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| Sunday,
July 29, 2001, Chandigarh, India   
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Gold
deposit scheme fails to glitter PC sales
grow 34 pc despite slowdown Dry port
revenue may rise to 100 cr J&K
Bank net up 50 pc |
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Backlash
against globalisation spreading
Adani’s
net profit dips by 11.5 pc
Subsequent
event
Passes
to agents pose security problem
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Gold deposit scheme fails to glitter New Delhi, July 27 The gold deposit scheme was also aimed at cutting down gold imports. But it failed to generate the impact the government had hoped to due to the practice of hoarding gold and the low interest promised on the deposits. "The scheme has failed to click. We haven't got very encouraging response in the past two years. People are not at all interested in depositing their gold with banks," said an official in the SBI. Analyst say the Indian tradition of keeping gold for use on a rainy day spooked the much-hyped scheme that was expected to mobilize an estimated Rs.500 billion worth of the yellow metal, primarily jewelry, within a year of its announcement in the 1999-2000 federal budget. According to banking sources, the five nationalised banks that launched the scheme in late 1999 have managed to collect only 10 to 12 tonnes of gold so far. "The scheme was the first important step towards the development of the gold trade market in India, brining into play some form of gold banking in the country," said Arun Goyal, a gold market analyst. "But the scheme was not conceived properly. The interest paid on the deposit is not exactly tempting for individuals. The banks' decision to return the gold in bars on maturity of the instrument put off households," Goyal told IANS. Under the scheme, investors deposit gold with the banks and receive in exchange fixed term interest — ranging from 3 to 4 per cent for three to seven years — bearing certificates or bonds. The depositors can take back their gold or the equivalent in rupee terms when the policy matures. The interest paid on the deposit is not taxable, and premature encashment is allowed after one year. "First of all, we never had a tradition of dealing with gold per se as an investment avenue in the country. As part of jewellery, yes, but not as an item that is bought and sold like stocks and shares," the SBI official said. India remained the highest consumer of gold in 2000 at 855.3 ton nes, recording a nearly 2 per cent increase as against the consumption of 838.8 tonnes in 1999, according to the World Gold Council (WGC). The country imported 533.7 tonnes of gold last year. An estimated 13,000 tonnes, worth Rs. 6,000 billion, is believed locked up in family vaults while the country spends close to Rs.300 billion annually on gold imports. "The average investor's awareness of gold as an investment option has been negligible. Initially, we thought aggressive marketing strategy would generate positive response but it hasn't helped. Now the bank has decided to scale down marketing initiative for the scheme," the SBI official said. SBI has managed to mobilise seven tonnes of gold through the scheme since its launch in November 1999, against a targeted 100 tons in the first year. "The typical Indian mindset is united on one thing — hording gold. It might seem easier for the banks to approach various temples and trusts that have huge reserves of gold mainly in the form of coins and jewellery," expert Goyal said. The boards of temples and shrines hold huge quantities of unused gold offered to deities by worshippers. They do not have to convert their gold into jewellery, or fear income-tax raids. "The gold donated by pilgrims lies idle, or is sold off to fund charitable programmes. If you are a member of temple or religious trust, the scheme is a good idea. Its income can be used to fund charitable programmes," he said. Kumar Acharya of Corporation Bank said: "The scheme does not guarantee depositor amnesty from income tax investigations. This could also be a potential hitch for individual hoarders to deposit with banks." The bankers plan to lend out the collected gold to bullion traders also failed to take-off as fluctuation in gold prices keep the traders away from the long-term loan schemes. Bullion traders may incur losses if gold prices rise at the time of maturity of the loan, Acharya
said. IANS
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PC sales grow 34 pc despite slowdown New Delhi, July 28 “Though the entire country is witnessing an economic slump, the IT market has grown reasonably well. This is primarily due to high IT consumption in large corporation and MNCs. There is a need to bring down the prices of IT products to proliferate IT to the grass-root level which is highly price sensitive,” said Vinnie Mehta, Director of MAIT, apex body of IT manufacturers. The government should bring down to nil all local levies - excise duty and sales tax. This will also help curb the grey market and motivate them to graduate to the organised sector. “The performance of the industry will get a further boost by increased IT consumption in the government. While most government departments have earmarked 2 to 3 per cent of their annual budgets for IT, we are yet to witness that spend happen,” Mr Mehta said. The initiative launched by various state governments for e-governance are encouraging but need to gather momentum. An IMRB study said desktop PC market cross 1.88 million units registering a growth of 34 per cent over the previous year, the second half of 2000-01 grew by 25 per cent over the first half. The assembled PC, including smaller lesser known regional brands and unbranded systems, accounted for 53 per cent sales in 2000-01, registering a growth of 22 per cent over the previous year. With a growth of 59 per cent, the market share of MNC brands increased from 23 to 27 per cent. Indian brands accounted for 20 per cent of the market. The business segment grew by 31 per cent while in household it grew by 45 per cent compared to last year. The number of active Internet subscribers increased to 1.12 million by March, 2001, leading to 67 per cent penetration amongst PC-owning business establishments and 54 per cent penetration in PC owning homes. The Internet subscribers base has been growing at a CAGR of 159 per cent over the past five years. The business segment accounts for 45 per cent of the share, while household accounts for 55 per cent. Dial-up remains the most commonly used means for accessing the Internet, 72 per cent of the subscribers use dial-ups, cable and DSL are yet to catch up and they account for only two and one per cent of access means. Though the figures of the study indicate increasing penetration of the PC in the country, the President of MAIT, Mr Vinay Deshpande, said “to harness the true potential of the market, one needs to come up with cost-effective unique Indian solutions for unique Indian needs. Costs and risk associated with research being high, the IT industry in India may look at an inter-firm R&D collaborative effort as have flourised in the USA, Japan and other
countries. The government has played a key role in the success of R&D consortia in all advanced countries by creating easy access funds and venture capital for R&D projects, We need to emulate this in India, he added.
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Dry port revenue may rise to 100 cr Ludhiana, July 28 Mr Amresh Jain, Deputy Commissioner, at the dry port, in an interview to the The Tribune disclosed that during the current financial year the revenue of the dry port was expected to increase to Rs 100 crore against about Rs 77 crore during the past year. It was despite the fact that the customs duty had been substantially decreased in this year’s budget on most of the items imported through this port. Mr Jain said the about 65-70 per cent of the imports from the dry port were heavy melting scrap (HMS) from the Gulf countries and about 20 per cent were textile machinery, acrylic yarn and fibre. The HMS material was mostly used by the furnace units in Ludhiana and Mandi Gobindgarh. The other items of import such as news print, nickel and zinc metals and computer parts are also growing during the current year. The export of cycle and cycle parts, hosiery goods, hand tools and light engineering machines had also increased substantially during the period though some exporters and importers were using Delhi dry port and other coastal ports because of the difference in the freight charges of road transports and railways.
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J&K Bank net up 50 pc New Delhi, July 28 The bank made an operating profit of Rs 66.51 crore in the same period of the previous year. The net profits of the bank have gone up by 50 per cent to Rs 55.61 crore against Rs 37.07 crore in the corresponding period last year. Total income of the bank recorded an increase of 34 per cent to Rs 375.11 crore against Rs 280.32 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year.
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Backlash against globalisation
spreading In over a quarter of a century, the word’s richest nations (G-7) would not have held their annual summit in a more grim than at Genoa (July 19-21) which saw anti-globalisation demonstrations rising to a crescendo, even as the global seemed poised to enter a recession. These essentially Economic Summits, which were gradually extended to take in international trouble spots, have never been known for accomplishments that have left their imprint on the global management of crises in the monetary system or volatile capital and currency movements that have destablishing consequences for developing nations. Genuine concern for the poor two-thirds of the world has never been at the heart of G-7 Summits though communiques make ritual references to the plight of developing countries. Indeed demands on the poor are greater than offers to them largely conditioned on low-income countries embracing market-based systems. The leaders from USA, Japan, Germany, France, United Kingdom, Italy and Canada said they would seek enhanced cooperation and solidarity with developing countries, based on “mutual responsibility” for combating poverty. Barring the announcement of a Global Fund to fight AIDS and other infectious diseases, and promise to “look for ways to broaden debt relief” - when they knew that the Cologne Summit (1999) declaration remains a dead letter, in substance - the Summit ended in a “business as usual” approach. Speaking for the G-7 leaders, the British Prime Minister Tony Blair vociferously defended the Summit approach, asserting it could do “more” for the poor than what the demonstrators could hope to achieve. Indeed his grouse was that the protestors stole the headlines from them. The brazen attitude of G-7 leaders is exemplified in the steady and sharp decline in official development assistance during the 1990s, down to a level of 0.22 per cent of their combined GNP against the UN target of 0.70 per cent set in the 1970s, failure to contribute to the multilateral debt initiative, and trade barriers against poor countries while preaching free trade. Anti-globalisation demonstrations, which erupted in a big way at Seattle (1999) before the WTO Ministerial Meeting, have been gathering momentum since, with protestors making their loud presence felt at all major international economic gatherings
including the IMF-World Bank meet (Prague), World Economic Forum (Davos) and the Euripean Union Summit recently in Sweden. One of the major worries of G-7 leaders was how to make the summits safer against escalating violence with demonstrations drawn from varied interests, with conflicting objectives. At Seattle, American trade unions wanted strict enforcement of labour standards in developing countries so that their countries were not exposed to cheaper imports leading to job losses. What the developing countries have been pleading for over the last two decades is a more equitable international economic order in which the development concerns are devetalled effectively in monetary, financial and trade policies of the richer countries. The international financial institutions controlled by the G-7 have become the principal instruments of pressuring developing countries to meet the demands of globalisation. The Genoa Summit endorsed the launch of a new global trade round at the forthcoming WTO Ministerial Meeting at Doha (Qatar), but failed to respond to the fears of several developing countries about an all-inclusive agenda with issues not strictly trade-related. Nor has G-7 accepted the eminently sound proposal of a UN expert group that the next round should be “development-oriented”.
IPA |
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Adani’s net profit dips by 11.5 pc The net-profit of Adani Exports Limited, the flagship company of the Rs 3,500 crore Adani group, has gone down by 11.5 per cent for the first quarter of the financial year 2001-02. The company’s turnover for the first quarter ended on June 30 has also gone down to Rs 621.36 crore as against Rs 640.52 crore in the corresponding period last year. The net profit of the company has been Rs 24.52 crore compared to Rs 27.71 crore in the corresponding period last year.
Srei International Fin The post-tax profit of Srei International Finance has risen from Rs 2.59 crore in last Q1 to Rs 3.44 crore in the current first quarter.
Unichem Lab Unichem Laboratories Ltd has posted a 63.08 per cent rise in net profit at Rs 8.66 crore for the first quarter ended June 30, 2001, compared to Rs 5.31 crore in corresponding period of previous fiscal. The board has recommended a dividend of 50 per cent (Rs 5 per equity share) for the financial year 2000-01. The sales turnover of the company increased by 16.92 per cent at Rs 75.67 crore as against Rs 64.72 crore in Q1 of last year.
Havell’s India Havell’s Group, a company in the electrical engineering sector in India, today announced substantially higher earnings and sales figures for the quarter ended June 2001. Earnings for the first quarter grew by a whopping 125 per cent to Rs 222.07 lakh from Rs 98.57 lakh in the corresponding period in the last financial. Total sales grew to 4,288.77 lakh from Rs 2,721.03 lakh up a healthy 58 per cent.
SmithKline Beecham SmithKline
Beecham Consumer Healthcare (SBCH) today announced 37.5 per cent higher net profit at
Rs 68.84 crore on 20.8 per cent higher sales at Rs 460.25 crore for the six months ending June 30, 2001. The Board of Directors of the company also announced an interim dividend of 33 per cent or Rs 3.30 per share for the year 2001.
Cadilla Healthcare Cadilla Healthcare Ltd (CHL) has acquired 0.49 per cent stake in German Remedies Ltd through open market at Rs 466.93 per share. The company has acquired 40,466 shares of German Remedies through open market purchases as per SEBI rules.
Maars Software Net sales turnover of the Chennai based Maars Software International have come down to Rs 1802.92 lakh in the quarter ended on June 30 last from Rs 2155.25 in the same quarter of the 2000-01 fiscal.
Tata Sponge Tata Sponge Iron Ltd announced a net profit of Rs 4.50 crore for the period ended June 30, 2001, compared to Rs 4.84 crore in the same period last year. The total income during the period stood at Rs 37.36 crore against Rs 34.85 crore in the same period last year. Earning per share stood at Rs 2.92 from Rs 3.15 in the same period last year.
Tips Industries Tips Industries Ltd has posted a net loss of Rs 10.98 crore for the first quarter ended June 30, 2001, compared to a net profit of Rs 3.04 crore for the same period of previous fiscal.
TNS, Agencies |
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Unreliable Isn’t it surprising that amidst all the fast flying accusations about UTI’s top management and its actions, the name of a leading industrial house is being mentioned only in hushed tones. Doubting Thomases would do well to scan where the bulk of UTI’s corpus has found its way to.
Lift in Lurch There is at least some comic relief on the US-64 front. The grapevine has it that some of the proletariat comrades, much like the bourgeois it so loves to hate, has invested a fair amount of its funds in the ill-fated scheme and is now bearing the consequences. Seems it has seen red and can thus be expected to display its true colours in Parliament.
Long or wrong Punters who placed their bets on the Kargil butcher and took up long positions expecting a joint kind word have been short-changed, and literally, at that. Little wonder then that protest rallies are now the order of the day.
Well lubricated The grapevine has it that the BPN Amoco open offer deal for the shares of Castrol which had run into rough weather earlier, will now go through albeit at a SEBI dictated price. Little wonder then that every punter at the BSE is swearing by Castrol. |
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by Praful R. Desai Subsequent event Q: Whether bona fide need of the landlord is to be seen, as on the date of the application or whether subsequent events would negative it? Ans: The S.C. of India in Gaya Prasad v Pradeep Srivastva (2001 (1) R.C.J. 522) opined thus: The S.C. said at the outset that the crucial date for deciding as to the bona fides of the requirement of the landlord is the date of his application for eviction. The antecedent days may perhaps have utility for him to reach the said crucial date of consideration. If every subsequent development during the post petition period is to be taken into account for judging the bona fides of the requirement pleaded by the landlord, there would be perhaps no end as the unfortunate situation in our litigative slow process system subsists. During 23 years after the landlord moved for eviction on the ground that his son needed the building, neither the landlord nor his son is expected to remain idle without doing any work, lest, joining any new assignment or starting any new work would be at the peril of forfeiting his requirement to occupy the building. If a young entrepreneur decides to launch new enterprise and on that ground he or his father seeks eviction of a tenant from the building, the proposed enterprise would not get faded out by subsequent developments during the traditional lengthy longevity of the litigation. All that is needed is to erase the patina and see the gloss. It is pernicious and unjust to shut the door before an applicant just on the eve of his reaching the finale, after passing through all the previous levels of the litigation, merely on the ground that certain developments occurred pendent lite , because the opposite party succeeded in prolonging the matter for such unduly long period. In the opinion of the S.C., the subsequent events to overshadow the genuineness of the need must of such nature and of such a dimension that the need propounded by the petitioning party should have been completely eclipsed by such subsequent events. Considering all the aforesaid points, the S.C. held that the subsequent events pleaded and highlighted by the appellant are too insufficient to overshadow the bona fide need concurrently found by the fact finding Courts. Thus, the S.C. dismissed the present appeal.
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