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| Tuesday, November 28, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
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India turns
off foreign investors Ceasefire may boost tourism in J&K |
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Sony’s investment in China is five times ‘Don’t blame govt
for fall in growth’
Insurance Expo on December 2 Spice plans limited
roaming for Haryana Metro Motors
unit opens PNB gives Cancer
Seal to PM Award for Punjab
Pavilion
NRI onliners ride high Auction site for
new, old cars Contests for youth 
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India must learn to take hard decisions: WEF NEW DELHI, Nov 27 (PTI) — The world Economic Forum (WEF) today projected India’s fiscal deficit to rise to 5.4 per cent of
GDP as against an official estimate of 5.1 per cent in 2000-2001, mainly due to lower tax collections and poor performance in the disinvestment sector. “Together the fiscal deficit of the Centre, states and losses of
PSUs would add to about 12 per cent of GDP. This is just unsustainable for the Indian economy,” Claude Smadja,
Managing Director of WEF, told the India Economic Summit, organised by
CII and WEF. Painting a gloomy picture of the Indian economy, Smadja said “India must learn to take hard decisions... India had to stop comparing itself with itself in an era of globalisation.” In the disinvestment of
PSUs it was unlikely India would achieve the target of Rs 10,000 crore in the current financial year in spite of disinvestment in Air India and Indian Airlines as it involved a long process. He said that Indian bureaucracy was also taking advantage of the intense differences within the government on contentious issues like disinvestment. In some of the cases, the nodal ministries were also ganging up with the trade unions to stall the privatisation of
PSUs, Smadja said, adding that “all you need is a strong political will to create an environment from where the economy could take off.” Smadja criticised the government’s decision to roll back the increase in prices of kerosene and
LPG under political pressure from some of the allies of the government. “The government had to roll back the increase in prices of some of the petro products despite Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha’s unwillingness,” Smadja said, adding that such political pressure would increase the expenditure and translate into dismal fiscal scenario. Achieving a growth rate of 9 per cent or higher is easier to talk about than achievable, he said adding “you need to take hard decisions like doing away with subsidies and speedy implementation of economic reforms launched nine years back.” He, however, described the communication sector as the only “bright spot” in the Indian economic reforms in the last nine years and asked the government to take similar decisions in areas like banking and financial sector, privatisation of
PSUs, power sector reforms and opening up of the infrastructure sector. Appreciating the government decision to bring down the government ownership to 33 per cent in banks, Smadja said a clause restricting investors not to accumulate more than one per cent of the equity in banks would keep the issue of management control
unaddressed. Industry seeks political consensus on reforms CAPTAINS
of Indian industry on Monday sought a political consensus on economic reforms and disinvestment in PSUs for
achieving and sustaining a high economic growth of 9 per cent. “Government should stop seeking more suggestions from industry for expediting reforms. Industry has given enough suggestions and now it is for the government to implement those,” Managing Director of Reliance Anil Ambani said at a breakfast meeting of the Indian Economic Summit in New Delhi. Stating that political consensus was the touchpoint for furthering economic growth, Ambani said the government should move out of the businesses where it should not be. “ The pace of privatisation is very slow. We have to move away from government dominance in large number of sectors in the interest of the country,” Ambani said. Industry sets 5-pt agenda The industry outlined a five-point agenda for developed countries, including dismantling of all export subsidies and opening up their markets to provide a level-playing field for developing countries. “The Indian industry has a five-point agenda. We urge all major countries to implement their past obligations and dismantle all export subsidies,” Bajaj Auto MD Rahul Bajaj said. Bajaj said it was important for developed countries to open up their markets and reduce the peak tariff rates especially on labour-intensive goods produced by the developing countries like India. Selloff: go slow better The government cautioned that any haste in the disinvestment process might spell “disaster” for the reform process and said that attainment of the targeted Rs 10,000 crore by sale of equity in PSUs was not as relevant as the process of privatisation. “It is the disinvestment which is more important than the targets and achievements and the government has to move forward quickly to speed up this process. Any haste in the process of disinvestment is likely to spell disaster for the reform process,” Pradip Baijal, Disinvestment Secretary, told the Summit. IRDA on
foreign stake Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) ruled out more than 26 per cent foreign stake in insurance ventures in India, and said Indian companies would also be allowed a maximum of 26 per cent holding in the long run. Speaking at the India Economic Summit, IRDA Chairman N. Rangachary said allowing more than 26 per cent stake was not to be expected since 40 per cent in the insurance venture has to be offloaded to the public.
— PTI
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India turns
off foreign investors NEW YORK, Nov 27 — The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), in an extensive report in an online edition, has said foreign investors are unimpressed by the pace of India’s reforms and prefer China’s economic environment. “Lately the prospect of unlocking its markets has seemed a bit brighter — but not bright enough to impress foreign investors,” WSJ says, adding that the government may not want to jeopardise the future of the coalition in its bid to open up the economy. The Congress Party was stymieing Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s efforts, WSJ says. Though several steps had been taken, “the fine print tells another story: stubborn hurdles to foreign investment, insistence on public control and open battles among ministers that could force Vajpayee to protect his coalition government rather than take fresh economic gambles.” Enron and British
Telecommunications were freezing investments in India and shifting their sights to China, the WSJ notes, even as workers and some Indian businesses fear global competition. Talk of privatisation “is still mostly talk” and there is suspicion of foreign media despite a free local Press and attempts to control the Web; there is need for further reforms in the telecommunications sector despite “broad kudos” for the Vajpayee government, it says. While India is taking the necessary regulatory steps to meet World Trade Organization (WTO) standards, many Indian entrepreneurs are getting out of manufacturing. “Their worry isn’t so much luxury goods from the West, which will still face steep duties even after quotas are lifted in the spring, but goods like batteries from China and palm oil from Malaysia.” Despite efforts, the WSJ emphasizes, “the industry is so thoroughly regulated that it is hard to see India’s mild reforms having much effect. “If we can fire a worker for not working, that will send a powerful signal. But there are no votes in it,” Gurcharan Das, former Procter & Gamble chief in India and occasional adviser to the Congress Party, is quoted as saying. “Nobody has the courage to explain to the people the way (American President Bill) Clinton had the courage to explain NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement): that jobs will be lost but, in the end, jobs will be created.” Financial sector reforms have been substantial, the report indicates, but the country needs more infusion of funds.
— IANS
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Ceasefire may boost tourism in J&K NEW DELHI, Nov 27 — The hotel and tourism industry is optimistic that the positive impact of the ceasefire offer announced by the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, would be felt most by them. “If militancy in the state drops because of the ceasefire, many tourists would flock this paradise on earth and there would be a boost in tourism activity,” the President of the Jammu and Kashmir Hotel and Restaurant Association, Mr V.K. Garg, told The Tribune, here today. The tourism sector, has been hit badly by decade long militancy. Mr Garg said this sector had shown sign of growth in the recent past but incidents like Kargil conflict, killing of Amarnath yatris had adverse impact on the inflow of tourists to the state. The flow of foreign tourists had dropped drastically after the kidnapping of five foreign tourists by Al-Faran militants a few years back. Mr Garg said the positive signals that the years of peace in the Valley are on the horizon have send positive signals to foreign tourists. Another interesting aspect of the tourism sector in the state is the emergence of Ladakh as the tourism destination for many Indian tourists of late. “The mystic lands of Ladakh used to attract many foreign tourists. Interestingly, many Indian tourists are now going to Ladakh, which is a positive development,” he said, adding that the state government should view tourism as an industry and grant all incentives accorded to any other industry. However, in Punjab, where militancy is now virtually a thing of the past, this sector is facing a slump in the tourist inflow. “The hotel occupancy rate in the state are witnessing a drop of 20 to 30 per cent, which is a matter of serious concern,” Mr N S Nanda, President of the Hotel and Restaurant Association of Punjab. He said “the state does not have many tourist destination and those who visit are business tourists. The introduction of Shatabdi Express to Ludhiana has had a direct impact on the hotel industry in this industrial town.” Another factor for the slump in the tourism sector in the state was the lack of tourism policy, “The draft policy prepared more than two years ago has not seen the light of the day, he said, adding that though the state government has accorded industry status to this sector, the power tariff continues to be industrial rate rather than commercial rate.” The hotel industry in Chandigarh also finds itself in a vexed situation. “The Rock Garden is the only tourist destination in this planned city of the country,” said the president of the Hotel and Restaurant Association of Chandigarh, Mr Man Mohan Singh Kohli. Mr Kohli said “the city should be promoted as a convention destination of the region. It would be sought after place at least for eight months in a year, with Mohali coming up as a major IT destination and Chandigarh happens to be the hub and transit point for other states.” He, however, stated that these convention centres should be built by the government or the existing ones should be spruced to meet the expected the demand of the business community. Meanwhile, the Hotel and Restaurant Association of Northern India today urged the Union Finance Minister to rationalise taxation, single-window clearance for new projects, demanded to make tourism the nodal agency for implementation and enforcement of policies and inclusion of tourism in the Central list. Tourism sector contributes about Rs 900 billion to the country’s gross domestic product, accounting for 5.6 per cent of the total GDP. This sector is one of the major foreign exchange earner for the country after information technology and jewellery. |
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Sony’s investment in China is five times NEW DELHI, Nov 27 (PTI) — India falls way behind China in attracting investments from Japanese electronics major Sony Corporation due to its lack of aggressiveness and poor infrastructure, but the company hopes to accord top-priority market status to India soon. Sony has invested up to five times more in China and set up six manufacturing units there to make cellular phones and key digital components. “We have invested Rs 77 crore in India since 1995, but our investment in China would
easily be five times over,” Adviser to Sony Corporation Kenji Tamiya told newspersons here. “Let’s put it this way. The Indian market is less aggressive than China in attracting investments due to infrastructure and other bottlenecks,” he said. While asserting that the growth rate of Indian operations at 20 per cent per annum since inception was “extremely good”, he said the Chinese market grew anywhere between 30-40 per cent per annum. “We will launch viao series of
PCS, GSM cellular phones and Sony Playstation in India next fiscal besides a number of walkman and camera models. If viao and other new launches attain mass volumes, these could also be manufactured in India sometime into the future,” Managing Director of Sony India Teruo Ishii told
PTI here. |
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‘Don’t blame govt for fall in growth’ NEW DELHI, Nov 27 (PTI) — Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha said today any slowdown in growth rate this year would be due to external factors and certainly not because of any “policy failure” of the government. “If there is any shortfall in the growth rate, it is entirely due to external factor. There is nothing wrong with government’s policy framework,” Sinha said on the sidelines of the Commonwealth Association of Tax Administrators Conference here. Asked if he was confident of achieving over 6 per cent growth this year in the face of slowdown of the economy, Sinha told reporters that he would not hazard a guess and “let us see at the end of the year.” But he added “it is not a matter of life and death if the growth rate goes a few points positive or negative.” Turning to fiscal deficit, Sinha said he was confident of keeping it at the targeted level of 5.1 per cent of GDP this fiscal. The recent rollback of kerosene and cooking gas prices would not have any impact on the fiscal deficit of the Budget. The rollback and burgeoning oil pool deficit might have an impact on the overall national deficit, but certainly not on the fiscal deficit of the Budget as the Oil Pool Account was outside it, Sinha said. Mr Sinha skirted the issue of introduction of agriculture income tax saying agriculture tax was a state subject and that it did not come under Centre’s purview. What Andhra Pradesh Governor C. Rangarajan had suggested was agriculture tax by states to augment revenue collections of states
governments, he said. According to Rangarajan, sales tax, which is the main source of revenue collections by states, has already been overstretched accounting for about 65 per cent of the state revenue, and agriculture tax offered opportunity for widening the tax base of states. Mr Sinha said he was hopeful that the prevention of money laundering bill would be passed in the Winter Session of Parliament incorporating the recommendations of Parliamentary select committee. On introduction of Banking Companies (transfer and
acquisition) Amendment Bill to allow Public Sector banks to reduce government equity up to 33 per cent, Mr Sinha said there were some technicalities involved and hoped they would be sorted out soon. Earlier inaugurating the five-day tax administrators’ conference, Mr Sinha was critical of the practice of tax haven and competition in tax rates to attract investment and hoped the commonwealth conference would arrive at a consensus to combat such harmful practices. Referring to the issue of money laundering, Mr Sinha said the government was keen to see that the foreign investment that flow into India was “non-tainted”. It was precisely for this reason that the government had ensured that the External Commercial Borrowing (ECB) were not allowed freely though it had been liberalised substantially
now, he said. ECB’s were subject to scrutiny in India to ensure that the money that flow into the country was earned through legitimate means and illgotten money was not exported, he said adding “money laundering is a scourge” which had to be fought by the world community. The 21st annual technical conference of Commonwealth Association of Tax Administrators would focus on two major issues — the harmful effects of tax competitiveness and havens to attract business and problems of money laundering. It will also deliberate on how to deal effectively with globalisation including taxation. |
Insurance Expo on December 2 CHANDIGARH, Nov 27 — The second ‘‘International Insurance Expo 2000’’ will be held in Chandigarh on December 2 by the city-based UGCE-Insurance Institute for Education and Training. Insurance experts from Canada, Australia, the UK, Japan, the USA, executives from leading insurance companies, brokers, IT experts and academicians will deliberate on the challenges of marketing insurance in India. Mr N.Rangachary, Chairman, IRDA, will inaugurate the one-day insurance summit which will be spread over four sessions. The prominent participants include Mr Harbhajan Singh, Mr H.D. Sonig and Mr H.Ansari, all members of IRDA, Mr Kevin Wright of ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company, Mr Deepak M. Satwalekar, CEO, HDFC Standard Life Insurance Company, Mr R.Krishnamurthy, Dy Managing Director, SBI Life Insurance Company, Mr Jim Connolly from Canada Life Ardee Insurance Company, Mr P.S. Pritam, Consultant Allianz, Mr Liyaquat Khan, President, Acutarial Society of India, and Mr Shewak Gidwani, Secretary General, Insurance Institute of India.
Spice plans limited
roaming for Haryana CHANDIGARH, Nov 27 — Spice Telecom is planning to launch limited roaming in Haryana for its post-paid subscribers shortly. The post-paid subscriber of Punjab would then be able to make and receive calls while he is in Haryana. The company launched SMS based e-mail services and Pull-based SMS service. The SMS e-mail service would enable the spice subscribers to send e-mails directly from their mobile phone. The e-mail sender can use 160 characters. Pull-based SMS service will help the subscriber receive and send vital information from his mobile phone. The subscriber can get information like market prices, daily horoscopes, cricket score on his cellular. Metro Motors
unit opens AMBALA, Nov 27 — The Executive Director, Tata Engineering, Mr Ravi Kant, today inaugurated a new facility for truckers established by Metro Motors. Mr Y. P. Das, Managing Director of Metro Motors (P) Ltd, said that this facility would be available at the new commercial vehicle complex located on the G. T. Road, 10 km from Ambala. “The workshop will provide excellent services by trained and skilled manpower under a covered area of 50,000 sq ft which is the largest in the Northern Region. He said that for the convenience of the customers, this complex will remain open seven days a week and very shortly a 24-hour service will be introduced. The inaugural event was attended by a large gathering including truck operators, fleet owners and financiers from various finance companies. PNB gives Cancer
Seal to PM CHANDIGARH, Nov 27 — Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee on Monday released the Cancer Seal sponsored by Punjab National Bank and promoted by Indraprastha Cancer Society and Research Centre, New Delhi. The Cancer Seal was presented to the Prime Minister by Mr S.S. Kohli, CMD of the bank and Dr D.N. Sondhi, Chairman of the Fund Raising & Cancer Seal Project in Delhi. The bank has donated Rs 50 lakh to the Indraprastha Centre, which runs Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute & Research Centre in Delhi. Award for Punjab
Pavilion NEW DELHI, Nov 27 — Punjab Pavilion at the IITF received silver medal for the second best display in the state pavilions. The gold medal went to Kerala Pavilion. Awards were presented by Mr Omar Abdullah, Minister of State for Commerce. The award was received on behalf of Punjab government by Mr Sanjiv Bawa, Administrator, Punjab Pavilion. The participation by the state of Punjab in the 20th India International Trade Fair 2000 at Pragati Maidan was a big success. According to a press release, inquires worth Rs 5 crore were received and a lot of queries were made for Markfed’s Basmati rice, sarson ka saag, bicycles, buses and tractors. |
NRI onliners ride high SUNNYVALE (California), Nov 27 — With thousands of users in more than 180 countries, two Indian Americans have successfully created a global online market for computer software and information technology services. Quitting their Wall Street jobs last year, Srini Anumolu and Beerud Sheth today jointly own eLance, an online company that has about 170,000 committed users. The site out sources professional services, including Web design, software programming, writing and more. The company employs 120 people and has offices in Europe, Asia and Australia. “Our vision is to revolutionise the way the world works. We wanted to create a virtual economy where businesses can work without geographical barriers,” said Sheth (30) who is the online firm’s Vice-President for business development and was formerly a bond trader with Merrill Lynch and Citicorp Securities. Anumolu (36) serves as the firm’s Vice-President for categories and used to work for the New York Life Insurance Company as a fixed-income portfolio manager. The firm landed $50 million in September in a second round of financing from Pequot Capital Management among others. The first round of financing last year, brought in $12 million from Vinod Khosla’s venture capital firm. In a big coup for the company, Eric Roach, formerly of Morgan Stanley and Dean Witter, an executive Vice-President and chief marketing officer of a direct business group, joined eLance as Chairman and CEO respectively in May.
Auction site for
new, old cars NEW DELHI: New cars and bikes, and imported and
vintage vehicles will now be available on auction starting from one paisa at an online auction marketplace. This auction site, Wheels@bazee.com, unveiled, said select brands of new cars and bikes and second-hand cars like Maruti 800, Zen, Santro, Matiz, Opel, Honda, Ford and Mercedes are available for auction. Imported and wintage vehicles will include Jaguar, BMB, Toyota, Triumph, Spitfire. The vehicles carry quality certification accompanied by financing schemes, says Mr Gautam Thakar, Chief Marketing Officer of the company. This will ensure a better price for the buyer and the seller and the whole deal is transparent.
— UNI Contests for youth CHANDIGARH: Oswal Woollen Mills of the Nahar Group will organise a “Mr and Ms Monte Carlo” contest on December 18 in Chandigarh. All individuals above 18, single and with a height of over 5ft 5” can take part in the contest, according to Ms Ruchika Oswal, Vice-President, Oswal Woollen Mills Ltd. The seventh ‘Grasim Mr India’ contest was announced recently with the call for entries to close on December 2. It is open to Indian males standing 5ft.11 in. and above in the age group of 18-30. The contest will be held in Calcutta on February 24. Prior to the event regional rounds will be held in Chandigarh, Delhi, Calcutta Mumbai and Bangalore.
— TNS |
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Fashion awards Canara Bank Rockport JD Power |
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