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| Friday,
January 12, 2001, Chandigarh, India   
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Sinha: borrowing
target not to be exceeded
Forex transactions eased
Oriental Bank plans foray into insurance
US eases computer export controls Web education on slow, steady path |
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Sterlite net
rises 57 pc Cadila, Danish
firm sign pact SBP may launch VRS
Microsoft selects Satyam, Mastek R Systems gets Intel Capital
investment Netexchange unveils
internetrupee Website on Australian immigration on Jan
13
Held for Net child porn Wrong ‘Muhurat’ for Oxford
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Sinha: borrowing
target not to be exceeded NEW DELHI, Jan 11 — India was unlikely to exceed the borrowing targets during the current fiscal year despite a possible shortfall in the overall tax collections, Union Finance Minister, Mr Yashwant Sinha said here today. “We may not need to borrow any further during the current fiscal”, Mr Sinha told newspersons on the sidelines of Petrotech 2001— an international conference on petroleum and hydrocarbons currently being held in the Capital. Even though the government had announced a borrowing of Rs 4,000 crore yesterday by sale of government securities, the Finance Minister said the: “Overall borrowings will be well within the target”. He, however, said there may be some shortfall in the indirect tax collections. “We will achieve target in direct tax collections but overall we may be very close to the target”, Mr Sinha said. The gross borrowings for the current fiscal has been fixed at Rs 1,17,704 crore. The targeted indirect tax collections has been fixed at Rs 1,28,000 crore, while direct tax collections target has been placed at Rs 72,000 crore. The Finance Minister had already held meetings with senior tax officials to minimise the shortfall in overall tax mobilisation. Regarding the disinvestment target of Rs 10,000 crore for the current fiscal as laid down in the Union Budget, Mr Sinha indicated that it was unlikely to be met. “It is a continuous process. It will not end by March this year”, he said. Expressing concern over the inadequate flow of foreign direct investment in the petroleum sector in India, Mr Sinha indicated that medium term policy prescriptions were likely to be announced in the Union Budget for 2001-02. The petroleum sector required an investment of over $100 billion spread over the period of next 25 years.
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Forex transactions eased NEW DELHI, Jan 11 — Companies incorporated in India can now open overseas branches provided there is no capital account transactions involved, a senior officer of the Reserve Bank of India has said. Chief General Manager of the RBI, P.K. Biswas said according to the new rules of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), the RBI now has no discretionary power over current account transactions. The new rules under the Act give full freedom to a resident of India and who was earlier a resident of a different country, to hold or own or transfer any foreign security or immovable property situated outside India, which was acquired when the person was a resident outside India, Mr Biswas said while speaking at a meeting organised by the PHDCCI. Director of Enforcement Directorate, S.S. Dawra said there was a significant difference between the rules of Foreign Exchange Regulation Act (FERA) and those under the new FEMA. Under FERA no distinction was made between a hardened hawala operator and a well-established businessman. While in FERA emphasis was on conservation and augmentation of foreign exchange, FEMA’s thrust is on management of foreign exchange. Mr Dawra clarified that FEMA is a Civil Law unlike FERA which was a criminal
legislation. Under the new rules, the Enforcement Directorate can atmost issue a show cause notice but cannot issue an arrest warrant. President of PHDCCI, Sushil Ansal suggested that the RBI should make the EEFC account fully convertible to facilitate capital account convertibility and clarify the method of compounding of penalty. The RBI, Mr Biswas said, had notified comprehensive, simple, liberal, user-friendly and transparent rules under the FEMA Act, 1999. The new rules clearly indicate the types of permissible transactions, leave very few individual transactions to be dealt by the Reserve Bank, procedures are simplified, the number of application forms has been reduced to a bare minimum and adequate powers have been given to authorised dealers (banks) authorised persons. Freedom is also given to a resident who inherits security or immovable property from a person outside India. A resident outside India is permitted to hold shares, securities and properties acquired by him while he was resident in India. The exchange earners’ foreign currency (EEFC) account holders and residents’ foreign exchange (RFC) account holders are permitted to freely use the funds held in EEFC/RFC accounts for payment of all permissible current account transactions. Telco hikes Indica and Sumo
prices
NEW DELHI, Jan 11 (PTI) — Telco today said it has hiked prices of its premium small car “Indica” and multi-utility vehicle “Sumo” by up to Rs 9,000 with immediate
effect. A company official told PTI from Mumbai that “the price of the standard petrol and diesel version of Indica have been hiked by Rs 8,500 while that of the deluxe version has been increased by Rs 5,400”.The price tags of some variants of the Sumo have gone up by Rs 5,000 to Rs 9,000 the official said.
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Oriental Bank plans foray into insurance NEW DELHI, Jan 11 (UNI) — The Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC) has sought “in principle” approval from the Reserve Bank of India for conducting life insurance business in joint venture with a foreign insurer of international repute. Chairman and Managing Director of the bank B.D. Narang told reporters here that the foreign insurer would have a 26 per cent stake in the venture whereas 74 per cent stake shall be retained by the bank. He said the bank qualified on all parameters for entry into the insurance business. He, however, added that he would be able to say something concrete on the issue only after about two weeks. Mr Narang, however, said if the bank did not get a licence it would distribute the life insurance products of other companies. He said the bank had plans to set up an asset management company by joining hands with a renowned player in the international arena. It would provide additional income to the bank by the sale of units through its branches. The investors would get tax-free returns on their investments as well as instant liquidity with market-based growth. Asked about the listing of its shares overseas, Mr Narang said the bank was keeping all options open, but did not elaborate. He said in the field of corporate governance too, the bank had plans to establish a new milestone. Transparency to its shareholders and high standards of corporate governance had always been the highlighting features at bank, he said. The bank had initiated steps to bring out its annual report for 2000-2001 in accordance with the US General Accepted Accounting Practices (GAAP). The bank was also having a three-phase programme. In the first phase, the bank plans to double its non-fund based income. In the second phase it intends to integrate treasury operations and in the third phase it would be coming up with an asset management company. He said it was the right time for the bank to enter the asset management business as in its perception the recession was bottoming out and industrial demand would pick up.
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US eases computer export controls WASHINGTON, Jan 11 (Reuters) — The White House said on Wednesday it was easing export controls on U.S. high-performance computers, after determining the United States could no longer control their acquisition by other countries. White House Chief of Staff John Podesta told reporters that the United States would beef up export restrictions on critical nuclear and military software applications that pose a threat to national security if they fall into the wrong hands. Because of the wide availability of high-performance computers, the United States' ability to limit their acquisition by potentially unfriendly countries "is already largely ineffective and it will be increasingly so in a very short time frame," Podesta said. The United States will collapse its four-tier country system for controlling high-performance computer exports into three tiers, eliminating special export licensing requirements for shipments to a long list of countries. U.S. computer companies hailed the decision, which they said would ease sales to countries such as Brazil, Chile and South Africa. Eliminating Tier 2 licensing requirements should also boost sales to Asian markets, where there is growing demand for high-performance computers. Sales to Tier 3 countries such as India, Pakistan, Russia, China, Vietnam and nations in the Middle East and Central Europe will not need special export licenses if the computers perform below 85,000 million theoretical operations per second (MTOPS), Podesta said. The Clinton administration also recommends Congress repeal provisions of the 1998 Defense Authorization Act that require the administration to maintain Tier 3 controls, he said. "This announcement creates the platform for much-needed, long-term reform and we look forward to continuing this progress with the Bush administration," said Lawrence Weinbach, CEO of Unisys Corp. and co-chairman of the Computer Coalition for Responsible Exports. Rep. David Dreier, a California Republican, also hailed the decision, which he said would eliminate "long outdated export controls that have threatened our critical technology industry without offering real national security benefits." The new threshold for computer export controls strikes "a good balance between national security and promoting the prosperity of the digital economy," he said.
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Web education on slow, steady path SAN FRANCISCO, Jan 11 (Reuters) — This is not likely to be the year when online education finds a mass market. Experts say people remain attached to bricks-and-mortar schools and change will come only slowly. “It’s like turning a tanker. It won’t turn on a dime,” said Paul Hagen, a senior analyst with electronic commerce research firm Forrester Research in Cambridge, Massachusetts. But the experts say online education will make a mark in 2001 within corporations, which now view it as an ideal way to provide “nuggets” of essential information to workers. “We’re moving from a training and coursework mentality into something providing just-in-time learning or dishing up information that’s needed,” Hurwitz group analyst elise olding explained. Speed, now more than ever, is essential to keep workers informed, Thomas Koulopoulos, President of Boston-based business and technology advisory firm delphi group, said. “product innovation has accelerated enormously,” he said. “Ten years ago, a sales rep could use a CD-Rom to bone up on data. Now the big difference is that the time between products is becoming shorter and shorter. The same sales rep will not have time to be educated in a traditional manner or have time to wait for a CD-Rom to be published.” The Internet, as it stands, is a convenient way to bring workers up to speed in a pinch with quick-hitting reference information such as product specs for sales forces. Delivering education over the web in limited fashion also reflects the reality of the web’s current limits, said senior analyst Trace Urdan at WR Hambrecht & Co. In San Francisco, adding that companies, which may spend up to $ 4 billion on web-based training this year, are seeking to tailor online worker education efforts to broadband capabilities. With broadband technology still
underdeveloped, urdan said, “bit-learning,” in which information is broken down into simple parts, is likely to be the popular way for corporations to educate their workers online. While corporations may lead online education startups toward products and services for delivering bite-size information, analysts say infrastructure development for web-based education is strong — regardless of the number of dot-com failures. And this development, they say, is moving online education increasingly toward the point where it will be a practical addition to bricks-and-mortar schools. “There are over 300 e-learning vendors we’ve identified,” olding said. And more are on the way — not necessarily moving into online education’s corporate market. One area where online
education is likely to become more prevalent is at the graduate business school level, a market segment where publicly traded
Apollo group has a jump-start with its university of phoenix online. |
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Sterlite net
rises 57 pc MUMBAI, Jan 11 (UNI) — Sterlite Industries (India) has posted a 57 per cent jump in its net profit to Rs 37.6 crore during the second quarter ended December 31, as against Rs 24.02 crore of the corresponding period of the previous year. In spite of a three-week planned annual maintenance shutdown of the copper smelter during the quarter, total turnover rose by 59 per cent to Rs 735.67 crore during the quarter from Rs 462.79 crore of the previous year’s corresponding quarter. Exports during the quarter shot up by 180 per cent to Rs 83.7 crore from Rs 29.9 crore. |
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Cadila, Danish
firm sign pact NEW DELHI, Jan 11 — Danish Pantheco A/S and India’s Zydus Cadila, have signed a three year collaborative R&D agreement in the field of anti-bacterials. Pantheco and Zydus Research Centre will join efforts in the research and development of new antibiotic compounds based on existing classes of antibiotic drugs. As per the agreement, Zydus Cadila will undertake all chemistry, preliminary screening and initial characterisation of new compounds with anti-bacterial activity. Pantheco will undertake further profiling of the drug candidates and perform all necessary pre-clinical as well as early clinical development studies until Phase IA clinical trials. |
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SBP may launch VRS SANGRUR, Jan 11 — The voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) is likely to be introduced soon by the State Bank of Patiala (SBP) for its employees and officers. Addressing a press conference here today, Mr K. Sasidharan, DGM of the SBP, said the Board of Directors of the bank would finalise the scheme at its meeting scheduled to be held at New Delhi tomorrow. The DGM, who was here in connection with the camp organised under the one-time settlement scheme for the loanees by the bank, said under the one-time settlement scheme of the Reserve Bank of India, about 5,000 cases related to non-performing assets (NPA) were yet to be settled in the SBOP’s Patiala zone consisting of 138 branches spread over three districts of Sangrur, Patiala and Fatehgarh Sahib. He said majority of the cases belonged to agriculture sector. Mr Sasidharan said about Rs 50 crore was yet to be recovered under the NPA in the Patiala zone. He said the bank had fixed a target to procure 25 per cent of this amount in this financial year while about Rs 6 crore had already been recovered by the bank authorities so far under the one time settlement scheme. |
Microsoft selects Satyam, Mastek MUMBAI, Jan 11 (UNI) — Microsoft Corporation India Pvt Ltd today announced that Satyam and Mastek are the two software houses selected from India to develop solutions jointly with Microsoft under the Net gain program. .Net gain is a worldwide initiative launched by Microsoft Corporation to partner with enterprises to develop next generation applications on the .Net platform. The Net gain programme has over 50 participating companies worldwide which were selected based on the capability, strength and size of the proposed application for development. According to a Microsoft release, as part of the programme, Satyam and Mastek will develop solutions based on the Microsoft .Net framework and using Microsoft’s upcoming developer tool, visual studio.Net. To assist them in application development, Microsoft will offer access to latest tools and technologies on. Net, and invite development teams from Satyam and Mastek to attend summits and visit labs at Microsoft Corporation, Redmond. A dedicated architectural adviser from Microsoft Redmond will work with the Microsoft India team, the customer development team and the selected partners to determine the vision/scope of the project, assist in architectural design of the solution and conduct design reviews on an ongoing basis. R Systems
gets Intel Capital investment NEW DELHI, Jan 11 — R Systems International, a global provider of IT professional services, strategic outsourcing and turnkey project solutions for mid-size and new economy businesses, today announced that it had received an investment from Intel Capital. The investment will help R Systems fund the development of solutions for independent software vendors Internet service providers (ISPs) and application service providers (ASPs) based on IntelÆs IA-32 and IA-64 bit architecture. R Systems will also use the funds to establish four IA-64 (Itanium’c) competency centres. R Systems is a global information technology services company specialising in meeting the needs of customers in five application Segments: mobility, e-government, e-reach Services (B2C), e-connect Services (B2B) and software development services. The company offers on-site consulting and customised software development for its customers. Intel Capital invests in companies that accelerate the Internet economy’s growth. Netexchange unveils internetrupee CHENNAI, Jan 11 (PTI) — Netexchange Infotech Pvt Ltd, the Chennai based e-infrastructure service provider has come out with their latest product, Internetrupee, a web-based personal management tool meant for the common man. The product equips the user to plan and deploy his finances in a meticulous and scientific manner, Mr Thomas Zachariah, CEO of the company, told newsmen after the product’s launch in the city last night. “The uniqueness of the product lies in the fact that at one shot the user can get reminders on his bills and loans dues and plan his finance vis-a-vis payments or receipts due from other parties” he said adding that Internetrupee also enables the user to get his portfolio of stocks updated online in addition to downloading and reconciling bank statements instantaneously. The company was in negotiations with major banks like HDFC and Global Trust and also with various financial institutions and ISPs to jointly market the product which was priced at Rs 1999, Mr Arun Umapathy, Vice-President, marketing, said. It was also planned to bring out an ASP model of Internetrupee in a few months, he said adding that the ASP model would be totally integrated with banking and financial institutions providing the customer the freedom to access all his updated financial information from anywhere in the world and also complete his transactions. Website on Australian immigration on Jan
13 CHANDIGARH, Jan 11 — A website on Australian Education and Immigration is in the offing and is being launched on January 13. India’s leading Education and Immigration consultancy firm Oceanic Consultants Private Limited is launching the website containing the information on various aspect of Australian Education and Immigration. This firm already had offices in Chandigarh and Delhi and plans to open its Amritsar office in February. Mr Naresh Gulati, Managing Director of Oceanic Consultants Private Limited, said no business in today’s world could flourish without the use of Information Technology and Internet being the information super highway can really prove to be a boon for the business. According to Mr Gulati, the website www.OceanicConsultants.com would contain the valuable information on Australian Education and Immigration. |
Held for Net child porn LONDON: Seven British members of a global child pornography ring named, Wonderland, face prison after pleading guilty to their roles in the distribution of 750,000 obscene pictures on the Internet. They were among more than 100 men arrested in 107 coordinated raids across three continents in the largest international police operation mounted against any crime. In the wake of the inquiry, the British Home Office is increasing the penalty for the distribution of child pornography to a maximum of 10 years in prison. The sentence faced by the seven Britons is the maximum now in force, however, three years. Police forces around the world have been asked to trace the child victims, many of whom were under five. So far, only three have been found. The case has highlighted the scale of the international child sex industry and, although “Operation Cathedral” is regarded as a stunning success, it has also revealed the weakness of international law enforcement. Three countries — Canada, Denmark and the Netherlands — failed to join in the planned arrests. Authorities in those countries, which pulled out the evening before the joint raids, claimed they had not enough time to organise themselves. Several states in the USA also originally missed their targets because they lacked local laws to prohibit the possession of child pornography, according to law enforcement sources. — The Guardian Wrong ‘Muhurat’ for Oxford NEW DELHI: A spelling mistake in a Hindi word has robbed the online version of the 60 kg, 23-volume Oxford English Dictionary (OED) of an “auspicious beginning” in India. The dictionary spelled the new Indian entry “Muhurat”, meaning an auspicious beginning, especially of a film, as “mahurat”. “Having come across the original spelling, it is possible that in future we may change the entry to “muhurat”, “OED Chief Editor John Simpson said. The mistake also illustrates how flexible the dictionary on computer can be, he said in an interview during his tour of the country to introduce the online OED. The OED, considered as the most comprehensive authority in English, is entering many foreign words, including those from India, under its huge revision programme costing $ 55 million. In its revision of the M alphabet, the OED Editors included “muhurat” after consulting its Indian consultant, who is a professor at the University of Hyderabad, and its Indian etymology consultant in London. Mr Simpson said if the mistake had occurred in the printed version, it would have remained there for a long time. “It is one of the problems of editing the dictionary at Oxford. We were not on site in India to know that “muhurat” was the old form,” he added.
— UNI |
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Reckitt & Colman found guilty by MRTPC Hinduja Fin net grows 38 pc Grasim EGM to spin off software division Kuwait Petro in talks with Birlas |
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Essar Cell HCL Tech Infosys Tech VIA Tech IOC turnover Website on graft Spic Prize distribution |
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