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Thursday,
July 18, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Mobile
services in J&K soon: Mahajan IT raids
26 Modi Xerox offices Punjab
Tourism to sell hotels Punjab
potatoes for W Asia, Canada 2
mediators to solve Bajaj family dispute |
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Staff’s
gesture to save ESPL Manufacturing
sector can grow at 11 pc Focus on
hardware, says export council Loan
repayment
Rice
dishes on McDonald’s menu
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Mobile services in J&K soon: Mahajan New Delhi, July 17 Replying to a series of supplementaries during Question Hour, Mr Mahajan said he has moved a Cabinet note in this regard and he was confident to have the approval of the CCS for starting mobile services in Jammu and Kashmir and North Eastern states. Earlier also he had moved a similar proposal to the CCS but was rejected. This time he was more optimistic that the CCS will clear the move by his Ministry. He said the equipment is ready for providing services in these areas and after CCS clearance mobile services will start soon. Mr Mahajan clarified that he was not opposed to the disinvestment of Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited (VSNL) as it was done in a most transparent manner. He was also not opposed to Tata’s being given a stake in VSNL. The government being a 26 per cent stake holder in VSNL, it did have some reservations regarding certain subsequent investments made by the Tata’s. Mr Mahajan said every district headquarter in the country will get mobile services from Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited(BSNL) by the end of March 2003. BSNL will start providing services from August 2002. He clarified that BSNL has not yet started mobile services on a large scale. However, a C-DoT pilot project has been started. The number of mobile telephones released from the pilot project till June 30, 2002 is 8,450. The target fixed for the current financial year by BSNL is 24 lakh mobile phone connections countrywide on the Main GSM Cellular Project. The Minister conceded that some complaints on network problems and service interruptions regarding the pilot project are being received from Bihar and West Bengal where the services are at present operational. BSNL is continuous interacting with C-DoT and ITI for improving the software and hardware related problems. Significant improvements and further modifications are being carried out, he said. He said rentals for WLL will be brought down from Rs 450 per month to Rs 250 per month and for this permission has been granted by the Telecommunication Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).
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IT raids 26 Modi Xerox offices New Delhi, July 17 Sources in the department said ‘search and seizures’ raids were started simultaneously on 23 premises of the company in Delhi. The other three premises in Kolkata, Muzzafarnagar and Moradabad were only ‘surveyed’. The raids started at 8.30 a.m. and were expected to continue till late in the evening, the sources said. The raids follow the announcement made by Xerox Corporation, US office equipment manufacturing major, that it had made ‘improper payments’ (an euphemism for bribe) to Indian government officials to the tune of Rs 3 crore to shore up sales. Income tax officials were suspecting possible cases of tax evasion orchestrated by making some fictitious payments to some ‘front companies’ for some services, which were possibly never rendered. These payments, made by cheques and drafts, also generated the cash used to bribe the officials, the sources said. The searches were being conducted under Section 132 of the Income Tax Act. Modi Xerox comprises 68 per cent share of the US-based Xerox Corporation, 25 per cent belongs to B.K. Modi and balance is with the public. Following reports of improper payments, the Department of Company Affairs is also probing the matter.
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Punjab Tourism to sell hotels
Amritsar, July 17 Talking to mediapersons here, the minister said that the main aim of the state government was to promote tourism and not to run business for earning profit from tourism. “All possible steps would be taken for promoting tourism and reducing hassles in its way”, he added. Describing the historic Jallianwala Bagh as a national asset, he said like Vaishno Devi, Kurukshetra and others, Jallianwala Bagh would be included in the national tourism map. All historical monuments would be restored their respective original shapes, he claimed.
PTI
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Punjab potatoes for W Asia, Canada Chandigarh, July 17 The Punjab Markfed has sent this consignment under the Agri Export Zone (AEZ) for potatoes to Lulu Hyper Market which owns the biggest chain of super markets in Dubai and other Gulf countries. Those present at the ceremony at Punjab Bhawan included Mr Gurbinder Singh Atwal, Parliamentary Secretary, Dr B.C.Gupta, Financial Commissioner, Cooperation and Mr A.R.Talwar, Registrar, Cooperative Societies. The Chief Minister said the establishment of AEZ for potatoes would help potato producing areas of Punjab such as Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Bathinda and Patiala. Mr S.S. Channy, MD, Markfed, said his organisation had opened up a new
market for Punjab farmers. The AEZ for potatoes was being set up in Punjab under the Exim policy of 2001 with the objective of providing a remunerative return to the farmers and also to induce farmers to produce quality product on a par with the international standards. The move had been initiated to
encourage the farmers to diversify from the traditional wheat-paddy rotation. The AEZ project would be implemented in two phases costing Rs 10.41 crore and Rs 102 crore. The second phase of the project involved developing processing facilities. The government of India would provide further financial support for setting up units for producing potatoes granules, flakes and frozen French fries for which Markfed had already initiated talks with Canadian companies which are the market leaders in this segment.
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2 mediators to solve Bajaj family dispute
Mumbai, July 17 The two family friends who are mediating have been given certain terms of reference for settling the two-year old dispute, they said. When contacted, Rahul Bajaj declined to comment on any development while repeated attempts to speak to Shishir did not yield any results. “The mediators have been given terms of reference and the stalemate may continue for the next two to three months till a solution, even if the family is to split, is reached”, the sources said. There are at least 10 issues for the mediators to work upon including the one over the pricing of the share of Bajaj Auto Ltd, the flagship company of the Rs 6,000 crore Bajaj group in which Shishir holds a little less than one per cent stake against 1.05 per cent held earlier. There have been discussions but nothing has been put on paper as yet. One of the most important issues for the mediators to work upon is the valuation of Shishir’s stake in Bajaj Auto based on the company’s net worth, the prevailing price or average price of two years or 12 months or under the SEBI guidelines. The mediators will also have to value the entities headed by Shishir — Bajaj Sevashram, Bajaj Hindustan and others — in which Rahul and his three cousins hold substantial stakes. Rahul, during the three months ended June raised his stake in Bajaj Auto Ltd from 2.14 per cent to 2.28 per cent while his three cousins, Shekhar has a 0.71 per cent, Niraj has a 1.2 per cent and Madhur has 0.77 per cent in the company. On the other hand, Shishir holds less than one per cent as against 1.05 per cent three months ago while the group firms managed by him - Bachraj & Co and Bajaj Sevasharam - have a 1.76 per cent and two per cent equity stake in the Pune-based two wheeler company. Rahul last month admitted that the family has nearly split with Shishir demanding his share. Shishir in a statement had said he wanted to assess the turn of events that had taken place before reacting to the news of his possible separation from the family.
PTI
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Staff’s gesture to save ESPL Chandigarh, July 17 The Public Sector Disinvestment Commission has recommended the winding up of the company citing an increase in accumulated losses (Rs 62.88 crore by March 31, 2001) as the reason. On the other hand, the Board of Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR), after assessing the techno-economic feasibility, has recommended a rehabilitation package of Rs 5 crore, to be provided by the state government and the company’s promoter, PSIDC. Mr Amarjeet Singh, Senior Vice-President, ESPL, said, “The PSIDC management had agreed to pay Rs 5 crore last year to clear the loans of above Rs 31 crore under one-time settlement scheme”. The company provides maintenance services for electronic components of about 10 thermal plants, manufactures capacitors and other electronic parts, and prepares voter identity cards for Haryana, Bihar and Punjab. Union leaders said an audit company of the USA, PriceWaterHouse cooper, hired by the PSIDC, had indicted various officials for losses in photo identity project in Bihar. However, no action had been taken against them. The union leaders claimed that though the company had been operating at just 30-40 per cent of its capacity for the past many years, it had not taken any loan and salaries had been paid from its own account. Mr V.P. Singh, Additional Managing Director, PSIDC, who has been given additional charge of the MD of ESPL, said, “We have requested the BIFR to provide us some more time to dispose of the valuable assets in Delhi and other places. The state government has also sanctioned Rs 2.5 crore to offer VRS to the surplus staff, out of which Rs 1.1 crore has been already released. The PSIDC, already suffering huge losses, is trying to find some wayout.”
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Manufacturing sector can grow at 11 pc New Delhi, July 17 Mr Sudarshan Sampath Kumar of Accenture while addressing a seminar on “Making Indian Manufacturing Globally Competitive”, organised by the PHDCCI , here said the government needs to generate confidence, goodwill and vision in the minds of the entrepreneurs to promote investment in the manufacturing sector. Mr Arun Kapur, President, PHDCCI said that even if the country has global competitive advantages in many areas of service economy, we cannot afford to neglect the manufacturing sector. There is a serious need to emphasise on manufacturing to drive growth, he said. Mr T. Naresh Rao, KPMG while making his presentation stressed on the need for quality and price which are the key factors in the competitive arena of global
trade. Aging Director of the bank, Mr J.P. Panjeta, were also present on the occasion.
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Focus on hardware, says export council New Delhi, July 17 The newly elected Chairman of ESC, Mr Deepak Puri, said at a conference here that “India can additionally build on its software exports in the future by laying focus on development of the hardware segment since the demand for software will mostly be derived from hardware installations and systems”. Mr Puri, who is also the MD of Moser Baer India, said the electronics hardware sector could have been utilised to augment the domestic production and enhance exports. “While the software exports in 2001-02 were Rs 36,500 crore, the electronics hardware exports were only Rs 5,800 crore”, he said, adding that, “given the potential that exists in the electronics hardware segment, the exports can catch up with that of the software sector”. A proactive policy that addresses the problems faced by exporters and manufacturers is required. Mr D.K. Sareen, Executive Director, ESC said an action plan, which will focus on rejuvenating the US and Canadian markets, developing the second tier markets like the EU countries, Japan and Australia and nurturing evolving markets like the Latin America, Africa and West Asian countries, has been drawn up to build on India’s software market.
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Loan repayment Chandigarh, July 17 |
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Print media Unichem Lab IA, Taj tie-up Corpn Bank CM’s relief fund Infinite CEO |
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