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| Friday,
September 21, 2001, Chandigarh, India   
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US attacks may hit FDI, selloff process
Crisis casts shadow on tourism industry
Haryana to launch VIP gold card
Laden group offers to buy PIA shares Pak economy hinges
on assisting USA |
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PNB plans rural
training institutes Bharti pays
Rs 490 cr dues
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US attacks may hit FDI, selloff process New Delhi, September 20 However, he said the government plans to invite bids for 11 public sector units during the current year. The financial bids of CMC and HTL would be opened next week and of the eight properties of ITDC would be opened middle of next month. Mr Shourie said the sale of HZL, VSNL and IBP were in the final stages. The Minister said to speed up the sale of government equity in PSUs, DoD would seek clearance from the CCD to part the enterprises which have been cleared for disinvestment with neutral ministry like finance, delinking them from the nodal
ministries and departments. Speaking on “India’s disinvestment policy” at PHDCCI, he said a proposal was also under consideration to cut short present procedures holding up the disinvestment process. The specific proposal in this regard will come up before the CCD shortly. The delay in disinvestment was due to four factors — fractured electorate as no party has absolute majority in the two Houses, negative role of the Opposition even to proposals which they had committed when they were in power, role of media in projecting distorted picture of disinvestment in the name of balanced journalism, corporate rivalry leading to planting of misleading stories in the media which are picked up for discussion in Parliament. Mr Shourie said it was necessary to build up political consensus on disinvestment. It would be a better strategy to carry the dialogue between the Prime Minister and the state Chief Ministers as such dialogues have succeeded to some extent in the power and labour sectors. A meeting was likely to be held on this issue between the Prime Minister and the Chief Ministers on October 24 and 25, he stated. Nearly Rs 2,000 crore was locked up in the loss making PSUs and the rate of return of non-petroleum enterprises was 0.9 per cent. The irony, he said was the state governments ruled by the Opposition were selling off loss making PSUs, the same parties oppose disinvestment proposal when put forward in Parliament.
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Crisis casts shadow on tourism industry New Delhi, September 20 According to a quick study conducted by PHDCCI, almost 75 per cent cancellations have been reported by leading tour operators from tourists in the USA who had planned to visit India in the current tourist season, which commences in October. Reservations through leading booking networks were down to 25 per cent from all over the world following the attack. Also, the outbound tourism from India has drastically been reduced by 50 per cent, the study says. Worldwide, customers are cancelling travel plans, changing holiday destinations from the USA to elsewhere, and some simply cutting short their trips and heading straight home. The World Tourism Organisation has reduced its forecast for this year’s growth in tourism by one third. While in 1999, 2,51,926 US tourists visited India, demand from US customers is down by three-quarters worldwide — a major blow to the tourist industry. Travellers from the USA are the world’s biggest spenders, accounting for about 13 per cent of the trillion dollars international tourist spend every year. Many travellers say they are now scared to fly, but those who are not, made it clear they want to be at home when the USA responds to last week’s attacks. The study reveals that now is the time to tap the tourists erstwhile travelling to the USA, from Australia and the Asia-Pacific rim towards South India and Madhya Pradesh, which offer mainly nature/adventure/architecture related tourism.
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Haryana to launch VIP gold card Chandigarh, September 20 Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala will launch this scheme on September 22 from Gurgaon. On this occasion, exports awards would be given to the 28 industries situated in the state. A spokesman for the Industries Department said here today that the scheme had been started to pay due respect to the prominent industrialists and exporters and facilitate their meetings with senior functionaries of the state. He said the industrialists eligible for the gold card include chairmen and managing directors of the prestigious units having investments of Rs 30 crore and above and industrial units. The 28 industries which have been adjudged for receiving the export award this year include Hindustan Gum and Chemical, Bhiwani, Lekh Raj Narender Kumar, Kaithal, Jai Bharat Gum and Chemical, Bhiwani, Picric Limited, Sonipat, Orient Crafts, Gurgaon, Maruti Udyog, Gurgaon, Gargi Weaving Mills, Panipat, GRM Overseas, Panipat, Paliwal Overseas, Panipat, Veer Overseas, Gharaunda, Liberty Shoes, Karnal, Doon Valley Rice, Karnal, Usha Amorphus Metal, Gurgaon, Reeba Textiles, Sonipat, J.V. Electronics, Faridabad, High Polymer Labs, Faridabad, Phase Three Export, Panipat, Max On International, Gurgaon, Golden Laminates, Panchkula, Neeraj Industries, Faridabad, Alpine Apprals, Faridabad, Jindal Strips, Hisar, Shiv Shankar Rice Mills, Kaithal, Drish Shoes, Panchkula, GE Motors India, Faridabad, Gaurav International, Gurgaon, Lakshmi Precision Screws, Rohtak and Abhitex International, Panipat.
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Laden group offers to buy PIA shares
Islamabad, September 20 Bin Laden Associates — a subsidiary of the Bin Laden group has made the proposal to acquire shares in PIA and PIAIL, local daily, “The News” said today quoting informed sources. The bin Laden group is the largest group of Saudi Arabia having assets of billions of dollars, the newspaper said. While PIA which is owned by the Pakistan Government is the sole airline carrier of Pakistan, PIAIL is an independent body that is involved in business other than aviation and owns hotels in New York and other international cities. PIA has 50 per cent shares in the PIAIL while the remaining 50 per cent shares are owned by a Saudi prince, the newspaper said, adding that the main asset of PIAIL is the Roosevelt Hotel in the heart of Manhattan, New York. Bin Laden Associates made the offer to acquire shares in both PIA and PIAIL following the news that cash-strapped PIA is intending to disinvest its shares in the hotels run by PIAIL. The PIAIL owns four hotels located in New York, Paris, Dubai and Riyadh, “The News” said. The group has also offered to procure other business from PIA if the management decides to disinvest its major departments, it said. However, the PIA management has not taken any decision so far over the offer, it quoted an unnamed high official of PIA as saying. “The proposal of Bin Laden is under consideration”, the PIA official said. “In the new changed world scenario , it is expected that the management will not entertain the offer”, he said.
PTI
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Pak economy hinges on assisting USA Tokyo, September 20 In an interview with Reuters, Joydeep Mukherji, Director of sovereign ratings at S&P’s in New York, told Reuters Television that Islamabad had reached a policy crossroads as it responds to US requests for cooperation. “The policies of Pakistan over the last decade, both strategic and military, have run into a wall with the attack on the World Trade Center,” he said. Mukherji said cooperation with the USA might pave the way for Pakistan’s entry into a three-year IMF programme later this year that would offer low-interest funding and trigger more aid from multilateral institutions and other nations. That would be welcome relief for a country facing some $37 billion in foreign debt and a weakening economy. Prior to the attacks, Pakistan was awaiting final review of its standby IMF arrangement and a last loan tranche, worth approximately $ 135 million. “They are looking at the example of Egypt in 1991 when it got debt relief after it helped the USA in the Gulf war,’’ Mukherji said. But if Pakistan demurred from assisting Washington, the economic ramifications could be substantial, Mukherji said. “The USA through its influence on (multilateral) institutions could pretty well cut off Pakistan’s access to all official international money and keep the country on default and the edge of bankruptcy for many years.’’ S&P has a stable outlook on its B+ sovereign rating for Pakistan. Mukherji said an easing of Pakistan’s debt overhang could lead to review of its credit outlook, but the long-term potential for improvement was limited.
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PNB plans rural
training institutes Chandigarh, September 20 Mr Kohli today presided over the 77th state-level Bankers' Committee meeting of Haryana here. He said the bank, which had already received necessary approval for entering into life as well as general insurance, would sign an MoU with a private company within a month, following which it would introduce its insurance products in the market. The state-level committee expressed concern over the poor recovery of loans granted under various government and non government sponsored programmes and requested the state government to help the banks in this regard. While talking about the performance of banks in Haryana, Mr Kohli said their performance with regard to achievement of the Annual Credit Plan was satisfactory and the performance under the agricultural sector stood at 114.2 per cent of the total target. Ms Keshani Anand Arora, Director, Institutional Finance and Credit Control, Haryana, said the banking industry in the state was becoming more customer-oriented. Among the others present during the meeting were Mr A.K. Bhargava, GM, PNB head Office, Mr P.Satish, GM, NABARD, Mr Ayub, GM, RBI, New Delhi, senior officers of the state government and controlling heads of the banks in Haryana. |
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Bharti pays Rs 490 cr dues New Delhi, September 20 The Cabinet had directed Bharti Mobile to pay the outstanding dues within 48 hours. The telecom major had acquired the license of the Punjab circle from JT Mobile. “Bharti now expects the DoT to issue all licenses to Bharti on a high priority basis and also refer the Punjab issue to the arbitrator expeditiously,” a company statement said. The Cabinet had decided to refer the case to a sole arbitrator who will be appointed after due consultation with the Ministry of Law. The Cabinet had decided that the Letters of Intent (LoI) to cellular, basic and national long-distance operators would be converted to licenses after the receipt of the outstanding amount in cash. |
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BSE trading hours Max Quality FCI meeting Market fee to go Zenith showroom BSNL tie-up VI eTrans Jindal Photo IBM-Intel pact |
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