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Wednesday,
September 5, 2001, Chandigarh, India  
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Hewlett-Packard buys Compaq
Govt not to change
A-I equity pattern
Himachal emerging as ‘fruit bowl’ of India
Maruti plans more highway stations |
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DNA test on basmati
under consideration
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Hewlett-Packard buys Compaq New York, September 4 The merger will create a $ 87 billion global technology leader offering the industry’s most complete set of information technology products and services for both business and consumers, the companies said in separate statements. The new HP would have assets worth $ 56.4 billion and annual revenues of $ 87.4 billion and operating earnings of $ 3.9 billion from 160 countries. Palo Alto-based HP will own 64 per cent of the combined company and Compaq will own 36 per cent. HP will issue 0.6325 of share for each Compaq share and the deal is expected to close in the first half of 2002. The combined company will create a more formidable competitor for Sun Microsystems and IBM in the market for corporate servers and a bigger player in the market for personal computers for rivals such as Dell Computer Corp and Gateway Inc. The statement said the merger would create the largest player in terms of sales of servers, and PCs and handheld devices taken together, with a leading position in consulting services, storage and management software. HP Chairman and CEO Carly Fiorina will be Chairman and CEO of the combined company with Compaq Chief CEO Michael Capellas becoming the President. The merged company will be based in Palo Alto and operations in Houston will be focussed on engineering and product development, the companies said. Capellas and four other members of Compaq’s current Board of Directors is also joining the Board of new HP. HP Chief Financial Officer Robert Wayman will hold the post for the combined entity. HP expects annual savings of near $ 2 billion in the first year of combined operations from consolidating administration, sales, research and marketing, reducing the cost of goods purchased and selling more servers and PCs directly, the statements said. Both companies have seen their stocks suffer considerably in the recent months. Both HP and Compaq have outlined strategies to focus their businesses on selling services amid falling prices and tougher competition in sales and hardware. The deal will create a computer behemoth that will rival industry leader IBM. In its most recent 12 months, Hewlett-Packard reported revenues of $ 47 billion, while compaq had revenues of $ 40 billion. That is only slightly less combined than IBM’s $ 90 billion.
PTI
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Govt not to change A-I equity pattern New Delhi, September 4 “For any change in equity pattern, they (Tatas) will have to rebid which is not possible”, Disinvestment Secretary Pradip Baijal told UNI here. The government has decided to disinvest 60 per cent equity in Air-India offering 40 per cent to a strategic partner, 10 per cent to employees and the remaining 10 per cent to foreign institutional investors. The Disinvestment Secretary made no bones about the fact that if the Tatas’ bid gets aborted,the privatisation in the aviation sector is jeopardised. “Then we will have the luxury of flying Air-India at the expense of taxpayers’ money”, he retorted. Highly over-staffed by international standards, the national carrier is beset with a total loans outstanding of over Rs 3000 crore. It employs a staff of 18,000 for a fleet of 23 planes. Coinciding with the elevation of Disinvestment Minister Arun Shourie to the Cabinet rank, the SIA’s withdrawal from the Tatas-led consortium came as a big setback to the privatisation programme of the government. Mr Shourie himself conceded the SIA pullout as a “substantial setback” to the disinvestment plan. The Tatas are the only bidders left in the race for Air-India with the Hindujas being eased out on failing to meet the eligibility criteria.
UNI
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Himachal emerging as ‘fruit bowl’ of India Shimla, September 4 Himachal Pradesh is well-known producer of quality fruits especially apple. The emphasis has been laid towards diversification of horticulture through promotion of new fruit varieties. Special attention has been given for the promotion of citrus varieties and mango fruits in lower belt and midhills area of the Pradesh. In view of the current apply season various steps have been initiated for the proper utilisation and export of apply produce. This year, 150 collection centres have been set up for the procurement of apple. So far 1106 tonnes processable apple has been procured under market intervention scheme. It has been
targeted to provide 55 lakh cartons and 15 lakh wooden boxes to the fruit growers. About 30 lakh apple boxes have been exported to various parts of the country in the current apple season. It is expected that the apple production this year would touch the figure equivalent to 207 lakh apple boxes. Horticulture department in collaboration with national agriculture and rural development bank has prepared many a loan schemes for various fruit crops. Loan facilities are available through cooperative and commercial banks with the assistant of Nabard. Short-term loans are also provide to meet the expenditure incurred on the production of fruit crops through cooperative banks and cooperative societies. The government is also providing subsidy on the purchase of fruit plants, plant protection material and also for fencing and irrigation etc for establishing individual orchards by the farmers belonging to weaker sections of society. Subsidy to the tune of 25 per cent is available to small farmers, 33.5 per cent to marginal farmers and 50 per cent to farmers belonging to scheduled casts/scheduled tribes, backward areas and families of farmers selected under IRDP. Maximum limit of subsidy is Rs 3000 per person. In addition to facilitate the agriculturists and horticulturist visiting Delhi a Kisan Bhavan has been constructed there. HPMC has launched a website named HPMC.NIC.IN to provide information in respect of present rates of fruits prevalent in different markets of the country to horticulturist. Now farmers would be able to know the current prices of fruits prevalent in the markets of the country by contacting the nearest office of the HPMC. The production of fruits has increased considerably in the state with easily available facilities and incentives to the horticulturists. During the last year a record production of 4.12 lakh tonnes in 2.11 lakh hactres area has been registered in the state. Apart from this 780 tonne. Apple juice was exported to America, Germany and Ghana. Three thousand tonnes apple was exported to multinational companies for preparing various products keeping in view the liking of the children. HPMC has also received an order from a company to export 50 tonnes apple pulp. The opportunities to export Himachal fruits to other countries have considerably increased with the liberalisation and globalisation of Indian Economy. State government has prepared a full proof policy for the fruits, which cannot be sold in the market. Firstly fruit based drinks such as wines, cidar would be produced to diversify the fruit processing industry. Secondly to establish community packaging units in rural areas and impart training for the preservation of fruits and vegetables at domestic level. Two fruit based wineries are coming up at Shimla and Mandi districts with a cost of Rs 30
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Maruti plans more highway stations
Chennai, September 4 Maruti car owners travelling along these highways will have the facility of a fully-equipped service station and workshop every 25 to 30 km along each of these highways, the official told PTI. The eight highways to be covered during this financial year under the “express highway” stations are Agra-Gwalior (125 km), Bangalore-Bellary (350 km), Chennai-Trichy (306 km) Chennai-Vizag (790 km), Delhi-Nainital (294 km), Indore-Bhopal (187 km), Pathankot-Mandi (220 km), and Kolkata-Dhanbad (268 km), he said adding that 12 highways had already been covered last year in the first phase of the programme. The highways have been selected on the basis of their traffic volumes, proximity to tourist centres and townships, population of cities nearby and connectivity. The services and facilities available under these highway stations included, cafeteria, useful travel-related guidance, breakdown maintenance, towing, route assistance, toilets, petrol pumps and medical help besides the regular repairing service, he said. “The express highway stations initiative is a new benchmark for quality service for car customers in the country” the official said, adding that this was expected to become the industry standard in the days to come. The workshops would be monitored regularly by Maruti’s service engineers and regional representatives, as also the network section at the company. The company would also help the service stations and workshops in finalising lay-out, procuring tools and equipment and training manpower. The company’s service network at present includes 301 dealer workshops and 1,403 Maruti authorised service stations covering 721 cities. The company was selling a range of over 140 accessory products, including car stereos, leather seat covers under the brand name “Maruti Genuine Car Accessories, he said.
PTI
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DNA test on basmati under consideration Nagpur, September 4 Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a national seminar on basmati here today, the former Deputy Director General (Crop Science) of Indian Council of Agriculture Research, Siddique said the test would be conducted at the Centre for DNA and Fingerprints Diagonistics (CDFD), Hyderabad that will put a stamp of quality on basmati rice like the Agmark. He said adulteration of basmati rice was damaging the credibility of the country and bringing disrepute to it. Similarly, the government was planning to set up a nodal agency under the Commerce Ministry on the lines of Agriculture Produce Export Development Agency (APEDA) to export basmati to foreign countries. In the absence of any such set up, the individual companies were now exporting basmati directly, he lamented. Earlier, addressing the inaugural session of the seminar, Siddique said there was no danger to the basmati export business in the wake of US patent on basmati. India had successfully challenged American company Ricetech’s patent on three counts. The US authorities dislodged the company’s 15 out of 20 claims, he added.
PTI |
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Vardhman Asia Pacific Crop Garment Expo Parry Nutra Award for Birla Contract labour |
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