Acquisition of NHPC soon NEW DELHI, Nov 19 — Power Minister P.R. Kumaramangalam today said he would soon seek Cabinet approval for the proposed acquisition of National Hydro Power Corporation by National Thermal Power Corporation.

Nissan hybrid cars in early 2000

Bata India reopens Faridabad unit
NEW DELHI, Nov 19 — Bata India, the largest footwear manufacturer in the country, has re-opened its Faridabad unit after an eight month lock-out following a settlement with the striking workers.

SEBI okays TV Eighteen issue
NEW DELHI, Nov 19 — Television Eighteen India Limited, producer of TV programmes in the country, has received the SEBI approval for a Rs 52.84 crore public issue.

NSE forecast
Philips dark horse bet of the week
by Ashok Kumar
THE undercurrent at the Indian bourses has turned pretty weak notwithstanding the stoppage in FII selling as this time around it is the domestic FI’s who are pressing sales.

Cos should have internal ‘WTO audit’
NEW DELHI, Nov 19 — Union Commerce and Industry Minister Murasoli Maran has asked the Indian enterprise to have an internal “WTO audit” to be efficient enough to match international standards.

SBI kicks off gold deposit scheme
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Nov 19 — State Bank of India (SBI) today launched a gold deposit scheme to tap around 13,000 tonnes of idle gold lying with people mostly in the form of jewellery.

“The owners of the gold can now bring life to their gold holding and make it earn for them, retaining at the same time the virtual physical ownership of gold, which has remained an idle indulgence all these years for different reasons”, the SBI Chairman Mr G.G. Vaidya said while launching the scheme.

The bank would accept gold weighing from 200 gm gross onwards for a period ranging from three to seven years with 3 to 4 per cent interest for the deposit period.

The interest earning on the gold deposit scheme would be exempted from Income Tax, wealth tax and capital gains tax, he said.

The scheme launched by the SBI would be handled by a subsidiary company — SBI Gold and Precious Metals Private Limited.

This will be a joint venture company with three Indian banks — Allahabad Bank, Canara Bank and Corporation Bank — and Credit Suisse Financial Products, London. RBI has given approval to SBI to form the subsidiary for providing as saving facility. An MoU in this regard has been signed between the joint ventures, Mr Vaidya said.

Public issue by July-Aug

NEW DELHI, Nov 19 (PTI) — State Bank of India (SBI) would come out with a simultaneous offer of shares to the domestic and overseas market to mobilise Rs 3,000-4,000 crore by July-August 2000, SBI Chairman G.G. Vaidya said here today.

“We would move a proposal to the Government in two weeks for the public issue,” Vaidya told PTI here.

He said the statute provides for an amendment in the SBI Act to reduce RBI from the current 59.74 per cent to below 55 per cent.

He said if RBI would not subscribe to the issue, the apex bank’s shareholding in SBI would come down to 40 per cent after the issue.

“If the RBI agrees to share the money required by us, then we would come out with a rights-cum-public issue,” he said.

Acquisition of NHPC soon

NEW DELHI, Nov 19 (PTI) — Power Minister P.R. Kumaramangalam today said he would soon seek Cabinet approval for the proposed acquisition of National Hydro Power Corporation by National Thermal Power Corporation.

“The proposal is at present under the consideration of the Government and we would soon move a Cabinet note on the acquisition of entire Government equity of NHPC by NTPC,” Kumaramangalam said but declined to specify the time frame by which the Cabinet note would be circulated.

NTPC has reserves of Rs 12,000 crore, and Rs 4,500 crore could be used to fund this acquisition. The amount would go to the consolidated fund of India in two tranches with the first tranche of Rs 2,500 crore likely to be released during the current fiscal, he told the Economic Editors’ Conference.

Denying reports that the amount would be entirely used to meet the fiscal deficit of the Government, Kumaramangalam said “only a part of the amount would go to meet the fiscal deficit and the rest would be ploughed back for the development of the power sector.”

Stating that this was not a merger, he said that the management control of NHPC would not be affected due to the proposed buy-out by NTPC.

The acquisition had been planned as there is a synergy between the two companies. NTPC’s financial strength and technical expertise of NHPC could be leveraged for developing the hydel sector in the country, Kumaramangalam said.

A final decision on the acquisition would be taken only after proper consultations, Kumaramangalam said adding that both NTPC and NHPC management were aware of the proposed move.

Kumaramangalam said the Government would soon be announcing a series of steps for consolidation of Central Power Utilities that would not only help meet the power target but also synergies long term requirements of the sector.

The Government was also planning to create a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) for securitinising dues of various PSUs, create a joint venture Brahmaputhra Hydro Development Corporation with participation of all the PSUs for setting up a 21,000 MW hydel power project at Dehang and Subashi and also sell some of the existing power projects of NTPC, he said.

ICICI has been appointed as the consultant to recommend various ways for restructuring the CPUs and they are likely to submit their report within six months, Kumaramangalam said.

The proposed acquisition would also help NHPC place itself more strongly in the market and not look like a “poor and a weak boy,” he said.

NTPC, which is already making a foray in the hydel sector, is planning to set up a Rs 4,000 crore Koel Dam Hydro Power Project in Himachal Pradesh and the acquisition of NHPC would help the company use the technical expertise of the hydro company in executing the project, he said.

Bata India reopens Faridabad unit

NEW DELHI, Nov 19 (PTI) — Bata India, the largest footwear manufacturer in the country, has re-opened its Faridabad unit after an eight month lock-out following a settlement with the striking workers.

“We re-opened the unit early this month after a negotiated settlement with the workers on outstanding issues,” M.J.Z. Mowla, Senior Vice President of Bata India told PTI.

The Faridabad plant, which is the largest unit of Bata India, has been under lockout since February this year.

The lockout, which was declared following an industrial go slow by unions, was lifted following a tripartite agreement between the management, workers and the Haryana Government.

Mowla said the eight-month lockout would not affect the company’s revenue in the current year as Faridabad unit was catering to lower-end products like canvas shoes and hawai chappals.

He said Bata India was likely to report higher turnover in 1999 ending December compared to last year’s Rs 743.17 crore.

SEBI okays TV Eighteen issue
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Nov 19 — Television Eighteen India Limited, producer of TV programmes in the country, has received the SEBI approval for a Rs 52.84 crore public issue. The company has a substantial stake in CNBC India, the Indian venture of the global broadcaster of CNBC. CNBC is the only 24 hour business channel in India.

For the year ending September 30, 1999, Television Eighteen made a net profit of Rs 3.6 crore on a total income of Rs 17.47 crore. The company also proposed a dividend of 10 per cent for the year ending September 30, 1999.

Philips dark horse bet of the week

NSE forecast
by Ashok Kumar

THE undercurrent at the Indian bourses has turned pretty weak notwithstanding the stoppage in FII selling as this time around it is the domestic FI’s who are pressing sales. The casualty here has been the operators who lost heavily earlier when the force of the FII selling took them by surprise resulting in fairly considerable losses. Thus these operators who traditionally impart liquidity and buoyancy at the bourses are conspicuous by their absence. However, in the Indian market memories are short, and it might not be too long before the next party commences, FII’s domestic FI’s and operators all included. Traders could consider taking up long positions at the counters of Fulford at Rs. 391 (square up at Rs 416), Goodlass Nerolac at Rs 162 (square up at Rs 178) and Castrol at Rs 361 (square up at Rs 383). Short positions could be considered at the counters of ITC at Rs 767 (cover up at Rs 751) and Essel Packaging at Rs 566 (cover up at Rs 549). The dark horse bet of the week is Philips India whose share price has dipped below the three figure mark. Discerning medium term investors could consider exposure at the counter of Voltas which looks underpriced at the current price level. Perhaps, a prod from the Finance Ministry or even SEBI could revive the waning enthusiasm at the bourses. But then, the market has this knack of bouncing back sharply just when despondency seems to be setting in. Will history repeat itself?

Nissan hybrid cars in early 2000

Japan’s Nissan Motor Co Ltd today said that it would launch a low-pollution hybrid car early next year but only in limited volume so as to minimise expected losses.

“We cannot say in which month specifically although it will be before the end of this fiscal year”, a company spokesman said.

He acknowledged Nissan would initially lose money but said the decision had been taken to “start selling the model in small volumes for the time being, considering profitability and other problems.”

Earlier this month Nissan said it had already developed technology for a hybrid car, powered alternately by gasoline and electricity, but was reviewing plans to launch it early next year amid a major restructuring.

Volkswagen to launch ‘Octavia’

German auto giant Volkswagen will launch a mid-size car model “Octavia” in India in the first month of the new millennium which would be rolled out from the company’s Aurangabad plant.

Volkswagen, on behalf of its Czech daughter Skoda, would invest $ 50 million in the first phase to set up a plant in Aurangabad and assemble Octavia, imported from the parent company in a form of completely knocked down (CKD) units, an Indo-German Export Promotion Council (IGEP) release said today.

Octavia would be placed between General Motors’ Opel Astra and Daimler-Chrysler’s Mercedes E-Class car models, it said.

The company would also launch another model “Felicia” to take on Maruti Suzuki, Daewoo and General Motors operating in the mid-sized car market.

It has also planned to introduce “Flaria”, launched recently during the Frankfurt Motor show, it said.

Sundram Fastners

Auto-parts major Sundram Fastners has cracked the Japanese market as part of its export thrust, which would see the company clocking 40 per cent of its total sales from overseas markets in five years, a top official of the company said at Chennai.

“After four long years of effort, we secured order from Japanese Engineering Komatsu for track-shoe bolts and nuts. This is part of our effort to ensure sustained revenue growth as a dramatic spurt in domestic demand is unlikely,” company Chief Suresh Krishna said.

A supplier to global auto majors like General Motors and Ford, the Rs 350 crore Sundram Fastners (SFL) is now planning to venture into Australia, which has largely been neglected in the past, Krishna said. — Agencies

Cos should have internal ‘WTO audit’

NEW DELHI, Nov 19 (PTI) — Union Commerce and Industry Minister Murasoli Maran has asked the Indian enterprise to have an internal “WTO audit” to be efficient enough to match international standards.

An internal WTO audit would help Indian entrepreneurs to evaluate whether their enterprise is efficient by international standards and whether they meet global competitive edge despite being efficient, Maran said inaugurating the India International Trade Fair (IITF) here.

“This would also help the enterprise identify the factors that inhibit its efficiency and competitive standards which could be rectified by the entrepreneurs on their own, by the industry and government acting in cohesion,” he said.

Forex
US $ Rs 43.38/39
Stg £ Rs 70.14/16
Euro Rs 45.72/74
Jap yen (100) Rs 40.92/94

Panipat Ref
Tribune News Service
CHANDIGARH, Nov 19 — The Indian Oil’s Panipat Refinery has achieved Y2K compliance. All systems, processes, Equipments and computers at Panipat Refinery are fully Y2K Complaint and the Refinery is ready to welcome the new millennium.

Bajaj Elect
Tribune News Service
CHANDIGARH, Nov 19 — Bajaj Electricals Limited is introducing a new range of state-of-the-art microwave ovens in the country with a host of features, at the lowest price for microwave ovens currently. The lowest priced model with browning facility will be available in 23 litres capacity.

Godrej
Tribune News Service
CHANDIGARH, Nov 19 — The Godrej Hair Care Institute today announced the launch of Colour Soft, India’s first state-of-art, ammonia free liquid hair colour at Mumbai. Colour Soft is specially formulated for Indian hair and provides true and natural looking colours.