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Thursday, September 19, 2002,
Chandigarh, India  
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10th Plan to have state-wise growth targets
Conduct tests for mixing ethanol in diesel: Advani
Lights at the click of a mouse
How a unit becomes sick
Ease visa norms, Latin America told
Provide cheap loans, HP to banks |
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Hero Motors launches ‘Smart’ bike
Bata recasts top management
Daewoo lenders may cancel $ 12b debt
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10th Plan to have state-wise growth targets
New Delhi, September 18 “The Tenth Plan projections have indicated that the population in the working age group of 15 to 60 years would be growing at an annual rate of 2.4 per cent, which was the fastest growth ever been recorded,” Mr Pant said while delivering the L.K. Jha memorial lecture. Mr Pant, who was speaking on Imperatives of Development Planning: The Indian Experience, noted that the Tenth Plan has targeted an annual growth rate of 8 per cent, which would be further accelerated to over 9 per cent in the Eleventh Plan. He said to achieve the targets of the Tenth Plan much of the action would lie in the domain of states. In a deviation from the past where the Central Plan did not explicitly take into account the role of the states in realising national objectives, the Tenth Plan would emphasise on the importance of balanced development for all states. He said for the first time, the Plan would include state-wise break up of broad developmental targets, including targets for growth rates and social development. Terming agriculture as the centre-piece of the development strategy, Pant said, “unless agriculture sector grows sufficiently fast, we face the spectre of growing unemployment ..this would place an intolerable burden on the fabric of our society and may eventually thwart all our development efforts.” Despite considerable increase in agricultural output and expansion in non-farm rural activities, almost 30 per cent of people in rural areas continue to live below the poverty line, he said adding that despite self-sufficiency in food, under- nourishment and malnutrition were endemic in rural areas. “The fundamental message conveyed by the plan is that the agriculture sector can no longer be treated as being a residual or peripheral component of our growth path, but must take centre-stage of all our development efforts,” Pant said. The most important area of focus must be to raise the cropping intensity of our existing agricultural land, he said while highlighting the fact that despite large investments in irrigation, only 40 per cent of agricultural land is irrigated. Pant said greater attention will have to be paid to rain water harvesting and increasing irrigation potential through scientific watershed development, post-harvest technologies and marketing infrastructure. “It would also require a reconsideration of the various rules and regulations that govern agricultural trade, which frequently act against the interests of the farmers and distort their incentive structure,” he said adding that the Planning Commission had devoted a
separate chapter on governance in the Tenth Plan since it had been identified as an important constraint to growth. Emphasising the need for states to play an increasing role to achieve higher economic growth, Pant said for the first time the Tenth Plan included a state-wise break-down of the broad developmental targets, including targets for growth rates and social development, which are consistent with the national targets. While the state specific targets were more in the nature of indicative guidelines for facilitating planning, they took into account the needs, potentialities and constraints present in each state and the scope for improving these performances.
UNI, PTI
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Conduct tests for mixing ethanol in diesel: Advani
New Delhi, September 18 Inaugurating a two-day conference on ‘Ethanol blended petrol and diesel and bio-diesel as ‘swedeshi-fuel’ here, organised by the Swadeshi Jagran Manch, Mr Advani said the government had already made mandatory the use of 5 per cent blending of ethanol in petrol for 9 states and four Union Terrorities with effect from January 1, 2003. “The move is one of the greatest achievements of the NDA government, which will complete three years next month,’’ he said. Listing other achievements of his government, Mr Advani said it had facilitated for significant strides in the field of Information Technology, Communications and creating road
infrastructure in the country. In his keynote address, Petroleum Minister Ram Naik said the country would save on valuable foreign exchange following the use of ethanol-blended petrol. Giving details of the initiatives taken by the government in the field of ethanol, Mr Naik said encouraged by the success of the pilot projects, the government has made it mandatory to supply petrol blended with five per cent ethanol. “This is for nine sugar-growing states of Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Goa as well as Union Territories of Daman and Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Chandigarh and Pondicherry in the phase I. “At the level of consumption, the estimated ethanol required for blending with petrol would be approximately in the range of 32 to 35 crore litres per year,’’ the Minister said. Mr Naik said depending upon the availability, the government would make ethanol-blended petrol mandatory for other states as well.
UNI
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Lights at the click of a mouse
New Delhi, September 18 But if lighting companies are to be believed, soon these would be some of the first things installed for a modern lighting system right after the walls go up. The system would allow the user to turn on and off lighting gadgets at the click of a mouse from any part of the globe — from dimming the lights in your bedroom here while you holiday in New York to switching off the lamps in office. And if you want to add a funky touch to the lighting system at home replacing those conventional tubes, then energy efficient products like smaller-than-a-fingernail laser emitting diodes (LEDs) are an alternative. LEDs, which are easily programmed to make subtle changes in colour and quality of light, can be arranged in virtually infinite configurations to create design solutions. Indian and foreign companies here believe this “futuristic” concept can light up homes and offices in the not-too-distant future. A host of domestic and global lighting majors projected visions of future illumination solutions at an exposition here that ended last weekend. “The kinds of things that are coming along are a little more futuristic, but the things we have today are very energy efficient and can be installed now at a very reasonable cost,” said Sudeshna Mukhopadhyay, general manager of Philips India Ltd. “Lighting today has not only become necessary but has become a key ingredient of our well being and occupies prime mind space in homes and commercial establishments,” Mukhopadhyay told IANS. The Rs.70 billion lighting division of Philips India is currently concentrating on bringing in a range of LED products in the domestic market for residential and commercial use. With an expected lifespan of 50,000-100,000 hours, or approximately 6 to 11 years of continuous use, LEDs last 50 to 100 times longer than the normal incandescent bulb. The reason is that LED runs on low current and voltage and efficiently converts electricity into light, consuming less energy than conventional sources of illumination. “Our focus is on introducing new lighting products that not only save energy but also enhance user experience. The products are smaller in size, need lesser materials and are environment-friendly,” said the Philips official. Osram India, a lighting unit of Germany’s Osram group, has also lined up a series of new launches for the domestic market that not only save energy but also have high decorative effects. “A concept like LED is the ideal basis for creative design for new light solutions. It has configurations to create new design solutions ... lines, points, fields and curves of light are all possible,” said an Osram India official. Akash Kakar, director of Light Sound Image, said lighting companies in India would have to focus on the integration of lighting, lighting control and audiovisual technologies to transform “concepts into realities”. “The companies will have to work closely with interior designers, architects, landscape consultants and lighting designers to create the right ambience and effect for a variety of projects. “It can be achieved by a single supplier that could handle everything from consultation and design to installation and support.” Light Sound Image has become one of the leading companies of its kind in the Asia Pacific region with offices in Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and India, and the group has completed around 1,000 projects. Leading luxury hotels like Hyatt Regency Hotel and Regent Hotel in Mumbai and the Taj Hotels in Goa and Hyderabad are among its clients. H.S. Mamak, president of the Indian Society of Lighting Engineers, said the Rs.30 billion Indian lighting industry is likely to continue with a growth rate of 6 to 7 percent over the next couple of years.
IANS
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How a unit becomes sick The campaign against bank defaulters has unnerved industrial borrows. Over time even the system may turn biased against the industry. The other part of the story also needs attention. How does any business become sick? The customs duty rates play a vital role in making or marring any business. For many years duty rates on imported raw materials had been higher than those on intermediate or finished products. Surely this is to the discomfort of the indigenous industry. Nepal treaty was so defective that it took heavy toll of a few industries like vanaspati and yarn. In the recent Budget the government allowed import of edible oil at the much concessional rate (25 per cent) to sick vanaspati manufacturing companies while for others it was 75 per cent. This fact killed healthy units and policy was rectified after doing the damage. Central Excise laws are such as to hinder the industry. There are 95,000 excise assessees in India only 4000 account for 95 per cent of the total excise revenue. It means tinkering with industrial units and hampering their running. Two years back the government enacted a law under which a manufacturer had to charge 15 per cent higher price if sold to a relative or interconnected undertaking. Is such a business proposition viable in any sense? The industry has been crying hoars but to no avail. Will not such decisions tend to make a borrower sick? At the state level things are even worse. States started a sort of incentive beginning a war with each other. Sales tax exemption was at the top. In Punjab sales tax exemption to vanaspati units in the border area only was granted in the policy. This was enough to make running units elsewhere sick. The state governments are increasing their unproductive expenses. This puts pressure on the industry by way of higher taxes. Even after higher taxes, ways are found to extract taxes. For instance at sales tax barriers in Punjab case is made a driver of the goods carrier tried to bypass the barrier. The penalty which was earlier 30 per cent of the value of goods is now 50 per cent. A few such instances are enough to kill cash crunched units. At the local level taxation is also becoming heavier. The house tax rates and octroi rates are rising which impact the cost of production adversely. Our labour laws are such that the industry has to manage with inefficient and unwilling workers. The cost of this is too heavy to promote business. In the banking sector, industrial borrowers have to face many odds. Bank appraisals are based on projections. Actual turn out to be different for reasons beyond the control of borrower. For instance there is a flood of imported goods into this country. This will wipe out the affected sectors. In today’s political environ industrialist is a helpless creature. He is at the whims and mercies of administrators. If heavy penalties, for instance, are levied on any businessman on wrong grounds, officer is never punished whereas the businessman gets severe punishment by way of his business failure. Mr Narasimham, architect of financial sector reforms, has said the public sector banks are not bankers; they are banking civil servants. This reveals the entire
reality in the banking sector. He has further gone to say that we can’t eliminate bad debts but can only
minimise.
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Ease visa norms, Latin America told New Delhi, September 18 The summit, being organised by Ficci, is being held concurrently with the India Chem 2002. Rudy also urged Latin America to allow easier access for its professionals and companies by simplifying norms. Mr Rudy said most of the countries in Latin America do not produce bulk drugs unlike India which has established itself as a prime manufacturer of bulk drugs and can, thus, become a regular supplier to this region. Mr Dipak Chatterjee, Commerce Secretary, said the Ministry of Commerce had identified Latin America as the thrust market for India. Indian, on the other hand, is self sufficient and is able to produce essential drugs at much lower costs. “This summit will help increasing trade between India and Latin America”, he said. Currently, the volume of trade between these two countries stands at $2 billion. The Minister of Public Health from Uruguay , Dr Alfonso Varela, Ficci President R.S. Lodha, and Ficci Secretary General Amit Mitra were present.
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Provide cheap loans, HP to banks Shimla, September 18 Presiding over the meeting of the state-level bankers committee in connection with the drought relief measures, here today, he asked the banks to adopt a liberal attitude and give preference to infrastructure development. The state government wanted to replace the outstanding expensive loans with low cost funds and for this it required the support of the financial sector. The Chief Secretary said bio-technology, tourism, hydel generation and information technology were the important sectors for which funds should flow from the banking sector. The banks should also respond to various pro-active policies of the government and evolve a time-bound strategy to increase their credit-deposit ratio. Earlier, Mr V. Sridhar, Executive Director, Uco bank, said despite drought there had been 24.28 per cent achievement of annual target during the quarter ending June, 2002.
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Hero Motors launches ‘Smart’ bike
New Delhi, September 18 Speaking at a news meet here to announce the launch of ‘Smart’, Hero Motors Managing Director Pankaj Munjal said the four-stroke motor cycle would have an ex-showroom price of Rs 21,500 in the North and East India and Rs 19,900 in South India. He said the new motor cycle would primarily be
targeted at rural customers for which a ‘Rural Access Program (RAP) was launched by Member of Parliament Jyotiraditya Scindia.
PTI
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Bata recasts top management
Kolkata, September 18 The former Managing Director of Bata India, C Morzaria, has been appointed as the Executive Vice-Chairman.
PTI
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