Telecom major Telenor writes off Rs 3,500 crore India assets

May 1, 2012

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New Delhi, May 1: Norwegian telecom major Telenor on Monday wrote off its remaining fixed and intangible assets in India worth Norwegian Krone 3.9 billion (over $680 million or Rs 3,500 crore) saying "the uncertainty has increased significantly" following the Supreme Court's ruling in February to cancel Unitech Wireless's 22 licences and the recent Trai recommendations on the re-auction of 2G licences and spectrum.

The statement from the company came a day after the company's Asia head Siggve Brekke told TOI that Telenor was considering exiting India if the regulator's recommendations were accepted by the government in their current form.

It joins Sistema and Etisalat in taking a hit on their balance sheets due to their exposure to India. All these companies have been affected by the Supreme Court order. Etisalat had written off around $820 million of its investment, while Sistema, which like Telenor is still to announce a pullout, took a $700 million hit. So, the three companies between them have written off close to Rs 15,600 crore due to their India exposure. Telenor and Sistema have also threatened to initiate international arbitration and seek damages from the government.

The Norwegian firm holds 67% stake in Unitech Wireless which was controversially awarded licences and spectrum by former telecom minister A Raja, who is facing charges of criminal conspiracy and corruption. In February, the company had announced a write down of around $730 million, taking the total to over $1.4 billion (around Rs 7,200 crore at the current exchange rate).

"Telenor is working actively towards Indian authorities to bring forward an acceptable framework for continued operations. As a precautionary measure, Telenor ASA has decided to write down the remaining fixed and intangible assets in India amounting to NOK 3.9 billion. The write down will be included in Telenor's results for the first quarter 2012, to be presented on 8 May 2012. After the write down, Telenor has no further accounting exposure related to India as of 31 March 2012," the company said in a statement on Monday.

In a separate development a few hours later, the Telecom Commission decided to seek certain clarifications from Trai. "We wanted to understand the basis on which this reserve price has been arrived at... what is the likely impact on tariff," telecom secretary R Chandrashekhar said. A ministerial panel is also due to meet on Tuesday to discuss spectrum auction although a final view is expected around mid-May.

On Sunday, Brekke had cited various problems with Trai recommendations, including the rural rollout obligations. "In totality, if this is becoming policy, then the government is forcing us to leave. It's quite clear that it will not work for us... We are willing to write off the Rs 14,000 crore that we have invested," he had said.

Brekke's outburst coincided with petitioning done by the telecom companies to get the government to dilute the proposals. But given the controversy around allocation of scarce natural resources, such as spectrum and coal, below the market price, it is unlikely that the government will risk reducing the floor recommended by Trai.

The telecom regulator has suggested that the government start the auction with a base price of Rs 3,600 crore per megahertz, which translates into over Rs 18,000 crore for 5 Mhz, nearly 10 times higher than what Raja had charged for licence and spectrum.

Brekke was also critical of the move to auction only 5 Mhz spectrum and termed it as a "trial balloon" to set the price level for future rounds.

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Agencies
February 7,2020

Jammu & Kashmir, Feb 7: Former Jammu and Kashmir chief ministers Mehbooba Mufti and Omar Abdullah, besides two political stalwarts from NC and its arch-rival PDP were booked under the stringent Public Safety Act (PSA) by the administration on Thursday, officials said.

A magistrate accompanied by police served the order to Mufti at the bungalow where she has been detained, the officials said.

Abdullah was also booked under the PSA, they said.

National Conference general secretary and former minister Ali Mohammed Sagar, who wields a support base in downtown city, was served with a PSA notice public order by the authorities.

Similarly, senior PDP leader Sartaj Madani was booked under the PSA. Madani is the maternal uncle of former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti.

Both Sagar and Madani were detained in the aftermath of August 5 crackdown by the Centre on politicians following abrogation of special status of the erstwhile state, besides its bifurcation into two union territories.

Their six-month preventive custody was ending on Thursday.

Earlier, the officials had said that former NC legislator Bashir Ahmed Veeri was also booked under the PSA but later it turned out that he had been released.

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News Network
March 10,2020

New Delhi, Mar 10: Minutes after Jyotiraditya Scindia submitted his resignation to the party membership to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, the Congress expelled him for anti-party activities after reports emerged that he had met PM Modi and Amit Shah.

Disgruntled Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday amid indications that he might join hands with the BJP to topple the Madhya Pradesh government.

Sources said Scindia first met Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and then the two leaders met Modi at the prime minister's residence.

Legislators loyal to Scindia, who has been upset with the Congress leadership with his marginalisation in the affairs of the Madhya Pradesh Congress, are likely to quit the party to reduce the Kamal Nath-led government to a minority.

It is likely to be followed by the Bharatiya Janata Party staking claim to form the government in the state.

The Congress President has approved the expulsion of Jyotiraditya Scindia from the Indian National Congress with immediate effect for "anti-party activities," said KC Venugopal, General Secretary Congress.

No person is, nor will be greater than the party: Congress youth wing chief

Indian Youth Congress (IYC) chief Srinivas B V on Tuesday slammed Jyotiraditya Scindia, who has announced his resignation from the primary membership of the Congress, and thanked party chief Sonia Gandhi for expelling the former Guna MP "who was promoting anti-party activities and factionalism".

"The history of 1857 and 1967 was once again repeated," Srinivas B V said, referring to the 1857 Revolt against East India Company and the role of the Scindia royals back then as well as Vijayaraje Scindia's switch from the Congress to the Jana Sangh in 1967.

"I would like to thank Congress president Sonia Gandhiji for taking the strong steps to expel the leader who was promoting anti-party activities and factionalism," the IYC chief said.

"No person is, nor will be greater than the party," he added.

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News Network
May 6,2020

New Delhi, May 6: The death toll due to COVID-19 rose to 1,694 and the number of cases climbed to 49,391 in the country on Wednesday, registering an increase of 126 deaths and 2,958 cases in the last 24 hours, the Union Health Ministry said.

The number of active COVID-19 cases is 33,514. A total of 13,160 people have recovered and one patient has migrated, it said.

"Thus, around 28.71 per cent patients have recovered so far," a senior health ministry official said.

The total number of cases include 111 foreign nationals.

A total of 111 deaths were reported since Tuesday evening, of which 49 fatalities were reported from Gujarat, 34 from Maharashtra, 12 from Rajasthan, seven from West Bengal, three from Uttar Pradesh, two each from Punjab and Tamil Nadu and one each from Karnataka and Himachal Pradesh, the ministry said.

Of the 1,694 fatalities, Maharashtra tops the tally with 617 fatalities. Gujarat comes second with 368 deaths, followed by Madhya Pradesh at 176, West Bengal at 140, Rajasthan at 89, Delhi at 64, Uttar Pradesh at 56 and Andhra Pradesh at 36.

The death toll reached 33 in Tamil Nadu, 29 in Telengana, while Karnataka has reported 29 fatalities.

Punjab has registered 25 COVID-19 deaths, Jammu and Kashmir eight, Haryana six and Kerala and Bihar four deaths each.

Jharkhand has recorded three COVID-19 fatalities.

Meghalaya, Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh, Odisha, Assam and Uttarakhand have reported one fatality each, according to the ministry data.

According to the health ministry data updated in the morning, the highest number of confirmed cases in the country are from Maharashtra at 15, 525, followed by Gujarat at 6,245, Delhi at 5,104, Tamil Nadu at 4,058, Rajasthan at 3,158, Madhya Pradesh at 3,049 and Uttar Pradesh at 2,880.

The number of COVID-19 cases has gone up to 1,717 in Andhra Pradesh and 1,451 in Punjab.

It has risen to 1,344 in West Bengal, 1,096 in Telengana, 741 in Jammu and Kashmir, 671 in Karnataka, 548 in Haryana and 536 in Bihar.

Kerala has reported 502 coronavirus cases so far, while Odisha has 175 cases. A total of 125 people have been infected with the virus in Jharkhand and 111 in Chandigarh.

Uttarakhand has reported 61 cases, Chhattisgarh 59 cases, Assam 43, Himachal Pradesh 42 and Ladakh 41.

Thirty-three COVID-19 cases have been reported from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Tripura has registered 43 cases, Meghalaya has reported 12 and Puducherry nine, while Goa has seven COVID-19 cases.

Manipur has two cases. Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh and Dadar and Nagar Haveli have reported a case each.

"Our figures are being reconciled with the ICMR," the ministry said on its website.

State-wise distribution is subject to further verification and reconciliation, it said.

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