Oil pipeline from Central Asia to India?
ISLAMABAD, April 30 — An ambitious $ 2 billion pipeline project which will bring vast reserves of oil and gas from Central Asian Republic of Turkmenistan to the Indian border is being revived.

Replace Bills with Ordinances: CII
NEW DELHI, April 30 — The new CII President, Mr Rahul Bajaj, today regretted the fact that political uncertainty has taken its toll on the nation’s economy.

Tom Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson arrive at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York on Thursday. The American Museum of the Moving Image saluted Hanks for his contributions to the movie industry. — AP/PTI

SC order to create problems: Maruti
NEW DELHI, April 30 — Maruti Udyog Ltd today expressed surprise over the “sudden” order of the Supreme Court directive on emission norms and said it would create “myriad problems and possibility of trans-migration of cars sold to other areas”.

Renault to pick up Intl Tractors stake
NEW DELHI, April 30 — Renault group of France is bringing in close to $ 15 million in India to pick up a 20 per cent stake in the Punjab-based International Tractors Limited, which will later be raised to 27 per cent.

New European treaty comes into force
BONN, April 30 — A new European Union treaty comes into force tomorrow amid hopes that it will help Europe carry the same international clout politically as it does economically.

UTI opens office at Ferozepore
NEW DELHI, April 30 — The Unit Trust of India today opened its 51st franchise office at Ferozepore in Punjab.

Silver, gold shoot up
NEW DELHI, April 30 — Silver prices skyrocketed on the bullion market today on brisk buying by stockists mainly enthused by a firm trend in the overseas markets and closed with hefty gains.

• Indian Rayon
• Siemens
• Zydus

• Finolex Cables
• Aptech
• Wipro

Oil pipeline from Central Asia to India?

ISLAMABAD, April 30 (PTI) — An ambitious $ 2 billion pipeline project which will bring vast reserves of oil and gas from Central Asian Republic of Turkmenistan to the Indian border is being revived.

The three countries involved in the project -Turkmenistan, Pakistan and Afghanistan– have expressed their commitment to the project at a high-level tripartite meeting held here yesterday.

Afghanistan, through which most of the pipeline will cross, expressed its full support for the implementation of the project which has been lying in the cold storage due to continued civil war in that country.

“The implementation of this project will help restore peace in Afghanistan and give impetus to the process of the economic revival there”, a joint statement by the ministers of the three countries said.

The plan, envisaged for laying down the 1280-km long pipeline, will start from the Daulatabad gas field in southern Turkmenistan and after running through Afghanistan will end at the Pakistani town of Multan, barely 200 km from the Indian border.

The meeting was attended by the Deputy Prime Minister of Turkmenistan, Batyr Sardjaev, Afghan Minister for Industries and Mines, Alha J. Maulvi Amedjan and Pakistani Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Choudhury Nisar Ali Khan as they decided to constitute a high level joint task force for a constant monitoring of the project.

SC order to create problems: Maruti
Tribune News Service, agencies

NEW DELHI, April 30 — Maruti Udyog Ltd (MUL) today expressed surprise over the “sudden” order of the Supreme Court directive on emission norms and said it would create “myriad problems and possibility of trans-migration of cars sold to other areas”.

MUL Managing Director R.S.S.L.N. Bhaskarudu said there was an understanding between the government and the automobile manufacturers to comply to Euro-I norms by April 1, 2000 and Euro-II norms by 2005.

“We had scheduled to be well ahead of the stipulated time frame for meeting Euro-II norms. The revision of this time table has created a situation where we are somewhat pressed for time. We are looking for all options to ensure that we are able to carry out our business as normal,” he said.

Bhaskarudu, in a statement, said MUL was confident that it had both the technology and the ability to meet Euro-II emission norms and added “it is not a technological issue. It is more a question of time availability.”

The Supreme Court ruling on Euro II emission norms has been welcomed by the industry but may result in black-marketing of vehicles.

There will be a major rush for getting vehicles registered before July and dealers and black-marketers may charge premium.

The Indian Foundation of Transport Research and Training, welcoming the Supreme Court order on Euro emission norms, said today the government should seek modification in the SC order to introduce Euro-III emission norms from April 1, 2000.

This would be convenient for vehicle manufacturers who would straightaway go to Euro-III jumping over the induction of technology for Euro-II standards. The Euro-III standards are already five years old in Europe and Euro-II are on their way out.

The apex court should, suo motu, extend the implementation of Euro-II and Euro-III norms to other cities and issue directions to oil companies to give a time-bound plan to provide sulphur-free diesel in metropolitan cities within the next six months.

Bajaj Auto CMD Rahul Bajaj said today the only solution to Delhi’s pollution problem is to set up a mass rapid transport system.

“For 20 years I am only hearing that a MRTS is being planned for Delhi but nothing has happened yet..Why?” asked Mr Bajaj, who has been elected the CII President.

Mr Bajaj said: “Nobody can dispute the desire of the Supreme Court since 50 to 60 per cent of the pollution is emitted by vehicles.”

Dirty and old vehicles must be out. But do not stop new ones from hitting the roads.

The court order forces auto manufacturers in India to adopt Euro- norms in the next 11 months as against the year 2005 notified by the Central Government.

Daewoo Motors India Limited’s Matiz is the only small car which meets the Euro-II norms. The other vehicles from the company’s stables — Cielo and Nexia — also conform to the norms.

For the rest of the players, it is going to be a tough road ahead with sales in the entire NCR region being capped at 1,250 petrol vehicles and 250 diesel vehicles per month. “This means that the entire NCR market will be limited to only 1,500 vehicles per month, which has to be divided between a dozen players.”

An expert stated that under the Euro-1 norms, hydrocarbon (HC) and nitrogen oxide (NOX) emissions should not exceed 0.97 gms per km while carbon monoxide (CO) 2.72 gm/km and particulate matter should be just 0.14 gm/km. Under the Euro-II norms, HC and NOX emissions should not exceed 0.5 gm/km and CO should not be more than 2.2 gm/km with no emission of particulate matter.

Mercedes-Benz, with its E-class, is the only other player to meet the Euro-II norms with its existing product.

While vehicles from Maruti Udyog Limited, Hindustan Motors Premier Motors and Mahindra and Mahindra stables do not even comply to the Euro-I norms. Hyundai Santro, all vehicles from Telco stables, Ford Escort, Opel Astra, Honda City and Fiat Uno meet the Euro-I norms. These companies are now working vigorously to advance their dates of meeting the Euro-II norms.

Replace Bills with Ordinances: CII
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, April 30 — The new CII President, Mr Rahul Bajaj, today regretted the fact that political uncertainty has taken its toll on the nation’s economy.

“We want in India today a stable government. We would like to have single party government or at least a single party led government”, Mr Bajaj said while speaking to reporters after assuming office as the President of the CII here today.

He suggested 11 Ordinances should be issued by the Government on Bills which had been approved by expert committees.

The Bills are IRA Bill, the Money Laundering/Foreign Exchange Management Bill, Companies Bill, Income Tax Bill, Sick Industries Companies Bill, Securities Contract (Regulation) Amendment Bill, Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill, Export-Import (Amendment) Bill, Recovery Debts Due Banks and Financial Institutions (Amendment) Bill, Technology Bank of India Bill and the Commodities Boards and Industry Development Bill.

Making projections for 1999-2000, the CII President said that the GDP growth rate is likely to be 6 per cent while the fiscal deficit was projected to be 6.8 per cent of the GDP.

Referring to subsidies, Mr Bajaj said that it was important to arrest leakages and improve the delivery mechanism. Moreover, it was important to focus and target so that income tax payers are excluded from the PDS.

He suggested the disinvestment of at least 74 per cent equity in PSUs and appointment of time-bound lead managers and merchant bankers.

The boards of PSUs should be empowered to decide all issues and eliminate reference to the Ministry for approval.

On the tax regime, he emphasised that resource generation should be augmented through better compliance and there should be tax on high income from agriculture.He also called for a move towards VAT.

Emphasising that agriculture was very crucial for the economy’s growth, Mr Bajaj called for a market-oriented pricing mechanism, phasing out of import/export restrictions, facilitation of inter-State movement of foodgrains, strengthening of crop insurance mechanism, repeal of land ceiling act and review of food laws.

Presenting the industry agenda in the coming year, Mr Bajaj highlighted several areas of action which included corporate governance, global outlook, technology, HRD, technical education and training, quality and productivity, environment and energy.

Renault to pick up Intl Tractors stake

NEW DELHI, April 30 (UNI) — Renault group of France is bringing in close to $ 15 million in India to pick up a 20 per cent stake in the Punjab-based International Tractors Limited (ITL), which will later be raised to 27 per cent.

Under the agreement between the Renault group and ITL, two separate joint venture marketing companies would also be formed with 60 per cent holding in both ventures being in the hands of the French major, Mr Bruno Morange, Chairman and Managing Director of Renault Agriculture, the tractor manufacturing arm of the Renault group, said today.

Though Renault has decided to pick up stake in ITL, the valuation of the shares and exact amount which the French company will have to pay for the holding is being ascertained at present. Besides, no specific time frame has been set for hiking the stake to 27 per cent. Renault will be represented by one person on the ITL board.

As per an MoU, signed by the two partners today, ITL will manufacture Renault Agriculture-design tractors at its Hoshiarpur plant and market them in India Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal alongside its own Sonalika range of tractors.

Food festival begins today
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, April 30 — The government-run Shivalik View will celebrate an Indian food festival from May 1 to 15, according to Mr Satish Chandra, MD, CITCO. Shivalik View's Bazm, which wears a new woody facelift, will offer choicest Indian delectable cuisine.

“The underlying idea of this concept is to serve clients in comfort and relaxation even when they are engrossed to meet deadlines at work or excited to meet someone special”, he said in a statement here today. The Coffee Shop has added to its menu Bombay's Pao Bhaji and an inter-continental range of pizzas, burgers, shakes etc.

Make it ‘No Child Labour Day’

NEW DELHI, April 30 (UNI) — Thousands of postcards were mailed today to the Prime Minister by child labourers, organisations and others demanding that education be made a Fundamental Right through a constitutional amendment.

April 30 is observed as a Child Labour Day but the Campaign Against Child Labour (CACL) initiated the postcard campaign across the country emphasising that it should be a “No Child Labour Day”.

Since education was a necessary condition to eradicate child labour, the CACL said it should be made a fundamental right which ensured that every girl and boy got free education up to the age of 14.

The postcard campaign is part of a larger campaign that supports the 83rd Amendment Bill to make education a Fundamental Right. The Bill was introduced in the Rajya Sabha on July 28, 1997, but was not tabled in the Lok Sabha.

Wipro to split shares, nets Rs 170 cr profit

BANGALORE, April 30 (UNI) — Wipro Limited, the six sigma quality corporation had recorded a net profit of Rs 170 crore registering a 58 per cent growth for 1998-99, as against the previous year profit of Rs 108 crore.

Disclosing this to newsmen company Chairman and Managing Director A.H. Premji said Wipro’s compounded annual growth rate during the last one decade was at 39 per cent, a record for any multirole company in the country.

The company’s Board today recommended for a split of its shares in the ratio of five shares for every one share held to bring down the face value of the shares from Rs 10 each to Rs 2 per share.

Replying to a question he said the market quote of the company’s share was high at Rs 3400 each (Rs 10 share). This had hampered the liquidity for the share holders. With the face value at Rs 2, the company would also have easy liquidity of its shares resulting in the increase of trade volume in the market. After the approval of the SEBI and the approval of shareholders at the general body meeting of the company on May 29, the proposal would become operational.

He said the company had earned Rs 4.4 crore from its six sigma quality initiatives in the first full year of its implementation. The six sigma were achieved through quality projects that focus on what is critical to customer satisfaction, productivity and cost. Wipro plans to triple the benefits of the six sigma savings in 1999-2000 while retaining the investments of Rs 3 crore for improvement of quality.

Mr Premji said Wipro’s export rose by 61 per cent to Rs 633 crore during the year. The Y2K software accounted for 7 per cent of the revenue.

New European treaty comes into force

BONN, April 30 (PTI) — A new European Union treaty comes into force tomorrow amid hopes that it will help Europe carry the same international clout politically as it does economically.

The treaty of Amsterdam, which was signed at a special summit of the 15-member EU in 1997, replaces the Mastricht Treaty and its launch comes at a time when the Kosovo crisis continues to be a foreign policy challenge for the European countries.

The new treaty makes important strides in its drive to make the EU more effective and democratic. Advocates of a more cohesive EU foreign policy believe that the Amsterdam Treaty’s main problem is its failure to make majority voting the rule for decisions.

Zydus achieves 5th position
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, April 30 — From the 17th position in the pharmaceutical industry with a turnover of Rs 200 crore to the current position as the 5th largest pharmaceutical company in India, it has been a gritty comeback for the Zydus group, the Ahmedabad-based pharma major. Managing Director Pankaj R. Patel said, the group appointed McKinsey to study the market conditions and the group’s strengths and a strategic framework was put in place. “We are targeting a healthy bottomline of around 15 per cent and at least 25 per cent of our overall growth will come from international sales”, says Mr Ganesh Nayak, President of the group.

Aptech brings down losses to 6.41 crore

MUMBAI, April 30 (PTI) — Losses of Aptech Ltd have come down during the first quarter ended March 1999 at Rs 6.41 crore from Rs 8.10 crore reported during the same period last year.

However, the company has reported 35.2 per cent growth in revenue to Rs 50.70 crore from Rs 37.51 crore.

Interest and depreciation cost have gone up during the quarter to Rs 2.97 crore and Rs 2.30 crore from Rs 2.10 crore and Rs 1.40 crore respectively during the same period last year, Aptech said.

Software division of the company has showed a phenomenal growth of 94 per cent in revenue at Rs 11.21 crore, while the training division grew by 24.3 per cent to Rs 38.85 crore.

“We are also in the process of setting up showcase centres for e-commerce and knowledge management in alliance with IBM and Microsoft,” Aptech Executive Director Pramod Khera said.

Aptech had major expansion plans in its software and training activities in the next 18 months with an outlay of over Rs 100 crore, the company said.

The company had already raised over Rs 100 crore through private placement of 13.4 lakh shares at a price higher than that approved by SEBI at Rs 875 per share.

Indian Rayon posts 40 pc fall in net

MUMBAI, April 30 (PTI) — Indian Rayon and Industries Limited today reported a 40 per cent fall in its net profit to Rs 128 crore for the year ended March 31, 1999 over the previous year’s Rs 213 crore.

The unaudited results of the Aditya Birla group company, which were taken into account by the Board, showed a 3 per cent rise in the turnover to Rs 1872 crore over last year’s Rs 1815 crore, according to a company release.

Indian Rayon’s operating profit declined by 3 per cent to Rs 394 crore (Rs 428 crore) while the gross profit fell by 21 per cent to Rs 252 crore (Rs 319 crore).

Earnings per share (EPS) dipped by a whopping 40 per cent to Rs 18.91 (Rs 31.49) whereas the cash EPS showed a 19 per cent fall to Rs 36.01 (Rs 44.42).

Finolex Cables net rises 23.67 per cent

NEW DELHI, April 30 (UNI) — Finolex Cables has registered a 23.67 per cent growth in net profit during the 1998-99 fiscal to touch Rs 60.13 crore as against Rs 48.62 crore in the previous year.

Its sales during the year stood at Rs 447 crore, up 1.82 per cent from Rs 439 crore in the previous year.

The company said the High Court of Mumbai has yet to clear its petition for amalgamating its wholly-owned subsidiary, Finoram Sheets, with Finolex Cables.

The unaudited results of 1998-99 do not reflect Finoram Sheets’ revenue statement but should the High Court clear the amalgamation before the adoption of audited accounts. The accounts of the subsidiary would be consolidated with that of Finolex Cables.

For the 1998-1999 fiscal, Finoram sheets estimates a loss of Rs 8.6 crore.

Finolex Cables’ sales and income from operations for the 1998-99 fiscal was Rs 446.64 crore from Rs 439.46 crore a year ago. Other income was, however, lower at Rs 18.88 crore as against Rs 21.39 crore in the previous year. Total expenditure was Rs 357.55 crore from Rs 354.08 crore a year earlier.

Gross profit after interest but before depreciation and taxation stood at Rs 92.61 crore from Rs 83.08 crore.

Siemens turns around,posts 16.65 cr profit

MUMBAI, April 30 (PTI) — Siemens Ltd has posted a net profit of Rs 16.65 crore in the second quarter ending March 1999, against the loss of over Rs 22 crore during the quarter ending December 1998.

The company reported sales of Rs 288.88 crore during the second quarter as against Rs 164.9 crore in the previous quarter, Siemens said in a statement today after its Board meeting held here yesterday.

Revenue of Rs 3.95 crore from disposal of assets under the restructuring process undertaken by the company and steep reduction in interest outgo from Rs 9.33 crore in the previous quarter to Rs 3.38 crore have also contributed to the turnaround, it said.

The company’s year 2000 (Y2K) compliance project is expected to be completed by July 1999 with an estimated cost of Rs 6.5 crore and it was in the process of putting the contingency plans in place, it said.

UTI opens office at Ferozepore
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, April 30 — The Unit Trust of India (UTI) today opened its 51st franchise office at Ferozepore in Punjab.

The opening of the office would enable decentralisation of services of the UTI branch since the franchise office will take on some of the functions leading to speedier services to investors, an UTI release said.

The investors and agents will be able to tender their applications with cheques or demand drafts at the franchise office and the unit certificates and commissioned cheques of the agents in respect of open ended schemes will be despatched from there.

Silver, gold shoot up

NEW DELHI, April 30 (PTI) — Silver prices skyrocketed on the bullion market today on brisk buying by stockists mainly enthused by a firm trend in the overseas markets and closed with hefty gains.

Marketmen said a firm trend in silver prices in the overseas markets where it rose to 537 cents an ounce and gold gained $ 3.05 at $ 286.15 an ounce.

Silver .999 (ready) shot up by Rs 200 at Rs 8060 per kilo and weekly delivery by Rs.135 at Rs.8015 per kilo. However, silver coins were unchanged at Rs 10,500/10,700 per 100 pieces.

Standard gold and ornaments jumped up further by Rs 30 at Rs 4400 and Rs 4250 per 10 gram respectively. Sovereign rose by Rs 25 at Rs 3775 per piece of eight gram.

Software exports go up by 70 pc

NEW DELHI (PTI): Software exports increased by 70 per cent in the country while the electronics sector recorded a growth rate of 35 per cent for the year 1998-99, according to Mr Ravindra Gupta, Secretary, Department of Electronics (DoE).

Work on eight new software technology parks of India is under progress in Mysore, Manipal, Coimbatore, Vizag, Pune, Chennai, Indore and Guwahati.

“A help desk has been created at the Computer Maintenance Corporation (CMC), Hyderabad, and a close interaction with all other departments, including banking, finance, civil aviation, defence, is maintained to solve the Y2K problem,” Gupta said.

Virus damage

NEW DELHI (UNI): The Chernobyl virus, which has wrecked lakhs of computers in India, has thrown opportunities for anti-virus firms to make a killing.

Disasters in computers have now thrown immense business opportunities for an anti-virus company like Symentec, which claims that its customers updating their definitions of the Norton anti-virus regularly have escaped the effects of Chernobyl.

“The increased activity of viruses affecting businesses and government departments has made organisations realise the implications of virus infection-loss of productivity, reputation and the man-hours taken to resolve the crashed computers,” Symantec said.

Chernobyl has affected computer systems of several corporates and home users in major Indian cities, including Delhi, Calcutta, Bangalore and Mumbai.

Essar Cellphone

KARNAL (TNS): Essar Cellphone on Friday announced new airtime tariffs for its post-paid as well as for its pre-paid Speed subscribers in Haryana. The new tariffs will be applicable from the May 1.

The airtime rates have been brought down to Rs 2 per minute. As per TRAI’s tariff order, all incoming calls are expected to be made free from August 1,’99, subject to implementation by DoT.

MUMBAI (PTI): Internet-driven solutions provider Oracle Corporation has launched its customer relationship management (CRM) software in India.

“CRM solutions are mainly targeted at service-intensive market segments such as financial services, telecom, power and engineering and customer responsive segments such as, hotels and white goods, besides direct marketing companies”, an Oracle official told reporters.

The solution, costing Rs 25 lakh and upwards, depending on the size of customer base, provides marketing automation in three modes– web, cell centres and mobile, he said.

Y2K solution

NEW DELHI (PTI): HCL Infosystems along with Microsoft has launched year 2000 (Y2K) services targeted at the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) for better management and solutions to rectify the Y2K bug problem easily.

The services include free Y2K audit to assess the organisations’ readiness to the computer menace, status report, Y2K certification of hardware data and applications by both Microsoft and HCL.

ICRA ratings
NEW DELHI, April 30 (PTI) -—ICRA Limited has retained Samtel Color Ltd’s fixed deposit rating at “MA-” while downgrading Gujarat State Fertilisers and Chemicals Ltd credit rating for debentures and fixed deposits to “LAA” and “MAA”.