Govt offers Bharti help on Zain deal

Corporate Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid has said the government is willing to assist Bharti Airtel in its bid to acquire telecom operations in Africa. The company is having talks with Kuwait-based Zain to acquire its African operations.

The Bharti-MTN deal had last year fallen through after the South African government insisted on dual listing of the merged entity, which was not possible under the Indian laws due to the issue of rupee convertibility.

Speaking to reporters after the launch of the Ficci Aditya Birla CSR Centre for Excellence, here today, Khurshid said the ministry is yet to hear from the company.

“No one has approached us, if they do, we will provide all possible help,” he said.

FICCI Aditya Birla CSR centre is meant to assist industrial houses in implementing CSR initiatives through incubation and nurturing of such activities.

The minister also said the parliamentary standing committee that is looking into the Companies (Amendment) Bill, 2009, is expected to submit its recommendations soon. “The committee has almost completed its hearing. We are also conducting internal evaluation of the changes that needs to be made. The bill will become legislation during the current year itself”, he said.

The Bill, once enacted, is expected to strengthen the rights of minority shareholders and call for more disclosures and accountability in the functioning of company boards.

Earlier, Khurshid urged the industry to internalise corporate social responsibility (CSR) within their businesses to go beyond allocating a portion of their profits towards CSR initiatives.

The minister reiterated his support towards a CSR credit trading system that can incentivise such initiatives from the industry.

“If you are speaking of external evaluation and measureable targets for CSR initiatives, we should also go for CSR credits”, he said.