Mr Sukhbir Singh Badal, Union Minister of State for Industry, releases a souvenir on Indo-Japanese investment in New Delhi on Tuesday.

India & Japan to set up three working groups NEW DELHI, Aug 10 — India and Japan today agreed to set up three working groups to identify investment opportunities as also the impediments faced by Japanese investors in India.The working groups will be constituted by August 31 this year, Industries Secretary Ajit Kumar said here today.

Task forces to trace vanishing companies
NEW DELHI, Aug 10 —The Government has constituted seven task forces in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Calcutta, Ahmedabad, Bangalore and Hyderabad to identify vanishing companies in these regions.

ATM in 2 PNB branches
CHANDIGARH, Aug 10 — Punjab National Bank today started ATM facility in two of its branches — Sector 17 B & Sector 22 D, Chandigarh.

SSI to acquire US software company
Software education major SSI Limited has planned a strategic acquisition of US-based software developer Indigo International for Rs 12.06 crore, top company officials said in Chennai on Tuesday.

Konka & Hotline head for divorce?
NEW DELHI, Aug 10 — A day after the Chinese consumer electronic major Konka Electronics announced its grand entry into the Indian market, its Indian partner Hotline has decided to walk out of the joint venture.

Task forces to trace vanishing companies

NEW DELHI, Aug 10 (UNI) —The Government has constituted seven task forces in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Calcutta, Ahmedabad, Bangalore and Hyderabad to identify vanishing companies in these regions.

The Regional Directors and Regulators of companies of these regions will be conveners of the task forces. Representatives of SEBI and stock exchanges will be its members.

These task forces will be monitored by the Central Co-ordination Committee with a Secretary of the Department of Company Affairs as its Chairman.

The Department of Company Affairs has also initiated a number of steps to redress investors’ grievances and filed several petitions for non-compliance with the provisions of the Companies Act.

SEBI has forwarded a list of 80 companies which were not existing.

India & Japan to set up three working groups

NEW DELHI, Aug 10 (UNI) — India and Japan today agreed to set up three working groups to identify investment opportunities as also the impediments faced by Japanese investors in India.

The working groups, to be set up under the aegis of the Indo-Japan Investment Dialogue (IJID), will be constituted by August 31 this year, Industries Secretary Ajit Kumar said here today. The decision to this effect was arrived at the first meeting of the IJID held here today.

The working groups, comprising the business community of both nations, will submit its report to the co-chairmen by the first fortnight of January 2000.

It was also decided to set up a sub-group, under the government, to review the quarterly progress on the general issues raised during the deliberations of the working groups and listed in the record. It would also finalise the constitution and modalities of the working groups shortly and monitor its progress.

The next dialogue of the IJOD would be held in the summer of 2000 in Japan, Mr Kumar added.

A target of $ 500 million has been fixed for Japanese investment in India during the next calendar year, Minister of State for Industry Sukhbir Singh Badal said.

The human capital base, liberal policy for foreign direct investment (FDI), the biggest emerging market and positive FDI confidence index would help in achieving this target, the Minister said while inaugurating an India-Japan dialogue.

The Minister also released an investment guide in Japanese language and launched the Secretariat for Industrial Assistance (SIA) website on Japan.

Mr Arai, Japanese Vice-Minister for Industry, and Japanese Ambassador Hirabayashi were also present. Various problems facing investors were discussed during the dialogue.

ATM in 2 PNB branches
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Aug 10 — Punjab National Bank today started ATM facility in two of its branches — Sector 17 B & Sector 22 D, Chandigarh.

Mrs Veena Eagleton, Financial Commissioner, Institutional Finance and Credit Control, Haryana, inaugurated the ATM at branch office. The Sector 22 D while Mr A.K. Bhargava, GM, PNB Northern Zone, Chandigarh, inaugurated the ATM at the Sector 17 B, branch. A large number of bank customers attended the inaugural function.

Mr Bhargava said though the bank has installed two ATMs, customers of all branches of Punjab National Bank in Chandigarh City and Panchkula can also get ATM cards issued through branches where they are having accounts.

Customers of the two branches where ATMs have been installed can withdraw cash up to Rs 7,000 per day and customers of other branches can draw up to Rs 3000 per day from ATMs.

Customers can utilise an ATM for benefits like easy and 24 hour access to cash, quick service, privacy of transaction, error-free transactions and convenience of location.

Telebanking has been started at nine branches of the Northern Zone. Customers can obtain important information such as balance of their account, last five transactions over the telephone and can have a statement of the account on demand through fax.

The bank has initiated a restructuring exercise and appointed Boston Consulting Group (BCG) for organisational restructuring and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) for devising an IT architecture and MIS, Mr Bhargava added.

SSI to acquire US software company

Software education major SSI Limited has planned a strategic acquisition of US-based software developer Indigo International for Rs 12.06 crore, top company officials said in Chennai on Tuesday.

SSI officials said the deal, which was expected to be okayed by the company’s Board on August 12, would help rapidly accelerate SSI’s foray into software services market while sustaining its growth in software education and training.

Under the agreement, SSI will, acquire all shares of two non-resident Indian (NRI) promoters of Indigo International, Chandra Balaraman and Sashi Chimala in exchange of equity shares of SSI which would be issued on a preferential basis.

The resultant dilution in SSI’s equity will be about 2 per cent and the city-based firm will merge the subsidiaries of Indigo International at Chennai and in California after obtaining requisite approvals, the sources said.

Prima Plastics has announced a dividend of 25 per cent for the year ended March 31, 1999. Gross sales at Rs 53.22 crore registered an increase of 21 per cent over Rs 44.17 crore for the corresponding period of last year. Gross profit stood at Rs 12.78 crore lakh against Rs 11.39 crore and the net profit registered a 3 per cent increase to Rs 9.73 crore from Rs 9.46 crore.

Nahar Exports’ net profit has increased to Rs 6.04 crore in the first quarter of the current fiscal as against Rs 2.41 crore in the corresponding period last year. Sales of the company increased to Rs 104.74 crore during the period compared to Rs 76.18 crore in the first quarter of last year. While the exports turnover increased from Rs 35.42 crore to Rs 56.24 crore.

Tata Mutual Fund has declared a 10 per cent tax-free dividend on its Core Sector Equity Fund (CSEF). CSEF was converted into an open ended fund last week and has a net asset value of Rs 13.12. The fund is a “permitted security” as declared by the Maharashtra Government for investments by Public, Religious and Charitable Trusts.

Kothari Pioneer Mutual Fund has announced a 20 per cent tax-free dividend in prima plus. Prima plus has delivered exceptional performance of over 32 per cent compounded growth over the last three years, Chief Executive of the company said here today.

Sree Krishna Polyester Ltd declared a dividend of 18 per cent for the year ended March 1999, during which period it posted a net profit of Rs 70.19 crore on net sales of Rs 538.08 crore. SKPL bucked the recessionary trends prevailing in textile sector by posting a 21.6 per cent rise in the net profit for the quarter ended June, 1999, at Rs 24.58 crore — Agencies

Have drugs — veg or non-veg?

HYDERABAD, Aug 10 (PTI) — Drugs sold in chemists’ shops will have to be labelled vegetarian or non-vegetarian under a Government order. Medicines containing substances of animal origin will carry the “non-veg” label.

The recent order that emanated from Maneka Gandhi’s Ministry of Social Justice also bans the use of animal haemoglobin in iron tonics, and gelatin capsules made from bones. Every capsule now available in India and all over the world is made from dog bones.

Under the new order, capsules can be made only from plant-derived gelatin. Pharmacologists say this will increase the price of capsule by four-to-six times.

Banning the use of animal haemoglobin will have a serious impact, especially on the health care of pregnant women, 50 per cent of whom are considered anaemic, doctors say.

Animal haemoglobin raises the iron level instantly, said a biochemist. Under the latest order, the animal haemoglobin must be replaced by synthetic iron which, according to pharmacologists, is not easily absorbed.

Under the order, Drug Inspectors have been asked to inspect chemists’shops and remove iron tonics containing animal haemoglobin.

Helpless victim of monkey business

HYDERABAD, Aug 10 (PTI) — Caught in the crossfire between two government agencies, Shantha Biotech Limited here has planned to sue the Government for Rs 100 crore in damages.“Our company is the helpless victim of a fight between the Animal Welfare Board and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) which has led to delay in the introduction of our drug into the market,” company Director Kalil Ahmed told PTI.

The firm has indigenously developed “alpha-interferon”, a life saving drug against cancer. It was being tested in animals at the National Centre for Laboratory Animal Sciences (NCLAS) — one of the institute under the ICMR — since January, 1999 under contract between the ICMR and Shantha Biotech.

Trouble started yesterday when Blue Cross, a non-governmental organisation, took away all the 48 monkeys in NCLAS, including the 34 monkeys the laboratory had specially procured three months ago for testing the alpha-interferon.

Ahmed said that according to the contract with the ICMR, the tests are to be completed by December, 1999. “Now with the monkeys gone, I do not know what is going to happen,” he said.

The company has already paid the ICMR Rs 25 lakh or about half the contracted amount. NCLAS Director Kamala Krishnaswami said the ICMR is committed to complete the animal trials but declined to say what the ICMR will do next.

A spokesperson for Blue Cross said the monkeys were removed under orders from a committee chaired by Maneka Gandhi which claimed the monkeys were treated badly, but NCLAS denies this.

Konka & Hotline head for divorce?

NEW DELHI, Aug 10 (PTI) — A day after the Chinese consumer electronic major Konka Electronics announced its grand entry into the Indian market, its Indian partner Hotline has decided to walk out of the joint venture.

The Hotline group of companies, which holds 25 per cent in the venture, cited differences with the Chinese company on management control, a senior manager of the company said, today but Konka denied any such development.

“The equity tie-up is off as Hotline did not have any say in the functioning of the company and we were not comfortable with the management, sources said.

They said that it was the practice of Hotline to insist on their say in management in all the joint ventures. However, in Konka Electronics, the management control was with the Chinese company.

Forex
US $ Rs 43.42/43
Stg £ Rs 70.11/13
Euro Rs 46.71/74
Jap yen (100) Rs 37.83/85

Godrej Agrovet
CHANDIGARH, Aug 10 (TNS) — Godrej Agrovet Limited engaged in agricultural technology products, has been awarded the patent for a revolutionary new technology for commercially manufacturing a new kind of plant growth promoter, using the “Brassinolides” class of plant growth hormones which is claimed to significantly increase the yield from crops, according to Dr S.L. Anaokar, Managing Director.

Sprite in Punjab
CHANDIGARH, Aug 10 (TNS) — Coca-Cola India launched its soft drink Sprite in Punjab today. Sprite will be available in 300-ml glass bottles, 330-ml cans and 1.5 litre PET bottles. A 10-day promotional programme is being organised in Chandigarh, Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Amritsar. A decorative Sprite truck backed by music and cheerleader girls distributing Sprite samples will move through the mainstreets of these cities.

Engine oils
LUDHIANA, Aug 10 (FOC) — Indo Mobil Limited launched its Mobil Delvac range of diesel engine oils here today. The oils cost Rs 74 to Rs 106 per litre.

Jet Airways
NEW DELHI, Aug 10 (TNS) —Jet Airways have announced that passengers travelling in both business and economy class will get discounts ranging from 20 to 50 per cent on room rates in many of the leading hotels at 30 locations where the carrier operates its flights.