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Saturday,
August 2, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Exports
log 11pc growth CDC open
offer for PTL at 153 BPCL eyes
petrol stations in Lanka Row over
L-1 visa in USA Labour
unrest hits Hyundai sales |
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AirTel
unveils zero rental scheme Free-ticket
offer on Indian Airlines’ golden jubilee Hero
Honda, LML sales rev up
SC
rejects drug price control order
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Exports log 11pc growth
New Delhi, August 1 In rupee terms, the exports were worth Rs. 618.68 billion during the April-June quarter, which is 6.75 per cent higher than the value of exports during the corresponding quarter last year, the Commerce Ministry said on Friday. India is hopeful of achieving its object of garnering 1 per cent share of global trade, up from 0.6 per cent, ahead of its target of 2007, with 19.18 per cent exports growth recorded during 2002-03 fiscal. Last year India's merchandise exports reached a record $52.2 billion. Compared to last year, the first quarter of 2003-04 has witnessed lower growth. India has set a target of 12 per cent export growth for the current fiscal. In June, India's exports recorded 10.95 per cent growth with $4.28 billion as against $3.86 billion during the same month last year. In rupee terms, the exports were worth Rs. 200.09 billion, which is 5.84 per cent higher than the value of exports during June, 2002. India's imports in April-June quarter witnessed a 27.05 per cent increase with a total of $17.33 billion as against $13.64 billion worth in the same quarter last year. The increase is reflective of the optimism and growth being recorded in the manufacturing sector. Dependent on crude imports for 70 per cent of domestic needs, India's state-owned oil companies stocked up fearing disruption in supplies during the Iraq war. This in part saw a rise in India's oil imports during April-June. The volatility in global prices has impacted India's oil import bill which at $4.82 billion is 17.94 percent higher than oil imports valued at $4.09 billion in the corresponding period last year. Non-oil imports during April-June quarter are estimated at $12.51 billion, which is 30.95 per cent higher than the level of such imports worth $9.55 billion in the first quarter of 2002-03 fiscal. Imports during June were valued at $5.89 billion, an increase of 38.65 per cent over the same month last year when it totalled $4.25 billion. In rupee terms, the imports increased by 32.26 per cent in June. India's trade deficit for April-June quarter is estimated at $4.18 billion, which is higher than the deficit during the corresponding quarter last year when it was $1.8
billion. — IANS
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CDC open offer for PTL at 153
New Delhi, August 1 The offer, made by CDC Financial Services (CDC FS), and CDC-PTL Holding Ltd (CDC-PTL) is made to all shareholders other than the PSIDC the acquirer and Person Acting in Concerts (PACs). Informing the Bombay Stock Exchange, the acquirers said for Punjab Tractors they are making an offer to acquire up to 1,21,51,140 fully paid-up equity shares of the face value of Rs 10-each — representing 20 per cent of the paid-up share capital of Punjab Tractors — at a price of Rs 153 per share. For Swaraj Engines the offer was made to acquire up to 8,27,988 fully paid-up equity shares of the face value of Rs 10/- each — representing 20 per cent of the paid-up share capital— at a price of Rs 205 per share. For Swaraj Mazda Ltd the acquirer made an offer to acquire up to 20,97,340 fully paid-up equity shares of the face value of Rs 10 each — representing 20 per cent of the paid-up share capital— at a price of Rs 140 per share. On the schedule of the activities in respect of the offer, the acquirers informed the BSE that specified date was August 29 while date of opening of offer will be September 18 and date of closure October 17, 2003. The offer is not conditional up on any minimum level of acceptance. South Asia Regional Fund and Lathe Investment Pvt Ltd are the person acting or deemed to be acting in concerts with the acquirers. CDC had acquired the Punjab Government’s stake in PTL for Rs 218.13 crore at Rs 153 per share. Punjab Tractors, which has the capacity to make 60,000 tractors a year, also owns 33 per cent of Swaraj Mazda Ltd, which makes light trucks and buses with Mazda’s technology, and 29 per cent of Swaraj Engines which manufactures diesel engines in collaboration with Kirloskar Oil Engines Ltd.
— UNI
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BPCL eyes petrol stations in Lanka
New Delhi, August 1 “We certainly will be bidding,” he told PTI here. Sri Lanka has invited expression of interest by August 5 from oil companies to sell state-run Ceylon Petroleum Corp’s (Ceypetco) 100 petrol stations. “We are keen on expanding our retail presence outside India and Sri Lanka presents a good opportunity,” he said. BPCL plans to fuel the petrol stations in the island nation from its subsidiary Kochi Refineries Ltd (KRL) in Kerala. Like BPCL, HPCL too is plotting a bid for the Sri Lankan retail opportunity. It plans to export petrol and diesel from its Vizag refinery in Andhra Pradesh “Sri Lanka is within the supply zone of the coastal refineries,” Behuria said. Earlier this year, the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) had bought 100 petrol stations from Ceypetco and plans to add another 150 by the year end. Sri Lanka, which currently has Ceypetco and the Indian Oil selling fuel, has offered its one-third retail facilities to the new entrant. Caltex Lubricants Lanka a unit of ChevronTexaco, Shell Gas Lanka Ltd and Petronas of Malaysia are reported to be interested in entering the retail fuel market in the island nation. The IOC exports fuel to Sri Lanka from Mangalore Refineries and Petrochemicals. Sri Lanka needs 3.4 million tonnes of petroleum products a year and has a refining capacity of about 2.2 million tonnes. It imports about 1.2 million tonnes of product annually. Behuria said BPCL exported 0.10 million tonnes of products in the first quarter of current fiscal. Last year (2002-03), the company had exported 0.46 million tonnes. Indian firms are looking at export markets due to a fall in the domestic demand. Petroleum product consumption, which is surplus in refining capacity, slumped 2.7 per cent to 22.10 million tonnes in April-June this fiscal as opposed to 22.70 million tonnes product consumed in the same period the previous year.
— PTI
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Row over L-1 visa in USA Washington, August 1 Whereas H1-B visas allow US companies to hire foreign workers specifically for job openings, L-1 visas are meant for intra-company transfers and are valid for a maximum of seven years. Although there are legitimate reasons behind a company transferring a foreign employee to the USA, critics say the programme is being abused as a cheap way to replace American workers. A company that has resources throughout the world might need to bring in its foreign workers for their special expertise, cross-training or management indoctrination. But the problem is that a loophole in the law allows employers to transfer L-1 workers to the USA and then outsource those workers to other companies, according to LeEarl Bryant, past president of Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. When that happens, American workers are often displaced because L-1 visa holders do not have to be paid wages in line with their US counterparts. “It’s even worse (than H1-B abuses) because it’s manipulating the system to avoid paying those people prevailing US wages,” Bryant was quoted as saying by media reports here. “And, of course, it kind of washes the hands of the US employer who has the real work to do. They can say, “We’re not hiring H1-B people. We’re hiring temporary workers from company X, who provide this service of software design.” The government recognises that loophole as a problem, said Chris Bentley, a spokesperson for the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services. The bureau is assessing the L-1 programme, and Bentley said violations were being investigated, according to a report in the Oregonian, a daily published from Oregon. “We certainly do hear about possible abuses, and the fact that there is an assessment of the visa category will indicate that it’s being taken very seriously,” he said. In May, John Mica, Republican from Florida, introduced a Bill that would close the L-1 outsourcing loophole. A recent press statement from his office said: “American workers have been forced to train their own L-1 replacements or suffer the loss of severance pay.” “While we want to help our businesses meet their workforce needs, this proposal will help ensure that Americans are no longer victimised through a legal loophole,” Mica said in the statement. Bentley, however, said the number of L-1 visa holders seemed to be tapering off, as was the number of H1-B workers, because of the slow economy. India-based Tata Consultancy Services uses the L-1 visa programme to transfer employees to the USA and send them out on consulting projects across the country. The primary reason is that its workers in India are trained in Tata software — training not available to US workers, according to Girish Surendran, resident manager of personnel. “We’ve got over 50 research and development centres spread across India in multiple locations,” he said. He said Tata doesn’t track whether its client companies use the L-1s to replace the existing staff, according to the Oregonian report.
— IANS
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Labour unrest hits Hyundai sales
Singapore, August 1 Domestic sales of its Sonata sedans, Santa Fe sport utility and other vehicles dropped 42 per cent to 40,208 units in July, the lowest monthly figure since February, 1999, the company said in a statement. Exports plunged 40 per cent to 57,732 units, which included sales from its plants in India, China and Turkey. Hyundai Motor’s union workers have been refusing to work overtime since June 20 and holding sporadic walkouts since June 25, causing the automaker to lose production of more than 99,210 Sonata sedans, Santa Fe sport-utility vehicles and other models worth 1.3 trillion won ($ 1.1 billion). The automaker sold 1.07 million vehicles in the first seven months of this year, 3.4 per cent more than a year earlier. Of the total, domestic sales fell 16 per cent to 383,122 units, while exports gained 19 percent to 685,499 units.
— Bloomberg
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AirTel unveils zero rental scheme
New Delhi, August 1 The plan is targeted at those pre-paid customers, who want to switch over to a post-paid scheme but did not do so since they have to pay rent for that. As many as 20 per cent of pre-paid customers were such kind, Bharti Tele-Ventures Ltd President (mobility) Manoj Kohli told mediapersons. As compared to the pre-paid card of Bharti, the plan on an average comes out to be 20 paise cheaper since a subscriber has to pay Rs 2.80 for making calls to landline and Rs 2.40 to cell phones in pre-paid cards. Besides making the scheme at par with pre-paid cards so far as rent is concerned, the plan offers usual comforts of the post-paid category like allowing customers to remain activated to the service permanently.
— UNI
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Free-ticket offer on Indian Airlines’ golden jubilee New Delhi, August 1 According to the information posted on its website, the gift to IA customers called Fortune 50 comes as part of the airline’s golden jubilee celebrations and also includes a Mercedes Benz C-200-K as a prize. The free-ticket offer is available through lucky draws for passengers flying out of Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Kolkata and Hyderabad either on Indian Airlines or its sister concern Alliance Air. Fifty free tickets are up for grabs each day at each of these locations for a 50-day period. The state-owned airlines is also using this event to focus strongly on outsourcing work, downsizing its workforce and investing more on frontline staff training despite the pressure on its bottomline. Coordination between Indian Airlines (IA) and Air-India is expectedly improve with the government today giving CMD of (IA) Sunil Arora the additional charge of the A-I. Officials at the Ministry of Civil Aviation said Mr Arora would hold the
additional charge for six months or till an alternative arrangement is made, whichever is earlier. Incidentally, the appointment of Mr Arora comes on the day when Indian Airlines is celebrating its Golden Jubilee. Mr Arora takes over from Mr J N Gogoi, whose six-month extension as the acting MD since 2001, ended yesterday. Mr Gogoi had joined Air-India in 1969. His appointment assumes significance as both Air-India and Indian Airlines are in the process of expanding their fleet and are also in the process of further sharing some international routes. It has incidentally lost its top position to Jet Airways in the domestic market and is trying to gain its position back. Brand building improving the quality of its interaction with customers, inflight product enhancement, on time and innovative yield management are high on the agenda.
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Hero Honda, LML sales rev up
New Delhi, August 1 It also reported a 7.8 per cent surge in cumulative sales for the April-July, 2003, period against the corresponding period last year on the total sale of 6,01,930 units. The company’s first quarter net profit was Rs 157.82 crore while it ended FY 02-03 with a 25.4 per cent surge in profits over the previous fiscal at Rs 581 crore. In its annual report, the company said to maintain a double digit growth in volume and revenue as well as its leadership in the motor cycle segment, it had charted out a series of expansion plans, which includes launching new products and unveiling upgraded variants of existing models. In FY 02-03, Hero Honda Motors had managed to maintain its market share in the two-wheeler market at 33 per cent even as its share in motor cycles dipped from an all-time high of 48 per cent in 2001-02 to 44 per cent in 2002-03. LML
LML said today its motor cycle sales soared by 239.7 per cent to 13,143 units in July, 2003, due to good demand of the 110cc motor cycle Freedom. Sale of scooters, however, went down by 51 per cent to 3,087 units, a company spokesperson told PTI. LML’s total two-wheeler sales stood higher by 59.5 per cent to 16,230 units during the month under review. Cumulative (April-July, 2003) motor cycle sales surged by 513.68 per cent to 68,438 units but that of scooters fell by 53.1 per cent to 12,700 units, the spokesperson said. The total two-wheeler sales during the period jumped by 112.1 per cent to 81,138 units. LML has been witnessing a steady rise in sale of motor cycles after the launch of Freedom model in July last year.
TVS
TVS Motor Company has registered a 4 per cent rise in motor cycle sales at 57,227 units in July compared to 54,986 units sold in same period last year. The total sales of the company were higher by 3 per cent at 97,613 units (95,119 units in July, 2002) in the period under review, TVS Motor said in a release here today. The sales of Victor were in excess of 6 lakh and the launch of new Fiero F2 has helped the company to penetrate the northern and western markets while notching sales of 5,753 units, the Hosur-based entity added. On the international front, TVS Motor Company has sold 2,084 units (1,018 units), achieving a growth of 205 per cent. TVS Scooty sales for July stood at 19,249 units (18,781 units), a marginal rise of 2 per cent. Growth in this segment was expected to increase once production numbers reach targeted levels as planned, it added. The recently launched TVS Scooty Pep has also recorded a sale of 5,757 units in the reporting period. TVS Moped sales were, however, pegged lower at 21,137 units (21,352 units) in July.
Bajaj Auto
Bajaj Auto today reported a 26.8 per cent rise in motor cycle sales in July, 2003, to 77,966 units. Its total two-wheeler sales grew by 3.6 per cent to 1,01,162 units, a company statement said. Sale of three-wheelers jumped by 20.3 per cent to 19,675 units during the month under review. Bajaj Auto’s total two and three-wheeler sales stood higher by six per cent at 1,20,837 units. Of this, exports went up by 82.9 per cent to 11,322 units. In the premium motor cycle segment, there was a 98 per cent rise in sales of the Pulsar models to 25,051 units, while in the executive segment, the Caliber and Wind models posted a 57.7 per cent growth at 21,382 units.
— PTI, UNI
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