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| Thursday, August 3, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
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Patiala woman makes it big in France selling ethnic stuff Nepal PM invites Indian industry Bank of Punjab profit
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Motor Vehicles Bill approved Sun Info to acquire Zap
PARIS, Aug 2 — The next time you are strolling down the fashionable St. Germain des Pres district of Paris, don’t be surprised if you run into several chic Indian shops, selling ready-to-wear fashion garments for women, trinkets from various Indian states and handicrafts. Though the shops have very different looks and feel, they have a common link. They are all owned by Mohanjeet Grewal, the uncrowned queen of the booming Indian fashion and garments industry in France. Grewal was born in Lahore in undivided India. After partition, her family moved to Patiala, Punjab, where she did most of her schooling. When she was 18, Grewal left for the USA to pursue her masters in political science at the University of California at Los Angeles. After that, she went to New York to pursue her doctorate in international relations. While in New York she also took up a job as a research assistant with the United Nations. While working with the U.N., she began writing for New York Herald Tribune, New York Times and Time and Life. “It was really very exciting. Not only was I the first Indian journalist working with American newspapers but also the first from Asia. No man or woman had done that before,” recounted Grewal. A year later, Grewal moved to Vienna where she got a job with the International Atomic Energy Agency. But within a year, she had to move again and she was examining her options, which excluded India. “I could not think of going back to India. I had only bad memories of my life there. As a young girl, I had grown up in traditional Patiala, but I was extremely modern in outlook and did not like to live the life as prescribed by that society. I was always getting into controversies due to my actions and beliefs. So I just could not think of returning to India,” Grewal said. So Grewal moved to Paris and found work with UNESCO. At that time she began writing for several leading Indian newspapers. In 1962, however, Grewal found herself back in India, this time covering the trip of Jackie Kennedy, but she returned to Paris, as she did not find India hospitable due to the prevalent attitude towards an independent woman like her. On her return to Paris, her family members in India asked her if she would like to get into business for them. As journalism was not a very lucrative activity, Grewal agreed to look after a business selling Indian goods in France. “We made the first serious attempt to bring Indian goods into France. And soon, India became very chic and everybody wanted to buy something from India. Naturally, our business boomed,” Grewal said. It was way back in the mid-1960s that Grewal set up the business, at a time when India was simply an exotic distant land for most French people. Grewal was the first Indian to enter this business and also the first woman. “I was doubly an outsider in the beginning. Not only was I not a French national but I was a woman. And there was no other woman in this business, which was entirely a man’s world,” Grewal said. But Grewal accepted the challenge and was soon able to covert her perceived weaknesses into her strongest points. “Very soon, I was able to capitalise on both the points — being a woman and being an Indian. I was able to break down the barriers and was able to do things that not many existing businesses would have tried or even gotten away with,” Grewal said. Grewal’s business boomed and she had acquired three shops before the end of the sixties. Her main workshop is in New Delhi and she plays multiple roles in the business — designer, couturier and of course manager. Over the years, Grewal has developed into a well-known brand for ready to wear clothes. Grewal participates each year in the various fashion shows organised by the industry and that has helped a lot in establishing the brand image. Another reason behind Grewal’s success could perhaps be the way she has hit it off with the fashion media in Paris. All her shows are religiously covered by the French press and today, Grewal has a pile of press clippings sourced from a wide range of prestigious fashion journals. “The Press here has been very supportive. I have got so many cover stories and in-depth coverage of my collections. It has been a big help,” she admitted. But it has not been a smooth drive all the way. Grewal has not been particularly lucky with her business partners and twice she has been pushed to the brink of bankruptcy by less than honest partners. The first time was soon after her business began flourishing. She had given a carte blanche to her French partner and within a few years, she found the company bank accounts cleaned out entirely by him. But she did not really learn her lessons. In the late eighties, she was again nearly ruined by yet another associate and this time it took her much longer to recover. But her business is back on its feet and is flourishing again.
— IANS |
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Nepal PM invites Indian industry NEW DELHI, Aug 2 — Nepalese Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala today invited Indian industry to take advantage of the Indo-Nepal Trade Treaty to set up production bases in the Himalayan kingdom. “The treaty is guided by the principal of mutual benefit and reflects India’s understanding of Nepal’s need to increase exports through increased investments and expansion of production base,” Mr Koirala said, addressing here. Describing his visit to India as a confidence-building measure, the Nepal’s Prime Minister said the trade treaty had given shape to a long-term mutually beneficial economic cooperation between the two countries. “Nepal’s exports to India have increased thereby addressing to some degree its enormous balance of payments deficit in the trade with India. The treaty has been beneficial to India as well and its exports to Nepal have increased very appreciably,” he said. Replying to a question that Indian automobile manufacturers were finding it difficult to export to Nepal due to tough emission norms, he said process was already on to provide special permission for Indian-made vehicles. |
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Bank of Punjab profit
up 59 pc CHANDIGARH, Aug 2 — Bank of Punjab has registered a growth of 104 per cent in profit depreciation and tax, from Rs 11.22 crore during the quarter ending June 1999 to Rs 22.85 crore for the first quarter of the financial year 2000-2001. The net profit increased by 59 per cent to Rs 12.77 crore during the present quarter from Rs 8.02 crore in the corresponding period of previous year. The overall business of the bank as on 30.6.2000 was Rs 3371 crore registering a growth of 34 per cent as compared to some quarter of last year. The total income of the bank grew by 37 per cent from Rs 65.14 crore to Rs 88.99 crore for the quarter year ending June, 2000. Similarly other income grew by 16 per cent from Rs 10.51 crore to Rs 12.20 crore. The bank’s retail loan products in the first quarter have also gained momentum over the past year with the number of auto lone disbursals going up to 2505 vehicles, registering a 252 per cent increase over the same quarter last year. The bank has launched its
customer friendly home loan product. With the bank offering personal loans, auto, home and share loans, it will be addressing the entire financial needs of a client and looking at providing holistic financial solutions. The bank’s customer base is expected to register a smart growth with Internet Banking mobile banking and Off-site ATMs in place. The bank’s ATM Network is linked to 5,25,000 ‘cirrus’ATMs across the globe enabling domestic and NRI customers access to their account from anywhere in the world. The bank is also launching a global debit card in association with ‘Maestro’ Mastercard network. |
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NEW DELHI, Aug 2 (PTI) — Parliament today approved the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill with the Rajya Sabha passing the measure aimed at encouraging necessary modifications in vehicles to facilitate the use of eco-friendly fuel, including LPG, to
reduce vehicular pollution and ensure road safety. The Bill, moved by Surface Transport Minister Rajnath Singh, was passed by voice vote. It proposes to prohibit alteration of vehicles in any manner except with a view to facilitating use of eco-friendly fuel, and also confer powers on the Central Government to allow alteration of vehicles for certain specified purposes, the Minister said. The Bill, he said, proposed to bring the buses run by educational institutions within the purview of the Motor Vehicles Act by requiring them to obtain permits. Santro, Uno pick up: Hyundai Motor India Limited (HMIL) registered a 19 per cent growth in total passenger car sales during the month, driven by a 16 per cent surge in sales of its small car Santro. Country cousin Daewoo Motor India Limited (DMIL), however, closed the month with a 12.5 per cent drop in passenger car sales, led by a 13.5 per cent decline in retail of Matiz. Fiat India Limited, however, managed to hold its fort for the month and posted a 40 per cent growth in total sales. The company sold 1,330 units during the month, including 1,012 units of Uno, as against total sales of 950 units in June, 2000. Hyundai Motor India Limited’s total passenger car sales in July this year stood at 7,265 units as against 6,116 units in June 2000. The company sold 5,814 units (including exports) of Santro. Its
July 2000 sales also represent a 54 per cent increase over the company’s total sales in July 1999. The company sold 1,451 units of its mid-sized Accent during the month, up from 1,105 units a month ago. The company has as yet sold 121,559 passenger car units in India, which includes 109,382 units of Santro and 12,177 units of Accent. During the first four months of the current fiscal, the company’s total sales stood at 28,247 units, including 22279 units of Santro and 5968 units of Accent. This is higher than the 17,633 units of Santro that Hyundai sold in the same period last year. Hyundai will commence countrywide sales of the diesel version of its mid-size car ‘Accent’ from the first week of this month which would be priced at about Rs 6.34 lakh (Ex-showroom Delhi). “The diesel ‘Accent DLS’ will be sold all over the country from the first week of August. The car, launched in June this year, is powered by a 1.5 litre ‘TUD-5’ diesel engine of Peugeot which will deliver 57 brake horse power (BHP),” HMIL President A.P. Gandhi said in Chennai. |
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MUMBAI, Aug 2 (PTI) — City-based wireless technology company Sun Infoways Ltd is to acquire software development firm Zap Infotech in a Rs 475 crore all stock
deal." The acquisition will involve transfer/alignment of Zap’s business to Sun Infoways”, Sun Infoways Strategic Initiatives Director Umesh Gowda told newspersons here today. The deal was subject to approval of Sun Infoways’ board, which was slated to meet on August 16, 2000. Post-acquisition, the capital base of Sun Infoways will go up from Rs 5 crore to Rs 8 crore. The consideration will be paid in the form of allotment of equity shares and/or warrants convertible into equity shares under preferential allotment of shares category within Securities and Exchange Board of India guidelines, he said and added that it was also likely that promoters of Zap Infotech would be issued
convertible preference shares. The premium on the shares to be allotted would be decided by the board, he said. The deal would alter the existing shareholding pattern of Sun resulting in promoters holding 33.75 per cent (earlier 54 per cent), Zap Infotech as strategic partner would hold 31.25 per cent, the public 28.75 per cent (earlier 46 per cent) and US-based strategic investors 6.25 per cent, Gowda said. The combined entity is likely to achieve a turnover of Rs 225-250 crore with a net profit of Rs 55-60 crore in the current fiscal, he said adding, the combined networth of the entity would be Rs 530 crore. Zap Infotech Chairman and Managing Director Arif Mithani said the brand name of the company would remain, however, it would be controlled by Sun Infoways. Currently, software solutions contributes 60 per cent of the total turnover, software products 10 per cent and education segment account for 30 per cent, Mithani said. |
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A heart valve that can grow with patient WASHINGTON: Corporate researchers have developed an artificial heart valve that they think will grow and change with the patient — even a child. The team at Atlanta-based Cryolife Inc. Cry.N yesterday said their valve is made of pig collagen, but becomes virtually the patient’s own as their cells grow in and around it. The company has applied for approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to test the valve in people. An estimated 78,000 people get replacement heart valves in the USA each year, according to the American Heart Association. Valves, which control the flow of blood through the heart, are sometimes damaged by infections. The synergraft valve starts out as a normal pig heart valve. Chemicals are used to strip all the cells away — cells that could cause rejection, or that could carry disease — and the collagen structure that remains is implanted into the patient’s heart. Tests in sheep show that the patient’s cells then grow in and on the collagen structure, and start building new collagen.
— Reuters Finland lures tech whizzes WASHINGTON: Finland is attracting a large number of information technology whizzes from Asian countries like India, and Indians are fast adjusting to life in that country. A dozen Indian restaurants have sprung up in the
finish capital, Helsinki, and Indians are adjusting to Finnish ways. While other European countries like Germany debate on work permits for foreigners, Finland, a nation of 5 million, is attracting large numbers of tech whizzes from India, China and other developing countries, as it makes it relatively easy for skilled workers to get work and gives generous benefits like social security programmes and big vacations. Two years ago, Finns accounted for about half of mobile phone
manufacturer Nokia Corp’s worldwide workforce of 44,500. Now, 60 per cent of its 56,000 employees are non-Finns, it said, adding the number of foreign
Nokia employees in Finland has jumped to about 1,000 from a few doze five years ago. Foreigners also outnumber Finns at Nokia’s renowned research centre in Helsinki.
— PTI Philips names Ombudsman NEW DELHI: Philips India has become the first consumer electronics company in India to have an Ombudsman. On Wednesday the company announced the appointment of K.S. Raman as its Ombudsman to settle all consumer disputes and said Raman’s decisions will be binding on the company. Raman, Chairman of FICCI’s consumer durables division and former President of the Consumer Electronics and Television Manufacturers Association (CETMA), has been an active member of the consumer electronics industry for over 30 years and will work as an independent consultant. “The company will spend over Rs 3 crore per annum on this service improvement drive,” Senior Vice-President of Philips Rajeev Karwal said.
— PTI Anti-foreigner wave BERLIN:
Alarmed by the renewed wave of anti-foreigner violence in Germany, which has thrown open its door to IT professionals from India and non-EU nations, the country’s government has decided to intensify action against right-wing extremists. Shutting down extremist websites and setting up of a national data base listing anyone convicted of neo-Nazi or anti-foreigner offences are among the measures contemplated by officials. The victims of racist attacks included an Indian researcher who was badly beaten up in June in Leipzig but managed to escape with head injuries after being kicked and booted by suspected neo-Nazis. Germany has witnessed at least 28 extremist attacks against foreigners this year.
— PTI
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Bharti group announces restructuring Tata Power to enter Internet business Timex BV to raise stake in Timex Watches Kotak Mahindra jv for life insurance Zee, Asianet to amend accord Exim Bank, SBICAP to have closer links
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Zephyr web ICICI Bank Furniture Tally Solutions Results White goods firm Whirlpool of India declared 150 per cent higher net profit for the quarter ended June 30 at Rs 16.75 crore with the half-year (January-June) profit of Rs 19.2 crore, up a staggering 260 per cent. ITC Agro-Tech Limited rechristened as Agro Tech Foods Limited from June 29, 2000 has made a turnaround and reported a net profit of Rs 1 crore during the first quarter of 2000-01 against a net loss of Rs 0.50 crore
in the corresponding quarter of previous fiscal. |
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