Comrades say hello to fast food, bye to moon cake
BEIJING, Oct 5 — Millions of Chinese today celebrated the traditional mid-autumn festival at American fast food joints rather than around the family dining table munching the moon cake.

NEPC offers to set up IT institute in Punjab
CHANDIGARH, Oct 4 — The NEPC group of companies from Tamil Nadu has offered to install wind mills, set up educational institutions and operate airline services in Punjab.

EU set to reject EC’s anti-dumping duty move
BONN, Oct 5 — India and four other developing countries are poised for a major victory with the European Union member states set to reject a controversial proposal to impose five-year anti-dumping duties on import of unbleached cotton grey fabrics from these nations.

TN sets up task force

India slams IMF, WB for drop in aid

WASHINGTON, Oct 5 (PTI) — India today slammed the IMF and the World Bank for a sustained reduction in official development assistance (ODA) at a time when global economy was in the grip of one of the biggest financial challenges ever. “While the world is facing the biggest financial challenge in half a century, ODA as a share of gross national product of industrialised countries had dropped to 0.22 per cent,” Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha told the Fund-Bank development committee today.Describing the current trends as “disturbing”, Sinha said the East Asian meltdown underlined the role of official flows, especially concessional assistance, in underpinning stable capital flows to poorer countries.This was apart from the key role of ODA in promoting investments in human capital and other social sectors in developing countries, he said.“If we fail to invest adequately in these sectors, the impetus to economic reforms and sound long-term development will be weakened,” Sinha said. He, however, commended the bank for the speed with which it assisted member states during the current crisis.However, “an important issue that we need to address in this context is whether within the overall mandate of the institution, it is appropriate to extend assistance that is primarily in the nature of liquidity relief.”

Rescue packages which are essentially in the nature of liquidity support should not become a regular bank operation, since such assistance tends to blur the bank’s role with that of the IMF.

Sinha complained that while the issue of raising the charges for World Bank loans was to be increased by consensus among the Executive Directors, it was actually done by majority vote.

“While exploring solutions to overcome constraints on net income of the institutions, we find that focus has primarily been on increasing revenues through higher lending rates at a time when the costs to borrowers is already high, he said.

Sinha further advocated cost-sharing in post-conflict assistance and the debt initiative as under the present system the entire costs are borne by borrowers.

Since the Executive Board had decided to reassess this issue in about 12 months, the Fund-Bank must move towards a system of burden-sharing and define it in an equitable framework, he said.

“The need for multilateral institutions acting in full collaboration with each other, is greater now than it was ever before in view of the troubled economic times which the world is currently experiencing,” Sinha said.

Fund buys 12 pc stake in Leading Edge
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Oct 5 — The Indian Private Equity Fund is buying a 12 per cent stake in Leading Edge Systems (LES) Limited. The fund will invest in warrants exercisable over an 18-month-period to enable Leading Edge Systems fund its expansion plans.

Formed in 1986 by three IT professionals, LES is today a Rs 48-crore software services company with offices in Mumbai and Edison, New Jersey. The investment is expected to aggregate Rs 36 crore on final conversion which will be used to fund the expansion of the LES facilities at Vikhroli and for growth of software business.

Indocean Chase Capital Advisors will assist LES in gaining access to leading software and other technology companies. As an affiliate of Chase Capital Partners, it brings the full benefit of the Chase partnership to its portfolio companies, including access to over 600 current or former Chase portfolio companies world-wide for joint venture, customer/supplier relationships and technology transfers.

Sensex crashes by 224 points
UTI’s sales plan & Asian crisis behind massacre

MUMBAI, Oct 5 (PTI) — Equities suffered a record one-day setback after a stock crash earlier last year, leading to the sensex plunging by over 224 points on the stock market today in the wake of panic selling by bulls and foreign institutional investors (FIIs).

The market, that had tumbled by over 302 points on March 31, 1997 when the Congress had withdrawn support to the coalition government led by Mr I.K. Gujral at the Centre, was hit hard following fresh crisis in South East Asian markets and reports that the Unit Trust of India (UTI) has decided to sell 4 per cent US-64 equity holding in coming weeks.

Operators lost confidence in the market and resorted to heavy unloading after the UTI announced its plans to gradually downsize this equity holding to 50 per cent, dealers said.

FIIs pressed distress sales in key scrips like Reliance Ind, SBI, Hind Lever, ITC, Zee Telefilms. Financial institutions, led by UTI, were reported to have made purchases in small lots in Mah & Mah, RIL, SBI, Guj Ambuja Cement, L&T and some software scrips.

The BSE-sensitive index opened sharply down at 3036.15 and dropped further on sustained selling to close at 2878.07 as against last Wednesday’s close of 3102.29, netting a sharp fall of 224.22 points. The BSE-100 index also nosedived by 95.50 points to 1284.28 from the previous close of 1379.78.

As a result, 31 scrips including key shares like Bajaj Auto, BPCL, BHEL, Digital Equipment, GE Shipping, Grasim Ind, ICICI, IDBI, ITC, Madras Cement, SBI and Reliance, exhausted the 8 per cent upper limit and hit the circuit breaker at the close.

Dealers said the market had already fallen in kerb deals on Friday though it was holiday for “Gandhi Jayanti”, when operators came to know of these negative factors.

The BSE-200 and the Dollex were quoted sharply down at 299.93 and 117.66 compared with previous close of 320.44 and 125.44 respectively.

Washington diary
7-point plan presented

Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha has presented before the IMF a seven-point plan:

* Immediate relief to countries hit by the financial crisis in East Asia, Russia and elsewhere.

* Introduction of an effective programme to contain its (the crisis’s) contagion effect.

* Recordering of macroeconomic policies of the major world economies to protect world output.

* Further opening of the international trading regime.

* Fresh global commitment for strengthening the official development assistance (ODA).

* Focussing he IMF’s analytical and policy capacities on the core areas of its mandate and competence.

* Resist the temptation to prescribe universally modelled codes which do not allow for differences in institutional development, legislative framework and, more broadly, different stages of development.

India, China praised

The Ability of India and China to maintain growth at a time when many other countries are facing the effects of the East Asian turmoil came in for praise at the IMF-World Bank meeting here.

The ministerial-level interim committee of the IMF went out of its way to praise the two countries for maintaining good growth when so many other nations were in recession or even in distress following the East Asian meltdown.

The Committee, comprising ministers of 182 member states, gives guidance to the Fund-Bank on key economic issues worldwide.

From bad to worse

The policy-setting committee for the IMF ended Monday — a day of discussions — by papering over disagreements on how to halt the widening global financial crisis.

The IMF’s interim committee on Sunday pledged “concrete and rapid action” to deal with the crisis in 50 years but used vague language, indicating substantial disagreement still exists.

Citing deepening recessions in Japan and many Asian nations, the collapse of the Russian rouble and stock market turmoil around the world, the IMF panel said: “The outlook for the world economy has worsened considerably since the committee’s April meeting.”

Good governance?

The IMF has included good governance, fight against corruption and information about political situations among its strict conditionalities to be met by countries seeking its bail-out packages.

“The IMF should not act on behalf of a member country influencing another country’s political orientation or behaviour. Nevertheless, the IMF needs to take a view on whether the member is able to formulate and implement appropriate policies,” says a guidance note circulated at the annual meetings of the World Bank and the IMF in Washington.

Wanted: $ 3 billion

India has asked for a loan of $ 3 billion from the World Bank in the current fiscal year, hoping that the nuclear-related sanctions, which may come in the way of its demand, would disappear in due course. Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha made the demand during his meeting with World Bank President James Wolfensohn on Sunday.

Milk story

This year’s World Development Report highlights the case of information failures in India’s milk market and praises the steps taken by the National Dairy Development Board which has enabled the country to become the world’s largest producer of milk.

From 1970 to 1991, the number of milk producers participating in “Operation Flood” grew from 280,000 to eight million.

The NDDB helped in making the quality of milk verifiable and prices that reflected and rewarded quality. By defining standards, providing the means to meet and monitor them, and apply them honestly, the board has helped India become the world’s third largest producer. — agencies

Soft-top Sumo model on anvil

Telco is mulling the idea of rolling out a Turbo-charged and soft-top model of its popular multi-utility vehicle ‘Sumo’, besides launching upgraded versions of Estate and Sierra.

Telco is assessing the feasibility of the new Sumo variant. “Studies are on and we are yet to reach any decision” company sources told UNI here.

The new Sierra will have an increased power of 137bhp. For the Estate, the company is looking at introducing a new engine with more power. UNI

August sales

Motor cycles and mopeds zipped through August recording a substantial growth in sales while the rest of the automobile segments, including commercial vehicles, passenger cars and scooters, continued to reel under the ongoing recession with sales skidding off tracks.

Motor cycle sales jumped 22.2 per cent during August 1998 over the same month in the previous year to touch 104,278 units. As many as 61, 823 mopeds were sold during the month, which was 13.6 per cent higher than the 54,378 units sold in August 1997.

Swaraj Mazda was the only manufacturer to have recorded gains during August 1998 offloading 278 light trucks as against 267 units in the corresponding month the previous year.

Telco led the list of manufacturers whose sales dropped in the LCV category, dropping 41.9 per cent at 2,527 units, followed by Bajaj Tempo Limited, which recorded a 38.1 per cent drop in sales at 363 units.

Ashok Leyland Limited’s LCV retails dropped 30.5 per cent at 50 units Eicher Motors recorded a 17.9 per cent decline in sales. Mahindra and Mahindra’s sales also dropped while Daewoo motors could not manage to sell even a single LCV during the entire month. The company has, in fact, discontinued production of its LCVs. UNI

Hyundai

Hyundai Motor India Limited is developing a new mid-size car in the 1300CC to 1500CC category code-named ‘LC’, which will replace the Accent across the globe.

The new car is likely to hit the Indian roads by August next year, says Mr Min Ho (Mark) Lee, Director of HMIL’s procurement and supply division. “The model is being designed keeping the Indian tastes and driving conditions in mind”.UNI

Lear Corp

Fiat India Automobiles Ltd, is roping in US-based Lear Corporation to design interiors of its Palio small cars slated to hit the roads by mid-1999.

The $ 8 billion Lear Corporation, operating in India through a 100 per cent subsidiary, has got orders for 50,000 interior sets from Fiat. PTI

Comrades say hello to fast food,
bye to moon cake

BEIJING, Oct 5 (PTI) — Millions of Chinese today celebrated the traditional mid-autumn festival at American fast food joints rather than around the family dining table munching the moon cake.

Although the practice of eating moon cakes during the festival has not altogether disappeared, few people now sit around the table munching the moon cake, lament some senior Chinese citizens.

Moon cakes, usually sweet and round, symbolise the reunion of family members on the 15th day of the eighth month of the Chinese lunar year, and date back to the Yuan dynasty (1279-1368).

However, with liberalisation the demand for traditional food items is dropping every year. The growth of a market-oriented economy and western influences have resulted in a gradual decrease in the significance of traditional customs.

Many Chinese, especially the younger generation, no longer look on moon cakes as a delicacy as ordinary foodstuffs have become more abundant, cheaper and delicious.

NEPC offers to set up IT institute in Punjab
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Oct 4 — The NEPC group of companies from Tamil Nadu has offered to install wind mills, set up educational institutions and operate airline services in Punjab.

The group Chairman, Mr Ravi Prakash Khemka, who met Mr Parkash Singh Badal yesterday, also offered to open an institute of information technology in Punjab.

The Chief Minister, while appreciating the offer, assured him full cooperation for setting up ventures in the State.

EU set to reject EC’s anti-dumping duty move

BONN, Oct 5 (PTI) — India and four other developing countries are poised for a major victory with the European Union (EU) member states set to reject a controversial proposal to impose five-year anti-dumping duties on import of unbleached cotton grey fabrics (UCGF) from these nations.

The move by the European Commission (EC), the executive arm of the EU, to impose the duties from October 10 again faced rough weather in the space of two weeks with eight of the 15 member countries at the level of ambassadors stoutly opposing it at a meeting in Brussels over the week end.

Besides India, UCGF from China, Pakistan, Indonesia and Egypt are planned to be subjected to anti-dumping duties.

TN sets up task force

CHENNAI, Oct 5 (PTI) — The Tamil Nadu Government today constituted a 13-member task force for growth of information technology industry in the state. The task force, headed by Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, would advise government on matters relating to speedy growth of the industry.

No unloading: UTI

MUMBAI, Oct 5 (PTI) — UTI Chairman P. Subramanyam today denied reports that the mutual fund would be selling equity shares to reduce the percentage of equity holdings under “Unit Scheme 1964” (US-64). “We will invest additional funds flowing into US-64 in debt instruments so that the percentage-wise exposure of the flagship scheme to equities gets curtailed,” Subramanyam told PTI. Denying reports attributed to him that the UTI would be reducing US-64’s exposure to equities from 64 per cent to 60 per cent in coming weeks, he said: “Reduction in equity exposure is a medium term (six months to one year) plan.”

Hind Organic profit rises

MUMBAI, Oct 5 (PTI) — Hindustan Organic Chemicals Ltd (HOCL) has recorded a 32 per cent growth in operating profit at Rs 48.13 crore on a sales turnover of Rs 476.34 crore for the year 1997-98 as against Rs 429.14 crore in the previous year. Production during 1997-98 increased by 14 per cent to 270702 MT, while volume growth in sales was 10 per cent to 190476 MT. The public sector company’s export performance shot up by 187 per cent to Rs 20.22 crore during the year as against the previous year. Profit before tax amounted to Rs 23.73 crore, a growth of 25 per cent over the previous year. Rise in raw material costs and utilities as well as a higher interest burden resulted in squeezing the profit margin, the company stated in a release.

Electrolux, Voltas plan jv
Tribune News Service
NEW DELHI, Oct 5 — AB Electrolux and Voltas Limited of India have reached an agreement to form a new joint venture company, Electrolux Voltas Private Limited. AB Electrolux will hold 74 per cent equity while Voltas Limited will hold 26 per cent equity in the new company. The management team of the new company will be appointed by Electrolux and the entire workforce of the Voltas plants being transferred to the JV will be absorbed by the new company. The Electrolux group is already involved in three joint ventures in India; Maharaja International Limited, which manufactures and sells Kelvinator brand refrigerators; Inron Limited, which manufactures and sells water Electrolux brand front loading washing machines; and Eureka Forbes Limited, which manufactures and sells water purifiers and vacuum cleaners. AB Electrolux currently holds 55 per cent equity in Maharaja International Limited, 74 per cent equity in Intron Limited and 40 per cent equity in Eureka Forbes Limited.

Atlas Copco net climbs
PUNE, Oct 5 (PTI) — Atlas Copco is poised to take advantage of the projected boom in infrastructure projects and is concentrating on a more aggressive export drive, according to the Managing Director of the company, Eric Smith. Speaking at the inaugural function of construction and mining technique relocated at Dapodi near here today, he said Atlas Copco (India) Ltd operating in areas of construction and mining, water well drilling, air and gas compressor required for various applications, has a current sale turnover of Rs 1600 million, the company’s President and CEO, Giulio Mazzalupi said. The sales turnover of the company had grown from Rs 70 crore in 1993-94 to Rs 143 core in 1996-97. While the net profit has climbed from Rs 6 crore to Rs 9 crore.

Commodities
From Our Correspondent
CHANDIGARH, Wheat 580 to 585, dara 590 to 592, superior 600 to 602, maize 450 to 500, sarson 1800 to 1850, taramira 1600 to 1650, paddy pr-106, 480 to 500, pr-103-440 to 460 rice basmati 2500 to 5500 parmal 900 to 1200 sella 900 to 1200, maida (per bag 90kg) 660 to 670, suji 700 to715, atta 615 to 625, urd (per quintal) 1700 to 2000, urd-dal 1700 to 2000, moong 1800 to 2200, dal moong 1800 to 2200, moong dhuli 2350 to 2700, masoor 2000 to 2200, dal masoor 2100 to 2300, kablichanna 2100 to 3200, kalachanna 1400 to 1700, dalchanna 1500 to 1700, malkamasoor 2200 to 2400, arhar 3200 to 3600.