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Thursday,
May 16, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Insurance
(Amendment) Bill passed Joint
venture pact for Maruti signed
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‘Home
Trade issue will not shake markets’ India,
China textile trade touches $ 510m
Knitwear
park for Ludhiana IA ‘on
time performance’ improves Capital
Bank business soars 162 per cent H&R
Johnson opens display centre in city Graphic: Performance of Infrastructure Industries
Russian,
Chinese firms most corrupt
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Insurance (Amendment) Bill passed
New Delhi, May 15 Mr Sinha also asserted that intermediaries and brokers will not be allowed to become surrogate insurance agents and every effort will be made to strengthen the public sector companies. The Finance Minister’s assurance came after opposition members and some from the treasury benches voiced apprehensions about cooperatives entering the insurance field and the role of intermediaries in the business. The opposition members also questioned the introduction of the amendment at a time when the Life Insurance Company and General Insurance Company (GIC) were doing well. Mr Sinha said the two major points of concern, expressed by members during the discussion on the Bill, about the entry of cooperatives and of intermediaries or brokers were misplaced. The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) would monitor and regulate both these aspects to ensure that there were no bunglings. “We have gone by consensus evolved in the government and this was reflected in report of the Standing Committee on Finance. We had many apprehensions when the insurance sector was opened up but nothing has happened. Nothing will be allowed to happen ... We will take care of the concerns expressed in the House.” The Finance Minister said as a nation India must have the confidence of taking on the world and not running scared. The country had the capability and talent of facing the competition, he added. The Finance Minister said there should be absolutely no apprehension that the public sector insurance companies are going to suffer because of the entry of the private sector. Everything would be done strengthen the public sector companies like LIC and GIC, not in a monopoly situation but in a competitive environment. Reiterating his comments made two years ago, Mr Sinha said there was tremendous scope to expand life insurance, general insurance and re-insurance in India. The potential had been far from realised. “Let us not think it is a limited pie...That we are introducing more players to share a limited pie. Its a rapidly increasing pie and there will be room for everyone.” He said ever since the entry of private companies two years ago, LIC’s growth had jumped from 98 per cent in 2000-2001 to 137 per cent in 2001-2002. Despite the competition LIC had expanded. The same was the case with GIC which grew from 5.9 per cent to 11.4 per cent in the same period. The Finance Minister said there were fears that the rural sector would be ignored by the private sector. This had not been the case. “It is wrong to think that the rural business is a losing business. In fact it is a flourishing business.” He said IRDA had put stipulations that the private sector should have at least 5 per cent of their business in rural areas. It was already over 8 per cent and this was not because of their love for rural India but because business was good there, the Minister said.
UNI
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Sinha rules out hand in transfer of officer
New Delhi, May 15 In a statement to the two Houses, Mr Sinha ruled out any conflict of interest between his present assignment and investigation by the CBI in the bribery case against excise official Someshwar Mishra and Flex chief Ashok Chaturvedi. He also maintained he had no hand in the transfer of any official investigating the case nor had he influenced the CBI. Mr Sinha admitted he had got some publicity material from a few printers in Delhi for his Lok Sabha campaign in 1999, including Flex Industries, which is also in the business of printing. Flex Industries was one of the printers on whom he had placed some printing orders.
TNS
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Joint venture pact for Maruti signed
New Delhi, May 15 The agreement follows the decision of the Cabinet Committee on Disinvestment last night to transfer the control of MUL to Suzuki. Mr S Nakanishi, Director, SMC, said the management structure of the new joint venture would be decided at a meeting on May 30. MUL would be retained as the name of the new joint venture, he said. He announced that they would make Maruti the source of some of Suzuki’s models globally, assist MUL to access new export markets, promote MUL and its products in the global market and aggressively strengthen MUL’s manufacturing and technical capabilities so as to make MUL’s products internationally competitive in terms of quality and cost. The agreement was signed by Mr Pradeep Kumar, Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Heavy Industry and a director of
MUL, MUL Managing Director Jagdish Khattar and Mr S Nakanishi, Director, SMC, in the presence of Heavy Industry Secretary B N Jha and Disinvestment Secretary Pradeep
Baijal. Mr Jha said this agreement was in concord with the policy of the government to free the Indian automotive industry from controls and promote a globally competitive auto industry. The government would, however, continue to maintain its keen interest in the progress and growth of MUL as a dominant player in the auto sector as a part of the efforts of his Ministry to establish India as an international hub for manufacture of small cars and in bringing about incessant modernisation of the industry, he said.
UNI
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Ketan Sheth gets CBI custody
Mumbai, May 15 Designated judge U D Salvi allowed him home food and medicines after defence lawyers Amit Desai and Vijay Garg pleaded that the accused was unwell and suffering from acidity and blood pressure problems. They pleaded for a short remand on the ground that the accused was unwell. They said his flat had been sealed by CBI and documents seized by the agency. Sheth would cooperate with investigations, his lawyers assured. Public prosecutor Gul Asnani argued that investigations were not yet complete and the agency needed time till May 27. Sheth, who surrendered before CBI here yesterday, is the third accused to be arrested in the multi-crore scam. The others are Home Trade Ltd’s CEO Sanjay Agarwal and Seamen’s PF organisation’s ex-commissioner A.K. Ghond. The CBI’s bank fraud and securities cell has registered a case against the trio under Section 420 (cheating), 409 (breach of trust), 468 (forgery) of IPC and section 13 of prevention of Corruption Act. CBI Prosecutor informed the court that the agency had yet to trace Rs 93 crore public funds and hence custodial interrogation of the accused was necessary. Sheth initially gave evasive replies about whereabouts of securities. However, after being confronted with Ghond he admitted his association with the investments and the diversion of funds, Asnani said.
PTI
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‘Home Trade issue will not shake markets’
New Delhi, May 15 “The issue of Home Trade is not related to securities. It will not shake the markets,” SEBI Chairman G.N. Bajpai told reporters here on the sidelines of an Assocham seminar. However, any scams always had an effect on investors confidence to a little extent, he said. The market regulator had banned Sanjay Agrawal - promoted Home Trade Ltd from dealing in securities till the completion of investigations and action thereon or one year, whichever is later. The broking entity was banned as it was revealed that it had violated regulations and guidelines laid down for brokers. Agrawal has been arrested in connection with the Rs 150 crore scam involving the Nagpur District Central Co-operative (NDCC) bank. To a query on the need for super regulator to monitor the financial markets, Bajpai replied in the negative. “I do not agree to it (the need for a super regulator), as there are already sectoral regulators,” he said, adding the existing regulatory framework was strong enough. As regulator of capital markets, Bajpai said his prime objective was to infuse more confidence among
investors. PTI
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India, China textile
trade touches $ 510m Ludhiana, May 15 The delegation will stay for two days. The CCCIET is jointly hosting Textile for Fashion 2002”, an international textile buyer-seller meet, with the Knitwear Club, Ludhiana. Besides a number of Indian business houses dealing with knitwear, five Chinese companies dealing with textile products are also participating. Talking to The Tribune at the sidelights of the meet, the Vice-Chairman of the CCCIET, Mr Cao Xin Yu, pointed out that there were numerous common economic interests, particularly in the textile industry. Both countries had enormous manpower and huge resources of raw material like cotton and these countries were in search of potential international markets. He sought to clarify that the Chinese economy was as much open to reforms as the Indian economy. Substantiating his claim, he argued, “we have already entered the WTO regime and are competing with the best of economies of the world”. However, he cautioned at the same time, “signing the WTO does not mean opportunities only, but it also throws up challenges as well for which we should be prepared”. Last year Chinese textile exports amounted to $ 70 billion. The textile trade between India and China has already touched $ 510 million. He disclosed that India had become the largest South Asian market for Chinese textile products. Earlier addressing the inaugural function of the meet, the Principal Secretary, Industry and Commerce, Punjab, Mr Mukul Joshi, predicted that the results will soon be there for everyone to see.
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Knitwear park for Ludhiana
Amritsar, May 15 Mr Mahapatra pointed out that the government was committed to provide latest infrastructure to the textile segment and encourage small scale units all over the country to export their products. The government also planning to liberalise financing scheme to upgrade the powerloom sector. Mr Mahapatra said the Ministry of Textile will consider providing special incentives for the textile industry in the border district of Punjab, which is manufacturing large quantity of woollen shawls, suiting and blankets.
OC
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IA ‘on time performance’ improves New Delhi, May 15 Addressing members of the Parliamentary Consultative Committee attached to his ministry here the minister said the average on time performance on the network has improved from 67 per cent to a record high of 88 per cent during this year. There is a positive improvement in the physical performance of Indian Airlines. Mr Hussain said Indian Airlines has incurred financial losses during the last two years largely due to reasons beyond its control. The minister said the Board of the Indian Airlines has recommended the acquisition of 43 new aircraft at a total cost of Rs 10,089 crore to meet the fleet requirement over five years from 2003-04. The proposal is receiving the attention of the Ministry of Civil Aviation. Talking about the Airports Authority of India, Mr Hussain said the AAI is expected to make after tax profit of Rs 245 crore in 2001-02 against Rs 214.08 crore the previous year. The minister pointed out that security and safety in the civil aviation continues to be a priority area. The security has been further strengthened at airports and training programmes are being organised to train officers/staff of different organisations concerned with security at the airports. He informed the members that CISF has been inducted at 37 airports. Making a presentation on the performance of the Indian Airlines, Chairman and Managing Director of the Company Sunil Arora said various cost-cutting measures have been adopted resulting in a net saving of Rs 58 crore. The measures adopted include route rationalisation, budgetary controls, aircraft maintenance, inventory control and outsourcing of services. New marketing initiatives have been introduced in the form of Desh Videsh Scheme, the airline has signed MoUs with various state governments to promote domestic tourism in collaboration with the state tourism organisation. Mr Arora pointed out that there has been a slight upturn in domestic traffic since last month and the number of tourist arrival has also gone up. With better cost control and higher seat factor, the airline is expected to reduce its loss to about Rs 90 crore in the current year compared to a loss of about Rs 250 crore last year. Participating in the discussion, the members urged the minister to expedite the fleet acquisition programme of the Indian Airlines and make the process transparent. They urged the management of the airlines to take all necessary steps to increase market share and move the company out of red.
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Capital Bank business soars 162 per cent Chandigarh, May 15 He said encouraged by the overall performance of the bank , the board has recommended a maiden dividend of 6 per cent for the year 2001-02. While the gross income of the bank has increased from Rs 168.13 lakh to Rs 634.10 lakh resulting to a growth of more than 200 per cent, the operating profit during this period was Rs 157.57 lakh. He said the bank has set up eight branches including four rural branches at Nakodar, Phagwara, Smarai, Hoshiarpur, Mahilpur, Mehtpur, Kapurthala and Malsian and in five of these branches the facility of 24-hour ATM is being provided. The bank has a retail and diversified loan portfolio in agricultural sector, retail trade, SSI, consumer sector , housing and transport etc. “The focus on retail has given a fillip to the growth and profitability and also helped us maintain a zero NPA level “, said Mr Samra. He said the bank will also launch retail banking initiatives to reach out to a wide group of customers . He informed that the bank has recently been permitted to accept non-resident deposits which will further strengthen its position as the area of operation of the bank is predominantly the NRI belt.
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H&R Johnson opens display centre in city Chandigarh, May 15 Mr R. Kurup, President (Sales & Marketing), H&R Johnson (India) Limited, while opening the exclusive Display Centre, said,” We would like to reach out to the consumers and show how our products can change their lifestyle. The display centres are designed on the lines of international tile showrooms and are unique in their own right. Nearly 40 bathrooms, 20 kitchen concepts and 50 flooring concepts are displayed in these centres according to the area, which gives an idea to the consumer how tiling in bathroom or living room or kitchen can be enhanced with these new concepts and ideas.
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Marble processors Samtel Tanishq Ortem fans Glass furniture |
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