GoM to come out with fertiliser policy
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 31
The Cabinet today set up Group of Ministers (GoM) headed by the Union Finance Minister, Mr Yashwant Sinha, to come out with a fertiliser policy, which would also deal with the revival package of ailing fertilizer units in the country.

Briefing newspersons here Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pramod Mahajan said the GoM would submit its report by June 15.

Other members of the GoM include the minister for Chemicals and Fertiliser, Agriculture, Heavy Industry, Human Resources Development, Petroleum and Natural Gas and the Minister of State for Disinvestment.

He said the Cabinet discussed the financial status of four fertiliser company, which are in need of revival package and decided to set up a GoM to come out with a fertiliser policy.

The government is working on the revival package of Hindustan Fertiliser Corporation, Fertiliser Corporation of India, Project and Development India Limited and Pyrites Phosphate and Chemicals Limited.

The Cabinet accepted the recommendations of GoM for the proposed restructing of RailTel Corporation. The GoM has suggested 51 per cent equity for the Railway Ministry in joint venture with public sector companies of communication and Railway Ministries.

The GoM has been permitted to enter the long distance telephony, internet and other fields of communications. MTNL and BSNL have proposed to take up 26 per cent equity in the company, which has already started its operations.

RailTel was set up to use its vast network in communications to generate additional revenues for the cash starved railways.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs today approved 100 per cent centrally sponsored under NRCP, the proposal of the externally aided Yamuna Action Plan. The project would cost of 222.60 crore.

The project would minimise the pollution of Yamuna particularly the portion falling in Delhi. In Haryana Rs 22.28 crore, Delhi Rs 166.62 crore and Rs 29.65 crore in Uttar Pradesh.

Under the scheme low cost sanitation, community toilets in slums and resettlement colonies would be taken up.

The project would be completed in a period of one year. Yamuna Action Plan will cover 15 towns - six in Haryana, eight in UP and Delhi.

It is being funded by JBIC through a soft loan of 17.77 billion Yen.

The Cabinet today approved the Voluntary Separation Scheme (VSS) to be offered to the employees of Elgin Mills Co Ltd and Cawnpore Textile Ltd for a limited period of one year. It is estimated to cost Rs 71.52 crore.

The wages and salaries for the period August 2000 to June 2001 will be paid to such workers who opt for VSS. The estimated cost for this is Rs 17.38 crore.

Mr Mahajan said the Cabinet also decided that the High Court at Allahabad will be informed that the feasibility of reviving one mill is being examined.

The CCEA today approved the upgradation of ERNET to serve as a nodal network for education and research institutions in the country at a total cost of Rs 196.20 crore.

The financial support of Rs 55 crore will be given from the plan budget of Ministry of Information Technology as grant-in-aid and the balance of Rs 141.20 crore will come from internal generation of the society, he added.

Limited mobility phones from today
Shveta Pathak
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 31
The much-awaited limited mobile phone services by Connect would be available from tomorrow. The company, which had done a test launch in January and due to unavailability of handsets was not issuing new connections, would initially provide services to the already existing subscribers.

To begin with, the services will be launched in Chandigarh to be extended to Punjab after a week or so. With this, Connect would become the first company in the region (Punjab and Chandigarh) to provide (WiLL based) limited mobility phones. The company expects to add atleast 50,000 new subscribers within a year to its list. Connections would be available at new increased rentals. Earlier this month, TRAI had fixed the floor of monthly rental at Rs 450 and a ceiling of Rs 550. It is learnt that Connect has opted to charge Rs 550 as the monthly rental from Will subscribers.

The issue of charging increased rentals is important since BSNL has demanded the floor prices to be removed. At present the subscribers are being charged Rs 250. A two-fold increase, said Mr Kaul, is as per TRAI’s regulations and was required. “For the basic service provider, rentals assume a great importance for their survival especially as the incoming calls would be free and the outgoing calls would also be charged at Rs 1.20 per call unit of three minutes,” said Mr Vijay Kaul, Chief Marketing Officer, Connect.

Connect, which would not involve itself in distribution of the handsets, however, expects these to be available at much lower rates with the increase in competition. “We expect the price of these handsets to come down to say Rs 5,000 or even lower”, said Mr Kaul, adding “we will not accept refurbished sets which several companies are expected to come forward with”. He said at later stages, old sets were likely to be entering the market.

Apart from local calls, the subscribers would also be able to avail the group-dialling facility. In addition, STD and ISD services would also be provided on request. While for the STD services, an additional Rs 3,000 would be charged as security, for an ISD, one will have to pay a total Rs 5,000. 

Ford market share goes up
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 31
Despite a slump in the automobile industry, Ford India has increased its share in the domestic mid-size car market to 25 per cent, apart from pushing up exports.

This was announced by Mr Philip G. Spender, Managing Director, Ford India Ltd, at a press conference here today. This was Mr Spender’s first visit to Chandigarh.

Mr Spender, who took over as Managing Director of Ford India in January, 1999, was in Ludhiana yesterday. He was touring North India to have a “feel of the market”.

Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh together contribute 8 to 10 per cent of the Ford India sales which stood at 3,536 cars in April, 2001, a whopping 122.1 per cent rise over the April 2000 figure of 1,592 units. The Delhi capitol region accounted for the maximum sales of the Ikon.

Mr Spender said the company hopes to sell 24,000 Ikon cars in the domestic market this year. An equal number of cars will be exported to countries like Mexico and South Africa.

Ford Ikon, he said, has emerged as “the most successful brand” in a survey conducted by Indica Research Private Ltd in Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata and Bangalore. Toyota Qualis was at number two and Hyundai Accent at the third position.

Ford India, which had raised the Ikon prices recently, is unlikely to experience any adverse fallout on its sales, hopes Mr Spender. He attributed the price rise to the devaluation of the rupee and increased transportation charges which contributed to higher input costs.

Asked if Ford India had to recall any of its vehicles in India due to any defect as it did recently when certain car tyres were not found up to the mark, Mr Spender said it was the company policy to ensure consumer satisfaction. The company recalled some vehicles in India when a minor fault was noticed. “The Indian consumer has changed from being preoccupied with price to demanding great value. He is very knowledgeable and discerning”.

Asked about Ford Assured launched in New Delhi in February, he said Ford Assured is a partnership between Ford India and its dealerships to buy, recondition and sell used cars of different Indian makes. Encouraged by the success of the initiative, Ford India is in the process of expanding the service nationally.

Estimating a 10-15 per cent growth in the next three years for the Indian automotive industry, Mr Spender predicts that e-commerce will significantly impact business to business transactions.

On his experience at Ford India in the last two years, Mr Spender said, “If you are brave and are prepared to open up a segment, you can write the rules.”

He has an engineering background and has been responsible for developing global manufacturing practices for Ford. He has also been involved in several new car launches, from the planning and development stages to their final launch.

A big racing enthusiast, Spender was a “Formula Ford Racer” and passionate about cars since his childhood. As a young man, he designed, built and raced a Formula Ford Racing Car in the national championship in New Zealand from 1971 to 1975. He prepared a Ford Escort and drove it in the New Zealand International Rally in 1972.

Since joining Ford Motor Company in 1975, Spender has remained a keen follower of motor sport. Before moving to India, he was the Manager at the company’s plant in Australia.

Media lab gets Cabinet's nod
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 31
The Union Cabinet today approved the setting up of Rs 5127.50-crore Media Lab Asia in the country to promote a partnership between the industry and research institutions and develop people-oriented innovative technologies in the digital era.

The project would be a joint effort of the Media Lab at MIT Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the Union Ministry of Information Technology.

In the first phase, it would begin its activities with a budgetary support of Rs 65 crore for a period of one year.

This would be an exploratory stage, subsequent to which, the project would be taken up over a period of 10 years at an estimated cost of Rs 5127.50 crore, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pramod Mahajan told reporters here today.

Media Lab Asia, in combination with the Media Lab, MIT Cambridge, Massachusetts, would raise more than 80 per cent of the total outlay from industrial sponsors and other sources. An amount of Rs 870 crore is estimated to be the requirement of grant-in-aid from the Ministry of Information Technology.

He said the Cabinet also approved the setting up of a non-profit making organisation to implement the project, which would be located in the Mumbai-Pune corridor.

The lab would develop technologies which go beyond the strict disciplinary boundaries.

He said the project was an attempt to facilitate the invention, refinement and deployment of innovations that benefit the masses.

The lab would combine the creativity of Indian entrepreneurship with the technical know-how of seats of learning to grow sustinable and culturally appropriate solutions. Particular challenges include the need to operate in different languages and to support product innovations, using local culture and tradition.

The research clusters would be associated with the existing academic programmes, adding project- based research components and specialised degree curricula.

Each project would serve as a focus for technical innovation and a research laboratory for sponsoring organisations. The motivation for industry would be to develop new products to serve the needs of the people and develop new business lines having high growth.

The lab would work on the consortia model, where each sponsor’s financial contribution is leveraged to develop technologies and shared intellectual property.

It would based on the MIT Media Lab model, which has excelled itself in working with a broad spectrum innovative technologies like electronic paper, three-dimensional printing, intelligent class room, wearable computer and quantum computing, involving human requirements in all their complexity in the design and the development of these technologies and products.

The MIT Media Lab works in inter-disciplinary areas, with 90 per cent of their budget coming from more than 170 worldwide industrial and other sponsors.

Govt appoints 3 IT Chief Commissioners
Pradeep Sharma
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 31
With the appointment of three Chief Commissioners of Income Tax (CCIT) and one Director-General of Income Tax (Investigation) in the North Western Region, the process of restructuring of the Income Tax Department has finally got underway.

Under the restructured regime, the main objective of which is to widen the tax base, Panchkula, Amritsar and Ludhiana will have new CCIT. Besides this, the Director of Income (Investigation) here, Mr C.K. Vohra, has been promoted as the Director General of Income Tax (Investigation) against a newly-created post. Mr J.S. Ahluwalia, CCIT (North Western Region), will, however, continue to exercise overall control over the entire region, sources informed The Tribune.

According to orders issued by Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance in the Government of India, Mr S.C. Grover, currently working as Director Investigation (Exemption), Delhi, will be the new CCIT at Amritsar. Similarly, the Director of Income Tax (Investigation), Ludhiana, Ms Hardeep Kaur, has been promoted and shifted to Panchkula as the CCIT against a vacant post.

Mr Sudhakar Verma, working as Member (Appropriate Authority), Kolkata, will be the new CCIT, Ludhiana, the sources said, adding that a new CCIT at Shimla will also be posted soon. In fact, the Commissioner of Income Tax (Shimla), has been posted as the CCIT at Kolkata.

The decision of the government, sources observed, was aimed at reducing stagnation at the top and middle levels of the department as was clear from the fact that an overwhelming majority of the officers had been promoted against the newly-created posts.

Besides widening the tax base, the decision to substantially increase the Commissioner-level officers, which will be notified soon, will help in better supervision and improved services to the tax payers. The department wants to ensure that each Commissioner should have less than 1 lakh tax payers under his jurisdiction.

Meanwhile, the induction of technology for better services would be hallmark of restructured regime. With the department going online, the role of black money would be substantially reduced as the “officer-oriented” department would have less interaction with the tax payers. The department plans to cut the lower level staff by 5 per cent at the national level, the sources added.

ONGC, Reliance get maximum oil blocks
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 31
The Oil and Natural Gas Corporation and Reliance Industries Ltd have bagged the maximum blocks on offer under the second round of the new exploration licensing policy (NELP).

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) gave approval for 23 of the 25 exploration blocks offered under global open competitive bids. These included nine on-land blocks, eight shallow water off-shore and eight deep-water blocks.

ONGC figures in 16 of the 23 blocks awarded today while Reliance Industries Ltd, which bid jointly with Hardy Exploration and Production India Ltd, UK bagged four blocks. The states covered in the second phase include Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Assam. There were no bidders for three blocks.

Briefing newspersons later on the second round of bids under the new exploration licensing policy, Petroleum Minister, Ram Naik said the total estimated exploration investment in all three phases would be about $ 780 million (Rs 3,640 crore), including the minimum commitment in phase-1 of about $ 290 million (Rs 1,350 crore). This investment may go up, depending upon the results of exploration work to be carried out by companies.

Mr Naik also announced that the first contract for exploration and production of Coal Bed Methane with Great Eastern Energy Corporation Limited for the South Raniganj block in West Bengal was signed today.

The South Raniganj CBM block has an estimated CBM resource of 40 billion cubic metres and covers an area of 210 sq km. Ogden Energy of the USA is the collaborator of GEECL.

To a question on how much investments were expected in the exploration of CBM, Mr Naik said it would be around Rs 500 crore over three to four years.

Gold prices nosedive

New Delhi, May 31
Gold prices nosedived by Rs 120 per 10 gm and silver lost Rs 95 per kg at the local bullion market, keeping pace with the weakened overseas advices today.

Gold standard, ornaments and bittur, declined sharply by Rs 120 per 10 gm on increased offerings as prices in London nosedived to the level of $ 266/266.50 per troy ounce.

Sovereign also shed Rs 25 per eight gm for the same reason. PTI

Gurgaon Gramin Bank net at Rs 22 crore
Tribune News Service

Gurgaon, May 31
The Gurgaon Gramin Bank earned a net profit of more than Rs 22 crore,with a business level of Rs 778 crore in the last financial year. This was revealed today by the bank’s Chairman, Mr S.N. Bhat, following the board meeting.

Expressing satisfaction over the functioning of the bank, he attributed its good performance to the launching of an aggressive NPA recovery drive right from the beginning of the fiscal, with a view to recovering uncharged income, releasing locked-in funds for profitable redeployment, freeing provisions and improving the overall asset quality.

There was a quantum jump in the income earned by the bank, which had increased by 18.4 per cent as compared to last year’s growth of 12 per cent.

There was a downsizing of the expenditure, which recorded a YoY growth of 9.73 per cent as compared to last year’s YoY growth of 12 per cent. The gross NPA level came down from 16.63 per cent to 9.47 per cent, while the level of net NPA was brought down from 5.2 per cent to 2.95 per cent.

Record rise in small saving deposits
Our Correspondent

Ropar, May 31
There has been record rise of in deposits, under various small saving schemes during the year 2000-01, in the Ropar district. Despite the decrease in interest rates, the deposits under the said schemes have risen by Rs 46 crore in Ropar during this financial year.

This was much more than the rise of Rs 17 crore, Rs 18 crore and Rs 19 crore in other big districts of the state including Amritsar, Ludhiana and Jalandhar. The Deputy Commissioner Ropar, Mr G.S.Grewal, stated this while speaking at the annual function of the district small saving department held at Ambedkar Bhavan here today.

He further said that this year the collection under the small saving schemes in the district remained at Rs 252 crore against the set target of Rs 246 crore. Last year the collection from the district was Rs 205 crore.

CORPORATE NEWS

Silverline Tech net up 52.5 pc

Mumbai, May 31
Silverline Technologies (SLT) has recorded a 52.5 per cent jump in its net profit at Rs 122 crore for the year ending March 31, 2001 compared to Rs 80 crore in the previous fiscal. Revenues also grew by 60.68 per cent to Rs 707 crore compared to Rs 440 crore the previous year, according to a release here today. The SLT board has recommended a 12.5 per cent dividend for 2000-01 as against 17.5 per cent last year. During the fourth quarter, the net profit was down by 11.53 per cent to Rs 23 crore compared to Rs 26 crore the previous quarter while revenues rose by 49.25 per cent to Rs 200 crore as against Rs 134 crore the previous fiscal, the release said. PTI

IPCL posts 70 pc rise in export turnover

Baroda, May 31
Indian Petrochemical Corporation Limited (IPCL) has registered a 70 per cent increase in export turnover during fiscal 2000-2001, according to IPCL Chairman and Managing Director Ashok Chawla. The export turnover was Rs 291 crore as against Rs 171 crore in the previous fiscal. The combined capacity utilisation of all operating plants of IPCL located at Baroda, Gandhar and Nagothane was over 98 per cent, he said. PTI

Russell Credit hikes offer price

New Delhi, May 31
ITC subsidiary Russell Credit today announced further hike in its offer price by Rs 5 to Rs 125 for acquiring 20 per cent stake in tobacco major VST Industries. The hike follows a similar hike earlier this month, when the company announced a Rs 5 hike to Rs 120, thus taking the offer Rs 2 higher than what Brightstar Investments was offering for a similar stake in VST. “Russell Credit Ltd had recently revised the offer prices of VST Industries Ltd to Rs 120 per share for acquisition of 30,88,384 fully paid equity share of Rs 10 each representing 20 per cent of the equity share capital of the company and with this announcement, the offer price has now been revised to Rs 125 per share”. PTI

Corpbank Securities posts 14.8 cr net

Chandigarh, May 31
Corpbank Securities, a wholly owned subsidiary of Corporation Bank, has registered an operating profit of Rs 25.24 crore and net profit of Rs 14.79 crore in its very first full year of operation. In the primary market, the company has surpassed its bidding commitment and success ratios. As against a bidding commitment of Rs 860 crore and Rs 2500 crore in Treasury Bills and dated government securities, the company submitted bids to the extent of Rs 998 crore and Rs 3125 crore respectively and achieved a success ratio of 47.66 per cent and 61.88 for Treasury Bills and dated government securities against RBI stipulation of 40 per cent. TNS

LIC Housing net up 11.40 pc

Mumbai, May 31
LIC Housing Finance has posted a 11.40 per cent rise in net profit at Rs 121.52 crore for the year ended March 31, 2001, as compared to Rs 109.08 crore last fiscal. The board of directors have recommended a 40 per cent dividend for 2000-01. Total income for the period under review, grew by 15.51 per cent at Rs 745.55 crore as against Rs 645.42 crore for 1999-2000, it said. PTI

ICICI Bank to cut market exposure

New Delhi, May 31
As a fall-out of the stock market scam, ICICI Bank has decided to scale down its exposure to capital market activities including broker funding, clearing and settlement facilities to brokers while laying stress on international banking and forex business this fiscal. “In the wake of turmoil in the capital market in the beginning of March 2001, we have scaled down our exposures to this segment and are also reviewing the future exposure strategy, given the inherent volatility in this area,” bank sources said here today. During 2000-01, ICICI Bank had lent Rs 204.22 crore to capital market sector, Rs 178.13 crore to real estate sector and Rs 132.15 crore to commodities sector. The bank’s total advances grew by almost 100 per cent to Rs 7,031 crore last fiscal from Rs 3,657 crore in 1999-2000. Instead of increasing income from capital market exposure, sources said bank is planning to increase its income from foreign exchange transactions and international banking. PTI

GLOBAL NEWS

Philippine economy slows down
Manila, May 31
Philippine economic growth slowed down in the first quarter of the year due to adverse impacts of a political crisis that led to the ouster of former President Joseph Estrada in January, the government said today. Mr Gilbert Llanto, Deputy Director-General of the National Economic Development Authority, said the decline was also due to “unfavourable external factors”. According to government statistics, the gross domestic product (GDP) grew 2.5 per cent in the first quarter of 2001, down from 3.3 per cent in the same period last year and 3.8 per cent from the fourth quarter of 2000. DPA

Lankan port workers threaten strike
Colombo, May 31
A section of workers of Sri Lanka’s main Colombo port will go on strike next week if their demand for a wage hike isn’t met, union leaders said today. “We will hit hard by launching a strike if management doesn’t agree to our demand”, Sunil Silva, spokesman for the Jathika Sevaka Sangama union, said. The union is affiliated with the main Opposition, United National Party. Silva’s union has around 3,000 of the port’s 17,000 workers. Most of the remaining 14,000 workers, who are affiliated with other unions, have not made any decision about whether they will join the strike. AP

‘Greener’ cars offer hope
Singapore, May 31
Toxic emissions from vehicles are the leading cause of air pollution in Asia but stepped-up collaboration within the region and new technology for “greener” cars offer hope for a cleaner environment, experts say. Vehicle emissions pose a greater threat than industrial emissions as they are close to ground level and are constantly swirled in the air by passing traffic, Mr Jitendra Shah, senior environmental engineer with the World Bank, said. According to the World Health Organisation, four to eight per cent of all deaths in the Asia-Pacific region are due to air pollution. Reuters

Students can now choose their hairstyles
Manila, May 31
The Philippines’ Human Rights Commission today warned schools against imposing strict rules on students’ hairstyles. Commission on Human Rights Chairperson Aurora Recina said she had received reports that some schools had imposed regulations on how students should wear their hair at class. But she stressed that the students had the right to sport whatever hairstyle they liked in schools, which open for a new term next week. DPA

Singapore to develop alternative fuel
Singapore, May 31
Daimlerchrysler and Singapore authorities today announced a joint programme to step up the development of hydrogen as a fume-free alternative fuel source for vehicles. Testing will begin in 2004, the same year the German-US auto giant expects to begin commercial production of noiseless and non-polluting “green” cars. However, the company believes it will take another seven years before the fuel cell-powered cars will be cost competitive. The Singapore-based test programme will be part of a global study involving Japan, Europe and the United States. AFP

Allianz vows billions in gains
Munich, May 31
German insurer Allianz AG today promised billions of euros in savings and extra revenue from its takeover of Dresdner Bank AG, in a bid to win over sceptical investors. Germany’s number one insurer said the takeover will generate cost and income synergies of 290 million euros ($ 248.7 million) next year, 385 million in 2003, 680 million in 2004 and 885 million in 2005. Thereafter, annual benefits are expected to top one billion euros per year, including 825 million generated by positive income synergies and additional growth. Allianz said the figures were calculated before tax but after restructuring costs. Reuters

BIZ BRIEFS

Price index
Shimla, May 31
All India consumer price index number for industrial workers (CPI-M) on base 1998-100 for the month of April 1, 2001 has increased by three points to stand at 448 points, according to the Labour Bureau here today. UNI

Citibank
New Delhi, May 31
Citibank today launched an Internet and mobile-phone based money alert service ‘CitiAlert’ for its NRI clients. PTI

Ortem fans
New Delhi, May 31
Ortem fan maker Matro Appliances today announced its entry into the European market with the first export order from Spain, thereby claiming to become the first Indian fan company to enter a market dominated by China. PTI

EBProvider Inc
Chandigarh, May 31
EBProvider India, a 100 per cent subsidiary of EBProvider Inc., today announced its entry into India with its new product Xintegrate. The company, whose 70 per cent staff is from IITs, would provide products and services, which enable businesses to integrate their internal system as well as connect seamlessly with other businesses, trading partners, vendors and customers. TNS

Haryana Coop Bank
Chandigarh, May 31
The Haryana State Cooperative Agricultural and Rural Development Bank has decided to reduce the interest rate on the loans being advanced by it to the farmers and other sections of the society from June 1, 2001. Disclosing this today Haryana cooperation Minister Kartar Singh Bhadana said that 12 per cent interest per annum would be charged on all loans upto Rs 25,000. For loans above Rs 25,001 for the minor irrigation schemes an interest of 13.5 per cent per annum would be charged instead of 14 per cent earlier. TNS