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Wednesday,
April 9, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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UTI on
revival path: Jaswant
20 firms
show interest in PTDC Spice
roaming in 142 countries Singapore
to invest $ 1b in India |
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Bill to
regulate sugar supply Govt to
move SC against branding of drugs
Pepsi
signs Ms Dynamite Bicycle
makers eye Europe PM
intervention in Wockhardt row sought
People’s
hopes & tax
NRI to
own largest hotel in Belfast
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UTI on revival path: Jaswant New Delhi, April 8 “UTI is well on the revival path and it is a healthy sign,” Finance Minister Jaswant Singh said while replying to supplementaries during Question Hour. He said the government is taking stock of the market situation which has been hit recently by the ongoing US-led attack on Iraq and the global down trend. On the decline in investors’ confidence in stock market, Singh attributed it to the Gulf crisis, the global downturn and drought. The minister said the interest in stock market in rural sector has been limited as those investing from these areas are considered “satoris”. He said the mindset in India is different and people preferred the debt market to the capital market. The interest in stock market has also declined due to stock scams and said the government will implement recommendations of the JPC on the stock market scam. “We are committed to revive the interest and investors’ confidence in capital market,” he said. When Sanjay Nirupam, Shiv Sena said the
government was not interacting with the brokers and asked the Minister how many meetings he had taken with the stock brokers, the Minister said he had many of them recently at the Bombay Stock Exchange.’’I met quite a few people’’ he said. Mr Nirupam also pointed out that it is the responsibility of the SEBI to meet the brokers, the Minister replied that he would look into the matter.
UTI MF to pay 10 pc dividend
UTI Mutual Fund today announced a maiden dividend of 10 per cent (Rs one per unit) under its master value fund. The master value fund became an open ended scheme from February 17 and the net asset value as on April 4 was Rs 17.44 per unit, UTI MF said in a release here today. The fund invests in stocks, which are currently undervalued and have long term appreciation potential, the release added. The scheme has a balanced portfolio of value stocks in auto, metals, engineering, petroleum, FMCG, pharma and chemicals to enable the fund to outperform the benchmark index, it said. The maiden income distribution would be made to all unitholders whose names appear in the books as on April 21, 2003. The scheme,
formally known as master value unit plan 1998, has shown 11.41 per cent growth in its net value since inception while the National Stock Exchange S&P mid cap 200 stock index has grown NY 6.45 per cent only in same period. Over the last one year the NAV has grown by 10.55 per cent while NSE mid cap stock index declined by 10.82 per cent in the same period, it said.
PTI
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20 firms show interest in PTDC Chandigarh, April 8 According to Mr P.V. Ramanujan, Global Adviser, Karvy Investor Services, Hyderabad,‘‘ the response to the disinvestment move has been overwhelming and more than expected in the given economic scenario.’’ Mr Ramanujan, talking on telephone from Hyderabad, disclosed that it had advised the government to sell the properties of the PTDC by distributing these into five parts. He said,‘‘ while private investors will be offered four sets of properties in separate blocks involving valuable properties, the remaining properties will remain with the PTDC.’’ He claimed that as per the plan, private investors would have to foot the VRS bill, however, they would get tax breaks and other incentives during the sell-off. According to information, 360 employees out 367 eligible candidates had already applied for VRS. There are about 500 employees working with the corporation, including casual and ad hoc employees. The official at Karvy Investor claimed that the letters of EOI would be soon opened in consultation with the officials of the Core Committee of Disinvestment. In the next few days the Disinvestment Directorate and Global Adviser would shortlist the ‘‘prospective strategic players’’for the government share. After that the selected companies would be asked to sign the ‘‘agreement of confidentiality’’ and after the due diligence exercise, the information memorandum would be prepared. The actual sale of PTDC properties may take a couple of months, as the shortlisted bidders would have to later submit technical and financial bids to buy the properties.
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Spice roaming in 142 countries Chandigarh, April 8 Spice, offers international roaming in countries such as United State of America, Canada, United Kingdom apart from Brazil, Mexico, Sweden, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, France and Germany, Egypt, Japan, Hong Kong, China, Singapore and Malaysia. The main countries in the Indian sub-continent include Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal where Spice has entered into a tie up to offer roaming facility to subscribers says Mr Swarn Bajaj, General Manager — Marketing, Spice Telecom. In addition to international roaming tie-up with over 245 international operators present in 142 countries, Spice has roaming tie-ups with all of the 49 cellular operators present across 21 states in the country. Recently Spice Telecom joined hands with BPL Mobile, Escotel and RPG Cellular to form the MobileFirst alliance to give unprecedented benefits to its subscribers.
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Singapore to invest $ 1b in India New Delhi, April 8 “Foreign investors are closely watching what is going on in India. If investors sense that the political will for reforms is lacking, they will move to other parts of Asia”, Prime Minister of Singapore Goh Chok Tong said, addressing captains of Indian industry at a luncheon meeting organised by Ficci and the CII here. At the same time he said the Vajpayee Government had displayed determination to carry out reforms and it was critical that the pace of reforms continued in the same way. The Singapore government was prepared to set up a $1billion fund to invest in Indian businesses and in India’s infrastructure after the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) between India and Singapore came into force, he said. Mr Tong said the CECA would set up a free trade area (FTA) between the two countries, an open skies agreement, to facilitate unimpeded air links, education and investment promotion, and other steps to integrate Singapore’s economy with the Indian economy. The CECA was conceptualised during Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s visit to Singapore. Mr Tong said the CECA would come into force within 12 months. As part of greater people-to-people cooperation, Singapore would launch the Asian Business Fellowship for India. This would sponsor Singaporeans to work as interns in Indian companies or Singaporean companies that were based in India. It would offer full-time post-graduate programmes in leading academic institutions such as the Indian Institutes Management (IIM). Mr Tong said the proliferation of FTAs among different countries and regions was helping to push for trade liberalisation. At the same time, he lamented the slow progress of the WTO negotiations under the Doha round. This was because the interests of developing countries, especially in agriculture were not being considered.
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Bill to regulate sugar supply New Delhi, April 8 The principal objective of the Bill is to ensure that the market is not flooded with the stocks, crashing the prices and leading to crisis for both industry and sugarcane growers. Consumer Affairs Minister Sharad Yadav, replying to the debate on the Bill, said Rs 781 crore meant for building a buffer stock of 20 lakh tonne would be used only for this purpose. The recent challenge to the “regulated release” mechanism in the courts had led to difficulties in its operation resulting in decline in the sugar prices which in turn, had affected the capacity of producers to pay cane prices to growers. Therefore, it had become necessary to incorporate provision in the Act, 1955, enabling the Central Government to issue orders or direction to implement the “regulated releases” mechanism policy. Earlier, members wanted the government to enlarge the scope of the Bill and it should not be restricted to sugar and sugarcane growers. Initiating the debate, Mr Santosh Bagrodia (Cong) wondered how the controlled supply of sugar in the market would benefit farmers. He was of the view that the government should give subsidy on the export of sugar, if it was being produced in excess. Further, the sugar industry could not sell its produce for a stipulated period, which has a cumulative effect. Moreover, the controlled release of sugar was an attempt to keep the prices of sugar high, which went against the interest of consumers.
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Govt to move SC against branding of drugs
New Delhi, April 8 Health and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj told the Upper House while replying to a query about the governments compliance with the judgement, “In view of the fact that it would not be feasible to classify drugs as life-saving and non life saving and leaving the administration of the drug to the choice of the patient may adversely affect the health care system, an SLP has been filed in the Supreme Court of India against the order of the High Court of Delhi.’’ The High Court, in its order on November 13, 2002, had directed that cosmetics and drugs other than life-saving ones should bear a symbol indicating whether they contained ingredients of animal origin or non-animal origin. Fast food ban
Ms Swaraj also denied that the government was planning to ban sale of fast food and cold drinks in canteens in educational institutions. However, she admitted that a trial study on obesity, cholesterol disorder and other life style factors being conducted at the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences has concluded that both lack of physical activity and adverse diet may be the contributory factors for excess body fat and related disorders. However, the study was still underway and the final conclusions have not yet been arrived at, she said. Moreover, canteens in most educational institutions sell fast food, cold drinks as well as traditional food items and “these products have been as well as nutritive value.’’ She claimed that it was the endeavour of the government to promote healthy lifestyles which included proper nutrition.
Secondary infections
The prevalence of infections in three hospitals of Delhi—Ram Manohar Lohia, Safdarjung and Lady Hardinge Medical College and associated hospital — varies from 2 to 14 per cent and this was mainly due to emerging drug resistance. The rate of infection varies as per the units and speciality, the health minister said. However, as far as the super-speciality hospital AIIMS was concerned the infection rate varied from 1.93 per cent to 4.81 per cent which was within the acceptable limits and comparable to international standards for a tertiary care hospital, she informed. Regarding the corrective mechanisms to prevent the spread of infections, she said an Infection Control Committee/Mechanism existed in all these hospitals to monitor and ensure strict implementation of guidelines for prevention of hospital
acquired infections.
UNI
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Pepsi signs Ms Dynamite
London, April 8 Pepsi said on Tuesday that Ms Dynamite, real name Niomi McLean-Daley, would act primarily as its music consultant, helping it identify new talent as part of a drive to sponsor new music. “Ms Dynamite will be involved in finding the individuals and will work closely with us in helping these new artistes in their quest to make it within the music industry,” Pepsi said in a statement. The Sun newspaper said the deal was worth £ 1 million. Aside from her success in the music charts, Ms Dynamite has also taken a lead role in Britain among celebrities opposing the US-led war in Iraq.
Reuters
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Bicycle makers eye Europe
New Delhi, April 8 “The euphoria of the bicycle industry growing at the rate of 7 to 8 per cent per year is gone. At present, business on the domestic market is really tough. “To cope with the drop in sales, every cycle maker is racing either for joint ventures or technical collaborations abroad to meet the rising global demand,’’ Avon Cycles Executive Director Onkar Singh said. Armed with the latest technology through strategic alliances to meet the growing global demand, Mr Singh pointed out that the bicycle makers have shifted their focus from low-end developing markets to hi-end developed markets.
UNI
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PM intervention in Wockhardt row sought
New Delhi, April 8 Drawing Mr Vajpayee’s attention to the case of violation of statutes relating to industrial relations by the management of
Wockhardt, the CTUs stated that the firm had dismissed its medical and sales representatives in an arbitrary manner on the ground of declining sales of the company.
UNI |
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Sahara
Housing gets ISO New Delhi, April 8 |
bb
Price index Nabard Nokia J&K tourism Telco Allahabad Bank Bajaj Tempo |
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