CNG prices may rise by up to 50%

Mumbai: Prices of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) could go up by anything between Rs 15 and Rs 20 in Mumbai from Sunday.      The hike, which could be as high as 50%, taking rates from the current Rs 38.95 per kg to a maximum of Rs 59 per kg, could directly affect fares of taxis, autos, buses and fleet cabs.      The price of piped natural gas (PNG) is also likely to go up by 40% to 60%, from the existing Rs 24 per standard cubic meter (scm) to anywhere between Rs 34 and Rs 39 per scm early next month, a move that may force many households to go back to subsidised cooking gas cylinders.      Vipin Chandra Chittoda, MD of Mahanagar Gas Ltd, which supplies CNG across the city, confirmed "the price of CNG will go up by Rs 15-20 akg and PNG by Rs 15 per kg".      An MGL official said the rates would be increased because the Supreme Court had recently upheld a Gujarat high court order saying prices should be uniform across the country.      CNG prices are not uniform across India due to short supply of gas. While some firms get subsidised APM (administered price mechanism) gas, others have to rely on expensive imported LNG. CNG price hike will be fourth in 13 months  Mumbai: Mahanagar Gas Ltd managing director V C Chittoda told TOI: "Our APM gassupply at$4.2 per mmBtuislikely tobe cut by 30%, and we have imported that gas paying $19 per mmBtu or four times the price. We operate on very thin margins, so we can't absorb the price hike and will have to pass it [the cost] on to the consumers."      Union petroleum secretary Vivek Rae said, "MGL will be the worst hit because they werecompletely dependentupon subsidised APM gas. We can't help it because of the Gujarat HC order and have asked GAIL India, the national gas carrier, to divert APM gas to utilities in Gujarat [in keeping withtheorder]."      This will be the fourth hike in 13 months.CNG priceswerehikedby 85 paise in Mumbai in November 2012, followed by aRs2hikein July this year and a thirdhike of Rs3on September 1.      Post-hike,CNG priceswillbe almoston a par with diesel prices, and PNG prices will be on a par with subsidized cooking gascylinder rates.      Citizens are worried about the impact the hike will have on public transport, with unions likely to demand a fareincrease.  The auto andtaxifarehike matter is already in the high court, and despite three CNG hikes in the past one year, the state  transport department has not hiked fares of taxis, autos and fleet cabs. In fact, transportofficialshavebeen saying they willonly "abide by court directives and not take any decision on farehikeson their own." State-run buseswill notbe affecteddue  totheCNGhike asthey ply on diesel. THE PAST THREE HIKES SEPT 1 2013  The price was hiked by 3, taking the CNG rate per kg  in Mumbai up from 35.95 to 38.95. The reason given for the hike: to recover part of increase in input costs, especially towards sudden and rapid depreciation of rupee against the US$. While the transport department did not hike fares of autos and taxis, BEST has got an approval for hiking fares by 1-5 for various stages from April 2014. JUL 2013  CNG prices went up in  Mumbai region by 2. The reason cited was increase in input costs. PNG prices went up by 2.19 per scm.NOV 2012  CNG rates went up by 85  paise, but it had an impact on public transport. Bus fares were hiked by one rupee from April 2013. Fares of autos and taxis remained unchanged.

Rupee touches Everest! It’s a canine first

Kathmandu: Slumdog mountaineer! A homeless eightmonth-old Indian dog named 'Rupee' has scripted history by becoming the first canine to reach Mount Everest Base Camp. Rupee, the first dog ever officially recorded at the Everest Base Camp at 5,364 metres, undertook the gruelling challenge against all odds after being rescued by Joanne Lefson from a dump site in Leh.      The puppy was dying of dehydration and starvation when he was adopted by Lefson from South Africa last September, media reports said. Lefson previously hit the headlines after travelling the world with Oscar, the famous globe-trotting dog. The pair visited hundreds of famous landmarks raising awareness for needy dogs until Oscar sadly passed away in January this year following a car accident.      Lefson found Rupee and adopted the canine, thus began their travels and now Rupee has become the first dog to reach the Everest Base Camp.      "This dog came running for me and collapsed at my feet, a puppy on his last legs," Lefson was quoted as saying by South Africa's Independent Online news portal.      "The puppy couldn't have been in a lower place. The little fellow had heart, I could tell that, but he was so weak having no food or water for days, if not weeks," Lefson said.      After eight-and-a-half days, facing snow delays, rainstorms, mudslides and a yak attack en route, Rupee and Lefson reached the Base Camp, before a galloping three-and-ahalf-days back down. The team summited Base Camp on October 26 and a pair of embroidered prayer flags were tied, "with the wish that the gods above will bestow a home on all the homeless dogs below". "The trek to the top of the world was done in Oscar's honour," an emotional Lefson said. PTI HOT DOG: Rupee, an Indian stray dog, at the Everest base camp

MEN & MORALS Our bullion-dollar troubles can end if India goes for gold

It was a subdued Diwali this year. Gold trading on Dhanteras was down by 50%. Traders blamed it on mostly on the lack of gold supply which was 83% lower than last year. But policy makers cheered. Their draconian policy of restricting gold imports was working. India's trade deficit had declined and the rupee had calmed. But it is a temporary victory. Gold smuggling is on the rise and will eventually triumph, undermining a great victory of the 1991 reforms, which was to kill the havala market. There is breathing room, however, as gold forecasters expect world prices to fall. Western and Chinese investors are losing interest in gold as their economies pick up, which should also dampen Indian investor interest. 

    India absorbs about a quarter of the world's gold, and the finance minister is quite right in wanting to limit its import. A recurring theme of world history is the constant loss of Western gold and silver to India. Two thousand years ago Roman senators grumbled that their women used too many Indian spices, silks and fine cottons, and India was draining the Roman empire of bullion. Pliny the Elder called India the 'sink of the world's precious metal' when he heard that a Roman ship touched an Indian port daily. 
    The Portuguese similarly complained in the 16th century that their hard won gold and silver from South America was being lost to India. The British Parliament echoed this refrain in the 17th century. But India kept sucking Western bullion because Western consumers hankered after Indian luxuries and Indians were not interested in Western goods. As books had to be balanced, they were balanced with bullion. Only Britain's Industrial Revolution reversed the flow in the 19th century when Indians finally found something they wanted from the West—cheap, durable cottons from the mills of Lancashire — as handlooms worldwide gave way to machine-made cloth. 
    Soon after Independence, India's leaders forgot their grand trading heritage and closed our economy in the mistaken belief that trade had impoverished India. Touting the false mantra of 'self-reliance', they adopted an import-substituting path, and India lost out in the great trading boom after World War II. India's share of world trade declined from 2.2% in 1947 to 0.5% in 1990. It was only after 1991 that India regained its historic pre-eminence in the world economy. 
    Given the one-way flow of gold over the centuries, a staggering amount has accumulated in India. The World Gold Council estimates it to be over 20,000 tonnes, worth $1.1 trillion or half of India's GDP. For years economists have wanted to use this unproductive asset for pro ductive investment. And happily, the process has begun. Gold loans, bonds, and deposit schemes are all steps in the right direction. In these schemes owners of gold earn interest by depositing it with banks, which in turn releas es part of it in the market, thus reducing India's demand for imported gold. 
    The bigger prize is to convince temples to do the right thing and deposit their vast gold stocks in banks and earn interest. Jamal Mecklai, the currency expert, had suggested earlier this year that if Tirupati temple were to deposit a third of its holdings at two per cent interest, it could earn Rs 3,000 crore a year. Tirupati did just that in May, beginning with a 2,250-kg deposit with the State Bank of India. This is a triumph! If major temples follow suit, gold will soon flood the domestic market, imports will stop, the global gold price will fall and the rupee will strengthen. 
    But this government is shy to go for an all out public campaign. It worries about people's sentiments and of the opposition playing the religious card. Gold is, after all stridhana, 'woman's wealth'. Although a daughter now legally inherits her share of family property, families still insist on giving her inheritance at marriage as gold jewellery. But young Indians today are sensible and they will buy the idea that an inflation-proof gold linked certificate exchangeable for gold is the hip thing to receive at marriage rather than a bunch of clunky sets. So go for it, Reserve Bank. The road to India's economic future may well be paved with gold.

GLIMMER OF HOPE: Temple gold deposited in banks can bail us out of the economic crisis