Kolkata: West Bengal’s finance minister Asim Dasgupta announced his government would set up a retail chain with a capital outlay of Rs400 crore to take on private players in large format retail. In his budget statement for 2008-09, Dasgupta said West Bengal would contribute Rs100 crore to the equity capital of a corporation that would “procure and supply commodities at a fair price.”
The proposed corporation would borrow up to Rs300 crore and set up retail outlets across the state. “It is our answer to large format retail,” Dasgupta said addressing a press conference. “The aim is to eliminate middlemen, and make food grains available to the common man at fair price.”
The proposed corporation would source stuff through self-help groups. There are 734,000 self-help groups in West Bengal with a total membership of about seven million people. To empower them, Dasgupta also announced a Rs30 crore increase in plan outlay for the department that oversees self employment and self help groups. In 2008-09, it would receive Rs60 crore.
The proposed corporation will sell through its own retail outlets and to the public distribution system. But it will not sell to private players such as Reliance Fresh and Spencer’s, which are looking to source stuff from farmers directly.
Aniek Paul
Reliance Capital to offer quant fund in April
Mumbai:Reliance Capital Asset Management Ltd will convert its index fund into a quant fund with effect from 18 April, the firm said in a notice on Monday. Reliance Index Fund will give way to Reliance Quant Plus Fund that will invest at least 90% of the assets in an actively managed portfolio of 11 to 15 stocks from S&P CNX Nifty index on the basis of a mathematical model.
The model will shortlist stocks on the basis of stock price movement and financial/valuation aspects, the fund house said. Those not willing to accept changes can redeem units without paying any exit load from 18 March to 17 April, it added.
Reuters
Kandha tribe sacrifices animals to stop mining
Bhubaneswar: An ancient Indian tribe opposed to an alumina refinery by Britain’s Vedanta Resources has sacrificed dozens of chickens and goats in the hope their gods will prevent the firm’s mining plans.
Vedanta wants to dig open-cast mines in the Niyamgiri hills in Orissa state to feed an alumina refinery it has already built in the area. It is spending $800 million (Rs3,264 crore) on the project. But the local Kandha tribe says the mine will destroy hills they consider sacred, force them from their homes and destroy their forest-dependent livelihoods. After protests, the Supreme Court barred Vedanta in November from mining bauxite in the Niyamgiri hills.
Reuters
Signet Solar to invest Rs2,000 cr in panels
Bangalore: A US maker of solar cells, Signet Solar Inc., said it will invest Rs2,000 crore in a factory near Chennai to produce solar panels that could generate 300MW of electricity, the first of three it has planned in India over the next decade.