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| Thursday, October 26, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
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Work out correct policy for farm sector Its PC versus set-top box HDFC credit card ITC net spurts by
21.72 pc Bharti plans $ 800 m for cellular projects |
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IDBI to apply for life insurance by Dec
Frankfurt
keen to intensify trade NetMagic opens
data centre Compaq sued in China
World’s tallest ‘Samai’ TB, cancer drugs Food festival
at Belgium
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Work out correct policy for farm sector NEW DELHI, Oct 25 — The
government should workout correct policy framework for agriculture and infrastructure sector for the successful implementation of the second generation of reforms, the Andhra Pradesh Governor and the former Governor of RBI, Mr C Rangararajan said here today. “The government policy in these areas are important for the reform process to be accepted by a large section of the society,” he said on the occasion of the release of his book “Structural Reforms in Industry, Banking and Finance: A case study of India” here. Releasing the book, the Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission, Mr K C Pant said the book provides an insight to the country’s liberalisation programme as Mr Rangarajan had been the architect and prime mover of the significant reforms in the conduct of monetary policies and in the financial sector reforms that have taken place during the last decade. “The liberalisation programme to be successful must ensure that the benefits accrue to all sections of society and that it commands the acceptance of a wide constituency. Efficiency and equity should not be posed as opposing considerations. They must be weaved together to produce a coherent pattern,” the former RBI Governor said. The
restructuring of the fiscal system as well as the policy of disinvestment are meant to enlarge the pool of resources available to the government to enable it to pay more attention to social infrastructure. He said a sound financial system is an essential pre-requisite for sustained economic growth, which requires that adequate attention is paid to the development of physical infrastructure. “The financial needs for such a rapid expansion are heavy. Enough funds will flow in, only if we have a transparent and independent regulatory authority,” Mr Rangarajan said. On the first phase of the reform process, he said there are four areas of concern, which have been criticised by many, which deserve attention. The criticism that liberalisation process, which resulted in higher growth rate has made no dent on poverty and unemployment. The country witnessed an average growth rate of 6.5 per cent during the past decade and the growth rate did not dip below 5 per cent on any particular year during the first phase of the reform period. Another area of concern is fiscal deficit, where there has been some success, but, not to the desired extent. “The fiscal deficit can be contained at reasonable level only by widening the tax base and thereby raising the ratio of revenue to taxes and by limiting revenue expenditure both on account of establishment expenditure and subsidies,” he said. On the lack of attention being paid to social infrastructure areas, Mr Rangarajan said “the very purpose of liberalisation is to reduce the role of the state as an entrepreneur and direct investor and expand its role in areas such as social infrastructure, where state alone can play a dominant role.” The growing disparities among the states have become more pronounced after liberalisation. Some of the most highly populous states have registered very low growth rates in the post-liberalisation period. “Many of these states have not been actively involved in liberalisation process. If the regional disparities have grown, it is also a reflection of the quality of governance,” the former RBI Governor observed. |
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Its PC versus set-top box CHANDIGARH, Oct 25 — Personal Computers, no doubt, have played pivotal role in making Internet accessible to common man in very short period. But first, the rise of the mobile phones as competitors to the desk top PCs and now the set-top boxes through which one can have access to the Internet via television, have led to doubts about the future of the PCs. The convenience of surfing the Net from your home, at a cost which is almost one-fifth of what would cost one to get a PC, cannot be ignored by common man. And the fears of slowdown in demand for PCs do not seem to be baseless. Reportedly, Samsung, which introduced set-top boxes in Punjab and Chandigarh have already sold more than 300 set-top boxes. “The response we have received is tremendous and is expected to continue in the future”, says Mr Rajat Asthana, Area Manager, Samsung. It is affordable at less than Rs 7,000 as compared to a PC which would not cost below Rs 35,000. A set-top box means connecting to the Net through your telephone and surfing the Net on your TV. One can e-mail, shop online, enjoy music etc using this box. It is a limited capability processor, with some memory (RAM/ROM/Flash) and a keyboard for user. However, the Internet on TV is not capable of downloading and saving information like a PC does. Moreover, a set-top box can access the content from the Net but cannot put the content on the Internet. Advanced tools like file transfer and remote logging are also not possible. It is these limitations only which make the PC dealers feel that the PC market will not be affected. Reportedly, according to a survey an increase of more than 30 per cent is expected during next year in the demand of PCs. Mr Rahul Saxena from Samtel Monitors says “Set-top boxes will only enable access to the Internet. There might be a slowdown in the demand from the household consumer segment, but the commercial segment is expected to show an explosive growth in demand”. Mr Srivas, Network Administrator, Net World opines that for the corporate client, set-top boxes will not make much difference. “But in households, where a majority of people buy PCs mainly to access the Internet, set-top boxes are definitely a facility they can avail at affordable cost.” |
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HDFC credit card VIJAYAWADA, Oct 25 (PTI) — Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) Bank would soon introduce credit card facility, a senior bank official today said. “The bank plans for the millennium included providing a table full range of financial products and services, giving the customer a one-stop window, for all his banking requirements,” HDFC retail bank branching country head Uma Krishnan told reporters here. She said customers could now bank from the convenience of their home or office or anywhere where they could have access to the Internet. Net banking was more useful for NRI customers who could even open their account and conduct all their banking transactions on the Net, she added. |
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ITC net
spurts by 21.72 pc CALCUTTA,
Oct 25 (PTI) — ITC Limited today reported 21.72 per cent higher net profit during the second quarter of the current financial year at Rs 251.65 crore against Rs 206.74 crore in the corresponding quarter of 1999-2000. Company officials said after a Board meeting here to consider second quarter results that cumulative net profit during the first half of 2000-2001 increased by 23.33 per cent and stood at Rs 493.83 crore against Rs 400.32 crore last year. Commenting on the results,
CSE brokers said it was on expected lines or slightly better than that. “We thought that profitability of the company might decline considering a slowdown in the economy as a whole, but things turned out to be a little better,” said Dinesh Dewra. Net income during the period increased to Rs 1041.47 crore (Rs 2065.19 crore in first half) from Rs 944.48 crore while total expenditure was brought down to Rs 575.20 crore from Rs 587.95 crore a year back. |
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Bharti plans $ 800 m for cellular projects NEW DELHI, Oct 25 (PTI) — Bharti Televentures, is planning to invest up to $ 800 million for new fixed line and cellular projects, as part of plans to apply for basic licences in additional circles with its interests in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, among others. “The company would look at investing between $ one billion to $ 800 million over the next three years, for starting up new projects both in cellular and fixed line services. Under the upcoming strategy, the company would apply for fresh basic licences in the Southern grid, keeping in mind our interests in Andhra, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu,” Akhil Gupta, Joint Managing Director of Bharti Telecom said here. In the Northern Grid, the company is interested in circles such as Punjab, Haryana and Delhi, he said. The company is currently the basic services provider in Madhya Pradesh. “We are in the process of finalising the exact strategy, with regard to the circles which would be applied for initially, although logically, it is Delhi and Haryana where the company would prefer to enter first,” he said. The company would look at various equity and debt mechanisms for funding the investments earmarked for the new projects, he said. Bharti’s basic service strategy would be supported by the company’s plans for expansion in the cellular market where Bharti would bid for the fourth licence along with its partner Singapore Telecom, he said. The company currently offers cellular services in Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. The current equity structure of Bharti Televentures has 67 per cent with Bharti Telecom Ltd, 13 per cent with EM Warbug, 14 per cent with SinghTel and 6 per cent with Asian Infrastructure Fund. In Bharti Telecom, in turn, Singapore Telecom has 20 per cent stake and Bharti Enterprise the balance 80 per cent stake. Bharti recently announced a major restructuring initiative to separate its services business from the manufacturing in view of improving bottomline and meet market requirements. Under the restructuring process, it was decided that Bharti Telecom would concentrate only on services part, both cellular and basic while Bharti Teletech would look after the manufacturing and marketing of the group. Services constitute about 80 per cent of the total turnover of the group while manufacturing ranges between 15 to 20 per cent. |
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IDBI to apply for life insurance by Dec NEW DELHI, Oct 25 (PTI) — Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI) today said it will go solo for filing application for life insurance by December this year with initial capital of Rs 100 crore and select a foreign partner later. We would decide on the modalities of the life insurance venture after MP Chitale & Company, appointed as advisor for insurance, submits its recommendations by this month end”, IDBI Chairman G.P. Gupta told PTI. Although the bank will initially file application to Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) for life insurance, IDBI has plans to enter non-life segment at a later stage, he said. IDBI’s plans to enter insurance sector was part of the broader outlooks of moving towards “universal banking” and a long term strategic objective of maintaining its competitive position in the Indian financial sector. Other financial power houses like ICICI and HDFC have already moved ahead in this directio. IDBI currently has a banking arm IDBI Bank and a mutual fund venture IDBI Principal Asset Management Company in collaboration with Principal Financial of the USA. Chitale would advise the bank on its future business plans and implementation and starting the operation in the insurance business. Gupta said IDBI will apply for life insurance licence to IRDA by November or latest by December this year. |
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Frankfurt keen to
intensify trade FRANKFURT,
Oct 25 — Indian Consul General in Frankfurt Tsewang Topden sees
Germany’s commercial capital as an ideal gateway to Europe for the
Indian industry. With the traffic of high-level Indian politicians, business people, information technology (IT) professionals and others through the city recording a sharp increase, he said Frankfurt’s large industrial and commercial base “makes it attractive for Indian businesses.” Germany’s two-way annual trade with India is around DM 8 billion, with Germany posting a trade surplus. However, there is “infinitely much greater potential,” as Topden put it, to further develop trade and investments. Projections made by a number of independent German organisations suggest that India’s exports are going to surge in the coming years as German companies tap India’s software potential and do offshore sourcing in India. Frankfurt itself is very keen to intensify its trade and economic relations with India. Several business delegations have come to India to court Indian companies to set up operations in and around Frankfurt. Indeed, some German cities that are part of Topden’s jurisdiction are vying with each other to get Indian companies to set up base within their city limits. “The interest is all the more pronounced in the area of information technology where Indians have established a name for themselves ... I personally go around and meet with German companies to identify their areas of interest and see how we can help them ... “ Topden, who took office as India’s Consul-General six months ago, told India Abroad News Service. There are at least a dozen leading Indian IT companies, including Tata and Infosys, which have set up offices in Frankfurt to capitalise on the rising interest in the European Union. The envoy said the promotion of Indian exports to Germany and German investments to India constituted a major part of the consulate’s work. “We are responsible for a number of federal German states which are showing considerable interest in doing business with India,” Topden said. Although Berlin has been anointed the capital of reunified Germany a few years back, it lacks the international business flair that Frankfurt boasts of. It provides convenient connections to Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Calcutta.
— IANS NEW DELHI, (UNI): Eleven Indian software companies will showcase their strength in the it sector at the three-day Frankfurt Banking Technology Fair beginning October 31. There will also be a seminar of eight sessions covering various topics like remote e-finance, mobile banking, it-enabled services and case studies of Indo-German technology ventures. SSI Technologies, Polaris Software Lab India,
CMC, Pentasoft Technologies and DSQ Software, according to Mrs Shammi Nagpal, Managing Director, Messe Frankfurt Trade Fairs India among others will participate in the fair. MUMBAI, Oct 25 (PTI) — Mumbai-based NetMagic Solutions (P) Ltd, a provider of hosting solutions for enterprises, today launched its first Internet data centre in the country here and announced plans to set up four more centres in a year’s time. The company, which has received $ 4 million by way of first round of funding from founder’s of us-based Exodus, b. v. jagadeesh & k. b. chandrashekar, and investor Kanwal Rekhi of eVentures India and Global Technology Ventures, is set to seal a second round of funding of around $ 15 million next week, Sharad Sanghi, Managing Director told reporters here. Mr
B. V. Jagadeesh, co-founder of Exodus, said NetMagic would set up data centres at Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad and added that if any other company intends setting up such centres then it would source its internet infrastructure needs from them. Compaq sued in China BEIJING,
Oct 25 (PTI) — The Compaq company of the United States has been sued for $ 4.1 million on charges of violating intellectual property rights in a court here, the state media reported today. The petitioners, Ma Xiguang and the Shenzhen Chuangge company jointly charged the American company with selling in China the Armada 1550T laptop computer containing replaceable batteries and upgrading slots that infringed on their patents on similar technologies. Compaq, which started selling the Armada 1550T laptops in China in 1995, has been sued for 34,025,899 Yuan (about $ 4.1 million) in compensation, make a public apology and pay all litigation expenses. Ma registered patents for the replaceable batteries and upgrading slots with the patent office of China on April 12, 1990. The technologies are mainly used for laptop computers. |
World’s tallest ‘Samai’ NAGPUR: A 48-feet high fibre glass traditional lamp, known as “Samai”, belonging to a city doctor features in the 2001 edition of Limca Book of Records, for being tallest in the world. The lamp has carvings of elephants at the base and a peacock on the top. Lamp plates are held by four yakshas, each at a gap of 16 feet, according to paediatrician and neonatoligst Dr Avinash Banait, who possesses the lamp. He told PTI the copper colour was painted to the fihra glass to give a metallic look. It is lit with oil and cotton wicks. The lamp will he featured in the next edition of the Indian record book. The Guinness Book of world Records is also assessing the claim by going through documents, video recording and photos, Banait added. — PTI TB, cancer
drugs HYDERABAD: Two major agreements costing over Rs 8.5 crore were today signed at the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (iict) here for the development of new drugs to treat
TB and cancer. The new multi-institutional programme launched for the discovery of new drugs under the aegis of the “Drug Development” programme of the Department of Science and Technology of the government and supported by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) was signed by the iict,
DST, Lupin Laboratories Mumbai, Dabur Research Foundation, Ghaziabad and research and academic institutions. These contracts are expected to pave a new way for drug discovery activities in India, an iict release here said. The agreement among Lupin-iict, National Chemicals Laboratory, Indian Institute of Science (IISC), Bangalore facilitates design, synthesis and biological evaluation of novel anti-TB
compounds. Role of Lupin, the leader in the manufacturing of anti-tb drugs in the world, will be biological evaluation, “invitro”, “invivo” and toxicological, pharmacokinetic studies and eventual development of the selected drug candidate.
— UNI Food festival
at Belgium Paris: If you are travelling to Brussels next month, be sure to check out the Airport Sheraton hotel in the Belgian capital. Starting November 24, the Sheraton is holding an Indian food festival at one of its prestigious restaurants. The food festival is the first such exercise being organised by a leading hotel in Belgium. It will be accompanied by a total makeover of the restaurant, which will be decorated in a typical Indian manner to give it the look of an Indian roadside eatery. The reputed Amsterdam-based sitar player, Darshan Kumari, will also treat guests at the restaurant to 26 performances. The festival is being organised in collaboration with the Government of India tourism office, Amsterdam, and Air-India, which will fly three chefs from the Maurya Sheraton hotel in New Delhi for the food festival. “Indian cuisine is one of the best selling points for tourism. A food festival is a presentation of a miniature India by providing a perfect mix of food, music and culture. It is a perfect direct marketing to the consumers or end-users themselves,” says Manmohan Sadana of the Government of India tourism office in Paris and who currently holds the charge of the Benelux countries as well. The festival will open with a press conference on November 24 and it will be followed by a multimedia presentation by the tourism office to a select group of leading tour operators from Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.
— IANS |
cr
Dabur India posts 27.7 pc growth NEW DELHI, Oct 25 (UNI) — Dabur India has recorded a net profit of Rs 22.82 crore in the second quarter of 2000-01, up 27.7 per cent from Rs 17.87 crore a year earlier. The company’s sales for the July-September quarter was Rs 298-99 crore, up 14.28 per cent from Rs 261.64 crore a year earlier. Its net profit for the first half of the year, excluding non-recurring income was Rs 29.97 crore, up 29.68 per cent from Rs 23.11 crore a year earlier. Colgate net profit up 32 pc MUMBAI, Oct 25 (PTI) — Colgate-Palmolive (India) Ltd has reported a rise of 32 per cent in net profit at Rs 17.6 crore for the second quarter ended September 30, 2000, as compared to corresponding period of the previous year. Sales in Q2, increased by 9 per cent at Rs 294.8 per cent as compared to the same period of the last year, the company said in a release here today. For the first half period, the net profit stood at Rs 31 crore, an increase of 22 per cent over the same period of the previous fiscal, while sales rose 6 per cent at Rs 582.3 crore, it said. Lupin Labs net spurts 65 pc MUMBAI, Oct 25 (PTI) — Lupin Laboratories Ltd (LLL) has reported a 65 per cent rise in its net profit at Rs 18.12 crore in the second quarter ended September 30, 2000 as against Rs 10.98 crore in the same period last year. Sales in the reporting quarter was up by 12 per cent at Rs 205.22 crore compared to Rs 182.70 crore in Q2 in the previous year, as per Lupin’s unaudited financial results released here today. Philips reports net loss of 4.05 cr CALCUTTA, Oct 25 (PTI) — Consumer electronics goods major Philips India Limited today reported a net loss of Rs 4.05 crore during the third quarter ended October 1, 2000 against a net profit of Rs 4.12 crore in the corresponding quarter on October 3, 1999. After a Board meeting, company sources said cumulative net loss stood at Rs 19.40 crore during the nine month period of 2000 as against a net profit of Rs 9.50 crore in the same period of 1999. SRF records 57.5 pc dip in net NEW DELHI, Oct 25 (UNI) — Arun Bharat Ram-promoted SRF Limited has suffered reported a 57.5 per cent drop in profit after tax (PAT) for the second quarter
of this fiscal at Rs 3.7 crore from Rs 8.7 crore in the previous Q2. However, the company’s PAT for the first half of the year stood at Rs 21.7 crore, an increase of 51.7 per cent from Rs 14.3 crore in the previous H1. IPCL profits jump 43 pc NEW DELHI, Oct 25 (UNI) — Indian Petrochemicals Corporation Limited (IPCL) has notched up excellent performance for the first six months of fiscal 2000-2001 by achieving an operating profit of Rs 586 crore as against Rs 409 crore in the corresponding period last year, an increase of 43 per cent. The operating margins for the HI 2000-2001 stands at 23.2 per cent
against 21.3 per cent of HI 1999-2000. The net profits too showed significant improvement at Rs 127 crore for the first six months of the current fiscal as against Rs 102 crore registered in the corresponding period of the previous year. Apollo Hospitals net surges 50 pc CHENNAI, Oct 25 (PTI) — Apollo Hospitals has registered a 17.5 per cent growth in turnover to touch Rs 81.2 crore during the quarter ended on September 30 last as against Rs 69.2 crore for the same period last year. According to a company release here today, the net profit for the quarter stood at Rs 8.29 crore, an increase of nearly 50 per cent. Ceat net slips Rs 3.39 cr NEW DELHI, Oct 25 (UNI) — Ceat limited has suffered a net loss of Rs 3.39 crore in the second quarter of 2000-01 as against Rs 3.18 crore a year ago. Its total income for the quarter was Rs 303.50 crore, down from Rs 355.52 crore a year earlier. The company’s total expenditure for the quarter amounted to Rs 290.42 crore. Amara Raja net down 6.82 pc NEW DELHI, Oct 25 (UNI) — Amara Raja Batteries has suffered a 6.82 per cent drop in the net profit for the second quarter of 2000-01 at Rs 6.02 crore as against Rs 6.47 crore a year ago. The company’s sales for the quarter stood at Rs 30.89 crore, up 20.16 per cent from Rs 25.70 crore in the same quarter of the previous year. Clariant India net rises 4.97 pc MUMBAI, Oct 25 (UNI) — Clariant India Limited has recorded a 4.97 per cent jump in net profit for the second quarter of 2000-01 at Rs 3.80 crore from Rs 3.62 crore a year ago. Its net profit for the April-September period was Rs 7.86 crore, up 8.71 per cent from Rs 7.23 crore in the same period of the previous year. Sales for the six months were Rs 134.15 crore. Zandu Pharma net surges 82.1 pc NEW DELHI, Oct 25 (UNI) — Zandu Pharmaceutical Works Limited has recorded an 82.16 per cent surge in net profit for the second quarter of the 2000-01 fiscal to touch Rs 4.21 crore as against Rs 2.31 crore in the previous Q2. The company’s sales for the quarter were Rs 28.18 crore, up 21.17 per cent from Rs 23.26 crore a year earlier. Vintron Info posts 11.21 pc growth NEW DELHI, Oct 25 (UNI) — Vintron Informatics Limited has recorded a 11.21 per cent growth in net profit for the first half of the 2000-01 fiscal at Rs 2.02 crore as against Rs 1.82 crore a ear ago. The company’s sales for the period stood at Rs 67.05 crore, up 46.96 per cent from Rs 45.77 crore in the same period last year. |
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