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July 11, 2001, Chandigarh, India   
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3,600 Customs officials to face axe
PROSPECTS OF INDO-PAK TRADE-II
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Dealing in US-64 should be based on NAV, says Assocham
Haryana Govt signs MoU with IBM Remove
disparity in petrol, diesel prices Infosys
net profit surges 56.66 pc Recession
fails to hit garment exports Punjab for separate coal mines Nabard award for Kaithal
coop bank
VSNL pays 500 pc
Exxon Mobil tops Fortune 500 list
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3,600 Customs officials to face axe New Delhi, July 10 The Cabinet also gave the go-ahead for TCIL to invest in basic telecom services in Nepal, construction of 200,000 houses in cyclone-affected districts of Orissa, cleared the decks for INTELSAT to work as a private company, and allowed Andrew Yule to pick up stake in Descon Consultants and Investments Ltd. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pramod Mahajan said after the meeting that the restructuring excise in the Customs and Excise Department was meant to improve productivity and effectiveness of the department which would now have more commissionerates and divisions for speeding up revenue collection. Under the restructuring, the staff strength would be brought down by 3,600 from the existing strength of 68,761. However, the number of Central Excise Commissionerates would be raised from 59 to 92 and the Divisions from 330 to 460. The Customs Department would now have 35 commissionerates instead of 25 at present. Besides, 54 additional posts of Commissioner (Appeals) would be provided to deal with the nearly 38,000 pending cases. The total indirect tax collection in 2000-01 was Rs 1,15,000 crore. In 1989-90 it was 40,397 crore. Over the last five years there has been an average annual growth of 10 per cent in Central Excise and 13 per cent in Customs duty collection. At present there are 125,000 assessees. In another decision, the Cabinet approved the formation of a joint venture company for WiLL based telecom services by Telecommunications Consultants India Limited with United Telecom Limited of Nepal. The Cabinet also approved an investment of $ 9.05 million by TCIL to pick up 26.66 per cent equity in the Nepalese company. Mr Mahajan said a consortium of four companies, including TCIL, MTNL, VSNL and Nepal Ventures Private Ltd was formed for bidding in the tender under the name of UTL. The tender condition requires a minimum 20 per cent stake of the bidder consortium to be held by the Nepalese company. The Cabinet also approved the ratification amendment to the International Telecommunications Satellite Organisation agreement and Intelsat operating agreement to enable the International Telecommunications Satellite Organisation (Intelsat) to start operations as a private company in the country. Privatisation of Intelsat would ensure commercial flexibility to create value for its customers besides raising its revenue from $1 billion in 2000 to $4.2 billion by 2009. It was also decided to give approval for providing assistance under the Indira Awas Yojana for below the poverty line rural households to construct 200,000 more houses in cyclone-affected districts of Orissa. Central assistance of Rs 330 crore would be given for the project. The sanction is in addition to the 200,000 houses already under construction under the yojana and 10,000 houses that are being built through the credit-cum-subsidy scheme for rural families. Another decision taken was to allow Andrew Yule and Company Ltd to acquire 26 per cent equity at par on preferential basis in Descon Consultants and Investments Ltd involving an investment of Rs 17.37
lakh. |
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PROSPECTS OF INDO-PAK TRADE-II Chandigarh, July 10 Pakistan’s refusal to grant most favoured nation (MFN) status to India, transit trade problems and laying of a natural gas pipeline from Iran through Pakistan to India are other issues expected to figure at the summit. Gas pipeline
* It can lower the cost of imported gas to less than half of what it is today.
* It can be built under water or onshore.
* India will save 25 per cent per unit transit charge of the pipeline goes under water. Under this option the expected cost will be $ 4.8 billion.
* If a single pipe , 42 inches in diameter is built onshore, it is expected to cost $3.1 billion. Gas that costs $1.75 to $ 2 per unit will be nearly 58 per cent cheaper than the cost of imported gas in India today. The multi-billion dollar gas pipeline project, for which an MoU was signed between India and Iran in 1992, has been held up due to security considerations, says Pakistan Petroleum Minister Usman Aminuddin. If approved, Pakistan would benefit by way of a transit fee and gas. India, however, has still not made up its mind on giving a go-ahead to work on the project. India is also keen that Pakistan should grant it MFN status, which would remove trade restrictions. India has already granted MFN status to Pakistan. Pakistan, say exporters here, fears that MFN status to India might result in Indian goods flooding the Pakistan market. Demand for Indian goods is already very high and many of these are being sold on the black market. At a recent meeting with Indian industrialists, Pakistan industry representatives said that their country realised the need for exchange of expertise and legislation on issues relating to the WTO. “We know that as a signatory to the Uruguay Round, we will have to open up our markets to all other signatories. We would also be required to accord most favoured nation status to the signatory states”, said an office-bearer of the Pakistan Chamber of Commerce at the meeting. Delegates from India have proposed that if Pakistan faces difficulties in granting MFN status, it could allow certain commodities to be imported from India, which it is importing from other countries. At present, Pakistan allows around 600 items to be imported from India. These include fresh potatoes and onions. “An immediate expansion of the list of 606 items that can be exported from India is required”, says Dr Amit Mitra, Secretary General, FICCI. Traders are hopeful that Pakistan would consider lifting the recently imposed ban on perishable goods sent via Amritsar. “We can supply goods at cheapest rates and at the shortest possible notice”, a trader said. Sugar traders want the ban on sugar imports, imposed in March this year, to go. Pakistan, which exported sugar in 1998 and 1999, mostly to India, had a total shortfall of about 1 million tonnes due to a decline in cane planting. Dealers in Amritsar say that Pakistan still has a shortage of 2-3 lakh tonnes, which it can easily import from India. Chambers have urged the government to remove trade restrictions on people and the movement of goods and open up the land routes to facilitate border trade. They have also urged that the issue of multiple entry visas and development of tourism between the two nations be considered. Mr O.P. Arora, President of the Indo-Pak Exporters Association, says transportation is a major hurdle in trade. If removed, it can improve bilateral trade by at least 25 per cent. |
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India ranked 115th in Development Index New Delhi, July 10 The 2001, HDR, the 12th in an annual series which was released here today by the Minister for Information Technology, ranks 162 countries and territories according to the Human Development Index (HDI) which is based on a combined measure of longevity, educational attainment and ability to buy basic goods. Terming technology as a tool for development, not just reward of development, the report ranks India among "dynamic adopters" according to the Technology Achievement Index (TAI) and recognises Bangalore as a world-class technology hub. Bangalore is rated 11th among the 46 hubs and India ranks 63rd in the TAI. The Report says India’s rank on the TAI would have been higher up if there were not huge variations in technological achievement among Indian states. “The country has the world’s seventh largest number of scientists and engineers, some 1,40,000 in 1994. Yet in 1999 mean years of schooling were only 5.1 years and adult illiteracy was 44 per cent”, the HDR notes. More
specifically, the report points out that among India’s 1.4 million Internet connections, more than 1.3 million are in the five states of Delhi, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Mumbai and only 0.4 per cent of the population using the Internet. The TAI, which provides a country-by-country map of huge inequalities in education and skills required to technology, quantifies parameters according to acceptance of technology by people in individual countries. “It is important for India to focus on diffusing electricity and telephones so that all people can participate in the technological revolution”, the report says. In his foreword to HDR 2001, the UNDP Administrator, Mr Mark Malloch Brown, has lauded India’s efforts in harnessing information technology to expand people’s choices by enlarging connectivity to isolated rural villages and building IT-based economic clusters for higher economic growth. Mr Pramod Mahajan released the report in presence of Deputy Chairperson of Rajya Sabha and UNDP’s Distinguished Human Development Ambassador, Dr Najma Heptulla, noted agricultural scientist Dr M S Swaminathan, and the UNDP Resident Representative Dr Brenda Gael McSweeny. Dr McSweeny said the report cites an especially urgent need for stepping up research efforts in four principal areas- vaccines for malaria, HIV and tuberculosis, high-yielding, pest resistant and drought-tolerant varieties of staple foods of South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa;low-cost computers and wireless connectivity for the poor. Norway is now ranked first in the world in terms of HDI and Australia second. Both moved narrowly ahead of Canada, the leader of the previous six years. |
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Dealing in US-64 should be based on NAV, says Assocham
New Delhi, July 10 Based on the recommendations made by the Chairman of the Chamber’s expert committee on capital market, Sudhir Joshi, Assocham said the US-64 had a crisis in 1998 and the Parekh Committee had suggested US-64 scheme to be NAV driven. “It is high time that the move should be made in this direction. Once dealings are NAV based, it will also ease the perceived pressure on liquidity,” Joshi said adding that Finance Minister’s assurance to probe the insider trading charges on US-64 was a well directed move and must be pursued. To specifically address the issue of liquidity, banks and financial institutions can provide loans to UTI against shares which can help avert the liquidity crunch in the next couple of months, he said.
PTI |
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Haryana Govt signs MoU with IBM Chandigarh, July 10 Dubbing the move as “ major leap” toward IT initiative, a state government release said the MoU signed between Society for IT Initiative Fund for E-governance and IBM India Limited would help achieve various projects in the IT sector as per the new IT policy framed by the state government. The MoU was signed by Mr Dharam Vir, Commissioner, IT department, who is also Member Secretary of the IT Initiative Fund and Mr Abraham Thomas, MD and CEO, IBM India Ltd in the presence of Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, senior officers of the state government and executives of the IBM India. Quoting Mr Dharam Vir, the press note said IBM would make available the best of its technology and expertise in e-business to develop Haryana’s position as a lead provider of IT skilled resources in India in e-business. The MoU would also help in computerisation of various state government departments. According to the MoU, IBM would also help training skilled manpower besides developing expertise in providing technical consultancy and develop customised applications. The primary aim of the collaboration was to secure IBM’s assistance for implementation of high quality e-governance applications by the state government, Mr Dharam Vir was stated to have said. Mr Thomas, MD and CEO of IBM India, reportedly said that his company would undertake the work of four departments, to be identified by the state government, free of cost as pilot projects. After successful pilot run, the applications would be rolled out across the state. The press note said that it was decided that the IBM would provide software at a subsidised rate at mutually agreed terms and conditions to the Haryana Government for state government departments, boards,
corporations, universities, etc. The IBM would assist Haryana Government in IT planning and extend the services of its solution architect teams to assist the state government to conduct system requirement studies and solution architecting for government departments and organisations. |
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Remove disparity in
petrol, diesel prices SAS Nagar, July 10 A decision in this regard was taken at a meeting of the associations of Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh held here. At the meeting a Joint Action Committee of the petroleum dealers of Northern region was constituted to take up the issue with the Petroleum Ministry and the state governments concerned. Mr J.P. Khanna, President of the Punjab Dealers Association, said the difference in the prices was affecting dealers as the dispensing of the product was becoming a costly affair. It was decided that a memorandum of their demand would be given to the Chief Secretaries of the five states. President of the Delhi Petroleum Dealers Association Juggal Batra said : "The government should charge on the basis of the volume consumption instead of the value-based system. The volume based mechanism will not affect the selling price in case of price variation in the crude oil". He said the joint action committee would give 30 days time to the state governments concerned and the Oil Coordination Committee to workout a mechanism for uniform petrol and diesel rates. President of the Haryana unit, Ranjit Singh Chauhan said difference in the sales tax, surcharge, infrastructure cess and octroi in different states resulted in variation of petrol and diesel prices resulting in malpractices in the trade. The dealers criticised the Petroleum Ministry for not deciding on the issue of quality check parametres, commission and the temperature variation — factors deciding on the quality of the crude oil products. The Oil Coordination Committee had assured the Federation of All-India Petroleum Dealers that a decision on the paramatres would be taken in three months but nothing has been done. |
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Infosys net profit surges 56.66 pc Bangalore, July 10 Total income of the company in the quarter rose to Rs 626.01 crore from Rs 370.64 crore, an increase of 68.90 per cent. Belying analysts’ forecast predicting a lower growth rate, Infosys’ net profit for the quarter recorded a growth of 4.6 per cent compared to Q4 of 2000-01. For the first time, the company admitted that it was facing billing pressure from both existing and new customers following slowdown in the tech sector. “We had a comfortable quarter. We are glad that we have exceeded our own estimates of growth in topline and bottomline”, company’s Chairman and CEO, N. R. Narayana Murthy, told a news conference here. “While we have exceeded our earlier guidance for the first quarter, we have not seen any material change in the external environment to revise our annual revenue growth forecast of 30 per cent for 2001-02”, he said. Murthy and the company’s MD, President and COO, Nandan M. Nilekani asserted that the billing pressures from customers were being offset by increasing volumes. In fact, the company’s offshore billings dropped by 6 per cent. Nilekani said there have been no retrenchments. During the quarter, the company added 26 new clients, and net addition of employees was 116. E-business engagements comprised 23 per cent of revenues for the quarter, as against 25.8 per cent in the quarter ended March 31, 2001. Start-up and venture-funded companies accounted for 5 per cent of total revenues — down from 7 per cent. Software revenues in US dollar terms grew by 8.1 per cent for the quarter as compared to the quarter ended March 31, 2001. Revenue growth comprised volume growth of 10.9 per cent and price decline of 2.8 per cent, as compared Q4 of 2000-01 Responding to a question, a senior Infosys official said some of the projects by its customers have been cancelled, but the company has entered into a relationship with them regarding other opportunities. This is nothing more than normal, Murthy added.
PTI |
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Recession fails to hit garment exports Ludhiana, July 10 The AEPC data reveals that during the financial year January- December 2000, the garment exports from Ludhiana reached Rs 803 crore against Rs 632 crore during 1999.In fact, the share of Ludhiana in the country’s total export has increased from 2.76 per cent to 3.11 per cent during the same period. The garment exports from the city, which mostly comprise of T-shirts, have increased from 3.21 crore units to 4.02 crore within one year. The industry has succeeded in enhancing the value per unit of its products by improving the quality. The latest information available from AEPC revealed that during the month of June 2001, the garment exports from the city has increased by about 16 per cent as compared to the corresponding period during the previous year. The share of knitted cotton, synthetic and
woollen garments in the total garment exports from the city is 74, 10 and 16 per cent respectively. The average value of garment unit exported from the city has reached about Rs 199 as compared to just Rs 84 per unit realised by the exporters of Tirupur, the tradition competitor of Ludhiana exporters. Though its’ share in the total exports is about 13.85 per cent. The industry observers feel that the total garment exports from Ludhiana during the current financial year may cross Rs 1000 crore if the present trends are any indication. The Vardhman group is also entering the export market in a big way this year. |
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Punjab for separate coal mines Jalandhar, July 10 Disclosing this here today, State Power Minister, Sikander Singh Maluka said that parleys are going on with the Union Coal Ministry for allocation of separate mines to fetch coal as the present supply of coal is of low quality and the state government suffers over Rs 185 crore annual loss due to 45 per cent wastage in the coal supply. He ruled out any move by the state government to privatise the power sector and said that the experiment of privatisation has already failed in the states where it was done. Very soon the state government will launch a scheme under which electricity connection will be given to unauthorised colonies after taking an undertaking from them, he said, adding that the maximum theft cases were detected from those colonies where consumers were not paying anything to the board in connivance with the board.
PTI |
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Nabard award for Kaithal
coop bank Chandigarh, July 10 A spokesman of the bank said the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard), Mumbai, has awarded a trophy with a certificate of merit and a cash prize of Rs 5 lakh for the welfare of the staff. He said the criteria for judging the performances of PARDB was their advancement of loans, recovery, management of funds and implementation of the State Government programmes. He said the Kaithal Cooperative Agriculture and Rural Development Bank advanced Rs 605.77 lakh for farm mechanisation, minor irrigation, horticulture and farm forestry, animal husbandry and non farm sector loans during 1999-2000. |
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