 |
| Wednesday, August 30, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
|
PTU & Aptech join hands to offer IT courses CHANDIGARH, Aug 29 — Punjab Technical University (PTU), Jalandhar, today signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Asset International, professional technology division of Aptech Ltd., to impart job-oriented training to the rural youth of Punjab.
2 City models unveiled Baleno station wagon launch in Sept NEW DELHI, Aug 29 — Honda Motor Company of Japan today launched two new variants of its mid-sized car City priced at Rs 9.20 lakh and Rs 8.69 lakh, and announced plans to infuse fresh capital into its Indian subsidiary — Honda Siel Cars India Limited (HSCI) — for rolling out the premium car Accord in 2001. |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Textile policy by Sept 30 likely Norms for FDI in IT sector simplified Kotak Mahindra fund to focus on North TV, DVD player & Net — all in one NEW DELHI, Aug 29 — The Union Minister of Communications, Mr Ram Vilas Paswan, today said there would be no retrenchment of telecom employees in the wake of corporatising Department of Telecom Services (DTS) and Department of Telecom Operations (DTO).
|
|
PTU & Aptech join hands to offer IT courses CHANDIGARH, Aug 29 — Punjab Technical University (PTU), Jalandhar, today signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Asset International, professional technology division of Aptech Ltd., to impart job-oriented training to the rural youth of Punjab. The MoU was signed at a ceremony by Mr H.S. Guram, Vice-Chancellor of PTU, and Mr Pramod Khera, Executive Director of Aptech Ltd., at Punjab Bhawan in the presence of Mr Parkash Singh Badal, Chief Minister. Under the programme post-graduate diplomas, which will be available at five centres of the university, diplomas in e-commerce and software technologies will be provided to students. The courses will be made available the first phase at IIT Gujjarwal Govt. Polytechnic for Women, GNP
Polytechnic, all in Ludhiana, besides Samrala and Saholi. “There is immense scope for growth in e-commerce and software exports. Moreover, it has been observed that the maximum number of unemployed is in the rural areas, which has led us to take this step”, said Mr N.S. Kalsi, Director, Technical Education, Punjab. He also said that without the initiative of the private sector in the IT sector, implementation of the IT policy of the state government will be very difficult. Keeping this in consideration, participation of the private sector will be encouraged. “The government has already started IT as an optional subject in 48 colleges in the state. Within one month IT courses will be started in 700 schools as well. The plan is also to provide computer based education in the primary schools of the state as well”, said Mr Kalsi. Mr Jagdish Singh Garcha, Minister, Technical Education, Punjab said that the state is spending only 0.67 per cent of the total expenditure in the country on the development of industry. |
|
2 City models unveiled NEW DELHI, Aug 29 (UNI) — Honda Motor Company of Japan today launched two new variants of its mid-sized car City priced at Rs 9.20 lakh and Rs 8.69 lakh, and announced plans to infuse fresh capital into its Indian subsidiary — Honda Siel Cars India Limited (HSCI) — for rolling out the premium car Accord in 2001. The company has decided to set up production lines for Accord at its existing plant in Greater Noida, HSCI Director (Marketing) Hajime Yamada told newspersons here today. “We are looking at all options to fund the fresh investments... we might go in for fresh equity infusion from the parent company or even borrowing from the market,” Mr Yamada said. Accord, which is likely to sport a price tag of around Rs 15-17 lakh, will be introduced with a small local content level. “We have decided to launch Accord in India next year. The finer modalities of the launch, details of the car and the price positioning are all under study at present,” Mr Yamada added. The company today unveiled two new top-end versions of City —City 1.5 V-TEC and City 1.5 EXI-S. The City V-TEC, Mr Fujisaki said, is the first Indian car to have a V-TEC engine as its heart delivering a power of 106 HP at 6800 RPM. Both the cars are targeted at the upmarket segment. Hints at price hike Honda Siel Cars India announced that the prices of its mid-sized City would be revised upwards if the rupee devaluation continued. In addition, the company is also driving into the used car market in India. Regarding the price hike, Fujisaki told newspersons here: “We have absorbed the impact of the rupee devaluation so far. There has been a marginal impact. But if the devaluation continues for some more time, we will be forced to consider an increase in prices of our models.” However, he did not divulge details on the quantum of hike that is being planned. On the used car foray, HSCI Regional Sales Manager Rajiv Gupta said the company has decided to purchase old cars in exchange of new Honda City, refurbish the models and re-sell them in the Indian market. “However, we will not undertake aftersales service of these models that belong to other companies.” The service is being extended through its seven-odd dealerships and will be floated on a national scale in 18 months. The company currently has a network of 22 dealers. Baleno stationwagon Maruti Udyog Limited is all set to introduce the stationwagon version of its luxury offering Baleno in September this year, and follow it up with Alto in the first quarter of the 2001 calendar year. The company has commenced commercial production of Baleno stationwagon and is in the process of building up stocks to be despatched to its dealerships across the country, company sources told UNI here today. The car will be positioned as a niche premium model. The Baleno sports a price tag of around Rs 7.27 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi). However, MUL Managing Director Jagdish Khattar refused to comment. “For commercial reasons we are not in a position to communicate about our future product developments,” Mr Khattar said. |
|
Textile policy by Sept 30 likely NEW DELHI, Aug 29 — The Union Textiles Minister, Mr Kashiram Rana, today said the government would announce the new textile policy once the contentious issue of dereservation of garments sector is resolved by the group of ministers. “Dereservation of the garments sector is holding the policy back. The textile policy is with the Cabinet which has sent it to the group of ministers to decide on this and we will announce it shortly,” Mr Rana told reporters on the sidelines of a seminar on textile exports organised by FICCI. When asked about the time frame, the Textiles Secretary, Mr Anil Kumar, said “we should be reaching a decision by September 30.” Asked whether the issues relating to this sector would figure in the talks between the Indian and US officials during the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee’s visit to Washington next month, Mr Rana said “India would take up the issue of tariff and non-tariff barriers to textile exports to the USA during the PM’s tour.” India and the USA were yet to reach an agreement on the tariff lines on 155 items by India and the reciprocal textile quotas allotted by USA and the countries would consult on this during Vajpayee’s visit, Mr Kumar said. The proposed new textile policy envisages an action plan that aims at giving a further boost to exports targetting $ 35 billion from the existing $ 15 billion over a five-year period, Mr Rana said. The policy would also look at promoting cotton exports which have been languishing at around 46,000 bales against an export quota of five lakh bales for the current year, he said adding there were no plans on hiking import duty on cotton. Domestic stocks of cotton have been piling up with cotton mills preferring imports due to better quality as against Indian cotton which is highly contaminated. Urging the textile industry to strengthen itself to face the challenges from the dismantling of multifibre agreement (MFA) trade quotas post-2004, Mr Rana said while the abolition of quotas would create new opportunities for developing countries, it would also expose them to additional competition from formerly restrained exporters. “This problem will further be accentuated by the increasingly apparent trend of imposing various tariffs and non-tariff barriers by developed countries against exports from developing countries like India with a sole intention of making us less competitive,” he said. With the growth in population and rise in income levels, the fibre consumption is expected to touch 56 million tonnes by 2005 from 41 million tonnes in 1995. Since the demand for textiles and clothing is less income elastic in developed countries, the real growth will come from the developing countries like India and other Asian countries and Eastern Europe including the former USSR, Mr Rana said, adding that more opportunities will open in these markets. |
|
Norms for FDI in IT sector simplified NEW DELHI, Aug 29 — The government today announced further simplification of guidelines for foreign direct investment inflows in Information Technology sector Under the new guidelines certain restrictions relating to Business to Consumer (B2C) e-commerce have been relaxed. Present guidelines provide for approval under the automatic route for all FDI proposals relating to IT sector with the exception of B2C e-commerce subject to the condition that automatic route for FDI and or technology collaboration would not be available to those who have or had any previous joint venture or technology transfer or trade mark agreement in the same or allied field in India. Considering the special nature and needs and with a view to further simplifying the approval procedures and facilitating greater investment inflows into the IT sector in the country, it has been decided that FDI proposals relating to the IT sector will, with immediate effect, be exempt from the earlier condition, an official note said. |
|
Kotak Mahindra fund to focus on North NEW DELHI, Aug 29 — Spurred by the increasing collections for its various schemes from North India, Kotak Mahindra Mutual Fund (KMMF) has decided to increase its presence in this market and is opening its branch in Chandigarh next week. Talking to TNS, Mr Shekhar Sathe, Chief Operating Officer of KMMF, said that the mutual fund collections in North India have been doubling every six months over the last two years. “We expect this trend to continue in future and apart from Delhi, the key focus areas in the north will now be Chandigarh, Lucknow and Kanpur”, he said. “The new branch is aimed at extending our reach to the retail customers in North India”, Mr Sathe said and added that the Asset Management Company plans to further extend its operations by opening branches in four more cities in the country in the near future. KMMF already has presence in Delhi, Mumbai, Calcutta, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Pune, Bangalore and Hyderabad. The Chandigarh branch therefore becomes the second branch of KMMF in the north. KMMF registrar, CAMS Ltd, will assist the branch operations of Kotak Mahindra Mutual Fund for operations such as collections and redemptions. During the recently concluded K-Tech and K-MNC initial public offer, KMMF received more than 2,000 applications from Chandigarh alone. “We now need to service this base apart from extending our presence in North India”, Mr Sathe said. KMMF manages assets of Rs 1,000 crore and services over 1.15 lakh investors across the country. “We have recently launched a series of service initiatives designed to make transactions simpler and faster for our investors. These initiatives include direct credit facility to investors (called D-Kredit) and net-based transactions. D-Kredit will lead to a clear saving of at least two days for investors having account with HDFC Bank by directly crediting the dividend and redemption payouts to their accounts. More banks will be added soon for the purpose of this initiative”, Mr Sathe added. KMMF has also announced a second service initiative called “Holiday NAVs” for redemptions, purchase and switch done by investors in KMMF’s debt schemes — K Gilt and K Bond — by which the investments will continue to earn return on their invested funds even during specific holidays. |
|
TV, DVD player & Net — all in one SANTA MONICA, California, Aug 29 (AP) — A company called NadaPC is marketing a compact device that combines television, the Internet and a DVD player in a box that is meant more for the kitchen than the home office.
The ICEBOX was developed by Seattle-based CMi Worldwide and is manufactured by Samsung Electronics. Samsung will sell a similar unit later this year for about $ 650. NadaPC is giving the units away in exchange for a three-year commitment to its Internet service at a cost of $ 21.95 per month and the opening of a no-fee checking account at the Internet-based CompuBank. The units were scheduled to be available today. The unit comes cable-ready and has an internal 56k modem to connect to the Internet. It has a dedicated printer port and a audio and video jack to allow DVDs played on it to be viewed on a larger screen. A video camera can also be attached to turn the unit into a nursery monitor or home security system, the company said. A waterproof, wireless keyboard is included along with remote control. The unit does not have a hard drive or other storage device, although future versions will include a USB port to accommodate peripherals such as a floppy drive. NadaPC says the lack of storage makes the ICEBOX simple to use because no software ever has to be installed and no computer viruses can be downloaded. |
|
Paswan: no retrenchment NEW DELHI, Aug 29 — The Union Minister of Communications, Mr Ram Vilas Paswan, today said there would be no retrenchment of telecom employees in the wake of corporatising Department of Telecom Services (DTS) and Department of Telecom Operations
(DTO).
“Telecom employees should have no fears in regard to retrenchment after DTS and DTO become a corporate entity. Their job security will be ensured as exponential expansion of the telecom network is being planned and there would be need to retain and make full use of services of the existing employees,” Mr Paswan said in a statement.
|
rc
Sanjay Dutt hits reporter Birmingham: It was just after 1.30 in the morning in Birmingham when Sanjay Dutt entered the lobby of the Hyatt Hotel where he and the rest of the Bollywood Dream Team had checked in just before their evening concert, part of many organised by the B4U TV channel. Clinging on to his arm and looking up to his sweating face was another member of the team, former Miss Universe Sushmita Sen. Dutt paused briefly to sign his autograph for one of the hotel staff and then moved on with Sen. As I tried to take a picture of the couple entering the lift, Dutt grabbed the camera I had borrowed from my son and smashed it hard into my mouth. “F. . . you,” he said, in clear hearing distance of all and sundry. One of the accompanying Indian bouncers shouted, “You are irrelevant, get out of here.” Only minutes earlier I had been speaking in the hotel lobby to one of the promoters, Cine Entertainments Corp president Farhath Hussain. Asked later to explain Dutt’s behaviour, Hussain said he had just received a complaint that someone tried to touch Sushmita’s arm. He added, “What the stars do in their private time is their business. We don’t invite the media to the hotel, we only invite them to press conferences. Anyway it’s not written on someone’s face that they are from the media. Sometimes you have fans behaving in a very bad manner.” I had arrived in Birmingham at the invitation of another concert promoter, local Birmingham businessman Ashwini Kumar. It was Kumar who arranged a ticket for the evening performance, adding that he would try and arrange for interviews and pictures backstage after the performance had ended at Birmingham’s National Exhibition Centre. — IANS Made in
Tihar jail NEW DELHI: Come Gandhi Jyanti and the potato chips that you eat at a cocktail may have been produced at Asia’s biggest jail. The “TJ’s (Tihar jail) Special” wafers will hit the market from October 2 as part of a programme to rehabilitate thousands of inmates. Former Chief Justice of India J.S. Verma had a taste of the chips made by the prisoners during a visit to Tihar this morning. Besides making confectionery items like bread and biscuits, the inmates are also trained in other productive works like stitching, soap making and manufacture of mustard oil. —
PTI Steals to keep
eight wives New Delhi: He had a daily earning of Rs 15,000, changed cars every two months and maintained eight wives and families in different Indian cities. And the secret to Dhanraj’s success — pickpocketing and stealing luggage! But the luck of this 38-year-old man, who has been picking pockets and stealing luggage at railway stations for more than 10 years to live life king size, has just run out. Dhanraj was nabbed by the police from a hideout his home in the northeast Delhi. Dhanraj had constructed three “secret” basements at his Welcome Colony house, two of which were accessible through a cupboard. It was from one such den, owned by one of his wives, that he was arrested on August 27.
— IANS |
ty
Mobile Internet service by BPL NEW DELHI, Aug 29 (PTI) — BPL Mobile has launched India’s first Mobile Internet service with GPBS technology, after the first mobile-to mobile and mobile-to-Net data calls were made on August 10 through its network. “The community of BPL Mobile subscribers will be the first in the country to experience Mobile Internet service which brings ‘Always on, always connected’ capabilities of GPBS,” CEO of BPL Mobile Girish Rangan said in a statement here yesterday. The company claimed to have become the world’s fifth GSM operator in the world and second in Asia to launch it commercially. GPBS technology is similar to Internet technology, suited to specifics of a cellular network. As in the Internet, no circuit is established and data is exchanged in packets, each with an address, which then find their own way to the destination. At the receiving end, all these packets are re-assembled in a proper sequence. GPBS replicates this packet switching concept in a mobile network environment, the data calls are converted into intelligent packets which are then routed through a central node. Rediff pact with BSES Telecom
MUMBAI, Aug 29 (UNI) — Rediff.com India Limited has signed an agreement with BSES Telecom Limited. The agreement will leverage Rediff.com’s editorial and e-commerce expertise in providing quality content and services to BSES Telecom’s portal. Users logging onto powersurfer. Net will be taken to a page having content provided by Rediff.com, like latest news updates, in-depth information and services from select Rediff.com channels, including cricket, movies and music, through direct links from powersurfer. Net home page, online shopping at the Rediff.com marketplace. This will allow users at powersurfer. net in India and worldwide, an opportunity to shop for a range of Indian and international products from more than 120 shops, spread across 50 categories. Wipro offers e-com
portal solutions MUMBAI, Aug 29 (PTI) — Wipro Infotech has launched e-commerce solutions and service encompassing consultancy, implementation and maintenance of portals for start-up companies. “We are expecting a revenue of about Rs 20 crore from this during the current fiscal, while the turnover of the Solutions and Services Division (SSD) as a whole will be at Rs 200 crore,” SSD CEO T.K. Kurien told newsmen here yesterday. The solution called “Portal-in-a-Box” addresses the entire gamut of technical issues, including content management, portal development, sell-side applications, and back-end integration. B2B site for crop
protection launched New Delhi, Aug 29 — The B2B site for the crop protection industry, agmoz.com, was launched here today. The industry is worth $ 95 billion globally. More than 1000 manufacturers are there in India with an annual turnover of Rs 8000 crore. The utilisation of the idle manufacturing capacities in the industry will amount to Rs 1600 crore by 2004, the director of the company, Mr Vikramjit Singh, told reporters here. |
cr
Govt may forfeit Sterlite’s earnest money NEW DELHI, Aug 29 (PTI) — The government is likely to take a stern action against Sterlite by way of forfeiting the earnest money of Rs 1 crore on account of the controversial 200 mm jelly-filled cable tender floated by the telcom department. The government is looking at forfeiting the money of Sterlite totalling about Rs 1 crore and is considering going for a retendering process,” Mr Shyamal Ghosh, Secretary of Department of Telecom (DoT) told PTI here. Ranbaxy’s US arm enters into alliance NEW DELHI, Aug 29 (PTI) — Ranbaxy Pharmaceutical Inc, the US arm of pharmaceutical major Ranbaxy Laboratories has entered into a co-marketing alliance with Purepac to market its generic cardiac drug Enalapril Maleate in the US markets. The drug which was launched in the USA last week is being manufactured by Ohm Laboratories, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ranbaxy Lab and is marketed both by Ranbaxy Pharma and the co-marketing alliance partner Purepac, a company statement said here today. IBM ties up with Tata Steel BANGALORE, Aug 29 (PTI) — IBM India and Tata Steel today announced that Tata Steel will outsource its extensive Information Technology systems to IBM India. IBM will take responsibility for maintaining Tata Steel’s IT infrastructure, including managing and operating their data centre, local area network services and technical support. Pritish Nandy Comm to raise 40 cr MUMBAI, Aug 29 (PTI) — Pritish Nandy Communications Ltd will tap the capital market to raise Rs 40 crore for part financing its Rs 45.84 crore expansion plan. About 26.17 lakh shares would be offered to public through the book-building route, and the floor price was fixed at Rs 155 per share of Rs 10 each, PNC Chairman Pritish Nandy said. Bajaj Elect appoints Andersen Consulting MUMBAI, Aug 29 (PTI) — Bajaj Electricals (BEL) has appointed Andersen Consulting for carrying out a comprehensive business process re-engineering exercise with a view to improve its operational efficiencies, introduce new products in the current sluggish market for electrical consumer goods and for suggesting ways to grow the bottomline. Zee Tele to relaunch movie channel MUMBAI, Aug 29 (PTI) — The Zee movies channel is to be relaunched as Zee-MGM movie channel in mid-October. This follows Zee Telefilms Ltd entering into a joint venture partnership with Hollywood Studio’s MGM to launch a co-branded Zee-MGM exclusive movie channel for the South Asian market, including India. The Zee Movies channel was launched on March 15 last and is a digital pay service as part of the Zee direct-to-operator bouquet.
|
bb
Aptech NEW DELHI, Aug 29 — Aptech, is attracting the attention of the foreign students. The second batch of students from Korea has arrived for learning computer programming.
SBI branch CHANDIGARH, Aug 29 — State Bank of India, Chandigarh Circle computerised its 157th branch at Ropar. Mr K.K. Mehra, Deputy General Manager, Punjab, Chandigarh module said that these branches will now provide on the first of every month the updatation of pass-books. With the full computerisation of Ropar branch, bank’s new Multi Option Deposit Scheme will also be available to the depositors.
Coca Cola NEW DELHI, Aug 29 — Coca Cola India has launched “Kinley” pure drinking water and it is the only bottled water that has been certified by the Federation of Family Physicians Association of India.
Eyeball audits NEW DELHI, Aug 29 — The site appraisal solutions provider, bestindiansites.com, has introduced eyeball audits. These audits are traffic-analysing tool on the basis of online presence of sites in Internet fraternity.
SISI function FATEHABAD, Aug 29 — The Small Industries Service Institute, Karnal, organised a one-day “industrial motivation campaign” here today alongwith the local District Industrial Centre. Mr M.M. Verma, Director SISI, Karnal, Mr Pradeep Ranjan, GM, DIG, Mr S.C. Sharma, L.D.M., PNB and Mr R.C. Gupta, XEN, HVPN, guided and motivated entrepreneurs. Members of the District Industries Association and students of commerce and management courses attended the programme.
Transport New Delhi, Aug 29 — Problems and prospects of the transport sector in the country would be highlighted in the exhibition cum conference being held here next week. The three-day conference Transport India 2000 beginning on September 4 would highlight the need for a comprehensive policy the transport sector.
IRDA members NEW DELHI, Aug 29 (PTI) — The government has appointed Mr Harbhajan Singh, a former CMD of Allahabad Bank and Mr S.D. Mohile, a former CBEC Chairman, as full-time members in the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA). |
 |
| Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir | Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs | Nation | Editorial | | Business | Sport | World | Mailbag | In Spotlight | Chandigarh Tribune | Ludhiana Tribune 50 years of Independence | Tercentenary Celebrations | | 120 Years of Trust | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
