B U S I N E S S

L&T net down 7.77 pc, to pay 65 pc
Mumbai, May 29
Larsen and Toubro has posted a 7.77 per cent drop in net profit at Rs 315.06 crore for the financial year ended March 31, 2001 as compared to Rs 341.63 crore in previous fiscal.

UTI drops ICE,  K-10 stocks
New Delhi, May 29
Unit Trust of India (UTI) is reorienting its equity exposure to ensure better returns to investors and boost mobilisation.

An Indian worker polishes a giant slipper before a public display in Agra, on Tuesday. The slipper is 12 feet long, three feet high, 32 inches broad and weighs 45 kg. It was made by the 52-year-old Abdul Rashid Warsi, whose family has been making shoes for generations. It took Warsi and his workers about three months to complete the slipper. Warsi is aiming to get into the Guinness Book of World Records for what he claims is the largest slipper ever made. —  Reuters photo

JPC to summon FM if need be
New Delhi, May 29
The Joint Parliamentary Committee probing the recent post-Budget stock scam will summon the Finance Minister if required but as of now it was coming to grips with the technical details of the stock market functioning.

Restructuring of IT Dept hangs fire
Chandigarh, May 29
The restructuring of the Income Tax Department has been hanging fire for the past many months. The main aim of the restructuring is to widen the tax base by 2001 and targeting new areas to raise resources.

Emami to make ayurvedic drugs
Chandigarh, May 29
The Emami group of companies will now manufacture ayurvedic medicines. The company which has started a unit in Kolkata for the purpose will launch its products in phases starting from later part of this year .

Car sales drop 14.8 pc
New Delhi, May 29
Car sales fell by 14.8 per cent during April, 2001, as all the major companies including Maruti, Hyundai, Daewoo and Telco posted negative growth in sales.

MTNL plans to enter distance telephony
New Delhi, May 29
MTNL, along with RailTel of the Indian Railways plans to enter the National Long Distance Operations (NLDO). According to MTNL Chairman and Managing Director, Mr Narinder Sharma, efforts were also on to rope in a third partner in the proposed project.

NSE FORECAST

Cadila Healthcare a good pick
Ashok Kumar
JUST as we had predicted last week, the markets continued to traverse in the consolidation phase through the week.

L&T net down 7.77 pc, to pay 65 pc

Mumbai, May 29
Larsen and Toubro has posted a 7.77 per cent drop in net profit at Rs 315.06 crore for the financial year ended March 31, 2001 as compared to Rs 341.63 crore in previous fiscal.

The board of directors has recommended 65 per cent dividend (Rs 6.50 per share) on 24,85,45,098 shares for 2000-01.

The total income for the period under review was higher at Rs 8035.09 crore as compared to Rs 7599.11 crore in 1999-2000, it said.

The fourth quarter net profit and income stood at Rs 250.4 crore (Rs 155.43 cr) and Rs 2,571.46 crore (Rs 2,485.38 cr) respectively, it said.

The board also announced a pro rata dividend of 37.9 per cent (Rs 3.79 per share) for 1,04,318 shares allotted effective September 1, 2000 under Employee Stock Option Scheme.

EIH net up:
EHI Ltd, a member of the Oberoi group, has posted a 30.84 per cent jump in net profit at Rs 94.82 crore for the financial year ended March 31, 2001, compared to Rs 72.47 crore in previous fiscal.

The board has recommended a 60 per cent dividend (Rs six per share) in the reporting year as against 50 per cent dividend last year.

Total revenue of the company for the 2000-01 showed a 11.28 rise at Rs 518.93 crore as against Rs 466.32 crore the previous year, EIH said in a release here today.

Foreign exchange earnings were marginally higher at Rs 279 crore as compared to Rs 258 crore the previous year, it said.

SBI Home Fin net falls:

SBI Home Finance has posted a drop in its net loss at Rs 21.7 crore for the financial year ended March 31, 2001, compared to a net loss of Rs 24.53 crore in the previous fiscal. Total income in the reporting year was also lower at Rs 40.16 crore as against Rs 53.46 crore posted last year, SBI Home Finance said. For the fourth quarter ended March 2001, the net loss was Rs 5.43 crore (rs 7.08 crore net loss in Q4 last year) while the total income stood at Rs 10.42 crore (Rs 12.82 crore).

Finolex profit rises:
Finolex Industries Ltd (FIL) has reported a 185.97 per cent rise in net profit at Rs 7.32 crore for third quarter ended April 30, 2001, compared to Rs 2.56 crore posted in corresponding period of the previous fiscal.

The total income in Q3 was higher at Rs 196.73 crore as against Rs 176.58 crore in the same period of last year. The company has bought back 19,99,710 equity shares of Rs 10 each for an aggregate consideration of Rs 4.55 crore. Of these, FIL has extinguished 881,589 equity shares.

IDBI Capital net rockets
IDBI Capital Market Services has posted a 286.76 per cent rise in the net profit at Rs 45.02 crore for the financial year ended March 31, 2001, as compared to Rs 11.64 crore in the previous fiscal.

The total income for the period under review stood at Rs 141.15 crore, as against Rs 33.39 crore in 1999-2000, Chairman of ICMS and IDBI Executive Director, V.P.Singh told reporters here today. PTI 

UTI drops ICE,  K-10 stocks

New Delhi, May 29
Unit Trust of India (UTI) is reorienting its equity exposure to ensure better returns to investors and boost mobilisation.

The fund is also reducing its exposure in the new economy especially the “infamous” K-10 stocks, and going in for value-based old economy stocks, as part of its portfolio restructuring exercise.

The move comes after decline in UTI’s net inflows by 93 per cent to Rs 323 crore last fiscal as against Rs 4,548 crore in 1999-2000, which was followed by a net outflow of Rs 297 crore in April 2001 while the industry witnessed a net inflow of Rs 2039 crore, official sources said.

The fund’s Chairman P.S Subramanyam confirmed the move but declined to give details.

Market sources said UTI’s flagship scheme US-64 has already seen its exposure in stocks like Reliance Industries rise from 11.79 per cent as on October 30, 2000 to 14.47 per cent as on April 30, 2001.

Other old-economy stocks which have seen an increase in their weightage are ITC from 5.09 per cent to 6.51 per cent, Reliance Petroleum from 5.94 per cent to 6.01 per cent, Tisco from 1.27 to 1.87 per cent and HDFC from 1.36 to 1.85 per cent.

At the same time, the value of new economy and K-10 stocks in US-64 portfolio has drastically gone down. HFCL which comprised 4.25 per cent of the portfolio as on October 2000 end, now comprises just 0.58 per cent of its holding.

Similarly, the share of Satyam has gone down from 1.38 per cent to 0.93 per cent, Zee from 1.06 to 0.40 per cent, Ranbaxy from 0.80 per cent to 0.43 per cent and Infosys from 3.94 per cent to 2.15 per cent.

Other ICE Scrips including NIIT, Global Tele, Pentmedia and Visual Soft, which figured prominently in US-64’s equity portfolio in October 2000, do not figure among the list of top holdings.

The decrease in the ICE exposure also follows a sharp fall in the market capitalisation of those shares last fiscal.

US-64 has, in fact, increased its investments in less risky government papers to 20.73 per cent in April 2001, in contrast to 18.09 per cent in October 2000. PTI

JPC to summon FM if need be
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 29
The Joint Parliamentary Committee probing the recent post-Budget stock scam will summon the Finance Minister if required but as of now it was coming to grips with the technical details of the stock market functioning.

The Chairman of the 30-member JPC, Mr P.M.Tripathi, told newspersons after a meeting of the committee that the earlier JPC which investigated the Harshad Mehta-led stock scam in the early nineties had probed the then Finance Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh.

It is for the Committee to decide if the Finance Minister should be called, he said in reply to a query.

The Committee will look into all the aspects that led to the volatility in the stock markets after the presentation of the Union Budget, he added.

In this regard he said the Committee would also look into the role of the Unit Trust of India in buying and selling shares.

“We will look into any buying or selling undertaken by the UTI during the scam period. To this extent that will be investigated”, the Chairman said.

On the proceedings today, Mr Tripathi said the officials of the Department of Company Affairs had briefed the members on the technical aspects of the stock market functioning.

Mr Tripathi pointed out that the Department of Company Affairs played a major role in the monitoring and regulation of the stock markets till the time the SEBI was constituted.

The technical briefing will continue tomorrow and thereafter the committee would meet after 10 or 15 days.

The Chairman admitted that the real hearings had not begun yet as the members were still coming to terms with the functioning of the stock market. There were some members who were qualified accountants but then there were also others who did not know much about the markets. The Chairman said he wanted that every member should be equally equipped once the hearings begin.

Restructuring of IT Dept hangs fire
Vishal Gulati
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 29
The restructuring of the Income Tax Department has been hanging fire for the past many months.

The main aim of the restructuring is to widen the tax base by 2001 and targeting new areas to raise resources. The department is also aiming at reducing the staff by 4.5 per cent at the national level.

The Union Cabinet had cleared the proposal in this regard in September 2000 giving the department six months to implement.

“To begin with there was a lot of enthusiasm among the staff of the department as a large number of officers were to be promoted. For hidden in the scheme was the cadre review of the IRS officers who are sore over the slow promotion in the setup. But it soon gave rise to skepticism as it dawned on the officers that their powers and area of control is getting drastically reduced. As a consequences the scheme is yet to be implemented although nine months have passed”, said a top official of the department in the North-Western region.

Sources in the department reveal that the file to appoint chief commissioners and commissioners at different places was cleared by the Cabinet sub-committee three weeks ago but orders are yet to be implemented. Reportedly the minister concerned is under pressure from his party colleagues to adjust the persons of their choice in their areas.

It is learnt that the Minister of State for Revenue, Mr D. Ramachandran, cleared the file of restructuring after two months because the Chennai commissionerate had made public the minister’s letter asking tax officials to collect Rs 40 lakh for his constituency. The publication of this letter on the website taxindiaonline had caused great embarrassment to the government.

In the meantime, the department has practically stopped all kinds of investigations. Only routine matters or those monitored by the high courts are being dealt with.

Emami to make ayurvedic drugs
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 29
The Emami group of companies will now manufacture ayurvedic medicines.

The company which has started a unit in Kolkata for the purpose will launch its products in phases starting from later part of this year.

The Rs 5 crore project will include products like cough syrups, memory boosters, blood purifier, etc. The products in the first phase will be launched in Punjab, UP and Bihar.

Mr Aditya V. Agarval, Director, disclosed this in a special interview to The Tribune. Mr Agarval is here on a seven-day visit to the region in connection with test launch of Sona Chandi Amritprash, a cooling formulation with advantages of Chyavanprash.

WIth the launch of Amritprash, the company expects to capture a substantial market share. While the overall turnover of Rs 450 crore was recorded for 2000-01, Emami targets Rs 650 crore for next year, including Rs 350 crore in the FMCG segment. The growth in the FMCG segment last year was 55 per cent .

Considering Punjab as a major potential market, Emami has decided to launch Amritprash also here first. "Punjab has been a very strong market and the region (Punjab, Haryana, J&K and Chandigarh) holds 10 per cent to 12 per cent share in the total turnover" , said Mr Agarval.

There are as many as 175 distributors of the company in the region and it plans to increase this number to 250 by the end of this year.

Emami which is famous for its cosmetics including brands like Boroplus, Naturally Fair cream, Glycerine soaps, etc is not threatened by the entry of MNCs into the cosmetics market and growth of chain distribution system, he said. He attributed this to the high cost factor and weak distribution system of these companies.

Talking further about the company's future plans, Mr Agarval said to promote their tooth powder, Emami will organise road shows where KG Srivastava, who holds a record of pulling a ship weighing 300 tonnes with his teeth, will perform various other tricks.

The company will also launch Emami Madhuri Dixit range of cosmetics by September this year. The film actress is also a member of the Board of Directors of the company.

Car sales drop 14.8 pc

New Delhi, May 29
Car sales fell by 14.8 per cent during April, 2001, as all the major companies including Maruti, Hyundai, Daewoo and Telco posted negative growth in sales.

Total sales stood at 45,550 units over 53,499 units sold in the same month last year, figures released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) showed today.

Recessionary trend continued for other sectors of the domestic automobile industry with commercial vehicles, two-wheelers, multi-utility-vehicles (MUVs) and three-wheelers recording dip in sales during the month under review.

Market leader Maruti Udyog’s car sales fell by 11.9 per cent at 26,443 units over 30,016 units sold in April, 2000.

Sales of commercial vehicles, a good indicator of economic growth, declined by 8.4 per cent at 7,925 units as compared to 8,658 units in the month-on-month period.

MUV sales stood at 7,842 units, down 5.5 per cent, over 8,299 units sold in April, 2000.

Two-wheelers sales dipped by 6.4 per cent on account of a drop in scooter and moped sales.

Sales of scooters dipped by 20 per cent at 75,694 units month-on-month over 94,547 units, while mopeds sales fell by 50.2 per cent at 28,151 units in April, 2001, over 56,604 units in the same month of 2000.

Motorcycles sales however, increased by 16.2 per cent at 1.92 lakh units over 1.65 lakh units sold in the month-on-month period.

Sales of three-wheelers went down by 11.6 per cent at 12,365 units in April, 2001, over 14,002 units sold last year.

Sales of the twin South Korean automakers Hyundai and Daewoo declined by 1.3 per cent and 59.2 per cent at 7,203 units and 2,063 units during April 2001.

Ford and General Motors posted a 122.1 per cent and 0.7 per cent rise in car sales at 3,536 units and 577 units respectively in April 2001.

Domestic car maker Tata Engineering’s (Telco) sales fell by 37.4 per cent at 3,258 units (5,211 units in April 2000).

Sales of other car makers like Fiat India, Hindustan Motors and Honda Siel cars dipped by 58 per cent, 18.2 per cent and 33.1 per cent respectively at 501 cars, 1,274 units and 617 units respectively during April 2001.

Luxury car maker Mercedes Benz India however, recorded a 25.8 per cent rise at 78 cars over 62 cars sold in April 2000.

MUV sales dipped on account of a 8.5 per cent fall posted by market leader Mahindra and Mahindra which sold 4,047 units during the reference month even as Toyota Kirloskar posted a 74.5 per cent rise at 1,868 units.

Other MUV makers like Telco and Bajaj Tempo recorded a 31.3 per cent and 50 per cent drop in sales at 1,459 units and 196 units respectively during April 2001.

In the commercial vehicles segment, medium and heavy vehicles sales fell by 4.3 per cent at 5,417 units while that of light commercial declined by 27.6 per cent at 2,508 units during the month under review.

In the scooters segment, all the manufacturers including Bajaj Auto, LML, Kinetic Motor company and TVS-Suzuki recorded a decline in sales during April 2001.

India’s largest scooter maker Bajaj posted a 16.4 per cent drop at 38,311 units, while sales of LML fell by 34.1 per cent at 12,679 units during the reference month.

Sales of Kinetic and TVS-Suzuki fell by 4.2 per cent and 8.7 per cent at 9,643 units and 8,337 units in April 2001.

Motorycles sales continued on the upswing, led by market leader Hero Honda which registered a 21.3 per cent rise at 96,672 units.

Motorcycle sales of Bajaj Auto increased by 17.3 per cent at 46,874 units. New entrants LML and Kinetic Engineering sold 4,079 units and 3,317 units in april this year.

However, TVS-Suzuki and Yamaha Motor Escorts Ltd recorded an 11.3 per cent and 2.6 per cent decline in motorcycle sales at 27,477 units and 12,700 units respectively. PTI

MTNL plans to enter distance telephony
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 29
MTNL, along with RailTel of the Indian Railways plans to enter the National Long Distance Operations (NLDO).

According to MTNL Chairman and Managing Director, Mr Narinder Sharma, efforts were also on to rope in a third partner in the proposed project.

Indian Railways operates one of the largest rail networks in the world and has a nationwide “right of way” along 62,800 km of railway track. The Railways plan to transfer their entire communications network to their subsidiary, RailTel Corporation of India Ltd.

MTNL by getting access to this infrastructure, which is second only to that of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd, hopes to emerge as a major player in long distance telephony.

The strategic partnership would also give MTNL, in which the government holds 56 per cent stake, a lead over other potential private competitors in the field like Reliance and Bharti Enterprises.

NSE FORECAST

Cadila Healthcare a good pick
Ashok Kumar

JUST as we had predicted last week, the markets continued to traverse in the consolidation phase through the week. One of the reasons that the markets have not broken out decisively in either direction is on account of the fact that while a leading Indian financial institution has been flooding the market with paper, some FIIs have begun to accumulate stocks ahead of the rolling settlement regime.

However, there is no escaping the fact that there is still no real good news and there is no overwhelming reason to send this market soaring and thus one has to be cautious.

Punters with a bullish temperament can consider taking up long positions at the counters of Tata Tea at Rs 230 (square up at Rs 239) and DSQ Software at Rs 95 (square up at Rs 110). Those with a bearish sentiment could consider selling at the counters of Infosys Technologies at Rs 4313 (cover up at Rs 4186) and Zee Telefilms at Rs 153 (cover up at Rs 141).

The portfolio pick of this week is Cadila Healthcare at whose counter there seems to be some institutional interest building up.

CORPORATE NEWS

Unilever gets 90pc stake in Rossell
New Delhi, May 29
British consumer products’ giant Unilever Plc has indirectly acquired close to 90 per cent equity stake in Indian Company Rossell Industries Ltd (RIL). This stake has been acquired by Unilever via several group companies and subsidiaries, including wholly-owned subsidiary unilever Overseas Holdings BV (UOH) and Lipton India Exports Ltd (LIEL), which is a subsidiary of Uniliver’s Indian arm Hindustan Lever Limited (HLL). The stake acquisition follows an agreement between UOH, Rossell Industries and Jokai Tea Holdings Limited in December 1999, as per the annual report of HLL for the year 2000. PTI

Dabur CGU applies for life insurance
New Delhi, May 29
Dabur CGU Life Insurance today applied to the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) for life insurance licence. The proposed insurance venture, where Dabur Group would hold 74 per cent stake and UK-based CGNU PLC subsidiary CGU Life 26 per cent stake, would start with an equity capital of Rs 110 crore. “With CGU’s global lead in the financial sector coupled with the Dabur Group’s inherent strengths in the Ondian market, our joint venture will emerge as a leading player in the life insurance industry,” Dabur CGU Chief Executive Officer, Stuart Purdy, said. PTI

Havells to upgrade plant
New Delhi, May 29
Havells India, which recently announced a major restructuring of the group, said today it will invest Rs 15 crore in upgrading plant and machinery and in research activities. The group had earlier this month, said it has mandated management consultants pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC) for the proposed restructuring. The report is likely to be available by June end. “We will invest Rs 10 crore in plant and machinery and another Rs 5 crore on R&D activities,” Director Ameet Gupta said adding the proposed investment will be funded via internal accruals. PTI

Birla Sun Life offers 0.75-0.90 pc
New Delhi, May 29
Birla Sun Life Asset Management Company today declared a net dividend of 0.75-0.90 per cent under two options under the Birla MIP scheme. The fund has offered 0.75 per cent (Rs 0.075 per unit) to investors under the Monthly Dividend Plan while it is 0.90 per cent (Rs 0.090 per unit) for Monthly Payment Plan, a company release said. The book closures of both the schemes has been fixed from May 26 to 31. PTI

GLOBAL NEWS

Isuzu Motor shares slide
Tokyo, May 29
Shares of Isuzu Motor Ltd took a sharp dive on Tuesday after market players took a closer look at a dramatic restructuring plan unveiled by the truck maker this week and voted on the side of caution. Japan's top maker of light trucks owned 49 per cent by General Motors Corp, was down 7.59 per cent or 22 yen at 268, erasing all and more of a 3.94 per cent climb in the previous session. On Monday, buyers jumped at news that Isuzu would cut 9,700 jobs, or a quarter of its workforce, over the next three years in an attempt to slash costs. Reuters

Toyota recalls 31,115 cars in Japan
Tokyo, May 29
Toyota Motor Corpannounced on Tuesday a recall of 31,115 cars sold in Japan to replace air-fuel control sensors. The defective cars — the Harrier sport-utility vehicle and Windom luxury sedan — were made between December 15, 1997 and December 25, 1998, and may have damaged catalytic converters due to a possible failed air-fuel control sensor. Circuits in the air-fuel control sensor may lose connection, it said. Toyota did not export any of the defective cars and has not unveiled a recall cost. Reuters

Japan economy stumbles in April
Tokyo, May 29
Shrinking output and a rise in unemployment to near record levels sent Japan's economy deeper into the mire in April, data showed on Tuesday, underlining the tricky balancing act facing the new Prime Minister. Industrial production fell 1.7 per cent in April from the previous month on a seasonally adjusted basis, the second straight drop and slightly worse than a 1 per cent decline forecast by economists polled by Reuters. The jobless rate swelled to 4.8 per cent last month from 4.7 per cent in March, just shy of a record 4.9 per cent hit last December and again in January, while year-on-year spending by wage earners fell for the first time in five months. Reuters

Changi airport ‘best’
Madrid, May 29
Singapore's Changi airport, cited regularly among the world's favourites in passenger surveys, was on Monday named best "value for money" international hub by the industry's global body IATA. Nav Canada took the award as the best value provider of navigation services. Changi's operator, the Singapore Civil Aviation Authority , and the Canadian non-profit corporation both received IATA's annual Eagle awards at the body's annual general meeting. Reuters

China an opportunity: Assocham
Beijing, May 29
China, world’s seventh largest trading nation, is not a threat to India but an opportunity for India businessmen to explore its huge market potential, President of Assocham Raghu Mody said here. “China is not a threat to Indian business but a huge opportunity awaiting to be tapped”, Mody said at an India-China trade seminar here yesterday and acknowledged that most Indian entrepreneurs were oblivious to the huge market potential in China. PTI

BIZ BRIEFS

Escotel
Chandigarh, May 29
Escotel Mobile Communications, the leading cellular operator in UP (West), Haryana and Kerala today informed that the TRAI’s initiative to revive the process to introduce the Calling Party Pays (CPP) regime is welcome by the cellular industry. Cellular industry has been continuously lobbying with the government for taking various measures for making cellular telephony more affordable. Mr Manoj, Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer, Escotel said “paying for incoming calls remains one of the largest barriers for the customers to go cellular today. Unfortunately the process of implementation of CPP has been delayed for over 2 years. TNS

Sun Microsys
New Delhi, May 29
Sun Microsystems today launched application servers “Sun Cobalt” for small to medium sized organisations. This new server shields end users from the technical complexities of setting up a server. It has centralised file storage, back up and restore mechanisms for date security and also has RAID I software, which ensures the availability of content in the event of disk failure through data redundancy over two disks. TNS

HCL Ezeebee
Chandigarh, May 29
HCL today launched an Internet connecting device Ezeebee. The device which also requires a power source and a telephone connection would connect the user to Internet in less than a minute. It can be used for surfing, e-mailing, and also for interactive TV viewing. According to a press release by the company, the product is lkely to cost around Rs 20,000. The company also claims the device to be virus proof. Ezeebee would be targeted towards first time users, Cyber cafes, hotels, educational institutes etc. TNS

Zee interactive
Bangalore, May 29
Zee Interactive Learning Systems, a 100 per cent subsidiary of Zee Telefilms, today launched L4PRO Masters which it said is India’s only career programme in Broadband Technologies. PTI

Gramin Bank
Faridabad, May 29
The Gurgaon Gramin Bank has posted a net profit of Rs 22.09 crore in the fiscal year of 2000-2001. According to a press release issued by the bank Chairman, here today, there had been a ‘quantum’ jump in the income of bank during the period. He said income which had increased by 12 per cent last year had gone up by 18.41 per cent this year. The bank made a fresh credit deployment of Rs 144 crore of which about 50 per cent was made for agriculture sector. TNS

Allen Cooper
Chandigarh, May 29
Superhouse Leathers Ltd, the manufacturers of Allen Cooper brand has launched Derby Shoes, a perfect semi formal shoes for all occasions. The shoe is specifically targeted for the Indian up market and elite segment. TNS

Pepsi MD
Kanpur, May 29
A local court of Kanpur Dehat district has issued a Non-bailable warrants (NBW), under the Factory Act, against the Pepsi Company Managing Director Vikram Tondon and Company’s Jaipur unit General Manager V.K. Khanal in a boiler leakage case. The Magistrate directed the police to produce the two before the court on June 15, 2001. UNI