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ONGC net dips
17.7 pc; to pay Rangarajan
critical of fiscal imprudence of states
CII’s do’s
and don’ts to FM Tata AIG
introduces ‘green channel’ for accident claims NTPC to bring out
IPO |
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Haryana signs MoU
with IOC Punjab’s growth
rate a cause of worry Electrolux to
outsource its call centres
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ONGC net dips 17.7 pc; to pay 240 pc dividend New Delhi, June 22 The corporation today reported fall in net profits to Rs 8,664 crore in 2003-04 from Rs 10,529.33 crore. While the turnover of the corporation has almost doubled from Rs 23,238 crore to Rs 45,302 crore over the past two years. Disclosing the financial results, Chairman and Managing Director of the oil PSU, Mr Subir Raha attributed the sharp fall in profits to the Rs 2,690 crore adhoc subsidy given by the company to three oil companies IOC, HPCL and BPCL. “We have limitations of a public sector. But we are trying to find out ways to offer incentives and good working conditions to our manpower,” he said. Perhaps to meet the growing demands of the government, the ONGC has announced to pay 240 per cent dividend amounting to Rs 3,422.2 crore. Mr Raha agreed that crude oil production remained around 26 MMT during 2003-04, and the company incurred heavy losses in the business of LPG and natural gas. Mr Raha said due to appreciation of rupee, the corporation had lost about Rs 1200 crore. Though the price of its crude oil was fixed in dollar terms, but it was paid in rupees. The average realisation during the past fiscal less than $ 30 per barrel, he said. He said the ONGC was “ordered by the government” to give subsidy to the refiners for offsetting high global crude prices. ONGC’s earnings per share also fell from Rs 73.84 in 2002-03 to Rs 60.76 while the return on capital employed (ROCE) dipped to 44.75 per cent in the last fiscal. Declining to fix any targets for the next fiscal year, Mr Raha said ONGC was eyeing a group turnover of $ 50 billion in the next five to six years. The company has also sought the government’s approval to build an oil product pipeline in Sudan. The proposal will come up for Cabinet approval on Tuesday,’’ he added. Mr Raha said ONGC would invest Rs 10,000 crore in the domestic oil sector and Rs 100 crore in the overseas operations during the current fiscal. ‘’ONGC is also planning foray into the retail market by opening four to five gas stations this year,’’ he said.
NDTV
New Delhi Television Ltd. (NDTV), a leading news broadcaster of the country, turnaround in the 4th quarter after reported losses in the first three quarters. This turnaround from red into black came from a sharp increase in income from advertisers. NDTV’s income for the 4th quarter amounted to Rs 23.98 crore, compared to an income of Rs 34.14 crore for earlier 9 months. (Average quarterly income reported during the first nine months works out to Rs 11.38 crore.) The company’s loss for the first three quarters was reported at Rs 47.38 crore. For the full year, on a consolidated basis, NDTV has reported an income of Rs 68.98 crore and a net loss of Rs 49.62 crore.
BASF India
BASF India Ltd has posted a net profit of Rs 34.08 crore for FY-04 as against Rs 33.35 crore in 2002-03. The Board has recommended a 60 per cent dividend for the year-ended March 2004.
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Rangarajan critical of fiscal imprudence of states New Delhi, June 22 “We have reached a point where most of the states face fiscal problems. There should be policies that encourage fiscal efficiency and discourage fiscal imprudence”, Chairman of 12th Finance Commission C. Rangarajan told newspersons here on the sidelines of a book release function. The Union Cabinet has recently extended the term of the 12th Finance Commission by five months till December 31, 2004. Mr Rangarajan said that the extension was necessary in view of the fact that the exact revenue projections would be known only after the
presentation of the Budget. He said that so far the Commission has visited 22 states to get their views and another six states were remaining.
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CII’s do’s and don’ts to FM
New Delhi, June 22 Prescribing a list of dos and don’ts for Chidambaram ahead of the Union Budget for 2004-05, new CII President Sunil K. Munjal told PTI the government should widen the tax base for raising resources for additional expenditure, including that for the social sector. However, Chidambaram should not give in to populist pressures, he said, adding there should be a national consensus on five-six crucial issues. Criticising the tendency of extending freebies like free power, he said these had become a “tool for electioneering. Somebody somewhere pays for it. Nothing comes free.” Describing Chidambaram as a “smart guy”, Munjal said he knew how to balance the things. Among the dos, Munjal suggested widening the tax base, incentives for creating additional capacities, investment in infrastructure and social sector and reduction and better targeting of subsidies. “Centre should also see that implementation of VAT (although a state subject) is not delayed any further,” he said, adding a continuous delay was creating an atmosphere of “uncertainty”. Along with the implementation of VAT, another important area was introduction of incentives for capacity building for corporates, Munjal said. “We need to incentivise investment for capacity building as more and more companies need to scale up their capacity, otherwise they will not be able to meet increasing demand,” he said. CII also called for abolition of tax on dividend. Asked whether the apex industry chamber favoured any kind of cess or was CII looking forward to it in the upcoming Budget, Munjal said cess was good as long as it would be used for the specific purpose it had been levied. Giving the example of the highway project, he said the cess on petro products for the develoment of highway projects was a model which needed to be emulated in other areas. On UPA government’s proposed cess on all central taxes for providing resources for universal quality basic education, he said the move was right step in the right direction. With Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at the helm and P. Chidambaram as Finance Minister, the industry anticipated a “reform-oriented and forward looking Budget”, Munjal said. Undeterred by the declared policy of the government on divestment in PSUs, CII suggested all assets in the public sector should be privatised. Mr Munjal said, “Disinvestment will not and cannot stop.” Asked about the ruling UPA’s policy against privatisation of profit-making PSUs in the normal course, he said neither the Common Minimum Programme nor the government has said it would stop disinvestment. The government has also talked about disinvestment of 49 per cent in profit-making PSUs, he added.
— PTI
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Tata AIG introduces ‘green channel’ New Delhi, June 22 It has also offered a warranty scheme on accident repairs. Managing Director of the company Mr Dalip Verma told newspersons that the under the green channel settlement, it will offers free pick up of the accident vehicle from within city limits. The other facilities available under the scheme are priority to Tata AIG customers at auto restore garages for repairs,
repair at quality garages, free detailing and cleaning of customer’s car post repair, no submission or deduction towards salvage in partial losses and direct payment by the company to the garages.
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NTPC to bring out IPO New Delhi, June 22 According to NTPC sources, the corporation would issue 432.915 million shares of Rs 10 each comprising 5.25 per cent of the existing equity base. The government has already given approval to the NTPC for floating public issue for 10 per cent equity in one or more phases. The corporation had also sought SEBI’s approval for a waiver of the listing norms which require that at least 10 per cent of the equity stock must be floated. The issue would be priced at a premium to account for the substantial reserves the Corporation has built over the years.
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Haryana signs MoU with IOC Chandigarh, June 22 The Haryana Government today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Indian Oil Corporation for the setting up of this ambitious project, a statement issued here said. It was signed by Mr S.C. Chaudhary, Commissioner, Industries, Haryana and Mr. N.K. Nayyar, Director, Planning and Business Development, IOC. The construction work of the complex is expected to be complete by the year 2007-2008. According to the MoU, the Indian Oil Corporation would make a direct investment of about Rs. 16,000. crore including about Rs. 8,000 crore for the Naphtha Cracker and Polymer Complex. The Haryana Government would extend financial assistance to be quantified at 75 per cent of the tax paid on the sale of goods produced in the complex under the Value Added Tax Act, 2003 for a period of seven years from the date of start of commercial production and 50 per cent tax paid for a further period of three years thereafter. The Haryana Government would also extend the benefit on Central Sales Tax, which would be levied, charged and paid at 25 per cent of the prevailing rate or inter-state sale of goods produced in the complex against declaration in Form ‘C’ for a period of seven years beginning from the date of commercial production and at a rate of 50 per cent of the prevailing rate for a further period of three years on the same terms.
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Punjab’s growth rate a cause of worry Chandigarh, June 22 Growth of Punjab’s over all economy was 4.25 per cent in 2000-01 compared to the national average figure of 4.37 per cent and in 2001-02, it was 1.39 per cent compared the national average of 5.57 per cent. It was 1.80 per cent compared to the national figure 4.37 per cent in 2002-03, according to the report. Except in 1998-99 and 1999-2000, when the growth rate was 5.59 and 5.63 per cent, the Punjab’s performance has remained below 4 per cent since 1997-98. And all these years, it has been less than the national average growth. Even the average compound growth rate of GSDP, at 1993-94 prices, for the ninth plan-1997-98 to 2001-02 was 3.96 per cent in case of Punjab whereas the national average was 5.46 per cent. Obviously, Punjab needs a big private and public investment to push up its growth rate at least to the national level. There has been substantial increase in the contribution of services sector in the state’s growth and share of primary sector such as agriculture has come down. But in all, state’s economy continues to be predominantly agrarian, which is not a good sign. All modern economies in the world have moved for ahead from their original agrarian base to industrial one and even further. Punjab is one of the slowest growing states in the country. The debt liability of the state has increased rapidly in recent years. It is another cause of worry. The state’s total debt stock which was Rs 15,250 crore at the end of 1996-97 has gone up Rs 36,854 crore at the end of 2002-03 and at present it is Rs 40,327 crore. If one is to take into account the contingent liability on account of government guarantees in case of PSUs etc, the position on debt front is much worse as per the report. The Punjab Government has blamed the Eleventh Finance Commission for heavily penalising the developed states such as Punjab and rewarding those having poor track record of development and financial prudence. Because of the new formula adopted by the Eleventh Finance Commission, Punjab’s share from the Central taxes was cut. However, State Government has asked the Twelfth Finance Commission to give a minimum 50 per cent net tax revenue of the Centre to the states. This Commission is expected to visit the state soon to interact with the authorities concerned on various issues such as share from the taxes etc. The State Government also wanted that the Twelfth Commission should provide the debt relief to states by restructuring it. Already, Punjab has started swaping high cost debt with low cost one. Punjab has very limited income resource base. Without resorting to strict non-plan revenue expenditure control, it can’t think about the development of the state. In fact, the biggest paradox that Punjab is facing at the moment is that on the one hand it wanted to reduce expenditure on salaries, pensions etc but on the other hand it wanted to give jobs to its lakhs of unemployed youth. Punjab has almost stopped recruitment in government departments where most of the youth wanted jobs. And as the investment in the industrial and other sectors is negligible, not much job opportunities are arising in private sector in the state. On employment front, Punjab is in a big jam. And it has become Punjab’s economy’s bane.
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Beopar Mandal to oppose VAT Ludhiana, June 22 Stating this here today Mr Tulsidas Jaitwani, Senior Vice President, All-India Mahabeopar Mandal said that the introduction of the VAT would not help in raising the revenue of the government rather it would result in more complicated procedures for the trade and industry. The executive committee of the All-India Maha Beopar Mandal would meet in Delhi on June 28 to take stock of the situation and decide its next course of action, said Mr Jaitwani.
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Electrolux to outsource its call centres New Delhi, June 22 Addressing a press conference here today, he said the company had already tied up with Banglore based Patni Computers to outsource IT services, and will invest Rs 40 crore to set up an R&D centre in Shahjahanpur. During his first visit to India, Mr Straberg also met with the President of India, and appreciated his vision for the country. Referring to Electrolux’s India specific plans, he said the company was also planning to outsource call centres of all its subsidiaries to the cost-effective environment in India. He said Electrolux subsidiary Livebridge had also tied up with the Hero Group to set up a test call centre in Delhi. Reiterating the company’s commitment to introduce innovative products, Mr Straberg said at Electrolux all product design was based on ‘’consumer insights’’ and added that the company would introduce floor care and built-in appliances in the Indian market by the year end. Earlier this year, Electrolux had launched two new refrigerators - ‘Bijlee’ that runs on battery and ‘Tamanna’ that has a built-in FM radio and voice message recorder.
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