 |
Wednesday,
August 29, 2001, Chandigarh, India  
|
Connect launches phone card
Bharti gives $150 m contract to three telecom firms
States violating ST floor rates
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Cruise bug bites middle-class Indians New Delhi, August 28 It is the latest fad of middle class Indians with deep pockets: a cruise to an exotic destination aboard a luxury liner. The fad is increasingly catching on as more and more Indians are going abroad on exotic vacations — a tribe that the travel industry says is increasing at an astonishing rate of over 6 per cent every year. PNB ties up
with Infosys Bengal to set up first Toy Park Hero Honda to spend Rs 12 cr on IT
Hind Lever expected
to maintain lead
Herbal lipstick to hit market soon
|
|
Connect launches phone card Chandigarh, August 28 “With the introduction of Connect phone card in Chandigarh we aim to provide a Connect Phone Card holder the convenience of being mobile because a Phone Card allows one to make long distance (STD/ISD) calls from any Connect phone, without being restricted to a particular fixed phone at home or in the workplace. This will also help the user if he has to call from a phone which has a local calls facility only besides allowing the users to budget their STD/ISD expenses,” said Mr Vijay Kaul, vice-president. Phone cards are easily available at a number of retail outlets all over the city. Currently, these phone cards are available only in Chandigarh and Mohali, and will soon be made available in Ludhiana, Patiala, Jalandhar and Amritsar. The phone card will be available in denominations of Rs 100, Rs 200 and Rs 500. All denominations of Connect phone card have local
+STD+ISD calling facility. The residual balance available can easily be checked on the phone card every time one finished a call. All calls made using a Connect phone card will be charged at Rs 1.10 per call unit. Using a Connect phone card is very simple, after acquiring a Phone Card from any of the retail outlets scratch the silver panel on the reverse of the card. On scratching it reveals a 10-digit PIN number. One has to simply dial 170170 from any Connect phone card listen to the announcements, follow the announcement and enter the PIN number as printed on the card. The phone card account will then be authenticated and one can dial the destination phone number. The instructions of use are also printed on the reverse of the phone card for ready reference. |
|
Bharti gives $150 m contract to three telecom firms New Delhi, August 28 “The expansion would be implemented across all of Bharti’s regional hubs as well as some of its existing circles. While, some of the existing networks would be scaled up with this expansion, the newly-acquired circles would be set up at existing levels of network excellence,” a Bharti release said here. The expansion would lead the existing networks into the realm of 2.5g technology and would bring to the Indian market a slew products and services including GPRS. The expansion is likely to take place over the next four months. Commenting on the order which is the largest contract of its kind in the Indian telecom sector, Bharti Chief, Sunil Mittal, said that the agreement was a part of the company’s vision of building a Pan-India mobile telecommunication infrastructure. Under the agreement, Ericsson would provide complete end-to-end infrastructure, Intelligent Network architecture, base stations, and GPRS to the operations in Haryana, UP (West), Kerala and Tamil Nadu as well as some of the existing circles including expansion in
Chennai. PTI |
|
States violating ST floor rates Chandigarh, August 28 After a prolonged exercise at the national level , all states introduced minimum floor rate of the sales tax on about 200 items. The system worked well for some months. The Union Government had also set up a six member committee to keep a watch on the states violating the floor rates system. It is other matter that the Punjab has also violated the national consensus on floor rates on certain items with impunity. At a recent meeting of the committee and all states held in New Delhi, the Uttar Pradesh Government had made it clear that it failed to enforce the minimum floor rates on all items by September 3 as the neighbouring states like Haryana, Delhi, Rajasthan and Bihar are violating the national consensus by charging sales tax less than the floor rates on certain item. Because of this, traders and businessmen have been adversely affected in the Uttar Pradesh. Even Punjab, has also violated the floor rates on diesel, pesticides and fertilisers. Punjab is charging 8, 2 and zero per cent sales tax, respectively, on these items against the consensus rate of 12, 4,4 per cent. Haryana and Himachal Pradesh have also followed the Punjab’s footsteps in this connection. Informed sources said the committee had given September 3 as a last chance to the states to restore the floor rates or face action. The committee would submit its report to the Union Finance Committee after September 3 about the states not falling in line on the floor rates. The Centre can slash or withhold grants to the states violating the floor rates criteria. In one go, it can impose 20 per cent cut on grants from the Central pool to the states concerned. The sources said the Punjab Excise and Taxation Department has sent the file to the Chief Minister informing him about what the Union Government and the committee wanted in this connection. However, chances are very remote of the restoration of the floor rates on these items in Punjab. It is election year and restoration of floor rates would increase the rates of these items. Though Haryana and Himachal Pradesh have agreed to restore floor rates on these items and have also completed necessary formalities but necessary notification has not been reportedly issued yet. Both states watch that what decision would be taken by the Punjab Government. |
|
Cruise bug bites middle-class Indians New Delhi, August 28 The fad is increasingly catching on as more and more Indians are going abroad on exotic vacations — a tribe that the travel industry says is increasing at an astonishing rate of over 6 per cent every year. Last year some 30,000 Indians sailed off into the wild blue yonder. About 40,000 Indians are likely to do so this year. It is an industry that has grown from virtually zero in seven years. "Going on a cruise is a real laidback holiday. You can do just what you want, away from the pressures of business and routine. You can get up when you want, eat whatever you want from the plentiful choice laid out, take in a live show or lose yourself in the myriad other activities available on board," said Gita Murty, who recently took a seven-day cruise to Alaska with her husband. According to a recent Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) report, Indians travelling abroad have been growing at a rate of 6.2 per cent every year. By 2005 Indian outbound travellers are expected to number 5.2 million, up from around four million currently. A cruise doesn't come cheap. Prices start at $75 a night for a tiny cabin, all the way up to $5,000 for a luxury sea-facing cabin. A cruise can last a mere three days or stretch up to a month — depending on what takes your fancy or how deep your pockets are. Add to this the airfare or other travel costs to where you board a liner — very few cruise ships call at Indian ports so passengers have to travel to Europe or the USA to catch one. Such is the potential that the Royal Caribbean Cruise, the world's largest cruise company with a fleet of 22 liners, has booked more passengers from India in just seven months this year than it did during the whole of 2000. It has been operating in India for the last seven years, growing from strength to strength with its local representative. Royal Caribbean's fleet includes some of the biggest cruise liners that accommodate 5,500 passengers and crew. Many of these ships have rock-climbing walls, ice-skating rinks and shopping arcades, apart from the usual promenades — swimming pools, bars, movie theatres and casinos. "The ship we went on was so huge that outside the dinning halls, we did not bump into the same people during the whole cruise," said garment exporter Arun Batra, who took his wife and parents on a cruise last year. "What was most pleasurable about the cruise was the wide variety of food we got to sample and the fact the one did not have to pack and unpack to travel to different destinations," said Batra, who has been on two cruises and is raring to go again. Surprising though it may sound, tour operators say that 65 per cent of Indians who take a cruise have done so before. Little wonder then, that cruise companies are attempting to outdo each other in attracting customers. For instance, an added itinerary on Royal Caribbean's Alaska cruise will be a land tour package with passengers getting a chance to see ice fields, snow-capped mountains and wildlife — and ride along a glacier in a glass domed train. As recently as a decade ago, a cruise was the preserve of the very rich. Today, a number of operators like Royal Caribbean Cruise, Star Cruise, Princess Cruise, Holland America, Cunard and Radisson are fighting for a share of the pie as they woo even middle class Indians to indulge in the holiday of a lifetime. "The cruise industry has grown tremendously as more ships are arriving on the scene and more importantly coming closer home," said Gautam Chadha, Chairman and CEO of Journeymart.com, who brought Royal Caribbean to India. From family groupings to reunions, from corporate getaways to incentive packages by companies, Ratna Chadha of Tirun Travel Marketing said another potential market was emerging: newly weds from India opting for long honeymoon cruises.
IANS |
|
PNB ties up
with Infosys Ambala, August 28 Talking to mediapersons here yesterday, General Manager, Northern Zone of PNB, Mr Udai Shankar Bhargava, said that the new software called Centralised Banking Solution will enable inter-connectivity between 1500 to 2000 branches. “This will greatly facilitate anywhere, anytime banking since a customer will be able to operate an account at all such branches where this software is installed,” he said. Mr Bhargava said that another software is being introduced which will enable clearing of outstation cheques of certain stations within a week instead of about 15-20 days. “This will help the businessmen who regularly have to encash outstation cheques,” he said. He said that the bank has taken several initiatives to finance the credit requirements of the traders in a more practical manner. The bank already has a scheme for financing traders upto Rs 20 lakh. “There was demand from arhtiyas that the bank should consider financing their needs without insisting on monthly stock statements. The bank has come out with a scheme where traders can obtain working capital limits upto a maximum of Rs 10 lakh against mortgage of immovable properties without the need of submitting any stock statements,” he said. Mr Bhargava said that PNB has strategic strengths in North India with lead bank responsibilities in UT of Chandigarh (Rural), 17 out of 19 districts in Haryana, including Ambala and six out of 12 districts in Himachal Pradesh. In northern zone of the bank, total business of the bank was in excess of 10,000 crore as at March 31, 2001. PNB has taken several steps to improve its services in Ambala. Eleven out of the total 20 branches have been computerised and the remaining nine branches are going to be computerised shortly. Bank also proposes to install ATMs at Model Town, Ambala City, GT Road, Castle Lines, Ambala Cantt branches. |
|
Bengal to set up first Toy Park Kolkata, August 28 The venture is on the lines of the Software Technology Parks that have been set up in various parts of the country to promote the growth of information technology (IT) firms. To be built at a cost of Rs. 160 million on a 2.28-acre site, the Toy Park will accommodate 60 domestic and foreign toy firms. The venture promises to create at least 4,000 jobs. "The first phase, to be completed by March 2003, will house 20-30 companies in an area of about 60,000 sq. ft. The second phase will also cover an identical amount of space," D. P. Patra, Managing Director of the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC), which is promoting the venture, told IANS. Already, two German firms have expressed interest in setting up their units in the Toy Park, Patra said. WBIDC Chairman Somnath Chatterjee is scheduled to meet the South Korean Ambassador to India in Delhi soon to discuss ways to involve that country's entrepreneurs in the venture, he said. The venture will be managed by WBIDC Toy Park Limited, which is to be set up for the purpose. An international consultant, I-Win, is assisting WBIDC in the venture. Plans are afoot to involve various chambers of commerce in the project. Besides infrastructure, the Toy Park would also provide facilities for marketing and exporting products that are manufactured there. "It could also take care of the interests of small scale units which have so far been deprived of a fair price for their products," Patra said. According to the All-India Toy Manufacturers Association (AITMA), the toy market in India stood at Rs. 3.42 billion in 1998-99, a whopping jump from a meagre Rs. 3.9 million in 1990-91. The industry is projected to grow to Rs. 9.35 billion by 2004-5.
IANS |
|
Hero Honda to spend Rs 12 cr on IT New Delhi, August 28 “We will spend Rs 12 crore in IT-related activities in 2001-02 to streamline operations while scaling up the existing hardware, software and networking infrastructure in the company,” Hero Honda Vice-President (information systems) S. R. Balasubramanian said today. The IT spending assumes importance in view of the slowdown when most companies are cutting down on IT budgets.
PTI |
bb
HPMC awarded Oriental policy Apollo Hospitals Gautam Nath Gold deposit |
 |
| Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir | Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs | Nation | Editorial | | Business | Sport | World | Mailbag | In Spotlight | Chandigarh Tribune | Ludhiana Tribune 50 years of Independence | Tercentenary Celebrations | | 121 Years of Trust | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
