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Wednesday,
August 14, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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NRIs eager
to invest in Punjab: Amarinder Will IFC
give loan to Punjab? Markfed
saves 12 cr by timely milling Maruti,
Ford record negative growth |
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Set up
petrol pumps away from roads A VIEW FROM PAKISTAN Allahabad
Bank eyes Rs 200 cr mop-up
Reliance
to set up 5,000 petrol outlets
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NRIs eager to invest in Punjab: Amarinder
London, August 13 “We have told them to come and invest in IT, biotechnology, health, education and other fields, he told PTI on Sunday on the eve of his departure for Delhi at the end of his three-day stay here. Mr Amarinder Singh, who led a delegation of state ministers and officials to the USA on a two-day tour before arriving here, met a number of NRIs from Punjab, including Ranjit Randhawa, whose IT company has evinced interest in investing in the state, and leading hotelier Joginder Sangar, vice-chairman of the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. The Chief Minister also addressed a meeting of the Indian Overseas Congress, UK, yesterday. Speaking on the need for better management of water resources, the Chief Minister informed the meeting that his government had decided to implement the Shahpur Kandi Hydroelectric Project, a multi-purpose river valley project on the Ravi. Stating that it was his commitment to the people of Punjab to maximise the benefits of the project, he said the Rs 1750 crore project, with an installed capacity of 168 MW and a generation capacity of 1042 million units per annum, would be implemented within 42 months. Necessary techno-economic and environmental clearance had been obtained for the project, he said . He said the amount of a billion dollar, promised by the International Financial Corporation (IFC), Washington, to finance social welfare projects in Punjab, would be used in providing drinking water, sewage and community toilets to all villages in the state. Stating that Punjab was in the grip of jaundice, gastroenteritis, cholera and other diseases as many of the villages did not have safe drinking water, he said: “We want to have a covered sewage system away from village ponds so that ponds can be cleaned up and used for fishery.” “I am happy to announce that in principle the IFC, a private group which finances social welfare projects, has agreed to provide over dollars one billion partly as grants and partly as long term very soft loans,” he told PTI. Mr Amarinder Singh said the Punjab Government had been in touch with the United Nations Office of Project Services “who put us in touch with the IFC.” About the terms and conditions, he said these would be part of the negotiations. “First thing is to get the agreement in principle. Now they (IFC) will be sending us papers and then we will give a letter of intent so that they start working on it,” he said.
PTI
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Will IFC give loan to Punjab?
Chandigarh, August 13 The IFC has been in the news for the past few days after the Punjab Government claimed to “have clinched a deal, in principle for a $ 1 billion assistance for rural development and urban renewal projects which were aimed at improving the quality of life of Punjabis. While financial experts said the “IFC cannot and will not give loan to any government”, the Punjab Government claims that this money is coming as an “outright assistance”. Further, all applications for financial assistance have to come separately and no government sureties are accepted. As such locus standi of the Punjab Government without the approval of the Centre in securing this “assistance” has raised many an eyebrow in the financial circles here. Some of the recent IFC investments in India include Rs 840 million in Mahindra and Mahindra Financial Services, $ 2 million in Webdunia and Rs 500 million in Sundaram Housing Finance which turned out to be the first Indian rupee loan to expand access to housing finance in the country. All these investments are in the private sector. Neither any state government nor the Central Government is involved in getting these investments.
TNS
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Markfed saves 12 cr by timely milling Chandigarh, August 13 Mr S.S. Channy, Managing Director, Markfed, in a press release issued here today, has claimed that they had achieved best ever results in paddy milling over the past five years. Though completion of milling and timely delivery of rice to FCI always results in considerable savings, however, due to slow movement of grains from Punjab and other constraints, the milling could not be achieved 100 per cent during the past three years, causing huge losses to the Markfed. Mr Channy claimed that in financial terms, Markfed had to deliver rice to FCI for kharif 2001-02 worth Rs 1200 crore in Central pool. He said, “While 85.42 per cent of the milling target was achieved by the end of July 2001, but this time we were able to achieve 99.06 per cent target.’’ He said that targets had been achieved despite the fact that the last date of total milling was advanced from September 21 during the previous year to July 31 this year. The carry over stocks from the last year’s paddy crop has declined to 13,464 MTs valuing Rs 14 crore from 63,646 MTs of rice valued at Rs 64 crore during the previous year. He admitted that the delayed milling over the past four years had caused a loss of Rs 29.54 crore to the Markfed as some of the millers had not returned the total quantity of rice after
milling. It resulted in litigation and interest losses. However, due to better management by the officials, FIRs were lodged only in case of only seven cases against 40 cases of arbitration and 24 FIRs during the previous year. Mr Channy further claimed that
Markfed had recovered about Rs 39.54 crore from millers in respect of previous year crops.
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Maruti, Ford record negative growth New Delhi, August 13 Figures released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) here today showed that total sales of in the month of July this year reached 43,427 cars as compared to 39,938 cars in the same month of the previous year. Market leader Maruti, however, recorded negative growth as did Ford during the month under the review. The cummulative sales of car during the period April to July 2002 declined by 3.5 per cent to 1.58 lakhs as compared to 1.64 lakhs in the corresponding period of the previous year. Commercial vehicles clocked a 33.8 per cent increase reaching 13,368 units in July 2002 as compared to 9,998 units in same month of the previous year. The increase in commercial vehicles was powered by growth in both the medium and heavy (M&H) and light vehicles (LCV). M&H sales increased by 15.2 per cent to 7,346 units while that of LCVs increased by 66.7 per cent. On a cumulative basis, sales of commercial vehicles increased by 36 per cent in the period under review. The sales of utility vehicles remained almost stable while the sale of multi-purpose-vehicles
dropped by 11 per cent. Sales of motor cycles drove the growth in the overall two-wheeler market which increased by 21.3 per cent. While motor cycles recorded a 35.6 per cent growth, scooters went up by 5 per cent. Sale of mopeds, on the other hand, dropped by 22.1 per cent, but three-wheelers increased by 9.2 per cent. Moped sales of all the players — TVS, Majestic Auto and Kinetic Engineering — declined by 17.9, 22.2 and 38.4 per cent to 21,185 units, 4,620 units and 4,000 units respectively.
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Set up petrol
pumps away
from roads New Delhi, August 13 The Ministry has suggested that the fuel refilling stations should be located slightly away from the national highways and service roads should be built to facilitate access to these stations from the highways. These lanes would have to be provided by the oil companies The move, if implemented, could affect over 4,100 existing petrol pumps located on various national highways spread across the country. “We have formalised guidelines for construction of petrol pumps along the national highways. Pumps should be located 75 to 100 metres away from the highways and access to them should be through service roads”, Minister of State of Surface Transport Maj Gen (Retd) B.C. Khanduri told newspersons here today. Consultations will be held with the Petroleum Ministry and the guidelines will be notified only after that. The Petroleum Ministry is learnt to be of the view that the guidelines should be applicable only to new fuel refilling stations. “We have agreed not to insist on relocations of all petrol pumps not meeting the guidelines but for the ones which are a cause of major traffic problem”, the Minister said.
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A VIEW FROM PAKISTAN Lahore The current level of trade between Pakistan and Bangladesh and between Pakistan and Sri Lanka is very low. In case of Pakistan’s trade with Sri Lanka, Pakistan’s volume of bilateral trade has fluctuated between 120 and 130 million. Pakistan-Bangladesh trade’s volume is $ 120 to 150 million. Pakistan’s own major trading partners include the USA (24 per cent), Germany (11 per cent), and Japan (11 per cent). Bangladesh and Sri Lanka also mainly trade with these countries. However, for Bangladesh, India also figures as a major trading nation. Bangladesh fulfils 12 per cent of its import requirements from India. An area where the three economies of Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh have their stakes is the engineering sector. In the South Asian region, perhaps after India, only Pakistan has the requisite edge to take on the challenges of the free trade regime. The current tariff reform process, allowing breathing space to the engineering sector allows Pakistani engineering firms, vendors as well as licensed brand name manufacturers, to compete with Indian goods on firm grounds. On account of the well-established heavy industrial complex, India has been an economical producer. The slow progress in the opening up of the regional economies with respect to Pakistan further benefited India. Pakistan’s light engineering sector has the chance to capture the Sri Lankan and Bangladeshi markets, not on the basis of low price but on the basis of quality. The defence production equipment sale to Bangladesh is the first step in this direction. Pakistan’s engineering sector has found a common cause with defence sector firms and has the skills to come up with the quality standard component development for the Bengali defence establishment. The auto sector in Pakistan has been steady in its conformance to deletion programmes. Pakistani businesses are probing auto sector needs of the Sri Lankan and Bangladeshi markets, measuring the market trends. It is hoped that in the autos sector, recently licensed production in Pakistan with Chinese brand names can find markets in the South Asian countries. Textile is another major area where the recent bilateral agreements will unleash wholesale regional trading. Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh are all producers of textile products. But Pakistan has some disadvantages. The Bangladesh garment industry is much more developed. Sri Lanka has also made its presence felt in the garments sector. The two countries have edge in textile over Pakistan due to availability of educated and cheap labour. The horticulture sector is one area, where Pakistan has the edge over other countries in the region. Pakistan’s climatic diversities allow the availability of fresh fruits and vegetables round the year. The Sri Lankan and Bangladeshi could be markets for the produce. Pakistani businessmen believe that opening up of trade with Bangladesh and Sri Lanka may be a prelude to gradual liberalisation of Pakistan’s trade with India. Under the WTO, by 2005 India and Pakistan will have to open up bilateral trade. Currently, Pakistan allows trade with India only in about 600 items, including light engineering items, spices, herbs, books, beetle leaf, embroidered garments, carbon, manganese ores and concentrates, coal, turmeric and red chili. Pakistan’s chief exports include rock salt, dry dates, raw copper, hides and medicinal raw products. In 1996 India granted Pakistan most-favored-nation trading status in line with the requirements of the World Trade Organization, but the step was never reciprocated. New Delhi withdrew the status after the attack on Parliament in December last year. It is said India has manipulated its tariff structure to suit the interests of its exporters of finished and semi-finished products. Its tariff manipulation has undermined the chances of Pakistani manufacturers and industrialists benefiting from low-priced raw materials available in India. Currently, raw materials form only 3 per cent of Pakistan’s total imports from India, while 93 per cent are auto industry-related light engineering parts. It is feared, for example, that Indian automotives are mainly a cottage industry and could easily take over the market in Pakistan because we have a high power tariff and low quality steel. Cheaper production of medicines in India is also another concern of Pakistani trade managers in the government. But there are people who say fears that the Pakistani industries will be overwhelmed by India are misplaced. They say Pakistani businessmen will find advantage in Indian markets in open trade. Some Pakistani businessmen believe free trade in South Asia and bilateral trade with India can take the shape of re-export going through the process of joint venture. What can be witnessed in the coming years would be a real competitive environment in South Asia. India’s auto sector and engineering goods are cheaper, but it will have to work hard to counter Pakistani entry into Sri Lanka and Bangladesh because of high-quality of Pakistani products.
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Allahabad Bank eyes Rs 200 cr mop-up
New Delhi, August 13 “We will definitely go public by December. We have a target to raise Rs 100 crore through the IPO,” Allahabad Bank chairman B Samal told reporters here today. The bank plans to dilute government holding to 72 per cent through the IPO, he said, adding employees would be offered 10 per cent of the total 28 per cent additional equity offered through IPO. Samal said the bank appointed SBI Caps, Allianz, Kotak Mahindra, and ICICI Securities as merchant bankers to price the issue. “We will file application with SEBI within 2-3 weeks,” the Allahabad Bank chief said. After the IPO, the bank’s capital adequacy ratio is slated to go up to about 11 per cent from 10 per cent in March 2002, he added.
PTI
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Meet concludes New Delhi, August 13 |
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