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| Thursday, January 18, 2001, Chandigarh, India   
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ITC net
profit up by 29.27 pc Hello Mr President ! Virgin now
gives new sleeping experience Private firm exposes HP
power board |
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| Massive
sales tax evasion by yarn buyers CHANDIGARH, Jan 17 — The recent hike in the sales tax rate on hosiery is alleged to have resulted in massive evasion of sales tax in yarn purchased from outside Punjab. It is alleged that the number of yarn dealers in the state resorting to tax evasion by procuring the raw material from outside the state and then selling it here has increased manifold ever since the sale tax structure was revised under the uniform sale tax structure. Sold
twice on Internet Chautala,
Badal to attend SLBC meets Another
Viagra clone New
Pugmarks tie-up
Not even free to live
long A night in a village
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KOLKATA, Jan 17 (PTI) — India’s leading tobacco company ITC limited today announced 29.27 per cent jump in net profit at Rs 216.12 crore during the third quarter ended December, 2000 against Rs 167.19 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. A board meeting considered the third quarter unaudited results and announced a gross income of Rs 2051.23 crore, showing an increase of 10.27 per cent from Rs 2261.92 crore last year, while net income jumped by 15.62 per cent to Rs 1136 crore from a low of Rs 982.56 crore in the third quarter of 1999-2000, company officials said. The officials clarified that the results did not take into account the excise issues disputed by the company. The cumulative net profit during the nine month period of 2000-2001 showed a rise of 25.10 per cent and stood at Rs 709.95 crore against Rs 567.51 crore last fiscal, officials said. Net income during the nine month period increased by 11.59 per cent to Rs 3201.19 crore from Rs 2868.68 crore in the previous fiscal. The company’s expenditure during the third quarter increased by 12.04 per cent to Rs 717.10 crore from Rs 640.02 crore while interest charges were brought down by 9.66 per cent to Rs 25.07 per cent from Rs 27.75 crore. Expenditure during nine-month period showed an increase of 4.91 per cent at Rs 1859.39 crore and interest charges during the period dipped by 21.47 per cent from Rs 91.98 crore to Rs 72.23 crore. ITC’s gross profit during the third quarter showed an impressive growth of 25.11 per cent at Rs 393.83 crore (Rs 314.79 crore) whereas in the nine-month period it showed a growth of 26.40 per cent at Rs 1269.57 crore (Rs 1004.35 crore). After making a provision of Rs 36.54 crore (Rs 31.39 crore) for depreciation profit before taxation during the quarter stood at Rs 357.29 crore against Rs 283.40 crore last year, officials said. Provision for taxation during the quarter increased to Rs 141.17 crore from Rs 116.21 crore while in the nine-month period it increased to Rs 456.19 crore from Rs 349.31 crore last year. Earlier during the day, shareholders of the company approved two proposals of the management relating to issue of shares to management and director level employees under the stock option scheme. As per the scheme, the company will issue up to 5 per cent of its Rs 245.41 crore paid-up equity share capital to its employees. |
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ZURICH, Jan 17 (Reuters) — Got a grumble you want to send to the world’s movers and shakers at the World Economic forum business summit this month? Then get out your mobile phone and blast it in 15-metre (45-foot) green letters on a mountainside overlooking the posh Swiss ski resport of Davos that hosts the meeting. That is a new “Hello Mr President” service being offered this year by
Swiss info, part of the Swiss public broadcasting group, and media producer Johannes Gees. Anyone with a bleat can send it via Short Message System (SMS) on a mobile phone (+41 78 640 6000) or on the Internet (www.hellomrpresident.com or www.swissinfo.org) to swissinfo. “These messages will be projected in giant letters onto the slopes of Mount Bolgen in Davos by a laser beam after being checked by swissinfo’s editorial team,” it said on Wednesday, calling the idea an “interactive happening” and work of art. “It enables people to express their feelings and opinions about the main issues of the meeting of the World Economic Forum,” it said, yoking mobile phones, the Internet, laser beams and the Davos’s winter landscape into a giant sounding board. Messages can be up to 160 characters long. The company will screen out anything pornographic or racist, personal insults, advertising or private communications. The images, which will be visible from most places in Davos, will be captured by a webcam and posted on special Internet site (http://hellomrpresident.com)). The annual business summit from January 25 to 30 will attract some 3,200 participants, including Japan’s Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, Israeli statesman Shimon Peres, Mexican President Vincente Fox and Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica. Anti-globalisation activists have vowed to defy a local ban on demonstrations and stage a protest on January 27 to vent their feelings amid the gathering of political leaders, capitains of industry and non-government organisations. |
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Virgin now gives new sleeping experience CHANDIGARH, Jan 17 — Virgin Atlantic Airways, the second British airline to fly to India, hopes to introduce its third flight on the New Delhi-London sector by the ensuing spring with a hope to make it a daily service by next year. Virgin Atlantic, at present operates on Thursdays and Saturdays, after it entered Indian skies last year following a code share agreement with the country’s national carrier, Air India. Talking to The Tribune, two senior officials of the airline, Ms Patricia and Mr Rajesh Mathur, said that though the airline was keen to increase its frequency to three in October last year, the setting in motion of the privatisation of Air India had delayed the additional flight. “We hope it will come through in April this year,” they said, maintaining that the Virgin Atlantic flight has done fairly well with an average capacity load of 70 per cent. “There is a tremendous potential for growth in this sector,” they said claiming that even “daily flight to London would go full.” Talking about the entry of the United Airlines on the New Delhi-London sector from April this year and of Canada 3000 on the New Delhi-Toronto; New Delhi-Vancouver; Mumbai-Toronto and Mumbai-Vancouver routes from September/October this year, they said that India has so much potential that all international carriers would get sufficient traffic. Virgin Atlantic flies to 123 destinations in the USA but to none in Canada. The polar flights, being introduced by Canada 3000 later this year, they agreed, would not only cut down the travel time but would also make the air travel cheaper. Virgin Atlantic, they said, would be keen to extend its wings to other centres, including Mumbai, Chennai and Calcutta. Though the Chairman of the airline, Mr Richard Branson, is known to give the British national flag flier, British Airways, run for its money, the airline has been unable to give Indian travellers cheaper and economical air traveller. “It is because of our tie-up with Air India which prohibits us from lowering air fares than the country’s own national carrier. But we hope to work out something in the near future,” said Mr Mathur. They held that privatisation of Air India would not affect code sharing flights by Virgin Atlantic. The airline has introduced from January 11 its new upper class. Unlike other international air carriers, Virgin Atlantic does not have a first class or business class but it has Upper Class, Premier Economy and Economy Classes. The upper class is a part of Ł 37 million relaunch to make the airline the most stylish and modern for air travel in the new millennium. The new Upper Class cabin will have among other things an Inflight Beauty Therapy. Though the airline has been unique in running the inflight beauty service for last 10 years, the improved service will provide passengers five new treatments to choose from and a new designated treatment area where therapists can treat each passenger in privacy. Besides, the airline has also improved the inflight sleeping experience by becoming the first airline to offer passengers fleece blankets, full-sized pillows and duvets with new sleepsuits, socks and duvets. The centerpiece of the new upper class is new revolutionary seat whose design uses the latest technology, adopting vibrant colours and craftsmanship to provide unsurpassed levels of comfort and quality. At a function organised here today, senior officials of the airline also demonstrated the new revolutionary seat, inflight beauty therapy and other services made available to passengers of Virgin Atlantic.
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Private firm exposes HP power board SHIMLA, Jan 17 — Encouraged by the impressive performance of Malana Power Company, which is set to complete the 86 MW hydel project in the Manikaran valley ahead of schedule, the Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board is seriously considering to set up subsidiary companies for expeditious execution of medium and large projects. The entry of the private sector in the hydel power sector has exposed the inefficiency of the public sector undertaking which have been executing these projects all these years. In fact, with no accountability and competition time and cost overruns had become a regular feature in hydel projects. The efficient manner in which Malana Power Company has been constructing the project with the cost coming to just around Rs 4 crore per MW, almost 50 per cent less than the projects being executed in the public sector, has forced the board to have an objective review of its own functioning. The issue was discussed at a high-level meeting of the board presided over by Mr Harsh Gupta, Chairman, and it was decided that a draft proposal to set up a subsidiary company for the execution of the 176 MW Kashang project in Kinnaur be prepared so that it could be put up before the government for approval. The main difference in the projects executed by independent power producers and the board is that the former carried out the job by deploying minimum staff and works were entrusted to contractors, says Mr Gupta. Now when the reform process had already taken off and a state electricity regulatory commission has been set up to determine the power tariff, the board has no option but to compete with the private sector. The board, which has vast experienced technical manpower at its command, will evolve its own objective construction model to ensure that projects are executed with bare minimum staff and in a time-bound manner, he explains. The main advantage of setting up a subsidiary, he said, was that it would have all the advantages of the holding company like experienced technical manpower and other resources but would not be saddled with its liabilities and financial constraints. It would have freedom to arrange funds for projects and take instant decisions which was most important for expeditious execution of projects. More importantly it would ensure accountability. Mr Gupta feels that even the National Hydel Power Corporation (NHPC) and the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) should set up subsidiaries to execute hydroelectric projects to avoid cost and time overruns. For the ongoing 9 MW Khauli project the board had decided to centralise the administrative and financial disciplines under the Superintending Engineer at Dharamsala on the pattern of the NHPC. Only skeleton clerical staff will be provided to the field functionaries who, instead of wasting their time and energy in performing administrative and financial functions, fully concentrate on construction works.
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Massive
sales tax evasion by yarn buyers CHANDIGARH, Jan 17 — The recent hike in the sales tax rate on hosiery is alleged to have resulted in massive evasion of sales tax in yarn purchased from outside Punjab. It is alleged that the number of yarn dealers in the state resorting to tax evasion by procuring the raw material from outside the state and then selling it here has increased manifold ever since the sale tax structure was revised under the uniform sale tax structure. Sources in the yarn industry claim that this is the only way that they can net in some profit and thus sustain their business. It is estimated that yarn worth Rs 300 crore to Rs 400 crore is bought from outside Punjab by local dealers and sold in Ludhiana every year. Though sale tax is leviable at the rate of 4.4 per cent at the first stage, sale tax on hardly 5-10 per cent of such sale is paid by the dealers. It is believed that there are a few anomalies in the law which provide for an easy and risk free tax evasion in case of yarn purchased from outside the state of Punjab and sold locally as the sales tax is levied at the first stage only. If the yarn is sold after knitting in the form of knitted fabric, no incidence whatsoever of the sales tax arises at any point as knitted fabric is a tax free item. Thus, by changing the description of the item sold (from yarn toknitted fabric) in the sale bills, the levy of 4.4 per cent is being evaded and around 80 to 90 per cent of tax evasion in case of hosiery yarn is taking place. Also no yarn sale bills are issued to the buyers and bills are allegedly issued in the name of fake companies, which also ensures the safe receipt of goods from outside and get through the transit checks at various sales tax barriers. The sales tax on all kinds of yarn, leviable at the first stage was hiked from 2.2 per cent (2 per cent + surcharge at the rate of 10 per cent of sales tax) to 4.4 per cent ( 4 per cent + cess at the rate of 10 per cent of sale tax) from April 2000 under the uniform sale tax structure. It is alleged that the new rate of sale tax is very steep and is adversely affecting the business of various yarn manufacturing units of the state. It is alleged that the normal profit margins in the yarn trade business have gone down to just 1-1.5 per cent and the tax rate of 4.4 per cent to the tax evaders in yarn trade becomes the added advantage. Thus the dealers evading taxes are able to sell the same products at rates lower than the tax paying dealers and still earn a substantial profit. This has also given
leverage to the tax evaders, who are thus forcing the honest dealers out of business.
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Sold twice on Internet LONDON, Jan 17 (Reuters) — Britain’s Interior Minister Jack Straw, pitching into a bitter transatlantic battle over twins sold twice on the Internet, said the buying and selling of children was “frankly a revolting idea”. A British couple locked in a tug-of-love fight with a Californian couple over six-month-old adopted twins said their next step would be to apply for British citizenship for the contested children. But the Californian couple, reported to have called in the American FBI, fought an angry war of words with the British couple in a live television link-up, saying “They have no right to take those kids off us”. And The Sun, Britain’s best-selling tabloid that first broke the story, said: “This shameless baby auction is treating precious young lives as if they were merely cute puppies picked up off the shelf. It has to stop.” The dramatic saga started when Welsh couple Alan and Judith Kilshaw flew to California after paying an Internet firm Ł 8,200 ($12,070) to adopt the twins. The girls were given up for adoption by their natural mother, Tranda Wecker of St Louis, Missouri. That is what the Kilshaws say they were told. However, the Internet firm Caring Heart Adoption had already sold Wecker’s twins to a California couple, Richard and Vickie Allen, who had paid some $6,000 for them and raised them for two months. But suffering a change of heart, the girl’s natural mother told the Allens she wanted two days to say a final farewell to her twins — and then handed them to the Kilshaws in a San Diego hotel. The British couple, pursued by the Allens, raced across the United States to Arkansas, where adoption laws are more lax. They then flew back to their farmhouse in north Wales with the girls. On Tuesday night, Alan Kilshaw told BBC television: “The next stages is that we need to apply for British citizenship. We fully intend to do that.” As the row escalated in Britain, Home Secretary (Interior Minister) Jack Straw said he was concerned about the circumstances which led to the girls arriving in the country. “It’s a matter of huge concern. I share that concern as a parent as much as a senior minister in this government,” Straw told Channel Four News. “It is illegal, completely illegal in this country for people to buy and sell babies or children and that is entirely as it should be because it is frankly a revolting idea,” he added. “Obviously what happened, happened in other jurisdictions in the United States, but nonetheless we need to look at the circumstances. There is also an issue of immigration control.”
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Chautala, Badal to attend SLBC meets CHANDIGARH, Jan 17— The State Level Bankers Committees (SLBCs) of Haryana and Punjab will conduct their respective meetings on January 18 and 19. While Mr Om Prakash Chautala will be the chief guest at the SLBC Haryana meeting, Mr Parkash Singh Badal will be the chief guest at the meeting of the SLBC, Punjab. Mr S S Kohli, CMD, Punjab National Bank, will preside over both meetings for which PNB is the convener bank. The committees will discuss issues relating to the bankers, RBI, NABARD and the state governments and also review their contribution to the development of their respective states. Top officials including Mr. R S Mann, Chief Secretary, Mr. R I Singh, Principal Secretary to the CM, Mr. K R Lakhanpal, Principal Secretary Finance, Mr. Surinder Kumar, Regional Director, RBI, Mr. A Ramanathan, CGM NABARD, Mr. C Roul Director IF & B and Mr. D S Guru, Director Industries and Commerce will participate in the meeting of the Punjab committee. Those expected to attend the SLBC Haryana meeting will include Mr. Sampat Singh, Finance Minister and Mr L M Goyal, Chief Secretary, stated a PNB press release here today.
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Another Viagra clone NEW DELHI, Jan 17 — The rising demand for viagra has spurred Indian pharmaceutical firms to produce cheaper clones which they claim are as potent as the internationally renowned pill. The latest to join the race after Ranbaxy, Zydus-Cadila Healthcare and Torrent pharmaceuticals is the Rs 500 crore pharmaceutical giant, Sun Pharmaceuticals, which has launched a version of the sildenafil citrate drug called Edegra. Edegra should not be confused with an aphrodisiac as it is a Schedule ‘H’ drug which would be prescribed for patients with erectile dysfunction or what is more commonly known as impotence, the vice-president of the company, Mr Shyamal Ghosh said.
The properties of the drug are similar to that of Viagra and the cost is only Rs 18 for a 50 mg tablet.
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New Pugmarks tie-up CHANDIGARH, Jan 17 — Pugmarks InterWeb Pvt Ltd has entered into a marketing and distribution partnership alliance with Design Expo Network, an Internet software solutions company based in Thane, Maharashtra. Under the partnership, Pugmarks will market customised solutions on products developed by Design Expo in India and the US market. The Design Expo products include web-based email, instant messaging, search engines, e-commerce applications and content management. Pugmarks will offer these products to its clients under the ‘PugmarksDE’ product series, said Mr Atul Gupta, Chairman and Managing Director of the company.
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Not even free to live long NEW DELHI: Only 57 per cent of Indian women are even consulted on decisions about their own healthcare, for most of them life ends at the age of 60 and close to 245 million lack the basic capability to read and write, according to a report commissioned by the United Nations. Findings of the report — “Women in India. How free? How equal?” — may not be radically different from sundry others, but what is more distressing is the growing acceptance of these facts. According to the report, it is startling how few Indian women really have the basic freedom of choice. Millions of them simply lack the freedom to go out of the house to seek health services they need. The findings show that most women are not even free to lead a long life. If a woman is lucky enough to be born in Kerala, she can live up to 75 years. On the other hand, a woman born in Madhya Pradesh has a life expectancy of only 57 years. The life expectancy of Indian women is less than their counterparts in Mongolia, Tajikistan and Vietnam, countries that are economically poorer than India. Countries such as China, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, the USA and even Pakistan have a higher female life expectancy. Those with lower rates than India are Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Haiti, Nepal Nigeria, Niger, Senegal and Rwanda. The report highlights gruesome methods of female infanticide still practised in the country, such as pesticide-laced feed, forcing down grains of poppy seed or rice husk to slit the gullets, stuffing the infant’s mouth with black salt or urea, suffocation with a wet towel or sand, or plain starvation. Nearly 300 women die every day during childbirth or of pregnancy-related causes. One woman dies during childbirth every five minutes. More than 50 percent of married Indian women have anemia, the symptoms of which are dismissed as laziness or imagination. Nearly a third of women in Uttar Pradesh cannot decide what to cook for her family, and less than 50 per cent women in Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh are involved in decisions about their own healthcare. Nearly 90 per cent women in Uttar Pradesh and over 80 per cent in Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana and Andhra Pradesh need permission from male members of the family to visit a friend or relative or go to the market. According to the report, family members punish women for trivial reasons. The provocations can range from a “not so well managed house,” to meals not on time, economic constraints or even bad cooking. Authored by social activists Kalyani Menon Sen and A.K. Shiva Kumar, the report is an independent analysis commissioned by the office of the U.N. Resident Coordinator in India. The data has been gleaned from official government statistics, local surveys and documented evidence.
— IANS |
A night in
a village NEW DELHI: UP ministers are squirming at the BJP’s latest directive to them to go and spend at least a night in a village with no basic toilet facilities as part of its new campaign to identify closely with the deprived rural millions. Entitled “Ek Raat Gaon Niwas” (A night in the village), the campaign will begin on the BJP’s foundation day anniversary, April 6, and conclude in July to coincide with celebrations for the birth centenary of Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, the founder of the Bharatiya Jan Sangh which was the BJP’s earlier political avatar. “We have made it compulsory for each minister and party functionary in Uttar Pradesh to select a most backward village with no electricity or concrete toilets for the overnight stay,” BJP Vice-President Pyarelal Khandelwal, in charge of the party’s Uttar Pradesh wing, said. One minister told IANS: “Having to spend a night and treading a few miles for toilet carrying water would be really embarrassing.”
— IANS
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OPEC to cut output China vows reforms Italian output up Risky business M&As in Japan rise PowerGen soars Dresdner sheds staff — Reuters |
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Cement firms NIRC chapter Andhra Bank 7-day banking Reliance Petro Tata Tech Unichem Lab Timken India |
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