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Centre orders CBI probe
Left ultimatum to Centre
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GM sues Chery for copying Matiz
Sahara to launch Delhi-Chicago service
SEZ Bill moved
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Centre orders CBI probe
New Delhi, May 9 FCI, which is the backbone of foodgrain procurement and public distribution system in India, handles foodgrains worth over Rs 60,000 crore annually. In the past three years, the FCI has booked or punished around 7,000 employees in the last three years for indulging in malpractices. Cutting across party lines, members in the Lok Sabha today pointed out that though the government was providing food subsidy worth over Rs 20,000 crore annually, but the Central agency had failed to fulfil public expectations. “It has become a den of corruption, where employees, dealers, and officials are engaged in large scale pilferage of foodgrains, besides diversion of foodgrains meant for PDS to the market.” Replying to a question in Lok Sabha, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel, on behalf of Agriculture and Food and Public Distribution Minister Sharad Pawar, said 148 employees had been dismissed and another 192 employees were demoted as punishment. He said: “A CBI inquiry has been ordered in the issue of proxy labour in the FCI.” CPM leader Basudev Acharya urged the government to check corruption in the FCI, besides upgrading the handling of the foodgrains. Mr Patel said over 400 employees were found engaged in pilferage of
foodgrains from the agency godowns in 2004. The government has recovered amount or foodgrains from over 3,500 employees, he said admitting that the guilty employees used to show normal foodgrain as sub-standard one. He said that 63 cases of pilferage of foodgrains were detected by the FCI in 2003-04 and 156.5 tonnes quantity was involved. He said number of cases in 2001-02 were 88 and the quantity involved was 235.5 tonnes. Congress MP from Kurukshetra, Naveen Jindal said: “Due to lack of proper maintenance, large quantities of foodgrains were damaged in the FCI godowns.” Congress MP from Chandigarh, Pawan Bansal suggested involvement of people’s representatives in the monitoring process. Mr Patel said, “total stocks worth 65,330 MTs of foodgrains was damaged in 2004-05 including 11,734 MTs of wheat and 53,480 MTs of rice.” Interestingly, the maximum damages of foodgrains were in Punjab and UP to the tune of 40,658 MT and 13,343 MTs, respectively. However, these states are also the major contributors to the Central pool. The government has earmarked Rs 100 crore, said the minister, to computerise the records of the agency, besides tightening the monitoring of stocks. Under the restructuring of the agency, he said, around 9,000 employees, including 537officials have got VRS during the past one year. Further, he said, the state governments have also been advised to strengthen their monitoring and supervision machinery to prevent cases of pilferage and diversion of foodgrains and strict enforcement of the PDS (Control) Order, 2001.
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Left ultimatum to Centre
New Delhi, May 9 The issue was first raised by CPI leader Gurudass Gupta in the Lok Sabha as a matter of public importance. He said: “Our worst fears have come true. The CAG report has exposed the involvement of former Disinvestment Minister in the fraudulent deal of Centaur hotels. However, government has not order the appropriate probe though Finance Minister P. Chidamabaram had promised an inquiry after the final report of CAG.” CPI (M) leader Basudev Acharya also wanted to speak on the issue. However, the House was adjourned as the RJD members wanted to raise the issue of Election Commission. Later talking to mediapersons, CPI (M) Parliamentary Group leaders Nilotpal Basu and Basudev Acharia said: “We are disturbed today, the government has yet initiated investigations to fix responsibility in the illegal deals of the Juhu Beach and Juhu Centaur hotels.” At a press conference inside Parliament complex, where Mr Rup Chand Pal was also present, Left leaders said the party had also demanded in both Houses that besides ordering a CBI inquiry, the guilty officials be punished and the sale of the hotels be
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GM decision on Daewoo within 2 months
New Delhi, May 9 “It is a matter of few weeks as per the Asset Reconstruction Company (Arcil) information and then we will give our call. But we cannot wait for more than two months as we have some alternative plans to realise our future plans,” GM India President and Managing Director Rajeev Chaba told newspersons here. Pointing out that the Daewoo asset sale has been delayed for over a year due to legal tangle, he said the company was open to all options, including setting up of green field and brown field projects and expansion of Halol facility, in case the Daewoo acquisition does not take place shortly. “We have not decided on these plans, but they are on the cards,” Chaba added. Currently, Arcil is in talks with government agencies to sell Daewoo’s Surajpur plant near Noida in Uttar Pradesh. Ambassador sales
Hindustan Motors (HM) today said it sold 1,002 Ambassadors in April against 830 units in the year-ago month, up 21 per cent. “The growth in sales performance of the Ambassador can be attributed to the continuous improvements we have been bringing into the product,” a company spokesperson said. Recently, HM launched a CNG variant of its popular Ambassador model. Its 1,800 cc CNG Ambassador Grand and Avigo variants have been well received in the market. To give further impetus in the drive to protect the environment, Hindustan Motors Limited also launched the Ambassador 1.5 LPG in compliance with the new Bharat Stage (BS) III norms.
Tata Motors
India’s biggest bus and truck maker Tata Motors’ vehicle sales stood at 23,889 units in April, down 4.3 per cent from the same month a year earlier. “There was an increase in undispatched stock of vehicles due to unanticipated difficulties in certification and procurement of some critical parts. “Efforts to streamline the availability of vehicles are currently underway and the company expects to make up in the next two months,” Tata Motors stated. Its sales of cars and utility vehicles stood at 12,736 units in the past month, the company said.
JCBL coach
The largest mobility solution providers and coach body builder in the country, JCBL today announced the launch of its new generation coach, JCBL Spirit. Speaking on the occasion, Director of JCBL Rishi Aggarwal said, “With the introduction of JCBL Spirit, we are offering another variant to our customers.”
— UNI
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Allahabad Bank enters insurance
Mumbai, May 9 The board has recommended a final dividend of 15 per cent on capital of Rs 446.7 crore, including equity share capital of Rs 100 crore enhanced after March 31, 2005 on account of the public offer, the bank informed the Bombay Stock Exchange, today. Total income during the reporting fiscal increased to Rs 3,840.21 crore as against Rs 3,457.98 crore in FY-04, it said. On a standalone basis, the bank has posted a sharp drop in net profit at Rs 79.31 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2005 against Rs 221.14 crore in Q4 of 2003-04. Total income also declined to Rs 969.14 crore for the reporting quarter against Rs 996.36 crore in Q4 of FY-04, it added. All Bank Finance Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Allahabad Bank is venturing into insurance business for the first time after giving up its non-banking financial institution (NBFC) status as a part of new strategy. Announcing the 2004-05 financial results of Allahabad Bank, its Chairman and Managing Director O.N. Singh said a final decision to this effect was taken last week. Syndicate Bank
Syndicate Bank today reported a 7.19 per cent dip in net profit for the fiscal ended March 31, 2005, at Rs 402.9 crore as compared to Rs 434.13 crore in the previous fiscal. The board of directors has declared a final dividend of 14 per cent in addition to an interim dividend of 6 per cent for FY-05. Total income during the reporting fiscal rose to Rs 4,322.1 crore against Rs 3,861.25 crore in 2003-04, the bank informed the Bombay Stock Exchange here. Net profit for the quarter ended March 31, 2005 rose to Rs 280.19 crore compared to Rs 128.68 crore in the comparable quarter of the previous fiscal. Total income during the quarter stood at Rs 1,122.62 crore
Austrian Bank
Raiffeisenlandesbank Oberosterreich (RLB), an Austrian bank, has signed a consultancy agreement with a Mumbai-based chartered accountant to develop exports and imports (Exim) to and from Austria. The bank, with total assets of euro 14 billion, signed the agreement with Bhupendra J. Shah to develop better understanding and maintain close relationship with Indian banks and financial institutions. RLB had recently received a ‘No Objection’ from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for appointing Mr Shah as a consultant in India. With over 307 branches spread across Austria, Czech Republic and the Province of Bavaria in Germany, RLB is the central bank to over 120 local co-operative banks in the province of Upper Austria.
Housing loan
The Central Bank of India in association with Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) has launched a housing loan scheme with life insurance cover equivalent to the outstanding loan’s amount. The scheme is designed to overcome the difficulties faced by legal heirs, in case of the borrower’s demise, who either find it difficult to repay the loan instalments or are forced to sell the property, a press note issued here today said. Home loan borrowers will now have the option of taking insurance cover with the payment of a single premium. In the event of the borrower’s death due to any reason, the insurance company will pay the outstanding loan amount. — Agencies
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SBI to service mid-corporates
Chandigarh, May 9 Chief General Manager, Mr V.K. Gupta, SBI Mid-Corporates said today that the mid-corporate group (MCG) would focus on companies with a turnover between Rs 25 crore and Rs 350-400 crore or whose funding requirements are above Rs 5 crore. Chandigarh, Ludhiana and the surrounding areas of Himachal Pradesh were, of late, luring big industrial houses. The top-end firms, nearly 250-300 clients serviced by the corporate accounts group (CAG), were in any case limiting their borrowings or doing so at extremely low rates, he said. Mr Gupta said the MCG had managed to add about 656 clients since its inception in July, 2004. These units belonged to various sectors such as steel, cement, construction, tourism, healthcare, pharma, auto components etc and have borrowed over Rs 9,400 crore during the past nine months. “The mid-corporate group at present controls advances of about Rs 53,000 crore covering 1,950 mid-corporate units,” he added. A report prepared by McKinsey had identified 6,200 units across the country
and the target now was to cover the remaining 4,200.
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GM sues Chery for copying Matiz
Beijing, May 9 The Beijing number 1 Intermediate People’s Court said yesterday that it has accepted a lawsuit filed by General Motors (GM) Daewoo against China’s Chery Automobile Company. GM is asking for compensation of 80 million yuan ($ 9.6 million), China Daily reported. GM Daewoo contends that Chery’s mini car, QQ, copied its Matiz and Spark. Chery denies this, saying it developed QQ on its own. The South Korean plaintiff initially began suing the Chinese automaker in December last year at the Shanghai Number 2 Intermediate People’s Court. However, the defendant objected on jurisdiction grounds. The Supreme People’s Court appointed the Beijing-based court to handle the case, sources in the press office of the Beijing number 1 Intermediate People’s Court said. Produced by GM Daewoo, Matiz went on the South Korean market in 1998. GM Daewoo claimed their investigation results showed the Chery QQ shared a remarkably identical body structure, exterior design, interior design and key components.
— PTI
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Sahara to launch Delhi-Chicago service
New Delhi, May 9 “We plan to launch the London service by September-October this year and are negotiating on leasing aircraft for these operations,” airline CEO Ronojoy Dutta told reporters here. Asked about their non-stop flight to Chicago, Mr Dutta said the airline was likely to launch it this winter and was in talks with some global carriers for a “joint marketing agreement to share costs and revenue” for this purpose. He, however, refused to name the airlines the talks were being held with. He also announced the launch of its services to Singapore and Kuala Lumpur from May 11 and June 15, respectively, claiming the airline was offering “real good service, low fares and good flight schedule.” While the lowest introductory return fare of Rs 10,000 to Singapore had already been booked, the same fare for Kuala Lumpur was still available, Dutta said. Air Sahara was still offering the lowest return fare of Rs 13,000 on the Delhi-Singapore route and a three-day holiday package at Rs 17,200 per person for the city state, he said, adding the airline was also working on inter-line agreement with at least six foreign carriers.
— PTI
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SEZ Bill moved
New Delhi, May 9 The Special Economic Zone Bill, 2005, provides for a package for encouraging exports and
production. The Bill also provides for creation of special economic zones and establishing banking units and international financial service centres.
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