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GAIL set to take gas sector by storm GAIL CMD Proshanto Banerjee addresses a press conference in New Delhi on Wednesday. — Tribune photo by Mukesh Aggarwal State can fix sugarcane price, says SC The Supreme Court (SC) today upheld the right of the states to hike sugarcane prices over and above the statutory minimum price (SMP), fixed by the Centre for the sugar mills to be paid to the farmers and the purchase of sugarcane by the mills from the growers. World
Bank, IFC plan Re bonds
Spice gets Unified Access Service Licence |
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Israeli VSATs for
Indian e-choupal Better price realisation and improved operating efficiency helped Associated Cement Companies Ltd (ACC) to post an 81.4 per cent rise in its consolidated net profit at Rs 220.13 crore for the year ended March 2004, as against Rs 121.35 crore in the 2002-03.
Diesel-engine
makers for Maruti may produce in India India’s biggest carmaker Maruti has said it could soon ink an agreement with one of the global engine makers it is in talks with, including France-based Peugeot, to produce diesel engines in the country. “It (the agreement) should not take much time.
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GAIL set to take gas sector by storm Tribune News Service New Delhi, May 5 Addressing a press conference here today, Mr Proshanto Banerjee, Chairman-cum-Managing Director, GAIL, said that apart from investing in the gas grid sector, the company has also plans to invest in the petrochemical sector. GAIL has been appointed as the nodal agency to set up national gas grid. In addition, he said, the company has plans to invest Rs 750 crore to Rs 1000 crore to strengthen its 8,000 km telecom network over the next five years. “Dahej-Uran pipeline (DUPL) is under fast track implementation with an approved investment of Rs 1,416 crore. The pipeline project is 470 km long and is targeted for completion by May 2005,” he said adding that in North India the company had plans to invest Rs 347 crore on the Dadri- Panipat pipeline project. Under the Blue Sky project, he said, the GAIL would supply CNG in 22 cities across the country and would expand its city gas distribution network. Regarding the performance of the company, Mr Banerjee, said, during the financial year 2003-04, the company had emerged as one of the largest wealth creator in the country by creating over Rs 12,000 crore, and recording a sustainable growth in profitability. The earnings per share (EPS) of the company had increased from 14.03 in 2001-02 to Rs 19.4 in 2002-03 to Rs 22.20 in 2003-04. Regarding the required funds for investment, he said, the funds would be generated through internal accruals, credit from the financial institutions and through primary market. “We are annually generating Rs 1500 to Rs 2,000 crore from internal sources and it would be invested in the new projects. In fact, there is no shortage of funds as far as project plans are concerned.” he said adding that financial institutions were more than eager to offer credit at competitive rate keeping in view the track record of the company. The company has also plans to raise over Rs 500 crore this year from the debt market, he said. He disclosed that the provisional turnover of the company for 2003-04 had reached a record of Rs 12,449 crore against Rs 11,775 crore in 2002-03 registering an increase of 5.7 per cent. During this fiscal, gross operating margin of the company has increased to Rs 3,624 crore against Rs 3,346 crore in the previous year. Provisional net profit increased to Rs 1878 crore against Rs 1,639 crore during the previous year, registering an increase of around 14.6 per cent. Mr Banerjee
said: “GAIL has saved over Rs 500 crore by completing the Dahej-
Vijaipur pipeline project six months ahead of the schedule.” |
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State can fix sugarcane price, says SC New Delhi, May 5 This ruling was in a 3:2 majority decision given by a five-judge constitution Bench, comprising Chief Justice S Rajendra Babu, Mr Justice K G Balakrishnan, Mr Justice P V Reddi, Mr Justice B N Srikrishna and Mr Justice G P Mathur while allowing a UP government petition challenging an interim order of the Allahabad High Court. Mr Justice Babu, Mr Justice Balakrishnan and Mr Justice Mathur ruled that the state government could provide for state advised price (SAP) on the sugarcane purchase by mills over and above the SMP notified by the Centre under the Sugarcane Control Order, 1966. However, both Mr Justice Reddi and Mr Justice Srikrishna, by separate judgements, felt that mills could not be coerced by the states to pay the additional price to the growers as SAP did not have any statutory backing. Mr Justice Srikrishna said that the UP Sugarcane Act, 1953 did not have any provision under which the state government could fix SAP for the benefit of sugarcane growers. All major sugar mills had challenged the decision
of the state governments to force SAP on them saying it was putting
severe burden on their business due to the financial crunch and was
facing closure. Such hike had caused huge financial losses to mills
across the country. |
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World Bank, IFC plan Re bonds New Delhi, May 5 Both multilateral agencies have obtained all clearances for the bonds, but the exact timing of the issue is yet to be decided, senior officials of World Bank and IFC told PTI here. “We have plans to raise $ 100-150 million equivalent in rupee bonds. We will come up with the issue when the market condition is favourable,” IFC South Asia director Dimitris Tsitsiragos said. He indicated that the entire funds raised from the bonds might not be used for assistance to Indian companies. World
Bank’s executive director C M Vasudev also confirmed the Bank has plans
to raise $ 100 million equivalent from the Indian market.
— PTI |
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E-mails on cellphones after Hutch, Microsoft
Mumbai, May 5 The
service developed jointly by Hutch and Microsoft allows Hutch users to
access their office e-mails on their mobile phones. In effect, Hutch
subscribers can read, download, edit and send Microsoft Outlook emails
with Microsoft Word, Excel or Power Point attachments using their GPRS
handsets. Using this service, Hutch users can now view e-mails over SMS
for a monthly fee of Rs49, while the base service is available to Hutch
GPRS users at no extra cost. And for those who choose to use the
ActiveSync facility to download, edit & send mail in MS word, Excel or
Power Point format, they have to pay a fee of Rs499 per
month. Explaining the salient features of this service here, Mr Asim
Ghosh, Director, Hutchison Essar said, “this brings to the mass business
market the two great leaps of communication—business email and mobile
telephony.” Continuing in the same vein, Mr Ghosh said, “now for the
first time, business users can manage their emails with a wide range of
handsets—not a service reserved for elite.” Commenting on the
development, Rajiv Kaul, managing director, Microsoft India said, “the
Outlook on Hutch service combines the PC and the mobile phone to offer a
powerful new tool to corporate users — allowing them to use a single
device to communicate and stay connected.” Currently, Hutchison Essar
has a combined subscriber base of over 5.1-million and it has licenses
for 13 circles in the country. Thirteen circles are Mumbai, Delhi,
Kolkata, Chennai, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Rajasthan,
Haryana, Uttar Pradesh (East), UP (West), Punjab and West Bengal and
Sikkim. — UNI |
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Spice gets Unified Access Service Licence Chandigarh, May 5 Post migration to UASL, Spice will continue to provide wireless services in already allocated/contracted spectrum and will further have the freedom to offer a host of services such as basic telephony, ISP services, Internet Telephony and broadband services in Punjab, according to Mr Umang Das, Managing Director, Spice Communications. This will largely benefit people of Punjab with availability of multiple and affordable telecom solutions and advent of innovative wireless technologies by a single service provider. Spice Telecom has opted for UASL, keeping in view potential of Punjab as one of the fastest growing telecom markets in India and the increasing adoption towards internet and wireless technologies. With UASL, Spice aims to maximise its capabilities and resources in fulfilling growing communication requirements. UASL will act as a platform for Spice, to
enhance user experience through innovative solutions and faster access
to the Internet with the latest in broadband technology. |
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Israeli VSATs for Indian e-choupal Jerusalem, May 5 Part of the implementation of the e-choupal network
is being carried out by Gilat’s long-time customer and system
integrator, HCL Comnet Ltd. “The enthusiastic response from the farmers
has encouraged us to plan for the extension of the e-choupal initiative
to 11 other states across India over the next few years. “There are
plans to channelise services related to micro-credit, insurance, health
and education through the same e-choupal infrastructure,” a company
release quoted the ITC’s International Business Division CEO, Mr Siva
Kumar, as saying. Gilat’s executive vice president of sales, Mr Avihu
Bergman, said: “India continues to fulfil its promise as one of the
world’s fastest-growing markets for VSAT technology.” Launched in June
2000 by the International Business Division of ITC, e-choupal has
emerged as the largest initiative among all Internet-based interventions
in rural India. They extend to some 20,000 villages through 3,600
kiosks across the six states of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka,
Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, company sources said. —
PTI |
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ACC net up 81.4 pc Mumbai, May 5 The board has recommended a dividend of Rs 4 per share
aggregating Rs 79.96 crore for the year ended March 31, 2004, the
company said in a release here today. The consolidated net income for
the reporting year rose to Rs 4,147.69 crore from Rs 3,510.89 crore in
FY-03, it said. The net profit and income for the fourth quarter ended
March 31, 2004 stood at Rs 105.9 crore (Rs 58.72 crore in Q4 of 2002-03)
and Rs 1,040.07 crore (789.72 crore) respectively, it said.
Dabur
India Dabur India Ltd (DIL) today reported a 40.6 per cent year-on-year
increase in net profit to Rs 101.20 crore in year-ended March 31, 2004,
and announced a 140 per cent final dividend to take the overall dividend
for the fiscal to 200 per cent. The company said sales were up 9.5 per
cent to Rs 1147.98 crore for financial year ‘04 against Rs 1048.5 crore
in the previous year. DIL’s net for the quarter ended March 31, 2004
soared 46.9 per cent to Rs 26.59 crore while the revenue saw a 13.3 per
cent rise to Rs 287.93 crore, the company said in a statement. —
Agencies |
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New Delhi, May 5
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