Saturday, December 11, 1999
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B U S I N E S S | Saturday, December 11, 1999 |
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PM floats IT venture fund Star, Zee export ad money? Industry grows 6.9 per cent New Maruti car below Zen soon
Andhra Bank growth jumps by 33 pc ‘Promote tourism, save
culture too’ |
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PM floats
IT venture fund NEW DELHI, Dec 10 — The much awaited Rs 100 crore National Venture Fund for Software and Information Technology (IT) industry was launched today by the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee. Assuring the industry that the fund would not be run in a “bureaucratic” manner, Mr Vajpayee said that the fund has been created to help in the growth of world class IT enterprises in Indian soil. The fund was initiative in an “ unchartered “ territory, the Prime Minister said while calling upon promoters to adopt best international practices in managing the fund. The fund, whose launch was long awaited by the industry, has already generated a lot of interest and even before its formal launch, as many as 30 applications amounting to Rs 136 crore had been received from IT companies. The Union Finance Minister, Mr Yashwant Sinha, who spoke during the launch ceremony said that the size of the fund would be expanded “ as we go along”. Mr Sinha said the Government would also announce a national policy on competition by putting in place a suitable legislation later. The Minister for Information Technology, Mr Pramod Mahajan said the idea behind the formation of the IT ministry was facilitate rapid growth of the sector in the country “We are here to welcome IT companies to start units in the country with red carpet and certainly not with red tape”, Mr Mahajan said.The efforts of the Ministry would be to ensure that competent software professionals continued to remain in the country instead of migrating to other places.The creation of the fund was only a “ small step” in the ambitious journey to make India and IT superpower. Mr Vajpayee, who met a
delegation of Indus Entrepreneurs group of Silicon Valley
in the USA, said that “ they have progressed beyond
the traditional concept of venture capital into a
superior idea of angel funds”. |
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NEW DELHI, Dec 10 (UNI) — The Delhi High Court has issued notices to Star, Sony and Zee television companies in a case relating to the violation of foreign exchange regulations.The court also directed the enforcement directorate and the chairman of the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) to reply on a PIL petition filed by advocate Ajay Jain. A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice S.N. Variava and Justice S.K. Mahajan gave time until January 24, 2000, for their response. The petition alleged that several foreign satellite channels, which are beamed across the country, have uplinking from foreign soils and are owned by foreign entities. They are collecting advertisements through their Indian counterparts and thus transferring huge amounts of money to foreign entities in gross violation of Section 8 C (2) of the Exchange Control Manual. The petition was filed under Section 226 of the Indian Constitution regarding the violation of various provisions of foreign exchange regulation laws and consequent substantial loss of foreign exchange and revenue to the country. CBDT advocate R.D. Jolly said investigations against these channels are underway. The respondents in this
case are News Television India Pvt Ltd, the parent
company of Star TV, Sony Entertainment Television India
Pvt Ltd and Zee Telefilms Ltd. |
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NEW DELHI, Dec 10 (PTI) — Fuelled by continued buoyancy in electricity and manufacturing sectors, Indian industry grew by an impressive 6.9 per cent during the first seven months of the current fiscal compared to 3.4 per cent during the same period last year. The power sector alone posted a 8.1 per cent growth in the April-October period compared to 6.3 per cent in the corresponding period last year, while the manufacturing sector which was at a meagre 3.5 per cent during 1998-99 posted an impressive 7.5 per cent growth in the current fiscal. As per the quick estimates Index of Industrial Production (IIP) data released by the Government, the industrial output spurted by 8.7 per cent in October alone as against zero per cent in the same month last year. The mining sector continued to show a negative growth rate during the month of October at 1.7 per cent compared to a negative 0.9 per cent in the same month 1998-99. The cumulative growth in
the mining sector for the first seven months of the
current financial year improved to show a positive 0.2
per cent growth compared to a negative 0.4 per cent in
the corresponding period last year. |
New Maruti
car below Zen soon CHANDIGARH, Dec 10 — Maruti Udyog Limited will introduce a new small car and position it above Maruti 800 and below Zen, besides launching Wagon-R later this month. This was announced by Mr J. Sugimori, MUL’s Marketing and Sales Director, at a press conference here today. Mr Sugimori, who was here to launch Baleno, ruled out any plan to phase out MUL’s bread and butter Maruti 800 car. Baleno, fitted with a 1600 cc, 16 valve smart-I engine with multi-point fuel injection, will cost Rs 6.65 lakh (ex-showroom) in Chandigarh. With sales and profits slowing down, how does MUL propose to face growing competition? Mr Sugimori said for Maruti Udyog competition has just started. “Our monopoly position has come to an end. We are launching new models and upgrading technology”. Asked if the Government of India, which is a 50 per cent partner in MUL, spare enough resources to fund the company’s growth plans, Mr Sugimori said investments will be made from profits made by MUL over the years. Interestingly, none of the MUL officials present knew the meaning of “Baleno”, the car’s international brand launched in 1995. In Japan the car is sold under a different name. Baleno, upgraded for Indian road conditions, faces competition from Honda City, Lancer and Opel Astra. MUL hopes to sell 500 to
600 Baleno cars by this fiscal end. One Baleno car has
already been sold in Chandigarh, said Mr S.Ravichandran,
MUL Regional Manager. |
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NEW DELHI, Dec 10 (PTI) — What precaution will Richard Branson, the high-flying Chairman of Virgin Atlantic, take to ensure that the flamboyant ways of operating flights with over 300 masseusers does not create a scare of AIDS in India? “We have a condom company,” was Branson’s answer to a pointed question by a journalist at his first press conference here. An amused Branson said he was not a playboy as was perceived to be in the sub-continent but added “I enjoy my life any way.” The majority shareholder of the $ 4 billion Virgin empire said he was thrilled by the traditional welcome he was accorded at the hotel here. “Nothing great like this to match my welcome here today,” said Branson, who was taken from the entrance of Hotel Le Meridien on a caparisoned elephant accompanied by bandmen dressed in red uniform. Branson also posed with his female crew members and fed the elephant bananas and sugarcane to the delight of scores of photographers who clicked away gleefully. Branson, who signed a code-sharing agreement with national air carrier Air India to operate to and from London thrice a week, quipped that the new development was bound to cause sleepless nights to its rival carrier British Airways. “BA is certain to be worried and we can give them a real run for their money in the area,” the Virgin chief said, adding that the group was hopeful of bagging an enhanced route quota at a review of the bilateral agreement between India and Britain early next year. TNS adds: In a coup of sorts, Air India today roped in major British airline, Virgin Atlantic Airways, by signing a code-sharing agreement to fly to and from London from next July, giving tough competition to British airways. “After 70 years ,a third airline will fly between India and Britain, beginning in the new millennium”, Richard Branson said. The codeshare agreement allows Virgin to operate three of Air India’s currently unused frequencies between the UK and India and will be operated on Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays from Heathrow and from Delhi on Thursdays, Saturdays and Mondays. Branson said that Virgin
Holiday Company would be able to increase the tourist
flow to India in which there was tremendous untapped
potential. |
Andhra
Bank growth jumps by 33 pc CHANDIGARH, Dec 10 — Mr Balbir Singh, Chairman, Chandigarh Housing Board, inaugurated Sector 17 branch of Andhra Bank which will function up to 03.45 p.m. on all working days except Saturdays. Mr V. Ram Gopal AGM, Andhra Bank, addressing a large gathering, said in the year 1998-99 total business of the bank crossed the Rs 15,000 crore mark with a growth of 33 per cent. Deposits surpassed the mark of Rs 10,000 crore and advances crossed Rs 4767 crore. Mr P.S. Gandhi, Chief
Managar, Sector 17 branch, said the bank will come up
with more customer-friendly schemes. |
‘Promote tourism, save culture too’ NEW DELHI, Dec 10 (PTI) — Home Minister L.K. Advani today expressed concern over poor performance of the country on the tourism front and said diversities of Indian culture and heritage should be highlighted to attract foreign tourists. Inaugurating an international conference on “tourism for sustainable development” here, Advani said tourism, which was one of the biggest industries in the world, had a great potential for the country’s development. “Our failure to develop infrastructure adequately was also one of the reasons for slow growth of the tourism industry in the country but these problems should be solved to promote tourism,” Advani said at the meet organised by (Assocham). Stating that India’s share in the world tourism was less than 1 per cent, Advani said the sector should be promoted, but at the same time, the country’s culture and heritage should also be protected. He said local discontent, if any, arising out of the growing tourism in any particular area, should be solved carefully. Minister of State for
Tourism, Uma Bharti said there was an urgent need for the
development of tourism in a sustainable manner to
preserve natural and cultural heritage. |
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