Saturday, January 30, 1999
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B U S I N E S S | Saturday, January 30, 1999 |
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‘Gold rush contest
valid’
IDBI
to offer Internet banking |
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NEW DELHI, Jan 29 (PTI) — The Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission (MRTPC) today dismissed a complaint against the “gold rush contest” launched by Godrej Soaps Pvt Ltd (GSPL) to promote the sale of its `Cinthol’ soaps. Responding to a public interest complaint filed by Chirag M Shroff, an advocate, the commission said: “The respondent Godrej Soaps cannot be charged with any kind of unfair practices in launching the scheme.” As per the scheme, there were gold lockets hidden inside some of the Cinthol soaps. The MRTPC observed that such schemes were not prejudicial to public interest because consumer was getting something additional besides the article he had paid for. Citing a 1998 Supreme Court judgement in an appeal against an MRTPC order filed by the promoters of Horlicks, the commission observed that the scheme was not a lottery. Shroff said he would file a review petition before the same bench of the MRTPC. He alleged that the advertisement issued by the company was misleading as it did not mention the value of the locket, probability of winning the same and duration of the contest. Godrej Soaps, during the pendency of this petition, added these things in their advertisements. The weight of the gold locket was one gram (22 karat), probability was one in 1,000 soaps and the scheme was open till March 31, 1999, according to advertisements. Shroff alleged that the company misled consumer on other counts also as the scheme was, actually, applicable to only “Cinthol International”, while as per the posters it was on all varieties of Cinthol. He alleged that not a
single locket was reaching the customer as it could be
detected by metal detectors which was easily available in
the market. |
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NEW DELHI, Jan 29 (PTI)
— The Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) will
not meet this Saturday as it did not have enough time to
scrutinise the proposals and fix an agenda due to the
Republic Day holiday. |
IDBI to
offer Internet banking CHANDIGARH, Jan 29 — IDBI Bank, which enters the capital market on February 9 to offer four crore equity shares of Rs 10 each at a premium of Rs 8 per share, is poised to offer Internet banking and smart cards. Promoted by IDBI and SIDBI, the bank was formed on the basis of an expert plan charted out by KPMG Peat Marwick and operates on an application software platform provided by Kindle Banking System. Mr I.C. Agasti, Vice-President, Operations, addressing a press conference here today, said the bank is one of the few to offer “anywhere banking”, besides ATMs, electronic funds transfers and telebanking. IDBI Bank has one of the lowest net NPA levels in the banking industry at 0.32 per cent of its total advances. No new NPAs were added this year, said Mr B.K. Batra, General Manager. The bank, which has only three branches in this region at Mohali, Panchkula and Chandigarh, is considering to open branches at Ludhiana and Amritsar also. It offers its equity issue
at a PE ratio of 8.96 which is the lowest any new private
sector bank has offered during the last two years. |
Novartis net at Rs 22 crore MUMBAI, Jan 29 (PTI) - Novartis India has reported a net profit of Rs 22 crore and sales of Rs 198.1 crore for the third quarter of the current financial year. During the nine month period ended December 31, 1998, the MNC posted profits of Rs 53.5 crore compared to the annual profit of Rs 38.3 crore in the previous financial year. Higher profits reflect better business performance, impact of lower financing costs and the absence of extraordinary merger related costs. The nine-month sales at Rs 588.6 crore represent a growth of 15 per cent over the corresponding period of the previous year. Profit before tax and
depreciation stood at Rs 98.9 crore. |
LML to pay 55 per cent NEW DELHI, Jan 29 (PTI) — Scooter manufacturer LML Limited has posted Rs 4.11 crore net profit on a turnover of Rs 201.35 crore during October-December. The LML board, which approved the results today, also declared 55 per cent interim dividend. The company has not provided any comparative figures for the first quarter of last year since this is the first time the company is announcing its quarterly results. LML had recorded Rs 28.26 crore net profit in the last accounting year, which ended on September 30. In the latest quarter the
company sold 78,122 scooters compared 323,541 scooters
sold for the whole of last year. |
ICICI net profit up 17 per cent MUMBAI, Jan 29 (PTI) — ICICI Ltd’s net profit for the nine-month period ended December 31, 1998 was Rs 726 crore, an increase of 17 per cent over Rs 622 crore in the corresponding period of previous year. Net profit for the previous year’s period was after adjustment for ITC Classic’s losses and excluding extraordinary income of Rs 98 crore. ICICI, in a release after its board meeting here today, said it made substantial provisions and write-offs, including write-down of equity investments, of Rs 302 crore during April-December 1998, up 53 per cent compared to Rs 197 crore for the first nine months of 1997-98. During the third quarter
ended December 31, 1998, profit after tax was maintained
at the same level of Rs 208 crore as the corresponding
quarter last year, despite the enhanced provisions and
write-offs to the extent of Rs 45 crore. |
Dabur India net rises 5 per cent NEW DELHI, Jan 29 — Dabur India Limited has recorded 13.1 per cent increase in its sales to touch Rs 699.5 crore for the nine months as compared to Rs 618.2 crore for the same period in the last financial year. Despite the sluggish market conditions, the company was able to improve the percentage growth in sales as compared to the first six months. In the first six months the company recorded 11 per cent increase in sales. Sales in the third quarter were up by 17.3 per cent as compared to the third quarter of last year. The net profit went up by 5 per cent to reach Rs 37.83 crore during the nine months period. The company recorded net profit of Rs 36.01 crore for the same period during the last financial year. The increase in
advertising and promotion expenditure for nine months
from Rs 51.4 crore last year to Rs 83.29 crore in the
current financial year resulted in lower increase in the
net profit in comparison to an increase in the sales
turnover. |
Telco, Ashok Leyland on growth track NEW DELHI, Jan 29 (UNI) — Telco has recorded a 1081 per cent surge in sales of its passenger cars to touch 189 units during the month as against 16 units in the same month last year. Sales of the company’s heavy and medium commercial vehicles moved on to overdrive with retails zooming up by 77 per cent over the same month last year. Telco was, in fact, the only company to have ducked the recession in the light commercial vehicle segment with a growth of 1.1 per cent even as its multi-utility vehicles failed to make an impact and sales dropped by 22 per cent over the previous year. Ashok Leyland also
recorded a 46 per cent growth in sales during the month
to touch 2,935 units as against 2,002 units in the same
month last year. However, the company’s LCV sales
dropped by 75 per cent during the month followed by Bajaj
Tempo (36 per cent), Swaraj Mazda (25 per cent) and
Mahindra and Mahindra (24 per cent). |
Ranbaxy Lab net dips Ranbaxy Laboratories posted a 1 per cent dip in the third-quarter profit at Rs 33 crore compared to Rs 33.3 crore a year ago. For October-December quarter, the company’s sales turnover stood at Rs 348.4 crore, recording an increase of 18 per cent as compared to Rs 294.9 crore in the same period last year, a company statement said here. Ranbaxy’s domestic sales in the third quarter increased to Rs 192.3 crore from last year’s Rs 145.6 crore while export earnings stood at Rs 156.1 crore as against Rs 149.3 crore in the same period last year. ***** Raymond: Raymond Ltd has posted a net profit of Rs 55.87 crore for the nine month period ending December 31, 1998, an increase of 72.9 per cent over the previous corresponding period. The net profit was arrived at after providing for an exchange loss of Rs 12.33 crore on account of translation of outstanding foreign currency ***** TVS Suzuki: Two-wheeler TVS Suzuki has recorded a 16.72 per cent jump in net profit during the third quarter of 1998-99 to touch Rs 19.96 crore from Rs 17.10 crore in the same period last year. Net profit during the first nine months of the fiscal stood at Rs 63.45 crore, up 23.56 per cent from Rs 51.35 crore a year earlier. ***** MTNL: The state-owned Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) has posted a 25 per cent increase in net profits to Rs 340.54 crore in the third quarter of the current financial year. The Telecom giant had registered a net profit of Rs 272.19 crore during October-December last year, a company statement said here today. ***** Bata India: The net profit of Bata India Limited has jumped to Rs 29.5 crore for the financial year ended December 31, 1998. In the previous year, the company registered a net profit of Rs 16.6 crore. According to Bata spokesman M.J.Z. Mowla, net sales of the company during the current fiscal rose to Rs 743.1 crore, as against Rs 670.64 crore in the previous year, indicating a rise of 11 per cent. The gross profit of the company increased by 87 per cent from Rs 27.96 crore to Rs 52.36 crore in the last fiscal. ***** P&G: Procter & Gamble India Ltd has achieved a marginal growth of six per cent to Rs 137.91 crore while its profits increased by 45 per cent to Rs 18.29 crore during the second quarter ended December 31, 1998 as compared to the previous corresponding period. The fast moving consumer goods multinational recorded a gross profit of Rs 29.56 crore in the second quarter, 24 per cent higher than in the previous comparative period. ***** ABB: Asea Brown Boveri India Limited (ABB) has posted a 41.8 per cent decline in its net profit at Rs 37.7 crore for the year ending December 31, 1998 from Rs 64.8 crore recorded a year ago. The company also declared a dividend of 50 per cent on the equity capital of 41.4 crore. The net sales of the company also witnessed a steep decline of 17.5 per cent to Rs 869.24 crore during the period as compared to Rs 1054.31 crore during 1997, the release said. ***** SBI: The State Bank of India (SBI) reported a Rs 1,143 crore net profit for the nine-month period ended December 31, 1998, up by 25.25 per cent from Rs 912.60 crore in the corresponding period of 1997-98. Total income earned increased to Rs 15,803.34 crore during the first nine months of 1998-99 from Rs 13,104.86 crore. ***** Indo Gulf: Indo Gulf Corporation Ltd has posted a marginal growth in net profits to Rs 46.50 crore in the third quarter of the current financial year as against Rs 116.99 crore in the previous corresponding period. Fertiliser sales, during
the period, increased by 26.38 per cent to Rs 221.46
compared to the previous corresponding period, while
fertiliser sales for the nine month period stood at Rs
568.87 crore as against Rs 494.44 in the corresponding
nine months of last year. |
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