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Ministries differ on Nalco divestment
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India to offer diesel to Pak for gas pipeline
APEC agrees on formula to cut tariffs
Consolidation of regional rural banks by Aug 31
Dhruv for Paris Air Show
Sony to pay $ 7m to ousted bosses
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Ministries differ on Nalco divestment
New Delhi, June 3 Mines Minister Sis Ram
Ola, however, said today he was against disinvestment of Nalco, which made a record net profit of Rs 1,222.43 crore in 2004-05, a 66 per cent increase over the previous year figure. Addressing a press conference here today to highlight the performance of his ministry, Mr Ola said: “ we have received a letter from the Finance Ministry regarding disinvestment in profit- making public sector units. That letter has been sent to all ministries. We are studying the letter and will soon submit our response.” On the Finance Ministry note on disinvestment of Nalco, he said: “We are looking into it but all efforts will be made not to go for disinvestment. We do not want to reduce the strength of a profit-making PSU.” Later talking to the media, He, however, admitted there was nothing wrong in selling some shares of a profit-making PSU to the public. On the second phase of expansion of Nalco, he said it would be completed in 50 months by 2008- end at a cost of Rs 4,091.51 crore. He said the aluminium giant had also reported an all- time record sales turnover of Rs 4,437.97 crore in 2004-05, a increase of 33 per cent over the previous year. The minister said Hindustan Copper Ltd, which had been running at a loss for the past seven-and-a-half years, made a turnaround in 2004-05 and posted a net profit of Rs 52.07 crore against a projected loss of Rs 67.67 crore. Similarly, Mineral Exploration Corporation Ltd achieved a net profit of Rs 244 lakh after 14 years. |
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London, June 3 Speaking ahead of next month’s G8 summit at the Gleneagles resort in Scotland, Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown proposed a matching of relief on bilateral and multilateral debts. The savings for poor countries, most of them in Africa, would be used to pay for free elementary and high school education, the Finance Minister told reporters in Edinburgh. The proposal is the keystone of a package of ideas — described by Mr Brown as a “modern Marshall plan for Africa” — that will be put to G8 leaders when they gather on July 6-8. Prime Minister Tony Blair, the summit host, wants the talks to focus on Africa and climate change despite indications that US President George W. Bush will not sign onto any bold initiatives. Mr Blair travels to Washington on Monday for talks with Mr Bush that will include the G8 agenda. Mr Brown said it was time for rich countries “to commit to wiping out debt repayments” from poor countries which run to the tune of between $ 1 billion and $ 2 billion a year. “Our proposal is that the debt relief of as much as 100 per cent on bilateral debts owed by the poorest countries is now matched by as much as 100 per cent relief on multilateral debts owed by the poorest countries,” he said. — AFP
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India to offer diesel to Pak for gas pipeline
New Delhi, June 3 With positive signals from Pakistan, India is hopeful to convince its neighbour about the “win-win” trade offer that will bring Iranian gasto India via Pakistan, besides meeting the requirements of Islamabad. Pakistan is likely to get Rs 4000 crore annually as a transit fee from the proposed Iran-India gas pipeline. The Petroleum Minister is scheduled to meet his counterpart in Pakistan, besides the Commerce Minister. After spending five days in Pakistan, including a visit to his birthplace in Lahore, Mr Aiyar will travel to Teheran via Baku, capital of Azerbaijan ,to finalise the purchase of LNG, besides discussing the issue of piped gas imports. Also on his agenda would be the import of natural gas from Iran and Turkeministan through separate pipelines. Iran is pursuing the 4.16-billion dollar pipeline to India via Pakistan but the USA is against any project which benefits Teheran. On the other hand, the Asian Development Bank has been pursuing the Turkeministan-Afghanistan-Pakistan pipeline and its possible extension to India.
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APEC agrees on formula to cut tariffs
Jeju (South Korea), June 3 The ministers attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum adopted the so-called “Swiss formula” to calculate future tariff reductions in the
non-agricultural market access (NAMA) field. The agreement was a setback for developing countries which were pushing for a different method that was viewed as more tolerant of their higher protectionist tariffrates. “This 2005 Jeju APEC meeting continues to follow the successful path of the recent meetings, by bringing to fruition a consensus on supporting (the) Swiss formula as the tariff reduction formula,” said South Korea’s Trade Minister Kim Hyun-Chong, who chaired the two-day forum that ended here today. “This achievement in NAMA will provide the much-needed political impetus to the NAMA Doha negotiations.” Differences over how to calculate future tariff cuts in non-agricultural products have emerged as a major stumbling
block in the WTO effort to come up with a viable plan by July. The “breakthrough” is particularly positive for all WTO members as they prepare for the much-anticipated WTO ministerial conference to take place in Hong
Kong in December, APEC said in a press statement. — AFP |
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Consolidation of regional rural banks by Aug 31
New Delhi, June 3 Addressing a meeting of chairpersons of PSBs here today, he directed them to increase lending to the priority sector including infrastructure, small -scale industries, agri-clinics and self-help groups. Ruling out dilution of government stake below 51 per cent in public sector banks, the Finance Minister said banks will have to sign a MoU with government by June end or first week of July to improve other financial parameters like profit and business growth, return on assets and equity. Banks’ performance have been good in 2004-05 barring two — Punjab & Sind Bank and Dena Bank — which will be called separately to present their action plans to reduce NPAs, he said, adding five other banks in the borderline have been asked to adopt multi-pronged strategy to bring down NPAs. Setting a new farm credit target of Rs 1,41,000 crore for 2005-06 as against Rs 1,15,000 crore disbursed last fiscal, Mr Chidambaram said “credit to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) will be taken up as the next thrust area.” Referring to the consolidation of RRBs he said, “ consolidation of RRBs is gathering pace. Nine states have given approval. It now awaits my approval, which will be done today or tomorrow.” With infrastructure-lending surging from Rs 48,672 crore in 2003-04 to Rs 80,436 crore in March 31, 2005, the Finance Minister stressed on rural infrastructure like warehouses and godowns, which would be profitable areas for banks and create more jobs and better storage of agri-products. The credit-linking of 2 lakh self-help groups by banks was also a resounding success prompting the finance minister to raise the target to 3 lakh this fiscal. Asking banks to work for convergence, he said: “all banks must become multi-pronged financial centres offering insurance, mutual funds and pension in due course of time. This will gather pace this year.” Asked about the decline in net profit growth of most banks last fiscal, he said, “their profits were good considering they took a hit on account of falling prices of government bonds due to rise in interest rates.” “All banks are stronger than a year ago,” he said, adding most banks have improved Capital Adequacy Ratio with some banks raising fresh capital from the market.
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Dhruv for Paris Air Show
Bangalore, June 3 Both prototypes of IJT, aimed at replacing Kiran aircraft and being used for Stage II training of pilots, have completed 140 flights till May-end. It has been acquired by Israel and Nepal. HAL said a number of domestic and international operators were in dialogue with it for possible procurement of Dhruv in the near future. HAL had recently won its first order for a civil variant of ALH from a state government, besides the ONGC.
— UNI |
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Sony to pay $ 7m to ousted bosses
Tokyo, June 3 Mr Idei is set to lose his job as chairman and CEO as part of a sweeping overhaul of management later this month. He will be replaced by Welsh-born Howard Stringer, now head of Sony’s US unit, handing the reins to a non-Japanese for the first time. In a report released on its website late on Tuesday, Sony said it will pay an aggregate 761 million yen ($7.02 million) to four bosses who are giving up the posts of corporate executive officers — Idei, current president Kunitake Ando, Ken Kutaragi and Tsutomu Niimura. The combined payout to the four is less than half the 1.6 billion yen retirement package given to Mr Norio Ohga, who served as president from 1982 to 1995. The unusually large payment to Mr Ohga grabbed headlines and angered shareholders when it was announced in 2003. — Reuters
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Fiat launches Adventure Sport
Mumbai, June 3 The 1.6 litre petrol car, priced at Rs 5.58 ex-showroom, Mumbai, will be available with the company’s 60 dealers across the country, Fiat India’s new Managing Director Paolo Castagna announced at a media conference here. Reaffirming its presence in the Indian market, Dr Castagna said they would focus on the premium end of the growing automobile market with a renewed brand strategy. While admitting weakness in the service sector, he said: “We will revamp our after-sale service and dealers’ network in India as per Fiat’s international standards.” Dr Castagna said the company suffered a huge operating loss in 2004 but did not divulge the figure. The production rate last year was also much below the capacity of producing 60,000 units per year. Fiat Adventure Sport, the MD said, would be available in four colours — formula red, thunder black, silver frost and glacier white. Ambassador sale up
Hindustan Motors has reported a 12 per cent increase in the sales of its flagship car model Ambassador in May. The company sold 1,010 units of Ambassador in May as against 901 units during the same month last year, a company statement said. During April-May this year, the company sold 2,012 units of Ambassador, an increase of 16 per cent as compared to the corresponding period last year, it added. In order to boost its sagging sales, HM had introduced CNG version of the car christened Ambassador Grand targeting the taxi and fleet owner segment earlier this year. The company had also introduced Bharat Stage III compliant LPG version of Ambassador. — Agencies |
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Cummins India to pay 200 pc dividend
New Delhi, June 3 The total income has increased by 26 per cent to Rs 1271.47 crore for the year ended March 31, 2005, from Rs 1009.09 crore in 2003-04, the company said. The Board of Directors has recommended the final dividend of 200 per cent for the year ended March 31, 2005, including the interim dividend of 100 per cent already declared on January 28. The company has posted a net profit after tax at Rs 46.40 crore for the fourth quarter as compared to Rs 29.57 crore for the corresponding quarter in 2003-04. The total income has increased to Rs 336.77 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2005, from Rs 294.27 crore in the previous year. Mukand Ltd
Mukand Ltd has reported a massive jump in its net profit for the fiscal ended March 31, 2005, at Rs 185.72 crore as compared to Rs 12.92 crore in the previous fiscal. The net sales during the reporting fiscal grew to Rs 1,523.86 crore compared to Rs 1,1,070.68 crore in FY-04, Mukand Ltd said here. In the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2005, the company posted a net profit of Rs 92.78 crore (Rs 86.53 crore in the corresponding quarter previous fiscal) while the net sales grew to Rs 424.04 crore (Rs 333.30 crore in Q4 of FY-04), it added. Sterlite net dips
Sterlite Industries Indian Ltd today reported a 46.02 per cent dip in its net profit at Rs 106.42 crore for the year ended March 31, 2005, as compared to Rs 197.15 crore last year. The total income has increased to Rs 4099.35 crore for the year ended March 31,2005, from Rs 3086.32 crore in 2004-04, the company said. The Board of Directors has recommended an equity dividend of 60 per cent (Rs 3 per share of Rs 5 each) for the financial year ended 2004-2005 on expanded post-rights share capital. The company has posted a net loss of Rs 39.33 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2005, as compared to a net profit of Rs 73.30 crore for the corresponding quarter in 2003-04. The total income has increased to Rs 1190.94 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2005, from Rs 890.07 crore in the previous year. Hindustan Zinc
Hindustan Zinc Ltd, a Vedanta group entity, has posted a higher net profit of Rs 655 crore for the year ended March 31, 2005, as against Rs 405 crore for 2003-04. The board has recommended a 17.5 per cent dividend for 2004-05, HZL said. The net sales for the reporting year were up at Rs 2,187 crore from Rs 1,841 crore in FY-04. The net profit and sales for the quarter ended March 31, 2005, stood at Rs 228 crore (Rs 86 crore for 04 of 2004-04) ended Rs 724 crore (Rs 517 crore), respectively. State Bank of Travancore
The State Bank of Travancore has recorded a net profit of Rs 247.13 crore in 2004-05, making a marginal increase from Rs 244.60 crore profit it posted the previous year. The Kerala-based SBI’s associate bank declared a dividend of 75 per cent, retaining it at the same level as the last fiscal, Managing Director Om Bhatt said. The bank’s operating profit touched an all-time high at Rs 802.05 crore, showing an increase 14.44 per cent over last year’s figure of Rs 700.83 crore. The credit-deposit ratio of the bank increased from 60.34 per cent to 62.88 per cent. The bank’s CD ratio for Kerala improved from 50.88 pc to 56.67 pc. The credit plus investment ratio for Kerala also improved from 55.49 pc to 60.58 pc. Times Watches
In a major turnaround story, Timex Watches India Ltd has recorded a profit of Rs 72 lakh for the period ended March 31, 2005, after a loss of Rs 16 crore for the past financial year. The company announced a topline growth of 21 per cent for FY-05 over the corresponding year. Timex is a subsidiary of Netherlands-based Timex Watches B.V.Timex.
— Agencies |
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Govt
for 20 pc divestment in profit- making PSUs
