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| Friday,
May 25, 2001, Chandigarh, India   
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Bubble burst not end of tech boom: Gates
EU, India agree on timeframe
for WTO anti-dumping ruling AI MD suspended
for fair probe
DoT, DoD cross swords over cash reserves |
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Uganda to raise FDI Dhampur launches
sulphur-less sugar Govt to cut stake
in
Maruti HP sets up liaison office in Delhi Australian firms eye Indian power sector IOC, NTPC sign MoU ‘Boom time ahead for cement board industry’ Indian men buy more clothes than women! Carrier Aircon
outlet in city
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Bubble burst not end of tech boom: Gates
Redmond, Wash, May 24 “This next decade is the big one. This is the decade when your involvement with computing will be pervasive,” Gates told a meeting of about 140 corporate leaders at Microsoft’s fifth CEO Summit yesterday. Although dot-coms never lived up to their unrealistic promises, technology will radically improve how many other companies manage data, customers and partners, Gates said. The next few years will see software and the Internet tie together everything from PCs to handheld computers to new devices like the tablet PC, a folder sized portable computer with a large-screen that can be written on, he said. In line with that bullish message, each CEO received a Compaq Computer Corp. handheld iPaq computer powered by Microsoft Corp.’s Pocket PC platform. But there was a delay of a few minutes in the start of the conference as the devices apparently overwhelmed the wireless network set up to allow attendees to send messages to each other and submit questions to speakers. Ironically, Gates said in his address that the only weak link in deploying new technology and services was high-speed Internet access which was proving too costly to roll out to consumers quickly. “There is no hardware limitation that will affect what you want to do, but there is one exception and that is the cost of broadband communication, primarily to the home,” Gates said. “That is an area where progress continues to be very slow.” Gates said it was optimistic to think that 20 per cent of US homes would have a fast Internet link within four years. “So that’s the one thing holding us back. You wish there would be some breakthrough in that but there won’t be in the next three or four years,” Gates said. Gates said the past year, in which the value of the Nasdaq index was cut in half, high-flying dot-coms were laid low and spending on technology slowed, provided the insight that the so-called “New Economy” had not suspended old economic rules. “Some of the mania about this really changed. I certainly don’t think that the rules of profitability or cycles in the economy have been suspended,” Gates said. “How could a technology that reduces barriers to entry allow the creation of companies whose value is greater than ones that created assets in the real world where you build stores and there are barriers to entry?” Gates said. “That paradox has now been resolved — there was no reason for that to take place.” But Gates said he expected retail sales over the Internet to quadruple in the next five years and put his stamp of approval on online auction house eBay Inc. And retail giant Amazon.com Inc. as examples of Web companies that will survive. “There’s no doubt in my mind that some companies like Ebay and Amazon, that were created partly as part of this Internet excitement, those are companies that are going to be here for the long-run,” Gates said. “In those cases, because you know its a reliable place, you know what to expect from them and they’ve pioneered those businesses, they will be very successful companies.” As for his own business, Gates said software was becoming a tough sell. “Intellectual property has an interesting problem, which is that it lasts forever. Your own installed base is serious competition. You have to do better,” Gates said. Microsoft has seen sales of its core products, the Windows operating system and the Office suite of software, slow down in recent years as sales of new PCs trail off and existing customers find little reason to upgrade. Microsoft is launching new versions of Windows and Office this year and plans to increasingly convert its products into fee-based Web services that provide a steady stream of subscription revenue.
Reuters
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EU, India agree on timeframe
for WTO anti-dumping ruling Brussels, May 24 The two sides have agreed that the European Commission (EC) should implement the recommendations of the WTO dispute settlement panel by that date. The case will affect how EU calculates anti-dumping duties in the future. The case dates back to September 1996 when the EC initiated an anti-dumping investigation into certain imports of cotton-type bed linen from India and some other countries. On June 12, 1997, the EC made its preliminary affirmative determination of dumping, injury and causal link and imposed provisional anti-dumping duties with effect from June 14, 1997. The EC completed its investigation in November and imposed definitive anti-dumping duties with effect from December 5, 1997. Unhappy with the treatment, India moved the WTO and asked for a dispute settlement panel to look into the matter. Three years later, the panel ruled in India’s favor, upholding almost all the claims made by New Delhi about the unfairness of the EC action, specifically the method of “zeroing” used by Europeans to determine the anti-dumping duty. The panel also ruled that the EC had failed to evaluate all the relevant factors having a bearing on the state of the domestic industry. The panel upheld India’s contention that the EC had failed to explore possibilities of constructive remedies before applying anti-dumping duties. It recommended that the EC bring its measure in conformity with its obligations under the Anti-Dumping Agreement. In December 2000, the EC informed the WTO that it intended to appeal the ruling. However, the EC appeals too were overturned in March 2001, and last month the EC admitted it would honor the WTO edict. Following this, India and the EU entered into negotiations to determine a “reasonable period of time” that the EC should be allotted to implement the panel’s rulings. The method of zeroing is considered unfair to exporters being targeted since it leads to a higher dumping margin being imposed on their products. The WTO ruling means the EC cannot use this method for other dumping investigations.
IANS
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AI MD suspended
for fair probe New Delhi, May 24 “Since the presence of these officers — Mascarenhas and P.K. Sinha, Regional Director in office — would impede fair and impartial enquiry/investigation, they have been placed under suspension,” a Civil Aviation Ministry release said adding that the entire matter had been entrusted to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for investigation. The release said that government wanted to present the ‘factual position’ in view of ‘unfounded inferences’ drawn in respect of the
suspension of two officials. Listing out various enquiries by Air-India Vigilance Officer, the Ministry’s own investigation and taking cognisance of the draft CAG report, the release said “it stands prima facie established that Air-India extended undue favours to Welcome Travels over a period of time.” The suspension of the Air-India Managing Director has come at a time when there is a running feud between Mascarenhas and the government over reinstatement of suspended Commercial Director V.K. Verma and proposed privatisation of the airline. Mascarenhas had said yesterday that the government action was “motivated and malafide” and that he would seek legal opinion to challenge the suspension in the court.
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DoT, DoD cross swords over cash reserves
New Delhi, May 24 This has also impeded the progress of disinvestment in the telecom giant. The issue of cash reserves will be discussed at the inter-ministerial group meeting on May 25. While the DoT favours withdrawal of a substantial chunk of the cash reserves, the DoD is against such a move. Withdrawal of cash reserves will lead to lowering of valuation of the telecom giant, sell-off officials said. The DoT, however, wants the cash reserves to be withdrawn on the grounds that after divestment the strategic partner would manage the company. Since he would buy only 25 per cent VSNL shares, he would gain control over the huge amount with just a minority stake. Some interested parties also hold a similar view, that the government should withdraw cash reserves, but for a different reason. Being cash-rich companies themselves, they would not be constrained by lower cash reserves of VSNL in the event of a withdrawal. The withdrawal, at the same time, would lower the interest of the bidders who are not as cash-rich. Further, a withdrawal would also lower the price of VSNL. The prospective bidders for VSNL include Reliance, Tata, Birla, BPL, Videocon-Toshiba and Bharati-SingTel. The DoD, on the other hand, is of the view that a withdrawal would drag VSNL privatisation into an unnecessary
controversy as 30 per cent equity in the telecom giant is held by foreigners by way of GDR.
UNI
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Uganda to raise FDI Chandigarh, May 24 Addressing a Seminar on opportunities for Indo-Ugandan Partnership organised by PHDCCI here today, Mr Amos Lugolobi, Director, Uganda Investment Authority said that the signing of bilateral trade and investment protection agreements with India gives an opportunity to the Indian manufacturers to test market their products prior to launching manufacturing operations in Uganda. Furthermore, they can access the COMESA regional market consisting of 24 African countries with a population of over 300 million people. Talking about the advantages offered by the country to foreign investors, Mr Lugolobi said Uganda boasts of fully liberalised foreign exchange regime with no restrictions on the movement of capital in and out of the country and a freely convertible and stable currency. The country also provides Value Added Tax (VAT) deferral facilities for plant and machinery. Taxes on imports and locally manufactured goods are minimal. Only a uniform corporation tax of 30 per cent is levied which is the lowest in the region. There are no restrictions to 100 per cent foreign ownership of investments and no barriers to remittance of dividends and any other transfers. Uganda is one among the only five countries in the whole of Africa that have no restrictions on capital account transfers, Mr Lugolobi disclosed. Uganda has signed bilateral trade and promotional agreements with UK, Italy, Egypt, China, Germany and Netherlands. Earlier, welcoming the delegates of the seminar Mr Ajay Poddar, Chairman, International Affairs Committee for Africa, Central and West Asia, PHDCCI said that economic relations between India and Uganda are at a low level with India exporting a limited range of goods worth less than Rs 2 billion last year and importing virtually nothing. |
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Dhampur launches
sulphur-less sugar Chandigarh, May 24 In a statement here, Mr Gautam Goel, Director, DSM, said: “After four years of extensive research we have now perfected the technology to produce this sulphurless variety of sugar. Traditionally sulphur is used to bleach sugar, but we do not use sulphur during the production of ‘Dhampure’. Impurities are removed by using imported resins. Elaborating on the company’s marketing plan, Mr Goel said: “DSM is the only company in India exporting sulphurless sugar to the European Union, where they have stringent quality parameters on the import of sugar.” In India, he said, “we plan to begin with the North Indian market — Delhi, Punjab, Haryana and UP. Simultaneously we will target metros such as Mumbai, Kolkata. We hope to generate revenue of Rs 15-20 crore in the first six months from the sale of “Dhampure brand”. The Rs 500 crore turnover company hopes to capture 25 per cent of the 40,000 tonnes branded packaged sugar market in North India. At present the production capacity of this variety is 70,000 tonnes per year. Institutions like Coke products 10,000 tonnes. Further 10,000 tonnes are marked for export and the rest is sold packaged
form.” |
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Govt to cut stake
in
Maruti Kolkata, May 24 Currently, Maruti is planning to embark on an expansion drive to take on competition. “The thinking process is on”, the minister told reporters after speaking at a seminar organised by the Merchants’ Chamber of Commerce here.
Mr Kathiria said the capacity of the existing Gurgaon plant would be enhanced so that more new models could be launched to take on competition in order to retain the number one slot. Asked whether funding for expansion would be partly financed by the government, Mr Kathiria said the entire financing would be done by the other promoter. “The government will not infuse any money,” he said. With the other promoter bringing in more funds, the proportion of government stakeholding would automatically get reduced, he said. The minister clarified that reduction in government stakeholding would not come about by selling its stake.
PTI |
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HP sets up liaison office in Delhi Shimla, May 24 The Industries Minister said an officer in the Directorate of Industries had been entrusted with the work of a nodal officer for the purpose. Provisional registration was granted to the units on the spot and applications for the allotment of industrial plots were being accepted there. All kinds of information with regard to setting up the industrial units was provided to the entrepreneurs in the Liaison Office, he added. Mr Kishori Lal said interaction meetings were also being arranged at Delhi from time to time. There had been a good response to these meetings and a number of industrialists had attended these, he claimed. He said more than 300 parties have visited the Liaison Office regarding setting up of their projects in Himachal Pradesh. Many of them have visited industrial sites at Parwanoo, Baddi, Kala Amb, Paonta, Tahliwala, Amb, Sansarpur, Terrace and Dalihara. In most cases, provisional registration has been done. Around 50 units have already come to Himachal
Pradesh.
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Australian firms eye Indian power sector New Delhi, May 24 This was announced at the end of two-day meeting of India-Australia Joint Working Group on Mines and Energy, here. “Our companies plan to invest $ 3 billion in the energy sector over the next few years”, Tim
Mckey, Head of the Australian delegation told reporters here. The projects under consideration include the setting up of a LNG terminal on the east coast by BHP of Australia and an integrated complex to import LNG at Gopalpur by Australia LNG. On the mining front Mckey announced that Australian firms were interested in investing in development of science and technology for cleaning up mines. Indian delegation headed by Aruna
Bagchee, Joint Secretary (Mines) briefed the Australian counterparts about the recent changes in the investment policies aimed at attracting foreign direct investment. The meeting also discussed possibilities of cooperation in other areas like non conventional energy sources.
PTI |
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IOC, NTPC sign MoU New Delhi, May 24 The MoU was signed by the IOC Chairman, Mr M.A. Pathan and his counterpart in
NTPC, Mr C.P. Jain. As part of the MoU, IOC and NTPC would form a joint venture to set up
petro-fuel based power plants utilising refinery residue, naphtha, or other petroleum products as fuel in the basis of feasibility studies to be carried out. Indian Oil’s entry into the power sector is part of its initiatives towards integration and
globalisation. One of the power projects under implementation based on petroleum coke is the Panipat power plant. Indian Oil has incorporated a joint venture company under the name of IndianOil Panipat Power Consortium Ltd. In addition, Indian Oil is also examining the feasibility of mega power projects based on alternate
fuels. |
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‘Boom time ahead for
cement board industry’ New Delhi, May 24 “The industry is in its formative stages now. However, the Supreme Court’s directive, moves by the states like Himachal Pradesh and increasing environment consciousness would act as an impetus for the growth of this industry in the country,” Mr Manish Sanghi, the Managing Director of Eternit Everest, a subsidiary of Euro 4 billion Etex group of Belgium, told The Tribune. The company, which has 45 per cent market share in this sector in the country, plans to undertake aggressive marketing of its products as it is eco-friendly apart from other advantages of its resistance to termite, fire and extreme climatic conditions. Considering the potential of cement board, the cement major in the country, ACC, has invested 26 per cent stakes in the company, which recorded a turnover of Rs 160 crore in the fiscal ending March this
year. |
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Indian men buy more clothes than women! New Delhi, May 24 A study brought out by leading corporate research agency, KSA-Technopak, in association with Images, points to the evolution of very clear gender lines over the past two decades in the Indian garment market. On all three parameters to measure the trends — shift from traditional to western, from tailor-made to ready-to-wear and from unbranded to branded — men’s wear has shown much stronger and consistent growth as compared to women’s wear. It is interesting to note that the value of Indian women’s wear market is approximately 20 per cent lower than the men’s wear market. The study, which conducts a detailed analysis of the Indian apparel market, observes that currently, there are no national-level brands in most of the women’s wear categories. “While women are used to buying branded garments for men, they don’t have any opportunity to do the same while shopping for themselves and kids. In addition, the argument that women are more value conscious does not hold true as women buy most of men’s clothing and there the branding has been extremely successful,” the study points out. Men’s jeans, shirts, T-shirts and now trousers have spearheaded the whole movement of tailor-made to ready-to-wear. While in the case of women, most of the clothing — be it size, fashion, price or convenience — is still tailor-made, wherever possible. According to the projections made by the study, the total size of the domestic clothing market this fiscal will be in the range of Rs 431 billion where the share of men’s, women’s and kids would be 46 per cent, 37 per cent and 17 per cent, respectively. The branded wear market has shown a substantial growth in recent times ( about 20 per cent per year) and is expected to contribute more than Rs 90 billion to the total sales of clothing wares this fiscal, which is approximately 30 per cent of the total ready-made market, the study says. While the old established brands sales and projections have been growing at about 10 to 40 per cent, the newer brands have the potential of growing anywhere between 30 and 100 per cent, the study projects. The study also projects an overall growth of 26 per cent. While the key 125 brands of the country collectively grow between 35 and 40 per cent, the growth percentage comes down overall due to the negative performance of other hundreds of brands which succumb under the pressures of the changing market
dynamics. |
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Carrier Aircon
outlet in city Chandigarh, May 24 Mr Anil K. Srivastava, MD, Carrier Aircon, while inaugurating the point said the company is manufacturing 1,50,000 ACs annually from its Gurgaon and Daman units. Carrier Aircon has the annual turnover of Rs 4,500 crore and targets Rs 5,000 crore in this fiscal. It has 27 per cent market share in all segments of air-conditioning. Of its 100 per cent sale in north, 60 per cent pertains to Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh, adds Srivastava. Carrier 1.5 ton AC (window) costs between Rs 23,000 and Rs 40,000 and split Rs 35,000 and 70,000. Price wise Carrier products are not cheaper to other brands, admits the
MD.
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cr
Privatisation of telecom may be delayed Hopes high for Firestone recall Australia to give $ 20.5m aid to India
Lufthansa pilots call off strike Internet commerce slump temporary |
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Haryana Agro Canara Bank Zee Telefilms VSNL Webcom Tech |
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