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Thursday,
June 6, 2002, Chandigarh, India
  
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Fiscal
deficit at 15,329 cr IOC, BPCL
propose to raise funds from market Bharti
earmarks 100 cr for AirTel ICICI
Info, Oriental Insurance in pact NHPC
carries out environment plans |
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Loan
repayment by bank draft opposed Grant
incentives to border districts: Minister Rabo
Bank to market brands of Markfed Musk
melons for Dubai
Ranbaxy
to acquire brand from P&G
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Fiscal deficit at 15,329 cr New Delhi, June 5 The revenue deficit stood at Rs 15,200 crore in April, which was near 16 per cent of the budgeted Rs 95,377 crore for this fiscal. The revenue collection so far in this fiscal stood at Rs 3,265 crore which was 1.3 per cent of Rs 2,45,105 crore budgeted for 2002-03. The tax and non-tax mop up stood at Rs 2,087 crore and Rs 1,178 crore respectively showing 1.2 per cent and 1.6 per cent of the budgeted Rs 1,72,965 crore and Rs 72,140 crore. The total receipts stood at Rs 5,357 crore comprising near 2 per cent of the budgeted Rs 2,74,785 crores for this fiscal. Expenditure stood at Rs 20,686 crore ticking 5 per cent of the budgeted Rs 4,10,309 crore for 2002-03. Plan expenditure was Rs 4,221 crore or 3.7 per cent of the budgeted Rs 1,13,500 crore, while non-plan expenditure stood at Rs 16,465 crore which was 5.5 per cent of the budgeted Rs 2,96,809 crore for this fiscal. Domestic borrowings by government was Rs 16,315.37 crore which was 12 per cent of the budgeted Rs 1,34,754.21 crore for the whole year mainly due to market borrowings and through public provident fund.
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IOC, BPCL propose to raise funds from market
New Delhi, June 5 The Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has proposed to raise Rs 1,600 crore while the Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) also plans to mop up around Rs 1,500 crore. The Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) was yet to announce its plan but they will also require funds for expansion. The IOC and the BPCL proposals are pending with the government and likely to get the nod in coming days, officials said. Petroleum Secretary B.K. Chaturvedi said the refinery capacity in the country will increase 136 to 140 million tonnes (MT) by the end of the Tenth Five-Year Plan from the current level of 114 MT. “This involves large funds and companies are planning accordingly despite the fact that the Government proposes to disinvest the BPCL and the HPCL,’’ Mr Chaturvedi said. The Petroleum Secretary said a decision on the BPCL and the HPCL disinvestment will only be taken by the Disinvestment Department and he had no information when the department proposes to privatise both these companies. Expansions are proposed in the IOC’s Koyali refinery, Panipat refinery as well as other refineries, besides setting up a new BPCL refinery at Bina in Madhya Pradesh. The demand of petroleum products such as petrol and diesel have been showing a growth of three to 5 per cent for the past many years. The demand was expected to rise at faster rate with the turnaround of economy, observers said. On the issue of cross-holding of oil companies, Mr Chaturvedi said it was a fact that the IOC has proposed to sell its holding in the ONGC and the GAIL for more than Rs 4,600 crore. “The government will take a policy view when they receive a formal communication from the IOC,’’ he said, adding the matter will be referred to the Cabinet for a decision. IOC Chairman M.S. Ramachandran said the IOC efforts in years to come will be to reduce its debt, which was over Rs 19,000 crore to fund expansion. This was the reason the IOC had proposed a public offer and sale of the ONGC and the GAIL shares, he added. However, the IOC will not dispose off the ONGC and the GAIL shares in haste, Mr Ramachandran said.
UNI
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Bharti earmarks 100 cr for AirTel New Delhi, June 5 “The company will spend over Rs 100 crore over the next one year in developing, strengthening and deepening the brand”, Chairman and group Managing Director Sunil Bharti Mittal told newspersons here today. Mr Mittal said AirTel’s brand identity and campaign will now have a new younger and international look and feel that builds on the earlier positioning of “touch tomorrow”. The company will launch it in the 16 circles over the next few weeks. The company at present offers cellular services in seven of the 22 circles in India and intends to provide cellular in eight additional circles for which the company entered into licence with the Department of Telecommunications (DoT). The company plans to widen its range of telecommunication services by providing international bandwidth access and international voice services. On the brand repositioning, Mr Mittal said the company is repositioning its cash card option “Magic” from AirTel under the AirTel umbrella as AirTel Magic. “AirTel Magic will build on its youthfulness and simplicity and stand for an attitude that says “Magic lets you control your life”, Mr Mittal said.
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ICICI Info, Oriental Insurance in pact
New Delhi, June 5 “We have kept options. We will be going in for only the software product companies and not IT service companies,” ICICI Infotech Managing Director V Srinivasan told PTI after announcing its tie-up with Oriental Insurance. The software subsidiary of ICICI had made six to seven acquisitions in both domestic and international markets in the past three years. ICICI Infotech first acquired Ivory Consulting in June 2000 for $ 8 million and a month later took over Object Export for $ 3 million. The company also strengthened its toehold in the US market through the acquisition of Command Systems for $ 39 million while entering the West Asia after buying Dubai-based Insyst Technologies. ICICI Infotech recently strengthened its presence in the domestic market through the acquisition of Ajax Software. Apart from USA, West Asia and Indian market, the company has set its eyes on the UK and EU markets. The company was likely to bag a large contract from one of European Union member countries. Having achieved Rs 260 crore business in the last fiscal, Srinivasan said the company was aiming a 20 per cent growth in the current year. ICICI Infotech specialises in the development of financial softwares especially in the areas of banking and insurance. Elaborating on the tie-up with Oriental Insurance, Srinivasan said the company would be implementing the new software system “Premia” in two years. ICICI Lombard General Insurance also uses ICICI Infotech’s software. ICICI Infotech, which started operations in 1999, has equity participation in ICICI Ventures with 63 per cent, ICICI Bank 30 per cent and the remaining with Emirates Bank. The software arm garnered over 80 per cent business from the financial sector, including banks, insurance companies and mutual funds. This company had recently opened its branch in Australia, apart from the UK and the USA.
PTI
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NHPC carries out
environment plans New Delhi, June 5 The NHPC pointed out that development should be in conformity to the eco system. Claiming to be conscious of the need for environmental conservation the company listed out the measures taken by them to check the disturbance caused by development work. The company asserted that it carried out comprehensive environment impact assessment studies and carried out environment management plans. The company carried out Catchment Area Treatment (CAT) involving the identification and prioritisation of critically degraded areas that require treatment. Apart from this they also carry out compensatory afforestation, which is an effective tool for arresting soil erosion and enrichment of environment. The company has already planted around 80 lakh trees.
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Loan repayment by bank draft opposed Abohar, June 5 According to a memorandum to the Finance Minister today, Mr Prem Chand Aggarwal, chairman, Mr Bimal Gupta, patron, Mr Madan Lal Kapoor, president, Mr Banarasi Dass Goyal, general secretary and Mr Kasturi Lal Aggarwal, finance secretary, Mr Jagat Verma joint secretary of the Punjab Pradesh Beopar Mandal said most of the industrialists had availed cash credit limits against hypothecation of stocks, book debts etc. The nature of such accounts is such that they had to deposit their daily collections in the form of cheques, drafts and cash in the account on the same or the next day to make business payments. The banks, that sanction the limits, also expect daily operations in the accounts from the businessmen. By amending the Section 269 T, the government had restrained the businessmen from depositing cash directly in the cash credit account. They will have to open another current account in the bank. Cash will have to be deposited in this account and it would be transferred to cash credit account by issuing an account payee’s cheque. This would cause a hardship to the businessmen and bank employees. The Income Tax authorities may have no advantage in their mission of stopping undesirable cash flow. So the amendment should be immediately withdrawn the Mandal
demanded.
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Grant incentives to border districts: Minister Chandigarh, June 5 In a talk with TNS here, Mr Sekhri said he had held extensive talks with the representatives of trade and industry in the border areas during the past few days which had shown that the industrial climate in the border belt was so bad that it was leading to the closure of not only the existing units but also acting as a deterrent to the future growth of the area. Industry, therefore, required immediate government support for survival. He said the people of these three districts who had suffered enormously during wars with Pakistan and during the black phase of terrorism, must be compensated through industrial incentives. Keeping in view the locational
disadvantages, industrial entrepreneurs in these districts should be fully exempted from excise duty and given subsidy on freights, sales tax, interests and investments on the lines of concessions available to industry in J and K. The minister also demanded special economic zones in these areas for their proper financial growth. In response to the plethora of problems faced by industrialists in the
border areas, he said the state government would soon take appropriate steps to revive the industry. Mr Sekhri said that the Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh, who was serious about reviving the industry, had assigned him the task of holding meetings in every corner of the state to make assessment of the present situation. On the basis of inputs collected from such meetings, the state industrial policy would be anounced. The minister said that before finalising the industrial policy, the trade unions would also be taken into confidence so that the interests of both the industrialists and the workers could be taken care of.
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Rabo Bank to
market brands of Markfed Chandigarh, June 5 The Rabo bank has underscored the need to float a special purpose company which will own Markfed brands, undertake exports and promote the products abroad by adopting an aggresive advertising campaign. The bank has also suggested to upgrade its canned food manufacturing canneries at Jalandhar.
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Musk melons for Dubai Chandigarh, June 5 It has been routed through the Punjab Agri and Export Corporation. Capt Amarinder Singh said there appeared to be a vast scope of exporting vegetables to various West Asia and even the UK, the USA and Canada from Punjab. Today’s consignment had been sent to probe the market. Earlier, one consignment was sent to the UK about two weeks ago from Amritsar by air and it was well received. The corporation was collaborating with various private organisations for marketing of exported material. Musk melon is being imported by West Asian countries such as Iran, Sudan, Syria, and Jordan. Punjab is a new entrant. Mr Himmat Singh, Managing Director of the Punjab Agro Industries Corporation, who was also present, said at this stage only one to two tonne vegetables and fruits would be sent abroad. But in due course, it may be enhanced to 30 to 40 tonne per month. It would be possible following the upgradation of the Amritsar airport. “Our first objective is build Punjab’s brand name abroad especially in the countries where Punjabis are settled in good number”. The Chief Minister said the best choice for small and marginal farmers was to diversify in high value crops with quick return. Growing of vegetables was the best option. “We are trying to involve big international giants in agriculture export business”, he added.
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Dividend
cheque Chandigarh, June 5 |
bb
Singapore firm
Liril soap HDFC branch ISO 9001 |
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