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Thursday,
April 4, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Maruti drives back in black
PSIDC losses touch Rs 223 cr
SA eyes pacts in IT, textiles, jewellery |
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WWICS Canada team to visit Punjab
Tata Info launches courses
SCL to give VLSI design training
Kodak to export cameras
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Maruti drives back in black New Delhi, April 3 The company had recorded a net loss of Rs 269 crore on revenues of Rs 9219.6 crore in the previous year. The turnaround has come even as Maruti’s car sales have increased marginally by 1.4 per cent year-on-year basis to 3.4 lakh vehicles from 3.35 lakh units. During the year, the company had also posted a higher depreciation provision of Rs 347 crore against Rs 322 crore a year ago, the Maruti officials said. “We have adopted several innovative production practices which improved quality resulting in low manufacturing costs, reduced warranty levels and optimal utilisation of production lines,” they said. Besides, Maruti leveraged on its financial strength and was able to obtain funds at below the prime lending rate (PLR) to meet its short- term borrowing needs, the officials said adding an improved Yen/Rupee exchange rate management also aided the turnaround. Superior engineering in collaboration with the company’s component suppliers brought down the cost of components and materials thereby cutting down production costs, the officials added. They said the improved focus on quality had led to a huge jump in the number of defect-free or direct pass vehicles to over 70 per cent from 20 per cent in 2000-01. Maruti’s return to profitability was also aided by the reduction in excise duty to 32 per cent from 40 per cent in the Union Budget for 2001-02. A 50:50 joint venture between the government of India and Japan’s Suzuki Motor Corp, the company is on the selling block as government is in negotiations with Suzuki to to divest its stake through a Rs 400 crore right issue this year. During fiscal 2002, Maruti also tightened its supply chain which led to reduction in inventory levels, the officials said, adding that a thrust on vehicle localisation programme ahead of schedule also helped to save costs. Last year, Maruti had shed about 19 per cent (1,050 workers) of its 5,646-strong workforce through a voluntary retirement scheme (VRS). However, notwithstanding the cut in workforce, the company improved its production capacity utilisation to 120 per cent from 98 to 100 per cent.
PTI
Privatisation within a month New
Delhi The disinvestment of the Indian Petrochemicals Corporation Ltd (IPCL) would also be wrapped up along with the MUL selloff, Disinvestment Secretary Pradip Baijal said here today. Mr Baijal told reporters on the sidelines of a Comptroller and Auditor General of India function that all the crucial issues regarding the fixation of the premium on the government’s shares in MUL would be sorted out with the Japanese partner in the near
future. UNI |
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PSIDC losses touch Rs 223 cr Chandigarh, April 3 Under its project promotion and project financing functions, the PSIDC has given loan amounting to Rs 1,094 crore, since its inception in 1966. The loan has now risen to approximately Rs 2,000 crore. At least Rs 1,150 crore are still outstanding against industrialists against a recovery of Rs 858 crore. Of the total PSIDC investments, over 40 per cent were in textile sector, 25 per cent in engineering, 12 per cent in chemicals etc. As per PSIDC status paper (March 31) responsibility for many of its major failures rests with the sinking of Punwire, whose collapse vitiated the industrial atmosphere in the state. Another implosion caused the closure of the Punjab National Fertilisers and Chemicals Ltd (PNFC). The other reasons why the PSIDC has gone red are: increased litigation, inadequate and weak statutory frame-work, ineffective policies, lack of functional autonomy and inadequate, weak monitoring, decline in primary/product market and industrial recession, failures in disinvestments and equities, slower economic and industrial reforms etc. An estimated Rs 280.36 crore is stuck in 64 BIFR companies. Another 25 companies, which have gone into liquidation, owe Rs 138.96 crore to it. A sum of Rs 420 crore in 89 companies will, perhaps, never be recovered. Rs 137-cr of the loans sanctioned by the PSIDC, advanced and disbursed under IDBI/SIDBI re-finance scheme that reached its peak in 1995-96, only Rs 78.83 crore were disbursed. Thereafter, the decline set in the disbursements that reached the lowest ebb at Rs 3.16 crore in 2001-02. The recovery of loan also reached its lowest at 12.72 per cent. Slow recovery of loans and failing disinvestment of equity has considerably worsened the position of the PSIDC. The PSIDC has not done much in infrastructure development or as a merchant banker. It started with a good track-record by investing Rs 3997.64 crore in various projects — public, joint and assisted sectors. Its equity investment was Rs 452.42 crore. It is now facilitating 14 mega projects as well, including the Bathinda Oil Refinery. Despite its glorious past, the PSIDC faces an uncertain future. As per the status paper, “It has locked up its costly resources in irrevocable high-risk investment. Its networth has eroded. Its liquidity is poor. This has rendered it unable to meet its repayment commitments on account of term loans and re-finance facilities availed of from financial institutions and retirement of its capital bonds. The corporation has not been able to make any worthwhile industrial investment during the past few years. Its performance has been limited to mobilisation of funds for repayment of its liablities”. It is estimated at Rs 1100 crore. It is reliably learnt that in the Punjab Disinvestment Commission, a view has emerged that to avoid the duplication of work, the PSIDC, the Electronic Development Corporation and the Punjab Small Industries Export Corporation should be merged. The PSUs in Punjab are “a mirror image of the state government in terms of liquidity, solvency and debt profile”. The Chief Minister’s Office has issued a circular to all Managing Directors to submit status paper on their respective
PSUs. |
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SA eyes pacts in IT, textiles, jewellery Chandigarh, April 3 Ms Maliza highlighted the opportunities provided to Indian companies in the metals industry. She said the country is supported by large reserves of minerals and steel manufacturers are moving towards value-added production processes to avoid price fluctuations. While 43 per cent of the domestic steel exported , 57 per cent is consumed locally. Opportunities exist to process steel further in pipes and tubes, machinery, motor vehicle and parts and white goods. Talking about the incentives, she said the corporate tax rates are reducing and the country is also supporting export marketing and investment
initiatives. South Africa is one of the most sophisticated and promising emerging markets globally. The combination of highly developed economic infrastructure and a huge emergent market economy has given rise to strong entrepreneurial and dynamic investment environment which possesses global competitive advantages and opportunities. Mr Vusi Mweli, Sector manager, Fine and Speciality Chemicals, TISA, highlighted the opportunities provided by the chemical industries in South Africa and the identified crucial areas for mutual collaboration. The government's macro economic policy, sets out to achieve improved growth and employment performance while strengthening the long term competitive performance of the country. Mr Sagie Reddy also spoke on ESKOM which is one of the largest power utility companies in the world. |
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WWICS Canada team to visit Punjab Chandigarh, April 3 Accompanied by Col. B.S. Sandhu, an expert in Canadian Immigration, CMD — WWICS India, they will be on a whirlwind tour of India to conduct free seminars for professionals and business persons in all major cities of India. The high-powered team is coming fully prepared to address all concerns on economy, job market and other related issues. “We shall be educating the general public about the changes & the impact of Bill-C-11,’ said Col. Sandhu. As a matter of advice to the intending immigrants to Canada, Col. Sandhu concluded with a encouraging note that many occupations are open now, which were closed earlier and hence it is a God given opportunity to them who get their cases filed at the earliest. The highpowered team of experts will be in Punjab from April 19 to 24. A special discount of Rs 5,000/- commencing April 1, has been announced as an honour to the Canadian visiting team. Besides this WWICS has announced liberal financial help to weaker sections professionals in their mission to move to Canada. |
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Tata Info launches courses Chandigarh, April 3 While the database courses will lead to two global certifications and be available through 15 exclusive centres across the country, the networking course will lead to three global certifications. Talking about the scope of the networking course, Mr Thapan said demand for manpower in this field would increase manifold as a large number of companies were investing in it. The network integration market in the country has grown from Rs 550 crore in 1998-99 to Rs 1,675 crore in 2000-01 and the market is growing at an estimated rate of 60 per cent per year,, reflecting the scope for the professionals, he said. The courses would be offered in a combination of instructor-led training (ILT) and computer-based training (CBT). The database courses would also be offered in a mix of ILT and CBT, he said. The Database Administrator course is a high-powered course consisting of Oracle 8i, DB2 and SQL platforms and leads to two global certifications — Oracle Database operator and Oracle Database Administrator. Mr Thapan said Tata Infotech Education would provide placement assistance through its 'Profiles' initiative. |
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SCL to give VLSI design training Chandigarh, April 3 Vedant — a six-month course in Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI) — designing is meant for engineers or post graduates in electronics or physics. SCL is the only company in the region which is involved in chip designing and fabrication and is also providing training in VLSI designing. The course which was launched in November, 2001, here has received tremendous response from students, said Dr M J Zarabi , CMD, SCL.
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RBI Board BHEL thrust OBC plans 127 cr for Mandi JK Informatics La Zeenat Windshield pact Petro cell |
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