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| Tuesday, July 10, 2001, Chandigarh, India   
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PROSPECTS OF INDO-PAK
TRADE-1
India for
lifting of Pak ban on sugar TERI,
Pakistan institute to study gas project |
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Wipro
market cap falls 60 per cent
Corpn Bank
to allot 2.4 cr shares to LIC HDFC
Bank to collect taxes Govt
serves notices on Nepal spinners Dept of
Post teams up with SBIMF Morepen
to make antacid, laxative Industrial
centre neglected
Ranbaxy
net spurts 34.2 per cent
IMF
sees signs of recovery in USA
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PROSPECTS
OF INDO-PAK TRADE-1
Chandigarh, July 9 Pakistan’s exports to India, which amount to less than Rs 300 crore, forms 0.14 per cent of our total imports. According to official figures, the value of the goods exported via Amritsar during 2000-01 was nearly Rs 466.72 crore, a substantial increase over the previous year’s figure of Rs 159 crore. Traders say exports through Amritsar can double within a year if the two governments take initiatives to boost bilateral trade. Besides, there is active illegal trade by smugglers, as also “circular” or informal trade carried out through a third country. There are also “suitcase traders” who go through the “green channel” at international airports. Circular trade is mainly conducted through agents based in free ports like Dubai and Singapore. The President of the India Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Mr Ilyas Ahmed Bilaour, estimates the value of trade through this channel at around US $ 1 billion. The total size of illegal and circular trade is much larger than official trade. “Initiatives from both sides are required. Once, unofficial trade is normalised, it would mean cheaper goods and increased revenue for both governments,” says Mr Rajesh Setia, President of the Amritsar Exporters Chamber of Commerce. Pakistan’s plight Agriculture registered a negative growth of 2.5 per cent due largely to drought. Foreign investment declined by 73.5 per cent. Public debt grew to Rs 3,198 billion by mid-2000. When Pakistan imports goods from countries other than India, it pays higher duties and transportation charges. Goods also reach their destination late. Hurdles to bilateral trade are many. From improper infrastructure, including transportation facilities, to trade restrictions, problems in receipt of money. The list of complaints with traders is long. Industry representatives say these issues should merit the attention of the two governments. For better Indo Pak economic linkages, CII has recommended acceleration of confidence building measures, encouragement of mutual sourcing, removal of infrastructural and logistic inadequacies and improvement in connectivity. Ascribing political factors as major deterrents for enhancing the trade between the two countries, formal institutionalisation of a Joint Parliamentary Conference has been recommended. The confederation has said bilateral summits of economic ministries would foster better ties. Another suggestion is that the Pak Government should encourage Indian investment in their country and work towards removing non-policy hurdles.
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India for lifting of Pak ban on sugar New Delhi, July 9 “We are trying to get the ban imposed by Pakistan on import of sugar from India lifted”, Food Minister Shanta Kumar said here after inaugurating a seminar on “strategy for foodgrain export” here. It would be beneficial for both Pakistan and India if the ban is lifted and sugar export is resumed. While Pakistan is now in need of sugar to meet its demand, India’s present stock was 182 lakh tonnes and another 70 lakh tonnes would be procured during the coming season. He said an export target of 6 lakh tonnes of sugar had been fixed and it could be increased if the exports of sugar to Pakistan was resumed. He said the government has decided to bring down the offer price of wheat from Rs 4,300 per metric tonne to "reasonable rates" and announced lowering of the minimum purchase quantity of rice from 10,000 tonne to 2,000
tonne. The Food Ministry has decided to create a special cell for export and announced a national storage policy by providing bulk handling and infrastructure. Mr Shanta Kumar said the Cabinet had accepted the industries demand to export grains at "reasonable rates" which were comparable to those in the international
market. However, the government would ensure that these rates were not below the poverty line rates, he said. The Union Minister said in view of the bulging food stocks in
godowns, reckoned at 608 lakh tonnes against the buffer norm of 243 lakh
tonne, and expectations of normal monsoon this year, there was a vital need for a long term, permanent food grain export policy. This year, Mr Shanta Kumar said, the target for wheat exports had been pegged at 50 lakh tonne and 30 lakh tonne for rice. Food Corporation of India Chairman Bhure Lal termed the demand for lower of offer prices below the BPL price as "totally unjustified” and said “given the huge subsidy already been given to the exporters, they should not ask for more.” The FCI Chairman, while citing the case of export of adulterated wheat to Iraq, pointed out that the primary responsibility of cleaning of grains should lie with the exporters as they are aware of the contractual obligations entered into with buyers.
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TERI, Pakistan institute
to study gas project New Delhi, July 9 The Director General of TERI, Dr R.K.Pachauri, told newspersons here today that the study would be completed in nine months and it would cover all aspects of the proposed project. Both institutions would provide their own resources for the study. The project assumes importance has Iran has been pressing India to route the pipeline through Pakistan. While Islamabad is keen to have the project, as it would ensure high rentals, India has been have reservations on the security aspect. India feels that the pipeline could become a hostage to Pakistan in case of trouble. Iran has sought to give a guarantee on behalf of Pakistan and of late there have been indications that the project may take off in the backdrop of the summit level talks between the two countries. Dr Pachauri said the former Deputy Foreign Minister of Iran, Dr Ali Shams Ardekani, who was the brain behind the pipeline project, would be an adviser to the project. The study would carry out a comprehensive analysis of the economic, contractual and legal aspects of the project, initiate discussions with project promoters, governments and agencies concerned to assess the progress made till date. The study would have inputs from experts from both countries and would conclude with recommendations to both governments to help facilitate the necessary institutional arrangements and suggestions for a legal framework. Dr Pachauri said the study would identify the bottlenecks in implementing the project, propose possible solutions to the problems identified, sensitise the policy making classes and the civil society to the costs and benefits of the proposed project. The study was in addition to a similar exercise already undertaken by the National Iranian Oil Company. The company has initiated studies for both onshore and offshore routes. |
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Wipro market cap falls 60 per cent
New Delhi, July 9 The massive fall in capitalisation happened even as the company reported a 122 per cent increase in the net profit over 35 per cent higher revenues and predicted a bright future for its products and services. “(The year) 2001-02 will be a year of change. It is in the year of change that we need to look at our fundamentals more closely,” Chairman and Managing Director, Azim H Premji, said in the company’s annual report. Also, the company increased its dependence on global IT services in last fiscal while decreasing its exposure to the consumer care and lighting business. Global IT services accounted for 34 per cent of the company’s total turnover, up from 28 per cent in the previous fiscal. “Realising that global economic conditions are not always going to be conducive, we have spread our markets so that we are not excessively dependent on a single geography, diversified our revenue streams, increased business from existing customers and improved quality of our client profile,” Premji said. The other two broad business classifications of Indian IT services and consumer care and lighting accounted for 9.5 per cent and 14 per cent respectively. In global IT services, Wipro posted over 63 per cent growth in 2000-01 at $ 382 million against $ 234 million in the previous fiscal. Wipro comprises infrastructure solutions provider Wipro Infotech; services company Wipro Technologies; Wipro Corporate; Wipro Learning Centre and Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting.
PTI
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Corpn Bank to allot 2.4 cr shares to LIC
New Delhi, July 9 “The board of directors, which met today, has ratified allotment of preferential shares to LIC. This will be the first instance of a public sector bank alloting preferential shares to any company, and marks our indirect entry into the insurance arena,” Chairman and Managing Director, K Cherian Verghese, told reporters here. He also announced the first quarter results with a net profit of Rs 78.04 crore, up 24.8 per cent over the corresponding period last year. Cherian said as per the (MoU) signed by the two partners, LIC will infuse Rs 50 crore worth of equity investment in CorpBank Securities Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the bank, thus acquiring 26.93 per cent stake post allotment of shares.
PTI
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HDFC Bank to collect taxes New Delhi, July 9 According to the Bank, its customers would now be able to take advantage of online tax management advise from FileMyReturns, India’s first Government to Citizen portal. FileMYReturns would also provide comprehensive tax management services to HDFC Bank’s corporate salary account holders. The tie-up would enable HDFC Bank customers to avail of convenient banking, online tax consultancy and facilitation in filing tax returns with offline support at no extra cost. The service is being offered initially in six cities of Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, Ahmedabad and Pune and would be rolled out to 40 cities in the next year.
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Govt serves notices on Nepal
spinners Ludhiana, July 9 National Committee on Textile of the CCI Chairman S.P. Oswal said here today this step was required to protect the spinners who were facing huge losses due to import of acrylic yarn from Nepal. The imposition of anti-dumping duty after completion of investigations will provide a breather and give a level-playing field to the Indian acrylic yarn spinners as well as Indian acrylic staple fibre manufacturers. Enquiries show that for the past five years, the acrylic yarn industry in India has been passing through a severe recession and is slowly heading towards sickness as a result of the Indo-Nepal Treaty which governs the trade of goods between India and Nepal. The treaty is providing many benefits to the Nepalese acrylic yarn spinners. There is practically no Customs duty on import of acrylic-fibre whereas in India, there is a Customs duty in import fibre and the total burden comes to 25.68 per cent of the basic price of fibre. In addition to this, the Indian Government has imposed anti-dumping duty at various rates on various countries. The difference of cost of raw material on account of Customs duty (without taking into account anti-dumping duty) comes to Rs 17 per kg which shows that the cost of raw material for the Indian spinner is higher by Rs 17 kg than the spinner who export acrylic yarn into India without levy of Customs duty in India on such yarn. Nepal has increased import of acrylic yarn from 160 tonnes in 1996 to 14,000 in 2000 which is not due to any extra technological or operational efficiency of Nepalese spinners but due to the iniquitous benefit reserved by the Indo-Nepal treaty for Nepalese spinners. According to the spinners, the Indian acrylic yarn industry is already working at a margin of around 6 to 7 per cent and a difference as high as 25.68 per cent on cost of raw material (on account of Customs duty) has made the Indian spinners totally incompetitive against spinners of Nepal. Since Nepal does not have any acrylic fibre manufacturing industry, the foreign acrylic fibre suppliers are using Nepal as a conduit to dump fibre into India. It has further learnt that the anti-dumping cell of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry has served notices on three-four spinners of Nepal for investigations. Mr Oswal said the government may put quantitative restrictions on the duty free import of acrylic yarn from Nepal to India and the government should impose anti-dumping measures to provide a level-playing field to the domestic industry.
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Dept of Post teams up with SBIMF Chandigarh, July 9 “This is in continuation of our policy of providing one stop financial shop to our customers. The partnership with SBI Mutual Funds is being taken up at Chandigarh along with Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi and Mumbai,” the Post Master General (Punjab) Manjula Parashar told reporters here. “The agreement envisages the postal department an interest of one per cent in equity fund and 0.5 per cent in debt fund,” she said adding the postal department’s recent tie up to sell IDBI and ICICI Mutual Funds in two cities of Chandigarh and Ludhiana has also proved lucrative. Deputy General Manager of State Bank of India (Punjab Zone) K.K. Mehra said the new mechanism with the SBI subsidiary (SBI Mutual Fund) would ensure good earning for the post office. In Chandigarh, the SBI Mutual Fund will be available at the General Post Office (GOP) and 10 other post offices. Parashar also said that the postal department has recorded a whopping business transaction of Rs 65 lakh in Punjab from the sale of international money transfer scheme of the international banker Western Union.
PTI
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Morepen to make
antacid, laxative Chandigarh, July 9 "Fast moving health goods are Rs 450 crore industry in the country which is bound to grow rapidly," said Mr Sushil Suri, Chairman-cum-Managing Director, of Morepen Laboratories. Antacids, natural laxatives, candies for gastric disorders, refreshing energy drinks, low calorie sweeteners and throat drops figure prominently on the fast moving health goods. Antacids alone have a market of Rs 100 crore while laxative (Isabgol) tops the list with Rs 250 crore followed b y "hajma golis" — Rs 150 crore. "In a little more than two years from now, our market share will be around Rs 100 crore," said Mr Suri, adding that it is an extension of the existing activities of the company which is doing extremely well in generic bulk drugs, formulation dosage form, consume care products and diagnostics. "We recorded a growth of 32 per cent in the overall turnover at Rs 438.19 crore from Rs 332.67 crore for the year ended March, 2001. USFDA approved its manufacturing facilities adhere to the most stringent standards of quality excellence and offers a manufacturing base in conformity with the latest CGMP guidelines backed by the state-of-the-art research facilities," Mr Suri said. Many more products of cough and cold, fever and energy segment will be launched in August and October, " he said.
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Industrial
centre neglected Bathinda, July 9 The idea behind the setting up of the IGC was to boost industrialisation in the region. The Punjab Government with assistance from the Centre has decided to set up the IGC as a promotional activity to provide maximum employment opportunities to the youth of the state and would ensure optimum utilisation of agro products of the region. But the optimism of the residents and the government did not become a reality. The centre was being developed by the Punjab Small Scale Industries and Export Corporation and for the development of the Phase-I about 400 acres were acquired at the cost of 40 crore.
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Ranbaxy net spurts 34.2 per
cent New Delhi, July 9 The company registered a rise of 18 .2 per cent in turnover which stood at Rs 945 crore as against Rs 799.2 crore for the six months ending last year, a company statement said here. While the pharma major’s second quarter net profit witnessed a jump of 22 per cent at Rs 49.3 crore as against Rs 40.4 crore in the second quarter last year, its turnover was up 17.9 per cent at Rs 499.3 crore as against 423.6 crore in the previous year.
INDAL net up INDAL has achieved an all-time high net profit of Rs 1.160 million last year, recording a whopping 38 per cent jump from the previous fiscal (Rs 839 million) despite worldwide recession. Announcing the company’s financial results for 2000-20001 during its 63rd Annual General Meeting here today. INDAL Vice-Chairman A.K. Aggarwal said during the period the company, despite all odds, had also been able to achieve a record 22 per cent growth in overall business turnover (Rs 12.834 million) thanks to a shrewd business strategy. As a result, the INDAL Board of Directors had recommended a 40 per cent dividend for the second successive year, same as that of 1999-2000, for its shareholders at a cost little more than Rs 29 million, said Mr Agarwala, who presided over the AGM in absence of Chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla.
Grasim Ind A.V. Birla Group’s Grasim Industries Ltd has decided upon a Rs 60 crore compensation as retrenchment cost for the employees of its pulp and fibre units located in Mavoor, Kerala. The compensation was as per the MoU signed by the company with the union. Production at both these units have remained suspended since May 1999.
Geometric net dips Geometric Software Solutions Ltd’s net profit has dipped 10.46 per cent at Rs 2.14 crore in the quarter ended on June 30, 2001 against Rs 2.39 crore during the same period previous fiscal. However, net sales rose by 60 per cent at Rs 14.05 crore during the first quarter of 2001-02 compared to Rs 8.75 crore during the same period in 2000-01.
Agencies |
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IMF sees signs of recovery in USA Seoul, July 9 “We are now beginning to see some signs that the slowdown could be beginning to turn toward a recovery,” Stanley Fischer, the IMF’s first Deputy Managing Director told a press conference. Fischer said the decision of the US Federal Reserve to cut its main interest rate by 25 base points rather than 50 base points reflects official US belief that the economy is heading toward a recovery.
AFP Cathay sacks
49 pilots Hong Kong “Sadly we have taken the very painful decision to terminate the employment of 49 of our pilots, including 23 captains and 26 first officers,” Cathay said in a statement. The pilots’ union, which represents more than 85 per cent of the company’s 1,400 pilots, has been working to rule for the past week after talks on pay and rostering broke down in June. Hundreds of flights have been delayed or cancelled.
Reuters Comcast’s $ 44.5b bid for AT&T unit New
York Comcast would issue 1.0525 billion shares of stock with a value of $ 44.5 billion based on Friday’s closing price and would assume $ 13.5 billion in debt for AT&T’s crore broadband business. Comcast is also prepared to buy AT&T’s interests in Time Warner Entertainment, Cablevision Systems Corp. and Rainbow Media Group Inc., by assuming more debt and issuing more
equity to reflect their value.
Reuters
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bb
Apyl Software New look Santro HERC charges Describing the reduction as inadequate in view of the on-going recession in the industry, the Senior Vice-President of the Haryana Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Dr N.C. Jain, said the HERC had not reduced the MMC for the commercial and domestic consumers.
TNS
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