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August 31, 2001, Chandigarh, India   
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No compensation for oil pool deficit
India, Pak vie for Iraq wheat market
Web maker dies at 64 |
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Advani for relaxing labour laws
Coop movement in Haryana is govt
run TVS-Suzuki rolls out
Victor Bill to dissolve
BIFR, AAIFR tabled in
LS Murthal college ties up with IBM ONGC nets Rs 1,477 cr
Wartsila to buy stake in arm
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No compensation for oil pool deficit
New Delhi, August 30 “The number (of Rs 14,500 crore) can be handled, but the real question is what are its ingredients and what needs to be compensated... the inbuilt inefficiencies would have to be deleted,” Revenue Secretary S. Narayan said at a seminar on “Road Map to Deregulation of the Indian petroleum industry.” “We have to look into what constitutes the oil pool deficit,” he said. The oil pool deficit, a complex mechanism of subsidising diesel, kerosene for public distribution and LPG for domestic consumption, has to be wiped off before dismantling of APM. The deficit which was Rs 12,500 crore at the beginning of the current fiscal is likely to cross Rs 14,500 crore by the March 31, 2001, according to Petroleum Minister Ram Naik. Narayan said “inefficiencies” like merit of the Oil Coordination Committee (OCC), which manages the oil pool account, guaranteeing a 12 per cent rate of return on all investments made by oil PSUs would have to be looked into. He said the 1997 commitment of providing 33.33 per cent subsidy on kerosene and 15 per cent on domestic LPG through the general budget would be met but administering them to consumers would need to be worked. “(Subsidy) numbers are managable but questions of administering the subsidy will have to be closely looked into in the run up to the dismantling of APM,” Narayan said. Besides, the mechanism to provide subsidy to oil companies, whether on an annualised basis or monthly basis or by any other mechanism, would also have to be looked into, he said. Narayan said the rate of duties of petroleum product and crude would also have to fit in the overall roadmap of duty structure for the entire country. “We have already committed to a peak Customs duty of 20 per cent by 2003 and a standard excise duty slab of 16 per cent. The petroleum sector would also have to fit in the overall plan,” he said. Inconsistencies of product pricing, arising out of their being linked to international prices, which are known for volatile behaviour, would also need to be looked into. Pricing mechanism to go
Ram Naik today said to make Indian oil companies competitive globally, the
government has considered it necessary to dismantle the administered pricing mechanism (APM) system. This would also increase transparency and create a conducive environment for private domestic and foreign investments. This system also ensured availability of petroleum products at fairly stable prices by insulating domestic prices from the international market.
PTI, UNI
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India, Pak vie for Iraq wheat market
Singapore, August 30 Many shipment rejections by Baghdad have not deterred India from exploring future sales possibilities there, and Islamabad is not shying away from entering into fresh export deals despite a lower domestic wheat crop this year, trade officials say. Iraq itself may take the spoils from this latest battle for supremacy between the two arch rivals as it plans to import up to four million tonnes of wheat this year to meet its surging domestic demand. “We are no doubt going to see the competition between India and Pakistan heating up slowly to boost their wheat sales in a growing Iraqi market,” said a senior official at a leading Singapore-based grains trading firm. “Iraq is certainly going to benefit as it can easily dictate stricter terms for imports and force both India and Pakistan to cut their prices,” a trader added. Iraq in May rejected three wheat shipments from India, citing quality problems. Indian exporters, anxious not to let slip a sales opportunity, responded by setting up cleaning facilities. Two major Indian wheat exporting firms have begun trial runs of their cleaning machinery and a third is in the process of putting its cleaning operations in place. Pakistan, undeterred by a fall in its domestic wheat output to 18.9 million tonnes in the crop year ending in May 2001 from the previous year’s 22 million, is close to signing a 150,000-tonne export deal to Iraq. It plans to export 800,000 tonnes of the grain this year. “Iraqi grain buyers want to ensure that they don’t lose out on this golden chance, with both nations trying to push out their wheat, competing with each other,” said a Singapore-based grain trader. He added that freight charges from India and Pakistan were also very cheap, as compared to buying from Australia. Baghdad earlier this year had to scramble for wheat shipments for some time after it banned grain and other goods from Canada following its support for air attacks on Iraq by the USA and Britain in February. Grain was a major component of Canada’s exports to Iraq under the United Nations-sanctioned oil-for-food programme. “Australia gained a bit of a market share to Iraq just after that ban, but Australian sales in the coming months could slow down as India and Pakistan have started to offer wheat,” an Indian wheat exporter said. Freight charges for a 25,000-tonne wheat cargo from Australia to Iraq normally works out at around $ 25 to $ 27 a tonne, while from India it is around $16 a tonne and from Pakistan about $15 a tonne, trade officials said. Regional grain traders said India, which earlier this month reduced its wheat export price, might again cut them to boost competitiveness. Pakistan, offering at slightly higher prices, will find penetrating Southeast Asian markets difficult.
Reuters
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Web maker dies at 64
New York, August 30 Dertouzos, 64, Director of MIT’s Laboratory for Computer Science since 1974, used his influence among academics, industry and government officials to broker creation of the World Wide Web Consortium in 1993 to oversee development and insure the independence of the web. “At that point, I had a half-formed crazy idea. He played an absolutely key role,” Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web, said in a telephone interview, referring to his close friend’s role in forming a consortium that elevated the web beyond narrow governmental or business interest control. “He picked up the idea (of forming the World Wide Web Consortium) and put it together. Only someone with this stature could have pulled it off,” Berners-Lee said yesterday. Born in Athens, Greece, Dertouzos joined the MIT faculty in 1964 and for decades used his position at one of the world’s leading technology research institutions to prod the industry to make computers more accessible to nontechnical audiences.
Reuters
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Advani for relaxing labour laws New Delhi, August 30 “The winds of competition are blowing across the terrain of almost all industries, big and small. The challenge has become especially acute with the advent of the WTO,” Mr Advani said while inaugurating the national convention of small scale industries (SSIs) here. Emphasising stronger consensus among political parties, the Home Minister said “Perhaps at no other time in the past was a national consensus on economic issues more needed. We need stronger consensus between the Centre and the states.” “It is time that we shun the attitude of opposing for the sake of opposition. He said we must understand that the international and national context of doing business has changed,” he said. Stating that the challenges have been acute with the advent of the WTO, he said, “Our small industries face severe challenges because they have to compete with foreign products or those produced by multinationals which may be cheaper to the final customer.” He said the removal of reservations and relaxation of labour laws are also necessary and should not be blindly opposed. These changes will help India’s small-scale sector to realise its full potential. He also expressed happiness that the SSI Ministry had now decided to focus on the North-East as a potential area for rapid development.
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Coop movement in Haryana is govt
run Chandigarh, August 30 “The cooperative movement of the state is government-run against the movement’s ethos and values evolved to prepare the citizenry for collective efforts and responsibility,” sources in NABARD told The Tribune today. The cooperative movement in the state has been lopsided with bodies like the HSCB performing well while long-term institutions like the Land Development Banks (LDBs) are performing below expectation, the sources said. Haryana’s cooperative bodies are more government-driven than member-driven as in the case of Gujarat and Maharashtra, where people’s collective efforts have done wonders, the sources said. The success of Haryana, however, could be explained as the cycle of delivery and credit was not more than one year as loans from these societies were crop-linked, they said. As delivery on this account had been managed well there were not many complaints coming to monitoring agencies, they said The sources said that as size of the primary societies had become unwieldy, a member only remained a cog in the wheel with not much of scope to change the course. Activities like minor irrigation, land development, farm mechanisation, plantation and horticulture, poultry, sheep, piggery, fisheries, dairy development, storage and market yards, etc, for formation of capital and generation of employment covered under long-term structure, were not doing comparatively well, they said. The sources said Haryana’s cooperative banks, whom Union Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha asked to be prepared to compete with commercial banks, adopt technology fast and evolve corporate cooperative governance culture, did not have efficient staff to shoulder this responsibility. They said cooperative bodies’ employees could not be compared to those of banks resulting in slow recovery of debts and ineffective and inappropriate financing. |
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TVS-Suzuki rolls out Victor Chennai, August 30 Launching the product in the city today, Mr Venu Srinivasan, Managing Director of the company, told newsmen that TVS hoped to sell at least 70,000 units of Victor during this fiscal and 200,000 units in 2002-03. “We are planning to make the new product available across the country by the middle of October next,” he said, adding that the company had invested around Rs 70 crore for the Victor project. Victor is priced at Rs 41,187. Matiz variants
announced Daewoo Motors India will launch its much awaited Matiz special edition on September 1, 2001. Announcing the launch, the MD & CEO, Mr Y.T. Cho said, “We are now ready to offer special editions of Matiz to the customer.” The Matiz Special-SG will have front power windows, remote boot opener, roof rail, high mounted stop lamp, moulded door trim, internally adjustable side view mirrors and exhaust rings. The Matiz Special-SA will have additional features such as digital clock, roof rail, ashtray with automatic light, leather steering grip, high mounted stop lamp, Matiz logo embossed on floor mats, wind shield with green band on top, additional turning indicators on fenders, bracket licence plate and exhaust rings. The price of new models is pegged at approximately Rs 9000 more than the regular SG and SA models.
Toyota plans to
launch car Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKML), whose multi-purpose vehicle Qualis is doing exceedingly well in a declining Indian automotive industry, is mulling over whether to launch a car in India, senior company executive said. General Manager (Marketing) Sandeep Singh and Director (Marketing), Satoshi Aoki, told reporters here today TKML was studying the Indian market as part of the company’s proposed plans to enter the passenger car segment.
TNS, Agencies |
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Bill to dissolve BIFR, AAIFR tabled in LS New Delhi, August 30 According to the statement on objects and reasons of the Sick Industrial Companies (Special Provisions) Repeal Bill, which was opposed by Mr Basudeb Acharia and some other CPI(M) members, all proceedings pending before BIFR and the AAIFR prior to their dissolution “shall stand abated”. In view of the problems noticed in the BIFR mechanism,the government is considering various alternatives, including repeal of the Sick Industrial Companies Act (SICA) and enacting a separate legislation to address the problems of industrial sickness more effectively. The task of rehabilitating sick industrial units is proposed to be vested in the National Company Law Tribunal proposed to be constituted by amending the Companies Act of 1956 on the basis of the recommendations of Justice Eradi Committee. A Bill to this effect was also introduced in the House. The SICA, which was enacted in 1985 to solve the problems of sickness in industrial units in the country, has failed to tackle the problem despite various amendments to the act during
the past 15 years.
UNI |
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Murthal college ties up with IBM Sonepat, August 30 Prof Baljeet Singh Kapoor, the Director-cum-Principal of the college told mediapersons here today that this collaborative centre unfolds itself from September 5 next with the installation of requisite IT infrastructure on the college campus. In all, IBM will impart about 160 hours of software training, comprising four capsule courses of 40 hours each, he said.
PTI |
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ONGC nets Rs 1,477 cr Dehra Dun, August 30 The increase in the net profit is attributable to lower operating, recouped costs and exchange variation impact due to reduction in foreign debt and increase in interest earnings as compared to the corresponding previous year’s quarter. According to the official press release of the ONGC, during the quarter, 92.7 per cent of the crude oil production target of 6.26 MMT was achieved. |
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CII delegation Shellers’ meeting CRISIL ratings TCS centre Technova Info Spanish Railways Sigma Corpn |
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