 |
Sunday,
June 29, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
|
Biotech
can beat Indian IT’s growth record Cut
charges, cable operators told PNB HP
zone posts 97.56 cr profit US, UK
bosses top earners |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Bridal Asia shop in PakNew Delhi, June 28 India’s biggest bridal show is going into arch enemy territory this year. Bridal Asia, the country’s largest wedding fair, in its fourth year is going to set up shop across the border in Pakistan, sashaying the cultural bonhomie and shared roots of countless centuries and shrugging off years of violent bickering. An Indian model presenting bridal collection created by Indian designer Ritu Kumar at a press preview in New Delhi on Thursday which will be showcased at a fashion show (Bridal Asia) in Karachi. — PTI photo
Air
Deccan fares to be lowered by 40 per cent
HP PSUs
suffer Rs 615 crore loss
|
|
Biotech can beat Indian IT’s growth record
Washington, June 28 India's share in the global biotechnology sector was expected to grow by 40 per cent annually, with a projected 70 per cent rise in exports, said participants at the seminar on "Biotechnology in India: Emerging Opportunities for Partnerships". The number of biotech industries was also expected to grow by about 100 per cent every year until 2005, they said. The participants were 22 senior CII biotechnology delegates, including Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, co-Chairman of the US-India Biotechnology Alliance, Chairman of the CII's National Committee on Biotechnology and CMD of Biocon India. Rapid growth was also foreseen for India's pharmaceutical industry, expected to become a $25 billion industry with a market capitalisation of about $150 billion by 2010, the participants said. In the agriculture sector, significant growth is seen with genetically modified Bt cotton and huge potential for improvement of other crops, including tomatoes and potatoes, they added. India's biotechnology industry currently comprises 110 units in the healthcare products sector, 140 units in agriculture and about 300 units in industrial and other biotech products sector. Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune, Chennai and New Delhi are fast becoming the hubs of the industry, participants noted. The seminar was organised primarily to dispel misconceptions in the USA about India as a destination for investment and business as also to demonstrate specific business opportunities in the country. The key areas of discussion were outsourcing, bio-informatics and contract research, agri-biotech, financing bio-ventures, clinical research and business partnering. In her keynote address, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw said India's biotechnology industry envisions attracting $2 billion investment to become among the top three countries in agri-biotech and among the top five in health science biotech. Talking about "India's bio-vision", she said it would involve building a $5 billion biotechnology business segment and developing a $4 billion export market. This could provide employment to 1million scientists and engineers, besides throwing open a $1 billion business segment for outsourced research and development (R&D). Mazumdar Shaw, considered a "biotech guru" in India, said the availability of high quality intellectual capital and low cost of R&D should be highlighted to attract investment in the fast-growing industry. She said human resources comprising a large English-speaking skill base of three million graduates, 700,000 postgraduates and 1,500 Ph.Ds qualified in bio-sciences and engineering each year were a huge advantage for India. It is estimated that in the USA, 15 per cent of scientists engaged in pharma/biotech R&D are of Indian origin. The Indian biotech sector currently employs 25,000 R&D scientists. D. Balasubramanian, Director of research at the Hyderabad Eye Research Foundation, spoke of how Indian biotechnology companies had developed important and valuable products for healthcare with globally competitive technologies that meet the highest international quality standards. The Indian biotechnology sector, although nascent at present and accounting for a mere 2 per cent of the global market, was poised for exponential growth over the next five years with an expected market share of 10 per cent, he said. Indigenous biotech products and services at present accounted for approximately $150 million. It is envisaged that this market segment alone would generate revenues for Indian companies to the tune of $500 million over the next five years, he said.
— IANS
|
|
Cut charges, cable operators told Chandigarh, June 28 It has also welcomed the Centre decision to “slow down’’ the implementation of the conditional access system (CAS) in metros. Mr Tejinder Singh Sudan, Press Secretary, the Federation of Consumer Rights, said,‘‘since the cable operators are demanding up to Rs 250 per month, we are approaching the departments concerned that they should follow all rules and regulations.’’ He questioned how monthly charges could be hiked when viewers in some areas were watching ‘‘free to air ’’ channels for as low as Rs 50 per month. The Consumer Forum, Chandigarh, has also approached the Ministry of Communications to check the fleecing of consumers by the cable operators. It has urged the ministry to withdraw the advertisement, running on different channels, that was creating an impression that with the implementation of CAS, the viewers would have to pay up to Rs 250 per month. Lt. Col. Sarwan Singh (Retd.) said the advertisement had created a wrong impression that the cable operators could now charge Rs 250 monthly as a minimum amount with CAS or without CAS. ‘‘The government has announced to implement the CAS in four metros only from July 15, and 10 other cities, including Chandigarh, will be covered in the next phase from January 1, 2004. But the cable operators have already started hiking the charges up to Rs 250 without any reason.’’ He alleged that due to a cartel of the cable operators and Multi System Operators (MSOs), the customers were at their mercy. In the areas where they were charging Rs 125 to Rs 150 monthly till recently, the charges had been hiked to Rs 250 or more. He urged Minister for Communications Ravi Shankar Prashad to set up an independent regulatory commission, like in the telecom sector, to fix the prices of cable viewing under CAS. He said if the government failed to protect the rights of the consumers, the consumer forums would file a PIL petition to protect the rights of the cable viewers. Air Marshal Randhir Singh (Retd) said the consumers could not be forced to pay higher charges, especially when the cable operators were not disclosing the actual number of connections to pay channels or the government.
|
|
PNB HP zone posts 97.56 cr profit Shimla, June 28 Highlighting bank’s new milestones, Mr Kohli reported that the bank had been ranked at 45th position amongst top 500 listed companies of India in the first year of its listing itself on the basis of market capitalisation. The bank’s total business stood at Rs 11,60,44 crore at the end of March 2003 as compared to Rs 98,492 crore at the end of March, 2002 registering a growth of 17.8 per cent. Mr Kohli said that the bank had obtained copyright registration for its software programme techniques for risk assessment of credit (TRAC). Elaborating bank’s commitment towards financing priority sector (PS), Mr Kohli said that bank’s PS advances formed 46.68 per cent of net credit as an March, 2003 thus surpassing the national goal of 40 per cent comfortably. This ratio stood at 59.09 per cent in case of Himachal. As against a target of 1.50 lakh kisan credit cards fixed by the RBI, the bank, during 2002-03 issued 2.52 lakh cards, including 8181 cards in Himachal Pradesh. PNB’s contribution in micro financing had also been commendable in H.P. and the bank had been adjudged the “Best Commercial Bank” in the state for financing self help groups during the year 2001-02. The Himachal Zone had posted a healthy profit of Rs 97.56 crore in the very first year of its establishment. Bank’s export credit exhibited a robust increase of 29.84 per cent on the ratio of net Non-performing assets to net advances at the end of March 2003 declined to 3.86 per cent from 5.32 percent at the end of March 2002. The bank had so far interconnected its 163 branches, which included 2 branches of Himachal zone.
|
|
US, UK bosses top earners
London, June 28 The study by Management Today magazine, shows that chief executives in the United States get an average package of £ 1.18 million ($1.97 million), more than double their counterparts in Britain, where bosses earn £ 480,000 on average. But high pay could also mean high stress. The United States and Britain also took the top two slots for rates of obesity and the lowest life expectancy out of the countries surveyed. In the boardroom pay league, Australia ranked third, with an average chief executive package of £ 334,691, while Sweden was at the bottom of the list of major industrialised countries with chief executive pay of £ 253,205. The slump in equity markets around the world in the last three years, corporate scandals and big losses racked up by companies has turned the spotlight on boardroom pay. Matthew Gwyther, editor of Management Today, said a lot had happened to the world economy since the last survey in 2001. ‘’September 11, war in Iraq and a global economic downturn have affected many aspects of business, except it seems, the pay packets at the top of the tree.’’ The survey found people in Hong Kong work the longest hours, with a 45 hour week, closely followed by Britons, who work 43.5 hours, just ahead of the United States, where the average working week is 40 hours. Germans enjoy the most paid holiday out of the countries surveyed, with 29 days a year. Hong Kong workers get a meagre 7.14 days. In the United States people only get slightly more at 9.20 days. And Australia, which is only second to the United States in terms of the level of entrepreneurial activity, has the cheapest beer at £ 1.50 for a lager.
— Reuters
|
|
Bridal Asia shop in Pak New Delhi, June 28 “Going to Pakistan is a dream come true,” said Bridal Asia head Divya Gurwara. “In the last three years, we’ve been the only organisation that has drawn Pakistani participation in our fair and it has been a wonderful experience.” The fair travels to Pakistan as guests in the 25-year celebrations of MAG The Weekly, the fashion magazine of Pakistan’s biggest media organisation, the Jang group. The celebrations would be held Saturday at Karachi’s Hotel Marriot. To showcase the styles of the Indian bride in Pakistan, Gurwara is taking master couturiers Ritu Kumar, J.J. Valaya and newcomer Anamika Khanna. For around four decades, Kumar has been India’s grand dame of fashion. A master of textile design, she has been single-handedly responsible for saving several exquisite handicraft traditions of the country from extinction. “The (Indian) subcontinent is rich in its legacy of textile design,” said Kumar. “The influences down the ages on textiles, clothing and crafts are very common between India and Pakistan. “The crafts of the nomadic people are truly a study in the anthropology of this vast continent,” said the fashion diva. To Gurwara and her husband Sandeep, who run Delhi’s Services International, the company that hosts Bridal Asia apart from a range of other events, going to Pakistan is about tearing down boundaries. “It’s a major step towards homogenising the boundaries of the subcontinent and instituting our dream of writing a pan-universal bridal script,” said Sandeep Gurwara. People of the two countries have always shared more than amicable ties. It’s a commonality that Valaya, guru of the Indian trousseau, knows too well. “Both countries are bound by a similarity of cultures, histories and people. It seems crucial today to find as many ways possible to create healthy communication and people-to-people networks within the region,” said Valaya. That’s just what Pakistani designers like Maheen Khan and MAG editor Andleeb Rana, regulars at Bridal Asia, have done. “It’s a great showcase of India, so it’s natural that we want it to come to Pakistan,” said Rana. “It’s a dream come true,” said Anamika Khanna.
— IANS
|
bb
Bina refinery Mysore Cement Tax on diesel Whirlpool BSNL CellOne Tata cars Bajaj Tempo |
 |
| Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir | Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs | Nation | Editorial | | Business | Sport | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh Tribune | Ludhiana Tribune 50 years of Independence | Tercentenary Celebrations | | 123 Years of Trust | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
