B U S I N E S S

Cabinet clears fund for national highways
NEW DELHI, Oct 30 — The Union Cabinet today cleared an ordinance for setting up a dedicated fund for development and maintenance of national highways.

NHPC proposes surcharge on generation
NEW DELHI, Oct 30 — A ten per cent surcharge on generation of each unit of hydel electricity has been proposed by the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation to mobilise funds for the development of hydel power in the country.

TRAI to discuss issues of consumer bodies, NGOs
NEW DELHI, Oct 30 —The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India will take up the issue of eligibility and registration of telecommunication non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and consumer outfits with a view to streamlining the interaction between consumers of telecommunication services and the regulator.

Big players to benefit from DTH clearance
NEW DELHI, Oct 30 — The green signal from the Group of Ministers (GoM) for the Direct To Home (DTH) television service could mean further benefit for the already operating big players like the Star TV and the Zee Television network.

SBI net surges 71 pc
MUMBAI, Oct 30 — The net profit of State Bank of India (SBI) has jumped by 71 per cent to Rs 605.70 crore in the second quarter ended September 30, 2000 compared to Rs 354.60 crore earned in the same period in the previous year.

• PNB posts 290.18 cr net

• SBI honours top branches

Jindal Strips net rises
NEW DELHI, Oct 30 — Jindal Strips Ltd has shown impressive results for the first half of the current financial year with sales increasing to Rs 656.76 crore, up by 50 per cent over the corresponding figure of the previous year.

Maruti union splits
NEW DELHI, Oct 30 — The management of Maruti Udyog Limited got a major shot in the arm in their wage-related dispute with the workers union as around 250 employees broke away from the boycott to resume work at the Gurgaon factory today, alleging that the agitation was being supported by Maruti’s competitors.

Bharti Tele offers ESOP
NEW DELHI, Oct 30 — Bharti Televenture, today announced stock options for its employees at 50 per cent discount in its coming initial public offer issue price.

AN ANALYST'S DIARY

Market revival on the cards
LAST year around Divali time, a leading national magazine had polled several so called market “experts” including the analysts to predict the Sensex level for the next Divali, that is the current one.

THAT'S IT

Haryana emerging as IT backbone
NEW DELHI, Oct 30 — Haryana would establish the IT backbone of the world and Gurgaon has already emerged as cyber capital of the state having annual software exports of over $ 300 million, the State Finance Minister, Mr Sampal Singh said here today.

Rediff.com to acquire portal thinkindia.com
NEW DELHI, Oct 30 — Rediff.com India today announced an agreement to acquire thinkindia.com, a privately-held US based portal focusing on Indians in the USA, for American Depository Shares for an undisclosed amount.

Cabinet clears fund for national highways
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Oct 30 — The Union Cabinet today cleared an ordinance for setting up a dedicated fund for development and maintenance of national highways.

The decision on the fund was among several decisions taken by the Cabinet today and this included subsidised fare for Haj pilgrims, decision to repeal 21 obsolete laws, clearance of Financial Companies Regulation Bill, 2000, and closure of Petrofils Cooperatives Limited in Vadodara.

According to the Cabinet spokesperson and Union Minister, Mr Pramod Mahajan, the dedicated fund would be part of the existing Central Road Fund under which levy of additional cess on petrol and diesel is collected.

The Central Road Fund has already collected more than Rs 5000 crore. Mr Mahajan said the need for an ordinance for a dedicated fund arose as the legislation could not be passed immediately.

The Government also decided to have a separate legislation on Financial Companies, replacing the provisions of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934. The RBI Act related to regulation and supervision of Non-Banking Finance Companies and prohibition of acceptance of deposits by unincorporated bodies.

The Bill includes some of the recommendations made by the task force on NBFCs, set up by the government, Mr Mahajan said.

The Cabinet also approved the winding up of the Vadodara-based Petrofill Cooperation Limited which had accumulated losses of about Rs 460 crore during the last five years and providing a Voluntary Separation Scheme for its existing employees.

The winding up of the company would lead to an outgo of Rs 95 crore for the government of which Rs 54 crore would be for the VSS scheme and Rs 51 crore as equity loss.

The Cabinet also discussed the new textile policy, but deferred approval till November 2, when the next meeting is scheduled to take place.

The Cabinet also fixed at Rs 12,000 the subsidised fare to be paid by Haj pilgrims next year and said 72,000 people were expected to undertake the journey to Saudi Arabia.

The Cabinet has decided to maintain the fare to be paid by Haj pilgrims at Rs 12,000 per head for 2001 Haj, Mr Mahajan said. The subsidy per person would be Rs 19,044 which is Rs 936 more than last year. The total subsidy would cost the Government Rs 150 crore.

NHPC proposes surcharge on generation
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Oct 30 — A ten per cent surcharge on generation of each unit of hydel electricity has been proposed by the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation to mobilise funds for the development of hydel power in the country.

“If the proposal is accepted by the government, an annual revenue of Rs 750 crore would be available for increasing generation of hydel power,” the NHPC Chairman, Mr Yogendra Prasad, told newspersons here today.

He said the NHPC has approached the government for increasing its authorised share capital from Rs 7,000 crore to Rs 1,000 crore to enable it to implement projects envisaging generation of 30,000 MW in various parts of the country.

The corporation has signed an agreement with the Haryana Vidyut Prasaran Nigam Limited regarding issue of bonds worth Rs 300 crore to reduce their outstanding dues.

Mr Prasad said the Central and the Jammu and Kashmir Government have signed an MoU on execution of seven hydel power projects in the state with a total capacity of 2,798 MW. The projects were Kishenganga (330 MW), Uri-II (280 MW), Sewa-II (120 MW), Pakul Dul (1000 MW), Bursar (1020 MW), Chutak (18 MW) and Nimmo-Bazgo (30 MW).

NHPC has floated global bids for the 330 MW Kishenganga project, he said, adding that the response has been “quite encouraging”.

Stating the corporation would complete all hydroelectric power projects without time overrun, Mr Prasad said the 1000 MW Indira Sagar and 520 MW Omkareshwar projects in Madhya Pradesh were completed in three years.

Work had been resumed on the Indira Sagar Project and a Managing Director and other staff for it would be appointed for it.

NHPC was making arrangements for providing funds to the Narmada Hydroelectric Development Corporation set up by it with the Madhya Pradesh Government to execute the project, he said.

The Uttar Pradesh Government was interested in executing the 420 MW Lakhwar Vyasi project in Intly with the NHPC. He said the NHPC has registered a net profit of Rs 401.2 crore during the year 1999-2000 as against Rs 305.3 crore in the previous year, an increase of about 31 per cent. The sales turnover was Rs 1,216.3 crore as against Rs 1,309.4 crore in the previous year.

The reduction was due to poor inflows in the rivers particularly Jhelum which feeds the 480 MW Uri Hydroelectric Project in the Kashmir Valley, he said.

TRAI to discuss issues of consumer bodies, NGOs

NEW DELHI, Oct 30 (PTI) —The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India will take up the issue of eligibility and registration of telecommunication non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and consumer outfits with a view to streamlining the interaction between consumers of telecommunication services and the regulator.

A TRAI open house session scheduled to be held here tomorrow will discuss key issues such as eligibility conditions of consumer organisations for interaction with TRAI, mode of sharing data with the agencies, and interaction with the consumers on a national level, the regulator said in its latest consultation paper.

“The consumers are the largest stakeholders in the telecom sector...As liberalisation of telecom sector continues, the interaction between consumers and regulator will assume an even greater significance for regulatory policy and monitoring of quality of service,” it said.

Besides registration of the consumer organisations, the regulator will also take up the issues related to structuring of such organisations and various modes of interaction with them.

There are at present 12 consumer organisations and four NGO that are registered. Under the present practice of registration of telecom consumer organisations and NGO's, the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) which is responsible for accepting, examining and forwarding applications for registration to the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, does so without written terms and guidelines.

Voluntary consumer organisations or societies are normally registered under either the Companies Act, or Societies Registration Act. Formally there are no specifications or norms laid down for the process of registration of such agencies with the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, BIS and the Directorate of Consumer Affairs...” TRAI said.

The regulator has suggested registration of these agencies with the Department of Company Affairs or the Registrar of Society under the Companies Act, 1956, or the Societies Registration Act, 1860.

“The rules and regulations or by-laws for the organisation will include an objective representing the cause of telecom users. The organisations fulfilling the criteria may be considered for registration of TRAI,” it said.

Other issues being addressed include whether TRAI should interact with individual consumer organisations or the organisations themselves may form their confederation at national or state level and TRAI may interact with this confederation.

Big players to benefit from DTH clearance
From Girja Shankar Kaura 
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Oct 30 — The green signal from the Group of Ministers (GoM) for the Direct To Home (DTH) television service could mean further benefit for the already operating big players like the Star TV and the Zee Television network.

The government’s decision implies that the DTH would not be the sole domain of the Doordarshan as had been envisaged earlier but the private TV channels would also be allowed to provide this service. This in turn could also imply that Doordarshan could well be in for another bolt from the private TV channel operators by further loss in viewership.

For the big players like the Star and the Zee the clearance for the DTH would only help them reach the areas where they were still lagging behind the Doordarshan. It would be an opportunity for them to penetrate the far flung areas of the country and offer a bouquet of channels at a price which would be affordable and provide greater entertainment to the masses.

Analysts here point out that this could mean further competition for the Doordarshan, which already has been trying hard to get back the viewership snatched away by the other satellite channels. Although the service providers would have to bring a large number of channels under its umbrella before offering the DTH, but it could sound the final bells for Doordarshan if it does not bring about qualitative changes in its content.

The DTH service would mean that the KU-band signals are beamed on frequencies above 4800 Mhz, which was one of the main reasons for the earlier opposition as all the military signals are sent on this frequency. It would also mean that the service takers would able to receive the channels directly through a pizza-sized dish antenna and a decoder which would be his property. The DTH signals are normally provided at 10,000 to 12,000 Mhz frequencies.

But in choosing a service provider, he would only be able to get the channels being beamed by that particular satellite channel.

Another of the concerns in the past was of monitoring the content which would be provided by the DTH operators. Since the service providers would be airing the channels directly to homes, controlling the content being aired would be difficult for the government. In the present circumstances there is a possibility of the government first working out the legalities of controlling the content before getting the Cabinet nod for DTH.

At present the satellite television services are provided through the cable operators and the government has the mechanism for monitoring such channels.

The Star TV had been the first to come forward with the idea of providing 30 satellite channels through the DTH service, but the United Front government banned it citing the lacking of regulatory framework for it.

Now it would be a similar process for the others wanting to enter the fray, with the possibility of some of the smaller channels seeking to go along with one or the other bigger players. Incidentally the role of the cable operators would also be under threat from the DTH operators.

Analysts point out that some of the issues that the government would have to work before the Cabinet nod are that to what extent the foreign equity would be allowed and whether or not uplinking from India would be made mandatory.

According to available indications, the government is likely to allow just about 49 per cent of foreign equity and leave the 51 per cent for the Indian partner. Besides the uplinking from India is also likely to be made mandatory.

The government is also likely to put a licence fee along with a deposit before allowing a service provider to operate.

SBI net surges 71 pc

MUMBAI, Oct 30 (PTI) — The net profit of State Bank of India (SBI) has jumped by 71 per cent to Rs 605.70 crore in the second quarter ended September 30, 2000 compared to Rs 354.60 crore earned in the same period in the previous year.

The bank has reported a 14.35 per cent rise in interest earned at Rs 6,203.75 crore (Rs 5,425.16 crore in Q2 last year) and a 15.84 per cent increase in other income at Rs 904.89 crore (Rs 781.12 crore), outgoing Chairman G.G. Vaidya told reporters here today.

Total expenditure in Q2 was up by 11 per cent to Rs 6,502.94 crore (Rs 5851.68 crore).

In the half year ended September 30, SBI reported a 52 per cent rise in net profit at Rs 1,067.40 crore (Rs 702.45 crore in H1 last year).

PNB posts 290.18 cr net

NEW DELHI, Oct 30 (UNI) — Punjab National Bank has achieved a net profit of Rs 290.18 crore at the end of September 2000 as compared to Rs 262.52 crore in the corresponding period last year, recording a year-on-year growth of 10.5 per cent.

This was disclosed today by Mr S.S. Kohli, Chairman and Managing Director, Punjab National Bank.

Gross profit during the half year was Rs 600.50 crore compared to Rs 502.88 crore in the relevant period last year, registering a growth of 19.4 per cent.

SBI honours top branches
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Oct 30 — State Bank of India Chandigarh Circle, today honoured its 22 branches for their meritorious achievement of having secured ‘Efficiently Run (A+)’ rating in Office, Jaipur for second time in succession, during the financial year 1998-99 and 1999-2000. Mr D.L. Manwani, General Manager (D&PB) of Bank’s Chandigarh Circle stressed to reduce the level of NPAs and adopt seven days banking to provide convenient and excellent service to its customers.

Jindal Strips net rises
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Oct 30 — Jindal Strips Ltd has shown impressive results for the first half of the current financial year with sales increasing to Rs 656.76 crore, up by 50 per cent over the corresponding figure of the previous year.

Net profit also shot up to Rs 35.95 crore, which represents a 38 per cent growth over the previous six months.

The performance reflects an 8 per cent increase in sales volumes over the previous half. Exports in the first half were $ 28.5 million as compared to $ 4.7 million in the previous period. Operating profit was also higher at Rs 126 crore.

Maruti union splits

NEW DELHI, Oct 30 (UNI) — The management of Maruti Udyog Limited got a major shot in the arm in their wage-related dispute with the workers union as around 250 employees broke away from the boycott to resume work at the Gurgaon factory today, alleging that the agitation was being supported by Maruti’s competitors.

However, the warring Maruti Udyog Union (MUEU) stated that only 27 “disgruntled ex-Union office bearers and employees of Maruti have returned to work after signing the good conduct undertaking. “Today, only 27 people broke away from the boycott and joined duty. The remaining workers are still boycotting work. In all, only 100 people have till date gone back for duty .

Bharti Tele offers ESOP

NEW DELHI, Oct 30 (PTI) — Bharti Televenture, today announced stock options for its employees at 50 per cent discount in its coming initial public offer issue price.

The company will offer 5 per cent of the equity to employees based on performance and service period criteria, Jagdip Khandpur, Director (Human Resource) told PTI adding that the scheme would be effective from October 1, 2000.

The company is likely to hit the market with IPO in four to five months, Khandpur said, adding that the option would be given to all employees across the board.

He, however, refused to indicate any price or the premium on the IPO saying that these would be announced as per the schedule.

AN ANALYST'S DIARY

Market revival on the cards
From Ashok Kumar in Mumbai

LAST year around Divali time, a leading national magazine had polled several so called market “experts” including the analysts to predict the Sensex level for the next Divali, that is the current one. While most estimates ranged from 4800 to 5800 points, this analyst had predicted a Sensex level of around 3800 points. Of course, the mind-boggling millennium upsurge to 6000 plus left me a trifle bewildered and with the feeling that I had got it all wrong, but come Divali, and here we are, on and around the 3800 points level. It is against such a backdrop that we are launching e-advisory services over the net for retail investors.

Last week, I had promised to throw some more light on why we back Pentamedia Graphics to be a potential multi-bagger. As a producer of state-of-the-art entertainment, Pentamedia has been involved in making movies, home videos and programme contents. The entertainment industry is the main market for multimedia projects and the company has bagged a number of prestigious projects from Hollywood in addition to the launch of a few products based on multimedia.

The company has made a foray into Internet Broadcasting arena through the launch of its Internet Broadcasting Television Portal Num TV, which is the first Internet live broadcasting TV in the world. With the target audience in the USA, Asia and Europe, Num TV at the moment has 50 channels consisting of TV, films, radio, print and stage. Though still under test-run, the Num TV is expected to become commercial very soon. In its endeavour to achieve organic growth for its business, it proposes to utilise the consideration obtained from the business software division to fund further acquisitions.

And specifically for international markets, Pentamedia would lay emphsis on growing in games and interactive programming, besides focusing on development animated movies and tele-serials for the world market. Already a prominent player both in the domestic and international markets, the company with its focus on the media business, should be able to scale new heights in this fast growing segment. Its recent acquisition of a listed Nasdaq company too indicates that it now means business more than ever before. To sum up, it is well-positioned to take full advantage of the imminent boom in the niche segment it is engaged in.

The recent tie-up of Ajanta Pharma with Ranbaxy Labs makes interesting reading. Ajanta Pharma, like several of its Indian pharma contemporaries has been performing reasonably well and those in the know of this company will vouch for its innovativeness in launching niche products. A recent example is ‘Livoplus’ and its best known product has of course been, ‘Thirty Plus’. It might be worthwhile to keep a close watch over this company as FY2001 will witness inflows from the strategic investments Ajanta Pharma has made in Central Asian republics of the erstwhile Soviet Union.

The primary market appears to be in the doldrums at the moment with even above average IPO’s like Aztec Software and IT& T eliciting lukewarm responses from the investors. Perhaps this could be a blessing in disguise and a much needed wake-up call for merchant bankers to realize that their zeal to fully and sometimes even overprice IPO’s is akin to killing the goose that lays the golden eggs. Personally, I feel that a market revival could be on the cards. Why? Well, wait for a week before I tell you that.

THAT'S IT

Haryana emerging as IT backbone
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Oct 30 — Haryana would establish the IT backbone of the world and Gurgaon has already emerged as cyber capital of the state having annual software exports of over $ 300 million, the State Finance Minister, Mr Sampal Singh said here today.

Participating in an interactive session with Japanese investors, Mr Sampal said leading IT major like IBM, Silicon Graphics, GE Capital, Huges Software have established their IT centres in Gurgaon.

He said the state ranks first in terms of investments made by the Japanese companies in India with more than 80 per cent of the share of total investment being in Haryana.

Mr Sampal Singh invited foreign investment in power, real estate development, telecommunication, IT, automobiles and automotive components, chemicals and agro-based industries.

Recalling the success story of Suzuki Motor Car company in Haryana, he said 70 per cent of the country’s car production is rolled out from the state.

Other major Japanese investors in the state include Honda Motors, YKK, Denso, Sony, Asahi, Mitsubishi.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr P K Jain of PHDCCI, said Haryana had emerged as one of the preferred destination for investment and was amongst the most progressive states of the country with an impressive trail of achievements.

Rediff.com to acquire portal thinkindia.com

NEW DELHI, Oct 30 (PTI) — Rediff.com India today announced an agreement to acquire thinkindia.com, a privately-held US based portal focusing on Indians in the USA, for American Depository Shares for an undisclosed amount.

“Pursuant to the terms of the agreement, Thinkindia.Com Inc will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Rediff.com India Ltd. The transaction, subject to completion, will be accounted for as purchase,” a Rediff statement said here.

The company will customise its content, services and marketplace offerings for the Indian community in the USA through dedicated packages for Indians living in major metros of the USA, it said.

“It is our mission to make Rediff.com the online portal for Indians worldwide. We will do this by helping all Indians living outside India connect with their community, both in India and in the countries where they live. This merger is the first step towards accomplishing the greater objective,” CEO of Rediff.com Ajit Balakrishnan said.

CORPORATE NEWS

ICICI Safety Bonds from Nov 3

MUMBAI, Oct 30 (UNI) — ICICI Limited is making its fourth public offering of unsecured redeemable bonds in the nature of debentures aggregating Rs 200 crore with a right to retain oversubscription of up to Rs 200 crore. The issue named “ICICI Safety Bonds” will open for subscription on November 3 and will close on November 17. Assigned as AAA ratings, the issue offers various options under three types of bonds-tax saving bond, regular income bond and money multiplier bond in the nature of deep discount bond. NRIs and Overseas Corporate Bodies are eligible to invest in the bonds on both repatriable and non-repatriable basis and these bonds are available in demat mode too.

Wockhardt net rises 20 pc

MUMBAI, Oct 30 (PTI) — Wockhardt has reported a 20.32 per cent rise in its net profit at Rs 22.5 crore for the third quarter ended September 30, 2000, compared to Rs 18.7 crore in the same period of the previous year. Income from operations during the Q3 increased by 13 per cent at Rs 153.1 crore as compared to Rs 135.5 crore in the same period of previous year, the company said in a release here today. The company’s expenditure stood at Rs 115.1 crore against Rs 102.1 crore the previous year.

SSI nets Rs 27.57 crore

CHENNAI, Oct 30 (PTI) — SSI today reported a huge jump in its net profit of Rs 27.57 crore for the quarter ending September against Rs 6.75 crore for the same period last year. The quarterly results taken on record at the company’s board meeting also showed a huge increase in its income from operations to Rs 101.53 crore from Rs 34.43 crore same period last year.

Rhone-Poulenc net jumps 34 pc

MUMBAI, Oct 30 (PTI) — Rhone-Poulenc (India) has registered a 34 per cent increase in the net profit at Rs 9.03 crore for the second quarter ended September 30, 2000 as against Rs 6.73 crore in the corresponding quarter last year. The company’s net sales were 14 per cent higher at Rs 69.67 crore as compared to Rs 60.88 crore in the same period in the previous year, RPL said in a release here today.

EIH net increases 49 per cent

NEW DELHI, Oct 30 (PTI) — EIH Limited yesterday reported a 49 per cent rise in the net profit at Rs 9.99 crore during the second quarter of the current fiscal against Rs 6.71 crore in the same period last year. Total income increased by 18 per cent to Rs 119.29 crore during the quarter ended September 30 compared to Rs 101 crore in the corresponding period of 1999-2000, according to unaudited financial results released here after the company’s Board meeting.

Indo Rama moves back into black

NEW DELHI, Oct 30 (UNI) — Indo Rama Synthetics India Limited has recorded a turnaround registering a net profit of Rs 11.12 crore in the first half of the 2000-01 fiscal as against a net loss of Rs 15.07 crore a year ago.

With the company back in the black, Indo Rama Managing Director O.P. Lohia announced a fresh Rs 1500 crore investment by 2003 for expanding capacities to meet the growing demand for synthetics

BIZ BRIEFS

Morepen CMD
NEW DELHI, Oct 30 (UNI) — Mr Sushil Suri was today inducted as the new Chairman and Managing Director, Morepen Labs, on the untimely demise of Mr K.B. Suri (former Chairman and Managing Director) Mr Suri has been a member of the Board of Directors over the last nine years and handled the operations and finance department of the company.

SPL arcades
CHANDIGARH, Oct 30 (TNS) — SPL will open tile arcades and tile shoppes in the Northern region. “Market for tiles in North India has a good scope. We are also planning several below the line promotional activities”, stated Mr Abhishek Somany, Senior President, SPL. The company will also conduct road shows, specially aimed at dealers and architects in the region.

Vikas manch
AMRITSAR, Oct 30 (FOC) — The Amritsar Vikas Manch (AVM) in a statement has demanded the setting up of world institute of technology here. For which reportedly talks are afoot with an NRI and a Boston-based company “Dhunmcarr”. Prof Mohan Singh, President of the manch, said the only hitch in getting the information technology sector here was the failure of the Amritsar International Airport project, which was being delayed endlessly.

Panasonic
NEW DELHI, Oct 30 (PTI) — Matsushita subsidiary National Panasonic India is eyeing breakeven this year after six years of continuous losses on increased marketshares across all product categories and quality platform. The company, which has become profitable since the second half of last year, is targeting Rs 400 crore turnover this fiscal, a senior company official said.

Siemens
TOKYO, Oct 30 (AFP) — Siemens AG is planning to double its Asian sales over the next five years, its President said today. The United States was meanwhile overtaking Germany as Siemens’ biggest market for the first time, Heinrich Von Pierer told a business forum in Tokyo.

3Com
NEW DELHI, Oct 30 (TNS) — The wireless connectivity would be possible with ethernet-enabled services with 3Com Corporation acquiring Nomadic Technologies, developers of wireless networking products.

Nortel
NEW DELHI, Oct 30 (UNI) — The US-based nortel networks today announced plans to invest $ 350 million (about Rs 1,600 crore) for bringing high performance Internet to India.