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Tuesday, January 15, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Banks need mid-level core teams: Jalan
Moody’s upgrades ICICI rating
From crown prince to king
New STD rates
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MTNL launches cash cards
Auto Expo begins today
Hughes Tele.com net loss at 37.3 cr StanChart, Postal Department
tie-up
Goodyear invests 176 cr in operations
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Banks need mid-level core teams: Jalan
Kolkata, January 14 "We have also made progress in equipping ourselves with technical and professional inputs to cope with the increasing complexities of global finance," Jalan said at the inauguration of 23rd Bank Economists’ Conference (BECON) here. Jalan, however, suggested to the gathering of CEOs of scheduled commercial banks to chalk out separate set of prudential norms and standards in view of vast differences in the size of Indian banks, and their asset liability profile, operationalising the new capital adequacy requirement taking into account the specific situation of each institution. He suggested the banks form a "core team" of four-five middle level officials with adequate technical background to work out a corporate strategy for implementing the new guidelines within each bank. The RBI Governor said at the corporate level, several banks have made substantial progress in improving their internal management and control systems while at the policy level the government and the apex bank were fully committed to moving forward with financial reforms with further deregulation and development of financial markets. The industry, however, will have to accept and implement within a prescribed time-frame internationally recognised prudential norms and standards. Jalan said in future the internal processes of the banks would be subject to supervisory evaluation, review and intervention, when appropriate and bank will have to bring in market discipline through enhanced disclosure in the areas such as capital adequacy and risk assessment methods. Computerisation in banks
Bimal Jalan called for urgent need for computerisation in banks for credit approval, better customer service, fund management and inter-bank transactions. "We should look at IT not only as an instrument for expediting and accelerating transactions, but also as an integral part of bank’s business strategy for reducing cost and spreads for improving the return on capital by increasing volume of business," Jalan said
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Moody’s upgrades ICICI rating
Mumbai, January 14 The international credit rating agency has upgraded the currency rating from “Ba2”, the sovereign rating for India, to “Ba1”, beyond the country’s ceiling. The diversified financial services provider is the only Indian company and one of the only two Asian banks/financial institutions to be considered for a rating upgrade beyond the country’s ceiling by Moody’s, an ICICI release here said. ICICI Ltd Managing Director and CEO K.V. Kamath said “we are delighted with the rating upgrade and we believe that this is an affirmation of our inherent financial strength and focussed business strategy”. This action concludes the review for upgrade of the institution’s foreign currency bond ratings that was announced in June last, Moody’s said adding that, this review resulted from its decision to allow the ratings of bonds and notes of certain qualified issuers to pierce their respective country ceilings. The rating outlook is stable. Moody’s stated that the revised foreign-currency bond ratings incorporate the FI’s inherent financial strength, its strong management as well as some asset quality concerns. Moody’s said the proposed merger between ICICI and ICICI Bank, which is subject to various approvals, would lead to an improvement in the credit and risk profile of the merged entity by speeding up the process of diversification, although this would not immediately lead to any change in the rating.
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From crown prince to king
Bangalore, January 14 Instead of heading West for a high-paying job with a multinational, Mr Nilekani remained in India and co-founded the company that changed the way the world views India and Indians view their future. With six friends led by Mr N.R. Narayana Murthy and $ 250 contributed by their spouses, Mr Nilekani created Infosys Technologies Ltd. The board chose him last week to succeed Mr Narayana Murthy as the Chief Executive Officer. He faces a tough climate in a showdown-hit market, but the company’s past achievements are a showpiece for India. Its Indian shares alone are now worth $ 5.8 billion. It provides high-paying jobs to 10,000 Indian software whiz kids. Its client list reads like the who’s who of the Fortune 500. And it, more than any other company, helped transform the “garden city” of Bangalore, a favourite retreat from the heat of the southern plains, into the Silicon Plateau. “You then didn’t have the idea of a first-generation, professional-run company in India,” Mr Nilekani told Reuters. But from the world go, the start-up’s ambitions were far from modest. “The basic notion that software would be a growth area and India would be a great source... was very clear from Day One,” Mr Nilekani, now 45, said. Geek graduate
Mr Murthy, then head of software at Patni Computer Systems, hired Mr Nilekani fresh out of the Bombay branch of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), the Indian equivalent of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Privately-held Patni was at the time representing US-based Data General, a mini-computer company leading the shift from mainframes. The change triggered a new business opportunity and Mr Murthy took the plunge by founding Infosys, tagging Mr Nilekani along. In the early years, Mr Murthy anchored the firm in Bangalore, while Mr Nilekani joined other co-founders in the US, programming for clients and doubling as salesman for deals. Growth was steady but chaotic as the software industry moved from mini-computers to personal computers and then on to networks.
Different styles
The founder shared ambitions but not styles. The bespectacled Mr Murthy has the deliberate draw and elaborate articulation of a college professor. Mr Nilekani, usually clad in open-neck, casual shirts, has an understated, friendly air. But both espouse business practices not widely seen in India — like empowerment of employees and tough accounting standards. Infosys was listed at the Bombay Stock Exchange in 1992 with a share issue that just scraped through, but really zoomed forth in the mid-1990s, and in 1999 became the first Indian firm to list on Nasdaq. Mr Nilekani will now raise his profile in day-to-day management while Mr Murthy, the elder statesman of India’s technology industry, will remain chairman and double as “Chief Mentor,” spending time in a leadership institute the company has founded.
Eclectic tastes
Married to English-language writer and novelist Ms Rohini, Mr Nilekani says le no longer has time for his eclectic tastes such as reading Johan Ie Carre spy thrillers. He’s likely to have even less time now. The mood has changed from aggressive expansion to cost-cutting and caution for company which is India’s second largest software exporter with revenues of $ 600 million. Infosys expects 30 per cent growth in the year to March, after averaging 85 per cent for five years. “Now it’s a different market. It requires me much more to be in the marketplace,” Mr Nilekani said. In a philanthropist role on the side, he devotes some time for a voluntary group boosting civic amenities in Bangalore. A sometime member of Beer Drinkers Association of Information Technology, an informal club of geek guzzlers, Mr Nilekani also nurses the minor ambition of bringing his favourite rock group Dire Straits or its remnants to perform live in Bangalore.
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New STD rates
come into effect New Delhi, January 14 Talking cross country was never cheaper as Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) with effect from midnight of January 13-14 slashed domestic long distance communication (STD) by upto 62 per cent. According to new tariff announced by BSNL, there would be only two time slabs namely the peak period from 9 am to 8 pm and off peak period from 8 pm to 9 am. Also there would be only three distance slabs — between 50 to 200 km, from 200 to 500 km and 500 and above. For the first distance slab of 50-200 km, the STD rates have been halved from Rs 4.80 per minute to Rs 2.40 during the peak hours and Rs 1.20 per minute during off-peak time while for the 200-500 km slab, the rates has been slashed to Rs 4.80 a minute from existing rate of Rs 11.60 per minute and half that rate during off-peak time. For the third distance slab of 500 km and above, rate cut is even sharper falling to Rs 9 a minute from existing Rs 24 per minute (for 1000 km and above) and from Rs 17.56 (for 500-1000 km). During off-peak time between 8 p.m. to 9 a.m. it will cost only Rs 4.50 per minute. The government-owned basic telephone operator’s move comes in the wake of the decision of private cellular operators to cut mobile-to-mobile STD rates by 50 per cent from January 26. The consortium of cellular players had taken this decision following Bharti Group’s offer of heavy discount in its own STD network, IndiaOne.
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ISD draft licence New Delhi, January 14 "The draft licence agreement has been finalised. Department of Telecommunication (DoT) will start giving applications from January 26 to the prospective players," Communication and IT Minister Pramod Mahajan said here.
PTI
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MTNL launches cash cards New Delhi, January 14 Appropriately named “Trump”, MTNL’s cash card can eventually unleash another round of rate cut in the industry. The tariffs of ‘Trump’, which was launched by Minister for Communications and Technology Pramod Mahajan have been kept fixed in a manner such as that a card worth Rs 300 enables customers to have 98 minutes talk time, whereas other cards offer about 49 minutes of talk time. In other words, the charges on “Trump” will be approximately Rs 2 for incoming calls and Rs 2.50 for outgoing calls. This is much below the rates of Rs 3 per minute for incoming calls and Rs 5 per minute for outgoing calls charged by Essar and AirTel on its cash cards "Speed" and "Magic", respectively. The pre-paid cards will have values of four denominations — Rs 300, Rs 500, Rs 1,000 and Rs 3,000. Only recently, MTNL had launched the “Garuda” scheme, the limited mobile service based on the Wireless in Local Loop technology. |
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Auto Expo begins today New Delhi, January 14 Billed as Asia’s largest automobile show, more than 40 new models of different vehicles are expected to be launched during the course of the fair which will conclude on January 22. While India’s largest car manufacturer Maruti Udyog Limited (MUL) and largest two-wheeler manufacturer, Bajaj India Limited, are conspicuous by their absence, automobile companies expressed hope that things should eventually improve by the end of this quarter. Among the new launches that are going to be made are luxury coaches, BMW-M3, the new seven series, X5, Z3 Roadster, trucks, buses and bus chassis from Eicher, Weekend, Palio Sport, Palio S 10 Alfa, Romeo 166 Super, Range Splash and Escape from Ford India, Scooters (Froza, Silver Wing, Elysium) from Honda Motorcycles and Scooters, and a new Ambassador, Pushpak and Deluxe RTV from Hindustan Motors. There will also be a special focus on "Auto Enterprise 2002" — a special exposition of small and medium enterprises. |
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Hughes Tele.com net loss at 37.3 cr
Mumbai, January 14 The company’s total income for the reporting quarter stood at Rs 74.9 crore as against Rs 69.9 crore in the quarter ended December 31, 2000. President and Chief Executive Officer Prakash Bajpai said, the slowdown in the economy has impacted the company and restrained its higher growth. The company said its telecom service revenues increased by 99 per cent to Rs 64.3 crore as compared to Rs 33.9 crore during the corresponding quarter in the previous year.
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StanChart, Postal Department tie-up New Delhi, January 14 India Post would market credit cards and other consumer banking products of Standard Chartered Bank through Data Post. The partnership would also leverage the extensive national network of post offices. Further the post offices would be payment collection points for Standard Chartered Group’s credit card customers. Standard Chartered would use Speed Post extensively to send its credit cards to its customers. |
Goodyear invests 176 cr in operations
New Delhi, January 14 The investment has been made in the form of equity with Goodyear US buying 17,64,77,250 equity shares of Rs 10 each on a par on a preferential allotment basis, a company release said here. Earlier South Asia Tyres Ltd the tyre manufacturing unit at Aurangabad, was renamed Good Year South Asia Tyres Private Ltd following a restructuring of the ownership profile in the company.
PTI
Whirlpool to float 1250 cr debt issue New Delhi: White goods company Whirlpool of India Ltd (WoIL) plans to float a Rs 1,250 crore non-convertible debenture issue which will be used to refinance the company’s existing debt. WoIL’s debenture issue has been assigned in-principle ‘Ind AAA (SO)’ rating by Fitch Ratings India Pvt Ltd, Fitch said in a statement here, adding the final rating will be awarded after the completion of documentation.
PTI
L&T shelves expansion plan Kolkata: Larsen & Toubro, the largest cement manufacturing conglomerate, has shelved its plan to expand capacity in its Andhra Pradesh plant due to ‘excess capacity in the south’ and an overall low demand position in the country. “We had planned to expand our capacity in Andhra Pradesh. But there is excess capacity in the southern states now. Therefore, we are not going for an expansion there,” company President (Operations) J.P. Nayak said. The company may also review its target for expansion of total capacity from current 16 million tonnes to 19 MT by 2006, in view of the excess capacity existing in the industry.
PTI
Rlys plan to buy power from NTPC New Delhi: The Railways is considering a proposal to buy power directly from the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) for all its zones, bypassing the State Electricity Boards (SEBs) in a bid to drastically reduce its Rs 3,800 crore electricity bill. The Railways already has direct dealings with the NTPC in the northern zone and plans to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the NTPC for extending the arrangement to other zones as well, NTPC officials said.
UNI
Maruti sales centre opened Abohar: Industrialists of Japan played a pivotal role in the development of Haryana state and Maruti Suzuki was at the top in the list. This was stated by Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala today. Inaugurating Maruti Sales and Service centre here, Mr Chautala said trade activities have noted an unprecedented slump in whole of the world for last few months but the automobiles industries survived miraculously. It was really praiseworthy that young entrepreneurs of the area thought of opening such modernised centre which this fast developing town needed to facilitate consumers.
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Mercedes-Benz Phillips Motorola oils Ford deal |
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Kolkata, January 14
