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Thursday,
April 3, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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i-flex Dutch CEO released on bail
Punjab withdraws VAT Bill
Online lottery pact with Jindals soon
WB pegs lower GDP rate at 5.3 % LG, Whirlpool, Godrej to face probe
Mascot to acquire IT&T centre |
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Contract farming of Basmati New Horizons to enter Punjab
India unveils Param Padma
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i-flex Dutch CEO released on bail
London, April 2 Magistrate Workman while releasing him on bail of £ 20,000 pounds asked Kumar to surrender his passport and not to leave the city and fixed the case for next hearing on April 11. “I thank the Indian Government and the diplomatic officers of the Indian High Commission here for their support. It is a legal process, we have to go through it,” a much-relieved Kumar told PTI soon after the magistrate’s order. “The authorities in the prison were very cordial. Every one was supportive,” he added. Kumar was arrested here last Wednesday following an Interpol alert over a complaint filed against his company in Amsterdam that 14 of its employees were working in the Netherlands without work permits. Kumar’s Counsel Barrister Hugo Keith told Judge Workman at the Bow Street Magistrate’s Court that Kumar took over as Director of the Dutch company after the visa applications for the 14 employees were made. “A family man and a senior officer of the company, Senthil Kumar is prepared to provide a security deposit of up to £1 mn with five sureties,” he said. India had strongly condemned the Dutch Government’s action of issuing the Interpol arrest warrant against Kumar and subsequently asking 12 Indian software experts to leave the country, terming it as a “neo-non tariff barrier which comes in the way of free flow of services of professionals in violation of the WTO norms.” A spokesman of the External Affairs Ministry in Delhi had said the Dutch Government’s action against Kumar and 12 employees of i-flex Solutions was “grossly unfortunate, objectionable and patently unwarranted,” adding that New Delhi had taken up the matter with the Netherlands at the highest level. In London, two senior officials of the Indian High Commission had visited Kumar in the notorious Brixton prison and offered consular assistance. While sympathising with Kumar’s case, the British Foreign Office spokesman had said they could do very little in the matter as it was a judicial process. Once the complaint was forwarded to the British police they were bound under the European Union arrangements to arrest him though they have nothing against him. Kumar has been accused of involvement in providing false references for a number of company employees to come to work in Holland. The i-flex office in Mumbai has said the visa documents of all employees in Amsterdam were in order. It said the employees were on business visa while their work permits were being processed. PTI
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Punjab withdraws VAT Bill Chandigarh, April 2 The House also passed 16 Bills. A number of them have been passed replacing Ordinances. When the turn of the minister concerned came for the introduction of the VAT Bill in the House, Speaker Kewal Krishan informed the members that the government had withdrawn the Bill. Obviously, the state government wanted to go slow as far as the implementation of VAT was concerned. The Union Government has also postponed its implementation. Same is true in case of Karnataka that yesterday announced that it would not implement VAT for the time being. Otherwise, there was a proposal to implement VAT from this month in various states, including Punjab. Now keeping in the view the protest by traders, it appears that neither the Centre nor any state government will take the risk to enforce VAT. Besides, the Punjab Tax on Entry of Goods in Local Areas (Amendment) Bill, 2003, the Punjab General Sales Tax (Amendment) Bill, 2003 the Punjab Agricultural Produce Markets ( Amendment) Bill, 2003, the Punjab Electricity( Duty) Amendment Bill,2003, the Punjab Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Bill, 2002, the Punjab Excise (Amendment) Bill,the Punjab Cooperative Societies (Amendment) Bill ,the Punjab Regional Town Planning and Development (Amendment), Bill 2003, the Punjab State Election Commission (Amendment) Bill, the Punjab Industrial Establishments Amendment Bill,2003, were also passed. |
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Online lottery pact with Jindals soon Chandigarh, April 2 The officials said the company was being given preference for its highest bid price and financial credibility of the Jindal group. The other bids included Rs 3,000 crore by Infotech group, Rs 1,700 crore by ECT consortium flouted by the Zee TV group and the lowest bid of about Rs 800 crore by the Essar group. They said in case the Jindal group retracted the agreement would be signed with the second bidder, Infotech group. However, they said the first party may be given some additional time of two to three days to sign the agreement. Allaying fears of any foul play, the official said, “We asked the bidders to offer bank guarantee of only scheduled nationalised banks. The final agreement would be signed only after taking written confirmation from the bank about the bank guarantee.” Incidentally, the government had to cancel the agreement last time due to fake bank guarantee. TNS
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WB pegs lower GDP rate at 5.3 %
New Delhi, April 2 Although the bank did not like to make any forecast linking the war right now, Mr Shaw said oil prices were extremely volatile due to the war on Iraq. Since India is a net importer of oil, it could affect the country, he added. Commenting on the report, he said “the war has added more bumps to an uneven global expansion.” This was mainly due to higher oil prices, falling consumer and business confidence, increased volatility in financial markets and higher fiscal deficits, he said. Moreover, he said war may have an impact on remittances flow as well. Otherwise, the World Bank protected an average 5.3 per cent economic growth for India and other South Asian nations during 2003, which is marginally lower than 5.4 per cent projected in December 2002. As per the World Bank’s projected growth figures, South Asia is well ahead of the average growth of all developing nations slated to grow at 4.0 per cent and global average of 1.8 per cent during 2003. The bank also said foreign direct investments and remittances outpaced debt as a source of financing developed nations. The World Bank report said, "At 4.9 per cent, growth was well below the region’s potential for a third successive year,” it said. Manufacturing sector in India was showing signs of an incipient upturn and the burgeoning IT sector has experienced much less disruption in demand than high-tech sectors elsewhere. PTI
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LG, Whirlpool, Godrej to face probe New
Delhi, April 2 The order came in the wake of three separate cases filed before the commission, of which two were against LG alleging that the firm was overstating capacity of frost-free refrigerators while one case was filed by LG against Whirlpool alleging
misuse of the “BIS” mark by the latter. A two-judge Bench comprising Chairman C.M. Nayara and member Moksh Mahajan issued the notices of inquiry, returnable on April 19, 2003. “.....till then on the facts and circumstances of the case, we will hold that enquiries need to be initiated against all parties i.e. Whirlpool of India Ltd, LG and Godrej,” the commission said. However, according to UNI, the MRTPC today directed Whirlpool not to represent either through any visual or print media that its products were as per BIS standards.
PTI
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Mascot to acquire IT&T centre
Bangalore, April 2 Mascot said it had signed an agreement to acquire IT&T’s BPO business by way of a business purchase. The company would also acquire IT&T’s Facility Management business by buying out IT&T Technology Services Ltd., a subsidiary of IT&T, it said in a release here. The acquisition was subject to the approval of Mascot’s Board of Directors, terms and conditions agreement and other statutory and regulatory approvals, the release said.
GAIL net rises
32 per cent Riding high on a 32 per cent increase in net the profit at Rs 1,565 crore, GAIL said today it would invest Rs 20,000 crore over the next five years. Announcing the financial results, GAIL Chairman and Managing Director Prashanto Banerjee
said, the net profit surged by 32 per cent from Rs 1,186 crore in 2001-02, while the turnover increased by 11 per cent to Rs 11,763 crore as compared to Rs 10,553 crore during 2001-02. Meanwhile GAIL has submitted an expression of interest (EoI) to acquire stake in the beleaguered Dabhol Power Corporation. The company is also keen to own equity in EIL and Haldia Petrochemicals (HPL) and Greater Calcutta Gas Supply Company Limited (GSCL) where due diligence process is on. GAIL also submitted EoI for a marketing tie-up arrangement with BRPL, Bongaigaon for PSF, he told mediapersons. GAIL today announced its plans to set up the national gas grid in five years at an investment of Rs 20,000 crore in a move to create a national green quadrilateral of pipeline network for clean energy corridor. The proposed grid will be completed in next five years to include the network of Kakinada-Kolkata, Kakinada-Uran, Kakinada-Chennai, West Bengal-Jagdishpur, Bangalore-Chennai, Dabhol-Banglore and Kochi-Mangalore-Bangalore sectors.
Moser Baer media products Moser Baer India will come out with its own products in the domestic market, eyeing 50 per cent of the Rs 1500-crore market in the next three years. Announcing the launch of these products, MSI Managing Director Deepak Puri said his company would first come out with CD-Rs and CD-RWs and then move to DVD-Rs and DVD-RWs as the DVD market is quite small in India.
No to BGL for Bharti Tele stake The government is believed to have rejected a proposal of Bharti Global for acquiring up to 49 per cent stake in Bharti Tele-Ventures, after objections were raised over “round tripping” and secondary market purchases of shares by Overseas Corporate Bodies. Jeresy-based Bharti Global had sought permission to invest $5
million on repatriation basis by acquisition of existing equity shares from the secondary market “up to 49 per cent of the equity capital of Bharti Tele-Ventures”, sources said here today.
TNS and Agencies
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Contract
farming of Basmati Chandigarh, April 2 The initiative has been launched with Rallis India Ltd, a Tata group company, ICICI Bank and Daawat Basmati Rice, under the aegis of the PAIC. As part of this initiative, the government proposed to take up large scale contract farming of Basmati rice, which calls for integrated solutions from seed to market.
TNS
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New Horizons to enter Punjab New Delhi, April 2 At present the institute had 40 company-owned centres in the country and an additional 210 centres which were run by franchises. It had recently entered into a partnership with Oracle to be its certified training partner in India. As part of the agreement, New Horizons, would provide certification programmes and technical support services.
TNS
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Aishwarya Rai Grand Vitara
Bharat Movers NHPC dividend FDI understated Lohri bumper Hyundai sales REC dividend
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