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Thursday, February 21, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Sinha
likely to present industry-friendly Budget Protecting
IPRs crucial for competitiveness LIC, SBI
may infuse Rs 150 cr into IFCI Rates on
personal loans cut Enron
probe spreads to Wall Street 42 FDI
proposals of Rs 75 cr cleared No
proposal to sell off MTNL, BSNL: Ghosh |
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Five
private players granted LoI for ILD
GAIL,
HPCL sign MoU for setting up joint venture LG to
introduce 29 new AC models
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Sinha likely to present industry-friendly Budget New Delhi, February 20 Caution has to be set aside if Mr Sinha is to meet the additional expenditure sought by the Defence sector and friendly measures sought by an industry in recession. For the record, the Finance Minister has been preparing the country and his party for some tough measures. He is understood to have told BJP’s economic cell that he would have to rationalise excise duties to meet the additional expenditure sought by the Defence sector. The Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, too has directed Mr Sinha to loosen the purse strings as far as the defence and internal security of the country was concerned. The Finance Minister would have to meet the Prime Minister’s directive and yet ensure that his revenue generating measures don’t deviate the country from the commitments made at the World Trade Organisation. Experts have opined that this leaves Mr Sinha with the option of selectively hiking excise duties without disturbing the overall rates. Industry hopes that the Finance Minister would balance this act by levying countervailing duty on imports. Another area where the Minister would make changes is Customs duty. Mr Sinha has indicated that peak customs duty would be brought down to 20 per cent from the present 35 per cent in the Budget. While talking about bringing tariff and non-tariff barriers down, Mr Sinha has said the government’s objective is to reduce peak import duty to 20 per cent. The wish list of the industries, as given by the apex chambers of commerce and industry, include reduction in the corporate tax to 30 per cent, reintroduction of investment allowance and enhanced depreciation allowance. There is also expectation that the Finance Minister may make taxations policies for foreign investors more friendly. An attempt would be made to bring agriculture to centre-stage and the budget would focus on this. According to Mr Sinha the Budget would give a new thrust to agriculture. Infrastructure development, especially in rural areas, would get priority in the Budget. An Infrastructure Development Fund is likely to be set up to encourage corporates take up infrastructure-related projects.
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Protecting IPRs crucial for competitiveness Chandigarh, February 20 Mr Dave said the Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement is an integral part of the WTO agreements and all the members have to comply with the basic conditions. Industry’s biggest concern today pertains to the impact of WTO on IPRs in terms of acquisition, protection and sustainability. He said the ministry has been making sustained efforts for creating awareness about the importance of IPRs which prevent the competition from copying products, create corporate identity and increase the market value of a company. Mr K.
Sachdev, Convenor, Power Panel, CII Punjab State Council said that the SMEs are often the driving force behind new products, brands and creative designs. Their innovative and creative capacity, however, is not completely utilised as many SMEs are now aware of the intellectual property system or the protection. Taking full advantage of the IP system enables companies to benefit from their innovative capacity and creativity which encourages and helps fund further innovation thereby improving competitiveness and strategic advantage, he said. Mr Kulmohan Singh, Additional Director Industries, Government of Haryana highlighted the initiatives taken by the government to assist the SMEs in technology upgradation, capacity
building, branding and quality consciousness. Dr
J.S. Rekhi, Deputy Director Ministry of SSI, Mr Amarjeet Singh and Mr Ankur
Talwar, advocates Supreme Court of India made technical presentations.
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LIC, SBI may infuse Rs 150 cr into IFCI
New Delhi, February 20 “IDBI is yet to infuse Rs 150 crore of the pre-agreed Rs 200 crore in IFCI. So, LIC and SBI may be asked to bring in that amount,” official sources told PTI here today. Both LIC and SBI have already invested Rs 200 crore each in IFCI while government has infused Rs 400 crore. But IDBI, which is the biggest shareholder in IFCI, has invested only Rs 50 crore in IFCI. Sources said IDBI, which is itself under financial strain, has requested government to arrange the funds from other cash-rich FIs like LIC and SBI. IDBI Chairman P.P. Vora met Banking Secretary S.K. Purakayastha here yesterday to discuss various issues pertaining to the FI. When contacted, Mr Vora declined to divulge details about the pending investment in IFCI. “I don’t know anything,” IDBI chief told PTI. IDBI’s request to the government comes in the wake of declining profits and income on account of the ongoing slowdown. After making higher provision for bad debts at Rs 217.30 crore during the third quarter, IDBI net profit dipped to Rs 35.20 crore from Rs 154.8 crore during the year-ago period. IFCI’s bailout has been delayed mainly on account of the inability of IDBI to come up with its share of Rs 200 crore. So far, IFCI has obtained Rs 850 crore from the government and other FIs which has enabled it to take care of the redemption of its maturing debt papers while improving its capital adequacy ratio substantially to about 9 per cent.
PTI
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Rates on personal loans cut
Mumbai, February 20 SBI has also reduced the interest rates on car and two wheelers loans by one per cent at 13 per cent while it has done away with processing fee in case of the former, the bank said in a release here today added that rate cut on personal finance products was with effect from this month. Loans against mortgage of property can now be availed at 14 per cent per annum, cut by 2 per cent. Rate for loans against RBI Relief Bonds and shares & bonds have also been reduced to 12 per cent and 14.5 per cent respectively from 15 per cent, it said. Senior citizens have been offered a hefty cut of 225 basis points for loans to pensioners at 14 per cent per annum (16.25 per cent earlier). Demand loans sanctioned against the security of National Savings Certificates and Kisan Vikas Patras would now be cheaper by 3 per cent at 12 per cent. Loans against Indira Vikas Patra would now cost 13 per cent
PTI
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Enron probe spreads to Wall Street
Washington, February 20 Citing a source familiar with the congressional inquiries, the newspaper said investigators from the House Energy and Commerce Committee were focusing on firms that underwrote securities issued by Enron while also investing in and helping to raise money for partnerships that the company kept off its books. The source told the paper the firms questioned included Merrill Lynch & Co.; First Union (now Wachovia); Lehman Bros.; Credit Suisse First Boston Corp., a unit of Credit Suisse Group Inc.; Citigroup Inc.; Deutsche Bank AG, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. and the CIBC World Markets unit of Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. The newspaper said interviewers want to know whether Enron threatened to withdraw lucrative underwriting business from firms that declined to invest in the company’s partnerships. Federal investigators have launched numerous probes into Enron’s complex off-balance-sheet transactions, its relationship with accounting firm
Andersen and potential securities fraud.
Reuters
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42 FDI proposals of Rs 75 cr cleared
New Delhi, February 20 The 42 FDI proposals worth Rs 75 crore were cleared by the Commerce and Industry Minister Murasoli Maran on the basis of recommendations made by the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB), an official release said here. The proposals cover various sectors including chemicals, automobiles, telecommunications, insurance, light electrical and engineering equipment, consultancy and information technology, it added.
PTI
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No proposal to sell off MTNL, BSNL: Ghosh
New Delhi, February 20 “At the moment, there is nothing specific about disinvesting Mahanagar Telecom Nigam
(MTNL) and Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL),” Telecom Secretary Shyamal Ghosh told reporters on the sidelines of a function held to announce the launch of a mobile Internet facility here. Mr Ghosh was responding to queries about government offloading equity in the two PSUs following sale of 25 per cent stake in Videsh Sanchar Nigam
(VSNL) to Tata group earlier this month. The government holds a majority 56.25 per cent equity in
MTNL, another 40.87 per cent is held by banks and financial institutions (including seven crore shares held through a global depository
receipt). BSNL, which provides both basic and cellular telecom services across the country, will complete its first full financial year on March 31 this year. It was corporatised in October 2000 and government holds 100 per cent of its equity.
PTI
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Five private players granted LoI for ILD New Delhi, February 20 ILD services are scheduled to open up for private participation from April 1, 2002. “Reliance, Bharti, Tata Internet, Connecting Network and Pacific Century have been issued LoIs for ILD services”, the Union Minister of Communication and Information Technology, Mr Pramod Mahajan said while speaking during the inaugural function of Supercomm Asia 2002 here. As per the terms, the companies who have been granted LoIs would have to pay Rs 50 crore to sign the licence agreement with the Centre. Half of this amount will be upfront payment, while the remaining will in the form of bank guarantee. The draft licence agreement for liberalising the ILD regime was finalised in accordance with the recommendations of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). The Centre’s announcement follows the divestment of 25 per cent stake in state-owned Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited (VSNL) to the Tatas.
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GAIL, HPCL sign MoU for setting up joint venture
Mumbai, February 20 According to the agreement, both HPCL and GAIL will hold 22.5 per cent equity in the JVC while the AP Government will have an option to subscribe to 5 per cent of the equity. The remaining 50 per cent equity capital shall be offered to financial institutions (both domestic and foreign) and the public. The agreement is a major step forward in the development of a clean fuel distribution infrastructure in the state, according to a GAIL release. The proposed joint venture will distribute natural gas for use in residential, commercial, and the automotive sector (CNG) and any other fuel, such as permitted by the Government of India, in AP cities. The JVC will develop the needed infrastructure, lay, operate and maintain its own pipeline by taking tap off/custody transfer from GAIL’s existing and future natural gas/LPG pipelines. GAIL will provide its technical expertise in construction, operation and implementation of CNG and piped gas distribution system whereas HPCL will assist in working out a strategy for gainful distribution of LPG in the state to small and new industrial units, automotive commercial and reticulated (piped gas) sectors. The areas to be covered for distribution and the required network shall be identified on the basis of availability, requirement and feasibility for distribution of natural gas, LPG, CNG/LPG (for auto sector) or any other fuel in the different cities of the state. According to initial estimates an investment of over Rs 700-1000 crore would have to be made in the project over the next seven to eight years. The MoU was signed in Hyderabad yesterday by Director (Planning), GAIL, Mr H.P. Chandna and Director (Marketing), Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd, Mr N.K. Puri, in the presence of GAIL’s Chairman and Managing Director, Mr Proshanto Banerjee, and other senior officers from both the companies.
UNI
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LG to introduce 29 new AC models Chandigarh, February 20 He said the company has chalked out a strategy to achieve it’s vision of becoming the single largest split AC brand. “In the organised market, our share is 22 per cent, which we expect would increase to 31 per cent by the end of 2002”, he said. He said ACs have contributed Rs 271 crore to the total turnover of the company in year 2001. Explaining the company’s plans for year 2002, he said LG will introduce ‘plasma’ technology in windows — which would eliminate pollution, smoke, dust, bacteria and viruses apart form controlling the temperature and humidity levels, thereby providing healthy air to the user. The company will also introduce gold fins which would increase the life of the AC by 30 to 35 per cent.
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