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Wednesday,
June 27, 2001, Chandigarh, India  
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MTNL slashes cellular tariff, rental
Cement makers hint at hiking prices
London emerging as e-business centre
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This entrepreneur makes you laugh
Canada for stronger ties with India: Joshi Decision on A-I selloff likely
on July 4 Haryana team to visit Europe, Africa Competition Bill in monsoon session Yahoo to add video to
its instant messenger HSBC net soars 65 pc Awards for books on steel industry BoP branch in
Chennai
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MTNL slashes cellular tariff, rental
New Delhi, June 26 Announcing the reduced tariff for MTNL’s cellular service Dolphin, operational at Mumbai and New Delhi, Communication Minister Ram Vilas Paswan told reporters that it was part of the efforts to make tariff more affordable. The cut in tariff, expected to trigger yet another price war, assumes significance in the wake of a marginal fall in MTNL’s cellular subscriber base in Delhi in May to 9,884 from 10,080 in April this year. In Delhi real competition continues to be between Bharti and Sterling, with the latest entrant MTNL’s Dolphin still struggling for a firm hold on the market, sources said, adding that “MTNL will now look forward to consolidating its position with the completion of network optimisation.” Bharti grabbed 3.45 lakh subscribers in May while subscriber base of Sterling rose to 2.43 lakh, according to Cellular Operators Association of India. MTNL has retained the tariff for incoming calls unchanged at Rs 1.50 a minute, Paswan said adding that pulse rate would be 30 seconds. The company has also introduced another tariff plan in which it reduced the rental by Rs 25 to Rs 375 a month and fixed call charges at Rs 1.40 a minute for both incoming as well as outgoing. Dolphin has also in its new plans promised incentives to attract corporate customers. The corporate users going for 25 or more bookings will not have to make any security deposit, thus making a saving of over Rs 50,000 for them. New tariffs plans have been approved by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India. Talking to reporters, MTNL Chairman and Managing Director Narinder Sharma said that Dolphin would provide its customers free roaming between Delhi and Mumbai. “No extra roaming charge on airtime will be levied,” Sharma said adding that MTNL was likely to tie up with other service providers to start national roaming within next three weeks. MTNL’s network has been optimised in Delhi as well as in Noida. “We are ready to face quality competition from other cellular players in Delhi and Mumbai,” Sharma said. The company is also planning to start cellular services in other adjoining cities of Gurgaon, Faridabad and Ghaziabad within a couple of weeks.
PTI
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Cement makers hint at hiking prices New Delhi, June 26 The findings of the “highly, reputed, independent research body” say the cement manufacturers, points out that cement prices prevailing during the last six months are significantly lower than the prices estimated in the study. “Cement prices, as observed during the last six months, in various markets are lower by 10-40 per cent when compared with fair ex-stockist prices estimated by CAS”, the Association said. The focus of the study was to determine ex-stockist fair price in markets
receiving supplies from existing cement plants as well as new plants based on the data collected for the period April-September 2000. Explaining the rationale behind conducting this complex study, Mr T.M.M.Nambiar, President of the Cement
Manufactures’ Association said that cement was a commodity of mass consumption and consumers were concerned about cement being available at a fair price. However, he added that at the same time large investors were also concerned about the viability of their investment, which depended upon the fair price of cement. Unless the investment in cement industry is viable, requisite allocation of funds by financial institutions or large investors may not be forthcoming, he said. According to the fair ex-stockist price computed by CAS for some of the key markets, the price of a bag of cement produced by a new plant should cost between Rs 216-222 in Mumbai, Rs 198-214 in Kolkata, Rs 198-202 in Chennai and Rs 180-186 in Delhi. Similarly the rates per bag of cement produced by an existing plant should be Rs 180-193 in Mumbai, Rs 181-192 in Chennai, Rs 159-175 in Kolkata and Rs 135-169 in Delhi. Mr Nambiar explained that retail prices were likely to be higher than ex-stockist prices by Rs 4-10 per bag on account of local handling and transportation expenses, octroi charges and retailer margin. Price of cement supplied in paper bags would be further higher by Rs 5-7 per bag. Further, since September 2000, costs have gone up by about Rs six per bag, as per the estimate of CMA due to increases in limestone royalty, coal and diesel prices.
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London emerging as e-business centre London, June 26 London is two-and-a-half times more favoured than its near contender Paris, reveals the survey by international property consultants Healey and Baker. Dublin and Amsterdam come next. The least favored city was the Polish Capital Warsaw. The survey puts London in the first place in 11 out of 14 counts. The list of 14 indicates what firms have in mind when they pick a city to locate their business. The 11 counts where London scored are reliable electricity supply, fibre capacity and bandwidth, staffing skills, access to markets, international transport links, use of English, reliable local transport facilities, web design skills, flexible employment conditions, proximity to academic and research centres, and not least, its image of “coolness.” On many of these counts, London scored more than twice as much as the second best in the survey among 201 specialist e-business firms in nine countries. Majority of the firms surveyed predict that London will become the leading centre in Europe for e-logistics, e-finance, e-design and software. Some of the latest firms established in London are the USA-based travel buying system Priceline Europe, an Australian business-to-business e-solutions provider NetDotCom, German e-commerce consultancy SinnerSchrader and American network service providers Greenwich Technology Partners. London has set up a service called London First to help e-companies from around the world locate in the British Capital. Michael Charlton, managing director of London First, says: “International investors, particularly e-business companies, want to base their operations here because London has the people, the infrastructure, including telecommunications and power supply, and the access to international markets which will allow their businesses the best possible chance to succeed and grow on a global level.” London is launching extensive efforts to attract investment from e-companies. London First has been offering free expert consultancy to foreign companies looking to locate in London. “We have directly assisted more than 500 companies from 32 countries around the world to locate or expand in the capital,” Anna Barlow from London First said. Both the government and private firms have come together to pay for the work London First is doing to attract investment. The Department of Trade and Industry and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office are paying towards this exercise to attract investors. So are several private companies located in London such as British Airways, British Telecom, and consultancies like Ernst and Young.
IANS
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This entrepreneur makes you laugh Santa Clara, June 26 What he sold to a riveted TiEcon (The Indus Entrepreneurs conference) audience is the experience of a fabulously successful entrepreneur who is admired for his leadership skills and the ability to look into the future. Ranadive delivered the keynote address on the third and final day of the eighth annual TiEcon. He opened his talk by saying although people had butchered his name more than once and some had referred to his company, TIBCO Software, as an acronym for “That Indian bastard” to describe him, Ranadive added with pure confidence: “Our technology rules on Wall Street.” TIBCO, which designs real-time infrastructure software for the Internet and business enterprises, raked in $250 million in 2000. Ranadive’s new book, “The Power of Now,” has received high acclaim for its depiction of how the emerging technologies will shape the business world. Sun Microsystems’ CEO Scott McNealy wrote the foreword for the bestseller. Ranadive shaped his talk, laced with a rich dose of wry humour, around the path of his own entrepreneurial career. He began his journey in 1984 when he decided he wanted to start his own UNIX consulting company, an earlier incarnation of TIBCO. It was an ominous time with no venture capital to be had. Not unlike the current economic climate. “But I had an idea I couldn’t get out of my head,” Ranadive said. After finding a single venture capitalist who agreed to loan him the money if he could find a customer to buy his product, Ranadive went to Wall Street where he sold his idea to former US Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, who was then with Goldman Sachs. Ranadive related the anecdote of how once he had to deliver his pitch to the other Goldman top bosses over breakfast at the company office, he kept getting interrupted by a man who would walk in just as began talking. “The third time this happened, Bob Rubin leaned over to me and said : ‘everytime you tap your foot, it summons the waiter'.” The TiEcon audience roared with laughter, but like his somewhat stoicspeaking style, Ranadive betrayed only a smile. Ranadive told the crowd that one of the reasons his company had been so successful was because he hadn’t been afraid to go against conventional wisdom like surrounding himself with people who were smarter than himself and wasn’t afraid of hiring prima-donnas. “Why hire people who agree with you?” Ranadive ended his talk on a high note, telling the crowd that the high-tech market would reach a point when the pretenders would be flushed out and the real entrepreneurs will weather the storm. “In strong winds even turkey can fly.”
IANS
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Canada for stronger ties with India: Joshi Toronto, June 26 Joshi was here on Monday as the keynote speaker at a business seminar sponsored by the Canada-India Business Council (C-IBC). Earlier, he told IANS that he was optimistic that trade relations between India and Canada, which has a large immigrant Indian population, would increase. “I think Canada can invest in India in the information technology (IT) sector, infrastructure development, power sectors, roads and highways,” said Joshi. He said Canadian companies could invest in India’s public sector undertakings that are being privatised or heading for “disinvestments where Canada can consider buying shares.” With India’s growth rate of over 6 per cent, Joshi predicted that Indo-Canadian trade ties were set to surge. “Relations between people to people are indeed growing very fast,” Joshi told about 50 businessmen, including the 21-member Indian delegation that is visiting Canada for the first time in three years. He also asserted that the Indian economy has been now freed from most trade barriers in a decade-long reforms process. “India’s economy is now fully open to international competition.” Some disagree. “The Indian market is quite close and we are working on the issue of market access,” said James Junke, Director of the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs. But Joshi, emphasising his point, referred to the earlier visit of Power Minister Suresh Prabhu, who spoke of the vast opportunities in trade in the power sector as India embarks on increasing its generating capacity by 10,000 MW each year for the next 10-12 years. “The Indian Government has formulated framework to attract foreign investments in this sector,” said Joshi.
IANS |
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Decision on A-I selloff likely on July 4 New Delhi, June 26 “CCD meet in all probability will take place on July 4,” Mr Shourie said after a Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee. Government sources said the CCD would finalise, among other things, the draft shareholders agreement for the sale of government equity in Air- India, CMC and HTL. The CCD was also expected to put its seal of approval on hiving off of Balmer Lawrie, a subsidiary of petro product retailer IBP, prior to its privatisation, they said, adding that the issue of divestment in about 9 hotels of ITDC would also be discussed at the meeting. The government would invite final price bids for Air-India, CMC and HTL from the shortlisted bidders only after the finalisation of the draft shareholders agreement by CCD. Sources said the CCD would also discuss the issue and guidelines for keeping tainted companies out of the process of disinvestment as part of efforts to expedite the process of privatisation of both Indian Airlines and
VSNL. PTI |
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Haryana team to visit Europe, Africa Chandigarh, June 26 A Haryana Government delegation, led by the Chief Minister, was to leave for a tour of Europe, USA and Canada in April. However, the visit was cancelled at the last moment due to the death of Mr Devi Lal. The USA and Canada have been left out from the state government’s itinerary for the trip. Consequently, the IT sector, which was the primary focus of the proposed tour has been given a back seat in the ensuing visit. “Though the state government team would visit a Microsoft unit in London, IT would not be among the thrust areas of tour programme”, official sources said. They said the USA and Canada were left out from the tour programme in view of the recent recession in the IT sector. According to the tentative tour programme worked out by the state government, the Haryana team would visit four European countries, Belgium, Britain, France and Italy, and an African, country, Tunisia. Sources said the team would leave India on August 26 for Brussels, the Capital of Belgium. At Brussels, they would have a meeting with the president of the European Union (EU) on August 27. “The EU is already funding a multicrore rupees forest development programme in Haryana, we want to them to take up a similar project in Morni Hills,” the sources said. |
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Competition Bill in monsoon session New Delhi, June 26 The Bill, which seeks to repeal the MRTP Act, aims to check the abuse of dominance and anti-competition practices by industry and lay down procedures for acquisition and mergers. Briefing newspersons about the Cabinet decision, the Union Law Minister, Mr Arun Jaitley, said the proposed 10-member commission would protect the interests of the consumers, while checking the abuse of dominance. The Bill seeks to replace 14 restrictive trade practices provided in the MRTP Act by just four, Mr Jaitley said, adding that the Competition Bill had been necessitated to deal with changed and liberalised economic scenario. The new Bill will have three main components — abuse created by anti-competitive practices, abuse of dominance and procedure with regard to acquisition and mergers. The commission will deal with various subjects involved in the legislature itself, he said, adding that it would prevent cartelisation, collusive bidding, bid rigging, restricting supply and dominance in a territory by an industry. The Bill also makes it optional for seeking advice from the commission before mergers and acquisitions by corporate
entity, he said. But if the asset value of the involved parties in mergers and acquisitions was more than Rs 1,000 crore and turnover over Rs 3,000 crore, then the commission could review whether there was any abuse of dominance. |
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Yahoo to add video to
its instant messenger Palo Alto (Calif.), June 26 The new service, a twist on videophone products which have been around for years, will enable users to transmit and receive their images as they communicate. Although the concept of this kind of video messaging is not new, Yahoo says its service will offer more features to accommodate users. For instance, people who adopt the new service will be able to preview their own images prior to broadcasting them, and pause their Webcams mid-broadcast to control the images they send. In addition, they will be able to control who on their Friends List may see their own images. Yahoo, whose instant messenger competes with others from Microsoft Corp. and market leader AOL Time Warner Inc.’s America Online, is hoping the new video functions will drive growth of its product. “We think it will be a real incentive to download our product,’’ said Lisa Pollock, Director of Yahoo messaging products. The new video feature is being offered through a partnership with Logitech International SA which makes Webcams. Beginning in July, all the Logitech Webcams sold in North America and in certain places overseas will be bundled with Yahoo Messenger, so that consumers will be able to quickly set up the service.
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HSBC net soars 65 pc Mumbai, June 26 Disclosing the performance of the bank in India, Chief Executive Officer, Mr Zabir Cama said, the bank’s advances to Indian customers has gone by 41 per cent to Rs 6,246 crore while deposits improved by 14 per cent to Rs 9,951 crore. Total assets in India rose by 23 per cent to Rs 15,594 crore over the previous year-end figures of Rs 12,666 crore. Mr Cama informed that the bank has retained its last two years’ profit amounting to Rs 322.6 crore in India without remitting to Headquarters because the bank is committed to invest a sum of over Rs 500 crore towards various business expansion.
UNI |
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Awards for books on steel industry New Delhi, June 26 According to an official statement here today, the Ministry would award three prizes with first prize of Rs 15,000, second of Rs 10,000 and third prize of Rs 7,500. Books published/written during April last year to March 31 this year would be accepted for consideration for awards for the year 2000-01, it said. Six copies of the books/manuscripts, along with duly filled in entry form are required to be sent to the Steel Ministry and details are also available on the website www.nic.in/steel.
PTI |
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BoP branch in
Chennai New Delhi, June 26 The launch of the branch at Chennai is in line with the bank’s marketing strategy to expand its network and customer base. The branch, according to the bank, would be focussing on the complete range of accounts specific to the traders and small business segment. Leveraging on the strong network of branches in North India, the branch would focus in offering ‘Anywhere banking’ facilities to traders and business houses. |
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Office-bearers Ashok Leyland Cellular mobile TCI gets ISO 9002 Indian envoy Intl shoe fair |
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