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| Thursday, August 10, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
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Telecom firms can take foreign stake
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24 firms to be
delisted ‘Quit India’,
khadi? Dabur jv forays into processed
milk Ratan Tata justifies power firms’ merger Women outnumber men on web in USA
NEW DELHI, Aug 9 — Liberal norms for telecom operators, abolition of sales tax on aviation turbine fuel (ATF) sold to foreign airlines, repeal of the Industrial Disputes (Banking Companies) Decision Act, 1955, and modification of a centrally sponsored education guarantee scheme were among the decisions taken by the Union Cabinet here. The Cabinet at its meeting last night permitted telecom operators to acquire and transfer foreign equity. It also allowed internet service providers to set up landing stations for submarine cables. Union Minister Pramod Mahajan said that paging companies have also been allowed to switch over to revenue sharing arrangement from the era of licensing system under which they paid fees to the exchequer. The revenue sharing system, on the lines introduced for telecom operators last year, would be effective from August 1999, he said. As per the restructuring guidelines, Indian telecom players are allowed to acquire the shareholding of their foreign partners or substitute them with others with the same equity limit, Mr Mahajan said. He said transfer of equity between existing Indian promoters would be permitted provided majority partner continued to hold the present shareholding for not less than five years from the date of licence agreement. In another significant decision, the Cabinet decided to abolish sales tax on aviation turbine fuel sold to foreign airlines. A Bill to this effect would be introduced in Parliament to exclude the fuel for the purpose from the purview of states, Mr Mahajan said. He said the Centre under Article 253 would bring in a legislation in Parliament that would allow it to implement any global treaty and convention which would make even the state governments adhere to the legislation. The proposed legislation would ease the burden on the oil companies as till now they were supplying ATF to foreign airlines as per their arrangement with the Civil Aviation Ministry, but were not reimbursed towards sales tax paid by them to the states as per applicable norms. The Cabinet also approved the introduction of a Bill in Parliament to repeal the Industrial Disputes (Banking Companies) Decision Act, 1955. The Bill would be a step towards the Government’s efforts to get rid of redundant laws. The Cabinet also modified a Centrally sponsored Education Guarantee Scheme and the Alternative and Innovative Education Scheme involving a plan allocation of Rs 1865.42 crore. The scheme has been designed to target the school children between the age group of six to 14 years, Mr Mahajan said. The ultimate objective is to draw these children back into formal school system. The new scheme provides the Centre-state ratio of sharing of expenditure will be uniform at 75:25. Under the present non-formal education scheme, the sharing is 90:10 for girls centres and 60:40 for co-educational centres. Under the new scheme the unit cost per child per annum would now stand revised from the present Rs 375 to Rs 845 for primary centres and from Rs 580 to Rs 1200 for upper primary centres. For back to school camps the unit cost per child per annum would be Rs 3000. The honorarium paid to instructors would also be revised from present Rs 200 per month to a upper limit of Rs 1000 per month. The Cabinet also decided to reconstitute the Law Commission for three years. The period of the 16th Commission would be from September 1, 2000 to August 31, 2003. The Commission would consist of one chairman and three members might be either serving or retired judges of the Supreme Court or of High Court or legal experts, jurists or professors of law in any university of India. A part-time member would be appointed from among eminent members of the Bar or eminent scholars in the academic field. The Cabinet also approved the winding up of Wagon India Limited, a joint sector company and nominated Bharat Bhari Udyog Nigam Limited to deal with Railways for getting orders in the manufacturing of wagons. The company would now introduce voluntary retirement scheme for the permanent employees and revert two officials to the parent cadre, Mr Mahajan said. |
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NEW DELHI, Aug 9 (PTI) —The government has decided to delist 24 vanishing companies, including Star Electronics, Zed Investments, Kalyani Finance and Big Stat Films for duping investors’ funds worth Rs 80.47 crore. The department of Company Affairs (DCA) has received a list of 142 erring companies which have siphoned off Rs 668.61 crore from the investors, an official release said today. It said 24 companies in the list were not traceable after due enquiries and will be delisted from stock exchanges. Eight of the 24 vanishing companies are from Delhi followed by six from Madhya Pradesh, five from Tamil Nadu, three are from Gujarat and two in Orissa, it said. The 24 companies that will be delisted from the stock exchanges are Bhavna Steel Cast, Topline Shoes, Gujarat Bonanza Auto (all Gujarat), Global Blooms (India), Navakkarai Spinners, Pappilon Exports, Shyam Prints and Publishers and Amigo Exports (from Tamil Nadu). The companies from Delhi are ICP securities, Lakshya Securities & Credit Holdings and Hatron Networks Ltd, Star Electronics, Zed Investments, Kalyani Finance and Big Stat Films. The other companies are Orissa Luminaries and Universal Vital Ailments (both Orissa) and Janak Intermediaries, Rajdhiraj Ind, Hitech Drugs, Madhyavart Exxoil, Sterling Kalks and Bricks and Total Exports Ltd in Madhya Pradesh. Government said prosecutions have been launched against all the erring companies by field officers of DCA. They have been instructed to refer these companies to Regional Economic Intelligence Agencies. “Police complaints have also been launched against 24 companies,” the official statement said, adding the DCA has also written to the Chief Secretaries and Finance Secretaries of concerned states for taking penal action against these companies under investor protection act and Indian Penal Code. Multi-pronged actions have also been initiated against companies which have been tracked but otherwise are defaulting on account of not filing their annual returns as also for cheating the investors. The action is being taken against them under the Companies Act, Reserve Bank of India and (SEBI) Act, it said. |
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NEW DELHI, Aug 9 (PTI) — Congress President Sonia Gandhi made a scathing attack on the government in the Lok Sabha today for completely neglecting khadi and village industries and sharply reducing budgetary support to the sector which wove the “fabric of resistance to foreign rule” during the freedom movement. Raising the issue on the anniversary of Quit India day today, Gandhi, who is also the leader of the Opposition, termed the government’s policy towards khadi sector as “tragic betrayal” of Mahatma Gandhi’s assertion that “the centre of swadeshi was Khadi”. She said when the Congress was in power, it had, despite policy of economic liberalisation, had set up a high-powered committee which had come out with an action plan to strengthen the khadi industry. |
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Dabur jv forays into processed milk NEW DELHI, Aug 9 (PTI) — Following global major Nestle and homegrown Amul’s foray into processed milk, Dabur India has decided to diversify into the area via joint venture company Dabon besides planning considerable investments in expanding its existing dairy products range. “We will launch processed milk soon to complement Dabon’s existing range of dairy products. Also on the anvil are at least four more products before December,” Managing Director of Dabon P K Gupta told PTI here today but declined to divulge further details of investments required for the processed milk venture. Dabon India, a 50:50 joint venture between Dabur India and the $4 billion French dairy products major Bongrain, today also launched spreads and desserts in an attempt to expand its current product range of 20 different varieties of cheese. Even though the jv has been operational in India since July 1998, Dabon has managed to corner a mere 12 per cent of the Rs 250 crore processed cheese market. “We have a small share of the cheese market at present but then we are a young company and our main constraint is distribution logistics including inadequate cold chain facilities,” Gupta admitted. While the jv has been a loss-making operation till date, Gupta said it was expected to break even within the next two years. Commenting on the level of investments already made in Dabon, P K Gupta said “the two partners have till date invested $ 300 million in the Indian operations and a lot more investment will come in over the next two years for the proposed expansion plan,” Gupta said. While company sources put the required investment at Rs 150-200 million, Gupta declined to comment on the issue. Dabon has a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility at Noida with an installed capacity of 2,000 tonnes per annum — which is currently underutilised due to lack of transporting infrastructure. Processed cheese market in India is estimated at 6,500 tonnes per annum in the organised sector with Britannia and Amul the major players besides Dabon. Dabur India has decided to double the number of shares being offered under the employee stock option (ESOP) scheme to cover around cover 100 employees to the level of senior managers. The ESOP programme has been approved by the company’s Board of Directors, a Dabur India spokesman said. The Board has also decided to price the ESOP lower than the previous offer price of Rs 300 per share. In addition, Dabur is also working towards reviving the ‘Binaca’ brand with the launch of a new oral care product by the end of this fiscal. The spokesperson did not disclose whether the company would be introducing a toothpaste or tooth powder under the brand. “We already have Binaca toothbrush in the market. We will look at either extending the brand or launching new oral care products under Binaca.’’ Piramal to diversify
into bioinformatics: Close on the heels of announcing its foray into genomic research, Nicholas Piramal has initiated talks with leading software firms to enter into bioinformatics. “We are talking to a few software companies to enter into the area of bioinformatics as part of company’s plan to enter into full fledged genomic research,” Dr Swati A. Piramal, Director and Chief Scientific Officer of Nicholas Piramal India Ltd told PTI. Piramal, however refused to divulge details about the software companies saying the discussions were at a nascent stage. She said the company was keen on entering into the area of bioinformatics which will go hand in hand with its ‘pharmacogenomics’ project. “We have earmarked a sum of Rs 100 crore for the genome research project including the bioinformatics, to be spent in next five to ten years,” Piramal said. |
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Ratan Tata justifies power firms’ merger MUMBAI, Aug 9 (PTI) — Tata group Chairman Ratan Tata has justified the merger of Tata Hydro and Andhra Valley into Tata Power and said “it will help the merged entity to be a stronger company in both national and international context”. “After the merger, Tata Power intends to undertake major projects outside Maharashtra and also at an international level. Instead of three companies with weak balance sheets, we like to present ourselves as a strong and reliable for all these bids”, Tata justified at high court convened Tata Power’s extraordinary general meeting held here today. The meeting later approved the merger of the power companies. “Tata Power will also emerge as the country’s single largest private power player”, he added. The merged entity would also foray into the Internet and communications revolution. “We are looking into supply of
bandwidth and expand our already established network of optical fibres in Mumbai to other parts of the country”, Tata said. However, during the meeting, several shareholders opposed the group’s move over the swap ratio in which four shares of Tata Power would be provided for every five shares of Tata Hydro or Andhra Valley. Replying to the shareholders’ questions, Tata said the ratio was based on methodology and weightage as per the Supreme Court judgement in Hindustan Lever vs Brooke Bond case. The group had valued the three companies on the basis of their earnings per share, assets and market value. |
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Women outnumber men on web in USA PALO
ALTO: In an indication of how much the Internet has evolved from its roots as a male-dominated research medium, a new study shows women on the web now outnumber men. The study, released by Media Metrix and Jupiter Communications, shows strong increases in all age groups of women using the Internet in the USA, except for those between 18 and 24. Their usage actually declined from last year. “Women in the college age group appear to have more offline interests”, suggests Anne Rickert, co-author of the study. “Everyone has a life offline, but some age groups find their offline lives are better served by online resources. For the 18 to 24 age group, aside from academics and some shopping, the web perhaps does not directly relate to their lives.” If teens go online for social reasons, as women get older they appear to make more practical use of their time online, often logging on for information about health, child care, vacations and financial planning.
— Reuters
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Surf Net from mobile phones CHANDIGARH, Aug 9 — Spice Telecom (formerly Modi Telstra), has entered into a strategic business alliance with the country’s premier portal, Rediff.com, to launch WAP-enabled cellular telephony in the city, which will allow cellular subscribers to browse the Net from their mobile phones. Announcing this in Calcutta toady, Chief Operating Officer of Spice Telecom S. Venkatraman said the tie-up with Rediff will enable customers to get information specially tailor-made for WAP (wireless application protocol)-enabled phones. Rediff will offer international news, national news, business news and sports news, besides choosing one’s own URL (unique registration label), said a company release here. Customers will also get localised information on cinemas, theatres, restaurants and television programmes. A customer needs a WAP enabled mobile handset and a SIM card with data connectivity to surf the Internet. Increasingly cellular companies the world over are manufacturing WAP enabled handsets and the number of WML web-sites is also growing at a rapid pace. All Spice WAPower customers will now be able to browse popular web sites such as Rediff, Yahoo, CNN, Waphoria, and many other WML web-sites.
Customer’s surfing the Net through their mobile phones will have to pay an access charge of 42 paise per minute, which is lower than what others pay in cybercafes’ for surfing the Net. Micro Tech plans overseas expansion MUMBAI: Micro Technologies (India) Ltd had embarked upon a massive expansion plan in the USA, the UK and Australia. Company CMD P. Sekhar said in lieu of its global expansion Micro Technologies had signed a major contract worth $ 10 million with a southern California based company Common Threads Inc on July 17, for development of project monitoring software package to be deployed over the Internet. Common Threads Inc, has projected revenues generated by this package up to $ 95 million over the next five years in the USA. The project monitoring software package that is being developed and deployed over the Internet is based on concepts, requirements and market analysis put forth by Common Threads and Micro Technologies.
— UNI
Datanet Sys shares to open
on Aug 23 MUMBAI: Datanet Systems will tap the market to raise funds for its Rs 3.6 crore expansion project. The project will be funded by the proceeds of public issue of Rs 3.15 crore, and Rs 45 crore being provided by Bank of India in the form of a term loan, the company Chairman and Managing Director, Dr A. Prabhakar, told reporters here today. The project envisages capital expenditure of Rs 80 lakh, other fixed assets costing Rs 75 lakh and augmenting working capital resources by Rs 1.8 crore. The issue of 31.50 lakh shares of Rs 10 each at par opens on August 23 and closes on August 28. DSL, which was incorporated in 1995, has posted a loss of Rs 1.53 crore during 1998-99, but reported profit of Rs 54.12 lakh and Rs 6.23 lakh during 1997-98 and 1999-2000 respectively, he said.
— UNI
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WASHINGTON: A Chicago-based Indian physician, who founded a large mobile telephone service in India and sizable free Internet service providers in Britain and Japan, is returning to his medical roots with HealthCite Inc., a health information and e-commerce web site, the Wall Street Journal has reported. Dr Chiranjeev Kathuria’s new site, which would be a “metamediary” site, gathering information from other sources and pairing it with e-commerce opportunities through a newly developed search engine, is scheduled for launch on September 14. Healthcite will not be generating its own content and has hired doctors to compile existing resources. Leading biotechnology company Amgen Inc. has become a partner in the new venture and invested $10 million. Kathuria (35) with a business degree from
Stanford, made headlines in April for his investment in MirCorp, the first company to privately fund manned space programmes.
— PTI
Indian becomes
CEO of CA
WASHINGTON: An Indian chief operating officer of Computer Associates International has been promoted Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the company. Sanjay Kumar’s promotion follows the decision of its founder-Chairman Charles Wang to step down from the post of CEO in the wake of a dip in company profits. Wang, described by Forbes as the best paid boss in corporate America - he earns $ 650 million annually -will remain the Chairman.
— PTI MUNICH: BMW’S latest technology promises an enhanced driving experience if you are willing to put your faith in a computer. Drive-by-wire technology will remove the physical link between the steering wheel and the front wheels and replace it with electronic signals. The German luxury car manufacturer is moving towards this goal, not just because it believes it will bring big qualitative advances in its car’s handling, but to ward off competitive pressures. Drive-by-wire is being developed by all big car manufacturers, which see it as a way to cut costs and weight, as well as making cars easier to drive. They also think their image will be harmed if they are regarded as lagging behind the latest technological developments. But they have to persuade consumers that an electronic link is safe. Motorists know that when they turn the steering wheel, even with power steering, that they are in direct contact with this most crucial of controls. It will take a leap of faith for the computer wary to believe that a virtual link will work.
— Reuters
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Meeting postponed Bima Yojana Investments SBP meet TVS products Jute packaging |
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