Monday, December 7, 1998
today's calendar
|
B U S I N E S S | Monday, December 7, 1998 |
| weather n
spotlight today's calendar |
|
|
|
|
Hero
group to set up bicycle unit in Punjab |
||||||||
  |
|||||||||
Controversy CHANDIGARH, Dec 6 — While the Andhra Pradesh Government has directed Mahyco-Monsanto Biotech Private Limited to stop with immediate effect the field trials of the Bollgard gene seeds of cotton and farmers in Karnataka have damaged the cotton crop grown from such seeds, the Central Department of Biotechnology and the Monsanto authorities have defended the trials. Dr P.K. Ghosh, Adviser, Department of Biotechnology, and Mr Dilip M. Shah, Director Research and Development of Monsanto for India, were both here to participate in Agro Tech. Talking to this correspondent, Dr Ghosh said that nothing was wrong with the trials and all talk about the application of gene terminator technology was baseless and part of a disinformation campaign. The seeds of cotton being used for trials did not contain Lonfuinary embryogenesis deactivator gene which was popularly called the gene terminator. He said the genetically modified Bollgard cotton seed contained bacillus thuringiensis (BT), a bacterium which acts as a defence mechanism in the cotton bolls against the attack of various pests and worms. Through gene-technology a toxic protein was created in the cotton bolls and worms could not feed on them and die in the process. Giving a background of how Bollgard seeds entered India for trials, Mr Ghosh said that the Department of Biotechnology, had given first permission to Mahyco, a Bombay-based company having tie-up with Monsanto of the USA, for incorporating the BT gene into Indian germplasm by the back-crossing method on March 10, 1995. The permission was given following a recommendation of RCGM. The permission restricted the importer to use the seeds for research only and carryout experiments in glass-house containment facility. The company was required to follow all regulations of “recombinant DNA safety guidelines” of the Union Government. Dr Ghosh said that based on the application made by the Mumbai company, the DBT had permitted limited field trials at the five places in November, 1997. The locations were in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Haryana. In August this year, the DBT gave permission to the company to conduct field trials at 40 locations to address the environment safety issues. Such locations also included parts of the cotton belt in Punjab and also Haryana, according to Dr Ghosh. However, farmers, especially of the southern cotton growing States, do not agree with the justification with Dr Ghosh’s and Monsanto or Mahyco of the trials of these genetically modified seeds. About 200 agitated farmers, suspecting that gene terminatory seed technology was applied in field trials, uprooted the crops spread over 500 square metres in a village in Warangal district of AP. Later they set it afire. Earlier, farmers belonging to the Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha, led by its President, Mr Nanjudaswami, had taken a similar step. There has been no such reaction in Punjab and Haryana, though these are the major cotton producing States in the country. Mr Shah said he was an
Indian and would not bring in such technology to India as
would harm the interests of Indian farmers. He said that
in the USA there was a tremendous response and within
three years the areas under genetically modified seeds of
various crops had gone up from 23 million acres to 50
million acres and in the entire world 65 million acres
areas was under such seed crops. |
Wrap-up CHANDIGARH, Dec 6 — Agro Tech ‘98 ended this evening with satisfaction for some, disappointment for others and hopes for a better show next time. A total of 90,000 visitors turned up, going by the tickets sold in the first four days. Among them were 9,000 business visitors. About 1,000 paid delegates — half of them from western and southern States — joined seminars. As many as 250 registered delegates couldn’t make it because of the “havoc” that Shatabdi played, said Arun Bharat Ram, the CII (NR) Chairman. He was also bitter about lack of good taxi service in Chandigarh and inadequate hotel accommodation. Eighty to 100 additional Mountview rooms did not materialise as promised. The organisers toyed with the idea of shifting to a venue bigger than the Parade Ground within or even outside Chandigarh, though Bharat Ram just smiled when confronted for confirmation. Putting up good tented accommodation was one of the options seriously considered for the next Agro Tech to be held from December 1 to 5 in the year 2000. *** At the end of the day what mattes a businessman is how much money he has made. Deals struck at Agro Tech generated anticipated business worth Rs 600 crore. This year’s agri-business fair or Expo, as CII hardcores put it, saw 15 per cent more companies participating than in the last mela. However, the foreign companies’ participation has gone down by 5 per cent mainly because of “sanctions” and partly due to policy paralysis at the Centre. Australian and Denmark business houses were notable absentees. *** How much money did the CII make by organising Agro Tech? After all business people are not into public service. Regional Director Piyush Behl did not hesitate to make it public that the CII had earned about Rs 25 lakh to 30 lakh. Others too had bits of the cake — right from college girls and other helping hands to hotel owners and taxiwallas. *** The organisers disputed media claims that not many farmers had made it to the fair, but admitted to lack of proper interaction between the manufacturers of farm implements and their end-users. “It was not a kisan mela but a business show,” said Bharat Ram. Companies do want to know what their customers need. The communication gap can be bridged by deploying translators or having Punjabi and Haryanvi boys to speak to farmers in the language they understand. *** The Israeli dairy unit, set up at a cost of Rs 1 crore, was the chief technology demonstration which will now be shifted to PAU, Ludhiana. Ten Holstein cows were brought here from Israel which yielded 30 litres of milk each daily. The unit included machines which ensure milk automatically flows from the udders, is processed and turns into butter, cream and yoghurt. India produces 71 billion litres of milk from 250 million milch animals whereas 1.5 lakh Israeli cows yield 1.1 billion litres of milk annually. *** While Punjab actively participated in Agro Tech with Mr Parkash Singh Badal inaugurating the fair, it was Haryana, which had only a small pavilion, that bagged a project — Graziano Transminain will set up a plant in Noida. Mr Bansi Lal was scheduled
to join the Punjab CM and Governor at the inauguration
ceremony, but he stayed away. Incidentally, Lieut-Gen
(retd) B.K.N. Chhibber also could not make it to the
opening ceremony. |
The
roving eye IT was the ever-ready security force in Agro Tech which drew flak from visitors. Not only did it frisk every visitor it refused to spare the media or CII staff which shuttled regularly between the various venues. They turned away entire families, the minute old Ambassadors with flickering red lights made an appearance. The big papas who were insulted in front of their little tykes were not impressed. Security was again responsible for the CII failing to get the star attraction. A fresh supercop and a secret agenda were responsible for Sonia Gandhi not turning up at the CII H.Q for a meeting with farmers who had especially gathered for the purpose. The farmers, of course met her at the UT Guest House. Since farmers are normally found at agri-fairs a newspaper even had to print a correct caption the next day. Pilots The six-seater King Air, the CII chartered flight which flew in bigwigs to the show every day had a power tussle in air. The day Rajesh Pilot, MP, came to the show he decided to live up to his name and earlier profession, piloting the craft both ways on the Delhi-Chandigarh shuttle. Free calendars A serpentine queue formed every day at a particular tractor stall at Agro Tech. Thinking that there might be a ride or freebie at the end of it, a few scribes also joined in. Imagine their surprise when all they were handed out at the end of it was a plastic bag emblazoned with the comany’s name and a calendar. Slip-ups Banners are always very much on display during Agro Tech and a lot of labour goes into their preparation. One casualty of the general confusion which prevailed on the last day was the Agro Tech 2000 plaque. Meant to be unveiled with great ceremony at the valedictory session, it lay forlorn in a corner as everybody simply forgot to do so. Looks matter A senior officer of the PHDCCI was standing in the VIP lounge looking important. In rushed a senior bureaucrat and began congratulating him on the grand show that was being held. While the PHDCCI man had the grace to look embarrassed CII officials rushed in to do damage control. Mascots Though there was not much of the village atmosphere at Agro Tech which even the Chairman Northern Region said was not meant for farmers but for people interested in agri-business, there was one village mascot the CII and the corporate combine could not keep out. The humble mongrels and the detested housefly were in attendance. While the dogs roamed the Parade Ground, the more intellectual cats attended a seminar session at Hotel Shivalik, alas without paying the delegate fee. Lessons The media lounge should not be deserted when pressmen take a peek. The mike should not fail when a dream team minister gets up to speak. Ogling route Handsome hunks of the city
and short-pot bellied older versions too found a new
ogling geri route. Converging from all directions they
searched for the lasses draped between mounds of flowers
displayed amongst non-essential agricultural items. MOUs
and technical tie-ups for future dates were concluded
satisfactorily.
|
Visitors'
voice CHANDIGARH, Dec 6 —”I have fell in love with Chandigarh. People are so good and hospitable that I would like to come here again and again”. This is how Mr Jins Joseph expressed his feelings when asked about his impressions about Agro Tech. Mr Joseph, branch manager of a Kerala-based company engaged in the marketing of fresh spices like cardamom, pepper, ginger, cinnamom and clove, etc has come to the region for the first time. “Buying power of people of this region is tremendous. At a trade fair in Delhi I sold spices worth Rs 80,000 in 14 days and here I have pocketed the same amount within four days”, he says. “I am returning to my parent state Kerala with all smiles”, he said. Mr U. Haridas, Managing Director of a company involved in manufacturing “cold rooms” for the storage of perishable goods like fruits, vegetables etc also expressed similar feelings.Mr Haridas, who hails from Bangalore, said he got a very good response and had made up mind to appoint his company’s distributors here. Mr Shirish Dhopeshwarkar, director of a company engaged in poultry dressing plants, said response was very good as he got serious business queries worth Rs 5 crore, but faced difficulty in getting good accommodation during the fair. Mr Parmod K. Gupta, manager of a tissue developer company, said he was overwhelmed by the response he got about the flower plants developed from tissue culture. He said the adoption on big scale of tissue culture plants even in crops like sugar cane was just a matter of days. However, common visitors, especially small farmers from the countryside, were not very happy. For most of them, it was just a visit to Chandigarh. Mr Paramjit Singh Sidhu, a farmer from Rampura Phul, told TNS that he was moving around in the fair for the past two days with interest in the cold storage technology. But after moving around, he concluded that the technology exhibited at the fair could be applied at farm level to a very limited extent. Another farmer from Rajpura subdivision, Mr Darshan Singh, said tractors, dewatering pumps, and some implements meant for sowing, harvesting etc were displayed in good number but these were beyond the approach of even middle-rung farmers. He said if Punjabi farmers feel the price of such equipment on the higher side, it was natural that in other parts most of the farming community would not be able to afford these. Mr Gamdoor Singh, who had come from Muktsar, said it would have been better if such a fair was held in a village near Chandigarh. At least farmers had made the exhibitors to apply their technology at field level and practical demonstration. He said it was good that competition had increased among tractor manufacturing companies and they were coming out with latest models making some good improvements. Though women turned in a big number in the fair, they seemed to have interest mainly in flowers, pickles, jams and concentrated juices etc. Mrs Jasminder Kaur, who had come from Nabha with her husband, said: “For women there is a very little to see and feel about”. “I hope next time
organisers would keep in mind that in this region, women
had a role to play in agriculture,” said Mrs
Paramjit Kaur, a resident of a village near Ambala. |
SHV group to
invest Rs 1,800 crore in India CHANDIGARH, Dec 6 — The SHV group, which has put up its stall at Agro Tech, is a 100 years old Dutch company with a group turnover of Rs 77,000 crore and just under 1,00,000 employees operating in 35 countries worldwide, says Managing Director Robert West. A little over three years ago, SHV came to India and commissioned a comprehensive study on the feasibility of marketing LPG throughout the country. Now SHV and its Indian partners have decided to invest Rs 1,800 crore in India, providing the necessary fully integrated LPG infrastructure, from import terminals to bottling plants together with a widespread distribution network covering urban and rural areas. “This level of infrastructure investment is necessary to ensure a regular, uninterrupted supply of LPG throughout India to customers, whether domestic, commercial or industrial”, he says. The current supply of LPG in India is only 4.2 million tonnes , while the demand is 6.7 million tonnes. There is an LPG waiting list of 14.0 million domestic households with PSUs. Mr Ganti Vinod, Director of the group, told TNS that SHV Energy has strongly advocated the cause of a pollution free environment by projecting LPG as a viable, economical and environment friendly alternative to conventional fuels. The Supreme Court of India
has directed the group partner — G &T Resources
Worldwide — to conduct a prestigious pilot project,
the first of its kind in the world, for the introduction
of propane, a clean alternative automotive fuel, on
two-stroke engine autorickshaws in Delhi. Besides, it has
initiated proposals for the introduction of LPG and
propane for industries and hotels in North India. |
19 projects
set up in Haryana CHANDIGARH, Dec 6 — The Haryana Agro Industries Corporation (HAIC) has helped in setting up 19 projects related with floriculture, mushroom production, processed food and vegetables, egg powder, sugar, barley, malt, tissue culture and milk processing projects. All these projects have a capital outlay of more than Rs 260 crore. Mr M. Ramshekhar, Managing Director of the HAIC, said here today that over 4000 persons had found employment opportunities in these projects and 13 such projects had already commenced production. He said the HAIC had provided a share capital of Rs 6.50 crore in the projects. The HAIC had a turnover of Rs 191 crore during the last financial year and it earned a record profit of Rs 15.15 crore. The HAIC paid a dividend to the state government at the rate of 10 per cent of the paid-up capital. He said the Haryana pavilion at Agro Tech-98, received over 3000 trade enquiries at the 19 stalls put up by various corporations and departments. Over 12,000 farmers drawn
from Haryana, Punjab, Himachal, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra
Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and adjoining areas of
Chandigarh visited the pavilion. |
Punjab dairy
pavilion gets top award CHANDIGARH, Dec 6 — The Punjab Dairy Pavilion bagged the award for the best display in the outdoor category during Agro Tech ‘98, while the New Holland Tractors India Ltd and Escorts Ltd pavilions were the first runners-up and Hindustan Motors was accorded the second runner-up position. In the States category Punjab bagged the first prize while Uttar Pradesh was declared the first runner-up. In the indoor category,
NRB Bearings Ltd was declared winners and Tetra Pack Ltd
and GKN Walterschied Gripwel Ltd were the first and
second runners-up. In Dairy Expo’98, Alfa Laval Agri
Ltd was declared the winner while Indovax Pvt Ltd was the
winner in the Poultry Expo’98. |
Interview CHANDIGARH, Dec 6 — At the core of the new national agricultural policy, waiting approval of the Union Cabinet is the “empowerment” of the farmer, who has been “discriminated” against all these decades. This was announced by the Union Minister of Agriculture, Mr Som Pal, in an exclusive interview with TNS in the VIP lounge of Agro-Tech here this morning. The terms of trade are against the farmer. It is a misconception that the Indian farmer is a “pampered” person enjoying subsidies. It is, in fact, demeaning for a farmer to seek subsidies. The total volume of subsidies available to farmers is just 10 per cent of the gross domestic product, which is peanuts compared to what is available in the agriculturally and industrially advanced countries, he added. Mr Som Pal said nearly 60 per cent of the farmers never get any subsidy. Nearly 58 per cent of the subsidy, say on fertilisers, is “filtered” in-between. In the wake of natural calamities, the compensation component is meagre. There is a resource constraint. But there is also a need for upward revision of the same. Mr Som Pal explained the “progress” of agriculture in a historical perspective and went on to reveal what was intended to be done and how. The statistics he churned out in terms of area, production, productivity, irrigation facilities, food processing etc sounded impressive. But so is the quantum of wastages and lack of technology to take care of post-harvest handling of the farm produce and products. That 40 per cent of India’s population still lives below the poverty line despite the country being the second largest producer of food and topping in the milk production or is number one in fruit and at number two in vegetables, speaks of lopsided scenario. The farmer, by and large, is cash starved. Investment is low. Credit flow is in driblets. Despite 74 per cent of the population living in villages, benefits which accrue to them in terms of various facilities and amenities are very little. Mr Som Pal gave statistics to show that due to poor “development credit” availability for agriculture sector (only 17 per cent in the seventh plan), rural areas get only 26 per cent of the total electricity, 11 per cent of the housing loans, 18 per cent of the higher and technical education seats and 30 per cent of the schools. “If all this is not discrimination, what else will you call it” ? he asked. Therefore, the new agricultural policy will lay stress on “optimum” utilisation and conservation of available resources. These are “land, water, genetic material and human resource development”. Come to think of the sorry state of affairs, there are 140-odd centrally-sponsored schemes which involved an outlay of Rs 3,800 crore, per annum had there been “proper” utilisation of the money things would have looked up and rural development would have been far more and better than what it is today. Therefore, a system is being evolved to “tighten” the monitoring system. The states, in future, will also have to sign a memorandum of understanding besides being given more “freedom” to shift money from one to the other scheme for better utilisation of the money. In the context of the “agro-tech” and “agri-business” benefits, Mr Som Pal said it was time for agriculture to undergo reforms. He favoured the introduction of “contract” farming and even “corporatisation of agriculture for which necessary legislation would be introduced. The idea was to ensure that farmers got more remuneration and agricultre became profitable. This calls for greater interface and interplay among industry, farmer and government. “A prosperous farmer will automatically mean a prosperous industry”, he emphasised. Whether the proposed national agricultural policy is placed on the table of Parliament in the current session or not is a different matter. But one wonders what happened to the earlier “agricultural policy resolution and crop insurance scheme,” which was adopted at a conference of the Chief Ministers in New Delhi on March 5, 1993? The same was later discussed in both Houses of Parliament in August, 1995, and in November-December, 1996. The revised resolution was taken up by the state agriculture ministers at a conference on February 19, 1997. How the policy framed now works out remains to be seen. Mr Som Pal, however, gave a broad “overview” of the “salient” features of the same. Besides, giving “agriculture” a new definition and explaining the steps required to bring more land under the plow and spreading the network of irrigation facilities it enunciates on improving the existing infrastructure (encompassing the whole gamut of operations from inputs to packaging), faster and more credit flow, unshackling farmer from the yoke of “ahartiya” to introduction of a special chapter on “rediscovering the traditional wisdom”; the policy has it all and more. The policy also takes care of location of godowns, disaster management and preserving, propagating and conserving the wide spectrum of plant plasma, varieties and species for future. The Planning Commission has already approved a 25-year “perspective plan” on agricultural and rural development, which aims at bringing more land under irrigation. It is an “interplay” of water with high-yielding varieties’ seed, fertiliser, farm practices that will usher in higher production and productivity. “We have to match agricultural growth with galloping population”, he added. Mr Som Pal said India had a good natural endowment with as many as 15 different types of climate zones. The strong army of 35,000 agricultural scientists must take advantage of this and give agriculture a push. He said that an “agriculture insurance corporation” was proposed to be set up. The working of the commission on agriculture costs and pricing and a “review” of the research institutions was also on the anvil. Though agriculture is a state subject, government policies and pricing play an important role. On Punjab he said a memorandum on relief required was pending and some steps would be taken as per the laid down norms as recommended by the Finance Commission. Same are being revised upward. Earlier, Mr Som Pal went round the agro-tech, which concluded today. He also presided over the “valedictory function” where he was presented CII’s view on agricultural agenda for the country. He also gave awards to best exhibitors. The chairman of the CCI
(northern zone) Mr Arun Bhartram and Mr S.K. Munjal were
present on the occasion. |
Hindujas deny cash links with UK Secretary LONDON, Dec 6 (PTI) —Leading NRI business family, the Hindujas, has rejected media reports suggesting cash links with British Trade and Industry Secretary Peter Mandelson saying their participation in the prestigious millennium dome was on behalf of the Asian community. Reacting to allegations by a British newspaper that the family’s links with Mr Mandelson had exposed the latter to charges of breach of promise to the House of Commons, Hinduja Foundation Director, David Broad, took exception to the potrayal of contributions sought to be made by the Asian community to British national celebrations in a “pejorative light”. “We see the millennium dome as national celebrations, where all identities in Britain should feel they have a stake. It is regrettable that the paper should present a contribution from a minority community in a pejorative light. This can be good neither for the dome nor for the community’s relations in Britain,” Mr Broad said in a rejoinder to the paper. Mr Broad contended that the spirit zone of the dome, which the foundation had promised to underwrite, was a project motivated towards enhancing respect between communities, a key challenge in the next millennium. He said it was part of the foundation’s efforts to tackle this by establishing centres of multicultural understanding in Britain and overseas. The issue figured in the
House of Commons last night, when Tory Member, Chris
Chope, raised queries about Mr Mandelson’s links
with the Hindujas. The minister dismissed the charge
saying The Hinduja Foundation was considering
contributing to the dome, which was laudable. |
Hero group to set up bicycle unit in Punjab LUDHIANA, Dec 6 (UNI) —Targeting the expanding global bicycle market, the Hero group is setting up a Rs 100 crore plant near here to manufacture cycles exclusively for exports. A 100-acre plot has already been finalised and the construction of the plant will commence in two months. The export oriented unit (EOU) will be operational in two years, Hero Cycles Limited (HCL) Vice Chairman and Managing Director O.P. Munjal told UNI here. The entire investment on the plant will be funded through internal accruals. The unit will cater to the USA and other potential world markets. Besides, the company is planning to manufacture motorised bicycles next year. Mr Munjal said: “In 1997-98, we produced 47.9 lakh bicycles and achieved a growth of 5 per cent in the domestic market to record a turnover of Rs 500 crore. This has come at a time when most of the companies, including our competitors, were losing their marketshare.” The company has an existing unit at Baroda — Gujarat Cycles Limited — which manufactures cycles only for the German market. A representative of the German importer is always based at the plant to monitor production and quality. On geared cycles, Mr Munjal said the market for this segment was gradually picking up. HCL has been producing 5,000 to 6,000 geared bikes per month as compared to 16,000 city bicycles per day at its two existing units. “The trend is now changing from city bikes to geared bikes.” The Rs 2,800 crore Hero Group has 12 industries under its umbrella. Mr Munjal said the company was aiming to become a global leader. “Presently, we are a leader in the domestic market with over 50 per cent share. After the setting up of the second unit, we will be able to produce world class cycles and enter the global market in a big way.” The company has also tied up with a Taiwanese firm for paint-finishing and acquired a new generation polishing plant. Meanwhile, the group is
also working towards fully automating its Ludhiana unit
in a phased manner, HCL Executive Director (Exports)
Sunil Kant Munjal said. However, this would not lead to
any retrenchments, he said, as the entire work force
would be adjusted at the group’s other existing
units. |
IT is time that all long-term investors in equity shares should dematerialise their blue-chip equities by joining a depository. At present, the only depository is the National Securities Depoistory Ltd (NSDL) which has been promoted by IDBI, UTI and the National Stock Exchange of India. The NSDL was granted the commencement of business certificate on October 31,1996. The Bombay Stock Exchange is also promoting another depository but it is likely to take a couple of month for this depository to commence business. A depository is an organisation which holds share certificates in the form of electronic accounts and dematerialises share certificates held in paper form. After this “demat” process is completed, all transfers (sales and purchases) in the demat shares are effected by the depository. If required, these electronically — held securities can be rematerialised (that is reconverted into paper form) at the request of the share holder but the demat form of electronically held securities has many distinct advantages. It appears that within a short period of time, almost all actively traded shares will be held and traded in demat form. The facts speak for themselves. On October 20,1998, SEBI made it mandatory for all investors to trade in dematerialised form for ten securities with effect from January 4, 1999. These securities are: SBI, Infosys, Bank of India, I&T, BSES, ICICI, IDBI, Indus Ind Bank, HDFC and BPCL. Later two other securities were added to the list: BHEL and WIPRO. On December 3, 1998, SEBI decided to bring all the stocks comprising the S&P/CNX NIFTY (of National Stock Exchange) and Sensitive (BSE) Indices within the ambit of compulsory demat trading by all investors from April 5,1999. This would add another 29 securities to the existing list of 31 securities where trading and transactions (sales and purchases) will be made only in their demat form. This would take the list to 60 securities and cover all the NIFTY and Sensitive Index stocks. The latest list of 29 shares brought within the ambit of demat shares comprises Arvind Mills, BHEL, Cipla, Colgate, EIH Ltd, G.E shipping, Glaxo, Grasim, HDFC Bank, Hindalco, HLL, IFCI, Indian Hotels, Indian Rayon, IPCL, ITC, MTNL, Nestle, Oriental Bank, Procter and Gamble, Reliance Capital, Reliance Petro, Reliance Industries, Smithkline Consolidated, Tata Chemicals, Tata Power, Telco, Tisco and Novarties. It may be interesting to note that on an average 52 per cent of the total delivery in all scrips in the past few settlements at the Bombay Stock Exchange takes place in demat shares. The average for demat shares for the National Stock Exchange is 40 per cent. It may surprise the investors that any purchases made by them in these shares will be made only in demat form and if the investor is not a member of depository, he will have to enrol himself for the delivery. Sale of non-demat shares may not be possible in respect of demat shares. Demat shares have many advantages: Eliminates bad deliveries and fake certificates, easy and prompt transfer of shares, cut down from stamp duty of 0.5% to 0.075% of Market value (for buy) and 0.025% of market value (for sell), prompt payment of sale proceeds, etc. SEBI has also laid down that all the financial institutions and mutual funds would buy and sell shares and other securities only in demat form after the prescribed dates. It is also clear that the foreign institutional investors (FII) would only go in for demat shares. Any investor can join the depository through any “Depository Participant”, an approved and sanctioned agency or bank designated by NSDL. There are a number of Depository Participants at Chandigarh and any investor can approach any of them for enrolment. Some of these Depository Participants do not charge any enrolment fee if the enrolment takes place before January 4,1999. The investor has, however, to make some payments for membership of the depository as asset holding fee. According to one depository partcipant, dematerialisation fee is 0.2% of the face value of the share certificates; another charges Rs 2 per certificate. Rematerilisation fee is 1.5% of the face value of securities. In case, an investor
decides to stay in the stock market, he has to enrol
himself as a member of the Depository. Of course, I do
not expect more than a thousand shares to be demated, but
these shares would be the cream of the stock market and
most of the trading and transactions would take place in
them. |
IF there were medals for loud talking Indian politicians and bureaucrats would have easily garbed them all. For the past two decades, politicians have been talking about merger of Air India and Indian Airlines, Bulky files are made and then dumped into the record room of the Civil Aviation Ministry. The merger proposal, mooted by Jagdish Tytler, is revived by every new minister. He snatches sufficient publicity mileage before pronouncing after repeated conclusion that merger is not possible at this juncture. This is exactly what the present Minister for Civil Aviation Ananth Kumar has done. The two airlines may not be merged but bigwigs, endeavouring to reduce overhead expenses can certainly combine operations of ground support equipment and maintenance of engineering facilities. Experts feel that crores of rupees can be saved through these mergers. At present, two carriers have their own ground support equipment. Luckily, Indian Airlines operates its flights during day time, while Air India flights during nights. The same equipment may be deployed and sufficient man power saved. Similar advantage can be had by combining engineering facilities. Aviation analysts are of the view that several areas of the two airlines can be merged without any problem. They maintain that this is possible if there is clarity of mind at the top. Overtime The Chairman and Managing Director P.C. Sen has issued a directive that overtime is not permissible except in emergency, like delays and disruptions of flights. Passengers wanted Contrary to expectations, the passenger traffic, particularly on the domestic sectors, has not increased. Two of the many reasons, according to analysts, are an unprecedented recession in private and public undertakings and leading firms have realised that it is possible to obtain business with the help of latest gadgets instead of sending representatives. The capacity is much more than the demand for tickets. Airline functionaries, particularly private operators, are aware that every vacant seat of the aircraft means loss of revenue. Driven to this situation, some private operators have started offering discounts and other facilities to woo passengers even on golden sectors, like Delhi-Mumbai-Delhi. The situation is no better the international sectors. Airlines have resorted to offering heavy discounts. Gesture to players Air India played a nationalistic role when it came to the rescue of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA). It uplifted four horses through a combi 747 flight to Bangkok, where Asian Games started on Sunday. The rescheduling of flights by Indian Airlines did cause a minor problem. But eventually, the two national carriers saw to it that the team members reached on time for the games. Some members were, however, sent via Calcutta. A minor de-tour. But IOA authorities and players were happy with the arrangements. New BA cargo chief Mr Andrew Walsh is British Airways’ new World Cargo Area Manager for South Asia. He will be based in Delhi. He will be responsible for cargo activity in India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Presentation A detailed presentation was made on Future Air Navigation System (FANS) by the Peter Potocko, Director, Air Traffic System, Airbus Industries. Dr Kiran Rao, President,
Airbus Industry (India) and David Velupillai (regional
manager press relations) narrated many interesting
features of the system. |
| H |
|
||
World
Bank conference Inflation falls |
 |
 |
| Nation
| Punjab | Haryana | Himachal Pradesh | Jammu & Kashmir | | Chandigarh | Editorial | Sport | | Mailbag | Spotlight | World | 50 years of Independence | Weather | | Search | Subscribe | Archive | Suggestion | Home | E-mail | |
