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July 21, 2001, Chandigarh, India   
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CORPORATE NEWS
Castrol India net rises 11.77 pc
ITC net up 20.76 pc States to introduce VAT, says
Kairon |
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Bumper kharif crop likely in HP Centre to get tough on
ST IT spendings growth may slow down Govt for additional
cess on petrol, diesel Samsung suffers
fall in profits
Industry divided over WTO’s new
round
Virus targets White House
website
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CORPORATE NEWS
Bangalore, July 20 Wipro Technologies, the global IT services business, accounted for 65 per cent of the revenue and 93 per cent of the profit before interest and tax, according to Wipro, India’s third largest software exporter. Wipro, for the first time, announced results (for the quarter ended June 30, 2001) on a consolidated basis under the Indian Gaap Accounting Standard - 21, which has become effective April 2001. Commenting on the results, Wipro Chairman Azim Premji said in the current environment, the company had the option of using price plays for getting volumes versus the tougher and long-term beneficial approach of focussing on value, leveraging its technology skill sets and Six Sigma Quality approach to delivery. “We chose to pursue big deals competing with the Big 5 and large system and telecom integration players”, he said. “looking ahead, we currently believe that we will continue to grow ahead of the industry growth rates”. Profit before interest and tax of Wipro Technologies grew by 70 per cent year on year to Rs 1.9 billion and sequential growth in its offshore realisation by 3.4 per cent and onsite realisation by 2.6 per cent. In the quarter, Wipro’s R & D services contributed 52 per cent of the global IT services revenue. The company continued to derisk its revenue profile with stronger growth in Europe. The proportion of revenues from Europe increased year-on-year from 27 per cent to 33 per cent for the quarter ended June 2001. Wipro Infotech, the Indian and Asia Pacific IT services and products business, accounted for 20 per cent of the revenue and 4 per cent of the profit before interest and tax. Wipro’s consumer care and lighting business recorded revenue of Rs 759 million with profit before interest and tax at Rs 97 million contributing 10 per cent of total revenue and 5 per cent of the profit before interest and taxes for the quarter.
PTI
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Castrol India net rises 11.77 pc
Mumbai, July 20 Total income for the reporting quarter was also higher at Rs 287.29 crore as against Rs 274.85 crore reported in Q2 of last year. Interest expenditure is down from Rs 2.54 crore to Rs 1.73 crore in Q2 of 2001, it said. The company has reported the conditions in the lubricant market to be sluggish. It is estimated that size of market has declined by more than 10 per cent over the past 12 months. The quality of CIL’s products and the power of its brands have, however, helped to lessen the impact on the company, it said. PTI HEG earns profit
HEG, largest graphite electrode manufacturer and exporter in South Asia and part of the LNJ Bhilwara group, today announced a 26.96 per cent increase in net profits and a 12 per cent increase in turnover during the first quarter of the current fiscal. Its net profits reached Rs 8.27 crore from Rs 10.5 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year.
UNI
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ITC net up 20.76 pc
Kolkata, July 20 Net sales turnover during the quarter increased by 4.15 per cent to Rs 1047.89 crore from Rs 1005.99 crore. Other income increased to Rs 26.42 crore from Rs 17.73 crore. Marketmen said the result was on expected lines of about 20 per cent increase in net profit and about 4 per cent hike in turnover. ITC scrip touched a high of Rs 795 immediately after the announcement of the first quarter results, but was quoted at Rs 792 an hour later at 1 p.m. Interest charges were brought down significantly by almost 20 per cent to Rs 18.62 crore from Rs 23.01 crore following which gross profit stood at Rs 504.14 crore (Rs 433.53 crore). Depreciation charges were slightly higher at Rs 38.03 crore from Rs 37.81 crore last year and provision for taxation increased to Rs 165.44 crore from Rs 146.75 crore. ITC said “pursuant to the standard on accounting for taxes on income, the company has recorded a cumulative net deferred tax liability of Rs 57.32 crore up to March 2001 as a reduction from General Reserve.
PTI
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States to introduce VAT, says
Kairon Chandigarh, July 20 Mr Kairon said this would provide a level playing field for various industries at the national and international levels. He detailed the participants on several issues regarding sales tax. Mr
Y.S. Ratra, Financial Commissioner (Taxation), Punjab, Mr Amarjit Goyal, Chairman, Punjab Committee,
PHDCCI, were also present on the occasion.
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Bumper kharif crop likely in HP Shimla, July 20 Mr S.S. Parmar, Financial Commissioner, Agriculture, today said the timely sowing of kharif crops, followed by good rain, has brightened the kharif prospects. If rain continues upto August, then the target of 10.31 lakh tonnes food grains production would be exceeded, he claimed. Mr Parmar asked the department officers to ensure the supply of all inputs to the farmers in time. He said the farmers should be provided latest technical know-how in order to increase the productivity and improve quality of their produce. This is necessary in view of global competition, which is going to be there under the WTO regime. The farmers may also be motivated to get insurance cover for their crops in order to get compensation of the losses due to natural calamities. Giving details about the production prospects, Mr J.C. Rana, Director, Agriculture, said, during the kharif season, 15,000 quintals hybrid maize seeds had been distributed to farmers on 50 per cent cost under drought relief. Other seeds are also being supplied on 50 per cent cost and a sum of Rs 3.50 crore would be spent on subsidised seeds under drought relief. Besides, Rs 9 crore have also been allotted for providing subsidy on fertilisers under drought relief. He said 3.10 lakh hectares in maize, 80,000 hectares in paddy, 33,000 hectares areas in pulses and 7,000 hectares in oilseeds had been sown. The target of production has been fixed at 8.42 lakh tonnes for maize, 1.50 lakh tonnes for paddy 23,500 tonnes for pulses and 7,000 tonnes for oilseeds. He said that the procurement rate of wheat seeds was increased to Rs 825 per quintal to help the seed growers and 40,000 quintals seeds had been procured. A target of 6.55 lakhs tonnes vegetable production has been fixed for this year.
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Centre to get tough on
ST Chandigarh, July 20 After several meetings among the Finance Ministers of all states and the Centre in New Delhi , the Union Government had enforced the minimum floor rates of the sales tax for nearly 200 items to eliminate unhealthy competition among the states. As all the states were party to the decision, a provision of penalty was also kept in event of these states violating the decision. According to information gathered by TNS, the Centre has warned the states to either implement the floor rates by July 30 or face action. Though the floor rate of sales tax on diesel has been fixed at 12 per cent for all states, the Punjab Government reduced it to 8 per cent. In case of pesticides, Punjab is charging 2 per cent sales tax whereas the minimum floor rate is 4 per cent. The Punjab Government has totally exempted the fertilisers from sales tax while its minimum floor rate is 4 per cent. Haryana and Himachal Pradesh have also followed the Punjab pattern as far as charging of the sales tax on these items is concerned. When asked to comment on the issue, the Excise and Taxation Minister, Punjab, Mr Adesh Partap Singh Kairon, said the final decision pertaining to the Centre's directive on floor rates would be taken after the arrival of the Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, next week. He said he would brief Mr Badal about the matter. Interestingly, Punjab, which has violated the enforcement of floor rates on certain items, is a part of the six-member committee of the Finance Ministers set up by the Union Government to oversee the enforcement of the rates and to sort out the problems, if any, of the states concerned in this connection. The Finance Minister of West Bengal is the convener of the committee. Top official sources revealed that the authorities concerned in the Haryana and Himachal Pradesh had taken the approval of their Chief Ministers on the files concerned to restore to the floor rates of the sales tax on the items on which it was slashed. However, they have not implemented the decision yet. They are awaiting the decision to be taken by the Punjab Government in this connection. Replying to a specific question in this regard, Mr Kairon said it was surprising that these states were awaiting Punjab's decision. If the floor rates are restored in case of fertilisers, pesticides and diesel, the gain to the Punjab Government will be to the tune of Rs 100 crore. The prices of these items will also go up immediately. However, due to political considerations, Mr Badal will try to find an escape route. The Badal government, in view the ensuing Assembly elections, can't afford to increase the price of fertilisers, diesel and pesticides. |
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IT spendings growth may slow down New Delhi, July 20 According to estimates released by the International data Corporation (IDC) India here, the growth in spending during 2001-02 is likely to come down by 10 percentage points, as compared to 37 per cent growth clocked during 2000-01. Analysis of the growth trends over the next five years reflects that the year 2000-01 represents the healthiest growth witnessed in the Indian IT market spending between 1999-2000 to 2004-05. The year-on-year growth in likely to dwindle from a high of 37 per cent in 2000-01 to a low of 27 per cent in the current fiscal, touching 28 per cent in 2002-03, 29 per cent in 2003-04 and then picking up at 31 per cent in 2004-05. The market size in terms of spending would grow at Rs 28,694 crore in 2001-02, Rs 36,791 crore in 2002-03, Rs 47,514 crore in 2003-04 and Rs 62,122 crore in 2004-05.
PTI |
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Govt for additional cess on petrol, diesel New Delhi, July 20 “Funds for only half of the 14,252 km National Highway Development Project (NHDP) have been tied-up... For the rest we are considering various options including levying of additional cess on petrol and diesel,” Minister of State for Roads and Highways B.C. Khanduri said here today. While funds for the Rs 27,000 crore Golden Quadrilateral part of NHDP connecting the four metros of Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkatta with four/six lane highway by 2003 end has been tied-up, the North-South corridor joining Kashmir with Kanyakumari and East-West corridor linking Silchar with Porbandar and 1,000 km of port connectivity was yet to achieve financial closure, he said. “The Cabinet has given us approval for road construction work worth Rs 30,300 crore out of the Rs 58,000 crore project. These funds are available with us while the remaining was yet to be tied up,” the minister said adding that the proposal for levy of
additional cess was only at consideration stage. Senior government officials said National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), the implementing authority of NHDP, would face an annual shortfall of Rs 1800 crore beyond 2003. The government is presently garnering about Rs 5900 crore annually from the Re 1 cess on petrol and diesel, of which the present year allocation for NHDP was Rs 2100 crore. The additional cess of 25-30 paisa on petrol and diesel would give another Rs 1800 crore annually which can be exclusively utilised for implementing NHDP, officials said. Cess on petrol and diesel was to fund more than one-third of the NHDP project cost of Rs 58,000 crore. The government had estimated that the Re 1 cess on petrol and diesel would give Rs 20,000 crore till 2007, the completion date of NHDP, Khanduri said. Another Rs 20,000 crore was expected from multilateral funding agencies like the World Bank, Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Japanese Bank of International Cooperation (JBIC). NHAI would raise Rs 13,800 crore from domestic market borrowings for the project while the remaining was to come from private sector participation, he said. Of the Rs 5962 crore from Re 1 cess per litre of diesel and petrol, NHAI would get Rs 2100 crore during the current year. Rs 1062 crore is being given to the states for development of state highways while Rs 300 crore would be provided to railways for Rail Over Bridges (ROBs). About Rs 2,500 crore would be made available for rural roads from the cess collections this fiscal, Khanduri added.
PTI
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Samsung suffers fall in profits Seoul, July 20 The world’s largest memory chip producer said in its quarterly business report that profits in its semiconductor units fell dramatically. In the face of a global chip slump caused by weakening chip prices and falling demand, Samsung said it would cut its planned plant investment this year. Samsung posted 970 billion won ($ 729.6 million) in pre-tax profits in the three months to June this year, down 39 per cent from 1.55 trillion won in the first quarter. The company’s net profit for the second quarter was not immediately released but company spokesman James Chung estimated it would be between 850 and 880 billion won, down from 1.24 trillion won in the first quarter.
AFP
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bb
CII delegation Hafed OBC
loan H.P.
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