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Wednesday,
January 23, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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CORPORATE NEWS
No change in EPF interest rate
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FM hints at cut in customs duty
India, Israel ink pact
HCL Tech profit up 4 pc
Spice launches national roaming
on pre-paid card
Totalfina not in fray for DPC
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CORPORATE NEWS Mumbai, January 22 The board has recommended a final dividend of Rs 2.5 per equity share (Rs one each) for 2001 taking the total including interim dividend to Rs 5 per share as compared to Rs 3.5 per share last year, HLL Chairman M.S. Banga told reporters after the board meeting here today. Company’s net sales for the year under review grew by 3.5 per cent at Rs 10,971.9 crore as compared to Rs 10,603.79 crore in 2000. For the fourth quarter ended December, 2001 the FMCG major has posted a 1.58 per cent increase in net profit at Rs 436.38 crore as compared to Rs 429.58 crore in the previous year while net sales stood at Rs 2,762.92 crore as against Rs 2,648.10 crore in Q4 2000. For the FY’01 HLL’s exceptional items include a Rs 17.14 crore profit on disposal of nickel catalyst and adhesives business, Rs 19.25 crore for write-off of culinary products business, Rs 43.04 crore for write-off and other related costs of ice-cream business and Rs 63.29 crore additional liability in respect of employees retirement benefits, necessitated due to fall in interest rate. Crompton Greaves net at 21.90m Crompton Greaves Ltd has posted a net profit of Rs 21.90 million for the quarter ended December 31 as compared to a net loss of Rs 371.40 million for the corresponding period last fiscal. Net sales were higher at Rs 3,331.30 million for the reporting quarter as compared to Rs 2,972.20 million for the same period last year. ICI net up 34.77 pc ICI India Ltd has posted a 34.77 per cent increase in net profit at Rs 10.31 crore for the third quarter ended December, as against Rs 7.65 crore in the same period last year. Total income for the reporting quarter stood at Rs 174.62 crore as compared to Rs 197.64 crore in Q3 2000. As part of its restructuring plans, it acquired Hindustan Lever Ltd’s catalyst and adhesive businesses for Rs 21 crore and Rs 9 crore last month. Gati net down Gati Corporation Ltd has posted a net profit of Rs 84 lakh for the second quarter ending December 31 as compared to Rs 2.44 crore for the corresponding period in the previous fiscal. Sun Pharma net spurts Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd has reported a net profit of Rs 464.10 million for the quarter ended December 31, as compared to Rs 340.70 million in the same period last year. Net sales also increased to Rs 1,967.70 million in the reporting quarter from Rs 1,578.30 million in the corresponding period last year. Vam Organic revenue down Jubilant Organosys (formerly Vam Organic Chemicals Ltd) today reported 3 per cent decline in total revenues in third quarter ended December 31, last over Q3 of the previous fiscal while posting 28 per cent rise in net profit at Rs 4.5 crore. However, during nine months ended December 31 the company registered 6 per cent revenue growth and 43 per cent net profit growth at Rs 14.63 crore. CMC profit jumps The software service provider major CMC Ltd announced a jump in the profit after tax for the third quarter ended December 31, 2001 at Rs 7 crore as compared to Rs 1.38 crore achieved in the corresponding period last year. The earning per share also increased to Rs 4.62 as against 91 paise in the same period last year. The profit before keeping a provision for taxation stood at Rs 9.95 crore as against Rs 2.03 crore in the same period last year. Telco’s losses shrink Tata Engineering and Locomotive Company (Telco), the country’s largest truck and bus maker, registered a decline in the net loss for the third quarter ended December 31, 2001 to Rs 55.54 crore as compared to Rs 121 crore in the corresponding period last year. The net sales also increased by 18 per cent to Rs 2,080 crore as against Rs 1762 crore in the same period last year.
Agencies
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No change in EPF interest rate New Delhi, January 22 However, the Board would again review the interest rate in March in the light of any change in the yield on its fund, most of which is kept under the Special Deposit Scheme (SDS) of the Centre, officials at the Labour Ministry pointed out. The 156th meeting, held today under the chairmanship of Labour Minister Sharad Yadav, took note of the fact that the yield on bonds and securities continued to fall in 2000 and 2001 due to easy liquidity, poor credit offtake, and cut in CRR by the Reserve Bank of India. The Board also noted that in view of the Y.V. Reddy Committee recommendations, interest rates are likely to go down further in 2002-03. In that event, interest rates on small saving schemes and SDS will also fall further. The exact financial implications of reduction in interest rates would be known only after presentation of the Union Budget next month. A one per cent cut in the interest rate on SDS will cause a fall of Rs 476.84 crore in the revenue of the EPF from SDS. As much as Rs 47,000 crore, accounting for about 80 per cent of the total EPF fund of Rs 60,000 crore, are kept under the SDS scheme which offers an interest rate of 9.5 per cent. Mr Yadav said the EPF was in the process of changing to the double entry accounting system to overcome the reconciliation problems being faced in the single entry system. He said there was a general agreement among the Board members and the EPFO that the
scope of the PF Act should be expanded to cover the informal and unorganised sector. Stressing upon the need for removing the obstacles for expanding the PF coverage universally to all establishments and empowering the government to specify a negative list for exclusion. Mr Yadav said the government should also be authorised to reduce the threshold limit of employees for the purpose of coverage incrementally taking into account the handling capacity PF the EPFO. The Minister said the government should have the power to extend only pensionary benefits to specified groups or classes of establishments by taking into account the financial status of the industry or occupation.
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Sinha, industry condemn
attack New Delhi, January 22 “I have just heard news of an attack on American Centre in Kolkata in which some persons have been killed and such incidents are unfortunate,” Mr Sinha said, while speaking at a session at the ongoing India Today conclave here. On the issue on increased spending on defence, the Minister said “no country can sacrifice national security”. “Left to myself I would like to spend more on development needs. Till regional and security situation improves, we will have to spend on defence,” Sinha said. “It is in the interest of all of us to avoid a war. If war is thrust upon us we would not shy away from it,” Sinha said. Meanwhile, the CII condemned the terrorist attack on the centre. This attack will not have impact on the business and economic situation, but there is need for the government to take quick and decisive action to allay concerns, CII President Sanjiv Goenka said in a statement issued here today. Describing the attack on American Centre by unidentified persons as heinous crime against humanity, PHDCCI President, Arun Kapur said no words are adequate to condemn them. Mr Kapur stressed the need to create a strong legal infrastructure for combating terrorist activities which are spreading its wings to the whole country. Trade and industry are the first casualty in the event the law and order are vitiated thus affecting the volume of business transacted since fear psycosis envelops the businessmen and consumers preventing them to continue business activity as usual, Mr Kapur said.
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FM hints at cut in customs duty New Delhi, January 22 Speaking at the India Today Conclave on “How can India
break out of the Third World”, Mr Sinha said the rigidities of the political system, which places a very high premium on populism, have become a big drag on the economic growth. He called for an all-party consensus on a basic minimum
reform programme. The Finance Minister said there are three key triggers for stepping up India’s growth — better governance, efficient use of resources and fast but judicious adoption of globalisation. Reiterating his commitment to bring down the maximum rate of customs duty to 20 per cent in three years. Mr Sinha said time has come for the Indian industry to accept competition. Ten years is a long time to prepare for competition. For the good of the country and the people at large, the industry must now get ready for full competition. Later in an interactive session with the people present at the conclave, Mr Sinha asked various interest groups, including industry, to rise above narrow sectional interests and look at the larger national problems. “We be a transformed nation if we learn to stand in a queue rather than argue as groups’’ he added. The government was now linking devolution of the funds to states with performance and reforms, and in this context cited the accelerated irrigation programme and accelerated power development programme. This is what the World Bank and the IMF were also doing. “How can you have IT and Green Revolution in the eastern states without carrying out reforms of the state finances.” To a question on whether the Finance Ministry was hampering the long term development of the defence sector by squeezing on funds, Mr Sinha said ‘’nothing will be allowed to come in the way of the long term development of the defence sector.’’
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India, Israel ink pact Jerusalem, January 22 The MoU was signed between Communications and IT Minister Pramod Mahajan, who arrived here last evening on a three-day visit, and Israeli Minister of Communications Reuven Rivlin. The two parties plan to set up a programme and a working group to assist in enhancing industrial and technological competitiveness of both countries through cooperation in industrial research, development and balanced technology transfer aimed at developing processes and products to enhance bilateral trade and marking of products in third-country markets, the MoU said. The MoU, the first step towards the institutionalisation of the framework for co-operation between the two countries in IT and electronics, car see part of India’s burgeoning infotech and electronic talent finding its way into Israel. Israel can also have an advantage over its German, Chinese and Korean counterparts as many people speak English in the country which will facilitate cooperation with India.
PTI
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HCL Tech profit up 4 pc
New Delhi, January 22 The net income of the New Delhi-based software services and solutions major rose to Rs.1.23 billion in the October-December quarter, compared to Rs.1.18 billion in the year-ago period, said a company statement here. Profit for the company, whose financial year starts July, have on average risen 118 per cent in the past eight quarters. The earning figures of HCL Technologies are far below market expectations. Sales rose over 17 per cent during the three-month period ended December to Rs.4 billion compared with Rs.3.4 billion in the year-ago period, the company said, adding that acquisitions and alliances contributed around 11 per cent to revenues. HCL said it added 22 new customers in the quarter, including Lear Corporation, the largest maker of interior seats, Serena Software and Mitsubishi Corporation. Out of the 22 new customers, seven are from the Fortune 500 companies list. The company, which specialises in networking and high-end technology work, said it added five new client dedicated development centres during the quarter. Its total manpower stood at 5,634, with 4,613 billable engineers on the rolls. The firm said its top five, 10 and 20 clients contributed 24 per cent, 36 per cent and 46 per cent of its second quarter revenue, respectively. "Despite challenging market conditions HCL Technologies has posted promising results this quarter, a clear vindication of our business strategies and vision for growth," said Shiv Nadar, Chairman and CEO of HCL Technologies.
IANS
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Spice launches national roaming
on pre-paid card Chandigarh, January 22 “We believe that pre-paid is the growth engine of the market and, therefore, we have focussed the strategy on strengthening our product offering”, said Mr Vinod Sawhney, Managing Director, Spice Telecom. To activate this facility on the pre-paid card, a subscriber has to dial the IVR number- 727 from his handset, before leaving the handset number. A pre-paid subscriber should have a minimum cash balance of Rs 250 on the card. While incoming calls will be charged at Rs 15 per minute for the airtime, the incoming SMS will be delivered free of cost.
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Totalfina not in fray for DPC
Mumbai, January 22 “Totalfina cannot be put on the list of DPC’s potential bidders. We are not signing the confidentiality agreement nor even participating in the due diligence process”, TotalfinaElf Chief Executive (India) Jean Claude Breton said here.
PTI
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Euro can be risky for UK
London, January 22 |
bb
OBC dues IFCI rates VSNL best ISP Telco rating |
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