 |
|
Travel mart showcases holiday packages
UB buys 54 pc stake in Shaw Wallace
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Leyland Stag to ply passengers to Muzaffarabad
ONGC plans Rs 4,000-cr refinery in Rajasthan
netCustomer begins operations
Industrialists in fix over 70 pc jobs to Himachalis
Carcinogens found in KFC products in China
More Air Deccan flights from March 27
Bhai Mohan asks PM to keep Padma Vibhushan in abeyance
Holcim bid for Aggregate unconditional
Global rating for Tata Steel
Insurance strike tomorrow
|
|
Dell sets foot in Punjab
Mohali, March 21 The company has major expansion plans globally for it will set up its second major plant somewhere in Eastern Europe to support its growing global customer base. “There is a wealth of talent and calibre in India and the software and services are in line with the global IT world here. We expect to have 1,500 employees when it grows to full capacity in a year,” said Michael Dell, Founder-Chairman of Texas-based Dell Inc. The new centre is part of Dell’s commitment to India and its globalisation strategy. He declined to comment on the investment the company has made in the country. “Though we cannot disclose the exact investment figures, so far we have put in tens of millions of dollars in India. Talking about the business model, Mr Dell said, “The Punjab Government’s support and commitment to information technology are positive signals for growth for there is tremendous potential for business in this region.” He expects growth to exceed industry growth in 2005. Dell’s biggest customers in India are software exporters and customer contact centres, which don’t pay duties on computers purchased from overseas. Reiterating his commitment to the Indian market, he said the company would not move work from India to other countries just to cut costs for the focus is always on moving where talent lies. He ruled out the possibility of setting up a manufacturing facility in the country by saying that “we do not believe in having such a facility in every country that we sell in. For doing so, we need a large market, good supply base and an export-import environment, but India at present does not have all of this. However, India continues to be an important market and a resource base for global operations. The other two centres in Bangalore and Hyderabad employing a skilled force of 8,000 persons offer multiple services to various business segments. “As Dell grows there is a continuous need to increase our global service network to support our customers,” said Mr Romi Malhotra, Managing Director, Dell India, in his inaugural speech. Dell, he said is committed to providing a “winning culture” to its employees and offers career growth opportunities, competitive salaries, benefits and training. The Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh, lauded the efforts of the IT giants like Quark, Infosys and Dell in making Mohali an IT hub. He described the opening of the third call centre of Dell in Quark City, Mohali, to be a proud moment for the state for it means more revenue generation and job opportunities. Though we are late entrants in the IT field, but we have made enough headway and would soon catch up with Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.
|
|
Highway projects to be on BOT basis, says PM
New Delhi, March 21 He announced in future all national highway projects, barring few, would be constructed on build, operate and transfer (BOT) basis. “All indications at the moment are that we may be able to deliver growth of seven to eight per cent next year as well. This extra one to two per cent points in growth rates, which seems minuscule at a glance, can translate into substantial differences over a period of time.” In 20 years, a growth rate of eight per cent will deliver twice as much growth as compared to a rate of five per cent, Prime Minister said. Inaugurating the centenary celebrations of the PHDCCI here today, Dr Manmohan Singh said the government would focus on infrastructure — physical and human — to boost the economic growth rate, while emphasising on equitable and regional growth. Referring to the demand of the chamber to initiate labour and administrative reforms, he said the first set of reforms initiated in July 1991 was far easier to carry out since they targeted external trade liberalization and removal of industrial licensing. “We are now at a stage where the critical bottleneck is infrastructure, physical as well as human. This is a complex area and not amenable to easy solutions,” he said, while assuring that he would personally tend to these issues. “We have made progress in civil aviation and the results are there for all to see with the current boom in airlines. We are continuing and speeding up the highway programme and NHDP - IIIA has been approved,” he said. “We have decided that all future road construction — barring a few exceptions — will be through the BOT route. This will provide additional investment avenues for private capital,” said Prime Minister adding that the Finance Minister will soon provide details of the special purpose vehicle (SPV) scheme for offering investment capital for infrastructure “I believe that we are on the right track and if the momentum is sustained, we will be able to address the infrastructure problem,” said Prime Minister. He said a Health Mission will be launched within the next few weeks and a Knowledge Commission is in the pipeline to give India the edge in a knowledge-intensive world.
|
|
Travel mart showcases holiday packages
Chandigarh, March 21 Leading hotel chains, resorts, palaces travel agencies, tour operators along with the tourism departments of Rajasthan, Chandigarh, Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir and Andhra Pradesh participated in the travel mart. The show highlighted attractive holiday packages based on pilgrimage tourism, adventure, eco-tourism, health tourism and wildlife destinations. Dr Gulshan Sharma, who is associated with the field, informed that tourism departments of states like Goa and Kerala and Andaman and Nicobar Islands had made an entry in the mart for the first time. While the islands wanted to dispel the fear of tourists in the wake of the tsunami that hit the islands in December, Goa and Kerala tried to woo travellers with their beaches, festivals and backwaters. Among the international agencies, Tourism Malaysia has been coming every year since the annual event was started five years ago in the city and it’s the fourth time for Dubai Tourism. Officials at these stalls said the percentage of Punjabi travellers to their respective countries had been on the rise and it was likely to go up further with various incentives and low-cost airfares being offered. Upbeat about their flight from Amritsar, Singapore Tourism took part in the fair for the first time. They courted holidaymakers with water sports and adventure tourism.
|
|
UB buys 54 pc stake in Shaw Wallace
New Delhi, March 21 The agreed purchase price signed under a binding agreement includes a value of Rs 325 per SWC share, which includes a fee for world wide non-compete undertakings, the UB Group added. The transaction enables the UB Group to have a significant share of the Indian spirits business with an annual sales of about 60 million cases, which makes it the second among the global spirit firms. As a result, McDowell and parties in concert propose to revise the open offer for SWC shares to reflect a change of control pursuant to the proposed acquisition. It also proposes to increase the open offer price from Rs 250 per share to Rs 260 per share, adjusting for the non-compete fee as under Sebi regulations, it said in a statement. The UB Group has also agreed to purchase certain other affiliates of the Jumbo Group who are also engaged in the distribution of spirits in India and abroad. UB Group Chairman Vijay Mallya said the transaction was a culmination of a long journey which would benefit shareholders of McDowell and SWC and economies of scale would result in significant cost advantages of consumers. SWC is primarily engaged in spirits business comprising both Indian Made Foreign Liquor and country liquor. — UNI
|
|
Leyland Stag to ply passengers to Muzaffarabad
New Delhi, March 21 Ashok Leyland has provided the buses to the Jammu and Kashmir State Road Transport Corporation (JKSRTC) which will run the service starting from April 7. The Stag buses are air-conditioned with heating provision and have 19 pushback luxury seats. Each bus is seven meters long, and offers excellent maneuverability. “We have chosen the Stag buses since they are suited to the terrain while ensuring excellent passenger comfort during the five hour-long journey,” a JKSRTC official said in a statement. The much-awaited bus service from Srinagar to Muzzafarabad in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir from April 7 will resume after a gap of 57 years. — UNI
|
|
ONGC plans Rs 4,000-cr refinery in Rajasthan
New Delhi, March 21
The refinery is planned to have an initial capacity of 5 million tonnes per annum and would process the heavy crude oil find of Cairn Energy in Block RJ-ON-90/1 in Rajasthan. Mr Raha said equity holding in the refinery project was being discussed with Cairn. Cairn Energy has so far discovered 1084.1 million barrel (or 156.2 million tonnes) of in place reserves of which 286.45 million barrel (or 41.87 million tonnes) are recoverable. The present discoveries would produce up to 3 million tonnes per annum but the output would rise with new finds being made. ONGC holds 30 per cent interest in Cairn’s two oil fields in the block. “Talks (with Cairn) are in progress and investment plans will be firmed up soon,” he said. Mr Raha said ONGC was also studying the possibility of raising the capacity of its subsidiary Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd to 30 million tonnes. “MRPL is running at 12 million tonnes currently and its capacity is planned to be raised to 15 million tonnes by 2007 through ‘debottlenecking.’ he said. — PTI
|
|
netCustomer begins operations
New Delhi, March 21 Spread across 50,000 sq ft, the facility, will enable netCustomer in expanding its service delivery capabilities to its global clients,” netCustomer Chairman and CEO Punita Pandey said at a press meet here. Once the Noida Centre is fully functional, which will take almost a year, it will have the capacity for 2,000 persons working in multiple shifts, she added. Saying that netCustomer was neither an IT services company nor a pure BPO player, Ms Pandey said netCustomer reduces operating costs and improves service levels by extending ERP, IT, and business operations services through a global delivery model. “At our centres, we have engineers working in labs, accounting and finance professionals as well as call centre agents.,” she added.
— UNI
|
|
Industrialists in fix over 70 pc jobs to Himachalis
Baddi, March 21 Not only is providing employment to 70 per cent Himachalis an impossible task but also arduous to arrange such huge manpower from state, say most industrialists. Most of the unemployed youth belong to remote hilly areas of the state and they hesitate to work in the industrial belt of Baddi, Barotiwala, Nalagarh and Parwanoo, they said. Moreover the pitiable condition of housing further dampens the spirit of the youth. In the past decade whenever we had forwarded the requisition to employ Himachalis youth for the vacant post in unit to Employment Exchange office, the response has remained very poor, said an industrialist of Parwanoo. Those who were selected often left the job after a short time mainly not finding the industrial area suitable for them, he asserted. Getting skill manpower from Himachal was another tough matter as most of the units in Baddi, Barotiwala, Nalagarh and Parwanoo were manufacturing units which required skilled workforce. Finding the suitable resource for special purpose machines from the available work force of state was an impossible task due to level of technical courses available in state, industrialists said.
|
|
Carcinogens found in KFC products in China
Beijing, March 21 The banned dye was Friday also found in KFC’s spice pickle powder, used in three KFC foods: spiced drumsticks, spiced chicken wings and chicken-flavoured popcorn, the Beijing food safety office was quoted by Xinhua news agency as saying. Beijing authorities have asked KFC to suspend sales of the three products until they pass inspections. The food safety department in Hefei city, east China’s Anhui province, meanwhile, has banned seven KFC outlets in the city from selling foods found to be tainted with Sudan I. KFC and China’s food safety officials could not immediately be reached for comment. China launched a food safety inspection when Sudan I was detected in a pepper sauce produced by a subsidiary of American company Heinz, Heinz-Meiweiyuan Food Co., Ltd. in southern China’s Guangzhou city earlier this month. So far, state media said the dye has been found in 12 provinces and municipalities in China, sparking recalls of suspect products. The suspect products all came from a raw materials provider, the Guangzhou-based Tianyang Food Co. Ltd., Chinese media had quoted China’s General Administration for Industry and Commerce (GAIC) saying. — AFP
|
|
More Air Deccan flights from March 27
New Delhi, March. 21 Air Deccan would also add flights in the existing sectors of Delhi-Bangalore, Bangalore-Mumbai, Mumbai-Delhi, Delhi-Mumbai, Mumbai-Bangalore, and Bangalore-Delhi. The flights will begin from March 27. The tickets on all the sectors would begin at Rs. 500 plus taxes and will be a minimum of 10,000 seats available. Capt. Gopinath, Managing Director, said, “We are 18 months old, we have grown from four flights a day to 106 flights a day, two aircraft to 17 aircraft and have carried over a million passengers”.
|
|
Bhai Mohan asks PM to keep Padma Vibhushan in abeyance
New Delhi, March 21 “I feel that till my name is duly cleared in the cases, it would not be appropriate for me to accept the award. Therefore, without meaning any disrespect to the prestigious award as also to ensure that such award does not suffer even the slightest blemish of any kind, I respectfully suggest that if the government so approve, the bestowing of the award be kept in abeyance. If the government so approve, my name be deleted from the list of awardees invited for rehearsal and award investiture fixed for 27th and 28th March, 2005”, he said in a letter to the Prime Minister.
|
|
Holcim bid for Aggregate unconditional
Zurich, March 21 The group also said it had now acquired or received valid acceptances corresponding to 80.6 per cent of Aggregate’s ordinary share capital, up slightly from 78.4 per cent by the end of February. “The offer is now unconditional and will remain open until further notice,” Holcim said in a statement. Holcim, the world’s second-biggest cement maker, also said the Indian authorities had cleared its bid for India’s Associated Cement Companies. It said it would open a tender offer on March 23 which would run to April 11. The European Commission last week approved Holcim’s plans to acquire control of British Aggregate, a deal which will help Holcim to diversify from cement, while also giving it a UK presence and expanding its U.S. business.
— Reuters
|
|
Mumbai, March 21 “Tata Steel Senior Implied (Corporate) rating reflects Moody’s opinion on the company’s ability to honour its financial obligation considering it has a single class of debt and single consolidated legal entity structure,” Tata Steel Managing Director B. Muthuraman told reporters here today. The ratings, which is one of the highest to an Indian firm, is a notch above Moody’s sovereign rating of ‘Baa3’ for the country and is on par with that of European steel majors like Tinston group and Asidue Steel, he said. However, Tata Steel’s rating is a notch below that of a ‘Baa’ rating assigned by Moody’s to global steel majors like New Corp, Posco and Nippon Steel, he added. — PTI
|
|
Insurance strike tomorrow
New Delhi, March 21 About 75,000 Class III and IV employees and officers of the National Insurance Company, Oriental Insurance Company, United India Insurance Company and New India Assurance Company will join the strike, trade union leaders said today. Despite the public sector insurance companies registering profits, there has been a “complete stalemate” in wage revision talks, said General Insurance Employees’ Association (North Zone) general secretary Rajnesh Panday. The insurance employees and officers are demanding immediate resumption of talks on their charter of demands and restoration of promotions. The wage revision in the four companies is pending since August 1, 2002, Mr Panday said.
— UNI
|
|
|
|
bb
UTI GDR issue New shoe unit Dolphin contract Rel Info-LG pact Pidilite buy Kotak fund |
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
In
video (
