B U S I N E S S

Punjab may pay farmers for grain storage
New Delhi, May 28
The Punjab Government is working on a novel plan of solving the foodgrain storage problem by offering incentive to farmers who will store the produce at their own places instead of bringing it to the market just after the harvest.

NCAER projects 6.3-6.8 pc growth 
New Delhi, May 28
The Indian economy is likely to register a GDP growth rate between 6.3 and 6.8 per cent with fiscal deficit hovering around the 5 per cent mark in the fiscal year 2001-02, the country’s premier economic think-tank the National Council for Applied Economic Research (NCAER) said in its latest edition of ‘Review of the Economy’.

Forward trading in sugar on cards
New Delhi, May 28
India’s sugar policy is in keeping with the times where the commodity is available in plenty, Union Food Minister, Mr Shanta Kumar said here today.

Coca-Cola recalls 700,000 bottles
Brussels, May 28
Beverage giant Coca-Cola said it had recalled 700,000 bottles in Belgium of a citrus-flavoured drink called Pomelo after finding that colour and taste had been slightly affected by exposure to light.

Consult website, enjoy the flight
London
If you're reading this in the departures lounge at Mumbai airport, preparing to board an Air India Boeing 747 bound for New York, here is something you probably didn't want to know: your odds of not making it to the other end alive are one in 259,272. 

GIC signs pact with Saudi Arabian firms
New Delhi, May 28
The General Insurance Corporation (GIC) has tied up with a consortium of Saudi Arabian companies for reinsurance while exploring ties with China Re, as part of its strategy to attain Rs 1,000 crore overseas business by March 2002.

Haryana clears IT projects worth 30 cr
Chandigarh, May 28
The Haryana Government has cleared projects worth Rs 30 crore in the information technology (IT) sector.

BSNL gets bids from 13 firms
New Delhi, May 28
BSNL has received bids from 13 Indian companies where Aksh Optifibre Ltd and Tamil Nadu Telecom Ltd have quoted the lowest prices in bids to supply optical fibre.

Escorts plans hospital in Amritsar
Chandigarh, May 28
The Escorts group plans to set up six cardiac care hospitals, besides acquiring a hospital in Amritsar, by 2004 and invest around Rs 700 crore in healthcare business.

CORPORATE NEWS

M&M net falls 54 pc, to pay 55 pc
Mumbai, May 28
Mahindra & Mahindra has reported a sharp decline of 54.24 per cent in the net profit at Rs 120.56 crore for 2000-01 compared to Rs 263.47 crore in 1999-2000. The company has decided to maintain a 55 per cent dividend (same as last year), involving an outgo of Rs 66.97 crore.

• Zee Telefilms to review ADR plans

• IDBI net down 27.03 pc
  

Punjab may pay farmers for grain storage
J. S. Sidhu

New Delhi, May 28
The Punjab Government is working on a novel plan of solving the foodgrain storage problem by offering incentive to farmers who will store the produce at their own places instead of bringing it to the market just after the harvest.

This will help reducing a “sudden and enormous” pressure on the procurement agencies which have to purchase and lift bulk grain stocks within two-three weeks during each crop season. The peak arrivals invariably result in glut in grain mandis of the state.

If the arrival is spread over the longer period, the procurement agencies could also ensure quality of the stocks, says Punjab Food Minister Madan Mohan Mittal.

Mr Mittal points out that the procurement agencies underwent a tremendous pressure during the current season for procuring a record arrival of around 105 lakh tonnes of wheat in the mandis of the state. The arrival peaked during three weeks of April, which also witnessed two spells of rains, rendering stocks containing moisture more than permissible limit of 12 per cent.

According to the plan, the farmers who will bring their produce one month after the harvest, could be paid an additional amount of say Rs 10 per quintal while the government incurs at least Rs 20 on a quintal as storage charge and interest on the cost of the purchased stock.

He says the payment schedule could be worked out easily in the case of both wheat and paddy. But it would certainly help both the government and the farmers. Besides, such dispensation would check malpractice of underhand grain deals causing revenue loss to the state government.

The Food Minister says traditionally, a majority of farmers in the state possess a storage capacity at their houses before the Food Corporation of India and other state agencies began the bulk procurement of grains in 1980s, when the country was deficient in food and the farmers used to store stocks at their houses to sell them later on when prices were appreciated some period after the harvest.

The Centre has already mooted a plan to make arrangement for providing loans to the farmers against the grain stocks on the lines of banks which are advancing loans to traders after pledging their grain stocks. Such arrangement could also help the farmers bring their produce to the mandis just after the harvest.

Mr Mittal says farmers are now bringing their produce directly from their fields to mandis. For instance, he argues, the farmers are aware that wheat now being procured at the Minimum Support Price (MSP) of Rs 610 per quintal by the procurement agencies, would not fetch more even in the lean season since the country is already saddled with mounting foodgrain stocks of 55 million tonnes and market price of wheat is ruling around Rs 590-595 per quintal.

He says the Akali-BJP Government deserves a pat on its back for securing better MSP of wheat for the farmers when the Centre was bent upon lowering it.

The storage problem of Punjab, known as India’s bread basket, is so acute that it is already saddled with ten million tonnes (MT) of old wheat stock, most of which lying in the open, the state procured more than 10.5 MT of fresh wheat by the end of last week.

As many as 20,000 tonnes of new crop are still arriving at the state mandis daily. The procurement of wheat this season is expected to touch 11 MT for which the State Government agencies have to shell out Rs 7,320 crore. Of this, the FCI will share about Rs 1,830 crore as it is expected to procure nearly three million tonnes. Till May 21, the FCI had procured 29,94,438 tonnes of wheat in Punjab.

Mr Mittal chooses not to speak about the slow pace of removal of foodgrain stocks from the state as the state government is quite upset over the accumulation of stocks.

Besides the mounting stocks of wheat, the state is also stocked with about 7 MT FCI rice and 1.4 MT of paddy from the last crop.

In addition to maintaining such a huge foodgrain stock, Punjab has to shell out about Rs 2,000 crore as part of the interest money, including storage charges amounting to Rs 800 crore. But these expenses, including incidental charges, will be reimbursed by the Centre, he adds.

Mr Mittal says his government has submitted another other proposal to the Centre to tackle the storage problem in the state, requesting it to direct to the consuming states to construct additional storage capacities and allow the state agencies to directly dispatch their purchases to the deficient states.

The state government, which has always been upset with the burgeoning stocks of wheat and rice, lodges a perennial protest with the Centre that the FCI lifts its own stocks from the state on priority and leaving the stocks procured by the state agencies rotting there. UNI

NCAER projects 6.3-6.8 pc growth 
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 28
The Indian economy is likely to register a GDP growth rate between 6.3 and 6.8 per cent with fiscal deficit hovering around the 5 per cent mark in the fiscal year 2001-02, the country’s premier economic think-tank the National Council for Applied Economic Research (NCAER) said in its latest edition of ‘Review of the Economy’.

Real GDP, is projected to grow by 6.3 per cent provided agriculture output growth is higher at 3.5 per cent, industrial growth at 7 per cent and services sector grows by 7 per cent, the NCAER projected.

The possibility of the GDP growth rate reaching the level of 6.8 per cent will depend on the government’s ability to invest Rs 5,000 crore out of the targeted disinvestment proceeds of Rs 12,000 crore.

The projections of a higher fiscal deficit of five per cent against the budgeted 4.7 per cent was largely on account of shortfall in revenue collection due to lower tax rates.

NCAER has also projected a higher rate of inflation of 6.1 per cent during the year in of exchange rate depreciation, rise in agricultural price and international price scenario.

On the external trade front, the NCAER said that exports growth was estimated to be lower at 14 per cent while growth in imports would be higher at 13 per cent resulting in a higher trade deficit.

Meanwhile, the Assocham said that infrastructure glitches will continue to mar India’s medium term economic growth prospects.

A comparative analysis undertaken by the chamber per consumption per capita in India was a mere 363 kwh. Though this compares favourably with Pakistan and Sri Lanka, it was far behind other countries in the South and East Asian region.

China consumed almost double the level of India. Moreover, while transmission and distribution losses in India were 18 per cent, that of China were only 0.8 per cent.

Forward trading in sugar on cards
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 28
India’s sugar policy is in keeping with the times where the commodity is available in plenty, Union Food Minister, Mr Shanta Kumar said here today.

India has emerged as the largest producer of sugar in the world today and the controls and regulations were imposed at a time when there was a scarcity of sugar in the country, he told the inaugural session of the three-day International Sugar Council here.

In the changed scenario most of the controls have gone and the only stipulation required is maintenance of radial distance of 15 km between the existing sugar factory and the new sugar factory.

He said the government have decided to introduce forward and futures trading in sugar to facilitate complete decontrol of sugar. Legal formalities are being completed to introduce forward/futures trading in well-organised, professionally managed Exchanges that have national reach.

He said that sugar industry is, in fact, the largest agro-based industry located in rural areas of India. About 40 million people mostly sugarcane farmers and workers are dependent on the sugar industry. Another unique feature of the Indian sugar industry is that about 56 per cent of the sugar production is from the cooperative sector.

Towards by product development emphasis is being given for generation of about 5000 MW of bagasse-based cogeneration of power, and production of ethanol from molasses, he said.

The Chairman of the International Sugar Council, Mr R.D. Kapur said that world sugar production in 2000-2001 has declined to 129.506 MT against 132.786 MT in the preceding sugar season whereas world consumption has increased to 132.783 MT from 129.873 MT. The closing world sugar stocks estimated at 54.386 MT are likely to pressurise the world sugar market prices. World exports are expected to remain stable at 36.465 MT compared to 36.813 MT during the last sugar season and the world prices both of raw sugar and white sugar have generally been bearish but the bearish pressure has been more in case of white sugar.

Mr Kapur said that world consumption of sugar is growing at about 2 per cent per annum on an average. He suggested that ISO should study the demand and consumption of alternative sweetners as there is almost complete lack of data on industrial consumption of sugar.

Coca-Cola recalls 700,000 bottles

Brussels, May 28
Beverage giant Coca-Cola said it had recalled 700,000 bottles in Belgium of a citrus-flavoured drink called Pomelo after finding that colour and taste had been slightly affected by exposure to light.

The 700,000 bottles subject to recall represent about seven percent of total daily sales of all Coca-Cola products in Belgium, he said. The company has not yet calculated the cost of the recall, he said. Reuters

Consult website, enjoy the flight
Oliver Burkeman

London
If you're reading this in the departures lounge at Mumbai airport, preparing to board an Air India Boeing 747 bound for New York, here is something you probably didn't want to know: your odds of not making it to the other end alive are one in 259,272. If you're at London's Heathrow Airport, waiting to take off in an Air Nigeria 737 for Lagos, the equivalent figure is one in 486,002. (If you're in Uzbekistan, planning a short-haul hop to Kyrgyzstan on a battered old Tupalev, don't even ask.)

None of this information has ever been secret, but airlines, understandably, have never chosen to make much of it. So when the London-based website Amigoingdown.com — the source for these fatality statistics, and any others you may wish to check before your summer holiday this year — opened for business, it had no difficulty finding a niche.

Or an audience: the Internet teems with air-disaster sites catering to the voyeuristic impulse, bristling with safety statistics and showcasing crash photographs and videos and morbidly fascinating soundtracks from in-flight recorders. They have names such as crashpages.com, airdisaster.com and airsafety.com, and they pose as public-interest sites providing a service out of a reluctant sense of duty — but they don't do it very convincingly.

Amigoingdown.com, whose figures are ``based on the information that aviation authorities publish'', has developed a special jovial-but-watchful tone for communicating its death statistics.

There are some safety tips, too, but they are not particularly reassuring. ``Try to avoid sitting directly underneath any TV monitors,'' says the site-uncle, ``as heavy turbulence could bring these crashing down. On you.''

We may know that flying is the safest possible way to travel — that the journey to the airport is far more dangerous, and that (true fact) one is more likely to get kicked to death by a donkey than die in a mangled mess of fuselage and in-flight meal trays on a remote mountainside.

But if that were enough to quell the fear, there wouldn't be hundreds of people paying for their long-haul holidays by offering counselling services to the estimated 10 million British people who are afraid to fly.

And it isn't enough, either, to banish the pit-of-the-stomach lurch of seeing life and death in cold statistics. Type random destinations and airlines into Amigoingdown.com and you will be hard pushed to find many routes where the odds of dying are as remote as the odds of winning the national lottery.

There is reassurance in such figures, of course: Airsafe.com provides statistical proof that Quantas does indeed never crash and that nobody has died since 1970 on board airlines operated by Finnair, Sabena, Kuwait Airways, Air Jamaica or Aer Lingus.

One has the impression that Professor Robert Bor does not experience this nauseous sensation. Bor, a psychologist at London Guildhall university who specialises in aviation psychology, says that deep down, all this added information helps.

``People overestimate risks. They tend not to have the information to make sound judgements — for example, they don't realise that a "near miss" can mean planes passing each other up to a mile apart,'' says Professor Bor, in calm, reassuring tones which he may have picked up during his work with airline pilots.

``This is an incredibly safe form of transport, but we tend to treat risk in a way that suits us. The risk of acquiring an additional infection in hospital is incredibly high, but usually we can't choose whether to go to hospital or not. We can choose whether to fly, so we focus on the more emotive aspects. The cold facts can be very reassuring.''

Amigoingdown.com concurs: ``If you took a flight every day, you would travel more than 1,000 years on average before being involved in a fatal accident,'' the site points out. Sit back, relax, enjoy the flight. You never know when it might end.

By arrangement with The Guardian 

GIC signs pact with Saudi Arabian firms

New Delhi, May 28
The General Insurance Corporation (GIC) has tied up with a consortium of Saudi Arabian companies for reinsurance while exploring ties with China Re, as part of its strategy to attain Rs 1,000 crore overseas business by March 2002.

“We have tied up with a consortium of Saudi companies for reinsurance understanding,” GIC Chairman D. Sengupta said here today. He declined to give the names of the companies.

GIC is also holding talks with Asia’s leading reinsurer China Re for a possible tie up. “A team from GIC would hold talks with officials of China Re in June-July,” Sengupta said.

The corporation had entered into ‘friendship treaty’ with Ingostrakh Insurance of Russia last fiscal.

Under the treaty with Ingostrakh, the two companies would offer the first option in reinsurance business to each other, jointly underwrite businesses in other countries and have a mutual understanding in various areas.

The move comes in the wake of government decision to convert into the national reinsurer and handing over general insurance business to its four subsidiaries.

GIC, which reinsures a portion of its policies with companies like Swiss Re, targets over 200 per cent rise in inward (international) reinsurance business to Rs 1,000 crore by March 2002, as against Rs 247 crore last year, Sengupta said.

Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA), which aims to develop the denationalised insurance sector and make India a ‘reinsurance hub’ in Asia region, has allowed foreign reinsurers in India with a maximum 26 per cent equity.

Sengupta declined to give the underwriting losses incurred by the four former subsidiaries as the final figures have not yet come to GIC. PTI

Haryana clears IT projects worth 30 cr

Chandigarh, May 28
The Haryana Government has cleared projects worth Rs 30 crore in the information technology (IT) sector.

Information Technology Secretary and Commissioner, Dharam Vir, who was delivering the key-note address at a seminar on “IT awareness-computer hardware” here today, called upon the departments to finalise their IT plans at the earliest and prepare their own websites.

He said foreign investors and NRIs were now very keen to set up their ventures in the state.

Dharam Vir said the IT revolution would further speed up the system of redress of grievances of the people.

The Vice-President of HCL, Mr Rajiv Asija, said the company had been imparting training to students in the use of computers and various IT applications. He said India was fast emerging as an IT power in the world. 

BSNL gets bids from 13 firms

New Delhi, May 28
BSNL has received bids from 13 Indian companies where Aksh Optifibre Ltd and Tamil Nadu Telecom Ltd have quoted the lowest prices in bids to supply optical fibre.

Aksh’s price of Rs 1,12,060 was the lowest bid for a kilometre of 12-fibre optical cable while Tamil Nadu Telecom’s bid of Rs 1,85,000 a kilometre was the lowest received for 24-fibre cable, according to industry sources.

The bids by BSNL were for the supply of 60,000 km (37,500 miles) of 12-fibre optical cable and 12,000 km (7,500 miles) of 24-fibre optical cable in response to a tender floated in January.

The quoted prices value the total order at Rs 8.943 billion rupees. Aksh and Tamil Nadu Telecom, being the lowest bidders, are expected to receive orders to supply about a quarter of BSNL’s requirements, he said.

The rest of the 12-fibre cable order is expected to be split between three Sterlite group firms and two M.P. Birla group companies — Birla Ericsson Optical Ltd and Vindhya Telelinks Ltd, the official said. BSNL is expected to place orders over the next month, the official said. UNI

Escorts plans hospital in Amritsar
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 28
The Escorts group plans to set up six cardiac care hospitals, besides acquiring a hospital in Amritsar, by 2004 and invest around Rs 700 crore in healthcare business.

The Amritsar project is likely to be finalised in this week, it is learnt. The hospital in Amritsar would have 150-bed facility. All six hospitals will be based on the hub-and spokes model, which is also being followed by other players such Max India, Fortis and the Apollo Hospital group.

The group has earmarked Rs 180 crore for the modernisation of the existing hospitals and for the acquisition of the two new hospitals in Jaipur and Amritsar.

CORPORATE NEWS

M&M net falls 54 pc, to pay 55 pc

Mumbai, May 28
Mahindra & Mahindra has reported a sharp decline of 54.24 per cent in the net profit at Rs 120.56 crore for 2000-01 compared to Rs 263.47 crore in 1999-2000. The company has decided to maintain a 55 per cent dividend (same as last year), involving an outgo of Rs 66.97 crore. The company blamed the industrial slowdown, downward trend in the auto industry, sales tax rationalisation and drought in certain states as the causes for this year’s lower profits. Net sales and income during this period was marginally lower at Rs 3,538.41 crore during 2000-01 as against Rs 3,569.20 crore last fiscal. It said domestic sales of utility vehicles was down at 56,095 as against 69,682 units in the previous year while that of light commercial vehicles was 5,863 as against 6,373 units in the previous year. PTI

Zee Telefilms to review ADR plans

New Delhi, May 28
Zee Telefilms today said it would review plans to go for an ADR issue “at an opportune time”, but these plans were on hold for now. Last year, the company had announced plans to go for a $ 1.5 billion ADR issue to fund expansion and received shareholders’ approval for the same in April, but subsequently scaled this down to $ 200 million. As per the original plan, money raised via the proposed issue was meant to fund Zee’s acquisitions within the media business as well as other related expansion plans. The ADR deferment comes close on the heels of the company announcing its decision to induct a strategic partner, preferably an international media major, so as to obtain “objectives of higher growth in the years ahead”. PTI

IDBI net down 27.03 pc

Mumbai, May 28
Industrial Development Bank of India’s (IDBI) net profit declined by 27.03 per cent at Rs 691 crore for the financial year ended March 31, 2001, compared to Rs 947 crore in the previous fiscal. The board, which met today, has recommended a 45 per cent dividend (Rs 4.50 per share). Total income for the reporting year was also lower at Rs 7,834.80 crore as compared to Rs 7,859.60 crore in 1999-2000. PTI

GLOBAL NEWS

Isuzu to cut jobs by 26 pc
Tokyo, May 28
Isuzu Motors, Japan’s top maker of light trucks, said on Monday it plans to slash its group workforce by 9,700, or 26 per cent, over the next three years in one of Japan’s biggest-ever corporate restructurings. The truck and sport-utility vehicle maker, owned 49 per cent by General Motors Corp, will close its Kawasaki truck plant just west of Tokyo at the end of 2005. Its current workforce is 38,000. It will move Kawasaki plant’s heavy truck production to its Fujisawa plant in Kanagawa prefecture by the end of 2002 and move engine production to Tochigi plant in Tochigi prefecture by the end of 2005. Reuters

US generates $ 3.6 b from e-commerce
Washington, May 28
The US government generated $ 3.6 billion in sales last year from 164 websites, making it the largest player in Internet commerce, according to a study to be released today. The study by Federal Computer Week magazine and the Pew Internet and American Life Project found that Uncle Sam’s e-commerce activity eclipsed the sales of the company regarded as the largest Internet retailer, Amazon.Com, which had $ 2.8 billion in sales last year. AFP

Assocham, China council in pact
Beijing, May 28
Assocham today inked a memorandum of understanding with the China Council for Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) to promote and facilitate joint ventures and economic relations between the two countries. The MoU, signed by Assocham President Raghu Mody currently leading a 16-member business delegation and Vice-Chairman of CCPIT Wan Jiei, stipulates mutual cooperation in formation of JVs and consultancy services, the chamber said in a release here. PTI

Opec oil prices up 90 cents per barrel
Vienna, May 28
The oil cartel Opec reported today that the price of its oil rose by more than 90 cents per barrel last week. The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries Secretariat in Vienna said its oil averaged $ 26.97 per barrel last week, up from $ 26.05 the week before. Opec oil prices have been rising in the wake of the one million barrels per day cut in production, to around 24 million b/d, which took effect April 1. In April, the average price of Opec’s oil was $ 24.38 per barrel. DPA

Chip market may fall 13.5 pc
Tokyo, May 28
The global semiconductor market is likely to shrink 13.5 per cent in 2001 to $176.79 billion because of sluggish demand for PCs and cellphones, the World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS) group said today. The forecast is a sharp downturn from a 36.8 per cent jump the previous year to a record $204.39 billion and would mark the biggest decline in a decade. The WSTS, which represents about 70 chipmakers worldwide, last October predicted 20 per cent growth in the chip market for 2001, but a sudden slowdown in demand for information-technology products late last year has taken its toll. Reuters

BIZ BRIEFS

Sharp Systems
Chandigarh, May 28
Sharp Business Systems (India) today inaugurated an exhibition on the computer hardware and software products here at Hotel Piccadily today. The company has recently launched latest LCD monitors in the country. Exhibited products included Inkjet printers, LCD monitors, PC notebooks, Multifunctional products etc. Sharp Business Systems is a joint venture between Sharp Corporation Japan and Larsen & Toubro. TNS

Bathinda Ref
New Delhi, May 28
Engineering Projects (India) has been awarded site grading and road work contract worth Rs 11 crore from Hindustan Petroleum Corp for Sri Guru Govind Singh Refinery, Bathinda. TNS

Modi Hoover
New Delhi, May 28
Modi Hoover International Ltd has launched its new water purifier brand named “Aquapure” with unique ultra violet technology. UNI

BHEL
New Delhi, May 28
Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) has been awarded the ISO-14001 certification by the Det Norske Veritas (DNV), Norway, for attaining excellence towards protection and continual improvement of the environment and conservation of natural resources. UNI

PNB branch
Chandigarh, May 28
Punjab National Bank shifted its Morinda branch to new premises. Mr J.S. Brar, Additional DC Ropar, performed inauguration of the new premises. Mr P.N. Khurana, General Manager, presided over the function. TNS

Ford India
Chennai, May 28
Ford India has received the ISO 9001 certification in recognition of its process oriented approach to quality management. The award was handed over by Mr Ishan C.S. Palit, MD, TUV Suddeutschland, to Mr Phil Spender, MD Ford India, at the Ford plant. UNI

Amadeus India
New Delhi, May 28
Amadeus India, a global distribution system (GDS) and travel industry technology provider, said today it has received the ISO 9001-2000 quality certification for its business processes. PTI