Wednesday, December 8, 1999
spotlighttoday's calendar
|
B U S I N E S S | Wednesday, December 8, 1999 |
| weatherspotlight today's calendar |
|
|
Government may allow FDI
in print media
|
|
IT World ’99 begins
today Stay against VLCC vacated Exporters honoured
|
||||||
  |
|||||||
Government
may allow FDI in print media NEW DELHI, Dec 7 — The government is considering to allow foreign investment in the print media in the country, the Information and Broadcasting Secretary, Mr Y N Chaturvedi, said here today. “ There is a consensus now on the need to loosen restrictions on allowing investments by foreign companies in the domestic print media and the issue will come up before the Government during the next few weeks,” Mr Chaturvedi said while speaking at a session on “Entertainment and Media” at the India Economic Summit organised by the CII here. Disclosing that the proposal faced less opposition from political parties and more from the print media itself, he said that the Government had more than once considered the proposal of allowing foreign investment in the print media sector in the past. Expressing the hope that a “more opened-up policy” for the print media could be evolved,the I&B Secretary said that the decision to ban foreign media in the country was taken as the domestic print media was at its infancy. “However, the situation has changed now as the domestic companies in the print media are on a stronger foot,”. India had banned the entry of foreign print media and investment by foreign companies in 1955 through a Cabinet decision. Mr Chaturvedi also said that the Government is considering to reintroduce a draft Broadcasting Bill in Parliament during the Budget session to encourage greater private sector participation . The “Government is taking another look at the 1997 Broadcasting Bill in an effort to loosen restrictive provisions in it and the new Bill could be introduced in Parliament in the Budget session if the Cabinet approves it in time”,. . He clarified that private companies could enter the terrestrial broadcasting subject to the existing guidelines and regulations applicable to the broadcasters. The Secretary said that FM broadcasting in radio had already opened to 100 private parties in 40 and this number may go up to 500 channels. Discovery Channel India Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Kiran Karnik said a pro-active government towards foreign direct investment would result in a huge inflow in the domestic broadcasting industry. “Despite the boom
witnessed in recent times in the cable and satellite
segment, lack of large-scale investment is impeding
further growth in these sectors,” he said. |
|
NEW YORK, Dec 7 (AP) — IBM is seeking to unlock the secrets of the human body with a supercomputer 1,000 times more powerful than the chess-playing Deep Blue.IBM yesterday said it will build a computer called Blue Gene to solve the mysteries of how proteins, the workhorse molecules and building blocks of the body, get their shape. Paul Horn, Senior Vice-President of research at IBM, said such a computer could provide crucial understanding of severe diseases like hepatitis and AIDS. IBM expects it will take up to five years and $100 million to build the computer, which will be a million times faster than the mathematical operations per second, 500 times more than the fastest computer today. Stan Burt, a researcher in computational biology at the National Cancer Institute in Fredrick, Marryland, said: “Many diseases can be traced back to problems involving proteins.” High blood pressure and the common cold are examples. Knowing the structure of the proteins involved could allow scientists to tailor drugs to lock on to the proteins and block them or change their function, he said. Proteins are strings
that fold into complex shapes. The shape largely
determines how the protein works in the body, whether it
transports oxygen in the blood, like haemoglobin, or
breaks up molecules of fat to digest food. |
Small
units protest SC order NEW DELHI, Dec 07 — More than one lakh owners of small scale industrial units are protesting against the Supreme Court order to relocate units operating in non-conformity zones as the December 31 deadline nears. The Chairman of Laghu Udyog Sangharsh, Mr Vishwa Mittra Bahl, told reporters that they would stage a dharna at Rajghat on December 10 in support of their demands. According to a Supreme Court order on September 9 this year, factories located in residential areas of Delhi are to be relocated by December 31, failing which the court would direct closure of such units. The Sangharsh Samiti
demanded declaration of areas where more than 60 per cent
is being used for industrial purposes as industrial areas
and revision of the master plan. |
|
NEW DELHI, Dec 7 (UNI, TNS) — More than 150 Indian and foreign companies will take part in the four-day IT World’99/Comdex India which gets underway here from tomorrow to throw light on the technologies illuminating the milestones to be achieved in the coming millennium. Business India Exhibitions (BIE), organisers of the show, Vice-President Navin Kriplani told reporters here today that for the first time the floor space at the exhibition has been segmented into distinct focus areas which include Internet pavilion, the infrastructure for IT pavilion, the newly developed web spot and a special area for country pavilions. Some of the countries participating in this year’s exposition are Britain, Australia, Hong Kong, Taiwan and the USA. The Internet pavilion will feature Internet service providers (ISPs), e-business solution providers, web enabled enterprise solutions, value added services, brokering sites, content development and maintenance services, as well as some of the latest advances in the world of Internet. The “Father of the
Internet”, Mr Vinton G. Cerf, is coming to India to
address the “Convergence India ’99” show
being held here from tomorrow. |
|
NEW DELHI, Dec 7 (PTI) — The Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission (MRTPC) has acted the stay order against Vandana Luthra’s Curls and Curves (VLCC) restraining it to administer and advertise obesity treatment. Vacating the ex-parte interim order issued by the commission last week, MRTPC Chairman A.N. Divecha said: “The respondents (VLCC) had no opportunity of say in the matter as they did not know the date of hearing with respect to the interim relief application moved by and on behalf of the complainant in this proceeding.” VLCC, which filed an application before the MRTPC to vacate the interim relief order issued against it, said it was not intimated the date of hearing of the interim relief application. Acting on a complaint, the Commission had granted an ex-parte interim relief on November 26 and directed VLCC not to publicise and administer obesity treatment that involves use of ultra violet rays. The commission had also
not asked the complainant to give intimation to VLCC
about the date of hearing fixed on November 26th, the
order said, adding: “This was certainly a lapse on
the part of this commission”. |
Exporters
honoured CHANDIGARH, Dec 7 — Canara Bank organised an exporters’ meet at Ludhiana yesterday in which over 90 leading exporters from Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh participated. The dignitaries present included K Vijayaraghavan, Regional Director, RBI, Chandigarh; Sandeep Mukherjee, Asstt General Manager of the Export Credit and Guarantee Corporation (ECGC); B.V. Kamath, General Manager, Canara Bank, Bangalore; K. Raghunath, General Manager, Canara Bank, Chandigarh Circle and Mr V.G. Prabhu, Deputy General Manager, Canara Bank, Mumbai. The bank awarded
trophies for excellent export performance to Vardhman
Polytex, Nahar Industrial Enterprises, Nahar Exports,
Winsome Yarns, Rana Polycot and Lakshmi Precision Screws. |
Sterlite offered stake in India Foils CALCUTTA, Dec 7 (PTI) — After an abortive bid to sell off India Foils Limited (IFL) to Hindalco, the Khaitans of the Williamson Magor group have decided to offer controlling stake to the promoters of the Sterlite group. The board of IFL, which met here today to decide on the sale, has also convened a meeting of shareholders on December 31 for approval, and the proposed issue would be through a mix of equity and warrants. This would result in the Sterlite group controlling 55 per cent of enhanced IFL equity. According to a company spokesman, the valuation of IFL equity as per SEBI guidelines was approximately Rs 23.50 per share. The sale proceeds, which would nearly amount to Rs 50 crore, would be utilised to retire IFL’s high-cost debt, augment working capital and meet capital expenditure for raising production. IFL was currently facing a staggering debt burden of Rs 290 crore, with interest payments amounting to Rs 48.50 crore annually. After the proposed issue, Williamson Magor holdings in IFL were expected to reduce to about 27 per cent from current levels of 60 per cent. Commenting upon the sale, the Chairman of IFL, Deepak Khaitan, said the Williamson Magor group had been trying hard to find a suitable partner for the last two years. The sale was in line with McKinsey’s recommendations that the group should stick to its core businesses, tea and battery. IFL, which is primarily a manufacturer of aluminium foils, will be integrated with Sterlite, a metal producer. Khaitan said this would add more value to IFL shareholders. SRF: SRF Limited has tied up with Bharti BT, the VSAT Services Company, to inter-link its business operations around the country on a wide area network based on VSATs (very small aperture terminals) adds UNI. The network will help SRF deploy Oracle applications and an MS exchange-based messaging system. It will also be used for transmitting data and voice across multiple locations. Digital
Equipment: Digital Equipment has set a revenue
target of Rs 500 crore by 2003 with a major share coming
from exports to its global partner Compaq, a top company
official said. “We are in the restructuring process
after the recent merger with Compaq globally and have set
up a target of Rs 500 crore by year 2003 through software
export. |
| H |
|
||
| Bullion Gold Std. Rs 4370 Gold 22-Ct Rs 4220 Silver Ready Rs 7785 Silver delivery Rs 7810 Forex SBP branch Rice millers Tanishq SBI branch |
 |
 |
| 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 | |
