 |
| Wednesday,
April 4, 2001, Chandigarh, India   
|
Punjab begins wheat exports UTI-GTB merger plan put off Exports of rice hit by policy
Spurious auto parts made in Ludhiana |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Punjab & Haryana get Rs 2,484 cr Nabard aid Ketan quits as director Triumph A TRIBUNE SPECIAL TCS, Wipro bid for
CMC
Trade in border district hit UN projects 7 pc
growth UTI made 943 cr profit
in HFCL Gurgaon’s feat AirTel offers ‘Talker’s Delight’
|
|
Punjab begins wheat exports Chandigarh, April 3 The first consignment of 24,000 metric tonnes of wheat in 10 rail rakes left from Patiala, Rajpura, Nabha, Sunam, Dhuri, Lehragaga and Bhadaur. A formal flag-off was done by Mr D.S. Bains, MD of Markfed, at Rajpura. The rakes headed for Windmill station in Gujarat for onward journey from the Jamnagar port to countries like South Korea, the Philippines, Yemen, Vietnam and Dubai. Markfed has tied up the exports with the world’s biggest grain trading company, Cargill of Geneva, at the rate of Rs 4,300 per metric tonne delivered at the port. It is Markfed-purchased 1999-2000 wheat kept in FCI godowns which urgently need to be emptied to make space for the new produce. The money will go into the Centre’s pocket. Markfed hopes to export 2.1 lakh tonnes of wheat worth Rs 87 crore this month. Punjab, according to Mr Bains, has surplus wheat and rice stocks worth Rs 10,000 crore. If the stocks are disposed of pragmatically at the available international prices and the money invested in erecting silos, the state can save at least Rs 500 crore currently lost due to lack of infrastructure. Markfed has been declared a canalising agency for exports on a par with PEC, MMTC and STC and allowed to export wheat beyond March 31, 2001, after Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal took up the issue with Mr Shanta Kumar, Union Minister for Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution. Has the state suffered a loss by exporting wheat at Rs 430 a quintal when the domestic support price is Rs 675? Mr Bains said it is not correct to say that there is loss as bulk wheat exports can be done only at the international prices which have been distorted by developed countries which give large subsidies to their farmers. The Centre has announced a policy under which all parties including private parties and co-operatives, are allowed to lift wheat from the central pool for exports. The price will be determined by the FCI through open tenders. Once a price is achieved by the FCI, the Government of India would hope that all further exports are made at the same price which is not possible. Since the Government of India may not find it feasible to lower or raise the price substantially, exports may come to a standstill, it is feared. India’s plan to export 5 to 6 million tonnes of wheat may not materialise because the prices of European and US soft wheats are down close to $100 FOB largely because of the foot and mouth disease. Besides at the $106 FOB price, the market may lose appetite for Indian wheat and the demand may shift to Argentine maize, which is the cheapest feed.
|
|
UTI-GTB merger plan put off New Delhi, April 3 “Since it has come to revelation now, we have decided that it is better for us to be on the safer side to put that on the backburner and not press the merger issue any further,” Mr Subramaniyam told Star News. “It is postponed till such time the SEBI come out with its finding about GTB and Reserve Bank decides on that,” he said, in an obvious reference to the probe into the charges of insider trading and rigging of GTB shares. Mr Subramaniyam said: “When we went in for the merger proposal, we went on the basis of the general premise that the consolidation of the Indian banking sector is a right step and there would be enormous value creation with the merger. Whereas hindsight tells us now that the actions which are now reported were not known to us earlier.” On whether the UTI should have been influenced by the decision of one broker, Mr Subramaniyam said the Deepak Parikh committee said the UTI did not have exposure to technology stocks and recommended very clearly that the UTI must take steps to do that... and naturally as any fund manager would do it we also did it in respect of cases which were fast coming up as liquid scrips in the market. Stating that the Indian stock market lacked depth, he said there was little choice other than to invest in a few scrips. On the likelihood of a low net asset value (NAV) of US-64 scheme, he said when there is a vertical fall in the market all schemes, including that of the UTI, would get affected. “But we believe that it is a transit phenomena and our year-end is June 30. We have few more months to go and with the steps the government has initiated, we believe the market will recover,” the UTI chief said. Meanwhile, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pramod Mahajan has said the government was ready for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the multi-crore stock market scam if there is a consensus in Parliament for such an inquiry. “ I want to make it crystal clear that the government is not averse to a probe by a
JPC,’’ Mr Mahajan told newspersons here when he was asked to react to a Congress demand for the setting up of a parliamentary inquiry. He said it was up to the presiding officers of the two Houses to decide on the criteria and procedures in consultation with the government. “The Congress is a principal opposition party and if there is a demand from parties for a JPC probe, we are not against it,’’ he said.
UNI/PTI |
|
Exports of rice hit by policy Chandigarh, April 3 According to sources, at present 68 lakh tonnes of rice are lying in Punjab alone. Another 32 lakh MTs of rice is likely to be received from unmilled paddy. Thus the total quantity of rice available will be 100 lakh MTs. Calculated at a price of Rs 6,750 per tonne, this amounts to Rs 6,750 crore. The government should clear the godowns of this stock and put the blocked funds into the system. About half of the rice is of poor quality as it was milled from paddy purchased in relaxed specifications. Discount on its sale will have to be given if it is to be exported to less developed countries. In rice exports, private traders have been asked to give a bank guarantee for the value difference between the export price and the domestic realised price of the FCI. International traders may not pursue this business as large bank guarantees will be in the custody of the FCI from where the release may not be an easy. There is a large difference between the export price and the domestic release price of the FCI and the possibility of leakage of wheat meant for export cannot be ruled out. So only PSUs be allowed exports as they can ensure that leakages do not occur. The FCI has invited tenders for the export of rice. Against a total target of 30 lakh tonne of rice, offers have been received only for 1 lakh tonnes at Rs 6,750 ex-port site. Even at this price, only a few thousands tonnes have been lifted.
Spurious auto parts made in Ludhiana Ludhiana, April 3 There are about 1000 small and medium size industrial units in the city, who manufacture auto parts worth more than Rs 1000 crore annually, says Mr Sunil Prabhakar, President, Punjab Scooter Auto parts Manufacturers and Traders Association. He says, ‘’Over the years we have developed techniques of producing steel based auto parts for two wheelers that are supplied all over the country from Ludhiana. The electric auto parts are produced here as well as in Delhi.’’ Incidentally, most of these units are small-scale ancillary units that produce specific parts for the regional market; as well as for the two-wheeler manufacturers such as Bajaj and Hero Honda. There are few vendors who procure orders from big companies and pass these off to different small units to be made under the companies seal. Interestingly, number of manufacturers who produce material for big companies, produce their duplicates also and supply in the local market through traders and company showrooms. The material is not only cheap but the quality is also very poor as compared to the original ones, says Mr Raminder Singh, a trader in the Subhani building. He said, “You can have every auto part in duplicate made by local manufacturers. Sometimes, not to talk of consumers, even we cannot differentiate between the duplicate and the genuine ones.” Though no data is officially available regarding the quantity of spurious auto parts, but the industry insiders say, it could be anywhere between 15-20 per cent of the total production, that is about Rs 150-200 crore every year. The police had also registered some cases against such manufacturers in the recent past. Mr Surinder Sharma, a leading exporter of SI brand auto parts, says, “Some manufacturers are even exporting duplicate parts of our brand to Bangladesh and Sudan. I have failed to do anything against them because of the complicate and corrupt procedure to nab the culprits.” While defending the manufacturing of such auto parts, a manufacturer said, “We are just using the names of Bajaj and other companies. The retailers are aware about this practice, and the material is sold as No 2 in the market.” Mr Prabhakar points out that in fact even the big companies are not interested in checking this practice. “This business suits them as they can always plead to the consumers that the faulty piece is a duplicate one and not manufactured by them.” Who is benefiting from this business? Obviously the manufacturers, one would say. But Mr Prabhakar says, it is the retailers who benefit as they purchase the material saying that it is number two, and the margins are pocketed by them thus affecting the small manufacturers and consumers as well. When asked about the threat from cheap imported auto-parts, Mr Prabhakar says, “We are not worried about them as we work for nine days a week, even when they are sleeping. Moreover, we know the jugards to prepare the “Made in foreign’ auto-parts also.”
|
|
Punjab & Haryana get Rs 2,484 cr Nabard aid Chandigarh, April 3 This amount which is almost one-sixth of the total financial assistance by the bank throughout, is also the maximum amount disbursed by any office of Nabard in the country. Of this, Rs 1,118 crore were given to Punjab whereas the assistance provided to Haryana was Rs 1,366 crore. Stating this at a press conference here today, Mr A. Ramanathan, Chief General Manager of the bank also disclosed that Nabard will also step into rural housing , rural godowns, rural agriclinics and marketing of crops during the current year. Providing details about the refinance facility given by the bank to the states, he said that the regional office here provided credit support or increasing capital formation in agriculture and rural activities to the tune of Rs 826.37 crore of which Rs 451.36 crore was given to Punjab. Farm mechanisation, dairy, non-farm sector, poultry and minor irrigation were the main activities supported by the bank. During the year, as many as 30 cold storage schemes were sanctioned (19 Punjab and 11 Haryana) , with total finance outlay of Rs 36.28 crore. Short term credit assistance was extended to the tune of Rs 1,470.32 crore to the co-operative and regional rural banks in both the states. As many as 11 projects under the Rural Infrastructural Development Fund (RIDF) and cumulative financial outlay of the sanctioned projects was more than Rs 1,400 crore. The bank also provided Rs 96 lakh promotional assistance by way of loans, grants and advances tot he banks. Rs 106.155 lakh were provided to the Self-Help Groups against Rs 43 lakh of last year. Other initiatives taken by the bank included areas of Vikas Volunteer Vahini, Cluster Development, District Rural Industries Project, Potential Liked Credit Plans. Nabard also launched capital gain bonds during the year and has been able to mobilise Rs 32.91 crore from 1,035 investors in this region.
|
|
Ketan quits as director Triumph New Delhi, April 3 The
TIFIL has informed the BSE today that the Board of Directors of the company at its meeting held on March 31, has noted and accepted the resignation letter of Mr Ketan Parekh. The board has also accepted the resignation letter of Kartik Parekh as a Director of the company.
Bank AGM quizzed Highly-placed agency sources said here the official identified as B.H. Somaiah was picked up for questioning by sleuths of Bank Securities and Fraud Cell. Somaiah was being questioned at the
CBI headquarters and a decision of arrest was likely to be taken only after his grilling. Meanwhile,
CBI has launched a massive manhunt to nab the absconding Chairman and Managing Director of Madhavpura Mercantile Co-operative Bank whom the agency is looking for in connection with the scam.
|
|
A
TRIBUNE SPECIAL Chandigarh, April 3 According to an official involved in execution of the project, the food park will provide all facilities right from getting seed, to processing, grading and marketing and will help thus help increasing the processing of fruits and vegetables and also reduce wastages through extension of shelf- life of the fresh produce . Private participation will also be encouraged in the form of contractual farming , processing facilities and marketing of the produce for which retail outlets will also be opened. While the proposal for the project was submitted by Punjab Agri Export Corporation, a subsidiary of Punjab Agro Industries Corporation, nearly Rs 5 crore equity will be provided by the state government, Rs 6.17 crore by Nabard, and Rs 4 crore of subsidy will be provided by the central government. “Setting up of the food park will provide all facilities under one roof to the farmers and will also help them face global competition”, said the official. The project involves (i) horticulture production consisting of a nursery and contractual farming and, (ii) post-harvest management, supply to processing units and marketing of the produce. Production activities comprising of horticulture production - nursery and contractual farming will cover Patiala, Fatehgarh Sahib, Amritsar, Ludhiana and Jalandhar districts. This will include supplying of nursery material to 1,000 contracted farmers to cover 5,000 acres in a 50 km radius to produce 50,000 metric tonnes of vegetables per season. For the post harvest management and marketing, collection centres, packaging houses, controlled atmosphere storages and processing centres will be set up. The collection centres will be located in areas where individual growers will bring the produce for pre-cleaning, sorting, grading and consolidation for shipment to packaging house and distribution centres. In certain cases, the produce meant for processing units, which will be privately managed independent units numbering 10 , would directly be dispatched to the concerned unit. The complex will have a 2000 metric tonne of controlled atmosphere storage
(CAS) and 2,500 metric tonnes of cold storage (CS) capacity. Post harvest treatments will be given to the produce at the packaging house and the CAS or CSs where the produce will be segregated for long term storage and regular sale. This will include washing, cleaning, packing, grading and storage. The pack house will have capacity to handle and process 90 metric tonnes of fruits and vegetables daily. Produce from collection centre will be consolidated at a Central facility where segregation of produce as per demand of processing units and network markets will be done. Post harvest management activities will cover supplying of produce to processing units and network marketing. As many as 10 food processing units have been identified within radius of 50 km as a part of the network marketing . Retailing of vegetables will be done through 30 food marts to be established in 30 towns of Punjab and Chandigarh. Besides retailing, the produce will also be marketed in whole- sale markets of Punjab and Delhi. Franchisee agreements with super market type consumer stores have also been planned. Future expansion possibilities for vertical expansion like coverage of additional markets in the region and additional retail outlets in identified cities as also export markets are also there. The project is expected to break even in the fourth year of its operations.
|
|
New Delhi, April 3 “Three infotech companies TCS, Wipro and HP have submitted Expression of Interest (EoI) for picking up government’s stake in CMC,” sources said. The government decided to offload 57.3 per cent stake in the company to a combination of a strategic partner, employees and others. BHEL’s net down 50 pc Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) today reported more than 50 per cent slump in net profit at Rs 296 crore during the last financial year as against Rs 599.4 crore net profit achieved during 1999-2000. Announcing the provisional financial results for the year gone by, BHEL, CMD, K.G. Ramachandran said failure of private sector power projects and financial burden due to payment of arrears to employees took a heavy toll on the bottom line of the corporation.
Castrol India Castrol India Ltd (CIL) has shut its Rs 5 crore Hosakote plant in Karnataka and offered a voluntary retirement scheme to its 20 employees at a cost of Rs one crore. The decision has been taken as the plant’s manufacturing facility was found to be commercially unviable as compared to the Chennai and Mumbai plants, a senior CIL official said here today.
Hind Lever Hindustan Levers Limited (HLL) today claimed it has begun implementation of a comprehensive turnaround strategy for ailing Modern Foods Ltd (MFIL) even as the bread maker has been referred to the BIFR. When contacted, an HLL spokesperson said “Modern Foods has been referred to BIFR to comply with a mandatory regulation. But we have not sought any rehabilitation or relief from BIFR”.
Mahindra & Mahindra Mahindra & Mahindra has tied up with the Renault group to provide petrol engines for its project Scorpio multi-utility vehicle (MUVs) models and the commercial launch of the engine globally and in India are expected to be around the same time.
Godrej Industries Godrej Soaps Ltd (GSL) has changed its name to Godrej Industries
Ltd after completion of its demerger on April 1, 2001 and inducted three new directors on its board.
UNI, PTI
Trade in border district hit Amritsar, April 3 Mr Piara Lal Seth, General Secretary, Shawls Club of India, says acrylic shawls flooding the market routed through Nepal from China will wipe out the woollen shawls and blanket industry with 60 per cent taxation right from import duty at 15 per cent for yarn combing and spinning operations at 18.4 per cent. Branded woollen shawls and blankets are no match for imported products. Mr Amrit Lal Jain, President of the Punjab Vyapar Mandal, say with the doors opening to subsidised imported goods in sharp contrast to India’s policies, the plastic goods industry will be hit. It enjoys no subsidy. Instead the recent Budget hiked the excise on it to 16 per cent in addition to 35 per cent import duty on plastic powder. The government should reduce the duty for it to survive and compete. Mr Mohinder Singh General-Secretary, All Mink Blankets Association, puts up a brave front, suggesting the government to abolish 4.4 per cent tax on mink blanket yarn and watch it gear up to compete with foreign imports. Nijjar Agro Food Chairman Satvir Nijjar apprehends a total” wipeout” of agro-based industries as well as dairy products. He maintains that cows in developed countries yield upto 40 litres of milk per day. While Indian milch animals yield as little as half a
litre. |
|
UN projects 7 pc
growth New Delhi, April 3 These projections of high growth rates comes at a time when the country is experiencing industrial recession and India’s largest trading partner, the US is undergoing economic slowdown. The UN’s Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) 2001 report states that the US economic growth would be 2.5 per cent this year, less than half of what it was in the year 2000 [5.2 per cent]. And, the world economy would grow at the rate of 3.5 per cent in 2001, down from 4.1 in the year 2000. The survey predicts that India is likely to be among the fastest growing economies in the Asia Pacific region. The survey, however, cautioned that a high public debt may push up interest rates. “Assuming no serious external shocks, both natural and human-made and with the ongoing second generation economic reforms, especially in infrastructure, insurance, financial and public sectors, India is expected to sustain GDP growth rate in the neighbourhood of 7 per cent during 2001-03,” it said. The UN survey also said that India’s inflation rate during 2001-03 is expected to decline to 5 per cent from 6.5 per cent last year which witnessed increase in international oil prices and depreciation of rupee. “Inflation is forecast at around 5 per cent during 2001-03 in line with the current commitment to maintenance of price stability,” it added. Expressing concern over India’s high fiscal deficit, the survey said that the country’s debt-gdp ratio went up from 51 to 53 per cent during 1999-2000 and was expected to rise further to 54 per cent by March end 2001. “A high level of domestic debt overhang could lead to higher interest rates, crowd out private investment and pose debt refinancing and servicing problems,” it said. Complimenting the recent the expenditure control measures, the survey said “the revenue shortfalls and expenditure overruns meant that the central government deficit for 2000-01 was likely to be higher than the target.” India’s monetary policy had been directed towards moderating the downward pressures on the exchange rate in the wake of east Asian crisis in 1997-98, it said, adding “the focus in early 2000-01 shifted towards supporting a recovery in the industrial sector.” On FDI, the survey said that despite a higher inflow of FDI and the proceeds from the India Millennium Deposits, “there was a decline in net capital inflows to India from $ 10.7 billion in 1999-2000 to $ 8.7 billion in 2000-01.”
|
|
UTI made 943 cr profit in HFCL Mumbai, April 3 UTI’s overall exposure in HFCL stands at 11 per cent and the average price of its purchases was Rs 105, considerably higher than the prevailing price of the scrip. UTI had reduced its total exposure in ICE shares from 26 per cent to 19 per cent in July 1999. The further reduction of the ICE exposure is also under consideration, the sources said.
UNI
Gurgaon’s feat Chandigarh, April 3 In the past four years, Haryana has made great strides in software exports. In 1997-98, it exported software worth Rs 180 crore, to touch Rs 400 crore in 1998-99. Besides Andhra Pradesh, Haryana has also overtaken Tamil Nadu (Rs 1987 crore) and Uttar Pradesh (Rs 1,246
crore). |
|
AirTel offers ‘Talker’s Delight’ New Delhi, April 3 “Talker’s Delight” will allow the customer to choose up to three numbers, the outgoing call on which will be free airtime. The operator has also introduced another pacakge “Perfect Match” and additional benefits on the existing “Happy Days and “Just One” packages under the family and friends plan. Under “Perfect Match” a customer on committment of a monthly airtime of Rs 400 can avail incoming rates of Rs 1.50 per minute and outgoing rates of Rs 2.75 per minute and can choose up to two numbers the outgoing calls on which will be free of airtime.
PTI |
bb
ICAI NIIT test Hafed website Duke Fashions Asian Paints |
 |
| 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 | | 121 Years of Trust | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
