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Friday,
April 12, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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HC approves ICICI, ICICI Bank merger
GAIL may supply CNG in 9 cities
UTI crisis could have been avoided: expert |
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USA unveils new visa rules Connect to launch Centrex
Cell operators to move SC on WLL
2 Palio models by next month
Rasna to launch more flavours
Tax collection dips 10 pc
Non-steroidal asthma drug launched
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HC approves ICICI, ICICI Bank merger
Mumbai, April 11 Justice D.K. Deshmukh in his order cleared the merger proposal setting aside objections raised by some shareholders of the financial institution. Some ICICI shareholders had approached the court against the 2:1 swap ratio (two ICICI shares for every one of ICICI Bank) recommended by Deloitte Haskins & Sells (DHS). After the judgement, ICICI executive director Kalpana Morparia told newspersons that “they will now approach the Reserve Bank of India for its approval”. The merger is effective March 30, 2002. The institution was ready and prepared internally and all requirements pertaining to statutory liquidity ratio and cash reserve ratio have been complied with, she said. On meeting priority sector lending norms, she said RBI would provide a timetable in this regard. This valuation was challenged by G.S. Reddy, an officer of SEBI in his individual capacity and also as shareholder of ICICI, saying that suggested swap ratio “is considered to be unfair on the basis of many aspects”. The petitioner argued that the exchange ratio was unfair as DHS had given more weightage to the book value method for merger of Bank of Madura with ICICI Bank but it had undermined this concept while recommending exchange ratio for the merger of ICICI with ICICI Bank.
PTI
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GAIL may supply CNG in 9 cities New Delhi, April 11 “We are examining the apex court order and will come out with a plan in the near future,’’ GAIL Chairman and Managing Director Proshanto Banerjee told newspersons here today. The Supreme Court in its April 5 order had observed that CNG should also be supplied to polluted cities such as Agra, Lucknow, Jharia, Kanpur, Varanasi, Faridabad, Patna, Jodhpur and Pune. Mr Banerjee also said the company has no plans to bid for buying equity of HPCL and BPCL. GAIL will bid in the third round of New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP). In the first two rounds of NELP, GAIL had taken over eight blocks. Natural gas constituted the core business of GAIL. Gas throughput during 2001-2002 was about 62 MMSCMD as against 61.75 MMSCMD during the preceding year. In April-August, 2001, GAIL had signed gas supply contracts with various consumers for more than five MMSCMD. A Gas Sale and Purchase Agreement (GSPA) was signed with RAAVA Joint Venture for 0.9 MMSCMD of gas from satellite fields. Recently, GAIL signed a contract for supply of 1.64 MMSCMD in Krishna Godavari Basin. The turnover (sales including internal consumption) of the company has risen to Rs 10,553 crore in the year under review as against the previous year’s Rs 10,059 crore. Gross Operating Margin (earnings excluding non-recurring income, interest and depreciation) has increased to Rs 2,556 crore as compared to Rs 2,350 crore in the previous year. Gross profit for the year was Rs 1,949 crore against Rs 1,749 crore while net profit for the year is Rs 1,151 crore against Rs 1,126 crore.
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UTI crisis could have been avoided: expert New Delhi, April 11 The Chagla Commission of enquiry that went into the Mudra scam had laid down strict guidelines for the government-controlled financial institutions and continues to hold relevance even today, says eminent expert on financial matters, Dr Chandramauli Kulshreshta, who has written a book on the rise and fall of the UTI (Bharatiya Unit Trust Ka Utthan aur Pathan). Intrinsically linked to the social fabric of the country, the mutual fund giant is it presently under investigation by the Joint Parliamentary Committee. UTI’s failure to keep its flow of rich dividends to the investors and the switchover to net asset value system has evoked angry reaction from millions of small investors. There have been apprehension that the UTI is going through a critical phase and it might even sink. Dr Kulshreshta feels the UTI has embarked on the right course of reforms and it was necessary for the investors at the moment to keep up the morale of the institution. The financial expert’s prescription for the government is to retain control over UTI and extend it all support to pull out of the crisis. While making the UTI SEBI compliant, it was necessary to put the SEBI house in order. To get over the crisis of confidence, it was necessary to pin responsibility on the people who brought UTI to the present condition and punish them to avoid such scams in the future. The government should show greater sensitivity to investor protection. The author in his book has expressed his gratitude to former Chief Justice and at present judge in the International Court of Justice, The Hague, Mr R.S.Pathak for helping him in bringing out the book. Mr Justice Pathak is also the President of the Tribune Trust. The book was released by former Chief Justice K.N.Singh, who said the authorities today had become insensitive to investors problems. He recalled the Mudra case where the then Congress MP Feroze Gandhi had created a ruckus and forced the institution of the I.S.Chagla Commission. Though he had little expertise on financial matters he had himself suffered as an investor in the UTI. The Chairman of IRDA, Mr N. Rangachary, who was present on the occasion, said Dr Kulshreshta’s book in Hindi would enable a wider audience in the country to get a incisive look into the workings of the UTI.
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USA unveils new visa rules
Washington, April 11 The U.S. Immigration and Naturalisation Service (INS) had announced on Monday that it was tightening student visa rules and proposing shorter time limits on stays in America by tourists and business travellers. A fact-sheet on the subject, released by the INS on Wednesday night, says millions of visitors are admitted to the USA each year under business visitor (B-1) and tourist (B-2) visas. To gain greater control over their presence, the INS is proposing several changes to the rules governing visitor admissions. The fact-sheet says INS will now prohibit school attendance by alien students prior to approval. The new rule, to be published separately as an interim rule, prohibits non-immigrant visitors admitted under B-1 or B-2 visas from pursuing a course of study at a school in the USA prior to receiving INS approval to change their status to that of an F (academic) or M (vocational) student. The INS has also eliminated the minimum period of stay for B-2 holders. The proposed rule will abolish the current minimum six months admission period for tourists, replacing it with "a period of time that is fair and reasonable for the completion of the purpose of the visit." B visa holders applying for entry to the USA will be required to explain to an INS immigration inspector the nature and purpose of their visit so that their period of stay can be determined by the official. While INS inspectors will make every effort to determine a reasonable time period, the burden of proof will rest with the alien. If the time needed to accomplish the purpose of visit cannot be determined, INS would grant a 30-day period of admission. The INS has also made changes to the standards for extension of stay, limiting the conditions under which a B visitor can obtain an extension. It will also reduce the maximum extension period that can be granted. B visa holders can extend their stay in cases that have resulted from "unexpected or compelling humanitarian reasons," such as medical treatment or a delay in the conclusion of a business matter. Again the onus will be on the alien to prove there are adequate financial resources to continue to stay in the USA and that he or she is maintaining a residency abroad. The rule also reduces the maximum extension that can be granted from one year to six months. As nearly all visitors with legitimate business or tourism interests are able to complete their stay within a reasonable admission period, these changes should not adversely affect them, the INS fact-sheet says. The INS recognises some visitors, such as retirees who own vacation homes in the USA, may wish to remain for longer than six months. The proposed rules will allow extensions of stay in such cases. The INS has said it recognises some intending students will want to visit the country first for bona fide visitor purposes, such as touring campuses or interviewing for admission. The proposed rule will establish new requirements for B non-immigrant visitor visa holders who wish to become students. Persons admitted under B non-immigrant visitor status will still be able to change their status to that of a student, but only if they state their intent to study in the USA when they initially applied for admission. This rule will impact only those students admitted in B status after the rule's effective date. Existing rules allowing the commencement of studies before a change of status is approved will continue to apply to those already in the USA in B non-immigrant visitor status, since they may have already started a course of study in reliance upon existing rules.
IANS
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Connect to launch Centrex Chandigarh, April 11 The service which is likely to be launched within this month, will be particularly useful in case banks, professionals and companies who, using this service will not have to spend huge amounts on EPABX systems, said Mr Vijay Kaul, Vice President, Marketing, Connect. Using the service, the subscribers will be able to make calls to their offices within the same city free of cost or across different cities of Punjab at a special rate of Rs 0.96 per call unit. “Small offices where the staff strength is not very large are our target customers and within a year we expect to have atleast 1,000 Centrex lines”, said Mr Kaul. He said that Centrex lines can be configured either as City Centrex or WAN Centrex line. For example, if one has offices in Chandigarh, Ludhiana, Patiala and Jalandhar, for dialling an office number in Ludhiana from Chandigarh (if the offices are connected by Centrex) one simply has to dial three digits intercom number instead of dialling 11 digits 95-161-XXXXXX. Subscribers will also be able to use Centrex lines as normal telephone lines to make calls within or outside the country. However, normal telephone tariff shall be applicable in case of calls made outside Centrex. Being a telephone network-based service, it will serve as a cost effective alternative to the basic functionalities of an EPABX where one can avail facilities including call transfer , automatic alarm service, call pick up and do not disturb service etc. as well, said Mr Kaul. To subscribe for this facility, the customers will be required to have atleast two Connect telephone lines each, at two locations (within or outside the city). While the registration fee per line will be Rs 1,000, security deposits for local calls will be nil, for STD and local calls will be Rs 3,000 and in case of ISD, STD and local calls will be Rs 5,000. Installation charges including drop wire and telephone instrument will be Rs 800 and a special discount of Rs 250 will be provided in case the customer provides own telephone or internal wiring. The monthly rental per line will be Rs 250 and an additional Rs 50 for City Centrex or Rs 60 for WAN Centrex will be charged per month as facilitation charges. Under its Super Saver Discount Scheme, Connect will provide a rebate on the total bills which will be 20 per cent in case of bills above Rs 10,000, 15 per cent for bills between Rs 5,001 and Rs 10,000, 10 per cent for bills between Rs 3,001 and Rs 5,001 and five per cent for bills between Rs 1,001 and Rs 3,000.
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Cell operators to move SC on WLL
New Delhi, April 11 Stating that the cellular industry had decided to approach Supreme Court to seek justice, the operators said in a statement that they would “appeal against the wrongful, illegal and unlicensed entry of fixed operators into mobile services through backdoor entry — without paying any entry fee and without being subject to same terms and conditions as are applicable to licensed cellular operators...” “Wireless in Local Loop (WLL) mobility is no march of technology. CDMA technology which is being used to offer WLL (M) service is nothing but a full-fledged mobile technology, that is being used in the rest of the world since 1995 to offer mobile services under a mobile licence,” the
statement added. It said that the cellular industry believed that provisions of equivalent mobile services (WLL mobility and cellular mobile) under different licences and on different terms and conditions would lead to the demise of fair competition, which it pointed out would not be in public interest. “Introduction of WLL (M) would definitely not contribute to increased tele density, especially in rural areas, which was the purported objective of permitting this services, as WLL was about six times more expensive than fixed service in rural areas and about double the price of fixed services in urban areas,” the statement added.
PTI
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2 Palio models by next month
Chennai, April 11 Announcing this to reporters here today, Fiat India Managing Director M.P. Bianchi said the new models followed the tremendous success of the launch of Fiat Palio in September last. “Already, 17,000 Palios are on the road,” he added. About the new models, he said “these two new variants will firmly establish Palio as a front-runner in the market. In keeping with our “To the Max” philosophy, we are now able to offer the Indian customers a wide variety in terms of features, style, comfort, safety, technology and performance.” Stating that the Palio Adventure will create a new segment in the market, he said “it was a cross between SUV and MUV and we hope that it will be well received by the customers,” he added.
UNI
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Rasna to launch more flavours Chandigarh, April 11 He said Rasna will shortly come out with Rasna Ras —pre-sweetened liquid preparation drink (recently launched in the south), in the region. This product is priced at Rs 28 for 200 ml of concentrate (Rs 3 per glass).
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Tax collection dips 10 pc
New Delhi, April 11 As per provisional figures, the direct tax collection posted a shortfall of Rs 6,762 crore from the revised estimate of Rs 73,497 crore for 2001-02, Government sources said today.
PTI
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