BackThe Mint Report for 11 May 2010
The Mint Report for 11 May 2010
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Changes could be on their way for India’s 2G spectrum. On Tuesday, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India or Trai, recommended an end to more 2G spectrum auctions. Trai said the amount of spectrum left for such an auction would be too small and the bidders too few.
In another potentially game-changing move, Trai suggested that telecom licenses be de-linked from spectrum. The potential rule would mean new telecom operators will have to apply separately if they want the start-up GSM spectrum of 6.2 Mhz. Meanwhile, existing operators that have more than 6.2 Mhz will need to pay a one-time fee for the remaining period of their licenses. The telecom ministry will need to approve Trai’s recommendations for them to come into effect.
India is shooting CO2 into the air like never before. Government figures released Tuesday show the country’s greenhouse gas emissions shot up 58% between 1994 and 2007. India’s figure for 2007 was 1.9 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent. That brings the country close to the Russian figure of 2.2 billion tonnes for the same year.
So who’s the worst culprit? It’s all those new coal-fired power plants India has built over the last several years. They emitted 719 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent in 2007. Transport came a distant second at 142 milllion tonnes. Another villain is housing, which boomed for years, contributing 138 million tonnes.
But while India’s overall emissions have grown, the country as a whole has become more energy efficient. India’s energy intensity during the same period fell 30%. Energy intensity is the amount of energy consumed for every unit of GDP.
Ranbaxy’s numbers are up, and they’ve beaten all forecasts. India’s biggest drug company posted a profit of Rs963 crore in the quarter ending March. That’s compared to a loss of Rs761 crore in the same quarter in 2009. Total income shot up nearly 100% to more than Rs3,000 crore. This is Ranbaxy’s fourth straight quarter of profits.
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