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| Wednesday, February 23, 2000, Chandigarh, India  
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Dadiseth nominated
Director of Unilever Wipro may be listed in USA Are Windows PCs used by US spies? TV makers expect tax
rationalisation |
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Dadiseth nominated Director of
Unilever MUMBAI, Feb 22 (UNI) — Mr K.B.Dadiseth, Chairman, Hindustan Lever Limited, has been nominated Director and a member of the Executive Committee of Unilever PLC and Unilever NV. Mr. Dadiseth’s name will be recommended to Unilever shareholders for election at their annual general meetings in London and Rotterdam on May 3,2000. Mr Dadiseth has been asked to undertake a review of Unilever’s top organisation and submit a report in the next three months. Unilever has also announced two other nominations for directorship. Like Mr Dadiseth, Mr Andre’ Van Heemstra, has been nominated as Director and member of the Executive Committee. His responsibilities will be personnel. Mr Charles Strauss will be a Director responsible for Unilever’s North American business. At Hindustan Lever, Mr Dadiseth will be succeeded by Mr M.S (Vindi) Banga, currently senior Vice-President, Hair Care and Oral Care, HPC category group, Unilever. Mr Harish Manwani, currently Director, Personal Products, will succeed Mr Banga in London as senior Vice-President, Hair Care and Oral Care, HPC category group. A fellow of the
Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales,
Mr Dadiseth joined Hindustan Lever Ltd in 1973. In his 27
years of association with HLL, Mr Dadiseth has worked in
various operations within the company. Seconded to
Unilever Plc, UK, in 1984, Mr Dadiseth held senior
financial and commercial positions. On his return to
India in 1987, Mr Dadiseth joined the Management
Committee of Hindustan Lever as Vice-President-Personnel.
In 1989, Mr Dadiseth was also given additional
responsibility of the personal products business. In
1991, he was appointed Executive Director and head of
Detergents of HLL. |
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NEW DELHI, Feb 22 (PTI) — Wipro Chairman and the third richest man in the world Azim Premji has hinted at his company getting listed in the US market ‘‘at some day.’’ “At some day, it will get listed in the US market,” Premji retorted, when quizzed by reporters on plans of Wipro listing its shares in the US bourses. Premji who received the JRD Tata award from the All-India Management Association (AIMA) here yesterday, avoided further discussions on the “someday” issue. Answering queries on whether he had plans to sell his company’s shares, in which he holds 75 per cent equity, Premji said, “I don’t play in the stock market.” He repeated ‘‘No Comments’’ when reporters surrounded him with questions like “Do you think the Wipro scrip would maintain at the current level of share prices?” Unprecedented media gathering gave a tough time to organisers of the award function in escorting Premji around for the ceremony. NIIT, US firm tie up: NIIT today said it has formed a strategic equity participation with US-based Relativity Technologies to popularise ‘e-transformation’ of software that has a global market of $ 30 billion. By forging the alliance, NIIT has set up an e-Transformation Competence Centre in Calcutta to offer web-enablement services to various organisations in India and invested a few crore of rupees, the President of software business, NIIT, Mr Arvind Thakur told PTI. The company will
generate $ 7 million this year from the e-transformation
business and the revenue from this sector will go up in
the coming years. |
Are Windows PCs used by US spies? PARIS, Feb 22 (AFP) — Windows PCs are not being quietly fitted to allow us intelligence agencies to spy on communications and US secret agents are not working for Microsoft, the US software titan has said in a statement. The company was responding to a report drawn up by the Strategic Affairs Delegation (DAS), the intelligence arm of the French Defence Ministry, which raised suspicions that Microsoft and the US National Security Agency were collaborating to allow Washington to eavesdrop on messages sent on computers using the windows operating system. The platform is used on nine out of 10 computers worldwide. According to the report, which dated from last year but which was made public last week by the newsletter Le Monde du Renseignement (Intelligence World), the NSA may have helped install “back doors”, or secret ways to access data, in the Windows. But Microsoft yesterday said it “categorically” denied the allegation. No such system allowing a US agency to decipher data on Windows-equipped PCs was in use in France or any other country, it said. Apple Computer BANGALORE (PTI): Apple Computer International Pvt Ltd. on Tuesday introduced Power Mac G4, its next generation of desktop computers designed for professional customers. “Power Mac G4 is powered by the revolutionary new Power PC G4 chip architect by Apple, Motorola and IBM, and is the first personal computer in history to deliver supercomputer level performance of over one billion floating-point per second”, a company press release said here. Power Mac G4 line is being offered in three standard models, based on 400MHz, 450 MHz and 500 MHz processors. Fire alert NEW DELHI (UNI): Pagelink has introduced the autopage device for alert messaging in the country. Autopage is a palm size device which can detect faults such as security breaches, fire, smoke, power breakdown etc. In case of any such eventuality, the autopage dials the paging service and transmits the specific message to the pager assigned within a few seconds. Therefore, the person on receipt of the message can rush to the site and take care of the problem. The autopage is
available in two models at a cost of Rs 8000 and 15,500. |
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SEOUL, Feb 22 (AFP) — Two South Korean venture firms claimed today to have developed the world’s first multimedia mobile phone on which punters can surf the Web with a Windows programme and also use it as a palm-top computer. The new product, a
telephone, a mini-computer and a four-inch colour
monitor, was developed by local venture firms CyberBank
Co and Mirae Corp. “It is a world first in that it
has a high-definition screen, Windows CE programme and a
CMDA (code division multiple access) phone module all in
the same unit,” said Ahn Sun-Ug, General Manager of
CyberBank. It allows its users to browse the Internet,
make phone calls, do word processing operations, play
network games, send and receive faxes and store data
without any outside phone connections. |
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NEW DELHI, Feb 22 (UNI) — Maruti Udyog Limited’s marketshare in the passenger car segment for the first 10 months of the fiscal year 1999-2000 dropped to 63.4 per cent from 80.99 per cent in the comparable period last year despite a 22.5 per cent rise in sales. Hyundai Motors continued to race ahead on the sales track, offloading 59,773 units during the 10-month period to corner a 11.7 per cent marketshare, latest figures released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) revealed. The total passenger car market grew 56.3 per cent during the 10-month period to 508,934 units from 325,562 units a year ago. Of the total passenger cars sold in the April-January period, MUL accounted for 323,058 vehicles. Telco took the number three position on the chart with total sales of 43,053 units and a marketshare of 8.45 per cent. Daewoo Motors sold 29,549 units during the period, up from 8,249 units a year ago and ended with a 5.8 per cent marketshare. Hindustan Motors, Ind Auto and Ford India were the only other players to have registered a growth in sales over the previous year. HM sold 21,093 units, while Ind Auto despatched 17,649 units and Ford sold 4,523 cars. Pal-Peugeot witnessed a near erosion in sales of its Peugeot 309 model, managing to sell only nine units as against 434 units a year ago. Mercedes-Benz India Limited’s E-class also failed to impress buyers and sales dropped from 1,012 units to 748 units. Fiat India sold 60 units during the period as against 2,574 units a year earlier. General Motor’s Opel Astra sales slipped marginally to 2,036 units from 2,962 units. Honda Siel’s City sales also dipped to 7,383 units from 7,668 units a year earlier. Maruti Udyog led the growth in the multi-utility vehicle (MUV) segment as well recording a 22.5 per cent surge in sales during the April-January 1999-2000 period. . Mahindra and Mahindra
also recorded a growth in its MUV sales from 51,504 units
to 55,404 units. Bajaj Tempo sales grew 8.3 per cent from
4,346 units to 4,711 units. |
Run-up to Budget NEW DELHI, Feb 22 — Amidst talk of a harsh Budget, the consumers of white goods like television sets, airconditioners and washing machines, may still have a reason to smile if the consumer electronics industry has its way with the Finance Minister, Mr Yashwant Sinha. With the consumer electronics industry growing at a rate of 25 per cent per annum and several multinational companies crowding the white goods market with the latest products, the Finance Ministry is under pressure to give a further boost to the industry. The foremost demand of the industry is that though the previous Budget brought in rationalisation of slabs in the import duties, it was, however, set off by the imposition of special additional duty of 4 per cent. The industry has demanded that the new budget should set this right. According to Mr Ajay Kapila, Vice-President, Sales and Marketing, LG Electronics Private Ltd, the euphemistic rationalisation of sales tax has also resulted in the increase in the average rate of sales tax. This has adversely affected the consumer electronics industry and there is a need to take initiatives for ‘‘real’’ rationalisation of taxes to ensure a clear benefit to the manufacturers, traders and consumers alike. Another sector targeted by the industry for concessions is the colour television segment. Colour TVs are in demand not only for entertainment but also for education and information. Internet TVs have the potential to actualise the government’s thrust on developing India into an IT savvy nation, the industry has argued. Currently CTV penetration is low at 10 per cent. This could be achieved by reducing the excise for more popular size and price bands like CTVs below Rs 10000 to a special tax level of 8 to 10 per cent. Apart from the demand for a reduction in levies on television sets, airconditioners and washing machines, the Finance Ministry has also been urged to relook into the excise structure of carbonated soft drinks and aerated water. According to the Confederation of Indian Industry, the industry is levied 40 per cent excise duty (24 per cent basic plus 16 per cent additional) of its maximum retail price. In addition, the average sales tax is around 16 per cent. This is the highest in any country and much higher than any other in the SAARC region. The CII has argued that
the carbonated soft drinks have been incorrectly
classified as a ‘‘demerit’’ industry
and there was a need to reclassify it in the middle band,
along with other similar consumer goods. |
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Loan for PFC Silk traders SSI units |
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