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April 18, 2001, Chandigarh, India   
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Software export growth cut to
Sinha: banks’ VRS not compulsory Govt steps to curb
bank scams: Nitish
Helping honeymooners |
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Hero IT centre for
Chandigarh Intel forced to cut Pentium 4 prices Loans for farm
produce Canada offers grain handling
expertise USA to penalise Indian steel
imports Maran rules out ban
on Chinese imports ‘Reliance Petro is diverting funds’
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Software export growth cut to 40-45 pc
New Delhi, April 17 “The software exports growth rate for 2001-02 will be between 40 to 45 per cent, to translate into $ 8.5-9 billion mainly due to slowdown in US economy. The export target was earlier estimated at $ 9.5 billion,” Phiroz Vandrevala, Chairman of Nasscom, told reporters. Taking a stand that the revised projection itself was higher than the CAGR of 35 per cent required to achieve the export target of $ 50 billion in 2008 as estimated by McKinsey, Vandrevala said a focus of the industry on markets other than the US as well as a picking up of the US economy later in the year, could help the industry achieve its projected targets for the year. Vandrevala said India’s software exports in 2000-01 are estimated to have crossed Rs 28,500 crore ($ 6.2 billion), a jump of over 55 per cent over the $ 4 billion achieved in the previous year. Software exports revenues have grown by 66 per cent in rupee terms and by 55 per cent in terms of dollar revenues. Nasscom would release the compiled figures for the software performance of 2000-01 next month, he added. Vandrevala, who sought to allay fears of a significant impact of US economic slowdown on the Indian IT industry, said that industry would see a significant growth in the share of other markets (Europe and Japan) to the overall software exports. He pointed out that the fourth quarter of 2000-01 had seen the largest addition of new customers despite the ongoing slowdown. He said that the IT enabled services which contributed six to eight per cent of the estimated software export of $ 6.2 billion in 2001-02, was expected to witness a significant growth this year. Nasscom, he said, was also putting in place a contingency plan for minimising the impact of US slowdown on Indian IT industry for which it has initiated talks with American Infotech Asociations, Nasdaq and NYSE amongst others. Arun Kumar, Vice Chairman, Nasscom, said the Nasscom-McKinsey report has estimated that the Indian software industry will achieve $ 50 billion exports in 2008. “The industry will undoubtedly achieve that goal and possibly even exceed it by logging in growth rates of around 40-50 per cent,” he added. Nasscom head
Amid speculation in various sections of the industry, Nasscom today announced formation of a committee for selecting a head to replace Dewang Mehta who died of a heart attack in Sydney last week. “The Nasscom Executive Council which met here on Sunday has constituted a committee for selecting a head for the association,” Phiroz Vandrevala, Chairman of Nasscom, said here. While pointing out that no specific time-frame had been fixed for filling the post left vacant by Mehta’s demise, he said that the comittee was expected to give its initial inputs during the next meeting of executive council in the third week of May.
PTI
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Sinha: banks’ VRS not compulsory New Delhi, April 17 Responding to concerns raised by some members during the Question Hour that the VRS had virtually become a compulsory retirement scheme (CRS) in banks leading to their non-functioning and imminent closure, Mr Sinha said the VRS of banks was not a hasty, knee-jerk action but a well-thought out plan to improve overall efficiency. The government had
appointed a committee headed by the Chairman of banks association which worked out a plan of action. “Every bank today has a manpower plan and the VRS will fall under the jurisdiction of the bank concerned”, he said. Leader of the Opposition Manmohan Singh said there was a general feeling in the country that the whole business of downsizing was only an exercise of retrenchment. What was needed, he stressed, was to shift the emphasis to overall improvement of the system of governance. The Finance Minister explained that the Expenditure Reforms Commission had adopted a holistic approach while making recommendations for improving functioning of the various
ministries. Wherever personnel are declared surplus they will be brought to the surplus pool and considered either for re-employment or
VRS.
Govt steps to curb
bank scams: Nitish New Delhi, April 17 “We have taken the issue in all seriousness. In some cases their boards have been dissolved and administrators appointed”, he told newspersons on sidelines of the 52nd General Council Meeting of the National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) here. A committee has been
constituted by the Central Registrar to prepare a revival package for the Madhavpura Mercantile Cooperative Bank
(MCB), which was the most affected in the scam. The committee is expected to submit its report shortly. Agriculture Secretary J N L Srivastava said the Finance
Ministry and the RBI were also examining various options to address the matter. Regulators and authorities were looking into systemic improvements that may be required in these banks to prevent such scams, sources in the cooperative sector said, adding that lending of money in stock markets would not be permitted. Earlier speaking at the General Council Meeting of NCDC, the Agriculture Minister said for the second successive year irregular monsoon has resulted in low agricultural growth. “It is extremely important in this context that adequate infrastructure, particularly in the area of irrigation is built up and maintained”, he said. The Minister supported the request of the
NCDC to avail funds under the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) which is at present available to Nabard. Referring to the challenge of competitiveness, particularly in the context of WTO Agreement on Agriculture (AoA), the Minister said cooperatives can play a catalytic role in agricultural
diversification and modernisation practices to increase productivity. With their inherent transaction cost advantages cooperatives are ideal institutions for cashing in on the moment, the Minister said. In this context he also mentioned that the scheme for setting up agri-clinics and agri-business centres for
agricultural graduates was expected to be launched shortly. |
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New Delhi, April 17 Nearly 50 marriage portals addressing concerns of the Indian community have emerged on the web providing to suitors an unlimited reach unmatched by the largest selling papers, says Rohit Tandon, Director, jeevansaathi.Com. Mihir creates website
First he was killed. Then a public outcry followed and then he was alive, albeit with a memory loss...the saga of TV actor Amar Upadhyay alias “Mihir Virani” of “Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi” fame has now culminated in the creation of a website “Mihiramarhai.com” With a token investment of Rs 2 lakh, the dedicated website is the brainchild of the actor himself and Cybersahibs, a digital arm of Reflections, a city-based film production house. “The outstanding popularity of my character Mihir, has thrust upon me an additional responsibility”, Amar told PTI in Mumbai today. Mayoor Shah of Cybersahibs said the domain name Mihiramarhai.com had been primarily created to take Mihir’s character closer to his fans. The idea was to reach out to masses through the Internet and reliving the viewers’ interest value in any particular character or individual, he said adding that the company was planning to create websites with similar popular characters like that of Mihir’s. Amar said he was surprised by the popularity of the character he plays and it was “heart warming” to witness mass hysteria at the sudden demise of “Mihir’s” character in the serial. Mihir was “killed” according to the script on February 8, but after a sympathy wave for his widow “Tulsi” and demands of bringing Mihir back in her life, producer Ekta Kapoor cast life into a dead Mihir on March 21 last.
Pepsi, Yahoo portal
Pepsi and Yahoo today launched a co-branded portal “www.pepsizone.yahoo.co.In” targeted at the fun-loving youth. Announcing the alliance the Executive Director (Marketing) of Pepsi Foods Limited, Ms Vibha Rishi, said that Pepsi has always been a catalyst for fun and excitement for the youth of today. Now we have tied up with Yahoo! India to bring the coolest youth portal. This will soon be the most happening site for the youth primarily because it has what the youth wants. PTI, UNI
Hero IT centre for
Chandigarh New Delhi, April 17 "This initiative is designed to provide complete spectrum of skill sets for organisations and individuals in emerging knowledge-based industries like IT-enabled services," said Mr Sunil Kant Munjal, Managing Director of Hero Corporate Services. The learning centres will be set up in Chandigarh, Gurgaon and New Delhi, he said, adding that about 100 centres across the country will be set up in the next two years. According to a Nasscom study by the year 2008, the IT-enabled service industry will be worth $17 billion generating over a million jobs in the country. The students, in a batch of 25, will be provided world class, comprehensive and fast paced training to professionals to meet the needs of the industry. The Hero group has tied up with two US-based companies, Ordinate Corporation and DynEd International. These companies are global leaders in technology based language testing and training. "Our focus will not only be on equipping individuals with the requisite skill set for acquiring jobs but also the all round development of professionals," said Ms Madhulika Tripathi, President of Hero Mindmine.
Intel forced to cut Pentium 4 prices New York, April 17 Shares in the California-based company were down 5 per cent to $ 26.62 yesterday morning after a leading analyst issued a profits downgrade because of slowing demand. Intel’s shares have fallen from a 52-week high of $ 75 last September. Prices of Intel’s powerful Pentium 4 chips were cut by up to 19 per cent yesterday as part of its attempt to stimulate demand. Several Wall Street analysts believe that yesterday’s cuts-part of a monthly pricing review — will be followed by even more drastic changes before the month ends. Dan Niles, an analyst at Lehman Brothers, is among those who believe that prices for various Pentium 4 models could be cut by up to 60 per cent. The changes are expected to spark a bitter price war in the semiconductor market, which has been hit hard by the sharp downturn in demand for hi-tech products. Analysts fear the price cuts will harm margins and fail to stimulate sufficient demand to compensate for the downturn. Ashok Kumar, an analyst at US Bancorp Piper Jaffray, said: “It’s going to have a catastrophic impact on gross margins.’’ Intel regularly cuts prices to avoid stock build-ups as new products come on to the market. But a 60 per cent cut in a month would be the sharpest for years at Intel, which controls more than 80 per cent of the world’s microprocessor market.
The Guardian
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Loans for farm
produce Chandigarh, April 17 Nabard has sanctioned a scheme to provide short-term credit to the state co-operative banks and the Central co-operative banks for financing marketing of crops. Under the scheme the grower will be able to avail loan after harvesting from the banks and hold on the produce so as to get a remunerative price in future. Advances will be given against pledge of agricultural produce of cultivator which is kept in a godown . An interest of 8.5 per cent will be charged. In the recent past, disastrous situations due to glut was witnessed. Under such circumstances, the farmer is forced to virtually throw away the produce, said Mr A Ramanathan, Chief General Manager of the bank. The scheme will enable the farmers to store the produce and sell out in a phased manner and also get a better price in the market. The loan will be distributed through societies or directly through state co-operative banks or DCCBs in the region. As per the scheme loan will not exceed 75 per cent of the actual produce pledged subject to a maximum limit of Rs 1 lakh per cultivator. The value of the actual produce pledged will be determined on the basis of the prevailing market rate or the government announced procurement price, whichever is lower. The period of credit will be up to six months on merits, said Mr Ramanathan. Banks may ensure that the loans for marketing of crops against the pledge of agricultural produce are sanctioned before or during the marketing season and kept operative only during the marketing season of crops for which these are sanctioned. Stating that there will be no possibility of hoarding due to the scheme, Mr Ramanathan said the finance will be available only to the growers, not for traders . According to the scheme, the interest rate can be revised by Nabard from time to time. At the bank level, considering the reduction in interest rate, the banks may fix reasonable rates, keeping in view the guidelines of RBI in this regard. In case of the produce taken over from a grower by processing cum marketing society, this quantity should not be less than 75 per cent of the total produce processed in the year.
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Canada offers grain handling expertise New Delhi, April 17 “Our team is on both a fact-finding and investment finalising mission to India, and based on our discussions with the Indian government and foodgrain handling organisations we should be able to come out with something concrete shortly,” Mr Douglas E Campbell, President of Campbell Agri-Business Strategists, a Canadian company, told PTI. He said a consortium had been formed which included specialists in all arenas of grain handling and it was in a position to offer state-of-the-art facilities in every step from storage, cleaning, sorting, transportation to distribution. Elaborating on the plans for India, Cambell said initially Canada intended to set up pilot projects on 10-20 sites across the country and then, based on the experiences of both sides, to further expand in the sector. “Depending on the demand of the state governments we would be in a position to set up a grain handling system in either the producing state or the deficit area or both,” he added. He said the consortium was also ready to do locational analysis for the states before setting up the systems adding that it had undertaken similar work and projects in the USA, China and West Asia. These containers will be pest-proof and would at once serve as both storage points and transport carriers with movement possible by both rail-cars and road, Campbell said. An additional advantage of these single stop sealed containers was that there would be no tampering or pilferage of grains from the point of origin to the end point. As for cleaning, it was generally at the origin before loading but the issue ultimately depended on the economies of scale which varied from place to place. The container costs also varied on the same count, he added. Campbell said the consortium had not arrived at an investment figure for India and that they would hinge on the assessments which were currently on and the response from the Indian side. He said after the Indian government’s decision to permit privatisation of storage, the consortium had been in touch with the Food and Consumer Affairs Minsitry in order to build up a close working relationship for grain-infrastructure. It aimed at exposing India’s agro-food and horticulture sectors to new technologies from Canada, and in the process minimise losses at different levels, from procurement to distribution, he added. Setting up cold-chain networks was also among its plans to reduce Indian food wastage, he said.
PTI
USA to penalise Indian steel
imports Washington, April 17 The US Commerce Department made this preliminary determination yesterday and said the import of subsidised steel from India, Indonesia, South Africa and Thailand hurt the domestic industry. The final decision, however, requires affirmative determinations from the department and the US International Trade Commission (USITC) that the imports injured or threatened the US steel industry. The final Commerce Department’s determination is expected by July 9. The department has also provided the alleged subsidy rates of the Indian companies — Steel Authority of India — 17.95 per cent; Essar Steel — 9.08 per cent; Ispat Industries 32.05 per cent; Tata Iron and Steel Co — 8.08 per cent; Jindal Iron and Steel 34.27 per cent; all others 15.72 — per cent. It said the imports of these products from India in 2000 amounted to at least $ 194 million. Meanwhile, the USITC has made a preliminary determination to continue a dumping investigation into the US imports of automotive replacement glass windshields from China. The preliminary Commerce determination on the issue is expected by June.
PTI
Maran rules out ban
on Chinese imports New Delhi, April 17 Replying to supplementary questions raised during the Question Hour in the Rajya Sabha, Mr Maran said the government was stringently taking anti-dumping measures brought to its notice against any country, including China. When asked why Chinese imports were not stopped as it was not a WTO member, Mr Maran said “we cannot ban any export from China. It is not possible. We have got a special agreement with them in regard to extending MFN facilities”. The Commerce Minister, however, said India’s exports to China have registered a quantum jump of 63 per cent as against an imports of 35.5 per cent from Beijing. The Minister stated that the anti-dumping mechanism in India was one of the best in the world and pointed out that only seven cases were pending with the anti-dumping authority. He said rice imports to India in value terms stood at Rs11.5 crore during April-December, 2000,as against Rs 24.6 crore worth of imports during the corresponding period of the previous year. |
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‘Reliance Petro is diverting funds’ New Delhi, April 17 Addressing a press conference, where he released photocopies of his correspondence with various government departments, Mr Alvi alleged that RPL had, as of March 1994, diverted Rs 788 crore, but of Rs 934.35 crore collected through a public issue, to “privately owned Ambani family companies for playing on the floors of stock exchanges and for acquiring personal controlling stakes of Ambanis in Reliance Industries Ltd.” A Reliance spokesman described the allegations as a “campaign of disinformation, falsehoods and untruths being conducted at the behest of failed and unsuccessful corporate rivals.” Deutsche Bank said in London on Tuesday it cut its rating on India’s Infosys Technologies to “market perform” from “buy” and cut their 2002 revenue estimate to $527 million from $593 and their 2003 revenue forecast to $683 million from $868. Rational Software, the e-development company, has introduced Rational Test RealTime, a new product to automate testing of embedded, real-time and distributed applications. In addition, Rational has introduced Rational Quality Architect for RealTime, which, along with Rational Rose RealTime, Rational Test RealTime, Rational ClearQuest, Rational ClearCase, Rational Unified Process and Rational RequisitePro, provides the software industry’s most comprehensive development, design and test automation solution for developers of embedded and distributed real-time systems. Compudyne Winfosystems, has achieved a revenue of Rs 2625.73 lakh for the year ended March 31, 2001, as against the previous year’s turnover of Rs 643.48 lakh registering a growth of 308 per cent. The net profit for the year increased to Rs 647.76 lakh as against Rs 193.02 lakhs for the corresponding previous year registering a growth of 236 per cent. E-Commerce/e-business contributed 50 per cent of the total revenue and the remaining 50 per cent came from multimedia activities. Ashok Leyland has received orders for 2,932 buses, worth Rs 3.1 billion, following Supreme Court orders in March that buses would have to start running on cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) fuel instead of diesel by September-end to combat rising pollution. “We have a total order for 1,702 buses from the private sector and 1,230 from the DTC,” Mr Amol Sandil, Executive Director (marketing) at Ashok Leyland was quoted as saying on Tuesday. According to him, the company had also won orders to convert 180 existing diesel buses to CNG. Till March end, it had already delivered 271 buses to the private sector and 610 to the
DTC. TNS, Agencies
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Cisco to cut 8,500 jobs Glaxo pins hopes on asthma drug Vitesse Q2 revenue drops Winstar filing for bankruptcy Philips to make loss |
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NRI’s deposits Whirlpool Amtek centre Milton Thermo RailTel Corpn |
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