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Finance Ministry for cut in cane price
ONGC market cap more than that of Rice sheller cluster for Kurukshetra Top 92 Indian companies generated |
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Hartron not to refund money PNB may get nod to raise
Mobile petrol stations for Punjab villages
Rising prices irk steel industry
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Finance Ministry for cut in cane price New Delhi, December 25 In an unprecedented scenario, even as the first quarter of the ongoing sugar season is already over, the government is yet to fix the SMP due to inter-ministerial differences, official sources said here. Even though the Food Ministry had forwarded the CACP (Commission on Agricultural Costs and Prices) recommendation to hike the cane SMP to Rs 73 a quintal from the present Rs 69.5 a quintal, the ministry too felt such a major increase was uncalled for at a time when the industry was in a crisis, they told PTI. On the other hand, the Agriculture Ministry strongly favoured that the CACP recommendation should be accepted and the cane price be increased in the interest of farmers. The sources said the Finance Ministry, in fact, wanted the cane SMP to be cut to last year’s pre-drought level of Rs 64.50 a quintal which had been increased mid-season to Rs 69.50 a quintal after the devastating calamity. The Finance Ministry’s argument was that any disproportionate increase in the SMP would lead to government intervention to bail out the industry, besides leading to lack of competitiveness with their foreign counterparts. Last week, no decision could be taken on the issue during a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA). Officially, both Agriculture and Food Ministries along with the Planning Commission concurred with the CACP’s recommendations, and Finance Ministry stood steadfast on its stand. However, at the same time the Food Ministry pointed out that it had accepted the CACP recommendation “as it is”, though the industry was in a crisis and would find it difficult to pay the hiked cane price, the sources said. They said the Finance Ministry felt a hike would exacerbate the problems of the industry, particularly those related to the payment of cane-price arrears to the farmers. The inter-ministerial differences had led to a piquant situation with the CCEA approving minimum support prices for rabi crops to be harvested only in April, 2004. But it chose to defer the cane SMP despite the fact that the harvest was long over and even the crushing began in October this year. The result was that millers were making advance-payment to the farmers at last year’s pre-drought price of Rs 64.50 or even at the lower rates. The SMP for sugarcane for 2002-03 season was originally fixed at Rs 64.5 a quintal linked to 8.5 per cent recovery of sugar as per the recommendation of the CACP. Subsequently, the SMP was fixed at an increased price of Rs 69.5 per quintal in December, 2002, again on the CACP’s recommendation in view of drought. By the then CACP in its report submitted in October had already suggested the SMP for 2003-04 season at Rs 65.5 per quintal linked to basic recovery of 8.5 per cent. The expert Mahajan Committee had recommended that a firm convention be set by government to follow the recommendations of the CACP with regard to the SMP. The government had, in principle, accepted the recommendation. This explains the ambiguous stand taken by the Food Ministry on the issue. The government also feared that in event of a stay obtained by the millers on the hiked cane price, it would be a major embarrassment and it might have to intervene with bail-out packages. —
PTI |
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ONGC market cap more than that of Karachi exchange New Delhi, December 25 The ONGC’s market capitalisation of over Rs 1,04,356 crore ($21.74 billion), at yesterday’s scrip closing price of Rs 731.85, is larger than the nearly $20 billion market capitalisation of Karachi Stock Exchange, industry sources said. After veteran oil man Subir Raha took over the reins of the country’s largest profit-making company, the ONGC has seen reversal of fortunes. From Rs 138.55 a share on May 25, 2001, when Raha took over as Chairman and Managing Director, ONGC scrip touched an all-time high of Rs 767 on December 22. Since then the ONGC has left the Sensex heavy-weights like Reliance Industries (m-cap of Rs 68,534 crore), Indian Oil Corp (m-cap of Rs 50,259 crore) and HLL (m-cap of Rs 41,162 crore) way behind. Apart from the international crude oil prices, which ruled at over $31 a barrel in the last few weeks, the integrated business model adopted by the ONGC, which reduces the risk of the investment, has made it favourite with investors particularly institutional investors, they said. Raha’s leadership has also reversed the fortunes of ailing Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals (MRPL), which the ONGC acquired in March 28, 2003. MRPL scrip which was ruling at Rs 8.10 (m-cap of Rs 643.71 crore) on that day, has moved up to Rs 49 (m-cap of Rs 8578 crore). The feat of ONGC, crossing the Rs 1 lakh crore (trillion) mark in market capitalisation, has placed the firm in a selected list of companies. During the tech boom, the market cap of IT power-houses Infosys and Wipro had crossed this extraordinary milestone. The ONGC is today among the top 15 energy majors in the world, based on current market capitalisation. In fact, among the global integrated oil and gas majors, ONGC, which m-cap of $22 billion, ranks next only to ExxonMobil ($200 billion), Royal Dutch/Shell ($100 billion) and Chevron Texaco ($80 billion) in the world. Analysts said the government decision to sell its 10 per cent stake in the ONGC, besides approving dissolution of the cross-holding between the state-owned oil companies, will increase liquidity of company scrip. Currently, the public float of the ONGC shares is only 0.72 per cent. —
PTI |
Rice sheller cluster for Kurukshetra Kurukshetra, December 25 Deputy Commissioner Abhilaksh Likhi, while presiding over a quarterly meeting of Punjab National Bank said here today that the proposed cluster is being established under the Industrial Clusters’ Development Scheme launched by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. Mr Likhi said the ministry has proposed to have 30 clusters during the Tenth Plan with an approximate outlay of Rs 1,500 crore and an average outlay up to Rs 50 crore per cluster. The share of Central Government will be 75 per cent of the project cost while the remaining 25 per cent will be financed by the state government. Under this scheme, besides enhancing
competitiveness of industries, emphasis will be laid on upgrading the existing infrastructure, instead of development of virgin areas and relocating the clusters elsewhere. Talking about the usefulness of the proposed rice shellers cluster establishment in this district, Mr Likhi said the state and Central Government had approved one rice shellers cluster in Haryana to improve the qualitative production of rice in this district, which is known as a ‘rice bowl’ of Haryana. The cluster will push up rice export. Under the scheme a laboratory for rice testing will be set up. Various exhibitions to promote rice export, plan to control pollution and expansion of information technology for export of rice, etc. will also be the facilities, besides provision of basic amenities, and grants available to the rice mill owners. |
| Top 92 Indian companies generated $2.2b in USA New York, December 25 The eighth annual 2003 News India-Times-Ventures International Inc. (VII) survey attracted 100 entries from Indian American companies but only 92 of them met the criteria for qualifying in the listing. According to the survey, Indian American entrepreneurs in the US have accomplished "magnificent successes" in the field of business in a very short period of time. The survey said the top 92 firms generated $2.2 billion in revenue and together employed 18,337 full-time workers in 2002. The top 100 Indian American companies had generated $2.26 billion in 2001 and had provided jobs to 18,438 full-time workers. Frank Islam's QSS Group Inc., which provides advanced aerospace technology and IT enterprise solutions to federal agencies, topped the list of Indian American companies with highest revenues in 2002. Founded in 1994, the Maryland-based company's sales in 2002 touched $224.65 million. The QSS Group currently employs 1,400 technical professionals for services spanning the spectrum of aerospace science, engineering and IT disciplines. In 1999, Islam was recognised as the Ernst and Young Maryland Entrepreneur of the Year. In 2001, the US Small Business Administration selected him as the Minority Small Business Person of the Year for the Washington DC Metropolitan area. Monte Ahuja's distribution company Transtar Industries slipped from its top rank in the 2002 survey to second position this year with total revenues of $213 million. Other firms in the list include Ramesh Bhatia's Atco Rubber Products, Ramesh Motwane's Eastern Contractors, Mehendra Nath's Nath Companies, Anita Talwar's Advanced Management Technology, and Ravinder Shahani's Acro Service. Overall, 20 companies out of the top 92 Indian American businesses in 2003 survey represented the software services industry, 17 were from the manufacturing sector, 14 from professional services and 11 from the construction industry. Other industrial sectors represented in the survey include distribution, finance, hospitality services, real estate, retail, systems integration, and transportation, said the survey. Indus Corporation, a company specialising in systems integration, came on top of the list of the top 10 fastest growing Indian American firms in 2002, said the survey. Founded in 1991 by Shivram Krishnan, the Vienna-based company has registered a growth of a whopping 104 per cent to $45.6 million in 2002, as compared to $22.3 million in 2001. Other firms in the fastest growing list include Computer Systems Management, Inc ($12.6 million, growth 55 per cent), Giri Agarwal's R&D Dynamics Corporation ($2.62 million, growth 29 per cent) and Basic Commerce ($21.6 million, growth 27 pc). In the 2003 listing of top 10 fastest growing Indian American companies, as many as five companies represent the IT and software services sector. Other firms are from manufacturing, distribution, hospitality, research and development, and professional services segment, showed the survey findings. In the survey, the most number of respondents were from the northeast region(27), with the mid-Atlantic (23) and mid-west (21) regions following close behind. The least number of respondents were from the western region with just two companies. —IANS |
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Hartron not to refund money Chandigarh, December 25 The corporation was showing as its income the interest accruing from funds collected by it from various government departments as advance for supplying them computer
hardware and software. Hartron showed Rs 8.87 crore as its income during the financial year 2002-03. However, during a scrutiny, the IT Secretariat, its administrative department, found that about 40 per cent of the Hartron income was actually generated from the cash advanced to it by various state government departments. Out of the total income of over Rs 8 crore, Rs 3.30 crore was stated to have come from interests of funds deposited by the government departments with it and from the penalties charged by it from private suppliers for delay in supplying technical components against the orders of the government departments. A case is reportedly the funds deposited by the Police Department with Hartron for developing a hi-tech communication network for the state police. The department handed over Rs 6 crore to it for developing the network dubbed as the wide area network (WAN). The money remained with it for about 20 months before it can be spent the amount for providing the police with WAN. Hartron got more than Rs 1 crore as interest from the money by keeping it in a bank and showed the interest as its own income. The IT Secretariat wrote a letter to Hartron asking it to refund the money to the departments. It was also pointed out that because of the appropriation of over Rs 3 crore belonging to various government departments by Hartron, it had to pay an additional Rs 1.4 crore as corporate tax. Since the government departments are exempted from paying corporate tax, Rs 1.4 crore could have been saved if the Hartron had returned the money to the government departments, it was pointed out. However, it could wriggle out of the
dictate as its directors, at a meeting here on Tuesday, decided against refunding the cash by it. The IT Secretariat accepted the board's decision. Official sources here, however, claimed that Hartron will refrain from appropriating funds of state government departments in future in view of the issue figuring in the agenda of the meeting of its board of directors. |
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PNB may get nod to raise $ 215m
New Delhi, December 25 The bank will soon seek SEBI’s approval for the Tier-II bonds issue worth about Rs 400 crore, PNB Chairman S.S. Kohli told PTI. Subject to regulatory nod, the bank intends to raise the funds by the fiscal end. PNB had raised Rs 256 crore in subordinated debt last fiscal, Kohli said. The need to raise capital through the Tier-II bonds comes in the wake of growth in business of the bank. It also plans to raise $ 215 million (about Rs 1,000 crore) through ECBs. PNB will use the ECBs to assist ailing textile companies to restructure their debts, he said. The Finance Ministry is examining the ECB proposals of PNB along with ECB plans of the IDBI, Bharti, Essar, Exim Bank and the NTPC. Apart from PNB, the IDBI and Essar Steel plan to raise $ 500 million each in ECBs, while Bharti Cellular plans to mop up $ 416 million Exim Bank ($ 300 million), the NTPC ($ 200 million). Indications are that the IDBI and PNB will get approval for raising funds from the overseas market as the government has decided to allow banks and FIs to raise ECBs if they utilise the funds for textile and steel restructuring. Earlier, the government had approved ICICI Bank’s $ 300
million ECBs as it was intended for restructuring debt of ailing steel companies. The government also approved HDFC’s proposal for raising $ 200 million this fiscal. —
PTI |
Mobile petrol stations for Punjab villages Chandigarh, December 25 This was disclosed here today by Mr Rajeev Mishra, Area Marketing Manager, BPCL. He said the first such mobile petrol/diesel station would become operational at Mansa from new year while the other would be introduced at Shambu shortly. Mr Mishra said Punjab was a predominantly agricultural state where it was not always possible for the vehicle owners to drive to nearby towns for a refill. The new facility would take care of that problem. If successful, more mobile petrol/diesel stations would be introduced in different parts of the state. He also said BPCL planned to set up 70 more petrol stations in Punjab during the next few months. These new outlets would be located in Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Patiala and Amritsar. Besides another 30 petrol pumps were planned along the state highways in Punjab. "We are ready to start work on them within the next two months provided we get all necessary approvals", he said. |
Rising prices irk steel industry Ludhiana, December 25 The issue of an unprecedented rise in the steel prices was taken up by Mr PD Sharma, President, the Apex Chamber of Commerce and industry, Punjab, with Minister and Fertilizers S S Dhindsa. In a letter he urged him to provide some relief for the steel industry. Responding to the letter the Steel Minister has justified the 65 per cent rise in the steel prices since March, 2002, He also said the interests of the steel industry will be protected. But the interest of the steel units has not been protected and the steel prices are still rising. The Steel Minister stated that instructions have been sent to the public sector steel plants to ensure adequate availability of steel in the market. The Steel Minister has also turned down their demand for duty-free import of steel as he sees danger to the domestic sponge iron production in the country, said Mr Sharma. |
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