The board of Bank of Madura, which met on Thursday, has withdrawn the proposal for preferential allotment of equity to the management group comprising Dr. K. M. Thiagarajan, Chairman, and Mr. Uday S. Kotak, Chairman and Managing Director of Kotak Mahindra Finance Ltd and a shareholder in the bank. The special resolution, which was on the agenda of the bank’s annual general meeting scheduled for September 22 in Madurai, also stands withdrawn. However, the proposals for rights issue to shareholders and special allotment to employees remain.

Counter guarantees will continue: Salve

Even while alternatives are being worked out to the Centre’s counter guarantee to private power developers for assured payment of their energy bills by state electricity boards (SEBs), the Minister for Power, Mr. N. K. P. Salve, has made it clear that the present system will have to continue for projects worth a total capacity of 12,000-14,000 MW. In an informal chat with newspersons, Mr. Salve said the continuation of the counter guarantee arrangement for a longer duration than earlier planned was inevitable if the country was to attract larger inflows of foreign investment in the fund-starved power sector.

Bids invited to set up power plants at ports

Continuing its recent trend of privatising various activities at ports in India, the Ministry of Surface Transport has invited bids for setting up captive power plants of 15 to 20 MW at 11 major ports. According to official sources, the Khodays and the RPG group have evinced keen interest in launching the project, estimated to cost nearly Rs. 1100 crores. Investment at each port is expected to be in the region of Rs. 75 crores to Rs. 100 crores.

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