 |
Tuesday,
May 28, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
|
Economy
strong enough to face war Banks on
IPO spree despite war conditions Sheth gets
judicial custody |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Andersen
dragged into RBG scandal AirTel
Punjab goes global with international roaming ‘India
ranks lowest in labour productivity’ Kale
Consult turns around, nets Rs 2 cr
Rent
Control Act
ONGC not
to sell stake in IOC, GAIL
|
|
Economy strong enough to face war New Delhi, May 27 "We have to look at the situation comparatively, what is our strength and what is our enemy's strength. What are we to gain and fight for,'' Mr Sinha told newspersons here today. "Compared to Pakistan we are more than 100 times prepared,''he said but added that war should the last resort for any country. "I will say a war is the last option", he said, adding that any sort of disturbance, whether external or internal was not
desirable for any economy. The Governor of the RBI, Dr Bimal Jalan, who met the Finance Minister today to discuss various issues pertaining to the economy, said he did not visualise fears of war impacting on the economy. ''Let's watch. As of now, no,'' Mr Jalan said when asked whether the threat of war would impact negatively on the economy. ''As a Central banker, we are extremely confident of managing the economy. Do not worry either on the external front or on the domestic front as far as the economy is concerned,'' he said. Allaying fears that GDP growth may take a hit if the Indo-Pakistan border tension continues, he said “Who says there will be problems.” “Hopefully there will be no problem as the external sector is strong. Domestic liquidity positions are strong and the inflation rate is good,” Sinha added. Currently, India’s forex reserves are at over $ 55 billion while WPI-based inflation rate is only 1.56 per cent.
Softer rates
Favouring a softer interest rate bias, the RBI said today that the Centre’s borrowing programme of over Rs 1,42,000 crore would sail through without putting pressure on the bank rate. “I don’t expect too much trouble in the government’s borrowing programme. We will do whatever is necessary which will be conducive for growth,” RBI Governor Bimal Jalan said after a meeting with Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha here. He allayed fears that high borrowing would put pressure on the interest rate. The Centre’s borrowing is targeted at Rs 1,42,279 crore which is Rs 10,000 crore more than the previous fiscal’s borrowing. The Centre has mopped up a little over Rs 35,000 crore till middle of May. Asked if the RBI would continue with the softer interest rate regime, Jalan said “Yes, of course.” The RBI’s credit policy statement indicated that the bank rate, the rate at which the RBI lends funds to banks, would be reduced by 0.5 per cent from 6.5 per cent prevailing now. Jalan said the central bank was keeping a close watch on the liquidity situation, days before the proposed cut in cash reserve ratio (CRR) of banks. The RBI had advanced the date of the 0.5 per cent cut in CRR to June 1 from June 15. It is expected that the cut in CRR would pump in more than Rs 6,000 crore into the banking system.
Demat of G-secs
Meanwhile, the government has asked the RBI to expedite the conversion of all government securities at present in physical form into electronic mode, in the backdrop of multi-crore G-sec scam involving some cooperative banks and broking firms. The government has also asked the high-level committee on capital market to discuss the G-sec scam and find ways to avert such lapses in future. “This issue is being looked into by the RBI. The main reason for the scam was that G-secs were delivered in physical form. If they were dematerialised, then the possibility of the scam could have been averted,” told reporters after the meeting. He asserted that all G-secs would have to be dematerialised (converted into electronic mode from the physical mode), as it is being done with equities. “The RBI has passed a circular but 100 per cent dematerialisation of G-secs has not been achieved yet. The RBI has fixed a time-frame,” Sinha said.
|
|
Banks on IPO spree despite war conditions
New Delhi, May 27 This is despite the dwindling market conditions following the multi-crore G-Sec scam and tension on the Indo-Pak border. While Reserve Bank has pressed private banks like IDBI Bank, UTI Bank and Lord Krishna Bank to reduce promoters equity to 40 per cent, the SEBI has held talks with major public sector banks to hasten their public offers as part of efforts to boost the capital market. When contacted, SEBI chairman G.N. Bajpai confirmed the regulators’ stance on public sector banks but declined to name the 3-4 banks which have been asked to expedite their public offers. “The over-subscription of PNB’s initial offer shows that investors’ confidence is coming back. The IPOs (of banks) will certainly set in motion the primary market,” Bajpai told PTI. Some of the public sector banks whose IPOs are likely to come up this fiscal include Canara Bank, Union Bank of India and Punjab & Sind Bank. While Canara Bank and Union Bank are considering to raise about Rs 150 crore each through IPO, PSB targets to mop up Rs 100 crore. Erstwhile “weak” banks like Uco Bank and United Bank of India, which are out of the red, also plan IPOs in 1-2 years. Most of the banks stalled their IPOs last fiscal due to dismal market conditions on account of the share scam and the UTI muddle. Only Punjab National Bank hit the markets with a premium of only Rs 21 a share, receiving overwhelming response from small investors. As against the IPO price of Rs 31 a share, the bank’s scrip was hovering at about Rs 39 last week. In case of private banks, the RBI has repeatedly asked the promoters to bring down their stake to 40 per cent or less. Even the Parliamentary Committee had taken serious note of the “non-compliance” by these banks to the RBI norms. On the other hand, the new generation banks - IDBI Bank, UTI Bank and IndusInd Bank - are yet to find a buyer for their equity at the right price despite impressive results and sound financial position. UTI Bank is planning to raise over Rs 25 crore through 10-15 per cent hike in paid-up equity for bringing down Unit Trust of India’s holding to 40 per cent from the present 41.71 per cent. IDBI Bank has appointed DSP Merrill Lynch for finalising the sale of additional 26 per cent stake to “financial” partners within the next 3-6 months for mopping up about Rs 300-400 crore. Another private player Lord Krishna Bank is mulling an IPO for over Rs 100 crore to increase their capital base to enable the bank to go for aggressive growth in business. Recently the bank’s main promoters — Ashwani Kumar Puri and his family — diluted their stake following the bank’s rights issue. The Burmans of Dabur India increased their stake in the bank.
PTI
|
|
Sheth gets judicial
custody
Mumbai, May 27 The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has charged Sheth with diverting Seamen’s PF money to the Government securities market through his firm Giltedge. CBI is also probing his links with Home Trade CEO Sanjay Agarwal and their role in the Rs 350 crore government securities scam. He had been arrested on May 15 and remanded to CBI custody till today. The court also directed the jail authorities to hand over the accused to Mumbai Police’s Economic Offences Wing for investigation into a case involving Raghuvanshi Cooperative Bank, one of the banks which lost money in the G-secs scam. On May 17, the Securities and Exchange Board of India, barred Sheth and Giltedge group of companies from trading in securities till May 30.
UNI
|
|
Andersen dragged into RBG scandal London, May 27 Investigators looking into the estimated $ 600 million bank fraud are examining RBG Resources’ transactions with its Romanian sister companies, including RBG Elcond, a copper firm audited by Andersen’s Rumanian arm. It is alleged that RBG Resources and its US sister company Allied Deals issued fake invoices and documents as proof of genuine trades to convince a number of the world’s leading banks to loan them millions of pounds. Investigators are studying the links between RBG Resources, RBG Elcond and another Rumanian sister firm, RBG Phoenix. Concerns over RBG’s Rumanian activities were partly responsible for the decision by its auditors, PricewaterhouseCoopers, to resign in January. In a letter to RBG Resources, obtained by The Observer News Service, PwC said it was ‘concerned that the material transaction entered into by the company’s Rumanian subsidiary ... does not appear to have been undertaken on an arm’s-length basis’. Sources close to the investigation say the roles of a number of RBG’s executives in Romania are being scrutinised. According to Allied Deals’ last set of available accounts — for the year ended July 31, 2000 — the firm engaged in a series of transactions with RBG Elcond worth nearly Us dollars 10m. RBG Elcond’s President, Ram Bahadur Gupta, sits on the board of RBG Resources. Another Director of Elcond, MJ Alam, also sits on the board of RBG Phoenix, along with three of the Restogri family who, through brother Virendra, one of Britain’s richest Asians, control RBG’s parent company, RBG Enterprises in the British Virgin Islands. Virendra Rastogi was arrested by the City of London fraud squad earlier this month. As police officers raided his home it was apparent Rastogi had been shredding a large number of documents. His brother Narendra, a Director of Allied Deals, was arrested in the US a few days later.
The Observer
|
|
AirTel Punjab
goes global with international roaming Chandigarh, May 27 Mr I. B. Mehra, CEO, Bharti Mobile, Northern region said, “Punjab, is a land synonymous with prosperity, dynamism and passionate involvement with life. This state can boast of the highest per capita income with the average customer being a frequent globetrotter, keeping in mind the requirement of the discerning customer.
|
|
‘India ranks lowest in labour productivity’ New Delhi, May 27 The analysis released by the chambers today points out that India does not respond to the need of the hour of adopting “flexibility in work organisation” large number of companies will be compelled to pull down their shutters. The study said that the only option was to change the labour laws to provide greater flexibility in operations to meet the needs of the present market situation while simultaneously covering the workers under ‘safety net’ to take care of them during adverse days as it is in nobody’s interest to delay this change which has to be done expeditiously. Due to absence of policy and government’s arbitrary intervention in the wage market, there has been a mismatch between wage and productivity in Indian economy. According to Assocham, the wage index overtook the productivity index in 1977-78 and wages have increased thereafter at a higher rate that productivity.
|
|
Kale Consult turns around, nets Rs 2 cr
Mumbai, May 27 The Board of Directors has, however, not recommended dividend for 2001-02, KCL Managing Director Vipul Jain said in a release here today. The net sales/income for the period under review grew by 43.19 per cent at Rs 49.53 crore as against Rs 34.59 crore in 2000-01, the release said. “Last year has been a challenging year for the entire IT industry and even more so for the airline industry and the company has posted robust performance despite adverse market conditions”, Jain said. “KCL’s product led industry focused business model is beginning to come to fruition and the future looks very promising”, he added. The net profit and income for the fourth quarter of FY-02 stood at Rs 1.83 crore (net loss of Rs 8.07 crore in Q4 of FY-01) and Rs 15.33 crore (Rs 9.63 crore) respectively, the release said.
PTI
|
bb
Khaitan Fans Milk testing Morepen Labs Helios Tech |
 |
| Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir | Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs | Nation | Editorial | | Business | Sport | World | Mailbag | In Spotlight | Chandigarh Tribune | Ludhiana Tribune 50 years of Independence | Tercentenary Celebrations | | 122 Years of Trust | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
