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Thursday,
August 15, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Gold price skyrockets to Rs 5240
Punjab loses 1 cr on mobile handsets
PAN to be common business number |
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Nestle SA may hike stake in arm Computer security expert at 10
Bangladesh for boosting trade with India
Reliance office in Ludhiana
Union Bank issue
opens on Aug 20
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Gold price skyrockets to Rs 5240
New Delhi, August 14 A steep rise in the gold prices in international markets triggered buying by stockists in the local markets here to create fresh positions to meet festival demand. With the dollar substantially weaker against the yen, Japanese traders bought to arbitrage against their sales which in return pushed up the yellow metal prices in the global markets. A weak dollar makes gold, denominated in the US currency, relatively cheaper to the yen-based futures. Marketmen said the US Federal Committee meeting ending last night without taking any decision on interest cut also boosted trend in precious metals. Bullishness was more attributed to buying by stockists to meet demand of jewellers for the ongoing festival season, they said. Standard gold and ornaments shot up by Rs 140 each at Rs 5,240 and Rs 5,090 per 10 gram while sovereign gained Rs 25 at Rs 4,125 per piece of eight gram on the local customers buying for “Rakhi” festival. Silver ready gained Rs 40 at Rs 7910 per kilo and weekly-based delivery by a same margin at Rs 7,900 per kilo. Silver coins continued to be asked at previous level of Rs 11,600/11,700 per 100 pieces. PTI LONDON: Gold firmed in European trade on Wednesday, basking in the glow of falling stock markets and a weaker greenback after the the U.S. Federal Reserve’s decision to leave interest rates unchanged. Spot gold was bid at $316.10/316.60 a troy ounce, up from Tuesday’s New York close of $314.10/314.60 an ounce. It was set or ‘’fixed’’ in the London session at $316.25 an ounce, up from $314.70. Gold is 15 per cent higher than this time last year, largely on the back on the ongoing shakeout in global stock markets, corporate accountancy scandals, a fragile dollar and fears of a repeat attack on the U.S. mainland. J.P. Morgan also said gold was poised for further gains. “Support at $313/314 should fuel a run towards $320,’’ it said in a market note. Renewed weakness in the U.S. equities markets and the dollar pushed the gold prices close to resistance levels at $318.00 an ounce in early trade before falling back. The Dow closed over 20 points lower and the dollar lost ground against the yen and the euro after Tuesday’s U.S. Federal Open Market Committee meeting left interest rates unchanged but warned of possible further economic deterioration.
Reuters
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Punjab loses 1 cr on mobile handsets Chandigarh, August 14 Mr Mandeep Bhatia, General Manager, Airtel, Punjab, says, “It has released about one lakh connections during the past six months. However, about 90 per cent of these handsets have been purchased from the grey
market. It makes it difficult for operators to ensure quality service through duplicate handsets with used batteries.’’ Mr Mukul Khanna, Senior Manager, Marketing, Spice Telecom, also admits that due to the difference between sales tax on handsets in Punjab and neighbouring states, the grey market has come up in the
state. Insiders say though most of the states had already slashed the sales tax rates on handset, but the state government’s attitude is resulting in financial losses. Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Amritsar have emerged as the biggest centres of grey market of handsets. The imported handsets procured from Nepal, Delhi and other towns are available quite easily from dealers without paying any taxes. The famous brands, Nokia, Samsung and Ericsson, are available at a price between Rs 3,000 and Rs 8,000. A recent market study, conducted by a Mumbai-based firm, says a senior marketing official of Airtel, has revealed that an average subscriber was changing handset every 16 month. Most of the subscribers buy handsets from the second market, as they are attracted by it additional features. In most of developed countries the handsets are given to the customer by operator. Experts said the state government would get more income by lowering it to 4 per cent, as it would encourage customers to switch on to the white market. At present, the state government is getting negligible sales tax. |
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PAN to be common business number New Delhi, August 14 “Use of PAN as a common business number is part of measures to check tax evasion,” Finance Ministry officials told PTI here today. Measures were also afoot at the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) to ensure that PAN was quoted on all returns and tax payment challans, TDS certificates and all notified transactions, the officials said. Other steps being considered by the department included electronic data exchange with other departments using a common data format, data warehousing of financial transactions and automated selection of cases for scrutiny. A system for PAN verification and updating would also be introduced in the coming months. In order to facilitate tax payers, the CBDT is also considering direct credit of tax refunds through the Electronic Clearance Scheme of the RBI. “The department is also planning a centralised mass processing for disposal of returns in the same year, an interactive voice response system (IVRS) and bulk filing of salary returns through electronic medium,” the officials said. The CBDT may shortly start processing of all tax returns on computers, the officials added.
PTI
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Nestle SA may hike stake in arm
New Delhi, August 14 The Swiss company has taken a blanket approval from the government for this proposed 10 per cent stake hike and plans to do this via the creeping acquisition route, Nestle India Managing Director Carlo M Donati told reporters here. As on June 30, 2002, foreign promoters hold 53.96 per cent stake in Nestle India. Asked if the parent company was planning to revive the ailing biscuit making company Excelsia, which was acquired from Dabur India, Mr Donati said, “Nestle SA has decided not to begin operations at Excelsia for the moment but it is looking for opportunities.” He said while Nestle SA was yet to decide about the biscuits business in India, Nestle India had no plans to enter this business here. Asked about the company’s strategy for its bottled water business, Mr Donati admitted the initial launch strategy had backfired. Nestle India had launched three of its international water brands in India - San Pallegrino, Perrier and Nestle Pure Life. The first two brands were aimed at the super premium, high-end segment of the market but both have been withdrawn after the government objected to their composition. He said future growth engines would comprise milk and milk-based products as well as the water business. GURGAON: Nestle said on Wednesday its bottom line was likely to be affected by the drought this year, albeit not significantly, but the company had no plans to resort to a price increase to offset the adverse impact. However, drought conditions notwithstanding, the company plans to enter several new product categories, including iced tea and nutritional foods, and has begun test-marketing these products in various parts of the country. Mr Carlo M Donati, Manging Director of Nestle India, said the iced tea may be launched under brand name ‘Nestea’ but declined to divulge a time-frame within which the product would become available to the Indian consumer.
PTI
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Computer security expert at 10 Chennai, August 14 S. Chandrasekhar has, therefore, been officially adopted by the Technology Information Forecasting Centre under the Government of India's Department of Science and Technology. The Class 8 student will be one of the few who will be able to test and certify whether a system is safe or not. P. Chidambaram, the Principal Scientific Adviser to the government, on Tuesday introduced the boy to the Society for Electronic Transactions and Security (SETS), an initiative on computer security in Chennai. Chandrasekhar, a student of the Bell Matriculation School in Tirunelveli, first shot to fame two years ago when he was awarded the Microsoft certificate. In these two years, he has also acquired the position of a Cisco-certified network associate. Manonmani Sundaranar University has, meanwhile, granted him permission to complete two Bachelor of Computer Application courses. Having completed these courses, he has been admitted to a post-graduate computer course. Chandrasekhar has been chosen by the Department of Science and Technology to now assist SETS, set up by the department to explore computer security issues. He has also been made a Director of the Centre for Networking Engineering at the Arulmigu Kalasalingam College of Engineering, Tirunelveli. The Chennai-based software company Covansys India, an arm of Covansys, the USA is sponsoring Chandrasekhar's schooling. His father R. Subramaniam, who is an auditor by profession says, "He got into computers when he was just four years old. He played with our home PC and that's how he learnt. "We noticed he was talented and on a friend's advise we introduced him to a Microsoft quality test that helped him get the certificate." C. Thangaraj, the principal of the AK College of Engineering and Chandrasekhar's mentor, thinks the boy should be allowed to take college courses as he has very advanced knowledge in this field. He can help crack systems to assess their security, Thangaraj said. Chandrasekhar has been invited by a university in the USA to attend its short course summer internship this year. An elated Chandrasekhar, a little dazed by the limelight, says, "I want to go to a big university and complete my studies." This little one with mouse magic at his fingertips and dreams in his eyes is in a hurry to get on with studies, get the college degrees and "do something". Something "safe" that may one day mean safety for the nation's major computer
systems. IANS
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Bangladesh for boosting trade with India New Delhi, August 14 Estimates put the volume of illegal imports from India to Bangladesh at around $ 1 billion (1997 estimates), whereas the illegal exports from Bangladesh are nearly 50 per cent more than official Bangladeshi export to India. “Measures to encourage official trade have to be undertaken. Bangladesh, currently, is not getting trade benefits from India. Preferential treatment by India to Bangladesh will help improve the sit uation”, said Mr Suhel Ahmed Choudhury, Commerce Secretary, Bangladesh.
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Reliance office in Ludhiana
New Delhi, August 14 The office has been set up to specially focus on developing business and improving services to customers in the polyester sector, a company statement said here.
PTI
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Sugar output NIIT, Daksh pact CorpBank facilities Godrej dividend Markets closed JK Paper dividend Spice sim cards |
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