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Thursday,
July 3, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Maruti,
Hyundai sales in top gear Microsoft
shifting more jobs to India Ethanol-blended
petrol by Sept Locked
subsidy closes Amritsar units |
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PMO
steps in on CAS again
NIIT
inks pact with US firm
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Maruti, Hyundai sales in top gear New Delhi, July 2 The growth was driven by a strong demand of the entry model Maruti 800 whose sales soared by 63 per cent to 40,777 units during the period, a company release said here. Exports also went up by 254 per cent to 3,529 units. Cumulative (April-June, 2003) sales of the compact car WagonR increased by 64 per cent to 10,512 units while the ‘Alto’ clocked a 46 per cent growth at 8,143 units. Cumulative sales of the Zen model, however, dipped by 2.46 per cent to 14,599 units. In the mid-size segment, sale of the Esteem model rose by 16.1 per cent during the review period to 2,349 units while that of the Baleno went up by 295.1 per cent to 104 units. Sale of the multi-purpose-vehicle Versa and Omni Van increased by 473.7 and 6.4 per cent to 809 and 13,079 units. Maruti’s domestic car sales in June surged by 50 per cent to 35,780 units. Its exports also soared by 328 per cent to 6,682 units during the month. The impressive domestic sales performance was helped by a 56 per cent rise in M800 sales at 13,126 units. The company also recorded a 22 per cent growth in WagonR sales at 2,978 units while that of the ‘Alto’ went up by 33 per cent to 2,452 units during the review month. Sale of the Zen model also grew by 4.24 per cent to 4,909 units. The mid-size car Esteem clocked a 20.5 per cent to 939 units while that of the Baleno surged by 300 per cent to 136 units in June this year. Sale of the Versa MPV jumped by 368.3 per cent during the review month. Hyundai Motor India said today its car sales grew by 21 per cent during January-June, 2003 to 65,307 units, following a good demand for the newly-launched compact car Santro Xing. The company’s domestic car sales grew by 39 per cent in June, 2003 to all-time high of 11,941 units from 8,568 units in the same month last year, a company release said. Domestic sales of the Santro went up by 41 per cent to a record 9,672 units during the month. Hyundai’s overall car sales (including exports) jumped by 40 per cent to a high of 12,843 units, a company release said. “The Santro Xing has clearly emerged as a big winner for us, notching up record volumes in its segment in its first month of sales. We are now channelling our efforts to meet the challenge of balancing the growing domestic demand for the car with its emerging export potential,” Hyundai India Managing Director J.I. Kim said.
— PTI |
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Maruti to hike car prices Patiala, July 2 Talking to newsmen here today after speaking at a function to mark an alliance with the State Bank of Patiala in the field of car financing, he said the price of steel had increased by 30 to 35 per cent. He said Maruti had tried to control prices at the present level but was now forced to increase prices. When questioned whether any new modes were expected to be introduced in India, Mr Khattar said Maruti already had a portfolio of 10 brands and that more models were not expected to be introduced in the near future. Similarly there was no question of phasing out any model, when asked about the output of some models, including Baleno. Mr Khattar said the alliance with State Bank of Patiala would make cars available at lower interest rates to a wider section of the people with transparent terms and conditions. He said to facilitate car finance for customers, the bank would specially identify people at local branches to service Maruti dealer outlets. SBP Managing Director A K Das said the SBP would offer low interest rates with the monthly instalment for a seven-year loan being only Rs 1,712 on Rs 1 lakh of loan. Mr Das said the bank would not charge any processing fee or other hidden costs and would also not charge extra in case customers repaid their loan ahead of schedule. Mr Das said for the first time car loans would be available for diverse categories of customers, including government employees and agriculturists. |
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Microsoft shifting more jobs to India New Delhi, July 2 Although Microsoft has not yet decided how many people will be affected due to shifting of jobs, a union in the USA, citing information from current and former workers, claims hundreds of jobs will be lost, Seattle Times reported on Tuesday. "There may be some impact in the next year on our US sites," the daily quoted Microsoft spokeswoman Stacy Drake as saying. "We are continually evaluating opportunities in international markets that will allow us to improve the reach of our technical support worldwide," she said. Further details would not be known until after Microsoft tests a support centre that it opened in Bangalore in April, Drake added. According to the daily, Microsoft customer-support centres in Sammamish, Los Colinas, Texas, and Charlotte, North Carolina are likely to be affected by shipping out jobs to India. Each centre employs about 800 people. The centres are part of the product support services division that replies to calls and e-mails from customers seeking help with Microsoft software. Microsoft and a host of other global technology giants like Oracle, IBM and Intel have expanded their operations in India in the past few years to take advantage of a vast pool of skilled workers and low wages. German-based IT product major SAP said on Monday it planned to double its workforce in India to 2,000 in the next three years and move a part of its business process outsourcing In addition to the support centre in Bangalore, where it is hiring 150 persons, Microsoft is expanding an engineering centre in Hyderabad. Seattle-based Washington Alliance of Technology Workers, or WashTech, a subsidiary of the Communications Workers of America, disclosed the support centre changes in Microsoft. It claims Los Colinas is losing at least 800 jobs.
— IANS |
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Ethanol-blended petrol by Sept New Delhi, July 2 The programme for introducing ethanol-blended petrol in nine states and four UTs, launched on January 1 this year, was earlier expected to be complete by June 30. "The extension was necessitated by the relative slowness with which production infrastructure for anhydrous ethanol was being established in some states and UTs," said Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Ram Naik. "It has resulted in inadequate ethanol supplies," he told a news conference here. All states and UTs have to encourage increased production of ethanol for the programme to be successful. Naik said Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra and UTs of Chandigarh and Dadra and Nagar Haveli had achieved full coverage in the ethanol-blended petrol programme. Partial coverage has been achieved in Karnataka, Gujarat, Punjab, Andhra Pradesh and Haryana, he said. Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry are finalising infrastructure development plans and gearing up for implementing the programme. "Use of ethanol will improve the environment, aid the farming community and the ailing sugar industry and thus recharge the economy," Naik said. Dependent on imports for 70 per cent of its crude oil requirement, India is planning to increase in phases the ethanol blend in petrol to 10 per cent, up from 5 per cent now. Also in the pipeline is a possible blend of ethanol with diesel, which accounts for 80 per cent of automobile fuel used in the country. Experts estimate that India has a capacity to produce 3.2 billion litres of ethanol from sugarcane-based molasses. Current production is just 1.3 billion
litres. — IANS |
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Locked subsidy closes Amritsar units Amritsar, July 2 The Punjab Government, to boost industrialisation, in its industrial policy framed in the early ’90s announced a capital subsidy of 20 per cent of the cost of project or Rs 30 lakh whichever was less for the specified units located within the limits of corporation, while for the units lying outside the corporation limits or at the focal point, it was 30 per cent of the cost of project or Rs 50 lakh whichever was less. Among the conditions laid down by the state government for availing the capital subsidy was that the unit ought to be financed by public sector undertaking, like banks or the PFC (Punjab Financial Corporation) and that it must continue for a minimum period of five years. Although most of the units were sanctioned capital subsidy in 1996, disbursement is still elusive, notwithstanding the repeated assurances and announcements by the state government. Secretary Focal Points Industries Association Harminder Singh cites the non-disbursement of capital subsidy by the state government as one of the key factors for the extinction of these units. “Timely disbursement of the capital subsidy besides reducing the debt burden would have saved these units from becoming defaulters. Once the unit which is gasping for survival becomes defaulter, it mostly faces closure no sooner than later”, Singh says. Non-disbursement of the subsidy coupled with other problems has made industrialists lose all hopes of turning loss-making units into profit-making units, Mr Arun Kapur, President Micro-nutrient Manufacturers Association alleges. Kapur says, “Once the unit is closed, it becomes ineligible for subsidy. Therefore, hoping against a hope, certain loss-making units are running for subsidy alone, so that on the subsidy disbursement, these units can upgrade themselves technology wise”. President of the Border State Industrial Units Kulwant Singh is critical of the PFC and holds it responsible for the closure of the small-scale industrial units. “The PFC unmindfully took over the defaulting units and put them on auction for recovery of dues. The East Mohan Nagar area, one of the highly industrialised areas in the city, has lost 95 per cent of its industry. Owners have converted their industrial units into marriage halls for survival. Similarly the Chahetra belt and Batala Road, which were once known as industrial hub of the city, have lost their entire industry to the alleged apathy of the state government. Harminder Singh, President of the Focal Point Industries Association, says “once you set up an industrial unit, you will be hounded by the government with its full might. Officials of the Sales Tax, Excise, Pollution Control Department, Weight and Measure, Labour Department, etc. will descend upon the unit to demand their regular monthly share in the earning, which is not possible for a newly set up unit”. General Manager of the District Industrial Centre Surjit Singh is also cynical about the revival of industrialisation in the city. “High lending rates, no investment incentives, like sales tax, excise, etc. are increasing the cost of production, unaffordable to the newly set up industrial unit. Unlike Korea and China which are giving high incentives for industrialisation, state government is finding itself in a fix even to honour its old commitment of subsidy”. “Fed up with all these official hassles, industrialists prefer shifting their base to Gujarat, Panipat, Maharashtra and other industry-friendly states”, official from the industrial department remarks.
— PTI
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PMO steps in on CAS again
New Delhi, July 2 The meeting comes just two days after the government described as “on the higher side” the rates of pay channels quoted by broadcasters at a meeting with Information and Broadcasting Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and Ministry At the first meeting with broadcasters on the issue, Media Adviser to I&B Minister and Additional Secretary in the PMO Sudhendra Kulkarni met Peter Mukherjee (Star), Manu Sahni (ESPN), Kunal Dasgupta (Sony) and Deepak Shourie (Discovery), sources said. The rates quoted by broadcasters came to much over Rs 200 for the free-to-air and five popular pay channels — Sony, Star Plus, ZEE, ESPN and Star Sports at Monday’s meeting, a little lower than the ones given earlier. The MRP rates given by broadcasters were Star Plus (Rs 24), Sony (Rs 20), ESPN (Rs 29) and Star Sports (Rs 29). While Star Plus and Star Movies together have been priced at Rs 44, Set Max, Sony and Discovery combined will cost Rs 44 and ESPN and Star Sports Rs 32.
— PTI
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NIIT inks pact with US firm
WASHINGTON: NIIT Technologies has entered an agreement with Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, a Fortune 500 financial services organisation, to provide application development and maintenance services. “The first engagement with Thrivent Financial carries an estimated value of $ 10 million and will run for five years,’’ said Arvind Thakur, president of NIIT Technologies. Finance and insurance has long been a core focus area for NIIT Technologies. Thrivent attributed its selection of NIIT Technologies to that expertise.
— UNI
Fiat agrees to sell unit
MILAN: Italy’s Fiat SpA has agreed to the long-awaited sale of one its most profitable units as it pursued a plan to revive its cash-bleeding car unit rather than sell it to General Motors Corp. Fiat signed a deal on Tuesday to sell its Fiat Avio aviation unit to private equity fund The Carlyle Group and state-controlled defence firm Finmeccanica in a deal it said would cut net debt by about 1.4 billion euros ($1.62 billion) and bring it a net capital gain of about 700 million euros.
— Reuters
Duty-free import benefits for India
WASHINGTON: The USA yesterday expanded the range of products that more than 140 developing countries can import duty-free, the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) said. President George W Bush signed a proclamation that renews generalised system of preferences (GSP) benefits for imports worth about $ 900 million including for some requested by Argentina, the Philippines and Turkey, it said. Mr Bush also redesignated products or provided waivers on certain goods from Bangladesh, Brazil, India, Morocco, Thailand and Uruguay, Trade Representative Robert Zoellick said.
— DPA
China’s GDP rate set to hit 8 pc
BEIJING: China’s economy is poised to grow at an impressive rate of 8 per cent this year despite being counted among the worst-hit SARS nation. “The negative impact of SARS on the country’s economy will not exceed one percentage point in growth of GDP,” a forecast released by economists here said. However, the economists placed the GDP growth for the year at 8 per cent as compared to earlier figures of 8.6 per cent.
— PTI
Flaw in Microsoft Passport service
WASHINGTON: Microsoft Corp said it had fixed another security flaw in its popular Internet Passport service that could have allowed hackers to hijack some older accounts. Microsoft Senior Manager Jeff Jones said yesterday that he believed no Passport accounts were stolen. Jones declined to say how many people were at risk but said the flaw affected only a small number of users who had created their accounts more than four years ago. As part of its repair efforts late Monday, Microsoft briefly prevented some Passport users from manually changing their passwords.
— AP
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BSNL scheme Ranbaxy Chem Canada flight Hafed’s export Projects outlay Nalco divestment Education loan Indo Rama prices |
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