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| Friday, December 22, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
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Officially
industry flourishes, actually units are closing down Piracy
& rising paper cost worry publishers Make
reforms ‘socially acceptable’ Lakme opens beauty
salon |
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| Faridabad
trade fair begins tomorrow FARIDABAD, Dec 21 — The city is fully geared up to host the second largest industrial annual trade fair here which is learnt to be the next only to India International Trade fair held at New Delhi.
Where are
good IT professionals?
He quit
job for dotcom
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Officially industry flourishes, actually units are closing down CHANDIGARH, Dec 21 — Falling demand of their products — the fallout of reckless globalisation — acute cash crunch and availability of cheap Chinese products are having a crippling effect on Punjab industries, particularly in the medium and small scale sectors. Among the worst affected are engineering, hosiery, worsted spinning and re-rolling industries, which are concentrated in the state’s major industrial centres, including Ludhiana, Gobindgarh, Mohali and Amritsar. As a result, score of medium and hundreds of small units in the state’s major industrial centres have already closed down rendering thousands of workers and employees unemployed. Although officially the Punjab Government paints a rosy picture about industrial progress claiming that the state has been recording annual production and investment growth rate of 10 per cent for the past three years, informed sources admit that hasty globalisation, flooding of the market by Chinese goods and the industries failure to be competitive are taking a toll on the medium and small scale units. The government, it is claimed, is taking several measures, including continued subsidy on loans for technology upgradation, to enable small scale units to become competitive. These are, however, long-term measures which cannot be of immediate help. On-the-spot inquiries made in some of these industrial centres paint a dismal picture about the state of the industries. For instance, in Ludhiana, which is considered the small-scale industrial capital of India, having concentration of woollen hosiery and engineering industries, a number of spinning units have been forced to close down mainly because of the flooding of cheap Chinese and Korean
polyester yarn “imported” through Nepal. This has worsened the situation in the knitwear industry, which is already facing crisis following the virtual stoppage of knitwear exports to Russia in the wake of the break-up of the Soviet Union. The late onset of winter this year has further hit the domestic demand for knitwear. This, in turn, will result in a sharp fall in knitwear production this year, and shutting down of more units. The situation is equally bad, if not worse, in the engineering, re-rolling and consumer durables manufacturing industries. A number of medium units in Ludhiana, Mohali and Gobindgarh have closed down. This had an adverse impact on their ancillaries, many of which have closed their shops. According to some leading industrialists of Ludhiana, apart from the adverse impact of hasty globalisation, two other major factors aggravating the crisis are liquidity crunch which has become acute and reduced purchasing power, particularly of the middle class. Although banks have abundance of funds, these are not readily available to the medium and small scale units. This is because the banks do not want to take risk in view of the Reserve Bank of India’s pressure to reduce their non-performing assets. The banks are said to feel that advancing loans to “unsound” and new industrial units will lead to an increase in their NPAs. Therefore, they prefer to be liberal in giving loans to establishments they consider “sound” or to individuals for purchase of cars and other consumer durables as they think such loans do not involve much risk. Manufacturers of consumer goods claim that because of the increased rates of taxes and various service charges levied by the state government, the purchasing power of the fixed income groups has fallen. This has led to a fall in demand, which, coupled with availability of cheap Chinese goods, has adversely affected the indigenous industry. Although Punjab farmers have earned an additional few hundred crores this year because of the record wheat and paddy production, it has not had any visible impact on enhancing their purchasing power. May be, bulk of the money has been utilised for paying back loans. There is general consensus that, if the prevailing economic environment does not improve in the near future and if the government does not provide some sort of protection to Punjab’s medium and small scale industries, particularly in the matter of helping them become competitive, their future is bleak.
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Piracy & rising paper cost worry publishers CHANDIGARH, Dec 21 — Piracy, the rising cost of paper and shrinking budget of libraries are the major problems facing the publishing industry in the country today, says Mr S.C. Sethi, President, Federation of Publishers and Booksellers Associations of India, maintaining that language books have started looking up. The best selling books these days, says Mr
Sethi, are not only classics but also self improvement books on various aspects, including health care, diet, fitness, looking better etc. Also gaining in demand are books on computers and information technology. On the lighter side, small and illustrated books on philosophy and religion have found a big market in the country. The new “essence” series, too, has picked very well. Talking to The Tribune here today, Mr Sethi said that though the publishing industry in the country was worth Rs 3,000 to Rs 4,000 crore, it was yet to be accorded a formal “status of industry” by the Union Government. “The cost of paper has gone up by more than 100 per cent during the past couple of years. Since the publishing was essentially a buying industry, it was hard pressed as it could not raise the price of books to neutralise the growing cost of the paper, which was the main input, accounting for nearly 60 per cent of the cost of the production of a book. “One of the major serious threats faced by the publishing industry in the country was piracy. There were three main sufferers because of this piracy against which the Union Government has now agreed to amend the existing Copyright Act by making piracy a non-bailable offence. We hope that the amendment would be made soon. “Because of piracy, the government is losing revenue, the authors are losing royalty or their intellectual property and the publishers their investment. As such this crisis has been growing in size over the years and the Federation has been pressing the Union Government for safeguards by amending the Copyright Act. On our own the Federation has launched a massive awareness drive and campaign. We are organising one such awareness programme in Mumbai on January 4 where the Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra, would preside. We already organised one in Chennai.” Mr Sethi said that at present Jaico Publishing, where he is working as Executive Director, has been the largest publishing and distribution house in the country with a turnover of more than Rs 35 crore. The newly introduced concept of language books has shown good results. A book on acupressure in Telugu just took 45 days to be completely sold out."
We are now exploring the market to find out which are the popular books which need to be translated and presented to readers in languages. I have decided to get all my 25 books on various aspects of management translated into various languages. Besides, I have several books on jokes to my credit,” says Mr Sethi. He maintains that publishing industry and book selling needs “innovation” which was totally “lacking in North”.
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Make reforms ‘socially acceptable’ Chandigarh, Dec 21 — The need for reform in the power sector was stressed at a one-day seminar organised by the Independent Power Producers Association
(IPPA) here today. It was also suggested that the power reforms should be implemented in a phased and socially acceptable manner. The Haryana Finance Minister, Prof Sampat Singh, said that the success of the reforms programme would lie in achieving managerial and attitudinal changes in the power sector. The age old system of public sector working had to be shed and a corporate style of functioning introduced. Mr Parkash Singh Badal and Mr Om Parkash Chautala, who were scheduled to participate in the seminar, were conspicuous by their absence. Prof Sampat Singh said that generation of power could not be entirely handled by the public sector, therefore, its privatisation was essential. He urged the funding agencies not to impose restrictions as this would hamper progress. A long debate was required on the issue of restructuring the state electricity boards. He emphasised that Haryana was already implementing reforms. Separate distribution, transmission and generation companies had already been carved out in the state. These were Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam, Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam, the Power Generation Corporation and Haryana State Power Regulatory Authority. He said this would help in fixing responsibility and accountability at each stage. Haryana was trying to improve the situation by setting up new power plants in Yamunanagar and Hisar. A gas-based power plant had already come up at Faridabad and had started power generation. Earlier, Mr Balwant Joshi, Director, CRA, said that India must restructure and reform the power sector by insulating its working from the politicians. While China was adding nearly 15,000 MW every year, India had drawn up a plan to add only 10,000 MW in the next Five Year Plan of which only 5,000 MW capacity was likely to be added. He said that power was being made cheaper the world over. For example, the power rates in the United Kingdom today were 20 per cent cheaper than what they were 10 years ago. The same was the case with the USA and even countries like Argentina. But in India, the rates were going up. To guarantee 6 to 7 per cent annual growth in the country, he said, “we need to augment power generation by a minimum of 10 per cent per annum”. He also advocated the need for restructuring of the state electricity boards. Mr Alan E. Finder of Arthur Andersen, a company that has undertaken two projects — one each in Haryana and Andhra Pradesh, also made a presentation on restructuring of the state
electricity boards. Mr R.K.Jain, Chief Engineer, Haryana Vidyut Prasaran Nigam made a presentation on power reforms taking place in Haryana.
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Lakme opens beauty salon CHANDIGARH, Dec 21 — The cosmetic and hair care industry is all set for a major revolution with Lakme, the 40 year old leader in the field, deciding to reach out to the woman in the household. For the first time ever, Lakme is spreading wings with a promise to be not just a brand manufacturer but also a beauty service provider. In a well-researched move, Lakme has decided to launch the salon service in Punjab and its adjoining areas which happen to provide the largest cosmetic market in the country. The series started today when Lakme launched its services in North India, with Lakme model Lisa Ray inaugurating the first of the Lakme beauty salons in Chandigarh, to be followed by Ludhiana,
Amritsar and Jalandhar. All the salons, apart from acting as counselling centres will also be retail outselts for Lakme products. The Business Manager, LBS, Mr Yogesh Samat, spoke to The Tribune about the current project through which the corporate house decides to revolutionise the beauty industry with the launch of its new salons in North India. “Here at the salons we offer a full range of the latest beauty and grooming services in the areas of hair, skin, beauty, body, hand and feet care with consistent quality, competitive prices, and the best trained beauty experts. The salon inaugurated in Chandigarh is situated in the hub of the city in Sector 9. It will establish benchmarks in quality and be consistent with beauty services offered at its salons in Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, Pune and Mumbai. Said Samat: “The extension of the Lakme Beauty Salons nationwide delivers Lakme’s promise to provide the modern Indian woman with a complete and holistic beauty care experience.” He added that Lakme was about to introduce skin hydrants and more products to prevent the skin from ageing. “Punjab has been chosen because of the tremendous market it has. We will keep on expanding in this region because we want the beauty service industry to grow out of its nascent stage,” said
Samat. |
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Faridabad trade fair begins tomorrow FARIDABAD, Dec 21 — The city is fully geared up to host the second largest industrial annual trade fair here which is learnt to be the next only to India International Trade fair (IITF) held at New Delhi. About 500 industrial houses, including several multinationals, will display their products and services. Over half a million visitors are expected in this fair which will start on December 23 and conclude on December 30. According to organisers, the fair, which will be seventh so far, is well designed to provide a spectrum of business opportunities. Be it exploring new markets or joint ventures, exports or new technologies or planning of new ventures, delegations from the corporate sector and foreign embassies are likely to promote their business prospects. Fairindex had attracted nearly 400 industrial participants last year. It is reported that while half a million visitors visited it, it also generated business enquiries of about Rs 50 crore. Although originally conceived to project industrial activities in Faridabad, ‘Fairindex-2000’ has been planned to include participants from Haryana and judging by the enquiries so far, it is likely to attract several national and international business concerns, which have been focussing on wide publicity and mass awareness programmes. According to Mr Rajiv Chawla Honorary General Secretary of the Faridabad Small Industries Association, one of the organisers, Fairindex has been the second largest industrial trade fair after the International Trade Fair held at Pragati Maidan, Delhi, in November every year. Large, medium, small and service industries apart, the fair will have Special Stalls for Rural (AGRO) industries, artisans handicrafts etc. Seminars and conferences on various subjects will be held daily, besides organising of cultural, fashion and entertainment programmes. SIDBI has been invited to participate and to have an open interactions with entrepreneurs. The Haryana State Industrial Development Corporation and the Haryana Financial Corporation will also participate. The Governor, Haryana will inaugurate it on December 23 and the Chief Minister, Haryana will preside over on concluding function on December 30.
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Where are good IT professionals? CHANDIGARH, Dec 21— The newly established software units in the region, which are already facing infrastuctural problems, are now complaining about the insufficiency of the properly trained manpower. Ironical, but true. The units which were expected to generate additional employment in the region (Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh ), are complaining that the manpower available here is not as per their requirements. According to sources, Infosys, which plans to increase the present number of IT professionals from 50 to 200 by the end of next year, is having most of the professionals from outside the region. Similarly, more than 60 per cent of the IT professionals working in Smart Data Enterprises, are from outside the region. Barely 20 per cent are from Chandigarh and a similar number from Punjab and Haryana. Other software units in the region, too are facing the same problem. Mushrooming IT training institutes might claim to provide the best and "unique" training programmes, but most of these do not provide training which matches their requirements, say the officials. "There are hardly any institutes which train their students as per the requirements of the present industry. Consequently, most of them have to be re-trained", says Ms Suman Preet Bhatia, Manager, HRD at Smart Data. While there is not much problem when it comes to recruitment of freshers, procuring personnel with experience of one year and above is a tough task. "Obtaining experienced professionals is a tough task and so we have to get most of these from Delhi and our other offices outside", says Mr. Rajiv Kuchchal, Head of Centre, Infosys. And, bringing the professionals from other places is a Herculean task. As a result, very few of the leading ones are able to fulfil the requirement in their companies, the rest are left with no other option than to face dearth of professionals. Lack of proper job consultants is another cause why the newly established industry fails to attract the young professionals. "Most of the consultants here do not know how to project the proper image of the company and get the right kind of people at the right place which acts as a loss to the companies as well as these professionals ", says Ms. Suman. While the companies here complain of insufficiency of experienced manpower in the region (which can boast of having one of the maximum number of IT training institutes in the country), the young professionals here allege that there is a wide gap in the pay packages and other facilities offered by the companies . "There are not many opportunities in this region and barring a few companies the pay package and other facilities offered here are also far less when compared to other regions", says Rahul Khurana , an IT professional. And while many of the young professionals look for opportunities in other regions, a chance of going abroad is what most of them look forward to. "It is not that there are no good professionals, but the charm of going abroad, which none wants to miss, is also another factor responsible for the problems the software units in the region are facing" says another official from a software company.
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Infosys faces fresh pounding Infosys Technologies continued to bear the brunt of sustained pounding that pushed IT stocks on the defensive, leading to a fresh fall of over 52 points in the BSE sensex on Thursday. Bulls resorted to heavy unloading in Infosys Tech in which they were reportedly having long outstanding positions, amidst persistent selling from FIIs in the last couple of days. The negative stance by FIIs, dealers said, had put speculators in a precarious position robbing them of any opportunity to wind up their holdings. Indian Rayon, has acquired global rights for Louis Philippe, Allen Solly (except North America), Peter England (except UK and Ireland) from Coates Vijella, UK. The world rights have been acquired through the Aditya Vikram global trading house, which was the fully owned overseas subsidiary of Indian Rayon at a cost of $ 2.26 million. The deal was signed at the Coates Viyella office in the UK. HCL Infosystems, has received the top PC Vendor Award at the Dataquest awards ceremony in Delhi last night. The HCL group also received the award for being the number one IT group in the country. HCL Infosystems became the first company in India to cross the one lakh PC mark last year having shipped 101,500 units. IEC Software,
an ISO-9001 company, today announced major restructuring in its corporate strategies with its new corporate office in Delhi. The company had also joined hands with Dr B.R. Ambedkar University and Kumaon University to provide total IT solutions.
— Agencies
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