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| Tuesday, August 15, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
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‘STD tariff to reach global standards’ Consumer will be the king
now Punjab,
Haryana growth rates trail Direct tax revenue up 23.5 pc till July |
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Deposit scheme
by IFCI Earth station for
Gurgaon cleared
RBI steps in again to check rupee fall MUMBAI, Aug 14 (PTI) — The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) today ordered dollar denominated exchange earners foreign currency (EEFC) account holders to convert 50 per cent of their account into rupees by August 23 to prop up the Indian currency
value. The rupee, which declined sharply against the US currency early today on renewed heavy dollar demand, had dipped by a whopping 1.4 per cent against the greenback last week and had lost around 5.5 per cent since January. According to an RBI statement, pending the review of the EEFC account, it has been decided to scale down the balances in these accounts to 50 per cent of the amount held on August 11, 2000. “The excess of over 50 per cent should be converted into rupees latest by August 23, 2000 and the authorised dealers should report compliance by the due date’’, the statement said. It also decided to permit future accretions only up to 50 per cent of what is currently eligible and that henceforth such accretions should be maintained in liquid form as current or savings accounts. “Credit facilities at present available against such accounts will be held in abeyance until further notice’’, the statement said. In fairly hectic but cautious trade at the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee dipped to Rs 45.88/91 in late morning business on a fresh wave of dollar short covering by banks and importers. After his meeting with Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha on Friday, RBI Governor Bimal Jalan told reporters that the central bank had directed Indian firms to bring back proceeds from overseas issues and loans to stabilise the foreign exchange market. He also said the RBI was examining the policy that allows exporters to keep 50 to 70 per cent of foreign exchange earning in dollar denominated export earning foreign currency (EEFC). There is about $ 2 billion parked in the EEFC account. Under the EEFC account scheme, which was introduced in 1992, exporters are allowed to keep a portion of their earning under this account to meet their day-to-day overseas expenditure. The RBI had decided to review the EEFC scheme due to the rupee becoming fully convertibile on current account and operationalisation of the Foreign Exchange Management Act on June 1, 2000. The recent moves of the RBI to arrest the fall in rupee value through enhancing the cash reserve ratio from 7.5 per cent to 8 per cent and increasing the bank rate from 7 to 8 per cent did not yield much success. “The RBI is examining the pros and cons (of the EEFC account) after the notification of the FEMA’’ Mr Jalan had told reporters after his meeting with the Finance Minister on Friday adding that “we are looking at the 1994 rules whether they are relevant now. If a decision is taken about reducing the limit, there will be some dollar inflow into the forex limit’’.
NEW DELHI, Aug 14 (PTI) — The Federation of Indian Exporters Organisation (FIEO) today said the RBI decision to scale down the balances in the dollar denominated exchange earners foreign currency (EEFC) account to 50 per cent will dampen exporters’ higher prospects. “The time limit to bring back export proceeds by August 23 is too short, putting exporters at a disadvantageous position. Besides, exporters who are importing raw materials for exports will have to buy dollars at a higher rate,” FIEO President Navratan Samdria said. The exporters are using the EEFC account to meet the cost of import contents for export and the curreny is lying with Indian banks without much benefit of export earning. “If at all the RBI is keen to streamline trade balance, they should attempt to restrict imports instead of hampering the efforts of exporters,” he added.
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‘STD tariff to reach global standards’ NEW DELHI, Aug 14 — The National Long Distance (NLD) policy of the government has evoked mixed reaction from the trade and industry bodies. The entry of unlimited companies in the telecom sector, instead of reducing the tariff will make it soar as each company will be compelled to duplicate the infrastructure which is too costly, said the National Action Committee against Telecom Corporatisation. Once the “government participation is ended, the foreign companies can taise tariff to global standards which are five to six times high, keeping the services out of reach of the majority of the people,” Mr V A.N. Namboodiri, General Secretary of the Committee said. He said the provision that the private companies will be directed to provide telephone services in villages and remote areas will not take off. Mr Namboodiri said only a meagre 12 telephone have been provided instead of the projected two lakh and with the opening up of the sector even the Indian players will be sidelines. The CII President, Mr Arun Bharat Ram, said with this decision India has joined a select number of countries which have taken forward significant telecom de-regulation, including allowing private sector in domestic long distance. He said the long distance operators to carry intra circular distance traffic in a mutual agreement with fixed service providers in the circle, is an important step in the creation of increased tele-density in India. Welcoming the provisions of allowing unlimited and free entry, revenue share of 15 per cent which include the USO obligation, he said this wa a simple transparent and uncomplicated procedure, which would eliminate delays associated with the tendering procedure and hopefully result in very quick implementation of servie provsion by operators. The FICCI in its reaction demanded level playing field for private operators saying that they would have to pay licence fees, apart from charges like frequency spectrum and right of way whereas department of telecom services has been exempted from them., The chambers also said that special incentives should be provided to private players for providing network in states like Jammu and Kashmir and North East. The Assocham said one drawback of the proposal regarding which industry feels perturbed is that the roll out schedule imposed by the government is heavy particularly in the continuing absence of support from Central and state government and local municipalities for right of the way leaving the operators to struggle and sort out the problems themselves. |
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Consumer will be the king
now NEW DELHI, Aug 14- Consumer will be king under the new domestic long distance telephony (STD) policy announced by the Centre as companies would fall head over heels to offer reliable service at the cheapest rate. The new STD policy, announced by the Communications Minister Ram Vilas Paswan, opens up the sector for private sector. The entry fee has been fixed at Rs 100 crore and a cap of 49 per cent has been put on foreign equity. The operators would have to give 15 per cent revenue to the government. The opening up of the domestic long distance telephony marks another step in the liberalisation of the Indian telecom sector and now only international long distance telephony remains the monopoly of the Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd. This too is proposed to be thrown open for the private sector by the year 2004 or even before. STD calls have been controlled by the Department of Telecommunications. The entry of private players in domestic long distance telephony should help reduce tariff rates significantly. According to one operator, it could come down by as much as 50 per cent. Private operators of local phone services would also benefit from the new policy as they have been given the right over intra-circle traffic. There are 20 telecom circles in the country and only six private basic phone opeators have started functioning. Rest of the circles is still controlled by the Department of Telecommunications. The fixed service provider would now be able to choose which domestic long distance telephone operator can provide STD services to his subscribers. This would enable the basic service provider to enter into a revenue sharing agreement with the STD operator. The basic operator would also have a say on the volume and tariff of the STD traffic. The negative fall out of the policy is, however, that if the Department of Telecommunications desires it can still retain its monopoly in domestic long distance telephony. DoT controls phone services in as many 14 of the 20 telecom circles today and it can choose not to enter into any agreement with a private operator. Also, cellular operators have not been allowed inter-circle connectivity. Cellular operators have said that the new policy is half-baked and there are still grey areas which need a relook. Despite these drawbacks, the policy would still benefit the consumer as he would have a choice between DoT and a private operator. Competition is bound to impact the tariff rates. |
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Punjab,
Haryana growth rates NEW DELHI, Aug 14 — Planning Commission member Montek Singh Ahluwalia has warned that the pathologically low rate of growth of the state domestic product in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Orissa is fraught with explosive social and political consequences. Unless these three states raise their growth from 1.5 per cent in the ’90s to 4 per cent annually, inter-state inequalities will widen and poverty will become more regionally concentrated, Ahluwalia said. The quantum jump is essential if the national target of raising the GDP growth rate from the present level of around 6.5 per cent to 7.5 per cent over the next decade has to be realised, he stressed. The former finance secretary’s warning came in a paper to Assocham. Not all poor states lagged behind. Rajasthan, one of the poorer states, experienced a much stronger growth in per capita state domestic product, which was more than double that of other poor states. It was, however, less than the average per capita growth because of higher rates of population growth, he said. Calling for a high growth strategy combined with a broad-based expansion in income earning opportunities in these states, the paper said that at least 6 per cent rate of state domestic product growth is desired for the poorer states to reach the national average. Punjab and Haryana were the two richest of the 14 states in 1990-91. But their growth rates of per capita state domestic product in the 1990s were not only lower than in the 1980s but actually below the national average. In the rich group, Maharashtra and Gujarat accelerated very significantly in the 1990s and grew at rates much higher than the national average. The performance of six middle income states — Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka — was clustered around the average rate. All the six states grew faster in per capita terms than they did in the 1980s, though in some cases the difference was very marginal. — IANS |
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Direct tax revenue up 23.5 pc till July NEW DELHI, Aug 14 — Buoyant direct tax collection in the first four months of the current fiscal pushed total tax collection by 23.50 per cent mopping up additional revenue of over Rs 9,300 crore as compared to the previous year. Total tax collection between April-July 2000 was at Rs 49,169.88 crore as against Rs 39,814.51 crore till July 1999, according to the latest monthly revenue figures released here today. Direct tax collection was up by 76 per cent at Rs 12,866.97 crore till July 2000 as against Rs 7,310.98 crore last year, it said. Indirect tax in the first four months grew by 11.69 per cent at Rs 36,302.91 crore as compared to Rs 32,503.53 crore during the same period last year. Last month, Centre mopped up an aggregate Rs 11,577.93 crore in taxes, posting a growth of 22.11 per cent over previous year’s Rs 9,481.21 crore, the official release said. Centre raised Rs 2,154.92 crore in direct taxes in July 2000, which was higher by 143.17 per cent from Rs 886.17 crore the previous year, while indirect taxes were up by 9.63 per cent at Rs 9,423.01 crore. Among direct tax, collection of income tax till July 2000 was up by 47.67 per cent at Rs 7,595.53 crore as compared to Rs 5,133.28 crore last year, while corporation tax grew by 113.91 per cent at Rs 5,176.96. |
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Deposit scheme
by IFCI CHANDIGARH, Aug 14 — IFCI has come out with its maiden Fixed Deposit Scheme “IFCI Family Deposits” which opened for retail subscription today. In the past, the company had issued Bonds to the public under the brand name “IFCI Family Bonds” in 1996. The company intends to builed a large retail base through the Fixed Deposit Scheme which will emerge as a regular source of funds at a reasonable cost. The company generally raises funds for its lending operations through issue of bonds on private placement basis to large investors like banks, PF Trusts, Gratuity Trusts, Regional Rural Banks, Corporates, high networth individuals etc. Under the Fixed Deposit Scheme, the depositor has four options to choose from in respect of periodicity of interest income. Under the Regular Income Scheme, the company would pay interest on monthly, quarterly, half-yearly or yearly basis depending upon the option chosen by the depositor. For the benefit of the depositor, post dated interest cheques (S)/ warrants(S) would be issued in advance in respect of monthly, quarterly and half-yearly options so that the depositor can conveniently encash the cheque on the due date(S) without having wait for the cheque(S) to come by post. Depositors can choose the Cumulative Deposit Scheme where the interest would be compounded yearly, at the stipulated rate, and paid along with the principal amount on maturity. The yield to the depositor ranges from 10 per cent p.a. to 11.25 per cent p.a. depending upon the tenure of deposits from 1 to 5 years respectively. The scheme also offers facilities such as nomination, premature withdrawal (as per RBI guidelines). |
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Earth station for
Gurgaon cleared GURGAON, Aug 14 — The Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala , has okayed a proposal for setting up a earth station, a joint venture between the state-owned Haryana State Electronics Development Corporation (Hartron) and the Central Government owned Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd (VSNL), according to sources. The project is to come up in an area of about one acre here in the Udyog Vihar (Sector 18). However, the modalities and nature of the joint venture between the two government-owned bodies are yet to be finalised. The VSNL is rooting in favour of equal equity participation. Hartron has committed to provide the land for the project, and is presently reluctant to go any further. The Deputy Commissioner, Gurgaon, Mr Apoorva Kumar Singh, was optimistic that the project will finally sail through.
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co
Healthcare portal by Apollo Group NEW DELHI, Aug 14 (PTI) — Information on various aspects of health and latest medical research, free expert advice from doctors within 48 hours, chat sessions with doctors and maintenance of personal health database are among the attractions offered by a new healthcare portal launched today by the Apollo Hospitals group. Inaugurated by President K.R. Narayanan at a function at Rashtrapati Bhavan here, www.Apollolife.com provides information on nutrition, fitness, parenting, diseases and a host of other related areas in English. The portal, aimed at filling the information void in healthcare, targets Indians as well as users across the world, Dr Prathap C. Reddy, Chairman of the Apollo group, said. “The content will be available in Hindi and Telugu from next month and in six Indian languages by the end of this year,” Sangeetha Reddy, Managing Director of the group, told PTI. Afterwards, content will be available in Chinese, French, Japanese and some other foreign languages for global users. Patients can register themselves by filling a form on the portal and get a unique health identification (UHID) number which they can use to access their personal health database while visiting any hospital of the Apollo group in the country, Dr Vikram J.S. Chhatwal, CEO of Apollo Health Street in Hyderabad, said. “We are trying to network about 450 private hospitals in the country who will accept our UHID to treat patients,” Dr Chhatwal said. “Initially we are negotiating with Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Hospital and Research Centre here, Jahangir Hospital in Pune and a Calcutta-based hospital for acceptance of our UHID,” he said. In future, the portal will act as a platform for patients to interact with insurance companies too, for example, to submit and process claims. The portal will cater to different user segments like individuals, doctors, medical students, corporate houses and non-resident Indians. Corporates can keep health database of their employees on the portal to provide periodic check-ups and other facilities, the Chairman said. Involvement of insurance companies, subscription fee from doctors who want to access latest medical research data, receive expert consultancy and use medical tools online, involvement of other private hospitals and advertisements will be some of the sources of revenue for the portal designed by Boston Consulting Group. Citadel Health, an Indian healthcare informatics company, is the third partner in the venture. Former Prime Ministers P.V. Narasimha Rao and Chandra Shekhar, Union minister Shanta Kumar, former Finance Minister Manmohan Singh and representatives of various embassies were among those present at the function. The Service Pack will be available via a free download from the Microsoft Windows 2000 website. SP 1 is a package of fixes that can be applied to Windows 2000 professional, server and advanced server. The contents of SP 1 were developed based on customer feeback on the Windows 2000 operating system gathered through testing conducted by independent software vendor (ISV) and initial deployments of the platform. E-call service Priced at Rs 5 per e-call card, the user has just to purchase the card and call the nearest Deltagram centre and dictate his message of not more than 50 words, after stating his pin number and password listen on the card. According to a Deltagram release, the sender has, however, to pay for the local call charges. Tata Telecom Centre Vu empowers customers to do business when, where and how it’s convenient to them. It helps agents answer questions and close, cross-sell, or upgrade purchase by sharing appropriate Web content with customers.
Website hosting |
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The Punjab Circle DoT announcing this bonanza on Monday said that under the 25 hours plan for one year, the new rates will be Rs 450 instead of Rs 490, for the 50 hours plan Rs 800 instead of Rs 1,500, for 100 hours, Rs 1,200 instead of Rs 2,150. Under the 250 hours plan for two years, the Internet user will now be required to pay Rs 2,800 instead of Rs 4,700. For 500 hours Rs 5,000 instead of Rs 7,250 and up to 1,000 hours Rs 7,500. The department also announced non-refundable registration fee of Rs 100 and 10 per cent discount on all renewals. The off peak rates will be 50 per cent of normal tariff between 9 pm and 8 am on weekdays and full day for Sundays. — UNI Portal for
ex-students Speaking to newsmen here on Monday, the portal’s CEO Sandeep Todi and two senior members of the board of trustees — G.S.Sanyal of IIT Kharagpur and Dr P.V.Lourdes of the Don Bosco Nitika — said they had already received an overwhelming response from former students from all over India and abroad who desired to do “something worthwhile” for their institutions. Claiming that such state-of-the art facilities were being provided for the first time not only in India but probably in the world, Mr Todi said the prime idea behind such a project was to provide a suitable platform to the well established ex-students and alma matars to contribute in whatever way they could to their respective institutions. “We hope the number of such students who wanted to help would cross the 300,000 mark by 2003,to make the batchmates.Com as one of the most utilised portals of the world”, Mr Todi said. Being set up with a corpus fund of Rs 10 lakh, generated internally to meet the initial cost for extending invitations to different educational institutions in all major cities, the batchmates.com will, however, provide the whole service free of cost to the less affluent schools and colleges in the first two years.
— UNI Kaun banega carpati To participate in this contest, customers need to buy and connect to Satyam Online, write a slogan and send it by e-mail or by post to the company. The winner of the bumper prize of a Ford Ikon 1.3 with power steering will be declared the “carpati”. A weekly draw will be held where an LG MP3 music player will be given to winners. In addition, LG refrigerators, 3 com Webcams, Casio palm tops, Epson printers, Fuji cameras, Casio digital Diaries and T-shirts are among the 3659 prizes for customers. The slogan contest forms are available at all Satyam Online outlets across the country.
— TNS
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