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| Thursday, November 30, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
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ADRs of HCL, Dr Reddy’s Lab cleared Elders force debate
on textile policy Walkout over Maruti agitation RBI group on auditing
in banks
Israeli firm’s offer to Haryana Buy your stuff or plan travel through TV |
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KQ to test human
knowledge launched Competition to set up websites on India Mill sold for a song
What NRIs read online Yoghurts that can last 4 months Musical notes
at Agro Tech
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ADRs of HCL, Dr Reddy’s Lab cleared NEW
DELHI, Nov 29 (PTI) — The government has approved proposals of software major
HCL technologies and Reddy’s Laboratories to go in for international issues for raising upto $ 700 million through
ADRs (American Depository Receipts). Announcing the decision of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pramod Mahajan told reporters today that
HCL technologies had been permitted to issue ADRs upto $ 500 million while Dr Reddy’s Laboratories would raise upto $ 200 million. The
ADR issue of HCL technologies would be permissible only to non-resident and resident permanent employees of the company or its subsidiary company incorporated in or outside India, he said. Business acquisition through issuance of
ADRs linked stock options to alliance partners or customers and conversion of rupee denominated stock option into
ADR linked stock option would not be permissible. It was also decided that post
ADR, the foreign equity in the company would not exceed 49 per cent. Funds mopped up through the
ADR route will be used by HCL technologies for acquiring companies worldwide or entering into joint ventures with overseas partners and setting up software development centres in India and abroad. Dr Reddy’s Laboratories will use the
ADR to expand its activities and for research and development. ADRs of Dr Reddy’s Laboratories will be issued to persons resident outside India including Non-Resident Indians, Overseas Corporate Bodies, Foreign Institutional Investors and foreign venture capitalists. CCEA
also approved the continuation of the scheme for investment in debentures of State Land Development Banks and State Cooperative Agriculture and Rural Development Banks during the Ninth Five Year Plan for which an outlay of Rs 595 crore had been provided under the plan. The decision to continue the scheme will enhance the credit support for investment in areas like farm mechanisation, land development, horticulture and minor irrigation, Mahajan said. The
CCEA has also decided to continue the Central Cooperative Scheme for Cooperative Training and Education during the Ninth Plan. The scheme, which had been allocated a sum of Rs 73.91 crore during the Ninth Plan period, aims at providing training and education to various categories of personnel for manpower development in cooperative enterprises. |
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Elders force debate
on textile policy NEW DELHI, Nov 29 — The Rajya Sabha Chairman Mr Krishan Kant today allowed a half an hour discussion on the recently approved textile policy of the government as the members expressed serious concern over the loss of jobs particularly in the handloom sector. The Minister of Textiles, Mr Kashiram Rana, who faced a number of questions from the members during the Question Hour said that the government had received proposals for technology upgradation scheme for the textile sector which would amount to as much as Rs 11,000 crore. He added that 50 per cent of these schemes had been approved and the process for disbursement of funds had also started. He pointed out that Tamil Nadu had taken maximum advantage under this scheme and was followed by Gujarat and Maharashtra. He added that as a result of the measures undertaken, the export had gone up by over 11 per cent and the country was hoping to achieve the target of Rs 50,000 crore worth of exports by the year 2010 by following this policy. He did not agree that the new textile policy unveiled by the government earlier this month had an adverse effect on the handloom and small scale sector in the textile industry. He disclosed that the
government had also almost finalised the revival plan for the closed woollen as well as textile mills of Kanpur. He assured the House that these mills would become operational very soon and the jobs of all the workers in those mills would be retained. He assured the members that the government was committed to protect the handloom and small scale sector units. |
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Walkout over Maruti agitation NEW DELHI, Nov 29 — The strike in the Maruti Udyog Ltd (MUL) factory in Gurgaon figured in the Lok Sabha today with the non-Congress opposition members staging a walkout over the government’s defence of the Maruti management. The heavy Industries Minister, Mr Manohar Joshi’s remarks during a calling attention motion that the law would take its course in case of disciplinary action against some agitating employees of the MUL upset the opposition members. Opposition members trooped into the Well of the House protesting the statement and demanding resolution of the dispute in the public sector car company, despite warnings from the Chair. As Mr Pandian, who was in the Chair, closed the discussion on the subject, members belonging to the Left parties, RJD, Samajwadi Party and RPI walked out of the House. Earlier the minister said the MUL management had agreed to drop insistence on individual workers furnishing a “good conduct undertaking” but disciplinary action pending against workers for alleged misconduct would be pursued. “Besides such an assurance, the union was requested to agree that disciplinary action pending against workers for alleged
misconduct would be pursued in accordance with the appropriate labour laws and that the scheme of incentive notified by the management would be accepted,” Mr Joshi said. Stating that the management had agreed to this course of action and to drop insistence on individual workers furnishing a good conduct undertaking, he said “the response of the union is awaited.” Mr Joshi said he had held several meetings with the union representatives and management to resolve the dispute and bring about an amicable settlement between the labour and the management. “It is important that discipline in the factory is maintained and profitability of the enterprise is not impaired particularly in the face of fierce competition that exists today in the market,” he said adding that it was also important that rights of workers were protected. The management had sought certain safeguards to ensure that harmony will be restored in the organisation and that the law will have to take its course in regard to disciplinary action taken against workers, he said. |
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RBI group
on auditing in banks MUMBAI, Nov 29 (PTI) — The Reserve Bank of India today constituted a seven-member multi-disciplinary working group to look into introduction of risk-based internal inspection and audit in banks in the country. The group, which is expected to submit its report by January 31 next, is to suggest modifications with regard to the existing internal audit practices in banks which might be required to implement the shift in focus to risk based approach and outline a time frame and sequence of measures required for implementation of its recommendations. The group is to examine the applicability of the risk based internal audit and propose the methodology for implementing the shift in focus from transaction to risk based approach and prepare
guidelines to be issued to the banks with regard to risk assessment methodology and audit plan, the RBI said here in a release. Adherence to the internal operational guidelines and procedures has gained more importance in recent times in view of the deregulatory process initiated by it in important areas of banking operations, particularly in regard to prudential concerns and risk management practices, the RBI said.
Israeli firm’s offer to Haryana
CHANDIGARH, Nov 29 (PTI) — An Israel based company Bio Feed Ltd (BFL) has offered to set up a joint venture project with Haryana to manufacture bio-feed in the state. The BFL CEO Amir Nachumi made this offer to the state Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala at a technology demonstration here today. The technology involves bio-conversion for turning vegetable waste into a high quality feed having crude protein, lactic acid, lysine and fat. Such bio-feed would not only enhance the yield of milch cattle but also improve their digestion thus making them healthier, he added. This bio-conversion technology is not only economic but also environment-friendly as it checks pollution, the CEO said. The Chief Minister asked the BFL CEO to give a demonstration on how to manufacture bio-feed with Israeli technology at the Haryana Agricultural University in Hisar. |
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Buy your stuff or plan travel through TV LONDON, Nov 29 — Book a holiday, juggle your bank accounts, order that Beatles CD, bet on the big match, choose a new car, buy your Thanksgiving turkey — but whatever you do, don’t get up from in front of the television. That at least is the message of the T-commerce evangelists, and in a world where neologisms have become a badge of current awareness, you’d better know that it means buying stuff via your interactive TV (iTV). If this sounds like just the latest in a series of things that promised to change your life but didn’t — the Apple Mac, WAP phones, digital photography — then think again. Some of the industry’s most reliable forecasters believe T-commerce will provide exactly the fillip that e-commerce needs if it is to avoid relegation to the preferred pastime of technology nerds. “It’s going to be a fairly major part of e-commerce — it will probably make up around 25 per cent of e-commerce spending in the UK and 15 per cent in Europe, by the end of 2005,’’ said Tim Grimsditch of technology research company Forrester. It’s already growing fast. In the UK, some 10 per cent of digital TV subscribers have made some form of iTV purchase, a proportion that is growing by roughly 2 percentage points every six months. This is not because Britons are more committed couch potatoes than their European counterparts. Interactive TV is a digital medium, and the UK has one of the highest digital TV penetrations among Europe’s 9.5 million digital households. Even in the USA, where interactive TV has yet to take off on any real scale, Forrester believes interactive consumerism via the TV set will generate $25 billion in new revenues — not taken from Internet retail — by 2005. There is a tendency to think of iTV as just another form of access to the Internet, and in fact it can be — Britain’s OnDigital, a joint venture of Carlton Communications <CCM.L> and Granada Media <GME.L>, offers exactly that. But there is another model, known to industry buffs as the ‘’walled garden’’. Here, digital broadcasters such as British market leader BSkybB<BSY.L> offer their own proprietary universe of interactive gaming and information services — and T-commerce. Retailers pay top dollars to be included in walled garden platforms such as BSkyB-controlled Open, aware that such systems hand them a whole new customer base focused on a limited number of shopping services, rather than randomly surfing the Internet. “We can integrate with what people are accustomed to. It’s a way of enhancing the viewer experience of television — one that doesn’t go far from the entertainment environment,’’ said Ricardo Tejada, spokesman for Open, the world’s leading iTV platform. Because shopping on your TV remote control is what is called a ‘’lean-back’’ experience, as opposed to the ‘’lean forward’’ nature of shopping on the Internet, some types of product and service lend themselves better to T-commerce than others. Goods often bought on impulse are one such area. Impulse buys via iTV often constitute inexpensive items that can easily be displayed to their advantage on TV, such as music, video, convenience goods, toys, concert tickets and some clothing. Leisure travel is another area expected to show exponential sales growth via iTV. Watching a travel programme on, say, the Maldives, a viewer could choose a link to a travel agent offering that destination, and once there, call up video footage of the island and hotels available. But it gets better. Eventually, users of an iTV system could even talk live via a videolink to a travel agent, overcoming the main limitation of current e-commerce: the Internet is a poor environment for window-shopping, and buyers generally have to know what they want before they log on. Such levels of interactivity will probably be seen first on ‘’walled garden’’ systems, since it will take some time before Internet TV link-ups offer enough
bandwidth to carry high-quality duplex (two-way) video. Banking and financial services could also be a big seller (one broadcaster said banks were ‘’lining up’’ to get on iTV), but here we run into one of the main problems of the walled garden — what if your bank (or stockbroker, or tailor) isn’t there? Because they may well not be. BSkyB’s Open platform only hosts 30 to 40 retailers, with roughly as many again in its own virtual department store, Open Extra. Defenders of the walled garden say this is an advantage. The choice available on the Internet is too bewildering, they say, and net websites designed for reading on a PC screen don’t work on a television screen, usually several metres across the room. But of course it does mean a limiting your choice, says Andrew Marre of Internet-by-TV provider OnDigital.
— Reuters
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co
CALCUTTA, Nov 29 (PTI) — Knowledge Quotient (KQ), a unique concept to measure human intellectual capability, was today launched by Global Knowledge Portals Pvt Ltd, a company which provides knowledge-based content for diverse audiences in India and abroad. Announcing the launch of KQ for India here the Global Knowledge Portals CEO Derek O Brien said: “KQ, a standardised personalsed score is the alternative, effective and efficient measurement of human knowledge scoring over traditional methods which tend to be rigid.” While Global Knowledge launched the kqscore.Com as the first phase to enable people across the world a chance to evaluate their KQ over the Internet, it would explore other mediums like publications in future to let people know about the nascent benchmarking system of one’s knowledge. Brien, a familiar quiz show host on electronic media, said the concept has been evolved with the
participation of experts and research scholars from different disciplines. A knowledge databank has been created on different subjects and an individual can test his KQ after choosing his subject and answering ten probing questions. However to ensure accuracy of the process he can test his KQ a couple of times. “You take a KQ check on your selected topic — a set of 10 questions randomly selected from the qustionbank- will be presented on the select subject. After the test the site will inform the score and the correct answers. The more number of times one take the test the more fullproof the score becomes sans the same questions being repeated.
Competition to set up websites on India MUMBAI, Nov 29 (UNI) — Intel Innovation in Education and Pitara.com on Wednesday announced the first national level Internet competition for Indian kids in the K9 category. Aptly titled “India by Kids.com’’, this contest will invite teams of school children and teachers as well as individual students to develop creative websites on India. All entries for the websites will be judged on the basis of creativity and the most innovative creation on features of India, covering history, arts, culture, people, geography etc. The best will be selected and hosted on “IndiabyKids.com’’. The contest is open to students from all over the country. Workshops will be held in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad to interact with participants and help them understand the scope of this project. And the grand finale for awarding the best website will commence in the first week of May followed by the formal launch of India’s first website created by kids—www.IndiabyKids.com. Mill sold for a song MANSA, Nov 29 — In spite of opposition from all quarters, the local Cooperative Spinning Mills Limited, which was set up in 1985 at a cost of Rs 30.82 crore, has been sold for a paltry sum of Rs 4.51 crore. Ms Baljinderpal Kaur Brar, Naib Tehsildar, here, confirmed that the mill had been sold to M/s Pawan Goods Merchant Company Limited. On behalf of Spinfed, Ms M.S. Grewal, Managing Director, Spinfed, signed the registry. Mr Bhura Singh Khanalia, president of the Mansa Central Co-operative Bank Employees Union, has criticised the Spinfed for selling the mill just for a song. Mr Khanalia said the mill owed Rs 3.12 crore to the Mansa Central Cooperative Bank Limited. He said the bank should have shifted its head office from the mill only after recovering the dues of Rs 3.12 crore from the
Spinfed. UTI picks up 4.98 pc stake in Ind-Swift MUMBAI, Nov 28 (UNI) — The Unit Trust of India (UTI) has picked up 5,00,000 equity shares of Ind-Swift company which accounts for 4.98 per cent of the issued capital of the company. Ind-Swift informed the BSE that it has entered into exclusive marketing agreements with some major international pharma companies. The agreements would come into effect on the expiry of the product patent in those countries. Grasim to spin off software business MUMBAI, Nov 29 (UNI) — The Board of Directors of Grasim, the Aditya Birla Group Flagship Company, today approved the hiving off of its software division-Birla Consultancy Software Service (BCSS) as a going concern into a separate wholly owned subsidiary company of Grasim. The business of Grasim’s software division has been valued at Rs 29.4 crore as a going concern by Bansi S. Mehta and Company. It is proposed to be paid in the form of equity shares to Grasim. CALCUTTA, Nov 29 (PTI) — Taking a cue from the developments in the corporate circle, mainly in the IT sector, ITC Limited today decided to come out with an employees stock option scheme (ESOS). A decision to this effect was taken by the Board of Directors at a meeting here, company officials
said. The company will issue ordinary shares up to 5 per cent of the existing issued and subscribed share capital under ESOS, subject to approval of shareholders at a general meeting. |
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What NRIs read online PUNE: For Indians abroad, political news seems to be the biggest charm leaving behind business, economy and other issues, a research on the initial phase of online journalism reveals. The research “Internet journalism in India, a critical study of newspapers on the Net during the initial phase (1995-98)”, reveals that Indians abroad, who access newspapers on the Internet, prefer political news from their motherland to economic matters while issues relating to science and technology or social and rural development take a back seat. Nearly 42 per cent NRIs seek political news while 23 per cent prefer business and economic news, the doctoral research conducted by senior journalist Kiran Thakur reveals. Most of the readers accessed news (98 per cent) rather than editorial or opinion pieces (5 per cent). Advertisements or cartoons account for less than 1 per cent. NEW DELHI:
Pascual of Spain, the second largest producer of milk products in the world, has launched long-shelf life yoghurts for the first time in India. The company has appointed I-Comps & Impex Pvt Ltd. as its sole importers for the Indian market. The company is introducing a wide range of long shelf life yoghurts in India like thick & creamy pasteurised, low-fat and non-fat yogurts. The yoghurts will be available in various natural flavours like strawberry, apricot, black cherry, pineapple, melon etc. The products are made of fresh milk with high nutritional value and no powder milk is used. Also no conservatives or colourants are used. It has a shelf life of over four months and no refrigeration is required.
— TNS CHANDIGARH: With Agro Tech 2000 just around the corner, agriculture is certainly the flavour of the season in Chandigarh. But it is culture of the musical kind that will create melodious magic in the City Beautiful. Padma Bhushan Hari Prasad Chaurasia will enthrall a select gathering at the CII Convention Centre on the evening of December 1, the opening day of the fair. Agro Tech 2000 has more pleasing treats lined up for culture puffs. The biennial fair’s social calendar also features a composite cameo of dance and music from Uttar Pradesh at the same venue on December 2, which has been designated as U.P. Day. On the evening of December 3, the Yadavindra Gardens at Pinjore will form the natural backdrop to the cultural performance hosted by the Haryana Chief Minister. December 4, meanwhile, will see the Chandigarh Girls’ College auditorium resound to the jingle of ghungroos when Kathak ‘Shringarmani’ Kumkum Adarsh and her troupe from Lucknow will stage a romantic dance drama.
— TNS Sabeer Bhatia & Navin.com NEW YORK: Founder of Hotmail Sabeer Bhatia has been made co-Chairman of Navin.Com, which provides Internet-based voice messaging services worldwide. Suhas Patil is the other Chairman. NavinMail(tm) is a global voice messaging service that provides its users with distinctive benefits.
— PTI |
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ABCL dues IT World 2000 Central Bank Bonus ceiling Ayur Herbals Charlie |
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