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| Tuesday, July 25, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
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Sensex
crashes by 275 points
An agent gets BALCO Director suspended valuation of PSUs NEW DELHI, July 24 — A White Paper on the valuation of public sector undertakings in the wake of disinvestment was ruled out by the government, which said that the valuation of such enterprises was done through bidding after which the market forces decided the value of the units. IT services can get Himachal 7,500 crore Rupee fall may continue: I-Sec Indo-German trade improves this year HFCL net skyrockets 640 per cent
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J & K signs MoU for software park
MUMBAI, July 24 (PTI) — The benchmark 30-share index crashed by about 275 points as equities continued their downslide on the opening day of new account on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) today in the wake of heavy pounding by foreign institutional investors (FIIs), triggering panic selling by speculators. The BSE sensitive index opened with a wide
downward gap at 4347.52 and gradually moved downwards to close at the
day’s low of 4188.34 as against last Friday’s close of 4463.66,
showing a huge fall of 275.32 points or 6.17 per cent. The BSE-100 index
too collapsed by 140.65 points to 2102.98 from previous close of
2243.63.
An agent gets BALCO Director suspended NEW DELHI, July 24 — All talk about privatisation of public sector units notwithstanding, government ministries continue to have a stranglehold on the day-to-day running of the state-owned units. So much so that even vendors, distributors, suppliers and consignment agents are holding direct negotiations with the officials in the administrative ministries instead of routing their deals through the Chief Executive Officers. Bharat Aluminium Company Ltd is one such PSU which of late has been a victim of interference from its administrative ministry, the Ministry of Mines which is under the charge of Mr Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa. According to records available with The Tribune, an influential consignment agent from Faridabad got a Director (Commercial) of BALCO suspended by writing a direct complaint to the minister, Mr Dhindsa. Knowledgeable sources said the top bosses of BALCO were kept in the dark about the minister’s decision. An inquiry by the Vigilance Department has been instituted against the Director, Commercial. Enquiries have revealed that the BALCO official paid the price for opposing the undue favours shown to the Faridabad agent and for implementing a rational supply policy. Since the company operates in a sellers market, where demand is more than supply, the Director had recommended that the quantity discount offered to the agents be rationalised and the supplies be rationed. Unhappy over the Director, Commercial’s initiative the Faridabad dealer in his letter to the minister made a series of allegations and charged that the BALCO official was discriminating against the agent. What has shocked the BALCO officials is that the minister decided to act merely on the complaint given by the Faridabad agent and made no effort to involve the BALCO management, which is supposed to be in charge of running the day to day affairs. Explaining the factual position, sources in BALCO maintained that the official had paid a price for being honest. Even if the minister had to take action, it should have been routed through the management of BALCO, the sources said. |
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Government rules out White Paper on NEW DELHI, July 24 — A White Paper on the valuation of public sector undertakings (PSUs) in the wake of disinvestment was ruled out by the government, which said that the valuation of such enterprises was done through bidding after which the market forces decided the value of the units. Giving a reply to the supplementaries by the members during question hour in the Rajya Sabha on his last day as the Disinvestment Minister, Mr Arun Jaitley, also gave an assurance that the workers’ interest will be safeguarded while restructuring any public sector enterprise. The minister said the disinvestment process would get affected if the government waited for the submission of the standing committee report on the performance of industries, before going ahead with the disinvestment. Mr Jaitely told Mr Nilotpal Basu (CPM) that there was no need for a White Paper to analyse the replacement cost of the disinvestment process and other valuation of the public sector enterprises and said disinvestment had started as early as 1991. He said the first strategic sale of public sector undertaking (Modern Food Industries) had been successful as the government realised Rs 105 crore by disinvesting 74 per cent stake in the unit. Though the valuation of the company had been placed at Rs 109 crore, the government, besides Rs 105 crore, had also made the strategic partner to put in Rs 20 crore as investment, the minister added. Mr Jaitley in reply to a question said it was not true that the government was doing away with public sector enterprises and disinvestment was only aimed at strengthening these units. Mr S. Peter Alphonse (TMC) asked the minister whether the name of the Department of Disinvestment could be changed and rename it department of revamping public sector undertaking. Mr Jaitely said the suggestion would be considered though he would be handing over the charge of the department to Mr Arun Shourie. On fresh
infusion of capital into Air India, he said though the Ministry of Civil Aviation had been suggesting it this had not found favour with the Cabinet. He said as of now 17 cases of disinvestment had been cleared and “advisers” appointed in these units. Mr Jaitley said the final decision on the disinvestment process would be taken by the government after consultation. To ensure that the bidding process obtains the best value, the government gets share valuation done by different methods, the minister said, adding that assets would be valued on a case to case basis whenever required. The minister said the target for disinvestment during the current fiscal year had been fixed at Rs 10,000 crore.
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IT services can get Himachal 7,500 crore NEW DELHI, July 24 — The information technology (IT) enabled services in Himachal Pradesh can generate an annual revenue of Rs 7,500 crore by the year 2009-10, if adequate measures to tap the potential are taken, experts have said. ‘‘IT enabled services could emerge as a niche for Himachal Pradesh,’’ said a report prepared by Nasscom. The draft IT vision for the state prepared by apex body of software companies said ‘‘this segment of IT industry is projected to generate an annual income of Rs 7,500 crore and provide employment to one lakh people in the state by the year 2009-10.’’ ‘‘E-commerce is another activity which is likely to succeed considering an excellent network of fibre cable in the state and the potential of selling handicraft items, horticulture and agriculture produce over the Internet,’’ the Nasscom said. Experts projected an annual revenue of Rs 4,500 crore from e-commerce in Himachal by the year 2009-10. Some of the IT enabled services include call centre, medical transcription, legal transcription. ‘‘IT enabled services in India are slated to be come a $ 17 billion industry by the 2008, with an employment potential of one million jobs,’’ Nasscom McKinsey report said. In order to take advantage of the huge potential, the state government has asked the Department of Telecommunication to substantially subsiding the lease rates for using the communication network in the state by the private parties, at least
up to the end of 2003-04. All the blocks in the state have a connectivity of at least 33 kilobyte per second and the same network could be used for furthering e-governance. Himachal Pradesh has urged the Centre to allow the use of inter-district connectivity
up to 2 mbps bandwidth, free of charge for the initial two years for e-governance, as had been allowed by the DoT to the Andhra Pradesh government. The draft IT vision plan has suggested setting up of world class institute of Information Technology in Shimla to cater to the needs of not only Himachal Pradesh but of the entire northern region. Shimla, with its salubrious climate and excellent environment, offers an ideal location for setting up of such an institution, the Nasscom said, adding that the project would incur an initial investment of Rs 32 crore and a recurring expenditure of Rs 19 crore during the first five years of operation and thereafter it would be self sustaining. According to a Nasscom study, the e-commerce transactions in 2000-01 may exceed Rs 2,500 crore, a growth of over 500 per cent The total volume of e-commerce in India in 1999-2000 was estimated by the study to be Rs 450 crore and of this Rs 50 crore was contributed by retail internet or B2C transactions and about Rs 400 crore in B2B dealings.
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Rupee fall may continue: I-Sec NEW DELHI, July 25 (PTI) — The rupee may continue to fall below the Rs 45 mark (to the dollar) despite the measures taken by RBI to check the slide, ICICI Securities (I-Sec) has said. ‘‘The current slide is believed to have been on importers and foreign institutional investors’ (FIIs) demand, and this will continue despite monetary measures,’’ I-Sec said in its latest debt market report. RBI raised bank rate by one per cent to eight per cent, cash reserve ratio (CRR) by 0.5 per cent to 8.5 per cent in two stages and reduced the refinance limit by 50 per cent on July 21 in a bid to check the rupee from falling further. In January and August 1998, there was inter-bank speculations on the exchange rate and after RBI raised bank rate and CRR, the rupee appreciated, I-Sec said. But the declining trend in currency continued after the monetary measures were removed as rupee has a natural tendency to shed its value keeping parity with interest rate, inflation rate and other things, it added. ‘‘However, in the current instance, the impact on currency may not be so stark,’’ the report said. The RBI measures, I-Sec said, are estimated to result in outflows of about Rs 9,000 crore — Rs 3,800 crore due to CRR hike and another Rs 5,000 crore due to reduction in refinance availability to banks. I-Sec cautioned that if the rupee again slides to Rs 45 a dollar in a month or two, RBI may take further measures. I-Sec’s debt market report said interest rates on government papers are expected to come under pressure due to the recent steps taken by RBI. ‘‘The pressure on yields (interest rates) of government papers would continue as 60 per cent of Centre’s borrowing remains to be completed,’’ I-Sec said. The government so far mopped up around Rs 44,000 crore of the targetted Rs 1,17,000 crore for 2000-01. In any case, market sentiment would be dampened on the expectation of possible RBI moves, I-Sec said. This is more imminent specially when there was a strong industrial performance and higher trade (both export and import) reflecting higher credit demand this year. Bank credit increased by 21 per cent so far in the current fiscal compared to 17 per cent growth in the corresponding period in 1999-2000, the report said. I-Sec said inflation continues to be a concern as it moved up to 6 per cent during the last four months from the 3 per cent level seen earlier due to higher oil prices. ‘‘The higher inflation is clearly due to supply side reasons (like higher prices of imported oil) and should not be cause for further monetary tightening,’’ it added.
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Indo-German trade improves this year CHANDIGARH, July 24 — The German Chamber of Industry & Commerce has instituted a “Technology Area Managers Project” in six countries, including India. This was stated by Mr Wolfram Maas, Head-Economic & Commercial Deptt. Germany, at an interaction organised by the CII here today. Indo-German trade, which declined during 1999, has shown an upward trend during 2000. The trade between Germany and India was valued at only 4.1 billion DM in 1999, he said. Mr SR Majumdar, Technology Area Manager, Indo German Chamber of Commerce, said that the objective of the project is to bring together small and medium enterprises of both countries. Earlier Mr IS Paul, Chairman, CII Chandigarh Council, said among Germany’s trading partners India occupied the 30th position in a worldwide ranking of suppliers and ranked 36th among the buyers. Meet with PHDCCI:
Mr Mass revealed that the rate of unemployment is as high as 10 per cent. The growth rate of the German economy is also low and the projected GDP for the year 2000 is estimated at 3 per cent. However, he added that the combined wisdom of politicians and economists have mooted a project of reforms which would help in flourishing foreign trade Mr Mass opined that the Euro Currency has been a tremendous success and has brought about fiscal discipline in the Euroland. The dollar did not have any effect on the Euro economy as two-third of the exports of the European companies is within the Euroland. Mr Satish Bagrodia of the PHDCCI offered the Chamber’s services to link the business communities of both countries for trade contacts.
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HFCL net skyrockets 640 per cent NEW DELHI, July 24 (UNI) — Himachal Futuristic Communications Limited (HFCL) has recorded a 640 per cent surge in net profit for the first quarter of 2000-01 at Rs 61.71 crore as against Rs 8.33 crore a year ago. The company’s net turnover for the quarter stood at Rs 253.86 crore, up 228 per cent from Rs 77.34 crore a year earlier. Its earnings per share for the quarter was Rs 7.83, up from Rs 1.29 in the same period last year. Other income for the period was Rs 20.91 crore as against a mere Rs 1.75 crore in the same quarter last year. The company attributed the surge mainly to increase in interest earned on investment of surplus funds. Total expenditure for the quarter stood at Rs 200.74 crore, while profit before tax was Rs 67.26 crore. During the quarter, the company allotted 7,165,650 equity shares of Rs 10 each at a premium of Rs 1,440 on private placement basis to E-com.com Limited, a company belonging to Kerry Packer Group of Australia and consequently the paid-up share capital of the company has increased to Rs 78.82 crore. |
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J & K signs MoU
for software park SRINAGAR, July 24 — The Jammu and Kashmir State Industries Development Corporation (SIDCO) and Software Technology Park of India (STPI) New Delhi signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for setting up of Rs 9 crore Software Technology Park at Rangreth here. The MoU was signed by the Managing Director, SIDCO and the Director General, STPI. The Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industries, Mr Umar Abdullah, Minister for Industries and Commerce, Dr Mustafa Kamal and Principal Secretary, Industries and Commerce, Mr Mohammad Shafi Pandit were present. The upcoming STP would be located at J&K SIDCO Electronic Complex, Rangreth, 8 km from here. The park will be provided with high speed data communication facility through an earth station to connect it with the whole world. |
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Asian Paints net soars 18.53 pc MUMBAI, July 24 (PTI) — Asian Paints has reported a 18.53 per cent increase in net profit at Rs 18.55 crore in the first quarter ended June 30, 2000 as against Rs 15.65 crore in the same period in the previous year. Gross sales in the reporting quarter were up 11 per cent to Rs 322.46 crore over the corresponding quarter in 1999-2000, as per the unaudited financial results released here today. Net sales (net of discounts and excise) of the company was up by nine per cent to Rs 249.59 crore while other income rose by 3.77 per cent to Rs 3.03 crore as compared to Q1 last year. The company has incurred a total expenditure of Rs 211.86 crore in the first quarter (Rs 196.04 crore in Q1 in 1999-00). Nicholas Piramal net jumps 33 pc MUMBAI, July 24 (PTI) — Nicholas Piramal India Ltd (NPIL) has registered a 33 per cent increase in its net profit at Rs 15.20 crore for the first quarter ended June 30, 2000 compared to the corresponding period in the previous year. Sales of the company were up by 18 per cent at Rs 133 crore for the quarter, NPIL said. The first quarter highlights were advances in new chemical entities research, collaborations and contract research and opening of a new clinical research organisation and pharmaco-kynetic study facility in Mumbai. Mukta Arts gets bids at 160-180 NEW DELHI, July 24 (PTI) — Subhash Ghai’s Mukta Arts Ltd received bids between Rs 160-180 a share for a major portion of its Rs 100 crore IPO launched recently. Mukta Arts fixed the price for the IPO at Rs 165 a share at a face value of Rs 5 and premium of Rs 160 but received bids starting from Rs 150 to Rs 175 from non-institutional investors. The company will issue 60,60,700 shares, of which 45,45,400 shares will be offered through the book-building route and the remaining at a fixed price rate. BSL net profit growth 46 pc NEW DELHI, July 24 (PTI) — LNJ Bhilwara group company BSL Ltd today announced a net profit growth of 46.39 per cent at Rs 1.42 crore in first quarter of 1999-2000 as against Rs 97 lakh in the previous year. BSL’s sales increased by 13 per cent to Rs 37 crore in the quarter ended June 2000 as compared to Rs 32.77 crore last fiscal while exports grew by 28 per cent to Rs 13.78 crore. Exide net profit rises 8 pc CALCUTTA, July 24 (UNI) — Exide Industries Limited today announced marginal increase in the gross sale to Rs 196.32 crore in the first quarter. Net profit increased by about 8 per cent at Rs 7.03 crore against Rs 6.50 crore for the corresponding period last year. Profit before tax has risen by 7 per cent to close at Rs 8.43 crore for the period.
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There’s money in music NEW DELHI: The Indian music industry never had it so good. From Bollywood films to bhangra, devotional songs to Indipop, and Reggae, to remixes, everything is selling and encouraging companies in the estimated Rs 2,500 crore to chart new frontiers. T-series, which holds a considerable presence in the market, notes that the sense of competition gets reflected in the company’s selection of singers for promoting their sales. “We usually sign up artists who can come out with popular hit numbers and the recent success of singers like Harbhajan Singh Mann, Tanya and Shweta Shetty proves beyond doubt this growing phenomenon in the industry”, says Raj Channan of T-Series. “We have to our credit such big and popular stars as Asha Bhonsle, Falguni Pathak, Sansara, Shiamak, Davar and Pankaj Udhas. Hindi films have the potential to explore overseas markets with many non-resident Indians still having a nostalgic feeling for Indian music”, adds Vinay Sapru of Universal Music. “The potential music market has now grown into overseas with films like Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and Kaho Naa Pyar Hai becoming huge hits abroad. Songs in these films were a major factor in these blockbusters”, Says D. M. Mitra, Corporate Sales Manager, HMV. “As part of this new face-lift, we came out with an interesting package of Valentines’ Day titled “101 Reasons Why I Love You”, which turned out to be a
bestseller. Along with the quality of the music, the way it is presented is also important”, says Parveen Sethi, General Manager, Archies Music.
— PTI Poor English hits
e-com in China SINGAPORE: Misspellings of brand names in English and mistrust of the Internet are hampering electronic commerce in China, according to a study published here. Some Chinese, especially those with little exposure to the English language, spell famous brands like Boeing and Mercedes Benz wrongly, which can then hamper transaction in cyberspace. Singapore’s Straits Times carried portions of the study by the East Asian Institute (EAI) think tank. The report said Boeing, which is translated into Bo-yin, and Mercedes Benz, translated as Bian-shi, were household names in China but less than 10 per cent of Chinese can spell them correctly. “This language handicap severely affects the international business development strategy of these companies for the Chinese market,” warned the EAI report.
— AFP Indian’s dot com rises 133 pc NEW YORK, July 24 — Shares of Indian American promoted Support.com, an online provider of technical support software, have shot up more than 133 per cent, raising $ 59.5 million in its initial public offering (IPO) on the Nasdaq stock exchange. Support.com’s shares opened higher at $ 14 and rose to a high of $ 39, before ending its debut day at $ 32. The higher opening of the IPO at $ 14, above the expected $8-$9 range, reaffirmed investor confidence and showed an early sign of strength, said the company’s Chennai-bred CEO, Radha Basu. California’s Redwood City-based company boasts major clients like IBM, Sony, Cisco Systems, Compaq, General Electric, JC Penny, Bear Stearns and Samsung. An engineering graduate from the University of Madras and University of Southern California, Basu worked in senior positions at HP for more than 20 years, before joining Support.com in July 1997.
— IANS |
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