National venture capital fund on anvil
NEW DELHI, Nov 13 — The government is considering to set up a national venture capital fund with non-resident Indians’ participation, the Secretary, Department of Electronics, Mr Ravindra Gupta said here today.

Tourism slogan : Aati kya India?
CHANDIGARH, Nov 13 — “Aati kya India?” is the loaded question of one while another laments “Gandhiji weeps as India sleeps” and yet another asserts, “We will get rid of these evils.” Backed by telling colourful drawings, these were some of the slogans that the around 70 students of various schools and colleges pithily designed at the poster-making competition organised by Dr Ambedkar Institute of Hotel management Catering and Nutrition, Sector 42 here today.

Tax incentives for industry promised
New Delhi, Nov 13 — Finance Secretary Vijay Kelkar today assured the industry that the government could consider more tax incentives for corporate restructuring but asked for greater tax compliance to cut down excessive government borrowings.

Increasing holidays valid: SC
NEW DELHI, Nov 13 — In a significant judgement, the Supreme Court has ruled that compulsory closure of industries on the national and festival holidays cannot be treated as “unreasonable” and therefore, does not violate the fundamental right to carry on trade and business.

• Birla silk power supply cut
• Policy for food processing
• Public issues in demat form
• 100 pc FDI in housing likely
• Ganesh Anhydride net rises

National venture capital fund on anvil
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Nov 13 — The government is considering to set up a national venture capital fund with non-resident Indians’ (NRIs) participation, the Secretary, Department of Electronics, Mr Ravindra Gupta said here today.

The government was also in the process of putting in place a cyber law framework and it was expected to be placed in the coming winter session of Parliament, Mr Gupta said while speaking at a session on information technology and telecommunication at the Global Indian Entrepreneurs Conference organised by FICCI and the Indian Investment Centre (IIC) here.

The government is also likely to take a decision on the recommendations of the Information Task force by the end of this month , Mr Gupta said adding that a decision on the remaining terms of reference is likely to taken by the end of this year.

The rate of growth of the software sector has been in excess of 50 per cent annually and exports of the software sector will be close to $ 3 billion by the end of this year, Mr Gupta said.

India should be able to reach a level of 5 per cent share in the next decade in the software sector.

Mr Gupta said that in the next 10 years the software market will be $ 1.5 trillion.

Access to technology , providing chairs to NRIs, assistance to apex technical institutions are some of the factors which can help improve the situation in the IT sector.

The Secretary , Department of Telecom (DoT), Mr Anil Kumar said that separation of the operational arm of DoT from the policy framing was under consideration. A focussed action group on private investor promotion was set up and this forum would have regular interaction with the investors.

Internet: how it all began & flourished
By Suneet Kheterpal

THE Internet has linked the world in a manner that was unimaginable three decades ago. More and more people are using the net today. However, according to a survey conducted by IS Computer World and Delhi-based Internet Consortium India, the awareness level among the Indian Internet users and consultants is below average.

The Internet, also called the World Wide Web (www), is hailed as an information superhighway carrying information which touches almost every part of life.

The Internet had an interesting beginning. During the late sixties, the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) of the US Department of Defence started work on ARPANET under Mr J C R Licklider. The primary motivation behind the ARPANET was the development of a fault-tolerant wide area computer networking paradigm, one that would survive a nuclear attack.

Soon this innovation of networking was profitably adopted by the American scientific community for the exchange of research information, leading to the formation of NSFNET (National Science Foundation) in 1980.

In 1983, ARPANET was divided into MILNET (military only network), containing the unclassified part of the old Defence Data Network and a new, smaller ARPANET. However, by 1990 the main originator of the Internet, the ARPANET ceased to exist.

The first version of the web was introduced by a group of developers at the European Laboratory for Particle Physics (CERN) in Geneva, Switzerland in 1991. Their mission was to build an online system for ordinary users to easily share and disseminate text and graphics without having to master arcane commands or esoteric interface.

However, the growing demand for logging on to the Internet by the general public led to the formation of small groups of networks, like the AOL (American Online), which is the largest commercial network allowing its users to access most Internet services such as Usenet news groups and Gopher servers.

Educational networks like NREN (National Research and Education Network) and ERNET (Educational and Research Network) came up to aid the students in their scientific and research works.

What started as a small project to aid the defence scientists and researchers, within a decade became the largest, the most potent and uncontrollable force in the world. Today the fastest growing part of the Internet is the ‘World Wide Web’, or simply ‘The Web’, which is a collection of tens of thousands of individual electronic web pages or data bases.

The Net is expected to expand further as not just people but all kinds of things like cars, aeroplanes, houses, etc. will also get connected to the Net. For example, IBM, one of the strongest pushers of network PCs, has a goal to have “everything in the world connected to everything.”

A survey conducted by the Internet Society, also called ISOC by vetera Netters (a non-profit, non-government body that has the goal of facilitating and supporting the evolution of the Internet) shows that 30,000 networks in 80 countries with 4 million people officially (and around 20 million unofficially) are connected to the Internet and this figure is likely to touch 200 million by the end of the century.

In India, the official inauguration of the Internet connectivity was done on the eve of the Independence Day in 1995, the service providers to the public individuals, organisations and students) being the Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited (VSNL), through its GIAS (Gateway Internet Access Services) host computer. Prior to this ERNET was the only real Internet Service Provider (ISP) that had a working service, with the Internet Access Nodes at New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai.

The third major player to join the ISP fray is the Software Technology Park of India (STPI) with a number of STPs throughout the country.

With new organisations entering into the competition of ISPs, India’s Net Population or Netizens (Citizens of the Net) is likely to be between 1.5 million and 2 million, from a handful of Internet-account-holders today (between 40,000-80,000).

To speed up the growth, the government’s IT policy encourages banks and financial institutions to support entrepreneurs seeking to enter the field. According to a government announcement on November 6, 1998, up to 49 per cent stake will be allowed to foreign firms in private Internet service providers (SPs). The licence fee for private ISPs has been waived for 5 years and the initial licence is valid for a 15 year period. Cable TV operators have been allowed to provide Internet access. The government announcements are based on the recommendations of the IT Task Force set up by the Prime Minister.

Tourism slogan : Aati kya India?
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Nov 13 — “Aati kya India?” is the loaded question of one while another laments “Gandhiji weeps as India sleeps” and yet another asserts, “We will get rid of these evils.” Backed by telling colourful drawings, these were some of the slogans that the around 70 students of various schools and colleges pithily designed at the poster-making competition organised by Dr Ambedkar Institute of Hotel management Catering and Nutrition, Sector 42 here today.

The youngsters were reacting with paints and crayons to such topics as inflation, N-pollution, India-today, beauty and the beast and space marketing. Smartly turned-out students of the host college’s organising committee ensured the smooth conduct of the contest.

As many as 90 undergraduates vied for the top spot in the on-the-spot essay writing competition on tourism and environment.

They penned 1,000-1,500 words on “Hospitality as career”, “American dude on Indian doorstep”. Politicians could well take an idea or two put forth by the participants.

While the essay results will be announced on Monday, the following are the results of poster-making.

Mandeep Kaur (MCM DAV College) 1; Ripan Alwadhi (Gyan Jyoti Public School, SAS Nagar) 2; Kirandeep Kaur (GCG, Sector 42) 3. Abhijoy Ghosh (Institute of Hotel management) and Deepa Seth (GMSS, Sector 35) won the consolation prizes.

Tax incentives for industry promised

New Delhi, Nov 13 (PTI) — Finance Secretary Vijay Kelkar today assured the industry that the government could consider more tax incentives for corporate restructuring but asked for greater tax compliance to cut down excessive government borrowings.

Internal resources, in terms of share of tax revenue and savings in gross domestic product (GDP), were growing and would help achieve “ambitious” 7 per cent economic growth for the next three years, he told the delegates at the All-India Tax and Company Law conference here.

Even though tax-gap ratio had gone up from 9.6 per cent to 11.5 per cent, “run away” government borrowings could raise the fiscal deficit, he cautioned.

“Though achieving the growth rate of 7 per cent during the Ninth Plan period is an ambitious target yet it is within the reach,” he said.

“We have to be extremely careful that we are not afflicted by first generation factor and ensure that fiscal deficit is contained within 5.6 per cent of gap during the current financial year,” he said.

Increasing holidays valid: SC

NEW DELHI, Nov 13 (UNI) — In a significant judgement, the Supreme Court has ruled that compulsory closure of industries on the national and festival holidays cannot be treated as “unreasonable” and therefore, does not violate the fundamental right to carry on trade and business.

The ruling was handed down by a Division Bench comprising Mr Justice S. Saghir Ahmad and Mr Justice B.N. Kirpal, while dismissing an appeal by M.R.F. Limited challenging the constitutional validity of the Kerala Industrial Establishments (National and Festival Holidays Amendment) Act, 1990.

After failing to get any relief from the Kerala High Court, the appellant had approached the apex court in appeal.

“We are of the opinion that the Act by which the national and festival holidays have been increased is fully constitutional and does not, in any way, infringe the right of the appellant to carry on its trade or business under Article 19(1) (G) of the Constitution,” the judges observed.

The judges rejected the contention of the appellant that increase in the number of national and festival holidays were violative of their fundamental rights and was also arbitrary inasmuch as it was compelled to pay to its labour and other employees even for closed days on which they did not work.

The court also rejected the plea of the appellant of equality before law as enshrined under Article 14 of the Constitution.

“The decision to raise the number of the national and festival holidays by a legislative amendment is based upon relevant material considered by the State Government including the fact that the holidays allowed by the Central Government and other public sector undertakings were far greater in number that those prescribed under this Act,” the judges said.

PAN applications to be cleared by March

NEW DELHI, Nov 13 (UNI) — The Government will clear the backlog of permanent account number (PAN) applicants running over a crore by the end of the current financial year, Chairman of the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBTD) Ravi Kant said today.

Talking to reporters at the ongoing All-India Tax and Company Law conference here, Mr Ravi Kant said that the Income Tax Department would put a lot of its efforts and energies on PAN allocations in the next two to three months putting “some other issues on the backburner”.

Eighty-six per cent of the applicants in Delhi have already been given PAN.

Pharma shares defy bearish trend

Mumbai, Nov 13 (PTI) — Select pivotals reacted sharply on heavy bear pressure for squaring up positions on the last day of trading at the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) here today.

Initially, share prices shot up sharply on hectic buying in some of the blue chips prompted by the companies cornering shares on buyback arrangement. However, players were cautious not to take heavy positions and turned sellers for booking profits, the end account considerations coupled with tensions prevailing in the West Asia also affected sentiment.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIS) were sidelined while domestic funds and institutions restricted their activity towards closing session which saw the index scaling down.

Pharmaceutical shares were in limelight, especially Glaxo which flared up on heavy bull support on informed buying. Burr Welcome, Rhone Poulenc, Parke Davis, Pfizer and Hind Lever Chem also shot up sharply on hectic shortcovering.

Pentafour Software reduced the losses on brisk buying on spot basis owing to book closure tomorrow with the scrip coming in no delivery period.

Reflecting the trend, the BSE sensitive index opened at 2976.28, rose to a high of 3019.00 and closed at 2976.12, with a loss of 33.45 points from the previous close of 3009.57.

The broad-based BSE-100 ended with a decline of 12.75 points at 1325.53 from the previous close of 1338.28. BSE-200 closed lower at 305.78 and the Dollex at 120.30 from the last close of 308.28 and 121.25 respectively.

Local funds and institutions purchased shares of Hind Lever, ITC, Mah & Mah, Sesa Goa, HDFC, Tata Power and Tata Chem, according to leading brokers.

The total turnover on the Bolt system was Rs 1168.34 crore. Reliance was the leader with a turnover of Rs 163.93 crore followed by ITC Rs 160.63 crore, Pentafour Software Rs 99.66 crore, SBI Rs 87.52 crore and Zee Tele Rs 70.82 crore.

Reliance dropped by 5.20 to 121.60, ITC Ltd by 10.25 to 728.75, Pentafour Soft by 3.25 to 584, SBI by 3.60 to 161.40 and Zee Tele by 13.25 to 653.75.

Direct tax collection to achieve
target, says CBDT chief

New Delhi, Nov 13 (PTI) — Direct tax collections have shown a buoyancy and could achieve the growth target of 26 per cent for the current financial year, Chairman, Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) Ravi Kant said here today.

“Our direct tax collections have already gone up by over 19 per cent so far over the corresponding period last year,” he said, adding that collections so far were on target for the full financial year.

Despite the buoyancy in direct taxes, revenue from indirect taxes has fallen short of the target so far in the current fiscal.

The number of tax assessees has also gone up by more than 20 per cent over last year. There were 1.2 crore tax assessees at the beginning of the financial year which have gone up to 1.38 crore now and the number is likely to increase to 1.4 crore at the end of March 1999.

The increased number may not contribute significantly to the total tax collection, but it would certainly widen the tax base, Ravi Kant said while addressing a meeting organised by Assocham.

Under the Samadhan scheme, the department has received about 2000 applications involving taxable amount of Rs 100 to 200 crore for which the tax revenue will be calculated later on, he said.

Responding to a question on very low taxable amount under the Samadhan scheme, Kant said all such schemes generate lukewarm response in the beginning but by the end the response should improve.

This was also in case of the voluntary disclosure income scheme (VDIS) under which most of the applications were received in the last fortnight of the period.

About the launch of another scheme “Samman”, Kant said the scheme was likely to be notified by the end of this month.

Final shape on various aspects was being given on the recommendations of the departmental committee.

On the issue of tax evasion, he said the department was quite efficient to deal with the people who wanted to evade tax in a planned manner.

The department was also carrying a rigorous exercise in order to simplify the procedure for tax collection.

DSE joins issue with ex-Director

New Delhi, Nov 13 (PTI) — The Delhi Stock Exchange (DSE) today took up cudgels with one of its former Directors who had resigned alleging harassment, saying steps initiated against him were only part of the DSE’s regulatory functions.

Terming the allegations of harassment and victimisation by former DSE Director M.G. Bajaj as “baseless”, DSE spokesman V. Shankaran said “in the course of discharging their duty, stock exchange officials are required to ensure compliance of all members, including elected Directors”.

Terming the statement of Bajaj that the exchange switched off his terminal as “factually incorrect”, Shankaran said not only did Bajaj not inform of the disconnection immediately but waited for two days before coming to the authorities.

“DSE also informed members on October 30 that in view of the problem in the MTNL exchange, members should not wait till the last minute to square off their positions,” Shankar said in a statement.

Bajaj had alleged that the disconnection cost him heavily as he was unable to square off positions for his clients.

Members are also expected to inform DSE immediately after disconnection so that it could make alternative arrangements for trading, Shankaran said.

Industry opposes infrastructure cess
From Our Correspondent

LUDHIANA, Nov 13 — The industry in Punjab is up in arms against the imposition of infrastructure development cess of 1 per cent on the turnover of certain industries.

Mr Mohinder Pal Jain, Chairman of the Fastener Manufacturers Association, said the industry which has already been passing through a critical juncture due to recession will not be able to bear this additional burden. Fastener manufacturing units are already running on 1 or 2 per cent margins. With this cess the fastener industry will collapse. The association has urged the government to withdraw the cess.

Mr Inderjit Singh Pardhan, Presidentand Mr Avtar Singh, General Secretary of the Chamber of Industrial and Commercial Undertakings, have condemned the levy of infrastructure cess. A deputation of the chamber which met Mr Parkash Singh Badal at Ludhiana on November 8 was assured by the Chief Minister that he would reconsider the levy. Instead of withdrawing the levy, it has been made operative from November 11,1998.

The Federation of Tiny and Small Industries of India has also criticised the infrastructure cess. Mr Joginder Kumar, its President, urged the Chief Minister to tap other avenues and arrange funds either from the Planning Commission or from the World Bank or grant-in-aid from the Centre and withdraw the cess forthwith.

Policy for food processing

New Delhi, Nov 13 (PTI) — The government is working out a comprehensive policy framework for the food processing sector, Food Processing Secretary P.S. Bhatnagar said here today.

“A single policy framework is being prepared to replace the multiple laws which at times hinder the growth of this sector,” he said addressing a session on agri business, food processing and packaging here.

Rabo India Finance Ltd Managing Director, Hans Hannart said his company was considering a venture capital fund for the Indian food processing sector.

Public issues in demat form

New Delhi, Nov 13 (PTI) — The Securities and Exchange Board of India is considering making initial public offering (IPO) in the paperless form mandatory to boost paperless transactions in the country,” SEBI Executive Director Pratip Kar told delegates at the global India entrepreneurs conference here today. To popularise paperless trading, National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL) was considering to start depository services in 35 cities across the world.

He said SEBI was also in talks with SBI and RBI for providing depository services to the NRIS.

100 pc FDI in housing likely

New Delhi, Nov 13 (PTI) — The government is considering a proposal to allow 100 per cent foreign direct investment (FDI) in the housing sector with a three-year lock-in period to ensure that the investment was not withdrawn half way through, Urban Affairs Minister Ram Jethmalani said today.

“The draft of the proposal will be placed before the next meeting of the Cabinet for its approval,” Jethmalani said at the concurrent session on infrastructure, housing and real estates at the Global Indian Entrepreneurs Conference here.

Birla silk power supply cut
Tribune News Service

AMRITSAR, Nov 13 — Various associations of trade and industry in Amritsar have condemned the uncalled for act of PSEB in disconnecting the power of Birla Masuzawa Silk Ltd., a Rs 18 crore silk manufacturing EOU project being installed at Khasa, just 12-km from Indo-Pak border.

In a joint statement the President of Amritsar printers and processors association, Mr Narinder Jain, President Punjab Veopar Mandal, Mr Amrit Lal Jain, President Shastri Market Association, Mr Piara Lal Seth, Secretary Amritsar Traders Association, Mr Prem Kumar Mehra, Secretary Shawl Manufacturers and Dealers Association, Mr Mahabir Pershad, Amritsar Piece Goods Association Secretary, Mr Baldev Raj Sharma and Mr Ashok Sachdeva, President Punjab Rice Millers and Exporters Association said that Birla Masuzawa Silk Limited had been dared to be installed in the border area by Birla VXL Ltd in collaboration with Masuzawa Co Ltd Japan and financial participation of PSIDC in the project involving capital outlay of Rs 18 crore. The project is slated to start production from January 1999.

Ganesh Anhydride net rises
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Nov 13 — Ganesh Anhydride Ltd, part of the Rs 300-crore Ganesh Group based in Mumbai, has reported a net profit of Rs 2.03 crore for the second quarter ended September 30, 1998, recording a 171 per cent increase compared to the first quarter of 1998-99. Net sales and income from operations amounted to Rs 13.30 crore in the second quarter, according to unaudited and provisional results approved by the board of directors.

The company posted a marginal growth in turnover during the half year ended September 30, 1998 at Rs 23.43 crore despite a one-month shutdown for change of catalyst during the period.

Gold rises
NEW DELHI, Nov 13 (PTI) — Both the precious metals shot up on the bullion market today on hectic local buying influenced by higher overseas advices and closed with notable gains. The quotations: Silver .999 (ready) 7590, delivery 7600, coins buyer 10,700, seller 10,900. Standard gold 4340, ornament 4190 and sovereign 3750.

Reebok
Tribune News Service
CHANDIGARH, Nov 13 — Reebok India, a sportswear company, has introduced the revolutionary DMX 6 technology, in the country. The technology utilises active air transference between the six interconnected air chambers that are embedded in the sole of the shoes. This new technology has been specially developed by Reebok’s advanced product group (AGP) after three years of extensive research and development.