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July 12, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
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Infosys net profit doubles
Himachal cancels Dabur loan SHIMLA, July 11 — Following objections by the finance and industries departments, the government has withdrawn its controversial decision to grant a huge loan to an influential herbal drugs manufacturing unit in an unprecedented manner against the excise duty paid by the company.
Dabur India may re-enter cosmetics The Housing Development Finance Corporation Limited has reported a 20.52 per cent increase in net profit at Rs 91.09 crore on a 23 per cent rise in income from operations at Rs 552.23 crore for the first quarter ended June 30, 2000 over the same quarter last year. 45 ex-CEOs of PSUs slam
divestment Advani heads SSI committee. Why?
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BANGALORE, July 11 (PTI) — Infosys Technologies today reported a robust revenue growth for the first quarter ending June 30 this year, with a total income of Rs 370.64 crore, a 101.4 per cent increase over the previous
quarter. Announcing the audited financial results after the Board of Directors meeting here today, the company said it had registered a total income of Rs 184.06 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 1999. Net profit from “ordinary activities” was Rs 121.30 crore, a 100.1 per cent increase over the corresponding amount of Rs 60.61 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 1999, the company said in a statement. E-business engagements contributed 28.7 per cent of revenue during the quarter as against 18.8 per cent in the previous quarter. Revenue from start-up companies accounted for 10.9 per cent of the total, as against 8.0 per cent in the quarter ended March 31,1999. The e-business strategy
focuses on e-enabling traditional economy Fortune 1000 companies across the globe. ‘’E-transforming fortune 1000 companies has significantly contributed to our revenue growth,’’ Infosys Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer Nandan M Nilekani, said. Continuing to expand its client base across the world, Infosys has added 32 new clients this quarter in countries, including Korea, Japan, and Germany. “This industry is all about innovation and change. We believe that our ability to innovate constantly and to keep pace with technological changes globally has made us a trusted partner for Fortune 1000 companies”, Infosys Chairman and Chief Executive Officer N Narayana Murthy said. In e-business, the company was partnering with Educationworld, the educator’s resource guide to the Internet. In the area of e-security, it was partnering Arcot Systems, a leading provider of secure digital identity solutions to ensure privacy and reduce fraud in enterprise and Internet transactions. Infosys, was also involved in developing a web solution with multilingual capabilities for a leading insurance firm. The company had also teamed up with a global mutual fund company to develop a web-based application that provides online account access to the latter’s shareholders. In consulting, Infosys was developing an IT strategy and an implementation roadmap for the global operations of ISPAT International N.V., the world’s eight largest steel company. Among others, the company also announced that it had commenced work for New York life international, a leading global Life Insurance firm and said its banking products had gained new customers across the globe. Infosys also announced that Hollywood Entertainment Corporation had selected the company as a strategic technology solutions provider to build its next generation business systems and information infrastructure. Infosys, planned strategic investments in leading-edge technology companies and to support their future technology initiatives. Satyam Computer: Its income for the quarter was Rs 240.72 crore, up 75.96 per cent from 136 crore last year, adds UNI The company reported an extraordinary income of Rs 170 crore in the quarter ended June 30, 2000. The income was from the sale of 347,200 shares of its subsidiary, Satyam Infoway Ltd, to the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation following approval by shareholders in May 26, 2000, to split the existing fully paid-up equity shares of par value, Rs 10 into five fully paid-up equity shares of par value of Rs 2 per share. The Board of Directors has decided the record date for the stock split to be August 25, 2000. Satyam Infoway’s net loss jumped by more than 50 per cent at Rs 17.83 crore during the first quarter of this fiscal against Rs 8.08 crore the corresponding period of the previous year. Satyam Infoway, a subsidiary of Satyam Computer, is one of the three Indian companies listed on the
Nasdaq.
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Himachal cancels Dabur loan SHIMLA, July 11 — Following objections by the finance and industries
departments, the government has withdrawn its controversial decision to grant a huge loan to an influential herbal drugs manufacturing unit in an unprecedented manner against the excise duty paid by the company. The decision was reportedly taken yesterday at a meeting of the Cabinet presided over by the Chief Minister. Interestingly, bypassing all rules and regulations the Cabinet had on April 8 last year decided to grant the loan to Dabur India Ltd, which has a drugs manufacturing unit at Baddi in Solan district. However following criticism of the unprecedented move, the government retraced by reviewing the decision and withdrawing the sop which was meant for the influential pharmaceutical house. Sources said that the industries and finance departments, whose opinion was sought after the controversy began on the decision to grant the loan, pointed out that there was no provision in the industrial policy to grant such incentive. Moreover, the Finance Department reportedly put its foot down by pointing out that the resources of the government did not allow the grant of the sop to an individual company. Such special dispensation was not covered under the existing rules and there was no justification in granting incentives beyond the industrial policy. Sources said that it was also pointed out that a recent meeting of Chief Ministers had decided to abolish all such tax concessions with immediate effect. It is alleged that the company had initially sought an interest-free loan from the state government against the excise duty paid by it under the Medicinal and Toilet Preparations (Excise Duties) Act 1955. However, in its meeting on April 8 last year the Cabinet approved the grant of loan to the extent of 50 per cent of net excise duty received from the company, but with the rider that the loan would not exceed Rs 1 crore for five years at an interest rate of 6 per cent per annum payable every year. Sources said that the plea taken while favouring the company by granting the loan was that the company had paid an excise duty of Rs 2.92 crores during 1997-98 in addition to the central excise duty.
At the time of granting the loan the condition was laid that the company would provide its anti-cancer drug free of cost to the patients belonging to the poor families of
IRDP.
Dabur India may re-enter cosmetics
NEW DELHI, July 11(PTI)—Dabur India is contemplating a re-entry into the cosmetics business six months after it phased out its ‘Samara’ brand from the market. The company has begun conducting a countrywide market research to find whether cosmetics business will be
viable and if the results are positive it would reliance the cosmetics brand, company sources said. Dabur had withdrawn the ‘Samara’ brand in December last year as part of comprehensive restructuring exercise to exit from unrelated non-core businesses. |
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The Housing Development Finance Corporation Limited (HDFC) has reported a 20.52 per cent increase in net profit at Rs 91.09 crore on a 23 per cent rise in income from operations at Rs 552.23 crore for the first quarter ended June 30, 2000 over the same quarter last
year. HDFC’s other income stood at Rs 45 lakh (Rs 31 lakh in Q1 last year), as per the unaudited financial results released here today after the company’s board meeting. Interest expense was up by 25 per cent Rs 411.70 crore, staff expenses lose by 55.50 per cent to Rs 9.33 crore and other expenses increased by 19.69 per cent to Rs 15.74 crore compared to the first quarter last year. Depreciation stood at Rs 10.75 crore as against Rs 12 crore in Q1 last year while profit before tax was up by 18 per cent to Rs 105.16 crore. Earnings per share increased by Rs 1.30 to Rs 7.65 in the current quarter. Toubro Infotech: The company’s CMD net turnover had risen from Rs 1454 lakh during 1998-1999 to Rs 2801 lakh. Riding high on a 100 per cent increase in both net profit and turnover, the company which is listed on the bourses has announced a 10 per cent interim dividend. About the future plans of Toubro Infotech, the CMD, Mr Kanwar Deep Singh disclosed that company plans to become an application service provider (ASP) for providing fully outsources
customer service and e-Customer Relationship Management (eCRM) solution to its subscribers globally.
— TNS ESAB India: ABB: In a first of its kind order, it encompasses supply of the complete electrics, automation and optimisation packages based on the ABB’s latest knowledge-based solutions for the Indian cement industry. ABB is building links to the new economy with novel IT applications for the industry, tailored software solutions and a fast expanding knowledge and service based. TV 18: The scheme has been devised in such a manner that it insulates employees against adverse market fluctuations in the company’s stock price to a large extent, TV18 said in a release here today.
— UNI,
PTI |
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45 ex-CEOs of PSUs slam
divestment NEW DELHI, July 11 (PTI) — Former chief executives of public sector enterprises (PSEs) today criticised the government move for disinvestment as “indiscriminate, unplanned and hurried” and said it should involve experts from PSEs as advisers for disinvestment. “The process of disinvestment is losing its credibility because it has been indiscriminate, unplanned and is being undertaken in a hurry to meet the budgetary deficit which is not in the national interest,” 45 retired chief executives and directors of PSEs concluded at a meet here. Criticising the government’s eagerness to appoint global advisers for disinvestment surpassing local managers having better knowledge of organisation and market, they recommended involving experts from PSEs over bureaucrats and private industralists. The government should not be the agency for disinvestment and experts from the public sector should handle the process, they said at a day-long workshop organised by Standing Conference of Public Enterprises (SCOPE) here. The participants felt that disinvestment was being undertaken to meet the budgetary deficit and a target of Rs 10,000 crore had been fixed without discussion on how the PSEs could be restructured and streamlined, a SCOPE release
said.
CA result NEW DELHI, July 11 (UNi) — The result of the final and foundation examinations of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India held in May are likely to be declared on July 14. The result will be available on the Internet at the institute’s website http://www.icai.org, said a press release issued by the ICAI here today. |
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Advani heads SSI committee. Why? NEW DELHI, July 11 — Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee’s decision to appoint a group of ministers headed by Mr L.K.Advani for small scale industries has inspired little confidence in the industry about its future. The appointment of Advani as the head of the GoM, consisting among others of the Commerce and Industry Minister, the Finance Minister, the Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission, the Textiles Minister and the Minister for Small Scale Industries was apparently made to instill a sense of confidence in the small scale industry and a section of the Sangh Parivar which wants full protection for the sector. However, industry leaders see in the appointment of Advani an attempt by the PMO to silence the detractors and get around with the main agenda for the SSI sector which is dereservation. The Federation of Association of Small Industries of India has fired the first salvo against the government’s move by saying “we are surprised and at the same time shocked to learn that the Prime Minister has appointed a high level committee of Ministers headed by Mr L.K.Advani...” According to FASII President Mr V.S. Narasimhan the reason given for the constitution of the committee was to strengthening it for the good of the country. The constitution of the GoM comes at a time when the government is under immense pressure from international quarters to ease its policy on reservation. As a result of it, the government is considering dereservation of a number of items, hike in the investment level in certain sectors, and raising the foreign investment limit from the present level of 24 per cent to 49 per cent. Warning the government against any attempt to throw open the SSI sector, industry sources have said the reserved items in the SSI sector contribute 35 per cent of the total workforce employed which is 167 million and the reserved items contribute 28 per cent of the total turnover of the SSI which is well over Rs 469,377 crore. It has also been pointed out that large or multinational companies are not banned from manufacturing the reserved items and they only have to follow the stipulation that 50 per cent of the production should be exported. According to Narasimhan, their companies are only interested in entering select and profitable sectors. For instance he points out that garments, which has a 45 per cent share in the export basket of the country, has no takers from the large and multinational companies. Obviously the large sector is not interested in producing highly labour intensive products. |
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Panel on IT, telecom
convergence NEW DELHI, July 11 (PTI) — Keeping in line with the recommendations of Group on Telecom and IT Convergence (GOT-IT), the government today constituted a six-member special panel to identify issues regarding frequency clearance and interact with the industry on a regular basis for expediting pending cases. The group to be headed by Wireless Adviser to the government R.N.Agarwal, would ensure that applications for clearance from the Standing Advisory Committee on Frequency Allocation (SACFA) are posted on the website of Department of Telecommunication (DoT), an official release said here. Other terms of reference of the special group include reviewing applications pending for more than two months and ensuring that steps are taken to expedite clearance of such applications as well as ensuring that applications have been received by the concerned appraising agencies, it said. The group comprising officials of DoT and Ministry of Information Technology would also suggest procedural steps to facilitate expeditious and timely
clearance by SACFA for all requests for frequency allocation, it added.
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5-year wage revision for
PSU staff NEW DELHI, July 11 (PTI) — The government today offered a five year wage revision to public sector employees provided they accepted a graded neutralisation of dearness allowance. Briefing newsmen after a Cabinet meeting, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pramod Mahajan said the unionised employees would be given an option to opt for either a 10 year periodicity of wage
revision with 100 per cent neutralisation of DA or five year periodicity with graded neutralisation. The trade unions have been demanding reduction in the period of wage revision to five years as it existed before. The periodicity of wage revision was changed from five to 10 years by the government last year following recommendations of Justice Mohan Committee on wage revision for PSU executives and non-unionised supervisory staff. Mahajan said the periodicity of wage revision of officers of PSUs would remain the same at 10 years. The Cabinet decision follows recommendation of a group of ministers headed by Planning Commission Deputy Chairman K.C. Pant in the wake of protracted agitation by PSU unions in oil and power sectors. |
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BANGALORE: Dr Manmohan Singh, is critical of the NDA government’s policy on disinvestment of PSUs. “In disinvestment, there is no coherence. Various ministers speak in different languages. This is not the way,’’ he told reporters after attending the “Investors Day”, organised by the Karnataka Government on Tuesday. “There is a great deal of confusion in the government,” he said. Responding to a question, Dr Manmohan Singh denied that he was kept out of the 44-member “economic group” set up by Sonia Gandhi last week to form an overview of the current economic policies and suggest “areas where a course correction is necessary”. “It’s not true,” he said. “I myself opted out. We need a group which will dispassionately and objectively look at the achievements and shortcomings (of the liberalisation process so far). It’s not my claim that we have the last word on reforms.”
— PTI
Maran’s tips
for students
NEW DELHI: “Business and ethics go together” is the message Murasoli Maran has for the younger generation. Addressing the annual convocation of the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade here on Tuesday, the Commerce Minister said the operative global economic and political system is unfair. “What is the meaning of freedom and equity in a world where the richest 20 per cent monopolise 86 per cent of the world GDP, and the poorest 20 per cent toil to get the miniscule share of 1 per cent?” he said in a heart-to-heart talk with the students. Maran listed a few guiding principles for the outgoing students which are: having a long-term vision of one’s goal; understanding one’s strengths and improving upon them; developing the quality of being able to listen, observe good ideas and thoughts; seeking experience at the grass-roots level from people who know the nuts and bolts of business; being a lifelong learner and above all, having a strong sense of what is moral and ethical.
— TNS
Ketchup to
go green
WASHINGTON: Now even ketchup has succumbed to today’s push for consumer products to be made newer, better, different. It’s getting a makeover and going green. Heinz, the world’s biggest ketchup seller, says it is targeting kids 4 to 14 with the innovation, which will also be fortified with vitamin C. Is it a marketing ploy to win consumers at an early age? Yes. Could it also be a move to bring out the artistic talents of young people? could be that, too. Heinz says it is packaging the green condiment — along with its well-known red cousin - in an easy-to-grip, easy-to-squeeze plastic bottle so kids could use the ketchup without parental help and without creating a mess. What they will be able to create with a more-accurate nozzle is art, Heinz hopes, by using it to draw pictures on their food. The green ketchup should make its first appearance in stores in October.
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SBP rates CII seminar NHPC AmEx Bank Site on trading
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