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Wednesday,
September 18, 2002,
Chandigarh, India  
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33 pc of
455 projects behind schedule FDI
performance: India behind China, Pak
Favouritism
alleged in number-plate project Markfed
signs MoU with APEDA |
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Serum cuts
hepatitis-B vaccine price HDFC,
HDFC Bank to cross-sell products Need to
strengthen social security net Check
vanaspati import Spice
launches e-billing
Apollo
Tyres signs MoU with Cummins
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33 pc of 455 projects behind schedule New Delhi, September 17 Mr Vijay Goel, Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office, who is also incharge of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, today said he would personally monitor the progress of all the above-mentioned projects and tour the project sites to ensure speedy completion. After undertaking one such tour to different parts of the country, believed to be the first of its kind, Mr Goel mentioned that out of 455 projects, six were running ahead of completion schedule while 147 were on schedule. The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation monitors the Central Sector Projects over Rs. 20 crore, spanning all Ministries, all over India. There are 455 such mega, major and medium projects with investment ranging from Rs. 20 crore to Rs. 1000 crore and beyond. During the first phase of his visit Mr Goel toured Gujarat where he inspected Ahmedabad-Vadadora Expressway. The project has been pending for the last 12 years. Mr Goel directed that the first phase involving the construction of 43 kms. of six lane Expressway must be completed by December 2002 and the second phase involving 50 km of Expressway by December 2003. The Minister also directed that the work relating to the setting up of petrol pumps, motels, crash barriers, grills, signage and greenery along the Expressway should be undertaken simultaneously. In Bhuj, Mr Goel inspected the ultra modern G.K. General Hospital, being constructed out of Rs. 110 crore fund released from the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund. This is the first hospital of its kind, which is earthquake resistant, using ‘base-isolation’ technique. The 300 bed hospital with modern equipments will be operational by January 2, 2003. The Minister held meetings with the officials to review the Drought Proofing Programme, also being implemented out of Rs. 70 crore provided by the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund. The programme includes water harvesting, soil and water conservation, construction of check dams, livelihood programme and social forestry etc. During his visit to Mumbai, Mr Goel held meetings with the Chief Minister, Maharashtra, Members of Parliament and Secretaries to the Government of Maharashtra to review the implementation of MPLAD Scheme in Maharashtra. It was proposed during the meeting that the progress and the expenditure under the scheme should be put on the web-site to facilitate information to MPs and the people. The Minister also visited Mumbai based refinery of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited. The
modernisation project is being undertaken with a capital outlay of Rs. 1800 crore. Once the project is completed, the refining capacity would be enhanced from 7 million metric tonnes to 12 million metric tonnes, apart from quality improvement in the output of petroleum products. In Chennai, Mr Goel inspected the development of Integrated Cargo Terminal Project. The project, which is running behind schedule, is being implemented by the Airport Authority, with a budgetary outlay of Rs. 600 crore. In Chennai, the Minister also inspected the refinery expansion project of Chennai Petroleum Corporation Limited. The project has an outlay of Rs. 2038 crore and 54 per cent of the work has been completed. Once the project is commissioned, the refining capacity will be enhanced by an additional 3 million metric tonnes.
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FDI performance: India behind China, Pak New Delhi, September 17 India has been positioned behind Sri Lanka, which was ranked 103. India’s FDI performance index value stood at 0.2, same as Pakistan, but it was however, ranked below Pakistan. China, on the other hand, registered an index value of 1.2 with an overall rank of 47. Sri Lanka’s FDI performance index stood at 0.4. On the FDI potential index, India, however, stood ahead of Pakistan. While the potential index for India was registered at 0.204, that of Pakistan was lower at 0.159. China, on the other hand, registered an FDI potential index of 0.251. These findings were detailed in UNCTAD’s World Investment Report-2002, which brought out new benchmarking tools to enable better comparison among countries. The report was released today. The report said Hong Kong, China and Angola were the best performing host economies for FDI, while the USA, Sweden and Singapore had the highest potential. Belgium and Luxembourg topped the list with 13.8, followed by Hong Kong at 5.9. These findings were based on UNCTAD’s new FDI benchmarking tools which measure performance by standardising a country’s inflows to the size of its economy and measure potential by using a set of economic and policy factors of importance to foreign investors. The FDI performance index is the ratio of a country’s share in global FDI flows to its share in global GDP. A low value of the index implies that the country receives less than would be expected from their size due to a range of factors including instability, poor policy design and
implementation or competitive weakness. The FDI potential index, on the other hand, is based on slow changing structural factors, including social, political institutional and economic variables. Its values are fairly stable over time and correspond by and large to the levels of economic development. The report noted that world FDI inflows plunged last year by 51 per cent to $735 billion, marking the first decline in a decade. But it said the picture was mixed with the downturn concentrated mainly in developed countries — down 9 per cent — as opposed to 14 per cent in the developing economies.
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Favouritism alleged in number-plate project Chandigarh, September 17 The high-security vehicle registration plates
(HSVRPs) have been made mandatory by the Union Government for all new vehicles from February 28, 2003, and for all existing vehicles within two years from the date, i.e. by February 28, 2005. Many states, including Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh and
Maharashtra, have called for tenders for the supply of HSVRPs. Interestingly, the state is neither a buyer nor a user for these plates, still the governments are inviting tenders. Some of the clauses contained in these tenders are not easy to meet and sources in the trade allege that they are tailor-made to benefit certain manufacturers. These clauses seek “experience certificate from five countries for the supply of plates with security features” and fix the period for contract as 15 years. “These clauses are clearly biased and are designed to benefit a cartel consisting of four companies”, says the newly formed Association of Registration Plate Manufacturers of India
(ARPMI). The association has 10 members who are in the process of setting up production plants for HSVRPs in India. The association has alleged that the members of this cartel are trying to influence the decision of the state governments through underhand deals which would not be in the interest of the vehicle owners. The ARPMI has already filed writ petitions in the High Courts of Jammu and Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra and in each case, the court has granted a stay order against these tenders and issued notices to the state governments and the Union Government of India. Mr Ravi
Somani, Managing Director of Utsav Safety Systems, one of the approved manufacturers of HSVRPs and member of the
ARPMI, points out that the Government of Delhi had issued a public notice inviting all approved
manufactures to market their products. The Delhi Government thus plans to have an open-market system creating a healthy competition for the benefit of all vehicle owners. The Union Ministry for Road Transport and Highways, in a communication to the
ARPMI, has made it clear that the “role of ministry was limited to laying down the
standards\specifications, identifying testing agencies and deciding the time frame of implementation. The ministry does not have any role in the process of selection nor does it have powers to direct the states”. “It is clean from this
communication that things are not very clear even at the ministerial level and, in the absence of any clear guidelines, the states are inviting such biased tenders”, says Mr
Somani.
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Markfed signs MoU with APEDA
Chandigarh, September 17 On this occasion, Mr Channy disclosed that the AEZ basmati will cover the contiguous districts of Gurdaspur, Amritsar, Kapurthala, Hoshiarpur and Nawanshahr. It will offer numerous benefits to farmers in the area, including remunerative price, no Central pool quota and standardisation of agronomic practices besides boosting basmati exports from the state. Outlining the details of exports, he said, ‘‘ The Markfed has got contracts to export 21.68 MTs of wheat worth Rs 1,000 crore by September 15. Out of this it has already shipped 14.12 MT of wheat worth Rs 642 crore. Under the special reforms for better control of milling operations, he said, the cooperative had recovered about 1.17 MTs of paddy worth Rs 83.90 crore during 2001-02. He disclosed that over the past four years, the delay in paddy milling and misappropriation of rice had caused Rs 29.54 financial losses to the cooperative. As many as 40 cases of arbitration and 24 FIRs had been lodged to recover the amount.
TNS
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Serum cuts hepatitis-B vaccine price Chandigarh, September 17 Serum announced a price cut of Rs 525 in the MRP of GeneVac-B 10 ml vial. The vial, which was earlier priced at Rs 1,400, is now available for Rs 875. The price of the 5 ml vial has been slashed from Rs 725 to Rs 480. On behalf of Dr Cyrus Poonawalla, Chairman of Serum Institute, Dr Patki, Medical Director, said: ‘It’s the dream of our Chairman to reach the masses through Serum Institute’s philosophy of care. To take this further, the institute will tie up with NGOs and will supply them the free hepatitis-B vaccine to enable them to organise vaccination camps for sex workers, blind and the mentally challenged.” He said: “We want the local NGOs to put forth their suggestions and ideas which will enable us to implement and enhance the hepatitis-B vaccination programme.”
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HDFC, HDFC Bank to cross-sell products
Kolkata, September 17 The respective boards have already approved the proposal to use all the offices of the two companies to purchase and cross-sell products and an agreement to this effect would be singed soon, HDFC Ltd Managing Director K.K. Mistry said here today. Describing the proposed arrangement as “merger without a merger”, Mistry said there was no plan for formal amalgamation of the two as “combined profit of HDFC and HDFC Bank will be lesser”. HDFC, which held 25 per cent shareholding in HDFC Bank, also did not have any plan for increasing its stake in HDFC Bank, he said. The company, meanwhile, was expecting a 25-30 per cent growth in loan approvals and disbursements this year. The total loan approvals and disbursals last year stood at Rs 9041 crore and Rs 7617 crore respectively. In the first quarter this fiscal, HDFC registered a 31 per cent growth in loan approvals while disbursals grew by 32 per cent, Mistry said. Asked if the company was looking for any acquisition of housing finance companies, he said “we are open to purchase portfolio but only after 100 per cent due diligence”. Asked about the non-performing assets of the company, Mistry said it was a low Rs 160 crore as compared to the total asset base of over Rs 42,000 crore. Stating that the NPA level has always remained below one per cent, he said, “we have hardly ever written off any loans”.
PTI
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Need to strengthen social security net
New Delhi, September 17 Giving away the Vishwakarma Rashtriya Puraskar and National Safety Awards here, Dr Verma made it clear that the government could not absolve itself of its social obligation towards the workers while ensuring sound development of the industry. The minister asked the entrepreneurs to share their just propositions with the workers who toiled hard in difficult situations. “They (entrepreneurs) will also have to change their mindset; they do not lose if they develop familial ties with their workforce and allow their participation in management,” he observed. The award-presentation ceremony for the year 2000, held at the Vigyan Bhawan, lasted for about an hour. Seventytwo award winners and runners up in eight schemes were chosen from 423 valid applications. The Vishwakarma Rashtriya Puraskar is a Class “A” award carrying a cash prize of Rs 50,000, Mr Gyan Chand received the award on behalf of BHEL, Ranipur, Hardwar. Mr Gopal Prasad Singh received the Class “B” award carrying Rs 25,000 on behalf of SAIL, Bhilai among others.
TNS
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Check vanaspati import
Chandigarh, September 17 |
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Spice launches e-billing Chandigarh, September 17 |
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Allahabad Bank LMA lecture SBP Dr Reddy’s Rajbhasha award |
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