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Tuesday,
March 26, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Reliance
to market petro products direct Farmers
for freedom to grow Bt Cotton No move to
close down ‘Kissan’ unit: HLL |
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Hudco
targets 5,000 cr mop-up next fiscal The mirage
of ODA IDBI
Bank in search of strategic partner TRAI to
finalise rules for quality service Exporters
demand cargo space
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Reliance to market petro products direct
New Delhi, March 25 Reliance had been seeking permission to sell transport fuels — petrol and diesel — for last two years, Government sources said, adding that “We may ask them to detail their marketing scheme once again in the prescribed format specified in the Gazette notification of March 8, 2002.” Reliance is believed to have proposed entering direct marketing of petro products by setting up close to 5,900 retail outlets throughout the country, sources said. The company is also believed to have submitted a proposal within days of Cabinet clearing the marketing guidelines on February 27, 2002 but sources said that it was not in accordance with the format that was notified in the subsequent week. Reliance is the first private company to have approached government for entering the lucrative marketing sector even as State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), which is eligible to enter marketing arena, has ruled out immediate entry into the area of retail selling of transportation fuel. While Essar Oil has already announced its intention to enter petro product marketing through 1700 retail outlets, it is yet to approach Government for permission with its marketing plans, sources said. Among other options, RPL is weighing the possibility of opening retail outlets (ROs) on a franchisee basis to market petroleum products from its 27 million tonnes refinery at Jamnagar in Gujarat. While franchising outlets would give the company a ready platform to start the retail network with immediate effect, it would also set up its own outlets, sources said. Reliance has already conducted surveys on setting up of the ROs, sources added. Granting permission to companies that have invested or propose to invest Rs 2000 crore in petroleum sector to market petrol, diesel and jet fuels, the Cabinet had made it mandatory for the companies to submit applications of their market plan to the proposed Regulatory Board or government. The Gazette notification states: “the company seeking authorisation to market transportation fuel will be required to make an application in the specified form, accompanied by such fees as may be specified, giving details of the scheme of marketing for which authorisation is sought.” “There shall be no limit to the quantum and size of the scheme and the number and location of ROs in the scheme, provided that no encroachments on the existing ROs will be allowed,” it said. The application would have details of source of supply of products, tankage and other infrastructure established or proposed to be established, means of transportation of products to depots and to ROs, number and location of ROs and details of their storage and dispensing capacity and total quantum and type of products to be covered under the marketing scheme.
PTI
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Farmers for freedom to grow Bt Cotton New Delhi, March 25 The GEAC, which comes under the Ministry of Environment, is scheduled to meet tomorrow to decide whether or not to grant approval of genetically improved Bt Cotton as technology. Last June, the GEAC had deferred the decision to commercialise Bt Cotton stating that more data was needed to conclusively prove that Bt Cotton has a yield advantage. Bt Cotton is an insect protected variety of cotton seed into which a gene from a soil borne bacterium, Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) containing protein that kills certain pests has been introduced. In the case of cotton, the Bt protein acts on three major caterpillar pests — the
tobacco budworm, the American bollworm and pink bollworm. Speaking to newspersons here today, Mr Sharad Joshi Chairman of the Government Task Force on Agriculture (2000-01) and founder of Shetkari Sangathana, said that while every technology including Bt Cotton, has its advantages and disadvantages it is counterproductive to argue for or against any technology per se without having tried it first. “In India there is substantial reason to believe that the government tends to deny farmers free access to technology and would prefer the same to be canalised through agencies for reasons that are obvious only to itself. The Green Revolution technology was stalled in India till 1965, decades after most countries had adopted it to their advantage”, Mr Joshi said. The debate over Bt Cotton has been simmering since 1998, when a private firm Maharashtra Hybrid Seeds Company (of Mahyco, in which Monsanto has a minority stake) began field trials under the supervision of Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR) and the Department of Biotechnology (DBT). Matters came to a head in September 2001 when around 500 farmers in Gujarat were found to have planted unapproved variety of Bt Cotton on around 11,000 acres. This unapproved variety of Bt Cotton had apparently been planted in Gujarat for two years but came to light only when a major bollworm attack left many fields with conventional cotton devastated, while the ones using the unapproved Bt Cotton variety reportedly survived. Mr Joshi said that the intervention of the government in the case of cottonseed is particularly abitrary. “In a country where 80 per cent of seed used by the farmers is as it is unregistered, it is illogical to insist on an elaborate procedure for the clearance of the Bt Cotton seed”, he said. Mr Bhupinder Singh Mann of the Bhartiya Kisan Union (Punjab) and former Rajya Sabha MP said that “India has been the only country where farmers have been first shown the merits of Bt Cotton and then have had to suffer the agony of being disallowed to benefit from it”. The CII has pointed out that the approval of Bt Cotton was of utmost importance as had great potential for economic uplift of cotton growers. Despite clear advantages, the approval for Bt Cotton has been delayed on some pretext or other and it was imperative for the government to take a rational decision based on the outcome of scientific research and not let ideological and emotional considerations get in the way, the CII said.
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No move to close down ‘Kissan’ unit: HLL
New Delhi, March 25 The company might consider outsourcing Kissan products from third party manufacturers in case such a decision was taken, sources told PTI here. When contacted an HLL spokesperson denied any such move, saying “As of now, there is no move to close down the Kissan unit in Bangalore. However, Kissan is all the time looking at ways and means to improve the efficiency of its supply chain.” The efficiency improvement would be considered through various measures, including proximity to sources of raw material as well as consumer centres. Bangalore facility employs about 400 people and manufactures jams, sauces and squash, sources said. Kissan, a part of HLL’s Culinary Products Division, markets jams, sauces, squashes, other fruit-based beverages, and tomato puree. The division has six manufacturing sites all over the country. While Kissan is a market leader in jams, squashes, puree, Knorr, another part of Culinary division leads the soup segment. Earlier, HLL had spun off ‘Kissan-Annapurna’ into two separate brands, deciding to use ‘Kissan’ for marketing “aspirational” food products for kids. ‘Kissan’ has been identified as one of the brands that will fuel topline growth in the HLL’s foods business. On a cost-cutting drive, HLL had recently closed down its tea packaging facility in Kanhan, near Nagpur, due to
unavailability, and gave voluntary retirement to all its employees.
PTI
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Hudco targets 5,000 cr mop-up next fiscal
New Delhi, March 25 “We have plans to raise Rs 5,000 crore next fiscal from various sources including issue of bonds and public deposits,” Hudco chairman V. Suresh told PTI here. The mobilisation process would be a “mixed bag” composed of all options, he said. Mr Suresh said the details of the fund mobilisation would be finalised soon. The government decided to raise Hudco’s authorised capital base to Rs 2,500 crore from Rs 1,250 crore in the last Budget. The government will infuse additional capital for raising the capital base in tranches depending on the requirement. This would help the fund mobilisation efforts to a large extent, Suresh said. “With the enhanced level of equity base and company’s current net worth, Hudco is in a position that it can mobilise upto Rs 20,000 crore in four years,” Mr Suresh said. During the first eleven months of the current fiscal, Hudco has sanctioned housing loans worth over Rs 8,000 crore of which Rs 4,000 core has been disbursed so far. The total sanctions stood at Rs 7,912 crore and loan disbursement stood at Rs 4,832 crore in 2000-01. During last fiscal Hudco’s net profit stood at Rs 106 crore and it paid Rs 20.87 crore dividend to the government. The techno financing housing and infrastructure company was exempted from the income tax till 1989-90. Hudco has been paying income tax from 1990-91.
PTI
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The mirage of ODA It was as far back as three decades ago that the international community set the target of the official development assistance (ODA) at 0.7 per cent of the gross national product (GNP). This was reaffirmed at the UN conference on environment and development (UNCED) in 1992. Since then, it has been an annual ritual at the Fund-Bank meetings for the leaders of developing countries to press for the achievement of the ODA target. Far from this goal being reached, the ODA has, over the years, steadily declined from 0.35 per cent in 1990 to 0.22 per cent in 2000. Despite the warning of the world’s leading economists that financing for development is in a crisis, the political commitment of donor countries has remained unfulfilled. Only five of the 22 OECD donor states have met the target. Total ODA in 2000 amounted to $ 53.7 billion, and according to World Bank estimates, twice this amount would be needed only to reach the development goals by 2015. Eighteen months ago, world leaders, meeting at the historic Millennium Summit at the UN, set time-bound global targets to improve health, education and environment across the world, with the overall goal of halving extreme poverty by 2015. According to the UN Secretary-General, Mr Kofi Annan, this could not be achieved without at least an additional $ 50 billion a year of official aid—roughly doubling of present levels. It is in this context of unfulfilled pledge by developed countries that the results of the international conference on financing for development that met in Monterry in Mexico from March 18 to 22 have to be assessed. In what is being called the Monterry Consensus, the heads of state and government from developed and developing countries resolved to address the challenges of financing for development around the world, particularly in developing countries. Their goal is to eradicate poverty, achieve sustained economic growth, promote sustainable development, as they advance to a fully inclusive and equitable global economic system. The Monterry summit agreed to mobilise financial resources and achieve the national and international economic conditions needed to fulfil internationally agreed development goals, including those contained in the Millennium Declaration to reduce poverty and improve social conditions. The summit acknowledged that last year’s September 11 terrorist attacks exacerbated the global economic slowdown, and agreed that it had now become all the more urgent to enhance collaboration among all stakeholders to promote sustained economic growth and address the long-term challenges of financing for development. The Summit recognised that a substantial increase in the ODA and other resources would be required if developing countries were to achieve internationally agreed development goals. Developed countries were urged to make concrete efforts towards the target of 0.7 per cent of the GNP as the ODA to developing countries and 0.15 to 0.2 per cent for least developed countries. But, to the disappointment of developing countries, the Monterry Consensus shied away from endorsing the UN Secretary-General’s call for doubling the ODA to $ 100 billion a year and for making a concrete commitment. At the conference preparatory committee, the USA had reportedly blocked language in the text that would have committed rich countries to the UN target of increased development aid. Non-governmental organisations who attended the summit have not been impressed with the offer of the European Union to raise the ODA from 0.33 per cent to 0.39 per cent in 2006 and with the announcement of the USA that it would raise its the ODA by $ 5 billion over three years. “If those and other countries had been committed to their goals, this should have been stated in the Monterry Consensus, instead of coming with those announcements at the last minute,” Aldo Clieri from the Centre of Concern, an NGO organisation based in Washington, told reporters in Monterry. He also took exception to the conditions attached to the aid like good governance, human rights and the rule of law. His concern was that the criteria were so subjective that they could be used for political purposes. Other conditions were tied to countries putting in place sound economic policies—a code word for free market reforms or integration with the current world trading system. Leaders of the developing countries at the summit used the event to underline the need to recognise in most profound way, as President of Venezuela Hugo Chavez Frias, speaking on behalf of the Group of 77 developing countries and China, put it, that the world was not only crooked, but “upside down.” The world leaders could and do a great deal to turn it around. Complying with the target of 0.7 per cent of the GNP would yield enough resources for human development, he said, adding that for many peoples of the world, foreign debt was “unpayable”. In the opinion of Cuban president Fidel Castro, the world is today “a huge casino”. As a result of this economic order, over 75 per cent of the world population lived in underdevelopment, and extreme poverty had already reached 1.2 billion. He wanted the rich world to grant fresh, soft credits to finance the development of poorer nations. A positive view of the summit came from the World Bank President, Mr James D. Wolfensohn, who viewed it as a great opportunity to reinforce the collective commitment to expand the funds and resources necessary to halve world poverty by 2015 and meet the other development goals. There was greater consensus than ever before, and “we must not squander that opportunity.” IMF Managing Director Horst Kohler is convinced that the Monterry summit was a further “milestone” to understanding ODA as an investment in a better future for all. In his opinion, there is a growing awareness of interconnectedness of poor and rich countries. Notwithstanding the optimistic view of the Fund-Bank chiefs, developing countries will need more concrete evidence that the richer nations will go beyond mere assurances and comply with the long-evasive target of the ODA and that they will not have to wait for another 30 years for this to happen. That evidence was sadly lacking in the Monterry Consensus.
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IDBI Bank in search of strategic partner
New Delhi, March 25 He declined to name the strategic investors with whom the bank is negotiating with and the time frame within which it would be done, but said “it will take place shortly.” The move comes in the wake of Reserve Bank guideline for bringing down promoters stake in private banks to 40 per cent. “IDBI’s stake in the bank will be brought down to 40 per cent,” Verma said. The search for strategic partners comes after the aborted effort of IDBI Bank to offload 20 per cent stake to Bank of Muscat. “The proposed deal with Bank of Muscat has been called off. We are not in talks with them now,” Verma said.
PTI
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TRAI to finalise rules for quality service
New Delhi, March 25 TRAI sources said the regulator was in the process of setting up a task force whose members would include those from the departments of telecom, industry, C-Dot and TRAI. The task force would set up a regulatory framework for the QoS on VOIP-based long distance telephony. The Department of Telecom (DOT) in December had accepted the recommendations of TRAI for opening up the international long distance (ILD) services to competition from April 1, 2002. TRAI had recommended two types of ILD services, one for toll quality service and other for less than toll quality service. The latter was aimed at providing service at a lower tariff rate and on a different dialling code.
UNI
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Exporters demand cargo space New Delhi, March 25 Mr K.L. Madan, President of the GEA, has drawn the attention of the concerned government authorities of the difficulties and financial hardships being faced by garment exporters because of non-availability of cargo space for export shipments and steep hike by international airlines, a release said.
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Markets closed
Mumbai, March 25 |
bb
CII session Exhibition TVS Motor Unichem Lab Rozana |
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Left
to right: Bhupinder Singh Mann (BKU-Punjab), Saroja Kashiker (Kissan
Coordination Committee), Sharad Joshi (Shetkari Sangathana founder & chairman of the Task Force on
Agriculture, Govt. of India (2000-01), Barun Mittra (chairman, Liberty
Institute) and Lan Shankar from Gujrat during the Press conference on Bt
cotton in New Delhi on Monday.
— Tribune photo Mukesh Aggarwal
