B U S I N E S S

Who wants to marry a millionaire?
AT 2.30 in the afternoon, in the lobby of a trashy hotel with a good address and vulgar postcards of London in spiny racks by reception, a mismatched collection of women gathers. They shuffle around self-consciously, reapply their lipstick, wonder where the loo is, eye each other guardedly.

Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha receiving the first report of the Expenditure Reforms Commission (ERC) from K.P. Geethakrishnan, Chairman of the commission, in New Delhi on Monday.—  PTI photo

Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee being presented a glass memento of the stock exchange by Anand Rathi president of the BSE, in Mumbai on Sunday. —  PTI photo

Vivan Lau, (right) and Margaret Kan who were crowned Miss Hong Kong and first runner-up on Monday. — AP photo

An eight-year-old Chinese boy passes by an advertisement for a clothing company as he rides a bicycle along a Beijing street on Monday. With Beijing’s imminent entry to the World Trade Organisation, more Chinese companies are using foreign models to promote their products. — Reuters

Castrol CEO to head BP Amoco unit
MUMBAI, July 10 — Ram Savoor, Chief Executive and Managing Director of Castrol India, is to head the BP Amoco-Castrol Lube operations in India, Middle East and South Asia following the global takeover of Burman Castrol by BP Amoco last week.

OFFBEAT Big Brother on TV, web LONDON: Big Brother is a new British TV series in which 10 volunteers will spend more than two months locked in a house, deprived of any contact with the outside world, in an environment where every single activity is followed by camera.

Gramphone net profit climbs 53 pc 
CALCUTTA: The Gramphone Company of India Limited, owner of the HMV brand, has posted a robust 53 per cent growth in its net profit for the year 1999-2000.

Who wants to marry a millionaire?
From Polly Vernon in London

AT 2.30 in the afternoon, in the lobby of a trashy hotel with a good address and vulgar postcards of London in spiny racks by reception, a mismatched collection of women gathers. They shuffle around self-consciously, reapply their lipstick, wonder where the loo is, eye each other guardedly.

Some of them are beautiful, some aren’t, one is 70 if she’s a day. But they are all palpably nervy for within moments they will meet Ginie Sayles, professional Texan, self-styled relationship fairy godmother, best selling author, popular speaker and consultant — even to celebrities. And Ginie Sayles will teach them “How To Marry Rich”.

Sayles’ press release reads: “Financial independence? Screw that. Who needs to earn their own living when you can freeload off a passing aged billionaire? He’ll buy you diamonds, take you to the upmarket equivalent of Sandals Resorts and pay for your Botox injections! Fun, fun, fun!’’

That’s a lie, of course. It actually invites you to hear how Ginie married rich (and bonus! you get to meet the billionaire chump who married her) and get an in on her tried and tested 12-point plan. The promise of this, her first UK seminar, had the phones ringing off the hook and ladies hitching up their skirts and beating back the opposition in their eagerness to secure a place. A mere 35 made it.

There is something simultaneously appalling and yet unsurprising about the Ginie Sayles phenomenon. About the mega book sales and the sell-out seminars, the fan mail and the iconic status; 21st century spiritual and yoga literate though we are, have we ever been so materially aspiring, so covetous? So Sayles is merely flogging us another way to get us some. Or maybe there’s a political agenda bubbling under the surface: is she in fact peddling a twisted form of feminism, reclaiming the idea of the gold-digger?

Ginie’s seminar manner is pure evangelical preacher. “The value of a human being cannot be measured in money. Lifestyle, however, can. I want you to love a rich man, and win.”

On the flip chart behind her, in not particularly pretty handwriting, is her legendary 12-point plan. It’s a curious combination of pop psychology and practical advice on hijacking rich men.

Highlights include: Four Types, as in identifying rich mates (RM) who are most likely to marry out of their financial class. They are: your Novelty Seeking RM junior (Donald Trump type), your Guilty RM junior (who doesn’t think he deserves his wealth but can’t bring himself to hand it all to the drought-ridden, so looks for a struggling woman to rescue — a single mother, say), your Outcast RM junior (never accepted by the family, so marries to shock) and your self-made RM.

Changes To Make. Move to an expensive postcode, even if you wind up starving in an attic. Your mind is like boiling water, the rich neighbourhood is like expensive tea. Get a professional make-over every two years. Then there’s sex. Make it safe, hold out till the fifth date, “don’t be too exotica erotica”. Money. “If someone says they love you, but they won’t spend money on you, they’re lying.”

Each pointer is illustrated with extravagant anecdotes, in which all the women are Lucky Santangelo beautiful and feisty, all the men are loaded and independent legal advice is sought on prenups. The audience takes notes, nods, laughs.

After two hours’ bulldozing of every principle known to the women’s movement, Ginie has a break.

After 15 minutes, a recharged Ginie reprises her machiavellian discourse. Keep dating other men until the day you marry your RM. Don’t cohabit for longer than three months. Leave a man who hasn’t married you within three years. Buy her books and learn how to enter and leave a limousine.

She is mercenary and proud. “When people say: ‘Why not make money yourself?’ I reply, once you’ve married rich, you have made it yourself!” She finishes to riotous applause. “The rich are going to marry someone,’’ trills Ginie Sayles after her departing protégées, from the far corner of the room. “Why not you?” 

— By arrangement with The Guardian

Advisers named for 16 PSEs’ disinvestment

NEW DELHI, July 10 (UNI) — JM Morgan Stanley Ltd. and Lazard India Ltd. have been appointed global advisers for Air India and India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) respectively for disinvestment.The Department of disinvestment has appointed a team for 16 public sector enterprises, including Indian Airlines, Bharat Aluminium (BALCO), National Fertilisers Limited and Scooters India Limited.

The 16 PSEs with the names of the advisers are:

1. IPCL — Warburg Dillon Read

2. BALCO — Jardine Fleming India Securities Ltd

3. RBL Ltd — S.B. Billimoria and Co

4. Bharat Leather Corporation — SBI Capital Markets Ltd

5. Nepa Ltd. — SBI Capital Markets

6. Instrumentation Ltd. Kota — IDBI

7. Hindustan Cable Ltd. — I-sec

8. HTL — KPMG India Private Ltd

9. Scooters India Ltd. — Price Waterhouse Coopers

10. Indian Airlines — IDBI, ANZ Grindlays Bank and Speedwing Consortium

11. Hindustan Copper Limited — IDBI-Sumitomo Bank Consortium

12. Air India — JM Morgan Stanley Ltd

13. ITDC — Lazard India Ltd

14. National Fertilizers Limited — Rabo Finance Private Ltd

15. Jessop and Co. — A.F. Ferguson and

16. Madras Fertilizers Ltd. — ICICI Securities and Bank of America Consortium.

Growth rate: 7 pc

MUMBAI, July 10 (PTI) — Indian economy is poised to perform better in the current fiscal with the gross domestic product growth (GDP) projected to expand by 7 per cent compared to 6.4 per cent estimated for 1999-2000, according to the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE). Growth in the agriculture sector was projected to surge from 1.3 per cent last year to 4.5 per cent in the current fiscal, while industry and service sectors will continue to maintain their healthy growth of 1999-2000, the CMIE said in its latest issue of “The Monthly Review of the Indian Economy”.

India loses $2.2b worth trade
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, July 10 — A Member of Parliament involved in tobacco trade, who refused to keep up his commitment with an Algerian importer, has cost India $ 2.2 billion worth of trade with that country.

Mr Y.V. Rao, an MP of the Telegu Desam Party and Managing Director of Andhra Pradesh-based Best India Tobacco Pvt Ltd has been involved in a dispute with SNTA of Algeria, which has led to Algiers banning imports of tobacco and agricultural products worth $ 2.2 billion annually from India.

The Indian Embassy in Algeirs had recently made attempts to resolve the dispute between the two countries when Mr Rao visited that country on February 11 and 12 as a member of the Tobacco Board.

During his visit, the Indian Ambassador in Algiers explained to the delegation the effect of the differences which had led to the stoppage of exports of agricultural products from India to Algeria.

Following the Indian Ambassador’s intervention, Mr Rao and other members of the Tobacco Board met senior executives of SNTA, who told the Indian delegation that Best India company should compensate them for the short quantities supplied.

An agreement was reached between SNTA and Best India Co. for the supply of 198 tonnes of tobacco to a South African company which in turn would reimburse SNTA the sum payable to the Indian suppliers as a means of making good the short weight.

The Tobacco Board later in its report to the Commerce Ministry said that the settlement of the differences between the two companies was a special achievement of the delegation’s visit.

However, it has now been communicated by the Indian Ambassador in Algiers that the resolution attained at the time of the delegation’s visit appears to have been nullified by Best India Tobacco Pvt Ltd by resiling on the agreement.

It has been pointed out that the dispute between the two companies had blocked any further negotiations for tobacco sales or agricultural commodity exports to Algeria.

The Government is now contemplating action to have Best India fulfil its obligations and the Tobacco Board has already issued a notice to Mr Rao on the strength of the Ambassador’s letter.

Castrol CEO to head BP Amoco unit

MUMBAI, July 10 (PTI) — Ram Savoor, Chief Executive and Managing Director of Castrol India, is to head the BP Amoco-Castrol Lube operations in India, Middle East and South Asia following the global takeover of Burman Castrol by BP Amoco last week.

Following the takeover, the combined business of BP Amoco and Castrol was being re-organised into nine global business units and Savoor has been appointed as a regional Business Unit leader.

Savoor would be responsible for all BP Amoco and Castrol lubricant businesses in India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, all Middle East countries, Egypt and North Africa, BP Amoco said in a release here today.

However, in India, in view of the Tata BP joint venture and the 49 per cent share holding in Castrol India, these two companies would continue to operate as separate entities. Hence, Savoor would also continue as CEO and MD of Castrol India.

Gramphone net profit climbs 53 pc 

CALCUTTA: The Gramphone Company of India Limited (GCIL), owner of the HMV brand, has posted a robust 53 per cent growth in its net profit for the year 1999-2000.

The net profit of GCIL, a RGP group company, stood at Rs 6.01 crore as compared to Rs 3.93 crore during the previous year, as per the financial result of the company finalised by its Board of Directors here today.

Announcing the results Pradipa Mohapatra, President and Chief Executive of GCIL, told newsmen that the total revenue of the company also showed a 19 per cent jump to Rs 146.09 crore as against Rs 123.08 crore during the previous year.

He also said that the more encouraging is the performance of the company in the first quarter of the current year which has witnessed a jump of 50 per cent in turnover to Rs 40.39 crore as compared to the previous year’s first quarter and a 13-times increase in the net profit.

GCIL’s move to go for a Rs 125 crore private placement a few months ago has made it completely debt-free and thus added to the financial performance of the company.

The Board of Directors of the company in its meeting also recommended a final dividend of 10 per cent which together with the interim dividend of 20 per cent declared in March this year amounts to a total of 30 per cent as against 15 per cent declared in the previous year.

He said that the music of the Hindi film, “Kaho Na Pyar Hai” continues to be a money-spinner for GCIL with the total sales of the music cassettes crossing the 65 lakh mark.

He further said that GCIL’s latest major release in Hindi film music, “Refugee” is also doing brisk business with the total sales already crossing one million mark.

Max India: Max India will invest $ 8.5 million to acquire a 71.4 per cent stake in HealthScribe India Private Limited.

The annual revenues of HealthScribe India, a 100 per cent Indian subsidiary of HealthScribe Inc., one of the world’s leading medical transcription companies, is projected to grow to Rs 600 crore over the next five years.

The company will focus on healthcare, life insurance and information technology, and a total of Rs 675 crore to Rs 700 crore will be invested in these three businesses in the next three years.

DSQ Software: The Board of Directors of Chennai-based DSQ Software on Monday approved the acquisition of San Vision Technology Inc. (SVT), New York.

SVT, ranked among the 200 fastest growing companies in the USA, will be acquired in an all-stock transaction valued at $ 30 million. The transaction has to be approved by DSQ’s shareholders.

DSQ CEO Pawan Kumar said the acquisition would move DSQ in a new orbit of IT services for financial sector, as more than 50 per cent of SVT’s revenue came from the banking and insurance sector.

CRISIL: Credit Rating Information Services of India Ltd (CRISIL) has reported a fall of 33.93 per cent in net profit to Rs 2.19 crore for the first quarter (Q1) ended June 30, 2000, despite a 19.14 per cent rise in income to Rs 10.27 crore, compared to corresponding period in the previous year.

During Q1 of the fiscal 1999-2000, the earning per share (EPS) stood at Rs 3.54 against Rs 5.36 in the corresponding period of the previous year.

M&M: Mahindra & Mahindra is all set to seek shareholders’ approval on July 31 for offering up to 5 per cent of its equity capital as employee stock option to eligible employees. The total number of options that may, in aggregate, be issued would be up to 55,24,219 equity shares, which represents 5 per cent of the issued share capital of the company as on March 31, 2000. Options in respect of approximately 1.2 per cent of the equity capital would initially be granted to the eligible employees immediately after M&M’s annual general meeting (AGM) on July 31.

Tata Consult: Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has entered into an alliance with BroadVision, a California-based personalised e-business applications provider, to offer the latter’s business applications provider, to offer the latter’s business solutions in India.

The solutions to be offered by TCS would enable companies to rapidly deploy and effectively operate secure, scalable, intelligent and flexible e-business applications.

— Agencies

OFFBEAT

Big Brother on TV, web

LONDON: Big Brother is a new British TV series in which 10 volunteers will spend more than two months locked in a house, deprived of any contact with the outside world, in an environment where every single activity is followed by camera.

Their activities will be documented, commented upon, scrutinised. Their lives will be screened 24-hours a day and seven days a week on the web, and every weekday on Channel 4, with a finale each Friday where one participant will be ceremoniously ejected. Their lives and personal (one can no longer say “private”) moments will be the property of the audience. The audience is worldwide.

But Big Brother also represents the adventure of independent television moving into interactivity and of web design into the world of television. These two fields are represented by production company GMG Endemol and web developers Victoria Real.

The Big Brother website, like a newspaper with video, has six live video feeds, some running round the clock, that are watched by an editorial team of 18 whose job is to monitor, log, and report on the participants. The slightest change in environment, such as person X touching person Y, or person Z having a quiet time alone, is logged on the television crew’s computer network. On the cyber side, adding editorial pages to a site which is read by 5m people each day is no mean feat. The hosting of the site by Terra, the leased lines from BT and the coordination of them all with the video streams are areas that internet service providers told Victoria Real’s creative director Jason George “simply couldn’t be done”.

Television, like the web, may just be technology in the back room, but watching these two monolithic infrastructures trying to connect with wires the size of telephone cable, when neither side supports the machinery of the other, we now wonder if maybe the ISPs were right.

Big Brother incorporates live camera work, archived video, news stories and backgrounders, profiles of the participants, off-shoots to commercial ventures, chat-rooms to discuss the issues, thrice-daily updates via Wap phones or e-mail. It is the most intensively themed live experience on the web yet. And with a little luck, on July 14, it might even work.

Big Brother begins on Channel 4 on July 18 at 9pm. See the website at: www.channel4.com/bigbrother.

— The Guardian

Techie with a conscience

NEW YORK: Indian American billionaire Sanjiv Sidhu, founder nd CEO of i2 Technologies Inc., wants to be as socially responsible as he is financially successful.

Sidhu (43) a native of Hyderabad, says he envisioned a world transformed by the Internet in which the ultimate winner is the consumer, with i2 Technologies being the leader in bringing about this transformation.

“I am inspired by the opportunity to really change how people do business. At i2 we have the opportunity to change the world. What could be more inspiring?” he asks.

Sidhu started i2 in 1988 and has grown it into a $ 571 million company, boasting such powerhouse clients as Taxs Instuments, 3M, Frito-Lay, IBM, Johnson & Johnson, Lipton, Ford Motor Company, Dell Computers, Toshiba, Warnaco and Coca-Cola. His multinational team of more than 4,500 employees is considered one of the most experienced and highly-educated workforces in the business. Despite his work constraints, Sidhu says, “I enjoy sailing, surfing and spending time with my family.” Married to Lekha, the Sidhus have two children and his associates say that “he is a very private person and would rather talk about his business than his personal life.”— IANS

NSE FORECAST

by Ashok Kumar

Keep booking partial profit

YET again, remember what we said last week — “The sharpness of this rally which saw technical barriers being comfortably breached suggests that the undercurrent is very strong. Yet, a couple of bad days running at the Nasdaq just might set the cat among the pigeons once again and the reversal could again be sharp and swift.”

That is exactly what happened during the last settlement. With Greenspan again looming large over the Nasdaq, its spin-off effect on the Indian bourses cannot be underestimated. An interest rate hike could fuel a full-fledged correction that was arrested last week by operators and traders who supported the market at lower levels.

But, concentrated FII selling could simply wipe them out and precipitate a sharp free fall. Traders can, of course, take advantage of the likely confusion and those with a bearish temperament can consider short positions at the counters of VSNL at Rs 1328 (cover up at Rs 1264), Reliance Industries at Rs 349 (cover up at Rs 323) and Zee Telefilms at Rs 485 (cover up at Rs 451). Bull operators could consider taking up a long position at the counter of Visualsoft at Rs 6697 (square up at Rs 6786).

Investors with a long term perspective can consider exposure at the counter of Thomas Cook at price declines. The optimal strategy this week would be keep booking partial profit.

GRAPEVINE

Hind Lever
With imported goods flowing into the Indian market thick and fast, HLL’s numero uno position in the Indian market may soon be diluted, or so the grapevine believes a recently tabled FII report has concluded.

Agrevo
With biotech holding out the potential to be the next big revolution, this company is well poised to climb the value chain. Industry experts are almost unanimous in their opinion that this company is a blue-chip in the making.

BFL Software
An FII report on this company it seems has strongly recommended investment in this IT company indicating that its valuation will spurt once the operational synergies with Mphasis start yielding results.

Zee TV
With ICC’s $ 550 million telecasting contact slipping out of its hands, Zee TV is now on slippery ground. That is the general opinion on the cocktail circuit and once veteran BSE broker predicts that its price will dip below Rs 350 soon. Any takers?

BIZ BRIEFS

Bank awards
CHANDIGARH, July 10 (TNS) — NABARD has selected the following banks for the best performance award for 1997-99. These banks are the Kangra Primary Agriculture and Rural Development Bank; the Kangra Central Cooperative Bank; the Jagadhri Primary Cooperative Agricultural and Rural Development Bank and the Primary Co-op Agriculture and Rural Development Bank Guhla (Kaithal). The awards will be presented to the banks on July 12 in Delhi.

Ceramic centre
CHANDIGARH, July 10 (TNS) — An ultra-modern design, development and facility centre for ceramics will be set up at Faridabad at a cost of Rs 16.35 crore under the Indo-Italian Development Cooperation Programme. Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala said here today that while the government of Italy will provide 80 per cent of the expenditure, rest of it will be borne by the State Government.

Pepsi reward
CHANDIGARH, July 10 (TNS) — Pepsi has presented a reward of Rs 50,000 to P Kishore of Guntur in Andhra Pradesh, under the scheme Mera Number Aayega.

Wings Infonet
CHANDIGARH, July 10 (TNS) — Wings Infonet Limited has unveiled Wings 2000 IL, India’s first multilingual accounting software. The software will offer comprehensive financial accounting to work not only in English but in 12 Indian languages.

DocSoft
NEW DELHI, July 10 (TNS) — A Delhi based IT solutions company, Savannah Infotech, has launched a hospital management system. Developed on Visual Basic 6.0 as the front end and MS SQL Server 7.0 as the back end, this system offers a complete solution for small and medium sized hospitals.

VSNL
NEW DELHI, July 10 (TNS) — The communication industry in the country grew by 22 per cent in the fiscal 1999-2000, while the VSNL emerged as the biggest communication industry with business turnover exceeding as Rs 7,272 crore.