B U S I N E S S

Bank rate cut if required: Jalan
Kolkata, May 9
RBI Governor Bimal Jalan today denied having set any “concrete timeframe” for a cut in the bank rates during the next six months. “We will do it if required and the Finance Minister also said exactly this”, Dr Jalan said after presiding over a nearly three-hour long meeting of the Central Board of Directors of the RBI in the city.

Oil firms get autonomy to appoint dealers
New Delhi, May 9
As part of deregulation exercise in the oil sector, the Centre has now decided to grant autonomy to public sector oil companies in the selection of dealers and distributors.

UK liaison office in Jalandhar soon
Chandigarh, May 9
The UK is looking forward to business tie-ups with India in the fields of agri-business, health care, automotives, recreation and leisure, said Mr John Dennis, Director, Trade and Industry, British High Commission, while interacting with industrialists at a meeting organised by the PHDCCI , here today.

UBI net soars 102 per cent
Chandigarh, May 9
The net profit of the United Bank of India (UBI) has soared by 102 per cent from Rs 155 crore recorded last year to Rs 314 crore this year — the highest ever recorded. The net profit is after absorbing the VRS amortisation of current year by Rs 97 crore.

Intel Corporation CEO Craig Barrett (L) smiles as Jim Lee, General Manager of Intel Technology (China) Ltd, shows a huge Pentium 4 microprocessor, during a ceremony at its plant in Shanghai's Pudong district on Thursday. Barrett announced that the company is expanding its existing operation in Shanghai so the facility can assemble and test the world's highest performance desktop microprocessors. — Reuters

SBI Life unveils low-cost scheme
Chandigarh, May 9
The State Bank of India has introduced a low cost life insurance cover and Personal Accident plan to benefit the bank’s customers. “Super Suraksha”, a unique group insurance scheme launched by SBI Life Insurance Company Ltd for the bank’s clients was inaugurated today in the Chandigarh Circle of State Bank of India by Mr Rajendra Kakker, Chief General Manager.

SC stays order on SBI’s VRS
New Delhi, May 9
The Supreme Court today stayed Punjab and Haryana High Court order striking down State Bank of India’s Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS) on the ground that it was not placed before Parliament.

J & K Bank net up
New Delhi
The Jammu and Kashmir Bank has posted a net profit of Rs 260 crore in 2001-02, representing a 55 per cent increase over Rs 168 crore in the previous year. The operating profit was up 69 per cent at Rs 461.24 crore, the bank announced today.

Graphic: External debt on government account
             (Outstanding as on March 31, 2002)

ACC, Grasim, Guj Ambuja output up
New Delhi, May 9
Top cement companies like ACC, Gujarat Ambuja and Grasim posted an increase in their respective production and despatch for April, 2002.

• Phone on demand by year end
• BPL eyes 1400 cr turnover from CTV
• Tata Chem shares ‘undervalued’

Bank rate cut if required: Jalan

Kolkata, May 9
RBI Governor Bimal Jalan today denied having set any “concrete timeframe” for a cut in the bank rates during the next six months.

“We will do it if required and the Finance Minister also said exactly this”, Dr Jalan said after presiding over a nearly three-hour long meeting of the Central Board of Directors of the RBI in the city.

The meeting assumed a greater significance as it was held for the first time since the announcement of the RBI’s much-awaited Monetary and Credit Policy for 2002-03 by Dr Jalan on April 29.

Dr Jalan, speaking to newsmen after the meeting, said the RBI was definitely in favour of softer interest rates. Moreover, the bank had also stabilised the people’s expectations and indicated a cut up to 0.5 per cent whenever necessary.”At the moment we have full liquidity”, the RBI Governor pointed out.

On whether hardening of the interest rates in New Zealand and Australia had in any way affected India, Dr Jalan replied in the negative saying that Indian financial situation was very strong and not linked to elsewhere.

Referring to the basic guidelines behind forming the new credit policy, Dr Jalan said “ what we have in this credit policy still stands and we assure adequate credit flow to the industry, especially housing and agriculture”.

Ruling out any clear sign of early recovery of national economy, the RBI Governor said though “there is some credit off-take, it keeps on changing from week to week. As such there is no clear sign of recovery (at the present moment).

To a query on whether the RBI’s current monetary stand indicated that it had shifted to a neutral rate bias, the RBI Governor replied in the negative saying there was no change in the policy.

“We like the interest rate to be soft”, he said adding that “we also do not want this to be translated into something else.

On whether the RBI would consider advancing the fifty basis point CRR cut ahead of the June 15 schedule, Dr Jalan said it could always be done, if required.

“But at the moment it is not required and there is plenty of money available”, he said. UNI

Oil firms get autonomy to appoint dealers
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 9
As part of deregulation exercise in the oil sector, the Centre has now decided to grant autonomy to public sector oil companies in the selection of dealers and distributors.

Announcing this in the Lok Sabha today, Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Mr Ram Naik said that oil marketing companies will conduct the selection of dealers/distributors for which advertisements have been issued but interviews are not held so far. The erstwhile dealer selection boards (DSBs) are being dissolved from afternoon today.

This follows the dismantling of Administered Pricing Mechanism (APM) from April 1, this year and the subsequent introduction of Petroleum Regulatory Board Bill in the Lok Sabha.

Mr Naik also informed that the government was paying emphasis on expanding LPG network to rural areas. Accordingly, it has been decided to open at least one LPG distributorship at each block headquarter or a town with a population of 10,000 or more.

Replying to a supplementary, Mr Ram Naik informed that as a result of impetus given to expand use of LPG in households, the total number of LPG connections has reached 6.35 crore as of now which includes 5.82 crore in urban areas and 53 lakh in rural areas.

The network of LPG distributorships has a total strength of 7486 distributors in the country today, of which 1729 new distributors were appointed during the last two years.

UK liaison office in Jalandhar soon
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 9
The UK is looking forward to business tie-ups with India in the fields of agri-business, health care, automotives, recreation and leisure, said Mr John Dennis, Director, Trade and Industry, British High Commission, while interacting with industrialists at a meeting organised by the PHDCCI , here today. Though there has been a decline in trade after the USA crisis, it was only a temporary phase, he said, adding that, “the Gujarat riots have not had any adverse impact on the trade relations between the two countries”.

Welcoming the UK delegation, Mr Vikram Sehgal, Chairman, Chandigarh Committee, PHDCCI, highlighted the trade relations between the UK and India. He said over 1,600 Indo-British joint ventures had been approved since 1993 and total trade in goods and services registered an increase of almost 28 per cent in 2000 compared to the previous year.

“The region, where small and medium enterprises (SMEs) form a major portion of the overall industry, has benefits like easy availability of skilled-labour and peaceful law and order situation that are conducive for foreign direct investments”, he said.

Mr Dennis also announced that a visa liaison office will shortly be opened at Jalandhar.

Mr Beant Singh, Resident Director said the northern region holds tremendous potential so far as trade with the UK are concerned. More business delegations from the UK to Chandigarh would help improve trade ties.

Mr Alistair Elder, Third Secretary (Commercial), British High Commission and Mr Rajiv Bali, Co-Chairman, Chandigarh Committee, PHDCCI, also spoke on the occasion.

While during an interaction with Haryana Chief Secretary L.M. Goyal, he was Indo-British partnership is working closely with the HSIDC for ensuring that the scheduled visit of Mr Om Prakash Chautala to England next month would further strengthen ties of bilateral cooperation.

Having been the flag bearer of Green Revolution, Haryana was now keen on promoting biotechnology revolution in a big way. For this purpose, Mr Goyal said a bio-technology policy was also in the pipeline and the state was open to suggestions from prospective investors. 

UBI net soars 102 per cent
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 9
The net profit of the United Bank of India (UBI) has soared by 102 per cent from Rs 155 crore recorded last year to Rs 314 crore this year — the highest ever recorded. The net profit is after absorbing the VRS amortisation of current year by Rs 97 crore. The bank’s operating profits have gone up by 70 per cent from Rs 511 crore to Rs 869 crore and on the income side, there has been a growth of 11.65 per cent by Rs 471 crore from Rs 4044 crore to Rs 4515 crore.

The total deposits of the bank touched Rs 40,000 crore and the bank’s growth in deposits of Rs 5400 crore is the highest achievement so far in absolute terms.

The bank has issued 1.17 lakh Kissan credit cards, taking the cumulative number of cards to 2.42 lakh and credit support through the card from Rs 261 crore to Rs 517 crore.

Mumbai: The bank will come out with an initial public offering (IPO) to raise its paid up equity by Rs 150 crore, CMD V Leeladhar said in Mumbai today. The bank will return Rs 58 crore of equity to the government before the IPO, which is expected to open in the last week of June or first week of July, Leeladhar said. 

SBI Life unveils low-cost scheme
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 9
The State Bank of India has introduced a low cost life insurance cover and Personal Accident plan to benefit the bank’s customers. “Super Suraksha”, a unique group insurance scheme launched by SBI Life Insurance Company Ltd for the bank’s clients was inaugurated today in the Chandigarh Circle of State Bank of India by Mr Rajendra Kakker, Chief General Manager.

Amongst the first to avail the scheme is a group of 200 farmers from Samundran, a small village near Hoshiarpur in Punjab. This is the first group life insurance product to be targeted by any bank at the agricultural community.

The bank has also brought the group insurance scheme to cover the deposit account holders initially at three branches in Chandigarh.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr R Krishnamurthy, MD & CEO, SBI Life said, “there are inherent advantages in the concept of group insurance which makes it not only attractive, but also an affordable option. The Super Suraksha Scheme of SBI Life offers life insurance up to Rs one lakh for every customer of the Bank to cover the risk of death due to any cause. The scheme also offers personal accident cover for upto Rs 2 lakh for death or total disability due to an accident.

In case of customers holding deposit accounts at SBI by way of Savings Bank, current account or Term Deposit Accounts, life insurance cover is provided for Rs 50,000 or one lakh. This scheme is open to all such depositors in the age group of 18 to 58 years. For a life insurance cover of rupees one lakh, depositors in the age group of 18-39 years pay a premium of just Rs 30 per month and those aged between 40-58 pay a premium of Rs 50 per month.

SC stays order on SBI’s VRS

New Delhi, May 9
The Supreme Court today stayed Punjab and Haryana High Court order striking down State Bank of India’s Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS) on the ground that it was not placed before Parliament.

A Bench comprising Justice D.P. Mohapathra and Justice P.V. Reddi stayed the High Court order following a Special Leave Petition by the SBI.

Attorney General Soli Sorabjee and advocate Sanjay Kapur, appearing for the SBI said that the High Court has struck down the entire VRS scheme framed by the SBI as it had “erred” in interpreting the law correctly.

While admitting the SLP for hearing, the court said till the final decision on it, High Court order would be stayed.

It had directed the SBI to restore those employees to servie who had earlier opted for the VRS but later decided against it. The bank was also asked to give them all consequential benefits. PTI

J & K Bank net up

New Delhi
The Jammu and Kashmir Bank has posted a net profit of Rs 260 crore in 2001-02, representing a 55 per cent increase over Rs 168 crore in the previous year. The operating profit was up 69 per cent at Rs 461.24 crore, the bank announced today.

The total income of the bank increased by 39 per cent to Rs 1,610.86 crore against Rs 1,157.28 crore of the corresponding period of the previous year. UNI

ROUND-UP

ACC, Grasim, Guj Ambuja output up

New Delhi, May 9
Top cement companies like ACC, Gujarat Ambuja and Grasim posted an increase in their respective production and despatch for April, 2002.

Both ACC and Grasim reported a 25 per cent production rise while Gujarat Ambuja posted a 2.81 per cent rise in April, 2002, compared to the same period in 2001, industry sources said.

ACC reported a 24.95 per cent production rise at 1.207 million tonne (MT) in April, 2002, against 0.97 MT during the same month last year. The company’s despatch also rose 29.52 per cent at 1.246 MT compared to 0.96 MT a-year ago period. PTI

Phone on demand by year end

New Delhi: Barring Kerala and some pockets in other states, people in the rest of the country will “practically” get telephone on demand by the end of this financial year.

Minister of State for Communications and IT Tapan Sikdar informed the Rajya Sabha in a written reply that already there were a few areas where telephone is given on demand.

The exchanges where the telephone is available on demand are in the Andaman and Nicobar islands, Andhra Pradesh Assam, Bihar, Chhatisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Orissa and Punjab, among others, the minister said. PTI

BPL eyes 1400 cr turnover from CTV

Kolkata: BPL has targeted 40 per cent growth to notch a sales turnover of Rs 1,400 crore from the CTV business during the current fiscal.

“We are expecting a sales turnover of Rs 1,400 crore from CTV business during the current fiscal, as compared to an estimated Rs 1,000 crore sales registered in 2001-02,” Ajay Baijal, company Chief Operating Officer said here. PTI

Tata Chem shares ‘undervalued’

New Delhi: Tata Chemicals said today its share is “undervalued” at the current market price and that it wants to double the current market capitalisation of Rs 700 crore through a mix of cost rationalisation and improved performance.

“Our market capitalisation is about Rs 700 crore at present. We plan to double it within four years by improving performance.... Also, the board of directors has approved a buyback proposal which could be launched soon,” he said. PTI

BIZ BRIEFS

Semiconductor
Chandigarh, May 9
Semiconductor Complex Limited (SCL), Chandigarh has been selected as the foundary for fabrication of silicon based Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS) in the country under the National Programme on Smart Materials (NPSM) approved and funded by the government of India. MEMS technology is seen as a key enabling technology of the future with wide-spread applications across various sectors such as automobile, telecom, medicine, defence, aerospace etc. Commonly used MEMS include miniature mechanical components such as sensors, actuators, micro-structures etc. TNS

Sunrise Consult
Chandigarh, May 9
Mr Kuldip Singh, founder director of Sunrise Immigration Consultants (P) Ltd., said today that “New Zealand has become one of the most preferred destination for business immigration because of low investment, fast approval of business immigration cases, excellent returns of money invested. New Zealand offers unparalleled quality of life, has excellent health and education system, is crime free and one of the least corrupt countries of the world”. Mr Kuldip Singh said, Sunrise is an ISO 991:2000 certified organisation. TNS

Tata Chemicals
New Delhi, May 9
Tata Chemicals is close to terminating an eight-year old fertiliser marketing alliance with group company Rallis India. “Right now, both the boards are talking to each other. A decision will be taken very soon. If it is taken, it will be towards ending the deal,” Tata Chemicals’ Managing Director Prasad Menon said here today. PTI

Funskool
Chennai, May 9
Leading toy maker Funskool has entered into a major licensing agreement with the US-based Warner Bros consumer products to manufacture action figures, toys and puzzles based on the leading Warner Bros movie and cartoon characters in India. PTI