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April 11, 2001, Chandigarh, India   
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Top names vie for VSNL control
Record sales by Maruti
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CII calls for single labour Act I am no iconoclast:
Birla US slowdown not to hit IT firms: Premji Zydus gets stake in German Remedies Uniform tax regime for North suggested London world’s most expensive city Export cucumber, become
lakhpati Zee picks up 28 pc stake in ABCL CICST to start short-term courses in Sept Globsyn opens three IT training centres
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Top names vie for VSNL control
New Delhi, April 10 Officials of the Tatas, Reliance and Bharati have confirmed making bids. While ministry sources were tight-lipped, VSNL indicated the number of contenders could well touch 10 for the country’s biggest ever privatisation of the New York Stock Exchange listed state firm. All these contenders have submitted their “Expression of Interest” (EoI) to the Inter Ministerial Group through the advisers — SBI Caps and Credit Suisse First Boston. The government is disinvesting 25 per cent of its 52.97 per cent stake in VSNL to a strategic partner along with the transfer of management control. Another 1.97 percent will be sold to VSNL employees. A consortium of Bharti and Singapore Telecommunications Ltd has bid for a controlling stake in VSNL. “A consortium comprising Bharti Televentures and SingTel has put in a bid today,” a senior Bharti official said. Singapore telecom holds a 15 per cent stake in Bharti Televentures. SingTel’s interest in VSNL is merely a follow up of its investments in India. The Tatas have put up the bids through the unlisted Tata Industries Ltd which in turn will remain on the lookout for a consortium partner for running VSNL. Reliance has made a bid in the cash rich VSNL as it adds synergies to the group’s ambitious plans to emerge as the leading telecom player in the country. The group is setting up a Rs 30,000-crore broadband network throughout the country in its attempt to take on the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. Official sources dubbed the response as “satisfactory” but declined to give the names and numbers of the players who have sought to buy 25 per cent stake offered by the government for a strategic partner who would also get the management control in the highly profit making PSU. Consumer durable giants BPL and Videocon, known for their range of branded white goods, have tied up with foreign players to strengthen their claims. When contacted, AV Birla group official Saurav Mishra declined to confirm or deny the participation saying “we are under no obligation to part with information to media.”
UNI, PTI
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Record sales by Maruti Chandigarh, April 10 The region (North II) which includes Punjab, J&K, Himachal Pradesh , part of Haryana and Chandigarh recorded a sales of 6,800 cars in March of which as many as 2,700 cars were sold in the last week itself after the company gave an indication to increase the car prices. And though company officials are tightlipped on the increase in the car prices, sources say that the new prices have already been calculated and an increase of nearly 2-3 per cent is expected by the end of this month. After the cut in the excise duty as proposed in the Budget, MUL had passed on the benefit to the consumers. The plans are now to increase the prices, though they will definitely be lower than the pre-Budget prices, the officials in the company assure. Reportedly, this region where maximum demand comes from Ludhiana followed by Chandigarh and Jalandhar has regained the demand which had fallen last year after imposition of surcharge before the first quarter of year 2000. Of all the eight regions, growth in demand has been the maximum here and the region is second after North I in terms of sales. After MUL had stated that an increase in the prices is on the cards, the sales figures shot up. "We recorded an all-time high during last week of March when the sale of as many as 674 cars was recorded on Friday", says Mr Vikram Mehtani, Regional Manager. He says several factors like Navratras, closing of the financial year (to avail depreciation benefits), general increase witnessed after Holi and an indication by the company to increase the prices had collectively resulted in an overall spurt in the demand. While Maruti 800 and Omni still continue to hold 60 per cent of the total sales, demand for Zen has also witnessed a sharp increase. Zen, Alto and WagonR have more than 50 per cent of the market share in segment-B, say the company officials. Of this Zen's share is nearly 50 per cent, Alto's nearly 33 per cent and remaining of WagonR. The region had nearly 40 per cent share in the total sales for the first quarter of this year. MUL had , reportedly, started a scheme for dealers in which 25 dealers who recorded maximum growth in sales (Omni and Maruti 800) from the country were to be awarded . Of the total 25, as many as 11 dealers from this region qualified. All three dealers in Chandigarh (growth 25-35 per cent) qualified and were sent on a foreign trip. While March witnessed an exceptional increase in the demand which the company officials say was the maximum in last 18 years, the demand for April is back to normal. "Though April usually witnesses very less demand, we expect it to be higher than last year", said Mr
Mehtani.
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CII calls for single labour Act Chandigarh, April 10 Against the backdrop of issues relating to WTO, Chinese & South East Asian imports, infrastructure, economies of scale, transaction costs, cost of capital and regulatory and environmental impediments, Mr Saboo said that labour laws will have to be made more flexible if Indian Industry has to become more competitive. The existing Labour Laws act as a severe detriment to employment generation. Going by the extremely low employment growth rate, it is quite evident that Industry would
rather spend on procuring automated machines than recruiting medium and low cost labour. CII suggested a plethora of amendments to labour legislation with regard to the Industrial Disputes Act, the Contract Labour Act the Trade Unions Act and the Factories Act. The other members of the CII team were Mr K. Sachdev, President & CEO, Gates India Pvt Ltd; Mr D.L. Sharma, President & Executive Director, Mahavir Spinning Mills; Mr Aditya Sheel, General Manager, Escorts; Mr Jorawar Singh, HR Chief, Drish Shoes and Ms Madhu Pillai, Deputy Director, CII (Northern Region).
Unified safety law
Highlighting problems of multiplicity of safety laws, Mr Ashok Huria of the National Safety Council North Zone, made a forceful plea for a unified safety law before the Commission, which was here to solicit views of professionals on the subject. Mr Huria’s team included Dr Naresh Kumar, Vice-President Mr V.N. Das, Director Ranbaxy and Dr S.K. Sharma of Panjab University.
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I am no iconoclast:
Birla New Delhi, April 10 “Of course I was apprehensive. But I also had faith in myself that the things would work out well, faith in what my father had taught me and my own education..,” says Birla of the early days when he stepped into his father’s shoes and took pains to explain and convince people about his ways. “I wasn’t trying to be an iconoclast but I did things differently because at that moment I felt that they were right for the organisation... “It was very difficult because people needed to be explained and we spent a lot of time communicating to people around that,” Birla says in an interview to Karan Thapar for
BBC’s ‘Face to Face’ programme to be telecast tomorrow at 10.00 pm
IST. Kumar Mangalam, calls himself an “introvert” who shared a very close relationship with his father Aditya Birla. Unassuming but “proud, which is very important,” Birla, says work, a small part of it means a sense of duty. But a large part of it is a sense of achievement, fulfilment, a sense of challenge. “We were brought up with this concept of trusteeship. We were trustees of the shareholders... that we did things on behalf of the shareholders,” says Birla when asked how it feels like having money and power at such a young age. “It’s a feeling that has stayed on....one likes to splurge once in a while, but that’s not a lifestyle,” says Birla who pursued simultaneously and successfully a degree in Commerce and Chartered Accountancy. Sharing aloud his personal thoughts and perceptions during the interview, Birla recalls the pain the family went through when his father was diagnosed of cancer and how stoically the senior Birla bore it and at the same time groomed his son to take over the reins of his empire. “It was a difficult phase but he (Aditya Birla) was very brave and that gave us a lot of courage... he actually helped us pull through,” recalls the new Chairman of the Aditya group. Of how his father had discovered during a road show for their Hindalco Company that he was suffering from the same symptoms mentioned in an advertisement that he had read. “He went about his normal routine as if nothing had happened,” reminisces Birla as he recalls the last words of his father that were in a sense his driving force. “Before he slipped into coma, he called us — my mother, sister and myself — and said ‘be brave’, that he had achieved much in his life, that god had given him much more than he had asked for, that he had no regrets... don’t keep looking back.” An advice that kept ringing in them. “All of us needed to move on as he would have liked. A day after his death in Mumbai was his cremation and the morning after I was back at work,” says Birla, recalling his upbringing as a child who was “doted upon but never spoilt.” As Thapar asks him what is important for a businessman — to be successful or good, he diplomatically replies “for me it’s not an either or situation in being good or successful”. “My father, grandfather and great grandfather, who are my role models were good and successful,” says Birla noting he is striving to be both.
PTI |
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US slowdown not to hit IT firms: Premji Kolkata, April 10 “Indian it companies today offer the best solutions and with improvement in us economy, our share of supply there will improve in the next six to nine months,” Premji, after delivering keynote address at
CII's annual session and seminar-cum-exhibition on e-business, told reporters. There will be much accelerated growth after six to nine months and two years from now American companies will source much more from the Indian it companies. On meltdown of Nasdaq and to what extent the high-growth enjoyed by the it companies will slowdown, Premji said, what had happened was that the us market that has flavour of the it companies had really swollen up much more and was reflected on Nasdaq than any other stock exchanges like New York Stock Exchange. “What has happened in the us stock markets where it scrips took a severe beating had to happen,” he said. Indian it companies listed at Nasdaq had suffered and it had virtually nothing to do with the performance of the us economy or the operations of
Indian companies. Premji, however, said China’s attempt to make itself, it savvy might help it emerge as a big threat to the Indian information technology (it) sector in the coming days. Wipro Chairman said the slowdown in the us economy was certainly not restricted to the it sector and one would have to adjust during next one year or so. On mushrooming of websites and their future, Premji said those
serving practical needs of the society will survive and those working on floppy business plans will not succeed. To a query, he said there was a vast opportunity to dispense primary education by discharging teaching and training online. Wipro is taking initiative on primary teaching and found that the biggest draw for a student to school and regular
attendance is availability of community computers. PTI |
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Zydus gets stake in German Remedies Ahmedabad, April 10 Simultaneously, Zydus Cadila, the sixth largest pharmaceutical company in India, has also entered into an agreement with Asta Medica to acquire through a subsidiary perpetual rights to five brands namely Deriphyllin, Paractol, Lidamen, Xipamid and Beta Xipamid (estimated Indian sales of Rs 427 million during year ended March 31, 2001) for a total consideration of Rs 526 million.
Pentamedia Chennai-based Pentamedia Graphics Ltd (PGL) will take up the issue of acquiring 60 per cent stake in Film Roman for $ 15 million at its April 12 board meeting. As considerable time had lapsed since Pentamedia obtained its shareholders’ permission for this deal and also keeping in mind the subsequent development in global stock markets, including Nasdaq and India, the company has decided to refer the matter to the board, PGL said in a communication to BSE.
Castrol India Utkal Investments’ chief Abhishek Dalmia, who recently bought about one lakh shares of Castrol India, today asked SEBI to expedite the open offer for this company at the lower Rs 311.91 per share price to save small investors from any further losses. Dalmia, who holds close to one per cent equity in the company, has written a letter to the SEBI Appellate Tribunal, asking it to direct British major BP Amoco to go ahead with the offer of Rs 311.91, but with an undertaking that the UK major will pay the balance to shareholders in case SEBI decides that the offer price should be Rs 350.
PTI |
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Uniform tax regime for North suggested New Delhi, April 10 Addressing a conference on ‘Competitiveness of Exports from North India: Role of state governments’ organised by the PHDCCI here today, Special Secretary in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry Nipendra Mishra said if the whole of Europe can have a common sales tax policy why cannot it happen in India. Underlining the need for a larger role of state governments in export promotion, Mr. Mishra said there is a need for infrastructure support to the northern states to assure a level playing field as compared to the states situated close to ports. Justifying the removal of QRs, he said it was an economic necessity and QRs had deferred the process of globalisation in India by delaying urgent economic policies. Drawing comparison between India and China, he said 60 per cent of Chinese exports emanated from multi-national corporations. Investment in India is 1/10th of China and more actual FDI in India is only between 18 to 20 per cent of the total approvals. Mr. Sushil Ansal, President, PHDCCI said any policy framework for exports, must keep in mind the competitiveness of the country’s products in order to make Indian exports more competitive in the world market. Mr. K N Memani, Chairman, Foreign Trade & Investment Promotion Committee of PHDCCI said the business of exports in the era of globalization would require an added impetus by the states that would be required to play a more pro-active role. It is now the task of the state governments to help us reach a stage when our exports impart a dynamic impetus to the whole process of development, a paradigm which the economists describe as the export let growth model, Mr Memani said. |
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London world’s most expensive city Kolkata, April 10 Despite a fall in the ranking behind London, Tokyo remains the most expensive location in the Asia Pacific region, according to Cushman & Wakefield’s latest annual report “Business Across the World.” The annual report said effective rents for prime offices in Hongkong surged by 94 per cent in 2000, with occupancy cost averaging $ 1,149 per sqm/year. It said rents in Mumbai have remained stable through most of the year 2000. “Coinciding with increasing occupancy costs in most other metro locations in the world, Mumbai rents have become relatively inexpensive as a consequence.” Occupiers of prime office space in London could now expect to pay an average total occupancy cost (rent, plus property taxes and service charge) of $ 1,455 per sqm/year following rental increase of 32 per cent in 2000, the report observed. Meanwhile, the average prime office occupancy cost in Tokyo is slightly less at $ 1,441 per sqm/year, a 2 per cent decrease from a year ago. “There is still a significant gap between the top three office markets (London, Tokyo and Hongkong) and the remaining cities. In fourth place is San Francisco, the most expensive office location in North America. The average occupancy cost there is 25 per cent and 41 per cent below Hongkong and London, respectively,” the report added.
UNI |
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Export cucumber, become
lakhpati Bangalore, April 10 Gherkin exports which had crossed Rs 140 crore had already made 12 farmers in the country ‘lakhpatis’ in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. India is becoming a large sourcing centre for gherkins for Amora maille of the Unilever Best Foods, Europe Groups. From a mere 1,000 tonnes three years ago, the company’s gherkin imports increased to 5,000 tonnes last year and controlled 50 per cent of the market of gherkins and food dressings. City-based Global Green Company, part of the $ 2 billion Thapar group, is the single largest exporter to Amora. Gherkin exports last financial year touched 10,000 tonnes accounting for 20 per cent of the total Indian exports. Having recently bagged an order for supply of one million jars of gherkins to a major German food retailer, Global Green disbursed Rs 3.25 crore to 5,000 small and marginal growers in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka during the first three months of this calendar year. UNI |
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Zee picks up 28 pc stake in ABCL New Delhi, April 10 While it has taken 28.5 per cent stake in
ABCL, Zee said in a statement here that its stake in B4U is 15 per cent. Stating that
ABCL has “good media assets that are going to give very healthy profits” the statement went on to add that
ABCL is emerging as a “good, content rich company”. On B4U, the network said it has a reasonably good catalogue of film library and that “both these investments are in synergy with our core business”.
PTI |
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CICST to start short-term courses in Sept Chandigarh, April 10 The students who have been selected after completion of their second semester in the Computer Programmer Analyst (CPA) course, will participate in development projects of the companies . "We have been updating the syllabi as per the requirements of the companies to ensure that the students get training as per the industry requirements", said Mr Geoff Dalton, Director of CICST . Evaluation of the students will be done by the company as well as the institute experts. CICST is also planning to introduce other short-term courses from September this year. |
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Globsyn opens three IT training centres Chandigarh, April 10 The inauguration ceremony of the Chandigarh Sector 34 Knowledge Pub was performed by Capt Kanwaljit Singh Punjab Finance Minister. Kolkata-based Globsyn Technologies, which hopes to clock a Rs 26 crore turnover with Rs 4.9 crore profit during the financial year ending June 30, 2001, does not consider the present
market situation ripe for a public issue. Mr Bikram Dasgupta, Chairman & CEO of the company, said Knowledge Pubs would provide three types of IT training — instructor-led, computer-based and web-based — for charges ranging from a minimum of Rs 1,500 to a maximum of Rs 70,000 depending on the course chosen and hours spent. The company, which has partnerships with Microsoft, Smart Force and Sylvan Prometric, also runs a TechnoCampus in the city. |
co
Amazon bounces back London: Online retailer Amazon, the world’s largest e-commerce company, on Monday offered Internet stocks investors a little relief following the recent wave of profit warnings from its rivals by revealing that sales were ahead of expectations and losses lower. Traders took heart from the news, marking Amazon shares up by as much as 40 per cent at one stage and helping a wider stock market rally. In a statement the dot.com bellwether described the reporting period as the “best quarter in our history”, and said losses per share were likely to be around 15 per cent less than predicted due to increased international sales and lower costs. The company is still making heavy losses but its chief executive, Jeff Bezos, said his pledge that Amazon would turn a profit at an operating level this year was unchanged.
The Guardian Reuters may bid for Bridge London, April 10 Lady doctors suicide-prone London: Female doctors in the UK are twice as likely to commit suicide as other women. They take their own lives more often than male colleagues, according to a study by Oxford University’s Department of Psychiatry. It says ways must be found to combat stress and mental health problems among doctors, of whom more than a third are women. More work is also needed to ascertain why doctors in some specialist areas of medicine, such as community health — which includes family planning clinics, immunisation centres and children’s services, anaethestics, psychiatry and general practice — are far more likely to kill themselves than in others. Other research has already demonstrated that doctors are more prone than others to think “suicidal thoughts”.
The Guardian Japan may lower assessment Tokyo, April 10 |
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New Compaq PCs Broadcast Asia Duty on edible oils KBA group HSIDC |
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A new American Airlines jet is towed across an access bridge at the Boeing company's commercial aircraft plant in Everett, Wash.,
on April 4, 2001. American Airlines became the world's largest air carrier and grounded a venerable competitor
on Monday after acquiring the assets of bankrupt Trans World Airlines. The deal, which closes the books on the longest-flying carrier in
US commercial aviation, was completed following a day of legal maneuvering capped by a
Federal Judge's refusal to grant a stay that would have blocked the deal.
— AP/PTI photo
