Two more insurance Bills proposed
NEW DELHI, Nov 9 — The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority has proposed to the Government to move separate Bills for setting up institutes for insurance actuaries and surveyors to ensure professional service in the opening insurance industry.

Punjab to seek 50 pc share in Central revenue
CHANDIGARH, Nov 9 — The Punjab Government wants review of relevant Constitutional provisions to enhance the financial powers and jurisdiction of the states.

French technology show from December 6
CHANDIGARH, Nov 9 — A technology exhibition “France India 2000” will be organised in Delhi from December 6 to 10, the Head of Economics, Trade & Finance Commission, Embassy of France, Mr Jean Charles Rouher, said here today.

4,000 crore PFC loan for power projects
SHIMLA, Nov 9 — Power Finance Corporation has decided to grant a loan of about Rs 4,000 crore to Himachal Pradesh for the speedy construction of various hydroelectric projects in the state.

RBI steps will help export sector
HISAR, Nov 9 — To discuss the impact of recently announced monetary policy of the Reserve Bank of India, a one-day seminar-cum panel discussion on the impact of monetary policy on banks and industry was organised here yesterday in the Department of Business Management, Guru Jambheshwar University.

PHDCCI conference for northern States’ CMs
NEW DELHI, Nov 9 — The Chief Ministers of northern States and the Administrator of Chandigarh Union Territory will discuss at a conference on November 12 a plan prepared by the PHDCCI for the economic development of the region.

Essar links Delhi, USA
NEW DELHI, Nov 9 — Essar Cellphone today said it has tied up with Omnipoint, the largest cellular service operator in the eastern USA, for offering bilateral automatic roaming service between Delhi and USA.

Two more insurance Bills proposed
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Nov 9 — The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority has proposed to the Government to move separate Bills for setting up institutes for insurance actuaries and surveyors to ensure professional service in the opening insurance industry. The draft Bills in this regard were prepared in 1996, IRDA Chairman N. Rangachary told reporters here today.

“We are waiting for the main Bill to get passed”, he said adding that the regulatory authority is also in the process of laying out new regulations pertaining to brokers and agents “who will assist in the development of the insurance market”.

Mr Rangachary said the authority has identified actuaries and surveyors as “intrinsically related” to the insurance sector and therefore it was important to put in place separate legislation for these.

Allaying fears that after deregulating the insurance market in India foreign players might swamp the existing service providers, he said the global evidence has suggested that even after 10 to 15 years of operation, new players have taken only about 10 per cent of the existing business.

The larger business generated by opening up the market, will be shared by all players including the existing ones, he said adding that an increase in the number of players will significantly increase the level of services of policies.

Earlier releasing a report on insurance: Trends and Issues prepared by KPMG, Mr Rangachary said there should be no fear regarding the repatriation of profits by foreign insurance companies as the IRDA Bill stipulates that premium income generated should be reinvested within the country itself.

The KPMG report says the threat of new players taking over the market has been overplayed and national players will continue to hold strong market share positions. There, however, will be enough business for new entrants to be profitable.

Giving details of the report, the Managing Director, Consulting, KPMG India, said that “it has been found that, typically, foreign insurers take only a small share of an individual country’s market”. The report gives examples of Taiwan, where foreign companies managed a share of 3 per cent seven years after the sector was liberalised and Korea, where it was 1 per cent after 20 years.

The report, based on a research conducted by KPMG in India and abroad, aims to examine the key issues and outlines possible trends, opportunities and challenges for the insurance sector in India once it opens up for private participation.

Punjab to seek 50 per cent share in Central revenue
By Sarbjit Singh
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Nov 9 — The Punjab Government wants review of relevant Constitutional provisions to enhance the financial powers and jurisdiction of the states.

An official memorandum to this effect has been prepared by the state government which will be submitted to the 11th National Finance Commission (NFC) headed by Prof A.M. Khusro.

The five-member commission will visit Punjab on November 16 and 17 to interact with the Chief Minister,the Finance Minister, the Chief Secretary, the Finance Secretary and other senior officials, members of political parties and academicians and opinion leaders.

Prof Khusro is a chairman of the commission. Its other members are Mr N.C. Jain, a former Advocate-General of Madhya Pradesh; Mr J.C. Jetly, a former Secretary to the union government; Dr Amaresh Bagchi, a former Director of the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy; and Mr T.N. Srivastava, Member-Secretary.

At a high-level meeting chaired by the Finance Minister, Capt Kanwaljit Singh, and attended by Chief Secretary R.S. Mann and Finance Secretary K.R. Lakhanpal, the official memorandum was discussed and its contents were finalised today.

While the states enjoy very limited financial powers, the development of states was the direct responsibility of the state government. "Popular governments in states have to be answerable to the people with regard to development and other aspects pertaining to states", said Capt Kanwaljit Singh while talking about the memorandum.

With limited resources at the disposal of the states like Punjab, it would not just be possible to meet the challenges of the next millennium. Hence the demand for reviewing the Constitutional provisions. "We would like drastic changes in the union list to do justice with the states on the economic front", said Capt Kanwaljit Singh.

Earlier, the Shiromani Akali Dal had raised the issue of more powers to the states at the political level and it was also part of the Anandpur Sahib resolution but it will be first time that an official document as regard more financial powers to the states will be submitted now to the NFC, which is a constitutional body.

As the states are partners in the union (India), strengthening of the states would be strengthening of the country as a whole. Moreover, it would be a step towards making the country federal in true sense.

The second major demand of the state government will be to enhance the share of the state governments from revenue collected from the states in the Central pool.

The 10th Finance Commission had recommended 29 per cent share to the states from the Central pool but it has not been implemented so far as the necessary amendment in the Constitution has not been effected. Capt Kanwaljit Singh said the Punjab Government would ask the commission to recommend 50 per cent share from the Central pool for the states and time-bound amendment in the Constitution for implementing the same.

Punjab is for the abolition of centralised planning. India is a diverse country and centralised planning at the national level is not effective as was clear from the history of past 50 years. Due to centralised planning, development in the country was lop-sided and progressive states like Punjab suffered.

The states should be authorised to prepare the plans by acting as planning apex bodies. The States could judge better their requirements than the Central Government. A state government could fix development priorities according to the local needs.

Another major demand to be raised by the Punjab Government will be with regard to Central assistance. Capt Kanwaljit Singh said now the Central assistance was tied with various schemes. It was unfair. One scheme may be good for Karnataka but not for Punjab or vice versa. He said the Punjab Government would urge for financial assistance in bulk with powers to the states for devising their own schemes to provide funds from the bulk assistance.

The Punjab Government will also ask performance related assistance. There should be a bonus financial assistance to the state which is doing well on the population check programme, which is part of the national programme. States doing good well in implementing national programmes in the field of health, education and population, literacy should be given special assistance. The Punjab Government wanted a major change in the formula devised by the Central Government for determining the Central assistance for the states.

It may be recalled that Punjab, which faced a financial crisis in the past months, has recently pressed the Central Government to make a special provision of Rs 10,000 crore for providing help to the states in the hour of crisis. This point is also expected to be taken up with the commission.

4,000 crore PFC loan for power projects
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, Nov 9 — Power Finance Corporation (PFC) has decided to grant a loan of about Rs 4,000 crore to Himachal Pradesh for the speedy construction of various hydroelectric projects in the state.

The offer was made by Mr Uddesh Kohli, Chairman-cum-Managing Director of the PFC, during a meeting with the Chief Minister, Mr Prem Kumar Dhumal, here today. The Chief Secretary, Mr A.K. Goswami, who is also Chairman of the HPSEB, was also present.

Mr Kohli said the loan would be under the accelerated production programme for constructing hydroelectric projects and improving the transmission system.

The PFC would also help in restructuring the HPSEB and provide a subsidy of 1 per cent on the interest on loans in case the electricity regulatory authority was set up in the state.

Mr Kohli also offered that an additional subsidy of 4 per cent on interest of the loan would be provided for the power projects which would be completed by 2004.

Meanwhile, the state Cabinet, which met here today under the chairmanship of Mr Dhumal, announced incentives for constructing hydroelectric projects. It was decided to streamline the procedure and quantum of incentives with a view to giving a fillip to investments in hydroelectric projects.

A spokesman for the government said the Cabinet had decided that projects from where power was not being purchased by the HPSEB 12 per cent free power would be supplied by the entrepreneurs in the first 12 years and 18 per cent in the remaining lease period of the agreement.

The Cabinet decided to decrease the quantum of earnest money with a view to lessening the burden of the independent power producers. It was also decided to introduce a new clause to provide incentive for the completion of the project before time by giving a rebate of 1 per cent of the power in the free power to be given to the state government. Similarly for the time over-run, the entrepreneur would have to give 1 per cent extra free power.

The Cabinet approved the draft power purchase agreement for Neogal hydroelectric project (15 MW) to be promoted by M/s Om Power Corporation. The project is situated in Kangra district with a basic cost of Rs 62 crore. The project would be completed in 54 months from the date of the signing of the agreement.

The Cabinet decided to frame rules under the HP Forest (Prevention from Fire) rules to provide precaution against forest fires and impose deterrent action in case of their violation.

The Cabinet noted that several complaints were being received with regard to recruitments of panchayat sahayaks under the Panchayat Sahayak Yojna. The Cabinet decided that all these complaints would be looked into and suitable remedial action taken where found necessary.

It was decided that the new recruitment of lecturers (school cadre) would be done in Class III, but would be conferred with Class II gazetted status after initial few years service.

It was decided to increase procurement price of milk by Rs 2 per litre.

The Cabinet also finalised market intervention scheme for citrus fruit. A total amount of citrus that would be procured is 2400 tonnes at 47 collection centres.

A presentation on the financial position of the state was made before the Cabinet. The state government will appraise the Centre about this and seek a financial package.

RBI steps will help export sector
From Our Correspondent

HISAR, Nov 9 — To discuss the impact of recently announced monetary policy of the Reserve Bank of India, a one-day seminar-cum panel discussion on the impact of monetary policy on banks and industry was organised here yesterday in the Department of Business Management, Guru Jambheshwar University. Prof M.S. Turan, Dean, Faculty of Management Studies, inaugurated the seminar. Dr Krishan Chander Banger, Vice Chancellor, gave away the prizes. To offer expert comments Mr Ashok Rar, Senior Manager, foreign exchange and loans, Punjab National Bank and Mr N.K. Jain, Dy General Manager (Finance) DCM Textiles Ltd, Hisar, were present.

The participants observed that the monetary policy announced by the RBI would help industry and banks to revive and in-turn help boost the export sector and investment in the infrastructure sector. The lowering of cash reserve ratio by 1 per cent would enable Indian banks to inject more funds into the economy and that would help banks raise their bottom line.

Dr Banger said interest rates in India were much higher than the developed countries. He lauded the scholarly presentation by students and faculty members. Referring to the reduction in the cash reserve ratio and maintaining bank rates at same levels Prof Turan said it was a significant milestone in the series of financial reforms.

Dr B.S. Bodla said there was no credit crunch and as such the present time was not conducive for the CRR cut.

New Zealand firm eyes HPMC tie-up
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, Nov 9 — Enza International, a marketing division of New Zealand apple and pear marketing board, has expressed willingness to collaborate with state owned HPMC for export of apple and other fruit products of Himachal Pradesh.

This was conveyed by Mr Edrian Simcock, High Commissioner of New Zealand, who called on the Himachal Horticulture Minister, Mr Narinder Bragta here today.

Mr Simcock informed Mr Bragta that in the first phase, target farmers and institutional agencies would be identified while in the second phase, the pilot studies would be executed. He said steps would be taken under the project for improving the productivity of apple and post harvest management infrastructure in Himachal with the objective of exporting these products to other countries.

Mr Bragra said that horticulture department would coordinate its activities with Enza for introduction of new improved apple varieties and root stocks for export purposes and also the domestic market. He informed the High Commissioner about the latest technology being adopted for processing of apple and other fruits in the State.

He said that about 95 per cent small and marginal horticulturists were engaged in horticulture in the State and the Government has taken a number of steps for their welfare for improving the quality of apple and apple products so that these could meet international standards.

Mr Chander Sen, Vice-Chairman, HPMC; Mr Shrikant Baldi, Managing Director, HPMC; Mr P.C. Kapoor, Managing Director, HP Agro Packaging India and Director Horticulture were also present at the meeting.

HP "can’t afford" apple import under OGL
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, Nov 9 — The Chief Minister, Mr Prem Kumar Dhumal, today told the New Zealand High Commissioner, Mr Adrin Simcock, that Himachal Pradesh could not afford import of apple under the open general licence (OGL) as small apple growers of the state would not be able to compete.

The New Zealand High Commissioner called on the Chief Minister at his official residence here today.

Mr Dhumal said the apple growers in the state had small holdings and horticulture economy of the state still required quality improvement and latest technical know-how for which he requested the High Commissioner to help the state.

He informed the High Commissioner that to sustain the economy of apple and other fruit growers in Himachal the state government was implementing the marketing intervention scheme under which it procured about 70,000 metric tonnes of apple last year.

He said the government was also stressing on diversification of economy of the apple growers so that their economy did not dwindle if a single crop failed.

Mr Simcock earlier told the Chief Minister that import of apple under OGL will not have any effect on the economy of the apple growers in Himachal Pradesh as there was vast scope of market in India.

He also evinced keen interest in the development of the state, especially various projects stated during the last one and a half year.

Himachal Pradesh is implementing a fruit development project with the assistance of New Zealand under which the state had received 97 root stocks of apple and 300 pear besides 100 hazel nut fruit plants so far.

Mr Dhumal requested him to extend the project to more areas so that fruit growers in the state were benefited.

French technology show from December 6
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Nov 9 — A technology exhibition “France India 2000” will be organised in Delhi from December 6 to 10.Announcing this here today, the Head of Economics, Trade & Finance Commission, Embassy of France, Mr Jean Charles Rouher, said France intends to become one of the top five foreign investors in India by 2005.

The exhibition will showcase French technology in various sectors such as energy (oil and gas, electricity), aeronautics & space, water and environment, agro-industrial equipment, services (banking, insurance, education & tourism), telecommunication and information technology and transport (air, port, rail, road).

The organisers — CFME-ACTIM — in cooperation with the CII, will also hold a number of roadshows in various cities.

Mr Pascal Galli, Deputy Exhibition Manager, said the exhibition will be attended by 180 French companies — 69 per cent of them being small and medium companies and 60 per cent coming to India for the first time.

Mr I.S. Paul, Chairman, CII Chandigarh Council, said France is the fourth largest economy in the world, fourth largest exporter and fourth largest importer.

Mr Ramesh Inder Singh, Secretary, Industries, Punjab, and P.K. Chaudhery, Secretary, Industries Haryana, highlighted investment opportunities in their States. Food processing, farm implements, information technology and infrastructure development were identified as potential areas for French investment and technology transfer.

‘Ugly people need not apply’
From Gerard Seenan in Glasgow

A decent curriculum vitae, a raft of qualifications and a willingness to learn are no longer enough to get you a job. If you want to set the new “aesthetic labour” market alight, you’ve got to look the part: ugly people need not apply.

Researchers from Strathclyde University in Glasgow, Scotland, have spent two years looking at the city’s transition from manufacturing and heavy industry to a style-led, service economy. The key to employment is now not what you know, but how you look.

As new designer boutiques, bars and clubs spring up with monotonous regularity, employers looking for people dressed well enough to fit in. It is a trend that is being replicated across Britain, researchers believe.

“What employers are looking for is people who look right and sound good. They want people with attitude and we think people are being discriminated against because of their looks,’’ says Chris Warhurst, who led the research.

The demand has reached such a level that a training group is launching a course to teach the long-term unemployed to make the best of themselves. Students will be taught deportment, voice training, style and grooming.

“It’s not just about buying your shirt to go for the interview. It’s about ‘have you shaved properly?’ and ‘are you going to project the kind of image these upmarket places want?’,’’ says Allan Watt, Development Manager of the Wise Group.

The researchers began their study after spotting a newspaper advert for “attractive bar staff’’. They have discovered it is routine for employers across the country to advertise for “smart’’, “stylish’’ and “tasty’’ recruits. The demands are so common that they have coined the phrase “aesthetic labour’’.

“These adverts are a grey area in the law which has to be tested. But who is going to admit to not being employed because they are too ugly?’’ says Dr Warhurst. “Modern retail is all about image. If you don’t fit that image you haven’t got much of a chance of getting a job.’’

It is not just at the interview stage that employers are demanding perfect grooming. Recruits are often sent on style courses before being allowed on to the shop, bar or restaurant floor. Once they are allowed to meet the public, they have to keep up appearances — or they are out. — The Guardian

PHDCCI conference for northern States’ CMs

NEW DELHI, Nov 9 (UNI) — The Chief Ministers of northern States and the Administrator of Chandigarh Union Territory will discuss at a conference on November 12 a plan prepared by the PHDCCI for the economic development of the region.

The conference on “Dynamic North — vision and action” will be attended by the Chief Ministers of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Delhi.

Essar links Delhi, USA

NEW DELHI, Nov 9 (PTI) — Essar Cellphone today said it has tied up with Omnipoint, the largest cellular service operator in the eastern USA, for offering bilateral automatic roaming service between Delhi and USA.

Nalin Tikoo, CEO of Essar Cellphone said here this roaming tie-up would allow Essar’s subscribers in Delhi, to use their existing SIM cards and also retain the same mobile number while seamlessly roaming in most of the eastern coast of the USA.

Satyam jv
HYDERABAD, Nov 9 (PTI) — Satyam Computer Services announced here today the signing of a 50:50 joint venture Satyam-Venture Engineering Services Private Limited, with US-based Venture Industries, Detroit.

India Cements
CHENNAI, Nov 9 (PTI) — India Cements today announced that it planned to raise up to Rs 100 crore through the equity route and another Rs 40 crore by issuing preference shares.

MTNL issue
NEW DELHI, Nov 9 (PTI) — MTNL today said its 19 million global depository receipt (GDR) issue to divest about 3 per cent government equity has been deferred “indefinitely” due to adverse market conditions.

Goldstone Engg
NEW DELHI, Nov 9 (UNI) — Goldstone Engineering ltd., a Hyderabad-based telecom equipment manufacturing and software development company, today announced that it is acquiring two US-based software companies.

Microsoft
NEW YORK, Nov 9 (AFP) — Hit by a harsh court ruling, Microsoft stocks first plunged then rebounded on the New York Stock Exchange but not enough to stop $10 billion from being shaved off the firm’s market capitalisation.

Overseas Cables
CHANDIGARH, Nov 9 (TNS) — ICRA has downgraded the non-convertible debenture rating of Overseas Cables Limited (OCL) from LA+ to LD. It has also downgraded the rating of the FD programme of OCL from MA+ to MD. The revised ratings indicate default.