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Friday,
July 4, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Fiat to continue to support Indian arm
Combined profits of oil PSUs double
Haryana expects better cotton yield |
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Canada Day celebrated
Foreign fruits, vegetables flooding Indian markets
India, Singapore negotiate trade pact
Cost cut needed to achieve MoU targets
Indian analyst is IMF chief economist
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Fiat to continue to support Indian arm Mumbai, July 3 Fiat India would also restructure its capital to wipe out accumulated losses, it said. “Work is proceeding as usual at our Kurla plant in Mumbai and we are on schedule for the launch of new petrol variant of Palio, which will be unveiled shortly”, the statement said, quoting Fiat India CMD Alberto Montanari, who just returned from Italy where the Fiat group’s restructuring plan was announced last week. “Our immediate focus will also be on instilling confidence in our dealers, vendors and customers and we are working hard to enhance our customer service”, he added. Referring to the performance in India, he said since the launch of Palio in September, 2001, the financial position of Fiat India has improved and losses for 2002 were 65 per cent less than the previous year”. This was a clear indication that the company’s performance moved in the right direction and with recently launched Palio diesel being well accepted by the Indian market, the effort was continuing, he said, adding that, sales of Palio had been steadily increasing since January, 2003. Montanari said the Indian plant plays an integral role in terms of supplying components to other Fiat facilities in Italy, Morocco, South Africa and Poland”. Montanari said based on the response to various models in terms of customer feedback and volume potential, Fiat India is developing its export programme for identified markets. Fiat’s plans for export of cars manufactured in India was guided by the principle of identifying “right hand” drive markets, where the company does not already have an industrial presence and hence the focus on the neighbouring South-East Asian markets, he added. In June, the company registered sales of 1,131 units as against 1,204 units sold in corresponding period of last year. Out of the total cars sold, Palio accounted for 1,037 units while the remaining 94 were Siena, Adventure and Uno. Fiat said “the fact that our sales figure for June, 2003, have held steady in spite of various rumours that have been circulating in the market is a very positive signal and a clear indication of Palio’s popularity”. —
PTI |
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Combined profits of oil PSUs double New Delhi, July 3 The combined profits of all the oil sector PSUs stood at Rs 23,254.6 crore in 2002-03 — up from Rs 12,708.9 crore in the previous fiscal year. Moreover, the share prices of oil companies registered significant increase between 40 and 60 per cent. “This year was a watershed year for the oil industry”, Mr Naik said. While exploration major Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) netted a profit of Rs 10,529.2 crore ( a corporate record of sorts in India) refining and marketing major Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) clocked a profit of Rs 6,115 crore (more than double the amount of last year). Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) achieved a 47 per cent increase in its net profit figures in 2002-03. Net profits of BPCL at the end of 2002-03 stood at Rs 1250.3 crore, while that of Gas of Authority of India Limited (GAIL) rose to Rs 1639 crore. The Petroleum Minister, however, gave a cryptic explanation to the reason behind the substantial rise in profits considering the fact oil companies have to cushion a subsidy bill of Rs 500 crore per month pertaining to kerosene and LPG. Mr Naik said that with the dismantling of APM oil companies were earning more profits in accordance with prices dictated by the market forces. “ONGC recorded Rs 10,550 crore net profit because its oil production went up by 1.3 million tonnes and gas production went up by 9 per cent. The profits were not achieved at the cost of common man and it is evident from the fact that during the year prices of domestic gas and kerosene were left untouched despite hike in their costs worldwide due to Iraq war,’’ Mr Naik said after giving away National Petroleum Management Awards (NPMA) awards. Speaking to newspersons he said that a team comprising technical experts from the Ministry of Petroleum, ONGC, IOC and Engineers India Limited (EIL) will visit the US, Japan and Australia as a part of the preparation for creating strategic oil reserves in the country. “The US stores oil in salt caverns. We don’t have such natural gifts so we will need to use steel or concrete containers. The team will also visit Japan and Australia and study the system of strategic reserves there,’’ the Minister said adding that the blueprint strategic would be placed before the Cabinet. “The location, type of storage and other issues like who will fund the reserves and maintain them will be studies”, he said. |
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Haryana expects better cotton yield Chandigarh, July 3 Mr J.S.Vashishta, Additional Director, Department of Agriculture disclosed that after conducting an extensive survey in the cotton belt the State Level Monitoring Team for Cotton has submitted its report. According to that report, cotton has been sown on about 5.40 lakh hectares marginally higher than 5.19 lakh hectares covered last year. The committee has found that due to high temperature and scarcity of canal water during April, the sowing has been delayed in large areas. It may attract an attack of American bollworm if there is too much rains in the next few days. The committee has observed that about 10-15 per cent of the germinated plants have been burnt due to high temperature in the cotton belt including Hisar, Sonepat, Jind and Bhiwani districts, but if there is adequate rain, the damage would be covered up at the later stage, he said. Mr Vashishta claimed that the department had already launched a special campaign against the distribution of spurious pesticides in the cotton belt. Further, under the Ministry of Agriculture’s Integrated Pest Management Programme, he said, the state government has launched an extensive programme to control pests and insecticide through bio-agents. For this purpose, a laboratory has been set up at Sonepat, and other was planned in the private sector. However, a section of farmers alleged that despite the fact that cotton was a cash crop, the state government and the Hisar Agricultural University had failed to undertake drastic measures. While the average cotton yield in Gujarat had reached 650 kg per hectare comparable to the international standards. But in Haryana the crop yield was fluctuating between 195 kg ( 2001-02) and 340 kg per hectare ( 2002-03). Though few years ago, they said, it had crossed 450 kg per hectare about eight years ago, yet it was hovering downward due to frequent attacks of pests. Regarding the price situation, they claimed during last year, the farmers got about Rs 2000 per quintal of cotton, but this year’s price would depend upon government import duty and total production. They said though the cotton produced in the state was mostly consumed in the state, but it was of very poor quality thus affecting the returns. There was a shortage of high quality cotton in the country, presently imported from other countries. |
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Two lakh Indian millionaires in USA Mumbai, July 3 The number of companies listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange, at more than 6,000, is second only to the New York Stock Exchange, he said in a release issued here today. “We run four of the 10 Silicon valley start-ups,” he said and pointed out that with 800 movies per year, Bollywood overshadows Hollywood. India also consumes a fifth of the world’s gold output. Mr Motwani, who also runs Diaspora Network and News Ltd, said India had won Miss World titles six times in the past 10 years. No other country had won it more than twice. Highlighting the country’s achievements, he said the Indian Railways is the largest network in the world under a single management. Indian Railways is also the largest employer in the world, with a staff of 1.6 million people. “We have the third-largest army, nearly 1.5 million strong,” he said. India’s Hero Honda is the world’s largest motorcycle manufacturer. Mr Motwani said India is the second-largest cement-producing country in the world. India had the third largest investor base in the world. “We are ranked the sixth country in the world in terms of satellite launches”, he added. There are over 70,000 bank branches in India — among the highest in the world. |
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Canada Day celebrated Chandigarh, July 3 Speaking on the occasion, Mr Sutherland said: “Canada Day celebrations started on June 20, 1868, when a proclamation signed by the Governor General, Lord Monck, was issued calling upon all Her Majesty’s subjects throughout Canada to join the celebrations of the anniversary of the formation of the union of the British North American Provinces in a federation under the name of Canada on July 1. Since then Canada Day has been celebrating”, he said. Col Sandhu said WWICS had taken number of steps to improve ties between both countries, including business delegations to Canada. |
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Foreign fruits, vegetables flooding Indian markets New Delhi, July 3 The markets for foreign fruits and vegetables have truly opened up, as is evident from the doubling of their imports during the last fiscal, but experts feel that it could be at the cost of Indian farmer and that the ports may be ill-prepared to screen them for diseases. “The doubling of imports cannot be accounted for by exotic fruits and vegetables as the demand for such varieties cannot jumps so drastically,” says Deviner Sharma of the Forum for Biotechnology and Food Security. According to the latest data published by the government, imports of fruits and vegetables nearly doubled to Rs 1,709 crore in 2002-03 from Rs 928 crore during 2001-02. Citing an example, Sharma says the import of peas has gone up by four times during the past four years. “ And our ‘mattar’ is not an exotic vegetable,” he says. About the reasons behind this jump in imports, Vijay Sardana, Executive Director, Centre for International Trade and Agro-based Industries, says it is largely due to supermarkets finding a foothold in the country.” And supermarkets want neatly packed and graded goods,” he says. “In the organised way of retailing to be found in supermarkets, there is no place for haggling or negotiating. Moreover, graded and branded products look good in display and have a consumer appeal,” says Sardana. However, the doubling of imports is a dangerous trend considering that India is a global leader in the production of fruits and vegetables, says Sharma. “If we are importing fruits and vegetables that can be grown in India then we are being unfair to the 550 million farmers of the country,” he says, adding that even strawberries and kiwi fruit that are largely imported cannot be considered ‘foreign’ as they are being grown in certain pockets of the country. Supermarkets are not the only reason behind the surge in imports, he says. Multinational fast food joints take pride in declaring that the potatoes they use in making French fries are imported, he elaborates.
“And potato is not a rare vegetable in India.” Imported fruits are fending takers even in the wholesale markets of the country, says Rajinder Sharma, Chairman of the marketing committee of Delhi’s Azadpur vegetables and fruit wholesale market.
— PTI |
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India, Singapore negotiate trade pact Singapore, July 3 Commerce Secretary Dipak Chatterjee led a 29-member delegation to Singapore for the three-day second round of CECA negotiations which concludes here today. Mr Heng Swee Keat, Permanent Secretary for Trade and Industry, led the Singapore delegation. The two sides discussed a wide range of issues including customs facilitation, anti-dumping and safeguard measures and dispute settlement mechanism during the second round of negotiations. —
UNI |
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Cost cut needed to achieve MoU targets
New Delhi, July 3 The PSUs under the Steel Ministry showed better financial results by Rs 2,000 crore during the last fiscal, Steel Minister Braja Kishore Tripathy said here. He said increase in efficiency and productivity would help achieve the MoU targets but fluctuating international steel prices should be kept in mind. —
PTI |
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