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Thursday,
October
2, 2003,
Chandigarh, India  
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Exports clock
8.99 pc growth Industry unhappy
with Punjab industrial policy Slump in gold
buying Industrial
accidents in Punjab lowest Agra, Amritsar,
Shimla top tourist destinations Govt apathy hits
carpet weavers
MRPL to spend 750
cr to upgrade gasoline
Traders directed
to issue bills |
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Markfed to buy
paddy directly Bata India
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Exports clock 8.99 pc growth New Delhi, October 1 In the month of August, however, exports grew by 4.19 per cent as compared to the same period of the previous year. The growth slowdown in August, could perhaps have been due to an appreciating rupee. In fact in rupee terms, exports during this month recorded a negative growth of 1.5 per cent as compared to the same month of last year. Cumulative exports in the first five months was put at $ 22.5 billion as against # 20.6 billion last year, official figures
released today said. In rupee terms, the exports growth was only 4.1 per cent during April-August and in August it recorded a negative growth of 1.5 per cent over the corresponding period in the previous year. The trade deficit during April-August was estimated at $ 6.04 billion which was over two-and-half times of $ 2.7 billion in the corresponding period in 2002-03. India’s imports during this period was valued at $ 28,549.38 million representing an increase of 22.14 per cent over the level of imports valued at $ 23,373.86 million during the same period last year. Imports during August 2003 are valued at # 5613.68 million representing an increase of 15.48 per cent over the level of imports valued at $ 4,861.37 million in August 2002. In rupee terms, imports increased by 9.16 per cent during August 2003. Oil imports during this period stood at $ 7,663.14 million which is 7.92 per cent higher than oil imports valued at $ 7100.67 million in the corresponding period last year. Non-oil imports during April to August 2003-04 are estimated at $ 20,886.24 million which is 28.35 per cent higher than the level of such imports valued at $ 16,273.19 million during the same period in the previous year.
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Industry unhappy with Punjab
industrial policy New Delhi, October 1 The imposition of surcharge on the exempted units is not only
arbitrary, but against the natural principles of taxation,” the apex chamber of North India said in a letter to state principal secretary, industry and commerce. Such a levy would many of the new units unviable, which were set up on the presumption that there will be no sales tax liability on them for a certain number of years. The PHDCCI said the local area development tax
(LADT) is proposed to replace octroi and entry tax. The industry policy further states that LADT paid on industrial raw material would be
vatable. The LADT should be vatable not only for raw material but also for ally types of inputs, consumables, packing materials, oil and lubricants, dyes and chemicals and capital goods. The Centre has rationalised the tax structure to a large extent by introducing
Cenvat. The various state governments including Punjab are also moving towards implementation of VAT system. The chamber suggested that the state government should also follow the concept of Cenvat as far as the state sales tax is concerned. Presently, sales tax is charged on the
imputes and also on the finished products and as such it has got serious cascading effect. The heavy penalty to the tune of 50 per cent of the value of goods is imposed if the driver of the vehicle carrying goods does not report at the information collection centre. Many a time, the traders have to suffer only because of driver’s mistake and without any bad intention. It said if the sales tax is charged on the
imputes required for the export products, then Indian manufacturers may not be able to compete with competitors in the international market, which will be a demoralising effect on the Indian manufacturers. If, due to any administrative reason, it is difficult to exempt state sales tax on the inputs, a system can be designed for the reimbursement of the state sales tax amount. The Centre is providing re-imbursement of Central Sales Tax paid by Export Oriented Units on the purchase of inputs and capital goods meant for production of export products. The chamber said purchase tax, state sales tax paid on inputs and capital goods should also be exempted or reimbursed to the EOUs in Punjab.
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Slump in gold buying Ludhiana, October 1 The gold prices have been rising for the past about three weeks and have touched the highest during the current season at Rs 5800 per ten grams of 24 carat. 22 carat gold was being quoted at Rs 5500 per ten grams. The jewellers attribute the rise in the prices to the high rates in the international market. The jewellers say that the world gold control organisation has huge stock of gold and can twist the prices whenever it likes to do so. The rise in gold prices is also attributed to the fluctuation in dollar value in the international market. During a visit to the biggest showroom of leading jewellers Nikkamal Jewellers this reporter found almost all the counters vacant and hardly two to three customers were seen. Mr Manak Chand Jain of the Nikkamal Jewellers disclosed that their sale had gone down by about 25 per cent this year. This was because the marriage season was late and then there was no flow of money in the market. However , Mr Ashim Nagpal of Tanishq is optimistic and maintains that with the start of festival season, demand for gold has started picking up and after Divali festival, it will touch the peak. He said that gold buying was very closely linked with the marriages season and after July 14, there had been virtually no marriage which resulted in slump in the market. Mr Nagpal revealed that people had started investing again in the gold after the banks had reduced the rate of interest. Still gold buying was considered profitable. Mr Jain says that increase in diamond jewellery has also risen because its resale value is 90 per cent. The rates of diamonds vary from Rs 7000, 8000 to Rs 15000 per carat. Rich people buy diamonds of high quality of Rs 15,000 per carat while the middle class go in for the cheaper quality.
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Industrial accidents in Punjab lowest Chandigarh, October 1 Inaugurating one day workshop on Safety for senior executives of Hazardous Factories of Punjab State, he claimed that despite presence of large number chemical and engineering units in the Punjab, the record of industrial safety was relatively better as compared to other states. However, by further improving the standards of industrial safety, they could win the confidence of their stakeholders including workers, share holders and community. Appealing to the executives of leading industrial units of the state, he said, “You should strive to implement all the Acts concerned with industrial safety in letter and spirit. The state has already set up Punjab Industrial Safety Council to create awareness among industry to build up safe environments for workers and community.” Speaking on Work Environment- Effect and Control, Mr K.K. Sharma, Senior Manager — Environment, Health and Safety, Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd, stressed on the need of eliminating hazardous chemicals such as Benzene, dyes, and elimination of use of plastic containers used for highly flammable solvents. He appealed to the management of chemical and other industries to take preventive measures, educate workers and monitor the environment in the factories apart from conducting medical check ups of workers from time to time. Mr Sharma said under Section 36A and 37 of the Factories Act, adequate measures need to be taken by the managements to prevent explosion due to explosive or inflammable dust or gas. They should also keep noise level under control as per the Factories Act that would help them maintain the health of workers and surrounding people in proper condition. Among others Mr Daljit Singh, Assistant Director of Factories (Chemical), Mr B.H. Upadhaya, Senior Manager, Safety Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd, Mohali also addressed the participants. About 60 senior executives of industry across the state attended the workshop.
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Agra, Amritsar, Shimla top tourist destinations Karnal, October 1 He said the north Indian states had tremendous potential for the growth of tourism industry as most of the hill stations were located in this part of the country. He said: “The union and state governments should come out with innovative ideas to attract foreign and domestic tourists to benefit the tourism industry that is the second largest earner of foreign exchange for the country”. He said the association had proposed to introduce a new concept in the hills — “Shimla by Night” — exclusively for the foreign tourists. Colonel Choudhary said many multi-national restaurant chains were going to open their outlets in Haryana, Rajasthan, Punjab and Chandigarh. This was a good sign for the growth of restaurant industry, he added. He condemned the Union Government’s decision to prohibit the restaurants from accepting foreign currency. “This decision will also have an adverse affect on the purchase of imported liquor by the restaurants”, he said. As per the new guidelines, only hotel owners would be allowed to purchase imported foreign liquor at 5 per cent import duty. Restaurants would not be able to avail this benefit of subsidised purchase of imported foreign liquor. He disclosed that the Himachal Pradesh and Uttaranchal governments had recently ensured certain incentives as per their industrial policies and the guidelines of the Union Government for the growth of tourism and hotel industry. These states had decided to develop infrastructure by locating new tourist destinations, improving road links and providing rebate on sales tax and income tax for a specific period. He also appealed the governments of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Uttaranchal to promote tourism industry in their states.
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Govt apathy hits carpet weavers
Amritsar, October 1 A visit to Bacchiwind, Kakkar, Pandori, Munj, and Sarangara villages revealed that a large number of handlooms were either out of work or had been dismantled by the carpet weavers of the area. Most of the artisans have been forced to take to menial jobs or work as farm labourers. Bacchiwind Sarpanch Shubeg Singh, himself a carpet weaver, said paltry wages were the main reason forcing artisans to look for new jobs. He said it took over nine hours of daily labour by two weavers to complete a carpet of 5 by 7 feet size in a month. And at the end of this arduous labour they end up earning just Rs 2,500. He said of 110 handlooms earlier, Bacchwind was now left with only about 20 handlooms due to poor wages, adding that similar situation prevailed in other villages. Mr Kabul Singh, also a carpet weaver, said they were exploited by the contractors. ‘’ They don’t give us any extra money for a special design but charge hefty amount from buyers while selling these carpets,” he lamented. Mr Gurmail Singh, a weaver-turned-farm labourer, said he did not like his present vocation but had no alternative to earn livelihood. He said the art of weaving carpets, which had traditionally been passed from parents to their children, would gradually die as the younger generation was not satisfied with low wages.
— UNI
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MRPL to spend 750 cr
to upgrade gasoline
Mangalore, October 1 Speaking at the post-AGM interactive media session here yesterday Mr Raha said the upgradation include extracting Xylenes which will fetch better value, other than taking up de-bottleneck processes to produce higher quantities of LPG and for putting up a dedicated dispatch Terminal for products by rail and road without going through existing PSUs. Its request for recognising full template capacity of 9.69 mmt (million metric tonnes) for the purpose of domestic sale of products under the Industry Logistic Plan (ILP) is awaiting government approval. In this context, MRPL Chairman said hitherto the capacity was arbitrarily restricted to 6.0 mmt, hence it has taken up the issue with the government to for necessary action. At a cost of around Rs 75 crore a stand alone marketing terminal with new rail/road loading facilities is under implementation.
— UNI
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Traders directed to issue bills Mansa, October 1 All dealers have been directed to keep record of their current stock, sale and purchase in a register as well as copy of the bill book which should be available for inspection to all SDMs, Executive Magistrates, police officers of the rank of inspector or above or any person specially authorised by the District Magistrate. The order issued here yesterday shall remain in force up to November 28, 2003.
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Markfed to buy paddy directly Chandigarh, October 1 The purchase will be done at the pre-declared complexes of Markfed’s six Korean rice mills at Goniana, Jaitu, Gidderbaha, Batala, Naushera Pannuan and Chuslewar and four modern mills at Rajpura, Machiwara, Nawanshahr and Baghapurana, said Mr S.S. Channy, Managing Director, Markfed. He claimed that Markfed would purchase paddy without the involvement of commission agents.
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Bata India Kolkata, October 1 A statement said that the company, which had been witnessing severe pressure on its margins due to intense competition from local and unorganised manufacturers, will however, keep its registered office here. The Batanagar factory located in the state will continue to remain as a major manufacturing base for Bata India, which will also receive investments for modernisation.
— PTI |
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Liberty Footwear New basmati Satnam Overseas Bajaj Auto LIC of India TVS Motor A.K. Kundra |
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India’s exports sustained its growth momentum and grew by almost 9 per cent (8.99 per cent) during the first five months of the current fiscal (April to August) in dollar terms.
