Delhi-Dharamsala flight from Sept 16
NEW DELHI, Sept 13 — from September 16, Indian Airlines will use 18-seater Dornier aircraft to link Delhi with Dharamsala in Himachal Pradesh and Dehradun in Uttar Pradesh, it was announced today.

APEC agrees on air services liberalisation
AUCKLAND, Sept 13 — APEC’s political leaders have taken steps to bring the Asia-Pacific region closer to an open market in air services, New Zealand Prime Minister Jenny Shipley said today.

Save IMF from politics of ‘owners’
WASHINGTON, Sept 13— Officials of the International Monetary Fund tend to be bankers, financiers or economists for whom “excitement” means a whispered conversation on exchange rates and capital flows.

BIFR to sack 65 special Directors by month-end
NEW DELHI, Sept 13 — Even as pressure is mounting on the Government to scrap the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction, the BIFR has removed 19 of its nominees on company boards as part of getting its act together.

BHEL says ‘bye’ to 13.5 per cent of employees
NEW DELHI, Sept 13 — Bharat Heavy Engineering has shed about 13.5 per cent of its 62,000-strong workforce through a Voluntary Retirement Scheme at a cost of Rs 350 crore.

ADB puts SBI Caps public issue on ice
NEW DELHI, Sept 13 — The Asian Development Bank with close to 14 per cent equity stake in SBI Capital Markets Limited has poured cold water on plans by the State Bank of India to divest its stake in its merchant banking company through an initial public offering.

Philips targets top three positions
CALCUTTA, Sept 13 — Philips India has set a target for itself of attaining top three positions in all key markets by 2001.

No review of stamp marking order
NEW DELHI, Sept 13 — The Government has ruled out a review of its order making “stamp marking” mandatory for imported fabric in an effort to provide level-playing field for the domestic industry, official sources said today.

‘Santro to overtake Zen in 2 months’
PUNE, Sept 13 — Hyundai Motor India President A.P. Gandhi today claimed Santro would become the market leader in the premium small car segment by overtaking Maruti Udyog’s Zen in the next two months.

Economic slowdown due to BJP protectionism, N-blasts: Britain

NEW DELHI Sept 13 (PTI) — Britain has said that the reform process under the BJP-led Government slowed down because of protection extended to domestic industry and restrictions on foreign investments.

Maintaining that India’s nuclear test has had an adverse impact on the flow of foreign investment, the British Government’s Department for International Development (DFID) said foreign investments fell due to the worsening global investment climate and measures taken against India after its nuclear tests.

“The Bharatiya Janata Party Government has continued the process of reforms although it has been cautious about opening up key sectors for foreign investment with majority external control and has generally sought to maintain or increase the levels of protection for domestic industry’’, DFID said in its country strategy paper released today.

It said growing losses of public enterprises of both the Centre and States coupled with the burden of extensive subsidies contribute to a public deficit in excess of 9 per cent of GDP which is leading to a domestic debt problem.

“Within public expenditures there are many inefficiencies, with subsidies generally not being targeted at the most needy groups’’, it says, adding that the resultant expenditure constraint has led to insufficient investment in infrastructure, particularly, power and transport.

Low inflation

CHENNAI: Specific policy initiatives had very little impact in bringing down inflation rates to their current low levels and this decline is more due to the price aberrations of 1998, leading global credit information agency Dun Bradstreet (DB) has said.

Abnormally high levels of fruit and vegetable prices and other food articles drove inflation upwards in 1998-99 and the high base value of comparison has made the current fall seem steeper, D.B. said in its latest review of the Indian economy.

The prevailing low point-to-point rate of inflation is not an exclusive outcome of specific policy measures designed to curtail inflation, but a largely fortuitous consequence of the price aberration witnessed in 1998, it said.

Telecom operators seek minimum rate of return
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Sept 13 — The licence fee for domestic long distance calls (DLDC) should be based on a minimum rate of return and should not be in excess of 5 per cent of gross revenue, private telecom operators said here today.

Participating in an open house discussion organised by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), private operators said that the teledensity as envisaged in the National Telecom Policy 1999 can be achieved only if the entry fee is waived for rural areas.

Operators said that while the licence fee could be slightly higher for metro areas, a minimum rate of return should be considered in the process of deciding the fee, the Secretary General of Association of Basic Telephone Operators (ABTO), Mr S.C Khanna said that revenue sharing DLDC services could be just enough to cover administrative costs.

The Executive Vice Chairman of Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI),Mr T.V Ramachandran, however , observed that an absolutely free competition may not prove to be a very prudent move.

The scope of DLDC services should not include intra-circle long distance services as it could lead to fragmentation of the market affecting the viability of the existing operators.

The FICCI has said while full competition should be the ultimate objective, there should be limited competition during the initial few years and all agreements should be made under the guidelines of TRAI.

A minimum of two national and two regional DLDC operators apart from the DoT should be provided the licence under a competitive environment.

A former Chairman and Managing Director of VSNL, Mr D.K. Syngal, said technological superiority should be the chief criterion for the selection of a DLDC service provider.

This would create a most efficient network with operational efficiency and low prices while meeting the quality of service prescribed under the TRAI guidelines.

Mr Partha Mukhopadhya of the Infrastructure Development Finance Company (IFDC) said that pricing of services should be independent of licence fee and the terms of licence should be based on technical competence and financial soundness.

Ban on onion exports may go

NEW DELHI, Sept 13 (PTI) — The government is considering lifting the ban on onion exports from the country in view of plentiful availability and arrivals of early kharif crops to the markets, official sources today said.

“Exporters’ lobby has been pressing hard for lifting of the ban and we are considering such a move as the availability is good following arrivals of early kharif crop,” an official in the Consumer Affairs Ministry told PTI.

The official said along with protection of consumers’ interest, the Government was equally concerned about the need to ensure growers remunerative prices for their produce.

“We do not want the farmers to get into distress sale of their produce and let the commodity rot due to lack of domestic consumption,” he said.

The government had slapped a ban on onion exports in October 1998 when its prices skyrocketed on supply shortage. The ban was revoked in February partially when the Government decided to permit exports in a restricted manner after its prices hit the floor.

“The prices are at comfortable levels and with the arrival of fresh crops it would further come down,” the official said. Early kharif onions have started arriving in the markets of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.

Market fee, cess hit agro units
Tribune News Service

GURGAON, Sept 13 — The industry in Haryana has expressed concern over the “dismal” performance of agro-based industries and urged the Government to take corrective action while reformulating its industrial policy.

The Gurgaon Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) has told the Government that the poor performance was despite surplus agricultural production in Haryana. Market fee, rural development cess etc. have had a negative impact.

The GCCI has suggested that the fees and cess on agri-raw material used by the agro processing industry should be waived.

The industry resents government, interference in selecting manpower.

It has suggested to the Government to impart technical and professional training to local youth.

The industry has also sought simplification and rationalisation of labour laws and rules.

Pollution control norms in Haryana should not be stricter than those laid down by the Central Pollution Control Board.

Unnecessary curbs on building bye-laws, zoning norms etc should be dispensed with or made flexible.

The GCCI has suggested restructuring of the administrative system and procedures to ensure all clearances within three months. Delays should be dealt with strictly.

Industrialists want that the sales tax incentives scheme to new entrepreneurs should be retained.

New industrial policy should lay a special thrust on creating skilled manpower as well as R and D centres on a sectoral basis.

The GCCI has also suggested single office complexes in every district.

Delhi-Dharamsala flight from Sept 16

NEW DELHI, Sept 13 (UNI) — from September 16, Indian Airlines will use 18-seater Dornier aircraft to link Delhi with Dharamsala in Himachal Pradesh and Dehradun in Uttar Pradesh, it was announced today.

The service to these two places of international and domestic tourist interest will be thrice a week. While the Delhi-Dharamsala ticket would be Rs 3900, the fare for Delhi-Dehradun will be Rs 2840.

With these two flights, Indian Airlines’ domestic network would be expanded to 63 stations in the country.

The flight to Dharamsala, home of exiled Tibetan leader Dalai Lama, will leave Delhi at 1.15 p.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and reach the Gaggal airport at 3.20 p.m. The return flight will leave Dharamsala at 3.00 p.m. and reach Delhi at 4.25 p.m.

The Dehradun flight will go from Delhi on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays at 2.30 p.m. and arrive at the jolly grant airport at 3.20 p.m. It will leave Dehradun at 3.40 p.m and reach Delhi at 4.30 p.m.

APEC agrees on air services liberalisation

AUCKLAND, Sept 13 (Reuters) — APEC’s political leaders have taken steps to bring the Asia-Pacific region closer to an open market in air services, New Zealand Prime Minister Jenny Shipley said today.

Shipley, who chaired the APEC leaders meeting in New Zealand, said APEC member economies have decided to move towards a more competitive and responsive air services industry. The leaders agreed to:

— Eliminate restrictions on air-related services, such as ground handling and computer reservations

— Remove barriers to air freight service providers, whose capacities and rates are currently set by governments.

— Allow multiple airline designation, increasing competition in domestic and international markets and

— Allow airlines to co-operate with each other through ventures such as code sharing.

Shipley said all APEC economies had agreed to take on liberalisation measures, despite the pressures they faced to protect their airline industries.

“Opportunities to trade and travel are expanded, opening the way for the economic growth at the core of the APEC’s overall objective,’’ she said in a statement.

In 1997, 33 of the world’s 50 largest airlines were from the APEC economies. That year those airlines carried 789 million passengers, generating combined revenue of US $ 172 billion.

The leaders agreed to identify further steps to liberalise air services, opening up the prospect of free trade and investment in air services sometime in the future.

The APEC forum groups 21 Pacific rim economies and includes all major economies in the region. The members are Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, the USA and Vietnam.

Save IMF from politics of ‘owners’

WASHINGTON, Sept 13 (DPA) — Officials of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) tend to be bankers, financiers or economists for whom “excitement” means a whispered conversation on exchange rates and capital flows.

They prefer to work in the background of economic data, rather than the international limelight. As Mr Stanley Fischer, the IMF’s First Deputy Managing Director, puts it: “I know an IMF programme is successful when nobody talks about it.”

But as IMF pinstripers convene in Washington later this month for the Fund’s annual meetings with the World Bank, they will find themselves discussing salacious topics such as organised crime, money laundering, and human rights.

Welcome to the post-cold war global economy, where money is power and the “Ka-ching” of the IMF’s coffers sometimes rings as loud as the “kaboom” of the mightiest military arsenals.

The big news at this year’s meeting was supposed to be debt relief, known by the obscure acronym HIPC, which in polite company is pronounced like a hiccup, softly, with a hand placed in front of the mouth as if stifling a yawn. (The acronym stands for highly indebted poor countries.)

Instead, delegates will be consumed with allegations that IMF loans to Russia were illegally laundered through a New York bank by members of the Russian mafia at the behest of top Kremlin officials.

And as the world reacts with helpless anger and horror at Indonesia’s repression of independence-minded East Timor, the delegates will wrestle with the moral question of how the international community can grant monetary aid to a brutal regime it condemns for human rights violations.

IMF officials stress that there is no evidence its loans to Russia were misused. And while tut-tutting over East Timor, they express greater concern over a corruption scandal involving one of Indonesia’s largest banks and high officials in the Finance Ministry.

The IMF’s new political profile is a by-product of the Fund’s enhanced role in fighting the Mexican peso crisis of 1995 and the Asian financial turmoil that erupted in 1997 and spread last year to Russia and Brazil.

Chafing under the political weight, Mr Fischer called East Timor “a problem for the entire international community that must inevitably be taken into account by our membership.”

The IMF has what fischer called “political cover” because its Executive Board, as well as the Interim Committee that sets IMF policies in its semi-annual meetings, consists of representatives appointed by the member governments, including Finance Ministers.

“It is inevitable that an institution working with resources owned by governments ... will act with the support of those governments,” Fischer said. He may also have added that the IMF cannot act without the support of those governments.

But that reality is controversial. Indonesian officials have argued that the IMF has no business getting involved in political questions such as East Timor.

And a new report by the Geneva-based International Centre for Monetary and Banking Studies agrees with that position. Researchers there argue that the IMF should be freed from political pressures from its “owners” — especially Washington — and transformed into an autonomous global central bank.

“This would prevent executive board decisions from being influenced excessively by the parochial interests of national governments,” the report said, according to The Financial Times.

That way, the IMF could avoid “egregious mistakes” like the questionable 4.8-billion-dollar emergency loan in July 1998 that is bedeviling auditors now, the report said. It argued that the loan was approved over the objections of IMF officials because the Clinton Administration wanted it to help prop up Russian President Boris Yeltsin.

Autonomy for the IMF seems unlikely, however. The Fund’s owners will naturally be reluctant to relinquish control over how their contributions are used.

So for the time being, the delegates will have to deal with the political implications of the IMF’s programmes.

BIFR to sack 65 special Directors by month-end

NEW DELHI, Sept 13 (UNI) — Even as pressure is mounting on the Government to scrap the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction, the BIFR has removed 19 of its nominees on company boards as part of getting its act together. The BIFR intends to sack about 65 special Directors by this month end who have been identified to have crossed the stipulated age of 65 years. The orders for their replacement are on their way, official sources said.

“Whenever old special Directors are replaced with new, there will be improvement in the board’s surveillance over the sick companies or those who have approached the BIFR for being declared sick,” sources told UNI.

The BIFR has mooted a proposal that none of its over 250 special Directors appointed for monitoring the registered companies should be a practising Chartered Accountant. “It will put an end to the practice of some Chartered Accountants bagging audit work of the company on whose board they are a BIFR nominee”, they added.

The removal of 19 of its representatives from 27 sick companies and the new proposal, though claimed to be routine exercises, assumes significance in the growing din against BIFR.

In a meeting on August 30 in the banking division, Finance Ministry, under whose supervision BIFR functions, banks and financial institutions almost unanimously asked the Government to down shutters on the board, official sources said.

In the last few months, there has been a subtle shift in the approach of banks and FIs towards BIFR. In late 1998, when the BIFR had only one member (who also was on extension) on its roll against the sanctioned eight, the banks had sent a missive to the RBI to establish more Benches for tackling the mounting pending cases.

Now when the board has six members including Acting Chairman P.P. Chauhan, the banks and FIs have asked the Government in the late August meeting to do away completely with BIFR, sources said.

“What has changed within a few months that banks and FIs are forced to demand for BIFR’s closure when they were earlier seeking strengthening the board,” sources said.

On condition of anonymity, a top BIFR official claimed “given the constraints of the sick Industrial Companies (Special Provisions) Act, 1985, the BIFR is functioning well”.

BHEL says ‘bye’ to 13.5 per cent of employees

NEW DELHI, Sept 13 (PTI) — Bharat Heavy Engineering (BHEL) has shed about 13.5 per cent of its 62,000-strong workforce through a Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS) at a cost of Rs 350 crore.

“We have got over 8,600 applications for VRS but will be relieving about 8,400 employees. In August alone we relieved 3,000 employees by paying about Rs 115 crore,” BHEL Chairman and Managing Director K.G. Ramachandran told PTI.

This is the second time since 1988, BHEL has taken recourse to VRS and the corporation would not be burdened by it as the entire amount of Rs 350 crore would be amortised in three to five years.

As against benefiting about 10,000 employees through VRS in 1988, the corporation got a total of 8,600 applications in just 24 days that prompted the management to close the three month scheme (July-September) ahead of schedule.

“We offered VRS chiefly to correct the imbalances that had crept in due to the government decision to extend the retirement age from the existing 58 years to 60 years,” he said adding that number of respondents were much beyond the corporation’s initial assessment.

The Chairman said that the package this year was same as that in 1988 that entailed payment of 45 days of salary for every year in service or basic salary and dearness allowance for the remaining tenure till age of superannuation, whichever is less.

ADB puts SBI Caps public issue on ice

NEW DELHI, Sept 13 (UNI) — The Asian Development Bank (ADB) with close to 14 per cent equity stake in SBI Capital Markets Limited has poured cold water on plans by the State Bank of India to divest its stake in its merchant banking company through an initial public offering.

While ADB had acquired 13.8 per cent stake in SBI Caps at the rate of Rs 80 per share, its IPO would fetch it far lower premium under the present market conditions, a senior company official told UNI.

ADB had pumped in Rs 71.5 crore in SBI Caps in 1996-97 improving the capital adequacy of the company.

“We can command a premium of Rs 30 per share whereas ADB had bought the scrip at Rs 80. They would naturally not like an IPO at this point of time’’, the official said asking not to be named. With an equity capital of Rs 58 crore the company has a net worth of Rs 260 crore.

ADB wants the market appetite to improve before SBI Caps comes out its public offering.

Philips targets top three positions

CALCUTTA, Sept 13 (UNI) Philips India has set a target for itself of attaining top three positions in all key markets by 2001.

The company also plans to occupy a market share in excess of 10 per cent in both colour television and audio systems, Probir Mukherjee, Head — Colour Television, told newspersons here.

To achieve those goals, the company has launched new 29 inch colour television with “cinema surround technology”.

He said that the parent company has identified North America, China and India as three important destinations in terms of priorities considering their vast potential.

These countries offer tremendous opportunities due to a large consumer base. Though China is better placed due to its vibrant economy, India is not far behind and would soon catch up, he said.

Mr Mukherjee said in 1998, Philips’ market share in 21 inches and 29 inches colour television section was 6 per cent and is expected to jump to 7.5 per cent in the current year.

He said “We will exploit our strength of 25 and 29 inches in which we are leaders and would also bring in matchline category of viewing with plasma technology in India which has a dominant market share of 50 per cent in Europe”.

No review of stamp marking order

NEW DELHI, Sept 13 (PTI) — The Government has ruled out a review of its order making “stamp marking” mandatory for imported fabric in an effort to provide level-playing field for the domestic industry, official sources said today.

The “stamp marking” order, imposed since March this year, requires fabric importers to specify the manufacturers name and fibre content of the cloth.

“There have been requests from importers to review the order. But we have ruled out any such move,” the sources said.

Industry sources have also welcomed the Government move to not review the “stamp marking” order, saying it would continue to ensure level-playing field.

‘Santro to overtake Zen in 2 months’

PUNE, Sept 13 (PTI) — Hyundai Motor India President A.P. Gandhi today claimed Santro would become the market leader in the premium small car segment by overtaking Maruti Udyog’s Zen in the next two months.

“We will be the market leader in the 1000 cc car segment in a couple of months by cornering a marketshare of 35 to 40 per cent,” Gandhi told PTI.

Hyundai is trailing close behind Maruti in the premium small car segment, selling 7,000 Santro cars in August with a marketshare of about 35 per cent compared to 7,900 Zen cars sold by Maruti in the same month.

Gandhi said the company has targeted to sell about 60,000 Santro cars in the current fiscal and about 68,000 cars during the next fiscal.

Gandhi’s optimism is in sharp contrast to Maruti Managing Director Jagdish Khattar’s claim that the company would remain a leader in all segments of the passenger car market.

Talking to PTI, Khattar had said last week that Maruti’s marketshare would be more than the combined marketshare of number two and number three players.

“Maruti will continue to be the passenger car market leader with a marketshare between 50 and 55 per cent but we will be number one in the 1000 cc segment,” Gandhi said.

Poll update
CHANDIGARH, Sept 14 (TNS) — Subscribers of Spice Telecom can get election update by dialling 566 from their mobiles in Punjab. The service will provided in two phases. The first phase providing State-wise trends will continue till October 6 and the second phase (October 6-12) will start once the counting of votes begins.