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Free power to farmers irks Plan panel
Rural business hubs planned in Punjab
4 Indians on Fortune list
BoI to offer online trading facility
Industry logs 7.4 pc growth
Luxor to invest Rs 15 crore in Noida unit
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Free power to farmers irks Plan panel
New Delhi, October 10 Echoing the concerns of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh over the free supply of power in states, it has warned the state government of its impact on the future of state economy, considering weak fiscal position of the state government. “I agree with the Prime Minister’s views on free power supply in the state,” said Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia here today. The Ministry of Power has also lamented the state government’s move claiming that it would derail the power reforms in the states, discouraging private and foreign investment in the power sector. “It is unfortunate that the we have failed in the power sector over the past decade, and are unlikely to meet the power generation targets in the current five-year plan. It will have serious implications for meeting the growth target of the 10th plan period,” said Mr Ahluwalia while interacting with the Forum of Financial Writers. Expressing his dissatisfaction over the present status of power reforms, he said, if the states fail to take reforms in the power sector, it would lead to further deterioration, perhaps then forcing them to take drastic steps. Agreeing with Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh’s concern over the falling income levels in the farm sector, Mr Ahluwalia said, “since 1996 the agriculture sector has not done well. The sector has met only half the target of 4 per cent annual growth fixed in the 9th and 10th five-year plan so far, leading to slowdown of GDP growth rate of the economy.” He said it would require different approach, like promotion of contract farming in cash crops, and increase in public and private capital investment. He observed that the Planning Commission has agreed to offer attractive incentives to the state government to undertake reforms in the power sector. He, however, said, the states should concentrate on checking massive power theft and transmission losses before moving towards privatisation of the sector.
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Rural business hubs planned in Punjab
Ludhiana, October 10 RBHs are aimed at facilitating people living in rural communities to use their skills in developing products and processing agricultural or natural resources. The government and the private sector would extend assistance in improving them further through value addition and exploring markets resulting in income augmentation and employment generation. This scheme will reduce unemployment and increase the productive capacity resulting in income generating capability of the unemployed persons in the rural areas. The other selected states include Assam, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Kerala, Rajasthan, Uttaranchal, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. Of these, Rajasthan and Uttranchal have already taken a lead in this context. Sources disclosed that these hubs have been planned on the Chinese model of Town and Village Enterprises and the Thailand model of One Tambon, One Product (OTOP) Project. Unique raw materials are drafted into products in an attractive manner designed to capture the attention of consumers. Under the project, selected products will be developed in a block that already has inherent skills and potential for marketing. These products will be sold through marketing linkage provided by stakeholders like government agencies and private entrepreneurs. The ministry has identified several subjects for development, namely, agriculture, horticulture, bamboo products, khadi and village industries, handicrafts, rural fashion, handlooms and garments, bio-diesel generation through jatropha cultivation, power generation through bio-mass etc. The villagers will be encouraged to create products and develop services using local know-how. To be considered for inclusion in the RBH programme, a product must first use material from the village or surrounding areas with the history that some how relates to local culture and knowledge and should actively seek local participation.
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New Delhi, October 10 Ratan Tata, the chairman of the Tata Group, is ranked 12th and Mukesh Ambani of the Reliance Industries comes 17th on the list headed by Samsung Electronics CEO Jong-Yong Yun. Other Indians featuring in ‘Asia 25’ are Infosys CEO Nandan Nilekani (rank 13) and Wipro chairman Azim Premji (rank 19). Ratan Tata was not on the list last year while Nilekani has moved up to 13 from 23 and Mukesh Ambani has dropped to 17 from 13 and Premji from 10 to 19. ‘Fortune’ says at 67, Ratan Tata “shows no signs of slowing down”. “In the past year, he has been busy buying companies in Korea, Singapore, and Africa.” Mr Nilekani is described as “one of the architects of India’s IT revolution” who earned himself a starring role this year in American journalist Thomas Friedman’s bestselling book, The World is Flat, as the man who first suggested that the world is being flattened by new technologies. The list also has Saudi Aramco’s Harvard-educated boss Abdallah Jum’ah, Toyota’s Katsuaki Watanable, LG Electronics CEO Kim Ssang Su and Sony CEO Howard Stringer. — UNI
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BoI to offer online trading facility
Ludhiana, October 10 “We have tied up with a Mumbai-based broker Asit C. Mehta and Company for offering online trading platform to our customers whereby they could trade in equity shares through our branches,” BoI Executive Director P.L. Gairola said here. Besides its conventional business, BoI offers life insurance, non-life insurance and mutual fund products in arrangement with National Insurance Company, ICICI Prudential, UTI etc, he said. In a bid to use technology for business development, BoI has also decided to inject Rs 500 to 550 crore over a period of 10 years for the purpose of introducing Centralised Banking Solutions (CBS) in its branches. BoI targets to implement CBS in 750 branches by June 2006, which will handle 80 to 85 per cent of its banking business. We have tied up with Hewlett Packard and Infosys to provide hardware and software for networking our branches, Mr Gairola said. BoI has also decided to set up strategic business units whereby a separate desk will be
established for each sector including corporate, SME and agriculture, he said.
— PTI
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Industry logs 7.4 pc growth
New Delhi, October 10 Growth in mining sector declined to a negative 1.3 per cent during the month compared to 4.4 per cent in August last fiscal. Manufacturing growth slowed down as well to 8.2 per cent from 9.1 per cent a year ago, according to the latest data released by the government today. The overall Index of Industrial Production (IIP) would have been even lower had it not been for a slight upturn in the electricity sector which grew 7.8 per cent during the month compared to 7.4 per cent in August last fiscal.
— PTI
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Luxor to invest Rs 15 crore in Noida unit
New Delhi, October 10 “Our focus is on building and expanding the Parker brand. We have lined up a series of launches, particularly for the corporates and are looking at producing 12 million Parker pens next year,” Vice-President of LWI Pooja Jain said. “Parker is our premium line and now we are planning to launch it as a lifestyle product. For the brand we will spend 20 per cent of the revenues on advertisements,” she said. US firm enters India
Leading manufacturers of contactless smart access control cards for the security industry, US-based HID Corporation, today announced the establishment of HID India Private Limited to serve the access control market in the country, including the Indian airport sector. “India is one of the fastest growing market in terms of security needs. According to a survey, the estimated market is $45 million,” Managing director of HID India Private Limited Harish Vellat told reporters here. “The focus of the company would be the airport security sector which is currently undergoing major infrastructure development. With the vast expertise in handling security needs of huge airports at Atlanta, Houston, Alaska and Canada, we aim at bringing airport security solutions to the Indian airport sector,” he said.
NHAI projects
IVRCL Infrastructures and Projects Ltd has bagged two road construction projects of National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) worth Rs 850 crore in Tamil Nadu. The first contract for 53 km stretch from Salem to Kumarapalayam is worth Rs 470 crore, while the second for 48.51 km stretch from Sumarapalayam to Chenagmpalli is valued at Rs 380 crore, the company informed BSE today. The company will build, operate and maintain both the projects and transfer to NHAI after 20 years.
A-I repair base
Air-India (A-I) has decided to set up an aircraft maintenance, repair and overhauling facility centre here, Air India CMD V Thulasidas said today. The work of the Rs 50 crore project would begin once the promised land was made available to Air-India by the Kerala government, Mr Thulasidas said while delivering the Keynote address of Thiruvananthapuram Management Association on “Management of Infrastructure Capital Region Development”. The clearance from the Centre for buying 68 aircraft for Air-India was expected soon. The Public Investment Board (PIB) would meet on October 30 and take a decision on the matter.
Aztec net up
Aztec Software and Technology Services today announced a jump of 134 per cent in net profit at Rs 9 crore in the second quarter compared to Rs 3.85 crore in the same period last year. Company's turnover also grew by over 136 per cent to Rs 48.01 crore during July-September period of 2005-06.
— Agencies
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