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March 10, 2001, Chandigarh, India   
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Payment delay, but no default yet
WLL won’t hurt cellular operators, says MPs’ panel
Novartis approves merger with Ciba
A bone in Jet Airways veg meal |
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Haryana turns to precision farming Region in for power, water crisis
Edible oil prices to rise
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Payment delay, but no default yet
Kolkata, March 9 News of the shortfall caused the Bombay Stock Exchange’s benchmark index to plunge as much as 5.8 percent on Friday as it prompted concern the payment crisis could point to a wave of major losses at brokerages around the country. That could lead to defaults and widespread credit risk across Indian equity markets. “We are expecting more payments to come. So we will know only on Saturday whether there is actually a payments default,” Datta told the CNBC financial network. “Right now what is happening is a postponement of the pay-in.” Friday was a bank holiday in Calcutta, accounting for the one-day delay in clearing up the outstanding settlement payments, Datta indicated. He also said that the exchange had more than enough reserves to cover the current shortfall. “We have five billion rupees in the settlement guarantee fund, but we are confident we will not be required to touch the settlement guarantee fund,” Datta said. “We are adequately covered otherwise from the brokers own resources,” he added. He named brokers Arihant Exim, Harish Biyani and some firms of broker Dinesh Kumar Singhania as among the people having difficulty in meeting their settlement payments. The President of the Calcutta Stock Exchange also stressed the bourse had adequate funds to tide over a payment shortfall, and expressed confidence the matter will not blow into a big crisis. “There is no crisis. The payment is delayed, but the payment is on,” Kamal Parekh told Reuters in Calcutta. Officials said the bourse had extended the pay-in which usually takes place on Thursdays. Reuters Anand Rathi did it
Mumbai: The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has established that the immediate past President of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), Mr Anand Rathi, had made inquiries with a surveillance officer on the brokers outstanding position in certain select scrips. According to SEBI sources, the transcript of the audio record of the hard disc acquired by the regulatory body from its system revealed that Mr Rathi intended to have certain market related information. However, it was yet to be ascertained whether Mr Rathi had gathered that information from the official and had used it for his personal benefits, sources said. In this
context, sources said that the SEBI had again approached the Union Government to take the legislative measure in demutualisation of the stock exchanges ( transfering the assets from brokers-run governing body to a corporate body) so that the broking houses maintain an arm-length distance from the day-to-day operation of the exchanges. Mr Rathi had yesterday tendered his resignation at the bse board meeting following the media exposure of his
involvement in sharing certain price-sensitive information with brokers. Though Mr Rathi denied the report on his alleged involvement, sebi officials took this seriously in order to establish the possible linkage and understanding between some sebi officials and the broking community. Meanwhile, sebi has enlarged the list of market entities from 14 to 17 which allegedly formed a cartel to hammer down the stock prices on bse on March 2 when the sensitive index had crashed by over 176 points.
UNI
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WLL won’t hurt cellular operators, says MPs’ panel New Delhi, March 9 The Standing Committee on IT, chaired by CPM leader Somnath Chatterjee, which went into the introduction of the WLL system, has told the Government that the interest of the cellular operators should be kept in mind while allowing the introduction of the new system. The Committee, which heard representations from the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) and Association of Basic Telecom Operators, said that while it was important to protect the consumers interest, it was also important a provide-level-playing field to the operators. The cellular operators had contended that the basic service providers were being allowed to provide mobile service without having to pay for a mobile licence. The committee while acknowledging that the WLL systems were capable of being used to provide mobility at a much cheaper rate, said that the Department of Telecommunications should examine carefully the cellular operators’ apprehensions and all other issues that have been or may be raised so that the interest of the consumers can be protected by reasoned decision and in a transparent manner. The cellular operators have claimed that if they were provided the terms and conditions of the basic service providers, then even they would be able to provide mobile services at a much cheaper rate to the consumers. In this context, the committee observed that the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has recommended that revenue share as licence for the cellular operators may be prescribed at 12 per cent of the annual revenue, which would be the same as prescribed for basic service operators in metros and category-A circles. “It may seem that it provides CMSOs (cellular operators) inadequate compensation for loss of market to limited mobility and consequential loss of revenue”. In this respect, the committee recommended that the concerns of the cellular operators like equitable, cost-based and non-discretionary inter-connection access charges etc. should be considered and appropriate decisions taken. The committee felt that as long as the imbalance apprehended in the level playing field could be corrected, provision of limited mobility through WLL may help faster rollout of the network, increase teledensity and greatly benefit the consumers.
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Novartis approves merger with Ciba
New Delhi, March 9 This scheme would be effective from April 1, 2000, on receipt of necessary approvals, Novartis informed the BSE. Shareholders of CCBL would receive one fully paid-up share of Rs 5 of Novartis India for every 50 fully paid-up shares of Rs 10 each of CCBL held by them on the record date as per the valuation report prepared by Bansi Mehta and Co., Chartered Accountants. Following a mutual understanding reached with the joint venture partners, Chung Kun Dang Corp and Keenan Ltd, Novartis has acquired the shares in CCBL thereby increasing its stake from 28.2 per cent to 78.67 per cent, it said. CCBL has continued to be a partner of strategic importance for the company’s anti-TB business and the board has therefore, decided to recommend the merger to its shareholders, Novartis said.
Reckitt & Coleman
The Board of Directors of Reckitt and Coleman of India said today that it has permitted Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) Pranab Barua to purchase 11,250 equity shares of the company from the open market. The permission follows a request by Barua to purchase the shares to enable him to get his entitled 9,000 restricted shares of the holding company, Reckitt Benckiser Plc under the Stock Option Plan, Reckitt and Coleman India informed the BSE. The entitlement was subject to the condition that Barua held 4,500 Reckitt Benckiser shares or alternatively 11,250 equity shares of Reckitt and Coleman of India Ltd. Reckitt and Coleman (now Reckitt Benckiser India) also informed the BSE that the meeting of the company board, which was scheduled for March 15, 2001 to consider the proposal for the recommendation of final dividend for the 52 weeks ended December 31, 2000 has been postponed to March 24, 2001.
Bright Star offer on VST
Bright Star Investments said today it can take either of the two options — withdrawing its open offer or hiking the offer price — in the face of a counter-offer by ITC Ltd to acquire 20 per cent stake in tobacco major VST industries. Spokesman for Bright Star, John Band, told PTI over phone from Mumbai, “technically, two options are open to us. One, that we decide not to increase the offer price and withdraw from the race. Otherwise, we will have to revise the price upwards.” He said both the options were under consideration but no decision has been taken on the issue as yet since Bright Star was in no hurry. “We have till May 9 to decide. There is enough time for that. We will have to evaluate the options closely before taking any decision,” Band said. He said in case the company decided against revising the offer price upwards and withdrawing from the race, it will have to accept any shares tendered under its offer price of Rs 112 per share.
PTI
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A bone in Jet Airways veg meal New Delhi, March 9 The Delhi consumer court ordered domestic airline Jet Airways to pay passenger Bimal Naulakha Rs 10,000 ($215) in damages. Naulakha, eating from a dish labelled vegetarian, had expected a lunch of rice and lentils. Instead, he found himself staring at a bone. Naulakha suffered mental scars over the discovery, the court in its recent ruling said. Jet Airways did not return phone calls on Thursday seeking comment on the case. The court transcript said Jet Airways offered Naulakha a vegetarian meal and a one-way free ticket but he wanted Rs 25,000 to restore his peace of mind. “The complainant was sentimentally disturbed,” the court documents said. The court ordered the airline to pay Rs 10,000 in compensation and Rs 2,500 in costs. Indian consumer court rulings in the past have concerned late arrival of aircraft but cases of consumer redress are very rare and hard fought.
Reuters |
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Haryana
turns to precision farming Karnal, March 9 Precision farming, as it is called in technical nomenclature, has shown sure signs of adoption, even as farmers worry in anticipation of negative implications of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). Zero tillage, Furrow Irrigated Raised Bed System (FRIBS), Rotavators are some of the key methods and terms agriculturists in Karnal are beginning to get acquainted with professional assistance from the Directorate of Wheat Research (DWR), Karnal. “During the current sowing season of wheat, as high as 40,000 hectares of land in Haryana has been cultivated under the zero tillage technology”, Project Director of DWR, Dr S Nagarajan said. Zero Tillage technology involves the use of an equipment for sowing and fertiliser simultaneously without tilling or land preparation as required under the conventional methods of cultivation. “This method saves precious time and also requires less water content. The method has the potential of wide-spread application as sooner or later user charges on water are likely to be levied by the government”, Dr Nagarajan pointed out. “While conventional methods require six to seven hours of field preparation per acre, the zero tilling method consumes less than an hour. Moreover, it saves substantially on fuel”, Avtar Singh Sandhu, an agriculturist in Karnal said. “The method is economical as costs of fuel, labour and interest is saved. It can save around Rs 1700 per hectare required for field preparation”, Dr Nagarajan said. In fact, the Haryana government has shown great responsiveness in encouraging the farmers for adopting the technology, Dr Nagarajan pointed out. The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) started testing the machines and the Haryana government has started promoting it as early as in 1998. As of now, 1,000 machines has been made available by the DWR for use by farmers. |
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Region in for power, water crisis CHANDIGARH The drought conditions in Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Uttaranchal may not be as grave as in Rajasthan, Gujarat,, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. But the north-western region is also heading for acute water and power shortage during the coming months. This will not only hit agriculture and horticulture but also adversely affect industry. Unless the weather gods turn benevolent and bring showers during the remainder of March, the situation may worsen. Although almost the entire area under wheat in Punjab, Haryana and Western Uttar Pradesh is under assured irrigation, rabi production, particularly of coarse grains, will be adversely affected. Water levels in the Bhakra and Pong reservoirs already stand dipped to their lowest in the past two decades. These are nearly 30 feet less than their respective levels of last year. The newly built Thein Dam which was ‘dedicated’ to the nation on March 4 by the Prime Minister Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, has since stopped generating power because of insufficient water in the reservoir. Power generation at Thein had begun in August 2000. But generation was shut down on February 23 as there was not enough water. Generation was, however, started two days before March 4 by conserving water after stopping its release for irrigation. Power generation from the Anandpur Sahib hydel project also stands suspended owing to inadequate water in the channel. The Bhakra and Beas management Board authorities are worried over the poor snowfall in the Satluj and Beas catchment areas. While Pong is fed entirely by rain water, Bhakra reservoir gets its inflows from snowmelt and rain almost in equal ratio. This winter’s dry spell also led to a rare phenomenon of forest fires in Himachal Pradesh and Uttaranchal. Because of high temperatures and reduced atmospheric moisture, there were a number of forest fires in February, a phenomenon usually witnessed in summer. Another unexpected development has been the opening of roads to vehicular traffic in Himachal’s tribal areas of Lahaul and Spiti. For the first time in the history of the Valley, bus services were resumed in the areas in the first week of March because of the absence of snow. The high temperatures, about four degrees celsius above normal, inadequate moisture and humidity, have already started affecting the wheat crop in Punjab. According to Mr Sewa Singh, Director of Agriculture, wheat yield is expected to be affected by around 4 per cent in areas other than the sub-mountainous and rain-fed Kandi areas where the damage is likely to be more. If the present weather conditions continued, the damage might be more as the grain is likely to get shrivelled. Mr Sewa Singh said wheat production target for this year is 155.65 lakh tonnes against last year’s production of 159.65 lakh tonnes. Despite assured irrigation, there is likely to be shortfall in the target if the present weather conditions continue. The area under wheat this year is 33 lakh hectares against last year’s 33.80 lakh hectares. Mr Naseem Ahmed, Financial Commissioner, Agriculture, Haryana, however, said that so far the condition of wheat crop in the state was satisfactory though gram crop had suffered badly because of drought. If weather conditions worsened, the production may be affected. According to him, the area under wheat this year is 23 lakh hectares against last year’s 23.14 lakh hectares and the production target 96 lakh tonnes against last year’s production of 96.42 lakh tonnes. The gram crop had also been hit by the drought. As against the target of 3.60 lakh hectares, the estimated area under gram was only 92,000 hectares against last year’s one lakh hectares. The production target of 3.5 lakh tonnes was likely to witness a shortfall of 2.5 lakh tonnes which, if achieved, however, would be higher than last year’s 58,000 tonnes. Wheat production in Uttar Pradesh is also heading for a setback. The state produced over 250 lakh tonnes of wheat last year. After the carving out of Uttaranchal, the remaining area of Uttar Pradesh accounts for around 130 lakh tonnes of production. But the shortage of irrigation water, despite 70 per cent of the area being under assured irrigation, may affect production this year.
(IPA)
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Edible oil prices to rise Chandigarh, March 9 The manufacturers have decided to shift the burden of increase in import duty on crude oils to the consumer. Fresh stocks with new prices will arrive in the markets by next week. While the impact is going to be the maximum on sunflower oil followed by vegetable ghee, other categories will not be spared either. Import duty on crude palm oil has been increased from 25 per cent to 55 per cent, palm oil general to 75 per cent from 55 per cent, sunflower oil to 75 per cent from 35 per cent and 10 to 40 per cent on other oils. While the prices of sunflower oils will increase by Rs 5 to 7, those of vanaspati ghee will see a Rs 2.5 to Rs 4 increase per litre. Market sources say that the price of Ginny Gold (sunflower) will increase from Rs 42 to Rs 48 a litre and of Gagan Vanaspati ghee from Rs 31 to Rs 34. Sohna ghee, which was earlier available at Rs 425 (15 litre) will now be available at Rs. 455. Prices of cottonseed oil are not expected to increase much. Mr Bharat Bhushan, President, Haryana Solvent Extractors Association says, “The hike in the palm oil duty is likely to improve the market of the indigenous oil, though it may not be substantial. Demand for the sunflower oil will also decline”. The price of crude palm oil (raw material for vanaspati) has increased from Rs 16 to Rs 21 per kg. The other alternative, which the manufacturers have is rice bran oil available for Rs 21 a kg. This might have been considered as an option. However, manufacturers decline the possibility of shifting to the indigenous oil in near future. Mr Himmat Singh, Production Manager of Amrit Banaspati, says, “The processing cost of rice bran oil is almost double as compared to crude palm oil. Due to this, after refining, palm oil will cost us approximately Rs 23,450 (including processing cost) whereas rice bran oil will cost us nearly Rs 24,000 (including processing)”. Industrialists say that recent import duty hike decision has reduced the difference between the crude and the refined palmolein oil from 40 per cent to 10 per cent. This, coupled with a reduced production of Indian oil-seeds crop, has led to readymade demand for the Malaysian palm oil leading to a rise in its prices. There has been a 19.6 per cent fall in the area under oilseeds cultivation and a 16.4 per cent decline in the output. Crude palm oil (CPO) was being imported by the Indian manufacturers at a concessional rate of 25 per cent import duty whereas the duty on RBD palmolien was 65 per cent. |
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Pak bans sugar import from India Islamabad, March 9 Mr Dawood told a news conference on Thursday that the import of sugar from India either by sea or by train would not be allowed. He said letters of credit opened till yesterday on the import of sugar from India would be honoured.
UNI Deadline for Daewoo Seoul, March 9 “If GM fails to explicitly express its intention to acquire Daewoo Motor by (the end of) April, we would consider measures to help it turn itself around on its own,” South Korean Commerce and Industry Minister Shin Kook-Hwan said. The minister said Daewoo could form strategic alliances with other South Korean or foreign carmakers if Daewoo-GM buyout negotiations break down. “I understand another foreign maker other than GM is interested in Daewoo Motor,” he said.
AFP Eat less to cut breast cancer risk London, March 9 A diet high in fruits, vegetables and fibre is recommended to stay fit and healthy. New research from scientists at the Institute of Public Health in Krakow, Poland, shows that diet and energy are linked to concentrations of the hormones oestrogen and progesterone, which play an important role in breast cancer. “The risk of breast cancer may be modified if changes are made in a woman’s lifestyle,” Polish researcher Grazyna Jasienska said in a report in the British Medical Journal. “An increase in physical activity and decrease in caloric intake may lead to lower concentrations of progesterone and oestrogen, resulting in a reduction in breast cancer risk.” Women living in developed countries, where food is plentiful, have a higher risk of breast cancer than women in poor nations. Dr Tim Key, an expert on lifestyle factors said even moderate exercise can reduce breast cancer risk. “Our recommendation to women at present is to be moderately active and avoid becoming obese. Activities such as walking, cycling and gardening may be just as beneficial as more organised sporting activities,” Key said in a statement.
Reuters Economic crisis driving ’em insane Jakarta, March 9 “The number of psychotic people in Jakarta has almost tripled since the crisis,” the Kompas daily quoted Endang W. Dunga, head of the city’s social services office, as saying. “Most of them are in a very bad condition in which they don’t remember where they came from or who their families are. Many even don’t remember their own name,” she said.
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Tax relief Amalgamation Kothari MF Engineer award |
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