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North emerges as hub for food processing industry
Oil prices cross $ 49 on supply fears
Virgin space flight for $ 198,600 in 2007
Fortis unfolds Rs 1,100-cr expansion
plan
National steel policy next month
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Bank unions for JPC probe into GTB issue
Reliance offers festive bonanza
Hutch’s TV-on-Mobile service
Ganesh ladoo fetches Rs 2.01 lakh
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North emerges as hub for food processing industry
New Delhi, September 27 Financial incentives from Himachal Pradesh and Haryana and liberal policies of the Punjab Government have helped attract big players like Pepsi, Satnam Overseas, Nestle and Dabur to this region. In addition, a large number of local brands like Bakeman’s, Verka, Vita and Cremica have also strengthened their hold over the market. According to Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) estimates, at present 20-25 per cent of fruit, vegetables and milk is processed in the North region as against around 10 per cent at the national level. Talking to The Tribune, Mr Tushar Bhattacharyya, Senior Economist at Ficci, who has been associated with a recent study on the “Food and Beverage Industry” conducted by the
federation, said, “Apart from suitable policies of state and Central governments, the rich urban and semi-urban market of Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh and surplus production of vegetables, milk and fruits like apple have encouraged national and international players to focus on the region.” Mr Bhattacharyya claimed that in comparison to other regions of the country, the North was showing a much higher growth in the consumption of processed food, fruit and milk products. The trend of consumption of bread, biscuits, canned juices, packed milk and milk products besides processed vegetables even in small towns is significantly higher in North India than in the Southern or North-Eastern region.” He said the initiatives of the Punjab and Haryana governments to set up food parks, agro-export zones and support to apple growers by the Himachal Government had also strengthened the food processing industry. Towns like Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Solan, Baddi, Faridabad, Karnal and Ambala were developing as centres of the processing industry. Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram in his Budget 2004-05 has also declared food processing a priority area and granted various tax exemptions for the sector. Meanwhile, the sector has fetched investment worth over Rs 20,000 crore since the liberalisation in 1991. Out of this, foreign investment is of Rs 9620 crore which is 3.3 per cent of total foreign direct investment. The government has announced tax exemptions on agro-processing units and full exemption of excise duty on dairy machines to promote this sector. Further, all processed fruits and vegetables products have been exempted from central excise duty. “With the changing life styles of the consumers and rising disposable income of the growing middle-class income group, branded food, health food and convenient food are rapidly rising segments of this industry. The market for branded foods is growing at a healthy rate of 10-15 per cent,” states the Ficci study on food. The industry has urged the government to amend the Prevention of Food Adulteration Laws, set up food standards, besides strengthening the infrastructure especially transport and cold chain system to encourage the food processing industry.
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Oil prices cross $ 49 on supply fears
Singapore, September 27 The US light crude climbed to a session high at $ 49.36 a barrel. Oil was driven higher last week by a big dip in US oil stockpiles, at a time when inventories should be building ahead of winter months. Clashes in Saudi Arabia between security forces and suspected Al-Qaida members at the weekend, along with continued attacks on oil infrastructure in Iraq, have heightened concerns over the potential for a severe disruption to Middle-East crude flows. Rebels in Nigeria, Africa's top oil exporter, said at the weekend they would extend an uprising across the country's entire oil-producing southern delta, where Royal Dutch/Shell has evacuated more than 200 staff from two oilfields due to increasing violence. And there is still uncertainty over the stability of supplies from Yukos, Russia's top exporter, after the company's battle against bankruptcy led to hiccups in output and deliveries last week. "All these factors create apprehension in the market and reinforces the view that we're on a knife's edge in terms of supply and demand," said Daniel Hynes, industry analyst at ANZ Bank in Melbourne. Hurricane Ivan through the Gulf of Mexico also delayed oil shipments and disrupted offshore production. The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) producers' cartel, which controls more than half of global crude exports, is producing almost 30 million bpd, the highest level since the late 1970s. Opec president Purnomo Yusgiantoro said the cartel was supplying enough crude oil to the market and near-record oil prices were not due to any supply/demand imbalance. "This is because of Hurricane Ivan and some problems in other places," he said. "... This is not a supply and demand problem. Opec supply is enough," he added.
— Reuters
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New Delhi: Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar will meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in a day or two to discuss the question of upward revision in retail prices of petrol and diesel. Meanwhile, Mr Aiyar had asked the state governments to rationalise sales and other local taxes to maintain prices of auto fuels. Reiterating his request to curb sales tax, the Minister said he had already written to all state governments to make downward revision so that the impact on consumers could be minimum However, oil companies officials said that petrol or diesel prices are unlikely to be revised as the rate of inflation continues to rule over 7.8 per cent. "Any revision in diesel prices would result in fresh rise in the rate of inflation as its weightage is more in the wholesale price index", the official added. — UNI
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New Delhi: State-run oil firms have sought a Rs 1.50 a litre increase in diesel prices to cover up the rising crude prices, but the government is unlikely to concede to their demand. Petrol and diesel prices have remained unchanged for nearly two months now despite the rise in global crude and product prices. "Our prices are short of import parity price. Oil companies are losing heavily and unless prices are increased, the situation will remain grim," a senior oil industry official said. While petrol prices are almost at the import parity level, diesel is being sold at Rs 1.50 a litre below the import price level. — PTI
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Virgin space flight for $ 198,600 in 2007
London, September 27 Flights are expected to last up to three hours and include weightlessness as the spacecraft reaches altitudes of more than 100 kilometres (62 miles). Each passenger will have to pay £ 110,000 ($198,600) for the ride. New company Virgin Galactic will initially offer flights only from the USA and foresees 3,000 persons taking part in first five years. Branson has joined forces with designer Burt Rutan and Microsoft Corp co-founder Paul Allen, the men behind SpaceShipOne, which in June became the first private manned spaceship. Pilot Mike Melvill took the spacecraft up 100 km during that historic 90-minute flight. Branson said plans call for building five craft capable of soaring 130 km above Earth. They will be based on the SpaceShipOne, a plump fish-shaped capsule with stout wings and several circular windows on the nose. The SpaceShipOne launch involved takeoff attached to a broad-winged mothership called White Knight, also designed by Rutan, and then release like a cruise missile as the spececraft’s own rocket engine ignites. Branson plans to be aboard the inaugural flight and said the project could lead to further space-related projects.
— Reuters
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Fortis unfolds Rs 1,100-cr expansion
plan
Chandigarh, September 27 Nearly half the investment will be made in the National Capital Region (NCR) while the remaining will go to states like Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttaranchal Pradesh and Rajasthan, according to Mr Shivinder Mohan Singh, Joint Managing Director, Fortis Healthcare Ltd. In a talk with TNS here today, he said it was proposed to increase the number of beds to 4,200 during this period. “Of these, about 2,700 beds would be under the direct control of Fortis Healthcare while the remaining would be managed by us on a contract basis.” He disclosed that Fortis Healthcare which already has in its fold a multi-specialty hospital at Mohali, a heartcare centre at Amritsar, a sprawling new neuro sciences complex at Noida and a hospital in New Delhi, planned to set up a medical college along with a couple of hospitals and a research facility at Gurgaon. “We have already approached the Haryana Government for the allotment of about 50 acres in Gurgaon. Once the land is allotted, we propose to start execution of the project quickly.” Fortis intends to set up two hospitals in Gurgaon. One hospital will be specially dedicated for patients from overseas and will be located near Indira Gandhi International Airport and close to the national highway for easy accessibility. In the first phase, this hospital will have 200 beds. The second hospital will be a much larger facility with over 500 beds for the general public. The equipment and nursing facilities in both hospitals will be identical and of world class standards. The international hospital will, however, have additional support facilities for attendants of patients .
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National steel policy next month
New Delhi, September 27 Meanwhile, the steel producers have urged the government to frame the steel policy in such a way that an adequate supply of iron and coal is ensured to the industry. “There should be a consistent policy for iron exports that gives priority to the domestic industry,” the Indian Steel Alliance (ISA) said in a statement here. An official in the Steel Ministry had stated earlier this month that exports would not be curbed in the proposed policy. The country is facing coal shortage, which is stated to be in the range of 18-19 million tonnes for the remaining months of this fiscal. Pointing out that the industry has already invested Rs 90,000 crore and would require an additional outlay of Rs 75,000 crore for capacity expansions, the ISA said there was an urgent need to develop raw material resources for inputs like iron ore and coal within or outside the country. The association also said adequate infrastructural facilities such as power, ports, roads and rail transport that support the development of the industry should be made available. It claimed that the Indian steel industry was among the least protected industries in the world and exposed to cheaper imports from competing nations.
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Bank unions for JPC probe into GTB issue
Krishnagar (West Bengal), September 27 The unions have also decided to oppose the government move of merging banks to create a few bigger banks, general secretary of the SBI Staff Association Ashok Datta said here. "We will approach all MPs seeking their support for setting up of a JPC to investigate the GTB fiasco," he told reporters before the triennial circle general council of SBISA (Bengal circle). Mr Datta, who is also the general secretary (West Bengal) of the United Forum of Bank Unions, said their objective was to investigate the functioning of private banks in relation to the failure of the GTB. "We will also launch an agitation over rampant outsourcing of jobs in PSU banks and the introduction of the hire and fire policy," he said.
— PTI
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Reliance offers festive bonanza
Chandigarh, September 27 The Samsung RCP camera phone with a rotating lens is being offered at Rs 10,995 as against the prevailing price of Rs 21,900. The first few buyers get the early bird gift costing Rs10,995. As part of the celebrations offer, the LG 7230 video camera phone model is now available at Rs 9,999 (previously Rs 20,900). The G-Tran handset Standard model costs Rs 5,999 (previously Rs 12,000) and the Premium model with camera Rs 6,999 (previous price: Rs14,000). Talking to TNS from Mumbai, Mr. S P Shukla, President Wireless Products, Reliance Infocomm, said “The price discount will help a larger number of subscribers to upgrade to premium phones by paying the difference in price.” The company also introduced lowest denomination recharge vouchers (RCV) of Rs 199 and Rs 165 targeting its low-end consumer in the pre-paid segment today.
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Hutch’s TV-on-Mobile service
New Delhi, September 27 Hutch TV enables Hutch and Orange users to view clips of select programmes over their General Pocket Radio Service (GPRS) handsets through Nokia 6230 and Nokia 3220 handsets, it said.
— UNI
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Ganesh ladoo fetches Rs 2.01 lakh
Hyderabad, September 27 Auction of the 21-kg ladoo that started at a minimum bid of Rs 30,000 and crossed the Rs 2-lakh mark as more than 15 persons, including some Muslims, participated in the bidding. People believe that the ladoo would bring them prosperity. Auctioning of the ladoo started at the Balapur temple in 1994, when it fetched Rs 8,000 for the organisers. As the successful bidders prospered, more people have been taking part in the auction. Last year, it was auctioned for Rs 1.5 lakh. The successful bidder told newspersons that he would spray part of the ladoo in his farms and distribute the rest among family members and villagers.
— UNI
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