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Friday,
April 27, 2001, Chandigarh, India  
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India will sustain growth: IMF
Ad war: Times drags Express to court
Three firms licensed to make simputer
‘PFC has failed to implement
RBI guidelines’ |
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Goenka is new CII President Hindalco net goes up 11 per
cent Aptech net up 35
pc EIL to diversify into IT
sector CORPORATE
NEWS Digital India’s profit shoots
up
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India will sustain growth: IMF
Washington, April 26 Although the US economy, which had slowed down, may be headed for “a deeper and more prolonged downturn” and Japan’s growth is projected to fall to 0.6 per cent, “activity in China and India is expected to remain relatively well sustained, providing an important source of stability,” it said. About the Indian Budget, the IMF said it “included welcome signs that the commitment to structural reform has been reinvigorated, and proposed fiscal responsibility legislation also signals an encouraging willingness to take the steps necessary to achieve medium term fiscal consolidation.” GDP in India slowed to 6.4 per cent in 2000 against 6.6 the previous year, it said, owing to a second consecutive year of below average monsoon and a weakening of industrial output. Overall activity is expected to slow further to about 5.6 per cent in 2001 as a rebound in agricultural production is offset by continued sluggishness in manufacturing and the effect of the devastating earthquake in Gujarat. Inflation too increased sharply in 2000 and early 2001 but “this appears to have mainly reflected the effects of adjustments in administered fuel prices, and price pressures have recently begun to ease.” The central challenge to India’s policymakers, says the IMF, “remains to sustain — and improve upon — the economy’s strong growth during the 1990s to support meaningful poverty reduction. This will require major structural reforms that improve the environment for private investment and a substantial reduction in the overall public sector deficit which — at 10-11 per cent of GDP — consumed one-half of overall gross domestic saving in 2000/01.” Despite India’s heavy reliance on imported oil, says the IMF, the impact of higher world prices on the current account deficit has been largely offset by buoyant exports and sluggish non-oil imports. The weakness of the rupee and the downward pressure on international reserves that emerged in 2000 have eased, aided by higher remittances from expatriate Indians, and the Reserve Bank of India was able to lower its bank rate in February and March 2001. The Government’s 2001/02 budget, says the IMF, suggests that the fiscal deficit may remain high, especially once privatisation receipts are excluded from the calculations and taking into account the possibility that activity may be slower than expected. China’s growth meanwhile, is expected to slow down from 8 per cent in 2000 to 7 per cent in 2001 and pick up to 7.1 per cent in 2002, and India’s from 6.4 per cent in 2000 to 5.6 per cent in 2001 but pick up to 6.1 in 2002. The US plunge is drastic — from 5 per cent in 2000 to 1.5 in 2001, picking up to 2.4 in 2002, according to current projections.
PTI
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Ad war: Times drags Express to court
New Delhi, April 26 The slugfest began last week when The Times moved the Bombay High Court against an Express advertisement of April 12 that claimed a higher readership for itself compared to The Times in Pune, Maharashtra. It was published to counter a Times’ advertisement a day earlier. Quoting the Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC), The Times claimed a circulation of nearly 1,20,000 in Pune as opposed to Express’ 1,03,000. Express, however, quoted the National Readership Survey to count its readers at 1,83,000 against The Times’ 1,00,000. While The Times took a dig at its rival saying “there’s nothing left to express”, the Express advertisement put out a sketch of a toilet paper roll and said: “Figures show people in Pune don’t buy The Times of India to read it.” “It is really a question of taste,” Dileep Padgaonkar, a Director with The Times’ publisher Bennett Coleman told IANS. He said the Times advertisement had a “strong punch line” but it didn’t cross the limits. “The judge will now have to decide the limits of competitive advertising.” Express Editor-in-Chief Shekhar Gupta retorted: “One should not say anything because the matter is in court. But competitive advertising is par for the course.” While there is little hope that the Times’ suit would be decided soon, given the slow pace of litigation in India, the newspaper has been granted an injunction in its favor by the judge who barred the Express from running the campaign again until the case was decided. Many in both camps see the suit as a reaction to the Express’s bid to take on the Times when it announced a tie-up last month with two other leading newspapers, The Hindustan Times and Mid-Day, to offer common advertising packages. Representatives of the three newspapers announced in March that their tie-up would offer 66 per cent readership over the “competition” at half the rates. The Hindustan Times’ Executive President Rajan Kohli had admitted that competition meant only The Times of India group. Though Express lags far behind The Times in New Delhi and Mumbai, its tie-up would offer advertisers a combined readership of 3.57 million as opposed to The Times’ 2.15 million, according to the Indian Readership Survey 2000. “We can take on each if they fight us alone. But the three of them together, especially with The Hindustan Times in that alliance... it could become very, very competitive in North India at least,” a Times House manager admitted.
IANS
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Three firms licensed to make simputer
Bangalore, April 26 Developed by a group of scientists at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) here, Simputer, expected to cost less than Rs 9,000, has a unique feature of offering text to speech capability in local languages that would enable its usage even by illiterates. The facility is now available for Hindi, Kannada, Tamil and other languages. Simputer, derived from the words simple and computer, is between a palmtop and a computer and is much more than a personal digital assistant, according to Prof Vijay Chandra, a trustee of the Simputer Trust, which holds the intellectual property rights of the device. The trust had licenced simputer to three companies - Picopeta Simputer, Encore Software and VSL Instruments for commercial exploitation under a general licencing system. Simputer will make computers accessible to all and its developers plan to provide broad intellectual freedom to the individuals concerned in an infrastructure in which academic and industry participants could develop it. Prof Chandra said the rich connectivity provided by the machine sets it apart from other computing devices. The device could send and receive voice mails and e-mails. It uses a linux operating system. The head of the Simputer Technical team, Swami Manohar, said that the device would be sturdy and long lasting and available like transistors. Any licencee who makes innovations, could utilise it for making profits for a year, but subsequently the derivative work would have to be handed over to the trust. “The enquiries of committed demand we have received is phenomenal. I would not be surprised if one million pieces are produced within 12 months. Don’t look surprised, we still are, yes, one million is the committed demand,” Encore CEO Deshpande said. “An international developmental agency is already in touch with us and there are others interested in buying it,” Deshpande said. “Manufacturing should begin in three or four months. We have received a number of enquiries, including one from a global major.” But what surprised the creators are the applications that can be used on the Simputer. “The kind of applications some of the companies have spoken about are really mind boggling,” Deshpande said. “One company wants to load an accounting software whose cost would not exceed Rs 15,000.” In villages, for example, a smart card will enable an entire community to share the Simputer, which can help the farmer find out the price of vegetables, do micro-banking, book rail tickets and even receive money orders.
UNI, IANS
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‘PFC has failed to implement
RBI guidelines’ Bathinda, April 26 The association representatives alleged that Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had issued an order to PFC to implement the RBI guidelines for the settlement of cases of NPAs but the PFC management had failed to implement the same. Mr K.S. Saini, President and Mr B.S. Ahluwalia, General Secretary of the association in a press note issued here today pointed out that though the percentage of NPAs was very high and alarming, its management had not implemented the RBI guidelines so far. For this reason, the NPAs had been pilling up on the old terms and conditions. They alleged that PFC management had adopted their own guidelines under the garb of RBI guidelines and had been cheating and misguiding the loanees. They pointed out that though Mr Badal orders for the implementation of RBI guidelines for dealing NPAs cases on January 24, 2001, the PFC management started introducing same in the first week of March 2001 despite the fact that expiry of RBI guidelines was on March 31, 2001. They alleged that PFC management settled some of the cases of NPAs voluntarily and arbitrarily on the fabricated and manipulated fake accounts to the loanees and their copies were never supplied to same persons till March 31, 2001. They further alleged that a section of officials of PFC who had amassed huge wealth disproportionate to their known sources of income had been creating hurdle in the smooth function of PFC and trying to sabotage the settlements of NPAs. They said that a memorandum to Punjab Law Minister, Mr Chiranji Lal Garg had been submitted to make arrangements for carrying out a probe in the assets created by these officials. They pointed out that about 80 per cent of industry set up in Punjab had been eliminated by the same section of officials by misusing Section 29 of State Financial Corporation Act 1951 which related to locking, unlocking and relocking of the running industrial units. They claimed that Mr Garg had assured them the RBI guidelines would be implemented and problems of loanees of PFC would be solved shortly.
New Delhi, April 26 Goenka is currently a member of the Prime Minister’s Council on Trade and Industry and is also on the board of governors of IIT, Kharagpur, and International Management Institute, New Delhi. Goenka, (40) is the youngest President of the CII and among other firsts to his credit, is that he was the youngest ever President of the Indian Chamber of Commerce in 1990-91 and has also been past chairman of the
CII (Eastern Region) in 1994-95. Soota, who was named the Electronics Man of 1992 by Elcina, had served as a member of the Prime Minister’s task force for development of IT industry. Soota, an engineer and
MBS from the Asian Institute of Management, Philippines, took over as President of Wipro Infotech in 1984 and led the company’s information technology business which has a turnover of Rs 15 billion today. In 1999, he co-founded Mind Tree Consulting with nine other professionals to provide high-quality solutions with lower total cost of ownership to its clients. Mr Soota has held important positions in the it sector including President of the Manufacturers’ Association for Information Technology (MAIT), Chairman,
CII National Committee for Electronics and Information Technology. PTI, UNI |
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Hindalco net goes up 11 per cent New Delhi, April 26 The company’s Board of Directors also recommended dividend of Rs 12 per share, amounting to Rs 89.356 crore outgo against Rs 59.57 crore in the previous fiscal, a Hindlaco statement said here. Hindalco borrowed Rs 250 crore “for general corporate purposes” during the year under review by issuing secured, redeemable, non-convertible debentures of face value Rs 100 crore at 10.75 per cent and Rs 150 crore at 11.22 per cent. It also announced “brownfield expansion” in Renukoot as part of its growth strategy, and said it will enhance smelter capacity by one lakh tonnes per annum (TPA) and the alumina refining capacity by 2.1 lakh TPA, besides a matching increase in captive power generating capacity. “Additionally, Hindalco has embarked upon a structured profit improvement exercise. On its completion, in a two-year time phase, Hindalco expects to achieve annualised saving if Rs 40 crore”. Brushing aside the effects of falling aluminium consumption especially in the US market, the company has predicted an “extremely promising” future for itself in the next fiscal. CADBURY NET UP 18 PC: Cadbury India has recorded a 18 per cent rise in net profit at Rs 12.39 crore for the first quarter ending March 31, 2001 as against Rs 10.5 crore in the corresponding period last year. Net sales were higher at Rs 149.91 crore during this period as against Rs 139.34 crore last fiscal despite sluggish market conditions. The company grew both in domestic and exports market. While the domestic market volume growth was 7 per cent, including an army order for 723 tonnes, in exports the growth was 41 per cent. Indian Rayon to buy back 15 pc equity: Indian Rayon today announced a share buyback scheme for 15 per cent of the outstanding equity at a maximum price of Rs 95 per share while declaring a 19 per cent increase in net profit at Rs 96 crore on Rs 1,416 crore turnover for 12 months ended March 31, 2001. At a meeting of its Board of Directors, the company also declared a 30 per cent dividend. Sales turnover rose 32 per cent to Rs 1,416 crore against Rs 1,072 crore in 1999-2000. “In the interests of shareholders, the board also considered a proposal to buy back shares as a way to return its surplus cash to them.” “There are limited growth opportunities available to meet the company’s hurdle rate of return on
investment, given the extremely difficult market environment. The board therefore felt that share buy-back would be the most tax-efficient way to return surplus to shareholders,” a company statement said.
PTI
APTECH LTD, the global information technology major, has reported 35.17 per cent jump in its net profit at Rs 2.72 crore during the first quarter ended March 2001 as compared to Rs 2.01 crore of the corresponding period of the previous year. The audited financial results, which were taken on record at the board meeting today, shows that the total global revenues shot up by 21.40 per cent to Rs 104.28 crore from Rs 85.89 crore of the previous corresponding
period. Income from Indian operations is Rs 66.98 crore and other income is Rs 2.73 crore. According to a company release, the global training business has grown by 18.55 per cent over the same quarter last year, and now has a network of 2245 centres in 42 countries. On the domestic front, there has been significant growth achieved by Arena Multimedia, which has grown over 100 per cent. Arena Multimedia has now 218 centres in the country.
UNI |
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EIL to diversify into IT
sector New Delhi, April 26 “EIL has established 10 strategic
business units (SBU) for each of the selected areas of generating and executing business”, the Chairman and Managing Director of the company, Mr Keshav Saran, told newspersons here today. “The major objective of creating separate SBUs is to quickly diversify into the indentified new business areas as
perceived to be offering business potential with a view to having greater business for the
company and higher manpower utilisation which will lead the company into new era of rapid
growth and profitability”, he said. The areas identified include highways and bridges, IT, airports, mass rapid transport systems, ports and terminal, power projects, non-conventional sources energy sources, special materials and maintenance services, intelligent buildings and related works. “Most of these areas belong to the infrastructure sector needing fresh investment in new projects as well as in expanding the existing facilities”, Mr Saran said. During the last fiscal year the company has registered turnover Rs 787.3 crore - up by 28 per cent than the previous year.
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Digital India’s profit shoots up Digital India, a globally
focused software development and services company, has announced a 110 per cent increase each in its annual revenues and profit after tax for the financial year ended March 31, 2001. The total revenues shot up to Rs 197.31 crore and profit before tax grew by 95.2 per cent to 62.98 crore, the company said. “We remain confident about the business outlook for the financial year 2002, in our ability to sustain long-term growth and outperform industry growth rates”, Digital India President and CEO Som Mittal said. The board recommended a dividend of Rs 2.50 per share. SIEMENS LTD has reported a 24.31 per cent fall in net profit at Rs 22.72 crore for second quarter ended March 31, 2001, compared to Rs 30.02 crore in the same period of the previous year, despite a rise in net sales. In Q2, the net sales increased by 14.74 per cent at Rs 312.63 crore in the corresponding period of last year. Other income in the reporting quarter also declined to Rs 11.23 crore (Rs 21.85 crore in Q2 of last year). THOMAS
COOK, a leading travel and financial services company, today announced 10 per cent growth in its revenue during the first quarter this year over the corresponding period last year. Thomas Cook (India) CEO and MD Ashwini Kakkar said, “the company has experienced good growth in revenue in the first quarter, and we start to see the pay back from our investments.” Rolta net climbs 43.7 per cent: Rolta India Limited has announced excellent performance and impressive results for the first quarter of the financial year 2001. Total income in the quarter ended March 2001 was Rs 80.22 crore reflecting a growth of 36.70 per cent over Rs 58.70 crore during the corresponding period of the previous year. The cash profit generated by the company during the period was Rs 38.15 crore reflecting an operating margin of 47.56 per cent. The net profit after depreciation was Rs 30.70 crore signifying a growth of 43.70 per cent over Rs 21.36 crore in the same quarter of the year 2000. Earning per share (EPS) on an annualised basis had shown a healthy growth of 29.7 per cent to Rs 19.20 as compared to Rs 14.80 for the last fiscal. The cash earning per share on an annualised basis increased to Rs 24 from Rs 19.80 in the previous year. The company claimed its current order position was quite satisfactory for both domestic and overseas operations. Rolta was ranked 14th amongst the 25 fastest growing companies in India by Business World’s April 2001 edition. To continue its aggressive growth, Rolta is expanding its operations and setting up a subsidiary in Germany to address that market, the release said. WIPRO: Notwithstanding the controversy over its status of being the largest listed Indian IT company, infotech major Wipro today said it would strive to become a $ 5 billion company by 2003. “As part of our vision 2003-04, Wipro would strive to become a $ 5 billion company by 2003. During the period in reference
Wipro would also target to become the top IT company in India and amongst top 10 IT companies globally,” Azim Premji, Chairman of the Wipro group, said at a seminar in Delhi. Wipro would derive more than 30 per cent of its offshore revenues from Europe, and in excess of 10 per cent from Asia Pacific region
UNI, PTI |
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Pak for Iran-India gas pipeline Fujitsu net profit slumps Siemens to cut 6,100 jobs Monsanto Q1 earnings up 1.5 pc British Telecom chief steps down |
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‘Maaza’ next month LIC (NZ) WB, IMF meet CommWorks Corporation Bank Nasscom Hind Lever Kwality Dairy |
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