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Manmohan promises reforms with a human face
Tata cars may get costlier |
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Wockhardt eyes US firms
Electrolux unveils battery-run fridge Tata Steel net up, Polaris down
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Manmohan promises reforms with a human face New Delhi, May 20 At the same time, however, Dr Singh clearly stated his opposition to providing free power to farmers as a general principle and should be adhered to only in exceptional circumstances. “Development will be the key priority, the aim of reforms would be to remove poverty, increase employment through relief to decentralised sectors,” Dr Singh said at his press conference as Prime Minister-designate. “This (free power) cannot be a norm for all public services, wherever possible we must have the listed user charges,” Dr Singh said even as he justified the decision taken by the Congress-led state government in Andhra Pradesh to provide free power on grounds of severe drought conditions. “Some amount of comfort (to the Andhra Pradesh farmers) was necessary but that does not mean there should be no user charge. There is also scope for cross-subsidisation,” he said. The budgetary management of the state in view of the free power to farmers in the state would be done in a transparent manner and “these are practical issues which we will tackle as we go on.” He also made it clear that profit-making public sector undertakings such as ONGC and GAIL would not be disinvested, as the new government does not intend to pursue the policy of privatisation as an ideology. “PSUs such as GAIL and ONGC will remain in the public sector. There is no intention to privatise them. The nationalised banks will also remain in the public sector. These will not be privatised,” he said. The government, he said, was in favour of building a strong public and private sectors. “If PSUs, cannot compete with the private sector on an equal footing or if they become a drag on the exchequer, they will be allowed to raise resources from market through disinvestments,” Dr Singh said. The interest of the workers is of paramount importance and the government “will not do anything which will throw a large pool of workers jobless”. “While remaining as public enterprises, if the PSUs want to raise resources through disinvestment or through sale of equity, they are most welcome,” he said. The Common Minimum Programme (CMP), the mutually agreeable agenda for development and governance of all the allies, will be finalised in a day or two and will contain the government’s plans and programmes in detail. He quoted Victor Hugo: “ No power on earth can stop an idea whose time has come”, something which had done while making the budget speech in 1994-95, and said: “Our government worked sincerely to realise that dream when we were in power from 1991-96”. Although “substantial success was achieved” during that period, Dr Singh said that the “task was far from complete”. The CMP would address the issues of growth and poverty alleviation and “there should not be any misgivings in this respect”. The Non-resident Indians (NRIs), he said, have the potential to contribute to wealth creation in the domestic economy. “I invite them to show much more interest in the development of the country and we will create the appropriate environment for this,” he said. |
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India Inc says go-ahead…
New Delhi, May 20 FICCI President Y.K. Modi said funds available should be exclusively earmarked for rural infrastructure development. Assocham President M.K. Sanghi hoped that the next five years of the present government will lay foundations for robust growth of the economy and usher in prosperity and rising standards of living for the largest number of Indians. PHDCCI President Ravi Wig said Dr Singh’s stress on reforms in the social sector, including education and health for all, as well as steps to increase agriculture production were welcome. “Dr Singh, the father of reforms, will definitely ensure that the fruits of the process of economic reforms initiated by him, will now percolate to the rural and farming regions of the country,” All India Association of Industries (AIAI) President Vijay G. Kalantri said. — UNI |
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…while Sensex gets sluggish Mumbai, May 20 The 30-stock Bombay Stock Exchange index fell 1.35 per cent with ONGC shares, which makes up almost a fifth of the index, fell three per cent. However GAIL gained 1.5 percent. Dr Singh, said only unprofitable state firms would be privatised and that state-run banks would remain in the public sector. State Bank of India, the biggest commercial bank, fell 2 per cent. Reports say foreign funds have sold a sixth of their holdings amounting to $683 million over fears of political uncertainties. The Bombay index closed at 4,938.37, taking its loss over the past month to around 17 percent. It rose on Wednesday and rang up the second-largest gain on record on Tuesday, bouncing back from its second-largest fall on Monday. However analysts attributed Thursday’s fall to also poor sentiment across the world over rising global crude oil prices and security concerns in the Middle-East. |
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Tata cars may get costlier
Mumbai, May 20 “We plan to invest Rs 1,200 crore every year for the next five years for product development, quality improvement, modernisation and refurbishing the plant,” Tata Motors executive director (finance and corporate affairs) Praveen Kadle told newspersons here today. He said the company had recently raised $ 400 million and would be raising another $ 100 million in the domestic market in the next two to three months apart from utilising internal resources for capacity expansion to 2.25 lakh units. Executive director (commercial vehicles) Ravi Kant said raw material costs has led the company to increase the cost of some of commercial vehicles (CVs) by 2.5 per cent since May 1. Mr Kant said it was negotiating with the present suppliers and also looking at alternate sources. The company was also considering whether to cut costs further or increase the prices for the products. With the growing competition, there was pressure on margins in view of the rising costs of raw materials, he said. “There is a lot of emphasis to weather the costs and if it is not possible, we could consider a modest increase of prices of passenger cars also,” Executive Director (passenger business unit) Mr V Sumantran said, adding, “we have been looking at the costs periodically.” On the Daewoo plant acquired by Tata Motors, Mr Kant said the company was finding ways to increase capacity at the Korean plant. He said Tatas were planning to introduce a vehicle in the medium size segment at the Korean unit, which recorded a turnover of $ 222 million and profit of $ 5.4 million in 2003, to cater to the Indian market also. The company expects a 20 per cent rise in revenues from the Daewoo unit this year as against 14 per cent in 2003.
— PTI |
| Wockhardt eyes US firms New Delhi, May 20 “We are open to positive business acquisitions in the United States, in line with our plans to strengthen the company’s market presence there. At present, We are in talks with a few companies and negotiations are in different stages,” Wockhardt Chairman Habil Khorakiwala told UNI. Recently, the company set up a marketing subsidiary in the USA with a view to expanding business opportunities and product portfolio. Clarifying that the company had no plan to acquire manufacturing facilities in the USA, he pointed out that the products would be sourced from the domestic plant and the recently-acquired UK-based CP Pharma facility as well. Earlier this month, Wockhardt announced its third international acquisition when it bought Esparma which had strong presence in urology, neurology and diabetology. “The acquisition of German pharma firm is in line with Workhardt’s therapeutic strengths. It will drive the company’s growth into the European market,” Mr Khorakiwala said, adding that the acquisition gave Wockhardt an entry into the largest branded generic market in Europe. With this acquisition, Europe would account for 40 per cent of Wockhardt’s total sales while 40 per cent would come from India and 10 per cent each from the US and the rest of the world. Prior to the German deal, Wockhardt had acquired UK-based Wallis Laboratories and CP Pharmaceuticals in 1998 and 2003. Besides being the biggest Indian pharmaceutical company in the UK, Wockhardt is among the top 10 generic players there. Meanwhile, ICRA has retained the LAA rating for the non-convertible debenture programme of Wockhardt, indicating high safety.
— UNI |
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Electrolux unveils battery-run fridge New Delhi, May 20 Since the refrigerators market is stagnating around 3.5 million annually, the company hopes to reach the households, which are reluctant to buy refrigerators due to frequent power cuts in the countryside and even in small towns, said Mr Rajeev Karwal, Managing Director and CEO, of EKL. Priced at Rs 10,990, the 170-litre refrigerator has been initially launched in Northern and Eastern India and will be available across the country in three months, he said. “The size of the TV market has increased from around 2.5 million to around 9 million annually over the past eight years, but the demand for refrigerators has failed to pick up due to severe power shortage. So we have come up with this new product that will have in-built power pack and can be operated on an external connected battery during power cuts,” said Mr Karwal, adding that the company had earlier launched kerosene-run refrigerators as well. Electrolux enjoyed around 13.5 per cent market share in the domestic market. After consolidating position in the urban market, the company would focus on the rural market. “In the initial phase, we are targeting 5.7 million non-users with monthly household income in the Rs 3,000-8,000 range in North India,” he said. |
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Tata Steel net up, Polaris down
Mumbai, May 20 The board of Tata Steel has recommended a dividend of Rs10 per share for the year ended March 31,
2004. Polaris Software
Polaris Software Lab has posted a net profit of Rs 9.91-crore for the quarter-ended March 31, 2004 as compared to Rs 15.11-crore in the quarter-ended March 31, 2003. It has posted a net profit of Rs 67.7-crore for the year-ended March 31, 2004 as compared to Rs 54.23-crore in the year-ended March 31, 2003, an increase of 24.84 per cent. The board of Polaris Software Lab Ltd has recommended a dividend of 35 per cent (Rs1.75 per share) for the year ended March 31, 2004.
— UNI |
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