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Friday, April 19, 2002,
Chandigarh, India  
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IMF puts India’s economic growth at 5.5 pc Netherlands for better trade ties with India
Spice roaming facility for Rajasthan, west UP
Agreement for toll highway signed |
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Amarinder asks farmers to diversify
Farooq seeks technology mission for J&K
Hero Honda plus-200cc bike
IATO signs tourism pact
Govt urged to hike duty on butter oil Job opportunities
in New Zealand
RBI to mobilise Rs 4,100 cr in tap issue
And now, ‘vegetarian’ shoes
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IMF puts India’s economic growth at 5.5 pc
Washington, April 18 India’s economy grew by a meagre 4 per cent in the year ended March 31, 2001, compared to a 6.1 per cent growth logged a year earlier. The government expects the economy to log a growth of 5.4 per cent during 2001-02. IMF’s World Economic Outlook report, released here yesterday on the eve of the Fund-World Bank spring meeting, says higher farm production would help offset lingering weaknesses in external demand and industrial production. As compared to China, the report points out, India faces a comfortable external position given its low current account deficit, reflecting buoyant transfers from NRIs together with high reserves and strong capital inflows. It, however, notes that the main concerns surrounding the medium-term outlook stem from the continued difficult fiscal position and inadequate progress on the structural reforms front. “These pressures need to be tackled by moving ahead with fiscal consolidation as envisaged in the fiscal responsibility bill, addressing the ambitious set of reforms proposed by the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council,” says the WEO. In sharp contrast, growth in Pakistan weakened in 2001 under the impact of the global slowdown, increased regional uncertainty arising from the conflict in Afghanistan and heightened tensions with India, and a fall in cotton production. It, however, says Pakistan’s external balances have improved, contributing to an appreciation of the exchange rate and hence to lower inflation and interest rates. These trends, in context of firmer global activity and improvements in the regional security situation, should support stronger growth in the period ahead, says the WEO rep ort. Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha, who will lead the Indian delegation at the Fund-World Bank spring meeting, is scheduled to call on World Bank President James Wolfensohn to discuss India’s economic situation and progress of the bank-funded projects. India is one of the biggest beneficiaries of the World Bank’s lending programme, securing almost $3 billion a year, including $1 billion from its concessionary lending agency—the International Development Association (IDA). Mr Sinha, who is scheduled to reach here on Friday, will also meet IMF Managing Director Horst Kohler and finance ministers from other countries, particularly the USA and Japan. Mr Koehler said the creation of better trade opportunities for all countries through the expansion of trade must become the centrepiece for a strategy to promote sustained economic growth throughout the world. “Developed countries bear a primary responsibility for the success of this trade approach and need to start opening their markets more and phasing out trade-distorting subsidies,” Mr Koehler said. But developing countries, he added, must do their share by getting rid of barriers to trade among themselves. IANS
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Netherlands for better trade ties with India Ludhiana, April 18 After complete integration with the European Union over the past few years, the country has decided to concentrate on enhancing its business with developing countries, especially with India, due to its huge market potential. There is a lot of scope for the Indian exporters to export processed fruits, vegetables and dairy products provided they are able to adhere to the EU’s strict food-safety controls, said Ms Reeta Rahman, Deputy Head of Mission, Royal Netherlands Embassy here today. She was in the city to participate in a seminar on ‘‘ Doing Business with the Netherlands, ’’ jointly organised by the Royal Netherlands Embassy and Ludhiana Management Association. Talking to mediapersons, she said,
‘‘The Indian companies can avail consultancy services under the Netherlands Management Cooperation Programme and financial assistance up to 900,000 euros under Investment Promotion and Technical Assistance ( IPTA) programme to boost their export capacity. The Dutch Centre for Promotion of Imports ( CBI) from the developing countries is also attached with the embassy, to provide required information on how to enter the Dutch and European market. ’’ She added that the hosiery and machine tool industry could also enter the Netherlands’ market by upgrading their technology. Mr Arnold Parzer, Agricultural counsellor with the embassy, said,‘‘The Netherlands total annual food consumption is around Rs 1,61,000 crore, and products worth Rs 10,000 crore are imported. Since Punjab has a substantial surplus production in dairy, vegetables and foodgrains, there is a great scope for enhancing exports from here. However, the exporters would have to ensure the quality of products.’’
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Spice roaming facility for Rajasthan, west UP Chandigarh, April 18 From tomorrow onwards, west UP and Rajasthan will be included in the areas covered under north roaming. This apart, the company has also finalised tie ups with all the cellular operators cross the country for national roaming as a result of which its subscribers can avail the facility wherever mobile phone service is available. While international roaming has been extended to countries including Bangladesh and Russia, by the end of the month Spice subscribers will be able to avail the services in countries including Mexico, China and Japan. “The idea is to provide mobility in the truest sense”, said Mr Rohit
Malhotra, Vice -President, Sales and Marketing. Spice currently provides Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, and Delhi under its north roaming facility. Adding UP (west) and Rajasthan would be specially beneficial for those (post- paid subscribers ) who had to go on for national roaming to avail the company’s services in these areas. While the minimum security deposit for north roaming is Rs 2,000, in order to avail national roaming, this amount is Rs 3,500 . “Following this, we expect the number of subscribers using north roaming to double”, he said. For national roaming, with Spice having finalised tie ups with all the cellular operators across the country, the subscribers will benefit in terms of additional coverage area and better quality service. “In case the services of a particular operator in a certain circle are not upto the mark, pour subscriber will be shifted to the other operator in the circle, thus , getting the benefit of better quality services”, said Mr Malhotra. Extending international roaming as well, the company’s subscribers will now be able to get services in countries including Japan, China , California and Mexico. Bangladesh , Russia and few South African countries have already been added. Spice expects a major subscriber addition with the extension of roaming services. “With holiday season arriving, more subscribers will be able to avail the benefit of extension of our roaming services”. |
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Agreement for toll highway signed New Delhi, April 18 As per the agreement, the concessionaire would pay an amount of Rs 61.06 crore to the government. Union Minister of State for Road Transport and Highways, Maj Gen B.C.Khanduri said that the project would result in substantial reduction in travel time between Delhi and Gurgaon/Jaipur. It would also result in reduced fuel and wear-tear costs. He stressed that all efforts would be made to minimise any inconvenience to the public due to the construction work. Service roads would be built on both sides of the highway for the traffic not wanting to use the access-controlled facility. The project is expected to be operational by April 2005. It would envisage an investment of about Rs 555 crore by the concessionaire. Speaking on the occasion, a representative of the joint venture company that effort would be made to complete the project in 2004 itself. The toll collection system would incorporate latest technology and the average stopping time of a vehicle would be 12 seconds. |
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Amarinder asks farmers to diversify Chandigarh, April 18 While addressing a coordination meeting with the chairperson of National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), Capt Amarinder Singh said the agriculture in the state had reached a saturation point and the immediate need was the diversification of agriculture. A committee headed by renowned economist, Dr S.S. Johal, has already been constituted to submit its report for diversification. He revealed that Punjab had some of the finest milch cattle breeds but there was also a scope for further improvement through proper animal breeding. Earlier, Dr (Ms) Amrita Patel, Chairperson, NDDB, stressed on the need to view dairying as a business. |
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Farooq seeks technology mission for J&K New Delhi, April 18 The Chief Minister said in view of the drought conditions in the state, the National Insurance Scheme should cover the perennial horticulture crops such as fresh and dried fruits. Dr Abdullah told Mr Ajit Singh that the crop growers in the state were being exploited by middlemen/ commission agents in the regulated markets of the country, including the Azadpur fruit market of Delhi. He also said the bylaws of these markets were not implemented and notification issued by the NCT of Delhi abolishing the charging of any commission from sellers/growers had not been implemented. Besides, the Chief Minister said a fruit processing and canning plant and a cold-storage facility would go a long way in helping the fruit growers of Leh area. |
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Hero Honda plus-200cc bike
New Delhi, April 18 Launching its 100cc four-stroke motorcycle ‘Dawn’ here, the company’s Managing Director Pawan Kant Munjal said the first model, to be produced with an engine capacity between 100-156cc, would hit the markets by September 2002. “Before the end of this fiscal, we will also launch an over-200cc bike. The basic design would come from Honda Japan while the rest would be done by Hero Honda,” he said. Priced at Rs 37,855 (ex-showroom at Delhi), ‘Dawn’ would replace the company’s existing 100cc motorcycle ‘Joy’ which was launched last year. Hero Honda plans to sell 10,000 units of the new motorcycle per month till September this year, Munjal said. PTI
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IATO signs tourism pact New Delhi, April 18 Speaking at the ceremony, witnessed by the Indonesian Minister for Tourism and Culture, Mr I Gede Ardika and India’s Secretary, Tourism, Mrs Rathi Vinay Jha, here this morning, the President of IATO, Maharaj I.S. Wahi, said the MoU envisaged a joint action committee for formulating strategies and cooperation programmes for boosting tourist traffic between the two countries. “The associations would not only work together for development of human resources but also for the development of competency standards for the development of travel and tourism industry,” he said. |
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Govt urged to hike duty on butter oil New Delhi, April 18 A delegation of MPs and senior cooperative dairy leaders met the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, here last night and presented a memorandum of crucial issues that have a direct bearing on the healthy and orderly growth of dairying in the country. The Chairman of National Cooperative Dairy Federation, Dr V. Kurien said there was a need to build on India’s comparative advantage and competitive strengths in dairying. |
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Job opportunities
in New Zealand Chandigarh, April 18 Mr Anil Manocha, Sr Vice-President of the company said that now applicants are choosing New Zealand on their destination due to the less time taken in the processing of applications and under business visa. He said that the immigration pass marks for the general skill category for the New Zealand immigration programme will remain at the level of 25 points. The inflation rate is at 1.6 per cent which is roughly in line with expectations and the unemployment rate stands at 5.2 per cent which is pretty good as compared to Australia 6.7 per cent and the USA is around 5.7 per cent.
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RBI to mobilise Rs 4,100 cr in tap issue
Mumbai, April 18 The central bank expects to mobilise Rs 4,100 crore in this “tap” issue, an RBI statement said today. Applications can be obtained from the Public Debt Office of the concerned offices of RBI and will be received at these offices during business hours while the sale is open. This is the first tranche of the Market Borrowing Programme for the state governments in the current fiscal.
UNI |
And now, ‘vegetarian’ shoes
New York, April 18 Enterprising vegetarians have opened a store in downtown Manhattan which sells, what the owners describe as, ‘vegetarian’ and ethically friendly shoes, belts and other accessories. Their philosophy: if you don’t eat meat, why wear leather? And if their growing clientele is any guide, they are winning many converts and some new converts even leave their leather shoes behind. Interestingly, the store called ‘Mooshoes’ is located in a former slaughter house. They sell their products online too.
PTI
Samsung profit hits all-time high Seoul: Samsung Electronics Co. (SEC), posted an all-time high net profit of 1.8 trillion won ($ 1.37 billion) in the first quarter, reports said today. SEC’s recurring profit from January to March surged to 2.1 trillion won from 1.5 trillion won a year ago, Maeil Business News TV said, citing an unnamed SEC source. SEC’s first quarter sales stood at 11.8 trillion won, with revenue from its semiconductor division at 3.4 trillion won, it said. The company however, declined to confirm the report, saying results would be released tomorrow.
AFP
Apple rolls out new iMacs San Francisco: Apple Computer Inc. AAPL.O has reported its fiscal second quarter profit was steady from the previous quarter, in line with its forecast, despite rising component prices for its redesigned iMac desktop computer, which Apple has rushed to fans. The company forecast that revenues for the current quarter would be $ 1.6 billion, up almost 7 per cent from the quarter ending in March, with earnings per share flat to up slightly, and said it could make that target without an economic recovery. Apple yesterday reported a profit of $ 40 million, or 11 cents per share, for the quarter ended March 30, compared with the year-ago quarter’s $ 43 million, or 12 cents per share.
Reuters
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Mining contracts Malaysia Airlines Speed Trade Seminar New HMT CMD
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