India to face food crisis: Worldwatch WASHINGTON, Sept 28 — India is likely to face food, water shortage as its population is set to increase to a phenomenal 1,535 million by 2050 making it the most populous nation on earth, according to a Worldwatch Institute report.

Oriental Insurance to pay 60 pc dividend
NEW DELHI, Sept 28 — Oriental Insurance today declared an all time high dividend of 60 per cent for 1997-98 against 45 per cent in the previous year.
Improve CD ratio: Jain
CHANDIGARH, Sept 28 — Mr L.M. Jain, Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister, Haryana today called for effective coordination between banks and the government both at the district and State levels.
Warehousing Corp earns record profit
CHANDIGARH, Sept 28 — Haryana Warehousing Corporation has achieved the highest-ever turnover of Rs 3,546.12 lakh during 1997-98 registering an increase of 76.5 per cent over the turnover of Rs 2,008.93 lakh in the previous year.
Impose farm tax, IMF tells government
The IMF has indicated that it would reactivate the defunct ESAF/EFF by increasing the assistance from $ 1.5 billion to about $ 5 billion provided Pakistan agrees to impose farm tax and raise power tariffs.
Pharma shares shine
MUMBAI, Sept 28 — Share prices suffered a mild setback and sensex declined by 16.65 points on BSE here today on late profit taking and fresh selling pressure by domestic funds.

Largest post-war corporate failure in Japan

TOKYO, Sept 28 (AFP) — An affiliate of the troubled Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan Ltd (LTCB) has collapsed in Japan’s largest post-war corporate failure, officials said today.

Japan Leasing Corp., the country’s second largest leasing firm, said it failed for rehabilitation at the Tokyo district country last night with liabilities worth 2,180 billion yen ($ 16.1 billion).

“We concluded that we had no choice but to give up hopes of rebuilding the company on our own as we lost the prospect of gaining agreements from our creditor banks for our restructuring plans,” the firm’s President Hiroaki Okamoto told a news conference.

“We apologise for causing this situation. We hope to repay as many of our loans as possible to our creditors under court supervision from now on,” he said.

The company fell victim to the collapse of speculative investment boom of the late 1980s and the crisis at LTCB.

The failure eclipses the 1,187 billion yen in liabilities left by Crown Leasing Co., which went under in April last year along with two other leasing firms affiliated to Nippon Credit Bank Ltd.

Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi asked the public and investors to keep calm.

“The government will be sure to take prudent measures for the financial sector stability,” the Premier told reporters.

India to face food crisis: Worldwatch

WASHINGTON, Sept 28 (PTI) — India is likely to face food, water shortage as its population is set to increase to a phenomenal 1,535 million by 2050 making it the most populous nation on earth, according to a Worldwatch Institute report.

The 89-page report, titled “Beyond Malthus,” by Lester Brown, projects India’s population to increase to 1,535 million against China’s 1,517 million by 2050 AD from the present figure of 976 million against China’s 1,255 million.

Pakistan, whose population is now 148 million, making it the sixth largest in the world, will become the third largest in 2050 with a population of 357 million.

It says the population explosion is certain to be checked. The issue is only whether it will come about by design or through disease and death.

If that is allowed to happen, says Worldwatch, India, Pakistan and some other countries like Ethiopia, Iran and Nigeria will have grainland of less than one-tenth of a hectare by 2050.

India’s grain availability is less than 200 kg a year against China’s 300 kg. Pakistan’s peaked at 186 kg in 1981 and it has since then been declining at 1 per cent a year.

Himachal Futuristic Comm expects
Rs 300 cr turnover
From Our Correspondent

SOLAN, Sept 28 — Union Communications Minister Sushma Swaraj will shortly set up a special task force comprising two representatives of the telecom industry and two from DoT for evolving procedures to rationalise DoT procurement policies, according to Mr R.M. Kastia, Managing Director of Himachal Futuristic Communications Ltd.

Addressing the annual general meeting of the company here today, Mr Kastia said that the above measures along with the various control and relief measures contained in this year’s Budget were expected to rejuvenate the industry, which had been experiencing recession for the last two years.

He said HFCL had bagged turnkey projects worth about Rs 600 crore and hoped to record a turnover of Rs 300 crore this year. The balance orders of turnkey projects would be executed next year.

HFCL had also acquired technology for the manufacture of “fibre in local loop system”, which was the new access product of the future. Some orders for this equipment had already been obtained from DoT.

In spite of demand slowdown, HFCL has managed to post profits after taxation of Rs 14.29 crore last year.

He announced that the company would be paying a dividend of 7 per cent on equity shares, 12 per cent and 13.6 per cent on the two categories of preference sahres.

Bogged down by bureaucratic delays

BANGALORE, Sept 28 (UNI) — Political and bureaucratic interferences have bogged down projects worth Rs 1,30,000 crore, leading to a heavy outgo of interest with the country getting a “black tag “ in the international arena, Union Commerce Minister Ramakrishna Hegde said today.

Inaugurating the first ever cargo centre for perishables in the south built at a cost of Rs 2.50 crore at the airport here, he said NRIs and foreign investors were losing faith in India. If the “black cloud” was to clear, it was necessary for the government and officials to ensure completion of projects within the stipulated time.

Mr Hegde said thousands of crores of rupees were being paid as interest due to the delay.

Moreover, the project estimates had been going up following escalation and revision of such projects several times, leading to further delay, which made them unviable, he added.

China starts crackdown

BEIJING, Sept 28 (PTI) — China today announced a series of measures to check increased speculation on its currency, the Yuan, and prevent evasion of foreign exchange payments, official reports here said.

The Government ordered strict control on the scale of foreign loans, better administration of foreign exchange in capital accounts and tightening of rules on financial and foreign exchange institutions to prevent evasion of foreign exchange payments, the official China daily said in a report quoting an order from the state council.

Oriental Insurance to pay 60 pc dividend

NEW DELHI, Sept 28 (PTI) — Oriental Insurance today declared an all time high dividend of 60 per cent for 1997-98 against 45 per cent in the previous year. The company’s net profit after tax increased to Rs 153.87 crore as against Rs 91.42 crore in the previous year, registering a jump of 68 per cent, Mr S.N. Mathur, Chairman and Managing Director, told reporters. The company plans to enter into personal insurance. “We have selected two districts — Sabarakantha in Gujarat and Chandigarh — where we intend to put intensive efforts on a pilot basis in selling of personal and rural insurance policies,” Mathur said.

Improve CD ratio: Jain
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Sept 28 — Mr L.M. Jain, Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister, Haryana today called for effective coordination between banks and the government both at the district and State levels.

Addressing the 67th meeting of the State Level Bankers Committee, Haryana, convened by Punjab National Bank here, Mr Jain called upon the banks to look into ways of improving the C.D. ratio in Haryana. He assured the bankers full support in improving the recovery of bank dues.

Mr K.R. Chabria, Executive Director, PNB, said the rural sector cannot merely rely on the budgetary allocations. The financial institutions have to play a vital role in the flow of credit to the agriculture sector.

Explaining the kisan credit cards scheme, he said PNB is giving a lot of thrust on its implementation in U.P., Haryana and Punjab.

With the active coordination of the State development agencies and the bankers, Haryana’s foodgrain production has significantly increased.

Apart from dairy, poultry, plantation and horticulture, the banks should develop fisheries , mushroom farming, floriculture, apiculture etc.

Expressing concern over the low recovery of advances, Mr Chabria said a special drive has to be initiated with the help of the district administration and the sponsoring agencies to speed up recovery.

Mrs Sudha Sharma, Commissioner & Secretary, Institutional Finance & Credit Control, Haryana, Mr S.K. Awasthi, Mr R.P. Gupta, General Mangers, PNB, Mr S.S. Dhillon, Director, Institutional Finance & Credit Control, Haryana and Mr S.K. Gupta, General Manager, RBI, were among those who attended the meeting.

Warehousing Corp earns record profit
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Sept 28 — Haryana Warehousing Corporation has achieved the highest-ever turnover of Rs 3,546.12 lakh during 1997-98 registering an increase of 76.5 per cent over the turnover of Rs 2,008.93 lakh in the previous year. The corporation has earned a record profit of Rs 2,186 lakh in 1997-98 a leap of 143 per cent over the previous year. The shareholders will receive a dividend of 10 per cent amounting to Rs 58.41 lakh for 1997-98. The employees will be paid bonus at the maximum statutory limit of 20 per cent.

An inland container depot with rail terminal facilities is under construction at Rewari and the facilities would be commissioned by the end of March, 1999. However, a make-shift ICD would start functioning soon, said Mr R.L. Kataria, Chairman, in a statement here today.

Impose farm tax,IMF tells govt

The IMF has indicated that it would reactivate the defunct ESAF/EFF by increasing the assistance from $ 1.5 billion to about $ 5 billion provided Pakistan agrees to impose farm tax and raise power tariffs. An IMF team recently in Islamabad had asked the Sharif government to immediately increase power tariffs by 15 per cent, withdraw all kinds of exemptions and subsidies and levy agriculture tax in all the four provinces. — ANI

Bailout
Ruling out the possibility to accept tough IMF conditions, Pakistan has sought a $ 5 billion bailout package from international lending agencies, including the IMF, the World Bank and Asian Development Bank. To hammer out a consensus accord covering all policy issues Pakistan and the IMF will hold a second round of talks in Washington from October 2. — ANI

Most powerful

Five Pakistani banking wizards are among the world’s 600 most powerful men who influence financial markets. State Bank of Pakistan Governor Mohammad Yaqub, Habib Bank President Shaukat Tareen, National Assembly Speaker Fllahi Soomro, UBS Securities President Iqbal Hasan and Faysal Bank President Munir Kamal have been identified by the Global Finance magazine as the most powerful Pakistanis in its recent survey. — ANI

Corruption

The World Bank, which has been closely monitoring corruption in Pakistan, has detected 45 bank-assisted schemes as problem projects.

The bank’s annual report gives two specific examples of how corruption and political interference in staff appointments was curbed by the World Bank in Pakistan.

In one project approval of additional civil works was made contingent upon removal of non-qualified staff. —ANI

Pharma shares shine

MUMBAI, Sept 28 (PTI) — Share prices suffered a mild setback and sensex declined by 16.65 points on BSE here today on late profit taking and fresh selling pressure by domestic funds.

Lower than expected carryforward charges of 18 per cent per annum at the turn of settlement attracted fresh buying at the start of the new account.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIS) were buyers of Castrol, Ranbaxy and German Remedies in early trading. The domestic funds and institutions cornered shares of Mah & Mah, Corp bank and NIIT as sensex spurted to 3265.72 from the opening 3257.99.

However, new settlement being of short duration, operators resorted to heavy selling whereby the sensex reversed the trend and closed at 3206.92, showing a loss of 16.65 points from the previous close of 3223.57.

The BSE-100 closed lower at 1422.45, with a loss of 2.27 from the previous close of 1424.72. The BSE-200 ended lower at 329.24 and Dollex at 128.89 from the last close of 329.28 and 128.96 respectively.

Pharmaceuticals shares were in limelight with Glaxo, Nestle, Ranbaxy, Cummins Ind, Knoll Phrma, Nocil, Pfizer, Rhone Poule, Smithk Pharma and Wockhardt showing substantial gains on heavy purchases. However, these scrips failed to lift the index as heavy selling in Bajaj Auto, ITC, MNTL and SBI wiped out the gains.

Five scrips, Thomas Cook, Siemens, Zee Tele, Titan and Nocil were put on circuit breaker on excessive fluctuations.

The total turnover on the Bolt system was Rs 1483.42 crore, Satyam Computers was the leader with a turnover of Rs 264.41 crore followed by ITC with Rs 249.92 crore, Zee Tele Rs 144.73 crore, Pentafour Softwares Rs 141.17 crore and SBI Rs 71.47 crore.

Satyam Computers gained by 20.50 to 571, Zee Tele by 53.50 to 723.75 and Pentafour Software by 10.75 to 738. ITC dropped by 8.50 to 702.25 and SBI by 3.40 to 207.60.

GAIL to disinvest 20 per cent equity
NEW DELHI, Sept 28 (UNI) — Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL) has decided to disinvest 20 per cent equity soon and the actual date of selling shares would be fixed after consulting core committee of the government. Chairman and Management Director of the company C.R. Prasad told reporters that the shares of the company would be sold through GDR and domestic route as well as private placement to financial institution. Meanwhile, the company reported substantial increase in the sales and profits during the last financial year and declared a dividend of 20 per cent as against 15 per cent in the previous year. The company sales increased to Rs 5,736 crore in 1997-98 as against Rs 4,541 crore in 1996-97. Profits after tax jumped to Rs 1,020 crore from Rs 620 crore in the previous year. Mr Prasad said the company expected to increase its turnover to over Rs 7,000 crore in current financial while profits mights be at the same level of last year.

Mitsui Babcock-Mukand jv
Tribune News Service
NEW DELHI, Sept 28 - Mitsui Babcock Energy (India) Private Limited (MBEPL) has announced a joint venture with Mukand Limited for supplying of coal pulverising equipment and spares to the Indian market. Mukand Limited will provide the infrastructure while MBEPL will provide the technology in the 50:50 joint venture. The joint venture called Mukand Babcock is targeting the existing power generators for mill replacement packages to recover lost output due to coal deterioration and mill upgradation. Announcing the jv here today, the CEO of MBEIPL, Mr Ross MacDonald said that the quality of Indian coal demands coal pulverising and handling systems . Indian coal has very high ash and moisture content which is the main cause of low plant load factors(PLF).

Court rejects Piaggio plea
KANPUR, Sept 28 (PTI) — Piaggio today suffered a setback in its legal battle with LML’s Singhanias when a city civil judge rejected its plea for transferring the case to the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), Singapore. Senior Civil Judge A.K. Jain stated in his 27-page order that there was no cause for transferring the case to the ICC which cropped up after the Singhanias moved the court to acquire the share of the Italian company in the joint venture.

JK Paper, Arjo Wiggins tie up
NEW DELHI, Sept 28 (PTI) — JK Paper has tied up with Arjo Wiggins Fine Paper of the USA to market the entire range of Wiggins products in the country. JK Paper will first launch the world’s global paper brand, Conqueror, followed by ‘Countryside’, ‘Connoisseur’ and ‘Sensation’ in the country.

Arvind Mills
Tribune News Service
CHANDIGARH, Sept 28 — Arvind Mills Ltd will manufacture 1.5 million wrinkle-free cotton pants per annuam at its Bangolare plant. These 100 per cent cotton pants are available in 10 shades priced at Rs 599 only.

Office-bearers
Tribune News Service
CHANDIGARH, Sept 28 — The following have been elected office-bearers of the Chandigarh Corrugated Box Manufacturers & Allied Traders Association: president — Rajinder Singh, sr. vice-president — J.K. Kamal Malhotra, general secretary — N.S. Gill, joint-secretary — Tejinder Singh and treasurer — N. Mittal.

Bank of Punjab
Tribune News Service
CHANDIGARH, Sept 28 — Matiz, a small car from Daewoo Motors, which is in the process of being launched will be displayed for the general public at the Bank of Punjab lawns in Sector 9-D, here tomorrow from 9 a.m. to 12 noon.

Whirlpool
Tribune News Service
CHANDIGARH, Sept 28 — Whirlpool of India Ltd has entered into an agreement with the faculty of management studies, Delhi, to conduct Whirlpool series of lectures on topics relating to sales & distribution, brand management, after-sales service & advertising.

Forex rates
MUMBAI, Sept 28 (PTI) — The following were interbank forex and RBI rates (in rupees)
U.S. $ Rs 42.50/52 Sterling £ Rs 72.36/38
Deutsche Mark Rs 25.22/24
Jap Yen (100) Rs 31.19/21
The RBI reference rate was Rs 42.53.

Gold firm
NEW DELHI, Sept 28 (PTI) — Gold prices moved up on the bullion market today in scattered small deals and closed with gains while silver declined moderately on lack of support. The quotations: Silver ready 7665, delivery 7665, coins buyer 11,000 and seller 11,200. Standard gold 4340, ornaments 4190 and sovereign 3600.

Commodities
From Our Correspondent
CHANDIGARH: Wheat 590 to 595, dara 590 to 592, superior 600 to 605, maize 470 to 590, sarson 1750 to 1800, taramira 1500 to 1600, paddy (106) 500 to 510, pr-103 450 to 475, ricebasmati 2800 to 5000, parmal 850 to 1150, sella 850 to 1150, maida ( per bag 90 kg) 660, suji 700, atta 620, urd 1500 to 1800, urd-dal 1600 to 1800, moong 1800 to 2100, moongdal 2000 to 2250, moongdhuli 2400 to 2800, masoor 1900 to 2250, dalmasoor 2000 to 2200, kabli channa 2500 to 3000, kalachanna 1500 to 1750, malkamasoor 2200 to 3500, arhar 2800 to 3200, rajmashchitra 2800 to 3500. Sugar: M-grade 1515 to 1540, S-grade 1470 to 1500, khandsari 1500 to 1550, gurkhurpa 1200 to 1250.