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Saturday,
May 11, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Industrial
growth dips Techies
project Narayana Murthy as President Maruti
drives into insurance venture Facing
problems? Hire ‘business coaches’ |
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PNB
north zone profit up 136 pc BJP
against use of CII as political forum
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Industrial growth dips
New Delhi, May 10 The decline was compounded by a drop in the mining and electricity sectors, according to quick estimates of Index of Industrial Production (IIP) released by the Central Statistical Organisation (CSO) today. As per the use-based classification, capital goods sector posted a negative growth of 4 per cent during the year ended March 31, 2002 as compared to a 1.8 per cent growth in the previous year. Growth in the manufacturing sector was down to 2.7 per cent from 5.3 per cent a year ago while in the mining sector, it dipped to 1.8 per cent from 3.7 per cent. In the electricity sector, the growth slipped to 3.1 per cent year-on-year from 4.0 per cent which was also similarly reflected in the general index with a 2.7 per cent growth as against 5.0 per cent in the previous fiscal. During March, the general index recorded a marginal improvement at 2.4 per cent from 2.3 per cent last year. Electricity sector posted a 5.2 per cent growth over 1.7 per cent, while the mining sector growth went up to 3.0 per cent from 1.3 per cent. But, the manufacturing sector’s growth was down to 2 per cent from 2.6 per cent. The growth rate in the basic goods sector declined to 2.8 per cent from 3.9 per cent while consumer durables’ growth fell from 14.5 per cent to 11.6 per cent in 2001-02. In the consumer goods sector, growth was lower at 5.8 per cent during 2001-02 as compared to 8.0 per cent a year before, while in intermediate goods, the growth stood at 1.5 per cent against 4.7 per cent. Growth in the consumer non-durables sector fell to 3.8 per cent from 5.8 per cent in the previous year. Nine out of the 17 two-digit industry groups including beverages, tobacco and related products, transport equipment and parts, and paper and paper products showed positive growth. For the year 2001-02, growth in beverages, tobacco and related products was the highest at 12 per cent, followed by rubber, plastic, petroleum and coal products with a 10.7 per cent rise. In transport equipment and parts, growth stood at 6.8 per cent while in leather and fur products, there was a 5.9 per cent growth. Those industries that recorded negative growth are wood and wood products, furniture and fixtures besides jute and other vegetable fibre textiles, except cotton. Growth in wood and wood products was down by 10.9 per cent while that of metal products and parts fell by 8.5 per cent during 2001-02. Jute and other vegetables fibres dipped by 5.9 per cent which was followed by food products and cotton textiles with a similar 1.8 per cent negative growth.
PTI
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Techies project Narayana Murthy as President
New Delhi, May 10 Once a leftist, he now extols the virtues of capitalism and is the man behind the emergence of over $10 billion software company that gives employees stock options and assumes responsibility for creating wealth in the stock market. But some in the IT fraternity believe that the suave and bespectacled 53-year-old
N. R. Narayana Murthy is destined for much bigger things — they want to see him as the next President of India. The bunch of techies, headed by the chief of Bangalore-based multi-media company APT Interactive, have launched a Narayana Murthy for Prez campaign through a web site, narayanamurthyforpresident.org. Shankar Prasad, Chief Executive Officer of APT, has posted on the website an open letter to the Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, urging him to nominate Narayana Murthy as the next President. President
K. R. Narayanan's five-year term ends in July this year. Both the country's ruling coalition and the Opposition are said to be keen on fielding candidates for the high-profile job. "The country must be able to look up to the President and must have respect for the President. The youth of India must be able to emulate the strengths and values of the President as an ideal for their vision and action. "Therefore, it is imperative, Mr. Prime Minister, that you must take it upon yourself as a challenge and submit the nomination of Mr. Narayana Murthy for President," says the letter. The campaigners, who describe their online venture as an independent citizen's initiative, list Narayana Murthy's credentials and point out that he has got a slew of international and national awards. "As the Chairman of Infosys and as a leading citizen of India, he has already hosted many heads of state and world leaders and he himself has been written about in major international magazines, and is a recognizable name in many parts of the world. "But more importantly, Mr. Prime Minister, this will be the MOST apolitical nomination that you can make and there are very few men or women of Mr. Narayana Murthy's caliber to compete for this post today," says the letter. Narayana Murthy has been awarded the Liberty Award by Switzerland, has been named the Top 25 Global Executives by Times/CNN, is listed as the Asia's Influential 50, and is a member of Prime Minister's Task Force on IT. "By nominating and electing Mr. Narayana Murthy to be the President of India, Mr. Prime Minister, you will once again redeem our faith in the Presidency and elevate the position of the President of India to a respectable function, rather than just a political appointee who is more often used as a rubber stamp or for cutting tapes in functions or for hosting foreign dignitaries when they visit our country," it adds. They have, however, made it clear that Narayana Murthy, his wife Sudha Murthy or anyone associated with Infosys are in no way associated with the "private initiative taken in public interest."
IANS |
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Maruti drives into insurance venture New Delhi, May 10 Maruti Insurance will be made available to the customers through the Maruti dealer network, which includes 254 sales outlets and 333 dealer workshop spread across the country. For this initiative, Maruti has set up insurance distribution
subsidiaries, Maruti Insurance Distributors Services (MIDS) and Maruti Insurance Brokers Limited (MIBL). While MIDS has partnered with Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Company, MIBL will work with National Insurance Company Limited. Addressing a press conference to launch Maruti Insurance, the Managing Director of Maruti Udyog
Limited, Mr. Jagdish Khattar said: “Customers are looking for insurance products that provide them support, comfort and convenience, more so after their vehicle has met with an accident. Unfortunately, these attributes are missing in the existing market for car insurance. Maruti Insurance will fill this gap. I am delighted that in this endeavour, we have the support of Bajaj Allianz and National Insurance, both highly reputed names in the industry”. Under Maruti Insurance, customers have the flexibility to undertake post accident repairs from any dealer workshop, irrespective of where they may have purchased the Maruti vehicle and the insurance policy, Mr Khattar said. In the event of an accident of the vehicle covered under Maruti Insurance, the dealer will offer towing facilities, and is entitled to identify a surveyor, raise an estimate and process the same, he said. |
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Facing problems?
Hire ‘business coaches’ Chandigarh, May 10 If everything goes well, you may soon be able to hire “business coaches” who will “hold your hand and guide you through the ups and downs of the unpredictable world of business”, says Mr Kenneth Ho, Managing Director of the Singapore-based Action International (Asia) Pvt Ltd. Mr Ho, who is currently on a visit to northern India, heads the world’s number one business coaching company and is recognised as such in the USA, the UK and South East Asia. He has already been to Amritsar, Jalandhar, Ludhiana and Patiala. He was in Chandigarh today as a part of a unique seminar-cum-exposition called “Business Opportunity Aapke Ghar” (BOAG) organised by the “Franchising World” and Club City as a one-stop solution for bringing franchisee (investor) and franchiser (company) on a common platform at the CII building. “We are different from the consultancy firms”, explained Mr Ho in an interview with TNS. “A consultant will draw up for you the details of a business project and hand it over to you for execution. His role is limited. A business coach on the other hand is involved in every aspect of the project including its execution. He will offer you an advice whenever and wherever required and suggest a solution when a problem presents itself. All this is done, of course, for a fee”. A business coach is provided to a company for a minimum period of 12 months because that is the time frame required for the coaching to prove its effectiveness. Mr Ho notes that the Indian economy is currently going through a downswing. “This opportunity provides a perfect timing for my company to enter the Indian market to offer its expertise in the field of business coaching”. He recalls that a few years ago, Malaysian and Thai economies also went through a rough patch. But with the help of a series of government measures they were able to overcome the problems. His company too played its role. During his current visit to various Punjab cities, Mr Ho says, he has been able to compile a long list of businessmen wanting to hire “business coaches” being offered by them. “I have told them to be patient. I don’t want to offer solutions which may not be suitable for the Indian market conditions. I will, therefore, like to first train Indian ‘business coaches who are familiar with the Indian economic environment and then offer them for hiring services to businessmen”. BOAG will take the mammoth task forward as started by the CEO and the publisher of the “Franchising World” Mr Guarav M. Marya where the aim will be to bridge the gap between the franchiser and the franchisee. According to Mr Gaurav M. Marya, CEO and the publisher of “Franchising World”, the seminar-cum-exposition is targeting people looking for a business opportunity with an investment of Rs 5000 to Rs 5 crore; with a space of 100 sq ft to 10,000 sq.ft. This will be a unique platform where a large number of corporates will participate and investor will have the leverage of getting in a franchising option with the business of his choice and the company of his interest. Keeping in mind the size of the country, penetration to small cities and towns for a company’s planned nationwide expansions turns out to be highly expensive and a lengthy
process. BOAG comes as a solution to this by offering not only a cost-effective medium but also a time bound development. This is a joint effort by Club City and the Franchising World, which will not only ensure a cost-effective reach to small and medium business community in the B and C category cities but also cater to an entrepreneur who cannot be reached single-handedly. The cities to be covered this year are Agra, Ahmedabad, Aurangabad, Bhubaneswar, Panipat, Chandigarh, Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Shimla, Amritsar, Patiala, Mumbai, Bhopal, Bangalore, Chennai, Cochin, Coimbatore, Kolkata, Goa, Hyderabad, Jodhpur, Jammu, Jaipur, Kanpur, Lucknow, Mangalore, Meerut, Nagpur, Nasik, Ranchi, Patna, Pune, Secunderabad, Surat, Salem and Varanasi.
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Spinning industry to educate cotton farmers Ludhiana, May 10 “This is kind of a symbiotic relationship where the industry will adopt villages and educate the farmer about techniques for return of a good yield that will in turn fulfil the ever-growing requirement of the spinning industry in the state,” says Mr S.P. Oswal, Chairman Punjab State Council of Indian Industry, Northern Region. The six lakh bales of cotton produced in Punjab are quite inadequate to fulfil the raw material needs of the state spinning industry. A rapid drop from 16 lakh bales produced in Punjab up to 1996 has caused alarm bells to ring in this industry, which has decided to take up the task of educating the farmer for its own survival, say Mr Oswal. “We came up with this idea of identifying farmers with the highest cotton yield in the state and then making these farmers share their secret of success and techniques employed with other farmers to benefit them, “ he said. Admitting that the farmer producing cotton in the state was essentially the backbone of the spinning industry, so this industry decided to strengthen and encourage cotton producing farmers for the benefit of the industry. Terming diversification as a fundamental to growth, Mr Oswal said that as users of cotton produced by the farmers, we decided that we could not shun our responsibility in helping the farmers improve productivity. “To begin with, it was felt that in view of the decreasing cotton yield it was important to maintain the farmers interest in cultivation of the cotton crop. This was only possible if the cost of cultivation was reasonable and returns encouraging. We discovered that despite attack from American Bollworm some farmers had comparable with international averages. Despite restraints Mr Sikander Singh of village Gang Abluki near Jaiton in Punjab has produced an average yield of 1461 kilogram of seed cotton which amounts to about 980 kilo per hectare. Mr Oswal said that the farmers achieving high yields bettered the world averages. “We though if these farmers could achieve such high yields, why not the others, thus this experiment called Operation White gold. The spinning industry in Punjab has grown much more than the expectations producing 9 per cent of national produce with an installed capacity of a mere 4 per cent of the national Spinning industry. As a result, the six lakh bales of cotton produced in Punjab this year is highly inadequate as against a requirement of over 12 lakh bales. Even though the quality of Punjab cotton is fairly good. International average of cotton production is pegged at 570 kilogram per hectare which is roughly two to three times Indian average. The Chinese average is 1000 kilogram per hectare while Australia on an average produces 1500 kilogram per hectare. Mr Oswal disclosed that on an average Punjab’s spinning industry consumed 1.5 million spindles of cotton, which is produced from nearly 210 million kilogram of cotton. The turnover of the spinning industry is nearly Rs 2100 crore, nearly 50 per cent of this comprises of the raw material. Through operation White gold, the spinning industry is seeking a partnership with the agricultural sector and the farmers of the state in a manner that will lead to the integration of the states economy. With the growth of spinning industry Punjab alone is expected to raise its consumption of cotton to around 20 lakh bales. Besides this, Himachal Pardesh and Uttar Pardesh which have several spinning units but no cotton produce of their own are also dependent on cotton from Punjab to a large extent. Mr Oswal favours the introduction of BT cotton as it will throw open possibilities of a higher yield. “But merely introducing the BT cotton will not suffice as cotton production requires a scientific practice in nurturing and harvesting of the crop. Through this awareness programme the spinning industry and the CII proposes to turn Punjab into a model state where cotton productivity average the world average,” he says The four cotton growing farmers who have been picked up on the basis of their yields and would be honoured by the state Chief Minister, Captain Amarinder Singh at Bathinda on Saturday are mainly Mr Sikander Singh of village Gang Abluki (980 kilogram per hectare) , Mr Jarnail Singh from Mansa district (930 kilogram per hectare), Mr Lakhwinder Singh of Muktsar district (876 kilogram per hectare), Avtar Singh of Talwandi Sabo (850 kilogram per hectare). The spinning industry proposes to adopt villages where farmers would be educated with techniques such as picking cotton without contamination etc. Initially some volunteers will be trained and sent to these villages, they will then in turn train farmers in techniques that will help reduce contamination, besides ensuring higher yields. Farmers achieving high yields would be given prizes in value of about to 3 to 4 per cent of their yield cost. The industry experts results to be visible in next 5 to 7 years. |
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PNB north zone profit up 136 pc Chandigarh, May 10 Mr Bhargava said the total income of the zone has increased from Rs 857 crore to Rs 1014 crore as on 31.3.2002, registering a growth of 18.32 per cent. Interest income amounted to Rs 948 crore, a growth of 19.55 per cent. In pursuit of achieving excellence in service quality as on 31st March 2002, 39 offices of the zone have obtained ISO 9002 certification. The zone has achieved distinction of obtaining quality certification under ISO 9001 norms for one of its branches at Chandigarh, the first bank branch in the country to have this distinction. Depository services are available at our branch at Sector 17-B, here further it is proposed to be provided at Jammu, Panipat, Karnal, Hisar and Rohtak. Chandigarh branches of sectors 17, 26, 9, 22, 19 and 28 will be interconnected by July this year, added Mr Bhargava. The bank had taken up the gold import business at the beginning of September 2000. Within the short span since then, the bank has been able to achieve significant growth. At the end of March 2002, the bank’s gold import business was 56 tonns valued at Rs 2515 crore. The bank has authorised 14 of its branches to handle the gold business. PNB is pursuing its vision of becoming a universal bank and in the process is entering the insurance business also. The joint venture is purposed for three separate companies for life, non-life and distribution and services. PNB is likely to take up 26 per cent stake in the each of these ventures. said Mr
Bhargava. |
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BJP against use of CII as political forum New Delhi, May 10 “The CII is mainly for the interest of the industry but certain members of the CII have sought to give it a political colour and we don’t approve of it”, BJP spokesman Vijay Kumar Malhotra said here. “Even a recent seminar on Gujarat saw loaded questions against the government and the CII invited those participants who are known BJP bashers”. He said if CII members want to make political observations they could do so from an appropriate political forum instead of using CII forum for this purpose. Prof Malhotra said the CII had invited Atal Behari Vajpayee for an inaugural function and later said it had not invited anyone. Sources said the BJP high command is particularly unhappy with some industrialists like Mr Rahul Bajaj who in the ruling party’s assessment were pro-Congress. The BJP is deeply disturbed by the national media particularly the electronic media and also a section of the industry which has thrown its lot with the Congress.
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Punjab awarded Processing units Navision software
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