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Wednesday,
August 20, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Action
against erring Net providers sought Interest
payment on SIDBI bonds to govt deferred EPFO okays
up to 90 pc withdrawal to invest in Pension Bima BIS norms
for soft drinks optional Employees
want IFCI to merge with bank Traders
sore over Chautala’s remarks BPCL
pays 258 cr dividend to govt |
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Govt
plans changes in SSI law GRAPHIC: Imports
of crude oil and petroleum products
Grasim,
Indian Rayon sell stake in Indo Gulf
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Action against erring Net providers sought Chandigarh, August 19 The BSNL has urged the Department of Telecommunications, to take action against them as it was causing a financial loss worth crores to the public sector corporation, said Mr S.C. Chaudhary, Chief GMT, Punjab Telecom Circle, Chandigarh here yesterday. He disclosed that the BSNL Punjab circle had earlier issued notices to these ISPs for violation of the licence conditions, but no response had been received. He said, ‘‘The ISPs are supposed to use the optical fibre or radio transmission network to provide Internet services to their customers. Or they have to take lease lines from the BSNL to offer last mile connectivity.” He said, ‘‘Since they have not positively responded to our opposition, we have approached our headquarters to take up the matter with the Department of Telecommunications.’’ Sources in the department alleged that the a section of BSNL officers was involved in this operation, which was spread over major districts of Punjab, including Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Patiala, Moga and Patiala, and Chandigarh. They said since the cost of providing services through optical fibre and radio link was much higher than using the copper wire network of the BSNL, they were using it in connivance with some officials. A union leader of BSNL employees claimed that a team of VSNL from Mumbai had recently raided the premises of a leading ISP in the city that was also illegally using its network to transfer international calls. That ISP has now agreed to stop the practice. But the BSNL officials here have not so far approached the Chandigarh police, he said. BSNL officials admitted that the number of Internet connections provided by the ISPs through this method could be anywhere between 10,000 and 20,000 in the region. On an average, they said, the average cost of using its network for last mile connectivity from the node of the ISP would be about Rs 10,000 per year. It means that BSNL would be losing about Rs 10 crore per year. Mr Chaudhary admitted that due to this practice, the BSNL was not able to sell its lease lines to the desired extent. One lease line of 64 kbps costs Rs 2.5 lakh per
annum. Owing to the presence of the private network of ISPs, a large number of customers were not using its network to access Internet and Internet telephony. As per the licence conditions, the officials of the BSNL maintained, the ISPs cannot set up local area networks (LANs) to provide Internet connections to the users.
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Interest payment on SIDBI bonds to govt deferred
New Delhi, August 19 This is to enable the SIDBI implement a restructuring package for the SSI sector which would cost the institution about Rs 900 crore, Minister of State for Finance Anandrao Adsul told the Lok Sabha. Interest payment on SIDBI bonds to the tune of Rs 174 crore per annum totalling Rs 1750 crore in ten years will be deferred, Adsul said in a statement on restructuring package of SIDBI. This follows consultations between Government and SIDBI to provide loans to the SSI sector at very competitive rates, he said. Under the package, interest on all outstanding loans of State Financial Corporations will be reduced by 2 per cent and a rebate of 2 per cent in rate of interest will be provided by SIDBI for all future refinance to these corporations. The package allows a one-year moratorium for repayment of existing dues, the Minister said adding these measures will cost the SIDBI about Rs 900 crore. “Nevertheless, in view of the importance of SSI sector and the need for helping the small scale entrepreneur, the Central Government has advised SIDBI to go ahead with this revitalisation package”, the Minister said in a statement. Stating that the SSI accounts for almost 95 per cent of the industrial units of the country, providing about 180 lakh jobs and contributing about 35 per cent of the country exports, Adsul said the sector performed a vital role in the country’s economic development. The SIDBI provided refinance support to all the 18 State Financial Institutions, he said adding over the years entrepreneurs in the small sector have found SFCs a major source of financial support.
— PTI
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EPFO okays up to 90 pc withdrawal to invest in Pension Bima
New Delhi, August 19 “The proposal to permit withdrawal of up to 90 per cent of the amount standing at a member’s (completed 55 years) EPF credit to be transferred to the LIC for investment in Varishta Pension Bima Yojana, is approved,” Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh President Hasubhai Dave told PTI after the meeting. LIC’s Varistha Pension Bima Yojna offers an attractive 9 per cent return to senior citizens above 55 years of age. The LIC scheme could be bought for a minimum Rs 33,335 for getting a monthly pension of Rs 250 while the maximum investment can be upto Rs 2,77,490 for getting a pension of Rs 2,000 a month. The scheme provides for pension during the life time of the pensioner. In the event of death, the purchase price will be returned to the nominee of the pensioner. The government will subsidise LIC annually for the difference between the actual yield on its investment and the assured return of 9 per cent, it added. With this approval, separate administrative arrangements would be in place in consultation with LIC for enabling direct transfers to the insurance monolith at a minimal transaction cost, EPFO sources said. The move to allow this was to check “frittering away” of lumpsum amount taken from the EPFO after the retirement, they added.
— PTI
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BIS norms for soft drinks optional
New Delhi, August 19 The ministry also said the Health Ministry, under which the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act (PFA) is administered, has till now not recommended making the ISI licence mandatory for soft drinks. “The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) norms for soft drinks are optional in nature, if a company approaches us for the ISI mark, we are prepared to issue them a licence but none has applied so far”, Consumer Affairs Secretary Wajahat Habibullah told PTI. He said if a cola company wanted to score a mark over its competitors it could always apply for a BIS licence and in accordance with the rules and based on the standards governing the product it will be permitted to use the ISI mark. He said the BIS standard on soft drinks were only voluntary unlike the ones for bottled and packaged drinking water which had been made mandatory after a recommendation to this effect came from the Health Ministry. In the case of soft drinks, the Health Ministry has not made any such recommendation though the pesticides-cola controversy was discussed between the two ministries. “Nothing is on the cards (mandatory BIS licence),” he said. Nevertheless the BIS is taking several initiatives on its own keeping in mind the safety of the consumer regardless of the administering body for a particular product. These include securing consumer interests in gold, water and electrical equipment. Habibullah said though the quality norms for bottled water are notified under the PFA rules by the Health Ministry, once the pesticides controversy broke out in February this year, the Consumer Affairs Ministry seized the initiative. It did not go into whether the tests conducted by the NGO were authentic or not but felt the BIS standards needed to be updated in line with the latest technology available. In any case, norms for bottled water were coming up for review this year but the BIS took up the issue six months before schedule to keep pace with the market and technological developments. With this objective in mind, the BIS is making standards for all its products “dynamic”, to be revised not after a fixed time period but as and when the update is required, he added. “Similarly, if NGOs concerned take up the pesticides-in- colas controversy with us in consumer interest, we can refer the matter to the Health Ministry”, he said. The Secretary said though gold falls under the purview of the Ministry of Finance, to secure consumer interest the Consumer Affairs Ministry has taken the initiative for hallmarking the commodity. Since import of sub-standard electrical items can pose a health hazard to the public, the matter has been taken up with the Commerce Ministry. With this end, the standing committee on carbonated beverages held a meeting yesterday.
— PTI
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Employees want IFCI to merge with bank
New Delhi, August 19 The names of banks and FIs mooted for taking over IFCI include Industrial Development Bank of India, State Bank of India and Life Insurance Corporation. The Coordination Committee of Employees and Officers Union of IFCI gave representations to the Finance Ministry on November 21, 2002 and again on July 9, this year on this issue, official sources confirmed. The employees union proposed the merger plans in view of the financial condition of IFCI and the insecurity of their services, they said. Although the Ministry has considered the representations, it ruled out a merger between IFCI and IDBI. Sources in the banking circle said merger of IDBI and Kolkata-based IIBI may be considered once the IDBI Act is repealed and the FI is corporatised. The Union Cabinet has already approved the conversion of IDBI into a universal bank which will also continue development financing. It, however, took no decision on the proposed merger of IDBI with IIBI. In case of IFCI, government has written off loans worth over Rs 1,500 crore to improve its financial conditions. However, it is not sure whether government will accept the proposal to merge IFCI with either SBI or LIC considering that the core business of both these players are different. Instead, the government wants IFCI to stand on its own feet. The FI has, in fact, improved its financial position in the last few quarters.
— PTI
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Traders sore over Chautala’s remarks
Rohtak, August 19 Haryana Beopar Mandal (HBM) president Laxmi Chand Gupta said Mr Chautala’s alleged statement might lead to a situation of a class war in the state as it had created discontentment in the minds of certain sections of society. “Mr Chautala has been instigating the people of the state for a class war by his repeated indecent remarks against the trading community,’’ Mr Gupta said while addressing a press conference here after being unanimously elected as the state President of the HBM for the seventh consecutive term on Sunday. Mr Gupta alleged that traders were being targeted by criminals and anti-social elements at several places in the state and the Chief Minister’s repeated statements against the trading community would add fuel to the fire.
— UNI
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BPCL pays 258 cr dividend to govt
New Delhi, August 19 With this, the total dividend paid to the government by BPCL comes to Rs 297.90 crore as the company had earlier paid an interim dividend of Rs 39.72 crore, an official release said here. The gross turnover of BPCL touched Rs 56,818 crore during 2002-03 against Rs 45,801 crore for the previous year, recording an increase of 24 per cent.
— PTI
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Govt plans changes in
SSI law
New Delhi, August 19 The government is already implementing a price and purchase preference scheme and has reserved 358 SSI products for exclusive purchase from SSI units by government departments and Public Sector Undertakings
(PSUs).— UNI
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