custom Line 112 Next, 34m flying-bridge fibre glass vessel—has been valued at about Rs100 crore by customs authorities. A July 2008 report in this newspaper had estimated the price of the yacht at Rs200 crore.

source: http://www.livemint.com/2009/04/21234138/Ambani-yacht-8216flounders.html?h=B