 |
| Wednesday, November 8, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
|
Ludhiana exporters’ warehouses sealed Amritsar airport’s upgradation Centaur Hotels not
for foreigners Open offer for Gesco shares at 36 Dhumal opens Vardhman plant |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Govt calls off Maruti
meeting, plans selloff Bank of Punjab in
tie-up with HPCL Rally after US election?
Site for IAS training A play on website Adopt a sheep on Net
It’s costliest US election Modelling lures girls in Pak Job histories for sale online
|
|
Ludhiana exporters’ warehouses sealed LUDHIANA: Several Moscow-based warehouses of foreign exporters, including those of Indians, have been sealed by the Russian authorities on suspicion of stocking goods imported allegedly by committing irregularities including non-payment of duties. According to reports reaching here, raids carried out in the past one week involved godowns of some Ludhiana hosiery exporters also. One report even claimed that the goods of some of the warehouses have been confiscated. The godowns sealed included those of exporters of other countries including China and Azerbaijan. The raids may further hit Indian woollen hosiery exports to Russia which have declined sharply following break-up of the Soviet Union. Over the last five years, a majority of hosiery exporters centered mainly at Ludhiana have wound up their establishments in Moscow because of the unsettled economic and political situation in Russia. Besides, the sharply depreciated value of rouble, deteriorating law and order and mounting activities of the mafia forced the hosiery exporters to close their shops in Moscow. After the end of the officially-channelled hosiery export trade in the wake of disintegration of the Soviet Union, established hosiery exporters of Ludhiana had hired godown in Moscow for on-the-spot delivery of their goods. A big stadium in Moscow was said to have become the centre for such warehouses stocking imported goods not only from India but also from other countries. In the past, reports reaching here have it that most foreign exporters having their godowns in Moscow had to keep the local authorities and the mafia in good humour to carry on their trade. Ludhiana’s woollen hosiery industry has been surviving on exports to Russia which had started more than four decades ago. Although the exporters started exploring alternative markets including those of the US, hopes of Russia again becoming a lucrative market for hosiery exports which had risen after Vladimir Putin became the new President are receding. The optimism was based on the expectation that the Putin administration would initiate steps to suppress the mafia and improve the economy. But some Indian exporters who recently visited Russia have returned with the impression that things have not shown any
improvement. The feeling is that the Russian economy is slipping and coming under greater American influence, with the latter trying to get a foothold in some core areas like oil refineries and even defence production by promising investments for modernisation of these sectors. It is apprehended by some Indian exporters that such a trend may ultimately percolate to other sectors of Russian economy including consumer goods, to the detriment of the Indian exports. |
|
Amritsar airport’s upgradation NEW DELHI, Nov 7 — The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) today cleared a project for the development and upgradation of the Amritsar airport at an estimated cost of Rs 79.27 crore. The upgradation, includes improving the cargo facilities, and this would be done by the Airports Authority of India. The Central Government would give budgetary support for the project in the debt equity rate of 1:1. The project would be implemented within a period of three years. The decision to upgrade the Amritsar airport is part of the Cabinet’s decision in April this year to upgrade seven domestic airports as international airports and Amritsar Airport was one of them. Following the decision some international flights have already started operating from Amritsar Airport. A Cabinet spokesperson said that Amritsar being a holy city with historical background had immense tourism potential, which had a multiplier effect on the economy. The development of international cargo facilities would enable export of goods thereby resulting in increased earning of foreign exchange. This project would also help the large population of Punjab settled or working abroad to travel directly to the destination thereby easing congestion on Delhi airport, he said. The CCEA also took a number of other decisions including the continuation of the scheme of assistance for cooperative marketing, processing and storage programmes in cooperatively under developed and least developed states and Union Territories with an outlay of Rs 140 crore; gave its approval to the proposal of Central Sector Scheme for Integrated Cooperative Development Projects in selected districts during the ninth Five-Year-Plan at an outlay of Rs 70 crore; and gave its approval for implementation of a Centrally sponsored scheme of development of national parks and sanctuaries at a total cost of Rs 87 crore, including state share of Rs 2 crore. Writing off of Union Territory period loans to Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram and UT period helicopter charges in case of Arunachal Pradesh totalling around Rs 53 crore was also cleared by the
CCEA. |
|
Centaur Hotels not
for foreigners NEW DELHI, Nov 7 — The Hotel Corporation of India Ltd (HCIL) controlled Centaur group of hotels, which have been identified for disinvestment by the government, is likely to be sold only to Indian investors. The Ministry of Civil Aviation and also that for Disinvestment have apparently taken a decision to keep the foreign investors away from the five hotels and the flight kitchen which form the HCIL. According to reports the government is likely to actively consider the bids of the East India Hotels which control the Oberoi group of hotels, the Indian Hotel Co Ltd, which runs the Taj group of hotels and the ITC group. The three groups have shown keen interest in the disinvestment of the HCIL and have submitted their expression of interest in buying out stakes to make the group profitable. Among the foreign groups which had shown interest in buying out the stakes in HCIL were the Carlson Group and the Bass Hotels. Besides the Rassel Group from Singapore had also presented its expression of interest in buying out the stakes in HCIL. The group hotels which are on sale are the Centaur Hotels at Juhu and Sahar and Chefair flight kitchen in Mumbai, Centaur Hotel and the flight kitchen in New Delhi, Centaur Lake view in Srinagar and the Centaur Hokke Hotel in
Rajgir, Bihar. |
|
Open offer for Gesco shares at 36 MUMBAI, Nov 7 (UNI) — The Sheths and, Mahindra Realty and Infrastructure Developers today agreed to make an open offer to the shareholders of Gesco Corporation at Rs 36 per share. This offer is being made for 33.5 per cent of the equity capital of Gesco along with another 11.5 per cent of the equity capital of the company being held by the Sheths group aggregating to 45 per cent of the total equity shares of Gesco. The joint offer is a result of an agreement signed here yesterday between the Mahindras and the Sheths brokered by HDFC Chairman Deepak Parekh to bail out the Sheths, the major shareholders of Gesco, from the hostile open offer made by the Delhi-based A.H. Dalmia group. The counter offer at Rs 36 per share was against the open offer of Rs 27 per share made by the Dalmias on October 21 for 45 per cent equity stake in Gesco. If today’s counter offer become successful, Mahindra Realty and the Sheth group would hold shares in Gesco Corporation in a ratio of 3:2 and the constitution of the Board would reflect the shareholding pattern. Reacting to the joint offer, officials from the Dalmia group said the group was contemplating to make a fresh open offer at higher price to the counter offer proposed by the Mahindras-Sheths today. The suggestion for the alliance was made by Mr Parekh to the Mahindra Realty at the instance of the Sheths and HDFC has agreed to provide a line of credit to finance the transaction. Commenting on the alliance, Mr Parekh said the agreement to make joint offer by the Mahindras and the Sheths was in the interest of not only Gesco but also the real estate industry and its customers. This consolidation of two formidable real estate players will result in the acceleration of professionalism of industry practices. |
|
Dhumal opens Vardhman plant CHANDIGARH, Nov 7 —Himachal Chief Minister P. K. Dhumal today announced to make the hill state a major industrial destination and resolved to upgrade infrastructure and basic amenities in the state’s biggest industrial hub at Baddi. He was speaking here after inaugurating the Rs 105 crore textile processing unit of the Vardhman group set up in collaboration with Tokai Senko of Japan which is one of the world’s largest processors of fabric and is having annual capacity of 30 million metres. The fabric manufacturing unit slated to be 100 per cent export oriented unit in a few years is the eighth textile unit of the textile tycoons in India set up at Baddi and the 18th in the country. Dhumal called upon industrialists to invest in Himachal Pradesh saying that it was the most peaceful state in respect of law and order and industrial relations, with no paucity of power. He said his government had created 1.5 lakh new job avenues and had attracted Rs 2,600 crore of investment in the past two years. Acknowledging basic infrastructure related problems at Baddi, with more than 1,900 small and medium industries, Dhumal assured that the problems of basic amenities would be solved in a phased manner. He said that Rs 1.17 crore had already been spent for the purpose. Elaborating on growth potential of fabric segment, Dhumal offered to mediate between Centre and textile industry to find a solution to certain problems being faced by them. Dereservation of the garments segment in the new Textile policy is a welcome step, said he. Mr S. P. Oswal, Chairman and Managing Director, Vardhman, said “We need to bring flexibility in laws in order to meet global competition. Textile industry has tremendous scope after IT so far as the earning of foreign exchange is concerned”. More investment needs to be done in readymade garment units which are capable of creating employment opportunities almost three times more than fabric industry. Within two years, Vardhman will set up one more unit in Baddi, he added. Mr Kishori Lal Vaidya, Industries Minister, Mr Praveen Sharma Excise minister, and Ms Suchita Jain, Executive Director, were also present.  |
|
Govt calls off Maruti meeting, plans selloff NEW DELHI, Nov 7 (PTI) — The government today called off the proposed meeting with the management of Maruti Udyog in its bid to settle industrial unrest in the company and said it would not interfere in the ongoing tussle with the employees who are on a strike for more than a month now. “We are closely monitoring the situation and will take suitable action at an appropriate time. But, we will not intervene in the matter at this moment,” Heavy Industries Minister Manohar Joshi told PTI here. He, however, said there would be no formal meeting with the management on the issue. “There was no meeting with the MUL management today and no such meeting has been called at a later date,” he said when asked about the proposed meeting with the management as announced by his junior Minister V.B. Kathiria yesterday. Kathiria had said yesterday that Joshi and top officials of the Ministry would meet the management representatives on Tuesday. The government said it was considering a proposal to disinvest its equity in Maruti Udyog. “The Department of Disinvestment is circulating a note for this and we will discuss it when it comes to us,” Joshi said. Joshi said he was open to examine the proposal for disinvestment in MUL, where the government and Suzuki Motor Corporation of Japan are equal partners. The Department of Disinvestment (DoD) had earlier included disinvestment of government equity in Maruti through strategic sale but it was not endorsed by the Cabinet Committee on Disinvestment, headed by Atal Behari Vajpayee, following differences between DoD and the Ministry. At the recently concluded conference of Economic Editors, Joshi had questioned the locus standi of DoD to consider disinvestment in
MUL saying “Maruti is beyond the purview of the Disinvestment Ministry.” |
|
5 Indians chosen
‘global leaders’ NEW DELHI, Nov 7 (UNI) — Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Omar Abdullah is among five Indians chosen as the “Global leaders of Tomorrow” by the Geneva-based World Economic Forum. The others are Mr Dewang Mehta, President of Nasscom, Mr Sanjay Bhatnagar, Chai |
|
Bank of Punjab in
tie-up with HPCL CHANDIGARH, Nov 7 — Bank of Punjab today signed an MoU with Hindustan Petroleum to install e-bank centres in the form of ATMs, and allied service facilities at selected retail outlets. Bank of Punjab’s e-bank centres would allow the bank’s coustomers online access to their accounts through ATMs, Internet, interactive kiosks and 24-hour phone banking. These ATMs will be put up in the initial stage in Mumbai, Delhi, Chandigarh and Punjab and in due course at other locations in India. The agreement was inked by Mr Tejbir Singh, Executive Director Bank of Punjab and Mr N.K. Puri, Chief General Manager (Retail) of HPCL. HPCL will provide the bank with necessary space/structure for installing the ATMs in return for a licence fee for the use of facilities. |
|||||
THE inevitable upward technical correctioin materialised last week and just when it looked that the markets were poised for a temporary upswing, a swift round of institutional profit-booking saw some of the gains of the last week being wiped out. However, there is a school of thought at the bourses that once it is decided who the next President of the United States of America will be, the American markets will begin rallying, and the trickle down effect will be witnessed at bourses worldwide. Trading opportunities are there for the taking and traders with a bearish sentiment could consider short positions at the counters of Infosys Tech at Rs 7569 (cover up at Rs 7429) and ICICI at Rs 89 (cover up at Rs 73). Bull operators can consider taking up long positions at the counters of Mastek at Rs 646 (square up at Rs 699) and Satyam Computer at Rs 369 (square up at Rs 412). The portfolio pick of the week is Cadila Healthcare whose half yearly performance has been good. In the meanwhile, pick up bargain buys on declines. |
|||||
sti
Site for IAS training NEW DELHI, Nov 7 (PTI) — Argusoft today launched its education portal UcrackIas.com for providing online training for civil services aspirants. “UcrackIas is the first in a series of education portals to be developed by Argusoft India ,” President of the company Ravi Gopalan said here. The website will provide online study notes, lectures, mentoring, assessment and live classroom for students preparing for civil services. The question bank with over 1 lakh questions will be used to conduct on-line mock tests to bring out the aspirant’s strength and weakness offering expert solutions, he said. The portal will also provide free counselling to aspirants to check their eligibility and choose the right optional subjects, Chief Operating Officer Anil Garg said. “The company plans to introduce other portals like IIT and medical entrances, CAT for admission to business programmes, NDA, CDS, BSRB in future”, Garg said. NEW DELHI, Nov 7 (UNI) — The bard is moving from stage to computer screens in a new age revolution in arts. William Shakespeare will lead the new revolution accompanying the sweeping changes brought out by the Internet when a play based on his work goes on the web for the first time in the country. “Goodbye Desdemona”, the Indian Shakespeare Company’s newest play, will now be available at the click of a mouse. The play, which is back from Europe after successful shows in London, Edinburgh and the Netherlands, will be webcast on www.wahindia.com opening up new vistas for the arts. “It is a good idea. People will come back to theatre when they get a feel of the play on the website,” says Roysten Abel, Director of “Goodbye Desdemona”. The play’s webcast follows a similar experiment last week by the website when it beamed “live” the launch ceremony of debutante Sagarika Ghose’s novel “The Gin Drinkers” worldwide.
ROME: Do you no longer feel sure about what is safe to eat? From today you can log on to the Internet, adopt a sheep, watch it graze and have its cheese, wool, and even its droppings posted to your door. An organic farm in central Italy has decided to rent its flock of 1,300 sheep to city dwellers fretting about mad cow disease, its ovine equivalent scrapie, and genetic modification. For $158 you get a 12-month renewable contract to choose a sheep, name it and monitor its output of 5kg of cheese, four pairs of socks and two pairs of leggings, as well as its plant-fertilising droppings. Should the produce not meet expectations, clients have the right to turn the sheep into mutton.
— The Guardian |
co
It’s costliest US election WASHINGTON: The cost of electing George W. Bush or Al Gore today as President of the United States comes to a record of almost a third of a billion dollars — and that is without taking into account millions more in “soft-money” contributions that are unregulated and hard to track. Mr Bush has raised $187m for his Republican campaign, all but $20m of it spent by a fortnight ago. Mr Gore raised $133m for his Democratic campaign, and Ralph Nader of the Green Party raised $6m, according to the latest official figures. Douglas Webber of the non-partisan Centre for Responsive Politics, said: “There’s just been this constant downpour of money running all over the political process this year. This election will go down as the most expensive by far”. Modelling lures girls in Pak KARACHI: Modelling makes a slow beginning in conservative Pakistan. But the nascent fashion industry is making its presence felt only in big cities. In countryside, it is still frowned upon. Over the years, Pakistani women have come out of the age-old practice of “purdah” and are taking part in activities considered to be male bastions. Today a large number of college girls are taking to modelling as a profession. Shehnaz Hussain (23), a budding model from Karachi, said her journey towards modelling was full of challenges. Having done her first ramp show when she was only 19, Hussain said she faced strong opposition from family and friends. “If you compare India and Pakistan then you will find that Indian girls have more opportunities than those in Pakistan. In India, girls have no restrictions to take up modelling. But our country being an Islamic country, women are restricted from choosing this bold career. We face a lot of difficulties,” Hussain said. In the past six years India has produced three Miss Worlds while two Indian models have been crowned Miss Universe. One has to think ten times before entering this field. But I feel that women in Pakistan have a lot of talent and given the opportunity they can prove themselves better than anybody,” Hussain said. Job histories for sale online LONDON: What a precious document is your resume — the deeply personal record of your status and achievement, your whole life contained in a couple of absolutely priceless pages. And on the open market, it is worth about seven cents. It is an uncomfortable shock for job-hunters to find that there is a market in resumes. But their personal details, particularly when posted on the Internet, can be hijacked and sold as a commodity, because, as any marketeer will confirm, there is value in names and addresses. It is a market discovered by Paul Smith, chief executive of FirstPersonGlobal.com, when planning his new online service. There are 3,000 job boards in action on the Net, and I researched how they make money — which is by charging to advertise jobs, and charging to allow other agencies access. |
cr
Pentamedia goes for alliance with Japan MTNL listing at
NYSE by year-end likely Birla Copper eyes stake in Hind Copper |
bb
CMs’ meet IndusInd Bank Andhra Bank JCT Elect Spectra Punjab NFL dividend Vijaya Bank Thomas Cook |
 |
| Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir | Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs | Nation | Editorial | | Business | Sport | World | Mailbag | In Spotlight | Chandigarh Tribune | Ludhiana Tribune 50 years of Independence | Tercentenary Celebrations | | 120 Years of Trust | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
