No need to hike wheat support price: CACP
CHANDIGARH: In a path-breaking recommendation, the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) has suggested that there could be no increase in the minimum support price (MSP) for wheat for 1999-2000.

Govt to set up group on liquidation of companies
NEW DELHI, Sept 8 — The Government will set up an expert group under a retired Judge of the Supreme Court on restructuring and liquidation of companies, a top official of the Department of Company Affairs has said.

Ranbaxy pact with Bayer AG
NEW DELHI, Sept 8 — Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd today said it has entered into an agreement with Bayer AG of Germany for transfer of exclusive development and worldwide marketing rights of its oral once daily formulation Ciprofloxacin.

M&M to float IT unit in USA
NEW DELHI, Sept 8 — Mahindra Information Technology Services Ltd (MITS), part of utility vehicle major Mahindra group, will soon float a subsidiary in the United States to harness the business of its various divisions, a top company official said today.

Restructure, don’t privatise PSUs: CEOs
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Sept 8 — Chief executives and senior executives of public sector undertakings feel that in the event of privatisation, the Government should end up as a minority shareholder only with control ranging between zero and 49 per cent.

This was revealed by a survey conducted by FICCI involving 65 senior officials of PSUs.

Around 62 per cent respondents want the Government control to range between 26 and 49 per cent. Thirty per cent would rather want the Government to have no control at all. Basically this set of respondents felt that there should be Government shareholding only in case of strategic units like those meant for the country’s defence.

When asked about the best route for privatisation that should be used, 40 per cent of the respondents considered auction to the highest bidder as the most efficient one. Book building and tender above all prices were considered as the next two options for disinvestment.

Some of the respondents are of the opinion that the reasons for poor performance of a large number of PSUs are due to political interference coupled with excess labour and militant trade unionism. Most of the PSUs whether profitable or not suffer from over-staffing. This has added to the burden of PSUs without any returns.

Seventyfive per cent of the executives observed that the Disinvestment Commission should be converted into a restructuring commission. The Commission after making recommendations should also oversee the implementation of its suggestions which can speed up the process of restructuring. Also, the Commission should identify the sick PSUs which need to be restructured.

A large number of respondents gave priority to restructuring over privatisation. As many as 85 per cent of the respondents felt that restructuring can be done without privatisation. Some of the important areas of restructuring that have been identified are business restructuring, organisational restructuring, financial restructuring and labour restructuring. Restructuring on these lines will enhance the value of enterprise and enable the Government to get a better value of shares.

Analysing the financial results of PSUs which have disinvested so far, the survey said SAIL, IPCL, IOC, HPCL, BHEL, Bharat Electronics and Concor have not shown any outstanding performance after disinvestment.

On IOC, the survey said “the company has been overlooking the need to develop a strong market and is concentrating on adding refining capacities.”

Comparing IPCL’s performance with private sector Reliance, it cautioned that the former’s employee cost was 9.2 per cent as against 2.3 per cent of the latter.

No need to hike wheat support price: CACP
By B.K. Chum

CHANDIGARH: In a path-breaking recommendation, the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) has suggested that there could be no increase in the minimum support price (MSP) for wheat for 1999-2000. The MSP for the 1998-99 crop season was Rs 550 per quintal.

The Commission, in fact, opines that on present trends, it will require at least two years of unchanged MSP and Central Issue Price (CIP) before market prices rise so much as to bring normal offtakes into balance with normal procurement.

In its report on price policy for 1999-2000 rabi crops the CACP, however, is understood to have proposed increases in MSPs of barley, gram, rapeseed/mustard and safflower to Rs 415 (last year’s rate Rs 385), Rs 1,000 (Rs 895), Rs 1,075 (Rs 1,000) and Rs 1,075 (Rs 990) per quintal respectively.

The Commission has reportedly suggested that whenever the government fixes prices different from those recommended by the CACP, the reasons may be stated for the decision. In the past, the Government has often fixed MSP much higher than that recommended which also was not justified by market conditions.

The CACP has recommended that the Directorate of Economics and Statistics, in consultation with the States concerned, should make necessary modification in the crop calendar. The Government should also consider changing the rabi marketing season for wheat to March-February instead of April-March as at present. This was suggested by certain States where wheat arrivals start early. Moreover, with increased popularity of early-sown and short duration varieties, there is now a tendency for early market arrivals which require changes in the existing crop calendar.

On the issue of increase in what MSP, the Commission reportedly has frankly admitted its dilemma. It has said that on the one hand, the variable cost of production of wheat is likely to increase by 3 to 4 per cent over the coming year but by every other objective criterion considered there is no justification for any further increase in its MSP. The problem has arisen because of the decision last year to fix the MSP for wheat at a level which exceeded the Commission’s recommendation by 12 per cent. This is much higher than any conceivable cost increase this year. It has also created other imbalances which would be magnified if there were to be a further increase in the wheat MSP.

Referring to the recent controversy over quantitative restrictions (QRs) which are to be phased out in six years, the CACP feels that since the domestic prices of certain major cereal crops like wheat are much higher than the international prices, as and when QRs are removed there is a possibility for commodities like cereals, pulses, oilseeds and edible oils to flood the Indian markets and jeopardise their domestic production bases. Hence, it has recommended that the Government should use all WTO instruments such as tariffs, tariff-quotas and safeguard measures in order to protect the interests of India’s farming community.

Govt to set up group on liquidation of companies

NEW DELHI, Sept 8 (PTI) — The Government will set up an expert group under a retired Judge of the Supreme Court on restructuring and liquidation of companies, a top official of the Department of Company Affairs has said.

“We are planning to set up a group under the chairmanship of a retired Supreme Court Judge for restructuring and liquidation of companies,” DCA Secretary T.S. Krishnamurty said adding that his department was also for an action plan to change the various corporate laws.

Addressing a conference on Corporate Governance, organised by PHDCCI yesterday, he said that his department was also streamlining various administrative procedures in tune with the changed economic environment.

Elaborating on the expert group, Krishnamurty said that it would be a group of experts from the field to suggest restructuring of companies particularly those which were loss making and had been referred to the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction.

He said the directors and the auditors of the company could play an important role in improving corporate governance and “nominee directors of financial institutions have an equal role in the construction of the company.”

Krishnamurty, however, regretted that nominee directors of various financial institutions had not so a played on active role, and said this was one of the reason for increased sickness in the corporate sector.

“With FI directors not playing an active role, good money is going into bad investment,” he stated.

He said the Government directors on the board of companies should be kept minimum and they should have the same responsibility like other directors.

DCA Secretary said that there was a need for some kind of communication to the investors to improve the working of business.

He insisted that every company must have some kind of ombudsman to pass on relevant information to various parties.

However, he regretted that out of the five lakh companies registered in India, only 50 per cent file their returns on time and around 20 per cent of the total may be non-existent.

In order to revive investors interest in the corporate sector, Krishnamurty suggested that the directors of the companies who do not file their annual returns for five years and fall sick should be barred from becoming directors from any other company for five years.

It’s 9.9.99 today.Will Y2K strike?

NEW DELHI, Sept 8 (UNI) — Senior Government and industry officials today dismissed fears over crash of computers tomorrow as completely exaggerated and said that September 9, 1999, will pass off without any glitch.

September 9 is being seen as a kind of dry run for Y2K readiness as the date 9-9-99 would cause problems in mainframes.

“This (fear) is completely bogus,’’ Chairman of National Y2K Action Force Montek Singh Ahluwalia said this evening.

He said if at all this problem arises, it would be in the computers using Cobol language but ‘’the number of Cobol-based computers is tiny’’.

Besides, the computers will read tomorrow’s date not as 9-9-99 but as 09-09-99.

Dr Ahluwalia said the fears are so exaggerated and bogus that there is no need to keep a close watch about the potential threat to computers tomorrow.

Director General of National Informatics Centre N. Seshagiri said that the probability of any Y2K problem tomorrow is “very very small’’ since it could arise only in isolated cases of computers using Cobol language.

Dr Seshagiri said while the Railways had already become Y2K compliant, the Department of Statistics is any case not online.

Spokespersons of many major airlines, including Indian Airlines, Jet Airways and British Airways said there would be no disturbance at all in their flight schedules because of Y2K-September 9 scare.

Nasscom President Dewang Mehta said there is a remote possibility of any problems arising tomorrow. In the worst case, a problem would come only in Unix-based computers. “But it was discovered during tests on Y2K preparedness that it could be a freak case here or there.’’

Poorman’s cellphone soon

NEW DELHI, Sept 8 (PTI) — Mahanagar Telephone Nigam MTNL will launch this month its “poorman’s callular phone” with free incoming calls and call charges equal to normal telephone, a top company official said today.

The move is expected to trigger a price war with private cellular operators.

The new product will be a mobile phone on a fixed line with limited mobility under its scheme of wireless telephony and will be provided under MTNL’s cellular licence, Chief General Manager of MTNL’s Delhi circle A.K. Bhatnagar told PTI.

This would virtually mean a price war in the cellular telephony in the Delhi circle as MTNL would provide the new service at up to Rs 600 a month rental, the same as charged by private cellular operators, but the call charges would be only Rs 1.40 for a three-minute call.

“This will be poorman’s cellular phone with no airtime charges though the rental will be as per the ceiling fixed by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) not exceeding Rs 600 per month”, Bhatnagar said.

He, however, declined to give details of rental or the area covered by the fixed line mobile phone.

Pay bills thru Internet

MTNL will provide the facility of downloading and payment of telephone bills through the Internet to its subscribers from tomorrow.

“We are starting the pilot project from tomorrow but with some restrictions including payment of a bill maximum upto Rs 2,000”, Bhatnagar said.

This will be done through Indian Overseas Bank as they have a network of about 26 branches in Delhi and all are inter-connected.

Ranbaxy pact with Bayer AG

NEW DELHI, Sept 8 (PTI) — Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd today said it has entered into an agreement with Bayer AG of Germany for transfer of exclusive development and worldwide marketing rights of its oral once daily formulation Ciprofloxacin.

Ranbaxy will receive in excess of $ 50 million in various stages depending on the patenting of the new drug.

As part of the agreement, Ranbaxy, the original developer of the formulation, will also receive royalty of up to 10 per cent from Bayer depending upon the patent and competitive situation for the one daily Cipro in individual countries, the company said in a statement here.

However, Ranbaxy will retain the marketing rights for India and Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries along with non-exclusive, co-marketing and co-promotion rights for certain other markets.

Ciprofloxacin it currently Bayer’s blockbuster and is one of the world’s leading antibiotics and was first launched in 1986, which was followed by an intravenous formulation in 1987 and an oral suspension in 1997.

Ciprofloxacin contributed about 2.5 billion Deustche Mark to Bayer’s total turnover of 54.2 billion DM during 1998.

Cipro is currently available in more than 100 countries and is used to treat a wide range of hospital and community infections and has a well established efficacy and safety record, the statement said.

The new drug delivery system by Ranbaxy also offers the benefit of improved patient convenience and enhanced compliance, it said.

Bayer is an international research based group with major businessman in life sciences, polymers and speciality chemicals.

M&M to float IT unit in USA

NEW DELHI, Sept 8 (PTI) — Mahindra Information Technology Services Ltd (MITS), part of utility vehicle major Mahindra group, will soon float a subsidiary in the United States to harness the business of its various divisions, a top company official said today.

“We will soon set up a subsidiary in the USA to take care of the diverse interests of our divisions in the information technology sector,” Ulhas N Yargop, President of Mahindra’s Telecom and Software sector told PTI.

MITS is the holding company of the Mahindra group for its five companies engaged in IT related businesses.

Yargop said the decision to have a subsidiary for MITS in the USA was taken in view of the immense business potential the country had compared to European countries.

Mahindra British Telecom (MDT), the group’s 60:40 joint venture with British Telecom, engaged in development of telecom software already has a subsidiary in the USA called MBT International Inc.

Yargop said MITS was expected to grow at over 60 per cent during 1999-2000 with its continued focus on telecom and software sectors.

The IT division of the company had contributed around Rs 200 crore to Mahindra group’s total turnover during 1998-99.

Asked whether MITC would go public in near future, Yargop said the company was preparing itself by adopting the Generally Accepted Accounting Practices (GAAP) but had not decided on the timing and mode of the public issue.

MITS Chairman Anand Mahindra said the public offering would be made of only the holding company (MITS) and the shareholders in other IT companies would be allotted shares in MITS as per the ratio worked out by a merchant banker.

Other Mahindra companies in the IT arena are Mahindra Consulting, Mahindra Network Service Ltd, which manages networks and commerce solutions, Mahindra Applied Systems Technology Limited (MASYST) which specialises in ERP consultancy, Logisoft and Mahindra Institute of Software Education and Management.

Now online modelling contest

NEW DELHI, Sept 8 (UNI) — For the first time, aspiring models will be able to participate online in the Indian segment of an international top model contest which is to be held in Paris in November.

Thus, aspirants who think they have the elan or the looks and are below 24 years of age can visit the website at ‘www.pureindian.com’ to enter the contest being conducted by the international agency, Metropolitan Models.

The Indian finals, for which entries will be accepted by October 15, will be held at the end of next month at one of the Indian metro cities.

The winner of the Indian final will subsequently take part in the international contest. where she will participate with competitors from 45 countries. The winners of the world final will receive contracts and prizes worth over $ 1.1 million.

Forex
US $ Rs 43.49/50
Stg £ Rs 70.27/29
Euro Rs 46.15/17
Jap yen (100) Rs 39.34/36

Lakshmi Mach
CHENNAI, Sept 8 (PTI) — Ailing India Precision Bearings (IPB) is merging with the country’s largest textile machinery manufacturer Lakshmi Machine Works (LMW), according to top level sources at LMW.

PACL
Tribune News Service
CHANDIGARH, Sept 8 — Referring to the news item “Rise in cost hits alkali industry” published on Sept 5 Punjab Alkalies & Chemicals Ltd has clarified: The company has already converted its mercury cell plant into 200 tonne per day membrane cell technology plant in the year, 1998. This plant after conversion started commercial production w.e.f. 18.12.1998.