Saturday, November 21, 1998
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B U S I N E S S | Saturday, November 21, 1998 |
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Soros to take 40 per cent
stake in Sangrur urea plant
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PNB
net goes up 20 per cent ‘Scrap
ST on sports goods’ Status
quo on pipe laying by Rel Petro |
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Soros to take 40 per cent stake
in Sangrur NEW DELHI, Nov 20 (PTI) — Financial wizard George Soros’ Quantum group will take 40 per cent equity stake in Oswal Asia Fertilisers Ltd’s (OAFL) proposed Rs 1,700 crore urea plant at Sangrur in Punjab. “The Quantum group will take 40 per cent stake in the project, while another 20 per cent will be taken by Krupp Uhde of Germany on a lumpsum turnkey contract basis,” Neelam Kumar Oswal, promoter of OAFL, told reporters today. The project will have an annual capacity of eight lakh tonnes. Punjab currently has a shortage of 700,000 TPA of urea —total demand at two million TPA and the capacity at 1.3 million TPA. “The project will help the State to become self-sufficient in urea,” Oswal said adding that this was the first project in the fertiliser industry where a foreign partners held equity stakes. Jointly promoted by the Punjab State Industrial Development Corporation Ltd (PSIDC), the project is expected to achieve financial closure in three years time from now, he said. Oswal will hold 25 per cent stake in the project of which 10 per cent would later be sold to financial institutions. The remaining 15 per cent will be held by PSIDC. Oswal said the company had already tied up with Indian Oil Corporation for a 20 year arrangement to supply naphtha for the project. Director of Business Development at Krupp Uhde, Joachim Klimpke said they would also arrange foreign loans through German financial institution KFW. The project would require
debt to the tune of Rs 1,100 crore ($ 275 million), out
of which KFW would take care of Rs 600 crore ($ 150
million) and the rest would be arranged from domestic
financial institutions. |
JVG chairman held in Mumbai NEW DELHI Nov 20 (PTI) — Chairman-cum-Managing Director of JVG group of companies Vijay Kumar Sharma, allegedly involved in duping several investors of crores of rupees, was today arrested in Mumbai by a special team of Delhi Police. Sharma, 37, who was absconding since July 6, 1998, the date the interim bail granted to him by Mumbai High Court expired, was apprehended by sleuths of Delhi Police’s crime branch from his flat in Bandra in the wee hours today, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Karnal Singh said. He will be produced before the court in Mumbai and will be brought to Delhi for further investigation, he said. The accused, floated 17 companies under the banner of “JVG group of companies” and collected crores of rupees as deposits from thousands of investors all over India promising to pay exorbitant rates of interest on their deposits. Four cases of cheating,
misappropriation and criminal conspiracy were registered
against the group last year following complaints from
nearly 600 investors with the crime branch as the
post-dated cheques issued by the group bounced, he said. |
Exporters
air grievances CHANDIGARH, Nov 20 — Mr C.M Vasudeva, Special Secretary (Banking) in the Union Finance Ministry, said today that “non-performing loans” affect “performing loans” and raise the cost of credit. Inaugurating an exporters meet organised by the State Bank of India here today in collaboration with the PHDCCI, Mr Vasudeva appreciated the role of the SBI in export promotion and urged the PHDCCI to help in the recovery of loans. SBI Chief General Manager K.K Narula said that the bank had opened specialised branches in North India to help exporters. The branches are fully computerised. The PHDCCI Vice-President, Mr Ashok Khanna, pointed out that the slowdown in exports is mainly due to the poor delivery of consignments. He urged the banks to be more liberal in lending. The loan recovery in Punjab, compared to the other States, has been the highest. Therefore, the entrepreneur in Punjab should be given encouragement by financial institutions. Exporters from Punjab,
Haryana and Himachal Pradesh attended the meet and put
forth difficulties faced by them. |
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NEW DELHI, 20 (UNI) — The ‘90s man may be “laughing his way to the bank” but latest research shows that he is far less happy and more prone to depression compared to his ‘50s counterpart. Recent studies have revealed that the modern man is enjoying less of laughter, prescribed by doctors as the best medicine for the body as well as the mind, that his counterpart 40 years ago. Consequently, he is more miserable and depressed than his ‘50s counterpart, despite being more prosperous, says is report in The Times of London. According to latest evidence presented to the recent ‘International Congress of Humour in Sweden’, while the ‘50s man laughed for 18 minutes a day on an average, in the ‘90 we chuckle only for six minutes a day. Research presented at the congress also shows that we are now up to 10 times more likely to be depressed than our counterparts four decades ago. All this is despite the fact that ‘50s are generally remembered as austere years of economic depression characterised by the Cold War while ‘90s have witnessed huge rises in the human standard of living. Experts and psychologists attribute this trend to the modern man’s constant striving for material, career and personal success. They point to the old adage that “money cannot buy happiness.” “We seem to have
created today a society that puts such a high premium on
performance and success. Consequently, when people fail
to reach these levels, they are possessed with a sense of
shame and depression,” said Dr Michael Titze, a
Germany psychotherapist, who addressed delegates at the
congress. |
PNB net goes
up 20 per cent CHANDIGARH, Nov 20 — Punjab National Bank has recorded a 20 per cent increase in its net profit at Rs 228 crore in the first half of the current fiscal as compared to Rs 190 crore in the corresponding period in the previous fiscal. Despite recessionary conditions in the market, bank’s income from interest has gone up to Rs 2170 crore in the first half ended September 1998 as against Rs 1965 crore in the corresponding period last year, a bank release said here today. Total deposits as on end September 1998 stood at Rs 37,970 crore, showing a growth of 11.7 per cent over September 1997. Advances stood at Rs.16,703 crore at the end of September this year, an increase of 22.7 per cent over Rs 13,617 crore at the end of September last year. Bank’s non-performing assets which stood at 10.7 per cent in September last year have come down to 9.75 per cent this year, it said. Punjab National Bank has
4,138 branches in the country, including 359 extension
counters. As many as 223 branches had been fully
computerised. |
‘Scrap
ST on sports goods’ NEW DELHI, Nov 20 — The Rs 600-crore sports goods industry has demanded level playing field vis-a-vis foreign counterparts in the form of removal of import duties on raw materials. While import duties on raw materials concerning the industry are as high as 40 per cent, finished goods attract only 25 per cent levy, according to sports goods manufacturers. They have demanded abolition of sales tax on sporting goods to give a boost to the industry. According to the manufacturers, the country exported sports goods worth only Rs 241 crore which is less than one per cent of the total world trade in the sector. With the opening of the Indian economy since 1991, the growth rate of the economy has increased. The sporting goods industry in India could reach a size of US $3 billion by 2005 AD and US $5 billion AD if adequate attention is paid to this sector. In order to boost the
sports goods industry and create people’s awareness
on the issue, a four-day exhibition on sports, health and
fitness equipment will be organised at Pragati Maidan in
New Delhi from December 2-5. Around 200 exhibitors would
display their products. |
NEW DELHI, Nov 20 — The government today constituted an expert group to make recommendations on the proposed telecom policy and sort out pending issues relating to licences and Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). The group, with the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission as the Chairperson, will take up issues relating to the existing licensees of the basic and cellular services and suggest remedial measures within the framework of the new telecom policy. The Communications Ministry has also set up another working group to work out details of the proposed Telecom Services Board, the Chairman of the Telecom Commission, Mr Anil Kumar, told newspersons here today. The Board was being set up to separate the services arm of DoT from that of policy making. The Prime Minister had announced on October 24 that a new telecom policy would be announced within three months and issues relating to TRAI and licenses would be sorted out. Mr Kumar said the group would submit its report to the Prime Minister “as early as possible”. “The group may hold wider discussions and interaction with industry and trade as well as knowledgeable persons in the sector, both official and unofficial”, he said. The group would have 12 members including the Finance Secretary, the Law Secretary and the Telecom Secretary. The Secretary to the Prime Minister is the Member Secretary. Internet NEW DELHI, (PTI): Three years after the Internet entered the country, there are signs to suggest that it is poised to become a popular service like telephone and fax with the recent announcement of Internet policy guidelines. In just one week after the announcement of the guidelines regarding Internet service providers (ISPs) on November 6, DoT signed up as many as 12 licences with prospective national, regional and local service providers, says Mr N. Parameshwarn, Deputy Director General in charge of licences at DoT. Many of those who have signed so far are unheard entities from far away corners of the country. MTNL is the largest company to sign up so far. MTNL has decided to set up two international gateways with one each at Mumbai and Delhi to be independent of the till-date monopolistic Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited (VSNL), its Chairman and Managing Director S. Rajagopalan has said. Besides using the gateways for its own Internet service, MTNL will offer these to other regional and local service providers on a commercial basis. ‘Beauty parade’ NEW DELHI, (PTI): The government will soon select the merchant bankers for the second tranche of disinvestment in Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd (VSNL), (DoT) Secretary Anil Kumar said on Friday. The government has targeted disinvestment of VSNL within this year and the “beauty parade” for selecting merchant bankers have already begun, he told newspersons here. Asked about timing of the
issue, he said the core group on disinvestment would
decide on the exact time to hit the roads. |
Status quo on pipe laying by Rel Petro NEW DELHI, Nov 20 (PTI) — The Supreme Court has ordered the status quo on the laying of a pipeline by Reliance Petroleum Ltd through the National Marine Sanctuary to carry crude oil from the shores in Gujarat to its refinery at Vadinagar. A Division Bench comprising Justice S.P. Bharucha and Justice A.P. Mishra on November 13 ordered status quo on laying the pipeline through the sanctuary while hearing a public interest litigation alleging that this would “irreversibly damage and destroy invaluable flora and fauna.” The PIL filed by Gujarat Navodaya Mandal challenged the August 8, 1997, order of the Chief Wildlife Warden permitting Reliance Petroleum Ltd to lay pipelines to carry crude oil from ships to the petroleum refinery on the shores through areas covered under National Marine Park as well as marine sanctuary at the coast of Gulf of Kutch near Jamnagar. Counsel for the State of Gujarat submitted that the Chief Wildlife Warden will be authorised to issue a permit and the court directed that the “authorisation shall be in accordance with the requirement of Section 29 of the Wildlife Protection Act.” The bench after hearing
arguments ordered that “the status quo of November
13 shall be maintained in the areas of the sanctuary and
the national park.” |
Hit by oil
price hike LUDHIANA, Nov 20 — A hefty hike of 10 per cent in the price of furnace oil ordered by the Centre earlier this week has hit small units here. The price of furnace oil has been varying sharply for the past several months. The price per kilo litre was Rs 5050 in March, Rs 4800 in April, Rs 5050 in October and Rs 5570 during this month. After including all taxes and other charges, the price has risen by Re 1 per litre within two months, say industry sources. Punjab has a large concentration of units depending on furnace oil. All rolling mills and forging units use furnace oil. The hike has seriously affected these units in the prevailing recession. Exports by forging units may now become unviable, interestingly. The sale prices of industrial goods are going down. So any increase in the price of inputs cripples the already tottering industry. The increase in the price of furnace oil has come within a couple of days of a statement by the Petroleum Minister in Chennai that the international price of crude oil has gone down, accordingly. He had indicated that prices of diesel oil would be reduced. It is therefore, not clear why this price hike has been carried out. Small units here feel the government cares more for top industrialists. Recently the Centre had reduced Customs duty on kerosene from 30 per cent to zero per cent. The government also proposes a cess of Re 1 on diesel for the development of roads. This is also unjustified because a move is afoot to levy toll taxes on road users. The Centre plans to introduce a Bill in Parliament in the winter session to levy cess of 10 to 15 paise a unit on generation of power. This has many harsh implications for some state governments and consumers at large. The existing concept is for levying cess on consumption only. Some time ago the Himachal Assembly passed a resolution for levying a cess of 10 paise on hydro power generated in HP. The President, however, did not give assent to this proposal. Punjab gets a major share of hydro power which is generated in Himachal and the impact of this cess would have been of the order of Rs 100 crore on Punjab. Punjab is already supplying free power to farmers. This additional burden would have been passed on to the commercial sector, which is already reeling under the impact of the recent hike in the power tariff. Industry sources say that
Punjab and other States are already charging octroi on
power consumption. In Punjab, this started with 2 paise
per unit which has now been raised to 4 paise. Many State
Governments, including Punjab, are already putting the
burden of the agriculture sector on the commercial
sector. |
Companies in the dock MUMBAI, Nov 20 (PTI) — The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has received the highest number of complaints against Mahadev Corporation Ltd, Motorol India Ltd, Western Orissa Sugars Ltd, J.F. Laboratories Ltd, Western Paques (I) Ltd and Meher Dairy Ltd. These companies have over a 1,000 complaints pending with a redressal rate of less than 40 per cent, SEBI said. During the last fortnight, SEBI received 3024 grievances against 932 companies and resolved 2,762 grievances, including those brought forward from previous periods. Crisil lowers JK Corp rating MUMBAI, Nov 20 (PTI) — Crisil has downgraded the rating of JK Corp Limited’s (JKCL) Rs 616.8 million debenture programme and Rs.820.0 million partly convertible debenture programme from ‘BBB’ to ‘B’. The revised rating reflect the adverse business conditions which have affected the realisations of the company in its core businesses. This has resulted in a significant decline in profitability inspite of the improved operating efficiencies due to investments made by the company in expansions, modernisation and technology upgradation in all its businesses. Further, the capital structure and coverage ratio have been impacted adversely due to substantial losses in 1997-98 and the first half of 1998-99. The company’s future risk profile would depend upon its ability to achieve better realisation in its core businesses and strengthening of the capital structure, Crisil said. HDFC Bank ties up with visa NEW DELHI, Nov 20 (PTI) — HDFC Bank today tied-up with Visa International to participate in the latter’s global shared automatic teller machine (ATM) network in India. The arrangement enables Visa/Plus card-holders to access local currency 24 hours a day from any of the HDFC Bank AIMs, Visa International said in a press release. The tie-up would support the growth and expansion of the global Visa ATM network to provide increased convenience to our cardholders in India, said Chandra Agnihotri, Country Manager South Asia, Visa International. Indian Visa cardholders of Canara Bank, Hongkong Bank and Standard Chartered Bank can also access the HDFC Bank ATMs, Visa International said, adding that with this, the Visa shared ATM network in India had crossed 200 ATMs-mark in India. Videocon to set up 200 crore unit CALCUTTA, Nov 20 (PTI) — Videocon would set up a Rs 200 crore unit in Calcutta to manufacture its range of home appliances by four years, West Bengal Industry Minister Bidyut Ganguly said today. Ganguly told newsmen that the company, which had already taken over Philips’ Audio and Video unit at Salt Lake here, wanted land from the State Government for the purpose. Videocon Chairman also met Chief Minister Jyoti Basu. After rounds of interaction with the company. The State Government allotted the company four acres of land near the Philips factory for setting up the proposed unit, the Minister said. Sona gear unit at Gurgaon NEW DELHI, Nov 20 (PTI)
— Auto component maker Sona Okegawa Precision
Forgings Ltd (SOPF) will invest Rs 60 crore in its gear
manufacturing unit at Gurgaon, which was inaugurated
today. The unit, a joint venture between the Sona group
and Mitsubishi Materials Corporation (MMTL) of Japan,
will have an annual production capacity of 35 lakh gears
in the first phase. |
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| PAIC LUDHIANA, Nov 20 (TNS) — The Punjab Agro Industries Corporation has urged the Israel Embassy in New Delhi to organise a training programme on vegetables. This was announced here today by Mr Jagjit Singh Ghungrana, Chairman of PAIC, at a valedictory function of a training programme on “Modern technology and agronomic practices for intensive growth of fruit orchards” conducted by two Israeli experts — Cliff Lahav and Micky Noy. NBFCs Forex rates US $ Rs 42.39/40 The RBI reference rate was Rs 42.40. Gold falls Canara Bank Entrepreneurs FAI awards Rock show |
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