Congress wins Karnataka; faces SC ire in coal case

Bangalore: Corruption is once again back on the national agenda.

Wednesday was a bittersweet day for the Indian National Congress, thanks to developments in Karnataka, where it won a simple majority in the state assembly, and New Delhi, where the country’s apex court’s observations on the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance’s (UPA’s) intervention in an investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) once again raised the pitch of demands by opposition parties for the resignation of the law minister and the Prime Minister.

Interestingly, while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) couldn’t hide its glee over the Supreme Court’s observations, the magnitude of its defeat in Karnataka, where it got exactly the same number of seats in the assembly as the Janata Dal (Secular), or JD(S), of H.D. Deve Gowda, should worry a party that believes it has a chance of forming the next government at the Centre.

In the process, the two institutions, the judiciary and the electorate, have once again created a political context in the country that fundamentally challenges the political parties—similar to the circumstances that triggered the bout of civil unrest led by anti-graft activist Anna Hazare.

The common thread running through both developments is corruption. Karnataka’s incumbent BJP government turned in a dismal performance and won only 40 seats in the state assembly after it was buffeted by allegations of corruptions, especially related to illegal iron ore mining, and by a three-way split in the party. And the apex court’s observations in a case concerning the UPA’s efforts to influence CBI embarrassed the government, and made it all but impossible for it to pursue its legislative agenda.

Indeed, in the face of continuing demands by the opposition parties for the heads of law minister Ashwani Kumar, railway minister Pawan Kumar Bansal—the latter involved in a separate corruption scandal regarding senior railway appointments—and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, and perhaps in anticipation of the Supreme Court’s criticism of efforts to potentially influence an investigation into irregular allotment of coal mines, the government adjourned Parliament sine die (without giving a day when it would reconvene).

As it were, the court’s observations—it will take up the case when it reconvenes after the summer vacation on 10 July—threw a long shadow on the Congress’s expected victory in Karnataka.

The party tried to dismiss the observations as just that, and said it would wait till the July decision of the court. It also insisted that CBI was independently investigating l’affaire Bansal and that it would take a call on the rail minister’s future after that.

Still, the apex court does seem to have put the government on notice, seeking a commitment that a legislation would be moved to make CBI independent of government, failing which it has threatened that it will have to undertake judicial action to ensure independence.

BJP’s self goal

While the Congress did, as psephologists had predicted, win convincingly, analysts believe that it had more to do with the BJP scoring a self goal and the Congress emerging as the collateral beneficiary. The BJP’s campaign came off the rails even before the contest started. Not only did it have to fight the taint of corruption, its chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa was forced to resign and later split the party—dividing in the process the crucial caste vote of the Lingayat community.

The Congress returned to power in Karnataka after a gap of seven years by winning a simple majority in the 224-member state assembly with 121 seats and relegated the BJP, with a tally of 40 seats, to a joint second with the JD(S).

While the Congress, riding on a very populist electoral agenda that included free laptops and farm loan waivers increased its vote share to almost 37%, even as the BJP declined to 20%, the entire difference did not accrue to the Congress with the JD(S) improving its vote share to 20%.

Yeddyurappa’s newly floated Karnataka Janata Paksha won 6 seats and the BSR Congress, another splinter party floated by former BJP minister B. Sriramulu, won 4 seats.

In the 2008 election, the BJP had won 110 seats, while the Congress and the JD(S) had got 80 and 28 seats, respectively.

The anti-incumbency wave saw 12 of the BJP’s ministers, including deputy chief minister K.S. Eshwarappa, lose their seats.

For the Congress, the most surprising result was the loss of state party president G. Parameshwara, who was defeated by more than 18,000 votes, effectively putting an end to his chance to be chief minister. Opposition leader of the outgoing assembly K. Siddaramaiah, and Union ministers Mallikarjun Kharge and M. Veerappa Moily are now seen as possible contenders for the top post.

The SC censure

The Congress victory in Karnataka was overshadowed by the Supreme Court’s strongly worded censure of the UPA government’s interference in the CBI probe into the allotment of coal mines.

The Supreme Court, which was examining the nine-page affidavit submitted by CBI on 6 May that details three “significant changes” made by the law minister and officials in the coal ministry and Prime Minister’s Office to a draft of its report into the allotment, said “the heart of the report was changed on the suggestion of government officials”.

CBI had argued that the changes did not change the central theme of the status report.

Observing that CBI was like a “caged parrot”, the court said it should stand up to all “pulls and pressures” and not share its probe with anyone, including the law minister. After a three-hour hearing, the bench headed by justice R.M. Lodha asked the government to make an effort to come out with a law before 10 July to insulate CBI from external influence and intrusion.

The court also directed the federal agency not to share any report pertaining to the investigation in the coal blocks allocation scam with any officials or ministers other than those in its 33-member investigation team and the CBI director.

Coming under fire, CBI has assured the apex court there will be a “thorough and qualitative” investigation. “It will follow directions of Supreme Court in letter and spirit,” the federal investigative agency said in a statement.

AMIT KUMAR SINGH

PGDM - 2ND SEM

Split BJP hands over Karnataka to Congress

Bangalore: As we had predicted in our analysis of exit polls on Monday, the Congress has come back to power in Karnataka with an absolute majority, winning 121 out of 223 seats that went to the polls on Sunday.

Surprisingly, the incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is not even the sole second largest party, sharing the honours with former prime minister H.D. Deve Gowda’s Janata Dal (Secular), or JD(S). Former chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa’s Karnataka Janata Paksha (KJP) is a distant fourth with six seats.

The big story of the election is the three-way split in the BJP (B. Sriramulu’s BSR Congress, or BSRC, being the other breakaway faction), which hit it really hard. Our calculations show that had the BJP, the KJP and the BSRC fought the polls as one party, the combine would have secured 87 seats while the Congress would have got only 91 seats—leading to a hung assembly.

The three-way split of the BJP helped secure for the Congress nearly 30 additional seats.

In our analysis on Monday, we had remarked that most exit polls had agreed that the Congress would get 37% of the popular vote, and the JD(S) would get 20%. Incredibly, both these figures are bang on target.

What the exit pollsters (or any opinion polls) failed to account for was that the popular vote share of the BJP would fall to 20% (most polls gave the party 23-27% of the popular vote), thus leading to overestimation of the BJP’s performance in these elections. The KJP secured 9% of the popular vote.

The other significant story in this election is the decimation of the BJP in coastal Karnataka—its traditional stronghold—where the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, its ideological parent, has historically had a significant presence. Of the 19 seats in coastal Karnataka, the BJP won only three, with the Congress winning 13 and the remaining falling to independents.

It is speculated that increasingly assertive Hindutva by entities associated with the Sangh Parivar might be responsible for the BJP’s reversals in these districts. Candidate selection by the BJP has also been questioned.

The rise of independents and smaller parties is also significant. In 2008, smaller parties had been completely wiped out while only six seats had fallen to independents. This time around, the Samajwadi Party has got one seat (won by former minister and actor C.P. Yogeshwar), while the Bahujan Samaj Party ran the Congress candidate close in another. Ashok Kheny, promoter of Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise, which is constructing the controversial Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor, has been elected from the Karnataka Makkala Paksha, while farmers’ leader K.S. Puttannaiah has been elected from the Sarvodaya Karnataka Paksha. Apart from this, nine independents have made it to the House.

So what does this mean for next year’s general election? Karnataka has had a history of voting differently in state and national elections.

For example, in simultaneous assembly and general elections in 1999, the Congress had swept the assembly elections while the BJP and its ally Janata Dal (United) got 22 out of the 28 parliamentary seats. In 2004, again in simultaneous elections, Karnataka voted in favour of the BJP in parliamentary elections, while throwing up a hung assembly.

So, hazarding a guess on parliamentary elections based on assembly election data is risky.

Nevertheless, if we sum up votes by party across parliamentary constituencies, the current performance indicates that the Congress will win as many as 23 out of 28 seats in next year’s parliamentary election. The JD(S) will get four seats with the remaining seat going to the BJP.

This also suggests the fragmented mandate in favour of the BJP. Unlike the previous elections where it virtually swept central Karnataka and Bombay Karnataka regions, this year they have been reduced to two small pockets—in Bangalore city and Belagavi district, and the odd seat elsewhere.

The iron ore-rich Bellary region, which the BJP had swept last time, has rejected the party completely, with mining baron Anand Singh being the sole carrier of the saffron flag in the region. Gali Karunakar Reddy, one of the famous Reddy brothers (his brother Gali Janardhan Reddy is in prison in Hyderabad on charges of illegal mining) lost his seat to the Congress. Janardhan Reddy did not contest the election.

The loss of the Reddy brothers, however, doesn’t put an end to the presence of mining barons in the Karnataka assembly. Singh is joined by his fellow mining industrialists the Lad cousins of the Congress (Santosh from Kalghatgi in Dharwad district, and Anil from Bellary city), both of whom have made it to the assembly.

It would also be pertinent to mention that among the top 10 candidates in these elections based on net worth (based on a list put out by the Association of Democratic Reforms), seven have made it to the assembly. This includes Priya Krishna, the Congress legislator from Govindarajanagar in Bangalore, who has declared assets of Rs.910 crore. Losers among this rich list include Anitha Kumaraswamy (wife of former chief minister H.D. Kumaraswamy).

 

AMIT KUMAR SINGH

PGDM - 2ND SEM

Home /SECTORS /Telecom /Story

Reliance Communications raises mobile call rates by up to 30 per cent

BT Online Bureau    Mumbai   Last Updated: May 6, 2013  | 14:54 IST

Tags: Reliance Communications | RCom | call tariff | mobile call | CDMA | GSM

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• Call tariffs, data services to help Airtel make profit

Reliance Communications has hiked mobile call rates for both its GSM and CDMA pre-paid customers by up to 30 per cent.

The new tariffs will apply to all customers with immediate effect, with the move aimed at bringing in greater revenue per minute (RPMs) and profitability.

"We have now corrected all Commitment Plans across the country and have increased tariffs by between 20 per cent and 30 per cent," RCom's Chief Executive Officer for Wireless Business, Gurdeep Singh said in a statement.

According to the company, a large part of its customer base uses Commitment Plans. RCom has hiked rates under Commitment Plans 21 and 45 from 1 paise per second to 1.2 paisa per second.

Under Commitment Plan 46, RCom will now offers 140 Local On-Net Mins, as against 200 mins earlier - a reduction of 30 per cent.

It has also reduced benefit under special tariff vouchers, which enable mobile phone user to get services at discounted rates by up to 65 per cent. Commitment Plan 48 now offers 160 Local On-Net Minutes (RCom to RCom), against 500 minutes earlier - a reduction of 65 per cent

"With the Indian telecom industry now heading for a phase of consolidation, with smaller operators shutting down or scaling down their operations and easing off hyper-competitive pressures, this will help pricing power move back to serious, long-term and pan-India scale operators and positively impact profitability," Singh said.

Reliance Communications' shares were trading marginally higher at Rs 110.30 in afternoon trade on the Bombay Stock Exchange.
AARTI
PGDM 2 ND SEM

Nissan cuts prices on 7 U.S. models

Nissan is cutting prices on seven of its 18 models in the U.S., hoping its cars and trucks will show up in more Internet searches by shoppers.

The price cuts vary with the amount of equipment on each model. They run from 2.7 percent, or $580, on the top-selling Altima midsize car to 10.7 percent, or $4,400, on the Armada big SUV. Executives are under pressure to sell more cars, with Nissan's CEO targeting a 10 percent U.S. market share within three years.

Nissan is also cutting prices on the Sentra compact car, Juke small crossover SUV, Murano midsize crossover, Rogue small crossover and the Maxima full-size car.

Jose Munoz, Nissan senior vice president of sales and marketing for the Americas, said the seven vehicles account for 65 percent of Nissan's U.S. sales. The sticker prices, he said, were higher than similar models from competitors, and that kept Nissan vehicles out of some Internet searches.

"In some of the customer searches we may not appear," Munoz said. "We want to be considered by as many customers as possible."

Nissan-Renault CEO Carlos Ghosn has set a goal of taking 10 percent of U.S. sales by 2016 or sooner. In the first quarter, Nissan's sales fell 1.3 percent. Its share of the U.S. market was 8.6 percent, according to Autodata Corp.

The company plans to reduce rebates and other discounts. Nissan is facing intense competition from U.S.-based automakers and its prime Japanese competitors, Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co.

Sales rebounded in April, rising 23 percent, Nissan said Wednesday.

The price cuts are effective Friday for cars and trucks that aren't yet on dealer lots. However Nissan will also make allowances to trim the prices of cars currently in dealer inventories. The cuts will remain in effect indefinitely.

Industry analysts say Nissan can afford the cuts because of efforts in Japan to weaken the yen against the dollar. That makes cars and parts made in Japan cheaper than goods made in the U.S. Nissan's Munoz denied the weak yen influenced Nissan's decision, saying that four of the seven affected models are built in North America.

Nissan builds about 75 percent of its cars sold in the U.S. in North America. That should rise to 89 percent by the end of next year when the company shifts production of the Rogue and Murano.

General Motors officials said they had no plans to match Nissan's move. GM sales for April rose 11 percent.

"We think based on our results we've got a pretty good formula," said Kurt McNeil, GM's U.S. sales chief. "And we're not going to respond at this point to what could be ... desperation. "

General Motors did have to resort to price-cutting earlier this year. It trimmed $300 to $770 off the sticker price of its slow-selling midsize Chevrolet Malibu.

  

By-Kshitij

PGDM 2nd

Vodafone beats Airtel to lead rural markets in IndiaKOLKATA

 Vodafone has for the first time overtaken Bharti Airtel to become the leading mobile phone company in rural India, according to the latest rural subscriber numbers collated by Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), the industry body representing GSM operators.

The Indian arm of Vodafone, which recently tweaked its distribution model to boost sales in the villages, now has the biggest rural customer base at 82.24 million, a shade above Bharti Airtel, whose total rural customer base is for the first time a tad lower at 82.16 million.

Bharti Airtel, however, remains India's leading mobile phone company by revenue and customers. According to the latest COAI data, its total customer base as on March 31, 2013, stood at 188.20 million, translating in a 28.47% market share. Vodafone India's total customer base as on March 31, 2013 stood at 152.35 million, resulting in a 23.05% market share. Bharti Airtel and Vodafone's pan-India subscriber base grew by 0.84% and 1.65% respectively in March.

GSM operators collectively added 5.35 million customers in March and the pan-India GSM customer base on April 1 stood at 660.94 million.

Vodafone India added 4.9 million rural customers during February and March 2013, stealing a march over its closest rivals Bharti Airtel (2.57 million) and Idea Cellular (2.75 million), according to the latest COAI rural customer growth numbers reviewed by ET. More than 50% of the company's 152 million customers live in rural areas. Bharti Airtel declined to comment on slipping to second place behind Vodafone in the pan-India rural customer base parameter. "We are in our silent period and would therefore not be able to comment," said a company spokesman.

Vodafone India has maximised rural customer acquisitions in Tamil Nadu, UP-East, UP-West, Bihar, Haryana and Rajasthan in March through a mix of customised product launches and is exploring ways to boost mobile internet adoption levels in villages. In a recent internal presentation to the company's leadership, its chief operating officer Sunil Sood said, "Vodafone is making a huge thrust into rural India, which holds a lot of potential since the urban subscriber base for voice has plateaued out." But Sood cautioned that a telco needs to target rural customers "with more practicality" since it is tough to sell something outside their interest area.

"Since rural budgets are limited, they have different ways of consumption and, more importantly, seek trust when it comes to day-to-day things such as top-ups, fixing faulty sim cards and recharges," said Sood. This was one of the key reasons why the British telco chose to distribute mobile products in Indian villages through people representing local panchayats with good contacts within a village. Alternately, it has also been relying on the persuasive skills of women to boost sales, by deploying droves of female retailers, or "fetailers" to shore up business volumes in rural markets in Haryana.

During the first three months of calender 2013, GSM operators collectively added over 10 million rural customers. The total GSM customer base in rural India as on April 1 stood at 262.53 million, translating in 4.4 million additions in March alone. 

AARTI

PGDM 2nd SEM

IOC to cut petrol prices from Wednesday.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Indian Oil Corp (IOC) , the country's biggest refiner, will cut petrol prices by 4.5 percent from Wednesday as global prices of the fuel have declined and as the rupee appreciated against the dollar, it said in a statement on Tuesday.

The three state-run fuel retailers -- IOC, Bharat Petroleum Corp and Hindustan Petroleum Corp -- tend to move their prices together.

India deregulated petrol prices in June 2010.

In January, India allowed fuel retailers to raise the price of subsidised diesel by 1 cent a litre every month and asked bulk buyers to pay market rates.

However, the retailers have held back from raising diesel prices, considered a politically sensitive issue, despite suffering a revenue loss of 3.80 rupees a litre on the fuel, ahead of the polls in Karnataka in May.

By-Kshitij

PGDM- 2nd sem.

Google salutes the spirit of workers with Labour Day doodle

Google's Labour Day doodle paints a rather colourful tribute to the spirit of workers.
Labour Day is an annual holiday that celebrates the economic and social achievements of the workers. It is not celebrated on May 1 in every country as they have their own days to honour the workers, like on the first Monday of September in the United States and Canada.
Labour Day traces its roots back to the labour union movement, specifically the eight-hour day movement, which advocated eight hours for work, eight hours for recreation, and eight hours for rest.
The first May Day celebration in India was organised by the Labour Kisan Party of Hindustan on 1st of May 1923 in Madras (now Chennai). May Day is a nationwide holiday in banks and various other sector. The holiday is tied to labour movements for communist and socialist political parties. In Maharashtra and Gujarat, the day has extra significance since on this day in 1960 each attained statehood, and it is celebrated as Maharashtra Day and Gujarat Day respectively.
The Google doodle shows different kinds of workers going about their business. The first is the female knowledge worker who can be seen typing away right next to the G in the Google logo. Next up is a guy sitting atop the first O watering a plan atop the G, while another guy paints this O below. Finally, a female worker is seen holding tools right next to the E.
Interestingly, Google chose not to feature a labour day doodle in India last year, with a labour day doodle being present in Russian, China (Hong Kong), Bahrain and Philippines, amongst other countries. Last year's doodle depicted a female worker lifting the metallic Google logo with her toolbox lying in the background.
AARTI
PGDM 2nd SEM