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Thursday,
October 24, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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MTNL, BSNL to slash Internet access charges
Hero Cycles crosses 8.5 cr mark
French firms prefer India
Laden’s African ‘blood diamond’ deals |
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Satyam net profit dips 11.88 per cent
Allahabad Bank inks
pact with ICICI Pru FDI proposals worth 95 cr cleared Grain stocks fall 11.7 pc SBP donates 30 lakh
for IT chair at TIET
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MTNL, BSNL to slash Internet access charges New Delhi, October 23 The access charges will be reduced to Rs 12.50 per hour during the time slab of 10.30 p.m. to 6.30 a.m. “I have asked BSNL and MTNL to reduce night time tariffs as far as Internet access is concerned. The two companies would seek telecom. The two companies would seek telecom regulator TRAI’s approval to reduce the current charges by 50 per cent”, Communication and IT Minister Pramod Mahajan said while inaugurating the Asia Pacific Telecommunication General Assembly meeting here. The Minister said that presently the subscribers were paying about Rs 25 per hour for the dial up connectivity for logging on to the Net and since the price of dial up access was not much headway has been made despite opening up of Internet Telephony. He said that reduction will initially take place during the night hours to prevent clogging of traffic during peak hours and added that eventually the reduced charges will applicable for 24 hours. In addition, the Minister said that government has also decided to delicense the indoor use of wireless Local Area Network (LAN) making India one of the very few countries to have a countrywide delicensing regime. |
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Hero Cycles crosses 8.5 cr mark Ludhiana, October 23 Hero Cycles, founded by four enterprising brothers Mr Dayanand Munjal, Mr Satyanand Munjal, Mr Brij Mohan Lall Munjal and Mr Om Prakash Munjal, is today not only the world’s largest manufacturer of the bicycles, but is also the flagship company of the Hero Group of Industries which also manufactures Hero Honda motorcycles. And again Hero Honda is the largest selling motorcycle in the world. Hero Cycles continues to remain the world number one since 1984. It was in that year that the Hero Cycles entered into the Guinesses Book of World Records. And it continues to retain that record even now, without any break. According to Mr O P Munjal, the Co-chairman and Managing Director of the Hero Cycles, others are far behind with an annual production not exceeding even 30 lakh. Talking to The Tribune, Mr Munjal disclosed that once someone asked him as how he felt now when the Hero Cycles turnover is about Rs 1000 crore in comparison to a few lakhs only in the fifties, the formative years of the Hero Cycles. And he replied, “as normal as any person would feel after looking back to his childhood”. Because, he added, “it was not something spontaneous. It happened slowly and gradually over a period of 45 years in an evolutionary manner”. The phenomenal success does not in any way seem to have changed the attitude of the Munjals. “We do not consider ourselves as the proprietors but only as the trustees of great trust vested in us along with our workers, dealers and vendors, who are equally responsible for this success”, says Mr Munjal while describing the basic management philosophy that has been adopted at the Hero Cycles. Today Hero Cycles exports bicycles to entire Europe. It has already entered into an agreement with the National Panasonic, a top most brand in Japan, which will get about one million bicycles manufactured from the Hero Cycles and sell them in Japan. In other parts of the world, the product would be sold as Hero Panasonic. |
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French firms prefer India Chandigarh, October 23 In an interactive session organised by the CII with industry representatives of the region, he said infrastructure, high technology, agro-technology and consumer goods were the key priority areas where the two countries could work together for mutual advantage. There was a lot of scope for collaboration in the area of R&D and technical upgradation. He called upon the industry to organise road shows, seminars, workshops to create awareness among French companies about investment opportunities. Allaying the fear on difficulty in getting visa in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, he said, the total number of visas from India had increased substantially and efforts were made to clear all difficulties for suitable candidates. Elaborating the success stories of the French companies, Mr Monteferrand said, Saint Gobain in glass, Alcatel in telecom and Lafarge in cement had opened new vistas for other companies. Mr Y. Saboo, Chairman, CII, Chandigarh Council, said, “As many as 20 French companies will participate in Agro Tech 2002, the CII’s coming mega agro-technology fair. Later, the French Ambassador called upon Capt Amarinder Singh and evinced keen interest in setting up joint ventures in the field of agro-processing and bio-technology in Punjab. Mr Y.S. Ratra, Chief Secretary, Punjab, Mr P.K. Verma, Financial Commissioner, Development and S.K. Sinha, Principal Secretary to CM, were also present. His Excellency Benard De Montferrand, Ambassador of France to India, today called on the Punjab Governor, Lt-Gen. JFR Jacob, (retd.) at Punjab Raj Bhavan. The Ambassador discussed with the Governor various issues of mutual interest. The Governor informed the Ambassador that Punjab is a frontline, progressive and vibrant state, which has made a mark especially in the agriculture sector. He said that there was an urgent need to harness the full potential of this sector. He said that France could help Punjab in setting up joint sector venture especially in the areas of food-processing, agro-processing and also in areas of post harvest technology, improving juice content in the sugarcane and establishing cold storages in Punjab. General Jacob said that with large human resource base especially in the Information Technology sector, Punjab was the right place for France IT firms to set up their base. General Jacob said that India and France should have more cultural exchange programmes. The Ambassador informed the Governor that he visited Punjab Agriculture University, a tractor unit and agro-processing unit during his visit to Punjab. |
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Laden’s African ‘blood diamond’ deals London, OCTOBER 23 Ahead of London’s $ 500-ticket, diamond-trade gala dinner next month, when Nelson Mandela is to congratulate the trade on its efforts to eradicate smuggling, London's Observer newspaper reveals the true size of the cash stockpile Al-Qaida has made from the stones mined illegally by the Revolutionary United Front rebels in Sierra Leone. “Given that the attacks on America cost only about $ 500,000, it is terrifying that Al-Qaida managed to convert $ 20 m of its cash into diamonds,” said Alex Yearsley of Global Witness, which campaigns against the “blood diamonds” trade. “The ease with which terrorist organisations can use diamonds as a source of funding and money laundering is frightening; they can easily transport these diamonds over borders without detection and convert these back into bank notes whenever they need the money.” According to information leaked by European and Belgian
government officials, Aziz Nassour, a Lebanese diamond merchant employed couriers to exchange $ 300,000 for diamonds, every week between December, 2000, and Sept 2001. According to the Belgian officials, the couriers took weekly flights from Antwerp on the now-defunct Sabena Airline to Abidjan. There, they hired light planes from the Weswua Airline to fly to Monrovia, Liberia, and, then, went on to meet rebel RUF commanders in Sierra Leone. A recent report in an Antwerp newspaper claimed Al-Qaida converted $ 10 m into untraceable gems before September 11, 2001. This new evidence indicates at least twice as much money passed hands, enabling Al-Qaida to continue its operations despite the international agreement to freeze bank accounts with suspected links to the terrorist group. “Despite the threat of terrorist groups such as Al-Qaida using diamonds to finance their activities, the diamond industry has consistently failed to implement a system of self-regulation to ensure this does not happen,”
The Guardian |
rc
Satyam net profit dips 11.88 per cent
Hyderabad, October 23 The Board, which today approved the company’s financial report, declared an interim dividend of 40 per cent, the company said in a release here. The Total income for the quarter has gone up to Rs 505.05 crore as compared to the previous year figure of Rs 453.50 crore but other income came down from Rs 26.87 crore to Rs 5.91 crore which alone accounts for the dip in the net profit, said. The net profit for half year ending September 30 was Rs 226.60 crore as against the previous year figure of Rs 255.54 crore while the total income grew from Rs 874.52 crore to Rs 976.53 crore during the current fiscal, it said.
PTI
Bajaj Auto net slips 8.14 pc Bajaj Auto (BAL) has recorded a 8.14 per cent decline in the net profit at Rs 132 crore for the second quarter ended September 30 as compared to Rs 143.7 crore in the same period of the previous year. Sales and income from operations stood at Rs 1,183.2 crore as against Rs 1,057.1 crore in the Q2 of 2001, BAL said in a release here today. For the first half ended September 30, BAL’s net profit was at Rs 253.8 crore (Rs 264.5 crore) while income from operations was at Rs 2,385.9 crore (Rs 1,972 crore), it said, adding that the net profit for H1 was lower since the premium on insurance venture, received by the company in the previous year, attracted a lower tax rate.
PTI
Raymond net falls 15.72 pc Raymond’s net profit has dipped by 15.72 per cent to Rs 34.41 crore for the second quarter ended September 30, 2002, as compared to Rs 40.83 crore in the same period of the previous year. The company’s net sales or income from operations in the quarter stood marginally higher at Rs 295.59 crore as against Rs 294.99 crore in the Q2 of 2001, chairman and Managing Director Gautam Singhania said in a release here today. For the half year ended September 30, the company’s net profit was at Rs 38.72 crore (Rs 36.19 crore) and net sales were at Rs 462.29 crore (Rs 427.13 crore), the release said.
PTI
Aptech net at 2.34cr Aptech Ltd has posted a net profit at Rs 2.34 crore for the second quarter ended September 30. The company’s income from operations for the quarter stood at Rs 41.11 crore, Aptech said in a release here today.
PTI
Hindalco profit falls 25pc Hindalco Industries has registered a 25 per cent fall in the net profit in the July-September period as compared to last year. The firm's net fell to Rs1.25 billion in the second quarter from Rs1.67 billion in the corresponding period a year ago. However, the net sales rose 2.2 per cent to Rs5.7 billion from Rs5.6 billion.
Agencies
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Allahabad
Bank inks pact with ICICI Pru Chandigarh, October 23 The bank is offering insurance products at its branches in Kolkata and Delhi. This will be gradually extended to the bank’s retail banking boutiques — branches that are the bank’s dedicated retail lending outlets. The bank is planning to expand its Bancassurance business to general insurance products as well. However, sources said the bank would only take a decision after the life insurance business streamlined. Besides, Oriental Insurance Company several leading private sector insurance companies had sent feelers to the bank with a business proposal. The sources said the bank was focusing on increasing its fee based income. This tie-up would not only put Allahabad Bank in a front-runner position in the Bancassurance business but also help the bank in earning a sizeable fee based income.
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FDI proposals worth 95 cr cleared New Delhi, October 23 Japan-based Hitachi Ltd’s Rs 20 crore proposal involves increasing its equity in the joint venture with the Indian partner Amtrex Appliances Ltd to upto 74 per cent while the Korea-based Samsung got clearance for enhancing its equity in its India arm to 100 per cent. Samsung’s proposal will lead to an FDI inflow of Rs 15.68 crore, an official release said here. Canada-based NSI Global Inc’s proposal to increase its equity in its Indian arm to 49 per cent will result in Rs 22.27 crore inflow. The major investment proposals cleared by the government on the recommendation of the Foreign Investment Promotion Board involve sectors such as consumer goods manufacturing, automobile components, engineering accessories, tourism and software. As many as 21 proposals including that of Honda Motor Co. Ltd and M/S Reuters Singapore Pte Ltd related to amendment in the existing Foreign Currency approval vis-a-vis their Indian joint venture were cleared and did not involve any fresh inflow.
PTI
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Grain stocks fall 11.7 pc New Delhi, October 23 This is mainly on account of a 26.4 per cent fall in the stocks of rice as on October 1 to 157.7 lakh tonnes from 214.5 lakh tonnes in the same month last year. According to projections of the Food Ministry, owing to lower procurement of rice this season and increased offtake mainly for exports, the foodstocks will fall further to 430 lakh tonnes by April 1 next year. The official data states that while the wheat stocks have fallen only marginally to 356.4 lakh tonnes from 368.3 lakh tonnes, its offtake, including exports, has risen to 95.4 lakh tonnes during the April-Sept. The impact of lower rice procurement at a projected 165 lakh tonnes was yet to be felt but even before this could take place, the rice stocks had fallen substantially due to its increased offtake at 128 lakh tonnes in the first six months of the current fiscal, 37 pc of which constituted exports. PTI |
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SBP donates 30 lakh
for IT chair at TIET Chandigarh, October 23 Mr P. Dinakara Rao, General Manager (Plg. & Dev.) said that the establishment of this Chair represents another milestone in synergy between the bank and the institute. The bank has been catering to the banking needs of the institute, its employees and students since 1973. Mr Purwar stated the bank has taken a lead over most of the other banks in the IT area. 695 of its outlets out of a total of 822 have already been computerised. All the remaining outlets are proposed to be covered by March, 2003. Prof S.C. Saxena, Director, TIET while thanking the bank for establishing the Chair keeping in view the need of the times stated that this will promote not only industry-institute co-operation but will also ultimately benefit the society in general. Mr
J.R. Devgan, General Manager (Operations) was present on the occasion.
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SBI Life plans 2 products New Delhi,
October 23
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Woven Gold Birdi Engg Bajaj Tempo Cooking ranges Saha Institute SBI loans
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