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Tuesday,
May 13, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Decision on EPF rate by month-end
ABCL to go for IPO to raise funds
Maruti Finance launched
Infosys settles sex case |
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Coop sugar mills lose 100 cr
Industry records 5.8 pc growth
Apparel exports rise, courtesy SARS
Service tax exemption hailed
Reliance unveils hygienic pillows
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Decision on EPF rate by month-end New Delhi, May 12 “I will try to maintain the present interest rate of 9.5 per cent. The CBT will be meeting in the last week of May”, Dr Verma told newspersons after releasing a report prepared by the International Labour Organisation (ILO). The Minister, who has opposed any reduction in the existing EPF rate, said that the final decision of the EPF will be based on the report of the Finance and Investment sub-Committee of CBT. The sub-committee is presently preparing a detailed roadmap for restructuring the fund’s investment portfolio. The Finance Ministry has notified that the EPF should not park funds in Special Deposit Schemes, which accounts for about 80 per cent of EPF’s investment portfolio. The Finance Ministry is learnt to be of the opinion that the present 9.5 per cent EPF rate was unsustainable in the context of the falling interest rate regime. The RBI in its Monetary and Credit policy had announced a 0.25 per cent cut in the Bank rate. Earlier releasing the ILO report “Time for Equality at Work”, Dr Verma came out strongly in favour of enabling jobless workers to migrate from developing countries to the developed world without much difficulty. Expressing concern over remarks of the report on prevalence of discrimination at workplace in India, the Minister said that a five-member sub-committee has been formed to prescribe measures to address the issues involved. The Committee will submit its report by May 31, this year. Seeking the intervention of the ILO for facilitating a smooth labour migration regime from surplus to deficit areas, Dr Verma said that “a mechanism must be evolved to end unemployment and poverty in developing nations and help developed countries to tide over the shortage of manpower”. “How true globalisation can debar unemployed people in the developing countries from seeking employment opportunities in the developed nations”, he said. The report is the fourth Global Report under the follow-up to the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work. It examines the diverse forms of discrimination at work that have been identified and formally condemned nationally and internationally. The report notes that in India “wage classification of skilled and unskilled workers have sometimes placed women in the unskilled, lower-paying, wage category and men in the skilled, higher-paying wage category, irrespective of the content or skill level of the job”. The report has also found, breach of confidentiality and dismissal arising out of hostility towards HIV-positive workers to be widespread India and several other countries including the United States. “The pressures and hostility towards HIV-positive workers are sometimes such that they feel compelled to resign even though they have not been formally dismissed”, the report notes.
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ABCL to go for IPO to raise funds
New Delhi, May 12 “ABCL is almost debt free. We have paid about 99 per cent of the debts and we are in position to raise fresh capital by way of Initial Public Offer (IPO),” movie icon and promoter of ABCL, Amitabh Bachchan, told PTI. ABCL, which had become sick within a short span after it came into existence, is looking forward to come out of the ambit of Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR). The company would tap the capital market as and when it comes out of the purview of BIFR, he said, adding “we hope to come out of the BIFR very soon. “I have gone through terrible times due to the sickness of ABCL. Many of my well-wishers suggested closing the company. But (I) did not want to walk away with the debts the company had incurred,” Bachchan said. At present, ABCL has two projects and it would like to undertake more such initiatives. “Currently, the ABCL is working on a Abishek Bachchan-starrer film directed by Rakesh Mehra and the other one will be directed by film maker Raj Kumar Santoshi,” Bachchan said. He said the company went through a rough patch soon after its inception due to several reasons but things have improved manifold and buoyed by the improvements, ABCL would soon try to undertake lot of projects.
PTI
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Maruti Finance launched Chandigarh, May 12 He claimed that the new scheme, that had already been launched in 16 other states, had been now extended to Northern Region II, comprising of Punjab, Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh, J& K and parts of Haryana. He said it would enable the customers to get required financial resources to buy any model from Maruti dealers, without offering any collateral. Further, they would also get additional benefits from the company, including up to 30 per cent discount on the extended warranty charges for 3rd and 4th years. Mr Khattar said the company was expecting to extend finance worth Rs 350-400 crore through that scheme during the current financial year in Northern Region II adding that the Direct Selling Associates (DSA) of finance companies would be part and parcel of the Maruti Finance. He claimed that during the past financial year, the company had provided finance worth Rs 1100 crore in other states, through that scheme. He said the company was enjoying 54 per cent market share in the national market, and about 66 per cent in the Northern market. Regarding the financial performance of the company, he said, ‘‘The turnover had touched Rs 9410.30 crore in 2001-02 with a net profit of Rs 104.50 crore as compared to a loss of Rs 269 crore in 2000-01.’’ The company sold 3,30,000 cars in the domestic market in 2002-03, he said adding that it also exported over 32,000 vehicles during 2002-03 to countries like Netherland, UK, Germany and France. The export target for the current year has been fixed at 39,000 vehicles, he said. He said the company had already launches services such as Maruti True Value, for the sale of second hand Maruti cars, and insurance plans under a single roof.
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Infosys settles sex case
Bangalore, May 12 Announcing the Rs 15 crore settlement of the suit, which had rocked the company, Infosys Chairman and chief mentor N.R. Narayana Murthy told reporters that the company would contribute $ 1.5 million and the rest would be paid by insurance companies. But clearly unhappy, high-profile Phaneesh Murthy, former director and worldwide sales head, who faced the suit, said the settlement might not have been the route he would have liked to take in the case, which had led to his exit from the company in July last year. Murthy said Infosys retained all rights to proceed with legal action against Phaneesh Murthy, but in a statement released from California, the latter hit out at Infosys, charging that it was in retaliation to his legal battle against the software major. |
Joins issue with Phaneesh Murthy
Bangalore, May 12 Infosys Corporate Counsel and Head, Legal, R Nithyanandan said, in a statement here, that the decision to settle with former employee Reka
Maximovitch, who had filed a lawsuit against Infosys and Mr Phaneesh
Murthy, was taken “in the best interests of the company” and not because of the upcoming ADR issue. “As the company had already disclosed the risk (relating to the lawsuit) in its filings (with the US securities body) there is no connection between the settlement and the proposed ADR offering,” he said. “This case was settled on April 25 last, as the depositions were to start on the same day. A reading of the many public filings in this case will bring forth the grave nature of the allegations made against Mr
Murthy,” he added. The conditions included Infosys’ right to sue Mr Murth’y acceptance that he would have no recourse to the insurance company in case he was proceeded against and also that the company would not be bound by any term of confidentiality, he added. He said Mr Murthy signed the settlement pact when Infosys confirmed to him that it would go ahead even without his participation. “If Mr Murthy believed he was innocent and wanted to clear his name, he should have stayed in the lawsuit by himself and defended his position. We had given him this option. Instead of fighting to clear his name, he elected to settle,” he added.
UNI
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Coop sugar mills lose 100 cr Panchkula, May 12 Sources in the Cooperative Department informed TNS that all cooperative sugar mills had paid state advised price ( SAP ) of Rs. 110 per quintal on cane to farmers which led to their losses. As against this, the three private sugar mills were paying statutory minimum price ( SMP), recommended by the Centre, of Rs 64.50-Rs. 90 per quintal of cane (depending on sugar recovery), which had helped these mills to break even. Thus, these mills had been able to reduce their cost of production by about Rs 20 - Rs. 25 per quintal. It is learnt that approximately 342 lakh quintals of sugarcane was crushed in the cooperative sugar mills in 2002-2003 and about 34. 5 lakh bags of sugar were realised. Though the state government had not increased SAP for the past three years, the cost of processing had increased manifold, thus increasing losses. The sources said sugar recovery in Haryana ( average of 9. 85 per cent) is one of the highest in the country. However, the average sales realisation decreased considerably last year because of the setting aside of monthly free sugar release mechanism by a court order last year. The average sales realisation in April, 2002-January, 2003, fell to Rs 1,211 per bag from Rs. 1,338. 64 per bag in 2001-02 in Haryana. This also added to the woes of cooperative sugar mills in the state. However, with Sugarcane Amendment ( Control) Order, 2003, being passed by Parliament recently, the sugar prices have now shown an upward trend. The Amendment reinforces the government’s control on monthly release of sugar. Sources in the Haryana State Federation of Cooperative Sugar Mills say the sugar prices have gone up to Rs. 500 per tonne during the past week. This is likely to bring down losses during the current financial year. Other than this, the bank interest being charged on sugar in bonded godowns (where processed sugar kept in godown is hypothecated for taking loan, for payment to cane growers), and high cost of conversion of cane into sugar, are also responsible for huge losses in cooperative sugar mills.
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Industry records 5.8 pc growth New Delhi, May 12 The mining sector registered a significant growth of 5.8 per cent in 2002-03 as compared to 1.2 per cent in the previous fiscal year. The indices of industrial production for the Mining, Manufacturing and Electricity sectors for the month of March 2003 is estimated at 6.6 per cent, 6.8 per cent and a negative one per cent, respectively, the official figures said. The cumulative growth for the electricity sector during 2002-03 was 3.2 per cent. As many as 14 of the 17 two-digit industry groups showed positive growth during the month of March 2003 as compared to the corresponding month of the previous year. Beverages, Tobacco and Related Products clocked a growth rate of 33.2 per cent, followed by Jute and ‘other vegetable fibre textiles (except cotton)’ 21.9 per cent, and food products 21.8 per cent.
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Apparel exports rise, courtesy SARS New Delhi, May 12 Due to SARS, for the past two months, there had been a negligible number of buyers for Chinese apparels. This had brought nearly $ 8 billion to the Indian sub-continent, pointed out APEC, a Ministry of Textiles-sponsored nodal agency monitoring garment export quotas. And the industry was expecting to attract even higher number of buyers in the coming spring-summer edition of the India International Garment Fair 2003-Asia’s largest garment fair. Mr Vijay Mathur, Director, APEC, said, “The premium autumn orders for apparels are usually placed in May and June this time, India is likely to gain maximum benefit from these”.
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Service tax exemption hailed
New Delhi, May 12 The exemption would benefit providers of any taxable service including export-oriented units that service foreign companies based abroad. “The removal of this exemption would have adversely affected the large number of service providers catering to foreign clients,” CII said in a statement. Referring to the proposal to levy 8 per cent service tax on IT training provided directly by a company or its franchisee, CII said such a move would retard the development of human capital required for the growth of IT sector.
PTI
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Reliance unveils hygienic pillows Chandigarh, May 12 To prevent spurious and adulterated products reaching the customer, the company had earlier got raids conducted on the adulterated pillow manufacturers and the retailers and had also initiated legal action against the misuse of its registered logo. “Recron” fibrefill is a unique hollow fibre, which is used for filling pillows, quilts mattresses, furniture, soft toys etc. This is a superior
alternative to cotton and its products are must more comfortable, hygienic and durable.
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Subex Systems
Mumbai, May 12 |
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HDFC MF Bank of Punjab IDBI Bank FCI MD Aircom |
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According to quick estimates of the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) industry grew at the rate of 6 per cent during March 2003. The impressive industrial growth has been primarily boosted by a good performance of the manufacturing sector which clocked a growth rate of 6 per cent as compared to 2.9 per cent in the previous year.
