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| Sunday, August 13, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
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Trade unions to be consulted IT: the gateway of
India Rupee to stay at lower
levels Pensioners’ meet SBI camp |
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NEW DELHI, Aug 12 — Vajpayee Government which had been under severe attack from the Trade Unions (TUs) for trying to venture into the second generation economic reforms “unmindful” of problems faced by the labour class, today assured that it would consult TU representatives before taking any “major” decisions which would have direct impact on labour. This assurance was given by the Prime Minister Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, to the representatives of eight national trade unions, who met him at his residence this morning. Though experts here termed the Prime Minister’s assurance as an “ego massage” for the Trade Unions, the representatives of Trade Unions led by President of Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC) Mr G. Sanjeeva Reddy, seemed to be enthused by Mr Vajpayee’s assurance and deferred indefinitely the three-day all India general strike called from August 17 against government’s economic policies. The Prime Minister also suggested a regular inter-face with Trade Union representatives to “elicit” their views on various government policies which could have direct impact on the labour class and to remove any “major” shortcoming in it, official sources said. During the two-hour long meeting, represented from the government side by the Finance Minister, Mr Yashwant Sinha, Labour Minister, Mr Satyanarayan Jatiya and Disinvestment Minister, Mr Arun Shourie, the Trade Union representatives raised a wide-range of issues including functioning of Public Sector Undertakings, Disinvestment, Amendment of Labour Laws, Unemployment Relief and representation of TUs in Economic Affairs and Industrial Investment Committees, the sources said. When contacted, Labour Minister, Mr Jatiya told The Tribune that “though there was no specific agreement reached between the TUs and the government during the meeting, an assurance was given to the TUs that they would be consulted before any major policy decision which would have direct impact on the labour class.” Stating that the meeting was held in a “congenial” atmosphere, he said there were certain concreate suggestions
put forth by the TUs representatives which was well taken by the government. Mr Reddy of INTUC felt that the meeting helped in presenting before the Prime Minister “frankly” the point of view of the Trade Unions about various “present” and “proposed” policies of the government which had direct impact on the labour class. “We presented our point of view to the highest authority of the government and we are hopeful that we will be duly consulted and labour class’s interest will be taken care of by the Centre,” Mr Reddy said adding the TUs have decided to “indefinitely” defer their proposed three-day general strike beginning August 17. Among the charter of demands presented to the Prime Minister by the TUs were to make common people shareholders of PSUs, to keep profit making PSUs out of the purview of disinvestment, to discourage bulk allotment of PSUs shares to monopoly houses to facilitate retaining state control and to defer all proposals for amendment of Labour Laws till the second National Commission on Labour makes its recommendations. Among other demands were revival of sick industrial units and to modernise sick units to make them viable with improved efficiency and productivity, to offer the industries to be run by workers on cooperative basis before declaring closure or going for outright sale and to bring about legislation for informal sector, unorganised, rural and agricultural labour. Meanwhile, according to Labour Ministry sources, the next meeting between the government and the TUs is likely to be held in November under the aegis of the Labour Ministry. The meeting likely to be attended by the Finance Minister, Industry Minister and the Disinvestment Minister, the sources said. |
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IT: the gateway of
India THE boom in IT industry and infotech activities of high-tech firms and knowledge organisations will act as India’s gateway leading to a space requirement of about 50 million sq. ft. either in the form of software technology parks or buildings and facilities by 2008 with projected manpower requirement of 22 lakh in IT enabled services, project and professional services, product and packages, training and support and maintenance work. This is based on the study by Nasscom and Chesterton Meghraj which has projected IT growth to the tune of Rs. 68,343 crore by 2008, major components of which would be: exports (Rs. 45,562 crore), domestic product and packages (Rs. 8,656 crore), IT enabled services and support (Rs. 3,189 crore) and maintenance (Rs. 1,423 crore). Dataquest has carried out another survey of India’s IT industry dealing in software and services business. According to this survey the IT sector has achieved a growth of 38 per cent in 1999-2000 amounting to Rs 33,052 crore out of which the domestic market clocked Rs 17,002 crore (29 per cent growth) and export market clocked Rs 16,050 crore (49 per cent growth) with giants HCL, TCS and Wipro accounting for a significant Rs. 2,922 crore, Rs. 2,812 crore, Rs. 2,036 crore respectively followed by IBM and Hewlett Packard. A number of companies have or are entering into strategic alliance to offer innovative e-services such as corporate messaging (retrieving voice mail and e-mail over phone or PC forwarding voice mail to e-mail, fax to e-mail and e-mail to fax notification service), community purchases, internet radio and virtual private network services designing secretariat knowledge and information management system (Skims) as part of e-governance programme etc. Visualising India’s future in IT sector Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) convened a high-level interministerial meeting of Secretaries of IT, Communication, I&B and Finance on August 10,2000 for implementation of various incentive plans announced by Prime Minister Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee during the State IT Minister’s conference held on July 15,2000, for reviewing the action plan on opening up of National Long Distance Operations without any ceiling on the number of private players, a proposal to end VSNL’s monopoly on international voice services by 2002, a discussion on the proposed deregulation of basic telecom services and direct accessibility of submarine band width by Internet Service Providers (ISP’s). It venture capital fund to the tune of Rs. 100 crore has been launched recently by the Prime Minister to propel India into a global software exports giant. The fund has been set up by the government in collaboration with the SIDBI, IDBI and the software industry. Engineering institutions cannot remain a mute spectator to the fast changing needs of the manpower requirement in the IT sector and must burn their mid-night oil to meet the needs of the hour. |
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Rupee to stay at lower
levels NEW DELHI, Aug 12- The government’s knee jerk reaction in shoring up the falling value of the rupee against the dollar could only fetch short term relief and the Indian currency is all set to stabilise at around the 46 mark, forex market experts said. In fact, some operators feel that the rupee would plunge to a further low in the next six months and a rate of 47 plus to a dollar should not be surprising. Operators said the dollar during the past few weeks has strengthened against most global currencies and the rupee’s performance against the US greenback was not
surprising. Reacting to the Government efforts to shore up the value of the rupee, a senior manager with a multinational bank said measures like further liberalising the foreign direct investment and
foreign institutional investors investment norms would not fetch any immediate gains. However, measures like asking exporters to bring back the funds locked up in the export earning foreign currency (EEFC) account (it is estimated at around two billion dollars) and the direction to corporates to bring in their American Global Depository Receipts, Global Depository Receipts and External Corporate Borrowings may infuse the much needed dollars in the market. While these measures could bring some relief to the foreign exchange market, it could also be detrimental to the interests of the corporates. Repatriating funds at this juncture would hit the corporates if the value of the rupee was to go down further, a forex expert said. The Reserve Bank of India, Governor, Dr Bimal Jalan, has confirmed that the central bank has directed Indian firms to bring back proceeds from overseas issues and loans to stabilise the foreign exchange market. Operators said this option appears to be the RBI’s strongest available option in taming the volatile rupee. “Whereever the proceeds have been there for a long time, we have asked some of them to bring it back” the Governor has maintained. The RBI’s proposed intervention stems from the fact that after the rupee started plunging, foreign exchange reserves have fallen by more than two billion dollars from a mid-April peak of more than 38 billion dollars. A operator said unlike the past the value of the rupee this time is not guided by speculation and it was going down due to a genuine demand for spot dollars in the market. |
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Pensioners’
meet CHANDIGARH, Aug 12 — Mr H.C. Mehta, President, Mr C.S. Murty, General Secretary, R.B. Kishore, Vice-President of All-India Retired Insurance Employees’ Federation (AIRIEF), and Mr M.L. Gandhi, President, Chandigarh unit, while addressing pensioners, highlighted the pending problems, which has been taken-up with the LIC/GIC management. They also discussed issue confronting the pensioners on the principle of parity in pension and automatic upgradation of pension as and when Wage Agreement is over. The management and the ministry should ensure that senior pensioners do not receive less pension than the junior pensioners who have retired after Aug 1, 1997 consequent on recent Wage
Agreement. |
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SBI camp CHANDIGARH, Aug 12 — The State Bank of India, Chandigarh circle, has organised a compromise camp at Hisar in which various defaulting borrowers of different branches of the bank participated. Forty seven compromise proposals amounting to Rs 42.76 lakh were received out of which 38 proposals were settled by Mr S.S. Anand, Assistant General Manager, region II, SBI, Zonal Office, Haryana. A customer meet on Corporate Liquid Term Deposit scheme was also held at Hisar. |
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by Praful R. Desai Wilful Act Q: Tenant does not complete the finishing work. Whether tenant by such wilful acts can claim that he has not acquired another residential accommodation? Ans: The Delhi HC in R.K. Verma v Raghunath Rai Kapoor (2000 (1) R.C.J. 534) was seized of the problem. In the instant case, the basic construction has been completed. Conduit lines for electricity were there. Even electric switches had been installed. Sanitary and sewerage connections were there but sanitary fittings has not been installed. Most of the wooden door frames, with door panels were fixed. Window frames were in position and only window panes remained. In these circumstances, the Rent Controller had held that the tenant could not, by deliberately not executing or keeping the finishing work pending defeat the eviction petition. Thus, the Rent Controller recognised that the tenant appears to have delayed construction and held that it was not for the Court to find reason as to why the building was not completed and held the petition as premature. Thus, the Tribunal had misdirected itself in adopting this approach on this legal question and in setting aside the order of Rent Controller. While it is true, observed the HC that total absence of basic amenities like water and electricity may render a house inhabitable and the same may not constitute acquiring a residence for a reasonable man, yet cases where basic infrastructure exits but house owner chooses nor to have electricity and water connection are on a different footing altogether. Moreover, the HC held that the right to claim eviction accrued in favour of the landlord upon construction of the alternative premises. It cannot be taken away by the tenant by either delaying or deferring the completion of the finishing items of his own choice or by not applying for completion certificate or his unilateral act in applying for conversion of the user of the property from residential to commercial. In that way, the HC allowed the appeal and the order of the Tribunal was set aside. |
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by Ashok Kumar in Mumbai Why is Ajanta Pharma lying low? LAST week, I signed off promising to respond whether the “pharma” sector can be categorized as “New Economy”, or whether it was part of the “Old Economy”? Now, while it definitely is not part of the New Economy as it is conventionally understood, I definitely will not categorize it as “Old Economy” for the simple reason that this is one segment that will remain evergreen. Bull runs and bear phases will come and go, but at the end of the day there is no escaping the fact that medicines play a major part for most part of our lives. My permanent advise to all our clients has been — move the profits you generate from New Economy stocks into the defensive pharma sector. A lot has been said and heard about the likes of Glaxo and Dr.Reddy’s Labs, and so, I though it might be interesting, this week to zero in on an Indian pharma company which tapped the capital market earlier this year and whose unique market positioning strategies, as Punit Jagasia, our Marketing & Business Development head, opines, have been fashioned by the good old Indian survival instinct. The growth of Ajanta Pharma since inception was built on new product development. Initially, the thrust was on development of conventional formulations with some uniqueness in the product to allow it to establish in the market. With its establishment in the market, R&D efforts started concentrating on new concepts, including combinations of herbs from within and outside India. It also successfully tried to bring Ayurvedic products to the standards of modern medicine. The result of these efforts came in the form of successful products like Thirty plus, Figurin, Beauty Plus, Livoplus etc. This was the first phase in the continuous and consistent efforts of R&D. During the past three years this company has developed the quantification of 15 marker compounds, 52 specific groups of ingredients and finger printing for 60 materials. It is the company’s endeavour to put on the label the quantity of each marker compound of all material used in the product. In order to achieve this, isolating such ingredients in pure form and confirming their structure is being done. In the next phase of R&D efforts, the company started focusing on prevention of chronic diseases by using anti-oxidants. This is the phase where the efforts in research started taking shape of patentable invention. The first breakthrough in this came in when the company filed its first patent for carotenoids and micronutrients extracted from carrots. Since then, the company has filed three more product/process patents. The patents have been filed under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) apart from Indian patent and few other countries. APL has laid high priority on R&D. The company has decided to adopt the patents route to enter the new millennium. It has clearly identified the niche of “Carotenoids-based products from natural sources” and has already launched “Carofit”, “Ocugold” and “Rufage” from this niche category. The company has also launched LIVO-PLUS in its OTC division. The company has applied for global patents for all these products and has already received the South African and US patent for “Carofit”. While Ajanta Pharma too, like its Indian pharma contemporaries, continues to receive step-motherly treatment at the bourses on account its being a non-ICE company, its innovativeness merits praise, and who knows, were another pharma run to commence, better days could lie ahead for its shareholders. |
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by Pushpa Girimaji Ombudsman comes to insurance customers’ rescue WHEN New India Assurance Company closed the case of Mr Rakesh Kumar without indemnifying the loss suffered by him, it obviously did not expect that one day the file would come under the close scrutiny of the Insurance Ombudsman. Mr Rakesh Kumar’s light motor vehicle, bought at a cost of Rs 2,90,000 had met with an accident and was damaged beyond repair within two years of purchase. The insurance company first offered to pay Rs 2,45,000, but subsequently informed him that the claim would be settled only at 75 per cent of the claim amount as the vehicle was carrying two unauthorised passengers. He was also asked to give an undertaking that he would bear all expenses pertaining to third party claims as and when they arose. The Insurance Ombudsman, Delhi and Rajasthan, before whom Kumar filed a complaint, took strong objection to the insurer offering to settled the claim on non-standard basis at 75 per cent, when the insurance contract clearly permitted carrying of six persons in the vehicle. And asking the insured to bear third party claims could not be justified by any standards of equity, the Ombudsman said. Delivered on June 30 this year, the Ombudsman’s award directed the insurer to pay Kumar Rs 2,40,000 along with 18 per cent interest, calculated from October 1997, when the insurer first made the offer. Similarly, when Mr Balraj Kohli’s claim for reimbursement of medical expenses incurred on account of sudden and complete loss of hearing suffered during a trip to the United States was rejected by the insurer, the Ombudsman stepped in. After referring to various medical records, the Ombudsman’s inference was that “Presbycusis” or impaired hearing due to old age, cannot be described as a pre-existing disease by the insurer to deny the claim. The physician who had examined Mr Kohli at the time of issuing the mediclaim policy had mentioned Presbycusis in one of the columns and the insurer had linked this to the subsequent loss of hearing. (Balraj Kohli vs Oriental Insurance) The Ombudsman, Delhi, directed the insurer to pay. The Insurance Ombudsman today provides harried consumers an alternate dispute redressal mechanism that is simple, quick and cost-effective. As per the Redressal of Public Grievances Rules, 1998, notified by the Finance Ministry under Section 114 of the Insurance Act, the Ombudsman has the power to deal with any individual grievance against an insurer. And this includes partial or total repudiation of claims, disputes pertaining to premium paid or payable, legal construction of policies relating to claims, delay in settlement of claims and non-issue of insurance documents after receipt of premium. The procedure is simple. All one has to do is to fill a short complaint form provided for the purpose. Or just write the name and address of the complainant as well as the insurer, the facts leading to the complaint with documents if any, nature and extent of the loss suffered and the relief sought. The complaint has to be made to the Ombudsman within whose jurisdiction the branch or office of the insurer is located. However, the complaint has to be filed within a year of rejection of the complainant’s representation by the insurer or a final reply from the insurer on the complainant’s representation. The Ombudsman will usually attempt to settle the dispute through mediation and make a recommendation. If mediation fails, then the Ombudsman will try to settled the dispute through arbitration and then pass on award. Once the award is accepted by the complainant, the insurer will have to comply within 15 days. Under the rules, the compensation awarded should not be in excess of the loss suffered by the complainant as a direct consequence of the insured peril or for an amount not exceeding Rs 20 lakh (including ex-gratia and other expenses), whichever is lower. If the Ombudsman deems fit, he can also award ex-gratia. While a recommendation is expected to be made within a month of receiving the complaint, an award is required to be passed within three months from the date of receipt of the complaint. Says Mr N.K. Verma, Ombudsman, Delhi and Rajasthan: Insurers are now far more wary of repudiating claims arbitrarily. The offices of the Insurance Ombudsmen have been located in 12 cities, but at present only six Ombudsmen have been appointed, In Delhi, Chennai, Lucknow, Bhopal, Chandigarh and Calcutta and so many of them are also holding additional charges. The Office of the Ombudsman, Chandigarh. (Telephone: 706196) will also cover Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir. The Ombudsman in Delhi (Telephone: 3239633) covers Rajasthan. The office of the Insurance Ombudsman in Delhi was the first to be set up in July last year. It became functional from September and till June 30 this year, received 250 complaints pertaining to medical insurance, life insurance and general insurance. Eighty per cent of these cases have been decided and the time taken is about three to four months. |
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by A.N. Shanbhag Q: 1. I have deposited some money in “The Special Deposit Scheme for Retired/Retiring Govt. Employees” and interest from the same is income tax-free. Could you enlighten whether the amount can be kept in the scheme indefinitely or there is time-limit if so how much? 2. I am operating PPF account with the State Bank of India and the period of 15 years is due to expire shortly. I would like to know whether it can be extended if so far how many years and what is the procedure to be followed and whether rebate income tax would be admissible. — P.S. Vimal, Himachal Pradesh A: 1. You have made a grave mistake of opting for 9% tax-free interest (or was it 10% when you entered into it?) when you could have earned 12%+ tax-free (= after-tax) interest from other sources. Have a look at debt-based (quite safe) open-ended (liquidity of high order) pure-growth (tax efficient) schemes of UTI/MFs. If you decide to look at the opportunity you have lost, it would be obvious that you have invested in a hurry and will now start repenting at leisure. I wish you had approached me before taking such a drastic decision to invest your hard-earned savings. It is quite late in the day now. No, not so late, if you take the trouble of looking at the exit route of this insipid scheme. The exit route is —- Entire balance or part thereof in multiples of Rs 1,000 can be withdrawn after the expiry of 3 years from the date of initial deposit or last deposit where more than one deposit has been made in the account. However, there shall not be more than one withdrawal in a calendar year. Premature withdrawal is permissible after one year from the date of deposit but before the expiry of 3 years from the date of deposit. The interest on the amount so withdrawn, will be @ 4% from the date of deposit up to the date of withdrawal. The excess interest, if already paid, will be adjusted. Now, coming to your main query. You can carry this account indefinitely until your death. When the depositor dies, even within the lock-in of 3 years, the account shall be closed and the amount paid to the nominee. Where the spouse is a joint holder or a sole nominee, the spouse may request for continuance of the account on same terms and conditions as applicable to account. Q: I am an MBBS, MD doctor specialising in radio-diagnosis and running my own small diagnostic center. My wife has also been MBBS doctor doing average general practice for last five years. We are aged 39 and 35, respectively. We have three daughters aged 10, 8, 6 years. We wish to know about best options available for us for getting pension at old age. We were approached by LIC. If there are better options, kindly guide me. — Dr Tajinder Pal Singh, Yamuna Nagar A: Please do not be enamoured by the word “pension” connected with any of the schemes, be it an LIC scheme or a UTI/MF scheme. Such schemes take undue advantage of your love for the word “pension” and give low returns. You will do well by investing in any of the normal schemes, best suited to your perception of safety giving higher returns than the “pension” schemes. As and when you are about to retire, you will find that you have more funds on hand to earn higher pension. I entreat you to have a good and close look at the pure-growth, open-ended, debt-based schemes of UTI/MFs. Q: I want to have some explanation regarding investment, income tax planning, I am a Punjab Government employee having income above Rs 1,50,000 and hence in the 30% income tax + surcharge 15% bracket, for the coming year 2000-01. I want to plan to minimise my income tax. Please advise. 1. Whether it will be wiser to invest in LIC Jeevan Suraksha Pension Scheme for 100% tax exemption under section 80ccc(1). I am 50 years old and propose to list the above said LIC scheme. Please let me know, more about the scheme. Is there any other....avenue for tax saving. 2. I am a small investor and believe in investing in mutual funds. I hold units of Alliance 95, Canganga, Birla IT fund, Birla Balance Fund, Zurich India Equity Fund etc. Should I hold these funds or redeem some of them. Which...mutual fund (or sector) do you advise to invest for a investment up to 2-3 years. 3. I have 200 shares of Bank of P....purchased from market at the rate Rs 24.5 per share. What are the future prospects of the shares. — Anand Sagar, Punjab A: Please realise that your strategy is dependent upon several factors such as your (and also the members of your family) current income, current investments, age, future requirements of liquidity, your risk appetite and several other factors. There cannot be a thumb rule. With this casual approach, you are not only hurting yourself but your wife and children. I do not know whether you would contribute full Rs 80,000 to avenues U/S 88 during the current year. Until you do so, you should not look at JS. In any case, I do not like JS much. Regarding
MFs, I find that you have invested in equity based or balanced schemes. I am always propagating debt-based ones. At the current juncture, I feel that you should wait until the market rebounds. |
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ASG Corpn ICICI Bank Coop Bank Ashok Leyland |
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