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| Sunday, October 8, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
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Largest garment technology fair from October 12 FDI in insurance will be made ‘automatic’ Oil price hike hits
Punjab industry Indian clubs merge
to drive IT economy Book on corporate
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Fake Indra Vikas Patras
seized
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Largest garment technology fair from October 12 NEW DELHI, Oct 7 — Asia’s largest garment technology fair, “Garmentech International 2000” showcasing the latest technology in this sector would be held in the Capital next week. The fair is being held at a time when the country’s garment industry is on threshold of change to remain competitive, at a time when multi-fibre agreement (MFA) comes into force and the quantitative restrictions are removed. The four-day event beginning on October 12, will showcase the latest and the best in the field of garment technology from global leaders, said Syed Zakir Ahmad, Managing Director of ANZ International Trade and Marketing Associates, the main organisers of the event. “Textile sector necessitates a shift from a small scale to an industrial and organised garment sector, which will require de-reservation of the garment industry even for domestic, though the ultimate markets will be exports,” said a study `Implications of MFA phase-out’ sponsored by the Union Textile Ministry. The products on display in the fair would include sewing, knitting and hosiery, embroidery, fusing, flat knitting, spreading and cutting, steam generating machinery, laundry, pressing, finishing, quality control and testing equipments, CAD/CAM, software, accessories, product handling, packing and information services,
fabrics, trimming and embellishments and accessories, dyes and chemicals, luminaries, publication and allied services. Apart from the main fair, in which participants from 20 countries would be there and there would be 80 exhibitors, technology seminars, theme pavilions, fabric showcase, tech-podium would be held simultaneously. The garment sewing and finishing equipment industry in India is thinking futuristic and planning to take on the best in the world in terms of price and quality. Garment finishing equipment industry especially has been silently working in the background to shift India from a mere producer of garment to producer of labels. Recent years has seen several leading global brands like Nike have established their sourcing presence in India, thereby acknowledging the capability of Indian producers, he said. Apparel industry occupies a predominant place in the textile basket. Besides being one of the largest employer, it contributes to over 50 per cent of the textile exports, which leads the exports out of India. Exports of garments from India during 1999-2000 totalled 1440.6 million pieces valued at 5.52 billion dollars, an increase of 3.6 per cent by volume and 4.9 per cent in value. The study said the country’s growth in the apparel has been steady but not very impressive, considering India’s price competiveness in apparel. With regional trade coming up, this competitiveness is gradually eroding. More than 60 per cent of the apparel exports is targeted towards European Union and US. In both the markets, the study found that India’s apparel exports have tapered off, however, in both the markets imports have increased at higher rate. 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. |
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FDI in insurance will be made ‘automatic’ NEW DELHI, Oct 7 (PTI) — The government will make foreign direct investment (FDI) in the insurance sector “automatic” within this month in a bid to increase the investment flow and ensure faster registration of insurance companies. “The foreign investment for entry into insurance would not require clearance from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) anymore as the government would make it automatic,” Insurance Secretary P.K. Banerjee said at the ‘India Chem 2000’ seminar organised by FICCI. He said that the notification to this effect would be issued by the middle of this month by the Finance Ministry. At present, foreign insurance companies require FIPB clearance for forging joint ventures with the Indian companies in the insurance business for a maximum 26 per cent stake. Mr Banerjee said the guideline for the maximum foreign equity cap would remain at 26 per cent for the next few years. “It has been a highly contentious subject ... after three previous governments failed to pass the Insurance Bill, the present government after lot of persuasion passed the bill,” the Insurance Secretary said. But our policies are not “static”, they have changed from time to time, and one can only hope for the best, he said when asked if the government was considering to raise the foreign equity cap. “The first batch of companies, expectedly two, would receive insurance licence by Divali,” he said. So far, 10 companies have applied for insurance licence to the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA). Mr Banerjee said the life insurance business in the country was growing by 22 per cent and a major portion was coming from the rural sector. Considering this, the foreign companies have a big opportunity in the life and health segments, he added. He also said “for some reason or the other the state-owned insurance companies — Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) and General Insurance Corporation (GIC) and its four subsidiaries could not come up with tailor-made products according to the needs of the customers.” With the entry of foreign players, this would be taken care off, he added. On the equity hike of LIC, GIC and its four subsidiaries, Banerjee said the companies would meet the deadline by October 18, as stipulated by the IRDA. IRDA has asked LIC, GIC, and its four subsidiaries to raise equity to a minimum Rs 100 crore. CIG has already passed a resolution in its recent annual general meeting for hiking the capital base of the company and its arms to Rs 100 crore. |
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Oil price hike hits
Punjab industry PRICE hike of petro goods has been taken lightly by political parties. This is the fourth oil shock after the 1973-74; 1979-80 and 1990-91 shocks. Industry uses such petro products as fuel which are outside the ATM. There is a talk of reducing Custom; excise duties cut and reduction of sales tax on products covered by under ATM. There is mention of fuels like furnace oil and naphtha etc. The Punjab’s industry is in for deeper trouble due to this oil shock. Freight component for products being manufactured in Punjab is very heavy. Most of the raw materials are brought from distant places and finished products sent to distant markets. Truckers are talking of charging freight @ Rs 11-12 per km to earn Rs 75,000 per truck. This means freight up to even Delhi may be around Rs 3,000 per truck which is more than double the prevailing rate. The industry is already under great stress due to the recession. Exports from the state shall suffer in competition with states near the ports. In the post-reform scenario industries of all sorts have come up at places near the ports. Imports and export costs for these industries are much less compared to those affecting the Punjab’s industry. Some solution to the problem has to be found out to save the industry. Sales tax component is also very heavy in the total price of the diesel. Punjab charges 8 per cent sales tax on diesel. This should be reduced to 4 per cent. Incidentally, the Punjab Government’s attitude towards industry is revealed from the sales tax on petro goods used by the industry. It fixed sales tax on furnace oil and other oils at 20 per cent with 10 per cent surcharge while at the same time that on diesel was levied at 8 per cent with surcharge. It promised to reduce it to 8 per cent when inter-state movement of petro goods was banned. With the lifting of ban of inter-state movement on diesel and other petro goods dealers of Punjab will get diesel from neighbouring state by paying 4 per cent CST. So there will be two prices for diesel; one bearing 4 per cent sales tax while other having 8.8 per cent sales tax. Consumers will certainly be charged 8.8 per cent instead of 4 per cent. With this the price of diesel, railway freights shall be less than those charged by truckers. Already the Railway’s share in goods traffic has increased from about 25 per cent to 40 per cent. The industry prefers to send goods by road even by paying higher freight in view of timely delivery and other conveniences. Another problem with regard to petro goods is adulteration. It is a common scene that diesel is mixed with kerosene and other cheaper adulterants with impunity. Officials of oil companies get their palms greased profusely in this business of adulteration. The widening gap between the price of diesel and kerosene is one factor alluring adulteration. The difference between diesel and kerosene prices was only one paisa a litre in 1975 which gradually rose to 66 paise in 1980; Rs 1.19 in 1985; Rs 2.09 in 1990 and Rs 3.72 in 1995. Today it is of the order of Rs 10 per litre. |
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Indian clubs merge
to drive IT economy WASHINGTON, Oct 7 —A Washington, D.C.-based club of Indian-born Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) has teamed up with a Silicon Valley-headquartered network of Indian-American entrepreneurs in a bid to become a force to reckon with in the Information Technology (IT)-driven economy. The Indian CEO High Tech Council (ICEO) will become the D.C. (District of Columbia) chapter of The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE) under the tie-up launched during the former’s first annual conference here. ICEO is one of the largest and fastest growing entrepreneurial organisations on the East coast and TiE, which has 10 chapters in the USA and five in India, is a West coast-based global network of entrepreneurs originating from the Indus region. At the conference titled “ICEO Entrepreneurship 2000 — The Quality Standard,” held at the Omni Shoreham Hotel last month, the affiliation was officially launched in the presence of some members of the TiE hierarchy and more than 400 leading Indian American entrepreneurs and wannabes seeking venture capital, advice and networking opportunities. They included founding member and former President Suhas Patil and key players such as A.J. Patel, President of Odyssey Enterprises, and Nitin Mehta, President HIM group, who were in agreement that the linkage between ICEO and TiE in more ways than one was a case of “East meets West.” Sanju Bansal, the chief operating officer of MicroStrategy Inc., who co-founded ICEO with Reggie Aggarwal, the Chief Executive Officer of cvent.com, declared how excited he was to finally have ICEO link up with TiE and predicted that both organisations working together would be a force to reckon with in the burgeoning IT-driven new economy. Mr Aggarwal spoke of how ICEO had been working on the merger with TiE for quite some time. Shruthi Reddy, ICEO’s Executive Director, pointed out that both organisations shared the same “fundamental philosophy of promoting entrepreneurship and mentorship,” and predicted that “working together, the two organisations will leverage one another’s extensive networks and share best practices for mentoring entrepreneurs.” She declared that “together, they have set a new standard in the name of entrepreneurship”, and added the alliance was “a special moment for both ICEO and TiE, but more importantly for all pioneers in business and technology.” According to Mr Reddy, the link-up could only result in a win-win situation since TiE’s global reach and presence and the fact that it was filled with the real heavyweights in the IT sector in Silicon Valley would necessarily boost ICEO’s credibility and clout even further. TiE President-elect Kailash Joshi said since ICEO was well established in the Washington area and had a large membership, it made perfect sense for TiE to merge with it since the objectives of both organisations are similar and so are the activities and values. “More generally, ICEO will continue its exclusive networking receptions with the same frequency and degree to serve this peer group of top entrepreneurs,” Mr Reddy said. She said ICEO had also “increased our programming, with the latest being our launch of our Mentorship Pillar, and we will continue to hot open networking receptions for emerging entrepreneurs.”
— IANS |
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Book on corporate
responsibility NEW DELHI, Oct 7 — The Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, was presented the first copy of “The Business of Social Responsibility” at a special function held at his residence last evening. The book gives an Indian perspective to corporate social responsibility (CSR) and
suggests to be relevant in the country. CSR cannot be restricted to employees and
shareholders, but focus on making a sustainable difference to the lives of poor communities. Mr Vajpayee said more and more companies should get involved in such activities. The authors of the book, Harsh Shrivastava and Shankar Venkateshwaran, demonstrate how companies can go beyond monetary donations to sharing skills, company facilities, buying products from communities. It also provides practical ideas on how companies can implement programmes based on the experience of partners in change and other organisations. |
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Fake Indra Vikas Patras
seized NEW DELHI, Oct 7 — The Delhi Police seized a bundle 240 fake Indra Vikas Patra (IVP) worth Rs 12 lakh with the arrest of S.P. Goel from Hotel Vikram in Lajpat Nagar area of South Delhi. The fake IVPs were sent to the Capital allegedly by B.K. Bhardwaj, who stayed in Hotel Red Bishop in Panchkula. Bhardwaj, who belonged to Shimla, has also been arrested, police said. |
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In the wonderland of investment Q: In planning my income tax and wealth tax as a senior citizen, I purchased RBI 5 years Relief Bonds with a cumulative interest option and simultaneously got nominations registered in the name of my blood relation. I. Whether the exempted interest income comes under the head “Income From Other Sources” or this has only to be shown in column 23 of income tax return form 2D. 2. In case of my death, earlier than the date of maturity of bonds, nominees become beneficiaries but get the payment only on the date of maturity. In such an event who shall keep on filing the return of interest accrued in this regard? 3. Is there any incidence of income tax liability of nominees at any given stage? If so what is the safeguard under the provision of income tax laws to be observed? — Mr Dilip Singh, D-36, Rajouri Garden, New Delhi-110027 A: The exempt interest of RBI Bonds has to be shown separately as income claimed to be exempt from tax in the relevant column and not under income from other sources. In the case of demise of an assessee, it is the estate that is required to file the returns and this is normally done by a close relative. The bonds being totally exempt, the question of nominee paying tax thereon does not raise. Q: In Bharat’s Investment Planner 1999 written by your goodself. 1. In para 3 on page 14, you have written that nomination may also be made in respect of PPF account opened in the name of HUF. You have also stated that this is a great boon allowing the account officers to accept the next karta when the former dies. But in actual practice, the banks do not accept any nomination in HUF accounts. On the other hand the depositors are being told that even the nominations already accepted in HUF accounts are not valid nominations. Explain the procedure by which the family after the death of karta, will be able to withdraw the balance in PPF accounts opened in the name of karta of an HUF, the balance in the account being more than one lakh. 2. It has been mentioned on page 14 of Bharat Investment Planner 1999 that a person in possession of a discontinued account can open a new PPF account. This point of vital importance to the senior citizens in general, particularly for those in whose cases where two terms of extension have already been availed. Elaborate the situations in which the PPF account assumes the status of a discontinued account. Mere non-deposition of minimum Rs 100 every year does not make the account ‘discontinued’ because the investor has been given the facility of getting it regularised on payment of Rs 10 for each year of default, as penalty. — Man Mohan Lal, Brij Bldg., Chauk Lakar Bazar, Ludhiana A: I ask the bank officers to read the PPF Act carefully. I repeat, nomination facility is available to HUFs. When the karta of an HUF passes away, the PPF account does not expire. It is handled by the new karta, the senior member of the HUF. 2. Yes you are right. Recently the MoF has clarified that since the facility of reviving the old account even if the number of years of default are quite large, a new PPF account cannot be opened. Q: I am a retired employee of Haryana State Electricity Board (now the Vidyut Parsaran Nigam Ltd) and am being paid pension. I am getting residual pension @ Rs 2772/- per month plus usual allowances. My drawing and disbursing authority released Form-16 on the basis of actual gross pension and not on Residual pension. Kindly guide whether Income Tax is leviable on actual gross pension or Residual pension quoting also Rule Section of the Income Tax Act, 1961. — Pritam Singh Mukhiya, r/o 283-B, New Nagar, Karnal A: The tax on salaries is to be paid on salary inclusive of allowances etc. The same rule is also applicable to pension. As a pensioner, I fail to understand how you get allowances but all the same you are entitled to standard deduction which must have appeared in your form 16. Q: I had deposited Rs 5,000 in the fixed deposit with JCT Ltd 124 Janpatta, New Delhi vide Receipt No LCB001/105301 which was matured for payment on 18.1.2000. I have already submitted the FDR to the office but I am yet to get my matured payment in spite of making several visits to the said office. I request the concerned authority kindly help me in the matter. — Mr Subhash C. Taneja, Rohtak A: The legislation in India in respect of defaulting companies is toothless. This is a reason why all the banks and financial institutions including UTI/MFs are burdened with heavy non-performing assets. These institutions have very strong muscles and yet they cannot do much about the NPAs. All that individuals like you and me can do is to sit and pray. You may bring your problem to the notice of SEBI and also the CLB through their prescribed forms but I do not have much hope. Q: I purchased some company shares through a stock exchange broker on the basis of which I was allotted some right and bonus shares (all these in FY 93-94). Shares purchased from the broker were sold by me in the same FY. The short term capital loss was determined by applying the method of average cost. The total investment was divided by the total number of shares acquired to arrive at the average cost. Right and Bonus shares remained unsold. I want to sell the same in the FY. 2000-2001. Average method has altered the cost of the right and the bonus shares. As these shares already stand valued on average cost basis, inform whether I will be correct in taking the cost of acquisition of these shares as per the cost previously determined by average method. — R.S. Grewal A: The income tax provisions now stand altered. You are required to take the actual amount paid by you to acquire the rights whereas the cost of acquisition of the bonus is to be taken as nil. However, if this average cost has been worked out and included in your returns for the FY 93-94, you may use this while filing the returns for the current year. I am given to understand that the Department does accept such costs. |
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Polaris Soft THE company recently announced that it was calling off its Data Inc acquisition post-due diligence, as the deal in its proposed form would not be in the best interest of Polaris’ shareholders’. Polaris decision not to acquire Data Inc has taken a legal turn with the US-based company slapping a suit on the Indian company and its CMD Arun Jain for not complying with the agreement to buy it. Watch this space for further details. Tata Chem Tata Chemicals has decided to exit from detergent business. The detergent products along with the flagship brand Tata Shudh contribute an insignificant share to the company’s turnover. Mr Rattan Tata informed the shareholders that the company was actively considering hiving off its detergent business. This is in line with the group’s strategy to focus on its core areas of business. The line “Dho dala”, comes to ones mind!!!
Escorts “As you sow so shall you reap”. This company engaged in the manufacture of agricultural machinery, has launched its wheel type crop harvestor here. The machine is stated to be 30 per cent cheaper than its combine harvestor. The wheel type harvestor costs below Rs 10 lakh, while the price of the combine harvestor is around Rs 14 lakh Hmm, hope to reap profits, maybe?!!
Balm Industry Popular household names in drugs and medicines like Vicks Vaporub, Iodex ointment and Zandu Balm have come under the scrutiny of the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA), which has called for prevention of registration of these popular allopathic medicines as ayurvedic drugs. Being ‘ayurvedic’ preparations, these have been evading the price controls/regulations in the past. Wonder what these companies will take to get rid of their problems?!! |
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by Praful R. Desai Regularisation Q: Is the directive of the H.C. to fill in the vacancies, a proper directive? Ans: The S.C. was considering this point in Municipal Council, Ambala v Balwinder Singh (2000-II-LLJ.532). In the present case, noted the S.C., in the H.C. itself on behalf of the Municipal Council, a counter-affidavit had been filed indicating therein that a scheme has been prepared for absorption of the employees like the petitioners, keeping in view their seniority in question. The S.C. thus, failed to understand, how the H.C. disposed of the matter following the decision of Arun Kumar v State of Haryana (in C.W.P. No. 8180/1997) where a counsel appearing for the Municipal Council has made the concession in question. Respondent brought to the notice of the S.C. a circular of the Financial Commissioner dated 13.5.97, wherein the Government had taken a decision that the daily wagers and ad hoc employees recruited during the vacancy period should be absorbed senioritywise against the available vacancies. This being the circular and the municipality having filed the counter-affidavit indicating that there does not exist any vacancy, the S.C. really failed to understand how the Court can issue a writ of Mandamus in the nature issued in the present case. The counsel appearing for the Municipal Council states that as and when the vacancies are available follows the Government circular, absorption of the employees will be made in accordance with their seniority. In the aforesaid premises, the S.C. held it was unable to sustain the impugned direction of the H.C. and the same was quashed. The appeal accordingly was allowed.  |
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by Pushpa Girimaji Appoint regulator for standard performance BY resorting to a three-day strike against the amended Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act and denying cable television services to consumers in several parts of the country, the cable operators joined the bandwagon of those service providers who resort to strikes, unmindful of the fact that such disruption in service would adversely affect those whom they are supposed to service. And if today, consumers take this passively and do not protest or do not express their strong disapproval in some way, they may well have to resign themselves to such agitations by cable operators in future too. And the next time, it might not be just your news and entertainment channels that would be cut off. It may well be your communication lifeline: basic telephone services, internet services and various other value-added interactive services, including may be even your residential security system. Because soon your cable operators would be your convergence service providers and then if they go on strike, you would be far more severely affected. So every effort must be made now to ensure that such strikes are not part of the service providers’ agenda. Today, consumers are constantly at the receiving end. Telephone services are paralysed because the telecommunication officials decide to go on ‘work-to-rule’. Power supply is affected because employees of state-run electricity boards do not like the changes being brought about in the power sector. Punctuality of Indian Airlines or Air India is given a go-by because the concerned staff decide that they should hold the consumers to ransom in order to extract a better pay packet from the government. Less said the better about the public sector banks. In fact bank employees and officials seem to care the least for the depositors, if one goes by the number of agitations that they hold. And now we have cable operators too resorting to similar tactics at the cost of consumers. Well, one way of expressing consumer displeasure is to deduct from the service charges, the service fee for those days when the cable operators struck work. The amount may not be substantial, but it will certainly send a signal that consumers will not accept such denial of service passively, without a murmur of protest. Residents Associations should also make it a point to write to cable operators expressing their strong displeasure over the way the services were cut off. In addition, consumers should use this opportunity to demand a better deal for themselves: better quality of service from cable operators and a proper regulation of the sector from the government. According to estimates, there are about 60,000 local area cable networks in the country, servicing approximately 30 million cable TV subscribers. Yet till now, the government has not thought it fit to establish an independent regulator who would not only formulate stringent performance standards for cable operators, but also enforce them. Similarly, there is an urgent need for such a regulator to ensure fair competition in the sector so that consumers have a choice of operators and are not exploited by monopolies. In fact, if one were to consider the grievances of cable television subscribers or for that matter, the complaints that are filed against cable operators before consumer courts and Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission, they basically pertain to poor quality of transmission, subscription charges, failure to issue receipts for payments received, unfair terms of contract between cable operators and consumers and attempts by cable operators in one area to prevent a competitor from operating in the same area. A strong and an independent regulator could lay down the ground rules for fair play, prevent restrictive practices and protect the interests of consumers. Of course the government is promising to provide these when it brings onto the statute book the Convergence law. Hopefully, that would come about soon. In so far as the amendment to the Cable Television Networks Regulation Act of 1995 is concerned, extension of the ban on advertisements promoting tobacco, liquor and infant milk substitutes and infant foods to foreign satellite channels or free-to-air channels is welcome. In fact it was long overdue and one hopes that the TV channels as well as cable operators will respect the advertisement code drawn up under the rules. Allaying cable operators’ fear that they would be held responsible for violation of the code by the channels, the Central Government has said it would first notify such channels and then expect the cable operators to stop their telecast. Whatever the medium of communication, government control and interference should be minimal and it is in the interest of cable operators to ensure this through stringent self regulation, be it in respect of advertisements or infringement of copyright laws. They must also realise that whatever their grievances, they will certainly not win the sympathy or the support of consumers by resorting to ‘blackout’ agitation. |
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