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| Friday, September 1, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
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Govt further liberalises rules for
FDI Fatehgarh Sahib to experiment with e-governance Boeing to buy parts from Indian
units J&K first to computerise land
records Hughes Tele.com to raise Rs 750
cr |
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SBI mobilises 4,617 kg
gold
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Govt further liberalises rules for FDI NEW DELHI, Aug 31 (UNI) — The government today further liberalised foreign direct investment (FDI) rules allowing hundred per cent investment through the automatic route by foreign investors, non-resident Indians and overseas corporate bodies in the special economic zones and certain sub-sectors of telecommunications like Internet service providers (not providing gateways), voice mail and electronic mail. The Cabinet also fixed the payment of 2 per cent royalty for exports and 1 per cent for domestic sales under the automatic route on the use of trademarks and brand-names of the foreign collaborator without technology transfer. Moreover for royalty payment and venture capital funds and companies have also been liberalised by the government. The decision of allowing 100 per cent foreign investment in certain sectors assumes significance in view of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s proposed visit to USA, a major investor in the country. The FDI rules were liberalised following recommendations by the Group of Ministers which was set up to carry out second generation economic reforms. Opening of special economic zones and certain sectors of telecommunications for foreign investors is considered a major decision to attract investment. Foreign investment in the telecommunication sector was fixed at 49 per cent but now ISPs, infrastructure providing dark fibres, electronic mail and voice mail companies can be set up with cent per cent foreign investment. However, ceiling in other sectors of telecommunications, including basic, cellular, GMPCS, V-Sat, PMRTs, long distance (both domestic and other value added services, the cap for foreign investment continue to be 49 per cent. The USA had invested maximum amount in the telecommunication sector in the past six years during the first phase of economic liberalisation era. The Cabinet had rejected the proposal of allowing cent per cent foreign investment in paging services. As per the Cabinet decision, FDI up to 100 per cent was permitted through the automatic route for all manufacturing activities in the special economic zones (SEZs) except for carrying out following activities: * arms and ammunition, explosive and allied items of defence equipment, defence aircraft and warships *atomic substances *narcotics and and hazardous chemicals. *distillation and brewing of alcoholic drinks and *cigarettes/cigars and manufactured tobacco substitutes An official spokesperson told newsmen that the limit of royalty beyond the prescribed level of 2 per cent for exports and 1 per cent for domestic sales, would be considered on a case-to-case basis by the government. The Cabinet has also increased the payment of royalty of 8 per cent on exports and 5 per cent on domestic sales by wholly owned subsidiaries to offshore parent companies under the automatic route without any restriction on the duration of royalty payments. Offshore venture capital funds/companies will be permitted to invest in domestic venture capital undertakings as well as other companies through the automatic route, subject to SEBI regulations. All such investments will be subject to sectoral caps applicable to specific sectors. |
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Fatehgarh Sahib to experiment with e-governance CHANDIGARH, Aug 31 — With the implementation of the e-governance project, Fatehgarh Sahib will become the first e-governance district in Punjab which will provide connectivity within the subdivision extendable to the village level and provision of affordable and efficient interface between the government and the people apart from transparent and quick services to the citizens. “The project is expected to be implemented within six months. The “E-Governance Citizen” project of the IT Ministry is already at an advanced stage. Once implemented successfully, it will be used as a base for implementation throughout Punjab and later in the country as well. “It is a pilot project which we have started on an experimental basis. Once implemented successfully it will act as a model for the other districts in the state and the other states as well”, says Mr. N.S.Kalsi, Director Technical Education and Special Secretary IT, Government of Punjab The Central IT Ministry is expected to review the project next week at Fatehgarh Sahib. While more than 50 per cent of the government officials and clerks at Fatehgarh Sahib have already been provided training , the state IT Department plans to train as many as 7,000 personnel in the state by the end of this year. The project is being processed along with NIC Services Incorporated . “For the first time one time authenticated data will be used for identification which would assure services without delay”, says Mr. Kalsi. A part of the IT policy of the Punjab government, E-Governance Project’s objectives include interface in Gurmukhi, making information on schemes, forms, procedures, etc. available from remote locations, the Internet and also providing connectivity with sub-divisions, tehsil block extendable to the village level and installing computers in every branch of the district. Software designing has been completed with the 18 software modules relating to web-based information dissemination system for the public. Implementation of the project will ensure facilities like prompt issuance of birth and death certificates, information relating to financial assistance schemes of the state government , acceptance of computer printed forms, etc. to the general public. “We expect the entire project to be implemented successfully and within the scheduled time”, Mr. Kalsi said. |
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Boeing to buy parts from Indian units MUMBAI, Aug 31 (PTI) — Boeing Aircraft Company is to collaborate with the Indian IT industry for sourcing its software requirements. “We have an ongoing relationship with the IT sector and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited and we definitely intend to look at them for future relationships”, Suvendoo K Ray, who has recently taken over as President of Boeing India, told newsmen here yesterday. He did not elaborate on the relationship with the IT sector but said HAL continues to manufacture doors for the Boeing 757 and “some components” for the Boeing 777 aircraft. Referring to marketing potential in India, he said during the next 20 years business worth $ 20 billion was expected mainly on account of new acquisitions as well as replacement for old
aircraft.
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J&K first to computerise land records SRINAGAR, Aug 31 (UNI) — Jammu and Kashmir has become the first state to using the latest adopt electronic total stations (ets) for land measurement. ETS furnishes accurate, error-free and perfect data, besides being economical and expeditious in measuring the land. By adopting ets, the state has bid good-bye to the age-old chain system, an official spokesman said. He said ets were put to service throughout the state till April. The Swiss and Japanese Technology etS have already measured at least 292,000 survey numbers comprising 234 villages. The field data collected through etS is being fed into computers where an accurate print out of the village map comes out. The introduction of this technology augurs a revolutionary change in the agriculture history of the state. A land holder could now obtain a floppy of his land holdings from the provincial record room and reserve it for posterity and ready reference without even having to go to the patwari.’ The department has also achieved another milestone by computerising all the available revenue records. All the 59 ‘patwaris’ in date-feeding and elementary computer application. The department has so far procured 400 computers in the state spending Rs 230 lakh for the computerisation programme, fully funded by the centre. It plans to train all the 400 ‘patwaris’ of the state by the end of this year in handling computers. So far 530 revenue officers have been trained by organising refresher courses. The spokesman said more than Rs 16 crore had been spent on building revenue complexes, one each at Bemina, Srinagar and Gool Gujral, Jammu. These complexes comprises of revenue training institutes, Central record rooms, administration blocks, hostel facilities and residential accommodation. As many 164 ‘patwar khanas’ have been constructed at a cost of Rs 3.50 crore. Two settlement record rooms housing centuries old records, have been built in J&K. A massive programme of upgradation and renovation of tehsil and ‘naibat’ buildings and reconstruction of buildings destroyed in the militancy-related violence have been taken on a priority-basis, he said. He said during the past four years the number of ‘patwar haloas’ have also been creased from 1,493 to 2,492. Under the Agrarian Reforms Act, 825,000 tenants have been declared as prospective owners and full ownership rights conferred on them. A levy to the tune of Rs 12 crore has been recovered from the prospective owners for payment to ex-owners. The revenue department has, for the first time, taken up a horticulture census in the state while as it has already completed two major censuses. Agriculture and livestock during the past four years. After a long gap, the government appointed 60 ‘Naib Tehsildars’ directly to fill the vacancies and manning various
positions by the trained staff. Modernisation of revenue training schools has given a qualitative change in the work culture in these institutions during the past four years, he
said.
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Hughes Tele.com to raise Rs 750 cr NEW DELHI, Aug 31 (PTI) — Hughes Tele.com India Ltd (HTIL), which would raise Rs 750 crore through an initial public offer (IPO), would give about 11 per cent stake to foreign institutional investors (FIIs). Hughes electronics, Alltel of US and Ispat group had brought in Rs 137 crore and would dilute their stake in the company, HTIL CEO Prakash Bajpai told reporters. After the IPO, Hughes Electronics stake would come down to 32 per cent from 36 per cent, while Alltel’s share would be 6 per cent from the present 13 per cent and Ispat would have 26 per cent from 51 per cent. The company is raising fund from the market to part finance the Rs 3,485 crore telecom backbone project in Maharashtra and Goa. The public issue, 90 per cent of which would be raised through book-building route, has a floor price of Rs 12 per share. ICICI has agreed to underwrite project financing of Rs 854 crore while another Rs 1,078 crore would be available from vendor financing and Rs 389 crore expected from internally generated cash
flows.
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SBI mobilises 4,617 kg
gold CHANDIGARH, Aug 31 — The State Bank of India (SBI) has been able to mobilise 4,617 kg of gold in the country through the bank’s Gold Deposit Scheme. With this, the market share of the bank in gold collection has become more than 95 per cent. This was stated by Mr Prabhakar Sharma, Chief General Manager, SBI, Chandigarh Circle in a statement here today. Mr Sharma said that the stock of the privately held gold in the country is estimated to be close to 1,3000 tonnes. Spelling out details of the scheme in the Chandigarh circle, Mr. Sharma disclosed that the bank, which covers the states of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, J&K, besides Chandigarh, has been able to generate 334 kg of gold from the region. Gold is collected at five centres — Chandigarh, Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Amritsar and Jammu — in the region. “We have got the maximum response from individuals though the scheme is also targeted at trusts, temples and corporates. Now several temples, including Mansa Devi Temple, have also shown their interest in the scheme”, said Mr Sharma. Reportedly, a minimum of 200 grams of gold has to be deposited under the scheme on which interest between 3 and 4 per cent is given depending on the time period of investment. Mr Sharma said to deploy the gold collected under the scheme, the bank has also started metal loan scheme under which gold will be lent out to jewellery manufacturers. SBI has set up a target of mobilisation of 100 tonnes of gold by the end of 2001. “This would help the country to save nearly Rs 4,500 crore of foreign exchange”, said Mr
Sharma |
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Transport fair from
Sept 4 NEW DELHI, Aug 31 — The logistics for the transport sector would be focus of the first Transport India 2000 fair to be held here from Monday, the former Secretary in the Ministry of Surface Transport, said here today. “The focus of this fair would be to deal with the issue of transport logistics and would be a departure from the infrastructural issues,” he told newspersons here today. The three-day fair is being jointly organised by Assocham, IMAG, Messe Munchen’s international arm and Interads in association with Indian Road Congress. Over 40 exhibitors, national and international in the sector, including Punjab State Warehousing Corporation Limited are participating in the fair.
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BPL Mobile BANGALORE, Aug 31 (UNI) — BPL Mobile, has climbed to the top spot among the cellular telephone service providers in the country with its subscriber base crossing the 400,000 mark. The company is operating out of Mumbai, Maharashtra, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry and Goa. |
SBI camp CHANDIGARH, Aug 31 — State Bank of India, today organised a compromise-cum-recovery camp at Panipat for the Bank’s defaulting borrowers for early settlement of their cases and repayment of dues. The camp was presided over by Mr D.L. Manwani, GM (D&PB).
Markets holiday MUMBAI, Aug 31 (PTI) — All the major markets, including the Bombay Stock Exchange, the National Stock Exchange, Foreign Exchange, Money market, bullion, oils & oilseeds, sugar, grains & pulses, cotton, metals and spices will remain closed here tomorrow, on account of ‘Ganesh Chaturthi’.
SSI Tech NEW DELHI, Aug 31 — SSI Technologies has launched Secure TRADE, a web-based trading solution of IndigoMarkets Inc. (a Bermuda Corporation) to enable Internet trading solution in the Indian stock market scene, on the BSE.
Plastic Ind NEW DELHI, Aug 31 — The Indian Plastics Institute has signed a MoU with Plastics and Rubber Institute of Sri Lanka for exchange of ideas and information related to plastics technology, education, training and manpower management.
Online finance NEW DELHI, Aug 31 — The B2C e-commerce site, buyasone.com, based on the concept of group buying has tied up with Apnaloan, the web enabled loan marketplace to offer finance options to its customers who want to buy from the site.
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Suit against Microsoft WASHINGTON: A judge in California has authorised the first class-action suit against Microsoft alleging consumers were harmed by the software company’s dominance. Court officials said the case was certified on Tuesday by Superior Court Judge Stuart Pollak in San Francisco. The suit comes on the heels of the landmark ruling earlier this year by us District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson, who found that Microsoft violated $ us antitrust law. The plaintiffs in the California class action include computer manufacturers that purchased Windows, md-dos or Microsoft Word or Excel as well as consumers who were indirect purchasers. The suit claims Microsoft benefitted from inflated prices in the absence of competition. California law allows indirect purchasers to sue for damages, which is not the case in Hawaii, Iowa, Kentucky, Nevada, Oregon, Rhode Island and Texas, where similar suits have been dismissed. Pollak set a hearing in the case for October 4. — AFP Awards for students NEW DELHI: The Far Eastern Economic Review (feer) and Hewlett-Packard Asia Pacific are inviting asian universities to send entries for the first annual Young Inventors Awards to encourage and honour the spirit of invention among students in Asia. Universities are invited to nominate projects their students have done in the previous year or are in the process of finishing, according to a news release from feer. These projects can be in any field of study, but should display fresh thinking and the spirit of invention. They will be judged for their creativity, originality and enhancing quality of life in a meaningful way. A distinguish panel of judges will pick the best entries. First prize winners will receive up to three computer systems donated by hp. The second and third winners will receive mobile pcs. In addition, those students who have presented the first second and third prize-winning projects will be offered a trip to hp Laboratories in Palo Alto, California. The winning universities will also receive prizes to encourage them to further their research projects. The universities with the winning project will receive us $ 7,500 from the Far Eastern Economic Review. The second and third universities will receive $ 5,000 and $ 2,500 respectively. The deadline for entries is October 13. — PTI ‘Global Leaders for Tomorrow’ NEW DELHI: Chief executive officers will represent India at the five-day “Global Leaders for Tomorrow” (glt) summit in Geneva, beginning September 4 under the auspices of the World Economic Forum. Mr Inderdeep Singh, President and Excutive Director, Continental Device India Ltd, Mr Pradeep Kar, Chairman and Managing Director, Microland Limited, Mr Anil Rai, Vice-Chairman and Managing Director, Usha (India) Ltd. And Mr Gaurav Dalmia, Director, Dalmia group with other glT’s from different parts of the globe will discuss the challenges of the 21st century. Poverty, building peace after war, environment, healthcare, education, technology gap between the rich and the poor, maintaining the social fabric in an increasingly competitive world economy are some the issues that will be brainstormed to find practical answers to these critical issues by these young business entrepreneurs. Launched in 1992, the glt iniative was in response to the evident need for a new approach to global leadership in the post cold war era. — UNI
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Internet rates to be reduced in HP HAMIRPUR, Aug 31 — Internet rates will be reduced further in Himachal Pradesh shortly. The department was examining a proposal in this respect, Mr N.S. Gill, Chief General Manager of the HP Telecom circle according to release of HP Circle Telecom Advisory Committee of Shimla. He said that the department had already reduced its rates on the analogy of VSNL rates. He said that the department would accord priority for the recruitment of bona fide Himachali persons in the department. It had started recruiting 250 persons in various wings of the department these days. Mr Gill said that four Internet nodes had been set up at Shimla, Mandi, Hamirpur and Dharamsala. Fifth such node would be set up at Kulu. With their commissioning, the Internet subscribers would get uninterrupted service in the state.
MUMBAI, Aug 31 — Despite predictions of an imminent shakeout in the world of dotcoms, financial biggie ICICI Ltd. is quietly launching a string of city-specific portals. Close on the heels of the successful cafemumbai.com, the company is planning to launch cafedelhi.com in September. According to Chanda Kochar, Senior General Manager (e-commerce group), ICICI, is planning to launch nearly 20 such portals shortly to cover all the major cities of the country. Unlike other Internet start-ups, ICICI has decided not to burn money by advertising its sites heavily in the media. “We won’t burn money like other dotcoms. Our site should attract people on its own,” says Kochar. In another departure from the norm, ICICI is not insistent on users registering at cafemumbai.com’s site and entering confidential information to effect e-commerce transactions. “Just an e-mail or delivery address and a valid credit card number are sufficient,” he says. ICICI is indeed building a customer database, but this is largely offline. Its executives carefully woo targetted customers for services like billjunction.com (for paying bills over the Net) by offering forms to fill in major offices and street corners of up-market localities. As part of this philosophy, ICICI has decided to concentrate on target groups residing in a specific city unlike other general portals that target national and international audiences. “We have tied up with channel partners to deliver flowers, food and sweets at short notice within the city,” says Kochar. “We have also tied up with 600 temples where poojas (ceremonial prayers) can be booked online.” The city-specific portals being launched by ICICI will have more than 20 channels each. Each channel has information and transaction facilities. So, the personal finance channel will also enable the surfer to trade in shares and check his bank account online. The environment-related channel will permit one to plan treks or hikes online. The e-commerce initiative of ICICI is currently depending on the mother institution’s resources. “Once we grow in size with a large presence, we will take a look at the cost allocation. We may even look for funding from venture capitalists in order to estimate the real value of the portals,” says Kochar. For the moment, ICICI is seeking to enhance its customer base with the help of these sites. ICICI’s online customer base has already increased from just 4,000 last year to 180,000 at present. “We are thus seeing the value rubbing off on our existing business,” says Kochar.
— IANS |
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