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| Friday,
January 26, 2001, Chandigarh, India   
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Recast
North-led globalisation: FM Import
tariffs to be cut Zee Tele
net profit higher at Rs 32 cr Ashok Leyland net seen
flat to up 57 pc HFCL net
forecast to rise 234 pc |
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Shorter
flights to Canada and USA Grasim cement unit
for Bathinda
Ministers
to rear cows How not to cure
diabetes Creatine can cause
cancer
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Recast North-led globalisation: FM NEW DELHI, Jan 25 (UNI) — For the first time, India today forcefully called for a “recast” of the globalisation process on the principles of “equal opportunity” to ensure for the poor South greater market access and faster economic growth unhindered by environmental restrictions. The demand was made by the Finance Minister in a hard-hitting speech at the opening plenary session of the World Economic Forum at Davos. Describing as “shocking” the inequalities in the present world order, Mr Sinha made it clear that “to deliver the goods, the globalisation process must be recast around the principles of equal opportunity and just multilateral institutions.” “The view from the South is that the globalisation process is largely controlled by the North and often ends up being a win-lose situation for us,” Mr Sinha said in his address titled “How can globalisation deliver the goods: the view from the South.” “We believe that the globalisation process tends to be quite unfair. For instance, the North protects its markets as and when it pleases; the global environment is under severe pressure from the affluent northern lifestyle; and northern policy makers are constantly fine-tuning their immigration policies to lure our best and brightest away,” the Finance Minister said. Stating that “the citizens of my country and the developing world are no longer willing to tolerate poverty,” Mr Sinha listed three issues which were in favour of the affluent North, hindering economic growth of the poor South. The three issues are: “the North continues to keep many of its markets off-limits for us...The North now insists that the South curb its growth to protect the environment...The North has developed tailored immigration programmes” to lure talent from the south. “The globalisation process is thus simply not fair nor equitable on at least these three dimensions,” Mr Sinha said. To drive home his points, the Finance Minister went on to explain the three issues. Referring to market access, he said the South had taken very many politically unpopular steps to open its markets. Tariffs had come down, entire industries had been sold off or shuttered, and imports had risen steadily. “Nonetheless, the North continues to keep many of its markets off-limits for us. Agricultural commodities, textiles, clothing and pharmaceuticals are some examples.” The aggregate annual subsidy extended to the farming sector in the North was almost twice the amount of agricultural exports from the South. Quotas in the textile sector would not be removed till the end of 2005. Highly specific quality standards restricted pharmaceutical exports from the South, which had substantial comparative advantages in these markets. “If the North had truly opened its markets, our exports would have grown quicker, we would have generated far more jobs, and our overall macroeconomic situation would have been much stronger,” Mr Sinha said. Import tariffs to be cut DAVOS, Jan 25 (PTI) — Import tariffs, already brought down to 35 per cent, will be lowered further
notwithstanding the total dismantling of quantitative restrictions from April 1 this year, Mr Yashwant Sinha said today. “We have lowered our average tariff rate gradually from over 100 per cent to 35 per cent today and will further reduce it in the years to come,” he said at the opening plenary of the World Economic Forum here. Quantative restrictions on imports will be phased out by April 2001. Foreign portfolio investment is now almost entirely open, he said, adding that the foreign direct investment regime has been substantially liberalised over the last few years. |
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Zee Tele net profit higher at Rs 32 cr CONTRARY
to talks about a fall in television rating point of Zee TV, Zee Telefilm has reported an impressive financial performance during the third quarter ended December 31, 2000. It has reported a net profit of Rs 32.1 crore in the quarter ended December 31, 2000 as against Rs 24.8 crore in the same period for the previous year. During the first nine months of the year, Zee achieved consolidated revenues of Rs 716.8 crore, recording a growth of 24 per cent over the corresponding period in fy-2000. Dabur net soars 42 pc Dabur India has recorded a growth of 42.3 per cent in net profit for the quarter ended December 31, 2000. The company clocked a net profit of Rs 21.93 crore for the period up from Rs 15.41 crore for the corresponding period last year. “We have been able to improve our profitability due to improved product mix and efficiencies in the third quarter”, said Mr Ninu Khanna, CEO, Dabur. For the period April to December 2000, Dabur India witnessed an increase of 33.6 per cent in net profit at Rs 51.9 crore while the figure was Rs 38.83 crore for the corresponding period last year. IPCA Lab net falls IPCA Laboratories has reported a fall of 69.53 per cent in net profit at Rs 2.06 crore for the third quarter ended December 2000 compared to Rs 6.76 crore posted in same period of previous year. Indo Gulf net up Indo Gulf Corporation has reported a 29.35 per cent rise in net profit at Rs 70.08 crore in the third quarter ended December 2000 as against Rs 54.18 crore in same period of previous fiscal. ICICI net declines 6.6 pc ICICI, the first Indian company to list on the New York Stock Exchange, on Thursday posted a 6.6 per cent drop in third-quarter profit due to shrinking profit margins on loans. Net profit fell to 2.53 billion rupees ($54.4 million) in October-December, from 2.71 billion rupees a year earlier, even as income from operations rose 10.6 per cent to 4.38 billion rupees. The result was in line with analysts’ expectations for flat to lower profit not exceeding 2.5 billion rupees, barring extraordinary items. Century Textile Century Textiles has reported an increase of Rs 6.88 crore in its net profit during the third quarter ended December 31, 2000 at Rs 8.81 crore as against Rs 1.93 crore recorded during the corresponding period of last year. The company has recorded a net profit of Rs 12.33 crore during the nine month ended December 31, 2000 as against a net loss of Rs 41.28 crore in the corresponding period a year ago. EIH EIH Ltd on Thursday reported a 80 per cent jump in the net profit to Rs 27.74 crore in the third quarter ended December 31, 2000, compared with Rs 15.43 crore profits posted in the same quarter last fiscal.
— Agencies
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Ashok Leyland net seen flat to up 57 pc CHENNAI, Jan 25 (Reuters) — Ashok Leyland is expected to report next Monday profit in the October-December quarter, at worst, remained steady despite a big drop in vehicle sales. And one analyst even expects profit to jump 57 percent from a year earlier due to better operating margins and a tight control on capital costs. Three of four analysts interviewed by Reuters forecast net profit, compared to a year earlier, will be flat to 5 percent higher at Rs 95 million to Rs 100 million ($2.05 million to $2.16 million). A fourth analyst estimated profits will rise 57 percent to Rs 150 million ($3.24 million). "It's a company that has performed admirably in a cyclical downturn and apart from improving manufacturing efficiencies by restructuring, they have also consistently improved capital efficiencies over the past several quarters," said Narendra Nagpal, head of research at brokerage Indosuez W.I. Carr. The company, which also makes buses, reported earlier this month sales plunged 27 percent in December from a year earlier, and by 13.4 percent in the April-December period. |
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HFCL net forecast to rise 234 pc NEW DELHI, Jan 25 (Reuters) — Himachal Futuristic Communications (HFCL) is set to unveil robust growth in third-quarter profit, boosted by a healthy order book and other income, analysts said on Thursday. The telecom goods and services firm, with interests in software and the Internet, announces on Saturday results for the quarter ended December 31. Net profit for the October-December quarter rose 234 percent to 905 million rupees ($19.5 million), from 270.73 million in the year-ago period, according to the average of estimates in a Reuters poll of brokerages. "Including other income, I am expecting a third-quarter net profit of 1.03 billion rupees," Kartik Ramakrishnan, telecoms analyst at Sunidhi Consultancy, told Reuters. "The firm will continue to show the growth momentum seen in the second quarter." Second-quarter net profit leapt 385 percent—to 946.07 million rupees from 194.86 million a year earlier. An analyst at an American brokerage, who declined to be named, said he expected net profit to be in the 800 million to 1.0 billion rupee range. Analysts said they saw the firm's order book as the main driver of profitability. The firm has orders from private firms rolling out telecom and broadband networks and state-run firms stepping up their investment spending. Ramakrishnan said HFCL's order book stood at 14.92 billion rupees at the start of the quarter on October 1. HFCL's business ranges from executing turnkey telecom projects — which accounts for more than half its revenue — to equipment manufacture,
maintenance and software development. Analysts say HFCL's transformation from an equipment manufacturer to a solutions provider has rewarded it with better operating margins. And as in previous quarters, the firm's bottomline was likely to be helped by strong growth in other income from investments. HFCL has huge cash surpluses after Australian media tycoon Kerry Packer bought 10 percent of its equity for 10.39 billion rupees last year. Other income rose sharply to 438.64 million rupees in the second quarter from 15.22 million in the year-earlier period. Starting out as an equipment manufacturer in the late 1980s with the state-run Department of Telecom (DoT) as its major client, HFCL has expanded its client list to include several new private firms investing in telecom and broadband networks. HFCL shares were down 2.74 percent at 1,225 rupees in late morning trading Thursday on the Bombay Stock Exchange. |
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Shorter flights to Canada and USA CHANDIGARH, Jan 25 — The highly advantageous polar routes will now possibly be open to all international aircraft operators on a non-discriminatory basis, while reducing fuel burn and producing considerable economic benefits to the entire civil aviation industry and the flying public. A formal agreement was reached yesterday on the new air route structure over the North Pole at the fourth meeting of the International Civil Aviation Organisations’ (ICAO) Informal Trans-Asia, Siberia-Cross Polar Routes High Level Steering Group (ITASPS) at Paris, the ICAO announced late last night. The decision will benefit India significantly as a substantial migrant population from the country lives in Canada and the USA. The agreement will considerably cut distances on flights linking North America and Europe to Asia and the Pacific Region. This will result in significantly shorter flight times, more convenient flight schedules, environmental benefits due to reduced fuel burn and considerable economic advantages to airlines and the flying public. Canada 3000 has been recently awarded a scheduled licence to provide airline service between Canada and India with plans to begin operation later this year. Canada 3000’s new licence to India brings the total number of destinations served to 95. The airline proposes to fly to India before October this year by using the Polar Route thus minimising the travelling time from Toronto or Vancouver to New Delhi or Mumbai by four to six hours. A number of successful demonstration flights over the North Pole have already confirmed the operational and economical viability of Polar flights to accommodate safely the consistent demand for intercontinental air traffic between the two regions, separated by extreme harsh climactic conditions above the Arctic circle. Considerations included sufficient flexibility to plan different flight paths, day-by-day, and to select optimum prevailing meteorological conditions. A communique by ICAO said that it would continue to closely monitor the progress of implementation and further expansion of the polar route network as required by air traffic demand evolution and to lend assistance wherever necessary. The membership of the steering committee comprised high-level officials from Canada, China, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Japan, Mongolia, Norway, the Russian Federation and the USA at yesterday’s meeting. Meanwhile, the Canada 3000 Airlines, in its endeavour to start showing its presence in India has decided to be a major sponsor of the Terry Fox “Marathon of Hope” Run, to be held on January 28 in Mumbai. The first Terry Fox “Marathon of Hope” took place in 1980 with a simple objective of raising the awareness in all Canadians of the critical need to procure a cure for cancer. The “Marathon of Hope” still continues and is now an event that has gained international recognition. There are 5,000 Terry Fox Run sites and over 339 international run sites in 53 countries. India has been a participant since 1998. |
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Grasim cement unit for Bathinda CHANDIGARH, Jan 25 — Grasim Industries is coming up with one million tonnes cement manufacturing unit near Bathinda. This unit will begin its production before the year-end and will be able to cater to the upcoming demand for cement. This was announced by Mr Davinder Singh, DGM, Marketing, of the company in a press release received here today. To reward dealers for their performance , Grasim Industries organised a mega show and a dealers' meet at Agra on January 21 and 22. As many as 350 dealers from all over Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Chandigarh and Haryana participated in the two-day function at Hotel Jaypee Palace. Dealers were taken for sight-seeing and in the evening entertained by Harbhajan Mann. Later dealers were awarded with trophies and gifts. |
Ministers to rear cows NEW DELHI: The government of Gujarat has decreed that all ministers must rear at least one cow at their official residences to save the animals from a severe drought. "It was decided that leaders of the state should take the lead in saving the lives of cows, only then others will follow," Cow Protection Minister Haren Pandya told Reuters by phone on Thursday. Gujarat, which is ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party, is the only state with a minister in charge of protecting cows, which are considered sacred by Hindus. Thousands of head of cattle died in Gujarat and neighbouring states last year as a second consecutive year of poor monsoon rains brought a severe drought. Pandya said India's second most industrialised state is now facing its worst drought in 100 years and it was the responsibility of the people to save vulnerable animals. "We have also appealed to the people to feed stray animals before taking meals," he said, adding that the government was involving businesses and social organisations in the adoption of stray cows during summer months.
— Reuters
BOSTON: A common treatment for diabetic children whose blood sugar has fallen too low can cause fatal brain swelling, researchers from the University of California at Davis School of Medicine warned in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine. The treatment involves giving the children a sodium bicarbonate injection to youngsters whose blood sugar level is too low, a condition known as diabetic ketoacidosis. In a study of 6,977 medical records spanning 15 years, the UC Davis team led by Dr. Nicole Glaser found that the bicarbonate therapy increases the likelihood that the brain will begin to swell. Although such swelling occurs in only 1 percent of the children suffering from diabetic ketoacidosis, it is fatal in as many as 9 out of 10 youngsters who develop it. Those who survive often suffer permanent brain damage. Such brain swelling, called cerebral edema, is responsible for up to 60 percent of diabetes-related deaths in children. Dr. Nathan Kuppermann, an author of the research, said this is the first study to confirm the suspicion that treatment with bicarbonate —essentially baking soda — can be extremely dangerous.
— Reuters
PARIS: Creatine, a dietary supplement used by many athletes to increase muscle bulk, could lead to cancer, a French government agency said on Wednesday. The French Agency of Medical Security for Food (AFSSA) said in a report published on its Internet site that the use of creatine "constitutes a risk that has not been sufficiently evaluated, particularly in the long term". The report said there is a "potential carcinogenic risk" for users of the product, which is sold over the counter in many countries and is not banned by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). It is often described as a "legal steroid". The AFSSA report quoted epidemiologic studies that showed creatine causing "digestive, muscular and cardiovascular problems". The sale of creatine is banned in France, however, and it is also banned by the French Rugby Union.
— Reuters |
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