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Govt likely to raise EPF interest rate NEW Delhi, Aug 4 — The government is considering to hike the interest rate on the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) from the recommended rate of 11 per cent, the Union Labour Minister, Mr Satyanarain Jatiya, said here today. Auto scene It’s unfair fight over fairness Agro Tech
2000 Egurucool in pact with 500 schools Computer just for Rs 9,000 Filmmakers like Net but love big screen |
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Govt
likely to raise EPF interest rate NEW Delhi, Aug 4 — The government is considering to hike the interest rate on the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) from the recommended rate of 11 per cent, the Union Labour Minister, Mr Satyanarain Jatiya, said here today. “The government is considering various possibilities in this regard. A decision will be taken after consulting the Finance Ministry,” Mr Jatiya said, inaugurating a seminar on “Knowledge of productivity linked Wage system, organised by Assocham. The Union Minister called for linking wages to productivity in order to come up to the level of global market trade. Wage structures are found to vary not only in different types of industries but also in different units of the same group of industries. The changing pattern of skill mix plays an important role in the transformation of the wage structure, he said. Mr Jatiya said the policy for the 6th round of wage negotiations in public sector enterprises laid down in January 1999 envisages that the wage revision will be subject to the condition that there will be no increase in the labour cost per physical unit of output. In fact, market forces influence the process of wage determination and the extent of their influence depends upon labour supply which is to adjust itself to the changing pattern in the pace of growing demand. Labour Secretary L. Mishra said productivity growth is synonymous with socio-economic development and generates additional resources for additional employment opportunities. It can motivate, sustain and develop a high quality of human resource and promote sound labour management
principles. Assocham President Shekhar Bajaj suggested the need for evolving a broad national framework for linking increase in the wage payment with performance and productivity. “Since we have accepted globalisation, any delay would make Indian products uncompetitive,” Mr Jatiya said. Mr Bajaj expressed the need for critically examining the present wage system along with its components and to develop a system of compensation which motivates the workers to achieve higher levels of performance leading to increase in productivity for which worker is compensated through increase in wage on pro rata basis and underlined the need for modality of developing wage productivity linkage and introducing benchmarks for productivity in different economic activity. |
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Auto scene NEW DELHI: Mercedes Benz India Limited is all set to roll out its S class model — S 320 L — in India in September this year sporting a price tag of Rs 65 lakh, making it the costliest car on Indian roads. The S 320 L, to be introduced in petrol with automatic transmission version, will be produced at the company’s manufacturing facility in Pune. Mercedes Benz is targeting to sell around 100 units of the car this year. “The Indian plant is capable of producing any Mercedes Benz model. We will be importing the engine and transmission as kits to India for the S class car,’’ said a company spokesman. The S 320 L will be introduced with a high import content level, the spokesman said adding that “we intend to take the local content up to 20 per cent by next year.’’ “This launch would give us the benefit of test marketing. Before deciding to introduce the S class, we had received feedback from our existing customers who had expressed a strong need for a much superior car and s class fulfills that requirement to perfection.’’ —
UNI M&M Bolero priced at Rs 4.98 lakh MUMBAI: Utility Vehicle (UV) Mahindra and Mahindra (M & M) on Friday launched — Bolero Glx — priced at Rs 4.98 lakh in Mumbai, targeting to corner a 25 per cent marketshare with the premium model. Describing the vehicle as a shift towards a completely new category of UVs targeting urban markets, M&M Managing Director Anand Mahindra told newspersons here that the introduction of Bolero Glx was in response to the needs of the urban consumer that match toughness with smoothness. The Rs 4,98,503 Mumbai price of the vehicle includes a 12 per cent sales tax and a 4 per cent octroi or entry tax. An optional four-wheel drive Bolero will cost Rs 44,000 more. “The millennium began with our adopting a new logo and the company is actively focused towards competing at the international level,’’ he said. —
UNI Daewoo to increase
dealerships to 340
NEW DELHI: Daewoo Motors India Ltd (DMIL) has chalked out a major expansion plan to enhance its marketing network by 61 per cent to 340 dealerships and authorised service centres by
September end, 2000. The company will increase the number of dealers by 24 per cent to 150 by end of September from the present level of 121. Similarly, the number of its authorised service stations will go up by 111 per cent to 190 by the period, a company release said. Regionwise, DMILs maximum dealerships will be located in the North where it would increase to 58 from 49 at present while in the South, it will rise to 36 from 29 dealerships. The eastern region dealerships will increase by four from the current 20 and in the West, DMIL will have in place 32 dealerships, as against the present 23. The Korean company would also double its existing service stations in the Western region to 44 while in the Eastern region, the company would increase it to 23 from the present 10. —
PTI WagonR test drive in five cities CHANDIGARH: The first phase of the WagonR Challenge organised by Maruti Udyog has come to an end. MUL had invited car enthusiasts to test drive the WagonR, the Matiz and the Santro at a single venue, giving them an opportunity to judge for themselves the benefits of WagonR, Japan’s best-selling car. The WagonR Challenge was organised in five cities — Chandigarh, Ludhiana, Amritsar, Jalandhar and Patiala. Respondents appreciated WagonR’s engine performance, acceleration, air-conditioning and braking, claimed an MUL release here on Friday. —
TNS |
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It’s unfair fight
over fairness New Delhi, Aug 4 — “Mirror Mirror on the wall who is the fairest of them all?”. This has turned out to be a million dollar inspiration for corporates in the business of cosmetics. Creams to enhance fairness are indeed popular in the country. But behind this competition to make people look fairer lies an interesting fight between two major companies in India, each claiming authenticity of their products. The makers of “Fair and Lovely” fairness cream, Hindustan Lever Limited has finally made its point by proving that a Chennai-based cosmetics company has been using its formulations to market a similar product with a different brand name. Cavinkare Ltd has agreed that it has been using the patented formulation of HLL’s Fair and Lovely cream in its “Fairever” fairness cream. Cavinkare has also given an undertaking that Fairever will no longer use Fair and Lovely’s patented formulation. HLL filed a patent infringement case in the Calcutta High Court in January this year and contested Fairever’s claim that its cream could make a person fair because it contained saffron. Cavinkare when asked to prove its claim could not demonstrate that saffron delivered fairness. Before going to court, HLL had challenged Fairever’s claim with the Advertising Standards Council of India and the Council had subsequently ordered Fairever to stop advertising its claim on saffron delivering fairness. While HLL filed a case in the Calcutta High Court, Cavinkare filed a parallel case in the Madras High Court seeking revocation of the Fair and Lovely patent. However, early last month Cavinkare accepted the validity of HLL’s patent and withdrew its case. HLL has withdrawn its case against Cavinkare because of its undertaking that it would no longer use Fair and Lovely’s patented formulation. HLL has given Cavinkare time till September 15 to dispose of its already manufactured stocks. |
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Agro Tech
2000 CHANDIGARH, Aug 4 — India’s premier agro technology fair titled Agro Tech 2000 to be held in Chandigarh from December 1 to 5 expects participation from the Netherlands, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, the USA and Canada. In a statement issued today, Mr Piyush Bahl, Regional Director, CII (Northern Region), said that the just-concluded CII Agri Business Mission to Europe, the USA and Canada, jointly led by Mr Omesh Saigal, Secretary, Department of Food Processing Industries, and Mr Gokul Patnaik, former Chairman, APEDA and Chairman, Agri Business Committee, CII (Northern Region), aggressively sold India as a destination for foreign direct investment and technology transfer in the food processing and allied agri-busineses. The eight-member delegation included Mr C.L. Bains, Financial Commissioner — Development and Secretary, Agriculture, Punjab; Mr V.N. Ojha, Financial Commissioner and Secretary, Animal Husbandry, Dairy Development and Fisheries, Punjab; Mr Rakesh Singh, Secretary, Finance and Agriculture, UT Chandigarh; Mr Raghuvendra Pratap, Corporate strategic planning group Escorts Ltd. A series of road shows were held to promote Agro Tech 2000 in The Netherlands, Germany, France, Italy Spain, USA and Canada. The mission had a meeting with Mr Isi A Siddiqui, Special Assistant of the Secretary for Trade, US Department of Agriculture (USDA), in Washington DC wherein the USDA confirmed its support in principle for Agro Tech 2000. The USDA has also agreed to explore the possibility of the USA being the partner country at Agro Tech 2002. The State of Lowa in the USA is likely to be the international partner state at Agro Tech 2000. The CII delegation also met senior representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture in France and Germany. Italy and Spain have shown interest in participating at Farm Tech 2000 — an exposition being held concurrently with Agro Tech 2000. In Canada the delegation met Mr Ujjal Dosanjh, Premier, British Columbia, and a host of NRIs at a meeting organised by the Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce. A large number of entrepreneurs engaged in diverse agri businesses had an interaction with the CII delegation in Chicago and San Francisco. |
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Egurucool in pact with 500 schools CHANDIGARH, Aug 4 (UNI) — egurucool.com, a learning and education portal site, has joined forces with over 500 schools in Punjab, Chandigarh and Himachal Pradesh for imparting computer education. Targeted at students in the early teens to mid-twenties, Egurucool provides school and college students with a variety of services including entrance test preparation, curriculum support, on-line help from a network of teachers, and career and personal counselling. Vivek Agarwal,
CEO, Egurucool.com said six e-partners have been appointed for further enhancing its presence in the region. Egurucool.com provides a whole gamut of web services for schools, and has special modules for online homework and assignments. Over 1,000 academic institutions in the country have already tied up with egurucool.com for content and services. |
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Computer
just for Rs 9,000 NEW DELHI, Aug 4 (PTI) — In an effort to make IT products accessible to Indian masses, the Manufacturers’ Association for Information Technology (MAIT) and the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore (IISc-B) have developed a prototype of a personal computer (PC) with an open hardware architecture which would cost below Rs 9,000. The new computer, which is expected to be launched in Bangalore later this month, will be licensed for production to local and MNC vendors, Vinay L Deshpande, Vice-President of MAIT, told PTI. Deshpande said that the industry association would form a trust called “Simputer Trust” to licence out the manufacturing of the PC. The Simputer will have a linux operating system (OS), 32 bit CPU, 32 MB RAM, a USB interface, and a 320 x 240 touch screen, he said, adding that the system would also have an Internet connection and a built-in modem. “Perhaps the biggest advantage of the computer will be its ability to communicate with non-literate users where input will be supported by eyeconic interfaces and the output through speech. About 25-50 prototypes of this new system will be developed initially for the launch. He, however, declined to comment on the investment made for the research and development (R&D) of the system or the various methods used by the developers to drastically reduce the price barrier to below Rs
9,000. |
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Filmmakers like Net but love big screen LOS ANGELES, Aug 4 — Short films, long seen as the poor cousin of the movie business, have exploded on the Internet, but many creators still hanker for the spotlight of “old-fashioned” media like television and film festivals. Interest in short films on the Internet has propelled their popularity on television and contributed to the increase in the number of specialised film festivals. “The Internet is an amazing opportunity for short filmmakers,” said Kimberley Browning, director and founder of Hollywood Shorts, a monthly short film festival in Los Angeles. “Short filmmakers have to spend a lot of money making hundreds of video copies to send to various broadcasters. Now they just to put it online,” she said. Web sites such as AtomFilms.com, MediaTrip.com, POP.com, CRAPtv.com and WireBreak.com buy short films for their sites, increasing awareness for the genre and making it easier for filmmakers to raise funds. Many are animations or irreverent spoofs that appeal to the mostly young, high-tech Internet community. AtomFilms.com lets users download, review and rate short films on their site, which has 3 million views every month and about 1 million registered users. It also sells the rights for such films to broadcast companies, airlines and online clients. Despite their success, some of the men and women behind online movies still have reservations about the Internet and seek Hollywood-style fame and fortune on the silver screen. “George Lucas in Love,” a nine-minute spoof on “shakespeare in Love” and “Star Wars” director Lucas’ early career as a film student, has become one of this year’s biggest Internet hits. It was made by two Los Angeles film students in a deliberate attempt to catch the eye of big Hollywood studios. The ploy worked. Its 27-year-old director Joe Nussbaum won a deal with Steven Spielberg’s Dream Works studio and producer Joseph Levy landed a job running a digital division with a Los Angeles film production company. Short filmmaker Graham Streeter runs his own Web site, www.donutworld.com., and also has been awarded a 22-episode TV show and an eight-commercial series for Fox Sports. He said the Internet had provided a platform so people can recognise the art of short films, but he regards traditional film festivals as still the best way to get exposure. “We know what the TV and film festivals will do but we are not sure what the Internet exposure will be like,” he told Reuters, adding that he had no idea what the streaming quality of his films will be on other sites or who his wider Internet audience will be. And the money is not great if the film is sold to Internet companies, he said. “The dollar value of the film sold to television is more.” Browning of Hollywood Shorts gets three or four calls every week from Internet companies inquiring about short films, but she acknowledged that picture quality is not great on the Web. “Darker films do not reproduce well on the Web. The screening quality is not the same as those in movie theatres.” And there is another problem, she said. “Once exhibited on the Net, the theatrical release gets jeopardised as no one wants short films that have been shown on the Internet. They want exclusive films.” But the Interest sparked by the Internet has made it easier for filmmakers to sell short movies to broadcast companies. Apollo Films, a Los Angeles-based short films distribution company and sales agent, said that even though the company does not distribute on the Internet, the interest it has generated had made it easier to sell on television. —
Reuters |
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‘Meat’ flavour in tea NEW DELHI: The Rajya Sabha
on Friday witnessed a storm in the tea cup when agitated opposition
members expressed concern over the reported use of animal-based raw
materials by multinational companies in the processing of tea leaves to
improve their flavour. Suresh Pachouri (Cong) said the tea companies
were indulging in this activity permitted under a government
notification issued last October. The mixing of “meat” flavour in
tea has hurt sentiments of a large number vegetarians in the country, he
said. Pachouri, who comes from Madhya Pradesh, said in his state the
Chief Minister and many other people had even stopped drinking tea after
publication of the report in a local newspaper recently. Pachouri was
supported by many of his party colleagues and members from other
opposition parties when he said the government should immediately
withdraw the notification and ask the Tea Board to look into the
matter. The storm subsided only when Health and Family Welfare Minister
C.P. Thakur arrived after some time and informed the members that
relevant provisions in the notification were deleted on Thursday. —
PTI UNITED NATIONS: The UN is holding
talks with the Taliban in Kabul to persuade the group to drop its July 5
edict banning women from working for the world body and non-governmental
organisations. Manoel de Almeida de Silva, spokesman of
Secretary-General Kofi Annan, told correspondents here: “We are now
faced with an edict signed by Mullah Omar, the head of the Taliban, who
himself last week informed the Taliban council of ministers that the
employment of women in organisations has ‘paved the way for
immorality’.” As a consequence, Afghan women are barred from working
in all areas except the health sector, he said. — IANS |
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Satyam, SEEC enter into strategic alliance HYDERABAD, Aug 4 (PTI) — Satyam Computer Services Ltd today announced that it has selected SEEC, Inc (Nasdaq :SEEC) as its strategic provider of tools and technology for Satyam’s worldwide e-business transformation practice. Under an agreement with SEEC, Satyam would license SEEC’s component development and legacy transformation technology for use in its competency centres in Hyderabad, Pune and Chennai in India and at its development centres in the USA. SEEC would also be providing methodology and knowhow in the areas of Business Rule Mining and Componentising Legacy Cobol systems to an Enterprise Java Bean (EJB) architecture, the release said. Cadila sole bidder for Vaccines Corpn NEW DELHI, Aug 4 (PTI) — Cadila Pharmaceuticals has emerged the sole bidder to take over Indian Vaccines Corporation Ltd., the troubled joint venture between Department of Biotechnology and Indian Petrochemical Corporation Ltd. (IPCL). The company is the only bidder shortlisted by the government in response to the expression of interest invited to take over the company, sources said. At present Department of Biotechnology holds 67.7 per cent stake and IPCL holds the remaining 33.3 per cent. While IPCL is keen on completely exiting from the joint venture, Department of Biotechnology is keen on retaining at least 26 per cent in the venture. Sudarshan Chemical net rises PUNE, Aug 4 (PTI) — Sudarshan Chemical Industries Limited, has posted higher net profit after tax of Rs 86 lakhs in the first quarter ending June 30 against Rs 81 lakh for the same period previous year. Following the
quarterly results the earnings per share stands at Rs 1.24 (not annualised) as against Rs 1.17 (not annualised) for the last fiscal. Modicorp ties up with Cisco Systems NEW DELHI, Aug 4 (PTI) — Modicorp today announced its decision to enter the ISP and call centre business and has tied up with global network solutions company Cisco Systems for the purpose. Modicorp has entered into an alliance with Cisco which would also enable the American company to offer its products and services to Modicorp’s 2.5 lakh strong cellular customer base in Punjab, Karnataka and Calcutta. Jain Studios net profit shoots up NEW DELHI, Aug 4 (UNI) — Jain Studios Limited (JSL) today announced the total income for the first quarter of the current fiscal at Rs 545.54 lakh, indicating a rise of 2282 per cent over the income of Rs 22.90 lakh in the corresponding period last year. Net profit before tax for the first quarter, which was Rs 1.47 lakh in 1999-2000, shot up to Rs 103.95 lakh at the end of Q1 of this year,
indicating a rise of 6971 per cent.
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OBC PLR up NEW DELHI, Aug 4 (PTI) — Oriental Bank of Commerce increased its prime lending rate by 50 basis points from 11.5 per cent to 12 per cent with effect from today. This follows RBI’s recent decision to hike bank rate by 100 points and Cash Reserve Ratio by half a per cent. However, the bank’s spread of 3.5 per cent will be maintained. Earlier ICICI Bank and Dena Bank had raised their PLRs by 50 basis points. Koolindians.com NEW DELHI, Aug 4 — Koolindians.com, “The Indian Youth Portal”, has been launched by NuCent Technologies, which has made a mark with artstall.com. This youth-centric portal reflects the interests of young Indians within the country and abroad. All members of the club get a free e-mail id (yourname@kookindians.com).
BayPackets BayPackets, a hot seed-stage technology startup based on telecommunication. is launching its first product in September this year besides planning to take up joint products development with its partners. The company is based in Menlo Park (Silicon Valley) USA and New Delhi.
NRIL Netlink Ranve Infotech Ltd (NRIL), a Delhi-based software development and e-commerce company having state of the art infrastructure and testing facilities in India, has developed high-end mission critical software applications that are being used by many a corporate and institutions worldwide.
‘555’ Cigarette brand “State Express 555” is being relaunched in India with a new, contemporary, international packaging. It will be available at premium outlets across the country from mid-August. The new packets of “State Express 555” are being manufactured at ITC’s packaging and printing division, who have been appointed as among a select group of suppliers for “555” packaging worldwide.
IT&T NEW DELHI, Aug 4 — The country’s largest e-transition company, IT&T has bagged the largestonline computer hardware order in India from HDFC Bank, through smartsourceIT.com.
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