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| Friday, February
16, 2001, Chandigarh, India   
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Hindustan Lever net climbs 22.5 pc
Why waste resources, asks IT supremo
US slowdown not to hit IT firms Belgium firm to set up plant in Haryana Quake will not derail economy:
Jalan |
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Bill to protect industry
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Hindustan Lever net climbs 22.5 pc Mumbai, February 15 Profit growth slowed from an average 38 percent clip the previous four years as the consumer products giant, India's third-largest private sector company by sales, lost market share in teas and soaps. Hindustan Lever said its net profit rose to Rs13.10 billion ($281 million), from Rs10.699 billion the previous year. Sales rose 4.5 percent to Rs 106.04 billion from Rs 101.42 billion a year earlier. "The company has reported better performance in the fourth quarter compared with the third quarter in terms of topline growth, primarily because of better volume growth in soaps, detergents and beverages," said Rajesh Kothari, an analyst at Smits Securities in Mumbai. "The company has taken initiatives, such as relaunching some brands which has helped it improve its volume growth." Hindustan Lever's success in boosting sales surprised Sunita Sachdev, an analyst at Batliwala and Karani. "The growth in net sales has come as a surprise, as we were expecting a fall going by the ORG-MARG statistics, which suggested they were losing market share across the board," said Sachdev. The maker of Lifebuoy soap and Red Label tea is 51 percent owned by Anglo-Dutch consumer giant Unilever Plc. The Indian unit contributed between five and 10 percent to Unilever's global profits in 1999. Lever's performance in 2000 was affected by the loss of market share in soaps and tea, which constitute around 40 percent of sales. Local competitors proved more nimble and savvy in the soaps business, hurting margins at some of Lever's most profitable brands. Market share in soaps dropped by around four percent in the two-year period between July-Sept 1998 to July-Sept 2000. In the last quarter of 2000 alone, market share fell by 3.6 percent. Home-grown Nirma Ltd's market share by contrast grew 17.4 percent in October-December 2000. Performance in other key categories was also dampened by sluggish growth in the overall consumer goods sector. The fact Hindustan Level still managed to beat expectations for the past year will not prompt Nirav Sheth, an analyst with SSKI Securities in Bombay to raise his "underperform" rating on the stock, though. "It needs to be seen how much the other income has grown and what has been the rise in exports in the last quarter," Sheth said. But he added: "In the near-term, the higher-than-expected results could push the stock higher." Hindustan Lever's shares were trading at 215.50 rupees about an hour after the results were announced, up 3.9 percent from Wednesday's close. That is down 34 percent from their record high of 324.9 hit last February.
Reuters
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Why waste resources, asks IT supremo Chandigarh, February 15 So asked Kanwal Rekhi, who has made a name for himself in the IT industry and funded many successful startups in the USA and elsewhere through the organisation he founded, the IndUs Entrepreneurs ( TiE), having 23 chapters worldwide . In Chandigarh on Thursday to attend a CII-ECP conference on "Punjab: the next IT destination," Kanwal Rekhi answered his own question in detail, speaking short, bullet-like sentences. He fired: “We have wasted our resources. We have empowered politicians and bureaucrats, instead of entrepreneurs who alone can produce wealth. Look at investments made in the name of the poor. The return is less than 1 per cent. Why are we eating up our capital ? How dumb can we be ? Maybe we deserve to be poor !” Productivity, he continued, is low here. An average American's productivity is 80 times that of an Indian. An average American Indian's productivity is 50 to 60 times that of an Indian. What should be done ? Kanwal Rekhi said: “ Produce additional wealth to eradicate poverty. You can't make the poor rich through redistribution of wealth. The only source of wealth production is the entrepreneur”. Turning to the process of liberalisation in India, he said it has flip-flopped . We need clear-headed leaders. “China is growing fast at 10 to 20 per cent. We are happy at 6 per cent growth rate. With 3 per cent population growth, that comes to 2 per cent. At this rate it will take us 14 years to be where China is today. We can never catch up with America”. What is needed is a growth rate of at least 9-10 per cent” The government's job is, said the free marketer, to take care of education, healthcare, defence and foreign affairs. Beyond that, leave it to the entrepreneur. Turning to Punjab, he said the state could show the way. It did well in the fifties and the sixties, but lost track later. Why free power, free water ? Why waste money ? Why talk of one IIIT. Build 15 more IIITs.” Born in Rawalpindi and himself a Punjabi, Kanwal Rekhi said in the USA Punjabis are doing much better . Out of the top 10 Indian IT professionals in the USA, five are Punjabis and one South Indian. Use democracy to demand better from the leaders, he advised. “ There is need to stand up and fight. When a Punjabi stands up to fight, watch out.” Here are some of the highlights of the meeting: * The CII hall had never been as packed to capacity as it was on Thursday, observed Mr I.S.Paul, who conducted the conference. Two to three Chief Ministers have been here together, but there has never been such rush, remarked Mr R.I. Singh, Principal Secretary to the Punjab CM. Many participants kept standing throughout the three-hour conference. *Nasscom President Dewang Mehta came, spoke and left. Though in a hurry, he did make a few interesting suggestions: (a) Set up at least one IIT and one IIIT in Punjab (b) Chandigarh must have international flights (c) Start IT and English education from class I (d) Take IT to the masses. *To the Union Finance Minister he urged : don't temper with what's there for the IT industry and don't tax e-commerce or Internet connectivity ; pour money into infrastructure. *What cheered the crowd was the Nasscom decision to open its office in Chandigarh in April, apart from holding a big IT conference here. *The IndUS Entrepreneurs (TiE) is also keen to open its chapter in Chandigarh to motivate and guide entrepreneurs but Rekhi told local industrialists: "You get together and take the initiative. The burden is on you". Mr R.I. Singh offered that the ECP and the PSIDC can sponsor the effort. *Ten years ago there were hardly 10-15 listed IT companies in India. Today there are 150, said Mr Saurabh Srivastava, President, TiE, New Delhi. *Work on the Mahindra Knowledge Park will begin in April this year. The Mohali-based park will be operational in June, 2002, said Mr Arvind Khanna, who made a presentation on the park. *The Punjab Government will set up an IT park in Anandgarh for which 300 acres have been earmarked. Plots will be available off the shelf, said Mr R I Singh. *Entrepreneurs from outside Mohali and Chandigarh pointed that the government is ignoring the rest of Punjab in IT development. "Instead of setting up an interntional airport at Chandigarh, why not develop Amritsar, which already, has an international centre, as an IT centre", asked one entrepreneur.
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US slowdown not to hit IT firms Chandigarh, February 15 "The slowdown is not going to persist , what to talk of its adverse impact on the Indian IT industry", said Mr. Kanwal Rekhi, Founder and Past President The IndUS Entrepreneurs (TiE) while talking
to The Tribune . He said that the slowdown is minimal and an unnecessary hype regarding it should not bother the industrialist here. The software service sector has come to be one of the most critical components of the Indian economy. It employs , reportedly, more than 3.5 lakh professionals and accounts for nearly 20 per cent of the country's total stock market capitalisation. The software service exports are presently growing at a pace of above 60 per cent per
annum and as per the nationwide estimates, IT services are expected to account for 8 per cent of the country's GDP by 2006 as compared to the present 1.5 per cent. That speaks volumes about thoughts of repercussions of the slowdown on the Indian IT sector and in turn the domestic economy, weighing heavily on the minds of the people from the IT sector here. "Companies there may reduce their budget, but the same has not begun as yet", says Mr. Saurabh Srivastava President TiE, New Delhi. The performance of the top rung companies has been above the expectations and as of now, no adverse impact of the slowdown has come to
light. However, the situation in the long run cannot be predicted accurately, opine most of them. "When we talk of the investment by the US companies here, to the US investor, coming to India is not expensive. What matters more is rather the risk of getting their projects cleared and an environment conducive to the same. If environment here is investor- friendly, India will not have to suffer even indirectly due to the slowdown there", said he. The situation in the long run cannot be predicted accurately, opine most of them. It is perhaps their thick skins and ingenuity which will matter and help the Indian IT industry flourish. When there is a slowdown with the topmost economy of the world, some adverse impact is definitely apprehended, said Mr. Rahul V Singh, Chairman & CEO of the Boston-based Dhunn Carr. "But if we are really clever, we can rather expand", he added. The involvement of the Indian IT industry with the world IT industry has still not reached the level where we can think of any serious impact of the same here. "The companies offering competitive solutions to the world economy need to work hard and deal with the situation tactfully. Infact demand for solution will increase all the more , if there is any impact, the benefit of which we can reap., opines Mr. Harpal Singh, CEO of Fortis Heart Care centre.
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Belgium firm to set
up plant in Haryana New Delhi, Feb 15 He called on the Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, here yesterday and conveyed the desire of the Belgium entrepreneuers to set up ventures in Haryana. The Managing Director of Barco, a Belgium-based company, Mr Rahesh Vohra, said the company would set up a plant for the manufacture of modern projection systems, which would be beneficial for use in control room for public utility, especially those meant for traffic, surveillance and visual systems. The investments by the company would be first time in Asia and due to the industrial-friendly policy of the state, the company has decided to invest in Haryana. Mr Chautala said the state would offer all possible assistance to the Belgium entrepreneurs to set up their ventures in Haryana in a time bound manner. The Belgium delegation was apprised of the numerous schemes being implemented by the state for the industrial development. The meeting was attended among others by Commissioner and Industries Secretary S C Chaudhary, Managing Director of Haryana State Industrial Development Corporation Harbaksh Singh and Resident Commissioner Madhusudan
Prasad. |
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Quake will not derail economy:
Jalan New Delhi, February 15 On the prospects of a higher growth of 7-8 per cent in the medium term, Dr Jalan said “leaving aside the cyclical fluctuations, the medium term prospect of growth was excellent. Dr Jalan was here to address a Global Conference of Actuaries, organised by FICCI here. Speaking on the sidelines, the RBI Governor said the Gujarat quake was a great human tragedy and whatever the RBI could do had already been done. He refused to comment on the chances of an interest rate cut. Even if Government decides to reduce small savings rates, he said there would be no direct impact on bank rate. Addressing the conference, Dr Jalan said the RBI has key responsibility for developing the financial sector and considers development of the debt market as one of its primary goals. “With the changes in the financial sector, we are looking forward to a debt market, just as equity market, to meet the debt requirements of the corporate private sector at a competitive rate in a way which meets all our development requirements including those of infrastructure”, he said. The Governor said the RBI was interested in the progress of the insurance sector because the development of the debt market in the country was not simply feasible without active participation by insurance agents. That is the reason that banks are being encouraged to enter insurance business, he added. Dr Jalan stressed that in the integral macro economic sense, development of money-debt-equity market is vital towards building an integrated financial market development in the country. The convergence of these would bring about an integrated development of financial market, he said. On the current debate over the need for a single versus multiple authority, Dr Jalan said “our objective is to evolve a system into a mechanism which serves the service providers the best and also protect our people the best”. He said efforts were on to develop a regulatory mechanism by bringing close coordination between RBI, SEBI and Insurance Regulatory Development Authority to evolve a common view of the financial development of regulatory mechanism. They are developing the mechanism and over a period of time, it would be decided as to whether a unified or a multiple regulatory authority would suit the country’s purpose, he added. The Chairman of IRDA, Mr N.Rangachary said there was a need to strengthen the Indian actuarial profession. As Indian insurance companies open up, opportunities are increasing. He appealed to Indian actuaries who are working
outside India to return home to strengthen this growing area.
Bill to protect industry New Delhi, February 15 Presiding over the meeting of the Parliamentary Consultative Committee of his Ministry, Mr Maran said a meeting with the Chief Secretaries and the officials concerned of the state governments would shortly be held for discussing steps and strategies that had been taken or are being contemplated to deal with the situation arising out of the removal of quantitative restrictions (QRs). “This interactive process, I firmly believe, will enrich our decision-making process and enable adoption of an effective collective approach to meet the challenges”, he said.
Cibaca Geetmala on
air New Delhi, February 15 |
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India, Myanmar to step up trade Mitsubishi to recall 401,106 vehicles Microsoft names new President |
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Diesel 3-wheeler NetXcell expands CS results IDBI Bank WWICS Sahara India Balco retrenchment Bank of India |
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