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Wednesday,
March 13, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Treaty
brings relief for vanaspati industry Central
Excise offices upgraded SEBI seeks
powers to punish erring firms ‘No plan
to go public with Infocom’ Steel
units seek action to check dumping LETTERS
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Zee
acquires stake in Padmalaya Tele
Global
sales of cell phones decline
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Treaty brings relief for vanaspati industry New Delhi, March 12 The renewed Indo-Nepal Trade Treaty is for five years up to March 5, 2007, and comes at a time when the domestic vanaspati industry, hit by cheaper imports from across the border, was on the verge of being wiped out. According to the Indian Vanaspati Producers’ Association (IVPA), cost and competitive advantage to the Nepalese producer of vanaspati was on an average Rs 9,000 per tonne during the past one year. The Nepalese vanaspati had swamped most Indian markets stretching from the adjacent states of Bihar, Bengal, eastern Uttar Pradesh and penetrating right across Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Delhi and up to Punjab. The IVPA said the negotiating team from India, led by Commerce Minister Murasoli Maran, had made its point remarkably well before its Nepalese counterparts and achieved certain amendments in the clauses which would give a level-playing field to the beleaguered domestic industry. As per the amended clauses in the treaty, vanaspati imports will be restricted to 100,000 tonnes per annum at zero customs duty. The imports would be canalised through a nominated public sector undertaking to ensure smooth flow into all states of India in contrast to the earlier focus on the nearby states. The treaty also spells out certain rules of origin which will have to be adhered to. Moreover, the imports would be permitted only through six designated customs border check posts to ensure that the rules and regulations laid down for quota adherence were followed in letter and spirit. The IVPA hoped that its trials and tribulations due to adverse conditions would mitigate and it would get a fresh lease of life to compete with the Nepalese vanaspati. Dumping would not be possible anymore as the Nepalese vanaspati would have to follow a rational pricing policy for selling more than 100,000 tonnes specified under the tariff quota. Several factories which had been forced to close down could revive their operations as a result of the treaty.
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Central Excise offices upgraded Ludhiana, March 12 According to information available, earlier Chandigarh and Amritsar were under New Delhi Chief Commissioner. Now onwards, the Chief Commissioner, Chandigarh would have jurisdiction over Jalandhar, Ludhiana and Chandigarh. As per notification, Patiala, Fatehgarh Sahib, Mohali tehsil of Ropar district, Himachal Pardesh and Chandigarh would also be under the jurisdiction of Chandigarh Central Excise Commissioner. However, Amritsar, Jalandhar, Kapurthala, Hoshiarpur, Gurdaspur, Nawanshahr districts of Punjab and whole at Jammu and Kashmir state would be under the jurisdiction of the Central Excise Commissioner, Jalandhar and Ludhiana, Sangrur, Mansa, Bathinda, Muktsar, Ferozepore, Faridkot and Ropar, except Mohali tehsil, would be covered by the Ludhiana Commissioner. The newly upgraded Chandigarh, Ludhiana and Jalandhar offices will also have a Commissioner (appeals) covering the jurisdiction of his respective
commissioner. Under the provisions of this notification Panchkula will also have a new Central Excise commissioner’s office covering Panchkula, Panipat, Karnal, Ambala, Kaithal, Kurukshetra and Yamunanagar districts of Haryana. In the reshuffling of jurisdiction, the ministry has ordered that Gurgaon, Rewari and Mahendergarh will be under Delhi-III, Faridabad under Delhi-IV and Rohtak, Sonepat, Jhajjar, Bhiwani and Jind will be under the jurisdiction of Delhi-V commissioner of the Central Excise.
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SEBI seeks powers to punish erring firms
New Delhi, March 12 Law Minister Arun Jaitley confirmed that the item was listed for tomorrow’s Cabinet meeting. He, however, declined to give details. Top Finance Ministry officials told PTI that following the Cabinet nod, the government would table a Bill to amend the SEBI Act in the current Parliament session. The move is part of the financial sector reforms which were spelt out by the Finance Mininster Yashwant Sinha in his Budget for 2002-03. The SEBI has demanded powers for search and seizure of documents of erring market intermediaries. The market regulator faced immense problems in probing the securities scam of last year in the absence of such powers. Currently, such powers are available with investigative agencies like Enforcement Directorate and Central Bureau of Investigation. SEBI also asked for powers of plea bargaining in order to carry out indepth inquiry into market frauds. The capital market watchdog has also sought powers to impose higher penalties and disgorging of the profits made by erring companies, as enjoyed by other market regulators like the Securities Exchange Commission of the USA.
PTI
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‘No plan to go public with Infocom’
New Delhi, March 12 Asked if it was correct that the group was going slow on its infocom venture, Ambani told PTI “I think Reliance is very much on track (as far as infocom plans are concerned). We have got the licences we wanted, we are building our internet network as planned. But we have no plans to go to the public market in the near future”. Ambani’s remarks assume significance since the group has envisaged Rs 25,000 crore investment in Reliance Infocom over the next five years, in 2:1 debt-equity ratio. This would entail promoter contribution of about Rs 8,000 crore as equity in the five-year period. The group is committed to bringing down its equity to 45 per cent in Reliance Infocom from 100 per cent at present over the same period. “We are open to divesting equity in the telecom pie. Our stated objective for Reliance Infocom is to bring down our equity stake to 45 per cent from 100 per cent at present over a period of time,” sources said. The group has recently concluded divestment of minority stake in another telecom venture, Reliance Communications, in favour of US major Qualcomm for $ 200 million. Qualcomm is a leading CDMA player and will assist the group in providing Wireless in Local Loop (WLL) services. Sources said Reliance Infocom was the umbrella company for telecom ventures of the group and that Reliance has invested about Rs 2,600 crore in this venture till date. The Group is engaged in several telecom businesses. These include basic and cellular telephony, National Long Distance (NLD) and International Long Distance (ILD), besides data centres and value added services. Besides Reliance Infocom, the other group companies engaged in telecom businesses include Reliance Communications, Reliance Telecom and Reliable Internet. A subsidiary of Reliance Infocom, Reliance Communications will handle 17 basic telephony circles besides the National Long Distance and International Long Distance operations. It has already signed the NLD licence and is slated to begin operations this year while it has recently been given the letter of intent (LoI) for ILD. Reliance Telecom offers cellular services in seven circles besides being the basic services operator for the Gujarat circle. Reliable Internet is the fourth cellular operator in Kolkata. Reliance Infocom plans to build 60,000 km of nationwide, terabit bandwidth broadband network across 115 cities in an endeavour to offer a complete bouquet of voice, data and value-added services.
PTI
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Steel units seek action to check dumping Ludhiana, March 12 Welcoming the exemptions to Indian exporters, Mr Vinod Vashist, senior vice president, All India Steel Re-rollers Association, said,‘‘ The decision may not directly affect the region’s small scale producers, but it could put a pressure on us once major steel producers in the world start dumping in the domestic market after the shrinking of US market. We are already finding it hard to compete with the imports of HR coils from the CIS countries. The government should take preventive steps in advance to protect the domestic producers.’’ Taking a dig at the Union Government, Mr Vashist said,‘‘If the most vocal patron of the WTO, the USA, could take steps to safeguard the interests of its producers, the Indian government should not shy away from using its discretionary powers.’’ However, he expressed relief that the government had not increased excise duty in the current Budget. Mr Jaswinder Singh, a leading producer here said,‘‘ Hundreds of re-rolling and forging units here have been forced to close down due to the dumping of HR re-rolling coils from the CIS and other countries during the current fiscal, as there was a price difference of about Rs 2025 per tonne between the imported and domestic produce. About 40 rolling units in the city are unable to optimally utilise their installed capacity.’’ The industry leaders said if the government failed to take corrective steps in time, it would lead to the closure of hundreds of SSI units, and unemployment to thousands of workers. Mr Vashist appealed to the Central Government to strongly oppose the unilateral decision of the US government in the WTO and take steps if the situation so warranted.
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LETTERS At present the PPF scheme remains the best investment in the market. While post tax returns on income funds would currently range between 7-8 per cent, RBI bonds would provide individuals 8 per cent. On the other hand, bank fixed deposit would fetch just 7 to 8 per cent. This makes PPF the favourite by a long shot. The only compromise investment has to make while investing in PPF is liquidity. But then, one has to pay some price for getting better returns. Although the Budget has taken away benefits under Section 88 from PPF investments the interest income on PPF continues to remain tax free. On the other hand income from dividends from companies and mutual funds under the tax purview. The rate of interest presently is 9.5 per cent and, however, if it is slashed to 9 per cent even then it is the best option as compared to other investments. Even without taking into consideration the Section 88 rebate, the current 9 per cent tax free return works out the highest among all categories of savings instruments. This is because every extra rupee of interest earned by the individual be subject to a 31.5 per cent tax which would bring down the post tax return substantially. Even for the higher income brack there is no instrument in the market which can provide 9 per cent tax free income. The return on bank deposits for five year is 8 per cent works out to be 6 per cent after calculating tax for the higher income groups. Even the premium policies also are not attractive largely because of imposition of service tax of 5 per cent. The return has brought down from 7.9 to 7.4 per cent. It is also a dividend time in the capital market and investor, companies and mutual funds are working on ways to minimise the impact of the change in taxation provisions for dividends. Extreme care has to be taken, before switching over one scheme to another. Investors has to go in for systematic withdrawal plan of the mutual funds. This will enable them to get their regular payout to meet their needs and at the same time be a little less burdensome on the tax side of the whole process.
S.C. Dhall, Chandigarh
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Global sales of cell phones decline
New York, March 12 The decline was 3.2 per cent, from 412.7 million handsets in 2000 to 399.6 million in 2001. That is a sharp break from the growth rates between 1996 and 2000, when each year saw a sales increase of 60 per cent, Gartner said in a report yesterday.
AP
Oil prices at 6-month high London, March 12 A barrel of Brent North Sea crude for April delivery welled up as high as $ 24.05 at one point before settling back later at $ 23.55, still up 22 cents on Friday’s closing value. In New York, the April light sweet crude contract gained 46 cents in early deals today to $ 24.30 a barrel.
AFP
BMW net rises by half Munich, March 12 BMW said it planned to lift its dividend by 13 per cent to 0.52 euros a share and predicted a further improvement in earnings this year.
AP
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