Money-wise

New Delhi, May 18: The Union cabinet today approved the amendment to a banking bill that seeks to give greater autonomy to banks to recast their board of directors ?in tune with the changed scenario and modern business practices?.

?This is done with a view to enhance flexibility of the board of directors and improve corporate governance,? said Priya Ranjan Das Munshi, union minister of information and broadcasting, at a late night briefing.

The Banking Companies (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) and Financial Institutions Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2005 was introduced in the Lok Sabha in August 2005. It was then referred to the standing committee on finance for examination.

The committee has recommended some modifications to the bill, which will be introduced in Parliament before the end of this session.

This bill contains all the provisions of a similar legislation introduced by the earlier NDA government, except the proposal to reduce the government's stake in public sector banks to 33 per cent from the existing level of 51 per cent.

The bill also seeks to omit the provisions relating to mandatory nomination of directors by the RBI and financial institutions on the board of the public sector banks but confers power on the central bank to appoint one or more additional directors.

Highway upgrade

The cabinet approved the inclusion of 1,113 km of national highway for upgradation under the National Highways Development Project phase- III, over and above the length of 10,000 km. With this inclusion, the length of national highway upgraded under NHDP Phase-III will be 11,113 km.

Gas pipeline

The government decided to join the US-backed Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan (TAP) gas pipeline project to meet its energy demands. In February, India had participated for the first time as an ?observer? at the ninth meeting of the steering committee of the TAP project and has since decided to join the $3.5-billion project.

The pipeline from Turkmenistan would be easier to implement than the competing Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline as it already has the backing of the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

CCEA clearances

The cabinet committee on economic affairs (CCEA) today also approved a grant of Rs 140.31 crore to 15 loss-making public sector undertakings under the heavy industry ministry to clear the salaries and dues of their employees.

?The salaries and other statutory dues of employees of 15 companies till December 2005 would be paid by this grant,? said Das Munshi.

The 15 PSUs whose employees would benefit from the grant include Andrew Yule, Bharat Heavy Plates and Vessels, Bharat Opthalmic Glass, Burn Standard, Bharat Wagon, Heavy Engineering Corporation, Hindustan Cables, HMT Watches and HMT Machine tools.

The other companies whose employees would get their past dues include Hindustan Photo Films, Instrumentation Ltd, Nepa, National Instruments, Triveni Structurals and Tungbhadra Steel Products.