Budget to simplify taxation system
NEW DELHI, Jan 15 — The Finance Minister, Mr Yashwant Sinha, said today the Budget for 1999-2000 will focus on simplification of the taxation system, prudence in Government expenditure and boost to the rural economy.

Call to open trade route to Pakistan
JALANDHAR, Jan 15 — Exporters today demanded the opening of the India-Pakistan trade route to boost exports from Punjab to Pakistan and the adjoining countries.

Escotel launches pre-paid card
CHANDIGARH, Jan 15 — Escotel today introduced a pre-paid card, V-TEL, with an “over-the-air” recharge facility. As an inaugural attraction, Escotel is offering the Silver Card for Rs 1,260/- and the Gold Card for Rs 1,785.

Prudential ICICI opens office in city
CHANDIGARH, Jan 15 — Prudential ICICI Asset Management Company Limited today opened office here and launch had its three open-ended saving plans-Prudential ICICI Growth Plan, Income Plan and Liquid Plan.

Sandvik’s CP rating lowered

Budget to simplify taxation system
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Jan 15 — The Finance Minister, Mr Yashwant Sinha, said today the Budget for 1999-2000 will focus on simplification of the taxation system, prudence in Government expenditure and boost to the rural economy.

Addressing a meeting of economic editors and writers here as part of his week-long pre-Budget consultations, the Minister said the next Budget would ensure a better deal for the common man, particularly the rural poor.

This was the first such official pre-budget consultations with the Fourth Estate any Finance Minister has had till now and last of the series of interactions for the 1999-2000 Budget.

Indicating a streamlining of the indirect tax system, Mr Sinha said he was aiming to reduce the slabs, particularly in the excise duty structure to a minimum of three.

The Finance Minister did not say whether any further reforms would be initiated in respect of direct taxes like income tax and corporate tax.

Economic editors suggested that the reform process should be focussed and reflect definite objectives. The Budget should not be oriented only towards the industry and multinationals and it should reflect concerns of the common man.

Media persons also suggested that the Government should be more aggressive about the second phase of economic reforms and it should not be apologetic about them.

Mr Sinha assured the journalists that the Budget would take the reforms forward and ensure that benefits flow to the social sectors like education and health.

The editors’ suggestions included better expenditure management by the Government, rationalisation of the taxation system, simplification of procedures for the collection of taxes and an increase in public expenditure, particularly in the agricultural and social sectors.

Measures to boost domestic demand and streamlining of the capital market were also suggested.

Sharing concerns of the economic journalists over the drastic decline in exports, Mr Sinha said the Finance Ministry would hold consultations with the Commerce Ministry on the measures needed to boost foreign trade. The Commerce Ministry would be asked to identify the existing bottlenecks and other specific problems in exports.

The Commerce Ministry would be asked to identify the problems product-wise and market-wise so that corrective steps could be taken jointly.

Mr Sinha said India’s share of the world trade was quite low and India was only a marginal player on the export front.

Ballarpur makes buildings with flyash
From Gaurav Choudhury
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Jan 15 - Flyash, considered to be an environmental hazard, is now being used for construction works in a major way.

Ballarpur Industries Limited (BILT),the flagship company of the Thapar group, is utilising the flyash generated from the thermal power plants in and around the Delhi region to build Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (AAC).

Unlike earlier such projects where only flyash blocks were built, the BILT plant in Haryana prepares pre-cast reinforced slabs, reinforced wall panels, U-blocks apart from usual blocks.

Top officials of BILT, AAC division said that the company has entered into technical collaboration with YTONG International GMBH of Germany to design these specialised products.

The company is laying major emphasis on PWD, DDA, CPWD and MES projects,turnkey contracting leading to modular prefabricated construction system.The material has been specified for the construction of Sachivalaya building of the Delhi Government.

The company is sourcing the flyash from the NTPC plant at Badarpur, HSEB plant at Faridabad, NTPC plant at Dadri and the Indraprastha Power Station, Delhi.

Company officials said that, although a basic construction product, AAC has some unique features which give it an edge over conventional clay bricks and RCC.

“Although the character of the buildings have changed from single storey structures to multi-family dwelling units,including high rise buildings,construction methods have largely remained unchanged.Small bricks and concrete are used and carried in small loads , to considerable heights in a building.This makes for slow progress”, General Manager (Tech) Mr M.G. More said.

AAC, apart from being environment friendly by maintaining ecological balance, is also said to possess some additional features like greater thermal insulation, low weight and have a higher compressive strength to weight ratio.

BILT so far has successfully executed 10 major projects including Feroze Shah Kotla Stadium, New Delhi, renovation of Vigyan Bhawan, ITC, Land Base, Laburnum project of 12 to 20 storeyed towers at Gurgaon, Mass housing for defence personnel through MES at Gurgaon and factory buildings like DCM Benneton, Toscana shoes, General De Confecteria etc.

The company has pumped in capital investment of Rs 47 crore for this division with promoters backup of Ballarpur Industries Limited and Financial Institutions.

Demand for cars perks up
By Nirmal Sandhu
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Jan 15 — The recent price cuts and new models launched by Maruti Udyog Ltd have revived the demand for cars, particularly Maruti 800 and Zen LX, for which customers now have to wait for about three weeks for delivery in local showrooms.

“I have got bookings for 70 cars,” said Mr Deepak Joshi of Joshi Auto Zone here.

There are mostly two kinds of customers — those graduating from two-wheelers to four-wheelers and those upgrading from Maruti 800, which now costs Rs 1,79,829 in the city, to Zen LX, whose ex-showroom price here is Rs 2,86,512 with metallic colour variants costing about Rs 4,000 more.

Tata Indica, advertised more as “India’s most eagerly awaited car” than as a “swadeshi” product, arrives in Chandigarh for display on January 17 — the day its bookings start.

Prospective buyers of Tata Indica wonder whether Telco would pass on to customers the sales tax bonanza it has received from the Maharashtra Government which has waived sales tax of 10 per cent on Indica. Dealers expect Telco may cut prices between Rs 20,000 and Rs 30,000 on all models.

Indica (petrol) costs Rs 2,50,845 in Chandigarh, while the diesel model (without AC) is priced at Rs 2,75,895. The AC model is dearer by another Rs 10,000.

Indications are Maruti Udyog will maintain its leadership in petrol cars while Telco will grab the market for diesel cars since petrol Indica, having a 1400cc engine, gives a mileage of 10-12 km a litre only.

Ind Auto, the Indian subsidiary of the Italian giant Fiat Auto, has entered the competition with Maruti Udyog and Telco by introducing a new range of Uno models at lower prices. The price of the petrol model has been cut by Rs 50,000 and that of the diesel version by around Rs 1 lakh.

The new range will have four petrol and five diesel options. The petrol range, to be fitted with an upgraded 1000 cc engine, will continue to have five-speed gearbox as the standard feature. In addition, all models have an additionally reinforced chassis and a galvanised steel body, according to Mr Enricco Ferrero, Director Commercial of Ind Auto.

Apart from better car choice, consumers now get improved after-sales service. Showrooms now provide spacious lounges and personalised state-of-art service.

Concorde Motors, a joint venture between the Tata group and the Hong Kong-based Jardine International Motors has launched national retail network for sales and service to meet increased expectations that customers have from car dealers.

“With technology and feature gap reducing amongst passenger vehicles in the small car category, service deliveries to customer will assume paramount importance” says Steve Foster, Managing Director of Concorde Motors.

Call to open trade route to Pakistan

JALANDHAR, Jan 15 (UNI) — Exporters today demanded the opening of the India-Pakistan trade route to boost exports from Punjab to Pakistan and the adjoining countries.

The demand was made at a national seminar on exports organised by the Punjab Small Industries and Export Corporation (PSIEC) in collaboration with the Jalandhar Chamber of Industries.

It was attended, among others by officers of the Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) and the RBI.

Issues relating to the DGFT, limits for claiming export house status, duty entitlment pass book (DEPB) scheme, allowing DEPB shipments from local container freight station (CFS) were raised by industrialists at the seminar.

State exporters urged the Punjab Government not to levy sales tax on import licences issued against exports made from Punjab.

Issues relating to duty drawback, Customs and central excise, labour-related problems, finance for exporters and infrastructure facilities for shipments from Punjab were also discussed.

Exporters sought a co-ordinating agency in the office of Commissioner, to clear the backlog of the drawback claims pending in Bombay and Delhi ports.

Responding to the exporters demand, DGFT Director-General N.L. Lakhanpal agreed to set up a DGFT sub-office at Jalandhar and said to begin with an officer from Ludhiana would visit the city once a week before the sub-office was fully set up here.

PSICE Managing Director Narinder Singh regretted that Punjab’s share in national exports was hardly 2 per cent inspite of the state having achieved a turnover of Rs 4,200 crore for exports in 1997-98.

The share of small scale industries in exports from Punjab was 52 percent as against the national share of 35 per cent, he added.

RBI Regional Director Vijay Raghvan, Punjab Labour Commissioner Venkatratnam, Punjab Pollution Control Board Chairman F.L. Kansal, Punjab Industry Director D.S. Guru and Hind Samachar Editor Vijay Chopra also spoke.

Escotel launches pre-paid card
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Jan 15 — Escotel today introduced a pre-paid card, V-TEL, with an “over-the-air” recharge facility. As an inaugural attraction, Escotel is offering the Silver Card for Rs 1,260/- and the Gold Card for Rs 1,785.

Launching the card here today, Mr Rajiv Burman, Chief Sales & Marketing Officer, Escotel, said “The pre-paid card has ‘over-the-air’ recharging facility using interactive voice response technology. A subscriber will get a message seven days before his pre-paid card validity expires.”

Escotel offers the V-TEL in Haryana in two different packages. The V-TEL silver pre-paid offer costs Rs 2, 380 which includes the SIM Card and activation charges as well as “Talk Time” worth Rs 500. . The V-TEL gold pre-paid card costs Rs 2905 which includes the SIM Card charges, activation charges as well as “Talk Time” worth Rs 1000. The card comes with an added STD/ISD facility without any additional security deposit.

Prudential ICICI opens office in city
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Jan 15 — Prudential ICICI Asset Management Company Limited today opened office here and launch had its three open-ended saving plans-Prudential ICICI Growth Plan, Income Plan and Liquid Plan.

Prudential ICICI is the first company to launch a liquid plan in Chandigarh. It has a tie-up with ICICI Bank, which enables it to provide local redemption to its investors.

Addressing a press conference here today, Ajay Srinivasan, Managing Director, Prudential ICICI AMC said: “We have decided to open offices in northern India where we believe there is significant potential. Chandigarh is an important market for us and by having a base here we can service Haryana and Punjab which we feel carry tremendous unexplored potential.”

Hewlett-Packard’s sales dip

NEW DELHI, Jan 15 (PTI) — Hewlett-Packard’s Asia-Pacific sales have dipped 15 per cent in fiscal 1997-98 (November to October) as against the previous fiscal, Vice- President, Richard C. Warmington said here today. Hewlett-Packard company (H-P) had a worldwide turnover of $ 47.1 billion and the Asia-Pacific business accounts for 13 to 14 per cent of this. Warmington said the company had set up an international procurement division in the USA which would be looking for out-sourcing most of their components. H-P, which manufactures printers among other products, enjoys a 65 to 70 per cent share in the inkjet printer market in India and is looking to expand this in the next 2-3 years. 

Mirza Tanners to expand

NEW DELHI, Jan 15 (UNI) — Kanpur-based leather footwear manufacturer Mirza Tanners Limited (MTL) has chalked out an expansion plan involving an investment of Rs 500 crore over the next five years. MTL joint Managing Director Rashid Mirza told UNI that the expansion plan envisages diversification into ladies and kids shoes in phases and enhancement of capacities of the existing plants here and at Kanpur. The trial production at MTL’s new shoe making unit at Noida costing Rs 20 crore will begin in March this year and actual production will start from July or August with a capacity of about 4,000 pairs per day and has the capacity to produce one million pairs per annum, he said.

Sandvik’s CP rating lowered
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Jan 15 — ICRA has downgraded the rating assigned to the Rs 20 crore commercial paper programme of Sandvik Asia Limited from A1+ to A1. The rating indicates highest safety. SAL, a leading player in the cutting tools business, is a part of the Sandvik AB group. SAL’s operating margins have been affected by the downturn in the manufacturing sector and higher input costs. The company is undertaking a restructuring programme which entails major investment in information technology and funding of a voluntary retirement scheme. The company is also undertaking significant capital expenditure. While these investments are expected to yield benefits in the medium term, in light of lower level of current accruals, they are expected to put some pressure on the cash flow.

US $ Rs 42.49/50
Stg £ Rs 70.45/47
D Mark Rs 49.56/58
Jap Yan (100) Rs 37.72/74

The RBI reference rate was Rs 42.47.

Gold falls
NEW DELHI, Jan 15 (PTI) — Silver dropped sharply on the bullion market today on stockists offering influenced by lower foreign advices and closed with notable losses. Gold, on the other hand, maintained its downward journey on reduced offtake against arrivals of fresh stocks. The quotations: Silver 10,400 and seller 10,500. Standard gold 4370, ornaments 4220 and sovereign 3700.

Central Bank
CHANDIGARH, Jan 15 (TNS) —- Central Bank of India revised its domestic term deposits rates with effect from January 18. The interest rate on domestic term deposits fixed at 5 per cent for 15 days to 29 days, 6 per cent for 30 days to 60 days, 7 per cent for 61 days to 90 days, 8 per cent for 91 days to 179 days, 9 per cent for 180 days to one year, 10 per cent for over one year to 2 years, 10.5 per cent for over 2 years to 3 years and 11.5 per cent over 3 years.