MUMBAI: The board of directors of the National Stock Exchange of India Limited (NSE) has suspended four members with effect from the close of business hours on Tuesday, i e February 9, 1999. Sony Securities Limited, Amgis Holdings Private Limited, Valfin Financial Services Private Limited and Shalibhadra Securities Limited were suspended for their failure in meeting the obligation/liabilities to the exchange/clearing corporation and failure to abide by the directives of the exchange/clearing corporation for a prolonged period of time, the NSE release stated.

RBI rejects Enarai Finance application

MUMBAI: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has rejected the application for certificate of registration by city-based Enarai Finance Ltd. In a release here today, RBI said following the rejection of application, Enarai Finance cannot transact the business of a non-banking financial institution as defined by the RBI Act, 1934. RBI has also directed the finance company not tosell, transfer, create charge or mortgage or deal in any manner with its property and assets without RBI's prior written permission for a period of six months.

Enron board

MUMBAI: US-based Enron Corporation's 15-member board would visit Dabhol Power Company's (DPC) project at Guhagar in Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra tomorrow in the run-up to the commissioning of the phase-I 740 mw gas-based power plant by the end of March. The commissioning would be ahead of the contractual commitment date of July 10 set out in the power purchase agreement, DPC managing director Sanjay Bhatnagar told PTI.

The tariff for the first two years is expected to be Rs three per unit, which compares extremely well with the current cost the Maharashtra State Electricity Board (MSEB) buys power at. MSEB's purchasing cost from new units like the Tatas and NTPC Gandhar unit is around Rs 3.50 per unit.

The cost of power is expected to drop to Rs 2.6 per unit once natural gas is used as the fuel in the first quarter of2002, DPC sources said.

Ken Lay, CEO and chairman of Enron Corp, the chief promoter of DPC, along with chief operating officer Jeffrey Skilling, vice-chairman Rebecca Mark and Enron International's CEO Joseph Sutton will accompany the 15-member board, which will inspect the power plant as it prepares for commissioning.

Phase-I of the plant has been supplying electricity to Maharashtra grid system on trial basis since end-October 1998. The 1,444 mw phase-II of the project is in an advanced stage of development and financial closure is expected shortly with due diligence on documentation in the final stages.

FM assures bank unions
New Delhi: Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha today assured bank unions OF all help in working out an agreeable settlement with the bankers for higher wages. Sinha said he would instruct the Indian Bank Association (IBA) chairman, Panneer Selvam, for entering into a settlement as soon as possible. ``The response of the finance minister was quite encouraging,'' thejoint secretary of the National Confederation of Bank Union (NCBU), V K Gupta told PTI. He said Sinha told the members of the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) that he would intervene in the talks with the IBA whenever required.

Drug prices
New Delhi: The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) has fixed the prices of seven formulation packs with effect from February 5. The seven formulations include Mycropyrin tablets of Nicholas Piramal India , Spasmo Proxyvan capsules of Wockhardt NPPA revised upwards the prices of 16 other formulation packs. The annualised price increase ranges from one per cent to 23.25 %. In the case of five formulation packs the price revision has been downwards.

FII investments
Mumbai: Net investments in equity by foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were negative to the tune of $ 8.5 million, during the first week of February 1999. According to the SEBI, gross equity purchases by FIIs amounted to Rs 402.3 crore as against sales of Rs438.4 crore for the week ended February five. During the week, net investments in the debt market were also negative at Rs 14.8 crore or $ 3.5 million.