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August 2, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
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Haryana invites polluting units Optical fibre link
for Chandigarh, Delhi
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WB-aided projects
for coop societies Maruti sales rev up, Indica
skids Mohali unit jv with Jap,
German cos NTPC’s project for
Faridabad Protest at boss’s pay Biggest media deal in Canada Siemens profit zooms
715 pc
BANGALORE, Aug 1 — Forest brigand Veerappan is holding not only the darling of Karnataka masses, Rajkumar, to ransom but also India’s newly acquired global brand equity in the information technology (IT) industry. Monday’s violence by mobs in disregard of appeals by the matinee idol’s fans association for peace, followed by the shutdown of India’s IT capital on Tuesday, has left the industry wondering about the “uncertainty” and the “credibility” impact that such incidents have on the software industry. “Last week, it was Mumbai. This week, it is Bangalore. This uncertainty is going to hit business. Not so much in terms of money, but in explaining to the country’s global clients that this is the reason why this could not be delivered or meetings could not be held. All this is rather disquieting,” Bhaskar Pramanik, CEO, Sun Microsystems India, told IANS. “The industry, including IT, IT-enabled services and other related support services, works 24 hours. A 48-hour closure will certainly affect exports. Roughly 100,000 working days are lost by this. If you lose one hour of productivity, it can be made up. And, even if productivity is made up over a period of time, what concerns the international community or clientele is the tinder box syndrome that anything can lead to a shutdown. This is what is worrisome,” says Subroto Bagchi, President and CFO, MindTree Consulting. Indian software exports recorded Rs. 171.5 billion in the last fiscal and exports from Bangalore, with a cumulative investment of $800 million, accounted for Rs. 46 billion at a consistent growth rate of 40 per cent, employing over 70,000 people. “Bangalore’s image definitely gets marred globally”, says Mahesh Jain of Integra systems. “I know of a small software company which was to deliver its solutions yesterday to a Japanese company. They could not meet the deadline. Now, nobody knows what impact this will have, but in any business, credibility will become a liability,” B.V. Naidu, director, Software Technology Parks of India, said. — IANS |
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Haryana invites polluting units PANCHKULA, Aug 1 — The Haryana State Industrial Development Corporation has decided to set up industrial estates at various locations in the state for those industries which discharge polluting effluents and liquid waste. The decision was taken at a meeting of the Board of Directors of the corporation held here today. Mr Vishnu Bhagwan, Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister Haryana, and also Chairman of the corporation, said that the main industries under this sector are textiles, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, fertilisers, paints, dyes and electroplating. The initiative has been taken to attract Delhi entrepreneurs who have been asked by the Supreme Court to shift their polluting units outside the Capital, he said. A hosiery and textile park has already been developed by the corporation near Gannaur in Sonepat district where applications have been invited for allotment of industrial plots. These estates will be developed for the polluting industries by forming clusters of similar industry, similar effluents and liquid waste. Such industrial estates, where cluster approach is adopted to maintain ecology of the area, are commonly known as industrial ecological parks. The estates will have common effluent treatment plants, an HSIDC release said here today. The estates will be located in ecologically less fragile and agriculturally least fertile areas. HSIDC has decided to engage consultants to conduct a pre-feasibility study for setting up the estates.
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Optical fibre link
for Chandigarh, Delhi NEW DELHI, Aug 1 — The Powergrid Corporation has become a major player in the communications industry with the setting up of an optical network between Delhi and Chandigarh. Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, will commission the network through video conferencing at his residence tomorrow. It will entail laying of 52,000 km of optical fibre, including setting up of a number of telestations, at an estimated cost of about Rs 5,000 crore. This will increase the teledensity in the country and accelerate application of information technology in the urban and rural areas. The corporation has, for laying the optical fibre network, developed a three-pronged strategy with the help of renowned international consultants — IVO Power Engineering, Finland, Pricewaterhouse Coopers and Simons, UK. The network will be laid in two phases. Under the first phase the corporation proposes to utilise the spare/excess capacity of the network available in the unified load despatch and communication schemes which will link major cities in northern and southern regions. The phase II envisages installation of additional 10 thousand km of optical fibre cables connecting 56 cities, including the state capitals by 2002. However, Varanasi, Agra, Lucknow, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bangalore will be connected by 2001.
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WB-aided projects
for coop societies NEW DELHI, Aug 1 — The Haryana Government will allot the World Bank-aided projects to cooperative labour and construction societies registered by State Cooperative Labour and Construction Federation Limited. The federation has executed works amounting to Rs 63.68 crore during the past one year as against Rs 56.06 crore during the corresponding period of the preceding year, an official spokesman in a statement said today. The state government has also decided to enhance the limit of pucca works from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 10 lakh to be undertaken by the cooperative labour and construction societies. The system of registration of societies has also been simplified and a society registered with one department will be eligible to get works from other departments, boards and corporations also. The earnest money taken from these societies has been fixed at Rs 1,000 and they will be given priority in making payment and allotment of machinery. The societies has also been given facility to get loans from the Central Cooperative Banks. He said the five persons could constitute a society provided they are residents of rural areas and their names were registered in the employment exchanges. Apart from this, any 10 persons could also constitute a society on which the conditons were not essential. At present 3,570 cooperative labour and construction societies are functioning in the state. |
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Maruti sales rev up, Indica skids NEW DELHI, Aug 1 (UNI) — Maruti Udyog sales stepped on gas in July, 2000, to register an 84 per cent surge at 30,575 units from 17,746 units in June this year, despite being lower by 7.36 per cent from 33,006 units sold in July a year ago. Telco, however, registered a 13.4 per cent decline in sale of its popular small car Indica during the month. The company sold 3,534 units of Indica during the month as against 3,576 units a month ago, Mr Rajiv Dube, General Manager (Passenger car business unit) of Telco, told UNI today. Mr Dube attributed the drop to a shrinking demand following sales tax rationalisation and the resultant hike in car prices. “July has been sluggish, but we expect demand to pick up now”. Telco, he said, is hopeful of meeting its sales target of 90,000 units this year due to increased demand for its diesel cars and the newly-launched petrol car — Indica 2000. The mid-size car market in India has also registered a drop in demand during July this year. With Ford India and Honda Siel registering a drop in sales. However, General Motors India bucked the trend and ended the month higher, thanks to the increasing demand for its latest offering Opel Corsa. Even Maruti registered a decline in the sale of its mid-sized Baleno, even as the time-tested Esteem powered ahead. The company sold 1,174 units of Esteem in July this year, up from 704 units a month ago, and 241 units of Baleno, down from 259 units in June this year. General Motors India Limited (GMIL) bucked the demand downturn in the mid-size car segment to record a 7.46 per cent growth in sales at 648 units, up from 603 units in June this year. The July, 2000, sales also represent a 196 per cent jump from the 219 units that the company sold in July, 1999, GMIL Vice President (Corporate Affairs) P. Balendran said here today. The July sales include 424 units of Opel Corsa, up 5.7 per cent over 401 units last month, ad 224 units of Opel Astra, representing a growth of 10.8 per cent from 202 units in June, 2000. With this, Opel Astra has improved its share of the mid-size market from 9 per cent in June to 13 per cent in July this year. Opel Corsa’s marketshare has also grown from 6 per cent to 9 per cent, Mr Balendran added. |
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Mohali unit jv with Jap,
German cos NEW DELHI, Aug 1 — Sigma Corporation, has entered into a joint venture with a German and Japanese company to set up auto-parts manufacturing unit in Mohali. The new joint venture company with a total investment of Rs 35 crore would commence production by April 2001, the Chairman of Sigma Corp., Mr Jagdip Singh, said here today. The partners in the venture are Freudenberg of Germany and NOK of Japan. The Indian company would have 50 per cent equity stake in the new venture and the remaining equity would be shared by the German and Japanese partners. The company would manufacture Simmerrings, damper seals and valve stem seals for domestic and global automotive and general application industry, Mr Jagdip Singh said. A Rs 55 crore sales target by the end of financial year 2005-06 has been set, he said, adding that the company would break even by the end of first year of its operation. He said the joint venture partners would provide complete technical know how. A full time technical director from Germany shall be posted permanently in India for this project, he added. Mr Jorg Sost, Chairman of Freudenberg, said steel for the manufacture of the product would be procured in India and rubber and other chemicals would be imported from Germany during the initial years. |
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NTPC’s project for
Faridabad NEW DELHI, Aug 1 — The BHEL has commissioned NTPC’s 430 MW Faridabad Combined Cycle Power Project on turnkey basis in a record time of just over two years. While the two gas turbine units of the plant were commissioned by BHEL in June and October last year, the 150 MW rating steam turbine (unit 3) was synchronised with the national grid last night, a release said on Tuesday. Funded by the Japan Bank of International Cooperation, BHEL bagged the Rs 697 crore contract for the setting up of the 430 MW Faridabad CCPP on turnkey basis in January 1998 by outbidding multinational companies from Europe and Japan. The gas turbines and steam turbine generator for the project have been manufactured at BHEL’s Haridwar plant, while the HRSGs have been manufactured at the company’s Trichy plant. The controls and instrumentation and electics have been manufactured and supplied by BHEL’s electronics division in Bangalore and Bhopal, respectively. |
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Protest at boss’s pay INSTITUTIONAL investors delivered a stinging rebuke to merging drugs groups Glaxo Wellcome and SmithKline Beecham on Monday as a third of shareholders refused to back a controversial pay package for new boss Jean-Pierre Garnier. The rebellion was the second sign of a backlash in the city of London against boardroom excess, following a revolt against a US$15m one-off bonus award to Chris Gent, chief executive of Vodafone, last week. Mr Garnier, who will be chief executive of the combined group Glaxo SmithKline, stands to get 20 times his salary in share options if the company’s annual earnings grow by more than 3 per cent. Based on the current share price, this means he could get options on over US$23.4m of stock. At an extraordinary general meeting of Glaxo yesterday morning, 28.8 per cent of investors voted against the group’s staff options scheme and a further 6.8 per cent abstained. Detailed figures were unavailable from SmithKline, which said only that “about” 70 per cent of its investors backed the scheme. Glaxo Chairman Sir Richard Sykes defended the options plan, saying: “Executive compensation has to be an incentive to drive the company forward, make the company better and improve the share price.” He pointed out that the options would be worthless “on day one” and could only be exercised at a profit if the share price rises. Private shareholders expressed disquiet, branding the scheme “extraordinary” and “extravagant”. One said: “The last thing I’d want would be for Glaxo to be painted in terms of corporate greed.” Despite the rebellion, both Mr Garnier’s pay and the merger of the two drugs groups were approved.
— The Guardian
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Biggest media deal in Canada MEDIA magnate Conrad Black’s Hollinger International, which owns the London Daily Telegraph, is selling the bulk of its Canadian newspapers and magazines in the country’s biggest media deal. The buyer is CanWest Global Communications, Canada’s third largest television network, in a $2.4bn cash, shares and debt deal which will see Hollinger emerge as the second largest shareholder in the TV company, behind the family of CanWest founder Izzy Asper. Hollinger will have 15 per cent of the equity and 6 per cent of the votes in CanWest. Hollinger said earlier this year that it planned to sell a number of its titles and cut its debt burden. “This transaction and some smaller anticipated disposals of US community newspapers not in the Chicago area represent a significant step toward what we committed to undertake last April,’’ Mr Black said yesterday. The CanWest deal covers some 136 daily and weekly papers, 85 trade publications and Hollinger’s internet businesses. But it does not include any of the group’s French language papers or its non-Canadian papers such as the Chicago Sun-Times and the Jerusalem Post as well as the London Daily Telegraph. Steve Barlow, an analyst at Credit Suisse First Boston in New York, applauded the deal. “I think this is a great exit strategy for Hollinger. Clearly the stock market in the US was not giving them their due in terms of an appropriate valuation. “It looks like (CanWest) have created a multi-faceted Canadian media company and I think that makes an awful lot of sense. You need something big in Canada as you need something big in the USA in order to promote your brands as well as cross-sell your advertising space.’’
— The Guardian
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SIEMENS has posted a profit of Rs 148.41 million for the third quarter ended June 30, 2000. The turnover for the same period stood at Rs 2248.31 million registering a rise of 8.7 per cent over the corresponding period of the previous year. Turnover improved across the board and stood at Rs 2248.31 million for the quarter ended June 30, 2000, as against Rs 2068.23 million. This represents an improvement of 8.7 per cent. During the period under review the company posted a net profit of Rs 148.41 million as compared to Rs 18.20 million last year, registering a jump of 715 per cent. Max India Limited has recorded a net profit of Rs 11.10 crore for the first quarter of 2000-01 on a turnover of Rs 40.30 crore. The earning per share increased during the quarter to Rs 4.81 based on enhanced capital of Rs 23.06 crore as opposed to Rs 3.26 on the pre-enhanced capital of Rs 11.53 crore. Its net profit in the first quarter of 1999-2000 stood at Rs 3.76 crore on a turnover of Rs 23.29 crore. Alps Industries
Ltd. announced its first quarter results for the current financial year. The company logged a turnover of Rs 27.10 crore in the first quarter of 2000-2001 ending June 30 as compared to Rs 21.72 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year-an increase of about 25 per cent. Net profit shot up from Rs 1.40 crore to Rs 2.56 crore — an increase of 83 per cent. Mirc Electronics
Ltd., the producer of Onida brand of televisions, has declared the first interim dividend of 10 per cent for the current year, even as its net dwindled 43 per cent at Rs 4.28 crore for the first quarter ended June 30, 2000. Mirc’s net sales fell 30 per cent at Rs 127.12 crore against Rs 182.33 crore for the same period last year. Essar Steel Limited (ESL) has turned into black in the first quarter ended June 30 with a net profit of Rs 4.83 crore against a loss of Rs 137.96 crore in the corresponding period last year. Total income for the quarter showed an increase of 50 per cent at Rs 692.74 crore over the total income of Rs 462.91 crore in the same quarter last year. Elbee Services Ltd (ESL) is back in the black with a net profit at Rs 50.71 lakh for the quarter ended June 30, 2000 as against a loss of Rs 2.73 crore in the corresponding period last year. Turnover grew by 23 per cent at Rs 36.79 crore in the Q1 this year as against Rs 29.91 crore in the same period last year. Reckitt and Colman of India has reported around 30 per cent growth in net profit during the first half of 2000 at Rs 14.92 crore against Rs 11.28 crore in the corresponding period of previous year. Net profit during the second quarter stood at Rs 8.25 crore against Rs 6.24 crore in the same quarter of 1999. Apollo Hospitals reported an increase of 55 per cent in its net profit to Rs 4.02 crore during the first quarter of the current financial year ended June 30, 2000 as against Rs 2.60 crore in the corresponding period last year. Bombay Dyeing
has posted a 82 per cent decline in net profit for the quarter ended June 30, 2000 at Rs 1.13 crore as against Rs 6.28 crore for the same period last year. Shaw Wallace has reported a net profit of Rs 2.75 crore for the first quarter ended June 30, 2000 against Rs 2.72 crore in the corresponding quarter last year. Net sales during the period increased to Rs 198.19 crore from Rs 182.35 crore while other income came down sharply to Rs 2.56 crore from Rs 6.42 crore. — Agencies
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Mascon Global plans acquisition TCS eyes 700 cr turnover from e-commerce Sapphire Infotech to set up call centres |
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Occasional drink is OK
WASHINGTON: Middle-aged men, who are constantly being told to eat better, drink less and exercise more, got a piece of heartening news on Monday — the occasional alcoholic drink can keep them sharp in old age. An 18-year study of 3,500 men older than 50 showed non-drinkers and heavy drinkers had more mental deterioration than moderate drinkers. The report, published in the American Journal of Public Health, said men who had up to one alcoholic drink a day while middle aged did better on mental tests after they turned 70 than men who drank more or who did not drink at all. “Men who had consumed up to one drink a day during middle age were later found to have significantly better cognitive test results than non-drinkers,” Daniel Galanis of the National Institute on Ageing and colleagues
wrote. They studied Japanese-American men living in hawaii who have been taking part in a larger study on lifestyle and health. “Because dementia is a common and devastating condition among older adults, even a modest effect on cognition could have broad public health implications for the elderly,” the
researchers wrote. The volunteers filled out detailed questionnaires on drinking, smoking and other habits. They were given various exams from the time the study started in 1964 until recently. Galanis, now at athe Hawaii Department of Health, examined the results of some of these tests. “While these results may add to the growing body of evidence supporting health benefits of moderate alcohol intake, we advise caution in recommending moderate consumption of alcohol for all elderly persons,” they wrote. “The health risks of any drinking may outweigh any potential benefits for many elderly persons.” Moderate drinking has also been associated with a lower riks of heart disease.
— Reuters Viagra good for diabetics too
NEW YORK: Pfizer Inc.’s anti-impotence drug Viagra may also be an effective remedy for a digestive condition common among diabetics. The condition blocks or slows the passage of food from the stomach to the intestine. A study by researchers at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine found that Viagra appears to cause an important muscle in the digestive tract to relax in much the way it prompts a muscle in the penis to ease and facilitate an erection. The drug has only been tested in diabetic mice, but the results were so encouraging that a pilot study to try it on men and women will be launched next month. The problem, known as gastroparesis, affects up to 75 per cent of diabetics, causing bloating, loss of appetite and in some cases vomiting and dehydration. Gastroparesis also can complicate efforts to control blood-sugar levels with medication because it disrupts the timing of the digestive process. Pfizer did not sponsor the research, which was funded by the U.S. Public Health Service and other non-corporate sources. The study appears in August’s Journal of Clinical Investigation, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.
— Reuters
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