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New Delhi, March 31 Buoyed by the strong performance of the farm economy, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has recorded a staggering growth of 10.4 per cent in the third quarter of the current fiscal year (October to December) of 2003-04. Rivals Infosys,
Wipro tie up for domestic banking project Software majors Infosys and Wipro, who are vying with each other for global IT outsourcing contracts, have now joined hands to outsmart competitors and win domestic banking contracts.
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External debt
goes up SSI sector to get
loans at 9.5 pc The Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) has announced to cut down prime lending rates for the small scale units with immediate effect from 11.5 per cent to 9.5 per cent per annum.
The rupee jumped beyond the psychological 44.00-barrier against the US dollar to close at a 47-month high at 43.65/ 70 today on bunched up dollar inflows and negligible central bank intervention, amid volatile trades. An Indian forex dealer counts rupee notes during busy market hours in a foreign exchange firm in Mumbai on Wednesday. — Reuters photo Rediff, Yahoo!
pact on e-shopping Rediff.com India Limited and Yahoo India, the two leading Internet portals of India, today announced a strategic alliance to jointly promote online shopping and mobile content across both portals. Chandigarh, March 31 Hutchison Essar today announced the launch of a wide range of GPRS services under the name HutchWorld across the state of Haryana. With HutchWorld, the subscribers will be able to enjoy a host of GPRS-based services, including astrology, photo messaging, gaming, chat, news and even Internet access. Cellphones ring at Kol dam site People living in the vicinity of the under-construction Kol dam project site, can now avail the cellular phone facility, thanks to a GSM network installed by a private cellular operator. Vienna, March 31 OPEC will make output cuts starting tomorrow, and ministers from Iran, Qatar, Venezuela and Algeria said the decision might send oil prices in New York above $ 40 a barrel to levels last seen in the 1990-1991 Gulf War. Dish TV to
launch 48 more channels Dish TV, the country’s first direct-to-home (DTH) service launched on October 2, 2003, is all set to expand its network. It already has 48 channels. And very soon it will add another 48 channels to its kitty. Hitachi launches
LCD idiot-box in Chennai Japanese television giant, Hitachi Home Electronics, today launched a new range of television sets for the Indian market at the super-premium end with five models of plasma and LCD televisions. In addition, it is also targeting the top-end home theatre solutions market in India.
Bata goes into red
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Strong farm economy thrusts GDP growth New Delhi, March 31 Quarterly GDP at factor cost at constant prices (1993-94) for the third quarter of 2003-04 is estimated at Rs 3,86,627 crore, as against Rs 3,50,290 crore in same period in the last fiscal. During the first nine months (April to December 2003) the GDP grew by 8.2 per cent, thereby placing the Indian economy among the fastest growing economies globally in the period. The sectors which registered significant growth in Q3 of 2003-04 over Q3 of 2002-03 are agriculture, forestry, fishing at 16.9 per cent, manufacturing at 7.4 per cent, electricity, gas and water supply at 5.2 per cent, construction at 5.1 per cent, trade, hotels, transport and communication at 13.1 per cent and finance, insurance, real estate and business services at 7.7 per cent. According to the information furnished by the Department of Agriculture and Cooperation (DAC), which has been used in compiling the GDP figures, the production of rice, coarse cereals, pulses and oilseeds has increased by 22.3 per cent, 38.3 per cent, 32.0 per cent, and 84.4 per cent, respectively during the kharif season of 2003-04. Production of cotton is also expected to rise by 42.1 per cent, while that of agriculture of sugarcane is expected to decline by 9.3 per cent, respectively during 2003-04 over the estimates of the previous year. According to the latest estimates available on the index of industrial production (IIP), the indices of mining grew 4.2 per cent, manufacturing 7.1 per cent and electricity 3.4 per cent in April-December. The key indicators of the construction sector – cement and finished steel — registered growth rates of 5.6 per cent and 7.1 per cent respectively. Among the services sectors, the performance indicators of the railways, namely, net tonne kilometers and passenger kilometres, have shown growth rates of 5.5 per cent and 3.7 per cent in April-December. Among the other high growth areas are production of commercial vehicles (35.7 per cent), cargo handled at major ports (7.5 per cent), number of telephones installed (12.6 per cent), aggregate bank deposits (13.3 per cent) and revenue expenditure, excluding interest payments of central government, (13.8 per cent). The GDP at factor cost at current prices in Q3 of 2003-04 is
estimated at Rs 6,85,302 crore, as against Rs 6,01,045 crore in Q3
2002-03, showing a rise of 14 per cent. |
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Rivals Infosys, Wipro tie up for domestic banking project
Bangalore, March 31 The
Bangalore-based firms have bagged a Rs 90 crore Core Banking Solution
(CBS) deal from public sector Vijaya Bank, in which Wipro will work on
end-to-end implementation and integration of Infosys’s Finacle banking
solution, besides providing telebanking and anti-money laundering
solutions. “We compete in the morning and network in the afternoon,”
Wipro Chairman, Azim Premji, said of rival Infosys, with whom it has
already implemented CBS with Union Bank of India and Oriental Bank of
Commerce. Vijaya Bank is the third customer for whom the two IT firms
are jointly implementing a CBS in the country and expect to continue the
relationship both at home and abroad. “We are very fierce competitors
and do it in a humble way; we do it in an ethical way and we are proud
of it,” Infosys Chief Mentor, N R Narayana Murthy, said adding that he
used Wipro’s Computer and Lighting products at his office. Premji,
however, said there are markets like Africa where Infosys operates and
where joining hands is difficult and ruled out partnerships in the BPO
space between Wipro Spectramind and Progeon, the BPO unit of Infosys. Vijaya
Bank Chairman and Managing Director, M S Kapur, said the CBS for 350
branches in 18 months would be extended to other branches by retaining
the IT majors as implementation partners. Premji ruled out Wipro’s
foray into building banking products, saying the IT major would instead
prefer to provide system integration over Finacle and other banking
products. Kapur said the bank would have to redeploy about 30 per cent
to 35 per cent of the staff with the implementation of the core banking
solution for its marketing and other allied activities. He said the
bank would make an additional Rs 100 crore on IT infrastructure over the
next two years.Murthy declined to comment on the rupee appreciation and
also avoided talking about the controversial IIM fee cut issue. Premji
said Wipro would design Vijaya Bank’s IT infrastructure, Data Centre,
Disaster Recovery Centre and the Help desk, besides managing the IT
infrastructure for an extended period. — PTI |
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External debt goes up New Delhi, March 31 The country’s total external debt stood at $ 112.105 billion in
December 2003, up from $ 105.223 billion in December 2002, data released
today by the Finance Ministry showed. However, the debt position had
declined a little in the September-December 2003 quarter from $ 112.72
billion to $ 112.105 billion. Multilateral loans had fallen to $ 30.558
billion from $ 32.564 billion a year ago while bilateral debt had risen
to $ 17.942 billion from $ 16.630 billion. Export credit showed a
decline from $ 5.003 billion to $ 4.773 billion, so did commercial
borrowings, from $ 22.539 billion to $ 20.545 billion. NRI deposits shot
up by over $ 7 billion — from $ 21.849 billion to $ 28.960 billion.
Rupee debt was placed at $ 2.635 billion in December 2003, down from
2.801 billion dollars a year ago. Meanwhile, RBI will announce the
annual monetary and credit policy statement for the year 2004-05 on May
18. |
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SSI sector to get loans at 9.5 pc New Delhi, March 31 The apex bank for the small scale
sector has also proposed to provide loans to the medium scale units,
with a fixed investment outlay of up to Rs 10 crore, at that rate of
interest shortly, subject to the clearance of the new definition of the
“medium scale sector” by the Ministry of Small Scale Industries. The
Board of Directors of the Bank and the Ministry of Finance have already
cleared the proposal. This was stated by Mr V.K. Chopra, Chairman and
Managing Director, SIDBI here today. Addressing a press conference,
the CMD said, “the revised interest rates will be implemented through 44
branches of the bank,” branches of the State Finance Corporations and
through branches of commercial banks in the country. Mr Chopra said,
“We have already signed an MOU seven state finance corporations
including Haryana, Rajasthan, Andhra, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal
Finance Corporations to provide loans to the SSI sector at lower
interest rates. They would be offered loans by the SIDBI at 7.5 to 8 per
cent interest rates as against 9.5 per cent current rate.” However, the
small scale units in Punjab and some other states may not be able to
avail of the loan at the lower interest rate through state finance
corporation, as the Punjab Finance Corporation has yet to sign the MoU
with the SIDBI. He disclosed that the Bank had also taken the decision
keeping in view the drastic fall in credit to the SSI sector and Finance
Minister’s recent announcment to set up a fund of Rs 10,000 crore to
offer loans to the SSI sector at 2 per cent lower than the primary
lending rate. |
| Re pips dollar by a few more paise
Mumbai, March 31 Opening on a strong note at 43.97/
43.98, the domestic currency continued its unabated upswings, supported
by strong capital and trade dollar inflows after Tuesday’s holiday, and
muted intervention by state-run banks, a senior dealer at the
Development Credit Bank said. Rupee which hit a high of 43.39/40 in
intra-day trades, closed at 43.65/70, its strongest closing since May 8,
2000, and gaining a whopping 40 paise from its Monday’s close of 44.05/
07, its second highest single day gain after it shot up by 42 paise on
Monday. The huge dollar inflows into the primary markets stemming from
recent public issues by state-run firms and ECB route inflows from
corporates who raised external currency borrowings recently, continued
to flood the market, treasury head at a private brokerage firm
said. The double digit 10.4 per cent growth in the country gross
domestic product (GDP) in the third quarter of the 2003-04, also gave an
additional boost to the rupee which have been rising remarkably on the
back of strong foreign fund inflows. Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of
India (RBI) today fixed the reference rate for US dollar at Rs 43.39,
down by a whopping 73 paise from Monday’s fix of 44.12, an RBI
spokesperson said. — UNI |
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‘Rupee roll temporary’
NEW DELHI: Finance Ministry today said the rupee
appreciation was “temporary” and it could not continue forever. “It is
temporary. (The rupee appreciation) can’t continue forever. In a
market-determined system, the rupee will go up and down,” Chief Economic
Adviser Ashok Lahiri told reporters. But Finance Minister Jaswant Singh
had yesterday dubbed the surge in rupee value to dollar as synonymous
with national pride. Mr Singh had, however, said rupee appreciation was
related to inflation management. — PTI |
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Rediff, Yahoo! pact on e-shopping Chandigarh, March 31 The association lever
rages the combined strength of these two portals who together reach a
significant majority of the Internet users in India. “We are happy to
be partnering with Rediff.com for the greater good of the Indian
netizens. It’s the Indian Net use, which will gain from the combined
synergies and strengths of Rediff.com and Yahoo! India. Our alliance
marks the beginning of a new era in India cyber space,” said Neville
Taraporewalia, Country Manager, Yahoo! India. According to Ajit
Balakrishnan, Chairman and CEO, Rediff.com “This association
collectively leverages our mutual strengths to the benefit of online
users across India. We care glad to extend our comprehensive shopping
catalogue in a safe and secure online environment to Yahoo! users in the
belief that this marks a new beginning to online retail commerce in
India.” |
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Hutch makes
a mark in Haryana Chandigarh, March 31 In a statewide deployment, the Hutch GPRS service —
HutchWorld — will be available to all Hutch prepaid and postpaid
subscribers in Haryana. It will be available in Panipat, Ambala, Karnal,
Rohtak, Hisar, Sonepat, Kurukshetra, Yamunanagar, Sirsa, Shahabad,
Rewari, Bahadurgarh, Jagadhari, Fatehabad and Narnaul. In order to
activate the service, the customer needs to send an SMS to 123 and type
HW. For deactivation, one needs to SMS HW DEL to the same number. The
subscription is activated within 72 hours of sending this SMS. Hutch
GPRS services will be available at Rs 99 per month. Announcing the
launch of HutchWorld, Mr Udyan Dravid, COO, Hutchison Essar, Rajasthan
and Haryana said: “This adds a new dimension to communication.” |
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Cellphones
ring at
Kol dam site Chandigarh, March 31 Covering villages and places like Slapper,
Barmana, Kian, Harnora, power house and the Jamthal colony in Himachal
Pradesh, this prestigious National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC)
project is the first ever dam site in the country to have a cellular
coverage. According to Mr Vinod Sawhney, CEO, Bharti Mobile Ltd.: “Kol
dam project is a prime example wherein customers can benefit from the
state-of-the-art technology.” Till now, large projects in far-flung and
difficult-to-access areas had mostly been relying on point-to-point
wireless sets.
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OPEC to ratify output cuts
Vienna, March 31 OPEC has “had a stranglehold on this
market for a very long time, so to doubt them is not a very smart
move,’’ said Edward Silliere, vice president of risk management at
Energy Merchant LLC in New York. Oil prices may rise to $ 40 or 42 a
barrel later this year as a result of OPEC’s plan, he said. Oil in New
York gained as much as 1.4 per cent to $ 36.77 a barrel in electronic
trading after a fire at the third-largest U.S. refinery increased
concern about lower than normal fuel inventories and sent gasoline
futures to a record high. Saudi Arabia and Libya yesterday also said
they backed plans for the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries
to reduce output after its Vienna meeting today. Surging oil prices
have led to record U.S. gasoline pump prices and increased pressure on
President George W. Bush to seek ways to relieve consumers of increasing
energy costs. Oil companies such as BP Plc are reporting rising profits
and returning billions of dollars to investors through increased
dividends and stock buybacks. Kuwait’s minister, Sheikh Ahmad Fahd
al-Ahmad al-Sabah, yesterday called on OPEC to postpone the oil cuts
until June because of rising prices. The United Arab Emirates minister,
Obaid bin Saif al-Nasseri, said a delay is one option to be
discussed. Ministers now are gathered in a breakfast meeting with
counterparts from non-member nations including Angola and Oman, and OPEC
nations will assemble later today to reach their decision. A majority
of OPEC officials have said they are more concerned of the threat of a
collapse in prices as weather warms and demand slows across the Northern
Hemisphere. “More oil now will make a glut in the market and force
prices to collapse, something we don’t want,’’ Saudi oil minister Ali
al-Naimi said yesterday. “Throwing more oil on the market would be
destructive for everybody.’’ The nation has told customers they will
receive less oil next month, al-Naimi said. Oil prices in London are up
21 per cent in the past year, and oil in New York set a 13-year high of
$ 38.50 earlier this month. New York prices peaked during the 1990-1991
Gulf War at $ 41.15 a barrel. Ministers including those from Saudi
Arabia and Algeria said oil is rising because of speculation in the
market and not because of shortages. Hedge-fund managers and other
speculators, whose decisions can influence prices, increased their bets
in New York crude-oil futures and options last week to the highest in at
least nine years. — Bloomberg |
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Dish TV to launch 48 more channels Chandigarh,
March 31 Giving this information to The Tribune, Mr Jawahar Goel,
Additional Vice-Chairman of the Essel Group, who heads this venture,
said the DTH platform would be strengthened across rural India with the
aim of reaching an estimated 40 million TV households that are out of
cable and settelite TV reach. According to Mr Goel Dish TV is a good
alternative to cable TV especially in the far-flung areas wher cable
operators have not yet invested. The ASC Enterprises, the DTH television
broadcaster, is planning roadshows. According to Mr Goel customised vans
will cover the small towns all over the country. Each of these vans
would be equipped with the dish and a screen to show the channels for
the common man in the town. |
Hitachi launches LCD idiot-box in Chennai Chennai, March 31 Hitachi’s country head in India,
Mr Tarun Jain, said: “Hitachi has adopted an innovative
‘price-versus-size’ strategy to win customers in India.” He said in
line with the strategy, Hitachi has launched 37” and 55” plasma and
28” LCD televisions in India. “This is in sharp contrast to the
conventional sizes of plasma television — 42” and 60” — with the two
Hitachi models prices 35-45 per cent lower than the respective higher
sizes available in the Indian market”, he added. Mr Jain said
Hitachi’s shift in strategy was the result of growing premium end of
the market and overcrowding in the middle segment, which was largely
dominated by Korean and domestic companies. He said it was estimated
the Indian plasma television market was set to grow by about 150 per
cent from the current 3,500 units in 2003 to reach 8,000 units by
2004. This new Hitachi television range will also be launched in
Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chandigarh, Ludhiana, Hyderabad, Pune, Nasik
and Trivandrum. The prices of the product range about Rs 2.5 lakh for
the 28” LCD television to Rs 6.95 lakh for the 55” Plasma
television. Mr Jain said Hitachi was currently importing the range
lanched in India from its subsidiary in Singapore. |
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Price index Nicholas Piramal Canara Bank ONGC shares |
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