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Tuesday,
August
28,
2001, Chandigarh, India  
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Hudco to sanction 5000 cr for urban projects
‘Farmers need govt’s help in WTO regime’
Private trade unlikely to make paddy purchases |
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Top ten companies' net profit up 25 pc in Q 1 Telephone
revenue arrears at new high FCI rice
export policy hits EoUs Bank of
Punjab opens 5th branch in Ludhiana Maruti Udyog’s plea dismissed Wooden case units may face closure India to oppose new issues
Cisco ties up with Satyam Infoway
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Hudco to sanction 5000 cr for urban projects New Delhi, August 27 “Our sanction target for 2001-02 is Rs 5,000 crore. We will raise about Rs 5,000 crore in next 10-12 months through tax-free bonds, debentures, international funding etc,” Hudco Chairman and Managing Director V. Suresh said here today. Hudco has already come out with a bonds issue with got Rs 830 crore out of which Rs 635 crore was retained, he said. “Hudco and IL&FS are given to access $ 125 million from US capital markets under FIRE programme. Off this $ 55 million have already been access while for the remaining $ 70 million a bonds issue is planned for 2001-02,” Suresh said. Mr Suresh said this year’s sanctions include Rs 300 crore for a water supply project in Andhra Pradesh, Rs 1500 crore for road development in Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Punjab. Hudco has till date sanctioned Rs 15,464 crore ($ 3.36 billion) loans to 1851 urban infrastructure projects. Of this Rs 4,108 crore was sanctioned for water supply projects, Rs 3,715 crore for roads/bridges, Rs 2089 crore for social infrastructure, Rs 1633 crore for area development and Rs 1330 crore for sewerage, drainage and sanitation projects, he added. Other sanctions include Rs 635 crore for low cost sanitation, Rs 267 crore for solid waste management, Rs 686 crore for transport nagar, Rs 378 crore for airports and ports and Rs 624 crore for economic infrastructure like industrial parks and commercial complexes, Suresh said. Priority is given to financing water supply scheme. As much as 26 per cent of the cumulative loan sanctions for urban infrastructure schemes by Hudco, is going towards water supply augmentation, rehabilitation, extension as well as new schemes with development of source for unserviced areas, he said. Hudco has so far sanctioned 314 water supply schemes for a total assistance of Rs 3435.54 crore. These include water supply schemes for Solapur, Jalgaon, Nagpur, Dewas and Alapuzha, Bangalore, Kolkata and Ahmedabad.
PTI |
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UTI panel to take investment decisions Kolkata, August 27 Disclosing this here today UTI Chairman M. Damodaran said the new Investment Committee was already in place in which currently he was a member. But this was an “interim arrangement” because there was insufficient number of EDs at the moment. “As soon as we have one more ED, the Chairman will no longer be its member and it will have only three Executive Directors”, Damodaran told reporters. This Investment Committee would be responsible for all investments made by the UTI, Damodaran said. The move by the country’s largest mutual fund not to involve its Chairman in future investment decisions comes a little over a month after former Chairman
P.S. Subramaniam was arrested by the CBI for his alleged role in investing over Rs 32 crore in Cyberspace
Infosys. Damodaran, who took over as the UTI Chairman on July 15, however, said the current decision had nothing to do with the controversy over investment in Cyberspace, but because, “we want that investment decisions should be handled by professional fund managers and the Chairman should concentrate on overall running of the organisation”.
PTI |
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‘Farmers need govt’s help in WTO regime’ New Delhi, August 27 “There are a number of internal constraints which, if not appropriately addressed, would severely limit the capacity of countries like India to increase domestic production”, the Professor and Chairperson (Management Development Programmes) of the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT), Dr ( Mrs) Vijaya Katti said. In India subsistence farming and segmented markets still remain a dominant character of the agriculture sector, a noted agriculture scientist, Prof S.S. Johl, pointed out. “In such a structurally distorted domestic market, where the farmer has been enfeebled enough to operate on his own strength, he cannot be expected to compete cost-effectively in a competitive globalised market”, Prof Johl said. Under such a dismal situation, the WTO regime is bound to cause catastrophic tribulations in the farm sector, he said. “It needs to be recognised that in the WTO the small farmer will not be able to meet his principal responsibility without adequate support from the government. Public intervention will, therefore, be necessary to achieve goals”, Dr Katti said. Dr R.P. Singh of the Indian Agricultural Research Institute said the implementation of the WTO provisions by all countries will open up opportunities for the Indian farmers to participate more aggressively in the world trade. “This will require a paradigm shift from subsistence to the commercial farming with stringent quality and cost control measures”, Dr Singh observed. The Director of IARI, Dr Panjab Singh, said subsistence farming and very small holding is the way of life of the Indian farmers. “It is difficult to compete cost- effectively in the global market unless commercial farming is practised in the farm sector”, he said. Prof Johl pointed out the first pre-requisite is that an effective land market must be developed that allows the viable farm units to grow. “A land lease market might remove existing apprehensions of losing the land if leased out for longer periods. Also to the extent, through the earlier phases of land reforms, the surplus lands have been distributed among the landless families, these so-called farmers must be helped to exit their tiny unviable pieces of land held by them by providing them with an access to gainful employment outside the farm sector”, he said. |
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Private trade unlikely to make paddy purchases Chandigarh, August 27 According to official figures available here today, Punjab procured a total of 110 lakh tonnes of paddy last year. The crop this year is so good that it is expected to exceed the last year’s figure by about 15 lakh tonnes. Almost the entire paddy harvest is expected to become the marketable surplus because there is little rice consumption within the state. The FCI will produce about 30 per cent of the total arrivals which roughly translates itself into about 31.50 lakh tonnes. The rest of the grain will be procured by the Punjab government procurement agencies including the Markfed, the state food and civil supplies department, Punjab Warehousing Corporation and Agro Industries Corporation. Private trade procured about 20 per cent of the paddy arrivals last year. But this year, private traders are unlikely to make any significant purchases due to a variety of factors. The Government of India was forced to relax quality specifications last year following a hue and cry raised by the farmers. This in turn attracted the private rice shellers into making huge purchases which they sold at a profit later. This year, from all available accounts, the condition of the paddy crop is excellent. Therefore, the government agencies are bound to insist on strict quality control while making purchases. This in turn will keep the private traders at bay who show interest only when they see a profit. The second factor which will affect the private purchases is the storage problem. There is just no storage space available with them. Rice milled by them from last year’s paddy crop is still lying with the shellers. The demand for Punjab rice in other parts of the country is extremely low. Despite best efforts, the FCI saddled with a record 280 lakh tonnes of foodgrains including wheat and rice. Efforts are being made to speed up evacuation of the foograins from the state. Last month, 4.5 lakh tonnes of foodgrains were moved out of the state. This month, the FCI hopes to transport 5.53 lakh tonnes out of which five lakh tonnes has already been moved out. As against 258 specials planned for the month, 221 specials loaded with grain have left for their destinations in different parts of the state so far. Although the Punjab Government has been pressing the Centre to advance the date for the commencement of paddy procurement to the middle of September, the FCI is proceeding on the assumption that the procurement operations will start from October 1. The FCI also faced with a massive shortage of godowns. Only about 17 lakh tonnes of CAP (covered at plinth) storage is available. The rest of the grain will have to be stored in an unscientific manner. |
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Top ten companies' net profit up 25 pc in Q 1 New Delhi, August 27 Although RIL maintained its number one position with a 14 per cent growth in net profit at Rs 618 crore during April-June 2001, its group company Reliance Petroleum (RPL) was outsmarted by FMCG major Hindustan lever this time. According to latest company data, HLL’s net profit from its operations was about Rs 347 crore during April-June 2001 as against Rs 287 crore in the corresponding period last fiscal. “After including a one-time exceptional income of Rs 119.98 crore on account of profit arising from the sale of Quest Flavours business to ICI Group, the net profit goes up to Rs 466.59 crore,” the company clarified. Otherwise, HLL’s net profit from operation was Rs 347 crore, which is significantly lower than that of RPL. RPL, which was the turnover topper of last fiscal, logged in a 52 per cent jump in net to Rs 456 crore in the last quarter as against Rs 300 crore during April-June 2000. The two Reliance group companies accounted for almost 40 per cent of the aggregate net profit of top 10 companies at Rs 2,750 crore. Tobacco major ITC retained its fourth position after posting a modest 21 per cent growth in net profit at Rs 301 crore last quarter. NYSE-listed Wipro came up the ladder to fifth position after a 93 per cent net profit growth at Rs 208 crore closely followed by Nasdaq-listed infosys whose net was up 50 per cent to Rs 190 crore. Av Birla’s Hindalco posted a marginal fall in net profit at Rs 161 crore during the first quarter of 2001 as against Rs 176 crore a year ago. The aluminium major had posted a net profit of Rs 172 crore but after providing for deferred tax payment, its net was down at Rs 161 crore, Hindalco said in its website. Even in case of Bajaj Auto, the net profit accounted to Rs 118.85 for tax adjustments although its net profit was at Rs 120.77 crore during the last quarter. Bajaj Auto also gained from a Rs 45 crore income received from Allianz, its foreign partner for general insurance venture. HDFC made it to the top 10 list last quarter with Rs 114 crore net profit, which is 19 per cent more than Rs 96 crore during April-June 2000. None of the Tata group companies figured among the top 10 list in the first quarter.
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Telephone revenue arrears at new high New Delhi, August 27 The percentage of collection of revenue to the total demand raised also decreased to 85.84 per cent during 1999-2000 from 88.36 per cent in 1998-99 indicating the department’s slackness in taking prompt and effective steps on their realisation, Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) said in its latest report. An amount of Rs 1,066.09 crore (as of July 1, 2000) was outstanding for one or more year constituting more than 63 per cent of the total outstanding revenue, CAG pointed out. The arrears stood at Rs 1,482.54 crore at the end of March 1997 and thus, have gone up by 66 per cent by the end of 2000. Major portion of the arrears, Rs 1,689.52 crore was outstanding against various categories of the telephone subscribers at the end of June 2000. According to CAG report, 88.08 per cent was outstanding against the private subscribers, 2.92 per cent against the Central Government departments and 9 per cent against various state governments. The amount of outstanding bills against private subscribers was increasing every year and in the last one year alone the outstanding amount against this category had gone up by Rs 279.26 crore, CAG said, adding that the “Department had failed to make concerted efforts to recover the huge outstanding amount from the private subscribers.”
PTI |
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FCI rice export
policy hits EoUs Jalalabad, August 27 The most affected among these are those millers who have modernised their mills at huge cost under the 1996 industrial policy of Punjab Government. The 1996 industrial policy was made to encourage the rice miller to produce export quality rice by installing state of the art machinery. The policy offered an exemption of 4 per cent purchase tax on paddy purchase subject to a minimum 25 per cent export of the total production. The purchase tax exempted was for ten-year or maximum to the tune of 300 per cent of the total expenditure incurred upon the modernization of existing plant. But the FCI’s sudden decision has completely paralysed the export of non-Basmati rice by private millers. Now these millers are in a dilemma, how to recover their additional investment. |
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Bank of Punjab opens
5th branch in Ludhiana Chandigarh, August 27 This new branch is equipped with the state of the art information systems, supported by facilities like Internet Banking, Telebanking, e-alert, Call Centre, etc. It will be offering services and products like home loans, car loans, two-wheeler loans, consumer
loans and depository services. According to Mr Sarbjit Singh, Managing Director of the bank, “with the inauguration of the new branch the customers in Ludhiana will enjoy a better reach to our eBanking services. We are also providing our High Networking customer in Ludhiana with the exclusive club services.” The bank is offering exclusive club services, wherein they can enjoy special services like higher cash withdrawal limit through ATMs to Rs 40,000 per day, cash and cheque pickup on request. The bank plans to take its ATM network to over 350 in the next two years. |
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Maruti Udyog’s plea dismissed Chandigarh, August 27 The high court had earlier dismissed an interim prayer made by the union stating that the striking employees should be allowed to join the duty without giving an undertaking of good conduct. After this, there was a compromise between the employees and the management and the employees joined duty. The management filed the instant application saying that as per the compromise the employees had joined the duty and the writ petition should be dismissed in view of the compromise. After hearing the arguments, the judge observed that unfortunately it was not stated in the settlement that all the reliefs prayed for had either been granted or given up and as such, It would not be proper to dismiss the writ petition at this stage. |
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Wooden case units may face closure Jalandhar, August 27 According to a survey conducted by this reporter more than 25 per cent of wooden case manufacturers have pulled down their shutters remaining are on the brink of closure due to the decline in engineering goods’ exports and imposition of 4.4 per cent sales tax. There are about 75 manufacturing units in the city. Most of the owners alleged that though there has been a recession in demand for wooden cases for the past four years, particularly, when the export of engineering goods like hand-tools and machine tools had declined considerably throughout the state in the past four years the decision to impose sales tax has virtually placed these units at the receiving end. This is basically a labour job to manufacture wooden cases and how it can be taxed? The state government should withdraw its notification regarding the imposition of sales tax besides announcing a special package for us,” Mr Vijay Kumar, President of the Jalandhar Wooden Cases Manufacturers Association, said. The cost of inputs, including labour, has increased considerably in the past five years whereas we are forced to reduce the margins in the prevailing competitive business conditions. Now the biggest question before us is how to survive?” Mr Paramjit Singh, another wooden case manufacturer, said. They demanded that state government should abolish the sales tax on the wooden case immediately. |
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India to oppose new issues New Delhi, August 27 Speaking at a meeting organised by FICCI, Mr Singh said any move to inject further issues runs the risk of overloading agenda and would make it unsustainable. The Minister said no prima facie case has been established on the necessity or relevance of the proposed new issues into the WTO framework; nor is it cogently shown that developing countries are going to definitely benefit from negotiations in new areas. |
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Global Weighing Garment Expo SBI branch New Rs 20 note IOC cuts prices |
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