Exquisite jewellery pieces in " La Creation," an exhibition by French jewellery giant, "Cartier," opening in Mumbai from Friday.

Punjab to amend policy
CHANDIGARH, Sept 3 — The Government today constituted a committee to undertake a study to amend the industrial policy for enabling existing units to become export-oriented units.

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Anti-dumping duty imposed
NEW DELHI, Sept 3 — India has imposed provisional anti-dumping duty on calcium carbide imports from China and Romania on the grounds that the chemical from these countries had been exported at a price lower than normal value resulting in material injury to domestic manufacturers of the item.

Apple juice glut
PARWANOO, Sept 3 — The state government’s efforts to sell HPMC’s 1,000 tonne apple juice have proved futile following a sharp fall in the global juice market.

No distress sale of PSU holdings: FM

NEW DELHI, Sept 3 (PTI) — Buoyed by success of the Resurgent India Bonds, the government is considering treating non-resident Indians (NRI’s) on a par with Indian nationals to attract more investments for economic development.

Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha said today that more proactive economic policies for NRIs would be announced shortly.In a interview to PTI, Sinha said he had talked about introducing the “persons of India origin” cards for NRIs in the Budget.

“We are in the process of implementing it,” he said to a question on whether the government was moving towards granting dual citizenship to NRIs.

Upturn by Dec Sinha expects recessionary trends to start tapering off by this month end and voiced the hope that there would be a “definite upturn” in the economy by the year end.

The strategy to reverse recessionary trends was to stimulate demand by increasing government spending in the public and private sectors especially in agriculture, rural development and infrastructure.“Time to spend is coming”, he said admitting the slowdown in the economy was due to industrial recession which has hit hard sectors such as steel, cement, and commercial vehicles.

Because there was deceleration in agricultural production last year it created problems of demand in some other sectors like textiles. The paper industry is also having problems.

Disinvestment
There will be no “distress sales” of the government holding in public sector undertakings whose disinvestment is to begin this month end.“We have no difficulty in selling at market prices.

We will certainly not resort to distress sale. There will be no distress sale of PSU shares,” he said.Though markets have registered volatility and are going up and down, Sinha said: “We will study the market conditions” before going in for disinvestment.

Asked if the government would prefer offloading PSU shares in the domestic market because of the volatile international market, Sinha said in all likelihood disinvestment would be both in the domestic market and through the GDR route in the international market.Inflation, after touching a low of 3.37 per cent in August 1997, is on a rising curve.

The present rate of about 8 per cent is not sustainable and is largely on account of seasonal factors.To a question if high inflation was a pointer to growth momentum in the economy, Sinha said it is not always a sign of growth.

“It is a sign of growth when there is high inflation coupled with high growth”, he said adding however that high inflation with lower growth was a cause for concern.“If you look at the manufacturing sector”, Sinha said “the rate of increase in prices has been marginal.

But if it had not been for fruits and vegetables, pulses and edibles oils, the rate of inflation would have been around 6 per cent.

Currency crisis
On what danger signals the currency crisis in East Asia and Russia held for India, Sinha said. “It is a matter of concern for us that these economies are facing this kind of a problem.

”There is a salutary lesson in this and that is whatever rate of growth, our target must be sustainable and structural adjustment programme must be so managed that it does not throw the economy out of gear, he said.

International economic problems will have only a marginal impact on India.

Army, industry to work
together on info projects
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Sept 3 — The Defence Minister, Mr George Fernandes, today called for greater interaction between the information technology (IT) industry and the defence services in order to attain core competence in security related areas.

Inaugurating a conference and exhibition on “information technology and the Indian Army” organised jointly by the CII and Army Headquarters here today, Mr Fernandes said that the services will be major contributor to India’s quest for becoming an IT superpower by the year 2008.

The Defence Ministry has set up six joint task forces in cooperation with the CII and the IT sector is one of of them .Mr Fernandes said that IT penetration in defence services across the world was exploring a new dimension of warfare — “information warfare”.

“Information warfare is seen by futurists as the dawn of a new era”, he said adding that low IT penetration could result in excessive dependence on alien information content which could be misleading and provoking.

The challenge before the country today is to integrate with the global economy without any erosion of the social fabric and also to ensure that fruits of economic development percolates down to the poor.It is in this context that the role of the IT becomes significant, he observed.

Elaborating on the policy measures for more penetration of IT in the armed forces, the Chief of Army Staff, Gen V.P. Malik, said that project implementation would be decentralised with the DDG (Systems) operating as the coordinator.Moreover, projects up to Rs 1 crore would be implemented in-house and software would be procured off the shelf.

In addition there would be greater thrust on computer literacy and professional help would be sought from the industry, General Malik said.In consonance with the 108-point action plan recommended by the National Task Force on IT, the armed forces have also prepared an IT road map up to the year 2008, he said.

Punjab to amend policy
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Sept 3 — The Punjab Government today constituted a committee of officials to undertake a study to amend the industrial policy and the 1996 incentive code to enable existing units to become export-oriented units.

This was announced after a delegation of the All-India Rice Exporters Association which called on Mr Parkash Singh Badal, today and discussed with the Chief Minister steps to facilitate rice exports.

The delegation demanded exemption from levy on exports of non-Basmati rice and removal of rice from the schedule of the Punjab Agricultural Produce Market Act, besides an amendment to the industrial policy and incentive code, 1996.

Anti-dumping duty imposed

NEW DELHI, Sept 3 (PTI) — India has imposed provisional anti-dumping duty on calcium carbide imports from China and Romania on the grounds that the chemical from these countries had been exported at a price lower than normal value resulting in material injury to domestic manufacturers of the item.

In a preliminary findings on calcium carbide imports, the designated authority, anti-dumping cell, last week imposed provisional duty of Rs 1,047 per tonne for imports from China and Rs 1,460 for shipments from Romania.

Apple juice glut
From Manjeet Sehgal

PARWANOO, Sept 3 — The state government’s efforts to sell HPMC’s 1,000 tonne apple juice have proved futile following a sharp fall in the global juice market.

Apple juice worth around Rs 4 crore has remained unsold.The bumper apple crop had already predicted a fall in the prices. HPMC and Himfed have so far procured more than 7,500 metric tonnes of apple for making juice. HPMC, according to sources, may find it difficult to store surplus apple juice.

However, the procurement of apple by the government agencies continues. The government procures apple at Rs 3.75 per kg.To save its agencies from losses, the government wants to dump surplus apple in the market.

Delay in finding a proper market may cause further loss to the government agencies which lack adequate storage facilities. Markets in Punjab, UP and Bihar are being approached.

At the fruit and vegetable terminal market here apple is purchased by dealers from Lucknow, Saharanpur, Bathinda, Kaithal and Gurgaon.Apart from selling the juice to private juice manufacturing units, the railway and defence ministries are being approached to purchase the unsold apple juice.

By Pushpa Girimaji
Dropsy culprits are big & known

THE dropsy epidemic which has caused immense suffering in Delhi was not triggered by a petty trader adulterating mustard oil to make a quick buck. It was the result of large and well-known manufacturers, including the National Dairy Development Board, ignoring all quality norms.

Basic quality control measures dictate that the oil is tested at the time of receiving the bulk supply and at various stages of packaging and before it is released into the market.

Obviously, the manufacturers who received adulterated supply disregarded these basic requirements and therefore failed to detect the adulterant in the oil. And consumers have paid a heavy price for the manufacturers’ irresponsibility and callous disregard for consumer safety.It is ironical that when dropsy cases were first reported, the government reposed such unquestioning faith in the integrity and quality consciousness of large manufacturers that it even appealed to people not to buy mustard oil sold “loose”, thereby giving consumers a false sense of security about oil in sealed packs.

And consumers, in turn, had such implicit confidence in NDDB, that they rushed to buy Dhara, little realising that NDDB mustard oil was no better.Only days before Dhara samples were found to be adulterated with not just argemone, but even engine oil, officials of the company had spoken to a newspaper in glowing terms about Dhara’s fool-proof quality control methods.

If only the company had followed those procedures, consumers’ faith in its quality would have remained intact today. In fact, in situation such as this, one always expected NDDB to come to the rescue and supply safe oil to consumers.

But today, even Dhara stands discredited.Consumers should, however, not allow these manufacturers to get away with such blatant violation of quality control norms. The government may prosecute them under the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, but that is not a strong deterrent.

Consumers in the country should now come together and boycott all those brands found selling adulterated oil, demanding (a) a public apology, (b) adequate compensation to the victims and (c) announcement of measures to ensure strict quality control over the products.

Since a large number of consumers have had to throw out the mustard oil bought by them, the manufacturers will also have to refund the cost of the oil. The Delhi government has announced the names of several brands — Dhara, Kanodia, Haathi, Scooter, Parivar, Jumbo, Kohinoor — which were found to be adulterated and I am sure, more will be added to the list.

Besides exposing the manufacturers, the oil tragedy has also focussed attention on the failure of the enforcement agency to carry out the task assigned to it — to ensure the safety of food sold in the market. Despite the fact that adulteration of mustard oil was so widespread, the Department of Prevention of Food Adulteration could not detect the problem during its routine testing of samples.

It’s time the Union Health Ministry and the state governments reviewed the role of the enforcement agency and provided it with adequate trained manpower and testing facilities to carry out its task effectively. It’s role should be to detect adulteration, destroy such stocks, take measures to prevent adulteration and not just prosecute adulterators after the deed is done and people have paid the price.

The state governments should also set up watchdog committees consisting two representatives of consumers, three food scientists and a management expert, to direct and oversee the functioning of the departments of food adulteration.

The watchdog committees should meet once a month and scrutinise and review the working of the enforcement agency and make the review reports public. The role of the enforcement agencies would be crucial in the coming days and months when slowly, stocks of adulterated oil which may have disappeared from the markets now, will re-appear.

The watchdog panels’ first task would be to direct concerted efforts at preventing the sale of such oil.

Manufacturers endorse shift to unleaded petrol

NEW DELHI, Sept 3 (PTI) — Endorsing the Capital’s shift to unleaded petrol from leaded petrol, automobile manufacturers today said that the ratio of benzene would remain the same in leaded and unleaded fuel.

“Absence of lead does not imply increased benzene content and therefore it is incorrect to presume that unleaded fuel will lead to higher benzene emission”, Dr K. Kumar, Chairman, technical committee of the Association of Indian Automobile Manufacturers, said here today.

The benzene emission, however, can be significantly lowered through the use of a catalytic converter which breaks benzene into carbon dioxide and water, Kumar said adding that the combination of unleaded fuel and catalytic converters will lead to least vehicular emission.

On the issue of unleaded petrol requiring catalytic converters, he said it was rather the other way around. A catalytic converter required unleaded petrol because lead poisons catalyst.

Daewoo buses
NEW DELHI (PTI): Daewoo Motors India Ltd on Thursday entered the commercial vehicle segment by launching two midsize buses — “Royale” and “Caravan”.The buses, priced at Rs 8,08,000 and Rs 7,60,000 (ex-showroom in Delhi), are the second roll-out from the Korean Chaebol’s Indian arm that entered the country in 1995 with the midsize luxury car Cielo.Both the buses are equipped with Turbo charged engines and has an indigenisation level of 92 per cent, he said.

Matiz
NEW DELHI (PTI): Daewoo Motors India Ltd will launch its small car Matiz as scheduled and has dismissed as “baseless” reports casting doubts about the car’s safety.Managing Director S.G. Awasthi said on Thursday the 796 cc car would be launched as scheduled and the delay was a “tactical one.”

He declined to specify the date of the car launch.Based on certain road tests, a section of the media had earlier expressed doubts about the safety of the small car, which was launched in Korea earlier this year.“If you lock the steering wheel of your car and reverse it at a speed of 25 km per hour — which is a very high speed for reversing, that too on a rough terrain, — any car is bound to have problems,” Awasthi said.

Awasthi said financial schemes now available for Cielo would be available for the small car as well.Asked whether Daewoo would go in for dieselisation of its car, he said: “on no account we would launch a diesel version of Cielo and Matiz.”

M&M
CHENNAI (PTI): Mahindra and Mahindra is planning to come up with new brands of vehicles, including an ambulance model.Executive Director Alan Durante, told newsmen here on Wednesday the new models included a latest version of Armada and a utility vehicle, Scorpio.

Designs for the Scorpio project are now nearing completion and the vehicle would be launched before March 2000, he said.The ambulance Voyager would be introduced next month.

Apollo Hospital was approached for designing the ambulance. It would help shift a patient from an accident site or from home to a nursing home nearby without causing any inconvenience.

Opel Astra
NEW DELHI (UNI): The diesel version of General Motors India Limited’s Opel Astra will hit the roads in the Capital on September 19.The Astra, sporting the diesel heart, was rolled out of its factory in Halol, Gujarat, on Thursday.

The Astra will be powered by a Turbo-charged diesel engine sourced from the parent company in the USA. The 1700cc engine will deliver a whopping 68 BHP power.Besides, the company is also working towards introducing its small car — Opel Corsa — in the second half of next year as well as Opel Vectra.

India Cements plans rights issue

MUMBAI, Sept 3 (PTI) — India Cements has submitted a proposal to Sebi to raise capital from the market by way of a rights issue. The Rs 160.84 crore rights issue would be used to fund its takeover of Raasi Cements, which it acquired from the Hyderabad based B.V. Raju Group. The issue priced at Rs 25 per share is being managed by DSP Merrill Lynch. During the previous week, Sebi cleared an offer of sale by a listed company amounting to Rs 20.40 crore and an exclusive rights issue amounting to Rs 2 crore. The market regulator also received a draft offer for sale of Rs 20.40 crore of Ashapura Minechem Ltd at a price of Rs 170 per share.

Decision on VSNL issues soon

NEW DELHI, Sept 3 (PTI) — The government will soon decide the price and quantum of shares of the Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited (VSNL) to be divested both in domestic and international market, company Chief Executive said today. The core group, constituted to go into the details of the GDR and domestic issues, and examine the possibilities of an employees stock option, is seized of the matter and will decide shortly, VSNL Chairman and Managing Director Amitab Kumar told PTI in an interview.

Companies in the dock

MUMBAI, Sept 3 (PTI) — Bombay Stock Exchange received 3,000 complaints against 610 listed companies, during last month, while it resolved 3,584 complaints including those brought forward from the previous periods. Meanwhile, Padmini Polymers Ltd, Rolta India Ltd, Prakash Industries Ltd, Motorol (I) Ltd, Thapar Milk Products Ltd, Vatsa Corporation Ltd, K.G. Denim Ltd, NEPC India Ltd, Paam Pharmaceuticals Ltd and Prudential Capital Markets Ltd topped the list of 20 companies ranked on the basis of number of complaints received during the month.

Exide net profit falls

CALCUTTA, Sept 3 (PTI) — For the first five months, the overall growth of Exide Industries in sales value is 61 per cent compared to the same period last year. The company floated a rights issue, to partly finance the acquisition of Standard Batteries and Cosepa fiscal services. However, the projected profitability of Exide at the time issue did not match the actuals. The actual net profit, which stood at Rs 23 crore, is lower than the projected net profit of Rs 31.8 crore. Similarly, the actual EPS (Rs 8.10) is lower than the projected EPS (Rs 11).

Biz briefs

Andhra Bank
CHANDIGARH, Sept 3 (TNS) — To serve senior citizens of the city, Andhra Bank today inaugurated a senior citizen counter at its Sector 17 branch. The function was attended by important senior citizens. The bank also started a scheme called “double your money in 63 months”

BA awards
JALANDHAR, Sept 3 (TNS) —Mr R.P. Singh (Punjab Travels) and Ms S. Chaddha (Amrit Airlinks) of Chandigarh were among 10 travel agents honoured by British Airways at their annual conference here last night. British Airways’ Mr David. Both, Mr Rommell Valles and Mr Alok Sawhney presented the awards. Mr Shyam Nijhawan and Mr Jyoti Sharma of Nijhawan Travels, the GSA of British Airways, earlier welcomed the agents and BA officials.

Simbhaoli mills
CHANDIGARH, Sept 3 (TNS) — Simbhaoli Sugar Mills Ltd’s non-convertible debentures has been downgraded from LA to LBBB indicating moderate safety by credit rating firm Icra Ltd.

Gold falls
NEW DELHI, Sept 3 (PTI) — Recovery move in both the precious metals was short-lived on the bullion market today as silver and gold fell back on lack of buying steady inflow of fresh arrivals and closed with losses. The Quotations: Silver .999 (ready) 7240, delivery 7360, Coins buyer 10,600 and seller 10,800. Standard gold 4140, ornaments 3990 and sovereign 3425.

Forex rates
MUMBAI, Sept 3 (PTI) — The following were interbank forex and RBI rates:US $ Rs 42.51/52 Sterling £ Rs 71.43/45 Deutsche Mark Rs 24.55/57Jap Yen (100) Rs 31.26/28.The reference rate of RBI was Rs 42.56.